Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1048 Murderous Intent

Hong Xu and Gan Hui are not only veterans of the Zheng Group, but also members of the Eighteen Zhi back then.

The Eighteen Zhis were a pirate group alliance founded in the fifth year of the Tianqi reign, headed by Zheng Zhilong. In addition, because of the presence of Zheng Zhilong's brothers, this name came into being.

At that time, Zheng Zhilong was the leader of the Eighteen Zhis, and his four brothers were the backbone of the group. In addition, the other members were basically sworn brothers of the Zheng brothers. This alliance integrated the originally loose pirate groups together to compete with the Ming navy.

After the establishment of the Eighteen Zhi, Zheng Zhilong's prestige was unparalleled. He led the Eighteen Zhi pirate group to successively defeat the Fujian and Zhejiang navies led by Admiral Yu Zigao and the fleet of Xu Xinsu of the comprador Wushang Zhangzhou Gang, thus dominating the ocean and becoming the overlord of the sea.

Later, the Ming Dynasty saw that Zheng Zhilong could not be solved by force, so they had to change the way of encircling and suppressing Zheng Zhilong by force, and turned to recruiting and incorporating him. At that time, Zheng Zhilong also felt that although he could control the sea by relying solely on pirate power, his foundation was unstable. In addition, Zheng Zhilong himself had always wanted to turn from a bandit to an official. In his opinion, being a pirate king had no future. Only being an official appointed by the court could bring honor to the family. For this reason, Zheng Zhilong had the idea of ​​recruiting and began to secretly exchange glances with the court to discuss the matters of reorganization.

The change in Zheng Zhilong's attitude and the court's peace talks caused dissatisfaction within the 18th Zhi. Many members of the 18th Zhi did not like the court, and were unwilling to give up their "promising" career as pirates and refused to be recruited by the court. As a result, the 18th Zhi began to split. When Zheng Zhilong was officially recruited, in order to gain the trust of the court, strike at his opponents, and eliminate hidden dangers, Zheng Zhilong directly attacked his old brothers.

After several battles, Zheng Zhilong finally solved the problem of the membership of the Eighteen Zhi, eliminated the forces of Yang Liu, Yang Qi, Zhong Bin, Liu Xiang, Li Kuiqi, He Bin, and Guo Huaiyi, and personally sent these old brothers to the Western Paradise. Of course, Zheng Zhilong also paid a heavy price. Among them, Zheng Zhilong's most capable brother Zheng Zhihu died in a battle with Liu Xiang, and his body sank into the sea and could not be found. This can be said to be the most heartbreaking thing for Zheng Zhilong.

After the problems within the Eighteen Zhi were solved, Zheng Zhilong no longer had to worry about anything, and he transformed himself from a pirate to an official of the imperial court. Among the Eighteen Zhi, only Shi Daxuan, Hong Xu, and Gan Hui followed Zheng Zhilong to join the imperial court. Apart from these three people, the rest were the core members of the Zheng Group, or Zheng Zhilong's blood brothers.

Zheng Zhifeng, also known as Zheng Hongkui, will not be mentioned for now. Now Zheng Hongkui has separated from Zheng Zhilong and established his own faction, becoming the admiral of the Shandong Navy. His title and official position are not much different from those of Zheng Zhilong. In addition, Zheng Hongkui is currently on a diplomatic mission to Europe and is not in the Ming Dynasty, so there is no need to consider him.

The only ones left are Zheng Zhiwan and Zheng Zhibao. They are both Zheng Zhilong's brothers and clansmen, and they will definitely not betray him.

Shi Daxuan has been deliberately suppressed by Zheng Zhilong over the years. Although Zheng Zhilong is well aware of Shi Daxuan's abilities, he is afraid that Shi Daxuan can not only train soldiers but also fight wars. Therefore, Zheng Zhilong always deliberately suppresses Shi Daxuan and does not give him real power. Even his military rank is far lower than that of others. Under such circumstances, although Shi Daxuan has some complaints, he can do nothing about it. Zheng Zhilong is still more at ease with him.

On the contrary, Hong Xu and Gan Hui were in a much better situation. They not only had military power, but also held high official positions and ranks. Zheng Zhilong had taken good care of them for the sake of their sworn brothers. But the problem was that Zheng Zhilong felt that Hong Xu and Gan Hui were different from Zheng Zhiwan and Zheng Zhibao after all. In addition, they were members of the Eighteen Zhis back then. Zheng Zhilong had to use and guard against them. This time, apart from Zheng Zhibao as the person in charge, only Hong Xu and Gan Hui knew about this. Judging from the time, if Hong Xu or Gan Hui privately informed Chen Bao for some purpose when Zheng Zhibao was taking people to Nan'ao, then Chen Bao would leave before Zheng Zhibao arrived in Nan'ao, which made perfect sense.

So Zheng Zhilong thought about it and decided that the real reason for the leak was not Zheng Zhibao, but Hong Xu or Gan Hui, or even that both of them were involved. Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence in the world?

When Zheng Zhilong expressed his judgment, Zheng Zhibao could not help but frown. He pondered for a moment and said hesitantly, "This shouldn't be the case... What good would it be for them to tip off Chen Bao? Aren't they afraid that you would know?"

"Do we need to guess? They certainly have benefits from doing this!" Zheng Zhiwan sneered and said, "These two are members of the Eighteen Zhi. When Big Brother attacked Liu Xiang and the others, I remember they tried to dissuade Big Brother. In addition, Chen Bao has had a good relationship with them over the years, and they are very close to each other, calling each other brothers."

"By the way, how much silver did we get from killing Chen Bao this time?" Zheng Zhiwan suddenly asked Zheng Zhibao.

Zheng Zhibao was about to refute, thinking that Zheng Zhiwan was still holding on to this matter to make trouble for him, but at this time Zheng Zhilong raised his hand to stop him and asked about it. Seeing Zheng Zhilong's question, Zheng Zhibao could only answer the question with anger. When he told the amount of Chen Bao's wealth, Zheng Zhilong's face changed slightly, and Zheng Zhiwan's expression became serious.

"This number... is a lot less!" Zheng Zhiwan said to Zheng Zhilong intently.

Zheng Zhilong nodded silently. Zheng Zhibao became anxious when he saw this and hurriedly tried to explain that he had not embezzled even a tael of silver. Yes, he did want to get some silver from it, but he had not had the time to do it yet. Moreover, with his status, if he really wanted to get the silver, he would not hide it from Zheng Zhilong. They were brothers, so there was no need to do that!
"Old Five, I didn't say you secretly withheld it. Old Four meant that Chen Bao definitely didn't have only this gold and silver. He has made a lot of money secretly over the years without telling us. Where did the money go? This is the key!"

A flash of inspiration flashed through Zheng Zhibao's mind. Zheng Zhibao suddenly raised his head and looked at Zheng Zhilong with hesitation: "Brother, do you mean... Hong Xu and Gan Hui?"

"Nine out of ten!" Zheng Zhiwan interrupted without waiting for Zheng Zhilong to answer, "How can there be such a coincidence in this world? If no one informed Chen Bao in advance, how could he know your actions? It is even more impossible for him to escape from Nan'ao at the critical moment. By the way, think carefully, what was the attitude of Hong Xu and Gan Hui after Chen Bao ran away? What were they like when you led people to kill Chen Bao? In addition, where did the silver that was missing from Chen Bao's family wealth go? Doesn't this prove the problem?"

"This..." Zheng Zhibao was stunned and thought for a moment. No one knew what he was thinking about, but his face gradually became ferocious.

"What a Hong Xu! What a Gan Hui! I treat them as brothers, but they actually do such treacherous things behind my back? Bastards! Damn it!"

Seeing Zheng Zhibao's reaction, Zheng Zhilong hurriedly asked what happened. Zheng Zhibao told Zheng Zhilong that they had been delayed for a day before going to Nan'ao. At that time, Hong Xu delayed because his subordinates were too urgent to dispatch. After arriving in Nan'ao, they found that Chen Bao had already escaped. Zheng Zhibao decided to lead people to kill him. Gan Hui once opposed this approach, saying that Chen Bao was not only an old man of the Zheng Group, but also an official appointed by the court. Zheng Zhibao's actions might cause trouble. He suggested that Zheng Zhibao report the situation to Zheng Zhilong first, ask about the follow-up arrangements before making a decision, and don't act rashly.

This suggestion was rejected by Zheng Zhibao, because Zheng Zhibao knew that if he asked Zheng Zhilong back and forth, Chen Bao would have already run away without a trace. So Zheng Zhibao decisively ordered to send people to kill Chen Bao, which caused dissatisfaction among Hong Xu and Gan Hui. In the subsequent operation to kill Chen Bao, Hong Xu and Gan Hui did not play any role, and basically worked without effort. On the contrary, Zheng Zhibao was lucky to learn of Chen Bao's whereabouts, set up an ambush in advance, and finally killed Chen Bao halfway.

At that time, Zheng Zhibao did not think much about it, let alone think deeply about it. Now, when he thinks about it again, he finds a lot of strange things. Coupled with Zheng Zhiwan's reminder, Zheng Zhibao's anger rose. He was sure that the people who tipped off Chen Bao were the two bastards Hong Xu and Gan Hui, and the reason was nothing more than other. First, they had a close relationship with Chen Bao and were friends. Second, it was probably because of the gold and silver. The amount of Chen Bao's wealth was much less than expected. Where did the gold and silver go? If it was given to Hong Xu and Gan Hui as a reward in exchange for a chance to escape, then it would make sense.

Not only Zheng Zhibao, but even Zheng Zhilong also judged that the problem must be caused by Hong Xu and Gan Hui. If it weren't for them, how could the development of this matter be so coincidental? Moreover, this series of problems connected together just proved their previous speculation. When Zheng Zhilong thought of what Hong Xu and Gan Hui had done, his teeth itched in his heart.

"Back then, I kept the two of them because of our sworn brotherhood. I haven't treated them badly over the years. I didn't expect that they would turn out to be ungrateful wolves? Haha, haha..." Zheng Zhilong sneered with murderous intent flashing in his eyes. At this moment, he was more angry with Hong Xu and Gan Hui than with the dead Chen Bao.

After all, Chen Bao was just greedy and embezzled his money privately. But Hong Xu and Gan Hui betrayed him completely, which is a completely different concept. Moreover, Zheng Zhilong is facing great external pressure at the moment. As the two governors-general of Guangdong and Guangxi and Fujian and Zhejiang are questioning Chen Bao, he must settle the officialdom problems as soon as possible. Once this matter becomes a big deal, it will be difficult to cover it up when the court sends people to investigate. If Hong Xu and Gan Hui reveal the truth privately, Zheng Zhilong will have no way to explain.

"Kill! Kill them to eliminate future troubles!" This thought flashed through Zheng Zhilong's mind instantly. As the former overlord of the sea, Zheng Zhilong has never been a good man. Countless sworn brothers have died at his hands. Anyone who causes harm to him or stands in his way will definitely be dealt with ruthlessly by Zheng Zhilong.

Hong Xu and Gan Hui are not the first, and they will never be the last. Since their problems have been judged, there is no need to keep them. Only the dead can keep secrets, and only the dead will not speak. As long as these two people are dealt with, Chen Bao's death can be attributed to Hong Xu and Gan Hui. Then not only can these two troubles be dealt with, but also a legitimate reason can be given.

(End of this chapter)