Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

Zheng He's first voyage to the West did not go well overall.

Because it was two years earlier than the first voyage to the Western Ocean in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life, Zheng He's ocean-going fleet was not large enough at this time. However, what was lost was gained in the east. Although the fleet was smaller, the forward base was smaller. It is also much further away. There are two excellent seaports, Qinghua Port in Annan Kingdom and Tuohuang Port in Champa Kingdom. Even if there is danger, you can withdraw in time. After all, these two places are now in the Ming Dynasty. under control.

Fleet commander Zheng He, deputy commander Wang Jinghong, and landing force commander Zhu Youyi had already arrived in Luzon.

The Kingdom of Luzon is roughly the northern part of the Philippines in Jiang Xinghuo's previous life. It is a kingdom with Luzon Island as its core. Further south, there are countless islands in the middle and another large island in the south. Although they have also established large The so-called "kingdoms", big and small, are more suitable to be called tribes than kingdoms. There are quite a few civilized barbarians. After all, it is the fifteenth century now. Even if the Ming Dynasty does not come, it will not come in another hundred years. In the coming year, the colonists from "Liangya" will also come, but there is no need to count on how developed the civilization is in this area.

However, Luzon is different from these southern "kingdoms". Because Luzon is relatively wealthy and close to the Ming Dynasty's chief envoys in Fujian and Guangdong, merchants from Fujian, Guangdong and other places in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties Tens of thousands of people went to Luzon to do business. After the Ming Dynasty implemented a strict maritime ban policy, most of these traders stayed there for a long time, started families, and had children. Their descendants all live in Luzon. They are the earliest overseas Chinese on the land of China. Now there are more than hundreds of thousands of overseas Chinese, which is a quite huge force.

These immigrants from the Ming Dynasty not only brought more advanced civilization and technology to the Luzon Kingdom, but also brought information. In the first month of the fifth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, the Luzon Kingdom joined forces with the Zoli Kingdom in the south and other countries. Together with the kingdom, they sent envoys to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty to establish diplomatic relations between the two sides and determine the Ming Dynasty's attitude towards them. When they learned that the Ming Dynasty had no interest in small foreign countries like them, the king of Luzon was relieved.

But all this obviously changed with the end of the Battle of Jingnan, the largest civil war in the history of the Ming Dynasty. As the saying goes, the emperor and the courtiers have changed, and the country's foreign policy has naturally become reasonable. New changes should be made.

Nominally, Zheng He and others came to deliver the imperial edict, that is, to read out the imperial edict of the Ming Dynasty and issue them the Ming Dynasty's "Tatong Calendar" to appease and comfort these island countries and to demonstrate the national prestige and imperial grace of the Ming Dynasty.

The reason for this statement is that during the expedition to Annan, it was discovered that these countries in the south still generally use the "Time Calendar" of the Yuan Dynasty. This thing was taken from the "Shangshu Yaodian" by Kublai Khan in the 17th year of the Yuan Dynasty. Guo Shoujing basically assumed the main work and promoted the world in the 18th year of Zhiyuan.

The timing calendar introduces decimals into the calendar for the first time, and uses 365.2425 days as a tropical year, which is only 25.92 seconds different from the modern observation value of 365.2422. It is the same as the average length of the current Gregorian calendar year. So far, it is the most advanced calendar in the world, far ahead of the current calendar. In the West, why do we say that the "Time-giving Calendar" is the most advanced calendar, and why do we need to replace it with the "Tatong Calendar" of the Ming Dynasty?

The reason is also simple. Although Liu Bowen's "Da Tong Li" is basically a different cover compared to Guo Shoujing's "Time Calendar", don't think that this is not important. The form is also very important.

At least it was important for a feudal dynasty like the Ming Dynasty that emphasized "etiquette".

In fact, in addition to these official reasons, Zheng He's fleet came to carefully explore the situation of Luzon to see if it had plains and good climate and water and heat, as the imperial adviser said. It is suitable for farming, and then look at the mineral resources and humanities. Is it better to implement direct rule or indirect rule?

Therefore, at Zhu Youxuan's suggestion, Zheng He and others took this long voyage with them, in addition to sailors and other auxiliary personnel, a total of 4,000 fully armed soldiers. The main purpose was to see if they could defeat Lu The resources of the Song Dynasty should be kept in hand as much as possible.

This is in line with Zhu Youxuan's temperament.

However, what Zheng He did not expect was that when he arrived in Luzon, he was not greeted with a friendly welcome.

The headland at the entrance of Manila Bay has tall rocks, shaped like wooden pestles. Although Jiang Xinghuo is watching the snow in Nanjing at this moment, here in Luzon, the reef is covered with dense and unknown green plants, and the golden sunshine When the light shines on these green leaves, they sparkle with golden luster, which looks very beautiful.

"Wow~"

As the tide surged, countless tiny water droplets hit the rocks, were thrown into the sky, and then spilled, splashing on the people standing on the edge of the cliff.

He looked up at the large sea area in the distance, which was the largest natural harbor in Luzon and the most prosperous and prosperous area in Luzon.

But at this moment, a group of uninvited guests arrived in his eyes.

In fact, as soon as the ships of Zheng He's fleet sailed into the waters around Luzon and received reports from fishermen, Luzon's military forces began to quickly gather, and these military forces were not from Luzon. The king's subordinates were not some chiefs, but immigrants from the local Ming Dynasty.

This situation is actually easy to understand. It is not that the so-called fellow villagers stabbed each other in the back when meeting fellow villagers, but that these people were originally treasonous criminals to the Ming Dynasty.

Regardless of whether it was the old ministries of Zhang Shicheng and Fang Guozhen, the maritime trade merchants, pirate gangs affected by the maritime ban policy, or the fishermen who had lost their livelihood, they were all on the opposite side of the Ming Dynasty.

At this time, when such a huge Ming fleet arrived in Manila Bay, it would be fake if they were not nervous. After all, Ming Dynasty would probably treat them as enemies, rather than as "one of their own" as they wish.

So it's not surprising that they have this attitude at this time.

The leader of these immigrants is the man who was on the edge of the cliff just now. His name is Xu Chailao. In the early Ming Dynasty, his family lived in Luzon. Because of his good business skills, he became a wealthy man in Luzon and enjoyed a high reputation in Manila. Leaders of the overseas Chinese community.

Maritime trade in this era was not peaceful. There were pirates everywhere in Nanyang. In addition to Chen Zuyi, there were hundreds of pirate gangs, large and small. Therefore, even merchant ships had their own armed forces, and sometimes, When you see a powerful cargo ship, you will also make a guest appearance as a pirate.

The immigrants of the Ming Dynasty were also in an embarrassing situation in Luzon. The natives in Luzon were wary of these outsiders whose culture and technology were ahead of them. However, Luzon was also in disarray. , plus these Ming immigrants would pay a lot of taxes and fees to the king, so they were allowed to gain a foothold here.

In fact, the military strength of these Ming immigrants can only be called bluffing. Manila Bay is divided into a large bay and a small bay. They were unable to defend the large bay at all. They only built two forts at both ends of the small bay. Inside the fort There are cannons, but they are a technological product of the Yuan Dynasty. They can only fire stone projectiles. Now they are very outdated when facing the strong ships and powerful cannons of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, although Manila is centered on the seaport, there are many small towns scattered around it, so the population is not concentrated, and the total military strength is only one or two thousand people.

The immigrants engaged in maritime trade were not poor and could purchase and build armor and weapons, but other large-scale ordnance that required complex military technology were out of the question.

Therefore, facing the coming Ming fleet, the Ming immigrants in Luzon seemed to have no confidence.

Their military deployment was to use the forts on both ends of the forts, in conjunction with their armed merchant ships and warships, to intercept the Ming Dynasty's ocean-going fleet in the narrow bay and block them.

At the very least, let them retreat before the difficulties!

However, when they saw clearly the size and composition of the Ming fleet, they all had a look of despair on their faces after believing the fishermen's lies.

Are you telling me that this is not a large scale?

Mistakes in intelligence are obviously going to kill people.

Especially limited by the curvature of the sea surface and the visibility of sea fog, the ships that the fishermen saw from a distance were just the tip of the iceberg of the entire Ming Dynasty ocean fleet.

So at this time, in the calm waters of Manila Bay with good visibility, they were extremely shocked to see the terrifying fleet lined up in more than ten rows, each row with an endless view.

They never expected that the size of the Ming fleet would be so large. The giant ships that looked like moving cities alone were more than ten in size. What was even more frightening was that there were countless large and small ships behind them. There are hundreds of ships. This is simply not a maritime power that humans can possess. Even if they are well-informed due to ocean trade, they don’t think that the fleet of any country in the world can be superior to what they see in front of them. The presence.

Of course, the most important thing is that the flag of this huge fleet is - Ming Dynasty!

This is what frightened these Ming immigrants the most, and it was also the thing that made them afraid after it really appeared.

This fleet turned out to be the expedition fleet sent to Luzon by the Ming Empire!

How is this possible?

This is the Ming Dynasty that "no one is allowed to go to the sea." It is the strict maritime ban policy that keeps them far away from their hometown. The Ming Dynasty has almost given up its ocean-going capabilities. How could they send an expeditionary force to fight in a foreign country?

This is impossible!

However, the facts are now before their eyes. This Ming expeditionary force did appear near Manila Bay, and is even about to enter Manila's small bay!

Although it is still vaguely visible at the end of the sea level, it won't be long before it will actually be in front of them.

However, this does not mean that they are doomed, because no matter how strong the fleet is, it is useless if it cannot go ashore. They have more than one thousand to two thousand well-trained warriors, and there are many sailors and men who can take part in the battle with weapons. , If you really work hard, you may not lose.

However, who would be foolish enough to fight against Daming?

The Ming Dynasty's army numbered in the millions. Even if all of them were wiped out, to the Ming Dynasty, they would be nothing more than a drop in the bucket.

Xu Chailao is a typical businessman, and businessmen are only interested in profit. Since they can't help the other party, why make useless sacrifices?

Thinking of this, Xu Chailao immediately walked down the observation deck and said to a short and sturdy man next to him: "Ahu, ride to the royal city quickly and send a message to His Highness the King, saying that the Ming Dynasty's fleet is coming."

This is not yet the future, Manila is not the capital of the Luzon Kingdom. The local indigenous people of the Luzon Kingdom have their capital in a place called Luzon City, which is the core area of ​​the plain. The king of the Luzon Kingdom is somewhat similar to a weakened one. The version of King Annan was not only more backward in economic, political, military and cultural aspects, but also had more indigenous chiefs in the country. The king's dominance was limited to a large area near the royal capital.

"Ah, yes, President."

The short and stocky man responded quickly.

At this time, Xu Chailao turned to look at another young man: "Along, you immediately go and notify the nearby chiefs within a radius of 500 miles, tell them that the Ming Expeditionary Force is coming, and ask them about their attitude. "

"Oh, got it."

The young man agreed and left quickly.

After the young man walked away, Xu Chailao turned to the companions around him and said: "Everyone, we are afraid that we are in great danger. The Ming Dynasty has never sent a fleet abroad, let alone such a large-scale one." The fleet is either coming for us, or it is trying to annex the country of Luzon, what do you think we should do?"

Different from the two cronies that Xu Chailao left just now, these companions are all prominent figures among the local Ming immigrants, because they have not established a political power, and although they stick together with each other, they sometimes have some business, There is competition for land, interests, etc., so it is a relationship of both cooperation and caution. However, in a foreign country, cooperation is dominant.

After listening to Xu Chailao's words, these people all fell into deep thought.

"A while ago, I heard that the Ming Dynasty was attacking Annan Kingdom. Due to the war, business to Annan Kingdom and Champa Kingdom has been stopped. I haven't heard about it for a long time, and I don't know how the fight is going."

After a while, someone said in a low voice: "The big battle in the Ming Dynasty may not be directed at us. Now it seems that maybe we have won the Annan Kingdom and can go to Shu?"

The people present were all Han Chinese, and they could still understand what the classic idiom Delong Wangshu meant, but in their opinion, it was the best way to describe the current situation.

"I heard that the newly enthroned emperor of the Ming Dynasty is Emperor Zhu's fourth son, King Yan, who is very warlike. If he wants to attack Luzon, wouldn't this land have to change its surname?"

"But Ming Dynasty can't tolerate us after all." Some people said worriedly.

Manila in this era relied on maritime trade for a living, and the trade network was very developed. A large amount of goods passed through Manila every year and were then transported to other places in Southeast Asia. But if the Ming Dynasty destroyed this place, even if they did not kill them, they would They will lose their jobs, lose their means of livelihood, and eventually be reduced to the same economic level as natives.

After all, they had never heard of any changes in Ming Dynasty's maritime trade or maritime ban policy in the past year or two.

In the eyes of most immigrant leaders, this fleet will not only destroy the country of Luzon, but also themselves.

Let alone running.

Several people present were reluctant to give up their wealth and the inheritance they had finally accumulated.

"I have estimated that based on the size of the Ming Dynasty's fleet, not counting the sailors, the number of soldiers it brings may not be several thousand."

But when Xu Chai Lao saw that everyone was silent, he snorted coldly and changed the topic: "But no matter what, we must be prepared for defense. Don't forget, what did we rely on to get into trouble back then? How did we gain a foothold in this foreign country, Manila? If we really want to drive us all out, we must not stretch our necks and wait for death."

"Of course, there is another possibility."

He paused for a moment and his eyes became deep when he said this: "But I think even if they really come to attack Luzon and are not targeting us dead people, even if we are just trying to sell ourselves a good price, You have to come out with a firm stance!"

Everyone nodded after hearing this.

"What the president said is that we will follow his instructions."

Xu Chailao smiled and said: "You don't need to be too nervous. Even if it is the worst outcome, we can just run to the mountains. I estimate that this is composed of the elite of the Ming army. Hundreds of ships look at the number of people. There are tens of thousands, but they must still be sailors and oarsmen. The army is estimated to be only a few thousand. We can't defeat them. If it's really difficult, just give up these properties and run to the mountains. Nothing will happen."

What I want to say here is that during Zheng He's first voyage to the West, the fleet ships had improved bows and some sails, but the main power was still traditional hard sails plus rotating oars. To put it bluntly, they either relied on sails to use wind power and oars. Hands paddling.

For these two important links, the Ming Dynasty's treasure ships adopted unique designs.

First of all, unlike the segmented soft sails used by European sailing ships at this time, the Zheng He treasure ship used a hard sail structure with stays on the sail surface. Although this kind of sail is heavier and laborious to raise, its advantage is that it has extremely high durability. The wind efficiency increases the ship's speed, and the mast does not have fixed beams, so it can adapt to sudden changes in sea conditions. It can adjust its arms and legs flexibly, and can effectively take advantage of the wind coming from multiple directions.

Of course, this does not mean that hard sails are necessarily perfect, otherwise Jiang Xinghuo would not have made any comments. This is that the disadvantage of hard sails is that they are slow and the efficiency of transoceanic routes is relatively low, making them unsuitable for transoceanic trade, while soft sails are not suitable for cross-ocean trade. Although the wind-receiving efficiency of the sail is lower than that of the Chinese hard sail, its advantage is that it is light in weight and can be made much larger in area than the hard sail. The mast can be higher, which increases the absolute area of ​​the sail, making ocean sailing more advantageous.

It can only be said that each has its own advantages and disadvantages. After all, soft sails also have disadvantages such as complicated operation, difficult and dangerous reefing, too complicated ropes required, and low utilization rate. Moreover, for warships, Chinese-style hard sails have a stronger ability to resist battle damage. , and if a Western-style soft sail is punctured or ignited, it is easy for the ship's power to drop rapidly.

But whether it is a hard sail or a soft sail, one thing remains unchanged, and that is artificial power, that is, the oar.

The treasure ship was equipped with long sculls on both sides and stern. This long scull went deep into the water and was swayed by many people. The semi-rotating action of the scull underwater was similar to today's propellers, and the propulsion efficiency was high. This allowed the treasure ship to sail when there was no wind. It can also maintain a considerable speed, and the wading area outside the boat is small, making it suitable for navigating in crowded waters such as narrow harbors or reef areas.

But the disadvantage is that it is a waste, and it is not an ordinary waste. Even if it is rocked by a well-trained oar hand, it is fine in calm seas. Once it goes against the current, the resistance of the sea water is very high, and it cannot be shaken for a long time. Modern people can probably experience the feeling of changing people by using a rowing machine with full water resistance and magnetic resistance. In less than half an hour, the arms will be completely numb.

Therefore, the largest group of people on the treasure ship are neither the fully armed soldiers, nor the sailors responsible for operating the ship, nor the cooks and other support staff, but the oar hands responsible for rocking the oars.

It was precisely because he knew the personnel configuration of ocean-going ships that Xu Chailao could roughly estimate the land combat strength of this huge Ming army fleet and make a decision.

Soon, in the small bay in front of the Manila Port, people quickly sent semaphores to the forts on both sides, and the semaphores conveyed by the forts were also observed by the Ming Dynasty fleet.

Since it was a common semaphore for Nanyang maritime trade, they understood it without any hindrance.

"Let's stop moving forward? That's a joke."

On Zheng He's flagship, Zhu Youxuan, who was holding a telescope, couldn't help laughing when he heard the news reported by the flag soldiers: "These Luzon people are too conceited. They actually want us to stop moving forward? How stupid, such a thing , Our artillery shells don’t have long eyesight.”

After speaking, Zhu Youhuo asked Wang Jinghong next to him: "Deputy Ambassador Wang, what do you think?"

Wang Jinghong shook his head slightly and sighed softly: "This is the worst situation."

Zhu Youyi put down the telescope, frowned in confusion and asked, "Why?"

In his opinion, the small bay of Manila Bay is not a natural danger. It is a rare natural harbor and very suitable for fleet attack. The two fortresses are of no importance at all.

So Zhu Youyi couldn't understand why it would matter even if the other party didn't give in easily.

Wang Jinghong explained: "When I came here, I heard from the Han people in Annan that the people living here in Manila in Luzon were immigrants from the Ming Dynasty, and they had only experienced two or three generations. Their number was tens of thousands, accounting for the entire country. The smaller half of the Han people in the Luzon Kingdom. Our purpose is to understand the detailed information of the Luzon Kingdom, establish some strongholds, and then provide the information to the national adviser, so that the court can decide whether to colonize or support an agent regime, or to follow the current king of Luzon Make peace with each other instead of fighting directly."

Zheng He, whose face was sunburned even darker than in prison, and who looked more like a red-faced Guan Gong, took over the words: "Prince of Runan County, the reason why Deputy Ambassador Wang said this is the worst situation is because the people on the shore obviously Seeing the size of our fleet, and still daring to raise such flags, it is certainly not ignorance. The Han people in Manila are all engaged in maritime trade, so it is impossible for them not to know our strength."

"So, they resisted because they were afraid of us?"

After Zhu Youhuan listened, he showed a thoughtful expression.

Wang Jinghong added: "Our fleet now occupies an absolute advantage. There should be no threat to the people on the shore. However, if they choose to set up blockades on both sides of the bay and on the beach, they will still cause us trouble. .”

Zheng He finally added: "There is also a possibility that they deliberately used war to promote peace."

When Zheng He said this, a look of worry appeared on his face unconsciously.

What he worried about was not whether he could win the battle, but that if he hurt the local Han immigrants and formed a blood feud, it would be difficult to cooperate in the future.

In fact, this is also Zheng He's consistent style. In such diplomatic incidents, he will not abuse superior force.

Because Zheng He knew very well that the fleet was always rootless, and a temporary force of force could not change anything.

Of course, if you want to completely occupy it, then you have to either kill them all or dominate them. This is another way of thinking.

"But I think we can't be too merciful. Maybe they don't regard us as their own people at all, but treat us as enemies. We should fight." Zhu Youyi still insisted on his point of view.

"Well, what Prince Runan said makes sense."

Zheng He nodded and made up his mind: "Send envoys to negotiate first, and at the same time prepare the army for war. Once the negotiations break down, immediately attack the Manila Port!"