Chapter 314: Let's Talk About the Dowry

The thunder of hoofbeats rolled like a great drum. Three thousand two hundred armored cavalrymen simply escorted the Great Ming's Army-Pacifying Crown Prince, Zhu Cilang, along the official road outside the city of Nanjing.

Behind them, countless banners of every color snapped and churned in the wind, and several thousand infantrymen bearing firelocks followed. Two brigades of cavalry and three brigades of firelock troops were guarding Zhu Cilang as he rode thirty li out of the city to greet the Great Ming's richest man, Zheng Zhilong, in the suburbs.

These five brigades of elite troops, plus the Central Division firelock brigade that Wu Sanfu and Zheng Sen had led to Zhenjiang to meet Zheng Zhilong, made six brigades in all — 9,600 officers and men. This was the entire capital Zhu Cilang had staked his bid to dominate the southeast on!

And now he was putting all of that capital on display, in its finest form, for Zheng Zhilong to see — all, of course, so that he could properly discuss the matter of the dowry.

A bare-bones marriage was a privilege reserved for Dorgon's daughter — Dorgon was a penniless prince regent, and an ethnic minority besides, so Zhu Cilang was too embarrassed to ask him for a dowry!

But Zheng Zhilong's daughter wanted a bare-bones marriage too? Would Papa Zheng, the richest man in the land, have the face for that?

As for the size of the dowry, that naturally depended on the groom's strength. In later ages one would have to show a property deed, a diploma, an annual salary, and so on. But now Zhu Cilang was the leader of a feudal state — the imperial city of Nanjing was all his, the jinshi diplomas were issued by him personally, and an annual salary was naturally meaningless. As the leader of a feudal state, the only things that truly displayed his strength were the guns in his hands and the swords at his side!

Only with guns and swords could there be a feudal regime!

So Zhu Cilang had brought out all his capital at once and shown it to Zheng Zhilong.

Ahead of the strength-displaying column, numerous dispatch riders galloped back and forth, constantly bringing word of the situation of Zheng Zhilong's great procession up ahead.

"Thousand Years, the Zheng family procession stretches twenty li, and their vanguard is already within ten li!"

"Thousand Years, the sentries have been posted in all directions, and all idle persons have been cleared away."

"Thousand Years, Regional Commander Zheng of Fujian is riding ahead with several dozen attendants!"

Hearing the report, Zhu Cilang reined in his warhorse, raised his right hand, and gave the order for the entire army to halt. Then he said to Huang Binqing, the Guard Commander of the Naval Guard who had ridden out of the city with him: "Commander Huang, you're quite well acquainted with Zheng Zhilong, aren't you?"

"Thousand Years, this subject does indeed have some connection with Zheng Zhilong," Huang Binqing replied with a smile. "Years ago, this subject and Zheng Zhilong dealt together with the great sea bandit Liu Xiang. That Liu Xiang was truly formidable — he raided the coasts of Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang, and threw the entire southeast into turmoil. He and Zheng Zhilong had originally been sworn brothers, and only turned against each other after Zheng Zhilong accepted amnesty. Come to think of it, Zheng Zhilong's willingness to accept amnesty was a blessing for the court! If he and Liu Xiang had made trouble together, there would truly have been no peace in any direction."

Zhu Cilang nodded. Zheng Zhilong's submission was indeed a stroke of luck for the Great Ming — after all, this was the seventeenth century, the age of the ocean!

And with this great sea bandit Zheng Zhilong brought to heel, the Great Ming had gained a bridge to the outside world. Though Zheng Zhilong could not defeat the main battle fleets of Holland, Spain, England, or France, those countries' main fleets would not come prowling along the Chinese coast either — this was not the nineteenth century. And when the armed merchantmen of those Western maritime powers encountered the Zheng family fleet in Chinese coastal waters, they found it quite a headache.

Otherwise, with the strength of the Dutch East India Company, they would never have agreed to pay protection money to the Zheng family!

With the Zheng family as a trump card, the Great Ming could draw strength from the sea to resist the Qing, rather than dispersing its already thin anti-Qing forces for coastal defense.

"Commander Huang," Zhu Cilang said with a smile, "tell Us honestly — why did Zheng Zhilong accept amnesty? What benefit did it bring him?"

Huang Binqing smiled. "Zheng Zhilong is a sea merchant. He accepted amnesty for profit, and the profit of a sea merchant lies in trade. The silk of Jiangnan, the porcelain of Jingdezhen, the lacquerware of Japan — these three all lie along a single route. The Zheng family's merchant ships can carry lacquerware out of Japan, sell part of it at Ningbo, then load up with Jiangnan silk and porcelain and carry it on to Guangdong, Luzon, and all parts of the Southern Seas.

Before Zheng Zhilong accepted amnesty, his family's merchant ships could not run the whole route. Coming from Japan, they could only put in at Dayuan Island, and then other families' ships would run between Dayuan and Ningbo. It was most inconvenient."

Zhu Cilang asked with a smile: "So as long as the southeast is firmly controlled by the court, Zheng Zhilong will be a loyal subject of Our Great Ming?"

"Ah, more or less," Huang Binqing said with a laugh. "Thousand Years is most perceptive."

As the two were speaking, a rapid clatter of hoofbeats approached, and several dozen riders came galloping up. Riding at their head was none other than the senior disciple-brother, Zheng Sen.

"This subject, Left Commissioner-in-Chief and Regional Commander of Fujian, Zheng Zhilong, kowtows before His Highness the Army-Pacifying Crown Prince!"

A tall, sun-blackened man knelt at Zhu Cilang's feet — this, presumably, was the Great Ming's richest man, Zheng Zhilong. Yet when Zhu Cilang looked at him, he could not help frowning slightly — he doesn't look anything like Zheng Sen! How are you so dark? Did you get that from your pirate days, or were you born with it? If it's inborn, please don't pass it on to your daughter.

He quickly looked toward the crowd that had followed Zheng Zhilong — all of them dark and swarthy, with only Zheng Sen and a middle-aged scholar of about forty (the father of Chen Jinnan) somewhat paler.

"Quickly, rise — all of you, rise!" Zhu Cilang said with a smile as he made a gesture of helping Zheng Zhilong up, raising his number-two father-in-law to his feet.

He noticed that Zheng Zhilong was far more powerfully built than Zheng Sen, half a head taller than himself, and roughly the same stature as Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu.

"Come," Zhu Cilang said, taking Zheng Zhilong's right hand, which was rough beyond all reason, and imagining Zheng Chagu's large hands with a silent, bitter smile. "Commander, the hour is late, and the weather these past few days has been damp and cold. Why not enter the city together with Us first?"

With that, he led Zheng Zhilong to mount up, first taking him to see the 3,200 armored cavalry and 4,800 firelock troops that had followed him out, and only then riding side by side toward the Xianhe Gate in the outer wall of Nanjing.

Xianhe Gate lay at the foot of Mount Zhong, right against its eastern slope. The scenery was fine, and so there were several gardens there that had originally belonged to the Nanjing nobility. After those noble houses fell into disgrace, the gardens had been confiscated and redistributed. One of them had been granted to Huang Binqing, and this residence had now been carefully prepared as a resting place for Zhu Cilang and Zheng Zhilong.

Huang Binqing had another role as well: he was the matchmaker arranging the union of Zhu Cilang and Zheng Chagu. In truth, Zhu Cilang was taking Zheng Chagu as a concubine, so no matchmaker was needed. But one could not ask for a dowry when taking a concubine either — Zhu Cilang had not asked Wu Xiang for a dowry before.

So after Huang Binqing had invited Zheng Zhilong, Zheng Sen, and the Crown Prince into the inner hall and served tea, he did not know how to broach the subject, and merely made small talk.

After a long while of this, Zhu Cilang grew impatient. He simply cleared his throat and asked Zheng Zhilong with a smile: "Commander Zheng, you have come this time to send your daughter into the palace. Should we not now discuss the matter of the dowry?"

Huh? Dowry?

Zheng Zhilong was taken aback, then shot a meaningful glance at Zheng Sen.

Zheng Sen quickly asked: "Thousand Years, is my sister entering the palace as a Selected Attendant?"

"She is!" Zhu Cilang nodded with a smile.

"A Selected Attendant is a concubine—"

"But We shall treat her as a wife!" Zhu Cilang said with a thick face. "Your sister's treatment in all things shall be that of a Crown Princess, and in the future, that of an Empress."

Like an Empress...

Zheng Zhilong frowned slightly. "Like an Empress" — wasn't that just "like a concubine"?

"Disciple-brother, Your Highness," Zheng Sen said, seeing that his father would not speak, and so opening his mouth himself, "how much do you want?"

Zhu Cilang said with a smile: "We have heard that the Zheng family holds no less than one million mu of land in Fujian Province?"

Zheng Zhilong frowned and answered: "This subject has indeed purchased more than a million mu of land along the Fujian coast. Does Thousand Years want this subject's land?"

The Zheng family's land in Fujian had not all been purchased — the greater part had been seized by abusing the authority of the Regional Commander of Fujian. It was mainly distributed across the four prefectures of Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Xinghua, and Fuzhou. Of these, the lands in Zhangzhou, Xinghua, and Fuzhou were not important to Zheng Zhilong.

But the great tracts of land within Quanzhou Prefecture — at the Jinmen, Zhongzuo, and Fuquan guard stations under the Yongning Guard, and in Tong'an County under Quanzhou Prefecture — were the very foundation of the Zheng family!

The Zheng family's old nest, Anping City, and Shijing Town, where the Zheng family shipyards lay, were situated at the heart of this territory.

(End of Chapter)