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

Chapter 1073: Establishing a Mansion
Compared with Zheng Chenggong's "bad battle", Shi Daxuan fought much more easily under Hong Chengchou's planning. The war in Xiaoliuqiu was completely over in just about a month. When Kallon and others were on their way back to Batavia, they met the reinforcements from Batavia to Xiaoliuqiu. After learning that Xiaoliuqiu had been defeated and all the Dutch had been expelled from the Ming Dynasty, the commander of the reinforcements was shocked and helpless.

Since the war is over, there is no need for them to go to Xiaoliuqiu anymore. Do they have to travel thousands of miles to fight a naval battle with the Ming army?
Moreover, they also learned from Kallon and others how powerful the Ming army attacking Xiaoliuqiu was. Although the commander of the reinforcements brought ten warships, he was not sure that he could defeat the Ming fleet at sea, let alone land in Xiaoliuqiu and fight against the Ming army to recapture Fort Zeelandia and Fort Antony.

That's why the reinforcements, which had set out from Batavia a few days ago, joined up with Caron's warships and turned towards Luzon. As for how the parliament would react and how it would deal with the situation when it returned to Batavia, that was none of his business.

The news that the Ming Dynasty had recovered Xiaoliuqiu and expelled the Dutch soon reached the capital. After receiving the news, Zhu Shenzui smiled happily and ordered the cabinet to announce the matter to the public and commend the meritorious officials.

This must be done. To the officials of the Ming Dynasty, Xiaoliuqiu was nothing at all. It was just an isolated island in the sea. Some people had never even heard of its name.

The Ming Dynasty was a vast country with abundant resources. How could this gentleman be interested in such a foreign land? Even though there were many Ming people living on Xiaoliuqiu, and China had exchanges with Xiaoliuqiu as early as the Eastern Han Dynasty, and the exchanges had not been cut off for thousands of years, they were limited to Fujian. For the entire country, Xiaoliuqiu was not officially included in the territory.

However, in later generations, the importance of Xiaoliuqiu is self-evident, and Zheng Chenggong can be said to have only done this one great thing in his life, but he has been praised by later generations and hailed as a "national hero". Zhu Shenzhu did a much better job than Zheng Chenggong in this matter. He not only solved the problem of Xiaoliuqiu neatly, but also directly eliminated the hidden dangers of Zheng Zhilong's group.

Under such circumstances, how could Zhu Shenzhui not write about him in great detail, brag about himself and leave a significant mark in history books?

Zhu Shenzhui was very concerned about his posthumous reputation, and his ascension to the throne was not traditionally orthodox. Like Zhu Di, he ascended the throne through military means. Although Zhu Shenzhui's purpose was to save the Ming Dynasty, it is hard to say how future generations will evaluate this step.

But now that Xiaoliuqiu has been recovered, and the Liaodong issue has been completely resolved in the future, even if there is such a stain, most of the evaluations of him by future generations will be positive. Zhu Shenzhu knew this and deliberately promoted the publicity of this matter, considering the future.

As a meritorious official, Hong Chengchou had already held a high position, and as a civil servant, he had no idea about the title. According to the tradition of the Ming Dynasty, once a civil servant was given a title, it was equivalent to cutting off his official career, which can be reflected in the title of Wang Yangming.

Hong Chengchou is currently planning to join the cabinet as the chief minister. If he is given a title, it will definitely not be a good thing for him. So after repeated consideration, Zhu Shenzhu can only think of a way to promote him. Hong Chengchou is now the governor of Fujian and Zhejiang, the minister of the Ministry of War and the deputy censor-in-chief, and the prince's grand tutor and Guanglu doctor. He is already the highest official in the country. Since he has made such a great contribution, he will be promoted from the third master to the third duke, and Hong Chengchou will be promoted directly to the grand tutor as a reward.

As for Shi Daxuan and others, Shi Daxuan, as the chief general, was awarded the title of second-class viscount, and then promoted to the rank of General of the State, and was appointed the deputy general of Penghu. Shi Lang, Hong Xu, and Gan Hui were all rewarded, and were all awarded the title of first-class baron. In addition, the other officers at all levels were also rewarded. Those with good luck were promoted, and those with average luck also received other rewards.

After doing all this, Zhu Shenzhui took the opportunity to split up the Fujian Navy of the Zheng Group, leaving part of it stationed in Penghu and Xiaoliuqiu under the command of Shi Daxuan and his son, and reorganizing the navy and the army as the garrison of Xiaoliuqiu. The original Fujian Navy was reorganized into the Nanyang Navy, and Zheng Zhiguan was still the admiral for the time being. At the same time, many of the generals were transferred, and more than a dozen people were directly transferred from the Nanyang Navy to the Beiyang Navy, and some were transferred from the Beiyang Navy to the Nanyang Navy. As for Hong Chengchou, he also mixed some sand in it and firmly controlled the control of this army, which further weakened the influence of the Zheng family members in it.

In addition, Zhu Shenzui also considered the future resettlement of Xiaoliuqiu. He decided to take this opportunity to formally bring Xiaoliuqiu under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, set up government offices in Xiaoliuqiu, and exercise effective rule.

In this case, it is no longer appropriate to call it Xiaoliuqiu, and it is equally inappropriate to use the ancient Yizhou or Dongfan. These names do not sound like they belong to China, but instead separate it from the Ming Dynasty. So after much thought, Zhu Shenzhu finally chose another name for Xiaoliuqiu, Taiwan, in accordance with the name of later generations. After the name is determined, the specific implementation of the rule must be considered. The court will then set up a prefecture in Taiwan. After the establishment of the prefecture in Taiwan, three counties will be set up under the Taiwan prefecture. These three counties are Taiwan, Fengshan, and Zhuluo. This is the same as the administrative division of Taiwan after the Qing Dynasty recovered Taiwan in history.

It’s not that Zhu Shenzui didn’t consider setting up a province directly in Taiwan, and setting up two prefectures and more counties under it, but the Taiwan today is simply not the Taiwan of later generations. The population of the entire Taiwan island is not large. There are only about 50,000 Ming people in Taiwan. In addition to the Ming people who live on the island and make a living by farming, fishing and hunting, there are nearly 60,000 local savages. The total population is only a little over 110,000.

Such a small population is more than that of a large county in the Ming Dynasty. Except for the southern region of Taiwan which is still okay, and the Dutch built Fort Zeelandia and Fort Anthony during the rule as strongholds and cultivated and managed the surrounding areas, most of the rest of the place is sparsely populated or even wild and uninhabited.

Given this actual situation, it would be a stretch to even set up a state, let alone a prefecture. The reason for setting up a prefecture was also due to the subsequent opening up of Taiwan. Only when Taiwan entered the stage of large-scale development, the effective ruling area of ​​Taiwan continued to expand, and the population reached a certain number, would the court gradually consider upgrading it.

After the establishment of Taiwan Prefecture, the administration will be under the jurisdiction of Fujian Province in the future, but due to the special geographical location and actual situation of Taiwan Prefecture, it will also be under the dual jurisdiction of the central government. In the future, the Ming Dynasty will gradually move from land to sea. As the largest island in the Ming Dynasty, Taiwan occupies an important geographical location in the South China Sea, and its importance is self-evident.

In addition, when setting up garrisons in Taiwan, the imperial court would also take into account Taiwan's military, economic, trade and other factors, and strengthen policy support and effective management of Taiwan. But no matter what was done, the prerequisite was to have a reliable and capable minister to govern Taiwan. Zhu Shenzhu was a little confused about this, and for a while he didn't know who to let be the prefect.

It's not that Zhu Shenzhui has no one under his command. As the emperor of the great Ming Empire, Zhu Shenzhui has the largest and most elite group of civil servants in the world. It is not difficult to select a mere prefect. As long as he tells the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel about this, they will definitely select the appropriate official.

But Taiwan is not an ordinary prefecture. Taiwan today can be said to be a barren land. Even after the establishment of the prefecture, Taiwan will have to go through at least decades and hundreds of years of continuous immigration and gradual development before Taiwan can gradually develop. Moreover, Taiwan still has the problem of outsiders and local aborigines. Just like the southwest region, these contradictions are inevitable. In addition, the prefect of Taiwan must not only manage civil affairs, but also know the military. You must know that Taiwan is isolated overseas. The court has specially set up a garrison on the island. In the later stage, a deputy general will be responsible for military affairs. However, in terms of military and political affairs, due to the inconvenience of the road, once an emergency occurs, Taiwan needs to respond quickly and it is impossible to take action through the Fujian and Zhejiang Governor's Office or even the court's reply. Therefore, the prefect of Taiwan must know the military. Not only must he be a good prefect, but he must also assume the authority of Taiwan's military preparation.

As a result, there were not many suitable people. In addition, Taiwan was not a good place. The capable officials did not want to go there, and Zhu Shenzhui looked down on the ordinary officials. In addition, there were some people who were suitable, but their official positions were too high, and sending them to Taiwan to be a prefect was a waste of talent.

A few days later, Zhu Shenzhui was very disappointed after reading the list of candidates for the Taiwan prefect recommended by the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel, including their resumes. Although among these people there were officials with excellent knowledge, honest officials with a good reputation, and some young people in their prime and with ambitions, they were all unsuitable for this position for one reason or another.

In order to determine the candidate for the prefect of Taiwan, Zhu Shenzhu ordered to expand the scope of candidates and told the cabinet and the Ministry of Personnel to relax the conditions appropriately. Even candidates with lower official ranks could be considered as long as they met the conditions. Under this circumstance, several people stood out and were favored by Zhu Shenzhu, but in the subsequent investigation, it was found that their abilities were still slightly insufficient. They were more than enough to be the county magistrate of Taiwan, or even the co-magistrate of Taiwan, but they were still a little short of the qualifications and abilities to be the prefect.

At this time, Sun Chuanting, who was far away in Xi'an, got the news from somewhere and recommended a person to Zhu Shenzhui when he submitted a memorial to him. This person was Du Yinxi, the current governor of Shaanxi Province. Zhu Shenzhui did not know this person and had never met him. After reading the memorial, he thought about it and asked someone to go to the Ministry of Personnel to get Du Yinxi's file. Who would have thought that after getting the file and reading it carefully, Zhu Shenzhui instantly became very interested in Du Yinxi and decided to ask him to come to the capital to meet this person in person.

(End of this chapter)