Chapter 207
Zheng Zhilong's residence in Anping Town, Jinjiang County, Quanzhou Prefecture.
The main structure of Zheng Zhilong's mansion is a Xieshan style with five bays and thirteen bays, three-way gates, two fire lanes and five courtyards. Wings, pavilions, and pavilions on both sides face each other and form a barrier around it. There is "Dunren Pavilion" in the east, "Taiyun Tower" in the west, the "Catholic Hall" in the front hall, and the "Xiaosi Hall" in the middle hall, which are grand in scale. There is a "Zhiyuan Garden" behind the big house, which is protected by a wall and surrounded by hills, pavilions, monasteries, ponds, small bridges, winding paths, beautiful trees, and exotic flowers and plants.
In the eyes of local people, this mansion is comparable to a royal palace.
In fact, Zheng Zhilong's mansion is indeed comparable to an imperial palace. Although it is much worse than the imperial palace in the Forbidden City, it is nearly half the size of the Shenyang Imperial Palace. The Shenyang Imperial Palace covers an area of ninety acres and nine cents of land, but the Zheng family The mansion has one hundred and thirty-eight acres of land.
Since the first year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong was recruited by Xiong Wencan to serve as a coastal defense guerrilla. Zheng Zhilong left Taiwan and took up command in the Fujian Sea. Also leaving with him were 30,000 tribesmen and more than 1,000 ships.
In the third year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong built a luxurious mansion in Anping Town, Jinjiang County. Zheng Zhilong spent three years building this mansion. He was so rich that he did not hesitate in gold and silver. The entire mansion reaches Xigang in the west, Xi'antou in the north, Anping Qiaotou in the south, and has direct access to the Wugang Port. It covers an area of 100 Thirty-eight acres.
It was late at night, and Zheng's sturdy servants were guarding Zheng's door, like a door god. The vermilion door was tightly closed, and bursts of melodious music floated out from inside.
Zheng Zhilong was having a banquet with several Jiangnan wealthy businessmen. No one knew what kind of delicacies, wine and delicacies they were enjoying. Anyway, they were all good things that the poor could not even imagine. Just looking through the crack of the door The slightest smell wafting out of the clothes already made these Zheng's servants salivate, and they lamented in their hearts: "When can we live like this? Even for one day!"
In the late Ming Dynasty, an era when heroes emerged in large numbers, Zheng Zhilong was a reckless hero. He was also an extremely smart talent. When he was seventeen years old, he defected to his uncle Huang Cheng, who was doing business. By the third year of Tianqi, the nineteen-year-old Zheng Zhilong had already mastered Xiao Xiao speaks Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish, and serves as the translator for overseas Chinese businessman Li Dan.
In other words, Zheng Zhilong only had more than two years from the time he arrived in Macau to the time he left for his small life. However, in these two years, Zheng Zhilong, a poor boy from the countryside, completed the primitive accumulation of life.
In the fourth year of the Apocalypse, the Penghu naval war broke out between the Ming Dynasty and the Dutch. The Ming Dynasty sent troops to expel the Dutch East India Company from Penghu. The Dutch therefore moved to Taiwan. Li Dan, who was familiar with both China and the Netherlands, went to Penghu to coordinate in person and was proficient in Hokkien. , Nanjing Mandarin, Japanese, Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese language expert Zheng Zhilong served as the intermediate language translator.
The first noble person in Zheng Zhilong's life was Li Dan. Li Dan was nicknamed "Captain China" and his first name was "China Captain". A well-known pirate merchant on the southeast coast of the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. He owns an armed fleet and conducts commercial trade and ship robbery at the same time in the Ming Dynasty, Da Yuan, Japan, Southeast Asia and other convergent routes. Rumor has it that Tokugawa Ieyasu's shogunate was supported by Li Dan.
Zheng Zhilong worshiped Li Dan as his adoptive father and gave him the name Li Guozhu. Li Dan felt that he was a capable official and gave him part of his assets and ships to do business in Vietnam and make huge profits. In the fifth year of Tianqi (1625), Li Dan died in Hirado. After the death of Li Dan, who had no wife or children, his properties and career in Taiwan and Taiwan were all donated to Zheng Zhilong.
Zheng Zhilong was only 21 years old and owned more than 700 ships and more than 30,000 men. A severe drought occurred in southern Fujian and the fields were full of red soil. Zheng Zhilong took the opportunity to feed tens of thousands of hungry people. In 1627, Zheng Zhilong defeated the Dutch. Obtain sea control over the Taiwan Strait.
In the first year of Chongzhen, the Ming Dynasty originally regarded him as a pirate and tried to suppress him. However, with the growth of Zheng Zhilong's power, the Ming Dynasty was no longer able to control it, and the peasant uprisings of Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others were in full swing, and the Manchu Qing Dynasty outside the customs was eyeing it. The Ming Dynasty's policy towards Zheng Zhilong could only be changed to suppressing Zheng Zhilong, and he was awarded the title of "Five Tiger Guerrilla General". He was soon promoted to the Fujian General Army to guard China's coast to prevent Japanese pirates and Dutch attacks.
In the fifth year of Chongzhen, Zheng Zhilong defeated the Dutch East India Company fleet in the naval battle of Kinmen, Fujian, and became the actual controller of the Western Pacific. In order to trade, the Dutch East India Company paid Zheng Zhilong a protection fee of 10 million francs, some say it was 120,000 francs. The author himself prefers the second option, which is 120,000 francs.
Because the franc at this time was not like the eighteenth century, where one franc was equal to one hundred cents, and one centimeter was equal to five grams of 90% pure silver. This means that one franc is equal to 500 grams of silver. According to the Ming system, 594 grams per catty is equivalent to about 13.46 taels of silver. 120,000 francs is more than 1,616,000 taels. silver.
If it is ten million francs, it is approximately 134.6 million taels of silver. This amount is too large. The Dutch East India Company's annual profit is not that much.
In this year, Zheng Zhilong was thirty-two years old. He was even five years younger than Cheng Shijie. However, his power covered all parts of East and Southeast Asia, including the Malay Peninsula, Champa, Luzon, Taiwan, Japan, the Strait of Malacca, Cambodia, Siam and even Bombay have more than 3,000 ship fleets and a military strength of 200,000 people. In addition to the Han people, there are also Japanese, Koreans, Southeast Asians and black Africans.
While drinking at the banquet, Zheng Zhilong said to the merchants: "You should look further and go west along the coastline of the Buddhist Kingdom of Tianzhu. There is a very powerful Ottoman Empire here. Its national power is not inferior to that of the Ming Dynasty. However, The relationship between this country and the West is not good, and the economy is at war. In the past, our goods were sold to the West, and the resale profits were dozens of times. They dared to sell a bag of tea for more than the same weight of gold!"
Of course the maritime merchants are jealous! With dozens of times the profit, who wouldn’t be jealous? They all want to occupy the Middle East and do business with Europeans!
Zheng Zhilong looked at the expressions of all the maritime merchants and knew what they wanted to do: "You don't have to think about it in the West. They have so many powerful countries. Portugal, Spain, and the Netherlands, especially the Netherlands, are just one of their small countries. There are so many countries in the Middle East." Not even Bian, who is more aggressive than a mad dog and will kick any stone that is not in the way. If you mess with them, you will never get anything good, but the Ottoman Empire is fine!"
Just when Zheng Zhilong pointed at the map of the sea country and pointed out the country to the sea merchants, he stimulated the sea merchants so much that they couldn't go back immediately and start a big fight.
Just when Zheng Zhilong was tired of talking and sat on the soft couch to rest, Zheng Zhilong's fifth brother, Zheng Zhibao, said: "Brother, you don't know something. That good-for-nothing Ikku Morimoto just suffered a huge defeat."
"Oh, who did he mess with?"
Zheng Zhilong is now invincible at sea. Both the Spaniards and the Portuguese are very polite to Zheng Zhilong. If you are not polite, you can't beat Zheng Zhilong.
Zheng Zhibao smiled lightly and said, "Beicheng!"
Cheng Shijie himself didn't know that in fact, the good people referred to Zheng Zhilong and Cheng Shijie as the two heroes of the two norths. South Zheng refers to Zheng Zhilong, and Beicheng refers to Cheng Shijie.
If you look carefully at Zheng Zhilong's resume, you can find that this guy seems to be cheating all the way. He followed Li Dan for three years, and Li Dan died. He cooperated with Yan Siqi, but Yan Siqi also died. The legacies of Li Dan and Yan Siqi belong to Zheng Zhilong.
Cheng Shijie was from the north. He started his career by suppressing bandits and suppressed Kong Youde's rebellion. He became famous all over the world. He then led the Ning navy across the sea and fought against Jiannu in southern Liaoning. He defeated Jiannu in three battles and became the governor of Liaodong.
What annoyed Zheng Zhilong the most was that the Ming Dynasty actually did not pay much attention to the sea and the navy. He defeated the Dutch twice and was promoted to the first rank of naval admiral and the commander-in-chief of Fujian. When Cheng Shijie and Lu Xiangsheng were not knighted, he had no other ideas. After becoming the ancestors, it was too difficult to be knighted in the Ming Dynasty.
But the problem is that Cheng Shijie was granted the title of Duke of Haiguo, and Lu Xiang was promoted to the title of champion, but nothing happened to him, which made him a little unhappy, and very unhappy.
Zheng Zhilong said disapprovingly: "On land, I admit that his surname Cheng is a good man, but at sea, how can he do that?"
"It is said that a man named Cheng built a new type of large ship in Lushun. It had three thousand materials and was equipped with dozens of fast cannons. With a small number of enemies and a large number of seventeen, he sank five ships under Morimoto Kazuhisa's command. Damage three ships and kill more than 1,600 of his men!"
As the saying goes, it sounds unintentional but it sounds intentional, but Zheng Zhilong heard the key to the problem: "You mean Cheng Shijie built a shipyard in Lushun?"
"This is not a secret. He hired more than 2,000 craftsmen from the south of the Yangtze River. It is said that there are two shipyards in Jinzhou, a total of three shipyards. Two of them build warships and one shipyard builds merchant ships!"
Zheng Zhilong's mood suddenly became very bad. The Spanish Empire really had a plan to invade the Ming Dynasty. However, before they had time to implement it, they found out that Zheng Zhilong had beaten the Spanish traitor Holland twice. After seeing that Zheng Zhilong had three thousand With multiple ships and a massive army of two hundred thousand men, no European country thought it capable of conquering the East anymore.
There is no need for the Ming Dynasty to mobilize the entire empire, just one provincial army is enough to beat the crap out of them!
Zheng Zhilong had no other thoughts about other lands except for his senior officials. He farmed in order to feed his more than 200,000 troops. Originally, he and Cheng Shijie were at peace with each other, and they were focusing on their own development. But the problem is, now Cheng Shijie actually aimed at the ocean.
What is this behavior?
This was snatching meat from Zheng Zhilong's pot. Destroying people's wealth was like killing their parents. Zheng Zhilong couldn't bear it anymore. Of course, he did not order to assemble his troops and go north to fight Cheng Shijie to the death.
Because although Zheng Zhilong is strong at sea, he is not strong on land, and the Ming Dynasty controls his lifeline. He needs goods, especially popular goods such as silk and porcelain. If the Ming Dynasty cuts off his supply of goods, he can only Caught blind.
However, Cheng Shijie built a shipyard. Over time, Cheng Shijie's strength became stronger, which was enough to threaten Zheng Zhilong's status. He was different from Cheng Shijie. No matter how you say it, Cheng Shijie was also a noble man with great roots in the Ming Dynasty.
Cheng Shijie's father was Cheng Yongxing, the fifth-rank guard of Qianhu Station in Fenghuang Mountain of the Ming Dynasty. His father was just an ordinary old farmer, and he still had the stain of a pirate. He would never be able to achieve Cheng Shijie's achievements.
Before Cheng Shijie became stronger, he had no choice but to strike first.
…
On the sea surface of Hangzhou Bay, the weather is calm.
A fleet of more than a dozen large sand ships is being loaded with goods, mainly rice or specialties produced in the south of the Yangtze River, destined for southern Liaoning.
Although the output of rice in Jiangnan is not high, it can be harvested twice a year. It is as cheap as dirt. The price of rice in Beijing has almost risen to three taels of silver per stone. But the problem is that the rice in Jiangnan only costs five taels of silver per stone. It is not theirs. We don’t want to transport rice to Beijing for sale. The problem is that if we want to sell rice from Jiangnan to Beijing, the only waterway is to transport it by canal.
But the millions of water transport workers have turned into vampires. Apart from filial management, they can't make much money, and the real profits have been taken away by second-rate dealers. However, it was different when it was shipped to southern Liaoning. Each stone of grain earned a net profit of two or three taels. A boatload of three thousand dan of rice could earn 900 taels.
Excluding the food and drink of the sailors at sea and the loss of some ships, they made a net profit of seven to eight hundred taels of silver. If the wind was favorable, they could make one round trip a month, and a new flat-bottomed sand boat could pay for itself in a year.
Of course, after Liaonan, they did not return empty ships. They could also buy cement, woolen cloth, steel, precious wood, and fine medicinal materials in Liaonan. These things could easily earn double profits in Jiangnan.
In particular, woolen cloth is a specialty of southern Liaoning. Due to the influence of the Little Glacier weather, it will snow in Guangzhou, let alone Jiangnan. Therefore, people in Jiangnan are in great demand for this thick, breathable, and warm woolen cloth. , how much they bring back will be sold immediately.
It can be said that the profit of merchant ships sailing to Liaonan is slightly lower than that of sailing to Nanyang. They are safer and faster. This fleet belongs to the Shachuan Gang, Shachuan Gang.
The Ming Dynasty was once a large empire that focused on both land and sea. When Zheng He went to the Western Ocean, there were tens of millions of craftsmen and sailors in the south of the Yangtze River, working for the Ming Dynasty fleet on its ocean voyages.
Later, after the Ming Dynasty banned the sea, sailors at that time had no jobs, so they gathered on Chongming Island to make a living. The so-called people rely on the mountains to eat the mountains, and rely on the sea to eat the sea. In addition to farming and fishing on the island, these people also use their own navigation ability to quietly run maritime transportation for the southeastern gentry.
However, as time goes by, the division of labor in smuggling in the Southeast Sea gradually becomes more detailed. The area south of the Yangtze River is mainly engaged in the production of goods, while the Zheng family in Fujian is responsible for maritime smuggling. After all, the scale of the smuggling trade is not as active as normal trade and does not require so many sea ships, so the Shachuan Gang in Chongming is gradually excluded.
Although the Shachuan Gang has seven or eight hundred ships, including a relatively large force on board, they mainly focus on transportation and cannot fight. Although the Zheng fleet bullied them miserably, Zheng Zhilong also gave the Shachuan Gang an ultimatum to let them The whole group surrendered to the Zheng family.
But the Shachuan Gang was the property of the Shen family, so they naturally did not want to take advantage of Zheng Zhilong. In the fifth year of Chongzhen's reign, the Shachuan Gang ushered in a turning point. They transported grain to Liaonan, and transported shipwrights and skilled craftsmen to Cheng Shijie, making a lot of money.
It can be said that Cheng Shijie is the great benefactor of the Shachuan Gang. The sailors of the Shachuan Gang are talking and laughing, and they are quite happy. Ocean sailing is of course hard work, but the pay is very high. The pay for one trip to sea is enough for them to work at home for three years. Of course they have reasons to be happy with the income from farm work.
At this moment, the lookout suddenly shouted: "A pirate ship is rushing towards us!"
Shen Huanrong, the helmsman of the gang responsible for transporting sand ships, was shocked and shouted: "Hurry up and put up the flag!"
The sailors were busy hoisting a red flag high.
The red flag with an inverted triangle is the unique symbol of the Zheng family. Hanging these two flags is equivalent to telling the pirates who covet the goods on their ship that their ship is protected by the Zheng family. At the same time, they also pay protection fees to the maritime overlord Zheng Zhilong. If you want to move us, you'd better weigh your weight first!
With this flag there, Shen Huanrong was not worried. In their opinion, Zheng's reputation was pretty good. He typically took money to do things, so he only needed to give money to ensure safety at sea. As the Tyrannosaurus Rex of the sea, Zheng has yet to give birth to any pirates who dare to touch the ship protected by this behemoth!
A sharp silhouette of sails quickly appeared on the distant sea, and soon, a fleet of ships cut through the sea and came speeding over. The lookout used binoculars to carefully identify the flag and shouted: "It's the Zheng family fleet!"
The whole fleet breathed a sigh of relief. It's no problem if it's the Zheng Family Fleet. They have all paid protection fees to the Zheng Family Fleet, and the Zheng Family Fleet will not touch them.
Those clippers came so fast, and in just one meal they were in front of the merchant fleet. They lined up in a row, blocking the way of the merchant fleet. The leader was a man with a scar on his face. , raised a big knife and shouted: "Lower the sails, stop the ship!"
The fleet did not dare to resist and quickly lowered the sails. Shen Huanrong walked up to the bow of the ship and bowed his hands to the scarred face, calling: "You heroes, how are you doing?"
Scarface stared at him and asked, "What do you do?"
Shen Huanrong said with a smile: "Do some small business!"
"Look at your heading, where are you going?"
A young sailor said: "Let's go to Liaodong!"
"Liaodong, Liaodong!"
Scarface was furious: "You dare to have an affair and become a slave. I think you are tired of living, so I will take you all away!"
The pirates got angry one after another, threw iron hooks to the side of the merchant ship, and climbed up in a few swishes. Their cold swords and black muzzles were pointed at the sailors with murderous intent.
Shen Huanrong was so frightened that his legs trembled, and he struggled and shouted: "Heroes, don't get me wrong, we have paid the protection fee, we have paid the money, why are you still robbing us?"
The scarred face smiled ferociously: "No, no, no, you shouldn't smuggle Jian slaves. Jian slaves are powerful enemies of the Ming Dynasty. They collaborate with the enemy and betray the country. They are very courageous. So, your money is in vain. Let me steal it!"
We are not afraid of gangsters being bold, but we are afraid of gangsters being educated.
Zheng Zhilong did not confront Cheng Shijie directly, but in the name of cracking down on maritime merchants who smuggled slaves, the Zheng pirates would rob every ship they saw transporting with Liaodong.
The Shachuan Gang, which had been cooperating with Ning Haijun for a long time, could no longer sit still. The leader of the Shachuan Gang, Shen Boyun, had no choice but to ask Cheng Shijie for help.
When Shen Boyun, the leader of the Shachuan Gang, arrived in Liaonan, Liaonan was entering a busy autumn harvest. Refugees from the Central Plains, hundreds of households in various fields, and even soldiers from the Ning Navy were involved in the autumn harvest.
The autumn harvest in the sixth year of Chongzhen included 10 million acres of wheat, more than 3 million acres of rice, and more than 6 million acres of soybeans. Others included more than 6 million acres of sweet potatoes, more than 6 million acres of potatoes, and more than 8 million acres. acres of corn and more than three million acres of various vegetables.
At the beginning of September, the weather has turned cold. If we don't harvest, the potatoes and sweet potatoes will freeze in the fields. Wherever Shen Boyun looks, there are busy people.
When Shen Boyun came to the Ning Haijun Military Mansion in Jinzhou, Cheng Shijie was not in Jinzhou. Cheng Shijie was in Liaoyang City because he was worried that the slaves would come to harass the autumn harvest in Liaonan. Cheng Shijie and the 8,000 households of the 15th Guards and the Guards The commander-in-chief, the commander-in-chief of cavalry, and the commander-in-chief of artillery were in charge of Liaoyang.
They kept waiting for the ice to freeze on the Taizi River, but Jiannu showed no sign of going south.
Shen Boyun, who could not wait for Cheng Shijie in Jinzhou, had no choice but to go to Liaoyang. When Shen Boyun arrived in Liaoyang, it was already the end of September in the sixth year of Chongzhen.
"Meet the Marshal!"
"You're welcome, Gang Leader Shen!"
Cheng Shijie actually knew Shen Boyun's purpose, and it felt very uncomfortable to be slapped in the face. Zheng Zhilong sent people to intercept the ships from Shanghai to Liaodong. Although not everyone was as honest as Shen Huanrong and directly said that he was going to Liaodong. Most of these ships were Head directly northeast, turn north on Jeju Island, and then reach Liaonan.
Although the distance was hundreds of nautical miles away, it was better than safety. However, Zheng Zhilong's threat existed objectively. Even if he pretended not to know, he could not solve the fundamental problem.
Cheng Shijie pretended not to know Shen Boyun's intention, and said with a faint smile: "What brought Gang Leader Zheng to Liaodong?"
"Zheng Zhilong from Fujian is specifically fighting against our Shachuan Gang. He has already robbed more than 40 of our Shachuan Gang's boats!"
Shen Boyun didn't know whether Zheng Zhilong was coming for him or Cheng Shijie this time. After all, Zheng Zhilong's suppression of the Shachuan Gang had not happened in a day or two.
"This Zheng Zhilong is getting more and more excessive now. He robs our ships one after another. Not only does he rob all the goods on the ship, but he also imprisons the people on board. This makes people panic. Not many people dare to go to sea now!"
"Is there some misunderstanding? Why does Zheng Zhilong have trouble with us? Haven't we always been at peace with them, and the water in the well does not conflict with the river?"
Naturally, Cheng Shijie didn't put the matter in his hands. He needed time. When the Sea Shark-class trial took place and he encountered Morimoto Ikku, Cheng Shijie knew that this battle was inevitable.
In order to quickly expand Ning Haijun's naval strength, Cheng Shijie had no choice but to adopt the later modular warship building method, dividing a warship of the same level into several parts, especially most of the parts, which were directly processed in various woodwork factories and assembled into more The large parts are assembled uniformly in the shipyard.
Since then, the production speed of Lushun Shipyard has more than tripled. It was originally planned to take twelve months to produce one Sea Shark-class warship, but now it only takes three and a half months to produce one, and eight docks can be built at once. Eight ships can be produced.
PS: I fell asleep before I finished writing last night. This chapter is from yesterday, and there will be more tonight.
(End of chapter)
