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

Chapter 1092 How to employ people
"Okay, get up." Hearing Zheng Hongkui's answer, Zhu Shenzhui smiled and raised his hand to let him get up. Zheng Hongkui got up from the ground and stood aside, not sitting down, waiting for the emperor to continue his lecture.

Zhu Shenzhu thought for a moment and said, "Zheng Zhilong's title of Jinwu General has been abolished. Since you have made great contributions in your mission, I will promote you to Jinwu General from Huqi General. As for the title of nobility, I will not reward you with any more. After all, I have already given you the title of Earl before your mission. It would be inappropriate to promote you to a higher title this time."

Hearing this, Zheng Hongkui suddenly raised his head with an incredible expression. He originally thought that he would be neither rewarded nor punished at most, after all, Zheng Zhilong had done such a big thing, and as his cousin, it was good enough that he was not implicated. However, he did not expect that the emperor would actually promote his military rank, directly from General of the Cavalry to General of the Imperial Guards.

Although this step was only a one-level advancement, it was completely different for military commanders. There were very few Jinwu generals in the entire Ming Dynasty. Before, only Wang Jinwu, Zhou Anmin, Wu Xiang, Hei Yunlong, Qin Liangyu, Zheng Zhilong and three other veteran nobles had this rank.

Among these people, three old nobles were just honorary titles, and although they had the title of Jinwu General, they had no real power. As for Qin Liangyu, she was a woman and old, and this was a gift from the court, so her reputation was greater than her reality. As for Wu Xiang, he had been transferred to the right chief councilor of the General Council Office. Although the power of the General Council Office was not small, it did not hold actual military power, and the left chief councilor was Wang Jinwu, so Wu Xiang was just the second in command.

Zhou Anmin's Jinwu General was also just a military rank and did not directly control the army. Although he once controlled the Jinyiwei, he had long since left the Jinyiwei and was currently serving in the General Senate. Therefore, the only three people who truly controlled the army and had such a rank were Wang Jinwu, Hei Yunlong and Zheng Zhilong.

Now Zheng Zhilong was dismissed from his post because of an incident. Although he retained his title, he lost his military position. Naturally, his previous rank of Jinwu General was also reduced. Now the emperor directly promoted Zheng Hongkui from General of the Cavalry to General of the Jinwu, which was equivalent to replacing Zheng Zhilong in terms of military rank. How could Zheng Hongkui not be surprised and happy?
Zheng Hongkui hurriedly thanked him, but before he could kneel down again, Zhu Shenzhui told him that the Nanyang and Beiyang navies had been reorganized, and Zheng Hongkui should return to the Beiyang navy to continue serving as admiral. However, Li You was doing a good job in this position, and it would be unreasonable to remove Li You to replace Zheng Hongkui.

As for the Nanyang Navy, it is even less likely that Zheng Hongkui will go there. After all, the Nanyang Navy was originally the Fujian Navy, and there are still many of Zheng Zhilong's former subordinates in the Nanyang Navy. The imperial court will gradually adjust the structure of the Nanyang Navy in the next few years, slowly and thoroughly disintegrate Zheng Zhilong's remaining influence in the army, and eventually transform the entire navy into a real navy for the imperial court.

After all, Zheng Hongkui was a member of the Zheng family and a cousin of Zheng Zhilong. It would be difficult to arrange for him to serve in the Nanyang Navy. If he was made admiral, what would happen to Zheng Zhiwan and others? If he was made Zheng Zhiwan's deputy, it would be too unfair to Zheng Hongkui.

Besides, Zhu Shenzhu originally wanted Zheng Hongkui to cut ties with the Zheng Group, and it was even more impossible for him to wade into this muddy water. So he wanted to ask Zheng Hongkui about his own ideas and whether there was any place he wanted to go. As long as it was reasonable, there would be no problem.

"Your Majesty, I have just returned to Ming. I have been wandering overseas for the past three years. I miss my homeland. I finally came back. I plan to rest for a while and spend some time with my family to enjoy the happiness of family life. As for where to go, I have no idea. It will not be too late to decide after I have recuperated at home for a few days."

"Haha, you are quite cunning. How long do you plan to rest at home?" Zhu Shenzhui asked with a smile.

"This... one year? Or two years?" Zheng Hongkui secretly glanced at the emperor, swallowed his saliva and replied.

"You wish!" Zhu Shenzhui scolded him, "Stay at home for a year or two? Do you think I am too tolerant? You have been on a diplomatic mission for three years and returned with honors, making contributions to the country. If I don't reward you, will it be a promotion in name only? If so, how will they view me?"

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."

"Okay, stop being so humble." Zhu Shenzhui suppressed his anger and said, "I'll give you a month's vacation. Go home and have a good rest. Come to see me in a month. You can't go to the South and North Sea Navy, but I have great use for you! I'm going to set up a new navy, and you will be the admiral of this navy. How to set it up and which sea areas this navy will be responsible for in the future, you should think about it carefully when you are at home. By the way, take this thing back and have a look at it yourself, remember! Don't let me down!"

Although Zhu Shenzui's words were very impolite, and he even directly scolded Zheng Hongkui, Zheng Hongkui was not annoyed or afraid after being scolded. Instead, he shuddered all over and felt a little more relaxed.

He hurriedly took the booklet thrown by the emperor, carefully put it in his arms, then knelt down before the emperor and thanked him in a sobbing voice.

Seeing him like this, Zhu Shenzhui didn't know whether to laugh or cry, and waved his hand to let him go. Zheng Hongkui got up from the ground, bowed again, and then respectfully left. When he left the Qianqing Palace again, Zheng Hongkui swept away his previous sorrow and anxiety, and showed an extremely relaxed expression on his face. On the way back, even his steps were a little lighter.

After Zheng Hongkui left, Zhu Shenzhui sighed. He had already thought about calling Zheng Hongkui back to talk to him today. After all, the Zheng Zhilong incident had a lot of influence on Zheng Hongkui. After all, Zheng Hongkui also had the surname Zheng and was an old member of the Zheng Group.

Moreover, Zheng Hongkui is different from Zheng Zhiwan, Zheng Lian, and Zheng Cai. In terms of ability, Zheng Hongkui is not bad but very strong. It would be fine if he was just a mediocre person, but it is not the case. Therefore, before preparing to take action against Zheng Zhilong, Zhu Shencui must eliminate the possible hidden dangers of Zheng Hongkui to ensure that there is no risk of error.

At that time, Zheng Zhilong not only controlled the Fujian Navy, but also tens of thousands of land forces, with a total of more than 100,000 troops. With so many troops in his hands, entrenched in Fujian, tantamount to separatism, and also having a large amount of financial support through monopolizing the South China Sea, how could Zhu Shenzhu, as the emperor, feel at ease?

If Zheng Zhilong was loyal to the court, Zhu Shenzhu would not have taken action against him in the current way. He would have used gentle means to slowly solve the problem. However, Zheng Zhilong was not a loyal minister at all. He was a warlord in essence. He had his own army and was disobedient to the court's orders. He even raised bandits to threaten the court. How could Zhu Shenzhu tolerate him?

After deciding to deal with Zheng Zhilong, Zhu Shenzhu was ready to transfer Zheng Hongkui from the Shandong Navy. He did not dare to gamble, even though he knew in his heart that Zheng Hongkui was not Zheng Zhilong, and he recognized his loyalty to the court. But the problem was that he was Zheng Zhilong's cousin after all. What if there was a change when he took action against Zheng Zhilong? If this happened, not only would there be chaos in the southeast, but also problems in the entire Shandong and even Zhili.

In order to ensure that everything went well, Zhu Shenzhui transferred Zheng Hongkui in advance under the pretext of a diplomatic mission to Europe, and at the same time he also wanted to protect Zheng Hongkui. Now that Zheng Zhilong's matter had been resolved and Zheng Hongkui had returned to the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Shenzhui naturally had to appease Zheng Hongkui and properly place him.

Zhu Shenzhui had seen all of Zheng Hongkui's reactions during the beating and pulling. Zhu Shenzhui did it on purpose, in order to understand Zheng Hongkui's thoughts. If Zheng Hongkui was dissatisfied with Zheng Zhilong, or even spoke out to plead for Zheng Zhilong, then Zhu Shenzhui would not use Zheng Hongkui no matter how capable he was. In the future, Zheng Hongkui would probably only be an ordinary nobleman, with wealth and honor, but it would be impossible for him to lead troops in the army.

The result now is not bad. Zheng Hongkui is a smart and understanding man. His answer and reaction put Zhu Shenzhui at ease. In fact, Zhu Shenzhui did not want to leave Zheng Hongkui alone. After all, what he lacked now was a naval commander who was good at fighting and had rich experience. Zheng Hongkui was just such a person. In addition, he had made great contributions during his diplomatic mission to Europe. It would be a pity to leave him idle.

The final result was good, and Zhu Shenzhui felt much more relaxed. He was not fooling Zheng Hongkui when he told him to build another navy, it was actually true.

Although the imperial court now uses the Shandong Navy and the Fujian Navy as the Beiyang and Nanyang navies, it is impossible for the Ming Dynasty to have only these two navies. Moreover, judging from the actual situation of the two navies and the scale of their warships, although they have a large number and sufficient personnel, they are actually just two near-sea navies and cannot afford the Ming Dynasty's ability to expand to the ocean.

Not to mention the Shandong Navy, the predecessor of the Beiyang Navy, this navy was simply formed by the merger of the earliest Shandong Navy and the remnants of Mao Wenlong's Pidao Navy. Later, because of Zheng Hongkui, a lot of backbones were brought from the south to enrich it. In addition, due to the maritime blockade of Liaodong and maritime trade in recent years, it gradually developed.

The foundation of the Nanyang Navy was Zheng Zhilong's Fujian Navy. The warships of these two navies seemed to be numerous, but these warships were only suitable for near seas and not for long voyages. If not, Wang Fuzhi and Zheng Hongkui would not have taken Portuguese ships when they went to Europe. Isn't the key problem that the Ming Dynasty did not have warships suitable for long voyages?

Although Zhu Shenzhu had asked the Ministry of Industry to find a way to re-use the shipbuilding technology of Zheng He's fleet and rebuild large ocean-going warships, we should not forget that the first-hand information of Zheng He's fleet was inexplicably burned in a fire during the Zhengde period. Even the Nanjing Longjiang Shipyard and Fujian Changle Shipyard, which were responsible for Zheng He's treasure ships, are no longer what they used to be and no longer have these technologies.

How easy is it to find blueprints from other sources and use these incomplete blueprints to reconstruct Zheng He's treasure ships? Moreover, the technical capabilities of the Ming shipbuilders were not strong. They were only so-so in building the Fu ships, Guang ships, and Sha ships, but it was impossible to build large warships, especially to recreate the treasure ships of the past.

In the two hundred years after Zheng He's voyages, the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding technology plummeted, and the ships they built changed from the initial huge and suitable for long-distance voyages to small near-sea ships, which led to a technological gap and regression. Zhu Shenzhu gave Wang Fuzhi and his envoys a task when they went to Europe. In addition to normal diplomatic contacts, they also needed to seek cooperation in shipbuilding technology in Europe and recruit technical talents in the European shipbuilding industry.

This matter is now progressing smoothly. Although European countries attach great importance to shipbuilding technology, the shipyards of various countries can be said to be strictly guarded areas. As for the technical personnel, it goes without saying that they are the treasures of various countries.

But with the efforts of Wang Fuzhi and Zheng Hongkui, they still persuaded the Swedish side. For political considerations, Sweden opened up European shipbuilding technology to the Ming Dynasty. Although Sweden's shipbuilding technology was not the most advanced in Europe, it was not bad either. With Sweden's support in this regard and a group of European shipbuilding craftsmen who came to the Ming Dynasty on the ship, there will inevitably be great progress in the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding industry in the future.

(End of this chapter)