Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1466 Changes in Southern Border ([-])
Completely drive the power of the Spanish-Portuguese Empire out of Nanyang?

Good idea, high pragmatism has always been this as a long-term goal.It's just that in the past few years, troubles have come one after another. Now he, Gao Situ, has collected most of the world's wealth and power, and he is very busy. Correspondingly, he doesn't want too much fluctuation in southern Xinjiang.

Originally according to Gao's pragmatic design, after a few years, the problems of Mongolia, Japan, and Jurchen will be basically resolved. By that time, someone Gao should be able to relax.Moreover, almost ten years of immigration had passed at that time, and the number of Han Chinese in southern Xinjiang and Nanyang was bound to increase greatly. At that time, it would naturally become easier to arrange various tasks.

But today, because of the eagerness of the nobles, Gao Wushi felt that they had to be untied.After all, it was also an important principle of his plan to transform the nobles from the status of feudal landlords to the status of trading capital.

Promoting reform with interests is Gao Pragmatic's consistent basic idea.In his view, if the "ruling class" cannot benefit from the reform, or if the profit is not as good as the loss, then no matter how much the reform benefits the people, the "ruling class" must have no motivation and will only become resistance.

These nobles are military officials in name, and they can't fight at all in reality. From this point of view, raising them is a waste of national resources.But the problem is that if they oppose the reform, the pressure for reform will be too great-not all the civil servants of the imperial court are in favor of the reform. What about being blessed?

Will Zhu Yijun live forever or what?When he dies at the latest, this reform is not just a matter of people taking the tea and letting people die and the government resting. Gain or death.

So after Gao Wushi heard what Zhu Yingzhen and Zhang Yuangong said, he had no choice but to untie them, but if the target was Japan, it would affect his next plan, so he had to make a temporary change and guide their attention to the Philippines.

However, Gao Wushi really didn't have time to think about the chain reaction at that time, and he only woke up when Liu Xin reminded him. It is true that the Spaniards and the Portuguese cannot be completely separated.

As Liu Xin said, after all, Spain and Portugal are currently under the same king, and Philip II's control over Portugal is also very strong.Once the Philippines, an important "transit station" in the Spanish colonial system, was taken away by himself, it was difficult for Philip II to remain indifferent.

The Spaniards are already full of bags in Europe, what can they do if they lose the Philippines?Two options: fight back despite all losses, or use the Portuguese colonial stronghold instead.

Calling back is definitely the happiest choice, but Gao Yushi estimated that Philip II could not do it, and Philip II himself should know it in his heart.

Then it is very likely that, as Liu Xin reminded, Philip II is very likely to ask Portugal for help.

Can Portugal say no?Obviously not.

Tens of thousands of Spanish troops were stationed in Portugal, and even Philip II himself stayed in Lisbon (since he won the Portuguese throne, he stayed in Lisbon for a long time in order to deter nearby).The Portuguese nobles are trembling and fearful now, how could they refuse?Take the lead and refuse?
Therefore, no matter how reluctant the Portuguese are, as long as Philip II speaks, Malacca will definitely be used by the Spaniards.Considering the inflated mentality of the Spaniards, it is hard to guarantee that they will not play dirty with Jinghua after they get the right to use Malacca.

Wanting to understand this truth, Gao Wushi couldn't help laughing wryly: "It really affects the whole body. I planned to fight Malacca in a few years, but now it seems that I have to move forward. But the matter of Nanzhang has not been resolved yet. Malacca will be included in the plan again..."

Liu Xin shook her head and said, "The matter in Malacca is actually easy to handle. Although this place is important, since it can be attacked by land, the difficulty is much lower than that of Manila. If Suluoge, Dani, Pahang and other horses Since the city-state is willing to let the Dingnan garrison pass through the border, it should not be difficult to capture Malacca."

Gao Pragmatically agrees with this statement. The reason why he appointed his cousin Gao Ruichu as the patrol envoy in southern Siam, and the Cambodian general Mu Sally as the guardian envoy of Siam, gave them the fourth town of the Dingnan Garrison and the independent garrison of Siam Isn't the two town-level establishments of divisions (towns) prepared for the capture of Malacca?

The fourth town of the Dingnan Garrison is one of the "Five Towns of Dingnan", with a full staff of more than 12700 people, which is actually full.The town has two standard infantry associations, three independent artillery units, one independent cavalry unit, and two engineer battalions;

The Siam Independent Defense Division is also a town-level unit. The reason why "divisions" are used to distinguish "towns" is because Jinghua currently uses towns as the standard army configuration, and divisions exist as auxiliary forces. The Armed Police Force - mainly guards the local area, but also has certain combat capabilities, and can quickly replenish the "town" level military establishment when needed.

The staffing of the Siam Independent Garrison Division is slightly smaller than that of the town. The division is currently more than 9000 people, and it is divided into two infantry associations and two engineering battalions.

All in all, just in southern Siam—that is, the northern part of the Malay Peninsula—Jinghua has about 22000 troops, which is enough to call it strong.

Less than 80 years ago, the Portuguese took down the city of Malacca with 700 defenders with only 5 people.At that time, there were [-] merchant ships from Ming Dynasty in the city of Malacca (which came in violation of the ban on sea). The Portuguese colonist Alfonso de Albuquerque was generous in order to show his friendship with Ming Dynasty and also to demonstrate The Ming merchants were allowed to board Portuguese warships and watch the entire conquest process.

The specific battle process Gao Pragmatic has already obtained from the descendants of these merchants, which can be roughly divided into two stages.

In the first stage, Portugal stormed, but failed, because the Sultan of Malacca also had firearms from Europe.These firearms were sent to India by Venice. The root cause is that Venice knew very well that once Portugal took control of the Arab-Indian trade route, Venice’s Mediterranean trade advantage would be broken, and the Mediterranean trade circle would be replaced by the Atlantic trade circle.

The idea was correct, and later developments proved it.At that time, under this guiding ideology, Venice imported European firearms to Arabia, Arabia to India, and India to Malacca. The whole process took about ten years.

In any case, although the Sultan of Malacca played ugly, he still relied on firearms to withstand the first wave of Portugal's strong attack.The Portuguese who landed and attacked Malacca had too few troops to bear too many casualties, so they retreated after finding it difficult to build fence fortifications.

The Portuguese didn't really retreat, they waited their chance on board.The opportunity came quickly. Since Malacca itself is also an estuary port, the key to attacking Malacca was the bridge connecting the two urban areas in the city. Therefore, the Portuguese took advantage of the high tide to enter the river with warships and suppressed the defenders in the city with battleship artillery. The firepower finally established an artillery position in the city.

Ten days later, the Sultan, who saw no hope of defending the city, escaped from Malacca with his two sons.A large number of Burmese and Indian merchants came into contact with Albuquerque, acknowledging his occupation of the city.Since then, the city of Malacca has become Portugal's most important base in the region east of India, until now.

Albuquerque's conquest of Malacca was typical of Portuguese conquests in Asia at that time.Although the defenders were often large in number and possessed a small number of good weapons, they were still unable to resist the attacks of the new European conquerors.As the best naval force in the world at that time (referring to the time period of 1511), the Portuguese not only had an advantage on the sea, but also demonstrated the qualities honed on the European battlefield during a series of landing and siege operations.

As an international metropolis that relies on trade and exchanges for a living, Malacca people can theoretically obtain the most advanced weapons at that time by sea, and hire professional soldiers from inside and outside the region to serve as defenders (in fact, among the [-] troops of the Sultan of Malacca, there are There are legions of mercenaries).

But this rapid military modernization cannot fundamentally change the nature of the weak local military strength.Whether it is new artillery, Indian war elephants, or traditional venom bows and arrows, none of them can make up for the shortcomings of soldiers' quality and lagging command system.

Although the Malacca Sultanate is a local bully, it lacks the efficiency of a centralized state in concentrating resources.In fact, after the fall of Malacca, the remnants of the Sultanate continued to struggle with the Portuguese for a long time until the arrival of the Dutch. This shows that the rapid capture of the capital was due to the inability to concentrate resources to defend the capital.

Portugal's victory was brought about by utilizing its strengths and avoiding weaknesses, and making reasonable use of its own advantages.Taking advantage of the high tide to use the fleet to go straight to the key points, and the guns of the guard of honor to suppress the firepower of the defenders... The Portuguese's victory is as it should be.

Today, due to the infiltration of Jinghua, the situation of the Portuguese in Malacca is almost defenseless for Gao Pragmatism.

First of all, although Malacca has an important location, because Portugal is a small country with few people, its main power in Asia is still concentrated in Goa, the capital of India.Their strength in Malacca City, except for the time period when a large number of Portuguese merchant ships came here, was not strong at other times, and it could even be said to be weak.

Similar to the situation of the Spaniards in Manila, Portugal usually does not have more than 2000 warships in Malacca, and the number of troops stationed in the army also does not exceed [-].

Jinghua was not the local native sultans. Their armed force was at least at the same level as that of the Europeans, and their tactical thinking was even more advanced. Can the Portuguese army of 2000 defend against the attack of the 22000 Jinghua army?

impossible.Jinghua didn't even need to rely on the naval fleet to take advantage of the high tide to enter Malacca, their direct attack was enough to ensure victory.Of course, it would be even better if the fleet also played against Portugal.

Gao Wushi thought for a while, then turned to Gao Mo and asked, "Ruichu has been in southern Siam for so long, and she should have had contact with small countries such as Suluoge, Dani, Pahang, etc. Do you think they will be willing to let us go?" The road to attack Malacca?"

Gao Mo said: "There is contact, and the normal relationship between the two sides is also passable. However, although these small countries may not know the story of the false Taoism, they do know that the King of Siam is now under house arrest in Dingnan. The old servant suspects that once Young Master Tang really sends troops, they may worry that they will become like Siam in the future and become my Jinghua's puppets, so... how they will react is hard to say right now."

Gao Wushi looked at Liu Xin again and asked, "Miss Liu, what do you think?"

Liu Xin curled her lips and said, "My opinion is that even if they are willing to give way, it's best for us to pretend that we don't know and call them all the way."

"Oh?" Gao Wushi said with a half-smile, "I never thought you would be so domineering, girl."

The word "side" let Liu Xin know that Gao Yushi's words had a hint of ridicule in her previous life, but she didn't mind. Instead, she puffed out her chest on purpose and said, "That's natural."

Gao Wushi held back his laughter and asked, "Why? Oh, I mean, why did you fight all the way there?"

"I'm too lazy to bother." Liu Xin said very straightforwardly: "These small countries are sandwiched between Dingnan and Malacca, and Dingnan is the capital of southern Xinjiang you set, and Malacca must be the future business center. Can other uncontrolled forces be tolerated?
How can you allow others to snore on the side of the couch, not to mention these small countries, including Johor in the south of Malacca. , must be completely controlled by Jinghua! "

Gao Wushi didn't continue to struggle, and asked directly: "Who will you send to fight? Can Ruichu and Musali do?"

"If you're asking if the two of them can cooperate, I think it's okay." Liu Xin shrugged slightly: "But if you're asking who is the most suitable, then I don't think they are the best candidates."

"Oh? What's the reason?" Gao Yushi looked as usual, and he didn't seem surprised.

"You have a lot of surrendered generals under your command, and Musali is the last one to take refuge. If he goes to win such a great achievement... Ruan Huang has made great achievements in the pacification of Cambodia, that's fine, but like Mo Yulin But how should the flow deal with itself?
Mo Yulin's performance in this Nanzhang crisis doesn't look very good, but we all know that he just couldn't be sure of the attitudes of you and Huang Dutong.

And if he does not have a place in the ensuing battle of the Malay Peninsula, I suspect that he may become overwhelmed, and wonder whether you are dissatisfied with him, have taken precautions, and even have the ability to kill the donkey. heart of. "

Gao Wushi didn't express his opinion, but asked again: "What about Ruichu?"

"Gao Ruichu is your nephew, not your son." Liu Xin's words were still very straightforward: "Your son may not even be able to walk now. If Gao Ruichu makes such great achievements, in the future...do you think he treats you well?" How much sincere respect will your heirs have?"

Gao Wushi smiled: "You are thinking too far."

Liu Xin raised her chin slightly: "Really?"

Gao Wushi didn't bother to argue, and sighed softly: "So you mean, let Zhiting go there again?"

"Then you guessed my meaning wrong. I think Huang Dutong had better not go this time." Liu Xin raised her eyebrows and asked, "She is your wife, but she is not yourself after all. From the perspective of the whole southern Xinjiang, only Annan was brought down by you personally. Afterwards, whether Burma, Siam, or even Cambodia, it can be regarded as the credit of Huang Dutong. Don’t you think Isn't this situation a little bad?
But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying she has any ulterior motives.I just think that if things go on like this, there will be a situation in southern Xinjiang. In this situation... there may be trouble. "

Gao Wushi was a little surprised that Liu Xin said this, but since she even said something like "there are two days in the sky", how could Gao Wushi not know what her so-called trouble is?
Empress Lu and Wu Yan.

What's more coincidental is that Empress Lu and Wu Yan both have a big family, and Huang Zhiting's family is even more powerful.If there is any difference, it is probably that Huang Zhiting has been doing things from a high-level pragmatic standpoint from the beginning to the end.

But this matter... If you have to say it, when Wu Yan was still a queen, she didn't dare to disobey Li Zhi's wishes.Both of these two had a high status before their husbands, but they did not oppose their husbands. After their husbands died, they took over the power and appointed relatives from their natal families wantonly, changing the color of the court.

Gao Mo was also a little scared by Liu Xin's words. In fact, he also felt that his wife's power was too great, and her prestige in southern Xinjiang was also too high. Dare to say.

At this time, Gao Mo couldn't continue to pretend to be stupid, coughed lightly, and said in a low voice: "If the master hesitates, it's better to wait until the matter of Nanzhang is over, and see how Madam will deal with Huang Yinglei, and then make a decision."
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(End of this chapter)