I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 749: Deafening Silence
"A strong enemy! A strong enemy that must be fought with all our strength!"

Tan Lun said firmly.

Zhu Yijun's eyes flashed, and he asked again: "Why did Mr. Tan say so?"

"Your Majesty, gentlemen, we have been fighting against the Northern Tartars for many years, and our previous record is well known. There are many reasons for this, but it is generally acknowledged that the Tatars and Oirat are brave and good at fighting.

When the Emperor was in power, he trained new troops, implemented new laws, and created new weapons. This was the three-pronged approach that enabled the royal army to march north and conquer all the lands south and north of the desert.

I don't know how powerful the Khanate of Kazan and the Khanate of Astrakhan are, but they are from the same Mongol Yuan dynasty as the Oirat and Tatars, and they are located in a bitter and cold land.

It is a recognized fact that the more difficult the place, the easier it is to produce elite soldiers.

Therefore, according to common sense, the Khanate of Kazan and the Khanate of Astrakhan were not good people, and they were very powerful. However, they were destroyed by the Principality of Moscow one after another, so we cannot take the Principality of Moscow lightly. "

Qi Jiguang and Zhu Yijun looked at each other and nodded.

"Mr. Tan is absolutely right. According to the intelligence of the Military Intelligence Bureau, the people of Moscow are all Eastern Slavs. They live in the remote and cold north and are regarded as barbarians among barbarians by other Europeans. They are ferocious by nature and fearless of death.

Previously, it was a mess, more like a tribal alliance than a country, so it was incorporated into the Golden Horde. They not only learned from the Mongols, but also from the European countries to the west, so they gradually rose.

They were located in a war-torn area, with Sweden and Poland to the west, the Crimean Khanate and the Nogai Khanate to the south, the Khanate of Kazan and the Khanate of Astrakhan to the east, and a barren land with snow all year round to the north.

But they fought back all the way, expanded their territory, and in turn annexed the Khanate of Kazan and the Khanate of Astrakhan, becoming a powerful enemy on our way westward!"

Zhu Yijun took over Qi Jiguang's words, "Okay, as long as you have a positive attitude. We are proud of being the Celestial Empire, but we will never take any enemy lightly."

Glancing at the crowd, he pointed at Qi Jiguang and said, "Yuan Jing, please continue."

Qi Jiguang responded: "As ordered!
Gentlemen, let's continue to talk about Moscow's eastward strategy. In the 1551th year of Jiajing (), there was a civil war in the Astrakhan Khanate, and the princes and nobles fought for the Khanate. In the th year of Jiajing, Grand Duke Ivan IV of Moscow sent troops to attack the Astrakhan Khanate and supported a puppet to come to power.

In the 36th year of Jiajing, Ivan IV sent troops to abolish the puppet regime and formally annexed the Astrakhan Khanate.

Because the Principality of Moscow was engaged in a fierce war with Sweden and other countries in the west for land, Grand Duke Ivan IV of Moscow placed his military forces in the west, and left the management of the Siberian Khanate in the east to local governments and nobles.

In the 35th year of Jiajing, Ivan IV summoned the Stroganov family of Kazan. The family was originally a big salt merchant in Moscow Principality, and they donated a lot of money to Ivan IV for military funds.

After annexing the Khanate of Kazan, Ivan IV gave the Stroganov family the rich land near the city of Kazan, which happened to be adjacent to the Siberian Khanate.

Ivan IV inquired carefully about the border situation and then issued a warrant authorizing the Stroganov family to attack the Siberian Khanate.

After obtaining the warrant, the Stroganov family began to build fortifications in the border areas, recruited local thugs to form an army, purchased weapons, and waited for an opportunity to attack the Siberian Khanate.

Zhang Juzheng asked curiously, "The Principality of Moscow actually gave me this important weapon privately? Aren't you afraid that the Tai'a will be held upside down?"

Zhu Yijun explained: "This is a characteristic of Europe. The monarch does not have strong control over the nobles below. They have a saying that has been passed down for hundreds of years, which is that the vassal's subjects are not the monarch's subjects."

Zhao Zhenji stroked his beard and said, "Your Majesty, the subjects of the vassal are not the subjects of the monarch. These European countries are somewhat similar to the Spring and Autumn Period of our dynasty."

"Yes. Our Duizhou, which they call Europe, has a land area less than half that of our Ming Dynasty, but is divided into dozens of countries, large and small, that have been fighting each other for hundreds of years.

In my opinion, it is a big poisonous dish. Those who can fight their way out of it are not ordinary people. In order to fight their way out, these countries, big and small, have tried everything and dared to try anything.

Therefore, they are very good at learning, brave in exploration, and never satisfied. The Grand Duchy of Moscow is a very typical example. Their greed for land is beyond people's imagination; their persistence and bravery are also beyond our expectations.

Granting the task of governing to local nobles is something that the Moscow Principality can do when it has no time to do other things. This is a great opportunity for us."

Zhang Juzheng frowned and asked a question.

"Yuan Jing, why is the intelligence on Moscow collected by the Military Intelligence Bureau so detailed?"

"Prime Minister Zhang, this is all thanks to the Darga of the Oirat tribes and the great taiji Haninoyan Honggor of the Khoshut tribe. He is really a good runner!

After the defeat in Kobdo, this beast fled northwest along the Yershi River. Xiao Ruxun led a cavalry regiment and pursued him relentlessly.

After chasing for three full months on the vast grassland, Haninoyan Honggor's route became erratic as Xiao Ruxun chased him. In the end, he crossed the Siberian Khanate and came to the border between the former Kazan Khanate and the Siberian Khanate.

Xiao Ruxun led his troops to kill Haninoyan Honggor, who was desperate, and then encountered a group of Moscow Principality troops. There were more than 800 of them, equipped with muskets, war horses, armor, etc., and they were gathering intelligence in the western region of the Siberian Khanate.

Xiao Ruxun killed them without mercy, beheading more than 600 people and capturing more than 160 leaders. On the way back, he interrogated them and found out that the leader was an important member of the Stroganov family, Baron Kamosev.

He was fluent in Latin and also knew Mongolian and Turkic.

Further interrogation revealed that among the captured people were guard officers sent by Ivan Terrible to assist, engineers who were there to survey the terrain and map, and priests.

Xiao Ruxun asked an officer who knew Mandarin and Mongolian to serve as an interpreter together with Baron Kamosev, and interrogated the prisoners one by one, obtaining a large amount of intelligence.

Later, these people were sent back to the capital, and the Military Intelligence Bureau asked the Honglu Temple to find two people who were proficient in Latin to communicate with Baron Kamosif, the engineers and the priests who knew Latin, one by one, to verify the intelligence obtained.
It has been compiled into a book titled "Intelligence Items of the Principality of Moscow, the Khanate of Siberia, the Khanate of Crimea, and Other Countries on the Western Front", and has been presented to the Emperor for review. It has also been sent to the General Staff, the Naval Staff, the Hongwu Military Academy, and other relevant offices."

After listening to Qi Jiguang's explanation, Zhang Juzheng and others understood.

What works first and what works next.

The emperor attaches great importance to intelligence work to the point of being almost harsh and abnormal, so his subordinates will naturally attach great importance to it. The result of attaching importance to it is that no opportunity will be missed, and only then will we know ourselves and the enemy and win every battle.

Over the years, the Ming Dynasty's Military Intelligence Bureau had been spying on external intelligence to the point of being omnipresent and using every possible means.

Zhu Yijun spoke up, "The situation on the western front is roughly clear. In the past few years, the Western Expedition Army has repeatedly used troops against the Kazakh Khanate and the Siberian Khanate.

The Kazakh Khanate was destroyed, and the Siberian Khanate surrendered. At the same time, nearly 200,000 people from the Siberian Khanate and the Kazakh Khanate, through the former territories of the Kazan Khanate, the Nogai Khanate, and the Astrakhan Khanate, poured into the heart of the Principality of Moscow. There are many of our hidden spies and agents among them. They will lead the remnants of the Siberian Khanate and the Kazakh Khanate to maneuver in the east and southeast of the Principality of Moscow, and strive to form an alliance with the Crimean Khanate. "

The main army of the Principality of Moscow is fighting fiercely with Sweden, Lithuania and other countries in the west and has no time to look east. We should first let our troops go to destroy the lands that the Principality of Moscow has occupied on the eastern front in recent years after annexing the Khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan.

But these are just means of containment. In the end, we still need to use guns and cavalry to solve the problem.

cabinet!"

Zhang Juzheng quickly responded, "I am here."

"Master Zhang, in the next ten years, the castles and fortresses in the west must be renovated to control the east-west roads. Then the Mongolian front wing will be the main force, and the left, right and rear wings will also take turns to attack the eastern line of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, relying on the castles and fortresses.

Destroy their towns and manors, burn their houses and fields, kill their soldiers, plunder their population, and conduct raids in the first phase."

Zhu Yijun said loudly: "Our disadvantage is that the western front is too far from the hinterland, and it is difficult to transport military equipment and supplies. The advantage of the Principality of Moscow is that the border is not far from their hinterland, and it is very convenient to gather troops and transport supplies.

But we should use dialectical perspective to see that our disadvantages are also our advantages. The western border is far away from our hinterland. Moscow wants to fight back and harass and destroy our territory, but it is out of reach. Even if we try hard, we can only hurt the surface.

The advantage of Moscow became a disadvantage. Our Mongolian cavalry attacked in batches, entered their hinterland as soon as they crossed the border, and wreaked havoc, which would seriously injure them.

Of course, the constant harassment will put a lot of pressure on our transportation, but we will get rich rewards.

I believe that if we persist in harassing them for two to three years, the power of Moscow will be severely weakened, and by the time our main army marches west, they will be very weak. "

Wang Chonggu, the Grand Councillor and the Left Prime Minister of the Cabinet, said: "Your Majesty, Moscow is thousands of miles away from us, and there are only grasslands, deserts, and ice fields in between, so the journey is long.

Moreover, the weather there is cold, the soil is barren, and the people are poor, so the food is tasteless."

Zhu Yijun looked at Wang Chonggu and answered slowly, "When I was young, I once dreamed of Emperor Taizu. Taizu said, Yijun, I have been to heaven and learned the secrets of heaven. There are three major black soil areas in the world with fertile soil and suitable climate.

One is located in the middle, in the northeast of the country. One is located in the east, in the middle of Genzhou, in a place called the Mississippi River. One is located in the west, in the east of Duizhou, west of the Principality of Moscow, with Kiev as the center. They are all first-class granaries in the world, which can support hundreds of millions of people.

With these three places, the people of the Ming Dynasty will never suffer from hunger again."

Everyone looked solemn.

Black soil, one of the world's three best granaries.

Emperor Taizu was born in poverty, with no place to live. When he was young, his relatives starved to death one after another, which was heartbreaking. After he became the emperor, he was fanatical about the land and devoted all his energy to ensuring that the peasants of the Ming Dynasty could have enough food, which was the greatest among all the emperors in history.

It seems that the emperor also inherits his ancestors' traditions!

Zhu Yijun said word by word: "Ever since Emperor Taizu told me the secret, I have been thinking about it day and night. If I can take over these three granaries and make the people of Ming Dynasty never suffer from famine again, I will be worthy of being called the Son of Heaven by the people of Ming Dynasty."

Zhang Juzheng, Tan Lun, Zhao Zhenji, Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou and others all stood up, faced Zhu Yijun, and bowed with their hands crossed.

"Your Majesty is benevolent and wise, and he cares for the people and helps all living things. If you work hard to govern the country and keep the people safe, you will surely go down in history and live forever."

It took the Luxi nine days to travel from Bintan Port to Xiangjiang Port, a distance of about 2,600 kilometers.

After hearing this number from the first mate of the Luxi, with whom they were familiar, Leon and Marcelo fell silent.

The Luxi sailed for about ten hours during the day and stopped at night to rest. In nine days, it traveled 2,600 kilometers, which was equivalent to sailing 29 kilometers per hour, with a speed of more than 16 knots.

Leon had already figured out these relatively simple conversion relationships. After he wrote down the numbers on paper with a pencil, the silence from Marcelo, Condorcet and the others was deafening.

It takes two to three months for a Portuguese sailing ship to travel from Goa to the mouth of the Pearl River with favorable winds and waters, at a speed of six to eight knots.

If the Luxi was allowed to run the race, it would be completed in less than a month.

At this speed, the Portuguese sailboat couldn’t even see the stern sail of the Luxi!
Based on this, it can be inferred that the main warships in the Ming Dynasty's Suzaku Navy, the Class A and Class B battleships, may have a speed of twelve to fourteen knots.

Our speed is six to eight knots.

The gap is so big that it makes people despair.

If others don't want to fight you, they will just sail away. If they want to fight you, they will chase you and shoot you, and you won't be able to escape even if you want to!
Putting aside other things, the speed of the ship alone is enough to make people despair and speechless. No wonder even Spain, which was known as the invincible world, was beaten to pieces like a fleet of canoes in front of the Ming navy.

Marcelo took Leon's hand and said firmly: "Leon, we must form an alliance with the Ming Dynasty and invite their navy to Europe and the Mediterranean.

Only in this way can the Spanish tiger turn into a rabbit and not have any unreasonable thoughts about us, Portugal!"

Leon nodded vigorously, hoping to find Jose in Xiangjiang Port.

The Luxi lowered its sails, slowed down its speed, and under the guidance of the pilot boat, it slowly sailed into the Hong Kong Port.

The first mate was introducing to Leon and Marcelo: "The port ahead is Xiangjiang Harbor, to the south is Shek Pai Island, and to the north is Kowloon Peninsula."

"Nine dragons?"

"Yes, according to legend, at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, Prime Minister Lu Xiufu and Grand Tutor Zhang Shijie escorted the seven-year-old emperor to Dapeng Mountain on the east bank of the Pearl River Estuary. The emperor looked at the eight mountains in front of him and said to Lu Xiufu, there is a dragon on each mountain, so there should be eight dragons here.

Prime Minister Lu replied, no, there should be nine dragons here. So this area was called Kowloon Peninsula. "

Leon asked curiously, "One mountain, one dragon. Eight mountains, eight dragons. That's right. Why did Prime Minister Lu say there were nine dragons? Is his arithmetic worse than mine?"

The first mate looked at him speechlessly, and the silence was deafening!
I was so blinded by greed that I had to tell a foreigner some historical stories!
(End of this chapter)