Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 356 Winds of the Indian Ocean

The wind caused by Jin Xuan is still blowing in the capital, but the wind on the Indian Ocean is still brewing.

The five countries including Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, Britain and France did not make any irrational response to Huanglong's "diplomatic letter" or notification letter.

The replies from the five countries were all official and restrained, and a unified reply would require one year for the troops to withdraw, and it would require Ming to give each country preferential terms for business and trade in the Ming Dynasty in the future.

"Damn! What kind of stinky fish and rotten shrimp, dare to ask us for conditions?!"

"That's right, let's beat him so badly first!"

"Send troops and beat them first, let them know what is the power of a king and what is the wrath of thunder!"

"Captain, send troops to beat these bastards first."

"Negotiate conditions with Xiyi? If people from the Northern Army and Eastern Army know about it, we Southern Army and Western Army must not be laughed to death by them?!"

"I didn't come to Xiaoxiyang for thousands of miles because I was angry. Neither Jianlu nor She Chongming dared to negotiate terms with the imperial court. How dare they raise conditions?!"

On the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month, when the replies from various countries arrived at the city of Ceylon in the west of the island of Ceylon, many southern and western troops who had just arrived here began to curse uncomfortably.

In the office of the Supervision Department, more than 20 commanders and generals, large and small, were making noise, which caused some headaches for Huang Long and Li Dan, who were sitting in the main seats.

The consequence of the full payment of military salaries is that the soldiers and horses of the Dudu Mansion of the Five Armies are all victorious to everyone, and with the achievements of Lian Chan Lian Jie, they are naturally a group of arrogant soldiers.

Most of the Southern Army Governor's Mansion and the Western Army Governor's Mansion were generals who had participated in the battle of restoring the Liao Dynasty, quelling the She'an Rebellion and the Sharpe Rebellion.

In their view, the governors of the five countries stationed in India with a total force of less than [-] dared to make demands with Daming.

You know, as long as Huanglong agrees, the more than 3 soldiers and horses of the southern and western armies that arrived at Ceylon Island first can land at the southernmost tip of the Indian peninsula within five days, and reach Kozhikode within ten days.

Their temperament is much more irritable than the Twelve Guards of the Navy...

"Quiet!"

Qi Yuanfu and Qin Minping, who were seated first on the left and right sides, couldn't help but speak. Once they spoke, the generals of the Western Army and the Southern Army immediately fell silent.

After they were quiet, Huang Long asked Li Dan next to him:

"Where are Inspector Lu and the other soldiers?"

"Inspector Lu has arrived in Luzon, and the remaining five battalions of the Western Army are still gathering at Jiaozhi Port, and they will set sail on the [-]th of the twelfth lunar month." Li Dan replied:
"The fifth battalion of the southern army and the remaining six guards of the navy have arrived at the old port, and they will arrive at the port of Ceylon in about forty days."

"In addition, Qiongzhou Port received an urgent [-] li from the capital. His Highness has instructions to send to the Chengxuan Political and Envoy Secretary and the Governor's Mansion in the old port. It is probably a policy for the five countries and the imperial court's business and trade."

Li Dan's words made Huang Long and a group of people in the yamen shut up. After all, King Qi came here with handwritten letters, at least until the handwritten letters arrived in Ceylon, there would be no military action.

"How is the field on the island being reclaimed? Is there enough food for the army for several months?"

Huanglong began to care about whether Ceylon Island could support the 13 troops on land and sea, but Li Dan bowed to this:
"76 mu of newly reclaimed land on the island, more than 130 people immigrated in the past year, and [-] million mu of land was allocated."

"For the 130 million mu, we can only collect according to the imperial court's "Overseas Land Taxes, Ten Taxes and One", and we are not allowed to collect miscellaneous items. We should be able to collect 10,000+ Shimi."

"For the remaining 1000 million mu of native land, it is possible to collect according to ten Fuwu, and you can receive about 200 million shi."

"The commercial tax for Europeans in Xiaoxiyang Huangdian is 27 taels. According to what His Highness said, we will keep all the 27 taels for ourselves."

"After all, as long as the imperial court pays the army and we mainly clean up the coastal states, self-sufficiency is no problem."

Li Dan's words gave everyone a reassurance. The nearly 13 army, people eat horses and chews. In addition to military pay and food, there are also costs for the maintenance of ships and ordnance.

The Ming army can be said to be an expedition, or it can be said to beat people at the door of the house. The key depends on where the troops are transferred.

With the size of Xiaoxiyang’s supervisory envoy, if the policy of “ten grants and one” is adopted, then nearly 2 people will be permanently stationed in the sixth battalion, and military expenditures will be kept within 50 taels at most, occupying a large part of the local finances. Sixty percent.

In order to maintain an army of 13, Huanglong raised the original ten Fu four for the natives to ten Fu five.

At present, despite the annual income of more than 300 million shi and 10,000+ taels, Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner is still unsustainable and must be paid by the court.

Daming's delivery ability is not weak. After all, the scale of Zheng He's voyages to the West reached 200 people 7000 years ago.

The current national power of Ming Dynasty is more than several times that of Yongle Years.

But even so, maintaining 13 people here for a long time still feels like bloodletting in disguise.

After all, with 13 people, even if the imperial court only pays military salaries, it still needs to pay 220 million taels of silver every year.

This is only the original military salary. According to the conditions agreed by the imperial court to the Southern Army, Western Army and Navy, the military salary of these 13 people is 30 taels per year, so the military salary has to be doubled.

In other words, Daming currently has to pay 440 million taels of silver for Xiao Xiyang every year.

This expenditure basically accounted for one-tenth of Daming's financial expenditure this year, so Huang Long felt a lot of pressure.

He knows who Zhu Youjian likes. To put it bluntly, he likes Hong Chengchou, who doesn't need too much military supplies while fighting, and at the same time defeats the local fights steadily, and can hand over money to the court after the fight.

Moreover, Zhu Youjian also mentioned the words of "supporting war with war" and "feeding back to the court" with him many times in handwriting.

Things were said so clearly, it was impossible for Huang Long not to understand.

To put it bluntly, the imperial court can transfuse Xiao Xiyang's blood, but after the blood transfusion is over, Xiao Xiyang must provide blood that far exceeds the imperial court's input to feed back the imperial court.

Although there are only more than 13 people from 7 people, the 30 taels of silver per year has actually begun to be counted.

That is to say, the imperial court is transfusing blood to Xiao Xiyang every month, worth 10,000+ taels of silver.

Now that he is in this position, Huang Long knows very well that things will change later.

No one has impeached them today because Zhu Youjian is suppressing them, and the army has not yet assembled.

But judging from the current time, at most the next February, the army will be assembled.

By that time, Huanglong hadn't done anything to satisfy the imperial court, so what he had to face was the successive impeachment memorials.

Personally, he wants to fight, and he wants to fight now.

7 people, which is enough to wipe out the southern states.

It's just that Zhu Youjian's handwriting added a little bit of uncertainty to this determination. Huang Long still needs to read what is written in the handwriting before deciding how to fight.

According to the time, the handwritten letter was delivered by a fast boat, and it would probably arrive at the port of Ceylon with Lu Xiangsheng and the others.

"Two and a half months..."

Huang Long thought for a while, then glanced at the many commanders and generals in the yamen, and said:

"I also want to fight right now, but His Highness's handwriting has not been delivered yet. We must wait for His Highness's handwriting to arrive before we can formulate tactics."

As soon as he said this, everyone looked at me and I looked at you, no one dared to be presumptuous.

After all, they were all single-handedly picked up by Zhu Youjian, not to mention that Zhu Youjian was the person who valued them the most throughout the ages, and he gave them enough respect and military pensions during his lifetime.

Among them, His Royal Highness King Qi is much bigger than the emperor.

"Then you can't do nothing, at least shoot down Tanjouer first."

A naval commander couldn't help but speak, and the words made others nod their heads.

Tanjore is a state with a population of 10,000+. It was originally ruled by the Vijayanagar Empire, which unified most of southern India. The country believed in Hinduism.

However, because the Minister of the Kingdom was too involved in intervening in the civil strife among the Muslim countries on the Deccan Plateau, and attacked the territory of the Sultan of Ahmadnagar, destroyed the mosque, insulted the Koran, and aroused all the Muslim Sultans of the Deccan to jointly launch a jihad and attack Vijaya Kingdom of Nagar.

Finally, in the 44th year of Jiajing (1565), the Allied Forces of the Four Muslim Nations defeated the army of the Vijayanagar Empire. The city of Vijayanagar was sacked, Hindus were massacred, and the splendid cultural and artistic center was reduced to ruins.

The failure of the north made Tanjore, Madurai, Mysore and other places in the south independent one after another, and the Vijayanagara Empire, a powerful country in the south, collapsed.

Originally, the Ming army was supposed to face the Vijayanagar Empire, which had nearly [-] million people and more than [-] troops.

Right now, due to his stupidity, the Ming army only needs to deal with the southern states, the remaining Vijayanagar forces on the Deccan Plateau, and the four Muslim sultanates in the northern Deccan Plateau.

Among them, only the four Muslim sultanates in the north can organize coalition forces to fight back, but these four countries are on the Deccan Plateau, and the Ming army only needs to take the coastal areas.

For these inland countries, it is enough to leave it to the vassal king to practice.

Therefore, what the Ming army needed to deal with was actually the eight countries and states headed by Mughal.

Among them, Tanjore, Pandya, Madurai, Mysore, and Julan, the six southernmost states, have a combined population of no more than 300 million and an army of no more than 15.

After taking them down, the Ming army can continue to go north along the coast, attacking Jinji and Clardy from both sides of the sea at the same time.

After solving these two countries, it should be noted that there are three Muslim countries near the sea, and the Ming army needs to attack the city-states near the sea of ​​the three countries.

After taking it, the army will garrison troops, and finally the army will be gathered to attack the Mughal coastal city-states.

As long as all the city-states are taken down, the 13 troops can be easily supported by then, and the feudal vassals can also start to become vassals.

At the same time as the vassal, a large number of people will be relocated to the coastal city-states, and Huanglong will select soldiers from the people to train the army for the vassals.

As long as there is an army, the Ming army can withdraw to Xiaoxiyang to rest and wait for the order of the court.

At this time, according to Huanglong's calculations, it will only take about three years.

It only takes one year to win all the coastal areas in the south. The only thing that is a bit difficult is the coastal city-states of the Mughal Empire in the north.

However, although the Mughals are large in size, the army needs to defend Persia and the Khanate of Bukhara, as well as Nibalo and Assam in the north.

Of the 30 troops, at most 6 or [-] can be deployed to counterattack the Ming army.

It only needs to disable these 6 or [-] people, and the Mughals will not be able to counterattack the Ming army in a short time, and the Ming army can also train soldiers and horses for the feudal clans.

When the soldiers and horses are trained, it will be a war between the vassals and the Mughals. If they can't bear it, they can only hire the guards to guard the city for them and send their own troops to conquer the Mughals.

In any case, as long as it goes to the various feudal clans, the feudal clan will succeed, and after that, no matter how you calculate it, it will be Daming who is making money.

The generals under Zhu Youjian are divided into two factions, one is the northern faction and the other is the southern faction.

Generals sent to the north don't have to worry about money and food when they fight, but generals sent to the south to fight wars are a science.

The best one is Hong Chengchou, who can fight and manage money, and he doesn't have to worry about the court.

The second is Huanglong, who also needs to do some dirty work while fighting, and the last is Qin Bangping and Qi Jin, who simply execute military orders.

Therefore, as long as Zhu Youjian sends Huanglong to a place, Huanglong will know what Zhu Youjian is thinking.

Fighting Tanjore is a military operation within the scope of Huanglong's control, because Tanjore's army is only 6 to [-] people, and its combat effectiveness is similar to that of the guards of the Ming army.

It's easy to beat him, just go straight up, but how to deal with him after you beat him is a problem.

"How much arable land is there in Tanjore? How many natives?"

Huang Long looked at Li Dan next to him. He had to admit that Li Dan, as a maritime merchant, not only paid attention to intelligence, but was also good at managing money.

"There are about 57 natives and 100 troops. Most of them are troops using matchlock guns and spears. The amount of cultivated land is about [-] million mu."

"Where is the second emigration fleet?" Huang Long nodded slightly, and then asked again.

"The first fleet has already arrived at Xingang Market Town (Andaman Islands). About [-] people have been relocated. The second fleet should be half a month away from them."

"Including the third and fourth fleets, a total of 8 people are moving here one after another, but they are all the families of the prisoners involved in the big Shaanxi case."

Li Dan cautiously reminded, but Huang Long waved his hand and said:

"No matter what the family members of the prisoners are, as long as they are banned from being officials, they will still be my Ming people when they come to Xiaoxiyang."

"Send a message to the people behind, let them go to Beilan Port."

"It will take more than 30 days for them to come here. If it takes more than 30 days..."

Huang Long looked at the many generals in front of him, then thought for a while and said:
"Mr. Qin, please trouble the brothers of the Eighth Battalion of the Western Army in Beilan Port, please take Tanjouer as soon as possible."

"I will arrange these [-] immigrants in Beilan County."

"The last general takes orders!" Qin Minping responded immediately when he heard the words, and Qi Yuanfu also frowned when he saw this:
"Since we want to take Tanjore, we might as well take both Madurai and Pandya."

Qi Yuanfu wanted to make military merits and money for the generals of the southern army.

Although there is no silver for the severed heads in the feudal wars, [-]% of the captured gold and silver will be left for the captured soldiers and horses, and [-]% will be handed over.

Madurai and Pandya are not much worse than Tanjore. If these two places can be captured, the southern army can at least earn millions of taels.

Huanglong naturally knew what Qi Yuanfu was thinking, but he couldn't give Qi Yuanfu all the credit.

Therefore, after thinking about it for a while, within the scope of his authority, it is not a problem to start a medium-scale war first.

"Since that's the case, let's just do it like this. Hand over Tanjore to the Western Army, Madurai and Pandya to the Southern Army, and the rest of Mysore and Julan to the Navy's four-step guard."

"Yes!" Hearing Huang Long's words, Qin Minping and Qi Yuanfu both said there was no problem.

However, facing their nods, Huang Long still opened his mouth and said:

"Pay attention to ensure the safety of the brothers below. If there are too many casualties, His Highness may not be happy."

"Please don't worry, Commander, I'll be clear!" All the generals bowed in response.

"Okay, you guys retreat first." Huang Long waved his hands, and Qin Minping and Qi Yuanfu also retreated with a group of people from the Western Army, the Southern Army, and the Navy.

After they all retreated, Huang Long asked Li Dan:

"Based on what you see, if these five small countries are destroyed, how much money can we give back to the imperial court?"

Huanglong still has concerns, he has to fight five small countries, because he wants to appease the western and southern troops who came from afar, and let the soldiers below benefit.

But if he took down these five small countries with his own troops, he might make Zhu Youjian unhappy, so he had to spend enough money to make Zhu Youjian happy.

His current situation is a bit like that of Gao Xianzhi in Tianbao years, he had to make arrangements according to the situation, and he also had to take care of Tang Xuanzong's face in Chang'an City.

Regarding his inquiry, Li Dan pondered after thinking for a while and said:
"According to the taxes paid by European countries doing business in these places, the foreign taxes of these five countries are about 12 taels."

"According to Jin Yiwei's news, foreign countries generally account for one-sixth of the state's tax revenue, which means that the tax revenue of the five countries is about 72 taels."

"Land cannot be sold for money. The court has already sold it once, so we can only scrape the land."

"If you take down all the nobles and wealthy households in the Tubang, you can probably collect four or five million taels of silver."

"Four five million..." Hearing the amount, Huang Long made up his mind.

Withholding 200% for the soldiers, [-]% for maintaining the operation of the Supervision Department, and giving Lu Xiangsheng a meeting gift, they can also repay the court more than [-] million taels of silver.

"In fact, it is almost the same. It should satisfy His Highness. As long as His Highness is satisfied, Long Live will have no objections."

Seeing that Huang Long was still thinking about it, Li Dan also began to persuade him.

Hearing this, Huang Long could only nod his head and said, "Then set a date and launch the troops after the Lantern Festival."

"I take the order..." Li Dan responded, and Huang Long got up to go for a walk when he saw this.

But when he just walked out of the meeting hall, he saw his nephew Huang Fei.

"uncle……"

Huang Fei saluted, while Huang Long smiled as an elder:
"Wen Lu, you did a good job guarding Ceylon this time."

"It's all for Daming, for Your Highness and Uncle." Huang Fei said nice things, and Huang Long also nodded and said:
"Walk with me..."

"Yes." Huang Fei agreed, and followed Huang Long's footsteps out of the Office of the Supervision Department.

Walking out of the yamen, you can see the bustling construction site and some simple houses that are constantly being demolished.

These demolished houses have strong Ceylon characteristics, and the people who demolished them are the Ming people who migrated here.

In the past year, among the more than 5000 people who moved to Ceylon, half of them moved to Ceylon County, where the Xiaoxiyang Supervisory Commissioner is located, and the rest moved to Beilan Port and Nanlan Port.

Fearing that the support would not be in place, Daming's migration methods were all towns and villages.

The reason for this is that they are afraid that the natives will attack and kill the Han people, and Huang Fei has dealt with such riots no less than a hundred times.

"Little Governor Huang!"

"Little Governor Huang! Governor Huang!"

Huang Long and Huang Fei walked in this city full of Han people, feeling somewhat back to Ming Dynasty.

Because of Huang Fei's timely and protection of troops, most of the people knew Huang Fei, and they affectionately called him "Little Huang Dudu".

Huang Fei nodded to indicate that he had greeted him, and Huang Long also nodded and said:
"If Your Highness knows that you are so close to the people, I'm afraid you can take over my team."

"Uncle was joking, I am very happy to be able to do this." Huang Fei said modestly.

"Don't be modest..." Huang Long shook his head and said:

"I've read your military newspaper about suppressing the natives, and you did a good job. Among the people from the Jinyiwei, it was also said that His Highness mentioned you."

As he spoke, Huang Long said solemnly: "There are millions of natives in Ceylon, and I migrate at most more than [-] people to Ceylon every year."

"It will take at least ten years for us to gain a firm foothold here. Your task is still heavy."

"However, your mother also wrote me a letter saying that she misses you. After this war of feudal lords is over, I will give you a three-year vacation and go back to spend time with your mother."

When mentioning his sister, Huang Long rarely showed a warm smile on his face, and Huang Fei also showed some longing and reminiscence when he heard his mother's letter.

"You were also in the discussion just now. The Navy's four-step guard is going to recover Mysore and Julan. I am going to let you take command."

Huang Long spoke suddenly, but Huang Fei hesitated and said:
"I'm afraid I'm too young to be convincing."

"Don't be too restrained, the brothers below are very optimistic about you, you have to fight for our navy." Huang Long patted Huang Fei's shoulder, but suddenly paused.

"That's right..." Huang Long frowned and said:
"This time, it's best to recover as much as possible, so as to make a good impression on His Highness."

"I understand." Huang Fei knew what the so-called "recovery" meant, so he nodded quickly.

There is no burden for the Ming army to do this method of chasing seedlings and expanding their careers, and seeing Huang Fei's appearance, Huang Long is also very satisfied and said:

"Some of the brothers below, if they want to marry wives and have children locally, it's fine."

"Uncle, don't worry, I've explained this to my brothers, and they all know about it." Huang Fei nodded.

The two chatted without saying a word, most of the time it was Huang Long who mentioned Huang Fei.

Soon the two of them arrived at the head of Dongcheng City, Ceylon County.

Standing at the top of the city, all they saw were Han Chinese who were harvesting rice in the fields.

Wearing bamboo hats and rough sackcloth for work, they talked and laughed in the rice fields, and led their families to work together.

When the breeze blows, the ears of rice in the field sway, which is too beautiful to behold.

"If you feel uncomfortable doing something, just take a look at the people of my Ming Dynasty."

Huang Long explained to Huang Fei who was next to him, and Huang Fei subconsciously nodded as he looked at the happy farmers in the field.

Seeing him nodding, Huang Long also mentioned:
"Most of these people are from Guangdong and Fujian. In their hometown, a family of seven or eight people only has two or three acres of land. If they don't have jobs, they can only abandon their babies."

"Right now we have captured Ceylon and allocated hundreds of acres of land to each family, so they can be so relaxed."

"The people in the city are grateful to you because you have allocated land to them."

"His Highness once said, "No matter how hard it is for foreign barbarians, I will bear the blame." In my opinion, this sentence is a bit wrong."

Huang Long looked at the people in the fields below the city and said:
"We fight for the common people to have land to divide. If any itchy civil official dares to scold us, we don't need to take action. The people who have divided the land will naturally put a knife on his neck."

"Giving favor to the people is to accumulate reputation for oneself."

"Your Highness has imposed many restrictions on us. It's normal for the generals below to complain, but you have to trust Your Highness. When we can't move, His Highness will definitely give us gold and silver to appease us."

"Throughout the ages, there has never been someone like Your Highness who has attached so much importance to warriors and soldiers."

"You and my nephew have to support His Highness. After all, only when His Highness is in that position can life for us warriors be easier..."

Huang Long's words meant something, and after hearing Huang Fei's words, he raised his head and looked at Huang Long, looking at his calm face, he felt an indescribable feeling in his heart.

"Uncle, don't worry, as long as His Highness and Uncle open their mouths, Fei'er will dare to break through even if there are mountains of swords and fire!"

"Hmm..." Huang Long glanced at Huang Fei in relief, and then turned his gaze to the common people.

It's just that he frowned slightly, as if what he said to Huang Fei was not that simple, and Huang Fei turned his head to look at the people, feeling relieved from the suppression of the natives during this period of time.

"It's better to bully foreigners than to bully the common people..."

　It's already eight o'clock when I wake up, and I'm writing until now.

　　I took my temperature in the middle, it was 38.2°, it should be higher tomorrow.

　　At present, apart from being a little dizzy, a little uncomfortable, and lethargy, there is nothing serious.

　　It is best to put more water on the head of the bed when sleeping. It is said that the better the physique, the higher the temperature of the fever.

　　Let me see which of you is a fine dog...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)