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Chapter 376 Zheng Zhilong

Zheng Zhilong accepted the recruitment and came to the capital. One reason was that he had the intention of recruiting security, and the other was under pressure. The emperor said that if he didn’t recruit security, he would fight to death. He spent millions of taels of silver every year to build warships, and he wanted to reproduce the three guarantees of the past. The size of the eunuch fleet, this sentence does not mean that Zheng Zhilong was scared much, it just made Zheng Zhilong, who was about to accept the recruitment, become more frightened, and when he came to Beijing, he was even more uneasy. Much larger than expected.

After entering Beijing, I didn’t see the emperor, but I was dragged around by a “citizen” by him. I not only went to the most worthwhile “Glass Street” in the capital, but also visited the production of “Da Nei Zao” factory.

If Glass Street gave him the feeling of luxury, then the "Ouchizao" factory gave him the feeling of death threat. However, seeing thousands of people working at the same time in the quilt field, hundreds of thousands of sets of cotton-padded clothes are produced every year At the time of the scene, apart from being shocked, Zheng Zhilong could only admire the emperor's ambition.

Before coming to the capital, Zheng Zhilong also made some assumptions and predictions about coming to the capital. He expected to give money to the powerful and powerful people, to give gifts, and even asked who is the most powerful and whose words are most effective. However, When he arrived in the capital, Zheng Zhilong never expected that a "citizen" of his own would come to receive him. What's even more incredible is that this person is actually a Tanhua, a great scholar. If a literati came to receive him, although Zheng Zhilong was not very comfortable with it. , but I also recognize it, but it is strange that this scholar "fellow townsman" is so enthusiastic about himself, it is almost closer than his uncle, which makes Zheng Zhilong puzzled, when did scholars think highly of them like this?

……

By the Taiye Pool in the imperial city.

Yang Reform was sitting in a pavilion by the water, wearing ordinary clothes, fishing quietly.He had already discussed Zheng Zhilong's matter with the ministers yesterday, so Yang Reform received Zheng Zhilong in advance.

Under the leadership of the little eunuch, Zheng Zhilong entered the imperial city in fear, but not into the Forbidden City, but by the lake of the Forbidden City.

From a distance, one can be seen surrounded by a group of people, with extraordinary momentum, who is quietly fishing alone.

Before Zheng Zhilong came, he had inquired about the general appearance of the emperor, and when he saw it from a distance, he knew that the man must be the emperor.

"Grassman Zheng Zhilong kowtows to see my emperor, long live, long live, long live..." Zheng Zhilong knelt down on the ground obediently, with his head on the ground, bowing three times and kowtowing nine times.

Yang Reform turned his head to look.A fairly young guy, very strong, powerful, and dark. From his appearance, it is hard to tell that this is a murderous and predatory pirate leader. If you want to say that he has a fierce face, Yang Reform has done it. It is really rare to see such an emperor for such a long time. It may be that his aura is too strong, and others dare not show his fierce side in front of him.

"Get up." Yang Reform said with a little smile.

"Caomin thank Your Majesty Long En." Zheng Zhilong stood up with a little fear, the emperor is really too young, but what is not in line with youth is that he has a pair of eyes that can see through people.Zheng Zhilong felt that his instinctive fear of the emperor's eyes was not the fear of being stared at by wild animals, but a sense of vicissitudes, eyes that could see through the past, the future, and the present and future.

Zheng Zhilong swallowed, the emperor's eyes put too much pressure on him, Zheng Zhilong has traveled all over the world for a long time, and he has never seen eyes that can make people feel fear from the bottom of his heart.

Yang Reform looked carefully at Zheng Zhilong, he was quite honest, but after a few years, this man will be the overlord of the China Sea, and he is also young and promising, and in the next ten years, his son Zheng Chenggong will be Appearing as a national hero who saved the Ming Dynasty and created a Zheng Dynasty is a person that has to be mentioned in history books.When it comes to Zheng Chenggong, he has to mention his father Zheng Zhilong, a figure who can affect the pattern of the late Ming Dynasty and the historical process of the late Ming Dynasty.

"You are Zheng Zhilong?" The silk thread on the fishing rod is still hanging in the water, and the float is also quiet, slightly rippling under the breeze.

"Return to Your Majesty, the grassroots is Zheng Zhilong, nicknamed an official." Zheng Zhilong didn't dare to look at the emperor at all, just staring at his own toes.The emperor put too much pressure on him.Zheng Zhilong had never felt so scared.

"Well, I know, I heard that you can speak several languages, right?" Yang Reform asked with a smile.

"Returning to Your Majesty, the grassroots do know several languages, including my official dialect of Ming Dynasty, Hokkien dialect, Japanese dialect, and Flangji dialect..." Zheng Zhilong said everything he could speak.

"Hahaha... Talent! Talent!" Yang Reform laughed loudly, and at the same time, he was ashamed. This is a talent who can speak four or five languages!Even in the 21st world, he is still a talent, and he is definitely a very good talent. Looking at his age, he is only in his 20s. Yang Reform thinks about himself. When he crossed over, he was also in his 20s. Unfortunately, I haven't even learned a single English for N years. Compared with this one, I really compare myself.It is true that successful people have their own strengths.

Zheng Zhilong lowered his head, not knowing how to answer, nor what the emperor meant.

"I heard that you worked as a messenger for the Dutch?" Yang Reform continued to ask.

Sweat dripped from the tip of Zheng Zhilong's nose. In the mainstream concept of the Ming Dynasty, it was definitely a shameful thing to do, and it was definitely something that could be condemned verbally.

"Returning to Your Majesty, the grassroots did not have enough food and clothing in the early years, and they did work as a general for the Dutch." Zheng Zhilong didn't know why the emperor knew about his past, and only a few people knew about these things.

"Hehe, I heard that you also worked for the Dutch, and helped the Dutch capture my Daming's ship?" Yang Reform asked again.

With a "plop", Zheng Zhilong knelt down on the ground, kowtowed and said: "Your Majesty, the grassroots people did such stupid things when they were young and ignorant. Now that they understand, they will never dare to beat people of Ming Dynasty again. Your Majesty, The grassroots don’t dare anymore.” Zheng Zhilong was frightened to death, could it be that the emperor wanted his head?

"Get up, although I know it, but I didn't intend to trouble you, hehe..." Yang Reform laughed a few times, those people never paid him a penny of tax, why should he care about them?

In this short period of time, Zheng Zhilong's clothes were already drenched with sweat.

"I heard that you have been to many places? Japan? Have you been to Nanyang?" Yang Reform continued.

Zheng Zhilong has calmed down a bit, for the emperor knows everything about him so clearly, he feels frightened from the bottom of his heart, that kind of see-through gaze really makes people panic.

"Returning to Your Majesty, Cao Min has been to Japan, to Nanyang, and to Manila." Zheng Zhilong replied in a straightforward manner.

Yang Reform secretly made a comparison. He has been abroad, knows four or five languages, is a successful businessman, and is even the leader of an armed organization. This guy, no matter what, is an elite, even by the standards of the 21st century. , is definitely a successful person.

"I heard that you married a Japanese woman and gave birth to a son, right?" Yang Reform continued to ask.

Zheng Zhilong had a feeling that he had been stripped naked, and if he showed the emperor's eyes, he would have no secrets anymore.

Zheng Zhilong's nose was sweating again, and he said: "Your Majesty, the Caomin did marry a woman from the Japanese country, but it can't be said that she was from the Japanese country, it can only be said that she lived in the Japanese country, and her ancestor was from Daming. Four years old." Today's Ming Dynasty is more American than the United States in the 21st century. It considers itself the center of the world and the Celestial Dynasty. At any time, it is an existence that considers itself superior. For the Wa Kingdom, it is definitely contempt and plus hostile.

"That's right, what's your wife's name? Have you chosen a name for your son? Have you ever wanted to take your wife and children to live in Daming? After all, it's not easy to give birth in a barbarian land." Yang Reform continued to ask.

"Returning to Your Majesty, the grass-roots family is inferior to the Uchida Chuan family, and their son is named Sen, the forest tree's Sen. The grass-roots people indeed intend to bring their wives and children to Daming, but the relationship remains the same, so they haven't done it for a while." Zheng Zhilong said in a low voice. He lowered his head, not daring to look at the emperor, and carefully answered the emperor's question.

That's right, his son is four years old, that is, Zheng Chenggong is four years old. Yang Reform wondered whether Zheng Chenggong should also be recruited under his own hands. This is a national hero!In any case, this opportunity cannot be missed.

Yang Reform pondered for a while, and said: "Well, let's send someone to bring them to Daming as soon as possible. They are always placed in a barbaric place. Seeing that the child is about to start enlightenment, staying in the barbarian place is not delaying the child. Is it?" Yang Reform decided to act as a national hero in the future, but now that the child is still young, he is not in a hurry to take it with him to cultivate it. When he is five or six years old and begins to be enlightened, he will start to cultivate it himself Time for a national hero.

"...The grassroots obey the order." Zheng Zhilong's heart was pounding, and he agreed without thinking too much.

"An official, since you are doing business at sea, what do you think of sea business?" Yang Reform continued to ask.

"Returning to Your Majesty... Maritime business is very promising. However, the risk of maritime trade is also extremely high. Often even the ship's agent is buried under the sea. The so-called living and doing business at sea can be said to be life-threatening." Zheng Zhilong thought for a while and stopped for a while. , explained to the emperor, Zheng Zhilong was afraid that he was slow in explaining, and the emperor would not be satisfied.

"How promising is it? An official! Since you have also run business and are familiar with maritime business, let me test you. How much business do you think I can do in the sea areas around Daming every year?" Yang Reform prepared to take a look. This Zheng Zhilong is honest and dishonest.

Zheng Zhilong lowered his head, his whole body was tense, and he was terrified. In addition to being afraid of the imperial power, he was even more afraid of the eyes of the emperor. After thinking for a while, he said, "Return to Your Majesty, the business of my Minghai Sea is really difficult for the grassroots to estimate. All I know is that it's very big." Zheng Zhilong's sweat fell drop by drop from his face and onto the ground.

"It's hard to estimate? Then, let me ask you, if you control my Daming Sea, how much money can you get from it every year?" Yang Reform pressed forward step by step, staring at Zheng Zhilong and asked.

Zheng Zhilong was very flustered, and inadvertently raised his head to look at the emperor, and saw that the emperor was looking at him with the kind of eyes that could see through everything, Zheng Zhilong felt uncomfortable all over, and the last bit of luck in his heart was completely gone. If you can investigate yourself so clearly, can you hide the matter from the sea from the emperor?

"Return to Your Majesty, this is a major matter for the imperial court. The grassroots are really hard to estimate...but..." Zheng Zhilong gritted his teeth and decided to tell the truth, he is now afraid of showing the emperor.

"...However, it's easy to get a tap of two or three million taels of silver per year,...it's not impossible to get more..." Zheng Zhilong gritted his teeth and said, he can naturally estimate the size of the maritime trade, as for the tap , Just get a little tap, and there is a lot of money, two or three million taels of silver is what he said lightly, for fear that the emperor will be too interested in this and cause trouble for himself, but he dare not say too low, for fear that the emperor will treat him If you are not satisfied, you will be killed.

"Two or three million taels of silver?" Yang Reform thought about it for a while, and it was quite different from his ideal amount, but, thinking about it, this figure was more than twice that of the salt class, which was not a lot.

"Hmm..." Yang Reform snorted noncommittally.

Zheng Zhilong secretly celebrated that the emperor didn't get to the bottom of this matter, if he really wanted to pay 300 million taels of silver every year, then he would really be caught blind.

"An official, since you have worked as a generalist for the Dutch, you must know the Dutch people well?" Yang Reform recalled another question of his own and asked.

"Your Majesty, this grassroots man is not bragging. He really knows a lot. If you say he knows everything, he can be counted." Zheng Zhilong felt relieved when he saw that the emperor didn't bother about the money, and answered the question easily.

"From your point of view, how about this Dutchman?" Yang Reform asked.

"Returning to Your Majesty, the Dutch are weird, fierce, and ugly like the Yaksha in the sea. However, they are very proficient in sea operations. It is said that their home country is in the land of Franz, which is far away from me. Tens of thousands of miles away, they dared to cross the ocean to come to our Ming Dynasty, which shows that they are extremely proficient in maritime affairs, to say something disrespectful, Caomin learned many sea activities from them." Zheng Zhilong didn't dare to hide the slightest question from the emperor. What to say, when he thought of the emperor's eyes that could see through his past and future, Zheng Zhilong felt inexplicable palpitations.

"Oh, that's right, I think so too. An official, who do you think is better than the Ming warship or the Dutch warship? Who is more powerful?" Yang Reform asked.

Zheng Zhilong thought for a while and said, "Returning to Your Majesty, I don't know if Your Majesty wants to listen to the truth or lies?"

"Hehe, of course it's the truth, just say it, I won't blame you." Yang Reform said with a smile, watching this overlord who traversed the coast of China make promises in front of him, Yang Reform found it very interesting, the ancient imperial power , the portion is still very sufficient.

"The grassroots said it directly, Your Majesty, the warships I am facing, with the same number of ships, must not be able to beat the Dutch warships. Their warships are all warships built purely for fighting. They pay attention to speed and ruthlessness. Huge, they can often seal off a large area of ​​sea with only a few warships, so even though they only have a few warships along the coast of Ming Dynasty, they are also a ruthless character who dominates..." Zheng Zhilong finished speaking I feel that I have said something wrong, and I shouldn't ask the emperor to claim the title of king.

Yang Reform nodded. That's right. At this time, the warships of the West are indeed better than those of the Ming Dynasty. Not to mention anything else, the Dutch can gain a firm foothold in the waters of East Asia with a small number of warships, and continue to It can be seen that their reliance, warships, is indeed superior to that of the Ming Dynasty. Of course, this is also related to the lack of official maritime affairs in the Ming Dynasty. If the Ming Dynasty rebuilds its maritime power, the Dutch will not be enough.

Zheng Zhilong secretly glanced at the emperor, seeing the emperor's solemn nod, he was secretly relieved.

"An official, if you are asked to fight the Dutch, do you have a chance of winning?" Yang Reform asked.

Zheng Zhilong was sweating, and in just a split second, there was a fierce conflict in his heart, and he said: "Return to your majesty, the chances of winning the grassland people are not great. If you are near the sea, the minister relies on a large number of people and besieged by ants, maybe there is a [-]-[-] chance of winning. In the far sea, the odds of the grassroots are even lower, maybe only [-]% to [-]%..." Zheng Zhilong still told the truth, he wanted to brag, but thinking about the deep eyes, Zheng Zhilong changed his mind again.

Yang Reform nodded again, Zheng Zhilong did not lie to himself, according to history, Zheng Zhilong was folded by other pirates and Dutchmen several times even after he was recruited, but with the backing of the Ming Dynasty, he can recover quickly and start from scratch. Fighting again is quite a bit like repeated defeats and repeated battles.

Zheng Zhilong secretly glanced at the emperor again, seeing the emperor nod solemnly, knowing that he had passed another level, suddenly the emperor's eyes looked over, he was so frightened that he quickly avoided it, and turned his eyes to the ground.

"An official, I know all the things you said. I asked you just to test your honesty and dishonesty. I am quite satisfied with your answer today." Yang Reform slightly praised it.

Zheng Zhilong's ups and downs finally calmed down, and he thought, the emperor is nothing more than that, and it's easy to pass the test, after all, he is too young and doesn't know much about the outside world!
"An official, have you heard of the King of the Sea?" Yang Reform said again.

"Sea King?" Zheng Zhilong was complacent, when he suddenly heard about the Sea King, the little bit of elation he was frightened disappeared, and the emperor even knew about the most advanced warship on Frangji's side?What else do you not know?Zheng Zhilong's self-satisfaction was gone. He thought that his understanding of overseas would definitely be more than that of the emperor, but he didn't expect that the emperor even knew about it.

"Well, the Sea King, a giant battleship, has hundreds of cannons..." Yang Reform further awakened.

Zheng Zhilong swallowed his saliva, and said: "Return to your majesty, the grassroots have heard from those barbarians, but it is said that it is a legend. It is said that the barbarians are a country and plan to build this kind of giant warship in order to compete for supremacy in the sea. I heard that Folang The country on the other side of the plane has frequent sea battles and attaches great importance to sea affairs, so they have invested a lot of money in warships... But I also have treasure ships in my dynasty. If compared with treasure ships, they are not counted. What..." Zheng Zhilong's small thoughts disappeared as the conversation progressed.

"Oh, you are also optimistic about the strength of the Sea King? I am currently building this kind of warship. I am going to build one to see the effect. If it is good, I plan to build a few more ships, or even dozens of ships, except for the Sea King. I am building this kind of giant ship, as well as smaller warships..." Yang Reform revealed his own news.

Zheng Zhilong's forehead, nose tip, and neck were covered with sweat. He lowered his head and bent his waist, feeling terrified in his heart. The emperor's words to appease him came back to his mind, "I spend 100 million taels of silver every year to build warships..." It seems , the emperor is not joking.

Yang Reform looked at Zheng Zhilong who was terrified, and smiled again: "An official! Now you have accepted the recruitment, hehe, it is very likely that you will be my Ming Dynasty's official army in the future, and those warships of mine may return to you. ..."

Zheng Zhilong felt that something was oppressing his throat, and his whole body was already trembling slightly. Hearing what the emperor said, he felt a lot of peace of mind.

"Caomin sincerely surrenders, and is willing to overcome obstacles for His Majesty, to drive out barbarians for His Majesty, and to return me to the peace of Daming Sea!" Zheng Zhilong's heart stabilized a little, and he did not have as much thought as he did when he first entered Beijing. It seems that the emperor Very shrewd, yes, playing tricks with such an emperor, I'm afraid I won't be able to please him, so it's better to follow the emperor and see what he can do.

(End of this chapter)