My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 343 The Ming Dynasty Navy Stationed on Pi Island!
Just then, the man in black seemed to sense Li Dingguo's doubt and immediately said:
"It doesn't matter if you don't believe me, sir. You can ask Lord Hong for confirmation after we return to Liaodong."

"I have come here today with important news to tell you. The matter that the Jurchens mentioned today about preparing double the tribute is not from the bottom of their hearts."

"Their actions were actually a delaying tactic to pin the blame for the delayed tribute on the adults."

"When His Majesty is enraged, you, sir, will likely be implicated."

Upon hearing this, Li Dingguo was immediately startled, because he hadn't really thought of that.

The key point is that when the other party came during the day, they said it would only take three to five days. He thought that it wouldn't matter if it took three to five days, so he agreed.

I never expected that this was their original plan!

The Jurchens' tactic of using someone else to do their dirty work was truly insidious and ruthless.

The next second, Li Dingguo quickly whispered:

"Thank you for letting me know. I will remember this favor."

"It is my duty, and I dare not accept your thanks, sir."

After the man in black finished speaking, his figure flickered and disappeared silently, like a drop of water blending into ink, leaving only a whisper carried on the wind.

"Take care, my lord, we shall never meet again."

Despite what had happened, Li Dingguo was no longer sleepy, but at this moment, he wasn't particularly anxious.

Perhaps in the eyes of the Jurchens, it would take them at least twenty days to travel from Shenyang to Liaodong and then from Liaodong to the capital.

In addition, various unexpected situations may arise during the journey, making twenty days a bit tight.

That's certainly true in common sense, but there was a slight hiccup this time.

It turned out that the imperial court, considering the long and uncertain journey from the capital to Liaodong, decided to have Li Dingguo and his entourage travel by sea on their return trip to ensure they could arrive in the capital on time.

Moreover, the imperial court had conveyed the order to Zheng Zhilong a month earlier.

He was tasked with welcoming envoys from Korea, Annam, Ryukyu, Burma, and Siam to pay homage to the Ming Dynasty. Similarly, he was tasked with bringing Li Dingguo and his entourage over as well.

Although the Ming Dynasty was nearing collapse at the end of its reign, it had not yet perished and therefore still maintained some connections with these smaller countries.

Moreover, after the great victory in the Battle of Songjin, these small countries also sent envoys to express their congratulations.

Now that Emperor Chongzhen is celebrating his birthday, they are naturally indispensable.

However, it was winter at the time, and the journey was long, so the imperial court decided to send Zheng Zhilong to pick him up in person!
After all, looking across the world, only Zheng Zhilong's navy is now able to continue sailing at sea in winter.

However, this matter was confidential, and in order to prevent the Jurchens from causing trouble, only Li Dingguo among these people knew about it.

This is why Li Dingguo remained so calm.

Because if you were to travel by land, it would take at least twenty days, or even longer, to get to the capital from here.

However, if you take the sea route to Tianjin and then go to the capital, it will only take about ten days at most.

In other words, as long as he sets off half a month before Emperor Chongzhen's birthday, he can successfully complete his mission.

At this point, some people might ask, what if the Jurchens are not 'ready' when the time comes, or even if they don't intend to let Li Dingguo and the others leave?

This is even simpler. You have to know that Zheng Zhilong is no pushover. If the Jurchens dare not release the prisoners, Zheng Zhilong will definitely force them to release them.

After all, Zheng Zhilong's navy had just defeated the Jurchen navy and was in high spirits. In addition, more than 30,000 Ming navy troops were stationed on Pi Island. With such a powerful alliance, how could the Jurchens dare not release him?
Of course, there were risks involved, namely that Li Dingguo didn't know when Zheng Zhilong would send someone to pick him up.

However, that's beyond his control.

Thinking of this, Li Dingguo finally fell into a deep sleep.

Time flies, and five days have passed in the blink of an eye.

During these five days, the Jurchens continued to prepare various offerings at a leisurely pace.

Furthermore, Jurchen officials would send people to Li Dingguo every day to deliver so-called reports on the preparations, but these were all trivial news and there was no substantial progress at all.

Li Dingguo didn't react much to the news, but his soldiers were getting restless, like ants on a hot pan, extremely anxious.

Because at this point, they finally realized what was happening.

The reason why the Jurchens took the initiative to increase the tribute by more than double was probably to buy time.

According to the timeline, there is less than a month left until Emperor Chongzhen's birthday.

If we don't set off soon, we might not make it to the Ming Dynasty in time.

As a result, in the past few days, many people have been advising Li Dingguo to urge Huang Taiji to hurry up.

But this was something the Jurchens did on purpose, so what's the use of urging them?
For various reasons, Li Dingguo did not tell everyone the truth, but in order to appease everyone, Li Dingguo still planned to meet Huang Taiji in person.

As a result, he couldn't even enter the Jurchen palace.

Faced with this situation, Li Dingguo's soldiers became even more anxious, and Li Dingguo could only try to appease them while praying that Zheng Zhilong would make his move soon.

Otherwise, there really won't be enough time!

He didn't want to be beheaded by the Ming Dynasty again over such a trivial matter, having only recently surrendered.
Meanwhile, the scene shifts to a turbulent sea.

Although it was already winter and most of the rivers on land were frozen, the sea was still turbulent.

And on this turbulent sea, an island surrounded by the sea still stands there.

There were faint lights flickering on the island, clearly indicating that it was inhabited!
And this island is Pi Island!

That is, the place where Zheng Chenggong's troops were stationed.

Pi Island covers an area of ​​about 20 square kilometers. Its terrain is rugged, surrounded by the sea, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack, and suitable for naval forces to be stationed there.

Although agriculture is possible on the island, land resources are limited, so it is necessary to rely on North Korea or the Ming Dynasty for supplies.

Pi Island has a fascinating history.

Phi Island has always been implicitly considered to belong to North Korea.

However, with the rise of the Jurchens, war broke out in Liaodong and the situation became increasingly tense. In order to fight against the Jurchens, Mao Wenlong led the Ming Dynasty navy to garrison there.

Since then, Pi Island has tacitly become part of the Ming Dynasty's territory.

Mao Wenlong painstakingly managed this place, and with the help of Pi Island's unique geographical location, he constantly harassed and attacked the Jurchens, becoming a thorn in their side and making them restless.

Unfortunately, Mao Wenlong eventually died at the hands of Yuan Chonghuan.

With Mao Wenlong's death, the situation on Pi Island instantly became turbulent. Coupled with the surrender of Shang Kexi and others, the Jurchens easily brought Pi Island back into their sphere of influence. From then on, Pi Island once again belonged to the Jurchens.

But the wheels of history are always full of variables, because with the Ming Dynasty's navy re-stationing here, Pi Island once again became Ming territory.

However, the arrival of this naval force was not without its challenges.

Upon arriving on the island, they immediately clashed with the local garrison and civilians.

This is because the local garrison was composed of Jurchens, Koreans, and local people.

The Korean army and the local people did not have much hostility towards the Ming Dynasty's navy, but the Jurchens were different. Therefore, under their instigation, the two sides eventually went to war.

However, the Ming Dynasty navy brought more than 30,000 troops this time, while the local garrison on Pi Island numbered only 3,000. Therefore, the local garrison was completely powerless to resist.

The Ming Dynasty navy resolved all the troubles effortlessly and successfully regained control of Pi Island.

The Ming Dynasty navy dealt with the garrison troops in a very simple way: any Jurchens were killed without exception, without any mercy.

However, if they were local people or Koreans, they were directly incorporated into the Ming Dynasty's navy.

With the addition of recruited local residents, the team has expanded considerably, now numbering 35,000.

After learning about what happened on Pi Island, the Jurchens quickly made their own arrangements.

Because they knew the importance of Pi Island, and were even more afraid that Zheng Chenggong's naval forces would, like Mao Wenlong had done before, rush ashore and launch a frenzied harassment against their rear.

Therefore, the Jurchens dispatched Daišan with 30,000 troops to defend the Ming navy.

Daishan's army eventually settled in a coastal area less than 100 miles from Pi Island and began to set up defenses.

They cut down trees, built camps, dug trenches, and set traps, working for several months straight.

The Jurchens were so cautious because they knew that this naval force was far larger than Mao Wenlong's had been back then.

In addition, this naval force was equipped with all sorts of new firearms, which were extremely powerful, had a long range, and were highly accurate, making them terrified.

In this situation, Daishan had to mobilize a large amount of manpower and resources to set up defenses.

Even so, if these 30,000 Ming Dynasty naval troops really wanted to land, the Jurchens probably wouldn't be able to stop them.

Fortunately, this naval force did not come to Pi Island to fight the Jurchens, but to contain them and prepare for the future strategic layout of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, no major conflict broke out between the two sides.

Of course, minor conflicts still occur from time to time.

After all, one of their missions was to help Korea resist the invasion of the Jurchens.

Therefore, they used warships to land in Korea, and several battles broke out between the two sides in Korea.

On the battlefield, the Ming army's firearms played a huge role, causing the Jurchens to suffer repeated defeats.

In addition, there were also many troops in Korea. After the two sides joined forces, they formed an even stronger force and eventually drove all the Jurchens back into Korea.

Thus, with the help of the Ming Dynasty navy, the King of Joseon regained the land of Joseon.

It is no exaggeration to say that at this time, the King of Joseon was filled with endless gratitude for the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the King of Joseon would frequently send various kinds of food to the army led by Zheng Chenggong.

Even if his own people were starving, the King of Joseon would prioritize supplying the Ming Dynasty's navy.

The Ming Dynasty navy naturally accepted all such gifts.

Although they had prepared enough food to last for more than half a year, there's always a greater good when it comes to food.

After all, at this time, food is life and fighting power. With enough food, soldiers can eat and drink their fill and have the strength to fight.

Thus, a delicate balance was reached among the three forces: the Jurchens, the Ming Dynasty navy, and Korea.

However, today's situation seems to be somewhat special.

On the sea not far away, dozens of huge ships, like behemoths, slowly sailed in.

These ships were enormous, with their sails billowing high and fluttering in the sea breeze.

This naval force was the Fujian Navy led by Zheng Zhilong!
Zheng Chenggong learned early on that Zheng Zhilong was going to stay here, so he brought his men to wait for him.

As the ship drew closer, Zheng Chenggong used his binoculars to clearly see Zheng Zhilong's figure on the bow!
In an instant, Zheng Chenggong felt a surge of joy, after all, he had not seen Zheng Zhilong for half a year since the last Battle of Songjin!

Before long, the boat docked, and Zheng Zhilong was the first to disembark.

Immediately afterwards, he saw Zheng Chenggong, who had been waiting there.

Actually, Zheng Zhilong had seen Zheng Chenggong through his binoculars earlier, but he couldn't see him clearly because he was too far away.

Zheng Zhilong was quite excited to see Zheng Chenggong.

As soon as the two sides met, Zheng Chenggong hurriedly said:
"Father!"

Zheng Zhilong smiled, patted Zheng Chenggong on the shoulder, and said:
"Well done, you didn't let your father down."

During his time on Pi Island, Zheng Chenggong always charged ahead in every battle, sustaining injuries and even a scar on his face, but he also became much stronger.

As Zheng Chenggong's father, Zheng Zhilong was naturally well aware of this matter.

After all, the guards around Zheng Chenggong were all his former subordinates, and these people would always tell him everything about Zheng Chenggong, no matter how small.

Although Zheng Zhilong was quite worried about this, he also felt that Zheng Chenggong had not disgraced him!
After all, he knew that Zhu Cilang intended for Zheng Chenggong to take control of the naval force, so Zheng Chenggong had to grow up quickly in a short period of time.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong also put in a lot of effort.

Putting everything else aside, he also provided the naval force with three months' worth of provisions in order to help Zheng Chenggong win over the hearts and minds of the people.

After exchanging a few pleasantries with his son, Zheng Zhilong met with several other military officers.

Since most of the people here are naval commanders, and Zheng Zhilong is also the commander-in-chief of the Fujian Navy, he knows almost everyone here.

Some of them were even Zheng Zhilong's rivals from when he was a pirate, but that's all in the past.

Now that they are all generals of the Ming Dynasty, and Zheng Zhilong has even become the Crown Prince's father-in-law, this matter is naturally no longer mentioned.

They smiled at each other, and the past grievances vanished like smoke.

After exchanging pleasantries, everyone else took their leave, leaving only Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Chenggong.

(End of this chapter)