At this time, Zhao Xinhou had thousands of men under his command. There were more than a dozen large armed merchant ships traveling to Southeast Asia, and hundreds of other offshore ships. Although this strength was far inferior to that of big pirates like Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang, It can be considered a medium-sized pirate group.
But he still doesn't want to drift on the sea. He wants to return to his hometown in Panyu to build a house and an ancestral hall, laying a real foundation for the Zhao family and a real future for his children.
So in the eighth year of Chongzhen, when Zheng Zhilong completely killed Liu Xiang, and at the same time, in order to prevent Zheng Zhilong's family from becoming dominant, Xiong Wencan extended an olive branch to other small and medium-sized pirate groups, Zhao Xinhou also accepted the recruitment.
As a result, he received the guerrilla title awarded by the Ming court!
It's just that Zhao Xinhou has not been happy in the past two years since he surrendered!
The officials here in Guangzhou, especially the civil servants, even the chief envoys and prefects, before he accepted the recruitment, all acted like little white rabbits in front of him, they were so well-behaved that they didn't dare to take a breath!
I was afraid that he would offend him and then lead thousands of pirates to attack Guangzhou City!
But after he accepted the recruitment, everyone raised their tails, as if they believed that Zhao Xinhou was a lowly warrior and that anyone could bully him.
Damn it, even a seventh-grade county magistrate dared to point at his nose and scold him in front of a group of people...
At that time, Zhao Xinhou wanted to lead his men to burn down the entire county, but he endured it.
He had no choice but to return to his roots, so that his family, especially his sons, could have a good and normal living environment, and study well for the imperial examinations. He did not want his sons to follow their own old path and become a middle-aged man. A pirate who travels on the sea and lives and dies by his side.
He could only endure the difficulties faced by officials.
But now...he found that he didn't have to endure it anymore.
Because the Chu army came to kill him!
He knew that the Chu troops outside Guangzhou were once a group of thieves. If he surrendered to them, the officials of the Chu Dynasty would probably not despise his origin as a pirate, and they would make sarcastic remarks every day... I guess...
After all, they themselves are just a bunch of thieves who can't stand on the stage.
Thieves and pirates, no one should look down on the other!
With this in mind, after a little inquiry, Zhao Xinhou soon connected with people from the intelligence department of the Da Chu Empire.
Moreover, it is also a professional counterpart intelligence department, the Da Chu Empire Naval Intelligence Office.
There are several intelligence agencies in the Dachu Empire, but the only one responsible for naval affairs, including pirate forces like Zheng Zhilong and Zhao Xinhou, is the Naval Intelligence Department.
Therefore, even before the Chu army reached Guangdong, the Naval Intelligence Office had already set up an intelligence station in Guangzhou, an important coastal area, to collect intelligence information on the local Ming navy and numerous pirate gangs along the coast, so as to prepare the king's army for the subsequent conquest of Guangdong. and provide intelligence support for future consolidation of coastal defense affairs.
Zhao Xinhou has been the main target of the Naval Intelligence Office in recent months, trying to win over and instigate this person.
This is not to say that it will be easier to attack Guangzhou City in the future. To be honest, even if all the thousands of people under Zhao Xinhou come ashore to fight the Chu army, the Chu army will randomly pull out a mixed battalion-level unit. I can swallow them all in one bite.
As for the attack on Guangzhou City, the Chu army going south was also full of confidence, although they would also try to win over the local Ming army who was instigating rebellion so that the attack on the city would be smoother.
However, this is still not the main reason why the Naval Intelligence Office attracted Zhao Xinhou to rebel.
The real purpose of the Naval Intelligence Office is the navy in the hands of Zhao Xinhou.
It was a fleet with more than ten large ocean-going armed merchant ships, hundreds of small and medium-sized ships, and thousands of crew members.
If the fleet can be successfully taken over, the Chu Empire will be able to have a coastal defense force immediately after capturing the Guangdong area. This will be difficult for the Chu Empire, which currently has a relatively weak navy and cannot cover its maritime power from Guangdong. Words are very important.
To be honest, the current Da Chu Empire's navy is not that good. Although there is a large-scale fleet expansion plan, and there are dozens of hundreds-ton-class maritime warships planned to be built, they have not been built yet...More Not to mention that the training of sailors and naval officers also takes time.
In just a few years of hard work, you can’t even get out of the Yangtze River estuary...
However, when the naval strength is temporarily weak, coastal defense cannot be dispensed with.
As a result, the Dachu Empire, like the Ming Dynasty before it, also set its sights on pirate forces such as Zheng Zhilong and Zhao Xinhou, especially these pirate forces who had accepted the recruitment and had an urgent need to go ashore.
This is why the Dachu Empire has continued to negotiate with Zheng Zhilong in the past six months, trying to win Zheng Zhilong over.
Unfortunately, the conditions of the two parties are quite different, and they have not been able to reach an agreement so far.
Now the top officials of the empire, especially the elders of the Military Academy, have changed their tune. Although Zheng Zhilong wants to win over Zheng Zhilong, the time is not right yet...
Nowadays, Zheng Zhilong's troops still control a large area of Fujian's coastal areas and have strong troops and horses. Apparently, they have not yet understood the reality and feel that they can still negotiate terms with the Chu Empire and speak loudly.
So now Xu Zhixian and several other senior officials from the Military Academy think that since they still have something to rely on, they should get rid of their reliance first, leave the sea alone, capture Fujian first, and drive Zheng Zhilong and the others back to the sea... Then talk slowly.
On the contrary, Zhao Xinhou's win over was relatively smooth.
The main reason is that Zhao Xinhou doesn't have much ambition. He accepted the Ming court's recruitment in the first place just to clear his name and go ashore, and then return to his hometown to honor his ancestors and at the same time seek a better future for himself, his family, and especially his sons.
They do not regard piracy as their lifelong career, nor do they have the idea of separating one side and becoming the king of the mountain.
And when Zhao Xinhou no longer has these huge ambitions, the contact between the two parties will be quite pleasant.
After several tentative contacts, a lieutenant colonel from the navy arrived in Guangzhou in late April and had in-depth contact with Zhao Xinhou on behalf of the Chu Empire and the navy.
During the talks between the two sides, the naval representatives of the Da Chu Empire answered several so-called concerns raised by Zhao Xinhou one by one.
For example, Zhao Xinhou said that he was worried about being squeezed out and suppressed by civil servants after surrendering. He, Zhao, was not young anymore and did not want to make trouble, let alone play intrigues with a group of officials.
In this regard, the representative of the navy said very clearly: "Our country of Chu has separate military and political affairs, and the civil and military affairs are not subordinate to each other. If nothing unexpected happens, you will not have the opportunity to deal with civilian officials after you come here, even if you want to deal with civilian officials That’s not okay, the Internal Affairs Department is very sensitive about this!”
"Internal Affairs Department? I wonder what this is?" Zhao Xinhou was a little confused.
The navy representative said: "I'm going to the factory guard."
After saying this, Zhao Xinhou understood.
Zhao Xinhou was more worried about the lives of thousands of his subordinates after the surrender. After all, according to the conditions they had previously negotiated, Zhao Xinhou's fleet would have to join the navy as a whole and become a part of the Great Chu Empire's navy.
But the navy of the Great Chu Empire only focused on fighting and not doing business...
This means that the thousands of people under him will not be able to support their families in Hukou by running businesses and plundering other merchant ships.
The Navy representative still responded to his question in a relaxed manner: "There is no need to worry about this. Our country's annual military expenditure is tens of millions of taels. Although most of it is taken up by the Army, our Navy's annual military expenditure is not It’s a small number, but raising thousands of people is nothing!”
This is a fact. Thousands of people are just eating, drinking and eating, which is a trivial matter for the Chu Empire.
The Chu Empire is building or preparing to build twenty forts for the defense of the Jiangnan coast and the Yangtze River... It is expected that hundreds of artillery pieces will be installed.
After Guangdong is captured in the future, a large number of forts will inevitably be built for the safety of Guangdong's coast and the Pearl River estuary.
Compared with this huge coastal and river fort plan, raising a few thousand people is nothing.
What's more, if this maritime force can be obtained, the Chu Empire will be able to have a consistently good navy in the coastal areas of Guangdong.
We can retrofit these ships one or two more and install hundreds of more artillery pieces. I dare not say if they are too big, but the area at the mouth of the Pearl River should still be stable.
If there was a fleet that could control the coast, there would be no need to go to great lengths and spend huge sums of money to build a huge coastal and river fort system.
"The Sword Comes"
After all, using offense instead of defense is the best defense.
The negotiations between Zhao Xinhou and the navy representatives were relatively smooth. After all, the two sides did not have much principled differences.
What Zhao Xinhou wants is very simple, that is, a high official and a good salary, prosperity and a stable future, and he has no ambitions such as becoming a vassal town.
What the Da Chu Empire wants is very simple. A maritime force under the personal control of the Da Chu Empire. It is not the model where the fleet is loyal to Zhao Xinhou, and Zhao Xinhou is loyal to the Da Chu Empire. Instead, the entire fleet belongs directly to the Da Chu Empire and is directly responsible to the emperor. Allegiance.
In a word, as long as Zhao Xinhou is willing to hand over the fleet, the other conditions that the Chu Empire can meet will be satisfied as much as possible.
Therefore, when the royal army of the Chu Empire entered Guangzhou Prefecture and the troops arrived at Guangzhou City, Zhao Xinhou also made his final determination: surrender to Chu!
As for the conditions for surrender, they have already been negotiated.
Zhao Xinhou wanted to take the entire fleet and surrender to the Chu Empire intact, and hand over the entire fleet to the Chu Empire Navy.
In terms of personnel, Zhao Xinhou himself will be awarded the rank of Commodore and appointed deputy commander of the Pearl River Fleet. All his subordinates, whether officers or soldiers, will receive three months' additional salary in accordance with the standards of the Dachu Empire Navy.
Everyone will be awarded the corresponding Da Chu Empire Navy rank according to their original positions.
After the situation is initially stabilized, all officers above the warrant officer level will be rotated and transferred according to the normal transfer method, so as to completely facilitate the Imperial Navy family.
