Ming Dynasty: Moral blackmail? I, Emperor Chongzhen, have no morals!

Chapter 89: Faced with power and force, the gentry of Jiangnan are like chickens and dogs.

"Did Sen'er say when he wanted those small warships in the dock?" Zheng Zhibao asked.

Zheng Zhibao just went to check the warships in the dock. The dock is currently filled with two hundred small warships, which are almost full.

"Sen'er has already sent the money for the purchase of the ships south! They will arrive in two days! You will then travel north with these ships! Also, take five thousand breech-loading automatic firearms with you!" Zheng Zhilong said.

At the beginning of the year, when Zheng Zhilong went north to Nanjing to meet with Inspector Zhu, Zheng Zhilong gave him several breech-loading muskets. Inspector Zhu then ordered 20,000 muskets through Zheng Zhilong, and these 5,000 are the first batch. Currently, the Ordnance Department in the capital, under the leadership of Bi Maokang, has already copied them and is manufacturing them to equip the troops...

"Yes, elder brother!" Zheng Zhibao said, then sat down in the empty chair next to Zheng Zhilong, poured himself a cup of tea, and asked, "Should I inform the emperor about my trip north to Dengzhou this time?"

The Zheng family was entrenched in the Fujian and Taiwan areas, and other places were not within their sphere of influence, especially in the north, such as Shandong, which was a sensitive area because it was close to the capital!

"No need for notification! You will sail directly to Dengzhou and Laizhou by sea, without stopping along the way!" Zheng Zhilong said.

Zheng Zhilong did not want to have too much contact with the court. The court's power structure was too chaotic at the moment, and his memorials had to go to the Office of Transmission before reaching the emperor. This time, Zheng Zhibao went to deliver the ship on the guise of inspecting Zheng Sen's naval base and combat capabilities, in case something happened to his eldest son at sea!

If Zheng Sen's navy hadn't been directly subordinate to the emperor, he wouldn't have sent his son to the north. He had absolutely no trust in those so-called important figures in the Ministry of War and the Military Affairs Bureau.

Zheng Zhibao nodded slightly: "Understood, elder brother!"

Zheng Zhilong carefully tucked Zheng Sen's letter into his pocket and slowly stood up: "Come with me to see the ships!"

This concerns his precious son, so he can't cut corners on quality. After all, he's accepting the money to sever ties with the imperial court, not to profit from Zheng Sen. A mere ten thousand taels of silver is hardly worth his annual income of millions in business...

Before long, the two arrived at the shipyard, which was the largest shipbuilding base of the Zheng family in Quanzhou. It had more than twenty docks and was used for shipbuilding and overseas commercial trade.

The guards near the docks were all Zheng Zhilong's private troops, completely independent of the imperial court and entirely under his control. Quanzhou Prefecture, and indeed half of Fujian, had become Zheng Zhilong's independent kingdom...

Zheng Zhilong's gaze swept over the small warship in the dock. The warship had two breech-loading cannons at the front of the ship, a sail in the center of the ship, and a high platform at the stern. Below the platform was the cabin, which stored gunpowder, food and other items.

"Brother, the small warship is fully loaded with thirty-five people. Both of its cannons are the latest Franconian cannons, which are small in size but have a long range, far exceeding the range of the Ming army's and the Tartars' cannons!" Zheng Zhibao said, pointing to the small warship.

Zheng Zhibao nodded, then looked at the medium-sized warship in the distance. The medium-sized warship was equipped with eight cannons, four on each side of the hull, and a large mainsail in the middle of the hull, with a smaller sail at the front and back. The rear was the same as that of the small warships. The medium-sized warship was fully loaded with one hundred soldiers! It was the firepower center of the entire fleet.

Zheng Zhibao, standing nearby, pointed to the large warship in the distance: "Brother, that large ship in the distance is the flagship given to Sen'er!"

"Fully loaded with thirty-eight Franz breech-loading cannons, nineteen on each side!"

Zheng Zhilong looked in the direction Zheng Zhibao was pointing and saw a six-masted ship moored on the dock in the distance. There was a huge mainsail in the middle of the ship, with a smaller secondary sail in front of and behind the mainsail, a foresail and a secondary foresail, and a stern sail. It was fully loaded with five hundred soldiers and had three decks. The soldiers could use firearms to assist in firing from the decks!

"With this warship at sea, neither the Tartars nor the Koreans can threaten Sen'er!" Zheng Zhilong said with some relief. The construction and cannons of this warship alone cost tens of thousands of taels of silver, making it the largest and most powerful of these warships.

"The Korean navy has some strength. If you're worried about Sen'er, you can take some warships with you on this northward journey to patrol the waters off Seoul," Zheng Zhibao said.

In Zheng Zhibao's eyes, the North Korean navy was nothing more than a bunch of chickens and dogs, only good for fishing in the coastal waters. It was not comparable to the Dutch and Russians of the East India Company. The Dutch and Russians were being suppressed and beaten, so why would they be afraid of a navy made up of small fishing boats?

Zheng Zhilong shook his head: "No, we have no grudges against Korea. Korea has already submitted to the Tartars. Going to war against Korea would be the same as going to war against the Tartars. If the court does not support us, we will be the ones who suffer losses."

Going to war with Korea would bring no benefit, so Zheng Zhilong decided not to get involved in the mess that the imperial court was in, after all, he was not the emperor of the Ming Dynasty!

"Go to Dengzhou and Laizhou and talk to Li Dingguo, the general of the imperial court there, and ask him to restart Mao Wenlong's business network!" Zheng Zhilong turned slightly and whispered in Zheng Zhibao's ear.

Last time in Nanjing, Emperor Chongzhen promised to give him all of the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade. Dongjiang Town is the northern frontier. By then, Dongjiang, Dengzhou, and Quanzhou will be able to cover the entire eastern sea of ​​the Ming Dynasty. This is what he really wants.

"yes!"

The conversation then shifted to a different topic, asking, "If the Zhejiang merchants and the gentry from Southern Zhili were to fight over this, would force be used?"

Originally, Zhejiang merchants and those from Southern Zhili went to sea under Zheng's banner and paid protection money. Now that Zheng Zhilong has reached out and wants to take it all for himself, he will definitely face resistance from those people, especially in the imperial court. The final solution for these people needs the emperor's approval, otherwise they will not have an easy time either.

Zheng Zhilong's lips curled slightly: "At that time, send the evidence of these people's collusion with the Japanese pirates to the Emperor!"

"Have you seen the consequences of Shanxi merchants colluding with the Tartars?"

In Zheng Zhilong's eyes, the emperor had power and he had troops. As long as the emperor stood with him, what did the Donglin Party of Southern Zhili and the Zhejiang merchants matter? They were just a bunch of chickens and dogs. If they really rebelled, he could send troops to wipe out those gentry as long as the emperor agreed.

"Brother, are you saying that as long as the emperor has evidence, he will definitely purge Jiangnan?"

"The time has come. We'll act regardless of whether there's evidence or not. This group has been making trouble ever since the Wanli era, but they've been held back by the situation in the north!"

After speaking, Zheng Zhilong pondered for a moment: "In a while, tell the fourth brother to contact the Japanese pirates wandering at sea, give them some relief, and make them obey orders. Then..."

""

Zheng Zhilong planned to blockade the seas, preventing the gentry's messengers from leaving to deliver their orders. He then intended to have the Japanese pirates contact them and send them to sea. Once they made a move, the charge of colluding with the pirates would be presented to the emperor. Whether it resulted in the execution of three or nine generations of their families would be entirely up to the emperor...

"Yes!" Zheng Zhibao bowed slightly.

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