King Xiang of the Red Chamber

Chapter 679: Propaganda of the King
Everyone looked at the sunset, enjoying the peace and tranquility in front of them while thinking about what to do next.

When the sun completely set below the sea level, all the generals arrived and the celebration banquet officially began.

Wine was served at the banquet, with more than thirty jars in total, in addition to some beer and wine.

This great victory resulted in the seizure of a batch of supplies from the Spanish fleet, including beer and wine.

Zhu Jinghong gave dozens of barrels of beer and wine to the soldiers as rewards. He only kept a small portion, but it was enough for dozens of generals to drink.

"Everyone, it is thanks to your Majesty's great blessing and your unremitting efforts in developing the navy that our army has won today's great victory!"

"The first bowl of wine is for your Majesty!"

This statement was absolutely politically correct. Everyone present stood up, faced north, and knelt on one knee like Zhu Jinghong to pay their respects to the emperor from afar.

"The second bowl of wine is for all the soldiers who died for their country!"

This sentence needed no explanation. Everyone followed Zhu Jinghong and poured the wine in their bowls onto the ground.

"The third bowl of wine, I toast to you all!"

"How dare we!" No one dared to accept it.

This is actually normal. As Prince Zhu Jinghong is a noble man, no one can withstand his toast.

"Let's stop talking nonsense and drink together!"

Zhu Jinghong was not pretentious at all, so everyone present stopped being polite and the third bowl of wine was drunk.

From here on, the banquet became much more casual. The generals began to drink with each other, and also came to drink with Zhu Jinghong one after another.

For the generals below the rank of deputy general at the scene, clinking glasses with Zhu Jinghong was a very rare thing, and they didn't know how long they would have to wait for the next chance to meet him, so they all attached great importance to this opportunity.

There was an endless stream of nice words, including both factual praise and the most obsequious flattery.

No matter which one it is, Zhu Jinghong treats it normally, fully demonstrating his tolerance.

The atmosphere at the scene was lively, and on the beach several miles away, the shouts of the soldiers were even louder. It was naturally worth celebrating for surviving the disaster.

As for Zhu Jinghong, the three admirals gathered in front of him, and the other generals consciously did not come to disturb him.

"Your Highness, what should we do next?"

Wang Long's words expressed the thoughts of the other two people. They also wanted to know what to do next.

"The main force of the Spanish fleet stationed in Luzon has been completely wiped out by our army. I think we should make a concerted effort to knock out the Spanish stronghold... This is also the principle of using offense as defense!"

In fact, everyone thought that they should return after fighting this battle, but they didn't expect Zhu Jinghong to have such ambition.

"The Spaniards have plundered a lot of wealth in Luzon and Indonesia over the years, at least tens of millions of taels of silver..."

"I plan to take 30% of it and use it to motivate the soldiers in the army. What do you think?"

According to Zhu Jinghong, he had to take out three million taels of silver to reward the army. Now there were nearly 30,000 soldiers from the three naval forces participating in the war. In other words, each person could get an average of 100 taels of silver.

Of course, the average does not equal the actual situation. For example, as an admiral, it is reasonable to get more points.

"The Liaodong Navy swears to follow Your Highness to the death!" Zhao Chengwu was the first to express his opinion.

Next, the other two admirals also expressed their opinions and strongly supported Zhu Jinghong's decision.

They are not short of money, and getting tens of thousands of silver in cash this time can only be regarded as icing on the cake.

What they care about is to win more victories and gain more military merits to lay the foundation for further progress in the future.

Zhu Jinghong continued, "I intend to report to your majesty that after driving the Spaniards away, we will also station troops in Luzon and Indonesia to maintain peace in this area!"

At this time, Wang Long blurted out, "Then will the court still collect the heavy taxes imposed by the Spaniards as before?"

Staring at Wang Long, Zhu Jinghong said, "We are stationed here to maintain peace and promote the king's rule!"

"The Spanish levy taxes for their own benefit, while we take from the people and use it for the people. How can the two be compared?"

After hearing these words, Wang Long and his companions understood what was going on, and they all praised Zhu Jinghong's benevolence and love.

The banquet lasted for nearly two hours. Zhu Jinghong discussed some specific matters with several admirals, and everyone dispersed when the moon was high in the sky.

The beach, which had been bustling for a long time, gradually became quiet, and the soldiers could have a good sleep tonight.

Early the next morning, the soldiers began to get busy again. They had to move the things sent by the supply ship and transfer all the wounded.

Several admirals were on the front line, supervising their subordinates to complete their tasks.

Zhu Jinghong was sitting in the tent, writing a report with a pen. Reporting victory was only the most basic content. In the second half, he wrote his ideas for the next step.

After the memorial was written, Zhu Jinghong personally put it into an envelope, and then asked Yu Hai to stamp it with his seal, and also poured sealing wax on it to prevent counterfeiting.

On the other side, a commander came forward and took the letter from Yu Hai.

This person was the commander of the supply fleet. He had to bring this report back to the mainland and then deliver it to the capital by express delivery.

Looking at the person who received the letter, Zhu Jinghong instructed: "After you arrive in Hong Kong, you can make this great victory public so that the people can rest assured!"

The commander immediately bowed and said, "I will obey your orders and will not fail your trust!"

"Go!"

"Yes!"

After the man left, Zhu Jinghong walked out of the tent. It was already sunny outside.

"Yuxin, have you ever thought about... coming to this place one day!"

"Your Highness... I have never thought about this. I never could have imagined before that the Ming Dynasty navy could roam the world!" Lu Yuxin smiled.

To be honest, his words were somewhat outrageous, but he dared to say it so directly because he knew Zhu Jinghong would not care.

"Yeah...even I couldn't think of it!" Zhu Jinghong also laughed.

Before the war, he really had no confidence in defeating the enemy, let alone annihilating the Spanish fleet.

Now that things have developed to this point, he feels that it is a little unreal.

Looking back, Zhu Jinghong said: "Work hard, there will be many things you can't imagine in the future!"

"I will definitely do my best!"

There was no need for too many polite words between them, so the conversation was very simple.

When the supply ship unloaded and left, in addition to taking away Zhu Jinghong's report, it also took away a group of prisoners including Louis.

The soldiers of the three naval divisions rested on the island for three consecutive days.

It was only on the third day that more than a dozen ships came to reward the troops. After careful questioning, they learned that the visitors were from Luzon, and the leader was the local official of Luzon.

The battle three days ago was witnessed by the people who came to fish, and they went back to report the situation to their superiors.

After receiving the news, the local official immediately sent someone to verify the situation, and finally confirmed that the Ming Dynasty had defeated the Spaniards. Then this person mobilized supplies to reward the army.

Zhu Jinghong certainly welcomed this and demonstrated the strength of the Ming Dynasty and its benevolence in stabilizing the local area.

In the end, the official promised to report the situation to his king, inform him of the current situation at sea, and prepare supplies for the Ming navy in advance.

The Ming Dynasty came to help Luzon drive out the Spaniards, so it was reasonable for these people to provide military supplies, so Zhu Jinghong made his request without hesitation. Of course, the Luzon officials also thought so, so they agreed very happily.

On the seventh day of December, the Ming navy set sail again and headed towards the southern waters of Luzon.

On December 15, the Ming navy arrived in Manila, and the King of Luzon went to the port in person to welcome the king's teacher.

Although the King of Luzon was a prince, his status was actually far inferior to that of Prince Zhu Jinghong, so he behaved very humbly and contentedly.

Of course, even if we put aside the title, Zhu Jinghong came with a group of powerful troops, and he could easily defeat Luzon from the perspective of strength alone. The latter had to be humble and careful.

In addition to the central government officials of Luzon, those who came to greet the King of Luzon included Lu Tao, a captain of the Southern Pacification Division.

Zhu Jinghong was a distinguished guest, so of course we had to do our best to entertain him. For this reason, the Luzon side had put all its national strength into preparing for this reward and welcome party.

After resting in Manila for two days, Zhu Jinghong summoned the ruler and his ministers of Luzon and explained his expectations of them, the main content of which was the requisition of military supplies.

Zhu Jinghong also brought up the issue of taking over the Spanish-occupied ports and establishing a joint fleet with Luzon to jointly protect the safety of the ocean.

His serious attitude of doing things for your own good put a lot of pressure on the ruler and his ministers of Luzon, but they couldn't express their difficulties.

On December 18, the Ming navy will continue to move south to recapture several ports in Luzon, and there will be small-scale battles.

On December 23, the first battle started, followed by the second, the third...

Having lost their main fleet, the Spanish warships left behind in the port were completely helpless against the fierce attack of the Ming army, so the ports were occupied by the Ming army one after another.

And in the process, the fourteenth year of the Orthodox era came to an end.

Near the end of the year, the supply fleet carrying Zhu Jinghong's report finally docked at Quanzhou Port.

The officials and soldiers who stayed behind were all very concerned about the war situation. As soon as they learned that the supply fleet had returned, they immediately rushed over from the government office.

"My Lords, on the third day of December, His Royal Highness Prince Xiang led the army and annihilated the Spanish fleet!"

"Great victory, great victory..." The team leader was extremely excited.

"Are you serious?" an official asked.

Although they knew they couldn't have heard it wrong, and although they knew the general in front of them couldn't be lying, the officials present still found it hard to believe.

Previously, the Western Barbarians’ army had been approaching, bombarding ports at will along the coast, or landing and slaughtering civilians. How arrogant they were...

Now that they knew that this group of extremely rampant barbarians had been completely wiped out more than half a month ago, everyone present would naturally feel it was an exaggeration.

"You don't believe it? Then I'll show you something strange!"

After saying this, the commander looked behind him and ordered, "Bring the people over here!"

While the officials on the scene were confused, several soldiers escorted a "person" out of the cabin.

"Do you know who this person is?"

"These are barbarians!" an official said nonsense.

"Everyone, this man is the commander of the Spanish fleet. I heard he is a marquis. Now he has been captured alive by His Royal Highness Prince Xiang!"

"It's this person!" The officials present were all surprised.

Then these people looked at Louis carefully, and felt that he looked similar to other foreigners and there was basically nothing special about him.

But it was this person who caused the deaths and injuries of tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians along the coast. His crimes are so heinous that they cannot be redeemed by death.

Another official asked, "Did His Royal Highness Prince Xiang say how to deal with this person?"

"His Royal Highness Prince Xiang said that he would report these people to the emperor and punish them according to the law of the country to comfort the dead!"

The scholar-officials hated fighting and killing the most, but when they heard what Zhu Jinghong said, they felt very much in agreement.

"My Lords, I have official business to attend to, so I will not chat with you any more!"

"Everyone, don't forget to prepare food, fodder and weapons as soon as possible. His Royal Highness Prince Xiang has issued a strict order that the next batch of food, fodder and ammunition must be shipped before the New Year!"

At this time, an official asked in surprise: "Do we need to transport food, fodder and ammunition?"

Thinking of the sea lion he had seen on the beach half a month ago, the commander said proudly: "His Highness said that this time we must make a concerted effort to completely wipe out the Spaniards!"

Only half an hour later, the news of the complete victory in the naval battle reached Quanzhou City and was learned by Yang Jingting and several other women.

Zhu Jinghong went out to sea and there was no news. Yang Jingting was very worried. She was also afraid that Zhu Jinghong would never come back, and if that happened, her world would fall apart.

"May the Buddha bless you, and may Your Majesty be victorious!"

Standing in front of the Buddha statue, Yang Jingting worshipped continuously.

Her belly was already big, so it was inconvenient for her to do this, but she still forced herself to worship Buddha.

"Your Majesty, you need to take a good rest. It's enough as long as you are sincere. Why do you have to worship?" Zhang Xiaoyue advised.

Yang Jingting was in a very good mood. She smiled and said, "The Buddha has shown his power, so I should pay my respects to him!"

While chatting and laughing, Zhang Xiaoyue supported Yang Jingting and walked towards the garden. The atmosphere of the chat was much more lively than before.

This was the effect of a great victory. As the news spread, its impact soon made the entire Quanzhou city boil.

The so-called interests are at stake. As a maritime trade distribution center, Quanzhou Port has a constant stream of merchant ships coming and going on a daily basis, which can bring huge wealth and benefit everyone.

The Spanish blockaded the sea borders and cut off the financial resources of Quanzhou, which naturally aroused hostility from people of all ages in Quanzhou.

Now that they knew that the rampant Spaniards had been completely wiped out, it naturally caused applause from all walks of life.

The view that Your Highness Prince Xiang is the pillar of the country has also been more widely recognized among the people and the military, and the benefits of this are immeasurable.

On December 24, the news that the Spanish navy had been completely annihilated reached Yingtian, which once again brought praise to Zhu Jinghong.

Even the entire Yingtian restaurant business was much more prosperous than before, with countless people talking and discussing.

"Your Highness, Prince Xiang, is truly a god!"

In an unremarkable restaurant in the northeast of Yingtian Prefecture, Feng Yuan couldn't help but sigh.

He failed the imperial examination this spring, and the next exam would be in three years, so he left the Imperial College and returned to his hometown to calm down.

He had met Jia Baoyu two months ago, so they often drank together during this period.

Sitting opposite Feng Yuan at this moment was Jia Baoyu, who had a very unhappy look on his face.

"What's the point of just being able to fight and kill!" Jia Baoyu blurted out.

At this moment, almost all the patrons in the restaurant were discussing the naval battle, and Jia Baoyu was simply asking for a beating by saying this.

It was also very noisy at the scene, so no one heard Jia Baoyu's beeping, otherwise he would have been in danger today.

"Brother Jia, in these two years...you still haven't learned the word 'cautious'!" Feng Yuan was quite helpless.

Jia Baoyu was not afraid at all and replied: "The court does not punish people for speaking, so what's wrong with me saying a few words?"

He is not stupid actually, but his mentality has been very unbalanced recently, so he made such a brutal statement.

As for why his mentality was unbalanced, it was entirely because he wanted to see Daiyu, but failed several times.

(End of this chapter)