Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 400: Shelling Mugudushu
"Uuuuuu——"

In early May, when the horn sounded, huge warships began to pack up their anchors and sail towards the south.

On the coast, a simple pier is filled with many people wearing Arab robes made of Ming silk.

They were waving goodbye to the fleet, and here was the city of Adan, which was the distribution center for trade gems in the West Little Western Triangle.

In this era, the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula basically existed in the form of city-states, and there was no powerful country.

Therefore, facing the Ming Dynasty's fleet, they all behaved very respectfully, and Zheng He, who led the fleet, was not greedy for anything, but just carried out trade honestly.

"These Chinese people are so stupid. They sold us so many things for only five boxes of gems."

"Yeah, it used to take at least seven boxes of gems."

"They said they would come back in a few years, haha... I wish it would go faster!"

On the dock, the kings and ministers of the Adan Kingdom "laughed" at the trading methods of the Western Fleet. At the same time, on the treasure ship, Chen Xuan drooled and opened a wooden box the size of a human head.

"These merchants from the Adan Kingdom don't know where they got so many gems. If these gems are given to the Ministry of Revenue, they will probably be worth at least a hundred thousand gold!"

The connection between them is not close, and they exist from Mugudusu all the way south to Kunlun Cape.

In fact, this is not the case. These countries have their own architectural art, language and culture, but they perished only because of the war.

It is precisely because of the existence of these large tribes and city-states that merchant ships can safely sail nearly 30,000 miles of sea route from Western Europe to Mugudushu, the largest trading city-state in East Africa.

These countries range from tens of thousands of wooden bones to tens of thousands of Shona. The supplies they can provide to the fleet are different, and even their eating habits are very different.

Just in case, he asked the guide to find out about the situation of Mugudusu.

Zheng He hired several guides here who knew Arabic as well as Swahili and Shona in the south, and then continued south.

Zheng He took out the navigation chart and looked at it. The names of many countries were marked on the navigation chart. Among them, there were Tianfang (Buyer), Mamluk, Hediupia (Ethiopia), Jideer, etc. in the Red Sea. country.

Chen Xuan reluctantly put the box back, and at the same time glanced at the merchant ships from various countries and the Jiangnan Merchant Group following the fleet.

Unfortunately, Mugudushu doesn't have any special products, so there are very few merchants who come here to do business. Even the few guides Zheng He and the others found only lived in Mugudushu seven or eight years ago.

"More than that, there are five boxes here, at least 180,000 yuan." Zheng He, standing beside Chen Xuan, chuckled, seeming to think that he had made a lot of money.

"There are also some commodities seized from cities in the Persian Gulf. After these commodities are transported to the south and sold, they can almost allow us to supply locally to Cape Kunlun and back."

However, what the specific situation is, we still have to see if the small city-states in the south can still supply their ocean-going fleet of more than 12,000 people.

After arriving at Mugudusu, there are Zhubu, Manbasa, Ma Lindi, Shona and other countries all the way south.

Due to insufficient supplies, Zheng He did not go to these countries in person. Instead, he sent squadrons to establish basic exchanges with various countries, and did not set up dependent country embassies.

Although Zhu Gaoxu is familiar with geography, he is not familiar with these foreign histories.

Zheng He asked an Arab guide, and the guide waved his hand and said: "As long as it is your currency, they will accept it, and they will also use your currency."

The fleet only made a small purchase and bought up most of the fruits and vegetables in the market town.

"Use our currency?" Zheng He was a little surprised: "How did they obtain our currency?"

Half a month later, their fleet successfully arrived in the northern waters where Mugudu was bound. Zheng He and the others also stepped onto the deck after not showing up for a long time.

It's normal to think about it carefully. If there are no city-states along the coasts of Central Africa and South Africa, how can some small tribes support the supply of tens of thousands of merchants after the new routes are opened.

Inside the box, all kinds of gems sparkled, and there was an endless stream of red and sapphires.

"If the south cannot be supported, then let the Chongming Guard return to Horumus first, and together with the East Sea Guard, escort tens of millions of gold and silver coins back to Ceylon to wait for us."

However, two hundred pieces of porcelain and a thousand bolts of silk and raw silk, the cost price of which was at most ten thousand guan according to the Ministry of Works, was now sold to them for a sky-high price of 180,000 guan. How could they be unhappy.

Shaharul had already delivered the coins and credentials, so Zheng He and the others appeared here and handed over the thirty-two cities to Shaharul.

Moreover, their land is barren and the country is short of water as a whole, so the supplies that the fleet can obtain there are very limited. Even the guide suggested Zheng He and the others to cross Mugudusu and go directly to Manbasa and Ma Lindi to obtain supplies.

If it cannot adapt, the fleet will not be able to reach Kunlun Cape, let alone send advance teams to Dongzhou and Beizhou.

These countries are not so much countries as they are larger city-states.

"So, now we have completely run out of products?" Chen Xuan had a toothache, because along the way, the more than 200 horse-drawn boats they brought from Liujiagang had almost been sold.

In their memory, Mugu Dushu was very poor. Except for some wealthy families from the country who occasionally went to Adan to sell gems, under normal circumstances, merchants from Mugu Dushu were not necessarily seen throughout the year.

They had enough supplies left to sail to Mugudushu (Mogadishu).

Due to the bloody policies adopted by Europeans against these city-states in history, many people believe that there is no civilization south of Ethiopia.

Thinking of this, Zheng He also looked at the sea level of the Gulf of Aden. It was not until three o'clock in the morning that he and Chen Xuan returned to the cabin.

“What is the currency of Mu Gu Du Shu State?”

"The business gang at the back also made a lot of money, right?"

Zheng He put away the chart and made some explanations, and Chen Xuan nodded in agreement.

Zheng He glanced at the words and responded without thinking: "Their cost should be three times ours, but judging from the transaction just now, they should have made tens of thousands of dollars."

In the next ten days, they could occasionally see some small market towns on the coast, but they were too small to supply the fleet.

"Brought by merchants," the guide explained, and Zheng He didn't think much about it.

Therefore, facing the unknown waterway, Zheng He chose to send warships to Khrumos to search for information. Only now did he obtain a more detailed map of East African countries, and roughly marked the population of each country.

The reason why Chongming Guard is asked to lead the fleet back to Horumus and escort the coins to Ceylon together with Donghai Guard is mainly because after Zheng He and others arrived at Kunlun Cape, they did not intend to return the same way, but returned to Ma After the woodland, we went directly across the Little Western Ocean to Ceylon to join the East Sea Guard.

But after thinking about it, Zheng He decided to go to Mugudusu to have a look.

"Go and take a look first. If we can't communicate, then leave."

Zheng He discussed with Chen Xuan, and Chen Xuan nodded after hearing this.

Not long after, the fleet continued to sail towards Mugudushu, and when they were near the sea, they used telescopes to see Mugudushu on the coast.

"The yard on the seaside is their checkpoint, but they are very greedy and may charge you high tariffs."

The guide explained to Zheng He. Zheng He nodded and said, "As long as it's not too expensive, some tariffs are nothing."

With that said, Zheng He signaled Wang Ren, the official of Qianhu, to lead dozens of naval forces, put down the sand ships and go to Mugudushu Customs.

Wang Ren was about thirty years old, and he was a general specially selected by Zheng He during his voyage.

Although his official position was not high, he was cautious, tolerant and disciplined. Therefore, Zheng He planned to let Wang Ren lead the detachment to Dongzhou after arriving at Kunlun Cape.

This time, Wang Ren was asked to go to Mugudushu, which was also a test for him.

Wang Ren didn't think too much, selected thirty brothers, and went to the customs where the bones were tied up wearing breastplates.

Outside the simple customs is a row of stone piers, but there are only dozens of fishing boats with local characteristics on them. They look like they are only a few dozen in size at most.

The sand boat Wang Ren and the others took was worth 200 yuan, which was twice the size of these fishing boats.

When Wang Ren passed by the fishing boat, he saw the Kunlun people who were darker than the Kunlun slaves in Nanyang.

Most of them have curly hair, wide mouths, wide noses, faint yellow eyes, and thin bodies.

When Wang Ren saw them, they all looked at Wang Ren and his ship numbly, and only a few people showed curious eyes.

The guide tried to communicate with them, but they said nothing. The helpless guide could only take Wang Ren and the others to row a boat onto the simple pier.

"You guys wait here, I'll go in now and ask them about the tariff price."

The guide explained, and then walked towards the simple stone house called the checkpoint.

Wandering outside the stone house were more than a hundred soldiers holding spears and wearing coarse linen cloth.

They had no armor, and the shoes they wore were made of unknown animal skins.

Seeing Wang let them go ashore, they were indifferent. It wasn't until a short, fat, black man with a big belly walked out of the stone house that they became a little more energetic.

The guide and the fat black man were talking to each other. Although Wang Ren and the others were only wearing breastplates, they didn't feel too vigilant seeing that these people had no armor.

"This is the official here and he said he needs to see our ships before he sets a price and pays the tax."

"Okay!" Wang Ren nodded and motioned to the soldiers behind him to get out of the way.

But what they didn't expect was that the fat black man spotted their armor and weapons at the first sight, and immediately started to grab Wang Ren's breastplate, mumbling something unknown.

Wang Ren pushed the fat black man, who was less than five feet tall, away, and the fat black man immediately shouted angrily.

"He said he wants armor from all of you," the guide translated.

"..." After hearing this, Wang Ren frowned: "Tell him, we can send him some armor later, but we can't take off the armor now."

Wang Ren's temper was already settled. If Chen Zuo came ashore and the fat black man dared to attack him, then his body would probably be floating on the sea.

But what he didn't expect was that after the guide translated, the fat black man's face was obviously not very good-looking.

The next second, his eyes lit up, he pointed at Wang Ren and said something again.

"He said he still wanted that thing on your waist." The guide wiped his sweat, obviously feeling that the official was very greedy.

"What's on my waist?" Wang Ren subconsciously touched his waist, but what he touched was his military badge.

After the New Deal reform, the military registration plates of Qianhu officials were all gold with copper clad iron, so they looked very intimidating. "You can't give this thing to him, and it's just copper clad iron. If he wants copper coins, I can give it to him."

Wang Ren took out a string of Yongle Tongbao from his arms, at least it was consistent.

Faced with his actions, the official quickly ran forward, snatched the Yongle Tongbao from his hand, played with it, and looked at Wang Ren greedily.

He jabbered a lot more, but the guide's face changed after hearing this.

"What did he say?" Wang Ren felt something was wrong, so he asked the guide, but at this time the guide hesitated.

"He said...he said...uh..."

"Say something!" Even though Wang Ren had a good temper, he couldn't help but be made furious by the greed of this fat black man.

"He said he wants ten dollars like this, and also needs the group of people behind you to be his slaves..."

"I'm in love with your mother-in-law!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Ren's face turned gloomy, and the navy soldier behind him cursed directly.

Seeing that they dared to yell and curse, the fat black man immediately blew his whistle, and more than a hundred soldiers in the courtyard swarmed forward.

They did not confront each other, but directly chose to take action.

If Wang Ren hadn't pulled the guide, he probably would have explained it here.

"I told you not to come here, they are all barbarians!"

The guide was startled, and the Ming army behind Wang Ren formed a formation in an instant.

"Do it for me!"

Wang Ren threw away the guide, drew his sword and rushed forward.

The spears of the wooden and bone soldiers were nothing more than wooden poles. Although Wang Ren and his party did not carry long spears, their swords and wooden shields alone were enough to resist their attack.

However, as they threw their spears, several unlucky Ming soldiers were stabbed in the arms or thighs because they were only wearing breastplates.

At the same time, the stiff-armed soldiers blew their whistles, and someone immediately lit up the smoke in the courtyard.

"Retreat first!"

Seeing this scene, Wang Ren ordered to fight and retreat. Everyone jumped back on the boat and cut off the ropes tied to the wooden stakes with one knife.

Without the fixed ropes, the sand ships began to drift to the sea, while the soldiers with wooden bones kept throwing spears. The Ming army's wooden shields were unstoppable, and many people were injured.

"Return to the army!"

Wang Ren was so angry that even a man like him had his arm stabbed in the battle just now.

"Fortunately, there is no quenching poison!"

The guide checked the spears that fell on the boat and was thankful that there was no quenching poison on the spears. Several soldiers with wooden bones who jumped on the boat with the Ming army were also killed by the Ming army and their bodies were thrown into the sea.

The rest did not pursue rashly, but threatened Wang Ren and the others with bows, arrows and spears on the shore.

Since his voyage to the West, apart from being a little embarrassed in Ceylon, Wang Ren has never been in such a miserable state.

At this moment, even though he was called "Mu Lengzi" by the military, he couldn't help but think about coming back for revenge.

Soon, he led the injured Ming army to withdraw to the fleet, and Zheng He on the deck of the fleet also saw their embarrassed appearance.

"what happened?"

"He's injured, he must have been ambushed!"

"Mom! Anyone who dares to hit us!"

For a moment, many generals on the deck were scolding each other, but Chen Xuan said calmly: "Let's hear the whole story first."

"Come closer and pick them up on the boat." Zheng He also gave the military order with an ugly face.

Soon, the fleet moved closer to Wang Ren and the others, lowered the ship's ladder, and picked them up on the deck.

"Your Majesty, Lord Marquis, these Kunlun slaves have gone too far!"

Back on the deck, Wang Ren told what happened just now. Zheng He and Wang Xuan listened with dark faces, while the generals yelled:
"You should wear heavy armor. If you wear heavy armor, you can kill even hundreds of people!"

"Mother, you are talking about so many useless things. Zheng He, Lord Marquis, let's send troops!"

"send troops!"

For a moment, the generals' voices echoed in Zheng He's ears, and the observer on the ship's mast also blew the wooden whistle.

"Beep--"

The wooden whistle sounded, and Zheng He immediately walked to the side of the ship and looked at the customs with his binoculars.

I saw a huge crowd of people gathered there, and when Zheng He saw this, he also said, "How far is it from the shore?"

"About three miles!" the observer loudly responded, and Zheng He said without thinking: "Go forward one mile!"

He had already seen Wang Ren's position just now, and he had to say that the waters in Mogadishu were not bad, at least the fleet would not be stranded.

"Beep--"

Under Zheng He's military order, the fleet group began to advance towards the offshore waters of Mugudushu, which also caused a commotion to the Mugudushu soldiers on the shore.

The fishing boats at sea fled back to the shore one after another, the smoke from the customs became more and more intense, and the number of people on the shore increased.

As time went by, Zheng He and the others were less than two miles away from the customs.

Seeing this, Zheng He decisively ordered: "Fixed fire and reload, the target's wood and bones are bound, the distance is two miles, test fire one round, give me a base!"

Although the fleet's gunpowder was not that sufficient, Zheng He couldn't swallow this breath.

"Got the order!!"

After receiving the military order, the generals began to get busy. More than ten treasure ships and more than thirty warships at sea began to pull up the rudders, and pulled apart the waterproof panels on the sides of the ships, revealing the dark muzzles of the guns.

"Everyone is here, ready to... light the fire!"

Following the orders from the officials in the cabin, the gunners lit the fuses one after another. Amidst the "chichi" sound of the fuses burning, everyone was waiting for the venting sound of the cannon.

"Boom boom boom boom——"

Smoke and gunfire appeared, one after another, in an endless stream.

Due to the huge power of the naval gun and the short distance, almost as soon as the wooden-bone soldiers on the shore heard the sound of the gun and panicked, a twenty-kilogram heavy shell hit the crowd.

"Eh!!!"

Regardless of whether the language is the same, the screams are the same.

The 20-pound granite cannonball was fired at such a distance, smashing through more than a dozen people in just an instant, and the broken limbs were scattered all over the ground.

There is no need to aim, the dense crowd is the best target.

Nearly a thousand artillery fired, and a quarter of the gathered people were killed on the spot almost in an instant. The remaining people were either frightened to the ground, or ran behind them like crazy.

"Check if there are any rocks. If there are no rocks, the fleet will advance and continue to bombard Mugudushu!"

Seeing that one round of shelling had achieved such results, Zheng He quickly ordered the march.

Under his military order, the sand ship was lowered and a safe channel was found offshore. During this period, the fleet's artillery never stopped, shelling as it advanced.

The people in Shuguo lived in stone houses with wooden bones, but these stone houses were not stable.

Faced with 20 kilograms of granite bullets falling from the sky, these houses will often collapse completely after being hit twice.

For a time, the entire wooden skeleton was in chaos. Everyone was running around to avoid the stones falling from the sky, thinking that this was a punishment from the gods.

As for the fat black man who caused all this, he hid in the customs.

However, his fate has long been doomed, because the customs stone house is the target of special attention.

Facing more than a dozen stone bullets, the stone house was reduced to rubble, completely burying the fat black man alive.

"Wang Ren!"

"The general is here!"

Seeing that the customs was defeated, Zheng He called out Wang Ren's name without looking back, and ordered with a dark face: "I order you to lead thousands of households in my headquarters to land and find the culprit!"

"General, take your orders!" Although he was slightly injured, Wang Ren, who was holding back his anger, was fine after simple treatment.

He had put on heavy armor early, and now that Zheng He's military order was issued, he no longer hesitated and led thousands of households in his headquarters to take a sand boat and sail to the dock.

Seeing them go away, Zheng He also ordered the bombardment to stop.

Soon, the "thunder" that shrouded Mugudusu disappeared, and many people from Mugudusu knelt on the street, covering themselves with dust to pray to heaven.

But what they invited was not God's forgiveness, but thousands of armored Ming troops who had landed in Mugudushu...

(End of this chapter)