I, Kangxi, am here to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming!

Just as Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was making meticulous preparations to welcome her youngest son to the throne.

Another unexpected thing happened.

The shocking news that Emperor Shunzhi was killed by cannon fire in Xiamen could not be kept secret. Like gossip at a widow's door, it spread faster than the wind and even reached Zheng Zhilong's ears.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong was under house arrest in the capital, nominally titled "First-Class Duke of Haicheng," but in reality, he was the "number one hostage."

Speaking of this Boss Zheng, he is truly a legendary figure, a ruthless man who has the word "tyrant" engraved on his forehead.

Back then, he started as a scoundrel risking his life at sea, but through countless battles, he rose to become a notorious pirate who gave the government a major headache.

Then, the situation took a dramatic turn. In the first year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign, he accepted the Ming Dynasty's offer of amnesty and transformed into "General Zheng," wielding the imperial sword to kill his former comrades.

Good heavens, what do you call this? This is called a perfect match between your major and your job!

Li Kuiqi, Liu Xiang, and all sorts of maritime monsters and demons are nothing but clay chickens and earthen dogs in front of Zheng Zhilong.

Zheng Zhilong rose through the ranks with ease, eventually becoming the General of Fujian, and he held sway over the entire southeastern coastal region.

What's even more impressive is that he directly confronted the Dutch, who were known as the "carriers of the sea" at the time.

At Liaoluo Bay in Kinmen, Zheng Zhilong's Fujian Navy defeated the Taiwanese fleet so badly that they cried for their mothers, burned their deck boats, and forced those self-proclaimed invincible naval foes to obediently leave Fujian.

From then on, Zheng Zhilong was in charge of everything from Japan to Malacca, across the vast seas!

Anyone who wants to sail on this sea must first go to Zhengjia Wharf to pay respects and pay protection money.

A ship costs three thousand taels of silver. If you're short even a penny, you'll experience what a "fish buffet" is all about.

With just this one skill, Zheng Zhilong earns tens of millions of gold coins a year, which is more than his mother's imperial treasury!

Later, when the Ming Dynasty fell, Zheng Zhilong followed suit and also performed the "meritorious service of supporting the emperor," supporting the Longwu Emperor in Fujian and becoming the powerful Duke of Pingguo.

Unfortunately, this ruthless man's mind was not filled with "loyalty to the emperor and love for the country," but rather with "business acumen."

When the Qing army marched south, Zheng Zhilong considered his options and decided that there was no future in being a security guard for the Ming Dynasty. He thought it would be better to switch jobs and become a regional president in the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, he naively believed the promise of the "Governor-General of Fujian and Guangdong" made by the Qing army commander-in-chief Bolo, and promptly opened the gates of Xianxia Pass, selling the Longwu Emperor, whom he had personally helped to the throne, for a good price.

Zheng Zhilong thought he had made a brilliant "venture capital" investment and happily went to Beijing with a few trusted confidants to claim his reward.

The results of it?

Instead of getting the official seal of the "Governor-General of Fujian and Guangdong," he received a luxurious prison in the capital, complete with a garden and servants.

He went directly from being a regional president in reserve to a life-long honorary prisoner.

This hurdle has lasted for more than a decade.

The once mighty sea lord, whose every stomp could stir up waves across the oceans, has been reduced to a toothless, clawless old dog.

Zheng Zhilong's only value now is being led by the Qing court to write letters time and time again to his "rebellious son" Zheng Chenggong, who is still stubbornly fighting at sea.

The letter repeated the same sentence over and over: "Son, stop fighting, surrender now! Your father is here providing food and lodging, and the food is excellent!"

More than a decade of imprisonment had long since worn away Old Zheng's ambitions. His eyes, which once looked down on the sea, were now as murky as a stagnant pool, devoid of any ripples.

until today.

After learning of the Shunzhi Emperor's death from a bribed Han Banner officer who was guarding him, Zheng Zhilong's eyes, which had long been lifeless, suddenly ignited with two ghostly flames!

The Qing emperors... that little brat who tricked me into coming to the capital and being a mascot for over a decade...

died? !

And he died from his own son Zheng Sen's cannon fire?!

What the hell!

Zheng Zhilong felt a surge of electricity rush from his tailbone to the top of his head, and his blood boiled again at that moment!

What the hell is this? This is a god-given opportunity!

For the past ten years or so, he has lived like a dog. Now, God has finally thrown a bone that can bite through the chain right to his mouth!

Zheng Zhilong made a quick decision and immediately found a pen and ink.

Those hands, accustomed to wielding swords and spears, now held the pen with unwavering steadiness.

Zheng Zhilong wrote a letter using a coded language that only he and his son understood.

The letter was incredibly provocative and ruthless.

"The Khan perished at sea; I regret that I could not see him."

Translated, it means: Son! I have great news for you! You took down the Qing Dynasty's "Great Khan" (Emperor) at sea! I only regret that I couldn't get a front-row ticket to witness this spectacular scene with my own eyes!

These eight words contain as much information as a nuclear bomb!

Zheng Zhilong knew perfectly well that his son, Zheng Sen, although he had just fought a great battle, probably didn't know the extent of the trouble he had caused.

They probably thought they had just killed an unknown "high-ranking Qing general A".

If the son knew that he had personally sent the Qing emperor to meet Buddha, the subsequent tactics would be completely different!

Taking advantage of the power vacuum and chaos within the Qing court, why bother holding onto that small territory of Xiamen? Why not just raise another large army and march north!

At that time, it is possible that the glory of conquering Nanjing will be repeated, and even that the Manchus, who have only been on the throne for a few years, will be driven back to their hometown outside the Great Wall!

As for Zheng Zhilong, as the biological father of the "King Killer," his status is extremely valuable!

Regardless of whether his son declares himself king or has other schemes, he will be able to transform from a hostage into a "retired emperor" level figure in this upheaval!

Thinking of this, Zheng Zhilong was so excited that he almost lit a cigarette on the spot.

He immediately took out a gold bar that he had kept hidden for many years and threw it in the face of a servant in charge of purchasing, ordering him to hide the letter, which concerned his life and fortune, in the sole of his shoe and send it out of the city as soon as possible.

However, this former maritime overlord had spent more than a decade in prison, and his mind had become somewhat rusty.

He severely underestimated the terrifying energy that a vast empire could unleash when facing a crisis of the highest order.

At this moment, Beijing is like a giant hedgehog whose tail has been stepped on, with every quill standing up.

The soldiers of the Nine Gates Commander's Office, along with the spies lurking in the shadows who devoured people without spitting out the bones, were like a pack of mad dogs that hadn't eaten for three days, staring intently at every living creature on the street.

The servant, who had been stunned by the gold bars and harbored dreams of changing his fate, was stopped by two spies who appeared to be sunbathing on the street before he even left the inner city, because of his overly flamboyant gait and shifty eyes.

"What do you do?"

"I...I went out of town...to buy...to buy groceries..."

"Buying groceries? In the middle of the night, you're buying groceries for your mother?"

Without saying a word, the spy immediately took action.

After some searching, the "nuclear bomb" hidden in the sole of the shoe, still smelling of feet, was finally revealed.

The letter was reported up the chain of command at the fastest speed.

Finally, it was delivered to Ao Bai, who had just received the imperial decree from the Cining Palace and was preparing to carry out the order to seal off the city.

Ao Bai unfolded the letter, glanced at it, and was instantly enraged!

The feeling was like his own house was on fire, and he finally managed to find a few rags to try and put it out, but then his neighbor, Old Wang, just brought over a can of gasoline and poured it on him!

"Good! Good! You're something else, Zheng Zhilong!"

Ao Bai had a very loud voice; his shouts almost shook the glazed tiles off the palace walls.

The eunuchs and palace maids around them were so frightened that they all knelt down, burying their heads deeper than ostriches.

Ao Bai was absolutely furious!

No sooner had these ministers closed the door in their room than they racked their brains to concoct out outrageous lies—"contracted smallpox" and "becoming a monk"—that they themselves didn't believe, all in an attempt to cover up the humiliation of the emperor being killed by a cannon blast.

Soon after, the very father of this tyrant was about to reveal this enormous secret to the public!

This isn't just stabbing someone in the back; it's like carrying a giant sledgehammer and hammering nails into the thin coffin lid of the Qing Dynasty!

Ao Bai's eyes flashed with murderous intent, so intense it was almost overflowing.

Without saying a word, he immediately turned around and, like an angry bull, charged back into the Cining Palace.

"Empress Dowager!" Ao Bai held the letter, still exuding its alluring scent, high in the air, his voice booming like thunder, "That old traitor Zheng Zhilong plotted to collude with the seas and leak the nation's greatest secrets! If this villain is not eliminated, the nation will never have peace! This servant humbly begs Your Majesty to immediately issue an edict to publicly execute the entire Zheng family!"

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang took the letter, glanced at it, and her eyes turned cold, colder than a block of ice in the twelfth lunar month beyond the Great Wall.

She originally intended to keep Zheng Zhilong, that old dog, as a trump card in future negotiations with Zheng Chenggong.

But now, this old dog won't stay in its kennel; it insists on scratching people with its claws.

Then, slaughter it and stew it.

Faced with an empire's top secrets and core interests, the life of a washed-up prisoner is less important than that of an ant.

"Granted."

Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang coldly announced: "Issue my imperial decree: Zheng Zhilong, the First-Class Duke of Haicheng, a nobleman of the state, not only fails to repay the Emperor's grace but also secretly colludes with the traitor Haicheng, plotting rebellion. His crime is unforgivable! He is hereby handed over to the Ministry of Justice, and he, along with his descendants and clansmen, shall be executed as a warning to others!"

A cold imperial edict was issued from the Cining Palace.

That afternoon, martial law was temporarily imposed at the Chaishikou execution ground in Beijing.

Zheng Zhilong, along with his sons and grandsons in Beijing, a total of eleven people, were taken out of prison.

Even as he was roughly forced onto the cold guillotine and inhaled the strong stench of blood, the once-powerful maritime tyrant's face remained blank and bewildered.

He couldn't understand why.

Why were the Manchu Tartars in such a hurry?

Zheng Zhilong never knew until his death that his son's cannon blasting of the Qing emperor would have such a huge impact, a momentous event that could change history!

As the executioner's token fell, Zheng's head rolled and blood splattered on the spot.

A maritime hegemon has fallen!

The Qing government used the blood of the entire Zheng family to forcibly cover up this huge secret that was about to be revealed, like patching up a hole.

This sudden and swift massacre served as a starting gun, announcing to all those with a conscience throughout the world:

Something big has happened inside the Forbidden City.