Yao Qisheng did a lot of homework to recover Taiwan.
First, reduce the strength of the Zheng Army.
During the San Francisco Rebellion, Zheng Jing also responded remotely, sending Liu Guoxuan, the governor of Zhongdu, to lead an army to attack the Qing army.
Liu Guoxuan can fight at sea and land, so he uses this advantage to triumph all the way to Quanzhou.
Yao Qisheng, who was the governor of Fujian at the time, led an army to encircle and suppress Liu Guoxuan after playing the Ming Kangxi. After a fierce battle, the Zheng army was mostly suppressed, and Liu Guoxuan and the remnants of the army could only shrink in the Zhangzhou area, resulting in a great reduction in the strength of the Zheng army.
Second, use both.
When Yao Qisheng attacked the Zheng army and regained the lost land, he proposed to Kangxi the strategy of "suppressing and using it together", which was approved by Kangxi. Subsequently, Yao Qisheng, while encircling and suppressing the Zheng army, also used favorable conditions to oppose the generals of the party, which played a great role in dismantling the Zheng army.
Third, train sailors.
Because Zheng Jun was good at naval warfare, and the Qing court had never had a well-trained sailor, so when fighting with Zheng Jun, once Zheng Jun avoided the sea, the Qing army had no way to do anything, so Yao Qisheng specially asked Kangxi, hoping to strengthen the construction of water divisions in order to achieve the purpose of recovering Taiwan at an early date.
With the support of Kangxi, the first Fujian marine division of more than 10,000 people was formed, and equipped with well-equipped warships and Western artillery.
Fourth, recommend good talents.
Although Yao Qisheng had courage and strategy in the process of quelling the rebellion, he was not good at fighting on the water. Therefore, he recommended to Kangxi Shi Lang, who was not ambitious, to be the admiral of Fujian.
(Yao Qisheng stills)
Why did Yao Qisheng recommend Shi Lang? There are three reasons for this.
First, Shi Lang is an old department of Zheng Jun and is familiar with Zheng Jun's internal affairs.
Shi Lang as early as When Zheng Zhilong was the commander-in-chief of the Ming Dynasty, he accompanied him to the south to fight in the northern war, because he would charge forward in every battle, very brave, and strategic, so Zheng Zhilong was heavily armed.
After Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, because he could not be reused, he returned to the Zheng clique and became the youngest and most knowledgeable young general under Zheng Chenggong. However, due to his and Zheng Chenggong's strategic disagreements, the military power was reduced, and later because his father and brother were killed, they were demoted again.
It can be said that Shi Lang is the person who knows the internal situation of the Zheng clique the most, and is also the most suitable promoter for attacking Zheng Jun's "suppression and use".
Second, there is a vendetta against the father and brother.
After Shi Lang returned to the Zheng clique, although he served under Zheng Chenggong, he opposed many of Zheng Chenggong's strategies, such as when he was the King of Qin in Guangdong, Zheng Chenggong "gave up water to the land and raised military salaries by plagiarism", which was opposed by Shi Lang.
Zheng Chenggong has always disliked people who contradict him, plus Shi Lang is an old man of the Zheng clique, and he is quite capable of leading the battle, arrogant in the army, so Zheng Chenggong is wary of him, so he cut off his military power.
Although Shi Lang later defeated the Qing army by leading dozens of people to defeat the Qing army when the Qing army sneaked into Xiamen, Zheng Chenggong still did not restore his official position.
What happened next completely intensified the contradiction between Shi Lang and Zheng Chenggong.
(Zheng Chenggong stills)
Shi Lang had a pacesetter named Zeng De, who should be sentenced to death for violating military law.
In order to evade the criminal law, Zeng De was given zheng chenggong's asylum by virtue of his connections, and was promoted to a pro-soldier retinue.
Shi Lang was furious when he knew this, so he took him back and beheaded him.
After Zheng Chenggong heard the news, he asked Shi Lang to stay under the knife, but Shi Lang quickly executed Zeng De.
After this incident, Zheng Chenggong believed that Shi Lang had disobeyed the order and that his intentions had appeared, so he and his father and brother were arrested and imprisoned. As a result, with the help of his cronies, he was able to escape.
Zheng Chenggong saw Shi Lang fleeing, and in anger, killed his father and brother.
Shi Lang turned around in anger and surrendered to the Qing army, and from then on formed a feud with the Zheng clique.
The third is to be proficient in naval warfare.
Shi Lang grew up by the sea and has been doing business at sea with his father since childhood, so he is proficient in sailing. Later, he served as a general in the Zheng clique, fought countless battles along the coast, and had great experience in naval warfare.
In fact, until he was recommended by Yao Qisheng, although Shi Lang served in Beijing, he was not allowed to be reused by the Qing court, so his life was quite poor, and he even needed to rely on his wife to make up for the family by doing female red patches outside.
Even if he was recommended by Yao Qisheng, the courtiers were suspicious of his several rebellions, so they did not approve of the reuse of Shi Lang. In the end, it was Yao Qisheng who guaranteed his life, and Kangxi also wanted to recover Taiwan as soon as possible, and Shi Lang was promoted to the governor of Fujian.
(Shi Lang stills)
Then, Yao Qisheng made so many contributions in the great cause of recovering Taiwan, and why was it Shi Lang who was finally rewarded?
It turned out that Shi Lang had gone to Kangxi before attacking Taiwan, saying that he would be in charge of the front line command of the recovery of Taiwan, while Yao Qisheng was only responsible for logistics.
Kangxi granted Shi Lang's request in order to free his hands and feet.
This made Yao Qisheng, who had done enough to recover Taiwan, inevitably dissatisfied. However, Yao Qisheng took into account the overall situation, not only guaranteed grain and grass for Shi Lang to attack the Zheng clique, but also raised more than 10,000 soldiers for him to support, and also built hundreds of warships from his own pocket to ensure that Shi Lang successfully recovered Taiwan.
However, after the recovery of Taiwan, Shi Lang, in order to prevent Yao Qisheng from fighting for merit, actually passed on the good news to the imperial court a few days before Yao Qisheng. Kangxi was overjoyed, and not only promoted him to the rank of general of Jinghai, but also made him the Marquis of Jinghai.
At the same time, Shi Lang also took the opportunity to impeach Yao Qisheng, saying that his support was not timely, which threatened to lead to the failure to recover Taiwan.
Because Yao Qi was a man of integrity and a stubborn temper, he offended many colleagues when he was an official, and those people also took the opportunity to impeach Yao Qisheng.
In this way, a misunderstanding was caused between Yao Qisheng and Kangxi.
Therefore, when Yao Qisheng's Xu Gong performance was sent to Kangxi, Kangxi not only did not praise him, but said that he "sold his reputation and fished for fame."
Yao Qishenggong was not awarded, which made him feel quite depressed, coupled with the attack of back sores, he died of illness on the way back to Fuzhou.
(Reference historical materials: "Draft History of the Qing Dynasty", "Yao Qisheng and the Unification of Taiwan by the Qing Dynasty")