prosperous age

Drake pointed to the front and said, "There have never been any ships other than those from Spain there. As long as we are fast, we can get countless wealth when they are defenseless."

Drake was not lying. The ocean of this era was truly filled with riches.

Of course, these riches are not the fish under the sea, but the merchant ships sailing on the sea.

Every merchant ship was loaded with all kinds of goods, which could be sold at a high price as long as they were brought back to Europe.

If it was something worthless, the Spanish would not bother to move it onto the ship, taking up valuable load.

"Murder and arson win the golden belt" is a sentence that makes sense in any era and any country, just like the joke in later generations that the most profitable industries are all written in the criminal law.

Pirate is a very ancient profession, which has existed since ancient Egypt. The Viking pirates in Northern Europe once dominated the world.

But pirates did not really start to roam the oceans until after 1500.

Columbus discovered the American continent in 1492, and Magellan completed the first circumnavigation of the world in 1519. Since then, Europeans have been frantically pursuing wealth, and many people have set sail to realize their dreams of getting rich.

Some of them returned alive, but some never returned to their hometown.

Among those who returned alive, some became rich and powerful because of their adventure, but they were only a small minority.

But the power of these people's examples was enough, and during this period, people all over the European continent yearned for the sea.

They obtained enough capital through plunder and trade and returned home to become wealthy.

However, there are also some people who, for various reasons, eventually become pirates.

Francis Drake was one such man, who hoped to gain enough money through the sea to make them rich.

But things went against his wishes and his fantasy was shattered when he was close to success.

Francis Drake was born in 1540 into a tenant family in Devon, southwest England. Due to his poor family background, he went to sea to make a living since he was 10 years old. At the age of 20, Drake became a ship owner and owned a small cargo ship to engage in maritime transportation business.

Drake soon discovered that he would never make a fortune by just doing some shipping business near the coast.

At this time, his cousin Hawkins made a fortune by selling black slaves, so Drake sold his small boat, joined Hawkins' fleet, and engaged in the slave trade together.

In 1568, Drake and Hawkins led five slave ships to Mexico, but the ships were severely damaged by a storm.

At first, the Spanish governor agreed to let them enter the port for repairs, but because the British entering the Caribbean had offended the Spanish sphere of influence, the governor suddenly ordered an attack a few days later and executed all the British crew members. Only Drake and Hawkins escaped.

From then on, Drake vowed to take revenge on Spain during his lifetime.

The slave trade at this time was actually listed as a patented business by the Spanish royal family because this illegal business could generate extremely high profits.

Because of the extremely high profits, the Spanish colonists also privately purchased low-priced labor from people like Hawkins.

In fact, the ships used for the slave trade included not only those purchased jointly by Hawkins, Drake and others, but also ships belonging to the Queen of England, because the Queen of England was also one of the partners.

Drake later changed his previous practice. He no longer engaged in maritime trade, but instead focused on robbing Spanish merchant ships.

Because this way, not only can we take revenge on the Spaniards, but we can also make money faster.

Hearing Drake's shout, the crew became excited again.

Yes, they are excited.

They more or less guessed Drake's intentions, and the Spaniards were unaware of their arrival and would be unprepared.

In this way, they can easily get huge profits.

The crew members who came with Drake were all desperate criminals. If it were not for wealth, they would not risk their lives to leave the mainland and run to the sea.

Moreover, the fleet had fought with Spanish ships countless times along the way, and they had long been accustomed to such a life.

Just as everyone was cheering loudly, suddenly, an inopportune voice was heard.

"But why haven't we seen the Elizabeth and the Marigold yet? Did they sink?"

When this voice sounded, the cheers of the crew on the ship suddenly stopped.

Yes, when they set sail from England last year, there were five ships.

After crossing the Atlantic Ocean and entering America, they sailed southward, hoping to enter the vast Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Magellan and complete a British circumnavigation of the world. Along the way, they continued to plunder the rich Spanish colonies and merchant ships.

Correspondingly, after being looted, the Spanish also sent a large number of warships to destroy them.

When approaching the Strait of Magellan, Drake's fleet included three large ships: the Golden Hind, the Elizabeth and the Marigold.

But up to now, apart from the Golden Hind, the Elizabeth and the Marigold have disappeared.

"We'll dock eastwards and rest on the main road, as this boat also needs repairs.

By the way, let's look for them nearby.

According to the agreement between me and them, no matter what happens in the end, we will meet in East India."

In addition to robbing the Spaniards and completing the circumnavigation of the world, contacting India and China in the East for the Queen was also a very important task during this voyage.

Therefore, the political significance of this voyage is also extremely important.

According to the agreement made by Drake and the other two captains after entering the Devil's Sea, no matter what the final result was, they would go to India. If they could not find anyone there, they would return directly to Britain.

In the next few days, Drake temporarily rested on the eastern continent, but he did not find the other two ships.

However, through local investigations, Drake gradually realized that they were not on the continent, but on a large island (Tierra del Fuego) in the southernmost part of the New World, and the Devil's Sea was the ocean south of the island.

Drake didn't know whether their ship had passed through the Devil's Sea or what, but they had achieved results anyway.

What Drake didn't know was that the ships he was looking for, the Elizabeth and the Marigold, had already sunk into the depths of the bottomless ocean, while the Elizabeth thought that they had all been buried at the bottom of the sea and chose to return for safety reasons.

They really didn't have the courage to enter that terrible Devil's Sea again and face the sea with huge waves all the time.

Finally, after more than ten days, Drake gave up waiting.

They also had to head north as quickly as possible to search for prey along the west coast of the New World.

At this time, Wei Guangde also invited Feng Bao, a big shot in the inner court, to a banquet and set up a large table in the flower hall of his home.

After three rounds of wine and five dishes, Wei Guangde finally started talking.

"Brother Shuanglin, Altan Khan's memorial has been sent to the palace for such a long time, why is there still no response?"

Yes, when Altan Khan's petition for enthronement arrived in the capital, Wei Guangde immediately submitted a draft to the palace. It seemed a very simple matter to him, but he did not expect that there would be no news at all afterwards.

Finally, Wei Guangde couldn't bear it anymore and asked someone to invite Feng Bao to his house for a drink that night.

"Shandai, this matter is not a small matter. The Imperial Household Department is a little confused, so after reporting to the Queen Mother, she said that she would wait for Uncle Da to come back to discuss it.

By the way, Uncle Da’s fleet has already arrived in Jining, and it should be only half a month before they return to the capital.”

Feng Bao put down his chopsticks and spoke slowly to Wei Guangde.

"What's wrong?"

Wei Guangde frowned slightly and asked.

"Sonam Gyatso belongs to the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism, whose teachings are quite aggressive and not a moderate sect."

Feng Bao just stopped at the point and didn't say much more.

Because he believed that Wei Guangde could taste the flavor.

"Haha, Brother Shuanglin, I think the Imperial Household Department is worrying too much."

After hearing what Feng Bao said and thinking about what Tan Lun had mentioned before, Wei Guangde knew that the Gelug teachings might not really be liked by the Ming court.

Although the Ming imperial family has always favored Buddhism and Taoism, as can be seen from the number of temples and Taoist temples in the capital, including many Tibetan Buddhists, they actually care a lot about the doctrines of various sects.

"Maybe it was in the past, but now, Sonam Gyatso has to go down the mountain and go to Yanghua Temple. Do you think Gelugpa still has a great influence in Tibet?"

Wei Guangde asked Feng Baodao in return, "For a religious sect to develop, Your Majesty must obtain the support of the local government, otherwise it will be difficult to spread.

Most of the monks there now are followers of the Kagyu sect.

I asked someone about this and found out that the word "Ka" in the Tibetan word "Kagyu" originally means Buddhist language, while "Ju" means inheritance.

Therefore, the word "Kagyu" can be understood as the inheritance of Buddhist teachings or teachings, and in fact the word "Kagyu" in Tibet can also mean "oral transmission", especially the Kagyu sect focuses on the actual practice of tantric Buddhism, and the practice of tantric Buddhism must be carried out through word of mouth.

Just imagine, a sect like this needs to pass on the teachings from word of mouth from the master to continue, so how many monks would it have?

If it were not for the support of the Tsangpa Khanate, it would have been squeezed into a small place by the Gelug Sect long ago.

Now, most of the believers there have converted to Kagyu Buddhism. How big of a threat do you think Gelug Buddhism still poses?"

Wei Guangde paused here, and seeing Feng Bao bowing his head in thought, he waited for a moment before continuing: "It is difficult for the Gelug Sect to survive in Tibet now, so he sent a large number of monks to spread the doctrine everywhere.

Now that it has the favor of Altan Khan, the lord of the grassland, it is a godsend opportunity for the Gelug sect.

Not only can we spread the teachings to the steppes and gain more believers, but most importantly, we can also use the power of the Mongolian army to return to Tibet. "

"you mean"

After hearing Wei Guangde's words, Feng Bao came back to his senses and stared at Wei Guangde and said, "I have also heard some of the previous discussions in the Ministry of War. It seems that the Ministry of War has some disputes about this and is worried that Mongolia will become powerful again."

"Yes, I have thought about this for a long time."

Wei Guangde whispered: "But the Mongolians have already lost their sharpness, perhaps because Altan Khan is old.

However, an important reason is that the border towns of our Ming Dynasty are no longer what they used to be. The nine borders are no longer a place where the Mongols can run their horses at will.

Apart from concentrating their forces to raid a certain place, do you think they can really break into the border wall again and threaten the safety of the Ming Dynasty?"

Wei Guangde said with a disdainful expression.

In fact, since the Japanese invasion in Jiangnan gradually subsided in the late Jiajing period, the Ming Dynasty began to pay attention to the northern border defense again, and Altan Khan's good days were over.

After suffering heavy losses in several attacks on Xuan Da, the Mongols became much less aggressive.

Of course, this great loss was not a disastrous defeat, but a complete loss. It was not false that the Ming Dynasty strengthened its border towns.

The forts around the Great Wall strengthened their defensive armaments. When the Mongolian cavalry attacked, the forts held their ground and used firearms to kill the Mongolian cavalry.

Mongolia’s population has always been their shortcoming, and once the casualties increase, they naturally become unwilling to continue fighting.

Moreover, the Ming Dynasty now had a way to deal with the Mongolian cavalry in field battles, which was Qi Jiguang's method of battalion soldiers, using the chariot battalion to stabilize the infantry battalion's line and the cavalry battalion to achieve a surprise victory.

Qi Jiguang had used this tactic before in Jizhen and Liaodong when fighting against the Mongols, with great success.

Although the method of training soldiers in camps is a bit expensive, a reduced version of this, that is, training five or six new camps in each military town to coordinate with each other, would allow them to engage in field battles with the Mongolian cavalry on the border.

As long as the garrison troops hold the city and use the camp troops to drive out the enemy, this tactic seems to be effective for now.

Seven new military camps have been established in Liaodong. There were originally four camps left by Qi Jiguang in Jizhen, and two more were added later, making a total of six new camps. Three new camps were also built in Xuanfu, with one camp each for cavalry, infantry and chariots.

This is just the beginning. After the training is completed, we will continue to draw elite troops and recruit strong men to supplement them.

According to the latest plan of the Ministry of War, regardless of whether Xuanda Jizhen is one, Liaodong is one, and the rest of the western region including Yansui Ningxia and other military towns are one, they can be roughly divided into three major military groups.

No matter which border town the Mongols invaded, the other two towns would mobilize new military camps to enter the rear of the grassland to carry out a mopping-up operation.

Even if they encountered the Mongolian army on the grassland, they would be able to maintain the front line and wait for support from the other two towns.

In fact, as long as the Mongols had troops capable of fighting in the field with the grassland cavalry, the threat posed by the Mongols to the Central Plains dynasty would be greatly reduced.

The biggest reason why the Han Dynasty was able to pursue the enemy and drive them north was that Emperor Wu of Han established a powerful Han cavalry, which allowed Huo Qubing and Wei Qing to defeat the Huns with the powerful combat power of the Han army.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming army was able to sweep across the Mongolian desert south of the desert. It was precisely because of the powerful official army in the early Ming Dynasty that they were able to defeat the Mongolian army in a head-on battle.

"The elite cavalry of Yan and Zhao cannot match the elite soldiers of Huaibei."

The Ming army of the Ming Dynasty was mainly composed of heavy infantry, supplemented by cavalry, but even so, these infantry formations were quite powerful and could withstand the impact of the Mongolian cavalry.

The Ming army's cavalry often attacked from the side after the infantry had withstood the Yuan army's attack, becoming the last straw that broke the camel's back.

At the time when the Ming army was at its strongest, when the two armies met, the Ming army did not think of holding on, but instead sent a small team to take a detour to the enemy's rear, occupy the hillside pass, and use the terrain to block the Yuan army's retreat.

Of course, such Ming army no longer exists, but now there seems to be signs of revival.

"If the Mongols can really control Tibet, and our Ming Dynasty can suppress Mongolia, then the imperial court's will will be brought to the snowy plateau along with the Mongols."

Wei Guangde continued, "Use tribute to exert influence on the grasslands, and then send officials to Tibet to stay permanently in the name of tea-horse trade."

Wei Guangde tempted. (End of this chapter)