prosperous age

The father and son of the Li family still stayed quietly outside the city of Yongning to train their troops, and continued to ask the provincial governments of Sichuan, Guangxi and Guizhou for money, food and supplies.

There are tens of thousands of games to be played, and the cost is huge if you have to eat and drink every day.

Although Yunnan, which was nearby, had stockpiled a large amount of supplies, Li Chengliang did not ask Wang Ning for them.

Once we get the official documents from the capital and the army enters Yunnan, these things will be easily captured. However, it will be inconvenient to continue asking for supplies from Sichuan and other places at that time.

It's not that they can't get it, but that they will become procrastinating. After all, they have entered the territory of Yunnan, and according to the rules of the Ming army's warfare, they should mainly raise funds locally.

Moreover, in the face of war, Li Chengliang's attention would not be focused on logistics, but he would definitely be thinking about the front line.

Naturally, they have the opportunity to delay.

If we can send fewer batches, the burden on local areas will be less.

In the capital, there was no time to convene a cabinet meeting to raise taxes in Yuegang. After the palace approved it, the cabinet directed the Ministry of War to send official documents to the southwest and southeast overnight.

In the southwest direction, it was natural to let Li Chengliang take over the command of the Yunnan war and give Li Chengliang the highest power, even allowing him to directly appoint officials to the local military preparation department.

Several southwestern provinces also received official documents from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Revenue, requesting the supply of military supplies in accordance with Li Chengliang's requirements.

This was what Wei Guangde promised him at the beginning, giving him all the rights. If Li Chengliang could not take over Burma, he would not have to come back.

But on this matter, Wei Guangde managed to convince Zhang Juzheng with great difficulty, but was stopped in the military department.

Fortunately, Zhang Juzheng gave the order and the Military Department reluctantly let him go.

Wei Guangde couldn't help but sigh. Before, Liu Tai impeached Zhang Juzheng, and the main charge was that he controlled the six departments and interfered with the emperor's power.

Unexpectedly, he would see the benefits of controlling six subjects so soon.

At the very least, the probability of a document being blocked in the six departments is much smaller.

In the past, they were only responsible to the emperor, so they could naturally deal with the cabinet's requests in a tactful manner, but it mainly depended on the palace's opinions.

Now, the cabinet can influence the work of the six departments.

The most crucial thing is that the cabinet ministers have the power to recommend the six ministers. With this, it can almost be said that the six ministries are subordinate to the cabinet, because in name the cabinet and the six ministries are actually not subordinate to each other.

It is unacceptable. People in later generations said that Zhang Juzheng was actually the most powerful prime minister in the Ming Dynasty.

If it weren't for his intervention, Zhang Juzheng would definitely be the number one person in the court.

And now, at least two of the six departments will not completely obey his orders.

At night, Wei Guangde went home, changed his body, and went out of the house to Zhu Heng's house.

There were only three people at the banquet, him, Zhu Heng, and Tan Lun.

"Brother Shinan, please do as you please. Brother Zili and I will drink this cup to the full."

The three of them toasted each other, but Zhu Heng was not feeling well, so he couldn't drink too much.

Tan Lun also had some minor health problems, but he had returned to his hometown for more than a year to recuperate. In addition, after many years of military career and having spent a long time with military generals, he also had a spirit of not admitting defeat, so he held on and was unwilling to admit that he was in poor health.

"Ahem, the reason I invited you two here this time is also related to my health."

Zhu Heng did not force himself and drank half the glass of wine. After Wei Guangde grabbed the jug and filled it for him, he spoke.

"What are your plans for the Ministry of Industry and Shandai in the future?"

Zhu Heng waited for Wei Guangde to put down the wine jug before asking.

After hearing about the arrangement of the Ministry of Works, Wei Guangde only thought about it for a moment and said, "I plan to transfer Wu Guifang back to the Ministry of Works to hold the title of Shangshu. He is the Governor-General of the Canal Transport and the Governor of Fengyang, so he is also qualified in terms of rank."

"What about the position he vacated? This position is not an easy one. The main tasks of the Ministry of Works now revolve around river engineering."

Zhu Heng said again.

"Let Jiang Zhi go. He is now in charge of the construction of the Jia Canal, the Governor-General of the Grand Canal and the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Works. He should first raise his rank.

But the position of Fengyang Governor may have to be passed on to someone else."

Wei Guangde reached out, picked up the chopsticks, and took a bite of the food.

"Can the cabinet be persuaded?"

Tan Lun looked at Wei Guangde and asked.

"Let's give the post of Fengyang governor to the person recommended by Uncle Da. I think there won't be too much resistance. By the way."

Wei Guangde said this, glanced at Tan Lun and continued, "I plan to have Shu Hua resign from the position of Minister of the Imperial Household Department and go to Nanjing to serve as Minister of the Supreme Court, and seek the position of Nanjing Minister of Justice."

The Imperial Household Department raised horses, but Gui had no jurisdiction over it. The previous Minister of the Imperial Household Department was Shuai, who was also a native of Jiangxi.

In fact, Wei Guangde knew that Tan Lun originally planned to find an opportunity to transfer him to the position of Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, and then seek to make him his successor.

However, there is a problem with Shu Hua, that is, he has never actually commanded combat, which means that he cannot be considered a military civilian.

This makes it quite difficult to push Shuhua to the top.

The implication of Wei Guangde's words now clearly meant to give up on this idea and let him seek a position in the Ministry of Justice instead.

In fact, the phenomenon of Shu Hua being the tallest among the short men can make us think that perhaps because Jiangxi has been peaceful for too long, there is no one among the Jiangxi Jinshi who can take over the Ministry of War.

Unlike the Ministry of Works, there are a lot of people who can take over from Zhu Heng.

"As for the military, it depends on their ability. If they have outstanding abilities, Brother Zili can use them with confidence."

Wei Guangde continued to speak to Tan Lun.

After observing for so long, Wei Guangde gave up the idea of ​​arranging people from his fellow villagers to join the Ministry of War.

There really isn't anyone suitable.

Upon hearing this, Tan Lun could only nod slightly.

On the island of Luzon, although Yu Dayou did not receive the imperial court's order, he knew more or less about Wei Guangde's subsequent plans.

Therefore, when the work of surveying the border with the Spaniards was underway, the Ming army was not forgotten to send out to contact the Luzon tribes in the north that belonged to the Ming area.

Because of the previous recruitment relationship, it was easy to contact other tribes in the inland through these tribes, thus connecting the northern tribes with all the tribes.

Yu Dayou did these things naturally to explain the rules of the Ming Dynasty to them.

Yu Dayou's experience in the southwest made him realize that if he did not make the interests clear to these tribes, Luzon Island might become like the southwest, where the chieftains would refuse to submit to the king and repeatedly cause chaos.

Yu Dayou used both kindness and force to deal with these local natives of Luzon Island. He extended an olive branch and tried his best to recruit them, but he also did not forget to show them the powerful military strength of the Ming Dynasty.

The hundreds of warships and tens of thousands of soldiers alone were enough to intimidate these tribal leaders.

While continuing to build Daimao City, Yu Dayou also selected two ports with superior geographical locations in the north, which were convenient for the strongholds originally established by the Spaniards, to establish the Ming Dynasty's affiliated military ports in Luzon.

Of course, having only one Daimao Port is not enough. The Ming Dynasty still has to leave a naval fleet stationed there, as it did on Dongfan Island. It usually patrols nearby and monitors the movements of the Spanish fleet in the south, especially the Spanish treasure ships.

Yu Dayou now mainly handed over the affairs of the island to Chen Lin.

Chen Lin was proficient in both naval and land warfare, and as a middle-aged man, he was considered a young general in the army, and was Yu Dayou's first choice to guard Luzon. As for Deng Zilong, he had returned to the ship and was learning how to command the fleet from Wang Zhao, and was familiar with the art of naval warfare.

Because once the official document from the court came down, according to the time calculation, if there were no accidents, there might have been movement in the southwest. Their fleet would not be able to return directly to Ming Dynasty for rest, but would have to set out directly from Luzon and continue south to Old Port.

The distribution of power in that place is now complicated. The nominal ruler of Old Port is the Bachang Kingdom, but its domestic situation is critical. The ruler is eager to suppress the rising Matalan nobles, so he did not take the initiative to encircle and suppress the remnants of the Feilong Kingdom who suddenly arrived there and obtained a piece of land.

In the core area of ​​the old port, it is still managed by a small circle of Chinese, who only pay tribute to the Bazhang Kingdom on time in order to obtain safe haven.

At the same time, in the northwest of Old Port, the rising Aceh Kingdom was also eyeing Old Port covetously. It seemed that it was just waiting for civil strife in the Kingdom of Pachang, and then it would launch a search and annex the Old Port area, and now seek to expand in other directions.

In fact, twenty years ago, the Kingdom of Aceh tried to cross the sea to capture Malacca, which was occupied by the Portuguese. Although they almost succeeded, they were helpless in the face of the bastions built by the Portuguese under the city of Malacca. After paying a heavy price, they still failed to break through the city.

After that, after Portuguese troops from other regions came to support, they were forced to retreat gradually.

Until now, the Kingdom of Aceh and the Portuguese in Malacca are still at war. Whenever the armies of both sides meet, there will inevitably be a battle, whether at sea or on land.

It was also because of the Portuguese restraint that although the Kingdom of Aceh wanted to annex the entire island of Sumatra, it was still unable to move south to seize the Old Port area before the kingdom of Padang was in civil strife.

What Yu Dayou is planning now is what attitude the surrounding countries, including the Portuguese in Malacca, the Kingdom of Bazhang, and the ambitious Kingdom of Aceh, will take towards the Ming Dynasty after the Ming army fleet appears in the Old Port.

The Ming Dynasty’s target was Burma, not Southeast Asia, and the South China Sea Navy had no time to waste in Jiugang.

Therefore, trying one's best to avoid a war over Jiugang is Yu Dayou's best option.

Yu Dayou couldn't help but think of what Wang Zhao had said before, that he drove the fleet into the bay and directly scared the Spanish fleet in Pengaslan Bay into a state of trembling.

Although it is certainly an exaggeration, hundreds of warships heading in one direction, although not to the point of blocking out the sky and the sun, are indeed quite intimidating.

“Then before going to the Old Port, we should first go around Solo in Central Java, then go around the sea off Malacca, and finally stop at the Old Port.

As for the Kingdom of Aceh, the fleet will pass through the Kingdom of Aceh when it heads north to Myanmar. At that time, the fleet will pass near Banda Aceh, which will be enough to demonstrate its military power.

After this process, I believe these small countries in Southeast Asia will know whether they can touch the old port or not. "

Yu Dayou murmured to himself.

Although the Ming Dynasty had not taken the Southeast Asian countries into consideration for a long time, it was still easy to find out the situation in Southeast Asia.

The areas controlled by the Kingdom of Bachang mainly included Java Island and most of Sumatra Island, as well as some nearby small islands.

However, the nobles in the Matram region of Java Island are now unstable and may launch a rebellion at any time, so most of the soldiers of the Padang Kingdom stationed on Sumatra Island have been transferred back to Java to guard against possible rebellions.

The ambitious Kingdom of Aceh was also restrained by the Portuguese and did not dare to launch another attack on the Old Port.

As for the route of the South China Sea navy fleet heading south, it went south along Luzon Island, passed Niwan along Palawan Island, and then reached Java.

Speaking of which, this arrangement is very convenient and will not waste time.

"Someone, go get Deng Zilong."

Yu Dayou suddenly shouted outside the house.

"Yes".

The guard outside the door agreed and hurried towards the harbor.

When Deng Zilong arrived, almost an hour had passed. He was called back on the boat by Yu Dayou's personal soldiers.

"General, I wonder what you want me to do for you."

Deng Zilong saluted as he entered the lobby.

"The person I gave you last time, can you talk to him about the situation in Old Port?"

The person that Yu Dayou was referring to was naturally the envoy sent by the Feilong Kingdom to the Ming Dynasty, who was finally taken back to the capital by the Jinyiwei.

After confirming that they really wanted to surrender, they were sent to the southeast and handed over to Yu Dayou.

The purpose is self-evident, which is to let him contact his companions and make it easier to persuade them to surrender.

Deng Zilong had been determined to stay in Jiugang, so naturally more information was needed from him. Therefore, Yu Dayou handed the person over to Deng Zilong.

"I have already learned about it. Their remaining troops only have about 3,000 people. There are not as many as they boasted, let alone nearly 10,000 people.

Before they arrived there, they fought a battle with the army of the Bazhang Kingdom, in which many people died. Later, when they wanted to get their hands on Jiugang, they fought with the Han people there.

The Han people had some firearms that they had traded from Portugal or Spain, and some of them died.”

Deng Zilong told Yu Dayou what he knew, and Yu Dayou frowned.

He didn't understand why the Jinyiwei didn't find out such important information.

In fact, this was also Liu Shouyou's own fault.

This man called Zhang Nan seemed cooperative from the beginning. After all, he came to surrender, and he acted as if he knew everything and would tell you everything.

There was no need for the Jinyiwei to interrogate him, he just told the truth.

However, a small number of them were fake, so the Jinyiwei were deceived.

The Jinyiwei couldn't torture someone who cooperated so well.

Deng Zilong, however, was cautious and treated him to drinks for three consecutive days. He asked him questions after he got him drunk, and only after asking him again and again did he discover the flaw.

"More than 3,000 people, that's good, they don't have to go back."

For the sake of the court's reputation, the news about Zhang Lian's former subordinates was kept secret in the capital.

As for these people's hope to return to the Ming Dynasty alive, it actually did not exist in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty ruling class from the very beginning.

If we want to keep the secret, naturally everyone must die.

It’s not that Wei Guangde, Yu Dayou and others are cruel. As I said before, for the sake of the court’s reputation, these more than 3,000 people must be sacrificed.

Even if they could survive the Burmese War, they could only live in Burma or Jiugang and would never set foot on the land of the Ming Dynasty in their lifetime.

Thinking about the large number of people, Yu Dayou felt a little reluctant to send so many people to death.

"Plan it out."

Deng Zilong was called here today to discuss the trip south to Jiugang.

Some of them he knew, and some of them Deng Zilong didn’t know.

Although the South Seas are unfamiliar, I have seen the nautical charts.

As soon as Yu Dayou told Deng Zilong the planned route, he had an idea in his mind.

"When the time comes, you will be the vanguard and lead the fleet southward. For the journey to Java Island, you can find a guide from Sulu. Perhaps there are people there who have been to Old Port."

"The general understands."

"Plan carefully so that you can guide the group." (End of this chapter)