An hour after the meeting, pirate leaders from several nearby villages rushed over with the news. Originally, Zheng Zhilong didn't want these people to join, but Lu Jiude insisted that these people participate in the talks together on the condition that His Majesty was for all pirates.

There was no strict subordination within the pirate gang itself, and several pirate leaders were supported by Lu Jiude, and they immediately made noise outside the door. And Zheng Zhilong looked at the pirates lying in front of the window, and knew that these people were afraid that he would swallow the benefits of Zhao'an alone, so he rushed over in a hurry.

If he forcibly drives them away again, I'm afraid that the recruitment here is not over yet, and the Eighteen Zhi over there will already be torn apart. At this time, Zheng Zhilong finally regretted a little, he knew that the new emperor didn't care about his face so much, he shouldn't have gone out to greet these imperial envoys with such fanfare just now, but should have quietly entered the village to negotiate.

It's good now, until the conditions of the imperial court are announced tonight, and tomorrow there will be no more willingness to fight with the imperial court in the eighteen zhi. Zheng Zhilong looked at the dense pirates outside the door, and finally waved his hand to let the soldiers guarding the door let him go.

In front of these pirates, Lu Jiude re-stated the conditions that Chongzhen handed over to him, and finally said: "Your Majesty said, from today on, as long as you don't plunder the merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, collude with foreign vassals to harm the Ming people, or attack the territory of the Ming Dynasty. The court no longer regarded them as pirates, and those who were willing to surrender to the government were treated as you would. But after today, after hearing the proclamation of the imperial court, those who are still doing the above things are the mortal enemies of my Ming Dynasty, and my Ming Dynasty will fight with these people endlessly, even if they flee to the ends of the earth, they will be hunted down and killed, so as to comfort the people who died in my Ming Dynasty. ”

When he said the last few words, Lu Jiude was a little hoarse. But none of the people in the hall felt amused, but felt some chills in their bodies.

Although they won several battles under the leadership of Zheng Zhilong, these pirates did not look down on the Ming Naval Division. At that time, the Japanese group led by Wang Zhi was more powerful than the Eighteen Zhi, and the southeast half of the Ming Dynasty was full of smoke, but what could it do?

Immediately, two generals emerged in the Ming Dynasty, Southern Yu and Northern Qi, but in a few years, the Japanese who were rampant on the southeast coast were wiped out. These pirates thought that they were not as good as the Japanese pirates of the past, so they only dared to wander around Fujian and Guangdong, and did not even dare to go to Jiangnan.

It can be said that in this year, the Qi family's army was still in the southeast coast, so that these pirates did not dare to take the Ming Emperor's words as the wind in their ears, and just blow it.

However, Zheng Cai heard other opinions from this passage, and he asked tentatively: "Then dare to ask my father-in-law, if this is a merchant ship that is not a Ming Dynasty, what should I do?" Lu Jiude paused for a moment, and then said with some uncertainty: "As long as it is not within the territory of the Ming Dynasty, as long as the ship does not pay taxes to the Ming Dynasty, the Ming sailors have no obligation to arrest the pirates who attacked them." ”

Cai Shanji finally couldn't listen anymore, he coughed a few times, and then said: "Your Majesty's original intention is not to condone pirates to plunder merchant ships, but not to be blamed by overseas vassal states for the imperial court's overseas trade policy, I hope you will not be mistaken." ”

Lu Jiude just glanced sideways at Cai Shanji, and did not refute it. As a person who has read the book of sages, he is also full of doubts about this article, the great tomorrow is dying, and the people of the world are all His Majesty's people, how can Chongzhen, as the monarch's father, openly proclaim that the people who do not pay taxes are not protected by the Ming court?

It was precisely because of this sense of moral guilt in his heart that Lu Jiude did not stop Cai Shanji's misinterpretation of Chongzhen's meaning. Anyway, as an envoy, he has fully conveyed His Majesty's meaning to these pirates, and as for how they understand His Majesty's meaning, it is not his responsibility.

But Cai Shanji's words did not erase the words that these pirates heard just now, but some clever pirate leaders thought that Cai Shanji deliberately said this in order to save face for the imperial court. The real meaning should still be in the words spoken by the eunuchs beside His Majesty, you can use the identity of an official to rob those merchant ships that do not pay taxes, is there a better business in the world than this?

All of a sudden, several pirate leaders who were originally opposed to recruiting peace to the imperial court are now a little moved. These pirates who oppose Zhao'an are afraid of losing their current free life and becoming low-level personnel in the official army; Second, they were afraid of losing their financial resources at sea, so they were confined to farming on the shore from then on.

And when Lu Jiude conveyed Chongzhen's meaning, a new future suddenly appeared in front of these pirate leaders, and they traded freely at sea with the support of the Ming Dynasty. With the security guarantee of the Ming court, they no longer have to worry about their rear being attacked by officials or other pirates when they go to sea to trade.

One of the pirate leaders couldn't wait to ask, "So if I don't want to be an officer or soldier after Zhao'an, then can I also operate maritime trade?" ”

"Sure enough, not all pirates want to be a poor Ming officer and soldier." Lu Jiude thought so.

Although Lu Jiude was in a reverie in his heart, he answered the pirate's question affirmatively. Next, these leaders, who were originally here to monitor Zheng Zhilong's negotiations with the government so as not to let him sell the rights and interests of the pirate gang, simply rushed to ask questions about their own interests.

The more Lu Jiude answered, the more respectful the attitude of these leaders became, and they completely lost the arrogance they had when they first came. Because these pirate leaders found that the opinions put forward by the imperial court this time were not only a matter of preferential treatment of Zhao'an conditions, but also established a rule that allowed these maritime merchants to conduct overseas trade in an orderly manner in the future.

For this kind of trade rules that turn chaotic maritime trade into order, it is beneficial for the vast majority of maritime merchants, after all, not every pirate is Li Dan and Wang Zhi who can control the sea.

Moreover, since the arrival of Western merchants such as the Spaniards and the Dutch in Southeast Asia, these European colonial merchants backed by the state have taught Chinese maritime merchants who only want to do business honestly with their own actions.

Originally, before the arrival of European merchants, Chinese merchants could still go to South Asia and the Middle East to trade, but when the Spanish and Dutch arrived, they monopolized the shipping routes to the Indian Ocean by force.

When Chinese maritime merchants found that they could go to fewer and fewer places, they also abandoned their previous way of trading overseas alone, and began to build pirate gangs of various sizes. It was hoped that they could unite against the growing power of European colonial merchants in Asia.