Li Dingguo was not surprised at all when he heard that Zheng Hongkui intended to surrender.
The advantage of the army suppressing the rebellion is too great.
Surrendering early can give you a way to survive.
If you surrender too late, you won’t even be able to eat hot shit.
He quickly reported the news to Zhu Cijiong.
Zhu Cijiong said absentmindedly, "Zheng Hongkui is indeed sincere. He first withdrew his troops and then surrendered! Tell Li Dingguo that after entering Fujian, anyone who voluntarily surrendered will continue to hold his original position and make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence!"
Li Dingguo's men asked, "Your Highness, what if Zheng Zhilong surrenders? Should he be allowed to continue to hold his original position and make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence?"
Zhu Cijiong looked outside and said, "I have no say in this matter. Your Majesty has to make the decision."
Seeing Zhu Cijiong's expression, the others didn't dare to ask any more questions and could only tell Li Dingguo the original words.
After retaking Nanjing, Zhu Cixiong seemed like a different person.
From time to time I get lost in thought.
However, he was not considering logistics and food, nor the deployment of troops, nor strategy and tactics.
But where did his elder brother Zhu Cilang go.
This issue concerns the future of the Ming Dynasty and himself.
He has seen in himself the opportunity to inherit the throne.
The court did not convict the prince.
In other words...the prince is not guilty.
If the crown prince cannot be found after the war subsides, he will be made the crown prince.
But the problem is that the prince is just missing, which does not mean he is dead.
If he was made the crown prince, Zhu Cilang would suddenly appear before he inherited the throne.
The situation will then become very complicated and difficult.
First of all, he must be unwilling to give up the position of crown prince.
But it would be against the rules not to allow it.
You should know that the Ming Dynasty always adhered to the principle of choosing a crown prince by appointing the eldest son as the heir if there is a legitimate heir, or the eldest son as the heir if there is no legitimate heir.
Even if there was no such rule, it would be difficult for him to openly compete with Zhu Cilang for the throne.
After all, he grew up under Zhu Cilang's care.
After thinking for a long time, Zhu Cijiong raised his head and told the outsiders: "Come here."
"Here!" Two Jinyiwei stepped up to him.
"Send an order to the Jinyiwei in Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Guangxi, and order them to send more people to find the whereabouts of my eldest brother."
A Jinyiwei replied: "Your Highness, the personnel from various places have already been sent out. If we want to send more personnel, we need to solve the problem of money and food."
"The army has plenty of money and food, and we can lend some of it to the Royal Guards temporarily. I will explain the situation to His Majesty, and you don't have to worry."
......
On the second day of February, Li Dingguo accepted Zheng Hongkui's surrender in Pucheng.
Li Dingguo unfolded the map and asked Zheng Hongkui: "Sir, please help me think about Zheng Zhilong's troop deployment."
Zheng Hongkui pointed to Pucheng and said, "I have 5,000 elite soldiers under my command, and they have surrendered to the court."
Li Dingguo nodded and motioned for him to continue.
Zheng Hongkui pointed to Shanguan and said, "Zheng Zhibao is here. He has 8,000 soldiers under his command."
Then he pointed to Funing Prefecture and the nearby sea: "Zheng Zhilong and Shi Fu are here, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under their command."
“How many tens of thousands?”
Zheng Hongkui replied: "I can't say for sure!"
Li Dingguo narrowed his eyes and said with a half-smile: "You have already returned to the court, why don't you tell the truth?"
Zheng Hongkui quickly explained: "It's not that I don't want to say it, but I really don't know. What Wang Zhixin did had already spread to Fujian. In order to resist the currency reform, the local gentry and landlords temporarily recruited a large number of soldiers to join Zheng Zhilong's army to fight against the court."
"So I don't know how many soldiers he has!"
Li Dingguo thought about it and stopped worrying about this issue.
Funing Prefecture was not on his route of advance, so he had no need to worry.
Li Dingguo asked Zheng Hongkui to lead the way in front, and he followed closely behind. The two of them headed towards the capital of Jianning Prefecture: Jian'an County.
The Jian'an defenders had already prepared for resistance, but were tricked by Zheng Hongkui into opening the city gate.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, the defenders had no choice but to surrender.
After a brief rest, Li Dingguo continued to march south and arrived at Yanping Prefecture.
"What? Li Dingguo's troops are approaching Yanping Prefecture?"
On a warship on the sea outside Dajin City, Funing Prefecture, Zheng Zhilong almost dropped his jaw in shock.
Zheng Zhilong shook his head vigorously. "Impossible, absolutely impossible! The road to Xianxia Pass is rugged and easy to defend but difficult to attack. It is like one man guarding the pass against ten thousand men. As long as Zheng Hongkui does not surrender, Li Dingguo will never be able to pass Xianxia Pass."
Shi Fu paused and said, "Your Excellency, you are right. Zheng Hongkui did surrender. Not only did he surrender Xianxia Pass, he also helped Li Dingguo and tricked Jian'an City into opening."
"Ah?" Zheng Zhilong fell down on the deck, dazed.
After an unknown amount of time, Zheng Zhilong slowly stood up.
Zheng Hongkui did betray him, but he did not betray the Zheng clan.
Zheng Hongkui can only maximize the interests of the clan by doing this.
Zheng Zhilong calmed down and said, "Behind Shanguan is Yanping Prefecture. Let Zheng Zhibao withdraw his troops immediately to avoid being cut off by Li Dingguo."
"Where to retreat?"
"Quanzhou Mansion!"
"No, sir. Zheng Zhibao will lead the Ming army to Quanzhou when he retreats. Our family is there. I'm afraid..."
"Hey!" Zheng Zhilong sighed: "Follow the order!"
Soon after the order was issued, scouts brought news: Qin Yiming and Ma Wannian led 15,000 Sichuan troops to capture Fenshui Pass and enter Funing Prefecture.
Zheng Zhilong's expression immediately became conflicted.
He wanted to fight but didn't dare to.
The main fear is losing the battle.
Once a defeat is suffered, morale and people's hearts will fall apart.
So try not to fight him.
If you don't fight, you won't lose.
Undefeated is winning.
The kind of winning that makes you feel numb!
But the Ming army had already attacked, and if they didn't fight, they could only retreat.
Shi Fu advised: "Don't worry, sir. We have 50,000 naval forces, half of which can go ashore to fight, and more than 20,000 infantry recruited by Fujian gentry and merchants.
In other words, we can mobilize 45,000 people to deal with this Sichuan Army. Three against one, it's hard not to win!"
Zheng Zhilong glared at Shi Fu and said, "What do you know? This Sichuan Army directly defeated Zhu Guobi's defense and entered Nanjing City! Not to mention three against one, even five against one may not win."
"What does your Excellency mean?"
"Let's go back to Quanzhou first!"
"But..."
"No buts, just follow the order!"
Under the leadership of Zheng Zhilong, the Zheng army retreated from various parts of Fujian to Quanzhou Prefecture.
February 12.
The various Ming armies gathered in Fuzhou and began to discuss the attack on Quanzhou.
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