Ming Dynasty: I am truly not the Emperor of Longevity

"Besides the Portuguese, have you heard of any other Westerners in Malacca?"

Lu Chen thought for a moment, then asked,

"Besides Westerners, what other people came from the west side of the Strait of Malacca?"

"Your Highness, in Malacca, I have also seen a few Westerners who look quite different from the Portuguese."

Qin Fang thought for a moment,

"I made some inquiries and found that these people were hired by the Portuguese when they left their homeland, and they came from the surrounding countries."

However, they were merely subordinates of the Franks and did not represent the power of their motherland.

Currently in Southeast Asia, the only organized Westerners are the Portuguese.

Besides Westerners, many Persian, Arab, and Indian merchants also came to Malacca from the west side of the Strait.

I have also heard that the great Hui state of the Western Regions, "Lumi," which has long been at war with Western countries, has signed an anti-Franklin alliance with the Kingdom of Aceh.

The Kingdom of Lumi sent military advisors, cannon-casting craftsmen, and a force of several hundred elite Lumi soldiers to the Kingdom of Aceh.

It is said that among the 3,000 troops from Aceh who crossed the sea to attack Malacca in the sixteenth year of the Jiajing reign (1547), 300 were soldiers from the Kingdom of Lumi, equipped with muskets.

Before his transmigration, Lu Chen had once thought that the Portuguese, who had established a foothold in Southeast Asia before other European countries arrived, had a significant advantage in strength over the local indigenous countries.

It turns out that's not the case!

Although Spain and the Netherlands had not yet established a foothold in Southeast Asia, the living conditions for the Portuguese were not much better.

The indigenous kingdoms of Southeast Asia in the 16th century were not as weak as many modern people imagine.

The Aceh Kingdom that Qin Fang just mentioned is located on a large island opposite Malacca, which is Sumatra.

The fact that a nation could send 3,000 men across the sea to attack Malacca City at once shows that its national strength was not weak.

Moreover, these three thousand men were not just an army equipped with cold weapons; among them were three hundred musketeers from the Lumi Kingdom!

This so-called "Lummi Kingdom" was none other than the Ottoman Empire, which was at the height of its power at that time!

In the 16th century, there was only one Ottoman army that was fully equipped with muskets: the Janissary Legion, which was directly under the Sultan and was commonly known as the Turkish Janissary!

This army was the elite force of the Ottoman Empire, and in the last twenty years alone, it has participated in several major battles.

The capture of Belgrade was initiated by Janicheri's army breaking through the city walls.

In the siege of Vienna and the capture of Baghdad, Janicheri's army also undertook the most important offensive combat tasks.

The battle that cemented the legion's legendary status was the Battle of Mohachi.

This is the first time in human history that a musketeer formation has achieved a devastating victory against a heavily armored cavalry legion.

Three thousand Janiceri arquebusiers, positioned behind spiked barricades, employed a volley-fire tactic to decisively defeat the 26,000-strong army of noble knights and light cavalry led by the King of Hungary.

The King of Hungary drowned during his escape after his defeat, and Budapest subsequently fell.

Decades later, the Battle of Nagashino, in which Oda Nobunaga defeated Takeda Katsuyori, was almost a replica of this battle.

At this time, although only the Portuguese had established a few strongholds in Southeast Asia, the influence of the Ottoman Empire had also reached this region.

The Aceh Kingdom on the island of Sumatra was likely a front man supported by the Ottoman Empire to fight against the Portuguese.

At this time, the Ottoman Empire could definitely be called a superpower, spanning three continents: Asia, Africa, and Europe, with a territory of over five million square kilometers and a population of tens of millions.

It was able to deploy hundreds of thousands of troops in a single battle and fight on equal terms with European nations.

It should be noted that in the major battles between the Ming army and the Later Jin in Liaodong, the Ming army could only deploy a maximum of a few hundred thousand troops in each battle.

It's not that there aren't more troops in the country, but rather that due to logistical and other factors, only this many can be mobilized at a time.

In other words, at this time, the Ottoman Empire's war mobilization capabilities were comparable to those of the Ming Dynasty.

No!

The Portuguese had already established a foothold in Malacca, and the Ottoman Empire had extended its reach into Sumatra.

Before long, the Spanish and Dutch will also enter Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia was crucial to global trade during the Age of Exploration, and the Ming Dynasty could no longer afford to remain inactive!

"I know that as early as the Song and Yuan dynasties, many Han Chinese had already settled in Southeast Asia."

Lu Chen looked at Qin Fang.

"Did you find out anything about the influence of Han Chinese in Southeast Asia during your trip to Malacca?"

"Your Highness, when I led my fleet back to the Ming Dynasty from Malacca, we stopped at Old Port for supplies."

Qin Fang nodded.

"A hundred years ago, that place was a Pacification Commissioner's Office appointed by the Ming Dynasty, and thousands of Han Chinese households still live there today."

These people mostly came from Zhangzhou and Quanzhou in Guangdong and Fujian provinces. Among them were remnants of the Southern Song Dynasty and people who fled the war at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

During the Yongle Emperor's voyages to the Western Ocean, Palembang was the most important supply port in Southeast Asia, and many people settled there.

"A hundred years ago, it was a Pacification Commissioner's Office of the Ming Dynasty, which means it's not anymore!"

Lu Chen snorted coldly.

How was this place lost?

"Your Highness, after hearing about this in Old Port, I naturally had to investigate it."

Qin Fang quickly replied,

After the death of Eunuch Sanbao, the imperial court stopped sending fleets to the Western Ocean.

Seeing that the Old Port Pacification Commission had lost the protection of the imperial navy, the powerful Majapahit Kingdom of East Java wanted to send troops to annex it.

The last Pacification Commissioner of the Old Port Pacification Commissioner, Shi Erjie, repeatedly sent envoys to the capital to request assistance from the imperial court.

However, the high-ranking officials in the court at the time refused, citing the difficulty of sending troops due to the "distant miasma-ridden terrain".

In the fifth year of the Zhengtong reign, the Majapahit Kingdom launched an attack on the Old Port Pacification Commissioner's Office. Shi Erjie, isolated and helpless, surrendered the hereditary third-rank Pacification Commissioner's seal bestowed upon her by the imperial court and submitted to the Majapahit Kingdom.

The Shi family, the Pacification Commissioners of Old Port, were relocated by the Majapahit Kingdom to a place called Gersi in East Java.

Most of the Han Chinese originally residing in the old port prefecture remained in the area.

"What is the current situation of the Majapahit Kingdom?"

After a brief silence, Lu Chen spoke,

"The Old Port Pacification Commissioner is a chieftain appointed by our Great Ming Dynasty, and the Pacification Commissioner is a high-ranking official of the third rank. How dare they send troops to annex it!"

"Your Highness, the Majapahit Kingdom was conquered by the Danmu Kingdom in the sixth year of the Jiajing reign."

Qin Fang quickly explained,

"The Han Chinese in Old Port sided with the Kingdom of Danmu in this war of national annihilation, and thus gained a certain degree of autonomy. Today, the local officials of Old Port are selected by the Kingdom of Danmu from among the local Han Chinese."

"Since the Majapahit Kingdom, which offended the majesty of the Great Ming Dynasty, has already perished, there is no need to punish it."

Lu Chen pondered for a moment,

"But the Old Port Pacification Commission is a tributary state granted by the Ming Dynasty; how can we allow it to fall into the hands of another country!"