Taichang's face was obviously a bit bad.

He had high hopes for the famous general Yu Zigao, but he never expected that this guy would accept the bribe from the traitor Xu Xinsu and lead him as his right-hand man, which made him fooled by Xu Xinsu!

Can such a person still give him a heavy responsibility?

He was frowning and pondering with a cold face, but Yuan Keli bowed carefully: "Your Majesty, I think the reason why General Yu followed the crowd may be because his father Duke Wu Xiang suffered too much for this, and he was afraid of following in Duke Wu Xiang's footsteps."

What does this mean? Are you making excuses for Yu Zigao?

Taichang said in confusion: "Why follow Yu Wuxiang's footsteps? Why did Yu Wuxiang suffer?"

Yuan Keli explained carefully: "Yu Wuxiang is a rare honest general and has great kindness to his subordinates. Therefore, he has made many outstanding achievements and has shocked the southern border. However, Yu Wuxiang's career was quite unsuccessful. He has experienced many battles and made great achievements, but he was dismissed more than ten times. When he was old, he was impeached by the inspector Li Liangchen for corruption. In the end, he only retired as the assistant general and died of regret."

Now Taichang finally understood that Yu Dayou's emotional intelligence was not very good.

He knew that Yu Dayou finally retired as the assistant general, but this was the first time he heard about Yu Dayou being dismissed more than ten times.

He couldn't help but be surprised and said, "What do you mean is that Yu Wuxiang only knows how to be good to his subordinates, but he doesn't know how to please his superiors, and he has no money to bribe those censors?"

Yuan Keli bowed repeatedly and said, "The emperor is wise."

Well, he is indeed making excuses for Yu Zigao.

Taichang understood clearly, and Yuan Keli was advising him not to give up Yu Zigao, a rare general because of this matter.

Alas, this is really a mess!

Yu Wuxiang was honest all his life and had great military achievements, but he was dismissed more than ten times. He was dismissed as the assistant general because he had no money to bribe an inspector. Can Yu Zigao not remember the lesson?

Perhaps, this is why Yu Zigao went with the flow.

OK, even if Yu Zigao is following the trend.

This powerful general is indeed rare, and Yu Zigao also helped Zou Weilian defeat the Dutch in history, which proves that Yu Zigao did not join Xu Xinsu.

Thinking of this, Taichang nodded slightly and sighed: "Yu Wuxiang's outstanding achievements are worthy of his generation. Yu Zigao was confused for a while and was deceived by Xu Xinsu. Forget this matter, General Zheng, don't mention this matter to others in the future."

Zheng Zhilong was shocked when he heard this.

He couldn't help but glance at Yuan Keli secretly, and a look of fear appeared on his face.

Isn't this guy charged someone else's money too?

In fact, he misunderstood.

Naturally, it was impossible for Yuan Keli to accept Yu Zigao's money, and it was even more impossible for Xu Xinsu's money.

He just cherishes his talents.

Historically, he was quite good to his generals. If he could support him, he would try to support him as much as possible. If he could tolerate him, he would try to be tolerant. If he could speak good things, he would try to say good things.

To put it bluntly, he is just protecting his calf.

Including Shen Yourong, Mao Wenlong, Liu Xingzuo, etc., all were protected by him.

Unfortunately, after Wei Zhongxian dismissed from office and removed from office, his generals did not end well.

Shen Yourong was angry because of his dismissal and his official position and left immediately. Soon after, he became so angry that he died of illness and ended in anger.

Liu Xingzuo was also excluded from his protection and eventually died in the battlefield and became cannon fodder.

Mao Wenlong was even more miserable and was directly beheaded by Yuan Chonghuan!

If he was still there, he would definitely not let Yuan Chonghuan kill Mao Wenlong.

I have to say that Yu Zigao was lucky, and happened to be a general of the navy, and happened to meet Yuan Keli.

Yuan Keli, the governor of the navy, has always cherished talents and protected his sons. Therefore, when Taichang showed displeasure, he used his father Yu Dayou to speak kindly and invisibly resolved a crisis for him.

Of course, Taichang knew that Yuan Keli did not collect other people's money, and what Yuan Keli said was very reasonable. The reason why Yu Zigao was like this was probably because of his father's experience and had to go with the flow.

Anyway, let it go.

He thought about it and continued to ask, "I still have something unknown. Are you not a maritime merchant? I have never heard of any act of gathering people to make thieves before. Why did you suddenly become pirates this time? And you went ashore and robbed them one after another, as if you had agreed. What are the benefits of doing this for you? The fishermen on the coast are very poor, what can you grab?"

This cannot be told the truth!

Zheng Zhilong thought about it carefully before explaining carefully: "We were just doing business on the sea and selling some private goods to make money, but we didn't think about going against the court.

However, after the imperial court opened up all the seas, all the vassal states went to Taicang to purchase goods, and our business was difficult to do.

Just when we were worried about this, Xu Xinsu passed a message for the Dutch, asking us to plunder the maritime merchants who traveled to and from the Ming Dynasty in the South China Sea. As long as we could transfer the snatched goods to the Dutch, the Dutch not only gave us money, but also sold us weapons.

We were also obsessed with greed. After we got involved in the Dutch trap, we really ran to rob the Nanyang Maritime Merchant. After robbing the Nanyang Maritime Merchant goods, we really exchanged a lot of money and weapons from the Dutch.

After we tasted the sweetness, it became deeper and deeper.

When we turn from maritime merchants to real pirates, Xu Xinsu begins to hint at us again that the court will sooner or later know about our plunder of maritime merchants in the South China Sea. At that time, the court will definitely send troops to encircle us.

We are also afraid, so we can only rob and exchange money and weapons from the Dutch, and then continue to buy warships and expand our subordinates to protect ourselves.

As a result, at the end of last year, the Dutch sent a message through Xu Xinsu, asking us to go ashore to rob and cooperate with their actions. Otherwise, we would not sell our weapons to us, and they would not collect the goods we stolen!

We had no choice but to go ashore and robbed under Xu Xinsu's instructions."

His words were seven points true and three points false, completely hiding his ambitions and saying everything was instructed by others.

Was Zheng Zhilong forced to be a pirate?

Taichang expressed doubts about this.

However, he believed what Zheng Zhilong said about the Dutch's coercion and temptation, because colonial robbers liked to use this method to invade or even destroy a country.

The colonial robbers were seen through in later generations.

To put it bluntly, they just try to lure some people first, give them money, weapons, and make trouble in their own country, and then they take advantage of the chaos to invade or even destroy the country!

Once the colonial robbers get involved, this matter becomes more complicated.

Xu Xinsu, Zheng Zhilong and other pirates were originally chess pieces cultivated by Southeast interest groups, but the Dutch also got involved and grabbed these chess pieces to play chess here!

However, the Dutchman didn't seem to play this chess very well because Zheng Zhilong was not willing to be a chess piece, and he wanted to be a chess player!

Therefore, in history, Zheng Zhilong eventually became the Dutch's biggest opponent in the Far East, and the Southeast interest group seemed to have been controlled by Zheng Zhilong for a while.

However, at this time, no matter whether it is Zheng Zhilong or the Dutch, including Southeast interest groups, you can't even think of becoming a chess player!

I'll play this game of chess!

If you want to play this game well, the traitor Xu Xinsu must be eliminated first.

Taichang thought about it carefully and then asked, "How long will Xu Xinsu know about you being blocked by me?"

Zheng Zhilong estimated: "Tomorrow he should be able to receive news that I was blocked here, because he has been operating in the southeast coast for many years and has a lot of eyeliners. Moreover, this place is not very far from South Australia. If the Clippers send a message, one day will be enough."

This is a bit troublesome.

They have been stuck here for a long time, and Xu Xinsu's people must have known it.

In other words, Xu Xinsu is likely to receive the message tomorrow at noon.

If they set out now, they would naturally arrive in South Ao in front of the person who reported the news. The problem is getting dark now, how can they set out?

Taichang looked up at the sky, then slowly said: "There are no clouds in the sky now. The moonlight at night should be able to illuminate the sea. Li Qing and Yuan Fang, you said, if we go to the outer sea now, can we slowly sail south with the moonlight?"

Yuan Keli looked up at the sky, looked at Zhang Yuanfang again, then nodded solemnly and said, "As long as we don't drive too fast and pay attention to keeping the distance of the ship, it should be fine."

Taichang thought for a while and asked again: "General Zheng, Yang Lu, and others under Xu Xinsu's pirates, should you know him?"

When Zheng Zhilong heard this, hesitated for a moment, and nodded slowly and said, "I have seen them a few times."

When Taichang heard this, he said decisively: "Okay, General Zheng, go back and explain to his subordinates, and ask them to repair it here and don't run around. After the instructions, you come over and go to Nan'ao with me to catch Xu Xinsu and his pirates in one place."

Alas, it's true.

He knew that the emperor asked him if he knew the pirate Yang Lu and others because he wanted him to recognize him.

As he said before, Yang Lu and others used to be Li Dan's subordinates like him!

Can he say he doesn't know him?

Zheng Zhilong had no choice but to board the Wolf Tooth Warship and go back and explain.

He really didn't dare to play any tricks at this moment, because the naval warship led by the emperor was too terrifying. Even if his men and horses didn't run back and forth for more than a hundred miles, they wouldn't be able to fight it. What's more, his men are basically exhausted and paralyzed at this moment.

Taichang watched Zheng Zhilong board the wolf-tooth battlefield and gradually moved away, and immediately ordered: "Liqing, send the Clippers to notify Shihong, and lead the soldiers of the Shenji Camp here tomorrow morning to control all Zheng Zhilong's warships!"
Chapter completed!