Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 477: 1 Unification (8)

After Wu Sangui surrendered, although in name all of Sichuan and the southwest were owned by Zhou's army, the situation in Sichuan was still better with a sparse population, but the southwest was a mess with local chieftains, remnant Ming troops, bandits, mountain bandits, and even the remnants of Sun Kewang's old troops.

Meng Jun felt that when Sun Kewang governed Yunnan, he made great progress in the area, and now he still had many old subordinates, which would certainly give him an advantage in stabilizing the situation in Yunnan.

Afterwards, Sun Kewang took up the title of governor and rushed to Yunnan.

As for some people's concerns about whether Sun Kewang will reunite with his old subordinates and establish his own regime, these are groundless worries. The army has gathered in Yunnan, and with his temporary title, Sun Kewang can only handle government affairs and win over his old subordinates. Besides, Meng Bian is still in Yunnan.

The situation in the Central Plains changed suddenly. Even though Fujian had not been affected yet, Chen Yonghua had already felt the undercurrent under his rule. In the past, Meng Jun used Fujian as a bargaining chip in exchange for the Zheng family to send troops.

At that time, Han Xiong, a general under Meng Jun, governed Fujian. He eliminated malpractices and promoted benefits, investigated the sufferings of the people, repaired water conservancy projects several times, reduced taxes and levies, selected talented people for positions, and governed the area carefully. Many gentry and common people in Fujian had a very good impression of Zhou's army.

Therefore, although there were no major disturbances when the Zheng family ruled Fujian, there was always a soft knife-like resistance when Chen Yonghua was governing. Chen Yonghua knew that it was not because the gentry in Fujian were so loyal to Meng Jun, but because the Zheng family was at a huge disadvantage.

This disadvantage does not refer to the number of troops or the size of the territory, but to the fact that the Zheng family has no clear political proposition. If they are truly loyal to the Yongli court, they should accept the order of the Yongli court and send Prince Lu to the court instead of placing Prince Lu in Xiamen. Such a move is like a thorn in the throat of Emperor Yongli.

Therefore, the Zheng family and the Yongli court were only superficially united, but now that the Yongli court was really about to collapse, Chen Yonghua was extremely uneasy. The general trend of the world was too obvious. Now in the interior of the country, there were still a few forces, except Meng Zhou, the Zheng family, Li Chengdong, and Li Dingguo who retreated to the Yuxi area.

Even if these three families joined forces, they would not be enough to defeat Zhou's army. Faced with such a difficult situation, Chen Yonghua could only send someone to report urgently to Zheng Chenggong who was still besieging the Manila Fort.

In the Manila Bastion, Manlik looked at the army outside the fort with a worried look on his face. The population in the East was too large, and the Zheng family's army was well-equipped and in high morale. It was obvious that they were from a completely different era than those natives.

Although they have the protection of the bastion, if the siege continues, the food will eventually run out.

As for the reinforcements, no one knew when the reinforcements from Spain would arrive. Maybe they would not arrive even if Manrique starved to death. And whether the Dutch in Batavia would dispatch their only four or five thousand troops and the remaining dozen warships to fight a desperate battle with Zheng's army to save Manila, Manrique knew with his toes that it was impossible.

After thinking hard for a long time, Manlik decided to negotiate with the Zheng family.

Manlik sent another messenger and an interpreter to the outside of the castle with a white flag.

Outside the fortress, there were trenches used for blockades everywhere. Zheng's army had completely surrounded the castle. Each envoy and his team passed through layers of fortifications and came to Zheng Chenggong, where they detailed their current predicament and requested a ceasefire.

The messenger came before Zheng Chenggong and spoke one sentence, which the interpreter translated.

"Your Majesty, the war has lasted too long. Our governor has led the Spanish warriors to defend Manila. Your army will pay a heavy price if they want to capture this sturdy castle. Therefore, the governor is willing to negotiate with Your Majesty."

Zheng Chenggong leaned back in his chair and said casually, "Are you going to surrender?"

"No, the Spanish warriors will not surrender easily. But if Your Highness is willing to withdraw the troops and lift the siege, Your Highness will gain the friendship of Spain. The Governor is willing to pay a reasonable amount of money. At the same time, the Governor will also support the legitimate ruler of the Zheng family!"

Zheng Chenggong was stunned, then he stood up, looked at the envoy, and responded with a stern expression: "You have invaded my territory, killed my people, repeatedly provoked me, and committed many evil deeds. I will never tolerate you easily. Unless you surrender unconditionally, war is inevitable."

For Zheng Chenggong, what was the reasonable way to rule Dayuan? He had already regarded Dayuan as his own territory. Was there any need for Manlik, who was still trapped in the fortress, to recognize it? As for money, was he, Zheng Chenggong, a person short of money?

Zheng Chenggong's position was clear: only unconditional surrender would be accepted. The envoy returned to the fort and reported Zheng Chenggong's words to Manlik word for word.

It was a stark choice for Manrique as he considered whether to accept a humiliating surrender and the consequences of losing Manila and Luzon, or face death by starvation.

Just when Zheng Chenggong stationed his troops in Manila, Chen Yonghua's urgent report came to Zheng Chenggong.

The impact of Wu Sangui's surrender on various warlords was actually beyond Meng Jun's expectations. Zheng Chenggong was somewhat stunned when he looked at the military newspaper. He unconsciously maintained a posture for a long time, and he didn't even notice that the letter slipped from his hands.

It was not until the footsteps of patrolling guards were heard outside the tent that Zheng Chenggong came to his senses. He had complicated feelings towards Meng Jun.

Zheng Chenggong and Meng Jun had met and fought side by side. When Zheng Chenggong decided to mobilize his entire land and sea forces to rush to the aid of Huguang, this was of course influenced by Fujian as a bargaining chip, but it also included Zheng Chenggong's desire to prove himself. He wanted to prove to his father Zheng Zhilong that the Qing army was not invincible, and he also wanted to prove to the world that he was not weaker than Meng Jun.

However, in the past few years, Meng Jun's pace has become faster and faster, and he has become stronger and stronger, while he is still dragged in this foreign land. Now, how the Zheng family should deal with this behemoth Meng Zhou has become the most important thing for Zheng Chenggong.

Given his character, he would not rely on Meng Jun unless he had no other choice. He firmly believed that he would achieve great things in the future. It was this extreme, tough and selfish character that made him what he is today.

As the saying goes, character determines destiny. This is very true for Zheng Chenggong. Perhaps in history, it was precisely this extremely tenacious will, the stubbornness to rather die than admit defeat, the desire to win and the decisive character engraved in his bones that enabled him to accomplish the feat of another northern expedition to the Southern Capital in an era when all the troops were silent.

Zheng Chenggong walked out of the tent and sent his personal guards to the outside of the bastion to issue an ultimatum.

The guards arrived outside the bastion and shouted loudly: "Listen, Western barbarians in the bastion. The Prince of Nan'an will give you one last chance. Hurry up and surrender, and I will spare your lives. Otherwise, when the city is captured, no one will be spared, and everyone will be slaughtered. Don't say I didn't warn you!"