The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 149: Prince Rambo returns, new artillery shows its power

Prince Rambo Asarama looked ashen.

After trying every possible method he could think of, he was ultimately defeated by the enemy.

Rambo Asarama did not resist at all and stood there dejectedly, but looking at the appearance of Liu and others, he couldn't help but ask:
“You are different from the people who came to the island before.

“Who are you? Where are you from?
"Are these your strongest troops?"

Liu Biao could not understand what Prince Rambo Asarama said at all, but Liu Biao brought with him a native translator trained by the Falkland Islands Commander.

The indigenous young translator, who was named or numbered as Li Si, bent over with a smile on his face and conveyed the question of Prince Rambo Asarama to Liu Biao.

Liu Biao admires this opponent quite a bit.

Being able to organize so many indigenous soldiers and let them fight against the Ming Dynasty's musketeers really shows some talent and ability.

So when Liu Biao heard his questions, he was willing to explain with a smile:
"We are Ming people, we come from the Ming Dynasty.

"Your ancestors and your fellow tribesmen in other places are also under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty.

“Now you too.

“We may have been neighbors thousands of years ago, or even a family, and you came here across the ocean.

“We just found you guys again.

"Because you are of the same origin as us, not the black charcoal heads on the African continent.

"So if you are willing to surrender, it will be much better than submitting to the Ming Dynasty again, becoming a citizen of the Ming Dynasty, and accepting the Ming Dynasty's management.

“Then Ming can allow you to continue living here.

"As for our troops, they are new recruits from the Ming vassal states, and today is their first official battle.

"They also came from an island, and may be related to your ancestors."

The translator immediately translated Liu Biao's words. Prince Rambo Asarama was stunned after hearing a few words:

"Legend has it that our ancestors came here by canoe, and we will be buried in the canoe after we die. So the legend is true?"

When the prince heard the last part, his eyes widened again:

"New recruit? First time on the battlefield? That's impossible!"

When Liu Biao saw Tian Yiming, he pointed at him and said with a smile:
“Look at this kid, he’s only twelve years old, and now he’s a company commander, in charge of more than a hundred people.

“But he’s so nervous now that his hands are shaking.

"Because he just killed someone for the first time today, and he hasn't fully adapted to it yet..."

Rambo Asara was a great leader of Madagascar, so he could certainly tell whether a soldier was nervous or not.

He found that Tian Yiming was indeed tense all over, and his eyes were wide open and bloodshot.

He really looks like a new soldier who survived the battlefield.

Rambo Asarama’s incomprehensible question:
"Why? Why can't our most valiant soldiers defeat you recruits who are children serving as officers?
"Because you have more muskets? You have cannons, and your weapons are better?"

Liu Biao continued to explain and persuade:

“There are actually two reasons. The first is that our weapons are indeed better, and the second is that our training is more arduous.

"If your tribe submits to the Ming, we will recruit and train soldiers from among you in the future.

"Then you will know where the gap is..."

Rambo Asarama had almost no hesitation when hearing the relatively formal invitation:

"We are willing to... submit to the Ming Dynasty, and we also want to find the land of our ancestors..."

Liu Biao was quite satisfied after hearing this, and asked Rambo Asarama to follow an infantry regiment into the city to cooperate in taking over the largest city among the natives of the Falkland Islands.

He continued to stay outside the city with two regiments to prevent any unexpected ambushes.

The city of Antananarivo has a population of more than 15,000 people, which is a very large scale among the indigenous settlements. Many historical European cities did not have so many people at that time.

According to Rambo Assalama, the original meaning of Antananarivo is the city of a thousand people.

It is not that there were originally a thousand people living in the city, but there were usually a thousand soldiers guarding the city for the king.

After Liu Biao understood this, he named this city Qianhu City.

At the same time, Liu Biao thought the name Rambo Assalama was too long, so he just called him Rambo.

In fact, his current name is not that long. After he became king in history, his official title was Andrianampoinimerina, which is transliterated as Andrianampoinimerina.

Because of the Malagasy language habits, their names are combined according to a specific pattern and are not divided into several sections like Europeans.

The process of the Japanese recruits taking over the city of Ming Dynasty went smoothly and they did not encounter any ambushes by the indigenous residents.

After Liu Biao confirmed that Lan Bo had truly surrendered, he asked the signalman to return to the base dock by boat to inform the commander-in-chief of the Falkland Islands.

The commander-in-chief of the Falkland Islands also immediately ordered the residents of Falkland Island Zhongwei, who were ready to go, to begin migrating inland.

They planned to use tens of thousands of Ming immigrants to absorb the natives of Merina in Qianhu City.

The climate on the low plateaus in tropical regions is much more comfortable than that in the plains, mainly because the summers are cooler than in the plains and the winters are not as cold as in the temperate plains.

Qianhu City is a typical example. The maximum temperature in summer usually does not exceed 27 degrees, and the minimum temperature in winter usually does not fall below 10 degrees.

Most of the large cities that spontaneously formed in tropical regions are located on inland plateaus.

The traditional cultural system of the Merina Kingdom had a very obvious tendency towards class separation, and people from different classes were not allowed to intermarry.

The higher the social class of a Merina family, the less likely they are to marry someone from the middle or lower class.

The ruling class of the Merina Kingdom and the residents of the royal capital are basically pure descendants of Austronesian people, and their appearance has no African characteristics at all.

The several vassal states that split from Merina in the surrounding areas are basically descendants of pure Austronesian.

Most of the slaves at the lowest level had obvious African features, and most of the residents in the marginal areas of the Falkland Islands also showed signs of mixed blood.

Eventually, the residents of the capital of the Kingdom of Merina were allowed to be fully absorbed as civilians, but other foreign races around the island were used as slave laborers.

After the first batch of residents of Falkland Island Zhongwei arrived at Qianhu City, Liu Biao led his soldiers back to the port and reunited with his new recruit division.

After resting for a few days, Liu Biao once again led his soldiers onto the navy warship and headed for the next target.

The richest places on the entire east coast of Africa - Mombasa and Zanzibar.

This is Oman's most important stronghold in Africa.

Oman was similar to many Arab countries at that time. It was also a federation of multiple tribal chiefs, and the supreme ruler was usually a religious leader.

The leader of Oman is called Imam, which originally means someone who leads believers in worship.

Ahmed bin Said, the founder of the Said Dynasty of Oman, has been recognized by various tribes in Oman since 1749.

He united the strength of various Omani tribes, became Sultan as Imam, established the Sultanate of Oman, and pushed Oman's national strength to its peak.

Ahmed died at the end of 1783 and his son Sayyid succeeded him as Imam, but he was not recognized by all tribes.

The key point is that Sayyid's son Hamed did not recognize his father and began to gain recognition from other tribes as Sultan.

Oman fell into a state of division due to the conflict between father and son, which created conditions for the Ming Dynasty to seize East Africa and the Red Sea region.

The fleets of the two military governorates of the Ming Dynasty, as well as the fleets of the Kingdom of Wu and the Duke of Min, left the Falkland Islands carrying 50,000 Japanese recruits and headed for the African continent across the strait.

Shortly after setting sail, the fleet sent out a small fleet to occupy the Comoros Islands at the exit of the strait.

At this time, an Arab established the Zuwani Sultanate in the archipelago.

Faced with the Ming army whose number of warships and troops far exceeded his own by several times, the Sultan chose to surrender directly.

The fleet continued to sail, and when it approached the southern strait of Zanzibar Island, it encountered a patrol fleet that still nominally belonged to Oman. The Ming fleet used the method used in North America, and the steam sailing ship accelerated and surrounded the patrol fleet.

The patrol fleet was isolated and did not dare to fight, and were eventually stopped and captured by the Ming warships.

Tian Yiming, who had experience in actual combat, brought his own company of samurai recruits, jumped onto the Omani patrol boat along the deck, and took control of all the sailors and soldiers on board.

The fleet then split into two groups, one heading to the largest port on Zanzibar Island, and the other continuing north to Mombasa.

When Ahmed unilaterally took over the throne of Oman last year, bypassing his father, a rebellion broke out on the Zanzibar archipelago.

Ahmed immediately sent troops to suppress the rebellion on the island and reconquer Zanzibar.

But Hamid's rule over Zanzibar remained unstable, and Hamid had not yet gained enough prestige to convince the leaders of various parts of Oman.

There were not many Omani warships docked in Zanzibar, and they had no time to go out to sea to resist, so they were directly blocked in the port.

The Ming governor first sent an envoy with an Arab interpreter ashore to demand the surrender of the Governor of Zanzibar.

The Governor of Oman knew that the Ming Dynasty was powerful, but due to the influence of inertial thinking, he still did not believe that the Ming Dynasty could conquer Oman across the sea.

In addition, the governor was full of confidence as he had just suppressed the rebellion, and he flatly rejected the request for surrender.

"We will not surrender to foreign conquerors, nor will we surrender to pagans!"

Oman's Sayyid dynasty was established in the process of eliminating Persian influence, so it was a bit sensitive to foreign conquerors.

Seeing that reason was not working for him, the Ming envoy immediately left with the translator.

The Ming fleet then launched an attack.

Oman had few warships in Zanzibar, and was ambushed by the Ming fleet and surrounded in the port. Soon after the war broke out, they were destroyed by the Ming fleet.

Then the Ming Dynasty launched a ground landing war.

Oman has long been trading with the East and the West, and the equipment level of its main forces is basically on par with that of Eastern and Western countries.

Not only were they equipped with flintlock rifles on a large scale, but there were also some hunters equipped with rifles.

The new soldiers recruited by Zhu Jianxuan from Japan were equipped with percussion rifles that were modified from flintlock rifles in recent years. Compared with flintlock rifles, they only had an advantage in firing rate.

It will be a big advantage on rainy days, but the difference is not much on sunny days. The flintlock will occasionally fail to fire, but just fire a few more times and it will be fine.

Not to mention the new recruits having to rush to the beach, even if they were to fight fairly on the ground, they might not be able to win.

But this was not a fair fight. The Ming navy destroyed the Omani warships while bombarding the landing troops in front of them.

The Governor of Zanzibar initially tried to have his infantry form a formation on the beach to resist the landing of the Ming Army.

But it soon became clear that this was simply not possible.

It was impossible for the infantry to leave the city under the Ming artillery fire, so they had to hide in the relatively sturdy castle and watch the Ming landing troops go ashore.

At this time, the Governor of Zanzibar had not yet given up, and naturally prepared to rely on the castle to resist the Ming attack.

They were prepared to use artillery and rifles to shoot down from above and wipe out a large number of attacking Ming infantrymen below the castle.

Previous sieges had always relied on human lives, and the Governor of Zanzibar did not believe that the Ming Dynasty could transport enough soldiers from its mainland.

The governor took a telescope and observed the movements of the Ming army through the observation port, and he saw a somewhat strange picture.

Nearly two kilometers outside the castle, the Ming Army deployed three not-so-large army artillery pieces in sequence.

"Are the people of the Ming Dynasty stupid? Placing cannons so far away? And there are only three of them in total? They can only be used to shoot at the air!"

Not to mention the Governor of Zanzibar, even the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were very confused at this time.

The troops Liu Biao and Tian Yiming were in were assigned the task of attacking Zanzibar this time.

They were now required to march forward on both sides of this crude artillery position and stop outside the range of the enemy's artillery.

Then prepare to command the soldiers on the battlefield to attack the castle under the cover of your own artillery.

Liu Biao looked at the three small cannons and couldn't help but say to his chief of staff:
"What can these three cannons do? And we are still two kilometers away from the city wall. There are obviously places closer. Why do we need to do it here?"

The Chief of Staff also shook his head:

“I don’t know why, but the troops managing these three cannons were transferred directly from the capital.

"It's not a unit formed by us instructors and Japanese recruits at all."

Under the astonished, puzzled and incomprehensible gazes of the crowd, the artillerymen of the three guns completed the final preparations.

Then, as the commanding officer waved the command flag, dazzling flames spurted out from the muzzles of the three cannons, and three invisible shells flew out.

"This muzzle flame is wrong. The key is why there is no smoke?"

At the moment when these thoughts appeared in the minds of many veteran officers, several dull and huge explosions sounded simultaneously in the distance and around them.

Liu Biao and Tian Yiming were both stunned. They felt the entire ground beneath their feet tremble with the sound of the cannon.

The most terrifying thing was that Liu Biao had seen an extremely fierce ball of fire appearing on a wall of the castle in the distance.

Then the broken bricks and stones, as well as the Omani soldiers on the city walls, were blown away by the explosion.

The three shells landed on the wall, and similar horrific scenes appeared.

The last shell seemed to have better luck and blew a huge gap in the wall.

The range of the artillery and the explosive effect of the shrapnel shells surprised everyone.

Liu Biao widened his eyes, opened his mouth, and was stunned for several seconds.

Then he could no longer hold back his attitude as a brigade commander and roared at the top of his lungs:

"Fuck - this cannon is so fucking powerful! This must be another new invention of the king!"

Then he reacted quickly, without any time to think, and raised his command sword and roared:

"Everyone! Charge! Enter the city!"

The scene inside the Zanzibar Castle was even more obvious. When the three explosions occurred, the entire castle seemed to tremble, and many soldiers almost couldn't stand.

"Which warehouse exploded?"

The Governor of Zanzibar did not see how the explosion occurred and subconsciously thought that the gunpowder depot in the castle had exploded.

But soon a messenger ran in front of the governor in panic:

"Governor, our city wall has collapsed! It was blown down by the Ming artillery shells!"

The Governor of Zanzibar was completely stunned:

"What collapsed? What Ming artillery shells? The Ming artillery is two kilometers away!"

But at this time, the Japanese recruits from the Ming Wu State Army outside the city had already cheered and launched a charge.

The three seemingly inconspicuous cannons quickly completed the second loading of shells and gunpowder, and their speed was much faster than traditional cannons.

Accompanied by a new round of three cannon shots, three shells blew a larger gap in the city wall.

The infantry one kilometer ahead, with the support of artillery one kilometer behind, rushed towards the classical castle that was gradually torn apart by their own new artillery.

The craftsmen of the Wu State worked hard for a year and produced a batch of experimental new 80mm cannons.

Begin actual combat testing in specialized units and on battlefields.

The wrought iron inner tube is reinforced with wire wrapping, then covered with a cast iron outer shell and rear-mounted with a rifled design.

Use nitrocellulose propellant and picric acid charge.

(End of this chapter)