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

Chapter 1051: Northern and Southern Navy
Hong Xu and Gan Hui, who had escaped by chance, wanted to skin Zheng Zhilong alive. How could they continue to be loyal? Others were also very dissatisfied with Zheng Zhilong's actions. In this way, the Zheng family group was completely divided. In addition, Hong Chengchou did not make any involvement in the aftermath work, and even appeased everyone in the name of the governor. As a result, no one was willing to rebel against the court for Zheng Zhilong's sake.

The same was true even within the Zheng family group. Hong Chengchou took advantage of the situation and let Zheng Zhiguan take over the Fujian Navy in the name of the Governor-General of Fujian and Zhejiang. Although he was only in charge temporarily in name, in fact Zheng Zhiguan replaced Zheng Zhilong as the head of the Fujian Navy.

In addition, Zheng Zhiguan also won over Zheng Lian, Zheng Cai and others and made promises to them. For their own interests, Zheng Lian and Zheng Cai, as members of the Zheng family, also recognized the facts and directly abandoned the brothers Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhibao, and turned to support Zheng Zhiguan and jointly control the Fujian Navy.

Although Zheng Zhiguan's calculations were good, unfortunately he did not expect that Hong Chengchou had never thought of letting Zheng Zhiguan completely replace Zheng Zhilong from the beginning. The main reason for solving Zheng Zhilong's problem was the influence of the Zheng Group and its powerful navy and army, plus Zheng Zhilong's hypocrisy towards the court and his self-reliance. If it was just to replace someone else, it would only be a temporary solution. If that happened, not only Hong Chengchou was unwilling, but even Zhu Shenzhui would definitely not want to see this result.

Hong Chengchou was a shrewd man, so how could he not understand the emperor's true intentions? Now that he had taken action, he had to completely eliminate the subsequent hidden dangers.

On the surface, Zheng Zhiguan replaced Zheng Zhilong, but in fact, under the current circumstances, Zheng Zhiguan could not become the second Zheng Zhilong.

Because of Zheng Zhilong, the Zheng Group has actually split up. Not only did those Zheng outsiders defect to the court at the instruction of Hong Chengchou to draw a clear line with Zheng Zhilong, but the same was true for the Zheng family members. For example, Zheng Lian and Zheng Cai, who were won over by Zheng Zhiguan, were they willing to obey Zheng Zhiguan's orders? It's impossible! We are all family members, no one is stronger than anyone else, and each of us has a certain amount of military power. Why can you be the boss and we can't? The superficial cooperation is only temporary, and internal fighting is inevitable. Even if Zheng Zhiguan really becomes the admiral of the Fujian Navy in the future, he can't control the entire Zheng Group as firmly as Zheng Zhilong.

There is another key, that is Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhibao. After the church incident failed, the two were controlled by Hong Chengchou. Hong Chengchou did not put them in prison, but placed them under house arrest in Zheng Zhilong's mansion. Even their families were properly settled and nothing happened.

Although he lost his freedom, his treatment was not bad. Hong Chengchou later went to see Zheng Zhilong in person and had a long talk with him behind closed doors.

Outsiders did not know what Hong Chengchou and Zheng Zhilong talked about, but after this conversation, Zheng Zhilong changed from resistance at the beginning to cooperation. Not only did he confess some other hidden forces within the Zheng Group and transfer them to Hong Chengchou, he also made a public statement in his own name and submitted a letter of apology to the court, saying that the reason he did such a wrong thing was entirely because of Zheng Zhibao's instigation. Now he regretted it deeply and knew that he had made an irreversible mistake. For this reason, he wrote to the court, asked to resign, and reflect on his mistakes behind closed doors in order to seek forgiveness from the court.

In the end, Zhu Shenzui agreed with Hong Chengchou's suggestion and dismissed Zheng Zhilong from his post as the admiral of the Fujian Navy on the charge of Chen Bao's death. However, considering that Zheng Zhilong was deceived by a villain and was not the mastermind, his rank and title of General Longhu were still retained. He ordered the Governor-General's Office of Fujian and Zhejiang to send him to Beijing, where he would choose a place to live in the capital to reflect on his mistakes.

As for Zheng Zhibao, it was not so easy. As the "mastermind", Zheng Zhibao's fate was not like Zheng Zhilong's. Not only did he lose all his positions and military ranks, he was also sentenced to "beheading with reprieve" for the crimes of plotting to murder an imperial official and killing a minister without authorization. He was escorted to the imperial prison in the capital for custody.

Whether Zheng Zhibao will be killed or exiled in the future depends on the situation in Fujian.

As the dust settled on the matter of the brothers Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhibao, the power of the Zheng Group fell apart, and the powerful factions within it each acted on their own. Hong Chengchou had the opportunity to take direct action against them, slowly dividing them up, and eventually, under the will of the court, using various means such as adding sand in the sand, transfers, and reorganizations to gradually dismantle the power of the Zheng Group. By that time, the huge Zheng Group had disappeared and was no longer a threat.

The problem of Zheng Zhilong was finally solved, which made Zhu Shenzhu feel relieved. After solving this problem, there was no hidden danger in the southeast, and Hong Chengchou could preside over the subsequent expedition against the Dutch in Xiaoliuqiu as the Governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, thus recovering the place.

The fundamental reason why the Dutch were able to occupy Xiaoliuqiu, build cities on the island, and enslave the residents on the island was Zheng Zhilong's deliberate indulgence. You must know that with Zheng Zhilong's strength, Xiaoliuqiu was right under his nose and only a stone's throw away from Xiamen. Without his permission, the Dutch could not have done this no matter how strong they were.

And this is indeed the case. A few years ago, Zhu Shenzhui asked the Governor of Fujian and Zheng Zhilong to find a way to attack Xiaoliuqiu as soon as possible and expel the Dutch from the island by force. But Zheng Zhilong has been pretending to obey and not working hard, which has led to the Dutch still occupying Xiaoliuqiu. Their power has not only not weakened, but has become stronger and stronger. Now that Zheng Zhilong has been resolved and the Fujian Navy has been initially controlled, the issue of Xiaoliuqiu must be resolved. Only by expelling the Dutch, or even completely wiping them out, can Xiaoliuqiu be recovered by the court. Moreover, the geographical location of Xiaoliuqiu is extremely important. This place curbs the important place in the South China Sea of ​​the Ming Dynasty and is an important sea route for communication between the north and the south.

If Xiaoliuqiu continued to be in the hands of the Dutch, then this thorn would have firmly blocked the Ming Dynasty's important sea routes, which would have been extremely detrimental to the Ming Dynasty's control over the surrounding waters.

Zhu Shenzui had already given Hong Chengchou an order to plan a military operation to attack Xiaoliuqiu as soon as possible with the Fujian Navy as the base to expel the Dutch from the island. In addition, regarding Zheng Zhilong's previous actions in the South China Sea, that is, the action of collecting maritime tolls by controlling the South China Sea, Zhu Shenzui secretly sent someone to bring a message to Hong Chengchou, asking him to take over the matter directly and let the Jinyiwei cooperate to continue collecting maritime fees to ensure the stability of this source of income.

The Ming Dynasty had too many places to spend money. Although the Ming Dynasty's finances had gradually improved, the court was still tight on money. Since Zheng Zhilong made huge profits every year by controlling the South China Sea, this part of the financial source was not a small amount and he must not give it up.

It is precisely because of this huge source of wealth that Zheng Zhilong can afford to maintain so many ships and so many soldiers. If this source of funds is cut off, then all military expenses of the Fujian Navy and Army will have to be borne by the court. Given the court's current financial situation, even if it can come up with so much silver, it will inevitably affect other things.

Therefore, regardless of the pros and cons of this matter, it is most appropriate to continue to maintain Zheng Zhilong's approach. First solve the problem of financial resources, stabilize the various factions within the Fujian Navy, and then slowly make changes in the future. Or in the future, a special customs office will be established to formally replace Zheng Zhilong's previous private behavior with the customs. However, this is a matter for the future. At present, it is the safest and most convenient to continue in the original way.

The Fujian issue has basically come to an end, and Zheng Zhilong has completely withdrawn from the Ming Dynasty political stage because of this incident. The once powerful Zheng Group will gradually be split up under Hong Chengchou in the following days, and eventually transformed from private armed forces into a real court army.

According to Zhu Shenzhui's plan, the navy of the Ming Dynasty will be an important military force in addition to the army. He will build a real navy based on the Shandong Navy and the Fujian Navy. The Ming Dynasty has a vast territory and a long coastline. The future of the Ming Dynasty lies not on land but on the ocean. In this regard, Western countries have already walked ahead of the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty does not catch up, it will be too late. There is still a chance now, and Zhu Shenzhui will never give up this opportunity.

As for the navy, it is already in Zhu Shenzhu's plan. In the future, the central government will set up a navy department to lead the construction and subsequent development of the navy. The level of this department will be equal to that of the Five Military Commandery. In the future, the navy and the army will be an important part of the military power of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, Zhu Shenzhu has also named the navy. The northern navy formed on the basis of the Shandong Navy can be called the "Beiyang Navy" in the future, and the southern navy formed on the basis of the Fujian Navy can be called the "Nanyang Navy". When these two navies are officially built, it will be the time for the Ming Dynasty to expand outward and return to the ocean.

According to Zhu Shenzhu's plan, the construction of the Beiyang Navy had already begun, but the name had not been changed yet. The Nanyang Navy would be a little later, after all, the problem of Zheng Zhilong had just been solved, the integration of the Fujian Navy had not been completed, and the military action against the Dutch in Xiaoliuqiu was also being prepared. After the recovery of Xiaoliuqiu, the court would start to reorganize the Fujian Navy and then transform the navy into a real Nanyang Navy.

Although there were some twists and turns in solving the Zheng Zhilong problem, it was eventually completed smoothly. Just when Hong Chengchou had begun to integrate the various units of the Fujian Navy and plan military operations against Xiaoliuqiu, Zheng Hongkui, who was far away in Europe, knew nothing about it.

Zheng Hongkui, as the deputy envoy of the Ming Dynasty's mission to Europe, had arrived in Europe for more than half a year. After landing in Portugal, the group stayed in Lisbon for some days, and then set off from Portugal to Spain, then crossed the Spanish territory and entered the Kingdom of France from the northeast, and then went east from France into the German region and then arrived in Poland.

This journey was not an easy one. When he was in Portugal, John IV had reminded Wang Fuzhi that due to the European War, the Catholic League, which was mainly composed of the Habsburg dynasty, the Holy See and the German Catholic member states, and the Protestant League were incompatible, and a war that lasted for nearly 30 years broke out.

Although the war had come to an end, both sides were exhausted and had difficulty in sustaining it. In addition, with the great changes in Britain, Charles I was sent to the guillotine, the British regime was controlled by Cromwell, who called himself "Lord Protector", and Charles I's successor, Charles II, went into exile. Britain withdrew from this war that affected the whole of Europe ahead of schedule, which broke the balance between the two sides.

(End of this chapter)