The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"This is Guangdong of the Ming Dynasty, and then Fujian and Zhejiang."

Yu Dayou pointed at a corner of the sea map and began to explain to Li Rusong, "Go south from Guangdong to Luzon, go to Jiugang after replenishment, and cross the Mancijia Strait to reach Pegu."

Yu Dayou told Li Rusong about the entire sea journey, and it was the first time that Li Rusong knew that there was such a vast land outside the Ming Dynasty, especially the ocean, which had a huge impact on Li Rusong.

"This is Myanmar, then where is this?"

Li Rusong was familiar with the terrain of Liaodong, but for the southwest, he had only seen the Ming-Myanmar border before, and was completely unfamiliar with the surroundings.

"That is Siam and Laos, and this is Annan."

The place where Li Rusong pointed his finger was Southeast Asia, so Yu Dayou talked to Li Rusong about these countries and the kingdoms on the islands.

"You said Jiugang is also the territory of my Ming Dynasty?"

Hearing Yu Dayou mention Jiugang, Li Rusong felt a little familiar, but couldn't remember it.

After all, this enclave is too unfamiliar to the people of the Ming Dynasty, and they haven't paid attention to it for more than a hundred years.

"Jiugang was separated from the Ming Dynasty more than a hundred years ago. After the voyage to the West was completely stopped, Jiugang was occupied by foreign vassals.

This time we are also ordered to patrol Jiugang and re-incorporate it into the territory of our Ming Dynasty."

Yu Dayou said with some pride.

"Admiral, brother, what are you looking at?"

Yu Dayou and Li Rusong looked at the map in front of them. Li Rubai had just finished the inventory task and came over to see it.

However, Li Rusong did not answer, but just waved his hand, indicating that he didn't care, but his eyes did not leave the sea chart.

Li Rubai was helpless, but still whispered: "The property in the box has been counted, I asked them to seal the box."

"Okay."

This time, Li Rusong finally gave an answer.

"Admiral, where is the problem here?"

"Bengal."

The location pointed by Li Rusong is Bengal in later generations. At this time, it was still the Sultanate of Bengal, and the Ming Dynasty called it Bengal.

Yu Dayou led the navy. Although the court had not allowed them to continue sailing westward and visit the places that the eunuch Sanbao had been to, he still often looked at the sea charts and was familiar with the countries in the west.

"Bengal is not a big country. There is a huge country called India to its west, which is what we often call Tianzhu."

Yu Dayou continued, "But the court has no order for us to continue westward, so after this battle in Myanmar, we will return.

By then, I will leave a fleet in Pegu and Dagon to patrol and protect the coast of Myanmar."

As for whether this navy should accept Li Chengliang's order, the court did not have a clear order, so Yu Dayou did not say much, and he had to go back and report the matter before deciding.

If it is included in the Burmese garrison, the navy will naturally be allocated to Myanmar.

But it is hard to say. Wei Guangde obviously intends to separate the navy from the garrison, or the land army, and form an independent army.

"Indeed, the navy still has more than 10,000 soldiers, and they will be stationed in Pegu and Dagon."

Yu Dayou said.

"Please rest assured, Admiral, these two cities will be temporarily guarded by the navy brothers. We will report to the court and we will execute it after the court makes a decision."

Li Rusong was very straightforward. He didn't care about these two cities.

When discussing with Yu Dayou before, Yu Dayou mentioned that these two seaport cities needed garrisons and the navy's soldiers would also be stationed.

In fact, the subtext was that he didn't want Li Rusong to send troops into the city for the time being.

After all, if two troops appeared in a city, it would be easy for friction to cause trouble.

Both Yu Dayou and Li Rusong knew very well about the ability of the Ming army to fight among themselves.

It seems that almost all countries in the world have such contradictions. In order to compete for national defense resources, the three armies mostly do not deal with each other. There is no one better.

Now the navy of the Ming Dynasty has not completely separated from the garrisons, but the contradictions between the garrisons of the Ming Dynasty actually exist.

These details were not considered by Wei Guangde earlier. Only after the lower level found out, it was reported, and finally the system was determined by the Ministry of War.

This is actually very important, especially in wartime, who obeys whose orders.

Now, Li Rusong has made it clear that he will not send troops to take over the defense of these two cities before the court makes it clear.

This is naturally because whether it is Li Chengliang or Yu Dayou, they are standing behind the same person. If there is infighting below, it will not look good above.

"By the way, Admiral, I see this sea chart. If the navy takes a detour here, is it faster and the distance shorter?"

Li Rusong pointed to the coast of Annan and Siam and asked.

Yu Dayou understood what Li Rusong meant and said with a smile: "Indeed, this is the shortest way to go and it will take less time, but there is a lack of supply points and the risk of sailing is a bit high. '

"Is it because the navy has no seaport here? Just take it down."

Li Rusong said puzzled.

You can also see from the sea chart that those countries are very small. I heard that they were plundered by Myanmar before. What does this mean?

It means that these countries have no fighting power at all. As long as the army goes there, it will be a piece of cake.

Just after going to Myanmar, Li Rusong was full of confidence at this time. Naturally, he also wanted to accumulate more merits and seek better rewards for himself.

"Rusong, I understand what you mean. It's not impossible."

Yu Dayou shook his head and smiled: "I see that you are also a scholar. You must have heard of Taizu's "unconquered countries"."

"What do you mean, Lord Admiral, that they are all countries that Taizu has decided not to conquer?"

Li Rusong was shocked, and then he realized, no wonder Yu Dayou didn't attack these countries, he just wanted a seaport, it was not a big deal at all.

Knowing that it was Taizu's will, Li Rusong could not continue talking.

“Actually, it doesn’t mean that you can’t fight if you don’t conquer a country, but it depends on the situation.

When he became an ancestor, he not only conquered Annan, but it was also one of the countries that did not conquer. "

Yu Dayou smiled and finally pointed at an island off Fujian on the chart and said: "This place is called Xiaoliuqiu. It is also one of the countries that Taizu did not conquer, but now this place is the camp of the Nanhai Navy, and the entire island is."

Yu Dayou's words made Li Ru relax.

He knew that Chengzu had defeated Annan, but he also knew that the Ming army was defeated later. People are still saying that it was because they did not listen to Taizu's words that the Ming army lost troops and generals in Annan. Therefore, you must listen to the ancestors' instructions and take them seriously. implement.

However, the navy took over Xiaoliuqiu without saying a word. This was the first time Li Rusong knew about this.

Not many people in the court knew about it, and everyone was told not to talk too much.

Therefore, Li Rusong didn't know about this until now.

So he asked out of curiosity: "Admiral, there is no objection in the court. Xiaoliuqiu is also one of the countries that do not conquer."

"What is a country without conquests? There is no king at all on Xiaoliuqiu Island. There are just some villages, large and small, doing their own thing. That's why the cabinet issued an order to station in Dongfan in the name of suppressing Japanese invaders. Now everyone in the DPRK talks about Dongfan Island. In fact, it’s Xiaoliuqiu.”

Yu Dayou smiled.

"Oh, that's it. The name has been changed."

Li Rusong nodded slightly. If he continued to use Xiaoliuqiu, he was afraid that the DPRK would also criticize him.

If it is said to be Dongfan, most people may not be able to react for a while.

“As for the west side, like pine, you’d better not think too much about it.

I remember that Mr. Wei Ge once said in the early years that the territory of the Ming Dynasty has basically been finalized. Unless there is a faster communication method, if effective communication cannot be established with distant places, it will be difficult for the court to effectively control it.

Just like the former Emperor Yuan, the army marched westward. It is said that it went tens of thousands of miles westward. The sky was high and the emperor was far away. Emperor Yuan had no control at all. In the end, it had no choice but to break away from the control of Emperor Yuan and split into several kingdoms.

If the army that went westward was still there, Taizu's Northern Expedition would not have succeeded so easily. The best result would be to divide the river and conquer it. "

Yu Dayou was also very optimistic about Li Rusong, who was young and energetic, so he also mentioned the things that Wei Guangde had mentioned in his letters to him in the past, because he could see that Li Rusong was not a peaceful master, and he might even compete in the Western Ranking List. Kara, even India's idea.

It's not that it can't be fought, it's mainly that it's difficult for the court to implement effective control.

Myanmar alone is actually not easy to control, otherwise it would not have been divided into several Xuanwei departments for so-called management, and it would have been directly classified as a province.

"Admiral, I have learned a lesson."

Li Rusong was not stupid. He knew that Yu Dayou was teaching him, so he hurriedly bowed and clasped his fists in salute.

The last batch of property was counted, and the list was made in triplicate, all of which were signed and signed by Li Rusong and Yu Dayou.

The navy and land forces each kept one copy, and another copy was prepared to fly to the capital to await orders. Li Rusong also asked for a South China Sea chart from Yu Dayou.

In the afternoon, Li Rusong went to see the grain loaded on the trucks. Hundreds of carts were being transported north to Ava City, led by Li Ruzhen, with 5,000 Ming troops.

On the second day, the army headed north, and the long convoy carried a huge amount of food and grass away.

On the third day, Yu Dayou led the officers and soldiers of the Nanhai Navy to board the ship at the pier and went directly down the river to Bago City. However, there were still a few lucky boats left on the pier waiting for Li Rusong's dispatch.

Now, only Li Rusong and Li Rubai are left in Toungoo City.

In the temporary residence, Li Rusong was also beating his brother.

"Ru Bai, I know what you are thinking, but have you ever thought about it? Yu Dayou doesn't dare to think about those things, so why do you think you can?

Even if my father was here, he wouldn't dare to do it.

Not only is there a list of belongings, but if we hold those things, it will exceed the limit, and if it is leaked, it will be fatal. "

It had only been two days since Yu Dayou left Dongyu City, and Li Rubai kept circling the warehouse.

Li Rusong sent his own soldiers to keep an eye on him, and immediately called his brother to teach him a lesson.

At this time, Li Rubai was standing below listening to his elder brother's admonishment. Although he knew that what his elder brother said was reasonable, he just refused to accept it.

Among the brothers in the family, why is it that the best one belongs to the eldest brother? They can't even drink some soup or water.

It doesn’t matter how much you take, just go to Yanguo Plucking Head Office and put a few things in a box into your pocket. The capital may not find it.

Seeing his brother's expression, Li Rusong knew that it would be difficult to convince his brother, unless he used the method he used in Liaodong, which was to beat him up.

But now that Myanmar has just calmed down, and the war is not even over yet, he really can't just punch his brother just because he made a mistake.

He actually understands his father's arrangement. He is the next generation leader of the family, and all the family's resources will be tilted towards him so that he can reach a higher position so that he can continue to shine.

The little brother is just looking for money, so we should find a way to divert his attention.

After thinking for a moment, Li Rusong came up with an idea and said to Li Rubai, "In this case, you take three thousand people out for inspection."

"Brother."

Li Rubai spoke hurriedly, but was interrupted by Li Rusong with a wave of his hand, and continued: "Do you remember those temples you passed by on your way south?"

"Huh? Temple?"

Li Rubai was stunned. He thought his eldest brother was going to drive him away, but now he was confused when he heard his eldest brother mention the temple.

"Those quick hands and feet heard that they got a lot of gold foil from those Buddha statues, not just in one temple, but in all temples."

Li Rusong had already made it very clear. Li Rubai still didn't know what he meant, so he asked him to lead his troops out to fight in the wild. He couldn't help but feel moved in his heart.

It is said that those Buddha statues are really golden, so how much gold must they be.

Thinking of this, Li Rubai started rubbing his hands, already eager to try.

“Think about it, you don’t have to take risks to get money.

Burma has just been conquered, and there are so many places to make money. There is no need to worry about making money, what do you think? "

Li Rusong said seductively step by step.

"Brother, there's no need to say anything. I understand, brother. I'll listen to you. Don't think about those things. I'll lead the troops out for inspection."

Li Rubai hurriedly expressed his position.

At least he can still tell the difference clearly. The elder brother is right. The Buddha statues in Myanmar are all made of gold. This means that the people here should have a lot of gold in their hands. If they find a way, they can get a lot of it.

"Also, think about the gems in those boxes. A small Burmese king can get so many gems. What does this mean?"

Li Rusong didn't intend to let it go so easily, but continued.

"There are mines."

Li Rubai said with his eyes shining.

"Ha ha."

Li Rusong laughed and nodded.

Li Rusong is actually just as greedy for money as his father and brothers, but he and his father are not greedy for money solely for the sake of extravagance. He does not have so many desires, but to support his family.

This is very expensive. If you don't find a way to make money, you can only raise funds by deducting soldiers' pay and smuggling, or even bullying and monopolizing business in Liaodong, just like they did in Liaodong before.

With so much gold and gems in Myanmar, Li Rusong naturally thought that there should be mines here, especially gem mines.

He had heard a lot about Myanmar's gems, and even the palace sent people to purchase them regularly.

Keeping the gold and gem mines in mind will provide the family with a steady stream of wealth.

With money, the family support team will have money.

Li Rusong actually had a pretty good idea. He had already thought of it together with Feng Bao and Wei Guangde.

Compared with Myanmar's rich mineral resources, it will be a matter of benefit distribution.

It is impossible for any company to become dominant.

Even though Feng Bao is the number one person in the inner court, it is not an exaggeration to say that one person is less than ten thousand people, but can it really affect Myanmar?

The mountains here are high and the emperor is far away, and the capital is actually not easy to use. (End of chapter)