The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 486 Zheng Zhilong Surrenders to Qi

"How did Zhao Rushi fight? I gave him 6,000 men and plenty of food and fodder, and now he can't even take Pyongyang. Back then, I conquered Japan in just three months!"

"Your Majesty is so brave, how can Zhao Lujiao match him?"

On the first day of October in the second year of Taichu, in Xuzhou, at the Governor's Office and the Emperor Wuding's palace, Liu Zhaosun shouted loudly at two messengers who had rushed back from outside the pass.

Military and political intelligence from Liaodong, Shandong, Henan, Jingji and other places were summarized and submitted to the emperor.

Emperor Wuding was very concerned about the wars in Korea and Sakhalin. Every month, military information would be transmitted from thousands of miles outside the Great Wall to Huguang, and some major military operations had to be decided by the emperor.

Initially, the Eighth and Fifth Corps made relatively smooth progress. Zhao Lujiao was victorious in Korea, while Pu Gang's Fifth Corps laid siege to a Cossack fortress on Sakhalin Island. The Cossack bastions were known to be incredibly strong and impenetrable. Historically, Emperor Kangxi mobilized a massive army to surround the city of Yaksa, besieging it with a force many times their own, ultimately capturing it at a heavy cost.

~~~~~
Emperor Wuding had not received any battle reports from the two men for two months.

The messengers who came from North Korea and Sakhalin Island brought the latest military information from the front line.

The first unit Liu Zhaosun dismantled was the Eighth Corps that was attacking Korea, which was under Zhao Lujiao's command.

In the Tangbao, Zhao Lujiao reported to the emperor that the Eighth Corps had great difficulty in advancing on the Korean battlefield. As of August, the Qi army had occupied most of Korea and was only one step away from completely conquering Korea.

"Winter is about to arrive, and the Eighth Corps is stationed beneath a fortified city. What does Zhao Lujiao want to do? Hasn't he suffered enough defeat in Japan?"

Emperor Wu Ding threw the report sent from North Korea to the ground and said angrily.

A group of civil and military officials stood in fear on both sides of the yamen hall, not daring to speak.

Emperor Wuding had been furious since he led his army into the pass.

"Before leaving, I told him to advance cautiously and not to divide his forces. Zhao Lujiao refused to listen and insisted on dividing his forces and attacking together. He thought he could conquer North Korea within a month, and now it's been seven months!!"

Everyone around was silent. Qiao Yiqi winked at Pei Dahu, who stepped forward and said,
"Your Majesty, when Magistrate Yuan was murdered in Japan by the Tokugawa clan, General Zhao witnessed it with his own eyes. He must have been eager for revenge, and that's why he fell into the Korean trap..."

"Okay, stop talking!"

Now that the peace agreement has been reached, the Southern Ming is no longer a concern. In more than half a year, the area actually controlled by the Qi army has more than doubled. Xuzhou is already the limit of the expansion of the Great Qi, and it is no longer able to move further south.

"What's the current situation on Sakhalin Island? Are all the Cossacks dead?"

The messenger of the Fifth Corps quickly handed another letter to Eunuch Dongfang. Dongfang Zhu took the letter and carefully presented it to the emperor.

Liu Zhaosun tore open the wax seal of the envelope, read it roughly, and his gloomy expression relaxed slightly.

"Pu Gang did not disappoint me. The bastion was captured."

Emperor Wu Ding issued an oral edict, and Dongfang Zhu wrote it down with a pen:

"Order Pu Gang to pursue and suppress these bandits relentlessly. Not a single one of them should escape. I do not want any prisoners. All of them will have their left legs chopped off and be exiled to Siberia. I will order the Liaodong civil officials to select civilians and send them to cultivate the land. I will also transfer 3,000 peasant soldiers to garrison Sakhalin Island. I will rotate the Fifth Army back to Liaodong to reinforce Korea."

Imperial edicts were distributed one after another, and the messengers around dispersed. Ma Shiying, who had been standing by for a long time, said cautiously:

"Your Majesty, the Southern Dynasty delegation has arrived and has been waiting outside the palace for two hours."

Liu Zhaosun was slightly stunned: "Didn't he leave a while ago?"

"Your Majesty, they are back to exchange an alliance, and they have brought Zheng Zhilong with them. That Zhang Dai is here too, wearing a woman's skirt."

Liu Zhaosun was overjoyed.

"Ignore that famous scholar. It's a good thing that Zheng Zhilong surrendered on his own initiative." Emperor Wu Ding said to the empire's chief diplomat:
"Ma Shangshu, they are guests now. The last time they came to Xuzhou, I had no time to look after them. This time, you must treat them well. Go and welcome the envoys in."

Ma Shiying smiled knowingly and retreated with the chief instructor Sen Ti.

A moment later, Southern Ming envoys Huang Gongfu, Lu Zhenfei, Du Yinxi and others entered the palace.

Just like the last time they came to negotiate peace, the delegation that came to Xuzhou to exchange for an alliance this time was luxurious. In addition to the Southern Ming officials, there was also a group of prominent families and gentry from Jiangnan. Liu Zhaosun recognized Zheng Zhilong at a glance.

After Wu Aheng defeated Zheng Zhilong for the first time, Emperor Wu Ding sent someone (referring to Ma Shiying, who was a fellow villager of Zheng Zhilong) to deliver a message for Zheng Zhilong, hoping that he could once again appease the Southeast Pirate King.

In a personal letter from Liu Zhaosun, the Emperor Taishang stated that after capturing Jingxiang, and for the sake of the millions of people living south of the Yangtze River, the Great Qi would peacefully resolve territorial disputes with the Hongguang court in the south. They would strive to recapture the southeast without bloodshed, especially Quanzhou, Zheng Zhilong's stronghold, and spare it from the baptism of war.

Zheng Zhilong had worked with the Kaiyuan troops before, so he was familiar with the situation. After confirming that Qi would protect his interests in Fujian, Zheng Zhilong replied that he would do his utmost to cooperate with the Qi army in its march south. Although Liu Zhaosun had no immediate plans to conquer the entire country.

While Emperor Wuding was fighting a fierce battle with the Ming army in Xiangyang, he instructed Ma Shiying to continue negotiations. In order to win over Zheng Zhilong, he even conferred the title of "Duke of Minle" on him and secretly promised to maintain the status quo in Fujian and let Zheng Zhilong continue to be the "local emperor" of Fujian.

Ma Shiying certainly knew that with Liu Zhaosun's character, he would never let Zheng Zhilong go, but he still tried his best to appease Zheng and dispel Zheng Zhilong's concerns. He invited Zheng Zhilong to Xiangyang (later changed to Xuzhou) many times to discuss the great cause.

When Zheng Zhilong heard about the battle situation in Xiangyang, he thought that Qi and Ming had reached a stalemate in Jingxiang, and that he, as a fresh force, was a key force that could influence the outcome. After bargaining with Ma Shiying, he prepared to go.

At this time, Zheng Chenggong stood up and firmly opposed his father going north.

At that time, when Emperor Tianqi was still in power, Zheng Chenggong was only twelve years old. He was deeply favored by the late emperor and was named "Uncle of Loyalty and Filial Piety". He was given the imperial sword and the seal of "General Recruiting and Suppressing" and led his army to fight against the bandits in Shaanxi.

Zheng Chenggong attached great importance to loyalty to the emperor, and he always looked down on Liu Zhaosun, who killed the emperor and usurped the throne.

Whether in Fujian or on the Yangtze River, Zheng Zhilong did not have the strength to fight against the Qi army. The various armies of the Southern Ming Dynasty were all useless teammates, and no friendly army could be relied upon.

If Zheng Zhilong was determined to resist Qi, it would mean that he would have to give up all his family property and land on land, and abandon the position of "General of Fujian of the Ming Dynasty" that he had finally obtained, and eventually be driven to Kinmen and Xiamen to become the Pirate King again.

If it really comes to this (given the combat strength of the Qi army, it may be achieved in a year), the Zheng family will face a devastating disaster, and the maritime trade business that Zheng Zhilong has painstakingly built will also suffer serious losses.

On the contrary, if Emperor Wuding was still the same Emperor Wuding, and Liu Zhaosun was still as honest and loving as before, surrendering to the Great Qi would undoubtedly be the wisest choice for Zheng Zhilong.

To this end, he taught his son:
"With the natural barrier separating us, even the mighty armies of the four garrisons could not resist the enemy, let alone secure a small corner. If you fail to draw a tiger, won't you end up with a dog?"

Fujian is just a small place with few soldiers and little food. Your father is not a fierce man like Zuo Liangyu and Huang Degong. The four powerful troops of the Hongguang regime were all wiped out by the Qi army. How can the Zheng family be an enemy of Liu Zhaosun?
The Kaiyuan soldiers are invincible in the world, and Wu Aheng's navy is getting stronger and stronger. Time is of the essence. We should surrender in time before you destroy all our ships. In the future, you and I, father and son, will live a life of luxury in Qi, singing and dancing as usual.

The Qi army advanced too quickly in Shandong and Henan, and was invincible all the way. Very little intelligence was transmitted to the southeast, so Zheng Chenggong had no idea of the current situation of the Qi army.

However, one thing is certain, that is, this warrior invited my father to go north many times, and he definitely had no good intentions.

Zheng Chenggong tried his best to dissuade him, even threatening to sever the father-son relationship to prevent Zheng Zhilong from going north.

However, the Pirate King was obsessed with his own plan and insisted on following it, so he left Fuzhou with a small group of people.

To be on the safe side, he went to Nanzhili first to find out the situation.

When he arrived in Nanjing, the Battle of Xiangyang had already ended, and Qi and Ming were negotiating peace in Xuzhou. As soon as the Pirate King entered Nanjing, he was arrested by Ruan Dacheng and sent directly to Xuzhou...
From then on, Zheng Chenggong parted ways with his father and joined forces with his uncle and others to defend the southeast.

Zheng Zhilong's fate was exactly the same as that of the Qing emperor Du Du...

Zheng Chenggong led the remaining troops to resist Qi. Qi tried to recruit him many times and promised him high positions and generous salaries, but Zheng refused every time. Later, Zheng Chenggong recovered Taiwan and used Taiwan as a base for resisting Qi. He did not surrender until his death.
Of course, this is all later, and will be described in detail in the future.

~~~~~
At first, Emperor Wuding did not kill his old enemy, but offered him generous conditions. After careful consideration, Zheng Zhilong resolutely went north and surrendered to the Great Qi despite the opposition of Zheng Chenggong.

(End of this chapter)