Smuggling Daming

Seeing that Mr. Lu and the others were hesitant, Zhou Zhong also knew what they were worried about, so he said with a smile: "Everyone, I know you are worried that Daming will not be able to garrison in Malacca for a long time. If we withdraw our troops, you will have no way to gain a foothold in the Kingdom of Malacca."

Hearing Zhou Zhong speak out what he was most worried about directly, Mr. Lu and the others were a little embarrassed. Indeed, what they were most worried about was what Zhou Zhong said. If they tried their best to help Zhou Zhong at this time, then in case Ming Dynasty withdrew, but they couldn't leave. After all, their family property was all here. If the Kingdom of Malacca blamed them for this incident, who would they turn to for reasoning?

I saw Zhou Zhong chuckled at this moment, looked at the expressions on the faces of Lu Lao and the others, and then smiled: "Actually, you don't have to worry about this problem at all. I am deeply favored by the emperor, and I have already explained it to Your Majesty long before I sent troops. After discussing with the cabinet, His Majesty finally decided to keep the Portuguese out of Nanyang. Malacca is the gateway to Nanyang, so the court will never give up here. Even the admiral has mobilized officials from Ming Dynasty , and manage the port as our Ming territory in the future!"

What Zhou Zhong said was very explicit, and he almost said that Daming was going to occupy the port of Malacca. Mr. Lu and the others were all good people, so they naturally understood the meaning of Zhou Zhong's words, and what surprised them was that the occupation of Malacca This matter turned out to be an order from His Majesty the Ming Emperor himself, which made them dispel the last trace of doubt in their hearts. They finally said together: "Thank you, Admiral, for your appreciation. I will do my best to assist you in managing the port of Malacca. !"

Seeing that Mr. Lu and the others finally agreed, Zhou Zhong was also relieved, but what Mr. Lu and the others did not know was that Zhou Zhong had lied just now. Zhengde and the cabinet only asked him to aid the Kingdom of Malacca, but they did not allow him to occupy the kingdom of Malacca. The port of others, this matter is entirely his personal decision.But this is nothing, after all, as the admiral of the world, he has the right to make his own decisions according to the situation.Moreover, when the port of Malacca is on the right track and a large amount of taxes are paid to the court every year, I believe that even the stubborn ministers in the cabinet will turn a blind eye.

After receiving the promise of help from Mr. Lu and the others, Zhou Zhong then visited the residences of Mr. Lu and his fellow overseas Chinese, asked about the living conditions of some ordinary people, and even walked a few steps with a cute child in his arms at the end.I have learned the tricks of those politicians in later generations to be close to the people, and the final effect is good. At least Mr. Lu and the others think that Zhou Zhong is a good official who is approachable.

At noon, Mr. Lu and the others set up a banquet and treated Zhou Zhong very warmly. In the afternoon, accompanied by Mr. Lu and the others, they went to visit the Baoshan Temple in Sanbao Mountain.There is a statue of Zheng He in the temple, and murals of Zheng He's voyages are painted on the surrounding walls.Although the entire temple is not particularly tall, it is very delicate and full of incense. Almost every Han Chinese who comes to Malacca Port will come here to burn a stick of incense, which is said to bless the safety of ships at sea.

Zhou Zhong also admired Zheng He very much, so he also solemnly put incense sticks on Zheng He's statue.At the same time, I meditated in my heart, hoping that the other party's spirit in heaven could bless Daming's navy to go to the world again.Reproduce the grand occasion of the coming of all nations to Korea.

After visiting the Baoshan Temple, Zhou Zhong went to the tomb of Princess Han Baoli. Before Princess Han Baoli died, she specifically asked her to be buried in Sanbaoshan. After all, compared with other places, Sanbaoshan may be the closest to the hearts of overseas Han people. Homeland is where it is.

Although Princess Han Baoli's son Alec failed in the coup, her cemetery was protected by the Kingdom of Malacca, and there were even special tomb guards in the past. Unfortunately, because of the war caused by the Portuguese, many people in Malacca City They all fled, and now Princess Han Baoli’s tomb has no guardians, but fortunately, the artillery fire did not involve here. When Zhou Zhong came to the princess’s tomb, he saw that the beautifully constructed princess tomb was still quiet. stands here.

Although Zhou Zhong firmly believes that the identity of Princess Han Baoli is false, one thing should be true, that is, she should be a Han woman, and she married overseas at a young age. Now there are so many Han Chinese living in the Kingdom of Malacca , has an inseparable relationship with this weak woman, and even in essence, she is not much different from Wang Zhaojun of the Han Dynasty, and she is also a hard-working woman.

Focusing on the above point alone, Zhou Zhong felt that he should come to pay respects, and he even specially asked Mr. Lu and the others to prepare various sacrifices for him, and paid respects to the princess.

In the end, Zhou Zhong asked Wu Shan and others around him to retreat, and stood in front of Princess Han Baoli's tomb for a long time, and finally said slowly: "Your real name may no longer be known, so let's call you a princess, although I I don’t know why you pretended to be a princess and married to the Kingdom of Malacca, but you must be the same as Wang Zhaojun, full of unwillingness, but the past is over, now the Chinese people in Malacca gather, and the princess is also your credit, as a reward, In the future, if Zhou can find the Huang family and learn your real name and identity, he will rebuild your tomb someday and engrave your deeds on the tombstone, so that future generations can know your contribution!"

Zhou Zhong couldn't help sighing in his heart when he said the last, although he has always been close to each other, but as a modern person, he hates this way very much, after all, how can the relationship between countries depend on a woman maintain?Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty did a better job on this point. The Ming royal family's ancestral precepts: no marriage, no compensation, no cede land, no tribute, the emperor guards the gate of the country, and the king dies.And all the emperors of the Ming Dynasty have also done it. This is what Zhou Zhong is most satisfied with about Daming.

After paying homage to Princess Han Baoli, Zhou Zhong bid farewell to Mr. Lu and the others.To be honest, Mr. Lu and his family moved really fast. Early the next morning, many young children from these families came to the port to see Zhou Zhong. They were all willing to work in the port, and these young people unexpectedly They are all literate, and it seems that these overseas families are also very strict in the education of their children. Zhou Zhong was overjoyed and immediately arranged for them to try out their respective positions.

With the joining of the children of these overseas families at the port, coupled with the support of Mr. Lu and others behind the scenes, the entire Malacca port was quickly on the right track. After more than a month, the Shibo Secretary promoted Yang Tong to personally rush to the port of Malacca. , and presided over the transformation of the entire port. After all, the construction and management of the port in the Kingdom of Malacca is too backward, and it is impossible to fully utilize the role of Malacca as a traffic artery. , Yang Tong, as the commissioner of the shipping department, is very familiar with the port, and he is careful and prudent, so it is naturally best for him to handle this matter.

In addition, in addition to Yang Tong, Tang Bohu and some technical officials came with him. Of course, the technical officials are in charge of the specific planning of the port renovation. Overseas, he still wanted Shuangyu Port after the port renovation, so Malacca needed an important shipping department official to be in charge, and finally he gave this task to the younger Tang Bohu.

With the arrival of Yang Tong and Tang Bohu, it also marks the official entry of the Ming government agency Shibosi to Malacca. At the same time, it also marks that although the Malacca port belongs to the Kingdom of Malacca in name, it is actually completely controlled by Ming.People of later generations will regard this incident as the first symbolic event that Daming lifted the sea ban and officially embarked on the road of ocean expansion.

With the arrival of Yang Tong and the others, Zhou Zhong also completely got rid of the heavy port management affairs and began to focus on the military support of the port.Although the Portuguese were repulsed, Zhou Zhong couldn't guarantee when the other party would come again, so the military facilities at the port had to be built as soon as possible.

In Zhou Zhong's plan, in order to ensure the safety of the port of Malacca, he planned to build a solid fortress on the port. As for the style of the fortress, it refers to the bastion that just appeared in Europe, that is, the polygonal fortress. This kind of fortress structure can be effective. The Portuguese built many such bastions in the ports of India and other places. Although there are still blind spots in this kind of bastion that has not yet fully evolved, it is better than the previous square or round fortresses. Much stronger.

However, although the plan was good, the construction plan of the bastion could not be implemented immediately because Zhou Zhong was short of money.Although the plan to attack the Portuguese was very smooth, there were hundreds of casualties. Naturally, subsidies were needed for these casualties, and Zhou Zhong paid heavy subsidies for the casualties in order to make the soldiers use their lives. For example, if a soldier died in battle The subsidy given to their family is enough to allow the family to buy more than ten acres of fertile land, or rent it out or cultivate it. It is definitely not a problem to support a family.

It is also the generous casualty subsidy, coupled with the previous wear and tear, that made Zhou Zhong's military salary donated by Zhengde's hand a bit tight, and he could not use his own money for military salary at will, otherwise there would definitely be a censor participating in the military salary. He conspired against the law, even intending to rebel, so now Zhou Zhong can only pin his hopes on the tax revenue of Shuangyu Port and Malacca Port, but the time for the two ports to take over is too short, and the tax revenue is also very limited. It will take a few months, but the sooner the fortress is built, the better, so Zhou Zhong really can't wait.

Just when Zhou Zhong was having a headache about the financial problems of Admiral's Yamen, a small boat slowly left Jinzhou on the coast of Jinzhou opposite Malacca Port and sailed straight to Malacca Port. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)