prosperous age

Chapter 1016 1107 Food

Later that day, Deng Zilong received a message from Wang Wanggao in the military tent that he had received more than a thousand pirate captives from the Yi people's prisoner camp and were escorting them back to the Ming army's prisoner-of-war camp.

Although he achieved his goal, Deng Zilong was not happy. It was not because the barbarians handed over all the prisoners, but because there was not much food and grass left in the Ming army camp.

Although King Baker of Sulu brought enough food to feed his 5,000-strong army for a month, some time had already been wasted before launching the attack, and the more than 1,000 local soldiers they had recruited earlier had almost eaten up the food they brought.

Previously, Deng Zilong sent people to collect food and fodder from the surrounding tribes, but the people who came back today reported that the results were minimal and they did not get enough food supplies.

The food and fodder available to the Ming army camp now is only enough to sustain the army for less than half a month.

You know, there are more than 7,000 people in the Ming army now, and the daily consumption is huge. If the food and grass cannot be replenished as soon as possible, the army will be in danger.

After two days of shelling Daimao City and launching several exploratory attacks, Deng Zilong was worried that it would be difficult to capture Lin Feng's stronghold in a short period of time.

After all, Lin Feng’s sea route has been cut off, and the pirates in the city have been forced into a desperate situation.

Only by fighting back and resisting the attacks of the Ming army and the Spanish coalition forces can we gain a glimmer of hope of survival.

In fact, the resources on Luzon Island are still very rich, but the local natives are relatively lazy and do not have the Han people's awareness of being prepared for danger in times of peace, so naturally there is no question of storing food.

For them, if food was insufficient, they would go to the woods to find ways to pick some wild fruits and vegetables to fill their stomachs and get through the most difficult times.

Therefore, it is indeed difficult to collect grain from those tribes on a large scale.

As for the main force of the navy led by Yu Dayou, although they can probably bring some food, I believe it will be difficult for them to sustain for too long.

If this is the case, we can only launch a strong attack before the food runs out.

However, such tactics and strategies have always been taboo for Chinese military strategists. In ancient China, wars were all about striving to achieve the greatest victory at the lowest cost.

Although the strength of Lin Feng's pirate group was greatly weakened by the attacks of the Ming army and the Spaniards, Lin Feng has now moved all the firearms in his hands onto the walls of Daimao City, and the lethality is still considerable.

The fact that both the Ming army and the Spanish suffered certain casualties in their exploratory attacks is enough to show this.

These pirates were able to hit enemy ships with their cannons even when they were swaying on the sea, so naturally they would be more accurate when firing after landing.

Fortunately, although some losses were caused, in each attack, whether it was the Ming army or the Spaniards, they used a small number of their own soldiers to lead the vassal troops to fight, or commanded them to fight, so the heaviest casualties were still the recruited vassal soldiers.

But even so, it was enough to make Deng Zilong and Savilla feel distressed for a long time.

After all, these dead and injured people all have to pay.

If you don’t give it to me, there will definitely not be a next time.

Although these Filipino natives are very lazy, they hold grudges. Once they are cheated once, it is difficult for them to cheat again.

This is also the lesson learned by the Spanish in the past two years, and it is not easy to fool them.

At least we cannot turn against the Spaniards on the island until they become weaker than before.

The best way is to win them over with money and make them work. After all, they will make a lot of money after the output is shipped back to Europe.

Although Miguel did not tell Deng Zilong about this, the Ming army and the Chinese scattered throughout Luzon also knew about this.

"King Baker, I wonder if Sulu can prepare another batch of food?"

At this time, Deng Zilong welcomed the King of Sulu in the military tent and sought a solution from him.

“General Deng, if the higher-ups have given the order, our Sulu Kingdom will naturally go all out to raise food for the army.

However, our country of Sulu is small and has few people. Usually, the army is scattered all over the place to collect food, and there is not much food stored in the country. "

Baker lowered his head and thought for a while before saying, "Actually, there is a way. I will send people back to bring all the food that can be collected in the country. Also, the general can ask my subordinates to send more than a thousand people to go fishing at the seaside.

In fact, most of the food for the people of Sulu Kingdom comes from the output of the vast ocean.

The catch from fishing should be able to sustain the army for a while.

Some of the Luzon people that the general had recruited earlier could also be assigned to collect food nearby.

This is how everyone has been doing it for hundreds of years.”

After listening to Baker's words, although doing so would disperse the Ming army's combat power, it seemed to be the best way when it was difficult to capture Daimao City in the short term.

Now the Ming army and the Spanish coalition forces can use artillery and muskets to block Lin Feng and his subordinates in Daimao City and prevent them from leaving.

As for breaking in, well, it seems that neither the Ming army nor the Spaniards want to go through the trouble.

Nowadays, artillery is indeed not powerful enough when encountering city walls.

The Ming army also tried to bombard the city gate, but the inside of the gate was obviously blocked by soil by the pirates. After breaking the gate, it was still difficult to rush in smoothly.

As a result, the Ming army also lost a cannon, which made Deng Zilong feel painful for a long time.

At this time, Deng Zilong also realized the problem. The Ming army seemed to have gathered a powerful force, but it seemed to be of little use when facing the tortoise-shell-like Daimao City.

Unless they launched a forceful attack regardless of casualties, Deng Zilong did not want to try the consequences of doing so.

The ultimate goal of the Ming Dynasty is to gain a foothold in Luzon, and it is not advisable to do too much to harm others and benefit oneself.

As for what Baker said, sending soldiers to the woods to gather food and to the beach to fish would certainly increase the risk of exposing the army, which did not seem to be a good idea.

But when you think about it carefully, it seems that there is no other solution.

Just when they were in trouble, Wang Wanggao suddenly ran in from outside the military tent with a bunch of sweet potatoes in his hand.

Yes, Deng Zilong knew sweet potatoes. He had seen and eaten them in Manila.

It is true that they are sweet and delicious, but even for him, the Spaniards are unwilling to let him take the raw sweet potatoes and sweet potato vines away.

Although Li Jin has obtained some sweet potato vines, he still doesn't know whether they can be grown in Ming Dynasty.

All I can say is, there is hope.

  Now seeing that Wang Wanggao was holding a bunch of sweet potatoes in his hand, with even sweet potato vines on them, how could he not be surprised?

"Captain Wang, where did the sweet potato in your hand come from?"

Deng Zilong asked hurriedly.

“Sir, these are from the fields outside.

According to the captives, after Lin Feng built the city here, he took in several local natives, and the sweet potato vines were brought by them.

I heard that this thing can be grown in large quantities, and it doesn't need to be carefully cared for. It's abundant and enough to feed your stomach, which is one of the few benefits that the Yi people have brought.

Now many tribes grow some crops as their food.

Before this, Lin Feng asked people to go to nearby tribes and exchange cloth for some crops, and then planted them in the surrounding fields.

If we had attacked them later, they would have retreated to Tortoise City with all the spoils."

Wang Wanggao loudly told Deng Zilong the news he had heard from the prisoners, with a very happy look on his face.

"You mean, Lin Feng planted a lot of sweet potatoes outside the city? And they are all sweet potatoes that can be harvested?"

Deng Zilong was also surprised.

Just now he was worried about the lack of rations for the army, but who would have thought that Wang Wanggao would bring back some prisoners and bring him such a huge surprise.

"It's time to harvest now, but it would be best to wait another half a month. Some of the sweet potatoes are still growing and can grow even bigger."

Wang Wanggao said hurriedly.

“Send someone immediately to find people who know how to grow sweet potatoes, and have them continue to grow the potatoes and collect them when they are ready to be harvested.”

Deng Zilong shouted happily.

Of course, he could afford to wait for half a month. In fact, the food in the Ming army camp could support the growth of this batch of sweet potatoes. Even if it was not enough, it would not be impossible to harvest a small batch in advance.

"By the way, ask these sweet potato vines if they can still be used to grow sweet potatoes. If they can, then we need to let these people continue to plant them. The more the better."

Deng Zilong continued to give instructions.

He naturally thought this way in preparation for stationing troops in Luzon in the future.

The Ming army is stationed in Luzon, but it is impossible to transport military rations from the Ming Dynasty to this side.

Being able to collect grain locally is naturally the best solution, and sweet potatoes seem to be a very good crop.

There is also rice on Luzon Island, but the output is not high because the locals don’t know how to grow it.

Most of those who mastered the planting techniques were Song people who escaped from China in the early years.

However, except for the initial stage, after they became familiar with the environment in Luzon, most of them turned to business, which made them more profitable and easier.

As for the planting techniques they mastered, they naturally were not passed on to outsiders.

Therefore, the locals in Luzon are still growing rice in the traditional way, or leaving it to fate, and have no idea how to cultivate the land carefully to increase production.

The rice they planted, apart from the rice brought by the Song people in the early years, was the reward given by Ming Chengzu Zhu Di to the King of Luzon, which included agricultural products of the Ming Dynasty.

It has been planted from generation to generation until now, and can still be continued by saving seeds.

In ancient times, grain seeds were collected from the wild and were not assisted by various technologies of later generations. Especially after the development of genetic technology, humans have been able to intervene in the growth and development of seeds and control seed extinction.

Yes, because of the so-called technological investment, farmers in the future can only purchase seeds through qualified seed management agencies every year.

It is almost wishful thinking to want to continue planting by saving seeds.

It is said that not only will the quality of crops kept for seeds decline, but the yield will also be extremely low or even total failure.

However, the high-quality varieties that have not been processed and can be used as seeds are considered highly confidential and will not be sold to the outside world.

Although technology has advanced and grain production has increased, for some unknown reason, people are increasingly concerned about the crops produced from such seeds.

Especially for genetically modified crops, it seems that except for the United States and China, other major countries in the world, especially Europe, have explicitly banned the import of genetically modified foods.

In China, ordinary people actually cannot tell which foods are genetically modified products and which are not.

Although regulations require accurate identification, there are always unscrupulous businesses that commit fraud.

Correspondingly, in the United States, because the penalties for such fraud are severe, not many businesses dare to commit fraud.

Wang Wanggao understood Deng Zilong's order immediately.

He knew Daming's plan and knew that he intended to live here permanently, so the purpose of leaving the sweet potato field was self-evident.

"Yes, sir, I will go down and do it right away."

Wang Wanggao clasped his fists and said, "But sir, I asked before I came here. It is not difficult to grow sweet potatoes. Just cut the sweet potatoes into several pieces, or a piece of good sweet potato vine, and they will be able to grow."

"That's good. It looks like the sweet potato vines that Li Jin brought back can be used to grow sweet potatoes."

Deng Zilong laughed.

"It has been soaked in the sea, so it's hard to say whether it can be grown."

Wang Wanggao answered.

They also learned from Li Jin how he took away the sweet potato vines, which was somewhat dangerous.

"Roast these sweet potatoes and bring them to me."

Deng Zilong ordered cheerfully.

"Okay, please wait a moment, Your Majesty. Please wait a moment, Your Majesty. I will have someone roast the sweet potatoes right away."

Wang Wanggao said to Baker with a smile, then he took the sweet potatoes out of the military tent.

"Did King Buckle eat this sweet potato?"

After everything was arranged here, Deng Zilong suddenly remembered that the King of Sulu was in the tent, and hurriedly spoke to him.

"I have bought sweet potatoes from Yi merchants and have eaten them. Roasted sweet potatoes are indeed sweet and delicious."

Buckle spoke up.

"Does Sulu grow a lot of sweet potatoes?"

Deng Zilong asked with a smile.

“No, this thing has only been introduced from Luzon in the past year or so, and not many people eat it here.

As for the sweet potatoes I bought from the Yi people, they were also very expensive, just for the sake of novelty."

Buckle replied.

“Your Majesty, why not let your people plant it and see how it grows? It is said that this plant is easy to grow and has a good yield.

As for the taste, Your Majesty has also tasted it, so I won’t say much.”

Deng Zilong returned to his seat and continued.

But in an instant, Deng Zilong seemed to realize something, and the smile on his face suddenly disappeared. He looked at Baker with wide eyes and asked, "King Baker, you said that the barbarian merchants sold you sweet potatoes. Were they roasted or raw?"

"Raw, of course."

Although he was a little curious about the changes in Deng Zilong's expression, Baker still told the truth.

"Hmm."

After hearing Baker's answer, Deng Zilong did not comment, but he snorted in dissatisfaction.

"Is General Deng dissatisfied?"

No matter how dumb Baker was, he knew there must be something fishy going on, so he asked.

"The barbarians sell sweet potatoes to your country, but they forbid our Ming merchants to take the sweet potatoes away."

Deng Zilong explained the whole story, but Baker was puzzled.

In Sulu, it seems that there are no such restrictions on the barbarians selling things to them. In fact, people in Sulu already grow sweet potatoes.

"I'm afraid the barbarians also have ambitions for your country."

Deng Zilong just spoke lightly.

Baker was silent, lowered his head for a while, and then said: "General, when I first came here, I told you that the barbarians seemed to have great ambitions for land.

In fact, I had noticed it earlier, so when I saw the envoy from the upper country, I hurried over here."

Deng Zilong waved his hand and said with a smile: "King Baker, don't worry. Our Great Ming Emperor will not allow the vassal states to be bullied by the barbarians.

Luzon was originally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court even sent a governor to help it develop.

It is not so easy for the barbarians to occupy the land as they wish. Let's wait for this matter to happen. When the news comes back, the imperial court will definitely have an explanation."

Deng Zilong laid the groundwork in advance to prevent the Ming Dynasty's garrison in Luzon from causing worry to the Sulu Kingdom.