Chapter 266: Zheng and His Son (Bonus Chapter for Big Boss Penguin)

Zheng Zhilong was a man of contradictions — he seemed to harbor some ambition, yet was content with modest wealth and comfort.

Using Taiwan as his base, he had been sending settlers there for ten years straight, seizing on Fujian's famines to recruit migrants.

Yet he himself did not live in Taiwan, preferring his luxurious mansion in Fujian. What's more, his son had just passed the xiucai examination this year — he seemed intent on grooming the boy for high office.

As long as no one provoked him, Zheng Zhilong could not be bothered to attack anyone; he was perfectly satisfied being a Mobile Corps Commander of the Great Ming's coastal defense.

Historically, when the Manchu Qing sent envoys to offer him amnesty, Zheng Zhilong went trotting off eagerly. He left his navy, left his territory, and took only his trusted men to Beijing to become an official.

"Aiya! A rare guest, a rare guest!"

After clasping his hands in salute, Zhao Han warmly grasped Zheng Zhilong's hand: "Brother Yiguan, please, come inside and sit."

Zheng Zhilong laughed heartily: "Worthy Brother Zhuochen, I have long heard your great name. Meeting you today, you are even younger and more accomplished than I imagined." He turned and gestured to a youth. "This is my son Zheng Sen, childhood name Fusong, just passed the xiucai exam. Unlike me, a rough fellow, this boy — out of only twenty stipend students in the county, he actually made the cut!"

His pride was written all over his face, as if having a son who earned a stipend student place was far more worthy of showing off than dominating the South China Sea.

Koxinga?

Zhao Han could not help looking at the youth, who seemed about fourteen or fifteen. He looked nothing like that famous surviving portrait — not slender-browed and phoenix-eyed, but with large, bright eyes. Nor was he lean and delicate; his build was far sturdier than other boys his age.

And after entering, the youth's eyes darted everywhere before finally settling on Zhao Han. Even when their gazes met, the boy showed no fear — there was even a hint of defiance in his look.

According to Dutch colonial records, the real Zheng Chenggong spoke with a fervent tone and often roared during arguments.

Of course, he may have been gentler with his own people, while toward the Dutch he was "violent in word and deed."

Violent in word and deed — those were the exact words; that was Zheng Chenggong in Dutch eyes.

Zhao Han said with a smile: "Your son is gifted with extraordinary talent. Given time, he will surely prove no ordinary creature of the pond."

"Haha," Zheng Zhilong said, quite pleased. "The boy's not bad, but he certainly can't compare with you, Worthy Brother. I hear Guangdong and Huguang are both about to fall?"

Zhao Han replied in an easy tone: "Still early. Guangdong is nearly done — we are sweeping through eastern and western Guangdong. In Huguang we have only reached Changsha; we are still clearing the prefectures south of it."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Zheng Zhilong could not help marveling. "Worthy Brother, you are truly no ordinary man — that's two and a half provinces taken."

Zhao Han introduced: "This is my brother-in-law Fei Ruhe. Half of Guangdong was taken by him."

"Greetings, General Zheng." Fei Ruhe clasped his hands.

"A young general, truly remarkable," Zheng Zhilong said with a laugh. "Your honored father and I call each other brother — we are all family!"

Fei Ruhe muttered to himself: My father calls you brother, and my brother-in-law calls you brother — so what am I supposed to call you?

After some pleasantries, everyone sat down.

Before sitting, Zheng Zhilong swept his eyes over the world map and asked: "Now that you hold Guangdong, Worthy Brother, do you intend to drive out the Folangji?"

"I will only retake Macao, not expel the red-haired barbarians. However, I can invite the red-haired foreign devils to trade, letting the Folangji and the red-haired devils check each other," Zhao Han said with a smile. "In the future, Brother Zheng, your merchant ships may also come to Guangzhou to do business. As long as customs duties are paid, anyone may trade freely in Guangzhou."

Zheng Zhilong said abruptly: "Don't let the red-haired devils come. Those fellows have the hearts of wolves — wild with ambition."

Zhao Han asked: "Does Brother Zheng have a grudge against the red-haired devils?"

"There will probably be another battle. The red-haired devils have been restless, itching to make a move," Zheng Zhilong said.

Over the past decade and more, the South China Sea had been utter chaos.

First, the Great Ming court allied with the Dutch to attack Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong won.

Then Zheng Zhilong accepted amnesty, and Zheng Zhilong, the court, and the Dutch formed a three-way alliance to attack the other pirates.

After that, the pirate Liu Xiang allied with the Dutch to raid the Great Ming coast, and was defeated by the combined forces of Zheng Zhilong and the court.

Seeing the tide turn, the Dutch promptly befriended Zheng Zhilong, so Liu Xiang then turned and attacked the Dutch.

Soon Liu Xiang was finished off by Zheng Zhilong, and the Dutch began constant friction with Zheng Zhilong. A naval battle was bound to break out within a year or two.

Zhao Han asked: "Is Brother Zheng confident of defeating the red-haired devils?"

"Absolutely confident," Zheng Zhilong said.

"Good. Then I will stay out of your conflict," Zhao Han said. "Brother Zheng, you may tell the merchants that from now on, when they return from the Southern Seas, they can switch their ballast to grain. Grain shipped to Guangzhou — I will set the customs duties very low. They are sure to turn a profit."

Zheng Zhilong laughed: "Fine, a trifling matter. Leave it to me."

"In that case, my thanks." Zhao Han clasped his hands.

Zheng Zhilong said: "I am a blunt man and won't beat around the bush. Worthy Brother, when will you attack Fujian?"

Zhao Han looked at Zheng Zhilong with amusement. Such impatience gave the false impression of a crude military oaf. This core topic was something that should have been saved for slow discussion after settling in.

A man who could survive and grow strong in the cracks, who even before his rise served as interpreter between the Japanese and the Dutch, winning the goodwill and support of both sides — such a man's mind was exceedingly nimble, possessed of a heart with seven apertures of cunning.

Zhao Han countered with a smile: "If I attack Fujian, which side will Brother Zheng help?"

Zheng Zhilong did not answer, only asked: "If Worthy Brother seizes the realm, how will you settle the Zheng family?"

"That depends on whether Brother Zheng wishes to be a wealthy gentleman or the Duke Who Calms the Seas," Zhao Han replied, still speaking ambiguously.

Zheng Zhilong asked: "What does a wealthy gentleman get, and what does the Duke Who Calms the Seas get?"

Zhao Han answered: "Under my rule, measured by paddy fields, no person's landholdings may exceed one hundred mu. If Brother Zheng becomes a wealthy gentleman, you may engage in maritime trade, but you must surrender most of your warships. If Brother Zheng becomes the Duke Who Calms the Seas, you shall naturally command great ships and mighty vessels, expanding the frontiers and ranging across the four seas."

The key details he still did not disclose — for instance, to what extent Zhao Han intended to control the Zheng family navy.

If Zheng Zhilong were asked to surrender his military power, would the man agree?

By normal logic, Zheng Zhilong would certainly refuse. How could the man who dominated the Southern Seas hand over his navy?

Yet Zheng Zhilong's historical actions baffled Zhao Han. Abandoning his wife and children, leaving his territory, leaving his army, taking only a few trusted men to the capital to surrender to the Manchu Qing — what kind of insane move was that?

"Hahahaha!"

Seeing that Zhao Han meant to sidestep the key topic, Zheng Zhilong did not press further. He rose and walked over to the world map, studying it as he spoke: "Worthy Brother, do you truly intend to pioneer the four seas?"

Zhao Han pointed at the map and said: "These so-called greater and lesser Folangji, these red-haired devils — paltry little nations can all range across the four seas. Why cannot we, the glorious descendants of Huaxia?"

Setting sail across the four seas was a task for generations. Zhao Han could only set the tone, using it to inspire men like Fei Ruhe and Zheng Zhilong.

For his own generation, gaining control of the Southern Seas would be achievement enough. As for farther places, they could only establish colonial outposts, sending a few thousand migrants to each, then relying on private efforts to steadily increase the settler population.

The Chinese and the Europeans were certainly not the same.

Take the Portuguese, for example. Cut off from grain supplies by the Great Ming at Zhangzhou, they suffered a crushing defeat — yet learned absolutely nothing. Later they came to Macao, seized the arable land, then voluntarily abandoned it, letting Han Chinese farmers till it. They could not even be bothered to control the land and recruit Han tenants to farm it. If they had the energy to manage tenant farmers growing crops, they would rather make two more trading voyages — and so they were once again controlled by the Great Ming through grain.

Chinese settlers were different. When commoners were relocated abroad, their first imperative was surely to farm!

Immigration, settlement, assimilation. If they refuse assimilation, then war. More immigration, more settlement, more assimilation — after several decades or a century, the land belongs to the Chinese, and even the local natives will become Chinese.

The prerequisite is military force as backing. Otherwise, it goes the way of history: Chinese emigrated to the Southern Seas, grew wealthy, and were then slaughtered like fattened sheep.

Zheng Zhilong pointed at the map and said, "First, drive the great Folangji from Macao. Then drive the red-haired barbarian ghosts from the Eastern Barbarian Isle. Then expel the lesser Folangji and seize Luzon back as well. In my view, expanding as far as Malacca is enough. Han merchants would ship their goods to Malacca, and the red barbarians would collect them there and carry them to the West."

Zhao Han's thinking was very simple — or rather, he had not yet broken free of a mindset from several centuries in the future.

This Age of Sail had no use for free trade. The winners took all, and the losers were devoured. If one truly had the strength to drive out the Europeans, Han merchants would never permit those foreign devils to remain in the Southern Seas.

Zheng Zhilong, likewise, could not break free of his fixed thinking. He believed that Han merchants trading as far as Malacca was the absolute limit, and he had never even considered running off to colonize India.

As for the Americas — that place was far too remote. The thought would never cross Zheng Zhilong's mind even in his dreams.

Abruptly, Zhao Han said, "If I were to forbid the red-haired barbarian ghosts from trading at Guangzhou, could you, Brother Zheng, charge a little less to those sea merchants who hold licenses from the Guangdong Maritime Trade Office?"

"That can be done," Zheng Zhilong said, smiling.

This was a transaction.

Zheng Zhilong wanted to fight the Dutch. If Zhao Han barred the Dutch from Guangzhou, that would weaken the Dutch position.

And all those sea merchants had to pay protection fees to Zheng Zhilong. In the future, as long as they obtained a license in Guangzhou, their protection fees at sea could be reduced somewhat. After all, with Zhao Han collecting customs duties and Zheng Zhilong collecting protection fees, the merchants' profits would be squeezed too thin otherwise.

For now, the two sides had a cooperative relationship — just as the Great Ming and Zheng Zhilong also had a cooperative relationship.

In fact, given Zheng Zhilong's strength, the court would choose to look the other way. Zheng Zhilong could cooperate with both the Great Ming and Zhao Han at the same time.

Zheng Sen had been listening quietly the whole time, his gaze shifting now to Zhao Han, now to Fei Ruhe, now fixing on that map. No one could tell what schemes were turning over in his mind.

After they had talked a while longer, Zhao Han arranged for them to rest first — they were, after all, worn out from the journey. Once they were well rested, they would feast and talk freely.

After being led to the guest quarters, when only the two of them remained in the room, Zheng Sen asked, "Father, can this Zhao Han truly win the realm?"

Zheng Zhilong sighed. "With the strength of a single province, he has sent armies simultaneously into Huguang and Guangdong, and in just two or three months has achieved this much. Even if I cannot say he will win the realm, seizing the half of the empire south of the Yangtze will be easy enough for him. If we mean to earn our living in the south, from now on we must depend on this man's favor. If it truly comes to tearing off all pretense, it will profit no one."

"Ah!"

Zheng Sen's dream at this moment was to pass the examinations and become a jinshi of the Great Ming, then enter the court and become a high official.

Making a living on the sea — how could that compare to the comfort of holding power in the imperial court?

(End of Chapter)