open sea

Chapter 306 The Edict
Emperor Longqing studied the map that Bai Yuanjie sent to intercept Fanyi all night, but he couldn't understand it.

Chen Mu looked at the map of the Spaniards in the cabinet, but he could only half understand it.

"Your Majesty, this, this should be a mermaid, and that is a big octopus. They are all things that scare me." Chen Mu looked at the mermaid sea monster and the big octopus on the sheepskin map, and his face was full of inexplicable depression. There are too many strange things on the page, he pointed to the picture and said: "We are here, the capital is here, the northwest is here, and Guangdong is here. They have never been to us, so the pictures are all based on their own wild guesses."

Without the Arctic Circle, India, the Indochina Peninsula, and the Ming Dynasty were directly drawn into a big circle, and the voyage from Fujian to Japan with a few days of downwind was drawn as far as eight feet away.

Chen Mu saluted Emperor Longqing with a smile, pointed at the sheepskin map like a courtier and said, "Your Majesty, there is something wrong with this picture."

He drew two lines on the sheepskin map from top to bottom and from left to right with his finger, then pointed to the middle and said, "This place in the middle of the map is their country, which is quite detailed. But they drew Ming Dynasty on the side." Jiao, this is wrong. I thought I had to explain them to them and make them change."

"cough!"

Zhang Juzheng pointed at the map with a sullen face, and said, "Shuai Chen, let's get down to business."

Chen Mu smiled embarrassingly, turned back and took out the map from the cylinder behind him, stepped forward and said: "Your Majesty, this is my sea map, with Guangdong in the north, Malacca in the west, Japan in the east, and Luzon in the south." .”

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng looked at the map and looked at each other. This small town Shuo looked like Nanzheng all day... His map didn't even put Daming in the middle!
"This is Shangchuan Island that His Majesty wants to know. In the past, when Guanghaiwei was there, there were dozens of garrisons on Shangchuan Island. However, when the last general was in charge of Nanyangwei, he withdrew the garrison and patrolled with military ships. This time he did not stop the Fanyi. It should be due to the shortage of warships."

Shangchuan Island is very close to Haojing, in the west and south of Guanghai Weicheng.

Chen Mu pointed to the side and said: "Luzon is slightly east of the south of Guangdong. They attacked Guangdong with a downwind, and did not choose to attack Nanyang Port, the eastern gateway. It is very wise to attack Haojing. If they invade in a large scale, Haojing alone will not be able to resist it. live, but this also just shows that its strength is insufficient, so it was dragged to Shangchuan Island."

Gao Gong was amazed that Chen Mu only relied on a single picture to recite it from mouth to mouth. It was all made up, right?

He asked, "How do you see that?"

"The fort on the island was snatched from Puyi when the last general Xiangshan Qianhu was in charge. The total..."

Emperor Longqing frowned and interrupted, unexpectedly said: "Stealed?"

"Ah, I made a slip of the tongue, Your Majesty, please punish me. How can anyone steal their own things? Haojing is His Majesty's land. When I first arrived at Xiangshan, I saw that there were hundreds of soldiers from Portugal and barbarians on Haojing, and there was a direction on the island. The fort in the north was not happy, and later they went to the island to negotiate with the Portuguese, and they were just merchants and military leaders, who didn't know etiquette and were full of precautions."

"The minister understood them well, and they were still very sensible, so they dedicated the fort to His Majesty."

"At that time, the military gate of the governor was Zhang Butang of the Ministry of Industry. The final general proposed to add 500 households to garrison in Haojing. After all, it was the gate of Guangdong. Eight forts, [-] garrisons, and Portuguese and Yi merchants who are willing to pay more taxes to the imperial court, and there are only [-] people at full strength."

"That's why the Xiyi came to attack this time, and they accidentally had enough troops, so they will be able to repel them soon."

Hearing what Chen Mu said, Emperor Longqing felt a little relieved, but he still asked with lingering fear: "According to Chen Qing's lesson, won't Xiyi lead to turmoil like the previous Japanese pirate rebellion?"

Gao Gong and Zhang Juzheng also looked at Chen Mu, not because others didn't look at it, but because the cabinet ministers were expelled by Mr. Gao Ge. Yin Shidan, who beat Gao Gong, also officially passed away a few days ago. Zhang Siwei, who is quite good, has not entered the cabinet yet, and he and Zhang Juzheng are the only cabinet ministers left.

Chen Mu shook his head resolutely, and said decisively: "Don't worry, Your Majesty, absolutely not, this invasion will be repulsed soon, and maybe even at this moment, the Guangdong generals have defeated it."

"However, since the Battle of Tuen Mun during the Zhengde period, the dispute between the Kingdom and the Frangji has never stopped. I think it is time to settle it once and for all." Chen Mu explained: "Just like in the past military battles, the bow and crossbow came first; In today's world, guns and guns are the crown; this is because the enemy can be killed without close combat, the enemy is at sea and we are on land, so the strategy must be superior, but just like the Japanese invasion, the people on the coast were deeply disturbed."

"I think it's time to march south. There are three benefits. Maritime affairs are troublesome. It is a benefit to make the sea border safe and peaceful for 30 years once and for all. Manchuka, Molucca, and Luzon were all former vassals of the state dynasty, and now they are successively in the west. It is for two interests to destroy the country and kill the king, take away the people's property, and fight against them to amplify the country's prestige and make the vassal states submit to them."

"As for the three benefits, it lies in the control of domestic routes, and the ability to transport a large amount of goods for the imperial court to supplement the national treasury."

Chen Mu was eloquent, but Emperor Longqing was noncommittal, at least he was not persuaded, he said: "Chen Qing is taking a risk."

Gao Gong nodded slightly, and said to Chen Mu: "What Your Majesty wants to listen to is not deception, but temple calculation."

"Old Gao Ge, this is exactly the calculation of the temple. All warriors must rely on it. The western barbarians travel across the ocean, and it takes several months to mobilize ships; while our army is nearby, from Nanyang Port to Luzon with a smooth wind in ten days. There is no wind, and it can arrive in January, and my ship has transported it three times, but it still cannot arrive once."

"In terms of warships, gunboats, I may not be strong but they are definitely weaker; in terms of logistics and supplies, I am three times faster than the other; in terms of people and land, the country is more than ten times stronger than Xiyi."

"A country capable of war does not talk lightly about military affairs, and a general who is good at fighting does not talk lightly about war affairs. War is a risk, but war is also an opportunity! Therefore, Gao Ge asked Chen if he needed to dispatch troops and funds for the Southern Expedition?"

Chen Muduan saluted the emperor and the cabinet ministers uprightly, and said: "If your Majesty and the imperial court entrust ministers of Nanyang and foreign affairs, you will have the full support of the Guangdong Metropolitan Division and the Nanjing Ministry of Industry. I only need the financial resources, material resources and manpower of the capital of Guangdong, and I would like to ask your Majesty to give me an imperial edict and one side of the military flag and one side of the flag, so that the court does not need to spend a tael of silver or a grain of rice—"

"Before next winter, the imperial court can set up another governor in Luzon, and the annual fortune will be one million taels of silver." Chen Mu cupped his hands, then pointed to the map of Malacca and said: "But Malacca is not enough, first attack the western barbarians and deter the Portuguese barbarians, otherwise the sea will be gone." Merchants, if you have goods, you can’t sell them.”

"As for the odds of winning, if the war has progressed to this point, at least [-]%." Chen Mu saw that the expressions of the people in the pavilion were not contradictory, and they were all thinking deeply, "After all, the sea is very windy and the waves are rough. If the supervising army sent by the imperial court can The best thing is of course, in addition, if we want to expel the Lusong Xiyi, we need the imperial court to send officials who know soldiers and good governance to assist in the governance and help the vassals."

After Chen Mu finished speaking, he stopped talking, and waited uprightly for the emperor and the cabinet ministers to make a decision.

Gao Gong and Zhang Ju were planning in their minds, but Emperor Longqing had already asked: "I don't know yet, what is the imperial edict Chen Qing wants?"

(End of this chapter)