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

Chapter 754 Grace and Power
Listening to Zheng Hongkui's talk, Zhu Shenzhui nodded slightly. Xu Xiancheng and Zhou Anmin also listened with great interest. If what Zheng Hongkui said was correct, maritime trade via the Japanese route was indeed very profitable.

Moreover, Zheng Hongkui did know Japan, whether it was the official situation or the civilian situation in Japan, he knew it very well. But this was normal, the Zheng family was born as a pirate, and the Japanese route was what the Zheng family had been taking, but they had always taken the southern route instead of the northern route.

In addition, Zheng Zhilong, as the head of the Zheng family, had already bought properties in Japan earlier and even married a Japanese wife.

His wife was no ordinary person. She was Matsu Tagawa, the daughter of Tagawa Yuhuang, a retainer of Hirado Domain in Hizen Province, Japan. The Tagawa family was a local samurai family in Japan. Zheng Zhilong got to know many Japanese nobles, samurai and wealthy merchants through the Tagawa family. Through these relationships, coupled with the trade routes in his hands and his own strength, he accumulated huge wealth.

More importantly, Tian Chuan Song gave Zheng Zhilong a son, who later became the famous Zheng Chenggong.

Because Zheng Zhilong was later recruited by the imperial court and transformed himself from a pirate into a military officer of the Ming Dynasty, it was for this reason that the Japanese side prohibited Tanakawa Matsu and her son from leaving Japan, so the couple and the father and son have not seen each other for a long time.

But even so, Zheng Zhilong still cared very much about his wife and son. Not only did he often exchange letters with them, he also often asked people to send things to his wife and children, and tried to find ways to get through the connections to bring his wife and children to the Ming Dynasty.

Among them, Zheng Hongkui traveled back and forth between Ming Dynasty and Japan many times on behalf of his eldest brother to visit his sister-in-law and nephew, so Zheng Hongkui was very familiar with the situation in Japan.

"Are you confident in being in charge of Japan's maritime trade?" Zhu Shenzhui asked.

Zheng Hongkui said without thinking: "Return to the Regent, I am absolutely sure!"

"Oh, you are so confident?"

"Regent, please understand. I may not dare to make this promise in other places, but as for Japan... hehe, I know a lot of people there. What's more, this time it's an official maritime trade opened by the imperial court. It's different from the past. The Tokugawa shogunate and local feudal lords dare to put on airs with ordinary maritime merchants. Do they have the guts to go against the Ming Dynasty? With the name of the imperial court, the Japanese people will be eager to get it. In addition, with my connections in Japan, it will be easy for me to get into Japan." Zheng Hongkui said proudly.

"I heard that there are many pirates in Japan? Ships sailing on the sea often encounter pirate looting? This is a big risk, right?" At this time, Zhou Anmin suddenly interrupted and asked.

After asking this question, Zheng Hongkui seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world, and he laughed immediately: "Master Zhou, you don't know that the Japanese pirates are originally composed of those impoverished samurai and ronin in Japan. If they were in the early years, they might have been a bit powerful, but nowadays, there are not many of them. As for the pirates in Japan, they are actually the private actions of several small Japanese vassal states, and they are not a threat at all."

"My Zheng family has been active on the sea for many years. We can freely travel to and from the entire South China Sea, not to mention the tiny country of Japan. The large pirate groups that were entrenched in various places have long been defeated by my brother. The famous leaders are either dead or fled, and they are no longer as powerful as before. As for the small pirate groups, they are even less of a threat. I, Zheng Hongkui, am not bragging. No one dares to touch my Zheng family's ships on the sea. Even the red-haired devils from Europe, as long as they enter the South China Sea, if they want to pass through the sea, they will not be able to move an inch without asking my Zheng family for protection and flying the Zheng family's flag..."

Zheng Hongkui became more and more proud as he spoke. It was no exaggeration to say that the Zheng family was the overlord of the sea. The Zheng Zhilong brothers had been roaming the world for many years, and they were the largest pirate group in the world. Several large pirate groups of the same time as Zheng Zhilong had basically been destroyed by him. Although the Zheng family suffered a lot of losses, among which Zheng Zhihu died carelessly in the battle against Liu Xiang, Liu Xiang's group was eventually completely wiped out by Zheng Zhilong. After Liu Xiang's death, Zheng Zhilong wiped out all the large pirate groups and dominated the world.

So what Zheng Hongkui said was absolutely right. Let alone the rest of the world, his Zheng family was the strongest in terms of maritime power, and no one dared to mess with them. Moreover, all ships passing through the South China Sea had to obtain the consent of the Zheng family, pay tolls, and fly the flag representing the Zheng family. Not to mention ordinary merchant ships, even armed merchant ships and even warships from the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and other countries were the same. This shows the majesty of Zheng Zhilong, the Pirate King.

"Haha, I didn't expect that your Zheng family has such strength. On the sea, you can command the world. Even the emperor can't compare to you." Zhu Shenzhui suddenly laughed and said this meaningfully.

As soon as these words came out, it was like a bucket of cold water poured over his head, causing Zheng Hongkui, who was beaming with joy just now, to change his expression instantly. Beads of sweat appeared on his forehead, and his whole body began to tremble involuntarily. He could not even sit still, and fell to his knees in front of Zhu Shenzhui with a plop.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency, Your Excellency, Your Excellency, Your Excellency, Your Excellency, Your Excellency, I just talked nonsense... Nonsense, my Zheng family is loyal to the court, and your Excellency, Your Excellency, deserves death... Your Excellency, really deserves death..." As he spoke, Zheng Hongkui kept kowtowed to Zhu Shenzhui, with a look of panic and urgency. Seeing him like this, Zhu Shenzhui subconsciously looked at Xu Xiancheng and Zhou Anmin. The two of them smiled at the corners of their mouths at the same time, as if they had expected such an expression. "This person is afraid of me and the court, but he can still be used..." Zhu Shenzhui came to a conclusion in his mind. Zhu Shenzhui was of course aware of the strength of the Zheng Group, and he knew even more about the origins of Zheng Zhilong and his brothers. Although Zheng Hongkui had just said such a shameless thing, these words were all facts, and he just said the truth out of excitement.

Zhu Shenzhui is not Emperor Chongzhen, and he is not so petty. His previous words were meant to test Zheng Hongkui and see his reaction.

Now seeing Zheng Hongkui so frightened that his face turned pale and he was kowtowing like crazy, Zhu Shenzui was completely relieved. No matter what Zheng Hongkui had done before, as long as he was afraid of him and respected the court, that was enough. As for the past, there was no need to pursue it. Besides, the Zheng brothers had long been recruited by the court. From this aspect, the strength of the Zheng Group also represented the strength of the Ming Dynasty's maritime power.

Of course, how the Zheng Group, especially Zheng Zhilong, will be settled in the future, how the maritime power he controls will be transformed, etc., these are all later. It is too early to talk about these things now. Letting Zheng Hongkui enter the palace today is not for this.

"Zheng Hongkui!"

"I... I am here..." Zheng Hongkui's forehead was broken. He was scared to death. He was afraid that Zhu Shenzhu would be furious because of his gaffe and drag him out to chop off his head. If this was the case, it was too unfair. He was simply confused. Could it be because he drank before coming? Didn't we have a good chat at the beginning? How could he brag about the prestige of their Zheng family at sea? How could he say this in front of Zhu Shenzhu? Isn't it like going to the toilet with a lantern - looking for death (shit)?
"I already know how your Zheng family got started and what they did on the sea. Although you just slipped your tongue, you were telling the truth. Since it's the truth, why would I care? Besides, you and your brothers have long been recruited by the court and are no longer pirates. Now you are all appointed officials by the court. Let bygones be bygones. It's fine. Get up."

"Thank you, Your Majesty... Thank you, Your Majesty..." Zheng Hongkui was overjoyed. He kowtowed to Zhu Shenzhui several times before getting up from the ground. Seeing that he was still nervous after getting up, Zhu Shenzhui kindly comforted him with a few words, which made him gradually feel relieved.

Then, Zhu Shenzhui told Zheng Hongkui that the Zheng family's past affairs were in the past, and now that he was an official appointed by the court, he had to obey the court's orders. Moreover, this time he was asked to come to Beijing for an important mission, and Zheng Hongkui had to cooperate with the Ministry of Internal Affairs on Shandong's maritime trade in the future. As long as he worked hard, he would never treat him unfairly as the regent of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, Zhu Shenzhui also promised Zheng Hongkui to write a letter to Zheng Zhilong, and after the maritime trade with Japan was launched, he would give him an imperial edict, asking Zheng Hongkui to take this edict to Japan to bring Tianchuan Song and the child back to the Ming Dynasty.

The Japanese dared to detain the family members of Ming officials, which was intolerable to the Ming court. Zhu Shenzhu naturally had to make the decision for Zheng Zhilong. After bringing back Tianchuan Song and the child, the court would grant them a mansion to be settled in the capital, and Zheng Zhilong could come to the capital to reunite with his wife, which was also a sign of the court's sincerity.

Hearing this, Zheng Hongkui showed his delight and thanked Zhu Shencui repeatedly, but he did not think deeply about why Zhu Shencui said he wanted to settle him in the capital. Zheng Zhilong was a rebellious man, but he valued family affection very much. Moreover, as a pirate, he had a low self-esteem and always hoped that one day he could leave the pirates and become an official of the court, thus bringing honor to his family.

This is also the main reason why Zheng Zhilong accepted the amnesty. In history, Zheng Zhilong never had any rebellious thoughts after accepting the amnesty, including his brothers. From this point of view, although the Zheng brothers were born in a bad family, they were still loyal to the court and could be reused to a certain extent.

Just like a wild horse, to tame it you have to put a bridle on it and then train it slowly. As long as the method is used properly, why not?

After talking about maritime trade, Zhu Shenzhui asked Zheng Hongkui about naval battles. The Zheng Group was active all over the world, and Zheng Hongkui, as Zheng Zhilong's brother, was naturally familiar with naval battles. Although he was not as brave as Zheng Zhihu at sea, he was not bad in naval battle skills.

Because of what happened just now, Zheng Hongkui was much more careful when answering this question. He did not dare to brag anymore, but told the truth and told him all his experiences of the naval battle.

As he spoke, Xu Xiancheng and Zhou Anmin both showed great interest, but due to the difference between naval battles and land battles, they could not understand some of Zheng Hongkui's descriptions. Zheng Hongkui gestured for a long time and only understood half of it. Seeing this, Zhu Shenzui became interested and immediately asked Zheng Hongkui to come forward and explain in detail. He also specially asked someone to find some artifacts to represent warships in naval battles and put them on the table for Zheng Hongkui to demonstrate them to them with real objects.

Zheng Hongkui took these and arranged the battle formation, pointing and explaining in detail, so that everyone could understand. With Zheng Hongkui's continuous explanation, coupled with the changes in the mobile battle formation, etc., Zhu Shenzhu had to admit that Zheng Hongkui was indeed quite capable. Naval warfare and land warfare are different, and they are not the same thing at all. If you use the thinking of land warfare to fight a naval battle, it would be strange if you don't get annihilated when you meet someone who knows the business.

(End of this chapter)