East Factory Governor

Chapter 727 Hand over the Golden Sea Order
After Qin Shuhuai finished reading, he handed the imperial decree to Zheng Zhilong, and said, "General Zheng, congratulations. Assistant Minister of the General Administration of Customs, you are a senior member of the second rank! Compared with your current guerrilla general, you are really on the same path, soaring into the sky!" "

Zheng Zhilong's face was blue and white, and he was speechless for a long time.

It's clear that it's going up and down, how could he not know?How can an Assistant Minister of Customs, who has no soldiers or ships, compare with the King of the Sea who roams across the South Seas?
Besides, once he leaves Anhai to take up his post, his future fate will be in the hands of the imperial court!
Seeing that Zheng Zhilong and the others hadn't moved for a long time, Qin Shuhuai said again, "General Zheng, why don't you accept the order to thank you?"

Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to kneel down first, "I accept the decree, and thank my emperor Long En."

After receiving the imperial decree, Zheng Zhilong thought for a while, and said to Qin Shuhuai, "Master Guo, I have a merciless request from you."

Qin Shuhuai said politely, "Master Zheng, please tell me."

"As the Duke of the country knows, there are still [-] soldiers and [-] warships under the command of the subordinate official. If he rushes to the north to take up his post, I am afraid that the people under him will not know why. These people under my command have been with Xiaguan for many years, and they are brothers and sisters. I am afraid that Xiaguan will have very few chances to see each other in the future. Therefore, can you allow Xiaguan to stay in Anhai for a few more days to say goodbye to them? They must work hard for the imperial court."

Qin Shuhuai thought to himself, what happened?I'm afraid that something will happen if you stay here, right?
So he said, "Master Zheng, and I am unreasonable, it is really the emperor's order. How about it, anyway, some of your main brothers are in Anhai these days, I can allow you to call them over tomorrow morning, and take care of them." Say goodbye to them. After the account is over, I will go back to Beijing Miansheng with you, and we will have a companion on the way."

"This one……"

"Master Zheng, I think it's settled!" Qin Shuhuai chuckled, "By the way, Master Zheng is promoted, why don't you treat me to a drink?"

Seeing this, Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to put the matter aside for the time being, and said, "What the Duke said is true. Zhibao, let the butler prepare the food and drinks."

Zheng Zhibao nodded understandingly, and was about to go out, but was stopped by Li Jingting.

"Why do you need brother Zhibao to pass on such a trivial matter? Sit down, let's get drunk for a while!"

Zheng Zhilong understood that Qin Shuhuai didn't intend to let any of the three of them go out.

He had no choice but to ask the servant outside the door to inform the housekeeper, while thinking about what to do for a while.

The banquet came up quickly, and the six people exchanged glasses. The drinking was very lively, at least on the surface, it looked like a group of harmony.

During the banquet, Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhibao, and Zheng Zhihu proposed several times to go to the latrine, but each time, one of Qin Shuhuai, Li Jingting, and Hua Shenzhong would get up and say with a smile that they would go together.

Qin Shuhuai was very cautious this time. Although there were [-] coalition troops surrounding the Zheng Mansion, it could be said that everyone in the Zheng Mansion was unable to fly, but he was still worried that the Zheng Mansion had a secret way, so the three Zheng Zhilong brothers, before he came, had been with Li Jingting. , Hua Chen agreed, let's keep an eye on each other.

Why do you have to do this?You must know that any one of them, as long as they leave the Zheng residence and board the warship, they are enough to command the eight hundred warships.At that time, it will be a headache for people to carry their own boats.

Having had enough food and drink, it was almost time when Zheng Zhilong saw that Qin Shuhuai still had no intention of leaving, so he could only tentatively ask, "Master Guo, it's getting late, why don't you stay in the mansion?"

Qin Shuhuai was not polite at all, and said, "Very good, brother Yiguan and I hit it off right away, we will sleep together tonight, how about a long talk by candlelight?"

Li Jingting followed suit and said, "Brother Zhibao and I also hit it off, so we should sleep together."

Hua Chen continued, "Brother Zhihu and I hit it off, why not...hahaha."

The faces of the three brothers of the Zheng family were livid, and they wished they could be kicked out of the house immediately.

But what can they do?The kung fu of these three people is all superb, so that they can't say a word?
So, the six people were divided into three rooms and lived in separately.

Since there is no sleepiness.

Zheng Zhilong led Qin Shuhuai into the bedroom, closed the door, and suddenly bowed to Qin Shuhuai, saluting.

Said, "Grandpa, the lives of more than a hundred members of the Zheng family will be entrusted to you from today on!"

He knew very well that Qin Shuhuai was determined to escort him to Beijing.With Qin Shuhuai's martial arts and strategy, it is probably impossible for him to escape, so there is such a saying.

It can be said that up to now he has no plans to escape.From the moment Qin Shuhuai stopped Zheng Zhibao and Zheng Zhihu, he had already lost.

Qin Shuhuai supported Zheng Zhilong, let him sit down, and said, "General Zheng, since you have said this, I will tell you something from your heart."

On the face, there was less hypocrisy of acting on the occasion, but a little more sincerity.

Zheng Zhilong hurriedly said, "My lord, please tell me, I will listen carefully!"

Qin Shuhuai said sternly, "General Zheng is my great talent, at least at sea, whether it is the preparation of the navy, the leadership of the sailors, or the planning of naval battles, General Zheng is the No. 1 in the world, and I feel ashamed .”

"Don't you dare? The Duke of the Kingdom is the pillar of the Ming Dynasty. He is the greatest talent in the past and present. There is no one in the world who does not..."

"General Zheng, the so-called hero cherishes the hero, you and I should stop talking such false words." Qin Shuhuai interrupted Zheng Zhilong, but said more sincerely, "I said that I admire General Zheng before, it is true."

Zheng Zhilong was silent.

Qin Shuhuai said again, "General Zheng, you can't stay in Anhai Town any longer. You know why. But I can guarantee that the imperial court will continue to use you. Moreover, you can take all your glory and wealth with you. will be deprived."

"Your Highness..."

"General Zheng, to put it bluntly, you occupy the land in Anhai Town as the king, and I believe you know that this will not last long. You are a sensible person and know what the court really wants. There is no need for the court to make things difficult for you, but the court wants Therefore, since General Zheng chooses to stay in his homeland, he should listen to the arrangement of the imperial court, get things done as soon as possible, and then go to the north to take up his post. This way, we can both save some dignity, isn’t it great?”

Zheng Zhilong let out a long sigh, but still didn't speak.

At this moment, his future is in a state of confusion, and he doesn't know what to say.

Qin Shuhuai said kindly again, "General Zheng, I know what you are worried about, but these are all unnecessary worries. If I really think that General Zheng is the enemy of Daming, then follow the law of the Three Sides and Sichuan, and say It's ugly, General Zheng probably can't sit here and talk to me now. However, I didn't do this, and even asked the emperor to add an official to General Zheng, why do you think about it?"

"Your Highness..."

"I have always believed that General Zheng is a great talent, and he is an indispensable talent for the Ming Dynasty. Just like Zhang Xianzhong's Li Dingguo in the past, didn't I let him command the army to go west now? General Zheng, your ability at sea is unmatched in the world. Wushuang, if I don’t regret you, how could I harm you?”

Zheng Zhilong raised his head, his pupils were full of Qin Shuhuai's reflection.

After a long silence, he said, "The Duke of the State has a good intention, and I am grateful. It's just, it's just that the official came from a reckless background. In the past, I had a lot of grievances with the officials of the DPRK and China. If I don't talk about it, I will talk about Fujian, up to the governor The soldiers went down to the county magistrate guerrilla. Although they were polite to the officials on the surface, they hated the officials secretly. It's not that the officials don't want to submit to the court, but they are afraid that they will come to settle accounts in the fall!"

It should be said that Zheng Zhilong's worries are not unreasonable.This was the case in the officialdom at the end of the Ming Dynasty. On weekdays, officials called each other brothers and secretly intrigue.

Zheng Zhilong was his king of the sea in Anhai Town, and even the soldiers of the governor of Fujian could not enter Anhai Town, one can imagine how many people he offended.At that time, once he loses his private soldiers and warships, those officials will frantically impeach him if he fails to keep them together. You must know that just one of them "supporting soldiers with self-respect and refusing to accept the emperor's order" is enough for him to kill everyone. How can he do not worry?
Qin Shuhuai said, "General Zheng doesn't need to worry too much. The emperor named you Nan'an Bo, which means that the past matters will not be pursued anymore. Moreover, the atmosphere in the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty has taken on a new look. Things like chasing after the wind and settling accounts after autumn are the specialties of the Donglin Party. , but now the Donglin party members have fallen, and there will be no such thing in the future. In addition, I let you go to the General Administration of Customs first to protect you, because there is only Li Fu, the Prime Minister of the Customs, and no one I can touch you. Finally, I can give you another reassurance, that is, if anyone uses the past to impeach you, I will personally refute it for you, so you should be relieved, right?"

Hearing this, Zheng Zhilong got up suddenly and wanted to bow down, but was supported by Qin Shuhuai.

"General Zheng doesn't have to be like this."

"Grandpa, the lives of the young and old of Zheng's family will be entrusted to the Duke from now on!"

After Zheng Zhilong finished speaking, he burst into tears.

Whether it's acting on the spot or expressing his feelings, in short, he can get Qin Shuhuai's personal guarantee now, which is a great psychological comfort.

In all fairness, if the imperial court could really keep him rich and give him high officials and generous salaries, he would be willing even if he didn’t want those warships—his surrender to the Manchu Qing in history, wouldn’t it be the same as surrendering his ships and soldiers?

Qin Shuhuai knew this very well, that's why he fell in love with him.

Besides, his life is now in Qin Shuhuai's hands!Besides believing in Qin Shuhuai, does he have a second choice?If he dares to say no now, Yang He, Wang Huazhen, Zhou Yanru and others of the Donglin Party will be his fate!

Zheng Zhilong finally knew what to do.

The next day, he summoned all the generals and said that he would go north to serve as the Assistant Minister of the General Administration of Customs.At the same time, according to Qin Shuhuai's arrangement, he handed over his own, and Zheng Zhibao's and Zheng Zhihu's gold-lettered sea orders, and ordered his subordinates to follow the arrangements of the Duke of the State and make no mistakes.

With Zheng Zhilong's own orders on the top, and the support of generals like Zheng Cai and Chen Hui, Qin Shuhuai will have no difficulty in gathering Zheng Zhilong's warships.

However, there are still Liu Xiang and the Dutch on the Far East Ocean, and Qin Shuhuai has to get rid of them if he wants to let Daming's merchant ships go to sea safely.

So, the planning has only just begun.

(End of this chapter)