Chapter 6: Palm the South of the Yangtze River (IV)

The ending of Zhu Yinglong's unification of the Ming Dynasty was already clear. Those vassal states that still regarded the Ming Dynasty as the main one sent envoys to present generous tributes to meet the emperor of the court. These Zhu Yinglong naturally refused to accept them. Moreover, he also wanted to re-plan the relationship between the Ming Dynasty and these vassal states. He was not a generous emperor. He knew that many countries truly admired the superior state of the Celestial Kingdom and were attached as the tail. There were also many countries for the prosperity of the Celestial Kingdom. The tribute was inferior to the good ones, and the value of the rebate of the Celestial Kingdom was indeed much higher than ten times the value of their tribute.

Even hundreds of times, treating the Celestial Empire as a sucker, such a thing can never be done anymore. Therefore, a diplomat who must choose to pick up a diplomat to receive the envoys of these vassal states. After picking up, there was no one suitable one. In the end, there was no way to push Sun Shenxing, the Minister of Revenue, who was good at calculating and harsh on the emperor, and let him receive these envoys of the vassal states who went to Beijing, gave him two decrees. First, it will not be humiliating the national system, and second, it will not be a loss. As long as you adhere to these two principles, you can talk about anything.

Among them, Apeternuyiz, the third governor of the Dutch East India Company in Taiwan, also sent a trade envoy. I don’t know where he heard that the current Emperor of the Celestial Empire was an enlightened monarch who liked merchants. He was eager to open the country of the Celestial Empire and gain trade rights. After the split Celestial Empire was about to be unified. After the new emperor abolished the ban on sea ban, he couldn’t wait to send a trade envoy to Nanjing to meet Zhu Yinglong.

At this moment, the Netherlands is still the most powerful country in the West, with colonies all over the world, especially the navy, with strong strength. Although the Ming Dynasty is vast and rich in resources, it is an agricultural country after all, and its industry is basically dominated by workshop-style handicrafts. If it weren't for its strong foundation, these Dutch colonists would have knocked on China's door with strong ships and cannons and colonized in large numbers.

The Dutch were not scary, and it was not difficult to defeat it, but it could only keep a temporary safety. Even after the Dutch failed three British-Dutch naval battles in the next few decades and was caught up by the new maritime power, England and Geely, the Ming Dynasty also had to face an emerging colonial power like Britain. Historically, after Britain turned India into its colony, its covetousness for Tibet has never been eliminated, and its ambition is obvious.

There is also the territorial issue of Taiwan (Xiao Liuqiu). Will the Dutch give up the strongholds established in southern Taiwan? This is obviously impossible. Taiwan’s geographical location is important. In an era when the ocean is becoming more and more important, this is a giant ship that never sinks. Its strategic location and practical value are immeasurable. From this conclusion, there will be a war between the Netherlands and the Ming Dynasty, and it may be an unprecedented war.

Zhu Yinglong would not meet the little Dutch envoy in person, so he only asked Huang Dingchen, the new doctor in the Lifanyuan, to see him.

Huang Dingchen saw the Dutch envoy Debaoer, and when he came back to report, he was extremely angry. Debaoer was so arrogant that he did not take Huang Dingchen seriously at all, and he was extremely sarcastic, and even said that he was not qualified to know the conditions for his mission to the Ming Dynasty to negotiate trade.

Zhu Yinglong had no good feelings for the Dutch, whether in his past or present life, after listening to Huang Dingchen's narration, he immediately became angry. The fifth-rank doctor in the Lifan Academy was also a prefect who was in charge of a million people. How many people are there in the Netherlands? How many people can the Dutch East India Company governor in Yadaga? What is the identity of a small envoy he sent?

Immediately issued an order to send a seventh-rank alternate magistrate to see the Dutch envoy again. If he is arrogant and rude, the person he will meet will be reduced to his rank!

As the number of receptions decreased again and again, the standard of reception also decreased. The Dutch envoy Deborg was panicked. He had an important purpose for his trip, because of his so-called arrogant and rude persistence. As a result, not only did not attract the attention of the Emperor of the Celestial Empire, but the standard of reception he received was getting worse and worse, and in the end, even ordinary Dutch merchants were not as good as that of ordinary Dutch merchants.

Debaoer finally became honest and asked to meet Huang Dingchen again.

Huang Dingchen came to ask Zhu Yinglong for instructions. After hearing this, Zhu Yinglong laughed and said directly: "A barbarian envoy, how could he meet the officials of my Heavenly Kingdom at any time? He either expresses his intentions directly or gets out!"

Zhu Yinglong was not afraid of Debaoer being furious. He only bowed his head now, which means that he must have a purpose. Otherwise, with the pride and directness of Westerners, he would never be able to bear it, and he would beg himself in a low voice.

Sure enough, Debao lowered his proud head and proposed to select ten cities to open trade ports along the coast of Guangzhou, Fujian and Zhejiang. All foreign trade in the Ming Dynasty was run by the Dutch. This was the most important one. There were still dozens of items below, such as recognition of the Dutch's legitimate rights and interests in Xiao Liuqiu, missionary, residence, and diplomatic privileges, etc., while the Netherlands only used the conditions to send troops to help the Ming Dynasty fight against rebellions or fight pirates and limited sailing ship manufacturing technology as exchanges.

In order to show his sincerity, Debaoer said shamelessly that the Netherlands could send troops to help the court to suppress the power of the Zheng clan in Xiaoliuqiu to restrain or cut off Zheng Hongkui's resistance in Fujian. With such a generous gift, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty should not refuse, because in his opinion, these people in the Celestial Empire were all arrogant, especially those literati and officials, who were short-sighted and could not see the huge profits brought by maritime trade. If you hand over these dangerous things to them, the barbarians who "eat raw meat and drink blood" to do, you will still get some benefits.

After hearing these reports, Zhu Yinglong couldn't help laughing furiously. Debaoer is really naive and cute. Even if the eyes of the Celestial Kingdom are on the forehead, how can they believe in their strength? But don't they know that there is such an old saying in the Celestial Kingdom? "If it is not my race, their hearts will be different!" Some people may not see the real tricks in this condition that seems to have profits from the Celestial Kingdom, but the Celestial Kingdom that always trades with foreign countries always mainly loses money. If it suddenly changes, how can it not be suspicious?

Debaoer's seemingly harsh conditions were not unacceptable to the Ming Dynasty, which had long liked to contribute, and many officials even sneered at the lonely land of Xiao Liuqiu, believing that it was also a barren land of foreign land. If these red-haired Dutch people were to let them go, it was useless anyway. The extermination of the Zheng rebel party in Fujian was the top priority at present. Therefore, many short-term officials advocated the conditions for agreeing to the Dutch, and many people believed that the Dutch were not of our race and were cautious. However, the military's opinions were unified. Zheng Hongkui wanted to wipe out, and the Dutch also wanted to fight, and both of them were to fight.

Zhu Yinglong knew better about the nature of the Dutch plunder and invasion. He would not agree to any of these conditions proposed by Debord. Besides, he had never thought about signing any treaty with the Netherlands. He just wanted to use the Dutch to force Zheng Hongkui to surrender, and then drive the Dutch and the Spanish from the land of Xiao Liuqiu.

In the process of delaying and delaying, the Zheng Hongkui, who had already forced Hong Chengchou, was only one city in Quanzhou in Fujian. He had only two roads to go, either surrender or go abroad. Most of Zheng Hongkui's army was from Fujian. If he went abroad, he would probably never have the chance to set foot on the land of his hometown and drink the water from his hometown in his life. Therefore, the morale in Quanzhou City was depressed. If he had not been blessed by the Zheng family's life, Quanzhou City would have been defeated by Hong Chengchou.

At this time, when the court was about to join forces with the Dutch to get rid of the Zheng family on Xiaoliuqiu, it was like a bolt from the blue falling on Zheng Hongkui's head. The sea power of the Zheng family could only fight against one side. If the two sides joined forces, they would definitely not be their opponents. If the sea route was cut off, what's the difference between defending Quanzhou City and not defending?

Zheng Hongkui made a decision in a difficult situation. At the beginning, he was extremely dissatisfied with his elder brother's ambition. Now there are more than hundreds of members of the Zheng clan, and his sister-in-law and nephew who are far away in Japan. He has to consider these people. If there was no previous betrayal, he chose to surrender without hesitation. However, with the last betrayal, he even killed the emperor's beloved concubine's family. Can this revenge be good? Can the emperor let the Zheng family go?

After much thought, Zheng Hongkui finally decided to surrender to the court. It was not that he had not thought of surrendering to the Dutch, but in history, even if he had temporarily saved his life, the Zheng family would definitely be infamous for thousands of years. Zheng Hongkui did not have the courage to resist this crime.

The condition for surrender proposed by Zheng Hongkui was that the court released Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Zhihu, Zheng Zhibao and the captured Zheng clan members, and the Zheng clan gave out all industries and ships in Quanzhou and Xiaoliuqiu. The Zheng clan went abroad and vowed never to return to the Central Plains.

Just as Ye Lianyi arrived in Nanjing, Zhu Yinglong personally went to Xiaguan Wharf to greet him. When he saw Ye Lianyi who had lost a lot of weight, he felt very distressed. After entering the Jinling Palace, the two gathered overnight. Two days later, Ye Lianyi boarded the "China Treasure Ship" and slowly drove out of the estuary of the Yangtze River and headed south to Fujian.

Half a month later, Quanzhou was empty alleys, and the huge "China Treasure Ship" slowly drove into Quanzhou Port. Tens of thousands of people gathered at the port. With Ye Lianyi's figure appeared on the deck, thousands of people cheered, and Zheng Hongkui knelt down and asked to surrender!

On the same day, the East China Sea Fleet fully accepted Zheng's private fleet in Xiaoliuqiu, and Hong Chengchou also served as the first governor of the Navy's East China Sea Fleet.

Zheng Zhilong was sentenced to life imprisonment and was later released from pardon, and the rest were sentenced to varying sentences. He was released one after another. Zheng Hongkui made a great contribution to surrender and was transferred to the captain of the Third Detachment of the Navy East China Sea Fleet. He Bin was awarded the title of Jinshi for exception and entered Nanjing University and retained it.
Chapter completed!