prosperous age

Chapter 985 1074 Vast land and abundant resources?

"Sir, this is an urgent document from the Ministry of War."

Yu Dayou was writing books in the study in the backyard of the Governor's Mansion. As he grew older, he gradually felt his energy was declining.

While he still has energy, Yu Dayou has recently started to organize his manuscripts, sorting out some manuscripts left over from his campaigns over the years, and plans to compile a few military books to pass on to future generations.

Speaking of which, Yu Dayou gave up literature and took up military affairs in the 13th year of the Jiajing reign. He fought in battles in the south and the north for forty years, and he accumulated quite a few manuscripts.

In the 14th year of Jiajing's reign, he passed the military examination and was appointed as a thousand households and the defender of Jinmen.

Recommended by the Minister of War Mao Bowen, he was appointed garrison commander of Ting and Zhang states, defeated the pirate Kang Lao, was granted the title of deputy commander-in-chief, and put down the rebellions in Xinxing and Enping.

In the 28th year of Jiajing's reign, he was recommended by the Right Deputy Censor-in-Chief Zhu Wan to serve as the commander-in-chief of the war against Japanese invaders. He put down the rebellion of Fan Ziyi in Annan and stabilized the situation in Hainan.

In the 31st year of the reign of Emperor Jiajing, he began to fight against Japanese pirates. He was known as the "Yu Family Army" and was called "Yu Dragon and Qi Tiger" together with Qi Jiguang. He wiped out the Japanese pirates who had been causing trouble for many years.

In the 38th year of Jiajing, Yu Dayou served under Li Wenjin, the governor of Datong, and led his troops to attack Bansheng City. After discussion, he built wheelbarrows to deal with the enemy's cavalry. In actual combat, he used 100 wheelbarrows and 3,000 cavalry and infantry to defeat the enemy in Anyin Fort.

Li Wenjin reported this system to the court, and the court began to set up chariot camps.

Later, Yu Dayou defeated the enemy in Guangwu, and was therefore praised for his contribution in suppressing Wang Zhi. He was recommended by Huang Guangsheng, the Governor-General of Sichuan and Hubei, and was re-employed as the Lieutenant General of Zhenhuang.

In the 40th year of the Jiajing reign, Yu Dayou was ordered to capture the thief Zhang Lian from Raoping, Guangdong, and captured Zhang Lian and his subordinates including Xiao Xuefeng alive.

Starting from the 41st year of Jiajing, Yu Dayou once again participated in the war to encircle and suppress Japanese pirates. He commanded the Battle of Xinghua and the Battle of Chaozhou as the commander-in-chief of Fujian and Guangdong, and won numerous military exploits.

In the 45th year of the Jiajing reign, Li Yayuan rebelled in Heyuan and Wengyuan. Governor Wu Guifang recruited 100,000 soldiers and sent Yu Dayou to suppress the rebellion. Yu Dayou led his troops to attack Li Yayuan's lair, captured and killed more than 14,000 people, and recovered more than 80,000 civilians. The court awarded him the title of General Pingman.

In the second year of Longqing, the pirate Zeng Yiben rebelled in Guangzhou and Fujian. The magistrate of Chenghai was captured and the garrison Li Maocai was killed in the battle. Yu Dayou led the Guangdong soldiers to suppress the rebellion. Yu Dayou led Guo Cheng, Li Xi and others to suppress the rebellion and captured and killed Zeng Yiben.

In the fifth year of the Longqing reign, Huang Chaomeng and Wei Yinbao in Guangxi rebelled, robbing and killing government troops and civilians and stealing property.

Governor Yin Zhengmao recruited 140,000 soldiers and sent Yu Dayou to fight. Yu Dayou divided his troops into four groups, broke into the bandits' dens one after another, annihilated all the enemies, beheaded more than 8,400 of them, and captured Huang Chaomeng and Wei Yinbao alive.

After this battle, Yu Dayou was promoted from hereditary centurion to hereditary commander-in-chief due to his merits.

After summarizing the war experience against the Japanese pirates over the years, Yu Dayou found that although the Japanese pirates came from the sea, they were good at land battles but not at naval battles.

Therefore, with the support of Wei Guangde, Yu Dayou reorganized and trained the navies of the southeastern provinces into one navy, and selected Fujian ships to fight the Japanese pirates at sea, namely the Ming South China Sea Navy, and Yu Dayou was named the admiral of the navy.

In terms of naval tactics, Yu Dayou also pointed out that naval warfare is nothing more than using large ships to attack small ships, using the majority to attack the minority, and using large guns to attack small guns.

During the actual combat process, the navy established by Yu Dayou cooperated with the Ming Dynasty's army to effectively deal a devastating blow to the Japanese pirates.

With such rich combat experience, the thoughts that Yu Dayou left behind were also astonishing.

Some time ago, Yu Dayou had sorted out some manuscripts and compiled books such as "Explanation of Military Strategy", "Draft on Suppressing Fujian", and "Drills for Selected Soldiers in Guangxi".

Of course, the books were numbered. In those days, unlike in later times, they did not need to be reviewed by the imperial court. It was mainly a matter of finding booksellers to print them.

However, booksellers generally would not print military books like Yu Dayou's because of insufficient profits. They were more keen on printing the Four Books and Five Classics because they would not have trouble selling them.

Therefore, for Yu Dayou's books, he either kept the manuscripts in his own hands and spread them in the form of manuscripts, or he spent money to find booksellers to print them.

But obviously, this approach will definitely result in a loss.

This is because there is really no market for books like military books on the market, and the cost cannot be recovered at all.

This is also the reason why many ancient books, although recorded in historical documents, have disappeared today.

There are really few books, so few that they cannot be passed down.

Although the Han people invented movable type printing very early, its invention did not actually reduce the cost of printing books much.

Because Chinese characters are so complex and diverse, printing books using movable type may even cost more than woodblock printing.

Those who truly enjoyed the benefits of movable type printing, namely Western countries that used phonetic alphabets, did not need too many type molds.

Upon hearing that there was an official document from the Ministry of War, and it was urgent, Yu Dayou frowned.

He put down the manuscript in his hand, took it from his personal soldier, quickly checked the seal, and then opened it to read.

However, Yu Dayou's already old face showed an expression of doubt at first, followed by shock and astonishment.

Doubts naturally came after he saw the contents of the document. After calculating the time, he realized that something seemed to be wrong.

However, it was only after seeing the order from the Ministry of War that I was shocked and even stunned.

"Send an order immediately and have Deng Zilong come to see me as soon as possible."

Yu Dayou did not put down the document in his hand, but gave the order directly.

"Yes, my lord."

The soldier clasped his fists and agreed, then turned around and ran out of the house to convey the order.

Yu Dayou read the document again from beginning to end, and finally his eyes fell on the time when the document was issued.

Oh, I finally know what was wrong with my previous feeling.

Calculating the time, the time it takes for my official documents to be delivered to Beijing, when the document in my hand is signed, it should still be on the way.

Obviously, this order was not issued from his own report, and the court heard the news through other channels.

"Send troops to intercept them. Don't let the Lin Feng pirate group return to the coast of Daming."

Yu Dayou frowned and carefully thought about the meaning of this order.

According to custom, shouldn't we send troops to encircle and suppress the Lin Feng pirate group?

  Why would the wording be used as "blockade" instead of "encirclement and suppression"?

How could he know that because Zhang Juzheng did not immediately support Wei Guangde's plan to expand in Luzon, Wei Guangde was worried that Lin Feng would choose to return to the coast of Ming Dynasty and continue to be a pirate after the setback in Manila.

Although the intelligence came a little late, we still had to do something. We couldn't really wait for the cabinet to convene the six ministers to discuss it.

Moreover, even if Lin Feng has already run back from Luzon, sending troops to expel him while he is still unstable and then driving him back to Luzon would actually have the same meaning.

What Wei Guangde actually wanted was for Lin Feng to take root in Luzon so that the Ming army would have a reason to send troops to Luzon.

Naturally, these things could not be written in official documents, as they were to be kept on file, so they could only be expressed in special terms to allow Yu Dayou to discover the hidden secrets.

On the other side, Wei Guangde's messenger had already entered Zhejiang and was rushing over at full speed.

Wei Guangde’s plan now is that no matter what the final decision of the court is, he must find ways to keep the Lin Feng pirate group in Luzon and not let them come back.

To this end, he specifically found Tan Lun and asked him to write this official document and send it to Yu Dayou in Zhejiang as soon as possible.

Although Yu Dayou did not understand the meaning at this time, he also found that something was wrong.

However, faced with the urgent document in his hand, he still had to take action.

More than an hour later, Deng Zilong was called back from the seaside water fort and entered the admiral's office. "I pay my respects to the admiral."

Yu Dayou was already waiting in the lobby, and Deng Zilong saluted him as soon as he entered the lobby.

"Get up, take a look at this document."

Yu Dayou handed the urgent document sent by the Ministry of War to Deng Zilong and asked him to read it himself.

Although he didn't understand what it meant, Deng Zilong still took it and quickly read through it.

Among the generals and officers of the Ming Dynasty, there are very few who are illiterate. Almost all of them have received education, and some even have achieved honors.

So there is no obstacle at all whether it is writing or reading official documents.

After reading the official document, Deng Zilong frowned and asked, "Sir, what is the meaning of this blockade? Aren't you going to let Lin Feng return to Daming and continue to cause trouble along the coast?"

"That should be the meaning. I just wonder why the clerk of the Ministry of War wrote this way instead of asking us to gather a large army to encircle and suppress them."

Yu Dayou said doubtfully.

After a moment, Yu Dayou put away his previous expression and said to Deng Zilong in a serious tone: "I called you here to let you take a look at this official document, and also to prepare as soon as possible and lead the troops to patrol the sea. If you find any trace of Lin Feng, intercept and expel him immediately."

"Sir, you are giving such an order now, right?"

Deng Zilong wanted to ask if it was too late, but he didn't say it in the end.

However, Yu Dayou had already considered this matter before. It was strange. Tan Lun was not someone who did not understand military affairs, so he would not give such an order.

There must be other reasons for sending the Ming army out to patrol at sea, and the most crucial one is the word "intercept".

Waving his hand, Yu Dayou said: "No matter whether it is sooner or later, since the military order has been issued, it must be carried out.

If any trace of Lin Feng is found at sea, we will intercept them and not allow them to return to the coast of Ming Dynasty.

Pay more attention to those islands when patrolling."

Naturally, what Yu Dayou ordered were several important places, areas that had long been occupied by Japanese pirates.

There are peninsulas connected to the mainland, as well as islands and reefs isolated overseas. The Japanese pirates have been operating there for a long time and are very familiar with the nearby waterways. They are adept at dealing with the encirclement and suppression by the Ming Dynasty army.

"If you find any traces of them, remember not to completely blockade and encircle them, but to drive them to the sea and chase them southward."

Although he did not understand Wei Guangde's plan, Yu Dayou had been a military general for many years and had been dealing with the Ministry of War for quite some time, so he had figured out the capital's intentions.

"Drive them to Southeast Asia to harm the barbarians?"

Deng Zilong didn't think too much about it, but just felt that the military order in his hand was a bit strange. After hearing Yu Dayou's order, he made such a guess.

"Maybe so."

Yu Dayou just said a few words, then waved his hand and asked Deng Zilong to go down and prepare.

Of course, the navy cannot just go out to sea whenever they want. Fresh water, food, and ammunition must be transported to the warships.

The current Ming navy is no longer the army that relied on cold weapons in the past.

Yu Dayou referred to the maritime combat experience of the barbarians and combined it with his own situation to develop new naval tactics.

In fact, the so-called new tactics were more of an imitation of Western naval warfare experience, and began to try the artillery bombardment combat mode.

Of course, the Ming army's old habits, such as fireship attacks, ramming ships and boarding battles, were still used.

However, the current boarding battle is not so bad against pirates, because the tall hull of the Fujian ship can suppress the enemies on the deck, allowing the Ming army to gain the upper hand in the boarding battle.

But now the barbarians' ships were not short, and the advantages of the Fujian ships had almost disappeared. It was also not feasible to ram the enemy ships, and the only way to fight the enemy was to use fire ships.

However, under the intensive artillery fire, it was actually difficult for the fireships to get close.

The Ming Dynasty Navy was also forced to undergo reforms.

If we don’t change, we will really fall behind the times.

Deng Zilong left and returned to the water fort to prepare to go. Yu Dayou was still sitting there in a daze, thinking about the meaning of this order from the capital.

After about two days, news finally came from the navy that preparations for going to sea were almost complete.

Although the naval officers and soldiers were cursing in their hearts, it was almost the end of the year and who would want to go out to sea? They all wanted to spend the New Year quietly on shore.

But military orders are as heavy as mountains. Even if you are reluctant to go out, you have to obey the order when it comes.

The necessary items were quickly mobilized from the arsenal and local government treasuries. When the last batch of supplies was loaded onto the ship, Deng Zilong sent someone to pass the message to Yu Dayou of the Governor's Office.

"Sir, a messenger from Wei Gelao in the capital has arrived, saying that he has an important letter to hand over to you personally."

Yu Dayou was preparing to go to the water fort to board the ship and go out to sea immediately when his personal soldier came into the room and reported in a low voice.

When Yu Dayou heard about Wei Guangde's letter, he immediately understood that it must be related to the Ministry of War obtaining the official document.

Only the Ministry of War can use the 800-li express service.

After meeting the messenger from the Wei Mansion and reading Wei Guangde's letter, Yu Dayou finally understood Wei Guangde's plan.

After leaving the Governor's Mansion and heading to the water fort, Yu Dayou looked a little worried.

Wei Guangde's order is a little difficult to execute, and Lin Feng may not necessarily obey and run to Luzon.

  In any case, he had just offended the barbarians in Manila, and now he was running to Luzon. Wasn't that just walking into trouble?

As for Luzon Island, although Yu Dayou had never been there, he had heard from businessmen that there seemed to be nothing worth talking about there.

The fundamental reason why Luzon could not develop was the lack of specialty products there, and even the minerals were not discovered until many years later.

Because the place is too poor, no one is interested in it. This is also the reason why Luzon still maintains a relatively primitive tribal rule state and has not formed a country.

However, due to geographical reasons, the land there is actually quite good for planting.

But Yu Dayou would not believe that Wei Guangde was eyeing the land there. Could it be that the Ming Dynasty was short of such a small piece of land for growing crops?

It can only be said that the Han people closed their external ambitions because of the four words "vast land and abundant resources".

Also, because there were no decent opponents around, he gradually closed his eyes and looked outside.

  Does China really have abundant resources and lack nothing?

If we look at later generations, we can see that we are actually very short of resources by importing huge amounts of materials from overseas every year.

It’s just that the ancient small peasant model limited people’s consumption, so it was able to achieve internal circulation in a closed environment without relying on the outside.

When the pattern changed, I realized that my resources were so scarce.

However, this is not something that the current Ming people can realize, and can only rely on external influences.