I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 251 Zheng Zhilong Surrenders to Luzon Reorganization

Chapter 250

In the Java Sea, an unknown small island, this is Zheng Zhilong's temporary shelter.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong was about to cry without tears. In the Batavia naval battle, the elite that he had painstakingly accumulated was almost wiped out by the Ning Navy. When he went south, he led more than 600 large and small warships. tens of miles.

However, after the First World War, there were only about [-] warships that were ordered to escape with him.What made him vomit blood even more was that God seemed to want to help Cheng Shijie. When he was fleeing south, a strong wind blew, and warships were constantly blown by the sea wind to the giant reef of the island, smashing him to pieces!
Originally, with the sailors of Zheng's sailors' ability to maneuver the boat, such accidents would not happen. The problem is that they lost a lot in the battle with the Ning Navy's Batavia, and many sailors on the warships suffered heavy casualties , masts, sails, rudders, anchors and other equipment were also damaged to varying degrees, making them scrambled in the face of strong winds. In the end, they could only look desperately at the out-of-control warship like a mad bull crashing into a cliff...

Everything is like a repeat of the bad luck of the Spanish fleet in the British-Spanish sea battle. The difference is that the Spanish Armada lost a lot in the sea battle, only a dozen warships were sunk, and only when it was withdrawing to Spain In the event of a storm, many warships were overturned by the stormy waves, or sank on the rocks, causing the Spanish losses to skyrocket.

Zheng Zhilong was worse than the Spaniards. He lost his main force in the naval battle, and now he encountered storms one after another. It was like cutting his bloody wound one after another. The depression can be imagined.

What frightened him even more was that Cheng Shijie didn't mean to accept it as soon as he saw it. After a big victory, he was just the main battleship of the Ning Navy and was repairing the warship in Batavia. , and then launched a pursuit.

The Ning Navy's main fleet did not move in Batavia, not because the Ning Navy suffered heavy losses, but because the Ning Navy's main fleet needed to threaten the Dutch in Batavia.

At this time, Zheng's fleet was divided into four squadrons by Cheng Shijie, led by Hong Xu, Song Fuguo, Shi Daxuan and Zheng Cai. Of course, Shi Daxuan is the most powerful of these four, followed by Hong Xu, Zheng Cai and Song Fuguo is the weakest.

Although the main force chasing Zheng Zhilong is actually Zheng's fleet, however, once the emperor and courtiers, these Zheng's fleets will not be polite to Zheng Zhilong, they are still waiting to take Zheng Zhilong's head to claim credit.

Too many islands survived in East India, Zheng Zhilong used the islands to jump out of the pursuit of the chasing fleet, and now he is in the South China Sea.

After a long pursuit, it was impossible to say that Hong Xu and the others were not tired, and finally the leaders of the four fleets met.

Hong Xu said straight to the point: "Did you receive the order from the Duke?"

"received!"

Shi Daxuan smiled wryly and said, "Let's gather at Subic Port and wait for reorganization! What does Hai Guogong mean?"

"If you want me to say, we don't need to think too much!"

Song Fuguo took a bag of wine and took a big gulp, his mouth was still stained with red wine. He wiped his mouth and said: "Back then, the Duke reorganized the Denglai Navy, and most of the generals of the Denglai Navy were retained. Except for those who drank the blood of soldiers, later, he annexed the Dongjiang Army Navy, almost all the generals were retained, we..."

Zheng Cai smiled wryly: "I heard that some people were beheaded by Hai Guogong because of drinking soldier's blood. If you drink soldier's blood, we count as one, and no one can escape!"

Shi Daxuan looked at Zheng Cai and said, "What do you mean?
"Naturally, the Duke won't care about us small fish and shrimps. The most important thing is that we have to give credit!"

"But we have been catching up for so long, but there is no trace of Zheng Zhilong!"

"We can go to Fujian and arrest Zheng Zhilong's son and wife!"

If this sentence is said by other people, I am afraid it will not surprise you, but it is Zheng Cai who said this sentence. You must know that the relationship between Zheng Cai and Zheng Zhilong is very close in the eyes of outsiders.

Of course, this is just a superficial phenomenon. Zheng Zhilong actually doesn't like his fourth brother Zheng Zhifeng, that is, Zheng Hongkui. On the contrary, Zheng Cai and Zheng Hongkui have a good relationship.

Shi Daxuan and the others had no objections, and the four hit it off and decided to go to Fujian.

More than 160 warships sailed to the north in a mighty way. The movement was not small, and Zheng Zhilong quickly received the news. Zheng Zhibao looked at Zheng Zhilong and said, "Brother, what should we do now?"

"If you want to sell me, there is no way!"

"Brother, let's go back to Fujian. Our Zheng family has run Fujian for so many years and has a deep foundation. As long as our warships appear in Xiamen Port, the people of Fujian will definitely respond..."

"Think beautifully!"

Zheng Zhilong was not as confident as Zheng Zhibao, he looked at Zheng Zhibao and said, "If I surrender to Cheng Shijie, will he kill me?"

"How is it possible? As long as Cheng Shijie is not stupid, I will definitely not touch Big Brother, but Big Brother, if you surrender to Cheng Shijie, it will be all over, power and wealth, don't even think about it!"

"So far I miss Xiang Yu, but I don't want to cross Jiangdong!"

Zheng Zhilong smiled wryly and said: "I finally understand now that Xiang Yu escaped from the siege of Gaixia, and obviously had the opportunity to return to Jiangdong, but he didn't go back!"

"why?"

"Because Chu State is no longer Xiang Yu's Chu State!"

Zheng Zhilong said indifferently: "Everyone says that Fujian is our Zheng family's Fujian. In fact, how much land does our Zheng family occupy in Fujian and how many people have we offended? Usually they are afraid of our Zheng family's strength, so they dare not Tell me, now that we are defeated, even if we go back to Fujian, we will not be able to make a comeback!"

Historically, when he was surrounded by enemies, Xiang Yu realized that he had already betrayed his relatives. Xiang Yu had always been very naive in politics, enfeoffing the eighteen princes, and wanted to be the emperor of Zhou. They desperately need a peaceful environment to rule the world.

Until the Chu army continued to flee, Xiang Yu came to Wujiang with dozens of defeated soldiers. Jiangdong was his hometown. However, at this time, Xiang Yu woke up. Even if Liu Bang let him cross the river, Chu is no longer himself. Chu State.This is the sense of crisis from the heart that Xiang Yu felt after knowing it, and it is also the biggest secret that Xiang Yu discovered Liu Bang.In Xiang Yu's view, instead of this, it is better to apologize with death.

Xiang Yu first killed his beloved concubine, and then directly drew his sword and killed himself.

Zheng Zhilong is not Xiang Yu, the overlord of Chu, he does not have the courage to commit suicide, he decides to surrender in exchange for a chance to survive, even as a captive, it is better than death.

How did Cheng Shijie treat him?If he wins the hearts of the people, he will only die. Now Zheng Zhilong is also betrayed by others, but he can have a chance to survive.

This is like in the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the unpopular Wang Shichong had no threat to the Tang Dynasty, he could live and be treated kindly, but because Dou Jiande was in the 39 states of Hebei, the hearts of the people belonged to him, so he could only kill one future trouble.

On December and [-]th of the seventh year of Chongzhen, on the battleship Beizhili on which Cheng Shijie was riding, the battleship sailed with full sail, stirring up white waves on the sea. Floating in the sea breeze.

After leaving Batavia, Cheng Shijie is also eager to return home. After all, he has been away from Liaodong for a long time. The sea is different from the land. On land, he can go back at any time, but the problem is not at sea. Appears and falls into the sea.

In the South China Sea, when the warships of the Ning Navy appeared in sight, the thirty warships under Zheng Zhilong's command also lined up.

Now at this time, the main battleship of the Ning Navy has rushed over in the formation of geese. The more tacit cooperation and the vigorous style made Zheng Zhilong lament that he was not wronged.

Zheng Zhilong shouted: "Everyone must not act rashly. Without my order, the cannon must not be reloaded!"

After the Ning Navy fleet discovered Zheng Zhilong, it immediately moved the battleship Beizhili back, and the other warships quickly moved forward with full sail. There were still five or six kilometers away, but Zheng Zhilong's [-] warships hung white flags.

"Commander, Zheng Zhilong's remnant fleet has hoisted the white flag!"

Li Zhixiang said a little worriedly: "Will there be fraud?"

"If they're tired of work, just trick me."

Cheng Shijie didn't care.

Soon, all Zheng Zhilong's [-] warships dropped anchor and lowered their sails, and all Zheng's officers and soldiers were relieved, and finally they didn't have to fight. With the terrifying range and accuracy of the Ning Navy's warship guns, they had already been beaten out of their hearts.If they were allowed to fight Ning Navy warships, it would be almost like asking them to stretch their necks and be slaughtered.

Looking at the relieved soldiers around him, Zheng Zhilong also knew that now, like Xiang Yu in the Gaixia Siege, his army's morale was broken, and he even gave a fart.

Surrender is a question of stretching out the head and shrinking the head.However, Zheng Zhilong was a bachelor, so he had to admit his mistakes and stand at attention when he was beaten. He boarded the boat and sailed to the battleship Beizhili.

At this time, Cheng Shijie was sitting on the deck, Zheng Zhilong boarded the battleship, and came to Cheng Shijie's position a dozen steps away. Of course, the Ning Navy soldiers had already searched Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Zhibao, and they were guaranteed to have no weapons on them.

Zheng Zhilong knelt down and said earnestly: "The old man is ignorant, arrogant, overconfident, offended the Duke, please forgive him!"

Now Zheng Zhilong is no longer the raptor who fought hard in the turbulent waves when he was young, and dared to fight on three sides with Xiyi, Daming Navy and pirates. The comfortable life of more than ten years has worn away his fighting spirit, and the wine and beauty have buried his ambition. .

Zheng Zhilong was not willing to admit defeat, but the problem was that Ning Haijun's warships were fast and their guns had a long range. He tried everything he could, but there was nothing he could do with Ning Haijun's warships.

The reason why the Dutch East India Company dare not go to war with the Ning Navy is because the Ning Navy has a strong production capacity. Even if all the warships of the Dutch East India Company are assembled to fight against the Ning Navy, the problem is that their chances of winning are not high. , and there are also huge problems in the country.

Of course, Zheng Zhilong also saw the battleships of the Ning Navy. They originally had only more than 60 warships. In less than a year, the number of Ning Navy's warships expanded by nearly half, and the warships were built more and more, and the guns were more and more powerful. allow.

If he continued to fight, he would have no chance of winning. In desperation, he was a little disheartened. Zheng Zhilong didn't want to make trouble anymore, he just wanted to keep this comfortable life and find a way out for his son.

If a person has lost the fighting spirit of getting stronger when he meets the strong, and only plans for his son's future, it can only prove that he is old.

It's just that his invincible prestige for more than ten years is still there, and no force dares to challenge him. The Zheng Group has maintained an upward trend under his leadership.

In fact, if Zheng Zhilong had not surrendered to the Manchus in history, the Zheng fleet under his command relied on more than [-] army troops and [-] to [-] warships. It may not be possible to block the Yellow River, but blocking the Yangtze River is no problem at all. .

It's a pity that Zheng Zhilong has no fighting spirit and is timid before fighting.

However, in this time and space, Zheng Zhilong had the misfortune to meet Cheng Shijie and the Ning Navy Group that swept from the north with the cold wind. Injured, was crushed by Cheng Shijie with a crushing force.

Facing an opponent who has an overwhelming advantage in terms of mentality and equipment technology, what else can Zheng Zhilong, who has lost his spirit, do but admit defeat?
Zheng Zhilong saw that Zheng Zhibao was still standing, and hurriedly said: "Idiot, don't kneel down yet!"

Zheng Zhibao still wanted to speak, but when Zheng Zhilong stared at him like this, he shuddered and quickly knelt down.

Everyone turned their attention to Cheng Shijie, waiting for him to deal with it.

Very calm, without the slightest pride in defeating a strong enemy, this kind of calm makes Zheng Zhilong more uncomfortable than being complacent. Maybe in Cheng Shijie's eyes, he is not a strong enemy at all, which is too shocking.

Indeed, as Zheng Zhilong imagined in his mind, Cheng Shijie did not regard Zheng Zhilong as a strong enemy, because he was not qualified. enemy.

However, Cheng Shijie didn't make things difficult for Zheng Zhilong, and said calmly: "Admiral Zheng, get up, you and I are both court officials, this is really indecent."

Zheng Zhilong didn't dare to get up, his forehead touched the deck: "The crime is obsessed with ghosts, listening to rumors, robbing merchant ships, and slaughtering merchants. The crime is heinous, please come down!"

Cheng Shijie said: "The dead people can't survive, so don't mention the past. Go back and confess to the victim's family. Everyone pays a thousand or two hundred taels of silver, and the matter is over."

Zheng Zhilong secretly breathed a sigh of relief: "The Duke is magnanimous, and the crime will be unforgettable! I don't know how the Duke plans to punish us?"

"You can't stay in Fujian anymore, go to Liaodong to retire and enjoy the happiness."

Cheng Shijie looked at Zheng Zhilong and said: "You resign yourself from the court, resign all official positions, and move your family to Liaodong. The generals of your Zheng fleet and all your nephews will train with me. As for how much you can achieve in the future, it is up to you It depends on their own ability."

At this time, following Zheng Zhilong's kneeling, it means that the battle between the Ning Naval Group and the Zheng Group has officially ended. After a crushing defeat, he simply handed over his position as the overlord of the sea.

Since then, the Zheng Group has officially become history, and Ning Haijun has finally opened up the road to Nanyang, and a wider world is presented in front of them. The endless energy stirred the Western Pacific Ocean, setting off a stormy sea.

Soon the old maritime powers in Europe will face the powerful impact of this emerging force. They don't know that this force coming out of the thick and vast land of the Central Plains will take them hundreds of years of hard work The maritime hegemony established by painstaking efforts was shattered, and the self-confidence and ambition accumulated in Europe through the Renaissance was completely buried.

However, the most important thing right now is to integrate the forces of the Zheng family. With the surrender of Zheng Zhilong, all the army troops of the Zheng family will be carried by warships or armed merchant ships, together with their families, to migrate to Luzon. Luzon accepted the reorganization.

Cheng Shijie's original plan to return was put on hold once again.

The reorganization of all the troops of the Zheng Group starts with the army. In Cheng Shijie's eyes, most of the army units of the Zheng Group are unqualified.

Whether it is qualified or not depends on whether it can withstand the military test of the Ning Navy.

Teams of Zheng's troops arrived in Luzon. The soldiers and generals of these Zheng's army did not feel decadent at all, but were elated.

"Hey, have you heard? Ning's navy soldiers are also paid!"

"Tch, who doesn't seem to know that the most common soldier in Ning Haijun earns one, two, five taels of silver a month!"

"Their cavalry, scouts and heavy infantry are paid two taels of silver a month, the artillery is two taels of silver, and the officers are even higher!"

"They still divide the house!"

"They give out four sets of military uniforms, four pairs of boots every year..."

"You can't take the issued military uniforms home. Ning Haijun's military uniforms can only be worn by soldiers. If ordinary people wear them, they will be punished!"

"I heard that family members of the army can also get some condolences such as rice noodles, wine and meat during the holidays!"

"What kind of condolences are you, do you know? If Ning Navy soldiers are killed in battle, the families of the dead soldiers can get a pension of 40 taels of silver and [-] acres of land; these [-] acres of land can be passed on to the family and tax-free for five years , ten and a half years of tax!"

"No wonder those Ning Haijun are not afraid of death. With this good thing, I am not afraid of death either!"

……

The soldiers of the Zheng Group were actually treated similarly to ordinary soldiers of the Ming Army. They were basically half-dead. Zheng Zhilong had a lot of silver in his hands, but he was reluctant to spend it on the soldiers. Most of his silver income was saved or spent by himself.

The cost of feeding soldiers is higher than that of the Ming government, but the treatment is only a little better than that of ordinary soldiers, and only when they are really desperate will they be rewarded heavily.

For example, when Zheng Zhilong ordered the fire boat to attack, sometimes this kind of death squad would give 100 taels of silver, and sometimes it would give 200 taels of silver.

When they are not fighting, the soldiers of the Zheng Group are also half dead, starving to death, and not eating well.

On the first day when they came to Luzon, these army soldiers of the Zheng Group felt the arrogance of the Ning Navy. On the port square originally built by the Spaniards, more than 600 stoves were built in a row. The arrival of the army soldiers of the Shi Group put a lot of pressure on the Ning Haijun's cooking soldiers.

Fortunately, Ning Haijun took the lead in selecting the gang leaders of Zheng's Group. After about [-] cooking soldiers of Zheng's Group were laid off, old, weak, sick and disabled, more than [-] people were left to change into Ning Haijun's uniforms. Officially became a Ning Navy soldier.

Together with Ning Haijun's cooking soldiers, they started cooking.

More than 600 stoves, with full firepower, and the scene of six or seven thousand cooking soldiers cooking together, this opened the eyes of the soldiers of the Zheng Group, and it was the first time that they assembled on a large scale.

Thanks to the rich products in Luzon, the food level of the soldiers of the Zheng Group is even better than that of the regular army of the Ning Navy in Liaodong. There is no way, Luzon has no shortage of fruits, such as pineapple, banana, apple, kiwi and the like Fruits are not easy to find in Liaodong.

Soon the army soldiers of Zheng's Group received the notice to eat. They took their lunch boxes and started queuing up to get food. Whether it was steamed buns or rice, they all had enough.

However, most of the army soldiers of the Zheng Group are from the south, and they like to eat rice. Most of them don't like to eat steamed buns, steamed buns, and noodles, which is more troublesome.

The discipline of the soldiers of the Zheng Group was not very good. They huddled together and were so angry that the Ning Haijun soldiers who were in charge of managing order gave them a hard blow when they picked up the pointer, and it was hard for them to calm down.

The soldiers of Zheng's Group who received the food didn't even care about the hot food. They squatted down in a place and started to eat it. They were so hot that they grinned and grinned. .

After eating, there will be fresh milk, milk tea, or pure milk. After eating and drinking enough, these soldiers will form a team of 100 people and start to stand in a military posture.

On the school field, the black battle flag of the Ning Navy was fluttering in the wind, and tens of thousands of soldiers from the Zheng Group lined up majestically, with their heads held high and their chests held high, their eyes fixed on each other.

The instructors of the Ning Navy in the team walked back and forth among the soldiers with pointers, and said to the soldiers: "Do you want to be real Ning Navy soldiers?"

"miss you!"

"The idea is very good, but Ning Haijun doesn't accept waste!"

The instructors went on to say: "You better be more confident!"

Time passed by like this, no one spoke, no one moved, and tens of thousands of people were like ten thousand wooden stakes.

Anyone who has stood in a military posture knows how uncomfortable it is, and Ning Haijun's unique black military uniform has a first-class heat absorption effect. The taste penetrated to the marrow, so that the soldiers of the Zheng Group just wanted to slap them into meatloaf.

But no one dared to move, because just across from them, more than a thousand veterans of the Ning Navy stood under the scorching sun and were exposed to the sun with them.

These veterans stood on the grass, where there were more mosquitoes, and their stomachs swelled when they were bitten on their faces, but no one moved, like a group of unconscious wooden people!
Li Zhixiang looked at these barely supported soldiers and said, "Commander, the quality of these soldiers is too poor!"

"Those who are unqualified will be disrupted, and let them form a farming army to farm in Luzon!"

"If too many people are eliminated at once, I'm afraid...they will be dissatisfied!"

"This commander didn't open a charitable hall, how could he have so much money to raise soldiers?"

"It's better to reduce the treatment..."

"Don't even think about it!"

Cheng Shijie said: "First we eliminate the old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled, then we eliminate them in terms of discipline, and then we have military training, which is assessed every three months. Among these rotten fish and rotten shrimp, I don't know how many of them can pass the test!"

"The navy?"

"Same pattern!"

Cheng Shijie said indifferently: "Our Ning Navy is Ning Quewulan, but we have to put the navy in Liaodong for assessment, and train on land first. If we can't persist, we will throw it to the Tuntian Army to garrison the fields!"

Just after the first military posture training, the soldiers of the Zheng Group complained endlessly. However, no matter how hard and tiring they were, few of them were willing to quit voluntarily.

Because serving as a soldier in the Ning Navy, the benefits are simply too good.

When Cheng Shijie was reorganizing the Zheng Group in Luzon, news of Zheng Zhilong's surrender to Cheng Shijie also spread.

(End of this chapter)