I want to be emperor

Chapter 395 Thieves and Pirates

At this time, Zhao Xinhou had thousands of troops under his command. There were more than a dozen large armed merchant ships running in Nanyang alone, and hundreds of other offshore ships. Although their strength was far inferior to that of Zheng Zhilong and Liu Xiang, big pirates, but It can be regarded as a medium pirate gang.

But he still doesn't want to be adrift in the sea, he wants to go back to his hometown in Panyu to build a house and a ancestral hall, so as to lay a real foundation for their 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 Xiong Wencan offered olive branches to other small and medium pirate gangs in order to prevent Zheng Zhilong's family from being dominant, Zhao Xinhou also took advantage of the situation to accept the recruitment.

He thus won the title of guerrilla granted by the Ming court!
It's just that Zhao Xinhou has not been happy in the past two years since he surrendered!
The officials in Guangzhou, especially those civil servants, even the chief envoys and magistrates, before he accepted the recruitment, were all like little white rabbits in front of him, very well-behaved, and did not dare to take a breath!
I'm afraid I'll offend him, and then attack Guangzhou City with thousands of pirates!
But after he accepted the recruitment, all of them turned their tails up, as if they believed that Zhao Xinhou was a lowly martial artist, as if anyone could bully him.

Damn, even a seventh-rank county magistrate dares to point his nose and scold him in front of a group of people...

At that time, Zhao Xinhou really wanted to take all the people to burn down the broken county town, but he endured it.

There is no way, he wants to return to his roots, so that his family, especially his sons, can obtain a good and normal living environment, and study hard for the imperial examination. He does not want his sons to follow their own old path. A pirate who travels around the sea, life and death.

He can only endure the difficulties in the officialdom.

But now...he found that he didn't have to bear it anymore.

Because Chu Jun came to kill him!
He knew that the Chu soldiers outside Guangzhou used to be a group of thieves. If he voted there, the officials of the Chu Dynasty would not dislike his pirate background and make sarcastic remarks every day... it should be...

After all, they themselves are just a group of thieves who can't get on the stage.

Rogues and pirates, don't look down on anyone!
With this in mind, after a little inquiring, Zhao Xinhou soon got in touch with people from the intelligence department of the Great Chu Empire.

Moreover, it is also a professional counterpart intelligence department, the Naval Intelligence Department of the Great Chu Empire.

There are several intelligence agencies in the Great Chu Empire, but only the Naval Intelligence Office is responsible for naval affairs, including pirate forces like Zheng Zhilong and Zhao Xinhou.

Therefore, even before the Chu army had 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 army navy and many pirate gangs along the coast, and provide information for the follow-up king. Division to conquer Guangdong and future consolidation of coastal defense affairs to provide intelligence support.

And Zhao Xinhou is the key target of the Naval Intelligence Department in recent months, trying to win over and instigate this person.

This is not to say that it will be more convenient to attack Guangzhou City in the future. To be honest, even if the thousands of people under Zhao Xinhou's command go ashore to fight with the Chu army, the Chu army will randomly pull out a mixed battalion-level troop Could swallow them all in one gulp.

As for the attack on Guangzhou City, the Chu army going south is also full of confidence, although they will also try to win over the local Ming army so that the attack on the city can be smoother.

However, this is still not the main reason why the Naval Intelligence Office wooed and instigated Zhao Xinhou.

The real purpose of the Naval Intelligence Department is the navy in the hands of Zhao Xinhou.

It was a fleet of more than a dozen 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 Great Chu Empire will be able to have a coastal defense force immediately after capturing the Guangdong area. Words are very important.

To be honest, the current Great Chu Empire Navy is not very good. Although there is a large-scale fleet expansion plan, and there are dozens of sea warships with hundreds of tons of sea warships, they have not yet been built, isn't it... more Not to mention the training of sailors and naval officers also takes time.

It doesn't take a few years of hard work to accumulate, and I can't even get out of the mouth of the Yangtze River...

However, when the strength of the navy is temporarily weak, this coastal defense cannot be ignored.

Ever since, the Great Chu Empire, like the previous Ming court, also focused on the pirate forces such as Zheng Zhilong and Zhao Xinhou, especially those pirate forces that had already accepted the recruitment and had an urgent need to go ashore.

This is why the Great Chu Empire has been negotiating with Zheng Zhilong in the past half a year, trying to win Zheng Zhilong over.

It is a pity that the conditions of the two parties are quite different, and they have not been able to reach an agreement so far.

Now the top management of the empire, especially the bigwigs of the Military Affairs Academy, have changed their tone. Of course Zheng Zhilong wants to win him over, but the timing is not right now...

Now Zheng Zhilong's troops still control a large area of ​​Fujian's coastal areas, with strong troops and horses, obviously they haven't recognized the reality, and feel that they can still negotiate terms with the Great Chu Empire and speak loudly.

So now Xu Zhixian and the others of the Military Academy think that since they still have something to rely on, then they should get rid of their support first, let alone ignore the sea, take Fujian down first, and drive Zheng Zhilong and the others to the sea again... Then talk slowly.

On the contrary, Zhao Xinhou's wooing went smoothly.

The main reason is that Zhao Xinhou didn't have much ambition. He accepted the Ming court's appeasement in the first place in order to wash his hands and go ashore, and then return to his hometown to honor his ancestors. At the same time, he wanted to seek a better future for himself, his family, and especially his sons.

They didn't regard the piracy business as their life's work, nor did they have the idea of ​​a separate party being the king of the mountain.

And when Zhao Xinhou loses these huge ambitions, the two parties will be very happy when contacting each other.

After repeated tentative contacts several times, in late April, a lieutenant colonel from the navy arrived in Guangzhou and made in-depth contacts with Zhao Xinhou on behalf of the Great Chu Empire and the navy.

During the talks between the two sides at that time, the naval representatives of the Great Chu Empire answered several so-called concerns raised by Zhao Xinhou one by one.

For example, Zhao Xinhou said that he was more worried about being squeezed out and suppressed by civil officials after he surrendered. He is not young anymore, and he doesn't want to make trouble, let alone intrigue with a group of officials.

Regarding this, the representative of the navy said very clearly: "The military and the government are separated in our Chu State, and the civil and military do not belong to each other. If there is no accident, you should not have the opportunity to deal with the civil officials after you voted, and even if you want to deal with the civil officials. That is not acceptable, the Internal Affairs Division is very sensitive about this!"

"Internal affairs department? I wonder if this is it?" Zhao Xinhou was a little puzzled.

The navy representative said, "I'm going to the factory guard."

Having said that, Zhao Xinhou understood.

Zhao Xinhou was more worried about the lives of thousands of people under his command after the surrender. After all, according to the conditions of their preliminary negotiations, Zhao Xinhou's fleet would 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 cares about fighting, not doing business...

This means that the thousands of people under his command will not be able to support their families by running merchants and robbing other merchant ships in the future.

The representative of the navy was still relaxed about his question: "There is no need to worry about this. Our country's military expenditure is tens of millions of taels a year. Although the army takes up most of it, our navy does not spend it every year. It’s a small amount, and it’s nothing to raise thousands of people!”

This is a fact, the eating and drinking of thousands of people is just a small matter for the Great Chu Empire.

The Great Chu Empire has [-] forts under construction or in preparation for the Jiangnan coast and the Yangtze River defense... It is estimated that there are hundreds of artillery pieces to be installed.

After the capture of Guangdong in the future, for the safety of the coast of Guangdong and the estuary of the Pearl River, a large number of forts will inevitably be built.
Compared with this huge coastal and riverside fort project, raising thousands of people is nothing.

What's more, if this sea force can be obtained, then the Great Chu Empire will be able to have a good navy in the coastal areas of Guangdong in the future.

Later, these ships will be refitted one or two times, and hundreds of more cannons will be installed on them. I dare not say if it is too big, but the area at the mouth of the Pearl River should still be stable.

If there is a fleet that can control the coast, then there is no need to spend a lot of money to build a huge system of coastal and river fortresses.

After all, attacking instead of defending is the best defense.

Negotiations between Zhao Xinhou and the Navy representative went relatively smoothly, after all, the two sides did not have much principled differences.

What Zhao Xinhou wants is very simple, that is, high-ranking officials and high salary, prosperity and wealth, and a stable future, without ambitions such as being a feudal lord.

What the Great Chu Empire wants is also very simple. A sea force under the personal control of the Great Chu Empire is not the model where the fleet is loyal to Zhao Xinhou and Zhao Xinhou is loyal to the Great Chu Empire. allegiance.

In a word, as long as Zhao Xinhou is willing to hand over the fleet, other conditions that the Great Chu Empire can meet will be satisfied as much as possible.

Ever since, when the king of the Great Chu Empire entered the Guangzhou mansion, and when the soldiers approached the city of Guangzhou, Zhao Xinhou also made his final determination: to surrender to the Great Chu!
As for the conditions for surrender, they have already been negotiated.

Zhao Xinhou wants to take the entire fleet, surrender to the Great Chu Empire intact, and hand over the entire fleet to the Great Chu Empire Navy.

In terms of personnel, Zhao Xinhou himself will be awarded the rank of brigadier general of the navy and appointed as the deputy commander of the Pearl River Fleet. All members under his command, regardless of officers or soldiers, will be paid three months of salary in accordance with the standards of the Great Chu Empire Navy.

Everyone will be awarded the corresponding naval ranks of the Great Chu Empire according to their original positions.

After the situation is initially stabilized, all officers above the warrant officer will be transferred to study and transfer in accordance with the normal transfer method, so as to completely facilitate the big family of the Imperial Navy.

(End of this chapter)