Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 382 Bombardment of Horumus
"Controlled!"

"On the fourth day of March in the ninth year of Yongle, we held a test for the tributes from all over the world. The first one was awarded a Jinshi rank, the second one was awarded a Jinshi background, and the third one was awarded a Jinshi background."

On the fourth day of March in the eighth year of Yongle, with the sound of drums and the setting off of firecrackers, the examination for the Xuzi Academy of Yongle was announced.

The tributes had already lined up on both sides of Danchi outside the Fengtian Hall to worship. The deacons held up the imperial list and came to Danchi to place it and sing loudly. The tributes also sang.

"Xiao Shizhong, who ranks first on the Wuzi Kedian examination list, is awarded the title of Jinshi."

"Miao Zhong, who ranks first and second on the Wuzi Branch Hall examination list, is awarded the title of Jinshi."

"Wang Ao, who ranks first and third on the Wuzi Branch Hall examination list, is awarded the title of Jinshi."

"Xuzi..."

As the deacon sang out the names of the first three people in the first class, the second class, and the third class, many tributes were excited and disappointed, but they could not save the fact that the Xuzi imperial examination was over.

After the deacon finished reciting, all the Jinshi followed the command and bowed four times.

"Xu Shuo, was born in Jilin City, Shandong Province." Yi Shiha reminded.

Without exception, the four of them chose Henan, which is close to home. After all, there are a lot of miasma and malaria in the southwest. They are all students of government schools, so they naturally understand the situation in the southwest. They are afraid that they will get sick after going to the southwest and miss out on a good life.

"Sit down." Zhu Gaoxu comforted him and then asked the other people.

After doing all this, he dined with the five Jinshi, chatting with them about the situation outside the pass, and did not let them leave until dusk.

"Yeah." Zhu Gaoxu nodded: "How have you been doing lately?"

When the speech was over, firecrackers went off, and Zhu Di, who was sitting high on the throne, slowly stood up, all the officials retreated, and the test passing ceremony in Xu Zike Hall came to an end.

But the people here are not stupid people. Based on his surname and place of origin, it is not difficult for everyone to guess his identity.

"Wu Ke, the 2nd and 14th in Xu Zike, is from Haizhou, Liaodong."

"Fu Kuan, the 13th in the third class of Xu Zike, is from Qujing, Yunnan."

"Liu Guan, ranked third and fifth in Xu Zike, is from Dengzhou, Shandong."

After they left, Zhu Gaoxu returned to his seat and sat down, frowning slightly.

"Right now, the imperial court is short of officials in Guizhou, Henan, Huguang, Jiaozhi, Yunnan, and Guangxi. I don't want to force you. You take the initiative to say where you want to go."

At the same time, all the civil and military officials in Fengtian Hall entered the class one after another, and an official from Honglu Temple knelt down in Danbi and delivered a speech: "The heaven has opened the destiny of culture, and the virtuous and handsome men have ascended to the mediocrity. It is appropriate to celebrate!"

"Thank you for your grace, Your Highness!" After hearing Zhu Gaoxu's words, Fu, who was only twenty years old, breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to salute in return.

As always, Zhu Gaoxu of the East Palace did not appear during the entire process. However, after the process, the five Jinshi who were on the imperial list outside Chang'an Gate were led back to Donghua Gate by a carriage and were brought in on foot. In the East Palace.

"Give me a seat."

"You are all considered my old friends. This time, there are no less than 80,000 students who signed up for the new school, but only five of you entered."

On the high platform, Zhu Gaoxu offered a seat, and the five Jinshi quickly returned the gift. After sitting down, they saw clearly the Prince of the East Palace, the Lord of the Pass.

"By the way, why is that prefect called Xu?"

After the five Jinshi entered the palace, they announced their families one after another. Among them, Fu Kuan, who was from Qujing, Yunnan, undoubtedly attracted the most attention. The other four Jinshi all glanced at him secretly.

Undoubtedly, everyone was shocked by Zhu Gaoxu's body shape. Even when he was sitting, he was as tall as everyone standing. He had a straight face, thick eyebrows and long eyes, and his mustache was somewhat majestic.

"Among the five Jinshi and one hundred and seventy-two candidates, only twelve are willing to go to the southwest, and only three are willing to go to Guizhou."

"Zhang Xing and Xu Zike ranked second and ninth, from Shenyang, Liaodong."

After he returned, all the tributes were able to walk out of Chang'an Gate to watch the results. At the same time, Yingtian Mansion officials used umbrellas to guard the ceremony and sent special personnel to send the new champion to his death.

"To change Maitreya Prefecture into a county, let's start with serving as the county magistrate." Zhu Gaoxu did not let Fu Kuan be the prefecture magistrate just because he was familiar with his father.

After Zhu Gaoxu finished speaking, the five Jinshi were obviously overwhelmed by his straightforward words. Only Fu Kuan bowed and said after a brief panic: "I want to serve in Yunnan, closer to home."

After a while, he picked up the ink pen and said at the same time: "Compared with them, the group of people in Zunyi Mansion are particularly good."

"Maybe you can't stand it. Please ask me to switch them." Zhu Gaoxu took a sip of tea and responded dissatisfied.

"Wang Qian, ranked third and seventh in Xu Zike, is from Qingzhou, Shandong."

The other four Jinshi looked at each other, and finally stood up and bowed, and at the same time told them where they wanted to go.

Regarding their choice, Zhu Gaoxu did not show any disappointment or other expressions. He just nodded and figured out where to go for them.

Although Zhu Gaoxu has an excellent memory, as he handles more official documents every day, Zhu Gaoxu sometimes cannot remember some small things.

"Thank you for your grace, Your Highness..."

"Crackling——"

"However, with this selection, officials who are willing to go to Guizhou will undoubtedly be able to do a lot of good things there."

When all these etiquettes were over, the deacon held the imperial banner and walked out of the left gate of Fengtianmen, and hung the imperial banner outside the left gate of Chang'an.

"Okay." Zhu Gaoxu did not refuse, but turned back to look at Yishiha. Yishiha also bowed slightly and said: "The rebellion of the chieftains in Amizhou has just been put down, and it is only less than three hundred miles away from Qujing City."

When Yishiha saw this, he didn't say much. When Zhu Gaoxu saw that Yishiha was silent, he didn't continue talking.

He inherited the Fu family's body type. His height of nearly six feet and his upright appearance make people look comfortable.

"I have called you here to discuss with you matters about taking office after the imperial examination."

Zhu Gaoxu opened his mouth to reveal his dissatisfaction, and Yisheha quickly poured tea for him to comfort him: "Students are mainly worried about their own safety. Compared with Yunnan, Guizhou is almost a blank slate."

"In the memorial written by Jian Yi, the situation in Zunyi Prefecture is very good." Yi Shiha introduced:
"The man hired people to build roads after spring plowing, preparing to widen the road from Zunyi to Chongqing Prefecture. At the same time, when the road construction workers received their wages, he sold official salt for fifteen cents."

"After all this time, it was actually allowed to support the construction of a ten-mile road, and this was even before the money and food allocated by His Highness arrived."

"The original road was only two feet wide, and there were many rugged places that were less than one foot wide."

"Now the road has been widened three feet inward, and many rough places have been blasted away."

"He took over all the iron mines developed by the Yang family in Banzhou and found limestone there. It seems that he is preparing to build an iron smelting plant and a cement factory."

Yishiha introduced most of what happened in Zunyi Mansion without hesitation. Zhu Gaoxu was also surprised after hearing this: "How long has he been in office?"

"Less than half a month" Yi Shiha's answer made Zhu Gaoxu interested.

"In less than half a month, we can actually do so many things. If these things were done by other officials, I am afraid that there would be no results in three months."

"If our officials in the Ming Dynasty could have Xu Shuo's drive, then there would be no need to implement the New Deal. Each prefecture and county would develop independently and the imperial court would be able to prosper."

Zhu Gaoxu leaned on his chair and was very satisfied with Xu Shuo. At the same time, he raised his hand and said:

"Ask Jian Yi to allocate another 100,000 kilograms of salt to him, increase the salt production in Sichuan, and also warn the salt merchants who go to Guizhou to sell salt. The price of salt in Guizhou shall not exceed 20 yuan."

"The salt shipped to Duogan and Uzang still uses the Kaizhong method. When transporting grain to Duogan, the salt will be introduced according to the standard of five to ten stones of grain according to the distance. When transporting grain to Uzang, the salt will be introduced according to the standard of two grains according to the distance. From one stone to five stones of grain, give salt a lead.”

A pound of salt costs 400 kilograms. According to the maximum salt price in Guizhou, which cannot exceed 20 jin, a pound of salt costs 8 guan, while a stone of grain purchased from Sichuan costs 380 jin.

Zhu Gaoxu carefully calculated that if he bought fifteen shi of rice from Chengdu and transported it to Santang, Daowu and other counties, he would be able to get 10 shi. If he transported it to Qamdo, he would have eight shi left. If he shipped it to Nagqu, he would have 5 shi left. If he shipped it to Lhasa, he would have 3 shi. Arriving at Shigatse is two stones.

This is the result of Mu Tu, Liu Zhao, and Li Ying recruiting local people to build roads in the past two years.

If the previous road conditions were followed, it would be good to have only one stone left when transporting fifteen shi of grain from Chengdu to Shigatse.

"How much military pay and food was spent in the land of Xifan last year?"

Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, and when Yi Shiha heard this, he went to the bookshelf and flipped through it skillfully to find a book.

"The total military pay, food, and rewards are 204,000 guan and 1.24 million shi."

"If you also include the cost of hiring local people to build roads, the total cost will be more than 369,000 guan and more than 2,164,000 dan of food."

After Yishiha finished speaking, he couldn't help but continue: "Many officials in the temple have criticized this matter a lot and believe that there is no need to station so many troops."

"What do you think?" Zhu Gaoxu asked Yi Shiha, who heard the words but said:

"My servant feels that the cost is indeed very high, but last year there were more than 56,000 horses in the land of Xifan, and they were only the horses of Dogan and half of Uzang."

"These fifty-six thousand horses alone are worth no less than half a million yuan, and they can subsidize a lot."

"If the army is reduced, I am afraid that there may not be so many horse gifts, and many tribes will also defy the imperial court, just like they did during the Hongwu period."

Yi Shiha still had a tacit understanding with Zhu Gaoxu. Although Xifan spent a lot of money, he also got a lot of horses.

Near the post station where the Ming army was stationed, no tribe dared to ignore the court's horse tax policy. Every tribe delivered horses to the garrison in various places every year, and the garrison gave tea in return.

This looks like trade, but in fact the party that benefits is the Ming army.

In the past three years alone, the Ming Dynasty has obtained no less than 100,000 horses from Xifan, most of which can be used as riding horses.

"That's good if you think so." Zhu Gaoxu nodded, and then picked up two memorials:
"This is a memorial written by Ahachu and Mengge Timur of Jianzhou Zuowei and Jianzhou Zhongwei, and Zheng Jun, the commander of Jinghaiwei."

"Jianzhou Zuowei and Jianzhou Zhongwei have recruited most of the Jurchens in the Donghaifu area. They have more than 4,600 households and more than 3,700 soldiers under their command."

"However, Zheng Jun's memorial said that they have more than 5,000 Yiding people under their command, so the court should be vigilant."

"There has been no movement in North Korea for several years, so I am going to let Chen Chang lead his troops to Donghai Mansion to build cities in Helan, Shuangcheng, and Haiyang and take actual control of the place."

Zhu Gaoxu was too lazy to argue with North Korea. Anyway, the law was on his side. Now it was just the right time to lead his troops to take control of Donghai Mansion, and also take charge of Meng Ge Timur and others.

"That slave will send someone to send a message to Zhaozhou Marquis Chen Chang now." Seeing this, Yi Shiha wrote down the Eastern Palace Edict, and then had someone issue the edict.

Seeing that he had finished everything, Zhu Gaoxu nodded and said: "The gold mining in Luzon is also on track. I heard that more than 600 taels of gold were produced in the past six months."

"Although this is not a lot, as the development intensity increases, the output will become more and more."

"Let Jiang Gui divide his troops to expand north and south. Don't have any worries. Jiaozhi will be responsible for all the food."

Zhu Gaoxu explained one thing, and Yi Shiha patiently recorded everything.

While they were recording, a fleet also broke through countless waves and came to a strait with frequent merchant ships.

The sea breeze kept blowing, and the scorching sun shone on people's bodies, making their skin feel slightly stinging.

"According to the guidance of the guide from Xindeguo, the Strait of Hormuz (Strait of Hormuz) is ahead. After entering the strait, there are four islands, one large, three small, and four in the sea."

"These four islands are quite suitable for us to set up officialdom on them."

On the deck, Chen Xuan and Zheng He beside him discussed seizing the four islands in the Strait of Hormuz. Zheng He nodded slightly after hearing this:
"His Highness said that there is no need to observe too many etiquette towards the Timurid Kingdom, because they are rude first."

"In that case, let's take these four islands first, and then bombard the city of Horumus!"

At the critical moment, Zheng He also showed his decisiveness, and when Chen Xuan heard this, he immediately grinned and said: "Don't worry, it's up to me!"

After saying that, Chen Xuan started to look back at the Strait of Horumus.

It connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman in the Middle East and is the only waterway from the Arabian Sea into the Persian Gulf.

The importance of the Strait of Horumus is self-evident. Even if there is no oil in this era, it is still important.

On the north shore of the Strait of Horumus is the Timurid Kingdom, which is fighting among itself, and its most important port is the Port of Horumus.

Compared with the north shore, Oman on the south shore of the strait is a loose power of tribes and is not within the scope of Zheng He's consideration.

First take over Horumus Port and the islands at sea, and then control the Horumus Strait. This is what he and Chen Xuan want to do.

"Dang...dang...dang..."

As time passed, as the last hour (13 o'clock) arrived, the bells rang in the port of Horumos.

More than ten miles away, they received news from merchants at sea and saw the Ming fleet appearing on the sea level.

Horumus dispatched his own diplomatic ships, and Qianhuguan from the fleet's front force also turned his head to look at his commander: "Commander, do you want them to come over?"

"Come here?" Chen Zuo snorted: "Give me a shot!"

"Yes!" After hearing the attack order, the Ming army, which had rested for more than three months, began intensive preparations.

After the Ming army destroyed the Kingdom of Ceylon last time, Zheng He sent three warships and six horse ships to escort the princes and ministers of the Kingdom of Ceylon to Nanjing, and left the Western Guards and more than 600 officials to govern the Kingdom of Ceylon. Waiting for Zheng He and others to return.

Perhaps the news of the Ming army's destruction of the Ceylon Kingdom spread, and so far they have not encountered any obstacles all the way north.

Ananda was very happy to set aside an area in Guli for the Ming army to build officialdom. Bahniman, Lani, Kachi, Xinde and other countries also met the Ming army's supply requirements.

When they drove to Mukelang, which belonged to the Timurid Empire, Zheng He let go of his hands and let the Ming army launch artillery bombardment on the coastal cities of Timur's kingdom, and left his credentials in Mukelang.

The content of the credential is mainly about the fact that Timurid detained the Ming Dynasty envoy team twice and killed many of the envoys' entourage.

Finally, Zheng He wrote in his credential: "I will lead the Celestial Army to Horumus, where I will pay blood for blood!"

Because of this letter of credence, Khalil, who was currently fighting with Ma Mahei in the north, had to temporarily recruit many merchant ships to serve as war ships. At the same time, he was distracted from dealing with the Ming army. At the same time, he sent troops to Khrumos to wait and sent envoys. Prepare to negotiate with the Ming army.

However, Zheng He, who had Zhu Gaoxu's understanding, didn't know this yet. He only knew that the Ming army's attack was about to begin!

"Uuuuuu——"

In less than four seconds, with the sailing fleet of more than 300 warships and horse ships deployed, they began their operation.

More than 18,000 sailors operated warships to surround the port of Horumos, ignoring the flags of countless merchant ships on the other side requesting peace, and resolutely lit the fuses of the artillery.

"Boom boom boom——"

It was like a muffled thunder, and all the owners of Timur's merchant ships suddenly changed their expressions.

Before they could react, thousands of stone cannonballs hit hundreds of Timurid armed merchant ships.

"Uh-huh!"

"Dodge the bombardment!"

"Shot cannon!"

"At least two thousand doors!"

"Boom boom boom——"

For a moment, the deck was in chaos, and thousands of cannonballs were fired. Due to their huge power, they could often penetrate a deck directly.

These Timurid Empire merchant ships, which cost only five or six hundred pieces, were defeated at the beginning of the war, and as the Ming fleet continued to approach, the casualties increased.

"How many artillery pieces are there..."

At the port of Khrumos, the minister Ursa, who was hiding behind the shelter at the port, had a pale face. He was witnessing the destruction of the temporary fleet of the Timurid Empire.

Facing the Ming army's fleet, this fleet composed of one hundred armed merchant ships was as fragile as a newborn baby.

The fleets of the Ming army skillfully alternated bombardment at sea. After the bombardment of one fleet, the fleet behind them moved forward, exposed its flanks and started bombarding, and the repetition continued.

Each round of cannon fire means thousands of stone bullets flying in, and it means that several armed merchant ships have been penetrated.

Although they did not sink, countless sailors and soldiers were severely injured by broken wooden thorns on the tattered decks.

His wooden thorns killed them, and even worse, they were beaten to pulp on the spot by twenty kilograms of stone cannonballs, and their heads were flattened.

"Beep!"

"Boom boom boom——"

The wooden whistles of the Ming army kept sounding, and each sound represented a round of shelling.

The five thousand Timurid troops at the port of Horumos turned pale. Like Ursa, they only felt their vulnerability under this fleet.

The five thousand troops at the port of Horumos were composed of two thousand auxiliaries, one thousand local cavalry, and two thousand infantry.

They only have twelve stone cannons in their hands, and this is already their best weapon.

But facing the Ming army's hundreds or thousands of stone-shooting cannons, they really didn't know what the twelve stone-shooting cannons in their hands were for.

As they watched, hundreds of armed merchant ships surrendered and sank. Within an hour of the war, the Timur Empire's temporary fleet was completely annihilated.

Next, when Horumus's five thousand Timur army faced the fleet.

"Raise the white flag! Tell them we are here to negotiate..."

"Boom boom boom——"

The fierce sound of artillery covered the voice of Foreign Minister Ursa. After defeating Timur's temporary fleet, Chen Xuan and Zheng He did not raise any flags, but launched artillery bombardment on the city of Horumos.

"Retreat! Not on the harbor!"

The cavalry began to retreat, and the infantry and auxiliaries also retreated in a rolling manner.

Facing such powerful firepower, even the elite directly under the Timur Empire would be defeated, let alone their local army.

"Boom boom boom——"

Ferocious stone cannonballs smashed into the city, many houses were penetrated, and Timur's army fleeing in the streets was also hit hard by artillery fire.

Hundreds of head-sized stone bullets fell into the street, killing a soldier and colliding with the ground, turning into ricochet and ricocheting down the street.

As long as it is exposed to it, no matter how heavy the armor is, the only way a soldier will face is death.

Blood stained the walls and streets, and howls and shrill screams could be heard throughout the Port of Horumos.

Ursa was escorted by two cavalry and evacuated. His whole body became weak and he couldn't even hold the horse's rein tightly.

He looked at the smashed bodies on the street, pieces of flesh scattered everywhere.

At this moment, what was on his mind was not the punishment for losing the port of Horumus, but whether they could still defend the vast area south of Kelden in the face of such a Ming army.

While he was avoiding the bombardment, Zheng He also put down the telescope in his hand and calmly said to Chen Xuan beside him:
"Timur's army retreated and told the brothers to prepare to land. First capture Horumus, build fortifications, and then capture the four islands on the sea."

"Don't continue the pursuit?" Chen Xuan asked quickly, pointing to the port of Horumos and said: "As for the stragglers just now, as long as we go ashore, I can guarantee that we can capture Kelden!"

"If gunpowder could be made here, I would even have the confidence to hit the city of Isfahan!"

Zheng He shook his head: "His Highness did not let us capture Kelden. Now we should capture Horumus first, and then use carrier pigeons to send the news back to various official circles, waiting for His Highness's order."

Having said this, he paused and thought for a moment before looking at Horumus and saying:

"If His Highness wants us to continue heading north, then you will lead the army north to teach them a lesson."

"Okay!" After hearing this, Chen Xuan was eager to get ready, with a war-loving expression without any concealment, he turned back to the navy and said:
"Go ashore and distribute everything after capturing it!"

"Yes!!"

(End of this chapter)