Born to be Zhu Jinsong, Qianlong the old dog truly praised Zhu Jinsong, but these words sounded completely different in Zhu Jinsong's ears.
It was like when Cao Cao said, "Born to be Sun Zhongmou" – Cao Cao couldn't defeat Sun Quan, and in his haste, he pointed at Sun Quan and said, "You brat, you're my son!"
This is a typical case of losing in a fight but winning in an argument.
Of course, Zhu Jinsong decided to be magnanimous this time and not bother with Qianlong the old dog for the moment, as he didn't have the time anyway.
Because Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, was simply too busy.
According to news from the Thirteen Hongs of Guangzhou, the fleet from France had arrived in Guangzhou and was preparing to resupply before heading north to Dengzhou and Laizhou.
Besides the six French warships intended for sale to the Great Ming, the entire fleet carried over two hundred French barbarian nobles who intended to visit the Great Ming Emperor in Shandong.
Furthermore, Zhu Erdan was almost done conquering the entire Zhejiang province.
The troops under Zhu Zhongqu in Zhejiang were indeed brave and skilled, and their artillery and firearms were not bad. They should have been able to defeat Qianlong the old dog's army with ease, but compared to the Great Ming army, which had copied the land warfare model of China, they could only sigh, "Why must I be born when Yu is also born!"
Sun Tzu's Art of War clearly states, "Thus, when you are able to attack, you must seem to be unable; when you make use of your forces, you must seem to be inactive; when you are near, you must make the enemy believe you are far away; when you are far away, you must make the enemy believe you are near. ... The strong advance first, the tired follow, and those who are skillful are ten times as many as those who are not. Thus they can be victorious." This means that in a hundred-mile march, only about a tenth of the soldiers can actually reach the battlefield, while most of the rest will be lost.
Therefore, Zhu Zhongqu's troops dared not attempt any hundred-mile marches or night raids. Faced with the large-scale flanking and night raid operations of Zhu Erdan's army, Zhu Zhongqu's troops could only retreat further and further, and Zhu Zhongqu's Great Ming court repeatedly moved its capital.
First, it moved from Lin'an Prefecture to Shaoxing Prefecture, then from Shaoxing to Jinhua, and later, seeing that Jinhua could no longer be defended, Zhu Zhongqu simply moved the capital of "Great Ming" to Wenzhou Prefecture.
However, while Zhu Zhongqu, the "Emperor of Great Ming," could tolerate it again and again, the powerful officials in the court could no longer stand it.
If they retreated further south, they would reach the territory of Lin Shuangwen in Fujian – what difference would it make to be on Lin Shuangwen's territory compared to Zhu Jinsong's territory? Wouldn't they still be "beating the local tyrants and distributing the land"?
Therefore, not only did the powerful officials in the court begin to quarrel, but the powerful figures of the Ruan, Huang, Mei, Dai, and Xu families also started to look at each other unfavorably.
Especially Xu Chengcong, the leader of the Xu family, and Dai Yongming, the leader of the Dai family.
Xu Chengcong and Dai Yongming were the earliest to consider defecting to Zhu Jinsong. They even had this idea after hearing that Zhu Jinsong had raised the banner of the fifth-generation descendant of Emperor Chongzhen.
Xu Chengcong's ancestors had served as Minister of Rites and Grand Academician of Dongliao, and Assistant Grand Secretary in the Chongzhen era. The Xu family's fortune had been accumulated bit by bit, and they had never engaged in any malpractices like usurping civilian land, so they felt no fear.
Dai Yongming was similar. He was even the most actively anti-Qing among the five great families. Dai Yongming's ancestors had a deep hatred for Qianlong the old dog's ancestors. Whoever could eliminate Qianlong the old dog would be the benefactor of the Dai family.
Unfortunately, the Xu and Dai families alone could not overcome the Ruan, Huang, and Mei families, so they missed the best opportunity and could only retreat with the Ruan, Huang, and Mei families.
It wasn't until the "Great Ming Court" moved its capital to Wenzhou Prefecture that Xu Chengcong and Dai Yongming finally could not sit still any longer.
"The day before yesterday, we moved from Lin'an to Shaoxing, yesterday from Shaoxing to Jinhua, and today from Jinhua to Wenzhou. May I ask Grand Tutor Ruan, where will we move tomorrow?"
Xu Chengcong stared at Grand Tutor Ruan with an unfriendly expression and mocked, "Emperor Chongzhen hanged himself on Meishan, but our current Great Ming Emperor keeps moving his capital. It's no wonder Zhu Jinsong mocked our Great Ming Emperor as a runaway emperor in the Great Ming newspaper, and said that our Great Ming Emperor could never be a descendant of Emperor Chongzhen."
Grand Tutor Ruan snorted coldly, "Then what do you suggest? Should we surrender to that rebel Zhu Jinsong?"
Xu Chengcong glanced at Grand Tutor Ruan and continued to mock, "And still calling him a rebel? If Zhu Jinsong had only occupied Shandong, calling him a rebel would be fine. Now that he has occupied more than half of the empire and his latent talent is already apparent, you are still calling him a rebel here? Grand Tutor Ruan, you have quite a nerve! Besides, what's wrong with surrendering to Zhu Jinsong?"
At this point, Xu Chengcong pointed directly at Huang Liangji, the spokesman for the Huang family and "Grand Duke of the Great Ming," and said, "Duke Huang led troops to attack Dengzhou and Laizhou from the sea. How did that go?"
Huang Liangji's expression sank, and he snorted without speaking. However, Xu Chengcong did not intend to let Duke Huang off and continued, "In the past, your Huang family accumulated great wealth through salt trade. Even if you lose those lands, can't you, Duke Huang, do something else?"
After speaking, Xu Chengcong looked at the spokesmen for the other families and said, "And your Ruan family, Mei family, Dai family, and our families, which one of us cannot live without those small pieces of land?"
Upon hearing Xu Chengcong's words, Grand Tutor Ruan, Duke Huang, and the spokesmen for the other two families were somewhat moved.
That's right, none of us depend on those small pieces of land to live. If the rural gentry and scholars in the north are fighting to the death with Zhu Jinsong over land, it's understandable. But what are we, these families, striving for?
At worst, we can hand over all the land to that fellow named Zhu and focus on our own workshops – if that fellow named Zhu doesn't allow us to own large tracts of land, can he still prevent us from buying courtyards?
Land is a guarantee for a comeback if misfortune strikes. Courtyards can serve the same purpose.
Thinking of this, Grand Tutor Ruan exchanged glances with the spokesmen of the other families and tentatively said, "Why don't... we open the city gates and welcome the heavenly soldiers into the city?"
...
Zhu Jinsong looked at Ke Zhiming with a bewildered expression: "They just surrendered like that?"
Ke Zhiming also had a very troubled look on his face, but facing Zhu Jinsong's question, he had to answer honestly: "Yes, Zhu Zhongqu first issued a decree of abdication, and then opened the city gates and welcomed the second young master's army into the city with the ritual of carrying sheep with their necks exposed."
Ke Zhiming could almost imagine how the foul-mouthed officials in the Great Ming court would mock him.
"Are the rebels in Zhejiang completely different from those we encountered before?"
"Are their flintlock guns and cannons no inferior to those of our Great Ming?"
"Are the people of Zhejiang very supportive of Zhu Zhongqu?"
"Do they have the blueprints and documents for the treasure ships?"
"..."
The key was that he had no way to refute them.
How could he refute? Should he say that it was the Emperor who decided that when encountering tough opponents, they should be resolved completely, and that the Emperor had made the final decision? If you have the ability, go talk to the Emperor. You can't talk to me, the intelligence officer?
Isn't that nonsense!
What made Ke Zhiming even more distressed was that as Zhu Zhongqu, who occupied Zhejiang, surrendered to the Great Ming, other rebels occupying Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, and other places also sent envoys with letters of surrender.
Since they couldn't win, it was better to surrender directly.
Therefore, almost the entire Jiangnan region was pacified by decree.
The reason for saying "almost" and not "all" is that Mei Chunyao, who occupied Guangdong, and Bai Ziqi, who occupied Guangxi, did not surrender directly but fled with their subordinates.
Mei Chunyao chose Borneo in Nanyang. There was already a Lanfang Republic there, and Mei Chunyao felt that with his army, he had a good chance of establishing a country overseas.
Bai Ziqi's target was Annam.
Bai Ziqi first sent people to contact the last emperor of the Later Le Dynasty of Annam, Le Vi Kiet, and then directly marched into Annam under the banner of restoring the Le family.
As for Guangdong and Guangxi... Mei Chunyao and Bai Ziqi respectively sent letters to Zhu Jinsong, stating that he had won the battle for supremacy, and Guangdong/Guangxi would belong to his Great Ming Emperor. From now on, I, Mei, or Bai, will go overseas, hoping that you will treat the common people kindly. If there is an opportunity in the future, perhaps we can sit down and drink together.
In this way, except for Qinghai, Gansu, the Xuanwei Commandery of Duomo, the Xuanwei Commandery of Wusi, and the Zhili and Liaodong regions that had not yet been recovered, Zhu Jinsong had recovered sixteen of the eighteen Han provinces.
This Emperor of the Great Ming could be considered somewhat legitimate.
However, as the Jiangnan region was gradually recovered, a series of new problems were placed on Zhu Jinsong's desk.
The first is whether the Great Ming should move its capital to Jinling.
For the powerful officials in the Great Ming court, if Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, directly eliminated Qianlong the old dog and sent troops to recover Beiping, then the capital of the Great Ming would undoubtedly still be Beiping.
The problem was that Qianlong the old dog sent the fifteenth prince Yongyan to lead most of the Manchu Eight Banners to fight in Gorkha, and Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, had previously declared that as long as Qianlong the old dog sent troops to fight in Gorkha, he would not use troops in Zhili.
Therefore, Jinling became the preferred location in the eyes of the powerful officials of the Great Ming court.
Unfortunately, Zhu Jinsong never considered moving the capital. Even if he were to move the capital, it would be from Jinan to Beiping.
Another issue was that the French nobles had arrived in Dengzhou and Laizhou and were now heading towards Jinan Prefecture.
So Zhu Jinsong was very troubled.
If it were simply a matter of sending people to entertain these French nobles with food, drink, and sightseeing, it would be easy. However, given Zhu Jinsong's nature of "plucking feathers even when a goose passes," could he let go of over two hundred French fat sheep?
Do you know what "plucking feathers even when a goose passes" means?
It's very simple: catch a goose, pluck a feather, let the feather fly away, and cook the goose. That's what "plucking feathers even when a goose passes" means.
To shear these two hundred-plus French fat sheep into "Ge You" (a famous actor known for his bald head), Zhu Jinsong directly summoned all his trusted subordinates.
After everyone had gathered, Zhu Jinsong said first, "This time, following Pierre, there are over two hundred French nobles, big and small. These French fat... nobles have nothing else but money and power. So, how can we make these over two hundred French nobles serve our purpose?"
After thinking for a moment, Zhu Jinsong continued, "By the way, among these nobles, there are men and women. The women are not necessarily relatives of high officials or nobles; they might be nobles themselves and own their own fiefs, so do not underestimate them."
Upon hearing Zhu Jinsong say this, Zeng Cheng could not help but laugh heartily. After laughing enough, he cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I believe you think too highly of those French nobles."
Zhu Jinsong asked doubtfully, "What do you mean?"
Zeng Cheng replied with a smile, "Reporting to Your Majesty, I believe that regardless of whether the women are relatives of French high officials or nobles themselves, it does not change the fact that they are women. As long as they are women, no one dislikes jewelry and clothing."
"Therefore, I believe we can have them taken to stroll through the shops in Jinan city, especially those selling jewelry, clothing, and cosmetics."
"As for the men among those French nobles..."
Speaking of this, Zeng Cheng frowned and said, "If they are all like Pierre, then it will be troublesome."