Volume 4: Hot! The whole world is a warring state Chapter 702: Crisis of the Suzerainty System
"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you. I have not seen you for five years. I am very happy that you are in good health."
"Well, get up and come closer so I can see you. Well, your height hasn't changed much, but your body is obviously stronger."
Zhu Youdong was very satisfied with his eldest son: Along with Zhu Ciyi came back a report from Cao Bianjiao, in which Cao Bianjiao frankly stated that the eldest prince had done an excellent job in the past five years in America, and the local Indians liked him very much.
Cao Bianjiao was the chief guard of the second prince Zhu Ciyan in his early years, so he naturally wouldn't speak for Zhu Ciyi. Even so, in this report he still believed that the work of the eldest prince was effective, so it must be true.
"I heard that you got along well with the local Indians in America. In five years, you mastered the languages of three tribes and even hunted a mountain lion yourself?"
"Well, father, most of the rumors are untrue. The mountain lion fell into our trap and was shot by me. It was just a fixed target, it's not a big deal."
"That's good." Patting his eldest son's shoulders and feeling the firm muscles there, Zhu Youdong was even more satisfied: "Next, you go meet your mother and grandmother, and then prepare for the wedding. Miss Sun has been waiting for you for five years. You are almost nineteen now, so you are considered an old maid."
"Uh, Father, I have something else to report to you first."
"speak."
"Father, I have been in America for five years and am still young and strong. So, this..."
"Well, how many Indian girls have you slept with? Do you have any children?"
"Father." The 22-year-old Zhu Ciyi blushed, "I married an Indian woman and an Indo-European mixed-race woman in America, and I have two daughters with these two women."
"Oh? So, I'm a grandfather now?" After all, the soul of a time traveler is still a modern person, and Zhu Youdong's body is only forty years old. Hearing that he has become a grandfather, he is very uncomfortable.
But he quickly reacted: "You brought them all back this time, right?"
"I brought them all back. At first, I wanted to leave them in America. But Mr. Sun asked me to bring them back."
"Bo Ya is right. For a man, it's okay to have concubines first and then wives. But if you abandon them after having sex, then you are wrong. All right, go and bring them all to me. I want to see my two little granddaughters."
"yes."
It must be said that mixed-race children are naturally good-looking. When Zhu Youdong saw his two granddaughters who were as cute as dolls, his heart melted. Then the emperor, who was busy all day long, squeezed out half an hour to play with his two granddaughters for a long time.
"Well, that's it. Go meet your mother and grandmother. They will be in charge of your wedding. Before that, you have to meet Miss Sun first. Although it's normal for a grown man like you to have two concubines after five years in America, no woman likes to be a mother of two children before she even gets married. In short, be polite. For Boya to be loyal to the court, your relationship with Miss Sun must be good."
"Yes, father, rest assured, I will definitely handle this matter. However, father, the American rebels have accumulated a lot of strength and it is time to reap the fruits. After the wedding, will I?"
"You want to go back to America? I'm not going to let you go back for now. After you get married, I'll arrange a new job for you."
"Yes, but may I ask what task your Majesty is going to give me? I can prepare early."
"The political commissar system in America has been implemented very well. I plan to promote it in all the armies in the Ming Dynasty. I plan to build a new military and political academy in Beijing to train political commissars. You will be the dean of this academy. Nowadays, the situation of the Ming Dynasty in East Asia is not good, and the control over the army must be further strengthened."
"I understand. But father, is the trouble really that big now that our Ming Dynasty is in East Asia?"
Zhu Youdong did not give a direct answer to Zhu Ciyi's question, but he replied silently in his heart, very anxiously: Yes, it is really big.
It was January 1641, 14 months after the Battle of Malacca, in which the Ming fleet was almost wiped out.
In May 1640, with the help of a new batch of reinforcements sent by the European Union, the army was restored to 500,000 strong. Under the leadership of Gustav and Wallenstein, the European Expeditionary Corps landed in Rangoon.
Although the army voluntarily gave up Yangon because the navy could not participate in the war, even the King of Shu, who was enfeoffed here, was forced to abandon his country and leave. However, after the EU army penetrated about 50 kilometers into Myanmar, they were stubbornly blocked by the 15 great Ming divisions led by Liu Zhaosun. From May 1640 to the present, the EU army has made very slow progress.
However, although the EU's army did not achieve much success, the situation of its navy was completely different.
Since the Ming Dynasty's home fleet only had a few 3,000-ton light cruisers and the 20 newly commissioned torpedo destroyers, it was unable to fight head-on with the Spanish fleet, which still had a 10,000-ton battleship and three 5,000-ton heavy cruisers. Therefore, although the Ming Dynasty still had Singapore, the entire South China Sea was indeed open.
Since June 1640, the busy Nanyang trade route between the Ming Dynasty and its vassal states has been hit continuously. The worst one was when the Ming Dynasty's precious metal transport fleet carrying 3,000 tons of silver and tens of thousands of tons of copper ore from Luzon Island was hit by the Spanish fleet. In order not to aid the enemy, the fleet chose to sink all of them! The angry Spanish shot and killed all the crew members who sank the ships!
By January 1641, the entire South Sea trade route had been almost completely interrupted.
The situation in the South China Sea was like this, and the North China Sea was not much better. Coastal cities in Japan, Fukuoka, Guikuo, and the Ming mainland, including Hainan, Taiwan, Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang, were all harassed or bombarded at least once.
In November 1640, the Spanish concentrated 1 battleship, 3 heavy cruisers and 15 destroyers to attack the Changsha Shipyard located at the mouth of the Yangtze River. At this time, Inukai Toji was forced to lead the remaining ships of the Ming Fleet to fight a decisive battle. The Ming Fleet used torpedoes for the first time in this battle.
Unfortunately, the torpedoes that were powered purely by compressed air were too slow. The 20 torpedo boats fired a total of 160 torpedoes, but only 3 hit the target - and one of them did not explode!
Although the remaining two torpedoes eventually sank one of the enemy's heavy cruisers, only twelve of the twenty torpedo boats under Inukai Toji's command rushed to a distance of less than one thousand meters from the enemy and successfully launched torpedoes, and only six escaped unscathed!
Although the Changsha Shipyard was eventually saved by the fortress artillery, mine array and the desperate battle of the navy, the vitality that the Ming Navy had just gathered seemed to be dissipating again.
Moreover, at that time, the Ming Dynasty was very dependent on overseas markets economically. When foreign sales were almost stagnant, the domestic economy would sooner or later be in trouble because of the large number of products produced in the steam age and there was no market for them.
What is even more annoying is that they harassed shipping routes everywhere. The Spanish fleet that bombarded the coastal ports of the Ming Dynasty and its vassal states distributed leaflets everywhere, the content of which was roughly: Originally, we, Spain and the European Union, were very peace-loving. In the early years, Spain established colonies in the Philippines, Macau, and Thanlyin, and we were able to get along well with you. But after your current emperor came to power, for his own ambitions, he ignored our pleas for peace and sent troops to attack us without any reason. Therefore, we came back this time not to embarrass the vast majority of East Asian people, we just want to teach your arrogant emperor a lesson that will be unforgettable for life. Therefore, hardworking and kind-hearted East Asian people, as long as you abandon that evil emperor and make a public statement that you are no longer subject to that heinous tyrant. Then, we, Spain, and the European Union, will no longer bombard your ports or capture your merchant ships. At the same time, we are willing to give you certain arms assistance to help you resist that tyrant!
Such leaflets were despised by local rulers in countries such as Fu, Gui, Tang, Zhou and even Japan. The monarchs of these vassal states issued a series of orders to search for leaflets and arrest the Spaniards or locals who spread them. However, some countries were shaken by the frequent harassment and bombardment, as well as the offensive of these leaflets.
March 1641, Annan Kingdom, Thanh Hoa Province, Annan Royal Palace.
"Your Majesty, do not hesitate any longer. The Spanish have made very generous offers. As long as Your Majesty issues a statement declaring their withdrawal from the vassal system of the Ming Dynasty, they will not only immediately stop hunting down our fishermen and merchants, but will also give us enough ammunition to arm ten divisions."
"Your Majesty, in the past three months, Hue, Thuan Binh, Huai Nhon...all the major coastal prefectures and counties of Dai Viet have been destroyed by artillery fire. Fishermen cannot go out to sea to fish, and their livelihoods are gone. Merchants cannot go out to sea, and a large amount of goods are rotting in their hands. Farmers cannot sell the rice they grow, and they have no money to pay taxes...If this continues for a little longer, these people will rebel!"
"Your Majesty, the country is in such a difficult situation, but what did the Ming Kingdom do? When our ports and coastal prefectures were bombarded, where was their navy? There was no trace of them at all!"
"Your Majesty, it's fine that the Ming navy is nowhere to be seen. But their army is constantly passing through our country via the Central and Southern Railway. Along the way, they demand that we provide food and laborers, and the pressure is getting stronger day by day. However, our taxes are getting less and less due to the Spanish blockade. If this continues, our country will no longer be a country!"
"My king, please make a quick decision!"
The king of Annan at this time was called Le Duy Tan. Before last year, he was a puppet: Annan was nominally a unified country, but in reality it was a conflict between the two powerful ministers, Zheng in the north and Nguyen in the south.
Last year, due to the resistance of the two powerful officials in the north and south to the Central and Southern Railway of the Ming Dynasty, the Central and Southern Railway was delayed. Zhu Youdong was furious and moved the heads of the Zheng and Ruan families and their main relatives to Beijing for house arrest. This Li Weixin finally stepped into the limelight and took real power.
However, the power of the Li royal family has been lost for too long. For decades, the country has been controlled by the Zheng and Nguyen families. Although Zhu Youdong cleared out the upper echelons of the Zheng and Nguyen families, there are still a large number of Zheng and Nguyen remnants in the middle and lower levels.
When the Ming Dynasty had an absolute advantage, these middle and lower-level officials did not dare to say anything. However, now that the Ming Dynasty was clearly at a disadvantage, some people began to have their minds active.
Facing the ministers' pressure to abdicate, Li Weixin also felt that it was difficult to resist: if he made a tough statement, saying that we must be loyal dogs of the Ming Dynasty, then, he might drown tomorrow.
Therefore, at this moment, he had no choice but to ask: "My lords, if Dai Viet is the first to raise its flag and betray the Ming Dynasty, there is no doubt that Dai Viet will be struck by the thunder of the Ming Dynasty. At that time, can Dai Viet hold on?"
