prosperous age

Chapter 993 1084 Landing

Liaoluo Bay is located on the southeast coast of Kinmen, Fujian.

The fierce battle that broke out in this sea area was also the fourth naval battle between the Ming court and Western colonists.

The first one was at the end of the Zhengde period, when Emperor Jiajing had just ascended the throne. The 56-year-old Wang Hong, the deputy envoy of the Guangdong Sea Route, was ordered to expel the Portuguese, and the Tuen Mun Naval Battle broke out. After this battle, the Ming court successfully recovered the Tuen Mun Island occupied by the Portuguese.

The second time was in 1522, the first year of the Jiajing reign, when the Battle of Qiancao Bay broke out between the Ming court and Portugal, which also ended with the victory of the Ming navy.

After this battle, the Portuguese gave up their plan to invade the Ming Dynasty by force, which was the colonial policy they were accustomed to, and instead turned to trade to make profits.

In the two subsequent naval battles, the enemy had become the rising Netherlands, namely the Battle of Penghu to recover the Penghu Islands and the Battle of Liaoluo Bay.

Although the Ming Dynasty won the first three times, they were all hard-fought victories with extremely heavy losses.

That was the Battle of Liaoluo Bay. Because Zheng Zhilong's fleet imitated Western warships, it won a naval victory with relatively less losses.

However, the victory of the Liaoluo Bay Battle is not limited to this.

This was the last rays of light of the declining Ming Empire. The war that broke out with the rapidly rising Netherlands almost cut off any hopes that Western colonists had for China for more than a hundred years thereafter.

Yes, the Dutch, like the Portuguese, came to the East Asian waters and discovered such rich land, so they also wanted to trade and make a profit.

The Dutch arrived in the 30th year of the Wanli reign and began to engage in spice trade in Southeast Asia. In order to expand trade with China, they built a castle in Penghu in the 4th year of the Tianqi reign.

This action irritated the Ming court at that time, and the Ming court then surrounded Penghu with an absolute superior force and a naval battle broke out. After negotiations with the Dutch, the Dutch withdrew from Penghu.

However, during the negotiations, Fujian Governor Shang Zhouzuo proposed in a letter of negotiation that if the Dutch were willing to withdraw from Penghu and go to Taiwan, the Fujian government would be willing to guarantee commercial exchanges between Fujian and Tainan.

But in reality, local officials in Fujian did not fulfill their promise. Due to the influence of the maritime ban, open trade relations between China and the Netherlands were prohibited in principle. The Fujian government understood this but still wrote a blank check to induce the Dutch side to agree to its proposal.

This also became the trigger for the Liaoluo Bay naval battle.

Unable to enter Chinese ports for trade, Dutch ships could only anchor around Zhangzhou Bay and trade through smuggling with the assistance of Fujian Captain Xu Xinsu.

After Xu Xinsu was defeated by Zheng Zhilong, the Dutch turned to trading with Zheng Zhilong.

At this time, Zheng Zhilong was rapidly expanding his power, and he also wanted to control the transactions with the Dutch, so naturally he would not easily agree to the various demands of the Dutch.

After receiving repeated promises and paying prices without any results, the Dutch East India Company lost patience with China. After Hans Putmans reported the situation to Batavia, the decision-makers in Batavia decided to use sea plunder to force China to agree to its demands.

After the decision to launch a plundering operation against China was made in the sixth year of Chongzhen, Batavia sent ships to Tainan in May to inform them of the upcoming operation. The main team gathered six sailboats to set off, and also gathered ships that were patrolling or passing by in various places to go to the battle. During the summer when the southwest monsoon blows, Chinese merchants will return to China from all over the south, and these ships will be plundered at this time.

The purpose of the operation was to carry out plundering activities along the coast of Fujian, China, to force the Chinese government to agree to its trade demands, and to minimize Chinese casualties during the plundering.

The result of this battle, of course, was the victory of the Ming Dynasty, or it could be said to be the victory of Zheng Zhilong, as he has since controlled the maritime trade in East Asian waters.

However, at this time, on this Dafu ship, no one could have imagined that the bribe, or protection fee, paid by these merchants to the pirates would be so powerful that it could enable a pirate navy to have the strength to fight against the barbarian fleet and win.

After discussing for a while, they couldn't find a better idea.

According to Li Jin's opinion, the barbarians should be planning to take action against the Lin Feng pirate group in Daimao City soon. They must be the first to declare their existence and their rights over the Lin Feng pirate group and Daimao City.

"Well, I will write an official document and send it back to you by ship. I will also ask you to send troops to support us as soon as possible."

At this time, Deng Zilong still spoke a little nervously.

Yes, he couldn't help but be nervous. After declaring their existence like this, he didn't know what attitude the barbarians would have after they discovered them.

You have to know that this is thousands of miles away from the Ming Dynasty.

If the barbarians wanted to kill them, it would be difficult for the court to produce evidence to investigate the matter after killing them.

As I said, sailing on the sea is full of unpredictable risks.

“For safety, we still need to contact the tribes on Luzon that have accepted tribute from the Ming Dynasty and ask them to dispatch troops to help us.

With their joining, the barbarians should not dare to act rashly against us.

What do you think of this strategy? "

After Deng Zilong finished speaking, he looked at the others.

Although the method he proposed was nothing new, everyone listened to it and nodded.

Although it was a bit risky, it was difficult for the barbarians to block the news because they had lured other forces on Luzon Island into intervention.

In this way, their safety will naturally have an extra layer of protection.

Seeing that no one objected, Deng Zilong decided on a plan.

Immediately, he wrote a letter to Yu Dayou in the cabin, informing him in detail of his experiences at sea, including his encounter with Fuzhou merchant Li Jin, and the news they had heard from Manila. Even the matter of the sweet potato vines was mentioned in the letter.

The reason for doing this is to worry that something might happen to them. If Li Jin got the sweet potato vines, he wouldn't know where to send the sweet potatoes he grew.

Naturally, Deng Zilong also wrote in the letter about the news he had heard in the capital, which was that Wei Guangde, the elder Wei, was looking for a crop that was very similar to the sweet potato mentioned by the sea merchants.

I just don't know if the two are the same thing.

After the letter was written, it was sealed and handed over to the captain of the Centipede Ship.

In the Ming Dynasty, there were no special official positions for the navy, and the military system of the garrisons was applied.

Generally speaking, a small ship would be commanded by a general, while a warship with a larger number of people would be commanded by a centurion.

The captain of a small fleet is chosen from a hundred or even a thousand households depending on the size of the fleet.

There were quite a few sailors on the Centipede ship, so a centurion was assigned to serve as the captain, and there was no official position such as the commander.

It was not until the Qing Dynasty, when there was more contact with the Western navy, that special naval positions were established.

Soon, the captain of the Centipede ship took Deng Zilong's letter and boarded a small boat and returned to his own ship.

He then ordered his men to hoist the sails and set sail towards the waters of Fujian and Guangdong in the Ming Dynasty.

The advantages of the centipede boat are very obvious at this time. When there is wind, it uses sails, and when there is no wind, it paddles. In short, it can maintain a very fast speed and reach the destination in the shortest time.

After the people left, Deng Zilong discussed with others again. The main content of their discussion was actually how to gather troops.

Because at this time, the Philippine Islands, or Luzon, was not a complete country in the eyes of the Ming Dynasty.

Yes, in the Ming Dynasty, the Philippine Islands were actually composed of two countries, one in the south and one in the north. The one in the north was called Luzon, occupying most of Luzon Island, while the one in the south was the so-called Sulu Kingdom, which was actually a large tribe.

However, along with the envoys of the two countries who arrived in the Ming Dynasty to pay tribute, there were also leaders of other tribes and the envoys they sent.

But now, there is no so-called kingdom in the entire archipelago. Most of those tribes have been conquered by the barbarians, or at least have chosen to surrender.

It would definitely not be possible to borrow troops from Luzon or Sulu because they no longer existed. They already knew this from Li Jin.

"Then we can only contact other tribes to see if there are any tribes willing to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty."

After this discussion, everyone quickly reached a conclusion.

Deng Zilong said, "From what Li Jin said, most of the tribes in the west of Luzon have already surrendered to the barbarians, so we should turn our focus to the tribes in the east of Luzon, so that we can find each other as vassals of the Ming Dynasty.

Also note that according to what Li Jin said, there are actually descendants of the Han Chinese in many tribes in Luzon.

Pay attention when you go there, and interact with them more often, so that it will be more convenient for us to act."

Soon, the remaining nine warships were divided into six teams of two, heading to different directions such as the north of Luzon and the northeast, hoping to find help from the tribes.

Naturally, their only credentials were the badges that the generals carried with them.

As for other things, the locals here may not be able to understand them.

In fact, Luzon was still very unfamiliar to the Ming Dynasty, because there was actually very little contact between the two places.

As mentioned before, before the barbarians occupied Luzon, because Luzon was underdeveloped and did not have any rare products, merchants from the Ming Dynasty were not willing to come here to do business.

Of course, the fact that no one comes doesn’t mean there are no Chinese people here.

In fact, during the Yongle period, Ming Chengzu Zhu Di once appointed the Governor-General of Luzon, and his nominal jurisdiction included the entire Philippine Islands, namely Luzon and Sulu.

In the third year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty, when Zheng He visited the Philippine Islands during his voyage to the West, he was ordered to appoint the Filipino overseas Chinese leader Xu Chailao as the Governor-General of Luzon, in charge of the military, political, financial and cultural powers. He served until the twenty-second year of the Yongle reign, for a total of twenty years.

The story of Xu Chailao being the Governor-General of Luzon is not a fabrication. Related records appear many times in "History of Ming Dynasty: Biography of Luzon".

"On the tenth day of the third year of Yongle, an envoy was sent with imperial seals and colorful stamps to comfort the king..."

"…The king during the Wanli period was a Fujianese. Some said that when Zheng He was an envoy to Borneo, a Fujianese followed him and stayed there. Later, their descendants eventually ruled their country. Beside the king's residence, there is a stele of the Chinese King. There is a gold seal with seal characters on it, with the shape of an animal on it. It is said that it was bestowed during the Yongle Dynasty. People must ask for this gold seal when they get married, and they consider it an honor to have it on the back of the seal…"

There is not much information about Zheng He's voyages to the West in the "History of Ming Dynasty", but a general idea can be guessed from just a few words, namely: In the third year of Yongle, the court did send an envoy to appoint a governor-general with a seal, which was passed down. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, it was regarded as a sacred object in the local area and worshipped by the people.

In the Philippines, there are actually related records in the country.

Professor Panganiman of the National University of Sendō Tomás and Dr. Bayer both mentioned that “Eunuch Zheng He led a large fleet of 1405 people to visit Lingayen, Manila, Mindoro and Sulu in the Philippine Islands three times in 1408, 1417 and , that is, the third, sixth and fifteenth years of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty.

It is particularly noteworthy that when he inspected Luzon Island, he appointed Xu Chailao, a native of Jinjiang, Quanzhou, as the governor of Luzon in the third year of the Yongle reign of the Ming Dynasty, a term that lasted for 20 years.

Of course, the appointment of the Governor-General of Luzon does not mean that the Ming Dynasty will bring Luzon under its rule.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty always regarded Luzon and Sulu as vassal states.

As the troops left, Deng Zilong naturally would not sit idle and stay in the north of Luzon Island waiting for news. Instead, he took his Dafu ship and two gunboats and quietly approached Pengaslan Bay, preparing to conduct close reconnaissance.

Of course, because the remaining three naval warships were relatively large, they did not dare to get too close.

They simply used the Dafu ship to raise the flag of the Ming navy, disguised it as a merchant ship, and pretended to be a passing merchant ship.

As for the two gunboats, they naturally could not get too close to them. After all, the entire ship clearly had the characteristics of a warship and could not be hidden.

After two days of groping forward, we finally discovered a huge bay at noon that day.

In fact, we saw quite a few bays along the way, but this bay was different from the previous ones in that there were a large number of ships anchored in the bay.

Deng Zilong stood at the bow, carefully observing the situation in the bay through a telescope.

Although they couldn't see the Daimao City that Li Jin mentioned, there were so many ships, including several Fujian ships, so it was obvious that this was their target.

Not daring to stop, Deng Zilong ordered the ship to continue moving forward, pretending that he had not noticed them at all.

You know, those people inside are all pirates.

If they discovered that there was a "merchant ship" passing through here, I'm afraid a large number of ships would chase after it in an instant.

After all, robbing at sea is their specialty, and they won’t talk about fellow countrymen feelings with others.

After leaving Pengaslan Bay, the Dafu ship turned west and made a big circle after going a long distance away, and returned to the north of Pengaslan Bay to meet up with the two gunboats behind.

They chose to dock in a small bay dozens of miles north of Pengaslan Bay. After all, they couldn't drift on the sea forever.

After choosing a berth and using small boats as a means of transportation, a soldier on a gunboat was left to be on guard and patrol the surrounding area, while everyone else went ashore to rest.

"Captain Li will lead the patrol for the next two days, and you will take over later. Your two ships will take turns patrolling the sea."

After getting ashore, they arranged people to guard the surroundings, sent people to cut down trees, set up camp, and prepare meals for the day.

On the ship, due to many restrictions, eating hot food is actually very troublesome.

Of course, there is no shortage of generals such as Deng Zilong, but it is difficult for his subordinates to get food.

"Yes, my lord."

The captain of the gunboat bowed and replied.

"We'll go check the surrounding security situation later. Li Jin said that the barbarians have established strongholds in many places on the island. We don't know if they have discovered our arrival."

Deng Zilong stared at the dense forest in the east and said with some concern.