Before Zheng Chenggong sent troops to Pi Island, the news was already known within the Ping Liao army.
It’s not that confidentiality measures are not in place.
It was because Wang Yongji was the Governor-General of Pingliao, and the movements of all troops needed to be reported to him.
In order to avoid accidentally harming friendly forces, he had to share this information with other generals.
After Wu Sangui received the news, he immediately sent someone to inform Dorgon.
"Are you sure that the one leading the troops is Zheng Chenggong, the son of Zheng Zhilong?" Dorgon was very skeptical about the authenticity of the news.
"Your Highness, the news about Wu Sangui should not be false." Tunqi said.
He was once a close confidant of Jirgalang and should have been suppressed by Dorgon.
However, he was always responsible for exchanging information with Wu Sangui, so he soon became Dorgon's right-hand man.
"You said...Does Zheng Chenggong know that his father is smuggling for us?" Dorgon asked everyone.
"I definitely don't know!" Fan Wencheng in the corner replied, "Zheng Zhilong is not a fool. He won't bet everything on the Qing Dynasty. Now he is betting on both sides. He works for the Qing Dynasty and lets his son work for the Ming court! No matter who wins or loses, the Zheng family can continue."
"If that's the case, things will become complicated." Dorgon frowned and shook his head.
Everyone nodded.
Zheng Zhilong sent Shi Lang to assist them in defending the port, but the Ming court sent Zheng Zhilong's son to attack.
"That is to say," Shang Kexi blinked, "if a real fight breaks out, no matter who wins or loses... Zheng Zhilong will be the one who suffers in the end! It's a pity that he can still borrow troops now. It will be difficult to borrow troops next time."
"Zheng Zhilong is unlucky?" Hauge sneered, "It's not Zheng Zhilong who is unlucky, but my Qing Dynasty. When Shi Lang saw Zheng Chenggong's flag, he most likely chose to avoid the battle."
"Uh...that's right!" Shang Kexi slapped his forehead: "Without help, the Qing Navy will be unable to support itself. By then, I'm afraid..."
Shang Kexi had only said half of his words.
He had fought against Zheng Chenggong before. Although Zheng's army's firearms were ordinary, they used tactics very skillfully and appropriately.
Without help, he thought he could not defeat Zheng's army.
"What should we do?" Man Dahai stood up and said, "Shi Lang is Zheng Zhilong's man, and Zheng Chenggong is Zheng Zhilong's son. Even if Shi Lang had ten times the courage, he would not dare to attack Zheng Chenggong. We can't just put a knife on Shi Lang's neck and ask him to do it, right?"
"I really can't!" Hauge was somewhat helpless. "If I were Shi Lang, I would not have dealt with Zheng Chenggong. I would have run away the moment I saw the flag."
"Then we can't just sit there and wait for death. We should think of a way to resist the Ming navy!" Dorgon said with a frown.
He was the one who established the Daqing Navy.
In the past, in order to build the navy, not only a large amount of money and food was consumed, but also a lot of his effort.
In the eyes of others, this is both his achievement and his face.
If the navy was destroyed, the waste of money and food would be secondary, and the loss of face would be the most fatal.
Thinking of this, Dorgon looked at Fan Wencheng and Hong Chengchou who had been silent in the corner.
Fan Wencheng lowered his head and avoided Dorgon's gaze.
He had no idea what to do, so he had to do this.
Hong Chengchou smiled, raised his head and met Dorgon's eyes.
"Mr. Hong, do you have a solution?" Dorgon asked tentatively.
"Don't panic, Your Majesty. I have a plan!" Hong Chengchou stretched out his right index finger.
While a smile appeared on Dorgon's face, Fan Wencheng's face darkened.
Once upon a time, he was a popular figure around Dorgon.
Now.
Hong Chengchou said all his words...
He was angry and a little hateful.
He didn't know what he hated specifically, he just knew that there was a sense of resentment in his heart with no place to vent it.
Hong Chengchou didn't know what Fan Wencheng was thinking. He bowed deeply to Dorgon, then said slowly: "This matter is indeed complicated, but I think it can be simplified."
"What do you mean?" Hauge asked with a squint.
"Find a way to make Shi Lang and Zheng Chenggong meet on the battlefield."
"Meet?" Hauge didn't understand. "What if they met? Shi Lang would never dare to go to war with Zheng Chenggong."
Hong Chengchou's smile grew: "There is no need to start a war, as long as Zheng Chenggong recognizes his identity."
Um?
Haoge was even more confused. He immediately shouted, "What if he recognized him? Would he dare to fire at Zheng Chenggong?"
Different from Hauge's confused expression.
Dorgon and Man Dahai both showed delighted expressions.
"Great!" Dorgon couldn't help but praise.
"It's really wonderful!" Man Dahai followed.
Even Fan Wencheng couldn't help but look at Hong Chengchou.
Haoge was surprised. Hong Chengchou explained: "Everyone, when Shi Lang's identity was exposed on the battlefield, there were only two choices."
"One is to avoid fighting and flee the battlefield. Although this move can temporarily save his life, Zheng Chenggong will definitely conduct a thorough investigation."
"Zheng Zhilong had two choices: one was to admit and protect Shi Lang; the other was to deny collaborating with the enemy and put the blame on Shi Lang!"
"Whether he protects Shi Lang or not, based on my understanding of Zheng Chenggong, he will kill Shi Lang."
"And Shi Lang will definitely die!"
"What we can understand, Shi Lang can definitely understand as well."
"So the moment his identity was exposed, he knew he was going to die."
"In order to survive, he has only one choice: to surrender to the Qing Dynasty!"
Dorgon smiled and said, "In that case, let's find a way to make this happen!"
"Please give orders, Your Majesty!" everyone responded in unison.
On the 28th day of the first lunar month in the 25th year of Chongzhen, Zheng Chenggong led his troops from Zhangzi Island to Pi Island.
Pi Island is also called Pagoda Island.
Located southeast of the Yalu River estuary, North Korea once established a horse farm here.
However, apart from the horse-raising overseers, no one lived on the island.
This situation continued until the second year of the Tianqi reign.
At that time, Mao Wenlong had just won a great victory in Zhenjiang.
Nurhaci was shocked and immediately dispatched a large force to hunt down Mao Wenlong.
Mao Wenlong was defeated and retreated to Korea.
The King of Korea at the time was afraid that Mao Wenlong would bring the Eight Banners Army into Korea to cause chaos, so he persuaded him to choose an island to garrison.
Taking into account that the Eight Banners soldiers were not familiar with water, Mao Wenlong stationed in Pi Island in November of the second year of the Tianqi reign.
At that time, Pi Island had three functions.
The first was to contain the Jiannu army, and the second was to contact North Korea and provide support when the other side was attacked.
The third was to recruit and resettle refugees from Liao, especially those who fled from the territory of the Jiannu.
As the number of people increased, logistics became a problem.
There is no arable land on Pi Island, and the necessary food and other supplies are all supplied by sea from Tianjin and Denglai.
At that time, the Ming Dynasty's finances were already tight, and in order to ease the situation, it asked Korea to bear part of the food and fodder.
to this end.
North Korea imposes a "gross rice" tax on Korean people in Pyongyang Province and Hwanghae Province.
What’s interesting is.
After the Ming army lost Pi Island, Korea did not stop imposing the "raw rice" tax.
This tax continued until the eve of the Sino-Japanese War in the 19th century when it was forced to stop levying...
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