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

Chapter 1084 Uneasiness
After boarding the ship, the other party realized that the ships they intercepted were actually the ships of the Ming Dynasty's diplomatic mission to Europe.

The leading official did not dare to be negligent at all, and after meeting Wang Fuzhi and Zheng Hongkui and checking the identification they carried, he was extremely respectful.

"Please wait a moment, my two lords." The other party hurriedly stepped forward to salute, and then explained to his companions on the boat. Soon someone raised a flag towards the Ming warship. After some communication, the Ming warship changed from a alert posture to normal sailing, released the channel in front, and then one of the ships turned around and slowly headed towards the Ming Dynasty.

After doing all this, the other party explained to Wang Fuzhi and others that the subsequent voyage would be led by this warship to the port of Ming Dynasty. Of course, this was because of the different identity of the fleet Wang Fuzhi was in. If it was just an ordinary foreign ship, it would generally only require registration and leaving one or two navigators to cooperate. But now this is a ship of the Ming Dynasty delegation, so naturally the treatment is different.

Wang Fuzhi nodded, turned around and explained something to the captain and others behind him. After the captain understood, he gave orders to the other ships, and the entire fleet continued to set sail following the Ming warship.

When the sea ships continued to move towards the Ming Dynasty under the leadership of the warships, Zheng Hongkui, who had been silent all the time, couldn't help but waved and called the other party over and asked.

"I remember that this sea area was originally under the responsibility of the Fujian Navy? What's the matter with your Nanyang Navy?" Zheng Hongkui asked directly.

When they met just now, the other party had already figured out the identities of Wang Fuzhi and Zheng Hongkui. Wang Fuzhi was fine, but Zheng Hongkui was very famous. Although this official was only a small official of the ninth rank, he had also heard of his name.

Hearing Zheng Hongkui's question, the official quickly smiled and said, "In reply to General Zheng, the Nanyang Navy is a new naval office established by the court, which is in charge of the southeastern waters of our Ming Dynasty. The Fujian Navy that the general just mentioned currently belongs to the Nanyang Navy."

Zheng Hongkui frowned slightly and asked, "Since the southeastern sea area is under the jurisdiction of the Nanyang Navy, what about the northeastern and northern sea areas? How did the court deal with the Shandong Navy before?"

"The northern waters belong to the Beiyang Navy. Like the Fujian Navy, the previous Shandong Navy is now the Beiyang Navy. The two navies, one in the south and one in the north, echo each other."

"So who is commanding the two navies now? The admiral of the Beiyang Navy you mentioned is Li You, the former admiral of the Shandong Navy? Is the admiral of the Nanyang Navy General Zheng Zhilong?"

The other party hesitated for a moment before saying, "In reply to General Zheng, the admiral of the Beiyang Navy is indeed General Li Youli, but the admiral of the Nanyang Navy is currently General Zheng Zhiguan."

"Zheng Zhiwan? Zheng Laosi?" Zheng Hongkui was stunned. Of course he knew Zheng Zhiwan. Not only did he know him, but he was also very familiar with him. He was his cousin, and they were both members of the Eighteen Zhi who followed Zheng Zhilong. But the problem was that Zheng Zhiwan was not a core figure in the Zheng Group. Zheng Zhilong, as the leader of the Eighteen Zhi, was naturally the strongest, and his right-hand men were the two brothers Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao.

The three brothers Long, Hu and Bao have the same father and mother. They are real brothers. Moreover, Zheng Zhihu and Zheng Zhibao are both ruthless men who dare to fight and fight. The reason why Zheng Zhilong was able to create such a great foundation is because of the help of these two brothers.

Unfortunately, Zheng Zhihu died in the battle with Liu Xiang, which made Zheng Zhilong extremely sad. After Zheng Zhihu's death, Zheng Zhibao became the only person he trusted the most, apart from them, the Zheng family members.

But even so, Zheng Zhilong used his own clansmen in a way that was both useful and defensive. The reason why Zheng Hongkui went north to Beijing was, on the one hand, because Xu Xiancheng persuaded him through a letter from his good friend, and on the other hand, because of his awkward situation in the Zheng group.

Although he was an 18-year-old man and a cousin of Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Hongkui did not have a good life in the Zheng Group. With his identity and status, he could have had a better future, but Zheng Zhilong deliberately suppressed him after granting him an official position in the court. As his cousin, Zheng Hongkui only had a position of a centurion.

Faced with this situation, Zheng Hongkui was extremely dissatisfied with Zheng Zhilong, but he could do nothing about it. It happened that Xu Xiancheng sent him a letter through his good friend at that time, and learned that the court was in need of people and hoped that he could go north to Beijing to take up a post in Shandong. Zheng Hongkui then gritted his teeth and made the decision to leave Zheng Zhilong.

From this point of view, Zheng Hongkui's choice was right. He met the emperor soon after entering Beijing, and the emperor was quite impressed with him after talking with him. Not only did he promote his official position, but he also asked him to go to Shandong with Li You to form a navy and prepare for war. After that, they crossed the sea to the north. In Liaodong, the two of them joined forces to make earth-shaking changes, making Huang Taiji miserable at the time, thus rescuing Jinzhou and making great contributions.

After that, Zheng Hongkui was promoted step by step, and his official position became higher and higher. He eventually became the admiral of the Shandong Navy. Not only did he get the official position he had always dreamed of, but he was also later conferred the title of Viscount for his military merits. Before his mission to Europe, the emperor specially promoted his title from Viscount to Earl, and also added an official position, which made Zheng Hongkui even more proud. He often thought that if he had not gone north to Beijing that year, he would probably never have achieved this in his life.

Li You was the admiral of the Beiyang Navy. Zheng Hongkui was not surprised by this. After all, before he went on the mission, the emperor had told him that the Shandong Navy would be temporarily handed over to Li You for command. Li You was his old partner. The two had fought side by side many times and had a deep friendship. Zheng Hongkui was relieved to hand over the navy to him.

Now the Shandong Navy has been changed to the Beiyang Navy, and the admiral has not changed and is still Li You, which is not a problem. But the strange thing is why the admiral of the Nanyang Navy is not Zheng Zhilong but Zheng Zhiguan? Zheng Zhiguan, like Zheng Hongkui, is Zheng Zhilong's confidant on the surface, but in fact his position in the Zheng Group is very awkward. Even if the admiral is not Zheng Zhilong, it should be Zheng Zhibao. Why is it Zheng Zhiguan Zheng Laosi? With a frown, Zheng Hongkui directly asked the other party where Zheng Zhilong is now? Where is Zheng Zhibao? Why is the admiral Zheng Zhiguan?

Listening to Zheng Hongkui's question, the official looked embarrassed. He could only bite the bullet and tell Zheng Hongkui that Zheng Zhilong had been summoned to the capital before the establishment of the Nanyang Navy and was currently living in the capital. Zheng Zhibao also went to the capital at that time. As for their current positions and specific circumstances, he was not very clear because of his low position.

This answer made Zheng Hongkui frown even deeper, and he vaguely sensed something was wrong. But no matter how much he asked, the other party would evade the question, saying that his position was too low and he was transferred after the Nanyang Navy was established, so he had no idea about the previous events. If Zheng Hongkui wanted to know, he would have to wait until he went to Daming to ask his superiors, and he really had no way to answer.

With a wave of his hand, Zheng Hongkui asked the other party to leave, and the official was relieved and hurriedly said goodbye and left. After the man left, Zheng Hongkui stood on the deck for a while, turned around and went to his cabin.

Shortly after I returned, there was a knock on the door.

When I opened the door, I saw Wang Fuzhi standing there.

"What? Don't you want to invite me in to sit down?" Wang Fuzhi asked with a smile. Zheng Hongkui stepped aside to make way for Wang Fuzhi to come in and talk.

The cabin was not big. After all, the conditions at sea were limited. Even someone of Zheng Hongkui's status could not have the same conveniences as on land. It was just that his cabin, like Wang Fuzhi's, was one of the best on the ship.

The cabin was just the size of an ordinary house, with a total area of ​​only about ten square meters. Wang Fuzhi did not hesitate to enter the cabin and sat down on a chair beside the table. He glanced at the table, reached out to pick up the teapot, and poured himself a cup of tea.

"Brother Rijian, are you worried about something?" Wang Fuzhi didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.

Zheng Hongkui smiled bitterly: "Brother Nong, you have seen it all, right? Why are you asking me?"

Wang Fuzhi reached out and gently patted Zheng Hongkui's left arm, and said sternly: "Brother Rijian's concern is what I just asked, right? Is it because of Brother Zheng Zhilong?"

Zheng Hongkui nodded silently. He was not a fool. He had gone on a diplomatic mission to Europe, but when he came back, the Fujian Navy was gone. Moreover, the brothers Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhibao left Fujian for the capital. The so-called admiral of the Nanyang Navy actually fell on Zheng Zhiwan's head. If Zheng Hongkui still didn't understand what had happened after such a big change, all these years would have been in vain.

Then he thought about the fact that his Shandong Navy had been changed into the Beiyang Navy. Although Li You was still the admiral, what did it mean to him? Could it be that Zheng Hongkui didn't realize it?

Although he had not gotten along well with Zheng Zhilong before, and was even more angry at Zheng Zhilong's mistreatment of him, he was, after all, Zheng Zhilong's cousin and a former core figure of the Zheng Group.

At present, the imperial court changed the Shandong Navy into the Beiyang Navy, and the Fujian Navy into the Nanyang Navy, and sent Zheng Zhilong and his brothers to the capital. This is obviously to completely dismantle the previous Zheng Group, so as to truly control the previous two major navies, which are now the North and South navies.

In addition, the emperor had sent him to Europe as an envoy, and he had been away for three years. When he came back, he had seen such a big change. Zheng Hongkui immediately understood the emperor's real intention. In a short period of time, Zheng Hongkui, who was unprepared, was greatly shocked. In addition to his speculations, how could Zheng Hongkui have the high spirits he had when he returned to the Ming Dynasty? He could not suppress his uneasiness, and he felt deeply uneasy.

Zheng Hongkui had always believed that he was trusted by the emperor, and this mission to Europe was a great responsibility. But the truth was not what he imagined. Judging from the current situation, the emperor was probably ready to take action against Zheng's group when he was sent to Europe. He was sent to Europe because he was worried that Zheng Zhilong controlled the Shandong Navy in Ming Dynasty. Once there was a change in Fujian, the emperor would take action against Zheng Zhilong. He was just afraid that he would make some unusual moves in Shandong.

After all, Shandong is not far from the capital, and the two strongest and most capable navies in the north and south are in the hands of the Zheng family, so the emperor is naturally wary of them. Send Zheng Hongkui to Europe and let Li You take over as the admiral of the Shandong navy. In this way, the problem of the Shandong navy can be solved first.

Then, it would be much easier to deal with Zheng Zhilong by attacking the Fujian Navy. From the current point of view, the emperor and the court probably did this, and the result was successful. Since Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhibao went to the capital, the so-called admiral of the Nanyang Navy became Zheng Zhiwan. It seems that the Zheng group has been completely disintegrated and the court has succeeded.

In this situation, Zheng Hongkui naturally felt a sense of grief for the loss of his loved ones. Moreover, considering what kind of consequences he would face when he returned to the Ming Dynasty, how could Zheng Hongkui feel at ease?
(End of this chapter)