With 100,000 elite soldiers at the start, what should you call me?

……

To repel external threats, one must first secure internal stability.

Li Chengdong's proposal quickly gained the support of a number of officials in the Yongli court.

Yuan Pengnian, one of the Five Tigers, controlled the court. As long as Li Chengdong's demands were not excessive, Emperor Yongli had to agree even if he didn't want to.

Moreover, Li Chengdong brought back tremendous good news this time, having recovered most of Fujian, and he only wanted to punish a few unknown generals under Zheng Chenggong.

The imperial decree to arrest Shi Lang and others quickly reached Quanzhou Prefecture.

Zheng Mansion.

"By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: The imperial family has achieved great success in recovering lost territories and has rendered meritorious service; therefore, the Emperor hereby confers upon the title of Earl of Jinjiang..."

When Zheng Chenggong and his men heard that it was an imperial edict of reward, they were overjoyed.

However, when the eunuch read the rest, Zheng Chenggong and the others' faces darkened, and their joyful smiles vanished instantly.

"However, Shi Lang, Shi Fu, Hong Xishan, Huang Ting, and others violated military discipline and attacked and killed imperial troops. Their crimes are unforgivable. Considering their past merits, they will not be investigated. They are ordered to return to their respective units immediately. Otherwise, they will be arrested and killed if they succeed."

After the imperial edict was read, the atmosphere froze instantly, and the eunuch, sensing the impending danger, immediately broke into a smile.

"Lord Guoxing, we have finished reading the imperial edict. Please keep it safe. We will not disturb you any longer."

After saying this, the eunuch left immediately.

Only Zheng Chenggong and his subordinates remained.

Among the crowd, Shi Lang and his companions were subtly separated by the others.

Shi Lang gave a bitter smile. "Young Master, we have dragged you into this mess. Li Chengdong is now very powerful and wants to take the opportunity to retaliate against us. We thought he would fight us head-on on the battlefield, but we didn't expect him to be such a coward who prefers to use underhanded tricks behind our backs."

Zheng Chenggong remained silent, caught in a dilemma.

Just like when my father wanted to move the whole family to surrender to the Qing Dynasty.

That day, the concepts of loyalty and filial piety tore a hole in his heart.

On that day, his choice was to remain loyal to the imperial court.

However, the imperial court is now forcing him to hand over his brothers.

"Young Master, we can't hand Brother Shi over! Li Chengdong will never let Brother Shi and the others go!" Hong Xu stood up and spoke up for Shi Lang and the others.

"If we don't hand over Shi Lang and the others, we're going against the imperial court, and the court will have reason to label the young master a traitor! You want to make the young master a disloyal and unjust person." General Shi Chaogang agreed to hand over Shi Lang and the others.

"No! If the young master hands over Shi Lang and the others, the people's hearts will be scattered!" General Weng Wenxian stood on Hong Xu's side and firmly opposed handing over Shi Lang.

The crowd immediately split into two factions.

Shi Lang and the others remained silent, only looking at Zheng Chenggong.

Meanwhile, Zheng Chenggong was also engaged in a internal struggle.

Should we hand over Shi Lang and the others?

If he hands it over, he will lose the hearts of the people. Who will follow Zheng Chenggong in the future?

He had just gained power and needed capable generals to assist him. Now, Shi Lang and others risked their lives to come and join him because of a letter he wrote.

If he were to turn around and betray everyone, that would be unjust.

On the other hand, failing to hand over Shi Lang would be disloyalty.

What about his previous persistence?

In order to remain loyal to the court, he even broke with his father and became an unfilial son.

However, now the court has ordered him to hand over the person, and if he disobeys the imperial decree, he will be considered disloyal.

Who in the world would follow Zheng Chenggong, a person who is disloyal, unfilial, and unjust?

Everyone will despise him behind his back, and the path to revitalizing the Ming Dynasty and reviving the Zheng family will be completely cut off.

"Shut up! Let's step back and let the young master have some peace and quiet."

Shi Lang noticed that Zheng Chenggong was acting strangely, so he immediately reprimanded everyone and led them away.

Before long, the hall was empty, with only Zheng Chenggong remaining.

At this moment, Zheng Chenggong could no longer hold on and slumped into a chair.

Emperor Longwu bestowed upon him the imperial surname Chenggong, but deep down he was still a member of the Zheng family.

Otherwise, his six-year-old son should have been named Zhu Jing, not Zheng Jing.

Zhu Chenggong is a responsibility on his shoulders, and he will bear this responsibility himself and will not pass it on to the next generation.

The next generation will live for the Zheng family.

But now the very court he serves is turning around and pressuring him, leaving him momentarily lost and confused.

Zheng Chenggong did not sleep all night and looked haggard. His wife, Dong, tried to persuade him with the children, but to no avail. She could only stay by his side.

Things seemed to take a turn for the better by daybreak.

The steward approached Zheng Chenggong and whispered, "Master, someone claiming to be an old acquaintance of the old master has come to visit you."

"An old acquaintance of my father?" Zheng Chenggong asked in a hoarse voice.

The timing of this arrival was very opportune.

"Let him in."

"Yes."

"Success is a must, and I need to be seen in public. How can I look like this? Someone, quickly bring me a hot water towel."

Zheng Gongcheng's wife, Dong, personally washed his face, which helped him regain some of his strength.

After washing his face, Zheng Chenggong felt much more awake.

But those bloodshot eyes still couldn't hide the physical exhaustion and mental depletion.

A short while later, a man who looked to be in his forties or fifties walked in.

Zheng Chenggong glanced at the man and immediately recognized him.

This man was a member of the Donglin Party's Fushe Society. He had previously captured Jianning Prefecture with the Imperial Advisor Wang Qi and Prince Zhu Yihai of Yunxi. He was later captured by the bandit Li Tian and, for reasons unknown, surrendered to Li Tian. This man was none other than Yun Richu.

Yun Richu initially came to Fuzhou with the mission, but later stayed in Fuzhou as an intermediary. He met with Zheng Chenggong when he met with Prince Lu.

What is this person doing at this time?

Could it be that Li Tian arranged this?

Yun Richu cupped his hands in greeting; "I am Yun Richu, a diplomat from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the New Army. General Zheng, it has been a long time."

"Mr. Yun, it's been a long time. What brings you here today? Do you know that our two armies are currently at war? If this is merely a visit, I advise you to leave as soon as possible, and I'll pretend you were never here."

Yun Richu has changed a lot. After being baptized by the ideology of the New Army, he chose to stay and work for Li Tian. His speaking style gradually became more like that of the New Army soldiers, and he no longer spoke in a literary and archaic manner.

"General Zheng, then I'll get straight to the point."

"I already know what happened a few days ago. Several of Zheng's retainers left Li Chengdong and returned to the Zheng family. Li Chengdong is secretly putting pressure on them, and the imperial court is now demanding their return from the Zheng family. Is the general struggling with this decision?"

Zheng Chenggong became more wary, his eyes narrowing slightly; "Mr. Yun's information network is truly impressive. He came to our door this morning regarding yesterday's events."

Yun Richu smiled faintly; "I just happened to be on a business trip in Quanzhou Prefecture, and I found out by asking around through connections."

When the Ming court declared war on the New Army, Yun Richu left Fuzhou and went into hiding to conduct underground intelligence work.

"General Zheng, I know you are loyal and righteous, but now you are caught between loyalty and righteousness, and you can only choose one."

"What do you want to say? If you want to persuade me to surrender to Li Tian and become Li Tian's retainer, then I ask you to shut up, sir. Before I regret arresting you, please leave the Zheng family now." Zheng Chenggong's tone was unfriendly, as if he wanted to drive him away.

"General, please don't be hasty. I haven't finished speaking. If you are so proud that you don't want to be a retainer of any particular family, then why are you willing to be a retainer of the Zhu family?"

"If the general truly cares for the people and desires revenge, there is a path to the north. The general may consider it."

Yun Richu quickened his pace and continued, "General, we can help with Shi Lang and the others. You can fight them. They will eventually be defeated and forced to surrender to our army."

"General, I have finished speaking. Farewell."

After Yun Richu finished speaking, he turned to leave.

Zheng Chenggong watched Yun Richu's departing figure and fell into deep thought once again.

But this time he didn't think about it for too long.

A decision was made quickly.

Sending Shi Lang and the others back to Li Chengdong's command would be suicide, and he couldn't bear to do that.

If he doesn't hand over Shi Lang, he will be accused of disloyalty.

But the pressure from the imperial court, and the words he had just heard, "Why are you willing to become a servant of the Zhu family?", made him waver.

It would be better for Shi Lang and others to join Li Tian than to serve under Li Chengdong or the Qing army.

Zheng Chenggong quickly made a decision and immediately called Yun Richu to a stop;

"Sir, please stop!"