prosperous age

Chapter 1003 1094 Irritable Water Master

Mang Yinglong sat on the throne in the main hall of his palace. In front of him was a huge, simple map. It was very rough and only outlined the mountains and rivers. The rest were just the approximate locations of a few cities.

If it were handed over to the Ming Dynasty, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to recognize what it is.

Because the place names and the names of mountains and rivers were recorded in Burmese, even if the Ming officials got them, they would not be able to understand the words.

Burmese is the largest language in the Tibeto-Burman language family of the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is also the southernmost language in the Sino-Tibetan language family. It is used in the western part of the Indochina Peninsula, with the Irrawaddy River basin as the center, throughout Myanmar's 14 states and regions. It is the common language of all ethnic groups in Myanmar.

Historically speaking, the earliest source of the Burmese people came from the Western Qiang in the Neolithic Age. In terms of cultural type, it belongs to the Majiayao culture in the middle and upper reaches of the Yellow River, and has close ties with the Yangshao culture, the cultural source of the Huaxia people.

The tribe that is directly related to the origin of the Burmese in terms of blood is the Yak Qiang, a primitive Tibeto-Burman-speaking tribe that was active in the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Sichuan Basin during the Western Han Dynasty.

3000 to 4000 years ago, the ancestors of the Yaoniu Qiang moved south from the Loess Plateau along the T-shaped "ethnic corridor" and continued to develop in western Sichuan and northern Yunnan, splitting into many tribes including the Yuexi tribe, including the Bailang Qiang, the ancestors of the Burmese.

From the 7th to the 9th century AD, the Proto-Burmese people made a brief stay in Nanzhao and migrated south again, entering the territory of present-day Myanmar.

They built villages and fortifications in the Khiri area in central Myanmar, gradually grew and developed, and finally defeated the local Mon people in 1044, establishing the first Burmese dynasty in recorded history - the Pagan Dynasty.

From then on, the Burmese dominated Myanmar and became the most powerful ethnic group in Myanmar.

Although they share the same origin, the Burmese developed their own civilization after breaking away from the Sino-Tibetan cultural circle.

In the fifth year of Chenghua, Bulalang, the envoy of the Yunnan-Myanmar Xuanwei Office, sent Tao Menglaya and others to the court to offer tribute of gold, silver, utensils, ivory and other items. There were differences in the gifts of banquets, robes, and colorful robes. The emperor still ordered Laya and others to follow the imperial edict and give brocade, silk, gauze and other items to Bulalang and his wife.

According to the system, the imperial court prepared an imperial edict to send the envoy back to inform the chieftain, and the Chinese imperial edict was translated by the Burmese Department of the Four Barbarians Translation Office and attached to the edict.

However, what is interesting is that the entire translation is a transliteration written in Burmese letters, not a correct Burmese translation.

In other words, the Burmese imperial edict was spelled using Burmese letters rather than Burmese characters.

The reasons for this result are not recorded in history books, but there are only two possibilities.

A very likely reason is that the Burmese language proficiency of the Burmese Translation Institute at that time may have been relatively limited, and it was limited to translating limited vocabulary in the "Burmese Translation" and was unable to complete the translation of the entire text.

Another possible reason may be that the territory under the jurisdiction of the Burmese Xuanwei was a mixture of Burmese, Shan and Han people, and the language usage was rather complicated. The Xuanwei himself or his envoys did not necessarily use Burmese.

But no matter what the result is, it actually shows to some extent that the Ming Dynasty's understanding of Myanmar is actually limited. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why the official documents of the court did not use Burmese but spelled it with Burmese letters.

It is precisely because the Ming Dynasty did not pay enough attention to Myanmar that the current situation in Myanmar is out of control.

Mang Yinglong thought for a long time on the throne and finally made up his mind to proceed according to the original plan, which was to take Mubang first and then Mengyang.

He would never feel at ease unless he took down Mubang, for he was worried that if Mubang chose to support the Ming Dynasty when he was fighting with the Ming Dynasty, it would pose a threat to his army from the flank and rear.

Completely conquer Mubang and station troops at the gates of Mengyang. Even if the Ming Dynasty responds, the war will only be controlled in Mengyang and will not threaten his core ruling area.

"Someone is coming."

Having made up his mind, Mang Yinglong no longer wasted time and planned to end the war against Mubang as soon as possible so that he could start military preparations against Mengyang and even the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible.

When his men came in, Mang Yinglong took out an ivory-carved plate from his arms and handed it over.

"Immediately order Han Qian and Jing Zongzhen to lead their troops to attack Mubang from the east and west."

While Mang Yinglong was busy mobilizing troops and commanding the battle against Mubang, Yu Dayou's fleet had already traveled most of the way and was only a few days away from Luzon.

Facing the vast ocean all day long is boring even for naval officers and soldiers who are accustomed to such a life.

Because although the navy officers and soldiers also drifted on the sea for a long time, the fleet usually sailed close to the mainland when patrolling the sea borders, and almost never went to such a far sea.

In the words of later generations, if we don’t take into account Zheng He’s fleet’s voyages to the West, the Ming Dynasty’s navy could only be a brown-water navy, not even a green-water navy.

Later generations used ocean geography to distinguish the naval combat types, which are usually divided into four types: inland navy, brown water navy, green water navy and blue water navy. The latter three types of navy are the main body of the modern navy.

In the sea area within 200 nautical miles of the land, the sea water appears yellowish-brown due to the mixture of mud, and is commonly known as "yellow water" or "brown water" in the international maritime community.

Extending from the end of the brown water zone to an area hundreds of nautical miles away, the seawater is purer than "brown water" and is defined as "green water".

"Brown water navy" and "green water navy" refer to naval forces that mainly operate in "brown water" and "green water" continental shelf waters close to the coast and rely on support from continental bases. Their main task is to defend the security of their own coastline. Therefore, they are also called "coastal defense navy" and "nearshore defense navy". The "brown water navy" and "green water navy" are mainly equipped with land-based weapons and light ships.

The deep sea areas outside the green water area, including the exclusive economic zone and contiguous zone stipulated in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, are relatively purer than "brown water" and "green water". They are less affected by land impurities and are basically blue or blue-black in color, so they are called "blue water".

A country's naval force that takes blue waters as its strategic focus is a "blue water navy". The main task of a blue water navy is to protect the country's maritime rights and interests and maritime security, and to complete combat missions relatively independently in the open sea against hostile forces that threaten the country's maritime security.

The blue-water navy has the nature of force projection and can be deployed globally. It is large in scale, has strong self-sufficiency, and is mainly equipped with large surface ships. It generally has an aircraft carrier fleet that can carry out three-dimensional firepower strikes and force projection capabilities on the surface, underwater, and in the air.

A blue-water navy should have the ability to defend against submarine, air and surface threats, the ability to provide long-term and long-distance logistical support, and the ability to remain combat-ready in special environments.

In fact, in the later era of extremely advanced technology, only a few countries have actual blue-water navies, and most countries are at the stage of brown-water or green-water navies. Even if they have so-called exclusive economic zones, most of them have limited influence and cannot be considered blue-water navies.

In addition, there is a saying in the navy to define the difference between green water and blue water, which is to see whether there are aircraft carriers in the fleet.

Because aircraft carriers are the cornerstone of ensuring the fleet's long-distance operations, when the naval strength of many countries declines, from having aircraft carriers to not having them, they are often considered internally to be no longer a blue-water navy.

For example, in early 1980, Australia was arguing over the retention of the HMAS Melbourne, with senior naval personnel warning that "without aircraft carriers, Australia is vulnerable to a variety of threats."

A former naval chief of staff claimed: "Without the Melbourne aircraft carrier, Australia will no longer be a blue water navy."

Although there is no clear definition, most people still recognize the necessity of aircraft carriers.

Of course, in the 16th century Ming Dynasty, even the concept of battleships had not appeared, and naturally there was no aircraft carrier factor.

The current Ming Navy sailing to the South China Sea is actually considered a blue-water navy. However, since it is the first time, the officers and soldiers of the South China Sea Navy are still somewhat unfamiliar with it.

After all, having sailed here, they have truly broken free from the constraints of the coastline.

"Dump Dump"

The sound of footsteps on the stairs came from behind. Yu Dayou, who was standing on the deck and looking towards Luzon, looked back and saw that it was his personal soldier who was carrying a plate up.

"Master, this is the catch that the wind-pulling boat caught this morning. I heard that the harvest was pretty good, and a lot of sea fish were caught in one go.

This is the biggest yellow croaker among them, hehe."

The soldier brought the plate in front of Yu Dayou like he was offering a treasure, shook it, and said with a smile: "The chef has prepared it according to your preference, and I will bring it to you right away. Have a taste, it smells delicious."

"The marine products here are pretty good. We can see big yellow croaker every day. Haha. I'm in for a treat."

Yu Dayou glanced at the fish on the plate, smiled and said, then pointed to the table next to him and said, "Put it there, I'll eat it in a while."

"Master, it will become fishy if it gets cold. What a pity."

The soldier still said with a smile on his face.

"Okay, eat now."

Yu Dayou smiled, said nothing more, and walked straight to the table and sat down.

The bodyguard put the dish on the table, and like magic, he took out chopsticks, bowls and dishes and placed them in front of him.

These past few days, perhaps because he hadn’t seen the mainland for a long time, Yu Dayou felt somewhat irritated, causing him to feel uneasy when eating and sleeping.

He picked up the chopsticks, picked up a piece of fish meat from the belly of the fish, put it in his mouth and started chewing.

"Yes, it's quite delicious."

Yu Dayou praised him, and then asked, "Have you distributed the remaining fish?"

At this time, Ming Dynasty fishing boats had begun to use trawling fishing technology for ocean fishing. That is, when a sailboat dragged a huge fishing net, any fish that was larger than the holes in the net would be left in the net. After sailing for a while, the net would be pulled in and the fish would be harvested.

The technology, which became commonplace in later generations, is still considered the most advanced fishing method.

Trawling was first used in Europe, where it was already used on a large scale in the 14th century.

As Europeans came to East Asia, this method was also introduced to the Ming Dynasty.

Before that, Ming Dynasty fishing boats would stop above schools of fish and cast nets to catch fish.

After chatting casually for a while, Yu Dayou suddenly asked: "What is the current status of the sailors on each ship?"

"Well, it's okay."

The personal guard was stunned by the question suddenly raised by Yu Dayou, and it took him a moment to react.

“Isn’t that also not very good?”

Yu Dayou analyzed his own condition and felt that people on other boats might be in the same situation as he was, feeling inexplicably irritated.

"Not really. It's just that the boat people we recruited seem to be very accustomed to the current situation. However, some of the soldiers drawn from the garrison have more or less uneasy reactions."

The soldier honestly told everyone what he knew and did not dare to hide anything.

"That's good. It's good to have a reaction. If there was no reaction, I would be scared."

When Yu Dayou heard the report from his personal soldiers, he was not surprised, but felt much better.

After hearing Yu Dayou's words, the personal soldier didn't know how to respond and could only stand there in a daze.

"Give orders, except for the soldiers on duty on the deck, those who are resting can do whatever they want in the cabin."

Yu Dayou opened his mouth and gave orders.

"Master, this may be a little inappropriate."

Yu Dayou's words were a little vague, but the soldier still understood his meaning.

  What are soldiers doing in the cabin?

If they were on the shore, after getting off the boat, they would definitely find a pub to drink and chat, and gamble a little, or go to some seedy place to look for prostitutes.

Because they are returning from a long voyage, the officers in charge of the camp will not keep all the soldiers in the barracks, but will give them two days off to let them do their own things and relax.

Going to sea is actually a very boring thing.

  But now they are all on the ship, and there are no taverns or brothels around for the soldiers to have fun. What else can they do?

Then the only option left is gambling.

Yes, although Yu Dayou was very strict in military discipline, he absolutely did not allow soldiers to gamble when they were on a mission.

But Yu Dayou was not a pedantic person. He felt that his emotions were affected by the long voyage, so he could naturally guess that others were in the same situation.

In other words, the boat people who were accustomed to the boring life at sea could still hold on, but the soldiers of the garrisons were more or less unable to do so.

  How to adjust their emotions?

At the moment, the only way left is to let them play for money in the cabin.

However, after making this exception, Yu Dayou was fully prepared, that is, only officers and soldiers on duty were allowed to play with money in the cabin, and when they were on duty, they had to work honestly on the deck.

As for smashing or gambling, the dice were not big, and Yu Dayou didn't believe that no one had them with them, so he just brought them on board.

In the Ming Dynasty at this time, the powerful and wealthy scholars had many ways to entertain themselves in their spare time, but among ordinary people, there were relatively few.

The simplest way is actually to roll the dice. The win or loss is determined by the number on the dice. It is simple and quick, and the win or loss is clear at a glance.

And this method is, of course, the most suitable entertainment method for soldiers and other rough guys.

Normally, Yu Dayou would never open this door.

But now the situation has changed. In the vast ocean, stabilizing the emotions of his soldiers is the most important thing.

If we cannot help the soldiers relieve their tension and anxiety, who knows what kind of trouble will arise.

What ancient military commanders feared most was not a shortage of food and fodder, nor the enemy's strong strength, but rather camp riots.

Once a camp roar occurs, it is almost an inexplicable defeat.

It is said that before the Ming army's disastrous defeat at Tumu Fortress, the soldiers in the Ming army camp felt nervous, uneasy and fearful after leaving the capital, so much so that a camp whistle occurred shortly after the army set out.

"Pass the order on."

Yu Dayou ordered without any doubt.