prosperous age

"Use benefits to lure them."

Mu Changzuo repeated it softly twice in his mouth, and suddenly he felt everything became clear.

He has realized the mistake he made, which is to think about Myanmar from the perspective of the Ming Dynasty's military system.

I heard news before that Mang Yinglong often mobilized tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops to invade a certain country. For example, in the two wars against Siam, he mobilized more than 100,000 troops each time.

However, at that time, Mu Changzuo thought that this military strength was just a claim to external forces, and the actual strength was only a few tens of thousands of people.

However, this time, in a very short period of time, Myanmar mobilized its troops to attack Mubang and besiege Mengyang, which made him realize his previous misjudgment of Myanmar’s military strength.

"At present, our army has only 20,000 troops in Yongchang and its surrounding areas. We are unable to intervene in any way. We must obtain assistance from the court as soon as possible.

If possible, we should launch a surprise attack when the Burmese army attacks Mengyang, and destroy the main force of the Burmese army in one fell swoop."

Mu Changzuo finally lost his composure. He used to think that the Ming Dynasty could sit back and enjoy the upper hand and have a huge advantage, but now he finally realized that the situation was critical and the Burmese army could muster far more troops than he expected.

"Prepare paper and ink. I want to write a letter to Wang Ning."

Although their family was known as the King of Yunnan and had the title of Duke of Qian, the imperial court did not really hand over Yunnan to them completely.

The Governor of Yunnan is the most powerful person in this land.

Moreover, because the governors and governors-general of the Ming Dynasty were originally in charge of civil affairs and military affairs, in practice they were confused with each other.

In places where there are governors and governors-general, the governor naturally controls the governors and military officers, and then the local provincial governors and prefects. In places where there are no governors, the governors-general not only manage civil affairs, but also have the ability to influence the military affairs of the military officers-general, becoming the de facto governor.

Although Wang Ning's reputation as an official in Yunnan was not good, he was still the governor of Yunnan and the highest-ranking official there.

Mu Changzuo wanted to transfer troops from Yunnan to deploy defenses near Yongchang Prefecture, but that was absolutely impossible without Wang Ning's permission.

Soon, the housekeeper ordered the servants to bring writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone, and Mu Changzuo also picked up his pen to write a letter to Wang Ning, explaining clearly what he had learned from outside the domain.

As for the affairs of the Toungoo Dynasty of Burma, in fact, more of the results are now analyzed. However, Mu Changzuo certainly would not say so in the letter. Instead, he used the information he got from merchants to evade the issue.

In the letters, emphasis was placed on the news spread by the merchants, which was that the Burmese army had appeared near the Ming border.

Mu Changzuo believed that when Wang Ning saw this, he would be frightened and break out in a cold sweat, so it would be natural to authorize him to mobilize the troops from Yunnan.

Of course, Mu Changzuo did not forget to remind Wang Ning to report the matter to the court as soon as possible and notify Li Chengliang in Yong'an.

Yunnan is now in urgent need of reinforcements from the imperial army.

A few years ago, the imperial court issued an order to stop the transportation of money and grain to Yunnan, and it was to be allocated to various garrisons as soon as possible to facilitate the mobilization of troops.

It can only be said that Mu Changzuo now admires the people in the capital very much. They can make plans and know the strength of East and West Myanmar thousands of miles away from Yunnan.

In fact, if Wei Guangde had not had the impression of later generations and knew that during the Ming and Qing dynasties, China and Myanmar had fought a long war and lost many places that were considered to be their territories, he would never have imagined that Myanmar dared to scratch the dragon's beard of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, the gap in strength between the two countries is there.

Who would do something like throwing an egg against a rock?

But Myanmar actually did it, and did it very well.

Although the Emperor of Poetry and the Ten-Perfect Man also spent a huge price during the Qing Dynasty, and the four commanders he appointed either committed suicide or died of illness during the expedition to Burma, but he did scare Burma.

But it is undeniable that the Qing Dynasty’s war against Myanmar did not achieve its strategic goals.

It was only because the Burmese army failed to stop the Qing army's offensive in several wars that the battlefield was transferred to Myanmar, causing huge losses to Myanmar's domestic economy and making Myanmar unable to continue fighting.

What is more important is that the timing of the Qing army's attack on Myanmar was surprisingly good. Although this was not what Emperor Qianlong wanted, the Qing army's attack on the Burmese army gave Siam, which had been annexed by Myanmar, a chance to be reborn.

While the Qing army and the Burmese army were fighting fiercely, the defeated Siamese army rearmed itself and eventually defeated the small number of Burmese troops stationed in Siam, and finally gained independence.

The loss of Siam was also the reason why Myanmar chose to surrender to the Qing Dynasty at that time.

In fact, the Southeast Asia strategy planned by Wei Guangde, which turned the Indian Ocean into the West Sea of ​​the Ming Dynasty, essentially still had a huge omission, that is, he did not fully understand Myanmar and its surrounding areas.

Due to the special terrain of Myanmar and its surrounding areas and the large number of ethnic minorities, Myanmar's rulers mostly exercise control in form.

In other words, the actual people in power here are hereditary chieftains, who pass the power from father to son, and from son to grandson.

Most of the chieftains' subordinates were from a certain ethnic group and only supported their own chieftain. They ignored the distant Burmese regime, let alone the Ming Dynasty court.

The chieftains showed formal courtesy to the government by paying a certain amount of "flower and horse gifts" on a regular basis, which was money and grain as tribute, in exchange for their independence.

Of course, chieftains were not allowed to rebel against the government at will, otherwise the government might send troops to attack them.

However, this kind of expedition will not end well. Government soldiers will be dumbfounded when they enter the jungles of northern Myanmar. At most, they will burn, kill, and rape indiscriminately before retreating.

The chieftain suffered a small loss and turned to the government in exchange for continued rule.

It can be imagined that even if the Ming Dynasty captured the capital of Myanmar, it would be difficult to actually control it. The best that could happen was to turn Myanmar into another Annan.

Unless the Ming Dynasty really has the confidence to station heavy troops here for a long time to suppress all disobedience.

The British sent troops to conquer Burma in the 19th century, which took them sixty years to complete. The price they paid can be imagined.

Mu Changzuo knew that the Yunnan government was actually very troubled by the local chieftains, and this was the reason.

It's just that he didn't know Wei Guangde's plan, otherwise he would definitely tell him the truth and let Wei Guangde reconsider it.

As for the border, Mu Changzuo, apart from sending some agile guards from the Duke of Qian's Mansion to sneak out to gather information secretly, could only wait for a reply from Kunming.

At this time, in the Yunnan Governor's headquarters, Wang Ning had already received Mu Changzuo's warning letter and was also frowning.

This time he certainly didn't dare to suppress the news like his predecessors did. The imperial court was already paying attention to this, and if he continued to conceal the news, he might really be thrown into jail.

While drafting a memorial and attaching Mu Changzuo's letter to report to the capital, he also wrote a letter to Li Chengliang, the left governor of Yongning, asking him to reorganize the troops and be ready to enter Yunnan at any time.

Of course, Wang Ning did not forget the most important thing, which was to send a letter to Mu Changzuo, allowing him to start mobilizing troops to be prepared.

After receiving the official document from Wang Ning, Mu Changzuo also began to reorganize his troops.

On the one hand, he ordered the Heqing Qianhu Suo, Dali Wei and Erhai Wei in the north to prepare for war, and at the same time mobilized Qujing Wei, Yuezhou Wei and Luliang Wei in eastern Yunnan to gather troops and rush to Yongchang Prefecture.

The place with the largest number of troops in Yunnan is naturally Kunming and its surrounding areas. The five guards of Yunnan in front, middle, back, left and right and Guangnan Guard also received orders to reorganize their troops.

As for the garrisons near Jingdong, Menghua, Chuxiong and Yongchang Prefecture, which had always been controlled by the Duke of Qian's Mansion, they had already completed their military preparations.

When the war alarm was sounded in the southwest, the document sent by Yu Dayou to the capital to report the victory finally arrived in the capital.

Using the centipede boat to transmit messages is indeed extremely fast.

Unlike the Fu ship which relies on wind power to navigate, the Centipede Captain's hull and the oars densely packed on both sides can sail at high speed relying on human power.

From Luzon to Guangdong, two groups of sailors took turns rowing and completed the route in just half a month.

What happened next, of course, was that the express delivery shop delivered the good news to the capital day and night.

When the victory report was sent to the capital, it was already a month later. The Ministry of War and the Cabinet received news from Luzon that Lin Feng had been captured alive and the entire Lin Feng pirate group was annihilated, either dead or surrendered.

In addition, the Ming army captured the large city of Daimao built by Lin Feng near Pengasilan Bay in Luzon, and obtained the land of Luzon north of 16 degrees north latitude through negotiations with the Manila barbarians.

There are actually two important points in Yu Dayou's memorial. One is that the Lin Feng pirate group no longer exists, and the other is that the Ming Dynasty has obtained nearly half of the land in Luzon.

However, there were still some things that the people in the Ministry of War did not understand. That was that in Yu Dayou's victory report, for the first time, the barbarians in Haojing were called "Portuguese", and the barbarians in Luzon were called "Spanish". Also, there was the way of drawing the boundaries, and what did the sixteen degrees north latitude mean.

When the battle report was sent to the Ministry of War, Tan Lun was shocked after reading it.

He knew about the plan to take control of Luzon, but he thought the possibility of success was very low.

Not only did the Ming Dynasty have no ambition to expand outward, but after the Ming army withdrew from Annan, the Ming Dynasty reduced its strength and stopped expanding outward.

Even though Li Chengliang had previously proposed to build six forts in Kuandian and expand the territory by 800 miles, in fact, to be precise, it was just to recover this territory.

After all, in the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming army even reached Sakhalin Island and established the Nurgan Regional Military Region.

As the troops were reduced, the Nurgan Regional Military Commission's army withdrew to Liaodong and redeployed its defenses, leaving areas such as the Greater Khingan Range a Ming territory in name only.

However, it was only during these two years that the Ministry of War under his leadership actually expanded large tracts of territory.

The first place to go was naturally Dongfan Island. Although it was just across the Fujian Sea, it was a place the Ming army had never been to due to ancestral restrictions.

Now the South China Sea Navy has not only established military ports in the three places of South, North and Central, but also moved a garrison and two thousand households there, and established strongholds along the Dongfan Islands, which means it has truly taken root in the Dongfan Islands.

  Now, Yu Dayou has occupied Daimao City and obtained nearly half of the land in Luzon. Doesn't this count as an achievement in expanding territory?

"You guys should research how many guard posts and thousand-household posts are suitable to be relocated to Luzon. Also, our Ministry of War should come up with a plan for rewarding the meritorious officers and soldiers this time."

After Tan Lun gave some instructions to the two assistant ministers, he went straight into the palace with the victory report.

At this time in the cabinet, Zhang Juzheng had already returned to his duty room to work.

After the Jinyiwei went to Liaodong to arrest Liu Tai, Zhang Juzheng walked out of the mansion a few days later and returned to the cabinet to handle official business.

Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang did not ask about Zhang Juzheng's opinion on how to deal with Liu Tai. They decided to wait and see how the situation would change after he was captured.

Anyway, this precedent of a student impeaching a teacher is not a good thing and must be dealt with severely.

Let Zhang Juzheng do the final thing.

Tan Lun moved quickly. When he entered the palace, he met the Minister of Public Security who was rushing into the palace.

"Congratulations, Minister Tan, Great Ming Wuwei."

When the Minister of Public Administration saw Tan Lun enter the palace, he guessed where he was going and hurriedly bowed and smiled.

"Are you sending a victory report to the Imperial Household Department?"

Tan Lun asked with a smile.

"That's right. Such a big thing should be reported to the palace as soon as possible so that His Majesty can know about it."

The Minister of Public Administration smiled.

If it were a hundred years ago, this good news would have been delivered directly to the emperor by him, the Minister of Public Security.

But now the situation has changed. He can only hand over the victory report to the Imperial Household Department, and the eunuchs there will deliver it to the Emperor.

The Tongzhengshisi really became a government office for passing messages, and could only be a place for officials who were content with the status quo to retire.

They separated at the palace gate, and Tan Lun went directly to the cabinet.

"Good loan, good news has arrived."

When he arrived outside Wei Guangde's duty room, without waiting for Lu Bu to report, Tan Lun walked in directly with the victory report.

"Where?"

Wei Guangde was stunned when he heard this, then put down the document in his hand and asked.

"Luzon, I didn't expect Yu Dayou to really take over half of Luzon."

Tan Lun walked quickly to the desk and handed the memorial in his hand over.

"hehe."

Wei Guangde smiled. He initially thought that Qi Jiguang had taken action in Liaodong.

After all, although the capital already knew that the South China Sea Navy had gone to Luzon to suppress the Japanese, it had not received any battle reports for a long time and had somewhat forgotten about it.

There was no warning news from Yunnan, but in order for Qi Jiguang to handle the situation in Liaodong flexibly, the court gave him an order to act at his discretion.

The Liaodong governor was also aware of this matter, and his purpose was naturally to reduce constraints.

But what I didn’t expect was that the good news that Tan Lun brought was from Luzon.

After taking the victory report and quickly reading it, Tan Lun was still talking about the incident when he met the Tongzhengshi who was delivering the victory report at the palace gate.

"I'm afraid the news has spread throughout the outer court."

Wei Guangde said calmly.

"Well, such a good news will definitely spread quickly. I'm afraid the rumors have spread among the people in the market."

Tan Lun said cheerfully.

"This is a good thing, but it may not be the case for some old Confucian scholars."

Wei Guangde said in a low voice, then looked at Tan Lun and reminded him: "The Ministry of War should draft a charter and submit it as soon as possible. We must deal with this matter quickly to avoid unnecessary complications."

Expanding territory is a good thing, but there are still old scholars who hold on to Confucianism and oppose external expansion, especially when the imperial power is declining.

He is full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, and might even ask Yu Dayou to find the bloodline of the King of Luzon in Luzon and support them in rebuilding their country.

"I have asked someone to assess their performance and report it as soon as possible."

Tan Lun smiled and said, "What does Shandai think of Lin Fengchun's surrendered generals and others?"

"We should discuss this with Uncle Da. He is the Prime Minister, so we should listen to his opinions first."

Wei Guangde said.

Without any further ado, Wei Guangde stood up with the victory report, and walked out of the duty room with Tan Lun and went to the Prime Minister's duty room.

When they arrived in front of Zhang Juzheng, they exchanged greetings and Wei Guangde handed him the victory report. He said with a smile, "The matter of Luzon has been accomplished. This is the victory report from Yu Dayou."

Hearing this, Zhang Juzheng snatched the victory report from Wei Guangde and quickly flipped through it. (End of this chapter)