I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 745: Simple Europeans
Leon looked over, thought for a moment, and replied: "My Lord Marquis, according to the itinerary, this should be the entrance to the Strait of Malacca. That should be Yanlan City, the westernmost city of Yannan City, with a military port and a civilian port.

But our ship does not stop here."

"Yanlan City?"

"Yes, it used to be the headquarters of the Ming Dynasty's fight against the Acehnese."

"Acehnese? Those mercenaries we saw in India?"

"Yes."

"Are they from Yannan Island?"

"Yes, they are the natives of Yannan Island, the most brave and warlike natives in the South China Sea. When we Portuguese first arrived here, we suffered several losses at their hands.

Later, we adopted a cooperative approach and hired them to fight, which was very useful.”

"What is the attitude of the Ming people towards them?"

"They attacked them right away, saying that the Acehnese had robbed Ming ships. Later I heard another version, saying that the Acehnese warships shot a few arrows at the Ming merchant ships from a distance while on patrol.

When the Ming navy received a report that the merchant ship had been hijacked, they immediately surrounded the Acehnese and sank all of their few warships, merchant ships and fishing boats. They then built the Yanlan City and began to attack the Acehnese.

At the beginning, the Acehnese were still tough and thought that the Ming people were nothing special. They actively fought back and hired hundreds of Portuguese officers and soldiers as advisers and instructors.

But they never expected that the Ming people not only had advanced weapons and well-trained troops, but also fought extremely brutally and cunningly. "

"cunning?"

"Yes, I met four Portuguese officers there. They were instructors and advisors to the Acehnese. They told me how the Ming people fought against the Acehnese in Yannan Island."

"Leon, please tell me in detail."

"Okay, Your Majesty."

Marcelo not only had a close relationship with León’s father, but he was also a senior general of Portugal, fighting against the Moors in North Africa for many years.

"When the Ming people first landed, they did not have the advantage in terms of military strength, but the Acehnese did, and were ready to attack. A Portuguese advisor persuaded the Acehnese leader to stop them, saying that the Chinese were well prepared, so it would be better to use a trick."

"The Portuguese advisor is an experienced officer and this is a very good idea. Where is he now?"

Leon smiled and did not answer. He continued, "The Acehnese leader listened to the advice of his advisor, pretended to fail, led the Ming army step by step to the basin, surrounded them, and then launched an attack."

"A very good plan."

"The Ming people reacted quickly and formed a circle around the cars, turning the spot into a castle."

"Castle, how is that possible?"

"The four of you only found out later that the Ming people's carriages were specially designed. The carriages were thick and inlaid with iron plates on both sides. The end to end was connected to form a wall, and there were shooting holes and cannon ports.
It is said that the Ming people used this vehicle, called a boxcar, to defeat the terrible Mongols in the far northern grasslands.

"Leon, I have a bad feeling."

"More than 30,000 Acehnese surrounded the several thousand Ming troops and fought for two days and two nights, with 5,000 to 6,000 killed or wounded. Even the most fanatical Acehnese warriors became calm.

Just when they were about to collapse, a Ming army emerged from the jungle behind the Acehnese and attacked them.

"Where did this Ming army come from?"

"Perhaps they took a boat and landed behind the Acehnese, and then, under the guidance of a guide, they took a small path through the jungle. The four Portuguese compatriots still have lingering fears when they recall the battle at that time."

"The battle was very brutal?"

"No, it was a one-sided massacre."

"what?"

"The Acehnese are brave and high-spirited, just like the Moors, and like the wind, which is difficult to restrain.

The Ming people were not only brave and high-spirited, but also very disciplined. They were as calm as machines, with guns and grenades flying everywhere.

My Lord Marquis, the Ming people's musket is more advanced than our matchlock gun. It does not require a fuse or a support pole. You can just hold it and shoot.

Their artillery is also very sharp, lighter than ours but much more powerful. They have all kinds of shells, including iron balls, grapeshot, and shrapnel, which they use flexibly according to the situation.

The artillery of the Ming people was distributed throughout the battlefield, sometimes used in a dispersed manner to support the infantry in local combat; sometimes used in a concentrated manner to fire at a certain point and create a gap in the enemy's position.

Marcelo listened with a solemn expression and said slowly: "In the face of discipline, courage is just a pile of sand in the wind. Besides, as you said, the Ming army is also very brave, their weapons are more advanced, and their tactics are very mature.

The Acehnese are doomed to fail.”

"Yes, Marquis. After a fierce battle, more than half of the Acehnese were killed or wounded. Our compatriot who gave advice to the Acehnese died on the battlefield.

Half a year later, Aceh gathered more than 30,000 people to fight a decisive battle with the Ming people.

The Ming people fulfilled their wish and deployed their troops at a place called Batakika. When the Acehnese people rode hundreds of war elephants, lined up in formation, and rushed towards the Ming people with high morale, the Ming people fired rockets.

Marcelo was shocked. "Rockets? The weapons of Satan you often talk about?"

"Yes, in Batakika, the Ming army fired tens of thousands of rockets in one go."

"Tens of thousands?"

"Yes, my Lord."

Marcelo murmured, "You are right. The Ming army is really cunning and brutal in fighting."

Guangshun No. 1 continued to move forward, and Yanlan City was getting farther and farther away, disappearing between heaven and earth.

“What happened to these Acehnese people?”

"Since then, the Acehnese have been unable to launch large-scale attacks. They were chased around by the Ming army like rats.

Our four compatriots were also captured by the Ming people, but were soon released and went to Goa.

When I returned to Goa this time, I went to look for them specifically, only to find out that they were hired by the Siamese and participated in the attack of Siam, Nanchang and Chenla on the Kingdom of Pagan and Toungoo.

As for the Acehnese, it is said that their elders negotiated with the Ming people and finally reached an agreement. The Ming people sent them to India. The Afghan and Mughal princes there were willing to take them in. "

"Leon, the Acehnese are a good source of soldiers, and they share the same beliefs as the Afghan and Mughal princes."

"Yes, the Acehnese were badly defeated by the Ming people, but when they went to India, they regained their bravery and fighting skills. The Afghan and Mughal princes welcomed them very much. It is said that the Ming people transported more than 300,000 Acehnese to India in the past two years, and there are almost no Acehnese left on Yannan Island. But no one knows how many people they originally had and how many died in the war."

Marcelo tilted his chin, his eyes cold, "The fate of the loser is in the hands of the winner. Leon, why are the Ming people targeting the Acehnese? Do they have a feud?"

"There is no feud." Leon shook his head.

"Then why?" Marcelo looked at Leon's face, his heart moved, thinking of what he had just said, and suddenly realized, "The Ming people attacked the Acehnese to show other countries and forces in the South China Sea?"

"Yes, Marquis. After the Ming people defeat the Acehnese here and defeat us in Goa, not only the South China Sea countries, but also many other powers such as India, Persia and the Ottoman Empire will do business with the Ming people in a friendly manner."

"Leon, our merchants in the ports of Muscat, Abbas, and Basra have sent intelligence to Lisbon, indicating that our people have launched a powerful offensive in the distant Transoxiana region east of Persia.

According to news from Persian merchants, the powerful Yarkand Khanate was incorporated into the territory of the Ming people, and the Kazakh Khanate to the north of Persia had also been occupied.

This information matches the news brought by the Nordic merchants."

Leon looked at Marcelo and knew that he was a senior general in the Portuguese army and a person trusted very much by King Sebastian I. He could obtain a lot of information that he did not know.

"What's the news from the Nordic merchants?"

"Since last year, groups of nomadic tribes as fierce as wild wolves have rushed into the eastern part of Moscow. It is said that there are as many as 200,000 or 300,000 of them. They are said to be driven westward.

Ivan IV, the Grand Duke of Moscow, who was fighting against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, and the United Kingdom of Denmark and Norway in Livonia, quickly mobilized troops to stop them, and many clashes broke out. It is said that the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow suffered a great loss.

This shows that these driven nomadic tribes have extraordinary fighting power. So how terrible would the army in the East be that could chase them like rabbits? "

Leon's eyes sparkled. "Marquis, you mean that the Ming army and navy are attacking everywhere. Their navy is heading east and south. The army is heading west."

"Yes. You have been to Ming. You know that it is vast, populous, and rich. All the countries in Europe combined are not as rich as it.

I didn't believe it at first, but now I do.

It is impossible for such a powerful country to attack in only one or two directions.

We in Portugal not only sent our navy everywhere, but our army also struck the Moors again and again in North Africa, ensuring that the southern border would no longer be harassed by pagans, while protecting our interests in North Africa. "

That's right, according to the simplest idea of ​​Europeans, if I become stronger, then everything around me will be mine. I will continue to expand until the end of the world, or I will be beaten black and blue.

However, the Portuguese are better. They have self-knowledge and know that they are strong, but not the strongest, so they focus on doing business wherever they go.

Now it is the Spaniards who uphold the simple mentality of old Europe. They feel that the entire earth is a gift from God to them.

Don't you believe in God?
Ignorance and backwardness!

Be sure to liberate you spiritually and let you bathe in the glory of God.

You don't agree? Then I will save you physically!
The Portuguese next door must have known about Spain's domineering mentality and style. If they had not had to maintain gentlemanly manners, they would have laughed out loud when they heard that the Spanish were beaten and fled in panic by the Ming people in the New World.

However, some Portuguese nobles, out of admiration for the strong and because the Spaniards gave them a lot, have become spiritual Spaniards.

Coupled with the complicated relationship between the Portuguese and Spanish royal families, many people of insight were worried that Spain would annex Portugal. Marcelo and Leon were two of these people of insight.

Marcelo, Leon and others were very wary of the Spaniards in their hearts. In their view, Spain was at its weakest moment.

On the mainland and in the Mediterranean, in early 1571, the Ottoman Navy occupied Cyprus, causing panic in Italian city-states such as Venice and Genoa.

These vampire merchants quickly waved their gold coins and asked the Pope for help. At the same time, they launched a public opinion offensive, elevating the loss of Cyprus, which belonged to Venice, to a huge threat posed by pagans to the Christian world.

Pope Pius V stepped in and urged King Philip II of Spain to form an alliance with Christian countries such as Venice and Genoa to form a powerful maritime expeditionary force.

On October 1571, 10, the Christian navy, mainly composed of the Spanish, Venetian and Genoese navies, encountered the main force of the Ottoman navy in the Lepanto Strait in western Greece.

A naval battle unprecedented in European history broke out.

The Ottomans had 230 warships and the Christian navy had 208 warships. Both sides had galleys. The battle was fierce and both sides suffered heavy losses.

When both sides were about to give up, the Spanish Marquis of Santa Cruz, Bazin, arrived with a fleet of Spanish sailing ships and attacked the Ottoman Navy's galleys with artillery from a distance.

The Ottoman navy was defeated, with commander Ali Pasha and 3 soldiers killed, 8000 captured, and 230 ships lost.

Leon, who returned to Lisbon from Goa to "wait for punishment", collected a lot of information about the Battle of Lepanto and went to the Spanish port of Seville to visit Spanish officers who participated in the war.

In the end, Leon came to the conclusion that the Battle of Lepanto marked the end of the era of galleys and hand-to-hand naval warfare.

The age of the sailing ship has arrived.

Utilize the maneuverability of sailing warships and use naval guns to deal heavy blows to enemy ships, disrupt their formation, crush their morale, and then use boarding battle to end everything.

Leon was even more horrified to discover that the new naval warfare tactics he had summarized had already been skillfully applied by the Ming people.

They skillfully applied these tactics in the naval battles of Malacca and Goa, seizing the upper hand and successively approaching and firing bombardments, defeating their own fleets, and then surrounding and destroying the flagships and battleships with boarding battles.

They also invented the damn rocket!

Leon reported his summary to King Sebastian I through channels.

King Sebastian I did not believe it at first, but after consulting the officers, nobles, and missionaries who were watching the battle in Goa, they found that what they said was similar to what Leon said, and some were even more exaggerated.

León was finally received by Sebastian I.

During the meeting, Leon further expressed his views.

Although the Spanish won the Battle of Lepanto, they lost a large number of galleys, forcing the main sailing fleet to remain in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic to protect Spain's interests in the Mediterranean and the Netherlands.

The Ming expeditionary fleet beat the Spanish half to death in the New World, and King Philip II of Spain was unable to withdraw his main force to reinforce them even though he had gritted his teeth.

His family was large and powerful, and he had territories everywhere except Spain, including the Netherlands, Sicily, Naples, Franche-Comté, and Milan.

Without a navy, Spain's powerful army would not be able to fly around.

The Spanish galleon fleet won the final battle at the Battle of Lepanto, demonstrating the power of sailing naval guns.

The Ming expeditionary fleet chased the Spanish fleet in the New World, which indirectly proved Leon's statement that the Ming Dynasty was far ahead in new naval warfare tactics.
León suggested to Sebastian I that he should form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty and bring the Ming Dynasty into Europe.

why?
As Leon said just now, when the Ming Dynasty opened up new markets, the navy would go first. When they arrived at a new place, they would first pick out the most powerful forces in the area and beat them up.
Hence this mission
Guangshun No. 1 and No. 2 temporarily anchored in the outer harbor of Malacca for one night. Everyone slept soundly because there were sailboats and paddleboats patrolling from time to time.

At noon the next day, Guangshun No. 1 and No. 2 arrived at the waters off Longkou Port.

(End of this chapter)