The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 604 "Eighteen Zhi" Comes Back

Zheng Chenggong hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Return to Your Highness. After Wu Sangui surrendered, he regarded Guan Ning's army as a confinement. The needles could not get in. Dorgon had been worried that he would rebel, so he put Guan Ning's army in Jinzhou. If it wasn't for the unfavorable situation in the south of the Yangtze River, Wu Sangui would never have been transferred to Yangzhou."

"Even you, an 'enemy general', know that the Qing court has other thoughts about Wu Sangui, and the soldiers of the Guanning army must have the same thoughts." Zhu Linmi narrowed her eyes slightly when she heard the words, "We can use this to plan one or two things for you. Jiangbei's Jianlu is looking for some trouble..."

He quickly thought about the plan, ordered Shi Lin to fetch a pen and paper, wrote a secret order on the table of the celebration banquet, and asked Kuai Ma to send it to Gu Yanwu quickly.

……

Shamen Island is one of the 32 islands of Long Island north of Dengzhou Prefecture in Shandong Province. It is currently used for exiling prisoners. Although it is very remote, it is still a place for people to stand.

The sky was getting dark, so Zheng Du approached the island cautiously, until he saw the figure of the "Xuwei" from a distance, he was slightly relieved, and hurriedly took a dozen of his confidantes to row a small boat and landed.

After Laizhou Port was attacked by the Ming army, he had drifted at sea for more than ten years before he managed to get in touch with Uncle Wu.When he saw Zheng Zhibao who had already been waiting on the shore, he almost wept with joy, hurried forward a few steps, and said in an anxious tone: "Uncle Wu, how is the situation in the court? There must be an official to join me? You must be there Daddy is there to help me plead..."

Zheng Zhibao lowered his head and sighed, "I'm asking for more, big brother...has been imprisoned by the Ministry of Criminal Justice, I'm afraid the situation is not good."

Zheng Du was shocked when he heard the words, and lost his voice: "What's going on? Will Dad be okay?!"

"Do you know how much the navy lost in Laizhou?"

"Dang, should be very serious..."

"Hey!" Zheng Zhibao nodded dejectedly, "The Ming army set fire to the harbor, burning more than 380 warships, large and small, and the navy is dead in name only.

"The elder brother's boat was destroyed that day. Fortunately, a sentinel boat rescued him, and he was able to return to the camp seriously injured. Unexpectedly, Li Dechun, in order to escape the responsibility of defending Laizhou, tied his elder brother and took him to Beijing on the spot. He colluded with Nanming and allowed the enemy to attack Hong Kong.

"Then it was said that elder brother Zheng Sen, an officer, must have contacts with Zhu Mingduo because he allowed Zheng Sen to be an enemy. After the defeat in Laizhou, the imperial court wanted to find someone to punish him, so he convicted elder brother of collaborating with the enemy!"

"Oops, it's all over..." Zheng Du was so startled that his face turned pale, and he almost fell to the ground.After staying for a while, he suddenly grabbed Zheng Zhibao's arm with all his strength, and said in a trembling voice: "Uncle Wu, we... what should we do in the future?!"

Zheng Zhibao also had a gloomy expression, "I heard that Duoduo killed King Pingxi last month in order to seize the military power of the Guanning Army. It seems that the battle situation is unfavorable, and the Manchus are suspicious of Han generals. My Zheng family Liusheng Road..."

"After the elder brother was arrested, I had to send a message to my acquaintance in Dengzhou Prefecture, saying that many courtiers had begun to impeach you, me, and even the old Zheng family. So I hurriedly left Laizhou overnight with Xirou." He frowned and looked towards the direction of Shandong, "This land I'm afraid I won't be able to go back. I, the Zheng family, started from the sea, so I may have to pick up my old business this time..."

"Old business?" Zheng Du was taken aback, "Uncle Wu, you mean to be... a pirate?" He glanced at the "Xuwei" behind him, nodded slowly, "Yes, with this plywood boat, In addition to the three boats I brought, no one in the East China Sea is invincible. In addition, my Zheng family also has a lot of friendship in Japan, and we will make a comeback one day!"

Seeing that he agreed, Zheng Zhibao was also relieved.The reason why he worked so hard to find Zheng Du was that he took a fancy to his identity as Zheng Zhilong's son--Zheng Sen had been expelled from the genealogy by Zheng Zhilong--as long as this nephew was around, the old Zheng family would surely come to vote for him, and it wouldn't be long. , You can gather a very powerful team by yourself!

The two discussed it and decided that the next day they led a group of confidantes to attack the garrison camp on Salmon Island—there were actually only about a hundred jailers here, and they dispersed as soon as the "Xuwei" gun fired.

Then Zheng Zhibao carried all the supplies on the island onto the ship, and recruited exiled prisoners to join the group. Finally, with four warships and thousands of men, he hung out the banner of "Eighteen Zhi" that Zheng Zhilong used when he was a pirate. Sailing to the south of Korea.

……

After Zhu Linmi arranged for the navy to repair, she rushed back to Nanjing immediately.

He went to meet the emperor first, and he was very happy to see Zhu Linyuan opened his eyes.

Originally, the emperor was young, so it was inevitable that he would be suspicious of the Lord Shaoguo, and he had been in a coma before, which made Da Ming's mind even more uncertain.Now that he is gradually improving, it can be regarded as a blessing to Ming Dynasty. In addition, the war situation continues to develop in a direction that is beneficial to Ming Dynasty. Not a good dream anymore!

Then he summoned a group of confidant officials and arranged important matters to be discussed at the court meeting tomorrow.It is said to be a discussion, but in fact most of them have been basically decided, and it is just a briefing to the courtiers at the court meeting.

After a series of events such as moving the capital and land reform in the past six months, Zhu Linmi has now deliberately bypassed the old and conservative cabinet, and all important government affairs are handled by her own team.This situation may not change until he "reshuffles" the cabinet.

At the court meeting the next day, Zhang Jiayu, the minister of the Ministry of War, first came out to congratulate the navy's victory in Laizhou, and asked for awards for the naval officers and soldiers who made meritorious service.

All the courtiers also followed suit to congratulate, and the quick words of praise for the navy were like a torrent of river water.

After the applause in the court hall stopped, Li Hui, the doctor of the Ministry of War, announced the news of Wu Sangui's death again, but for the purpose of protecting Bian Yujing, he only said that it was caused by internal strife among Jianlu.

Immediately afterwards, officials from the Ministry of War expressed that they should take advantage of the great victory and when morale was high, send troops to cross the Yangtze River to the north and recover Yangzhou and other places north of Southern Zhili.

The Northern Expedition to regain the lost land was the expectation of the entire Ming Dynasty. In addition to the success of the previous victories, the confidence of the ministers was greatly increased. Immediately, there was a voice of secondment in the court, and many civil officials put forward some suggestions on the supply of money, food and supplies. They are all impassioned and passionate.

Of course, these are also Zhu Linmi's established strategies, but the Northern Expedition will involve all aspects of Ming Dynasty, and the cost must be huge. It still needs to create momentum in the court, and it can also boost the morale of the court.

Just as the court was very excited about the great victory and the Northern Expedition, Zeng Jian glanced at Zhu Linmi, saw the latter nodded slightly, coughed lightly, came out with his wat in his hands, and said in a loud voice: "His Royal Highness, King Qi Fuzheng , the former White Pole Army under the Marquis of Zhongzhen recruited tens of thousands of soldiers from Sichuan, and even smashed important towns such as Langzhong, Guangyuan, and Ningqiang, surrounded Hanzhong, and led to Dading in Shu. The military exploits are outstanding. Please add meritorious ministers, The Emperor Long En has been honored."

He didn't wait for the ministers to react, and immediately continued: "In addition, the land of Huguang has been repeatedly invaded by the Eastern captives. He Dutang led troops to guard it and never stopped. Generals Li and Gao of the Zhongzhen Battalion also came to help. Defeating the enemy and winning the victory are all indispensable. I also ask you to add the meritorious officials of Chu."

(End of this chapter)