Desert Eagle Suletan Khan

Having decided on a strategy of outwardly lenient but inwardly strict to deal with the Zheng family, the Great Khan of Lotus suppressed his anger and calmly began to reply to the memorial Zheng Jing had given him. As he wrote, his pen moved swiftly and swiftly, producing a document that is extremely important for later generations to study the history of Emperor Taizu of Wei's platform, "Imperial Edict to the Prince of Yanping with Vermilion Comments".

"Your words are excellent! When assessing the overall situation, one must strive for perfection. Taiwan, though an outlying island, is crucial to the four provinces and cannot be easily abandoned. Moreover, our nation's strength surpasses that of previous dynasties; it is fitting to station troops there to defend our vast maritime borders. However, supporting 100,000 soldiers in a single location would likely cause immense hardship for the people; furthermore, the enormous costs of maritime transport would add to the nation's worries. I believe the key to a strong army lies in quality, not quantity. A commander-in-chief of the Army can be appointed in Dongning, and in Tamsui..." Each of Taiwan and Keelung shall be staffed with one deputy general and 15,000 soldiers; Penghu shall be staffed with one naval commander-in-chief and Kinmen with one deputy general and 10,000 soldiers; and the outlying islands shall be staffed with several adjutant generals, guerrillas, and garrison commanders, with 5,000 soldiers, totaling 30,000. In the event of foreign invasion, troops from Fujian and Guangdong provinces can arrive in an instant; there is no need to worry. The nation's troops are provided for by the imperial court; why should they rely on the people for sustenance? The expenses for the garrisons in Taiwan and the outlying islands shall be entirely covered by the Ministry of Revenue. The king should withdraw all troops from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. The troops from the two prefectures should return to Taiwan to avoid adding to the local burden. I have heard that the island of Taiwan has fertile soil and abundant produce, with farming and sericulture going hand in hand, and fish and salt production flourishing. The mountains are covered with lush trees, and bamboo groves are planted everywhere. Sulfur, water vines, sugarcane, deerskin, and all daily necessities are readily available. Even if there is a shortage, ships from all directions can arrive in no time. This is truly a fertile region, and it is appropriate to establish a province here. Tainan Prefecture can be established in the Dongning area, Taipei Prefecture in the Tamsui area, and Taichung Prefecture in the Dadu area. The prefectures were established in Tianxing and Wannian, and counties were established in Penghu and other areas, with Tainan as the provincial capital, and officials were appointed to govern them. I have heard that among the virtuous men on the island, Chen Yonghua, Hong Lei, Yang Ying, Ye Heng, Chen Shengwu, Ke Ping, Liu Guoxuan, and Feng Xifan are all talented individuals. I have granted all their requests for official positions. The Ming dynasty imperial family member, Prince Ningjing Zhu Shugui, and others are suffering alone on the island, and I truly pity them. I hereby order them to be moved to the capital for gracious care. Who else but you can be the pillar of the nation! With loyal and virtuous men guarding the land, the southeast will be safe!

On the surface, this imperial edict seemed to approve of Zheng Jing's opinion, giving him extremely high praise and even comparing him to a pillar protecting the southeastern sea frontier, uttering the nauseatingly flattering phrase "who else but the King?" However, later historians who conducted in-depth research on the Great Khan of Lotus believed that, throughout the Great Khan's life, he often acted with honeyed words but daggers in his heart. This imperial edict was not well-intentioned, but rather aimed at the Zheng family and intended to undermine the morale of the military and the people of Taiwan. First, although the court agreed to station troops in Taiwan and its outlying islands, it only provided 30,000 personnel, intending to reduce the size of Zheng's army. Second, the court promised to pay the Taiwanese troops, with the funds coming from the Ministry of Revenue, thus the Taiwanese army would no longer be Zheng's private army, inevitably weakening Zheng's control over the island over time. Third, since the court was paying the Taiwanese troops, Taiwan would no longer have a reason to occupy Tong'an, Kinmen, Zhangpu, Zhenhai, and Tongshan to raise funds, making it legitimate to demand their withdrawal from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou. Establishing provinces, prefectures, states, and counties in Taiwan seemed like a good thing, and having Zheng Jing recommend officials for the position appeared to be a sign of great trust. But why specifically mention the names of Chen Yonghua, Hong Lei, Yang Ying, Ye Heng, Chen Shengwu, Ke Ping, Liu Guoxuan, and Feng Xifan? This was to tell these people that their official positions were given by the court, not bestowed by Zheng. Zheng Jing, however, could not refuse. These men were all his confidants: Chen Yonghua oversaw all government affairs, Hong Lei managed the Ministry of Personnel, Yang Ying the Ministry of Revenue, Ye Heng the Ministry of Rites, Chen Shengwu the Ministry of War, Ke Ping the Ministry of Justice, Xie Xian the Ministry of Works, Liu Guoxuan the military commander of Zhangzhou and Quanzhou, and Feng Xifan the head of the Imperial Guard. Refusing would inevitably alienate his subordinates. His request to relocate former Ming imperial family members, including Prince Ningjing Zhu Shugui, to Beijing seemed insignificant, but in reality, it was an attempt to sever Taiwan's political support. From the time Zheng Chenggong raised his army, he had always championed the restoration of the Ming dynasty. Handing over the former Ming imperial family to Wei Guo would be tantamount to personally cutting down this banner, severely damaging morale among the military and the people on the island.

What Zheng Jing thought of his reply was none of the Great Khan's business. After issuing the reply, he ordered Grand Secretary Liu Haogu, Minister of Revenue Hu Lianqi, and Minister of War Halahuli to ride back to the capital at full speed to prepare for the conquest of Taiwan with the key officials remaining in the capital, including Batu Hotan, Tiemoer, Nasutu, and Xue Zongzhou. The most important tasks were to collect civilian ships and mobilize the Korean navy, in addition to preparing silver, grain, and military supplies. The Great Khan was extremely thorough in his planning, even instructing the Ministry of Rites to send officials to inform foreign merchants, especially Japanese and British merchants, not to transport military supplies to Taiwan. Intelligence gathered by the Wuyiwei (Black-Clad Guards) revealed that the Tokugawa Shogunate of Japan was Zheng's most important trading partner. Taiwan had been importing large quantities of silver, copper, lead, armor, and other supplies from Japan to support its war efforts. In return, Taiwan allowed Japanese merchants to reside in Keelung. Furthermore, the British East India Company had just signed a trade treaty with Zheng this year, with the British helping train Zheng's artillery and receiving large quantities of gunpowder and weapons from the British, even directly borrowing British artillery for combat. The Great Khan, believing that diplomacy was power, wanted to cut off Taiwan's external support through diplomatic maneuvering; regardless of success, he had to try.

Then, he announced that he would lead an army of 300,000 back to the capital on May 6th, leaving only over 100,000 troops to garrison Guangdong and Fujian provinces. Upon receiving the imperial decree, the number of merchants in Guangzhou, especially those from Dongning, immediately increased. However, the number of merchants was actually a trivial matter to the Great Khan; before leaving Guangdong, he had many important matters to attend to, such as reorganizing the surrendered subordinates of the two vassal states and appeasing the morale of the military and civilians in the southern provinces.

"Where are Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong?" Sultan asked Hada, the First-Class Kizil Duke and Commander of the Black-Clad Guard, coldly.

"Reporting to the Great Khan, Geng Fan's party has entered Zhejiang, and Shang Fan's party has reached Jiangxi," Hada replied respectfully.

"Heh, those two are quite clever, they moved quickly. Order the local officials in Liaodong and Henan to build the royal palaces as soon as possible and let them take up their fiefs," Suletan smiled upon hearing this, and then ordered the summons of Huang Wu, a powerful figure from Guangdong and the Duke of Haicheng. Huang Wu, courtesy name Junxuan, was from Zhangzhou, Fujian. He had served as a general under Zheng Chenggong, and later surrendered Haicheng to the Qing Dynasty along with his deputy Su Ming and others, and was enfeoffed as the Duke of Haicheng. After surrendering to the Qing, he successively persuaded Zheng Jing's generals Zhou Quanbin, Chen Sheng, Huang Ting, He Zheng, and others to surrender, significantly weakening the Zheng army. He also proposed a policy of relocating the border and prohibiting maritime trade to the Qing court. Although this imposed a blockade and attack on the Zheng regime, it also caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people along the coast. The Great Khan, who was always unconventional in his use of people, thought this man was a rare talent and knew the Zheng regime well. Before launching a campaign to destroy the Zheng regime, he wanted to hear his opinion. (End of this chapter)