Chapter 213: Fight the fence-sitter first and then the decisive battle

Author: tx Cheng Zhi

Chapter 213: Fight the fence-sitter first and then the decisive battle

Chapter 212

In any case, the imperial edict came, and Emperor Chongzhen gave Cheng Shijie the authorization to start a war against Zheng Zhilong this time. This can be regarded as a famous example.

For the people of Liaodong, it is normal for Ning Haijun to fight, and it would be strange if they did not fight. When Cheng Shijie trained Ning Haijun's officers, his requirement for them was that as soldiers of Ning Haijun, they should only do two things in their lives.

To fight or prepare for war.

With Emperor Chongzhen's imperial edict, Cheng Shijie wanted to fight this battle. Even without this imperial edict, in fact he still had to fight.

Emperor Chongzhen gave Cheng Shijie two imperial edicts. One was to mobilize the Ning navy to go south to destroy the pirates. The other was an edict to change the title of Princess Zhu Weiti of Le'an to Princess Chongming and change Chongming County to Zhu Weiti's fiefdom.

Unlike the princess or the vassal king, Zhu Weiti was specifically allowed to open a mansion, build a government office, and manage the fiefdom of Chongming on his own.

Now it's fun. Zhu Weiti, a princess who was originally in name only, now has the same power as a vassal king. This is a reward from Emperor Chongzhen, and it is also to support the struggle between Cheng Shijie and his wife in a fair and just way.

The official title of Kaifu Jianya is Kaifu Yitong Sansi. Kaifu Yitong Sansi refers to the act of appointing shogunate and staff subordinates in one's own name. Those who are awarded the title of Yitong Sansi can get the same as Sangong

Treatment. Kaifu Yitong Sansi was generally a heavy reward given by the court to meritorious ministers from the Wei and Jin Dynasties to the Yuan Dynasty.

In the Ming Dynasty, this was the first rank of the civil official, but the problem was that Cheng Shijie did not have this power yet, but Zhu Weiti had it. This approach was simply to show off the horse and let Zhu Weiti, the Ming princess, have a man

The same power creates a situation of two giants within Ning Haijun.

When doing anything, he is afraid of getting too many orders. No matter how Cheng Shijie manages his Ning Haijun, there will always be people who are unhappy within the Ning Haijun group. For example, Zhou Yandong, who is Ning Haijun’s second-in-command,

Its presence in Liaodong is very weak.

If Emperor Chongzhen's wishes were followed, the frustrated Zhou Yandong would naturally turn to Zhu Weiti, and Ning Haijun would be divided internally.

But the problem is, what Emperor Chongzhen didn't expect was that after Zhu Weiti received this imperial edict, he directly went to Cheng Shijie: "Husband, the emperor has no good intentions!"

Cheng Shijie looked at Zhu Weiti and smiled lightly and said: "I will grant you a county in Chongming County as a fief. This is a reward that no vassal king in the world has enjoyed. Don't let others say you are ungrateful!"

"Husband, please stop testing me. I don't believe you can't see through what the emperor means!"

Zhu Weiti smiled charmingly: "Although I am a member of the Zhu family, once I marry my husband, I am a member of the Cheng family. We are my husband and one family!"

"What are you going to do?"

"You know my abilities, but I am powerless to manage our family!"

Zhu Weiti seemed to have thought of something important. She looked at Cheng Shijie and said, "My husband, please choose a good and auspicious day to take Yun Niang, Jin Qiao'er, and Yang Wan in. They are all capable people. If you marry someone else, you

Don’t worry if you use it!”

Cheng Shijie smiled bitterly and said: "You know my husband's body, isn't it harmful to others?"

"Give them a title, that's what they want most!"

Zhu Weiti said: "My lord, you can have one wife and four concubines, and I will make the decision to make Gu Ziyi, Yang Yuniang, Jin Qiaoer and Yang Wan the four concubines!"

A concubine is a concubine with a formal status, usually a dowry from her mother's family. A high-status concubine is a sister who marries together; a medium-status concubine is a woman with a higher status marrying one or more women from the same clan.

The lowest level is the maid's dowry. The former is the wife, and the latter is the concubine.

The status of concubines is much higher than that of concubines. They have formal status and can attend formal banquets, etc. This system was very popular among the nobles from the Warring States Period to the Three Kingdoms.

For example, Sun Quan's mother married her father Sun Jian together with her sister. From a political point of view, this system ensured the interests of the married woman to the greatest extent. If the woman who was the head wife died or did not give birth, then the concubine would take her place.

Her position, due to the close relationship between the concubine and the "maternal family", can still ensure the interests of the "maternal family".

Of course, from the perspective of Zhu Weiti's interests, there is nothing wrong with making Gu Ziyi a concubine. Gu Ziyi was originally Zhu Weiti's personal maid. From a sixth-grade female official in Shangyi, after she married Cheng Shijie, she became a concubine.

Normally, she should become Cheng Shijie's concubine.

And she is a concubine with a relatively high status, but the problem is that Yang Yuniang, Jin Qiaoer and Yang Wan are all the original members of Cheng Shijie. Before Zhu Weiti got married, they stayed in Cheng's house. Although they didn't

Names, but in fact, whether it is Jin Qiaoer, Yang Yuniang, Yang Wan, or even Wang Wei, who has never met Cheng Shijie.

In the eyes of others, they are all Cheng Shijie's women.

Cheng Shijie did not discuss this issue with Zhu Weiti. He still couldn't get over his own hurdle in his heart. He couldn't let Xiang Hui be sorry for his wife.

Cheng Shijie looked at Zhu Weiti and said nervously: "Princess, let's discuss this matter when we get back!"

"No, I think this matter should be settled first!"

Zhu Weiti took Cheng Shijie's hand, as if Cheng Shijie would not let go if he disagreed.

Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "I'm just fighting a group of pirates, don't worry! Don't worry, it'll be fine. Jiannu is so fierce and can't do anything to me, let alone a bunch of petty thieves!"

"You can't say that... You and Jiannu are fighting head-on on land. Whoever is ruthless will win. But this sea battle is different. A strong wind comes and all the ships capsize. No matter how hard we fight, we can't fight."

It’s useless…”

Cheng Shijie couldn't laugh or cry: "My wife, there's going to be a war. Can you think of something good?"

"Anyway, I feel very uneasy... You must take good care of yourself, don't be too desperate, don't be greedy for merit, and don't underestimate the enemy! Promise me, even if you face a group of vulnerable thieves, you will treat them as

The two yellow flags of establishing slaves are coming! I...I don't care, but my child cannot be born without a father!"

"Okay, I promise you!"

Cheng Shijie should actually be grateful to Emperor Chongzhen, because with Chongming Island in hand, Cheng Shijie had a foothold in Jiangnan, even though Chongming Island was very small, with only more than 1,300 square kilometers, equivalent to a small county.

But this site is already good for Cheng Shijie.

What makes Cheng Shijie more satisfied is that this territory is not unfamiliar to Cheng Shijie. The Shachuan Gang is a local gangster in Chongming. Now the Shachuan Gang no longer exists. This is one of the conditions for joining Cheng Shijie.

As compensation, Shen Boyun, the leader of the gang, was made one of the 19th member of the Liaodong Administrative Committee, and Shen Tao, the number two figure in the Shachuan Gang, and the father of Shen Tingyang, the national hero and anti-Qing martyr, was one of the 20th member.

Although the Shen family was also a shipwright, during the eras of Shen Boyun and Shen Yong, shipping enabled their business to develop astonishingly. The Shen family accumulated millions of wealth, owned hundreds of sand ships, and had thousands of hectares of land under their command, making them one of the leading enterprises in Chongming. Rich man and one of the largest maritime merchants in the southeast. Because the Shen family has huge wealth and a large number of sand ships, it is also the second largest maritime power after the Zheng family.

Dressed in a black military uniform, the taciturn naval officer Ning boarded the ship majestically, holding a shiny sword and gun tightly in his hand, the blade of the gun flashing with a frightening edge.

"Commanders, when you arrive at Chongming, establish your foothold first. If Zheng comes, give him a heavy blow to let Zheng Zhilong know how powerful our Ning Navy is!"

In fact, Zheng Zhilong's intention and purpose were just as Cheng Shijie guessed. He was indeed instigated by the court bosses and Jiangnan maritime merchants, and to maintain his monopoly on the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade. But the deeper reason was that there could only be one in this sea. king!

Maritime hegemony means endless wealth. In order to monopolize maritime trade in the East China Sea and South China Sea, Zheng Zhilong could brazenly fight with the Guangdong and Fujian navies and beat them to death. He could also kill all his former brothers after joining the Ming Dynasty. Sha Jue, in order to maintain his position, he would do anything.

He went on a killing spree against the Shachuan Gang because Cheng Shijie started working at the Jinzhou Shipyard and Lushun Shipyard in an attempt to build warships with larger tonnage and more powerful firepower in Liaodong. This was something Zheng Zhilong could not tolerate and wanted to ensure the Zheng family's maritime supremacy. status, he must nip all dangers in the bud!

On November 19, the sixth year of Chongzhen, the leading force of the Ning Navy, an infantry force of about 3,000 people who had trained on Jeju Island, arrived in Chongming. Then, five days later, on November 24, Liaodong The second echelon from Lushun, more than 6,000 people and a large amount of supplies arrived in Chongming.

On November 28, the sixth year of Chongzhen's reign, Cheng Shijie went to Chongming with the third echelon of the Ning Navy, which was the main force of the army, totaling more than 16,000 people.

When going to Chongming Island, all the officers of the Ning Navy and the members of the Liaodong Management Committee collectively opposed Cheng Shijie's trip to Chongming. At this time, Cheng Shijie compromised with everyone.

The Liaodong Management Committee did not object to the decision to take Zhu Weiti's Eighth Princess to Chongming, because the Eighth Princess was not loaded with artillery, which meant that it was a ship without force. Since then, Cheng Shijie There was no way to directly participate in the battle. If Cheng Shijie commanded the Eighth Princess ship to rush up, he would definitely be killed.

Zhu Weiti also accompanied him.

Cheng Shijie said to Zhu Weiti: "Auntie, please don't cause trouble. I am fighting, not traveling. I can promise you that I will never go to the Qinhuai River, and I will never go to see the eight beauties of Qinhuai who are working hard! "

"Eight beauties of Qinhuai?"

Zhu Weiti said: "If my husband likes it, he can redeem their lives for them. Our family has a big business and we can afford to feed them if we have more mouths to eat!"

Hearing Zhu Weiti's words, Cheng Shijie was so moved that he wanted to cry. The Ming Dynasty was better.

If he dared to tell Xiang Hui about this, let alone this, he would have to sleep on the sofa for a few days even if he just watched a dance.

Zhu Weiti's reasons were very strong. Chongming was her fiefdom and she wanted to go to Chongming. Besides, Ning Haijun might not be able to defeat the Zheng pirates in a sea battle, but on land, Ning Haijun was invincible.

Listening to Zhu Weiti saying that Ning Haijun was invincible, Cheng Shijie suddenly thought of a key question. Perhaps he could use his identity to attract Zheng Zhilong to attack Chongming, and then he could wait for work and ambush Zheng Zhilong.

Cheng Shijie was blessed to have Zhu Weiti on board the ship, because she brought dozens of maids and more than a dozen cooks with her. Not only did she eat well, but her life was not boring.

The palace maids who were thrown to Zhu Weiti in Chongzhen were definitely old enough in the Ming Dynasty. But the problem is that they were only in their twenties, eighties, nineteen, or thirty years old. Even women in their thirties or seventeen years old

They all call themselves little fairies, they are definitely still young.

On the Eighth Princess, Cheng Shijie and Zhu Weiti were preparing to have a barbecue. Gao Qiqian came over and said, "General Cheng, can Zheng Zhilong really make more than ten million taels of silver a year?"

"Hey, is it unusual to have more than ten million taels of silver?"

Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Do you know how many ships there are on the sea?"

"There should be hundreds of ships, right?"

"Hundreds of ships, not just hundreds. The Zheng family owns more than three thousand ships, our Ning Navy also has four to five hundred ships, and the Shachuan Gang also has more than eight hundred ships. If we count them all, there are seven to eight thousand ships of various sizes.

There are still some!”

Cheng Shijie said: "Zheng Zhilong is actually very shady. He charges protection fees based on the value of the goods of each ship. If the value of a ship is ten thousand taels of silver, they will charge two thousand taels of silver. If you have money, you will pay the money. If you don't have money, you will pay the money."

, just use the goods to pay off the account, Eunuch Gao, you can calculate for yourself, how much money can Zheng Zhilong make this year?"

Gao Qiqian counted with his fingers, but soon gave up. He was really not good at calculating accounts. However, he handed over this problem to his godson. Zhang Muzhi calculated for a while and gave Gao Qigong a look of affirmation.

Gao Qiqian smiled and said: "General Cheng, there is one thing you probably don't know yet!"

"What's up?"

"When the imperial court issued an imperial edict to you, it also sent someone to issue an imperial edict to Zheng Zhilong!"

"What imperial edict?"
To be continued...