In Nanjing, on the Laoshan Palace campus, neat footsteps stirred up dust. Groups of soldiers formed a phalanx of a thousand men, either carrying muskets on their shoulders or holding spears. Accompanied by the sound of one long and one short suona, they walked in neat steps and passed in front of a group of inspecting people. Each soldier wore a helmet and carried a backpack and water bottle. He didn't look sideways and just listened to the sound of the suona with all his concentration.
Officers from the two guard regiments in the north and south stood at the front of the queue, shouting commands from time to time to keep the queue orderly. The generals of each battalion held their swords in their hands and walked at the front of the square camp with a small group of guards, messengers and flag bearers. When the phalanx of each battalion passes in front of the group of inspecting people, the generals of each battalion will take the lead in shouting: "Long live the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will be victorious..."
It turned out that it was Emperor Zhu Youjian of the Ming Dynasty who was inspecting the training of the troops!
In the previous life, Zhu Youjian was a very diligent emperor. His hands shook when approving memorials every day. After being the emperor for more than ten years, he only missed a few mornings, and he was always attentive almost every month.
In this life, Zhu Youjian was an emperor who rarely went to court, and rarely went to the palace to work all year round. But when it came to something, he was very diligent and tried his best to deal with it himself instead of sitting in the palace and listening to a report... That was military affairs!
Zhu Youjian tried his best to intervene in everything related to the army, whether it was selecting generals, training troops, making weapons, paying salaries, allocating military fields, etc.
This time Zhu Youjian went south to Nanjing and stayed there for so many days. Seeing that it was almost winter, he did not consider returning to the north. In addition to supervising the sub-provinces of Southern Zhili, setting up a government office, paying grain and taxes, and doing business as a whole, Zhu Youjian In addition to entering the mu and other new policies, it was to dismantle the guard posts, select generals and train troops, rectify the southeastern armaments, and train the Luzon Expeditionary Force, which had been formed for almost two years.
What Zhu Youjian is reviewing now is the Luzon Expeditionary Force, led by Qin Yiming, Qin Liangyu's nephew and Zhu Youjian's father-in-law!
The so-called Luzon Expeditionary Force was of course used to attack Luzon Island. Therefore, most of the officers and soldiers of this army are from Guangdong and Guangxi. The main body is the thousands of model soldiers brought to Beijing by Xiong Wencan when he was transferred from the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi to Beijing to serve as the cabinet minister and the minister of the Ministry of Industry. Later, some soldiers from Guangdong and Guangxi, Qin Liangyu, and Ma Xianglin were added. , Sichuan and Guizhou officers recommended by Fu Zonglong. Finally, two large regiments were assembled, equipped with an artillery battalion and some auxiliary troops, bringing the total number to about 10,000.
After two years of training, both soldiers and officers have become elites. Tactics such as thousand-man gun formations, artillery and infantry coordination, digging trenches and fortifications, etc. have all been mastered.
If they faced the Spanish army on the European battlefield, they might not be able to win, but the Spanish army on Luzon Island was not very strong and their numbers were not large. Zhu You estimated that if he sent 5,000 troops, he would definitely win. Now, if he adds a little more insurance factor, if he sends 10,000 troops, he won't lose, right?
Seeing these phalanxes of thousands of people passing in front of him in neat formation, Zhu Youjian was already confident of winning. He turned back to Anthony Van Diemen who had not yet left Nanjing and said: "Anthony, you should be completely convinced now that my army can take the Santiago Fortress, right?"
Anthony Van Diemen's brows were furrowed tightly, as if he was worried.
"Your Majesty," Anthony Van Diemen asked in a low voice, "do you know that the Spanish massacred the Chinese on Luzon Island twice?"
"Oh...it seems to be the Wanli period."
Anthony Van Diemen nodded with a solemn expression: "In 1603 and 1609... a total of nearly 50,000 people were killed in both times!"
Luzon Island was originally a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, and there were a large number of Chinese living on the island. After the Spaniards took Luzon Island, they were always worried about the Ming army coming back. So in 1603 and 1609, they massacred the Chinese twice. The first of these also aroused resistance from the Chinese, and even Fort Santiago was attacked for a time. The second massacre was based on the excuse of raising taxes, which caused some Chinese to resist, and then massacred to eliminate unstable factors.
However, after the massacre, the Spanish colonists used various preferential policies to attract Chinese businessmen and poor Chinese coastal farmers to engage in business and reclamation on Luzon Island. Today, the number of Chinese there has reached hundreds of thousands.
Among them, most of the merchants in Cavite's ports and commercial ports are Chinese!
Anthony Van Diemen now regards Cavite as an industry of the United East India Company, and the Chinese businessmen there are the source of profits for the company!
Profit! But we can't let the Spanish madmen kill them... If everyone is gone, where will the United East India Company make money?
"Anthony," Zhu Youjian seemed to have thought of something, "What news have you heard?"
"Not yet," Anthony Van Diemen said, "but with how crazy the Spaniards are, they will definitely massacre the Chinese in the Cavite commercial port when the Ming army tries to attack."
"Aren't they afraid that my army will retaliate after breaking Santiago Castle?" Zhu You asked.
"Don't be afraid," Anthony Van Diemen said with a wry smile. "If you are afraid, it will not be God's favor with Spain... After they die, they will go to heaven to enjoy happiness."
"They can't go to heaven!" Zhu Youjian said seriously, "Because destiny is mine...I am the one favored by God, not Philip IV of Spain!"
He glanced at Anthony Van Diemen and saw that the profiteer had a surprised look on his face, so he smiled and said: "Destiny is indeed mine, but there is no need to discuss the matter of destiny...Anthony, you must have something to do, Can you let the Spaniards kill less people? Tell me, you guys in Cavite can join the East India Company's territory."
Zhu Youjian now firmly believes that he is the son of destiny...but he believes that there are two sons of destiny in Ming Dynasty, and he is the filial son of destiny. A rebellious son is a rebellious son of destiny. The two generations of father and son should be able to protect the Ming Dynasty's century-old foundation. Spain and other things are not in Zhu Youjian's eyes at all. However, he still hoped that the Chinese in Luzon would not suffer too much loss in the upcoming war.
"There is one way, that is..." Anthony Van Diemen hesitated a little.
"That's it, tell me quickly!" Seeing him hesitating, Zhu Youjian smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if you say it wrong."
"Okay, then I'll say it...my method is to have the attacking troops disguise themselves as the Japanese Tokugawa Shogunate's troops." Anthony Van Diemen is really a good friend of the Japanese people, he actually thought of this A good way to trap Tokugawa Iemitsu...
"The troops pretending to be the Tokugawa Shogunate..." Zhu Youjian thought for a while, "Will the Spaniards believe it?"
"Yes!" Anthony Van Diemen laughed. "The relationship between Spain and Japan has become very tense because of Japan's ban on Catholicism and the massacre of believers."
"Okay, then I'll give it a try!" Zhu Youjian thought for a while and then asked, "Anthony, when do you want to send troops?"
"Winter, this winter!" Anthony Van Diemen said, "The Spanish galleons will leave Manila in June, use the monsoons to go north to Shanghai and Japan, and then use the ocean currents to cross the Pacific to Acapul in New Spain. Branch. It takes five to six months to reach the destination around December. Then it takes another three months to return to Manila in a straight line along the equatorial current...The returning large sailing ship is usually fully loaded. Gold and silver. If we can send troops this winter, we can avoid the Spanish galleons. If we are lucky, we can capture a Spanish galleons full of silver next spring! That’s a lot of money!”
It turns out that Anthony Van Diemen also wants to grab a fortune!
Zhu Youjian said in his heart: You are already a profiteer, and now you want to be a robber. How bad is it!
I should stay away from bad people like you to avoid being led astray by you!
Thinking of this, Zhu Youjian said seriously: "Anthony, if the surrender of the Spanish treasure ship succeeds... I will divide it into half, half of it, the treasure, the ship, and the prisoners will all be divided between me!"
