Zheng Chenggong was a famous national hero in Chinese history, heroic and good at war, and regained Taiwan, which made the colonists feel frightened.
But Zheng Chenggong died shortly after the reconquest of Taiwan at the age of 38. At the time of prime, how can you suddenly fall ill and die? As for the cause of his death, a closer look reveals many doubts.
Portrait of Zheng Chenggong
Regarding the death of Zheng Chenggong, the notes of Li Guangdi, Lin Shiyi, Charlene and other contemporaries are very simple, hastily taken, usually said to be "wind chill" and "cold wind chill", but how can a person who is in his prime be easily killed by "wind chill"?
According to the abnormal situation before Zheng Chenggong's death and the background of the internal struggle of the Zheng clique at that time, some people believe that Zheng Chenggong died of poisoning, which is the most eye-catching statement at present. The main bases for this theory are as follows:
First, Zheng Chenggong's condition before his death was very similar to the symptoms that occurred after poisoning.
In addition, Charlene records that before Zheng Chenggong's death, the governor Hong Bingcheng dispensed medicine for him, Zheng Chenggong threw the medicine on the ground, and then Zheng Chenggong beat his chest and screamed to death. Zheng Chenggong probably realized that someone was going to murder him, but it was too late.
Zheng successfully regained Taiwan's main plan
Second, there are some hidden risk factors within the Zheng Group.
Zheng Chenggong, who is violent by nature, is very harsh in his means. Many of Zheng Chenggong's subordinates, including his elders and relatives, were executed for crimes, and everyone panicked. Many of them defected under the temptation of Qing court officials and salaries, so relations within the Zheng clique were extremely strained.
The "Legend of Zheng Chenggong" edited by Wu Yuanxian records that the Qing court bribed internal traitors to assassinate Zheng Chenggong. Therefore, if there had been someone on the island of Taiwan who wanted to murder Zheng Chenggong, it was likely that the Qing court was used as a background.
Third, one of the main suspects is the mysterious death of Ma Xin.
Ma Xin was a general of the Qing Dynasty and later became a confidant of Zheng Chenggong. On the day of Zheng Chenggong's death, Ma Xin recommended a medical officer to treat him, and Zheng Chenggong died that night, and Ma Xin himself suddenly died of illness.
According to Li Guangdi, Ma Xin died the day after Zheng Chenggong's death. Jiang Risheng's "Taiwan Foreign Chronicle" records that Ma Xin's death was only 5 days after Zheng Chenggong's death. Therefore, it is very likely that Ma Xin was directly involved in Zheng Chenggong's murder, but was later silenced.
Red Inlay Building
After the Dutch invaders invaded Taiwan, the building was built, and Zheng successfully drove out the invaders and returned it to China.
So, who was the mastermind of this murder? People cast suspicious eyes on Zheng Chenggong's brothers Zheng Tai, Zheng Mingjun, Zheng Xun and others, especially Zheng Tai.
Zheng Tai has long manipulated the East-West foreign trade of the Zheng clique, holds great financial power, and has long had a different heart for Zheng Chenggong, and once strongly opposed Zheng Chenggong's sending troops to recover Taiwan.
In the early days of Taiwan's recovery, the Cheng group faced financial difficulties, but Zheng Tai secretly stored more than 300,000 silver in Japan for other purposes. After Zheng Chenggong's death, Zheng Tai and others could not wait to forge Zheng Chenggong's legacy to punish Zheng Jing, and brought out the ambitious but incompetent Zheng Raid to inherit his brother.
In the end, their plot was foiled by Zheng Jing, Zheng Tai was imprisoned and died, and Zheng Mingjun and others led their troops and relatives to surrender to the Qing Dynasty. According to this analysis, Zheng Tai and others are likely to be the masterminds who murdered Zheng Chenggong. They already had the intention of seizing power, and they may also collude with the Qing court.
They took advantage of Zheng Chenggong's cold and began to implement their plan. According to the records of Charlene and Jiang Risheng, Zheng Chenggong's condition was not serious at first, and he often went on stage to watch, read, and sometimes drank alcohol and even refused to take medicine. They were most likely poisoned in alcohol, but Zheng Chenggong drank less alcohol during the cold, so the toxicity did not occur until seven or eight days later.
Statue of Zheng Chenggong
In the end, they were poisoned in the cold medicine, and Zheng Chenggong was eventually poisoned. After Zheng Chenggong's death, Zheng Jing began to deal with Zheng Tai's rebellion, and then found that Zheng Tai had a huge amount of money in the Bank of Japan, and then focused on recovering this money.
He himself was almost killed by Zheng Chenggong for his crime, so he was lucky about Zheng Chenggong's death, so he did not carefully investigate the cause of Zheng Chenggong's death at that time. The sea and sky are vast, and perhaps this will always be an unsolvable mystery.