According to the description in Jin Yong's martial arts "Deer Ding", Zheng Chenggong was a person of considerable prestige and outstanding ability, which can be seen from Chen Jinnan's vow to follow him to the death.
However, another general, Shi Lang, said that Zheng Chenggong's reward and punishment were unknown, and he killed his entire family when he heard the rumors, and threw a basin of dirty water on Zheng Chenggong fiercely.
From the historical records, although Zheng Chenggong had great achievements in his life, he did an incomprehensible thing when he died, not only ordering the killing of his wife, but not even sparing his eldest son and grandson.
Although his wife and eldest son escaped the disaster in the end, why did Zheng Chenggong have such an operation before he died? Did you also listen to some rumors and fail?
A lifetime of prominence
Prince Zheng's lifelong exploits were remarkable, he fought against the Qing court, drove the Dutch colonists out of Taiwan, and founded Ming Zheng.
It should be known that after the fall of the Ming Dynasty, the coastal cities in the south were often invaded by other countries, especially Taiwan, which was occupied by Dutch colonists.
To this end, Zheng Chenggong led a large army to drive out the colonists, and finally successfully drove the colonists away from Taiwan in 1662, not only becoming a national hero in people's hearts, but also becoming the famous King of Taiwan Yanping.
In addition, Prince Zheng was also outstanding in fighting against the Qing court, avoiding kinmen, the Battle of Chaozhou, and the Northern Expedition to Nanjing, and the entire Southern Ming dynasty could rely on him.
However, with the change of emperors in the Qing Dynasty, the situation was also reversed.
First of all, the Qing Dynasty's auxiliary minister Ao Bai blocked trade with Taiwan in coastal cities and major ports, even to the point where no wood could be launched.
In addition to the economic blockade, a series of sabotage actions specifically targeted at the Zheng family were also carried out. For example, beheading the father of Prince Zheng, who has surrendered, digging the ancestral grave of the Zheng family, and so on.
Prince Zheng had been in poor health for many years of conquest, and as a result, after learning about these things, his illness worsened.
In fact, this bit of wind and waves did not want to kill Prince Zheng, the key at this time there was another major incident, so angry that Prince Zheng did not even survive the age of 40, he died suddenly in his home.
But it was precisely because of this incident that he made up his mind to kill his wife, children and even grandson before he died.
Big things at home
In late June 1662, because the Qing court blockaded Taiwan's economy, Prince Zheng took his sick body and summoned his ministers to discuss how to resolve the matter.
Although everyone at the meeting offered their own strategies, they were all palliative, not the root causes, and they could not be completely solved.
Just when Prince Zheng was quite nervous, the eldest daughter-in-law sent him a letter, saying that her husband, Zheng Jing, the eldest son of Prince Zheng, had been happy with the little prince some time ago, but was not born of a concubine, but was born of an adulterous affair with the fourth brother's nursing mother.
It turned out that not long ago, the eldest son was happy to have a noble son, which made the entire Zheng family very happy. After inquiry, it was learned that the child was born of a concubine, and for this reason Prince Zheng also rewarded this concubine.
Who would have thought that this child would actually come out of nowhere, and when he heard the news, Prince Zheng was furious and spat out a mouthful of blood.
Sudden death at home
However, Zheng Chenggong was not an impulsive person, he knew that he could not blindly draw conclusions based on the one-sided words of his eldest daughter-in-law alone, so he sent someone to secretly investigate.
But it turned out that as the eldest daughter-in-law said, the child was not born of a concubine.
Unexpectedly, the eldest son ignored his wife and ran to provoke the nursing mother of the fourth son, which was really intolerable.
You must know that what Prince Zheng values most in his life is fame, and now his son has corrupted the family style, and he has also deceived and deceived, if it is not told to him by his daughter-in-law, he does not know how long to hide.
Now that the external troubles are not even, and there is such a big family ugly, under this internal and external attack, Prince Zheng will fall to the ground and be unconscious.
Although Prince Zheng opened his eyes after rescuing him, the first words he opened his mouth were: "I have no face to see the former emperor underground."
At this time, his cousin Zheng Tai came to see his illness, and when he saw that his cousin had come, Prince Zheng ordered his cousin to kill his wife, eldest son, and grandson who had just been born.
The cousin is puzzled, what is the matter related to the sister-in-law's wife?
However, Prince Zheng said that his wife had no way to teach his son, which made his son do such an ugly thing, which really deserved to be killed.
As a result, the more Prince Zheng spoke, the more angry he became, and suddenly "suddenly his feet were caressed, and he cried out and died."
A national hero died suddenly on his sickbed at the age of 39.
Although his cousin Zheng Tai received the order, after all, they were all relatives, he really couldn't do it, and in the end, he only killed the nursing mother and the child, which was also an explanation for Zheng Chenggong.
References: Minutes of minhai, Draft History of the Qing Dynasty