prosperous age

Chapter 982 1071 Keep the Enemy Out of the Country

"Shan Dai, what can I say about you? Dongfan Island has not yet been completely incorporated into our administration, so why are you setting your sights on Luzon?

I have received some memorials from Fujian stating that the South China Sea Navy has been stationed on Dongfan Island for a long time and has had some conflicts with the island's inhabitants, a tribe that seems to be called the Gaoshan tribe, and they are requesting that the navy be recalled.

At this time, you still want to extend your tentacles to Luzon. If the news spreads, aren't you afraid of being impeached by the officials?"

Zhang Juzheng's impolite words made Wei Guangde feel a little unhappy, but he also knew that if he was not from the future, he would naturally not know what was happening on the earth at this time.

By the end of the Age of Exploration, the great geographical discoveries had almost been made, and all that remained was the crazy colonization and plundering of wealth.

If the Ming Dynasty does not board the ship at this time, it will never have the chance to board the ship.

However, Zhang Juzheng's concerns seemed to be correct.

"Brother Uncle, you should have read the news from Southeast Asia that Liu Shouyou collected. Now the barbarians are coming from the west and the east, and wherever they pass, they will seize large and small territories to establish their so-called rule.

  What does this mean?

I don't think this matter is that simple.

Now, the barbarians have established cities in Malacca and Manila, which means that more barbarians will come here across the ocean.

Their wolfish ambitions were already evident when they occupied Malacca and Manila.

It is only because our Ming Dynasty relies on its powerful military force that the barbarians dare not act recklessly.

However, the surrounding vassal states have become fat meat in their eyes.

I can say that if the Ming Dynasty does not intervene, the surrounding vassal states cannot protect the lands alone."

Wei Guangde warned, "But if the Ming Dynasty intervenes, the barbarians will be afraid to act rashly, because if they dare to attack the vassal states around the Ming Dynasty again, there are troops from the Ming Dynasty living there.

You can't expect to make the barbarians retreat just by a document from the court.

If it weren't for the war, people would never give up the benefits they have already gained.

Speaking of Annan, aren't you moved, my uncle? If the Annan people had not resisted fiercely, would our Ming Dynasty withdraw its troops from there?

The same principle applies to the barbarians.

In my opinion, in order to ensure the safety of the vassal states surrounding the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Navy should find a good port in the vassal state to build a camp and station a troop.

As for the supply of troops and horses, let the vassal states bear the responsibility, and the Ming Dynasty will ensure their safety."

  At this point, Wei Guangde could not help but stand up, walked back and forth in the room twice, and continued after preparing his words: "When the Burmese Toungoo Dynasty attacked the surrounding areas, such as Siam, if our Ming Dynasty had a water fort in Siam and stationed our Ming Dynasty soldiers, would Mang Yinglong dare to attack Siam?

Similarly, finding a good port in the surrounding vassal states to station troops can actually better guarantee their safety, which will make them more supportive of our Ming Dynasty as the suzerain state.

Look at the Xuanweisi in Nanyang and the southwestern borders. If the imperial court had not intervened strongly when they were invaded, how could they be like this now, alienated from the Ming Dynasty, and even no longer take my suzerain country seriously? "

In fact, Wei Guangde already had an idea in his mind. Since all the countries in Southeast Asia recognized the Ming Dynasty as their suzerain state, providing them with security protection seemed to be one of the Ming Dynasty's responsibilities.

We can completely follow the experience of the United States and establish military bases in sensitive areas.

In this way, if foreign countries want to invade here, they must first consider the counterattack from the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty did not have to turn the Southeast Asian countries into colonies, but a strong influence must be ensured, and the will of the Ming Emperor must be spread and implemented here.

"But Luzon."

Zhang Juzheng opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Wei Guangde, who said, "Luzon is different.

In the past, Luzon was thought to be a foreign country, but from the intelligence gathered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, it seemed to be the same as Dongfan Island, where the local people lived in tribal groups, like scattered sand.

In this case, if the Ming Dynasty does not intervene here, then Luzon will fall into the hands of the barbarians.

It is terrifying that a person with a strong aggressive nature appears so close to our Ming Dynasty.

By controlling part of Luzon's land, we can also contain the barbarians nearby. At least we can keep track of their movements at any time.

If there is an opportunity, it may not be impossible to take control of Luzon as a whole.

We can allow the barbarians to come to our Ming Dynasty to trade, but if they want to deploy military forces near our Ming Dynasty, we will absolutely not agree.

The threat of Mongolia in the north is enough. The Ming Dynasty cannot have any more serious hidden dangers in Southeast Asia."

"That is to say, the garrison in the vassal state requires the vassal state to provide food and wages, and the Ming Dynasty provides military protection?"

Zhang Juzheng was not an unreasonable person, but no one had ever made such a suggestion before. By establishing military bases, the vassal states could be protected from becoming colonies of the barbarians.

When the barbarians seized colonies, it was usually on a first-come, first-served basis, and latecomers could only stay nearby and occupy the territory from a distance.

When the developed territories met, the two sides either negotiated and divided the border according to longitude and latitude, or divided it through war.

But no matter what, when they were expanding their colonies, their primary consideration was the strength of their opponents.

In East Asia, it seems that only the Ming Dynasty has the ability to suppress the barbarians.

Through several naval battles, Wei Guangde believed that the barbarians should have experienced the strength of the Ming Dynasty and knew that they were not easy to mess with.

This victory was achieved when the Ming army was using inferior equipment, which was enough to shock them.

Now, the South China Sea Navy, led by Yu Dayou, is rapidly catching up with the strength of the Yi people's fleet. When they fight again, the Ming Dynasty may not have to pay a heavier price to win the naval battle.

The Ming Dynasty was an important period when the gap between Eastern and Western military technology began to widen, and it was also an era when Western learning flourished.

Since the Jiajing period, Japanese pirates, corsairs, and European forces have continued to invade. In order to meet the needs of coastal defense, the Ming Dynasty navy underwent two technical and tactical changes.

The first was during the reigns of Jiajing and Wanli, centered on the introduction of the Portuguese cannon; the second was during the reigns of Tianqi and Chongzhen, centered on the introduction of the red cannon. Both changes also brought about corresponding tactical adjustments.

However, due to Wei Guangde's intervention, the second reform came earlier and went more smoothly.

Before the second reform, the order of importance of the Chinese navy in naval warfare tactics was still that burning ships and using ships to ram pirates was the most important. The primary achievement in naval battle was to sink pirate ships, while beheading and capturing prisoners was second. Injuring people with cannons or destroying ships with cannons were rare.

In the early 17th century, the Dutch came to the East, and their ships had more and more powerful guns than the Portuguese ships.

Several conflicts made the Ming Dynasty aware of its performance characteristics, and they specifically called it the "Red Barbarian" cannon.

In the southeastern coastal areas where coastal defense issues were severe, red cannons were quickly applied to coastal defense warships, breaking through the limit on the number of warships equipped with large artillery, and specialized artillery ships appeared, which derived broadside gun technology, which was very close to the artillery tactics of European ships.

It was only the beginning of the Wanli reign, and the Ming navy had already begun to master the red cannon and develop the warship. Although the Ming cannon ship designed by Yu Dayou had some defects, it did develop and narrowed the technological gap between the Ming and European warships.

You have to know that at that time, the Ming Dynasty's warships were fighting against the Netherlands, the "sea coachman" that dominated the ocean. At that time, the Dutch navy had surpassed Spain and made huge profits through trade.

The combat power of the Netherlands' naval warships at that time was far superior to that of other European countries at the same time.

Of course, the main force of the army that fought against the Dutch was not the real Ming navy, but the pirate group of Zheng Zhilong that was recruited.

In the 1633 Ming-Holland naval battle at Liaoluo Bay, the Ming army's large warships were equipped with 16, 20 and 36 cannons respectively.

Hans Putman, the Dutch governor of Taiwan, also recorded that Zheng Zhilong's warships "were built according to the Dutch model, large and exquisite, well-equipped sailing ships and fleets, and were also equipped with some cannons that could be towed, with ring bolts, and placed on double decks."

In the campaign to suppress Liu Xiang in 1635, Zheng Zhilong's warships "each ship could accommodate large guns. Once the cannons were fired, they could break through the clouds and waves and finally achieve the goal of destroying the enemy."

Although the Ming Dynasty was still in a state of terminal decline, thanks to Zhang Juzheng's reforms and Wei Guangde's intentional or unintentional influence, the Ming army's combat effectiveness had improved by leaps and bounds.

At this time and space, the Ming army was still mass-producing and equipping the falconets, while Wei Guangde had already set his sights on the latest red cannons developed by Europeans.

However, the Red Cannon is currently only effective at sea. For the land forces, a large number of falconets are still used, because no rivals have been found among the Ming Dynasty's land opponents for the time being, so there is naturally no need to equip them with the difficult-to-mobile Red Cannon.

Moreover, after the navy has fully mastered the characteristics of the Red Cannon, it is not difficult to develop into the land force.

Moreover, the biggest obstacle restricting the development of military power in the late Ming Dynasty will no longer exist because of Zhang Juzheng's reign. In the next few years, as Zhang Juzheng's reforms continue and the court's finances become extremely abundant, it will no longer exist.

However, Wei Guangde was not allowed to think about these things in Zhang Juzheng's room. What he needed now was to convince Zhang Juzheng to support him and allow the Ming Dynasty to expand its military power outward.

If we do not stabilize the Ming Dynasty's base in Southeast Asia before the large-scale arrival of Europeans, there will only be more trouble in the future.

“This is my plan. The expansion of the South China Sea Navy in the South China Sea will first obtain the best port location through the merchant ships coming and going.

The imperial court contacted the vassal states again to discuss the possibility of transferring the good port to the Ming Dynasty. The key point was to make them understand that because the Ming fleet no longer sailed to the West, there were constant wars and disputes among the Southeast Asian countries over the years.

Now, our Ming Dynasty has discovered that the countries in Southeast Asia are facing external threats. Therefore, as the suzerain state, we need to protect the security of our vassal states and prevent them from being threatened by military threats from foreign countries.

Leasing a good port and garrisoning troops is naturally the best way. With the existence of our Ming navy, even if the barbarians want to rule them by force, our Ming will respond.

Correspondingly, the Ming Dynasty naturally needed vassal states to provide the military pay expenses.

The ultimate purpose of doing this is to ensure their safety.

Taking Malacca and Siam as examples, I believe that the countries in Southeast Asia should accept our request.

Just imagine, if there were Ming army stationed in Malacca and Siam at that time, would the barbarians dare to attack Malacca?

Would the Toungoo Dynasty dare to risk the world's disapproval and rashly send troops to Siam and capture the Siamese king?"

When Wei Guangde told Zhang Juzheng about his idea of ​​using coercion and bribery to control the surrounding vassal states, Zhang Juzheng naturally felt that it seemed very feasible.

Of course, there will definitely be various problems.

But don’t be afraid if problems arise, we can just discuss and solve them when they arise.

For example, the demarcation line of the port area and the political status of the navy in the vassal state, all these actually still need to be discussed between the court and them.

“When the time comes, let the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Travel select a group of eloquent people to go to the Nanyang countries to discuss this matter.

Stationing troops abroad is no small matter.

If Chengzu had not wanted to include Annan in his territory and establish the Xuanwei Office, the incident with Annan would not have caused such a huge civil uprising.

Moreover, there are many benefits to stationing troops there.

This is actually a good way to influence them.

Because the Ming fleet no longer went to Southeast Asia, our dynasty's influence was reduced. They thought that without our dynasty's constraints, they could do whatever they wanted and attack other countries at will.

After all, the emperor is far away and it is impossible for our Ming Dynasty to pay attention to them all the time and send troops to intervene.

Just like what the Jinyiwei said in the intelligence sent back, the lords of the foreign vassal states now do not take our dynasty seriously because our dynasty is mostly just empty words to the outside world. This is really a shame for the imperial court.

But if the Ming navy is stationed nearby, the situation will be very different. Our dynasty can intervene quickly, and naturally no one will dare to violate the emperor's majesty. "

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he sat quietly aside, waiting for Zhang Juzheng's decision.

After a while, Zhang Juzheng finally spoke up and said, "This matter is of great importance, so we should convene a meeting of the ministry, discuss it together, and then report it to the palace.

Shandai, you should draft a charter based on what you just said, and then bring it to the meeting for discussion.

What do you think? "

After hearing what Zhang Juzheng said, Wei Guangde had some idea in his mind.

Zhang Juzheng should have been moved by what he said, but the matter was too big and certainly could not be decided by the two of them.

The six ministers of the six ministries also participated in the discussion of this matter. Even if there are different voices in the court and the opposition in the future, they will be able to gather more people to support their decision.

Moreover, through discussions with more people, we can also hear other different opinions.

Zhang Juzheng did not think that he was the smartest person in the world. What he could not see might be discovered by others.

Indeed, Wei Guangde's proposal is very attractive.

In fact, after seeing the intelligence from Southeast Asia sent by the Embroidered Uniform Guard earlier, he had become extremely sensitive to news about the foreigners.

They are too aggressive.

From the few pieces of information we got from Southeast Asia, we knew that the barbarians had already controlled a vast area of ​​land in the East that was rich in resources.

Although the Ming Dynasty had a vast territory and abundant resources, and had no intention of going there, after obtaining such land, the barbarians were still expanding their influence towards the Ming Dynasty, which had to attract high attention.

Stationing troops overseas to keep the enemy out of the country seems to be the best solution.

(End of this chapter)