Text/Evening wind and twilight rain
In the fifth year of the Yong calendar (1651 AD), Zhang Xuesheng, the inspector of Fujian in the Qing Dynasty, and others took advantage of Zheng Chenggong's main force to go south to Guangdong and sent troops to capture Xiamen.
What's going on? Let's start with the huge wealth of Zheng Chenggong that they looted.
After his father surrendered to the Qing, Zheng Chenggong led his cronies to Nan'ao Island to recruit troops and horses, swore to resist the Qing, and then vigorously carried out foreign trade, accumulating huge wealth in a few years.
Zheng Chenggong, who had a small territory, snatched Xiamen from the brothers Zheng Cai and Zheng Lian as a base in the fourth year of the Yong Calendar, and then transferred most of his wealth to Xiamen to attract anti-Qing forces from all over the coast.
After the rapid growth of strength, the supply of grain and grass was short, and in order to solve this problem, Zheng Chenggong sent his uncle Zheng Hongkui to collect grain and grass in Chaozhou, Guangdong.
Due to the excessive number of conscripts, causing the local people to be dissatisfied and resisted, and more importantly, the Qing army occupying Guangdong also took the opportunity to attack, and for a time, Zheng Hongkui fell into the dilemma of attacking from both sides, so he had to send someone to Zheng Chenggong for help.
After receiving the message for help, Zheng Chenggong left his uncle Zheng Zhiguan to guard Xiamen, and personally led the main force south to Guangdong to support Zheng Hongkui.
In March of the fifth year of the Yong calendar, Zheng successfully conquered Daxingshou and other places, and captured the grain and grass accumulated.
When the news of Zheng Chenggong's departure reached Fujian, Zhang Xuesheng, inspector of fujian in the Qing dynasty, Huang Shu on patrol, and Ma Degong, chief soldier of the Fujian Right Road, were overjoyed and decided to take advantage of this heavenly opportunity to surprise Xiamen.
The three of them attacked Xiamen so actively, not because they were loyal to the Qing court, but because they had their own small calculations: they had long heard that Zheng Chenggong had made a huge fortune in trade, and this money had been shipped to Xiamen.
When they attacked Xiamen, they could not only show loyalty to the Qing court in order to increase the rank of official, but also appropriate Zheng Chenggong's wealth for themselves, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.
After the three men had finished deliberating, Ma Degong led the Qing army to cross the sea and sneak into Xiamen on February 27.
Zheng Zhiguan, who was guarding Xiamen, was a straw bag, drinking and having fun all day, and did not take any precautions at all, resulting in the Xiamen defenders and water division being easily defeated by the Qing army.
What is even more hateful is that after Zheng Zhiguan knew that the Qing army was coming, he immediately got on the ship and fled, not even taking Zheng Chenggong's wife Dong Shi and Shizi Zheng Jing in Xiamen City with him.
When the Qing army entering the city was busy looting, Dong Shi escaped from Xiamen in a small boat with Zheng Jing in his arms and boarded Zheng Zhiguan's warship.
After the fall of Xiamen, almost all of the wealth that Zheng Successfully transferred to the city fell into the hands of Ma Degong, and a small number of them were also taken away by Qing soldiers.
After Ma Degong succeeded, he sent a letter to Zhang Xuesheng and Huang Shu, inviting the two of them to come to Xiamen to discuss the aftermath, in fact, the three of them shared the loot.
How much did the three of them share? According to Zheng Chenggong's letter to his father afterwards, "Plundering me more than 900,000 pieces of gold, hundreds of pieces of jewelry, hundreds of thousands of pieces of rice millet, the wealth of the rest of the soldiers, the money of the people. ”
At the same time that the three men divided Up Zheng Chenggong's property, the Qing soldiers were not idle, they went door to door to loot and plundered the people of Xiamen.
After the incident, Zhang Xuesheng and Huang Shu returned to Fujian with their belongings, leaving Ma Degong to defend Xiamen.
When the news of the fall of Xiamen reached Guangdong, Zheng Chenggong was greatly shocked, and his generals, worried about the accident to their relatives, advised Zheng Chenggong to return to the division immediately.
Zheng Chenggong ordered Zheng Hongkui to lead some of his troops back to Xiamen first, and he himself led the main force to follow.
Zheng Hongkui besieged Xiamen and trapped Ma Degong inside the city.
Ma Degong was devastated and hurriedly sent people to the inspector for help, and Zhang Xuesheng immediately sent The Zhangzhou general Feng Junrui to lead 600 troops to support, but was blocked by Zheng Hongkui's men and could not enter Xiamen.
Ma Degong was cornered, and on a whim, he sent someone to intercede with Zheng Chenggong's grandmother Huang Shi, who lived in Anhai, and asked her to come forward and let Zheng Hongkui withdraw the encirclement and let himself return to Fujian.
The Huang clan lived in the area controlled by the Qing court and did not dare to go against the wishes of the Qing army and write a letter to Zheng Hongkui to intercede.
Zheng Hongkui did not dare to dismiss his mother's face, ordered the siege to be withdrawn, and sent more than thirty ships to send Ma Degong and his subordinates back to Fujian.
Zheng Hongkui later wrote about this matter in a letter to his eldest brother Zheng Zhilong: "Quanzhen Ma Degong was insatiable, remained on the island, was heavily surrounded by various boat divisions, fought three battles and three norths, aided the lonely, and begged for his brother's life. Brother Pity Sea millions of creatures have fled, can not live in peace and contentment, grant his request, so the boat crossed all the people and horses, so that the merits of the life to return to Quan County, brother's strength also. ”
Incidentally, at that time, the Zheng family was divided into two parts, living in the Qing army-controlled area and the Zheng Chenggong-controlled area.
Zheng Zhilong and others in the Qing-controlled area were placed in Beijing by the Qing court, and Zheng Zhilong's mother, Huang Shi and Zheng Zhibao, lived in the Anhai area of the Qing court-controlled area.
Among the ships that the Qing army attacked Xiamen this time, 8 ships were provided by Zheng Zhibao.
After Zheng Chenggong returned to his division, he sighed: "Uncle Cheng Ji (i.e., Zheng Zhibao), who crossed the captive, Uncle Dingguo (i.e., unfolded), uncle ZhiGuangong, who abandoned the city and the prisoner Zhiguan Gong, were in difficulty with the family door, and what did they have to do with the captives? ”
Zheng Zhiguan was subsequently beheaded by Zheng Chenggong and sent to the army.
In the Battle of Xiamen, Zhang Xuesheng, Huang Shu, and Ma Degong made the most profits, and the so-called wealth of Yi Dun was no more than that.
They spent money to open up various relations, so that the Qing court was ignorant of their division of Zheng Chenggong's property.
The following year, when the Qing court intended to recruit Zheng Chenggong, it learned of this matter, and was greatly indignant at the three people's division of treasures and concealment, and ordered them to be dismissed from their posts and escorted to Beijing, where they were tried by the Punishment Department, the Metropolitan Inspection Yuan, and the Dali Temple.
The three of them should have made confessions long ago, so when they were tried, they all insisted that there was no treasure in the city, and even swore that if they were divided privately, they would be "willing to be executed."
At the same time, their families bribed the interrogation officials with heavy money, and with the help of Brother Kong Fang, the matter finally came to an abrupt end, and the three successfully escaped punishment.
I have to say that in the Qing Dynasty, money can really do whatever you want!
References: History of the Southern Ming Dynasty, Records of Maritime Observations, Records of the First Kings