The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"What is this? Gold or brass?"

In a closed lower secret room, a group of soldiers in red uniforms emerged.

Someone quickly opened one of the boxes and was immediately attracted by the golden things inside.

He reached out and picked up a cake-like object, looked at it over and over again, and murmured.

"Isn't this the treasure house of the Toungoo Dynasty? That must be a gold cake. Have you heard of anyone who stores a large number of copper cakes?"

There was also a soldier next to him who reached out and took out a gold cake from the box and played with it for a while, and began to be confused.

"Sir, look, why doesn't this thing look like gold?

Sir, sir"

At this time, the sir that the soldier called was just a general flag, and there was a box in front of him with the lid opened, but it was not the kind of gold cake they saw, but countless red gems.

A whole box of gems, under the illumination of torches, still emitted a dark red glow.

"Put everything back. Everyone will benefit from the inventory later. Don't rush now, or you may violate military law."

The general flag didn't even bother to look at the gold and copper cakes. His eyes were fixed on the box full of gems.

Then, he opened a few boxes next to him. Most of them were filled with rubies, but there were also a few boxes with gems of other colors.

The general flag swallowed his saliva, grabbed a soldier beside him and said to him: "Go up and tell the adults immediately, and say that there are many boxes below, all filled with gold and gems."

However, he still walked to the boxes opened by his men before, picked up a "gold cake", looked at it, shook it, and even bit it with his teeth, and then said suspiciously: 'It should be a gold cake, but it doesn't feel right.

Forget it, you go up and report to the adults first, and say that we opened the Burmese king's treasure house. '

"Yes."

The soldier immediately turned around and squeezed out of the crowd, and after he left, more boxes were opened, and the things inside completely dazzled the eyes of the Ming army soldiers.

The soldier who went out to report the news was strictly searched by several Ming soldiers after he came out of the underground passage and came to the ground. After confirming that he had no valuables, he was brought to several generals.

"You said there are many boxes below, filled with various gems and gold cakes?"

After the soldier who reported the news told the following situation, the leading Ming general was also a little surprised. He reached out and touched his bun, and a smile appeared on his old face.

"After all, it is the wealth of a vassal state. It is not surprising that there are some gems and gold. Lift them up and feel your hands and feet. All participating soldiers will be searched afterwards."

This veteran of the Ming army is naturally Yu Dayou.

Although Toungoo City is the capital of Myanmar and was built as the strongest fortress in Myanmar, it is just like that.

In front of the artillery of the Ming Navy, what kind of fortress can't be smashed through.

The difference is that if one shell is not enough, then a few more shells will be used. If it is not enough, then continue to smash.

The Ming army's heavy artillery was originally concentrated at the south gate of Toungoo City. In other directions, there were only a lot of small and medium-sized Portuguese cannons removed from ships placed outside the city gate, and the Ming army's bird gunners blocked the gate.

This way of fighting left the Burmese military and political leaders hiding in the city helpless.

Leaving the city was a way to die, and defending the city was actually waiting for death. It all depended on when the Ming army would start attacking the city.

When Yu Dayou issued the order to attack the city, they captured Toungoo City in just one day.

However, because they were not familiar with the city, many important officials of the Burmese Toungoo Dynasty, especially members of the royal family, were hiding in the city.

But it didn't matter. The city had been taken, and the four gates were blocked tightly, so they couldn't run away.

Two days later, the Ming army began to interrogate the captured Burmese army personnel, constantly finding clues of some officials hiding, and dug them out from their hiding places one by one.

The treasury of the Toungoo Dynasty was occupied by the Ming army on the first day, but there were not many treasures here.

After all, the Toungoo Dynasty has been constantly waging wars against foreign countries over the years, which still consumes a lot of the national treasury.

However, just yesterday, after interrogating an important official of the Toungoo Dynasty, it was unexpectedly learned that there was a treasure house in the palace that belonged to Toungoo King Mang Yinglong.

Therefore, the Ming army once again interrogated the royal family members and those who managed the palace, and finally found this treasure house that belonged only to Burmese King Mang Yinglong.

Shortly after Yu Dayou gave the order, boxes were lifted out of the underground treasure house by Ming soldiers and piled on the small square.

"Open all the boxes, and then continue to move the things inside out."

Yu Dayou spoke again.

"Wow, it's really gems."

As soon as one of the boxes was opened, the full rubies inside blinded the eyes of the generals, which was too shocking.

However, everyone's eyes were soon attracted by a colorful box again, because although the inside was not filled with rubies and sapphires as those boxes were, this box had things like jadeite and emeralds, as well as many jade articles, making the whole box colorful and more eye-catching.

"This Mang Yinglong really robbed a lot of treasures."

Through interrogation, it was learned that some of the things in the king's treasury were mined in Myanmar, but many were looted from neighboring countries.

For example, a few years ago, the Burmese army captured the capital of Siam and looted it.

Ordinary gold and silver were naturally rewarded to meritorious soldiers, while rare treasures were taken back to Toungoo City by Mang Yinglong.

Yu Dayou couldn't help but take a few steps forward and picked up a Buddha statue in the box, which was a palm-sized jade product. He then put it down and picked up a glazed tower next to it studded with various gems.

"No wonder, Myanmar is rich in gems, and it really lives up to its reputation."

Yu Dayou couldn't help but exclaimed.

Yes, so many boxes are filled with gems or gem-decorated crafts. Doesn’t that explain the problem?

"Commander, are there many gem mines in Myanmar?"

Chengze, the counselor next to him, asked.

"I was a guard general in Guizhou before, and that year I heard that someone from the capital was ordered to go to Burma to buy gems."

Yu Dayou glanced at them and replied in a relaxed tone, then he pointed at the gems and jade and said: "These are the things.

The nobles in the capital seem to like these very much. "

Having said this, Yu Dayou stretched out his hand and rubbed his chin for a while before whispering to the generals beside him: "Each person can hold a small box for these gems."

Yu Dayou pointed to the small box next to him that contained pearls. They were all milky white or yellowish South Sea pearls, all of which were large, round and crystal-clear, of the highest quality.

"The rest will be sealed in boxes and sent to the capital to present to His Majesty."

After Yu Dayou finished speaking, all the generals around him had smiles on their faces.

In fact, they don't care about a box of gems or pearls or emeralds, but they do care about the commander's wishes.

We all risked our lives to travel so far to fight, so we should at least have some souvenirs to take back.

In fact, most people have made a lot of money these days.

Yes, in addition to this treasure house, there are also many properties in the residences of other princes and ministers. As seizures, these generals also reached out to grab local specialties.

No matter how strict Yu Dayou is in running the army, he cannot be stingy at this time, otherwise he may lose military morale.

It's just that this treasure house of the Burmese king has a different meaning. The best things in it will naturally be sent to the palace. If they are allowed to take it casually, it may be a disaster in the future.     “Be careful, don’t knock it.”

At this moment, a few soldiers carried an ivory out of the treasure house. In the words of later generations, the length was almost three meters.

In the treasure house, there is of course not just one, but many, especially black ivory, which is rare. Generally, ivory is white or slightly yellow, similar to pearls.

Behind them, there were also boxes of rhinoceros horns and other things carried out, and soon the small square was filled with things from the treasure house.

Someone here started counting, and Yu Dayou had time to walk to the dozens of boxes of gold cakes, reached out and picked up one and examined it carefully for a while.

"This is gold, but it's not of high purity. Can you look at it?"

According to the standards of the Ming Dynasty, this kind of gold is actually inferior and requires craftsmen to return it to the furnace and refining it to remove impurities and improve its purity.

The other generals also picked up a gold cake and looked at it for a while, and they all agreed with Yu Dayou's judgment.

In fact, ancient China already had the concept of purity. Generally speaking, before the Shang and Zhou Dynasties to the Han Dynasty, the purity of gold was relatively high, generally around 80%.

Among them, the gold content dropped during the Warring States Period, only 70%.

The gold content of gold cakes, horseshoe gold, and Linzhi gold in the Han Dynasty is generally more than 90%. This standard has been basically the same since then, until the Ming Dynasty.

Yes, this is the standard for gold in ancient China. At that time, it was named after 90% gold, 80% gold, and 70% gold.

Naturally, because the quality is insufficient, the prices are also different.

The gold in circulation before the Ming Dynasty was 80% gold. However, when the Ministry of Industry produced the Ming Dynasty Tongbao, the gold coins were required to be 90% gold.

Less than 90% of gold can only be inferior gold.

These gold cakes moved from the treasure house should be less than 70%, which is considered to be very, very low-quality gold.

Of course, this does not mean that during the dynasty, gold could only be purified to 90%. In fact, the purity of gold used to make gold jewelry, especially in the palace, was as high as 95% or more.

It's just that it is still difficult to meet the standards of "thousand pure gold" and "24K" in later generations.

"Never mind, these bad gold will be transported directly back to the capital, and the people from the Ministry of Industry will handle it."

Yu Dayou said nonchalantly, just share the silver with these people under his command, but the inferior gold is actually of little use.

When Yu Dayou led the Ming Dynasty Nanhai Navy to claim gold, the Ming army also launched a massacre against the Burmese army by the Lujiang River in western Yunnan.

Yes, even with the help of the Portuguese mercenaries led by Santos, they were lucky enough to defeat the Ming army, but so what?

There were only a few hundred Portuguese mercenaries and they were unable to influence the situation of the battle.

After the Ming Dynasty came up with bronze cannons with similar performance, the Ming and Burmese armies could only confront each other there.

But Mang Yinglong had a good idea, but how could Li Chengliang give him this time to move his army across the river.

During the artillery battle between the two sides, the Ming army's cavalry bypassed the artillery positions from the flanks and charged directly into the Burmese army's formation. After that, various Ming army units attacked in turn.

Just once, Santos had to abandon the cannon he brought, fled to the river in embarrassment, and grabbed a boat to cross the river.

Yes, seeing the Ming Army cavalry defeating the Burmese Army formation behind them, if they didn't run away, any fool would know what would happen.

If they were captured by the Ming army, according to Western rules, they would have to pay a high price to redeem them.

This price is probably much more than what Mang Yinglong paid.

What's more, there's no telling whether the Ming army will give them a chance to redeem themselves.

During the advance of the Ming army, many Burmese prisoners were beheaded to deter the remaining enemies.

If the Burmese king's elephant soldiers were still on this side of the river, they might be able to resist the attack of the Ming cavalry.

Unfortunately, the Burmese king valued the elephants more than the soldiers, so he transported them to the other side of the river early.

Therefore, the Ming cavalry's assault on the Burmese army was effective. Although the rain of arrows composed of archers caused some trouble for the Ming army, it did not stop their attack.

Although the Ming army wiped out 100,000 Burmese troops in one battle, the Burmese king Mang Yinglong still fled into Lujiang City with the remaining troops and horses, facing the Ming army across the river.

Li Chengliang was very proud at this time. He rode a tall horse with a group of generals to the riverside. Looking at the embarrassed Burmese army on the opposite side, he couldn't help laughing.

"Although half of the Burmese king's troops were killed in this battle, there are still many remnants on the other side.

According to the scouts, there are still more than 100,000 Burmese troops at Hanlong Pass, and they still have 200,000 people."

Li Chengliang said, and his words successfully stopped everyone from cheering and listened to him quietly.

"When will those ships arrive?"

Li Chengliang asked Mu Changzuo.

"General, they will arrive tonight at the latest."

Originally, there were hundreds of ferries on the banks of the Lujiang River, but in order to prevent the Burmese army from seizing the ships, Mu Changzuo had long ago sent people to collect, transfer and hide most of the ferries.

Because the Burmese army wanted to attack quickly, they would naturally not go far along the river to look for ships.

So, after leaving Baoshan City, Mu Changzuo sent people to the upper reaches of the Lujiang River to pick up ships.

The Ming army's pursuit must require the help of a large number of ferries, so that they can cross the river quickly.

If there are only a few boats, let alone crossing the river, I am afraid that I can't even stand on the other side of the river.

"Clean up the battlefield, let the whole army rest for a day, and start crossing the river tomorrow when the boat arrives."

Li Chengliang was quite satisfied with this. There would be boats at night, and he could cross the river by boat tomorrow to pursue the enemy continuously.

"Maybe Mang Yinglong thought that they could divide the river with us if they took away all the boats. Hehe, he thought too much."

Li Chengliang joked.

"Marshal, Marshal."

At this time, Luo Rufang rode up from behind.

"Only five of the cannons abandoned by the Portuguese can be used, and the others were blown up by them.

And the Portuguese machines that our army lost before were not found. According to the interrogation, those weapons were transported across the river by Mang Yinglong in the first batch."

Although Luo Rufang was a civil official, he was also a military supervisor at this time, so he also traveled with the army.

However, he didn't care about fighting, and was mainly responsible for logistics.

Santos abandoned the cannon, of course, he didn't just throw it there, but stuffed it with gunpowder and ignited it, ready to blow it up directly.

Unfortunately, the other guns all exploded, but there were problems with the fuse of five guns, and they did not explode, falling into the hands of the Ming army.

"It's just a few guns. Even Mang Yinglong couldn't escape, let alone those guns."

Li Chengliang said nonchalantly.

A few guns alone have limited power, and a large number of guns must be concentrated to be effective. This is how Li Chengliang now understands the use of firearms.

Later, I have to pass on my experience to my sons. (End of this chapter)