Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 279 My Determination is Firm

Huo Qubing once said, "How can I start a family if the Huns are not yet destroyed?" If this oath is applied to this era, it would be "How can I start a family if the Tartars are not yet destroyed?" As the head of a faction, Meng Jun should perhaps have this awareness.

But the Chinese have always advocated getting married and starting a career. Without a family, how can one start a career? Even ordinary people would be spurred by this saying, let alone Meng Jun, who was not an ordinary person.

After conquering Nanjing, Chen Zilong once said bluntly: "The revival of the world should start with the Meng family." After the Ming royal family was incompetent and defeated, people were greatly disappointed. Coupled with Meng Jun's current momentum, it really made countless people with ambitions have endless reveries.

As followers, naturally no one wanted Meng Jun, who was in his twenties, to still be alone and without a male heir. Having an heir would make the followers feel more at ease. Originally, it was a group of civil officials who were worried, and later even a large group of military men expressed concern about Meng Jun's marriage.

Qian Biao had come over to Meng Jun and said, "My king, I have a secret recipe that will give you a son. Do you want it?"

Meng Jun scoffed at this and immediately drove him away. After two days of silence, Qian Biao came over again and said to Meng Jun, "Your Majesty, I think we shouldn't let those sour scholars choose the queen. I have a cousin who is pretty and has a big butt. She is the only girl among her seven brothers, which means my cousin can definitely give birth to a son!"

Meng Jun was very annoyed by this, so after a few days, he sent Qian Biao away and had his troops go to Jiujiang first. Only then did Meng Jun have some peace and quiet.

Although the shogunate was extremely busy with the army's expedition, it never relaxed on the matter of selecting a queen for the king. After two months of hard work, the final selection came up with daughters from two families. One was Shen Mingyue, the daughter of Shen Tingyang, and the other was Zhang Shuer, the daughter of the Zhang family and a contributor to the king's rise to power.

There are three fathers and sons in the Zhang family. Zhang Zhuo is the head of the Commercial Affairs Department, Zhang Bo is the deputy commander of the Qingluan Guard, and Zhang Xue is the head of the Personnel Department.

The daughters of the Shen and Zhang families entered the final stage of competition. There was a lot of debate in the shogunate, but for Meng Jun, he didn't have too many ideas. Since he came to this era, he should abide by the rules of this era, especially the important matter of marriage. Don't be stubborn and insist on having a passionate love affair. Meng Jun needed a wife, the King of Zhou needed a queen, and the generals needed the king to have a son, so Meng Jun needed a wife, a queen, and a son.

While the shogunate was arguing over the final candidate for the queen, Duoduo, who had gone south, made a new move. The Qing army used the same method that Bolo used to threaten Zheng Chenggong: Zheng Zhilong.

Duoduo had no comment on Bolo's strategy. He felt that using Zheng Zhilong to force Zheng Chenggong to withdraw his troops should be effective. However, Duoduo was arrogant and thought that his military skills were unparalleled in the world. Using such a dirty method would damage his reputation.

Duoduo felt a little ashamed of using his family to threaten the enemy on the battlefield. He refused to sign the documents submitted to the court and refused to check the letters sent to the Zheng family. Everything made Bolo act as if he knew nothing about it.

When Zheng Chenggong received the letter, more than ten days had passed and the Zheng family had been reorganized. In addition to leaving behind troops to defend Anping City and the fleet necessary to cover maritime trade, Zheng Chenggong sent out 40,000 infantry, more than 300 large and small warships, and a total of 70,000 land and sea troops.

Just the day before he was about to set out on the expedition, Zheng Chenggong received this cordial greeting from Bolo.

Letter: General Zheng, I have written to this point not to express my joy, but to express my true feelings. It is said since ancient times that the sperm of the father and the blood of the mother are the foundation of being a human being.

The general's father is now an official in the capital, and could have enjoyed a peaceful life. However, the general mobilized his troops and collaborated with the traitor Meng. This is extremely inappropriate. I know that the general must love his father deeply and cannot bear to see him suffer the slightest. Therefore, I hope that the general can hide the truth for his family, withdraw his troops and not fight, so as to ensure his father's safety.

If the general withdraws his troops and does not fight, and waits for the end of the war in Huguang, regardless of victory or defeat, I will keep my promise and ensure the safety of his father so that he can spend his old age in peace. If the general misses his father, I can send him to Xiamen. On the contrary, if the general insists on not retreating and the armies engage in battle, although I feel reluctant to do so, I will be thinking about the soldiers. The general should also think about the safety of his father himself.

The general is a man of both wisdom and courage. He must be able to distinguish right from wrong and know the principles of advance and retreat. The general should know that the tree wants to be still but the wind does not stop, the son wants to support his parents but his parents are no longer there. The general's father is old and frail. How can the general bear it if he cannot enjoy his old age!

Doroberle, Bolo."

This letter was naturally not written by Bolo himself. Although Bolo knew Chinese and could read and write, asking him to write a flowery letter was obviously overestimating him. This letter was written by a scholar who had defected to him in Korea. The meaning of the letter was the same, but Bolo said it in a concise and clear way: "Let Zheng Sen withdraw his troops and send his father back. If he doesn't withdraw his troops, kill his father."

Zheng Chenggong read Bolo's letter, his face turned livid, his eyes were red, and anger was boiling in his chest. He slammed the table with a dull sound and shouted: "Bolo, you bastard, you dare to threaten my father's safety. You are so shameless! I am a loyal and righteous general. How can I betray the world for my own selfish reasons?!"

After saying this, he stood up and looked around. His eyes flashed with a hateful look, which made all the generals dare not look at him. He said in hatred: "Although my father is in the hands of the enemy, how can I retreat? I will lead the army and move forward without any second thoughts. If my father encounters an accident, I will sacrifice Bolo's head to my father's spirit!"

After saying this, he ordered his men to cut off the envoy's ears and expel him from the country. None of the generals dared to say anything, except Zheng Chenggong's uncle Zheng Hongkui, who looked at him hesitantly. However, since all his generals were present, Zheng Hongkui did not say much.

Only after the military meeting did Zheng Hongkui privately find Zheng Chenggong and said, "Sen'er, your words are so harsh. My brother is still in Beijing. If you provoke him too much, I'm afraid he will be in danger!"

Zheng Chenggong shook his head and said in a deep voice: "Father didn't listen to me, otherwise he wouldn't be in such a situation. Uncle, since my father was imprisoned in Beijing, he has never left the dangerous place. Unless I surrender, the army will be surrendered to the enemy court, but I can't do such a thing that will be infamous for thousands of years. My father dies and my son takes over. My determination is firm and will never change!"