"This subject, Zheng Zhilong, pays his respects to Your Majesty!"
A short and stout black man knelt in front of Li Daoxuan and said loudly.
This was Zheng Zhilong.
He arrived ten days after Liu Kongzhao and the others arrived. In addition to his 10,000 Fujian Navy soldiers and nearly 100 warships of various sizes, there were at least 80,000 Danmin who had come under the imperial edict. In addition, there were countless broken ships driven by these Danmin, which covered the sea near Old Dragon Head like floating garbage. Together with the warships brought by Liu Kongzhao, the scene was quite spectacular, like a city on the sea.
"This is your son?"
Li Daoxuan said to a young man in front of him.
"Your Majesty, it is my son!"
Zheng Zhilong said.
"Zheng Sen, a student of the Nanjing Imperial College, greets Your Majesty.”
Zheng Chenggong kowtowed.
"Get up. Ai, I don't know how my sons are doing now. I think they won't be able to escape from the hands of that Chuang Ni. Zheng Zhilong, how about you be my son?”
Li Daoxuan said.
"Cough, I, I thank Your Majesty for your grace.”
Zheng Zhilong choked for a moment before saying.
"Zheng Sen, are you willing?"
Li Daoxuan said.
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Majesty."
Zheng Sen and his father secretly exchanged glances, then lied there and said excitedly.
"Then call me father!"
Li Daoxuan said with satisfaction.
"Your son greets Imperial Father!"
Zheng Sen said in a trembling voice.
"Pass down the decree, bestow Zheng Zhi the title of Duke of South Peace, and make Zheng Sen, the son of the Duke of South Peace, my adopted son.”
Li Daoxuan said.
"Thank you, Lord!"
Zheng Zhilong said in a daze.
This was indeed a bit too sudden. Even though he was used to experiencing the storms of the sea, he could not help but feel a little dizzy. When he received Li Daoxuan's imperial edict, he knew that the Emperor wanted to put him in an important position. He did not expect that the Emperor would put him in such an important position, even taking his own son as his adopted son. One had to know that this was the Emperor's adopted son. Although it was impossible for him to be listed as Zong Zheng, the favor he received was unprecedented. This was equivalent to directly announcing to the world that his Zheng family was the most valued by the Emperor. Although leaving his son by his side was also meant to be a hostage, it was also a clear message to him that not only him, but the wealth of the second and even the third generation of the Zheng family was guaranteed.
Not to mention the Earl.
What was the emperor trying to do?
He was at a loss.
"Count of South Peace, I heard that you do quite a lot of business with the Wei Nation and the Southeast Asian countries?”
Li Daoxuan said.
"Your Majesty, I do have some business dealings with them.”
Zheng Zhilong said carefully.
There was no need to hide this kind of thing. He was the number one merchant of the Ming Dynasty. Uh, it could also be said that he was a pirate. This was something that everyone in the Ming Dynasty knew.
"Very good, zhen will do business with you!”
Li Daoxuan said.
"Do you think this is worth anything?"
He threw a small plastic mirror from the small commodity market to Zheng Zhilong and said.
"It's priceless!"
The latter gasped.
"Have you seen this before?"
Li Daoxuan said.
"Replying to Imperial Father, the people of Taixi are able to make this item. The merchants of the Red Hair Nation have brought it for sale. The price is shockingly high. A small piece like this costs tens of thousands of gold. Your son only has a smaller piece in his house, but it is far less clear than this. The two can be said to be worlds apart.”
Zheng Chenggong said.
Li Daoxuan stretched out his hand, and Wang Chengen quickly took a small wooden box filled with the same mirror and sent it to Zheng Zhilong.
The latter's hand that was holding the small box trembled.
"Sell these, split 40 - 60, I will split 60 - 40, and you will split 40 - 40. I will not send anyone to supervise, but don't let me down. Also, you are not allowed to sell them in the country, you are only responsible for selling them overseas. Also, find a way to exchange the silver you sell for copper coins for me in the Wei Nation, the more the better.”
Li Daoxuan said.
"Your Majesty."
Zheng Zhilong hurriedly said.
"Also, your family is familiar with Dongyi, right?”
Li Daoxuan asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Zheng Zhilong said.
"Very good. This is the map of Dongyi. There is sulfur in this place. You arrange for people to mine it. These mines will still be split 40 - 60. I will split 60 - 40 with you.”
Li Daoxuan took out a hand-drawn map of Dongyi and pointed to a certain point in the north.
"Imperial Father, Dongyi has already been taken over by the red-haired people.”
Zheng Chenggong said.
"Then take it back. Just bring back the soldiers you brought. If it's not enough, you can transfer troops from other places. Pass down the decree, as the governor of the southeast coastal military affairs, you will control the navy of Fujian and Guangdong.”
Li Daoxuan said.
He had no choice now. There weren't many sulfur mines in the country to begin with. Now, they were basically all under Li Zicheng's control. He couldn't possibly run out of sulfur when he mass-produced gunpowder, right? The sulfur mine in Dongyi's Datun Mountain had to be mined. Who else could it be if not Zheng Zhilong? The Dutch could just chase them away. There were only a few colonists anyway. At this time, the Dutch had not really reached the height of their power. In fact, their war with Spain had not ended yet. Strictly speaking, the Dutch had not yet existed. They were just a group of rebels of the Spanish King.
"Your Majesty!"
Zheng Zhilong took a deep breath and said.
He knew that something would happen if so many favors were thrown at him all of a sudden. However, he still made a lot of money. He did not lack any official wealth. As for chasing away the Netherlanders of Dongyi, although it would take a war, it was indeed worth it. Firearms had now become the mainstream of war, and the chaotic chaos of the Ming Dynasty could be said to have no suspense. Gunpowder was undoubtedly the most important, and it was impossible to make gunpowder without sulfur. As long as there was such a sulfur mine, it could be said to be guarding a gold mine. Moreover, with the banner of an imperial mission, the imperial sword in hand, and his son accompanying the emperor, no matter if it was the Jiangnan tyrants or those local officials, they would not have the ability to snatch it. In fact, he could even be said to be invincible in Dongyi, Fujian.
"The incident in Beijing made me understand many things. I was indeed wrong in the past. I mistakenly treated some heartless people as my confidants, but I treated those who bled for me as grass. You can all rest assured that such things will not happen again in the future. As long as you are loyal to me, when the time is right, I will follow the example of that red-haired man and set up our Ming Dynasty's East India Company. I will let you repeat the grand occasion of our Ming Dynasty's Thousand Sails West Expedition like Zheng He back then!”
Li Daoxuan said lightly.
"I will sacrifice my life for Your Majesty!"
Zheng Zhilong said while trembling.
This was his dream.
"Your Majesty, everything is ready!"
At this moment, Deputy General Chen walked in and bowed.
"Yes, success. Can you ride a horse?”
Li Daoxuan asked his godson.
"Reporting to Imperial Father, your son has learned it since he was young!”
Zheng Chenggong said.
" Wang Chengen, give him a set of armor and a warhorse, and go hunting with me. Count of Nan 'an, go to the dock immediately and settle down those Dan people for me. Juehua Island and the Central Right Institute are reserved for them. The cabinet's assistant Li Yutian is in Ningyuan. Take these Dan people to him. He will be responsible for arranging for them to build houses and live on land with you. There is also a port and dock there. Also, buy a batch of cloth from Jiangnan next time. How are these people dressed in rags!?"”
Li Daoxuan continued.
Many of the Danmin were actually half-coaxed and half-captured. Zheng Zhilong's fleet was mostly responsible for escorting them. The gentry in Fujian were eager to drive them away, and the gentry in Jiangnan were also willing to let these people go north to follow the Emperor to restrain Li Zicheng. Therefore, they were very enthusiastic about this matter. It was said that some would go north in the future. However, they were all speaking Minnan dialect, which was almost a different country from here. The first thing to do was to let them live here first and then adapt to the environment here. They were all fishermen. Liaodong Bay was a top fishing ground. These Danmin had no problem making a living, but they had to at least spend a winter here and adapt to the language and environment. Otherwise, the cold in Liaodong would kill them.
This matter was handed over to Zheng Zhilong. If he left, his son would be responsible. Don't think that Emperor Yang's interest in acknowledging this godson was purely evil.
Then, he followed Deputy General Chen out.
He was currently staying at the Shanhaiguan General Military Office. At this moment, on the street in front of the government office, a fully armed cavalry was already waiting for him. Liang Cheng and the Brocade Guards were also waiting with his two warhorses. The red and black horses were the same as before, one carrying his pair of claws and the other carrying his giant bow and arrow. As for his scrap steel battle axe, he couldn't bring it along. That thing could crush a top-notch war horse to death just by putting it on the back of a horse, let alone riding a horse in battle. There probably wasn't any horse that could carry the fully armed Emperor, but if he were to charge into battle on a horse, even an elephant horse would probably be crippled. Therefore, the problem of the Emperor's mount had severely restricted his combat strength, and this problem could not be solved. After he was fully armed, his weight reached half a ton, which was beyond the understanding of animals like horses.
"Your Majesty, do you want to wear armor?"
Liang Cheng asked.
"No need, half an armor is enough. This warhorse probably won't be able to withstand my full armor.”
Li Daoxuan said.
He was speaking the truth. His full armor weighed more than 200 pounds, and with that 100-pound pair of iron claws, it would still be fine if it was a pure-blooded Ying, but how could the little Kazak run?
The Brocade Guard immediately stepped forward and helped him put on the self-made stainless steel breastplate, helmet, knee and elbow guards, and so on. Although he was not wearing cotton armor or chain mail, when he mounted the black horse, the latter was still breathing heavily.
"What trash!"
Emperor Yang speechlessly took off an iron claw, and his godson quickly reached out to catch it.
Zheng Chenggong almost fell to the ground. A general who was also going to follow him quickly reached out to help.
"General Zhang, you're coming too!"
Zheng Chenggong said with a smile to his old buddy who had been entangled with him in history while carrying Tie Zhua onto a spare horse.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。