1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 683 The messenger of Zheng Zhilong

1653, the year of Guisi, the 11th year of Qianwu in Hanzhou Daqi, the seventh year of Yongchu in Ming Dynasty, and the tenth year of Shunzhi in the Puppet Qing Dynasty.

In the past two years, the situation on the mainland has suddenly changed drastically. The Ming army, with the original Daxi Army and Dashun Army as the main force, launched a massive counterattack against the Qing army in the Yunnan-Guizhou area.

Although, in May of last year, Sun Kewang, the main force of the Ming army, failed to attack Wuchang again, but the two wings and partial divisions made great progress.

After receiving strong support from Guizhou, Liu Wenxiu’s troops on the left quickly swept across the entire northern part of Sichuan. Li Guoying, governor of Sichuan in the Qing court, abandoned Baoning (now Langzhong, Sichuan) and retreated to Hanzhong. Prepare to rely on the geographical dangers of mountains and rivers to stop the continued advancement of the Ming army.

Li Dingguo's troops on the right, attacked from Shaozhou and Meizhou, captured Ganzhou in April, and then mobilized their forces to quickly sweep across the south of Jiangxi. In two months, they went down to Ji'an, Yuanzhou, Linjiang, Ruizhou, Fuzhou, Jianchang, Guangxin and other dozens of prefectural and county cities were besieged by soldiers.In August, after successively conquering the counties and towns around Nanchang, the Ming army bombarded the city wall of Nanchang with more than ten heavy artillery pieces, broke it, and captured more than a hundred civil and military officials including Cai Shiying, the right deputy capital of the Qing court, and Cai Shiying, the governor of Jiangxi.

In March, Yuan Zongdi, Tian Jianxiu, and Gao Yigong's Ming army defeated more than [-] defenders of Zheng Zhilong's department and occupied Chaozhou Prefecture.

In June, under the cover of more than ten Qi ships, Tian Jianxiu led troops to seize Nan'ao Island, captured and killed more than [-] Zheng's troops, and captured more than [-] large and small ships.

In September, Li Laiheng's Ming army, under the cover of Qi's ships, even attacked Dongshan Island and Zhangpu County.

Jiangxi was lost, and then it was attacked by the Ming army to Zhangzhou Prefecture, an important place in Fujian. Zheng Jun suddenly faced military threats from the west and south. More than a hundred warships arrived at Zhongzuo (today's Xiamen), ready for battle.

Zheng Hongkui, who was released by the Qing government (captured by the Qing army in Zhenjiang in 1645), persuaded Zheng Zhilong to lead the Qing soldiers to enter Fujian to resist the attack of the Ming army.

Another confidant general Shi Fu (Shi Lang's uncle) persuaded Fujian to return to the Ming immediately anyway, so as to avoid land and sea attacks by the Ming and Qi armies.

Zheng Zhilong showed hesitation, he still hasn't made up his mind.

However, in mid-October, Zheng Zhilong was hit again. His eldest son Zheng Sen, whom he considered disobedient and unfilial, led more than a hundred warships and landed in Anping (now Tainan), Taiwan. Zheng Zhibao, who was stationed in Taiwan, did not resist and led his army to surrender to Zheng. Mori.

And Zheng's other overseas territory - Luzon, under the continuous attack of the Qi army, Yizhou Town, Sulu Kingdom and other coalition forces, except for Longzhou (now Manila, Philippines) and Songzhou (now Quezon City, Philippines) , Anbei (now Laoag City in the northern Philippines) are still struggling to support, and the other dozen towns and strongholds have been conquered.As a result, in addition to facing serious military threats on the mainland, the Zheng family's overseas territories as a back route have become dead ends.

Zheng Zhilong panicked.

In addition, in the past two years, he has been fighting with the East India Company and the Qi army at sea continuously, and his sea power has been severely weakened. Even the eldest son Zheng Sen led the army, and his strength has lost [-]% compared to two years ago.The most terrible thing is that the overseas trade that the Zheng family relied on the most was blown up by the other party. The Nanyang trade was almost cut off, and the trade between Japan and North Korea dropped by more than half, which made the entire Zheng's overseas income decrease by more than [-]% compared with before.

Tens of thousands of troops from both the navy and land divisions needed to be supported, countless military supplies and supplies needed to be purchased, and the salaries of officials and civil servants in dozens of counties in the nine prefectures of Fujian also needed to be maintained, but Zheng Zhilong was deeply anxious about the dwindling financial resources.If the fight continues like this, Fujian will inevitably face collapse.

Introduce the Qing army to Fujian?
Or return to the Ming Dynasty anyway, and seek peace from Qi and the East India Company? ——
On January 1, Guangning Fort (now Cilegon City in the northwest of Java Island, Indonesia).

Zheng Zhiwan has been raised in Xuandebao for five days, the high fever has subsided, and his body is gradually recovering. Immediately, he began to look forward to the arrival of Qi State's ships, so that they can carry them to Hanzhou for peace talks with Qi State .

Last December, when Zheng Zhilong heard that Li Dingguo's troops of the Ming army had defeated the Qing army again in Jiujiang, he no longer hesitated and decided to return to Daming.He first sent envoys to Denglai by boat, carrying a large number of treasures and jadeware and three thousand stones of grain, to meet Emperor Yongchu, present a surrender table, and return to the Ming Dynasty anyway.

In addition, he sent people to Hanxing Island (today's Miyako Island) to express his willingness to seek peace with Qi.However, Qiu Chengdu, the governor of Ryukyu, rejected Zheng's request for peace on the grounds that he had not obtained authorization from the local government.In the past two years, the Qi State and the East India Company intercepted and killed Zheng's trade ships to Japan, which caused a sharp decrease in the import of various commodities from the mainland to Japan. At the beginning of the war, how could it be easy to stop the war and allow the Zheng family to recover.

In desperation, Zheng Zhilong sent his clan brother Zheng Zhiwan and other envoys to Batavia and the mainland of Hanzhou to negotiate with the two parties to stop the war and restore peace at sea.

Zheng Zhiwan and others went to Qiongzhou Prefecture by boat first, met with the eldest son Zheng Sen, informed the news that Fujian had returned to the Ming Dynasty anyway, and asked Zheng Sen to lead his troops back to Fujian, reconcile with his father, and fight against the Qing captives together.

Later, he went to Nanping (now Jinlan City, Vietnam), and met with Cao Ning, the general manager of Qi State in Annan, and expressed Zheng's willingness to seek peace again.

Cao Ning immediately arranged for Zheng Zhiwan and a group of Zheng's missions to take the returning immigration boat and head for the mainland of Hanzhou.For Zheng's return to the Ming Dynasty anyway, Cao Ning is quite appreciative in his heart.Because, in this way, the combat power of part of the Qi Navy's ships will be completely liberated, and it can assist the Ming army to launch more coastal landing battles.

I heard that the Yongchu small imperial court in Denglai also rose up. In September last year, it sent troops to Jinzhou, Liaodong, and then pushed northward for more than 60 miles, sweeping up the remaining stronghold villages and towns where the Qing prisoners stayed, and captured and killed many Qing prisoners. Hundreds, rescued more than a thousand Han slaves.In the end, the landing Ming army did not withdraw to Denglai, but instead mobilized many rescued people to rebuild Jinzhou City on the basis of the dilapidated city wall of the original Jinzhou Guard, laying a wedge behind the Qing captives.

When the Qing army stationed in Liaoyang learned that it was the early winter of November, they sent more than a thousand cavalry to attack Jinzhou, but were repelled by more than ten artillery pieces arranged at the top of the city.Because the Qing soldiers were to prevent the Ming army from landing and attacking Liaodong, the towns and strongholds within dozens of miles along the coast were abandoned, so that the attacking Qing army could not get supplies nearby. After the attack was unsuccessful, they retreated to Liaoyang.

Before the coast of Liaodong froze, the ships of the Qi State Navy rushed to Jinzhou to transport a large amount of supplies and armaments to prepare the defenders for the long winter and to firmly hold this stronghold inserted into the rear of the Qing Dynasty.

In addition, the Yongchu small imperial court also worked with the officers and marines of the Qi State Naval Fleet stationed in Changshan Island to attack Guangningwei (now Xingcheng District, Huludao City, Liaoning) in the spring of the following year, cutting off the Qing Dynasty and Liaodong in one fell swoop. connect.

Looking at the offensive of Ming Dynasty, it seems that a strategic counter-offensive situation has been formed, so Qi State will naturally provide naval ships to support it.In this way, Sun Kewang, Li Dingguo and other Ming armies launched a frontal attack in Jiangnan, Huguang, and Sichuan, and the Denglai Ming army threatened the rear of the Qing captives after the Liaodong side, which might reverse the entire world situation and restore the Ming Dynasty.

After Zheng Zhiwan and his party received an explanation of the situation from Cao Ning, the general manager of Annan, they felt uneasy.If the Qing captives were defeated and the Ming Dynasty recovered, wouldn't it be that his clan brother Zheng Zhilong was in a bad situation.

In the past few years, whether they faced the Qing army or the Ming army, the Zheng army's land division had few victories, and they kept losing troops and land. The Guangdong territory they had finally obtained was lost in less than a few months.In other words, after Zheng Jun got off the boat, his skills in riding a horse and wielding a sword were obviously not good. Even though he was equipped with a lot of firearms, his combat effectiveness was still not very high. gram.

Then, after returning to the Ming Dynasty anyway, Zheng Jun must get rid of the maritime struggle with the East India Company and the people of Qi as soon as possible. In addition to resuming maritime trade and obtaining gold and silver income, he must also give full play to his own maritime advantages and help the Yongchu court. Covered the Ming army to attack the Qing captives along the coast.Otherwise, when the Ming Dynasty is revived and the world is unified, the Zheng family will not get any credit, but will have a bad record of surrendering to the Ming Dynasty, and it is difficult to guarantee that they will not be liquidated.

Zheng Zhiwan and others followed the immigration boat and arrived at Lin'an City (now Vung Tau City in southeast Vietnam) within a few days after setting off from Nanping.Here, they once again saw the power of the people of Qi.Teams of armed rural soldiers crossed the Lin'an River and entered the neighboring Podi, Cambodia (now Badi City, Vietnam) to take over the power of nearby towns.

In order to reward Qi State for assisting the anti-king forces in the country to successfully seize power, the new king Baron Raja V (who originally ascended the throne in 1659 in history) ceded 10 miles around Podi and Qi State, and at the same time sent 2000 taels of silver , [-] taels of gold.

Regarding the replacement of the Cambodian king, apart from Siam in the west and the Pattani Sultanate in the south, who expressed serious concerns and criticisms, the surrounding Guangnan (Annan Nguyen), Champa, Nanzhang (now Laos), Huaying, Nanpan and other local forces remained silent.

Seeing this, Zheng Zhiwan couldn't help being dumbfounded. He never imagined that the Qi State, which is thousands of miles away, would have such strength in the Annan region. It could secretly help the rebel forces in the small country, overthrow its ruling regime, and even get rewards from the other party for ceding land .

Afterwards, Zheng Zhiwan and other envoys for the peace talks went to Ambuna Island, and found that this small island, where many Nanyang ships stopped for rest, had already been occupied by the Qi State and brought under the jurisdiction of the Annan General Administration.

The immigrant fleet landed in Xuandebao (now Panarik, the northern tip of the Great Natuna Island) for rest. After several years of development and construction, it has become a small town with more than [-] settlers. Water supply.In addition, there is a settlement named Suichuanbao (now Nani Town in the east of Da Natuna Island) in the east of the island, with a settled population of more than [-] people.

Xuande Fort was not built with cement and bricks, but only rammed earth and wood. Several artillery pieces were placed on the walls, but there were no marines stationed here.The daily security defense is undertaken by more than 50 rotating township soldiers.With this kind of defensive force, as long as it is not bombarded by the enemy's large-scale artillery, it can resist the enemy outside the city even in the face of a siege of more than a thousand people.

However, as the importance of Abunna Island increased day by day, Qin Renliang, commander of Xuandebao, immediately began to organize immigrants passing through here to strengthen the city defense, build more forts, and improve the defense capability of this small island.

When Zheng Zhiwan arrived at Guangning Fort with the boat, he suddenly fell ill and had a persistent high fever. For a while, the doctor in Guangning Fort was very nervous, thinking that he had malaria or other similar tropical infectious diseases, and immediately quarantined Zheng Zhiwan and others. Observed.Two days later, Zheng Zhiwan's high fever subsided, and there was no other malaria symptoms on his body, so everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After resting for a few more days, an immigrant fleet arrived in Guangning. Zheng Zhiwan was overjoyed. After the fleet replenished with fresh water, he couldn't wait to board the ship to Hanzhou.After all, being able to arrive at Hanzhou one day earlier to meet King Qi would also end the sea battle between the two sides earlier, so that Zheng Jun could gain the initiative as soon as possible.

However, the Qi State immigrant fleet does not seem to be in any hurry to return to the mainland. Every six or seven days, it will dock for a few days to rest, and then replace some immigrants in the local area before moving on.Batang (now Denpasar City, Bali Island, Indonesia), Baoan (now Kupang City, Timor Island, Indonesia), Xinxiang (now Suai Town, East Timor), finally arrived at Jianye on February 2.

It took nearly two months and the journey was thousands of miles away. Zheng Zhiwan and others were exhausted physically and mentally, but what shocked them was that Qi State, which was originally thought to be a small southern state, traveled from the coast of Daming to the mainland of Hanzhou. There are so many territorial strongholds under its control.The distance is more than ten days, and the short distance is only three to five days. There are complete supply transfer points, which can provide sufficient rest time for the immigrants passing through.

After talking with the sailors on the ship, I learned that during the large-scale immigration process carried out by the Qi State every year, the death rate of the immigrants on the ship has been reduced to less than [-]%, which is almost equivalent to the loss rate of the crew.

You must know that during this period, the mortality rate of European sailors at sea was generally around 18% to [-]%, and even [-]% higher.Unlimited sailors are equal to consumables. In other words, they are similar to livestock. It is very common for sailors to be treated poorly.Even at the end of the [-]th century when navigation technology was more developed, the food for sailors on naval warships in various countries was still bread as hard as bricks, and there would be weevils and other things that you would never want to see in the bread. .

Compared with the "feed" eaten by European sailors and sailors, the food eaten by the officers and soldiers in the Qi State Navy's fleet is more than one grade better.Although it is not as exaggerated as roasted duck, roasted chicken, roasted goose, and braised pig, there is still enough pork, chicken, mutton, beef, and many canned fruits and vegetables.Encountering a large supply point and supplying all kinds of fresh fruits once made the sailors of the East India Company cry after seeing it.

Although the accompanying immigrants may not have such "luxury" food as the naval fleet officers and soldiers, the numerous supply points along the way still ensure that the immigrants can obtain enough fresh food and supplement a small amount of vegetables and fruits.Some immigrants who are sad or sick will be taken in by the supply transfer point along the way, and they will continue to set off by boat after they recover their health.All of this makes the death rate of Qi's seafarers, whether sailors or immigrants, very low, even far lower than that of professional sailors on European merchant ships.

Because, in this era, no one knows that the lack of vitamins in the body can lead to scurvy.Since the Age of Discovery, in more than 300 years, scurvy alone has killed at least 100 million sailors.

He Qing, the deputy envoy of the Black Guards, greeted Zheng Zhiwan and other missions at the Jianye Port Wharf. When he saw his former colleagues, he just nodded lightly. Before he could say anything, he invited them to take a carriage and enter Jianye City. Headed towards the military headquarters.

(End of this chapter)