The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Sir Tan, Sir Tan, urgent military information from Yunnan."

In the lobby of the Ministry of War, Tan Lun was dragging his sick body to deal with documents sent from various places. Footsteps were heard outside, and a clerk walked into the room with a document wrapped in red paper in his hand, shouting as he walked.

"Give it to me quickly."

Tan Lun had no time to deal with the document in his hand, so he put it aside immediately, took the military report, opened it and read it quickly.

"Go, call Minister Liu and Minister Yang to come over."

Tan Lun read half of it and ordered below.

"Yes, Sir."

The clerk bowed and accepted the order, and walked out of the lobby to find someone.

Not long after, Liu Yingjie and Yang Wei got the news and rushed over.

"Sir Tan."

"Sir Tan, what happened in Yunnan."

The two entered the room, bowed their hands at the same time, and both became concerned about the military document.

On the way here, the two had already known that the outside world had received news of urgent military information from Yunnan, and the red paper package must be no small matter.

"Mang Yinglong set out from Mengyang half a month ago and led his troops to attack the Ming Dynasty.

Calculating the time, I'm afraid he has already reached Nan Yaguan."

Before the two arrived, Tan Lun had already read the documents and had a clear understanding of the situation in Yunnan, so he spoke frankly.

"It's finally starting."

"Yes, it's coming, and it's coming."

The two actually had some guesses in their hearts. In the past two years, the court has been secretly preparing for large-scale military operations in the southwest, and they would mention it when the position of the assistant minister was handed over.

Yes, according to Gao Gong's previous proposal, during his tenure as the chief minister of the cabinet, he presented six memorials to Emperor Longqing, fully expounding on the concept of military system reform.

In these concepts, Gao Gong emphasized that the power of the Ministry of War is related to the safety of the dynasty, especially in the past two or three decades when the border has been troubled, and proposed the rotation of the assistant minister and the governor.

This proposal aims to enhance the border defense capability and ensure the safety of the dynasty through the rotation of the assistant minister and the governor.

Although Zhang Juzheng tried his best to erode the political legacy left by Gao Gong, some regulations were considered useful, especially within the jurisdiction of the six ministries, and it was difficult for Zhang Juzheng to intervene directly.

Unless he could think of a better way for the six ministries to use than Gao Gong's proposal.

The government offices with the weakest influence of Zhang Juzheng were naturally the Ministry of Works, the Ministry of War and the Censorate, so the rotation of assistant ministers and governors was always going on, generally once a year or two.

It just so happened that the threat from the north to the Ming Dynasty was weakened at this time, allowing them to smoothly carry out such rotations without worrying about going wrong.

After all, every replacement of frontier officials would lead to vacancies in some official positions below, which could easily cause a series of chaos.

"Look, this matter needs to be reported as soon as possible."

Tan Lun said, handing over the Yunnan official document.

The two took it and quickly read it together.

"My lord, this Mang Yinglong dared to openly lead troops to attack Yunnan, he really deserves to die."

Liu Yingjie said.

"Fortunately, the court had made preparations long ago. If that's the case, don't blame the court.

However, should we also send a letter to Huguang, Guangdong and other provinces to let them prepare to send troops?"

Yang Wei thought for a moment and said, "There are also money and food. The Ministry of War should ask Nanjing to transfer them to Yunnan as soon as possible this afternoon."

Although he did not explicitly say that he would actually occupy Myanmar, Wei Guangde had made arrangements early on, and in fact, the officials of the Ministry of War had also speculated privately.

Especially in recent times, after the Ming army gained actual territory in Dongfan Island and Luzon, such speculations have become more frequent.

After all, the court can even take Dongfan Island now, so what else can't be moved.

Even if the army gathers in Guangxi one day and wants to send troops to Annan again, the people in the Ministry of War will not be surprised.

According to the example of Annan that year, the court needs to prepare more money and food supplies.

As I said, the victory or defeat of the war is related to the honor and disgrace of the Ministry of War.

When the troops were withdrawn from Annan, although it seemed that the Ming emperor lost face, the loser was actually the Ministry of War, which did not do its job well.

Annan could resist so fiercely back then, what about Burma?

Burma's strength is actually not much worse than Annan's.

"Try to reserve military supplies and transport them to Yunnan and Guizhou."

Tan Lun nodded and said immediately after hearing Yang Wei's proposal.

Don't say why you didn't start preparing early. Before the war broke out, you should at least give a reason for transporting the war supplies stored in Nanjing to other places.

In this era, the cost of transportation is not low, and it requires a huge amount of manpower and material resources.

Now that the war has broken out, it is only natural to transport the materials needed for the war to the southwest, and no one can refute it.

With this urgent report in hand, the hat of provoking the war can be put on the head of the Burmese Toungoo Dynasty, which is caused by Mang Yinglong's excessive military aggression.

After conquering Siam, Laos and other vassal states and Xuanweisi, they were still unwilling and wanted to take action against the suzerain state.

"You handle related matters at the Ministry of War, and also send a letter to the Ministry of Revenue to ask them to raise money and food.

This war is related to the safety of the southwest region, and the Ministry of War must prepare supplies in a big way.

Huguang and Guangdong have also been sent to make preparations."

Quickly arranging the affairs of the Ministry of War, Tan Lun stood up and went to the cabinet with the urgent report.

This time, Tan Lun did not go directly to Wei Guangde when he entered the cabinet, but went to the prime minister's duty room first and handed the urgent report from Yunnan to Zhang Juzheng.

Obviously, after Zhang Juzheng knew the reason, he immediately sent someone to invite Wei Guangde and Lu Diaoyang.

"Is this the place where Manchuka comes in?"

More than a dozen warships sailed into a long and narrow waterway. Not far in front of them, the outline of a harbor city gradually became clear.

"Yes, this is Malacca. Isn't it beautiful, General Deng?"

This is what the guide said respectfully to Deng Zilong.

The city in front of me is very close to the coast, with rows of houses and dense population. It is very beautiful.

The city stretches along the coast, with low-lying swamps and the occasional mosque minaret between houses with palm-leaf roofs. A river runs through the city and empties into the sea. A sturdy bridge bisects the city at the mouth.

This is a complete trading port, but it is located on a large mountain near the sea. Deng Zilong saw a fort, condescendingly protecting the city of Mancijia.

“Where was the Portuguese military port here?”

Deng Zilong was still observing carefully, looking for the shadow of military facilities here.

"Their warships are docked at the pier, but I know there is a section of pier in the inland river where their warships can only dock. It should be the military port the general mentioned."

The guide said immediately.

"Inland river?"

Knowing the location of the military port, Deng Zilong nodded slightly, "The river here is wider than the river in Temasek City in front, so larger ships can enter to avoid the waves.

Well, it seems that the population is much larger than that of Temasek. "

"General, the Portuguese are extorting our passing ships here. All ships passing here must dock in Malacca City and pay taxes, otherwise they will be attacked."

The guide was obviously a local maritime businessman in Southeast Asia, and he took the opportunity to detail the shamelessness and greed of the Portuguese in front of Deng Zilong.

In fact, the Portuguese spent a lot of manpower and material resources to capture the city of Malacca in order to monopolize Eastern trade, control maritime hegemony, exclude Muslims, and promote Christianity.

At this time, the Portuguese had established a series of strongholds along the Indian Ocean, completely turning the Indian Ocean into their inland sea.

Malacca City happens to be the last lock.

As for the trenches built in the Ming Dynasty, they were not actually included in Portugal's expansion plans. They were only used as a haven in the East Asian waters. When merchants came here, they needed a port to rest.

Driven by the development of the commodity economy in Western Europe after the Middle Ages and the desire for Eastern spices, gold and silver and other valuables, more and more people are going to the East to engage in commercial trade and plunder by various means.

The Portuguese planned to build Malacca into a distribution center and trading port for East Asian goods.

Restricted by the Papal Meridian, the Spanish could not directly cross the Indian Ocean, so the Portuguese had a great advantage.

Therefore, they did not care that the Spanish captured Luzon.

However, the huge fleet appearing in the strait at this time still made the Portuguese nervous.

While Deng Zilong was admiring the scenery of Malacca City, the Portuguese Governor of Malacca City had summoned all the soldiers to their positions and was preparing to order the recruitment of militiamen.

The appearance of the Nanhai Navy here was too sudden, and the Portuguese were completely unprepared.

The Portuguese were no strangers to the Ming Dynasty's ship types, and they even knew about the existence of the Nanhai Navy.

There are not many Ming merchants coming here every year, so the Nanhai navy went to Luzon. The news about the encirclement and suppression of pirate Lin Feng had already spread among the Ming merchants, and naturally it also spread here.

"My Lord Governor, the fort has been prepared. If the Ming Navy dares to fire provocative artillery, they will immediately fight back."

A middle-aged man wearing the uniform of a Portuguese naval officer solemnly introduced to the Governor of Malacca.

"Have you sent a ship to contact the Ming people? I want to know their purpose of coming here as soon as possible."

The governor looked through the window at the approaching Ming warship, frowned and said.

"We have been here for decades, they should not be for those in Johor."

The naval officer said, "Besides, Temasek's dock simply cannot accommodate so many warships."

"I hope so."

The governor said.

Although the Portuguese have now firmly occupied the city of Malacca, the original nobles here are not willing to admit defeat.

Even though the country died, those nobles still dreamed of retaking the city.

The Portuguese who originally occupied the city of Malacca only had fifteen warships, a few hundred soldiers, and hundreds of mercenaries, with a total strength of no more than a thousand people.

Although they successfully defeated thousands of defenders of Malacca City and occupied this place, the enemies also hid in the surrounding dense forests and would make sneak attacks from time to time.

Some of these opponents went to Temasek, which would later become Singapore.

Malacca City is a pure seaport city, but it has not established a powerful maritime force like Venice, Genoa and other cities in the Mediterranean.

Malacca's armed force is mainly the army, because they must always be on guard against Siam's eyes on them from behind.

Siam once wanted to occupy this place, but it never succeeded.

In fact, the inheritance of several countries in the Southeast Asian peninsula is quite orderly. Even if they are occasionally destroyed during the period, they can be re-established in a short period of time.

The same is true for Siam, which has long been eyeing the Malay Peninsula, but has been repeatedly frustrated.

Even during this period, it was destroyed by Myanmar many times.

Countries competing with Siam for the Malay Peninsula include not only the forces on Sumatra and Java, but also the complex so-called sultanates. The biggest threat is Myanmar, which has great ambitions for external expansion.

The current owners here are the Portuguese, but they occupy too many colonies and cannot station many troops here.

So far, the number of Portuguese troops stationed here for a long time, including mercenaries, does not exceed a thousand.

Therefore, faced with the sudden arrival of the Ming Dynasty naval fleet, the Portuguese governor would consider recruiting militia to assist in the battle.

"Your Majesty the Governor, if the Ming Dynasty really wants to go to war with us, they will first capture the trench mirror instead of coming to fight me here."

The officer emphasized.

At this time, several small boats rowed out from the Malacca City Pier and approached the fleet that was getting closer and closer.

They are the guide sailors at the pier, helping ships to moor to the pier.

But this time, what they need to do when they come out is not only to guide the Ming warship to stop at the dock, but also to find out the other party's intention.

"General Deng, opposite is the guide ship of Malacca City. They should be here to contact us."

Deng Zilong stood on the bow, looking at the boat coming in the distance, smiling contemptuously, and then looked to the opposite side, which was in the direction of the Old Port, and that was the ultimate goal of their trip.

"Tell them that we are passing by here, but it seems that we have passed by."

Deng Zilong ordered the people below, "Inform us. After passing the westernmost end of Mancijia City, the entire army will turn and target the old port."

At first, Deng Zilong thought that he would pass Mancijia on the way to the old port, but after actually arriving there, he realized that the place they passed before entering the long and narrow waterway was the old port.

In other words, they say you can get directly to Old Port from Java Island without having to show up at Mantsiga City.

But according to the Ming Dynasty's strategy in the South China Sea, he must first pass through some places when leading the South China Sea Navy this time to show the local forces the Ming Dynasty's maritime power.

Therefore, Deng Zilong chose the plan of entering the Strait of Malacca first, detouring through the city of Mansiga, turning on the sea outside the city, and then approaching the old port.

Forget it if the number of docking times exceeds the limit. Although this is a seaport city, it does not have the ability to dock hundreds of large and small ships at one time.

Soon, the blessing boat in front and the guide boat coming out of Malacca briefly approached each other and then separated again.

After several flag signals, the boats that were rowing over began to push back to make way for the channel.

The Malacca Governor and naval officers, who were always paying attention to the movements at sea, frowned. They clearly found something out of the ordinary through their telescopes.

"What's going on? Lopez Siqueira, can you give me an explanation?"

the governor asked strangely.

"Sorry, I can't answer."

Siqueira shook his head and smiled bitterly, "They don't need our guidance. Hey, are they going to cross the strait directly?"

The guide ship gave up its position, and the Ming warship did not approach Malacca City, but continued to sail along the main channel.