Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 77 Zheng Chenggong Heads North

The waves of the Qinhuai River reflect the reflections of the pleasure boats on both sides of the river.

In the "Moon-Lanming Hall" on the third floor of the painting boat, twelve gilded enamel palace lanterns illuminate the carved beams and pillars.

Fan Jingwen and Xu Yunjue walked into the hall hand in hand, like old friends who had not seen each other for many years.

Zhang Huangyan, who was standing behind him, was looking at the lotus leaf plate carved from a whole piece of Hetian jade on the table. The water droplets oozing from the chilled bayberries in the plate were rolling down the veins of the leaves, leaving dark red marks on the blue brick floor. He was a little distracted for a moment.

The Lanyue Hall is very large, but there are only three chairs in the east opposite the door, which are prepared for Fan Jingwen and Xu Yunjue.

The rest of the people could only line up in the north and south, and more than dozens of people had already taken their seats.

But even so, it was still less than one-third of the room in the hall, with maids, servants, geishas, ​​and all kinds of musical instruments.

When they saw Fan Jingwen enter, they all stood up and bowed.

"This humble official pays respects to Lord Fan and the Duke."

"Master Fan, please look, these are some of the most respectable and wise men in Nanjing."

Duke of Wei Xu Yunjue laughed heartily, stroked his three long strands of beard, and introduced Fan Jingwen.

As Fan Jingwen sat down, he observed the crowd with a smile, "As expected of Nanjing, the Great Ming Dynasty. Talents are everywhere."

Xu Yunjue followed suit and sat down. "Come, come, Lord Zhi, let me introduce you."

The first person to be hit was a middle-aged man with a round face and a slight beard. When he stood up, the seven-treasure belt around his waist jingled loudly.

"I am Liu Futong, a humble man, doing some petty business in salt and iron."

Xu Yunjue smiled and added, "Mr. Liu's ancestors were sea merchants during the Yongle Dynasty. They now manage the thirteen ironworks at Longjiang Pass. His cousin works at the Ministry of Revenue in Nanjing."

At this time, a maid came in from outside holding a gilded tray. Liu Futong took it personally, bowed and handed it to Fan Jingwen, and then lifted the red silk to reveal a three-foot-long sandalwood box.

A set of armor was placed on the red velvet cloth in the box. The layers of armor were as thin as cicada wings, and a faint dim light was reflected by the candlelight.

"This is made of Su steel that has been tempered hundreds of times. It is more than 50% lighter than cotton armor."

Liu Futong flicked his fingers at the breastplate, making a crisp sound. "If Your Majesty does not mind, I can provide you with 3,000 pieces per month."

Fan Jingwen just lowered his head and recognized the material of the armor plate. How could it not be light if it was made of lead?

If I wear this thing on the battlefield, it will probably break if I get hit.

Seeing that Fan Jingwen did not respond, Liu Futong smiled flatteringly and glanced at Xu Yunjue who was standing beside him.

The latter understood immediately, laughed, and pretended to reach out to touch the armor, but in fact he lifted up the armor to reveal a silver note worth 20,000 taels of silver underneath, which was from a Shanxi merchant company.

Fan Jingwen then smiled and said, "Well, Manager Liu is thoughtful."

He took the box and put it behind him, then took out the silver note and stuffed it into the hand of Zhang Huangyan beside him.

They are responsible for fishing.

This time, Your Majesty wants to find a few businesses that can manufacture military equipment to see the foundation of Nanjing.

Unexpectedly, the first person was willing to offer a bribe of 20,000 taels, which made Fan Jingwen extremely happy.

Seeing that Fan Jingwen accepted it, Xu Yunjue was extremely happy. If he succeeded, he could get a 10% profit from the subsequent business. Otherwise, he would not have set up this scheme.

A loud laugh and clapping of hands called for singing and dancing, and twelve Hu girls spinning in their pomegranate skirts once again livened up the atmosphere.

Amid the sound of stringed instruments, the second wealthy businessman stood up and bowed.

The man was dressed in a plain silk Taoist robe, but his brows revealed a shrewd look. "I am Chen Yanzuo, running a cloth business in Suzhou."

Xu Hongji, playing with his wine cup, interjected, "Manager Chen's uncle was the magistrate of Yingtian Prefecture, and his father was one of the Four Gentlemen of Donglin thirteen years ago. Lord Zhi should have some impression of him. The brocade produced by his family's weaving workshop was even praised by Kunning Palace."

Four servants carried up a red lacquered wooden box, and when the lid was opened, the room was filled with light.

Chen Yanzuo casually pulled out one of the layers of mandarin duck-patterned battle jackets in the box. "This is Hujin mixed with U-Tsang silkworm silk. Ordinary arrows can hardly penetrate it at all."

Fan Jingwen reached out and stroked the cloth, which was just a piece of torn linen stuffed with reed fluff.

"Good material." He didn't boast, his cloudy eyes turning to Xu Hongji, "I just don't know how much it costs?"

Chen Yanzuo quickly replied, "Each piece of clothing costs fifty taels. If the court wishes to purchase, I would be willing to give you three taels per piece as a gift."

Xu Yunjue's laughter drowned out the other two's words, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you about this business matter, Lord."

With a wave of the jade fan, the third wealthy businessman stood up.

This was a fat man with a big smile on his face, his fingers adorned with cat's eye rings. "My name is Zhao Dequan, and I make a living by doing some shipping business."

As if they had discussed it beforehand, before he finished speaking, the sound of something heavy being dragged was heard outside the hall, and eight strong men dragged a huge object covered with red silk into the hall.

Zhao Dequan didn't say much, he just pulled off the silk cloth, and everyone in the room was amazed.

The five-foot-long golden ship model gleamed brightly under the light, and the eyes of the dragon pattern on the bow were actually two pigeon-blood rubies.

"It was built according to the specifications of a 200-ton warship, and the elder took it back to the capital to play with it."

Zhao Dequan's short, fat fingers stroked the gold-plated mast. "The Longjiangguan Shipyard currently has twenty Fuzhou ships, ready for deployment by the imperial court at any time."

Fan Jingwen's eyes widened as he looked at it. This gold must weigh at least 500 kilograms!
And sixty thousand taels of silver!
Otherwise, it would be said that Zhao Dequan was fearless.

Xu Yunjue cheered loudly, "Mr. Zhao is the most loyal. He just donated 50,000 dan of rice last month to help suppress the bandits."

The fourth businessman stood up on his own without waiting to be called.

"I am Lin Muzhi, the head of the Lin family in Quanzhou. Nice to meet you, Lord."

"I heard that the imperial court wants to revive the navy."

"Lin has a private port in Liaoluo Bay, which can accommodate large warships."

As he spoke, he clapped his hands and called over two Kunlun slaves. When they opened the iron box, a chilling air filled the air.

Twenty brand new Portuguese muskets glowed blue.

"To be honest, sir, many red-haired foreigners usually stop here. If the court needs anything, I am willing to help."

"Selling three thousand muskets a month is no problem. I can earn a hundred taels for each small one, and I will give half of it to the elder."

During this period, the Ming Dynasty was in a state of maritime ban, and no ship was allowed to go to sea, let alone open a dock and do business with outsiders.

Although this kind of thing is common in the south, and everyone in the south is making money from maritime trade, no one cares.

But when it comes to the surface, things get weird.

I don’t know if this guy surnamed Lin is really stupid or just confident.

Fan Jingwen had no choice but to pretend to cough violently.

He said with a hint of meaning, "The wind on the sea is so strong that my bones can't bear it."

Lin Muzhi narrowed his eyes, and another brocade bag slipped out of his sleeve.

With a backhand turn, several Nanyang pearls as big as longans appeared in his hand.

The most amazing thing is that the word "loyalty" is naturally formed on the surface of each bead.

Lin Muzhi placed the pearl in front of Fan Jingwen and said with a hint of meaning, "Don't worry, Lord. You only need to mention this matter to His Majesty. The other matters will be taken care of by the Lord himself."

Afterwards, several more people came forward, and the South China Sea coral trees, Siamese ivory carvings, Western Region luminous cups, rockery carved from a whole piece of jade, and pavilions and towers in the mountains were all clearly visible.

"These are the kind words of the Yangzhou Salt Merchants Association," Xu Yunjue said with a smile, clapping his hands. "We heard that Your Majesty wants to build a shrine for martyrs, and the various districts in Yangzhou are willing to donate 200,000 taels of silver to express our gratitude."

"The loyalty of all the wise men must be reported to His Majesty in detail."

Suddenly, a river breeze blew in from outside the window, carrying the "Yu Shu Hou Ting Hua" painting from some unknown pleasure boat.

Fan Jingwen, pretending to be drunk, echoed Xu Yunjue, "Hahahaha, I will report all the loyalty of the wise men to His Majesty!"

"Hahaha, good! As the pillar of white jade that supports the sky and the beam of purple gold that spans the sea, the Lord deserves a toast from all of us. Please, Lord!"

"Haha, Master, you are too kind. I am just a scholar who has lived in confusion for half my life. Only now can I do something for the people of the world. How dare I accept such a great gift."

As dozens of beautiful prostitutes entered, the atmosphere reached its climax.

No one noticed that Zhang Huangyan, who had been acting as an invisible figure nearby, had quietly left.

Walk down the stairs of the painted boat to the shore.

He tightened his clothes, and four Ti cavalrymen immediately followed him.

Zhang Huangyan first looked around and asked, "No one is following us?"

The captain of the Imperial Guards shook his head. "There were a few spies from the Duke of Wei's mansion, but we sent them away."

"Okay!" Zhang Huangyan breathed a sigh of relief and mounted the warhorse that the Jinyiwei had already prepared. "Take me to find your Imperial Censor Li Lian. Be careful not to get followed."

"I understand!" The captain of the Tiqi cavalry immediately bowed.

Only two Ti cavalrymen were sent to follow Zhang Huangyan, while the remaining twenty or so cavalrymen were scattered around where Zhang Huangyan passed by to prevent anyone from following him.

As a thousand-year-old city, Nanjing's urban area is larger than that of the capital.

Led by the Jinyiwei cavalry, Zhang Huangyan circled for a full half hour before arriving at an extremely inconspicuous courtyard on the edge of the city. There was no light in the courtyard.

Only when I followed the Tiqi and arrived at the cellar in the yard did I hear a muffled sound next to it.

"Sanliu?"

Tiqi responded with the signal, "Qianzhi!"

The main door of the cellar was suddenly opened.

Zhang Huangyan climbed down the stairs and saw Li Ruolian, who was protected by only a dozen Jinyiwei.

"how's it going?"

"Censor Lian, the Zhigong has already targeted seven families. The Liu family, the salt and iron merchants, has connections with the Ministry of Revenue, salt merchants, iron merchants, maritime merchants, nobles, and cloth merchants..."

Zhang Huangyan told Li Ruolian all the information he had just received.

The latter nodded calmly, "I understand. Censor Zhang, please go back and rest. I will report to the Zhi official. I will find out the details within three days and submit the plan to the Zhi official for review."

"Thank you for your hard work, Censor Li Lian." Zhang Huangyan bowed.

Li Ruo Lian waved his hand, "Work for the Emperor!"

……

Nanjing and Beijing are both busy, and Xiamen, Fujian in the south is also busy.

In an extremely large manor in Xiamen, covering an area of ​​more than 50,000 acres.

As the contemporary Pirate King, Governor of Fujian Navy of Ming Dynasty, Vice Governor of Nanjing Five Military Commandery, the man in charge of East Asian seas, and the most powerful smuggler, Zheng Zhilong was sitting in his study, chewing cakes while reading the secret letter given to him by Fan Jingwen.

Anyway, Zhu Youjian said that no matter how Fan Jingwen tried to please Zheng Zhilong, as long as he could tie him onto the warship, it would be fine.

Before Fan Jingwen arrived in Nanjing, he had already sent a secret letter to the southern military leader.

He wrote down some of the ideas Zhu Youjian gave him and his own ideas.

And then...

Zheng Zhilong had been reading in the study for a whole day.

Zheng Chenggong, who had just returned from the military camp, was a little worried and pushed open the door of the study and walked in.

Twenty-year-old Zheng Chenggong stepped over the threshold in a moon-white Confucian robe, with a three-foot-long sword hanging from his waist.

His brow bones were as sharp as a knife, and a pair of phoenix eyes were bright and lively under his thick eyebrows.

"Father didn't even have dinner?"

Zheng Chenggong stopped in front of the sandalwood screen and asked in a low voice.

But his eyes scanned the table back and forth.

Among the scattered pieces of letter paper, the envelope at the top, made of jute paper with a five-clawed golden dragon printed on it, caught his eye. This was a design he had never seen before.

When Zheng Zhilong turned around, his dark face, weathered by the wind and waves of the South China Sea, was flushed with a strange color.

He casually picked up the jade Pixiu handle beside the inkstone, took a few deep breaths to calm himself, and then slowly said, "It came from the capital 800 miles away, expedited. Take a look for yourself."

Zheng Chenggong took the letter in confusion and looked down at it.

Fan Jingwen's unique Slender Gold script unfolds in a winding manner on the palace silk.

"To the Emperor, General Zhilong:
Today, the Holy Emperor has personally defeated millions of bandits at the gates of the capital, and his divine power is no less than that of Taizu.

The Ministry of War has reorganized its forces, and the troops have sworn an oath in front of the Martyrs' Shrine. This is truly the time to restore order.

The general owns thousands of ships, but he should know that the huge waves on the sea must eventually anchor in the Nine Provinces, and thousands of sails and boards must emerge from the mountains and dense forests.

At this time when the Holy Emperor is building up the country, why don't you, General, lead the dragon in the sea and achieve great achievements that will be remembered for thousands of years?
The capital has just defeated the enemy, but is still short of food and military pay. Your Majesty intends to transfer the Fujian Navy to the north. In appreciation of the general's contribution to defending the country's maritime borders, you intend to confer the title of Duke of Dinghai on him, with the title hereditary and in charge of the military and political affairs of the East China Sea islands.

Ten additional trading ports were opened, including Quanzhou, Fuzhou, and Ningbo, and all Maritime Customs affairs were under the jurisdiction of the general.

Five thousand maritime flags were also made, and all merchant ships carrying these flags were protected by the Ming navy. Those without flags were considered smugglers and could be attacked.

General Xu was in charge of the affairs concerning the tribute payments from the Nanyang countries.

Your Majesty is still kind enough to offer his services. The Zheng merchant caravan can cross the sea with the dragon flag. If they encounter any rebellious people, we will lead our army to suppress them."

After reading it, the letter began to tremble in Zheng Chenggong's hands.

He could hear the throbbing in his temples, and the words "Xun Shou on Behalf of the Emperor" burned his retina like a branding iron.

When Zheng Zhilong accepted the amnesty, he was only given the honorary title of a third-rank general.

"This is like moving half of the imperial court to the sea."

There was a suppressed tremor in Zheng Chenggong's voice, and his fingertips unconsciously stroked the letter paper.

When Zheng Zhilong saw his usually steady son in such an embarrassing state, he burst into laughter, causing ripples in the clear water in the celadon brush washer on the desk.

He grabbed another cold crab roe cake from the plate and took a bite. "It's more than half the imperial court. Do you know how much toll we collected from the red-haired foreigners last year? 730,000 taels! If only we had this flag."

He held up three fingers and said, "Just from selling flags, this amount would be more than ten times as much!"

"My son, do you remember the story I told you about Liaoluo Bay in the seventh year of the Tianqi era?"

In that fierce battle with the Dutch East India Company, the eighteen-year-old rushed into the enemy camp with a fire ship and burned four galleons.

"Of course I remember. Back then, our two hundred small boats dared to charge the giant Western warships!"

"Then do you know why you won?"

"Because..." Zheng Chenggong was about to say that it was because his father commanded well and the soldiers were willing to die for him.

Zheng Zhilong said directly, "That's because I know there is no way out behind me."

"Your Majesty is now offering more than just a way out. He's going to plant the Sun and Moon Flag to the ends of the earth!"

"For the route from Xiamen to Nagasaki, the annual fee for each merchant ship flying the naval flag is 5,000 taels. There are currently 600 ships."

"This item alone costs three million taels every year!?" Zheng Chenggong exclaimed.

From the time his father took over the maritime merchant Li Dan's troops until now, he has only accumulated a fortune of tens of millions of taels.

How could he not be surprised that he could make a profit of three million taels a year just by selling flags?

Zheng Zhilong shook his head. "That's still a small percentage. If we take a commission based on the value of the goods, silk and porcelain will be taxed at 10%, spices and medicinal herbs at 15%, and we set up an escort fleet to share 30% of the profits..."

"It's no problem for us to earn tens of millions of taels a year!!!"

Zheng Chenggong's pupils suddenly contracted and he had difficulty breathing.

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty, do you want to buy my Zheng family?!"

If Zhu Youjian were to use these to buy it, he would really be willing to do so if there was no system.

You should know that Zheng Zhilong’s navy now has nearly 3,000 ships of all sizes!
There are also similar treasure ships that Zheng He used when he sailed to the West.

That was a giant ship that was over 150 meters long, over 60 meters wide, had three decks, and was equipped with more than 120 guns!

The displacement reached more than 2,000 tons.

According to Western standards, it is a standard first-class battleship.

It was more than a hundred years later that the first such warship was launched in Britain.

Zheng Zhilong now has nearly a hundred ships under his command!

Hearing his son's words, Zheng Zhilong smiled and said, "Ming Yan, do you still remember the passage in the Records of the Three Kingdoms where Liu Bei borrowed Jingzhou?"

"remember."

"Your Majesty doesn't want to buy my Zheng family, but wants to borrow Jingzhou!"

"Father, are you prepared to lend it to me? What if, like Liu Bei, I borrow and never return it?"

"Haha, Your Majesty, you lent us Jingzhou to fight the Jiannu and the rebels. We will also borrow your Jingzhou to make money. So what if we never return it? In just three years, your father can build a larger fleet!"

"Go find your second uncle and ask him to take fifty Fu ships and three hundred large ships to Dengzhou."

Zheng Zhilong tore off the gilded token from his waist and threw it on the table. "Take 200,000 dan of Siamese rice and 300 red-haired cannons."

"Let your fifth uncle lead the fleet to Luzon. It's time to let the Portuguese know that from now on, all ships passing through Luzon must fly the Sun and Moon flags."

"Starting tomorrow, you will take command of the Nanyang Fleet, lead fifty treasure ships, lead seven hundred warships from the Nanyang Fleet, and lead ninety thousand soldiers to the north to defend the king! All orders will be obeyed by His Majesty!"

Zheng Chenggong suddenly knelt on one knee, took off the sword at his waist and raised it above his head, "I obey your order!"

Zheng Zhilong nodded with satisfaction, "Tomorrow I will also lead the Black Flag Fleet out. There are dozens of red-haired foreign merchant ships waiting to be recruited."

"Within three years, wherever the sun rises, you will see sea flags flying."

(End of this chapter)