As the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu sent, Zhu Jinsong was now the Emperor of the Nine-Five Supremacy, while Zhu Erdan, Zhu Jinsong's own brother, had not even been granted the title of Prince, let alone a Prince of the first rank.
Although Zhu Erdan was now in charge of the Former Army Commandery, with tens of thousands of troops under his command, he was considered to hold a high position and considerable power. However, compared to royal titles such as Prince or Prince of the first rank, he was in a somewhat ambiguous position.
This was why Grand Tutor Ruan, knowing that Zhu Erdan and Zhu Jinsong were brothers, still sent someone to persuade him to surrender.
To be granted land and a fief, to receive high office and generous stipends, to enjoy wealth and glory, to have beautiful wives and concubines – who could resist such temptations?
At any rate, Grand Tutor Ruan felt that he could not.
But Zhu Erdan let out a snort of laughter and, looking at the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu, said, "Although my elder brother is the Emperor of the Nine-Five Supremacy, do you know what kind of life my elder brother lives every day?"
Without waiting for the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu to answer, Zhu Erdan continued to speak on his own, "Every day, well past the hour of Yin, my elder brother has to get up early to handle the affairs of the court and the various regions."
"Before the hour of Mao, my elder brother has to discuss state affairs with the Grand Academicians and the ministers of the dozen ministries. After that, it's a full day of official duties."
"By the time it's dark, my elder brother has to transcribe teaching materials for the community schools and county schools. He can only sleep after the hour of Xu every day."
"Of course, you might think that all this is what an emperor should do, but I'm telling you, my elder brother only has one little sister-in-law in his harem. The two of them have only two dishes and one soup for every meal. Do they eat as well as a fifth-rank official in your rebel army?"
"Nine-Five Supremacy? Is your emperor the kind who gets up earlier than a chicken, sleeps later than a dog, eats worse than a pig, yet works harder than an ox?"
The envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu did not dwell on the word "rebel army" in Zhu Erdan's words. Instead, he carefully noted down what Zhu Erdan said.
This was information that no one had ever been able to obtain before.
However, the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu had some doubts about the authenticity of this information.
Let alone the officials of the fifth rank and above in the imperial court, even he, a Hanlin scholar of the seventh rank, had more than just two dishes and one soup for every meal.
And what about only one little sister-in-law in the harem? Who could believe such nonsense? Even as a prestigious Hanlin official, he had several beautiful wives and concubines at home!
If it were as Zhu Erdan said, then Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, would truly be someone who got up earlier than a chicken, ate worse than a pig, slept later than a dog, and worked harder than an ox.
What was the point of being such an emperor?
It would be better to enjoy life as a seventh-rank Hanlin official like himself!
While the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu was doubting the authenticity of this information, Zhu Erdan let out another chuckle and said, "Since you want to hear it, I might as well tell you more."
Having said that, Zhu Erdan patted his chest and said, "Look at me, eight feet tall, with a body like an iron tower. My elder brother is half a head shorter than me, and his physique is far less robust than mine. Do you know why?"
The envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu looked at Zhu Erdan in bewilderment, thinking, "How am I supposed to know that?"
Zhu Erdan continued to speak on his own, "I'll tell you why – because one year during a disaster, my elder brother saved his grain and gave it to me and the third brother. If it weren't for my elder brother, the third brother and I would have starved to death long ago."
"Let me put it this way: my life was given to me by my elder brother. You scoundrels are actually trying to persuade me to surrender and betray my elder brother."
Hearing Zhu Erdan's explanation, the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu knew that the so-called persuasion to surrender was completely in vain.
If it were any other time, an elder brother giving his own rations to his two younger brothers could be considered as loving his brothers. But to save his rations for his two younger brothers during a disaster was not just about loving or caring for his brothers; it was a life-saving grace!
The envoy had seen the scenes of disaster in the civilian population – when people were desperate from hunger, they would truly eat people. If they couldn't bear to eat their own children, they would exchange their children with others to eat each other.
And this was far from the worst. The worst was the cannibalism between father and son – the father ate the son, and the son ate the father!
"Great famine, father and son eat each other." These six words, however, could not hide the numerous white bones and the wailing of ten thousand ghosts under the prosperous Kang-Qian era of my Qing Dynasty!
Thinking of this, the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu also couldn't help but have thoughts of retreat. He cupped his hands in a bow to Zhu Erdan and said, "We did not know that the Second Young Master Zhu and your esteemed Emperor had such a past. We were indeed reckless. We shall take our leave now."
But Zhu Erdan let out a cold laugh and said, "Didn't you understand what I said earlier? Then I'll say it again – either surrender obediently, or die for me!"
The envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu's face changed drastically. He looked at Zhu Erdan and said, "Does the Second Young Master not know that when two countries are at war, there is the saying that envoys are not to be killed?"
Zhu Erdan let out a cold laugh and said, "My elder brother once said that fighting a war is a matter of you die or I live. What nonsense about not killing envoys when two countries are at war is simply fabricated by you greedy and cowardly pedantic scholars."
The envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu thought to himself, "Why should it be that I die and you live? Why can't it be that you die and I live?"
But as much as he complained, the two choices given by Zhu Erdan were clear. For a moment, the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu found himself in a dilemma.
If he wanted to surrender, his parents and children were still in the hands of the imperial court in the rear.
If he chose to die, he was unwilling to die.
After a long silence, the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu said in a deep voice, "So there is no room for negotiation?"
Zhu Erdan nodded and said in a deep voice, "You only have two choices: surrender or die."
Hearing Zhu Erdan's words, the envoy sent by Zhu Zhongqu decided to tentatively negotiate with Zhu Erdan, saying, "Let me go back, and I will tell you everything I know, how about it? I have old parents and young children. If I die like this, what will happen to my eighty-year-old mother at home?"
...
While Grand Tutor Ruan was sending someone to persuade Zhu Erdan to surrender, "Great Ming's National Protector" Huang Liangji had already led his troops northward.
Traveling from Zhejiang to Shandong, if they took the land route, it would likely take at least ten to half a month. However, if they took the sea route, it would only take one or two days from Ningbo to Dengzhou and Laizhou.
The key was that in this one day, they could both distance themselves from the 200,000 troops led by Zhu Erdan and achieve great deeds in Dengzhou and Laizhou. For the National Protector Huang Liangji, there was nothing in the world better than this.
As for whether he would be defeated? Such things were obviously not within the scope of Duke Huang Liangji's considerations.
Don't forget, Duke Huang Liangji had the elite navy of the "Great Ming Imperial Court" under his command, and he had also incorporated pirates from the Jiangnan and Zhejiang regions. He truly had strong troops and horses. And what did Zhu Jinsong's navy have?
Even Lin Shuangwen, who had been active at sea for a long time, only had a few small sampans. The Deng-Lai naval forces had always been useless during the Qing Dynasty, and now under the rebel Zhu Jinsong, they would likely only become even more useless.
Because the conditions required for shipbuilding were too harsh, Zhu Jinsong, the rebel leader, had only occupied Shandong for a few years. Even if he had the ambition to build ships, he couldn't gather the necessary lumber.
As he thought about how he was about to break Zhu Jinsong's myth of never having been defeated, Duke Huang Liangji couldn't help but feel happy. As he became happy, he started to hum a tune: "Beat the drums fast, slow the gongs, stop the gongs and drums to listen to the song, all sorts of idle talk is also a song, listen to me sing..."
However, before Duke Huang could sing the most important three words of the tune, the lookout on the mast hoisted a flag.
"Enemy fleet ahead, five ships, with cannons, warships."
His mood interrupted, Duke Huang lost all interest in singing. Instead, he quickly walked to the bow of the ship and raised his telescope to observe.
According to the intelligence Duke Huang had received, Zhu Jinsong should only have small sampans and other broken ships. It was impossible for him to have five warships.
Duke Huang knew very well that although the soldiers on his ship had complex origins, including regular navy personnel and pirates who made a living at sea, both the navy soldiers and the pirates were people trained over many years by his own side. These people would never lie to him.
This meant that there were indeed five warships in front of them.
Then the question arose – with the Deng-Lai naval forces unreliable and shipbuilding not yet in time, where did Zhu Jinsong get five warships?
Were they allocated from Lin Shuangwen?
Don't be ridiculous. Lin Shuangwen's Fujian naval forces were currently being suppressed by their own Great Ming navy. He would be lucky if he could take care of himself, let alone allocate five warships to the rebel Zhu!
Were they bought?
That was even more impossible. Whether it was Joseon or Japan, they basically had contacts. They would not sell warships to Zhu Jinsong.
Besides, those small broken ships built by Joseon and Japan were not qualified to be called warships.
If they were bought from the barbarians of Europe, that also didn't make sense. Because the warships of the barbarians of Europe, to reach Shandong, had to pass through Zhejiang first. It was impossible for them to not receive any news.
As they got closer and closer to the five warships in front, Duke Huang, who finally understood what was going on, couldn't help but burst into laughter: "I thought Zhu Jinsong had some killer move, hidden all along without revealing it. I didn't expect it to be converted whaling ships into warships."
"Haha, haha, whaling ships converted into warships, this Zhu Jinsong, this rebel, is indeed clever! This is probably all his assets, isn't it? Hahaha!"
After laughing, Duke Huang's interrupted mood was renewed. He then hummed softly, "Reach out and touch the silk on the side of your face, dark clouds fly across the sky, reach out and touch the front of your head..."
However, before Duke Huang could sing a few more lines, the five whaling ships in front took the initiative to open fire.
"Boom!"
"Swish!"
"Clang!"
First came the dull roar of artillery, then the sharp whistle of cannonballs, and finally the explosion of the cannonballs.
Duke Huang was stunned.
Explosions?
Duke Huang could be considered experienced – he had seen many warships and many cannons. He had also seen cannons using explosive shells, but he had never seen cannons on ships using explosive shells.
In naval warfare before, although everyone would bombard each other with cannonballs, that kind of bombardment was literally just that.
Bombardment.
They used solid cannonballs to bombard each other, and see whose ship would be unlucky first.
Duke Huang had also considered replacing solid cannonballs with explosive shells, but the biggest problem with explosive shells was their high cost and difficulty in controlling the detonation time. If they exploded after hitting the ship, it would be fine, but what if they hit the water and became duds?
In fact, even if the cannonballs did not become duds when they hit the water, most people were unwilling to equip explosive shells.
If their own cannons were hit, then even immortals could not save them.
However, while Duke Huang was thinking about these miscellaneous things, the five whaling ships facing them showed no signs of stopping.