prosperous age

Chapter 1052 1143 Southwest and Southeast

"Does Si Ge obey the imperial edict? Has he been to Kunming before?"

Li Chengliang asked calmly.

His question surprised both Mu Changzuo and Luo Rufang.

Of course they knew about this. Wang Ning sent a letter to the three envoys and six guards from the southwest to Kunming to explain the situation in Burma, but after the document was sent out, no one came.

Mengyang, the envoy of peace, naturally did not go to Kunming.

  What was Li Chengliang's purpose in talking about this matter at this time?

Mu Changzuo and Luo Rufang looked at each other, and finally looked at Li Chengliang.

"If he didn't come, he wouldn't be a quiet person."

Soon, Li Chengliang gave his comments on Si Ge.

Since he was not a peaceful person, he was naturally put on the blacklist of chieftains who wanted to be eliminated.

Maybe Wang Ning or Mu Changzuo had paid tribute to him, but what does that have to do with him?

All forces that may affect Myanmar's long-term stability are targeted for elimination.

"How long can Meng Yang hold on?"

Li Chengliang continued to ask in a calm tone, showing no concern for the life and death of Meng Yang and Si Ge.

However, his question really stumped Mu Changzuo.

Mu Changzuo was very hesitant. He was not sure how long Meng Yang, despite being well prepared, could withstand the attack of the Burmese army.

He looked at Luo Rufang. At this time, Deputy Envoy Luo also frowned slightly, obviously thinking.

"You're not sure? Is three months possible?"

Seeing the looks on the two men's faces, Li Chengliang simply picked a time himself.

"Commander Li, three months might be a bit difficult."

Mu Changzuo spoke this time, "The Burmese army has been attacking Mengyang for a month, and Mengyang has been struggling, so they sent out two waves of messengers for help within three days.

In my opinion, it will probably last no more than a month. After that, it will probably not be able to hold on.

According to the news from Mengyang, the Burmese king Mang Yinglong should have assembled all the troops that Burma could mobilize this time."

"what?"

When Li Chengliang heard Mu Changzuo say this, he was shocked.

He turned his head to look at Deputy Envoy Luo who was standing beside him, and seeing that he just nodded slightly after hearing Mu Changzuo's words, he knew that what he said was not false.

"Haha. This Mang Yinglong is so bold. He actually gathered all the Burmese troops to deal with Meng Yang. How many people do they have?"

Li Chengliang was now certain that after the Burmese army captured Mengyang, the next move would be to seize the Ming Dynasty, otherwise he would not have mobilized so many troops.

"Also, have you sent anyone to confirm this news?"

Li Chengliang asked repeatedly, and before Mu Changzuo could react, Luo Rufang said: "After hearing the news, we sent scouts to infiltrate and investigate the Burmese army, but we have not received any report yet.

As for how many troops Myanmar can mobilize, according to previous news, it should be more than 200,000, with a hundred war elephants."

"Ruzhen, write a letter to your brother, Rubai, and ask him to come here as soon as possible."

When Li Chengliang heard that the size of the Burmese army was so huge, it was beyond his expectations.

Yes, not to mention that Li Chengliang stayed in Guizhou for such a long time, didn’t he ever inquire about Myanmar’s military intelligence?

In fact, at that time, officials of the Ming Dynasty looked down upon the surrounding small states.

  How many troops can a small country on the border have?

Ten thousand or twenty thousand?

Or could we gather 100,000 men even if we mobilize all the troops in the country?

This was what Li Chengliang thought before. He did not realize that the population of these Southeast Asian countries was still quite large.

I'm afraid the only person who knows the situation best is Wei Guangde.

He has an intelligence network of businessmen who provide him with some information.

Although not accurate enough, some data can still be roughly determined.

For example, the current Japan is in the so-called "Warring States Period" in their history.

The view on the Internet in later generations was that a large-scale fight broke out between more than 60 villages.

But it was the fight between these more than 60 villages that mobilized a maximum of 600,000 troops.

It is just such a small island, but it is obvious that the population of Japan at that time was actually far more than one million. If they tried their best to conscript men, they might be able to put together an army of one million.

The figure of over 600,000 was a number slowly compiled through business between Ming merchants and those daimyo.

As for Myanmar, the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants could not reach that far, so naturally they had no way of providing information to Wei Guangde.

The only people who know the true situation of Myanmar are the local merchants in Yunnan.

Even if they wanted to contact Lord Wei, they were helpless and the news would naturally not reach his ears.

In Wei Guangde's opinion, the reason why the Ming Dynasty had such a hard time dealing with Myanmar might be related to the complex local terrain. He never thought that the Ming army or the later Qing army and the Burmese army were always outnumbered in their battles.

In terms of military strength, China has never had an advantage.

Of course, it is also related to the military systems of the two countries.

After the Ming Dynasty, China began to have professional soldiers, or military households, who were responsible for fighting, instead of directly conscripting peasants and sending them to the battlefield after simple training as in previous dynasties.

Therefore, in foreign wars after the Ming Dynasty, China's military strength gave people the impression that there was a huge gap between it and the previous dynasty, and people always felt that the military strength was insufficient.

Although Myanmar has a large number of troops, most of them are farmers who have just put down their hoes.

In such battles, China can generally win at the battle level, but it is difficult to achieve strategic goals.

Now knowing that Myanmar’s military strength exceeded 200,000, it was hard for Li Chengliang not to take it seriously.

It’s hard to catch 200,000 pigs, let alone humans.

In addition, the main enemies in Liaodong were the Tuman and Jurchen, and it was similar to a situation where everyone was a soldier.

Li Chengliang was deeply impressed by their fighting power, which naturally made him overestimate the fighting power of the Burmese army.

"How many troops are there here now? If Yunnan continues to draw troops, how many reinforcements can it send?"

Li Chengliang looked at Mu Changzuo and asked seriously.

"Commander Li, Yongchang Prefecture has now assembled 30,000 troops, this reinforcement..."

Mu Changzuo was a little hesitant and was still thinking about how to answer when Li Chengliang raised his hand. Li Rusong behind him tactfully handed him the document sent from the capital.

"Lord Mu, Deputy Envoy Luo, this is an order from the imperial court. Please take a look at it first."

Previously, Li Chengliang was only conducting inquiries in his capacity as the Left Commander-in-Chief of the Right Army Commandery, above the commander-in-chief of Yunnan, to understand the border situation.

Now, he directly took out the order, indicating that he would take over the military power here.

After the two of them read the court's appointment, they suddenly realized.

Previous speculations became reality, and the Ming court really wanted to kill Myanmar.

It was rare to give a general more power than a civilian official. Even if Ma Fang was favored, he still had to obey the orders of the Governor-General of Xuanda and the Governor-General of Ji and Liao.

Of course, Yunnan does not have a governor, but there is a governor, who seems to be able to give command.

The two men did not dare to continue thinking about the deeper meaning of the court's appointment. Anyway, all the troubles could now be handed over to the person in front of them, and Li Chengliang would naturally bear the main responsibility when the time came.

"Okay, you two now know my identity. Now I am curious, where did the 200,000 troops in Myanmar come from?"

Li Chengliang was still amazed by the numbers they said.

“General Li, the Burmese army under the Burmese king should only have tens of thousands of people, but the surrounding chieftains have soldiers, so a few thousand here and ten thousand there can be gathered together.

According to my estimation, if the Burmese king really mobilized 200,000 people to participate in the war this time, he would probably gather the local soldiers from Ava, Dongwu, Mengmi, Manmo and other places, and he would still be able to gather 200,000 people. "

Luo Rufang spoke.

"You are unwilling to lead troops to Longchuan and other places to deploy defenses. Is it because you suspect that those chieftains are in collusion with the Burmese king?"

Li Chengliang continued to ask.

Luo Rufang did not answer this time, but just lowered his head.

Mu Changzuo said, "Commander Li is from Kunming. I think Governor Wang has mentioned Yunna's situation to you. Not to mention the outside world, even the chieftains in the province are mostly hypocritical when it comes to official documents.

If there weren't a large army garrisoned there, there would probably be chaos.

At present, the Yunnan government troops can guard the main transportation routes. If there is a rebellion by a chieftain, they can also be dispatched to suppress it.

But if we really have to face the invasion of the Burmese king's army of 200,000, it would be really difficult to resist.

Fortunately, the governor has already gathered reinforcements from Sichuan, Guizhou and other places to enter Yunnan, so there should be no major problems this time."

"That was all thanks to the wisdom of His Majesty and the merits of the court officials. I was only ordered to come to the southwest to train the troops and horses. I didn't expect to encounter such a thing. I dare not take credit for it."

Li Chengliang said modestly at this moment.

The imperial court would never admit that it had planned to send troops to Myanmar before the uprising broke out there.

When Li Chengliang came to the southwest to patrol the border, he only decided to gather and train troops when he saw that the troops in the southwest were weak.

Although officials in the southwest were more or less aware of the strangeness, no one was so foolish as to speak it out.

At this time, a servant from the Duke's Mansion appeared outside the door. He made a hidden gesture to Lord Mu. Mu Changzuo immediately smiled and said, "Commander Li, I have ordered the servants to prepare wine and food to welcome the commander.

Lord Luo, let us toast to Governor Li together."

"That's how it should be."

Luo Rufang also said with a smile.

When Mu Changzuo went out to the front yard to welcome Li Chengliang, he had already ordered his servants to prepare a sumptuous banquet to entertain Li Chengliang and his party.

Naturally, there were people to entertain the personal soldiers brought by Li Chengliang.

Although it won’t be a table full of chicken, duck, fish and meat, it will definitely not be bad.

These personal soldiers who follow senior generals never go hungry on a daily basis, as they are well-fed and well-drinked.

Just as Li Chengliang had taken the head seat at the banquet, on his left was Mu Changzuo, Duke of Qian, and on his right was the Inspector General of Yongchang Prefecture.

He couldn't refuse, so he had no choice but to sit down.

Originally, the person with the highest rank here should undoubtedly be the Duke of Qian. A super-ranking Duke is not comparable to him, a Left General of the first rank.

But he didn't know that just before he came, Mu Changzuo and Luo Rufang were as anxious as ants on a hot pan.

Although there is still controversy over whether to focus on attack or defense, everyone became nervous after learning that Myanmar had mobilized its troops.

Luo Rufang led the attack in order to send troops to Mengyang so that he could join forces with allies to fight the enemy. The battlefield was also outside the borders of the Ming Dynasty, which could buy time for the court to mobilize troops.

Now that the blame has been put on Li Chengliang, they are naturally grateful.

In the southeast, two centipede ships carrying the imperial decree were also speeding towards Luzon.

At the same time, two centipede ships were sent to deliver the order, also out of concern that accidents might occur to the ships at sea.

One ship carries the decree, while the other is for escort. Even if a ship breaks down, things can be transferred to the other ship.

At this time, the boatmen shouted slogans, rowed hard, sped up the boat and headed southeast.

They had been out at sea for several days and were already halfway through their journey.

Ever since the Ming army gained a foothold in Luzon and sent people back with memorials, the location of Pengasilan Bay is no longer a secret.

Therefore, the target of the Ming army's warships this time is to head directly here, to deliver the imperial edict to Daimao City.

At this time on the Island of Luzon, after a month of boundary survey, Chen Lin and Wang Wanggao had completed the work of determining the border with the Spaniards, and some places had been marked.

To mark the place, it is actually just to put a stone slab in the ground and erect a stone tablet on the ground as a mark.

Because the boundaries were drawn according to latitude, some of the accompanying Ming army clerks became familiar with the instruments brought by the Spaniards.

In those days, there were no electronic instruments such as total stations that could accurately measure longitude and latitude, nor were there instruments such as sextants that were widely used later. Instead, there was relatively old-fashioned equipment, the cross astrolabe, also known as Jacob's rod or golden staff.

It consists of a short rod with holes at both ends, which is vertically mounted on a long straight rod with a scale. The short rod can move back and forth on the long rod. The upper and lower holes can be used to see the horizon and celestial bodies respectively.

In fact, the people sent by Yu Dayou to the trench mirror had also come into contact with this kind of thing, but the only thing they could produce was an even older measuring instrument that had been discarded by the Portuguese - the nautical astrolabe.

The astrolabe is an ancient stargazing instrument, but navigators removed the star chart on the astrolabe and transformed it into a simple navigation instrument for measuring the latitude of land and the position of ships at sea.

A nautical astrolabe consists of a rotatable needle fixed in the center of a wooden or metal disk with degrees marked around the circumference.

When in use, hang the astrolabe vertically with the zero-degree mark flush with the horizontal plane, move the pointer to point to the celestial body to be measured, and the altitude of the celestial body can be measured, thereby obtaining the latitude of the ship.

Relatively speaking, the astrolabe is most effective for measurement on land. Due to the bumps on the ship deck, the measurement error at sea is relatively large.

After all, the astrolabe itself is an instrument for stargazing.

I also heard about something called a right-angle quadrant, but it was also replaced by the cross astronomical instrument, and there was no real mirror.

During this boundary survey, the Spaniards took out the cross astronomical instrument. Since it worked so well, Yu Dayou simply paid a large sum of money to buy three sets.

One of the sets was naturally planned to be sent back to the court by ship and handed over to the Ministry of Works for research and reproduction.

The other two sets are intended to remain in the South China Sea Navy.

With this instrument that can mark the position at sea, it is much more accurate than relying on the experience of old sailors to locate the position.

In the current Daimao City, the Ming army selected a thousand strong men from the summoned natives, and another thousand men from the Sulu soldiers, forming a 2,000-man vassal army to assist the Ming army in protecting its territory.

Ten large and small warships and hundreds of soldiers were left in Luzon, all of which were under the command of Chen Lin.

In addition, a large ship was prepared to carry the harvest back to Ming Dynasty and send King Baker along if the court allowed him to meet the emperor.

The remaining naval officers and soldiers are ready to set sail again.

Calculating the time, Yu Dayou has become anxious these two days.

Because this time he is sailing not only to Luzon, but also to Old Port and Myanmar.