The Prosperous Era of Longwan

At the Old Port Wharf, the south wind was blowing and the wharf was crowded.

Teams of soldiers lined up to board the ship at the wharf, and after a ship was full of soldiers, they would soon leave the wharf, and other ships would approach from behind to continue boarding.

The Ming Dynasty's South China Sea Navy did not form a special marine corps, so naturally there were no troop transport ships.

This shortcoming has been noticed by Yu Dayou, so this time he went back to build a batch of special transport ships for the navy to transport soldiers and carriages.

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If there is a war in the future, the troop transport ship can be directly dispatched to transport the marines to the war zone.

Of course, at this time they were not called marines, but infantry battalions. Yu Dayou planned to select elite soldiers from coastal garrisons to form a special recruiting battalion for combat.

"Zilong, Jiugang is now in your hands. Do as you wish before the imperial court issues an order.

For those local forces, just obey them. If they don't, deal with them decisively."

Yu Dayou glanced at the crowd of people seeing them off in the distance and whispered to Deng Zilong.

After the navy arrived at Jiugang, the huge fleet formed a huge pressure force invisibly, which made the local noble families feel fearful.

Who would have thought that the Ming Dynasty navy, which had not been to Nanyang for more than a hundred years, could still have such strength.

Nearly three hundred large and small warships, especially one hundred of them were large Fu ships. Such strength is definitely the best in Nanyang.

Although the Yi people may be able to gather twenty or thirty armed merchant ships, their combat power is also good, but they have little chance of winning against the Ming navy.

It's not like they haven't fought before. The Portuguese fought against the Ming army twice and ended in failure.

The Spaniards were smart and did not choose to fight the Ming army. First, they knew the fate of the Portuguese, and second, they saw the strength of the Ming army, so they naturally had no intention of fighting.

Otherwise, half of Luzon Island would not be easily handed over no matter what.

However, Yu Dayou still got some information from the Jinyiwei spies lurking in Jiugang, and learned that the thirteen big families here planned to petition the court to select envoys from Jiugang and give them control of this place.

Well, Yu Dayou was too lazy to care about them. Anyway, this was a matter for those people in the court to discuss. As long as these local snakes did not cause trouble for him, it would be fine.

As long as they did not make trouble and obeyed their management, it would be fine.

Now that the army has left, it also took the Feilong Camp to Myanmar. Only ten warships and more than a thousand soldiers of Deng Zilong’s headquarters are left in Jiugang.

This amount of troops is not enough to deal with if the thirteen families join forces to attack, but it is still no problem if they are defeated one by one.

So, Yu Dayou said so.

After all, the intelligence collected by the Jinyiwei may not be accurate. If there are families with ulterior motives, the consequences are unpredictable.

Following Yu Dayou's gaze, Deng Zilong glanced at the patriarch of the thirteen families in the distance and smiled: "Don't worry, Marshal, I know. If any of them is abnormal, I will take them down first. '

In fact, it is not just Deng Zilong. Many generals in the South China Sea Navy have felt that these Han people living in Nanyang actually have a low sense of belonging to the Ming Dynasty.

Especially for those families that have been rooted here for generations, this concept is even deeper.

After all, they left their homes and came to Nanyang for various reasons, so their feelings for the Ming Dynasty are naturally very indifferent.

Maybe they were very happy to see them at first, after all, there were not many people around who looked like them, and they were very enthusiastic at first sight.

But as time went by, some ideas changed.

Especially in Luzon and Jiugang, the laws of the Ming Dynasty were to be implemented, and they were no longer the ones who discussed and did things, which made them lose a lot of rights.

"Also, you have to keep an eye on the Kingdom of Aceh in the north.

Although Wei Ge Lao only said that he wanted to restore the Xuanwei Office of Jiugang, most of the land on Sumatra belongs to the Kingdom of Aceh, and only the south belongs to Jiugang.

How can I let others sleep beside my bed? I heard that the Kingdom of Aceh has always been eyeing Malacca City. If there is a chance, we can take it down together.

If the troops are not enough, we can borrow troops from Luzon and Sulu."

Yu Dayou said this, naturally he didn't know how long it would take to go to Myanmar this time. In the future, the main force of the navy and the court will rely on Jiugang as a transit station. The general route is from Jiugang to Daimao City and then to Fujian.

As for going through the South China Sea, the distance is too long, and a large ship is needed to carry enough supplies, which is actually not convenient.

"Don't worry, Marshal, if possible, I will take down the entire Kingdom of Aceh."

Deng Zilong clasped his fists and replied.

If Sumatra can be completely taken, it would naturally be the best.

With the Ming court taking back Palembang, the original Bazhang Kingdom had completely withdrawn from Sumatra and retreated to Java. The surrounding situation also became stable due to the intervention of the Ming Dynasty.

After all, it was the suzerain in the traditional sense. No matter whether the kings of these kingdoms recognized it or not, they dared not oppose the decision of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming army assembled at the dock had already boarded the ship, which had delayed them for half a day.

After the preparations were completed, Yu Dayou also boarded his own ship. With the farewell of Deng Zilong and others, the navy fleet left the old port and headed northwest.

The action of the Ming army was not kept secret this time, so after knowing that the Ming navy was going to cross the Strait of Malacca to enter the West, the local thirteen family heads also found Deng Zilong and wanted to send merchant ships to follow the army and sell goods along the way.

That place is already the sphere of influence of the Portuguese. Even they would not normally send merchant ships into that sea area.

There is only one word difference between sea merchants and pirates, but what is the difference.

The goods are not transported to Malacca for trade, but they want to go directly to Western countries for sale, and the risks on the road are unpredictable.

In fact, the Chinese merchants in the old port have long operated this route, just wanting to transport goods to the Middle East Islamic countries for sale, but there are too few ships that can return safely, and now they have almost given up the plan to go west to do business.

However, after knowing that the Ming Navy’s voyage to the west this time was not a long voyage like two hundred years ago, but was going to clean up Myanmar, the heads of the families gave up.

The distance between the Malay Peninsula and the South Seas is still very close because of maritime trade.

Souyi, the rise of Myanmar in recent years and its expansion in the Malay Peninsula are actually well known to all forces in the South Seas.

With the Ming Dynasty taking action against Myanmar, all parties will be happy to see it happen.

Regardless of whether Myanmar has any intentions for the South Seas, such an aggressive king is definitely not what the neighboring countries want to see.

After the navy left, Deng Zilong immediately ordered people to divide the Old Port Wharf into two, and half of the berths close to the military camp were assigned to the military camp, which would only be open to the Ming Navy ships in the future.

The other half was used for merchant ships that came to the Old Port to dock for trade. At the same time, according to the rules of Yuegang, a temporary banknote customs was established to levy taxes on goods in and out.

At this time, because the Old Port Xuanwei Office was rebuilt, the Ming court officials also started a struggle over the Old Port tax revenue.

Although Wei Guangde mentioned at the beginning that whether it was Dongfan, Luzon, or the Old Port, the income was used to support the South Sea Navy.

However, after the tax reform, Yuegang has shown a strong ability to attract money, and naturally it is more valued by the inner court and the Ministry of Revenue.

Although the location of the Old Port seems to be inferior to Yuegang in the eyes of the bigwigs in the court, after all, it is far away from the mainland of the Ming Dynasty and has limited goods, it is located at the key channel in and out of the West.

In fact, the imperial court had intended to replace Malacca with Old Port and seize the status of a transit station for selling goods to the West from the Portuguese.

With the development of the Ming Dynasty's maritime trade over the years, the high-ranking officials in the capital have more or less realized the importance of maritime trade, which is too profitable.

Most of the goods exported by the Ming Dynasty were shipped to Malacca, and then the foreign merchants there bought and sold them to Western countries.

But it was with such resale trade that Malacca made a lot of money, which naturally made people jealous.

At the beginning, it was just the Ming Dynasty's maritime merchants who were envious of such an easy way to make money. Over time, it naturally spread to the capital and the ears of senior officials of the court.

Old Port, which is close to Malacca, naturally has such potential.

Before, Old Port was still a taboo place in the mouths of the civil service group. After all, under their influence, the former overseas territories of the Ming Dynasty disappeared inexplicably.

The court did not issue an order to abolish the Jiugang Xuanwei Office, and it ignored it for a hundred years, as if it had forgotten about it. It must be said that it was a stain on the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, Jiugang was occupied by the surrounding vassal states as early as the Yingzong period, so they had no reason to mention it again.

Even if the responsibility was not on them, it was still very embarrassing.

Now the Nanhai Navy has sent back news that the Jiugang Xuanwei Office has been restored and the surrounding areas have been informed. The Ming Dynasty has recaptured this forgotten territory, and naturally the officials are active.

"Wei Gelao, you are not unaware of the situation of the court. In order to support the development of the Nanhai Navy over the years, the southeastern coastal provinces have mobilized a large amount of silver and money to support it.

Nearly half of these silver and money should be transported to my Ministry of Revenue.

Now that the navy has been successful, it is natural to gradually reduce the investment in the navy. Silver and money are needed everywhere in the court."

Minister of Revenue Wang Guoguang and Wei Guangde sat facing each other and talked about the financial difficulties of the court.

There are two reasons for coming to the cabinet this time. One is that the court's financial support for the South China Sea Navy will definitely be reduced in the future.

He can't control the Ministry of Works' money for the Navy to build ships, but the Ministry of Revenue's share of money will not be given in the future, but will be transported back to the capital by the southeastern provinces.

As for the part paid by the local government, it is a matter between the Navy and the local government, and the Ministry of Revenue does not intend to ask.

Wei Guangde sat quietly, waiting for Wang Guoguang's order.

He was not without any news. The Ministry of Revenue's idea of ​​​​money was naturally the result of the Ministry of Revenue convening officials above the fifth rank to discuss.

Although Wei Guangde did not work in the Ministry of Revenue, he had won over a few people when he was in the Ministry of Personnel. Over the years, they have squeezed into the power circle of the Ministry of Revenue.

The Ministry of Revenue had a discussion on Dongfan Island, Luzon and Jiugang, and concluded that Dongfan Island was a bottomless pit, and it was unknown how much money would be thrown in to see results.

They could accept the statement that the Navy was interested in the place because of the lack of wood for shipbuilding.

In fact, the current situation of Dongfan Island has been widely circulated in the capital. It is not an independent kingdom, there is no king and court, but some tribes of different sizes have divided some territories.

Therefore, the annexation of Dongfan Island by the Ming Dynasty has hardly caused any discussion in the court.

It is just that it is too early to set up a county and a prefecture. Once the government is set up, the livelihood of the local people must be considered. Even if taxes may be increased a little, it is not enough for the court to invest.

In this case, the Ministry of Revenue is naturally unwilling to intervene, and the Ministry of Personnel has a similar attitude. On the grounds of educating the people, it is unwilling to set up prefectures and counties and send officials, but kicks the ball to the Ministry of Rites.

The Ministry of Rites refused to recommend the teacher to go there on the grounds that the Ministry of Personnel had not set up an official position.

In fact, both the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Personnel knew very well that no one would be willing to go there.

Therefore, almost no one opposed the inclusion of Dongfan Island in the direct management of the South China Sea Navy.

Throwing away the mess is the way to be an official.

At this time, Dongfan Island was indeed a mess for the navy.

No matter how much later generations valued land, this was at the end of the 16th century, and such land was everywhere, and it was really not attractive.

If it were not for the special geographical location of Dongfan Island, Wei Guangde would not have bothered to manage that place if it was a few hundred nautical miles away from Fujian.

The Ministry of Revenue's analysis of Luzon was that it was unlikely that Daimao City would replace Manila City.

The route operated by Spanish merchants in the East Asian waters was from Manila City to Yuegang and then to Waguo, so even if the Ming Dynasty transported goods to Daimao City for trading, it might not attract the Spaniards.

Other people's ships can make profits from the route from Yuegang to Waguo, which is enough to offset the increased costs.

Unless Yuegang is abolished, Yuegang's goods will be shipped directly to Daimao City, and the Spaniards can only buy Ming Dynasty goods there.

But Yuegang is now the "Southern Treasury of the Son of Heaven", and it is almost impossible to abolish Yuegang's status as a trading port.

Not only will the inner court oppose it, but the cabinet will not support it.

The advantages of Daimao City or Luzon are more reflected in the military rather than in commerce.

As Wei Guangde said in the cabinet after the news was sent back to the capital, the Spaniards are in Manila City, the Portuguese occupy Malacca City, and the Ming Dynasty now has garrisons in Daimao City and Jiugang, so it can monitor the movements of the barbarians in the two places nearby.

For these two countries, the Ming Dynasty court can now distinguish them clearly, knowing that the barbarians they mentioned in the past are actually the two most powerful countries in the West.

Even the reason why they came to the Ming Dynasty from the east and the west is no longer a secret among the high-level officials in the court.

Dividing the world, what a joke.

Although the Ming Dynasty had no plans to expand abroad, it was definitely not at the mercy of others, so it was natural to be on guard.

The South China Sea Navy must be maintained, and it is imperative to monitor nearby.

In short, within the scope of the Ming Dynasty's vassal states, they cannot be allowed to continue to expand and seize the territories of the Ming Dynasty's vassal states.

As for the territories that the vassal states thought of, forget it. The Ming Dynasty does not have so much financial support for external expansion for the time being.

There are many internal problems, and there is no ability to expand the territory.

Dongfan and Luzon are not good, so the location advantage of Jiugang is relatively speaking.

After all, the merchants who come to the Ming Dynasty are not only barbarians, but also Arab merchants.

The distribution of Ming Dynasty goods in Jiugang can attract their arrival.

At that time, even if the Portuguese merchants are unwilling, they will have to choose to do business in Jiugang.

Sure enough, Wang Guoguang's next words were that the Ministry of Revenue wanted to set up a banknote customs in Jiugang to collect taxes on goods entering and leaving.

Wei Guangde knew that it was difficult to stop it, so he could only strive for better treatment in the distribution of tax silver. (End of this chapter)