Back to the end of Ming Dynasty to be a warlord

Chapter 416

"I'm finally a warlord!"

Yang Chao didn't expect that he would come to this step after all.

But what better choice is there? It can be said that it was forced here step by step.

And it must be a warlord, nothing else will work.

Being a loyal general cannot change the strength of the Qing army, and being a civil servant who is determined to innovate will not get anyone's support, so you can only be an autocratic warlord in order to promote your own innovation.

"Expand the army to 30 within one year! Within one year, let the taxation of Nanzhili reach 1000 million taels!"

Although he hadn't taken power yet, Yang Chao immediately put forward two governance goals and started preparations before the reform.

After Zheng Hongkui got Yang Chao's promise, he didn't go south immediately, but ran around the city of Nanjing.

He needs the support of a group of civil servants here in Nanjing. Headed by Wang Duo and Qian Qianyi, there are still a group of civil servants in Nanjing who have not left, and these people are all well-known and appealing old scholars.

For example, Qian Qianyi, Minister of the Ministry of Rites, is the leader of Donglin, and Xia Yunyi, Minister of the Ministry of War, is the leader of Fushe.

Soon he got the support of Qian Qianyi. Qian Qianyi was waiting and watching, worried that Yang Chao would launch an army to fight for power.

Now that the Zheng family has Yang Chao's support, there is no need for Qian Qianyi to wait and see. For Qian Qianyi, Zheng's stealing power is more comfortable than Yang Chao's stealing power. At least the Zheng family has always been there. To curry favor with Qian Qianyi, Zheng Zhilong's son, Zheng Sen, had already worshiped Qian Qianyi as his teacher.

So after finding out that there was no threat from Yang Chao, Qian Qianyi readily agreed to Zheng's going south. What Zheng promised to him was the position of a cabinet minister, with ups and downs for decades, from Apocalypse to Mourning King , After four dynasties, Qian Qianyi joined the cabinet again, he couldn't help feeling relieved, life's ups and downs are so exciting.

People like Qian Qianyi don't represent themselves in every move, they represent an interest group.

As Qian Qianyi turned to support the mourning king to supervise the country, Donglin literati all over the world began to flatter the mourning king.

But Xia Yunyi was a little hesitant. Not only did he not make any preparations to go south, but his only move was to resign. Since he couldn't be the emperor's courtier, and he didn't want to be the minion of an authoritarian general, Xia Yunyi resigned and returned home, focusing on the countryside. Ask about world affairs.

Zheng Hongkui rushed to Fujian non-stop with Yang Chao's promise and the congratulatory forms of all civil servants.

The details of the agreement he had made with Yang Chao earlier had been sent back to Fujian.

Although the Zheng family paid a high price, Zheng Zhilong still felt that his younger brother had made great contributions.

Needless to say, 300 million taels of silver was nothing to the Zheng family.

As for the Nanzhili to be handed over to Yang Chao, although it is a pity, the Zheng family has weighed it. With their strength, they can't compete with Yang Chao. Anyway, Nanzhili is almost under Yang Chao's soldiers. Zheng wants to control It's not realistic here either.

It seems that Zheng Shi didn't pay anything, just got Yang Chao's promise in vain.

And let Yang Chao stand up in Nanzhili, so that the Zheng family can be more at ease in coercing the emperor to order the princes, otherwise they will have to face the threat of the Qing army. If it is a naval battle, the Zheng family is not afraid of anyone. Nine warships defeated [-] warships from the Indian and Arab coalition forces, but the Dutch had hundreds of more powerful warships, and the Zheng family was able to defeat them by themselves. Zheng's strength at sea was at the national level.

But the giants at sea are dwarfs on land. Their brave and desperate sailors have no discipline at all. If it doesn't go well, it will be a thousand miles away.

So simply give up the land to Yang Chao, and the Zheng family will specialize in managing the sea, and Yang Chao's heart is not too dark, at least Guangdong, Guangxi and Zhejiang are left to the Zheng family, no, the combination of Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces is enough Zheng's strength has expanded tenfold.

Occupying Guangdong and Zhejiang means that the Zheng family will no longer be under the control of others in the future, and they are firmly in their hands as the source of goods for sea trade. The silk in Hangzhou, Zhejiang is not lost to Suzhou in the slightest, and Guangdong is also a silk producing area. The quality is slightly lower, but it is still ok to sell to the Dutch.

In this way, the Zheng family can supply Japan with Hangzhou silk, and Guangdong silk with the Dutch. Since then, they have really entered the sea and lost their fetters.

The attitude of Yang Chao in the south of the Yangtze River soon infected other people. Ding Kuichu, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, and Zhang Bingwen, the governor of Zhejiang, led officials from Guangdong, Guangxi and Zhejiang to express their support. Even He Tengjiao, who was only left in the southern part of Huguang (later Hunan), also recognized the mourning king on behalf of Huguang civil officials. , So after Zheng Hongkui returned to Fujian, the Zheng family immediately began to mourn the enthronement ceremony of King Zhu Cihuan.

Yang Chao cooperated and sent people to watch the ceremony.

After the enthronement ceremony, Zhu Cihuan ascended the throne with the reign name of Longwu, and next year will be the first year of Longwu.

Then there was the big hero, Qian Qianyi entered the cabinet as he wished, but at this time he found that the cabinet of Emperor Longwu seemed too big, and he recruited more than 20 famous scholars from all over the country. Come on big.

Huang Daozhou, Jiang Dejing, Su Guansheng, He Wuzhen, Huang Mingjun, Chen Zizhuang, Lin Yuji, Zeng Ying, Zhu Jizuo, Fu Guan, etc. have more than 20 bachelors, and Qian Qianyi can only be ranked second because of his great prestige. Originally, he wanted to fight for the first assistant, and with the support of the Zheng family behind him, it should be said that he was able to capture it with his hands. It is a pity that he led the civil and military surrender with Wang Duo outside the city of Nanjing. A piece of hair was taken out by Zodiac Zhou to talk about it, and there was no hope immediately.

Wang Duo also went to Fujian, but he was also attacked by Huang Daozhou. Wang Duo's face was obviously not as thick as Qian Qianyi's, so he resigned immediately.

Zhu Cihuan's ability to invite so many great scholars does not mean that he is really broad-minded. He is really trying to cheer up, but it is just to balance the Zheng family, and it is precisely because so many civil servants are needed to endorse their actions, otherwise their family A military general with a background of pirate background may not be recognized by many people to support an emperor, but it is different if there are so many great scholars. These people's students and old officials are all over the world. They have entered the cabinet and served as local officials. Those civil servants will all support the imperial court, and the Zheng family will be able to coerce the emperor to order the world.

But some infighting is necessary.

During the first court meeting of the new emperor, the Zheng family clashed with the civil servants.

Relying on his role in Zhu Cihuan's ascension to the throne, Zheng Zhilong believed that he was the most important minister for his contribution.

So when he was in court, he was the first one, which made the first minister Huang Daozhou dissatisfied. He directly reprimanded Zheng Zhilong in the court, saying that Zheng Zhilong had no courtesies, and that the ancestral ministers had never been at the top of the class as a reason. , Zhu Cihuan supported Huang Daozhou, and Huang Daozhou stood in the first place as he wished.

But Zheng Zhilong was not happy. The emperor showed a disobedient attitude just after he took the throne, which made them a little embarrassed.

But someone was happy, and represented Yang Chao to pay homage to the new Emperor Longwu's Huangfeng Mansion. He was not only happy, but also excited.

Huang Feng's mansion did not expect that a little scholar like him, who came from a humble background and had no fame, would be in court with a famous Confucian and meet the emperor one day.

The emperor's appointment made the Huangfeng Mansion very excited. The emperor confirmed in the court hall that Yang Chao was guarding Nanzhili, and that one of the Nanzhili's taxes should be returned to Yang Chao for military expenses. If there is any official vacancy in Nanzhili, Recommended by Yang Chao.

Nanzhili finally got it.

This is what really moved Huang Fengfu's heart.

The Huangfeng Mansion took Emperor Longwu's imperial decree, official certificates, etc., and rushed back to Nanjing non-stop after retiring from the court. Once the power is in hand, it must be sent to Yang Chao immediately.

But he didn't know that after he left, Zhu Cihuan, the emperor of Longwu, retreated to the inner palace, and immediately exploded, breaking countless cups and cups.

"Rebellious officials and thieves! Rebellious officials and thieves!"

He cursed loudly.

Of course he scolded Yang Chao.

That day, the emperor abandoned the city and fled, and the two brothers Zhu Cihuan and Zhu Cizhen were alone and helpless. At this time, Zheng Hongkui came to them.

Everything that happened later was so coincidental that Zhu Cihuan thought he was really destined by destiny.

They fled to Fujian with Zheng Hongkui at the beginning, just to save their lives. Their two brothers are different from Zhu Cihong's two brothers. Their two brothers were born to Concubine Tian Gui. The two brothers had disliked the Zhu Cihong brothers since they were young, and their mother instilled in them the concept of struggle every day.

Almost from a young age, Zhu Cihuan had the ambition to fight against the crown prince and become the emperor in the future. Unfortunately, he was the son of a legitimate son. In the end, the city of Beijing was captured by Li Zicheng's thieves. His crown prince status was still so valuable, and he became the emperor in Nanjing.

Although Zhu Cihong didn't do anything to the Zhu Cihuan brothers, he still gave them a house in Nanjing to live in, but the salary was much worse than that of the third prince Zhu Cijiong. 1000 taels, you don’t have to worry about eating and drinking, but it’s hard to get rich, but you can only accept your fate.

Later, it was heard that the Qing army was about to attack Nanjing City. When the emperor abandoned the city and fled, the two brothers were terrified. I don't know, so I panicked.

But they were different from Zhu Cijiong. Zhu Cijiong was able to go to his sister Aimee Zhu at the first time. Zhu Cihuan and his brothers had no friendship with Aimee Zhu. After trembling in the palace for a day, they met Zheng Hongkui from Fujian.

Zheng Hongkui had soldiers under his command and was willing to escort them to Fujian, which was what the two brothers wished for.

As a result, when they arrived in Fujian, they heard that the emperor had been captured, and that they had become a bargaining chip in Zheng's hands. They encouraged the two brothers to come out to supervise the country and compete for power. Zhu Cizhen hesitated. Unable to resist the temptation, he agreed.

But the price was that the entire South Zhili was given to Yang Chao, which made him extremely angry. He was forced to be coerced even after becoming an emperor.

(End of this chapter)