The Prosperous Era of Longwan

The Li family and his son were still quietly training outside the city of Yongning Prefecture, and kept asking the chief envoys of Sichuan, Guangxi and Guizhou for money, food and supplies.

There are tens of thousands of games played, and people eat horse chews every day, which costs a lot of money.

Although Yunnan, which is just around the corner, has hoarded a large amount of supplies, Li Chengliang did not reach out to ask for it from Wang Ning.

When the official documents from the capital were obtained and the army entered Yunnan, these things would not be readily available, but at that time it would be difficult to continue asking for baggage from Sichuan and other places.

It's not that they can't get it, but they will become procrastinating. After all, after entering the territory of Yunnan, according to the rules of the Ming army, they should mainly raise funds locally.

Moreover, in the face of war, Li Chengliang would not focus on logistics. He would definitely focus on the front line and use his brain.

They naturally have the opportunity to delay.

If we can deliver one less batch, the burden on the local government will be smaller.

In the capital, the cabinet meeting on raising taxes in Yuegang was too late to be held. Because of the palace's approval, the cabinet watched the Ministry of War and sent official documents to the southwest and southeast overnight.

To the southwest, it was natural for Li Chengliang to take over the command of the war in Yunnan, granting Li Chengliang the highest authority, and even directly appoint officials for local military preparations.

Several provinces in the southwest also received official documents from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Household, supplying military supplies in accordance with Li Chengliang's requirements.

This is what Wei Guangde promised him at the beginning, giving him all rights. If Li Chengliang cannot take Burma, there is no need to come back.

But on this matter, Wei Guangde struggled to get through Zhang Juzheng's ideological work, but was stopped in the military department.

Fortunately, Zhang Juzheng spoke, and the military department was reluctant to let him go.

Of course Wei Guangde lamented that before Liu Tai impeached Zhang Juzheng, the main crime was to control the six subjects and encroach on the emperor's power.

Unexpectedly, he would be able to see the benefits of controlling the six subjects so quickly.

At the very least, the probability of being stopped in the Sixth Subject is much smaller for the six-part essay.

In the past, they were only responsible to the emperor, so they could naturally deal with the cabinet's requests tactfully. The main thing was to see what the palace wanted.

Now, the cabinet can influence the six departments.

The most important thing is that the cabinet ministers have the right to recommend the six ministers. With this, the six ministries can almost be said to be subordinates of the cabinet, because nominally the cabinet and the six ministries are not subordinate to each other.

No wonder, people in later generations say that Zhang Juzheng was actually the most powerful prime minister in the Ming Dynasty.

If it weren't for his intervention, Zhang Juzheng would definitely be the number one person in the court.

And now, at least two of the six will not completely obey his orders.

In the evening, Wei Guangde went home, changed his mind, and went out to Zhu Heng's house.

There were only three people at the banquet, him, Zhu Heng, and Tan Lun.

"Brother Shinan, you can do whatever you want. Brother Zili and I will drink from this cup."

The three of them exchanged cups, but Zhu Heng was not in good health now, so he couldn't be allowed to drink more.

Tan Lun also had some minor health problems, but he had returned to his hometown for treatment for more than a year, and with his many years of military service and spending time with military generals, he also had a spirit of reluctance to admit defeat, so he was reluctant to admit that he was not in good health.

"Ahem, inviting you two here this time has something to do with my body and bones."

Zhu Heng did not hold on, drank half a glass of wine, and said after Wei Guangde grabbed the wine bottle and filled it for him.

"What are your plans for the Ministry of Works and Shandai in the future?"

Zhu Heng asked after Wei Guangde put down the wine bottle.

When he heard that it was about the arrangements after the Ministry of Works, Wei Guangde just thought about it briefly and said: "I plan to transfer Wu Guifang back to the Ministry of Works to hold the title of minister. He is the governor of water transportation and the governor of Fengyang, and his rank is high enough."

"What about the position he vacated? This position is not simple. Now the main errands of the Ministry of Works are centered around river engineering."

Zhu Heng said again.

"Let Jiang Zhi go. He is now in charge of the excavation of the Jia Canal. The Governor of Water Transport and the Right Assistant Minister of the Ministry of Industry will raise his rank first.

It's just that the position of Governor Fengyang may have to be filled. "

Wei Guangde reached out and picked up the chopsticks and took a bite of food.

"Can the cabinet make sense?"

Tan Lun looked at Wei Guangde and asked.

"I think there won't be too much resistance in handing over Governor Fengyang to someone recommended by Uncle Da, right?"

When Wei Guangde said this, he glanced at Tan Lun before continuing: "I plan to ask Shu Hua to step down as Minister of Taipu Temple and go to Nanjing to serve as Minister of Dali Temple and seek the position of Minister of the Ministry of Punishment in Nanjing."

Taipu Temple raises horses, but it is not under its jurisdiction. The former Minister of Taipus Temple was Brush, and he was also a fellow from Jiangxi.

In fact, Wei Guangde knew that Tan Lun initially planned to find an opportunity to transfer him to the Minister of War, and then seek to be his successor.

However, Shuhua has a problem, that is, he has never actually commanded a battle, which means he cannot be regarded as a military civilian official.

This is not easy to push Shu Hua to the top.

Now the meaning of Wei Guangde's words is obviously to give up his idea and let him seek punishment from the Ministry of Justice instead.

In fact, from the phenomenon of Shuhua, a short man, being taller, we can think that perhaps because Jiangxi has been peaceful for so long, there is no one among the Jiangxi Jinshi who can take over the Ministry of War.

Unlike the Ministry of Industry, there are a lot of people who can succeed Zhu Heng.

"As for the military department, it depends on ability. If you have outstanding ability, Brother Zili can use it with confidence."

Wei Guangde continued to talk to Tan Lun.

After observing for so long, Wei Guangde finally gave up on arranging people from his fellow villagers to join the Ministry of War.

There really isn't the right person.

When Tan Lun heard this, he could only nod slightly.

On Luzon Island, although he did not wait for the order from the court, Yu Dayou knew more or less about Wei Guangde's subsequent plan.

So when the border survey with the Spaniards was underway, he did not forget to send the Ming army to contact the Luzon tribes in the north that belonged to the Ming area.

With the relationship of recruiting soldiers before, it was easy to contact other tribes in the inland through these tribes, thus connecting the northern tribes with all the tribes.

Yu Dayou did these things, of course, to explain the rules of the Ming Dynasty to them.

The experience in the southwest made Yu Dayou know that if he did not make the interests clear with these tribes, Luzon Island might become like the southwest, where the chieftains would not obey the king and repeatedly make trouble.

For these local natives of Luzon Island, Yu Dayou used both kindness and force, throwing out olive branches to recruit them, and did not forget to show them the strength of the Ming army.

The hundreds of warships and tens of thousands of soldiers alone were enough to intimidate these tribal leaders.

While continuing to build the Daimao City, Yu Dayou also chose two ports with superior geographical locations in the north, which were conducive to the strongholds established by the Spaniards, to establish the Ming Dynasty's affiliated military ports in Luzon.

Of course, it is not enough to have only one Daimao Port. The Ming Dynasty still has to leave a navy fleet stationed there like Dongfan Island, patrolling nearby and monitoring the movements of the Spanish fleet in the south, especially the Spanish treasure ships.

Yu Dayou now mainly entrusted Chen Lin with the affairs on the island.

Chen Lin is proficient in land and water warfare, and he is middle-aged. He is considered a young general in the army and is Yu Dayou's first choice to guard Luzon.

As for Deng Zilong, he has returned to the ship and followed Wang Zhao to learn how to command the fleet and familiarize himself with the methods of water warfare.

Because once the court documents come down, according to the time calculation, if there is no accident, there may be movement in the southwest. Their fleet cannot return to the Ming Dynasty directly for rest, but will directly depart from Luzon and continue to head south to the old port.

Now the power distribution in that place is complicated. The nominal ruler of Old Port is the Kingdom of Bachang, but its domestic situation is critical. The ruler is eager to suppress the rising Mataram nobles, so he did not pay attention to the remnants of the Feilong Kingdom who suddenly arrived there and obtained a piece of land.

In the core area of ​​Old Port, it is still managed by a small circle formed by the Chinese, but it pays tribute to the Kingdom of Bachang on time in order to obtain safe shelter.

At the same time, in the northwest of Old Port, the rising Kingdom of Aceh is also eyeing Old Port, and it seems that it will only wait for the civil strife in the Kingdom of Bachang, and then it will search and annex the Old Port area, and now seek to expand in other directions.

In fact, twenty years ago, the Kingdom of Aceh tried to cross the sea to capture Malacca occupied by the Portuguese. Although they almost succeeded, they were helpless under the city of Malacca in the face of the bastions built by the Portuguese, and they still failed to break through the city after paying a heavy price.

After that, after the Portuguese troops in other areas came to support, they had to gradually retreat.

Until now, the Kingdom of Aceh and the Portuguese in Malacca are still in a war relationship. Whether the armies of both sides meet at sea or on land, it is bound to be a battle.

It is precisely because of the Portuguese's containment that although the Kingdom of Aceh wants to annex the entire Sumatra Island, it still has no ability to go south to seize the Old Port area before the Kingdom of Bachang has civil strife.

Yu Dayou is now planning what attitude the surrounding Portuguese and the Kingdom of Bachang in Malacca, as well as the ambitious Kingdom of Aceh, will take towards the Ming Dynasty after the Ming army fleet appears in the Old Port.

The target of the Ming Dynasty is Burma, not the South China Sea, and the South China Sea Navy has no time to waste in the Old Port.

Therefore, trying to avoid the outbreak of war around the Old Port is the best option for Yu Dayou.

Yu Dayou couldn't help but think of what Wang Zhao said before, that he drove the fleet into the bay and directly frightened the Spanish fleet in the Pengaslan Bay.

Although it is definitely exaggerated, hundreds of warships are going in one direction, not to say that they cover the sky and the sun, but it is indeed quite bluffing.

"Then before going to the Old Port, we should first go around Solo in central Java, then go to the sea outside Malacca, and finally dock at the Old Port.

As for the Kingdom of Aceh, when the fleet goes north to Myanmar, it will pass through the Kingdom of Aceh. At that time, the fleet will pass near Banda Aceh to show its military power.

After this circle, I believe that these small countries in Nanyang should know whether the Old Port can be touched."

Yu Dayou murmured.

Although the Ming Dynasty has not taken the Nanyang countries into consideration for a long time, it is still easy to find out the situation in Nanyang.

The areas controlled by the Kingdom of Padang are mainly Java Island and most of Sumatra Island, as well as some nearby small islands.

However, the nobles in the Matalan area on Java Island are now unstable and may revolt at any time, so most of the soldiers of the Kingdom of Padang stationed on Sumatra Island have been transferred back to Java to guard against possible rebellions.

The ambitious Aceh Kingdom was also restrained by the Portuguese and did not dare to launch another attack on the old port.

As for the route of the South China Sea Navy fleet to the south, it went south along Luzon Island, passed Niwan along Palawan Island, and reached Java.

Speaking of which, this arrangement is also very convenient and will not delay time.

"Come on, go and call Deng Zilong."

Yu Dayou suddenly shouted outside the house.

"Yes."

The guards outside the door agreed and hurried to the direction of the harbor.

When Deng Zilong arrived, almost an hour had passed. He was called back by Yu Dayou's guards on the boat.

"General, I wonder what you want me to do."

Deng Zilong bowed and saluted as he entered the hall.

"Can you get to know the situation of Jiugang from the person I gave you last time?"

The person Yu Dayou mentioned was naturally the envoy sent by Feilong Kingdom to Ming Dynasty, who was finally taken back to the capital by Jinyiwei.

After confirming that they really wanted to surrender, they were sent to the southeast and handed over to Yu Dayou.

The purpose is self-evident, which is to let him contact his companions to facilitate their surrender.

Deng Zilong has been determined to stay in Jiugang, so he naturally needs to get more information from him, so Yu Dayou handed the person to Deng Zilong.

"I have already learned about it. There are only about 3,000 people left. There are not as many as they boasted, let alone nearly 10,000 people.

When they arrived there, they fought a battle with the army of the Kingdom of Bazhang, and many people died. Later, they wanted to get involved in Jiugang, and fought with the Han people there.

The Han people had some firearms that were traded from Portugal or Spain, and some more died."

Deng Zilong told Yu Dayou what he knew, and Yu Dayou frowned.

He didn't understand why the Jinyiwei didn't check such important information.

In fact, Liu Shouyou was also annoyed by himself.

This man named Zhang Nan seemed to cooperate at the beginning. After all, he came to surrender, and acted as if he knew everything.

There was no need for Jinyiwei to interrogate him, he just told the truth.

However, a small number of them were false, so Jinyiwei was deceived.

For such a cooperative person, Jinyiwei couldn't torture him.

Deng Zilong was cautious and invited him to drink for three consecutive days. When he got drunk, he asked him questions. Only after asking him questions did he find the flaw.

"More than 3,000 people, that's good, they don't have to go back."

For the sake of the court's face, the news of Zhang Lian's old subordinates has been suppressed in the capital and no news has been spread.

As for these people's hope to return to the Ming Dynasty alive, in fact, they did not exist in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty ruling class from the beginning.

To keep the secret, naturally everyone must die.

It's not that Wei Guangde, Yu Dayou and others are cruel. As I said, for the sake of the court's face, these more than 3,000 people must be sacrificed.

Even if they can survive the Burmese war, they can only live in Burma or Jiugang, and they will never set foot on the land of the Ming Dynasty in their lifetime.

Before, thinking about the large number of people, Yu Dayou felt a little bit reluctant to send so many people to die.

"Plan it."

Today, Deng Zilong was called here to talk about going south to Jiugang.

Some of them knew, and some Deng Zilong didn't know.

Although the South Seas are unfamiliar, I have seen the sea charts.

When Yu Dayou told Deng Zilong about the planned route, he had an idea in his mind.

"When the time comes, you will lead the fleet south as a pioneer. For the journey to Java Island, you can find a guide from Sulu. Maybe there are people there who have been to Jiugang."

"I understand."

"Plan it well so that you can guide the team." (End of this chapter)