Although it is the time of the New Year, there is one person who does not feel a little relaxed because of the festival in the seaside castle of Anping in the south of Quanzhou Prefecture at this time.

This person is not an outsider, it is Zheng Zhilong, the head of the Zheng family, who is now an important minister of the Shaowu Dynasty in the Southern Ming Dynasty, and the governor of Fujian and the governor of the Fujian Navy.

Zheng Zhilong in this year, but just in his thirties, less than forty years old, in the prime of life, his family history is simply legendary, from the earliest in the pirate construction of the maritime merchant Li Dan to work under the hand, to later become the largest pirate in the South China Sea, and then turned to accept the Ming Dynasty after the appeasement, turned to become the head of the Ming Dynasty Fujian sailors, but also became the Ming Dynasty southern general, but also the Ming Dynasty red-top businessman and the sea hero.

Thinking about the huge and unparalleled maritime strength he has built up over the years, he will catch a cold when he sneezes all kinds of forces in the South Seas, which can be said to have reached the peak of his life.

Even the red-haired people and the Francois have to concede three points to him, and without his command flag on the sea, don't think about passing safely, Zheng Zhilong at this time can really be called the overlord of the South China Sea.

But seeing that he had achieved such a great cause, but at this time, the Ming Dynasty, which he regarded as dependent, suddenly collapsed under the blow of a newly rising army of exiles calling itself the Xingtian Army in recent years.

Now Xiao Tianjian, the leader of the Xingtian Army, has been declared emperor in Nanjing, and in just a few years, he swept the huge and incomparable Ming Dynasty into the garbage heap in one fell swoop, and controlled almost half of China.

Zheng Zhilong didn't expect this situation, Zheng Zhilong originally thought that even if these homeless army tossed hard, but the Ming Dynasty could still hold on, and sooner or later these homeless army could still be wiped out, but what he didn't expect was that the Ming Dynasty was like tofu scum built, and it quickly collapsed under the offensive of the current renamed Dazhong Army.

Even Emperor Chongzhen, who was previously known as the Ming Dynasty, was forced to hang himself in Beijing by Xiao Tianjian, the new emperor of the Dazhong Dynasty, announcing the fall of the Ming Dynasty.

All this came too fast, so that Zheng Zhilong didn't know what to do for a while, when the north reported that the Beijing division was conquered by the Dazhong army, the Holy Emperor Chongzhen committed suicide and martyrdom, and the crown prince Zhu Cihong announced the Zen throne to the Dazhong Emperor Xiao Tianjian, the entire southern provinces suddenly fell into chaos.

In less than half a month, the Ming Dynasty officials and the Ming army in southern Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guizhou and other provinces, which had not yet been captured by the Dazhong army, announced their surrender to the Dazhong Dynasty one after another, which suddenly made the situation in the entire south very bad.

Although after he learned the news, he immediately listened to the advice of Zhang Kentang, the governor of Fujian, and established Zhu Yulu, the younger brother of the Tang King who fled to Fujian at this time, as the emperor, established the Shaowu Dynasty in Fujian, and announced that Zhu Yulu would inherit the mantle of the Ming Dynasty and become the successor of the Ming Dynasty.

However, they did not think that they had not contacted the Liangguang side in advance, but Zhu Zhijian, the governor of Liangguang, and Zhai Shiqi, the governor of Guangxi, and others supported the imperial prince Zhu Youlang in Guangdong at the same time, and also ascended the throne as emperor.

This is good, because of the poor contact in advance, the two sides each supported an emperor, both claimed to inherit the mantle of the Ming Dynasty, Yongli and Shaowu, the two emperors, both claimed to be orthodox, the result was that both sides were difficult to ride a tiger, and no one refused to back down, so that after the two small courts became emperors, the two of them first fought for the sake of fame.

Zheng Zhilong thought that with their strength, they could easily swallow the Yongli Dynasty, who knew that the situation was not as simple as he thought, although he had a strong sailor and could blockade the coastal areas of Liangguang, but the Yongli Dynasty on the other side of Liangguang also gathered more than 100,000 Ming troops, making it impossible for them to solve their internal problems in the short term.

What worries Zheng Zhilong even more is that with the fall of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, the Dazhong Army obviously began to increase troops towards the junction of Fujian, and two months ago, it took Ganzhou, the gateway to Fujian, so that Fujian was exposed to the front of the Dazhong Army.

As a result, their Shaowu Dynasty could not concentrate their forces to annex the Yongli Dynasty first, and had to mobilize heavy troops to be placed in the north to guard against the attack of the Dazhong Army on Fujian.

There is another thing that makes Zheng Zhilong very worried, their Zheng family relies on maritime business, but with the fall of the northern provinces one after another, their main commodities silk, porcelain, and ironware have fallen, Fujian at this time, is not prosperous, the number of goods is limited, after the large Chinese army controls these places, they are not allowed to go to sea, cut off the supply of his important commodities, which is a very serious blow to their Zheng family's business.

Although Zheng Zhilong sent his younger brother Zheng Zhibiao to lead more than 100 ships to the north to attack the coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, trying to obtain a place for their use, but the Dazhong Army is not ordinarily powerful, even if the defenders who stayed in Nanzhili and Jiangsu and Zhejiang are also very fierce, and the Dazhong Army obviously also has a sailor, although there are not many warships, but it is also quite fierce, and sent warships to garrison in the area of Songjiang Mansion and Ningbo Mansion, and the strength gradually increased, and when it came to the New Year, it was even more sent to capture Zhoushan, As a result, his younger brother Zheng Zhibiao lost his foothold and had to lead the fleet back to Fujian.

Now the Chen soldiers of the Great Chinese Army are outside the Xianxia Pass and the Fenshui Pass, staring at Fujian with fierce eyes, and they may attack Fujian at any time, in that case, once Fujian is lost, their Zheng family will lose their foothold.

During this time, the generals of their Zheng family also fought against the Dazhong Army many times, but it can be said that they have been defeated again and again, and none of them have taken advantage.

According to the defeated generals, the tactics of the Dazhong Army are very different from those of the Ming Army, equipped with a large number of sharp and abnormal firearms, which are far more powerful than the birds used by the Ming Dynasty, and are also equipped with a lot of various Hongyi cannons, which are more strict and fierce than the military discipline, and the tactics are more similar to the tactics of the red-haired people and the Francose people.

Although Zheng Zhilong relied on the advantage of dominating the South Seas, he could buy cannons and firearms from the Dutch, Portuguese and Spaniards, but he still could not compete with the Dazhong Army, and he could not take advantage of firearms at all, and Zheng Zhilong was already worried at this time.

Because he knows that the climate of the Dazhong Dynasty has become a success, with the Jiannu being disabled by the Dazhong Army and returning to Liaodong, the Dazhong Dynasty has temporarily no worries, and then a large number of Dazhong Army elites will gather in the south, although there is a thief Li Zicheng in Shaanxi against the Dazhong Army, but before the Chinese New Year, news came from Shaanxi, saying that Li Zicheng's fight with the Dazhong Army can be said to be a complete defeat, and even his Dashun capital Xi'an Mansion was also taken away by the Dazhong Army, forcing Li Zicheng to flee to Hanzhong, Li Zicheng is no longer able to contain much strength in the Great China and North Korea.

In this way, the Dazhong Dynasty will have enough elite soldiers and horses to be transferred to the south, and it is only a matter of time before the next attack on Fujian and Liangguang, if nothing else, the Dazhong Army will raise troops to launch a fierce attack before March at the latest, and will the two small courts of the Southern Ming Dynasty still survive at that time?

Zheng Zhilong actually knows very well that the two small courts in the south can't make trouble anymore at this time, they must unite, and they may also confront the Great Middle Dynasty, but the current problem is that neither of the two small courts of Shaowu and Yongli will give in, even if he is willing to give up supporting Emperor Shaowu at this time, and instead support Yongli, but after a few months of confrontation, his Zheng family has already offended the Yongli Dynasty to death, even if he submits softly, will Emperor Yongli give him a good face?

Now Zheng Zhilong's biggest worry is the persuasion from the Dazhong Dynasty to surrender to him, the Dazhong Emperor Xiao Tianjian sent the Ming Dynasty minister Qian Qianyi, personally went south to Fujian, and brought a letter from Xiao Tianjian, in this letter, Xiao Tianjian showed the weakness and decay of the Ming Dynasty, and explained to Zheng Zhilong in the letter that they are all Han people, and they should not kill each other like this, the country will be unified, no matter how they resist, they can't change this reality. At most, it is just to delay the fall of the small court of the Southern Ming Dynasty, which can only increase casualties and empty the national strength of the Han people.

Moreover, Xiao Tianjian told Zheng Zhilong that now as Chinese, the most important thing they should consider is to go north to Liaodong, completely remove the trouble of Jiannu, a henchman of the Han people, from the land of Liaodong as soon as possible, and restore peace to the people of the world.

In addition, Xiao Tianjian also clarified his opinions on maritime merchants in a letter to Zheng Zhilong, telling Zheng Zhilong that his Dazhong Dynasty would never follow the example of the former Ming Dynasty and do the thing of sealing the sea, allowing maritime merchants to go to sea to do business, and would also encourage and support maritime merchants.

For their Zheng family, Xiao Tianjian also expressed great admiration, because Xiao Tianjian knew a lot of things about their Zheng family, although their Zheng family used to be thieves, but later after accepting the appeasement, they did a lot of things for the Chinese and safeguarded the rights and interests of Chinese maritime merchants in Nanyang, which Xiao Tianjian praised Zheng Zhilong, and promised that as long as Zheng Zhilong led the Zheng family to return to the Great Middle Dynasty, then he could guarantee the safety of the Zheng clan, and would never persecute them, let alone confiscate the Zheng family's property, and ensure the commercial interests of the Zheng family, At the same time, Zheng Zhilong can be crowned Jinghai Gong, hoping that Zheng Zhilong can put the national righteousness first, and stop raising troops and making enemies of Dazhong and North Korea.

Even Xiao Tianjian also promised that if Zheng Zhilong defected to the Great Zhong Dynasty, even Emperor Shaowu could guarantee that he would not be killed.

Xiao Tianjian's letter moved Zheng Zhilong a lot, especially the issue of the forbidden sea, which made Zheng Zhilong quite moved, plus after Qian Qianyi came to Fujian on this trip, he also strongly advised Zheng Zhilong not to continue to be the enemy of Dazhong Dynasty, or to quickly surrender to Dazhong Dynasty, plus he mentioned many famous ministers of the former Ming Dynasty, and now they have all turned to serve the Dazhong Dynasty, Xiao Tianjian is a generation of Ming monarchs, and he will never break his word and get fat, which is not good for the Zheng family afterwards.

Zheng Zhilong was even more moved by this, because where was the matter, among the important ministers of the previous dynasty, such as Lu Xiangsheng, Ding Qirui, Sun Chuanting, Lu Weiqi, etc., are now all reused by Xiao Tianjian, and they were not pursued by Xiao Tianjian because they were enemies of Xiao Tianjian, but on the contrary, they were entrusted with important tasks and trusted, so Xiao Tianjian said that he would not investigate the Zheng family after the fact that he had been an enemy of him, and he Zheng Zhilong believed it.

So after seeing Xiao Tianjian's letter and listening to Qian Qianyi's advice, Zheng Zhilong has actually begun to waver, and he doesn't want to be an enemy of the Dazhong Dynasty anymore, after all, he is different from other diehard loyalists of the Ming Dynasty, he was not a court official before, and he was originally an enemy of the Ming Dynasty, but he later accepted Xiong Wencan's appeasement, so he couldn't talk about any loyalty to the Ming Dynasty, and the reason why he followed the establishment of Emperor Shaowu in Fujian was actually because he was afraid that after the Dazhong Dynasty captured Fujian, It is not good for their Zheng family, and their Zheng family's property is confiscated, so he will choose to be the enemy of Dazhong and North Korea.

Now that Emperor Dazhong has made it clear that after he surrendered, he would not blame the Zheng family for what they had done before, keep their Zheng family property, and ensure their power to trade at sea, then they have no reason to continue to fight to the end with the Dazhong Dynasty, and finally end up with a martyrdom with the Ming Dynasty.

In Zheng Zhilong's view, the foundation of their Zheng family is still on land, if the Great Chinese Dynasty captures Fujian, they can retreat to Penghu with the fleet, and even rob the Dutch occupied Dongfan (Taiwan), but after all, they still have to make a living from maritime trade, Penghu and Taiwan are quite limited resources for their use, although now their sailors can dominate the sea, but he also sees that this Dazhong Emperor Xiao Tianjian is a man of great talent, which can only be from him in a few years, In terms of pacifying the north and overthrowing the Ming Dynasty, it can be seen that this person is definitely not easy to deal with.

And from Xiao Tianjian's letter to him, he can also see that Xiao Tianjian is very interested in the sea, and he is also very proficient in things on the sea, so even if he can temporarily lead his sailors and dominate the sea, Xiao Tianjian will never sit back and watch him crisscross the sea and pose a threat to the Great China and North Korea, sooner or later, he can use the resources of the entire country to create a powerful sailor that far exceeds his Zheng family, and completely erase their Zheng family group from Nanyang.

So now, under the pressure of the situation, Zheng Zhilong actually has no heart to continue to confront the Great Middle Korea, on land he knows that the army he recruited with the strength of a province is not the opponent of the Great Middle and North Korea at all, and the loss of Fujian is only a matter of time.

For this point, a few years ago, he recruited several younger brothers and important ministers under his command together, and discussed it in detail, but there are still some controversies within them about whether to surrender to the Great Middle Kingdom, and the main reason for the controversy is not whether to surrender to the Heavenly Army, but how to surrender and what to do with the sailors of their Zheng family after surrendering.

In fact, the Zheng family can also see that the Ming Dynasty was actually considered to have fallen when the Beijing Division fell, and now the two small imperial courts in the south cannot achieve a great cause, and they want to take the world back, with their strength, basically there is no need to think about it, and the Dazhong Army is very fierce, it is not something they can deal with at all, rather than being destroyed by the Dazhong Army, it is better to surrender first if you know each other now, so as to preserve the strength of their Zheng family group.

But the reason why some people oppose it is not that some people don't want to surrender, but the key is that on the issue of how to surrender, many people under Zheng Zhilong proposed that it is okay to surrender, but after their Zheng family surrenders, Zheng Zhilong will be the king of Fujian, and their Zheng family will also preserve the current army, especially the sailors should be placed under their control.

Zheng Zhilong also agreed to this, after all, whoever has soldiers and generals in this world will have a strong waist, so a few years ago, Zheng Zhilong secretly informed Qian Qianyi, who was ordered to lobby him, of the conditions for their surrender to Dazhong Dynasty, but Qian Qianyi immediately rejected Zheng Zhilong's request.

During the period when Qian Qianyi was captured by Xiao Tianjian, as a celebrity, Qian Qianyi was not persecuted by the Dazhong Army, and Qian Qianyi and Ding Qirui had a good personal relationship.

When Xiao Tianjian asked Qian Qianyi to send an envoy to Fujian, he talked to Qian Qianyi about some conditions for Zheng Zhilong's surrender, which made it clear that the Dazhong Dynasty would never allow private armed forces to entrench on one side, and if Zheng Zhilong was willing to surrender to the Dazhong Dynasty, then he could ensure that the safety and interests of the Zheng family's property and merchant fleet would not be damaged, but the Zheng family's naval army must be under the rule of the Dazhong Dynasty and reorganized, and the Zheng family's soldiers and generals must also be included in the banner of the Dazhong Army, and accept the dispatch and appointment of the Dazhong Army in a unified manner. Those who are willing to stay in the navy, Xiao Tianjian will be able to use it.

It was precisely because of this incident that Zheng Zhilong dragged down the matter of surrendering to the Dazhong Army, after all, they were both thieves and businessmen at the earliest, and they relied on their force to crisscross the sea, and now the Dazhong Dynasty requires them to surrender their armed forces, which makes them uneasy, worried that once they surrender their armed forces, even commercial interests cannot be guaranteed.

Especially now that they can almost dominate the South Seas, even the red-haired people and the Francois have to look at their faces, once they hand over the sailors, they will no longer be able to sail in the South Seas in the future, Zheng Zhilong does not want to agree, his younger brothers Zheng Zhibiao and Zheng Zhibao are unwilling to agree, so the matter of surrendering to the Great Middle and North Korea has also dragged on.

As soon as this matter dragged on, there was a change, and the matter of the Great Chinese Dynasty persuading Zheng Zhilong to surrender was revealed through whom, and it reached the ears of Emperor Shaowu of Fujian and Zhang Kentang, the governor of Fujian, Zhang Kentang immediately asked Zheng Zhilong whether this matter was true, Zheng Zhilong was very embarrassed for this, and denied it in desperation, and said that he would send troops to the Northern Expedition after the year to recover Nanjing.

This sentence is simply a joke, everyone knows that now with their strength alone, it is thankful that they can hold Fujian.

In this way, instead of dispelling Zhang Kentang and Emperor Shaowu's doubts about the Zheng family, on the contrary, Emperor Shaowu felt even more panicked.

Zheng Zhilong was struggling with whether to surrender to the Great Middle Dynasty in Anping Zhengjia City, when suddenly Zheng Zhilong's younger brother Zheng Zhibiao broke in from outside and exclaimed, "Brother! Big things are wrong! Emperor Shaowu suddenly left Quanzhou City this morning under the escort of more than 1,000 Ming troops led by Zhang Kentang and fled in the direction of Guangdong, they no longer believe us! ”

After Zheng Zhilong heard this, he was immediately shocked and threw away the tea bowl and stood up......