Volume 3: Confrontation! The Run of Civilization Chapter 485: There are also Han Chinese overseas
No matter how the Ming Dynasty officials viewed Zhu Youdong, Zhu himself thought he was still very steady: from the age of four when he had his own team and was able to do things, he did do a lot in the seventeen years. But there was one principle he basically adhered to: proceed step by step.
The military system of the Ming Dynasty had long been rotten, but after he gained the power of regent, he refrained from making any changes until today. This was really prudent of him.
However, society is an organic whole, and the connections between each other are very close. After he carried out the military reform, the combat effectiveness of the army was improved, and the tendency of the military households to become servants and even the generals to become warlords was completely cut off. But it also brought a problem: before there was the military household system, the military households continued to grow, and the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty naturally continued to grow. Now that the military households are gone, where will the new soldiers of the Ming Dynasty be?
This involves the reform of the conscription system.
The guards of the Ming Dynasty were passed down from father to son, from son to grandson, and from generation to generation. As for the military garrison soldiers, they were recruited at the beginning, but later gradually became hereditary. Now, of course, Zhu Youdong wants to implement compulsory military service - Japan, Siam, etc., one is that they are too small, and the other is that the two time travelers have been farming for too short a time, so it is not difficult to defeat them. The future decisive battle with Spain will be a national war with the whole world as the battlefield. How can we not fully mobilize the manpower of the Ming Dynasty?
To implement the compulsory military service system, the first thing is to have a clear yellow book - which he did. Secondly, a new conscription system must be established: Yes, the Ming Dynasty was different from the Western Han Dynasty. It never implemented the compulsory military service system and there was no agency responsible for national conscription.
This again involves the reform of government agencies.
However, Zhu Youdong is not ready to take this step for the time being: political reform is much more difficult and risky than other reforms. After the military reform is completely completed, we will first look at the national situation and only start political reform when it is stable enough.
Everything was quiet on his side, but at this moment in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty, on Taiwan Island, countless warships and soldiers were gradually gathering there.
"This general and I are here to see the general."
"Hahaha, it seems that you haven't completely understood the difference between military rank and military position after the military reform." Cao Wenzhao, who was sitting at the top, laughed heartily: "I am the same as Zhao Sun, with the rank of general, which is just a military rank. And my military position this time is the commander-in-chief of the newly formed Taiwan Army Group. During this battle, you can just call me commander."
"Yes, I will obey your order."
"Okay, I won't say more. This time, everyone gathered here, of course, to attack the Spanish-occupied Luzon Island in accordance with the emperor's order. It is now August 5, the third year of Tianqi. Before this, Timor Island, Malacca, Java Island, Shalian, Macau and other places have been taken, leaving only Luzon. Ladies and gentlemen, although so many places have been taken, in fact, except for Timor Island where our army encountered a relatively stubborn resistance, the other places can be said to be almost bloodless. Luzon Island is completely different from the previous places. Everyone must not underestimate the enemy because of the smooth progress of the previous battles!"
"I will follow the commander's orders."
Starting from April of this year, the Ming Dynasty started to attack Spanish colonies in Southeast Asia. Other places were taken down in one go, but they encountered resistance on Timor Island: the inhabitants of this place were mainly Portuguese. But the ideas of these guys were too idealistic in this era: we don't recognize Spain or Portugal. We opened up this land ourselves and want to live well on it. We don't provoke others, but we also ask everyone not to bother us.
Well, this idea is very good. But neither Zhu Youdong nor Philip would agree with it.
Therefore, this time Xiong Tingbi sent 3,000 people to land on the island. They encountered tenacious but not fierce resistance on the island: the enemy's will to fight was extremely firm, and the total of 2,000 to 3,000 Portuguese were almost all soldiers. However, fighting with matchlocks against the Ming army, which had been partially equipped with breech-loading rifles and machine guns, would not put much pressure on the Ming army.
In short, the only colony Spain has in the East now is Luzon Island.
"Now, Chen Xiaotian, a captain of the Jinyiwei Taiwan, will introduce the enemy situation to everyone."
"Thank you, Commander." After walking out of the crowd, Chen Xiaotian walked to the sea chart hanging on the wall behind Cao Wenzhao: "Everyone, to capture Luzon Island, in a sense, is to capture the city of Manila. Because the Spanish troops, ships, and even the Spanish living there are basically gathered around the city. If we capture this city, the Western rule over the entire Luzon Island will naturally collapse."
Seeing everyone nod, Chen Xiaotian raised his baton and clicked on the point where Manila was located: "This city is located on the west side of Luzon Island. To the west is Manila Bay. The terrain of this harbor is somewhat similar to the Bohai Bay of our Ming Dynasty. Both are harbors surrounded by land extending from the north and south. Such a harbor is protected by land, so the tidal range of the sea surface is extremely small. Once you really enter the bay, the sea surface is also very calm. But the problem caused by this is that if our fleet enters the bay and the enemy blocks us outside the harbor, we have no other choice but to win the battle."
In general, Manila Bay is an excellent bay. To make an inappropriate analogy: stretch out your left and right hands, and gradually bring your fingers closer to the center (don't bring them completely together). Then, the area circled by your hands is Manila Bay. And the location of your heart is Manila City. The remaining gap between your hands is the only access to Manila Bay.
"At present, the Jinyiwei has ascertained that the Spanish have a total of nearly 20,000 ground forces, 20 1,200-ton warships, and 30 600-ton second-class warships on Luzon Island. In addition, in Manila, the Spanish began mobilizing in June this year and organized an army of about 5,000 people from the local area. In this army, the officers are basically all Spanish, and the soldiers include local natives and, uh, us Han people ."
"What?" Upon hearing the news, all the generals present at the meeting could not sit still: "Captain Chen, what's going on?"
"I will answer this question for you."
According to the spirit of the new military reform, the power of how to fight was all assigned to the Privy Council. Therefore, civil officials could no longer interfere with how to fight. However, Taiwan Island was the rear base of this campaign, and its chief administrative officer Sun Chuanting was qualified to attend this meeting.
"Everyone, although I am from Shanxi, I have been in the south for many years. Before the development of Taiwan Island, many coastal people from the southeastern provinces of China, especially Fujian, went to Southeast Asia to seek survival because of the small land and dense population. Among them, because the Spaniards occupied Manila, it was more standardized and had more business opportunities than other local natives who were still living in slash-and-burn farming. Therefore, many people from the Ming Dynasty went to Manila after going out to sea.
Over the years, the number of Chinese in Luzon has increased, reaching more than 40,000 at its peak, while at that time, if the Spanish did not have their treasure fleet passing by, there were only two or three thousand people living there permanently. Therefore, the Westerners gradually began to be wary of us.
In the second year of the Wanli reign (1574), a sea merchant named Lin Feng attacked Manila twice but failed. In the twenty-first year of the Wanli reign (1593), Pan Hewu, a local Han Chinese in Luzon, could not bear the humiliation and killed the local Western governor. Since then, the relationship between the Han Chinese living in Manila and the local Westerners has become increasingly tense. The Westerners have begun to fear the development of the Han Chinese in the local area, and all they need is a reason to take action.
In the 31st year of the Wanli reign (1603), a cunning man named Zhang Yi lied to the Emperor Taizong that there were mountains on Luzon Island that produced gold and silver. The Emperor Taizong then sent his eunuchs to Luzon Island for investigation. Although it was clear that Zhang Yi's words were nonsense, it gave the Westerners an excuse. That year, the Westerners spread rumors that the Ming Dynasty would attack Manila and that the Han people living in Manila would become our internal support. As a result, the Westerners and local natives attacked the Han people. Although the Han people fought back, the incident happened suddenly, and they had no firearms or organization, so they were defeated. In this battle, less than 300 of the more than 40,000 Han people living in Manila survived. "
"Bang!" The more aggressive generals below immediately slammed the table and stood up: "This Spaniard is so brave!"
"Grandmaster Sun, then did our Ming Dynasty not send troops to conquer them?"
This... Sun Chuanting suddenly felt a little regretful why he told this: When Emperor Wanli knew about this, he did order the local officials in Fujian to question the Spaniards, and after the Spaniards took a humble approach and explained, Emperor Wanli did not pursue the matter any further: At that time, the Ming Dynasty was so short of money that it had to collect mining taxes everywhere, so how could it possibly launch another expedition?
Besides, even Sun Chuanting's own thoughts have only gradually changed in recent years. In the past, he believed that the Han people who abandoned their ancestral tombs and went overseas were disloyal and unfilial. If he thought so, how could you expect a miser like Wanli to raise troops for these people?
Therefore, he could only smile awkwardly in response to the questions from the generals below.
"Knock, knock, knock." Cao Wenzhao, who was sitting at the top, knocked on the table: "Don't make any noise. Listen to what Governor Sun is saying."
The meeting place fell silent again. Sun Chuanting nodded to Cao Wenzhao and continued, "Although the Westerners massacred more than 30,000 Han Chinese in Manila, on the one hand, the natives on Luzon Island were lazy and stupid, and the Westerners needed Han Chinese to go there to do business and farming. On the other hand, before the current emperor's internal reforms, the coast of our Ming Dynasty, except for Yuegang, was still completely closed to the sea. Therefore, it was very difficult for the people along the coast, especially the people in Fujian, to survive. Therefore, after the Luzon massacre in the 31st year of Wanli, many Han Chinese in our Ming Dynasty went to Manila again. Ladies and gentlemen, I have been in Taiwan for so many years, and I know a lot about Fujian across the sea. The local clan power is very strong. When one person goes out to sea and settles down, he often takes the whole village away... Therefore, at this time, after nearly 20 years of reproduction and development, the city of Manila has gathered about 20,000 Han Chinese. And the Han Chinese in the newly formed Spanish army that Chen Baihu just mentioned came from here."
"Assholes!" Gu Dali, the current Marquis of Anyuan and the new commander of the 11th Division, who had a gold star on each shoulder, slammed the table and said, "How can these people be so despicable? It's fine if they couldn't survive and went to Manila to make a living, but why are they joining the Western army to fight against the king's division now?"
"Marquis Anyuan." Chen Xiaotian spoke again: "According to what we have learned from the Jinyiwei, at present, the elderly, weak, women and children among the Han people in Manila have been centralized and controlled by the Westerners. All the young and strong, if they do not join the army they have temporarily formed, their families..."
