prosperous age

Chapter 999 All Over the World

"Okay, we don't need to think about this now."

Seeing the people below looking thoughtful, Savera said, "Let's talk about what to discuss with the Ming people tomorrow. Let me first tell you what I mean, which is that I hope the Ming people will send fewer people to participate in the war.

In fact, it would be the best situation if there were no Ming people, at least we wouldn’t have to deal with the trouble of how to send them away after the war.”

"What do you say?"

Ravi Sari looked at the others and asked.

Garcia then said: "Gentlemen, I think that only by sending troops to encircle and suppress the pirate Lin as soon as possible can we reduce Commander Savera's worries.

We will be the first to eliminate the pirate Lin. Whether we catch him or kill him, we will hand him over to the Ming people.

That way, they would have no reason to send troops here.

As for what the Governor is worried about, who this place once belonged to, if the Ming people really cared about this place, the Ming army would not have arrived until now.

The Ming people already knew that we occupied the Philippines."

Garcia has worked as a tax officer at the dock for a long time and has the most contact with Ming merchants, so naturally he has his own judgment.

What's more, he also knew the "Ming people" in and around the city. Well, they seemed to call themselves "Song people", although in their view, these people were of the same race as the Ming people and there was no difference.

"Garcia's words make sense. I've been in contact with the officer from the Ming Kingdom, and he doesn't seem to want to stay here. He's only here to hunt down the pirates."

Miguel also spoke at this time.

He is the one sitting at the back among all the people here because he has the lowest status.

The reason why he was called by Savera was because he had contact with Ming Dynasty officers.

"So, when we meet with the Ming people tomorrow, we will try our best to avoid them asking about the Philippine Island issue. If they do, we won't know about it."

Ravi Sari said, “Regarding the issue of wiping out the pirate Lin, our proposition is that we will launch an attack on them in the next month.

Due to the lack of Ming troops here, we are only responsible for the blockade of the outer perimeter of Pengaslan Bay to prevent them from escaping."

After saying this, Ravi Sari looked at Savera and asked, "Do you think this is feasible?"

Savilla lowered his head and thought for a while, then nodded, "Indeed, although I also hoped that Ming could send troops to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the pirate Lin, but from the perspective of the kingdom's interests, owning the Philippine Islands is more important, and there is no need to wait for the Ming army to arrive."

“Does the army have the ability to encircle and suppress them?”

Ravi Sari asked again.

“It should be possible. Although they seem to have a large number of people, according to my intelligence, many of them have little combat effectiveness.

The number of troops they can mobilize will not exceed 3,000, including the sailors on the ships."

Savera spoke up.

"Do you have anything to say?"

Ravisalli turned his head to look at the others and asked loudly.

Soon people began to ask questions, and Savera immediately gave answers.

Because their questions were mainly focused on the encirclement and suppression of the Lin Feng pirate group.

Obviously, in the eyes of the Yi people, this is of course the most important thing at the moment.

From the manpower to the weapons, to the prepared food and other supplies, as well as what strategy the military is going to adopt and how to encircle and suppress the pirates, it will probably take some time.

The purpose of discussing these issues is naturally to prepare war materials.

  If we find out we have no supplies halfway through a battle, how can we continue fighting?

When Westerners fight wars, their requirements for supplies are relatively high.

The questioning in the room did not stop until Savera gave an explanation that satisfied everyone.

"Now that everyone knows what preparations need to be made, please make arrangements in the next few days and collect sufficient supplies for the next battle.

Please pay attention, this battle is related to whether we can stay here permanently, please make sure to do the assigned tasks well and not make any mistakes. "

After Savella explained the military's requirements to several relevant officials, he also heard his own requirements.

Finally, Governor Ravi Sari made a summary.

The next morning, Miguel and Garcia arrived at the Pier Hotel to welcome Deng Zilong into Manila to meet with Manila's top leaders to discuss cooperation matters.

"Master Lin, there is a fishing boat ahead."

On the vast ocean, two lucky ships are sailing with the wind, and land can be vaguely seen in the distance on the right.

Of course, for the people on the boat, they knew it was just an island.

Following the shouting, a figure came up from the cabin below to the upper deck.

Under the guidance of the soldiers, he soon saw several small fishing boats in the distance.

In fact, it is called a small fishing boat, but it is more like a wooden raft in some places in the Ming Dynasty.

The boat's planks were made of whole logs of similar size tied together, and several people were casting fishing nets into the sea.

"Come over and ask about the situation."

The two Fu ships immediately turned and sailed towards the fishing boats.

Although the Ming Dynasty banned maritime operations for many years and the government's fleet sailing to the West had been suspended for more than a hundred years, it did not mean that the Ming Dynasty's merchant ships had no experience of sailing to Southeast Asia.

In fact, even when the sea was banned, there were still merchants who risked being beheaded to engage in maritime trade. This was also the reason why Japanese pirates continued to plague the Ming Dynasty for nearly two hundred years.

They are businessmen on land and pirates at sea.

There is no shortage of boat people joining the South China Sea Navy. After all, navigation still depends on these people. The ship-handling skills they have inherited from generation to generation are much better than those of the Ming Dynasty's garrison officers and soldiers. Most of them can also repair ships, so they can be said to be all-rounders.

Moreover, because their ancestors went out to sea, they can more or less speak some of the languages ​​of the indigenous peoples of Southeast Asia.

I can't say I'm proficient at it, but I can still communicate in a simple way by talking, gesturing, and guessing.

So when sailing to Luzon this time, Deng Zilong looked for officers and soldiers in the navy who could speak Luzon dialect and added them to each ship to facilitate communication.

The ships on both sides soon approached each other. When the people on the other ships saw the two large ships approaching, they were obviously a little panicked. Some people had already hurriedly collected the fishing nets that had just been thrown into the sea and were rowing back to land.

However, their ship was drifting on the sea after all, and was not as fast as the Fujian ship that was sailing with the wind, so naturally their way was blocked.

Some officers who knew some of the Luzon language were already lying on the side of the ship and communicating with the Luzon natives on the small boat. The captain, whose surname was Lin, also came down from the ship's tower and stood on the deck, listening to his men communicating with the opposite side through words and gestures.

Although he didn't understand a word, he was naturally happy to see that the two sides were able to communicate.

He was unlucky as he drew a mission to explore the southernmost part of Luzon Island and look for tribes that were still loyal to the Ming Dynasty.

He ran farther than anyone else and had been drifting on the sea for more than ten days.

"Sir, they said they are not from Luzon, but fishermen from Sulu."

At this time, the officer who was responsible for communicating with the other party turned around and said to him.

"Sulu? Is it the small country over there in Luzon?"

Hearing the name of Sulu, Captain Lin instantly remembered that he had made up for some of the knowledge here before sailing. Although he had no talent for learning, there were clerks on the ship to explain it to him, so he remembered that there was such a saying.

There are actually many islands in Luzon, the largest of which is Luzon Island.

To the south of Luzon, there is a country consisting of many small islands called Sulu.

"Is Sulu the kingdom south of Luzon?"

Captain Lin turned around and said to the clerk who followed him out.

"It should be. We have reached the southernmost part of Luzon."

The clerk immediately replied, "Can we choose to return? We haven't seen any living people on the shore along the way."

"Let's take a look at the situation in Sulu first."

Captain Lin knew that he should go back, but it would certainly not be appropriate to make a wasted trip. At least he met a living person.

"This Sulu Kingdom should also be a vassal state that has been granted a title. Let's give it a try. It's better than returning empty-handed."

Captain Lin spoke up, and then turned to his officers and soldiers and ordered: "Let them lead the way and find their vassal king.

Tell them that we are officers and soldiers of the Ming Navy and that we were here more than a hundred years ago.

This time, we went to Southeast Asia again to learn about the situation of the vassal states. We heard that the barbarians here are making trouble."

"Yes, my lord."

The "translator" agreed, then turned around and continued communicating with the people below.

Although the other party was skeptical, he still agreed to lead them and take them back.

So, the other party set up a rope ladder, and one person climbed onto the Fu ship to act as a navigator, while the other fishing boats were towed by the rope towards their starting point.

"My lord, they said that there were golden-haired and blue-eyed barbarians who came to them and traded goods with them."

After communicating with the other party for a while, the officer in charge of translation turned around and said, "But these people are very greedy and seem to have bad intentions towards them, so their queen later refused to trade with them.

They also said that these barbarians had killed the King of Luzon and had occupied Luzon Island. They were very dangerous and had robbed their goods, so they told us not to have any dealings with them.

After listening to this, Captain Lin just nodded slightly.

If the Sulu Kingdom had not been invaded by the barbarians, it might have still been loyal to the Ming Dynasty, and perhaps this mission could have been successfully completed.

The capital of Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of War.

Wei Guangde sat in the first chair on the left side of the hall. This was the territory of the Ministry of War and Tan Lun's place. He naturally could not take over the seat that belonged to the hall official.

But at this moment, Tan Lun did not sit in the main seat in the hall, but stood beside him, "Shan Dai, do you think this is a good way to write?"

Wei Guangde did not work in the cabinet duty room, but went to the Ministry of War. Naturally, he urged the Ministry of War to issue the troop mobilization document and urgently deliver it to the South China Sea Navy and hand it over to Yu Dayou.

The memorial concerning Luzon has been secretly approved by the palace.

The reason why it is said to be a secret is naturally because they don't want everyone in the court to know about it. At least the news must be blocked before Luzon is successfully taken.

In the past, the main channels for information leaks were: one, the Silijian, where eunuchs and friendly people spread the news; the other was the six departments.

Most of the people in the Six Departments are low-ranking officials, most of whom are new scholars who have graduated in recent years, so they have a lot of contacts with their peers in Beijing.

The news spread during the banquet and tea party.

Therefore, this time Wei Guangde's memorial was only approved by the eunuch Feng Bao himself and kept on file after the cabinet convened the six ministries and the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate for discussion and submitted to the palace for judgment.

The approved memorials were not sent to the six ministries, but were directly transferred back to the cabinet for processing.

Among all the preparations, the most important one was naturally to give Yu Dayou the power to make decisions on the spot and to recruit troops nearby.

This is what Tan Lun mentioned. Since the Ming Dynasty wants to use its troops in Southeast Asia, although the combat effectiveness of the southeastern garrisons has recovered after the rebellion of Japanese pirates in recent years, it may not be a good thing to cross the ocean.

It would be better to recruit soldiers nearby and borrow them from the Southeast Asian vassal states, which would also save the court money and food.

When the task is completed, the court will issue an imperial decree to reward you, and bestow some palace treasures and specialties of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, in addition to the imperial edict that gave Yu Dayou the power to act at his convenience, the troop mobilization documents from the Ministry of War also became an important support.

Wei Guangde came this time to urge the Ministry of War to submit documents, and the imperial edict was drafted by Lu Diaoyang, reviewed by Zhang Juzheng, and then issued directly from the palace.

As for whether this decree was an imperial decree or an imperial decree, Wei Guangde didn't care. There was just a lack of a six-department review procedure. If this decree was handed over to the local authorities, the civil servants might still be worried and might not dare to execute it.

But it was only for the South China Sea Navy, and Wei Guangde believed that Yu Dayou would not be timid because of worry.

"Okay, use the seal. I'll take it away and hand it over to the palace to distribute."

Wei Guangde read it quickly and found no mistakes in the format and wording. It would be complete only if it was approved by the Ministry of War, so he spoke immediately.

"it is good."

Tan Lun took the document from Wei Guangde immediately, returned to the main seat in the hall, picked up the seal of the Ministry of War placed beside the table, and stamped it directly on the document.

In this way, an official document that can be used to mobilize troops nearby is complete.

Wei Guangde received the document, bowed to Tan Lun, and left the Ministry of War directly.

The decision to authorize the South China Sea Navy to take military action against Luzon was still top secret in the capital at that time. Apart from a few people in the palace, the people in the cabinet, the six ministries and the nine officials, and the Ministry of War knew about it, and Tan Lun had issued a gag order on them all.

They also knew that military matters were of great importance, so they naturally did not dare to speak about them lightly.

Yu Dayou, who was supposed to receive the imperial edict, had already drifted on the sea and headed towards Luzon, having no idea that the capital had already made the endorsement.

His plan was naturally to suppress the Japanese pirates. Although most of the Japanese pirates had been destroyed and the remaining ones had changed their professions, the Ming people still hated them, especially in the southeast region.

Therefore, at this time, as long as the reason of suppressing the Japanese pirates is used, the support of the officials, scholars and common people in the southeast can be obtained.

In Manila, Deng Zilong returned to the hotel. The smile on his face disappeared, leaving only a gloomy expression.

Had a long talk with the Spanish Governor and their commander today in the city, but the result was not very promising.

From just a few words, Deng Zilong has already realized that the other party is planning to launch a siege on the Lin Feng pirate group recently.

Obviously, the other party was not waiting for the arrival of official support from the Ming Dynasty.

"How cunning."

Deng Zilong secretly hated them in his heart, but on the surface he could only remind them that the pirates were desperate criminals, and if they acted rashly without adequate preparation, the losses would be severe.

It would be better to wait for the Ming reinforcements to arrive and crush them with their absolute superior force. Lin Feng would still be unable to escape.

However, his proposal was obviously not recognized by Governor Ravi Sari and Commander Savera.

In their opinion, three thousand troops were enough to destroy the pirate Lin.

Since the Ming army was short of manpower in Luzon, they arranged the task of blockading Pengasilan Bay.

According to the plan, the barbarians would land near the bay and block Lin Feng's escape route to the island from land, which coincided with his idea.