Ming Zuo

Chapter 687 After the War
The smoke-filled Liuluowan finally returned to calm.

Zheng Zhilong became the only victor in this sea area.

After the battle, cheers from all over the Zheng family resounded throughout the world.

But Zuo Hua, who was watching coldly, saw it clearly.

"This battle can only be regarded as a tragic victory for Zheng Zhilong. The court lost completely, and the Dutch were hurt."

Yes.

Although Zheng Zhilong won, the loss was definitely not small.

In the entire Zheng fleet, two gunboats were sunk, and two gunboats were scrapped. More than forty fireboats were destroyed, and more than [-] people died in battle.

Only discussing from the ratio of battle losses, Zheng Zhilong is far inferior to the Dutch.

But in terms of strategic situation, Zheng Zhilong's victory is well deserved.

The imperial court is the most defeated party.

The navy of the imperial court along the coast of Fujian disappeared, and the officers and soldiers suffered heavy losses, and Zheng Zhilong's expansion and expansion could no longer be contained.

The Dutch fled all the way back to Formosa, losing a third of the entire fleet, and could not be replenished from Batavia.

Because Batavia is fighting the Spaniards at this time, there is no extra power at all.

At the end of the battle, while cleaning the battlefield, Zheng Zhilong sent a letter to the government to report the victory.

But the news from the government surprised him.

Fujian governor Zou Weilian was dismissed from office.

For Zheng Zhilong, this news is of course a blessing from heaven.

Because Zou Weilian was never friendly to him, he kept suppressing him.

And without Zou Weilian, the shackles on Zheng Zhilong's head were unavoidably loosened again.

The reason why Zou Weilian was dismissed from office originated from the Shangshu of Lu Zhenfei, the inspector in Fujian.

In the memorial, Lu Zhenfei complained a lot about Zou Weilian, thinking that he bears a lot of responsibility in the battle against the Dutch.

Lu Zhenfei's memorial was obtained by Wen Tiren, and it was like a treasure.

Wen Tiren had long hated Zou Weilian to the bone.

Just because Zou Weilian is a member of the Donglin Party.

Wen Tiren's party took advantage of Lu Zhenfei's memorial to make a big fuss, and eventually removed Zou Weilian.

A few days later, Shen Youlong, the new governor of Fujian, arrived.

"Brother Dehui, I have fully understood your grievances, and I will definitely play it up in a fair manner to return your innocence."

Shen Youlong is also a member of the Donglin Party.

But his attitude towards Zheng Zhilong is far better than that of Zou Weilian.

Just because Shen Youlong is from Songjiang Prefecture, and the Shen family is also one of the participants in the cotton spinning industry, they have benefited a lot.

However, on the way to Fujian, Shen Youlong made various investigations and found out that Zou Weilian was framed.

Zou Weilian no longer cared about his comfort.

"Hehe, the traitors in the court are rampant, even if you and I want to serve the country, so what can we do? Brother Yun Sheng, you must be careful of Zheng Zhilong. This man is ambitious and refuses to accept the king's transformation. In the future, he will definitely create chaos in the sea and borders. He will form his own country, and he will never lose his tail."

Even if Shen Youlong had heard it, it was impossible to deal with Zheng Zhilong.

After seeing off Zou Weilian, he went to look for Lu Zhenfei.

Although Zou Weilian was dismissed because of Lu Zhenfei's memorial, the irony is that Lu Zhenfei is also a member of the Donglin Party.

Lu Zhenfei can be regarded as Teddy in the officialdom in the late Ming Dynasty.

This person does not call himself Donglin, and has always acted impartially.

As long as he can't see it, he must impeach it.

At the beginning, when he opposed Wei Zhongxian, Chongzhen impeached Zhou Yanru and Wen Tiren in four years, and now he impeached Zou Weilian.

But after the evidence presented by Shen Youlong, Lu Zhenfei finally knew that he had wronged a good person.

He knew his mistakes and could correct them, so he quickly wrote to the court again, explaining Zou Weilian's achievements.

The memorials written by Shen Youlong and Lu Zhenfei were not seen by Chongzhen until the second year.

When Chongzhen learned that his loyal ministers had been wronged, he immediately corrected it and summoned Zou Weilian to return to Beijing for reuse.

It's a pity that Zou Weilian passed away due to serious illness, and a generation of loyal ministers hastily ended.

After Shen Youlong took office as the governor of Fujian, he completely changed Zou Weilian's strategy.

He appointed Zheng Zhilong as the commander-in-chief of Fujian, with full power to manage the coastal areas of Fujian, which is equivalent to handing over the trade rights of the southeast coast to Zheng Zhilong.

"Zongrong Zheng, from now on, the sea will be quiet, and all kinds of business transactions will not be delayed. Especially for ships coming from Shandong, you should provide more convenience."

Shen Youlong pointed at Zuo Hua with a clear attitude.

This approach made Zheng Zhilong look sideways.

It never occurred to him that the new governor of Fujian had hooked up with Shandong.

Zuo Hua feels at ease about this.

He had already received a letter from Songjiang Mansion, and he knew Shen Youlong well.

This naval battle allowed Zuo Hua to establish contact with the Dutch.It is conceivable that there will be no shortage of business exchanges with the Netherlands in the future.

But if you want to trade with the Dutch, you have to go through Zheng Zhilong's territory.

What Zheng Zhilong thinks will have a great impact.

Now that the governor of Fujian has endorsed it, Zheng Zhilong will sell his face no matter what.

Sure enough, Zheng Zhilong exercised restraint.

"It's my duty to protect the environment and the people. Your Excellency Zhongcheng has an order, how dare you refuse to obey? From now on, the ships coming from Shandong will be unimpeded, and the officials will never dare to stop them."

Zheng Zhilong only agreed to let the Shandong merchant ship go, but he didn't let go of the tax and bank at all.

He will never let go of the annual tax of two thousand taels of silver for each ship.

This huge cost made Zuo Hua secretly annoyed, but it didn't show on the surface.

Some things, now is not the time to care about.

"Officer, I heard that we have been connected with the Dutchman? I don't know when to negotiate, but my brother wants to go together."

Zheng Zhilong looked over vigilantly.

"General Zuo seems to have ulterior motives for the Dutch? Could it be that he is hiding something from Zheng?"

Zuo Hua laughed out loud.

"We in Shandong don't care about anything else. We don't want to be left behind in business. The Dutch occupy Nanyang, and they have a lot of good things in their hands. If they can be shipped to Shandong, they can make a lot of money."

Zheng Zhilong is not a fool, how could he easily believe it.

"General Zuo will not sell the artillery to the Dutch, will he?"

In this naval battle, the artillery sold to him by Shandong performed really well, and even suppressed the Dutch naval artillery.

What Zheng Zhilong is most worried about is that Shandong will sell the artillery to the Dutch.

In that case, the Dutchman's ship is bigger, faster, and stronger, and with the blessing of Shandong artillery, his advantage will be gone.

For this point, Zuo Hua's attitude is firm.

"An official, Mr. Zhongcheng is in person today, and Zuo can assure you that no matter when, a piece of artillery from Shandong will not be sold to the Dutch."

These words really surprised Zheng Zhilong, but he was a little confused about Shandong's thoughts.

But as long as Shandong doesn't sell the artillery to the Dutch, he can't find any disadvantages to him after repeated consideration.

"Okay! A manly man, spit and nail. Since General Zuo is a good friend, I, Zheng Yiguan, can't let my friends look down on me. Three days later, I will be in Penghu, and I invite General Zuo to go with me."

　Shen Youlong (?—1645) was named Yunsheng.Born in Huating County, Songjiang Prefecture (now Songjiang, Shanghai) in the Ming Dynasty, he was a Jinshi in the 1645th year of Wanli.From the official to the right minister of the Ministry of war and the censor of the right capital, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi military affairs, and the governor of Guangdong.In the second year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty ([-]), the Qing soldiers went to the south of the Yangtze River, and Youlong led the rebel army to resist the Qing Dynasty.On the third day of August, the city of Songjiang was broken, and Shen Youlong was martyred.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)