Completely drive the Spanish and Portuguese empire out of Nanyang?
A good idea, and Gao Pragmatic has always taken this as his long-term goal. It's just that troubles have happened one after another in recent years. He, Gao Situ, now has most of the world's wealth and power in his hands, and is even more busy. Accordingly, he doesn't want too much fluctuations in southern Xinjiang.
Originally, according to Gao's pragmatic design, in a few years, the problems of Mongolia, Japan, and the Jurchens would be basically solved. By then, Gao should be able to have some leisure time. Moreover, almost ten years of immigration had already passed at that time, and the number of Han people in southern Xinjiang and Nanyang was bound to increase significantly. It would naturally become easier to arrange various tasks at that time.
But today, because of the nobles' eagerness to act, Gao Pragmatic felt that they had to be loosened. After all, transforming the nobles from feudal landowners to trading capital was an important principle in his plan to transform the nobles.
Promoting reform with interests is Gao's pragmatic and consistent basic idea. In his view, if the "ruling class" cannot benefit from the reform, or the profits are not as great as the losses, then no matter how beneficial the reform is to the people, the "ruling class" will have no motivation and will only become resistance.
These nobles are military ministers in name only, but in fact they cannot fight at all. From this point of view, raising them is a complete waste of national resources. But the problem is that if they oppose the reform, the pressure for reform will be too great - not all the civil servants in the court agree with the reform. Once the nobles also side with the conservatives, they will no longer be pragmatic. So what if you get the holy favor?
Can Zhu Yijun live forever or what? When he dies at the latest, this reform will not just be a matter of people leaving the country and the government resting, but it will inevitably be counterattacked and settled after the fall, and then everything will return to the original track, even more "reactionary", and the Ming Dynasty will die. Gain or die.
Therefore, after listening to what Zhu Yingzhen and Zhang Yuangong said, Gao Pragmatic had no choice but to loosen their ties. However, targeting Japan would affect his subsequent plans, so he had to make temporary changes and guide their attention to the Philippines.
However, Gao Pragmatic did not have time to think about the chain reaction at that time. It was only when Liu Xin reminded him that he realized that he could not completely separate the Spaniards and the Portuguese.
As Liu Xin said, after all, Spain and Portugal now share the same monarch, and Philip II's control over Portugal is also very powerful. Once the Philippines, a "transit station" of great significance in the Spanish colonial system, was taken away from him, it would be difficult for Philip II to remain indifferent.
The Spaniards are already overwhelmed in Europe. What can they do if they lose the Philippines? Two options: fight back regardless of losses, or switch to using Portuguese colonial strongholds.
Fighting back is definitely the happiest option, but Gao Pragmatic estimates that Philip II can't do it, and Philip II himself should know it well.
Then it is very likely that, as Liu Xin reminded, Philip II is very likely to ask Portugal for help.
Can Portugal refuse? Obviously not.
Tens of thousands of Spanish troops were stationed in Portugal, and even Philip II himself stayed in Lisbon (since he obtained the Portuguese throne, he stayed in Lisbon for a long time in order to be a nearby deterrent). The Portuguese nobles are now trembling with fear and fear. How can they refuse? Reject with your head?
Therefore, no matter how unwilling the Portuguese were, as long as Philip II opened his mouth, Malacca would definitely be used by the Spaniards. Considering the current mentality of the Spaniards, there is no guarantee that they will not play tricks with Jinghua after obtaining the right to use Malacca.
Wanting to understand this truth, Gao Pragmatic couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It really affects the whole body. I originally planned to pursue the idea of Malacca in a few years, but now it seems that it has to be brought forward. But the Nanzhang matter has not been resolved yet. Malacca will be included in the plan again..."
Liu Xin shook his head and said: "The matter in Malacca is actually easy to handle. Although this place is important, since it can be attacked by land, the difficulty is much lower than attacking Manila. If Malacca, Dadi, Pahang and other Malacca If the city-state is willing to let the Dingnan garrison pass through, it shouldn't be difficult to capture Malacca."
Gao Pragmatic agrees with this statement. The reason why he appointed his cousin Gao Ruichu as the patrol envoy to Siam, and also made the Cambodian surrendered general Musali as the garrison of Siam, gave them the fourth town of Dingnan Garrison Army and the independent garrison of Siam. Aren't the two town-level establishments of divisions (towns) prepared to capture Malacca?
The Fourth Town of Dingnan Garrison Army is one of the "Five Dingnan Towns", with a full complement of more than 12,700 people. It is actually full. The town has two standard infantry regiments, three independent artillery regiments, one independent cavalry regiment, and two engineer battalions;
The Siam Independent Garrison Division is also a town-level unit. The reason why "division" is used to distinguish "town" is because currently Jinghua uses towns as the standard army configuration, and divisions exist as auxiliary forces. To a certain extent, they are equivalent to the later Red Dynasty. The armed police force is mainly focused on guarding the local area, but it also has certain combat capabilities and can quickly supplement the "town" level military establishment when needed.
The Siam Independent Garrison Division's personnel establishment is slightly smaller than that of the town. The division's current establishment is more than 9,000 people, organized into two infantry associations and two engineering battalions.
All in all, in Siam alone - that is, the northern part of the Malay Peninsula - Jinghua has about 22,000 troops stationed, which is quite powerful.
Less than eighty years ago, the Portuguese captured the city of Malacca with a garrison of 20,000 with only 700 men. At that time, there were five merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty in the city of Malacca (coming in violation of the sea ban). In order to show his friendship with the Ming Dynasty and to demonstrate at the same time, the Portuguese colonist Alfonso de Albuquerque generously Ming merchants were allowed to board Portuguese warships and watch the entire conquest process.
The specific battle process has been obtained from the descendants of these businessmen, and it can be roughly divided into two stages.
In the first stage, Portugal stormed but failed because the Sultan of Malacca also had firearms from Europe. These firearms were sent to India by Venice. The root cause is that Venice knew that once Portugal controlled the Arab-India trade route, Venice's Mediterranean trade advantage would be broken, and the Mediterranean trade circle would be replaced by the Atlantic trade circle.
The idea was correct, as subsequent developments proved. At that time, under this guiding ideology, Venice imported European firearms to Arabia, Arabia imported them to India, and India imported them to Malacca. The whole process took about ten years.
In any case, although the Sultan of Malacca fought ugly, he still relied on firearms to withstand the first wave of Portuguese attacks. The Portuguese who completed the landing and attacked Malacca had too few troops to bear heavy casualties, so they took the initiative to retreat after finding it difficult to build fences and fortifications.
The Portuguese did not really retreat, they waited for their opportunity on the ship. The opportunity came quickly. Since Malacca itself is also a river port, the key to attacking Malacca is the bridge connecting the two urban areas in the city. So the Portuguese took advantage of the rising tide to use warships to enter the river and suppress the defenders in the city with warship artillery. The firepower finally established an artillery position in the city.
Ten days later, seeing no hope of guarding the city, the Sultan fled Malacca with his two sons. A large number of Burmese and Indian traders began to approach Albuquerque and acknowledge his occupation of the city. From then on, the city of Malacca became the most important Portuguese base in the east of India until today.
Albuquerque's conquest of Malacca was typical of the Portuguese conquests in Asia of that era. Although the defenders were often large in number and possessed a small number of good weapons, they were still unable to withstand the attacks of the new European conquerors. As the best naval force in the world at that time (referring to the period of 1511), the Portuguese not only had an advantage on the sea, but also demonstrated the qualities honed on the European battlefield in a series of landing and siege operations.
As an international metropolis that relies on trade exchanges for a living, the people of Malacca could theoretically obtain the most advanced weapons at the time through shipping, and hire professional soldiers from inside and outside the region to serve as defenders (in fact, among the 20,000 troops of the Sultan of Malacca There are a large number of mercenaries).
However, this rapid military modernization cannot fundamentally change the weak nature of local military strength. Whether it is new artillery, Indian war elephants, or traditional venom bows and arrows, they cannot make up for the deficiencies in the quality of soldiers and the lagging command system.
Although the Malacca Sultanate is a local hegemon, it lacks the efficiency of a centralized state to pool resources. In fact, after the fall of Malacca, the remnants of the Sultanate continued to fight the Portuguese for a long time, and it was not until the arrival of the Dutch that it came to an end. This shows that the capital was quickly captured because they could not concentrate resources to defend the capital.
Portugal's victory was brought about by leveraging its strengths and avoiding weaknesses and rationally utilizing its own advantages. Taking advantage of the rising tide, the fleet was used to attack key points, and the ceremonial cannons suppressed the firepower of the defenders... The Portuguese victory was deserved.
Now, due to the penetration of Jinghua, the situation of the Portuguese in Malacca is almost undefended for Gao Pragmatic.
First of all, although Malacca has an important location, because Portugal is a small country with a small population, its main power in Asia is still concentrated in Goa, its capital in India. Their power in Malacca City was not strong at other times, and could even be said to be weak, except during the period when Portuguese merchant ships came here in large numbers.
Similar to the situation of the Spanish in Manila, the Portuguese warships in Malacca would not exceed 20 in normal times, and the number of stationed army troops would also not exceed 2,000.
Jinghua is not the local indigenous sultan. The force he possesses is at least at the same level as the Europeans, and his tactical thinking is even more advanced. Can the 2,000-man Portuguese army defend against the attack of 22,000 Jinghua troops?
impossible. Jinghua did not even need to rely on the naval fleet to take advantage of the rising tide to enter Malacca. Their direct attack was enough to ensure victory. Of course, it would be better if the fleet also took action and fought against Portugal.
Gao pragmatic thought for a while, then turned to Gao Mo and asked: "Rui Chu has been in southern Siam for so long, and he should have had contact with small countries such as Su Luo Ke, Dadi, Pahang, etc. Do you think they will be willing to let us go?" The road to attack Malacca?”
Gao Mo said: "There is contact, and the normal relationship between the two parties is acceptable. However, although these small countries may not know the story of the false Taoist attack on Guo, they do know that the King of Siam is currently under house arrest in Dingnan. The old slave suspects that once the young master actually sends troops, they may worry that they will become the puppets of our capital like Siam in the future, so...it is difficult to say how they will react."
Gao pragmatic looked at Liu Xin again and asked, "Miss Liu, what do you think?"
Liu Xin pouted and said: "My opinion is that even if they are willing to give way, it is best for us to pretend we don't know and just fight all the way."
"Oh?" Gao Pingshi said with a half-smile, "I didn't expect you to be so domineering, girl."
The word "side" made Liu Xin know that Gao Pragmatic's words had some teasing meaning in his previous life, but she didn't mind. Instead, she deliberately straightened her chest and said, "That's natural."
Gao pragmatic held back his laughter and asked, "Why? Oh, I mean, why do you have to fight all the way?"
"I'm too lazy to bother." Liu Xin said very straightforwardly: "These small countries are sandwiched between Dingnan and Malacca, and Dingnan is the capital of southern Xinjiang that you have decided, and Malacca will definitely be the commercial center in the future. What's the point between these two places? Can it tolerate the existence of other uncontrolled forces?
How can others be allowed to snore on the side of the bed? Let alone these small countries, including the country of Johor to the south of Malacca, I think they should be bulldozed in one fell swoop - to put it simply, the Malay Peninsula does not allow any other force to influence the situation. , must be completely controlled by Jinghua! "
Gao Jingshi did not continue to struggle and asked directly: "Who should we send to fight? Can Rui Chu and Musali do it?"
"If you are asking whether the two of them can win the battle together, I think it is possible." Liu Xin shrugged slightly: "But if you are asking who is the most suitable person to go to, then I don't think they are the best candidates."
"Oh? What's the reason?" Gao Pragmatic looked as usual and didn't seem surprised.
"You have many surrendered generals under you, and Mousali is the last to defect. If he goes to achieve such a great achievement... Ruan Huang has made great achievements in pacifying Cambodia, so that's fine, but like Mo Yulin How should people like them deal with themselves?
Mo Yulin's performance in this Nanzhang crisis does not look very good, but we all know that he is just unable to determine the attitudes of you and Huang Dutong, so he is at a loss. It does not mean that he is unable to control the situation of the battle.
And if he doesn't have a place in the ensuing war on the Malay Peninsula, I suspect that he will become overly concerned and wonder if you are dissatisfied with him, are on guard against him, or even want to kill the donkey. heart of. "
Gao pragmatic did not express his position and asked again: "What about Rui Chu?"
"Gao Ruichu is your nephew, not your son." Liu Xin's words are still very straightforward: "Your son may not even be able to walk now. If Gao Ruichu makes such a great contribution, in the future... do you think he will treat you badly?" How much sincere respect will your heir have?"
Gao pragmatically smiled: "You are thinking too far."
Liu Xin raised her chin slightly: "Really?"
Gao Pingshi was too lazy to argue and sighed softly: "So what you mean is that you want Zhiting to go there in person again?"
"Then you guessed what I meant wrong. I think Huang Dutong had better not go this time." Liu Xin raised her eyebrows and asked, "She is your wife, but she is not you after all. Now from Looking at the entire southern Xinjiang, only Annan was conquered by you personally. Since then, whether it is Burma, Siam, or even Nanzhang, or even Cambodia this time, it can all be regarded as the contribution of Huang Dutong. Don’t you think Is there something wrong with this situation?
But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying she has any evil intentions. I just think that if things go on like this, there will be a situation in southern Xinjiang that is inevitable. This situation... may cause trouble. "
Gao Jingshi was a little surprised that Liu Xin said this, but since she even said the words "there are two days in the sky", how could Gao Jingshi not know what her so-called trouble was?
Empress Lu and Wu Fu.
What's more coincidental is that both Empress Lu and Wu Fu had a large family, and Huang Zhiting's family was even more powerful. If there is any difference, it is probably that Huang Zhiting acted from a pragmatic standpoint from beginning to end.
But this matter...if she had to say it, when Wu Fu was still the queen, she didn't dare to disobey Li Zhi's wishes. Both of these two men had high status before their husbands, but they did not oppose their husbands. After their husbands died, they took over the power, used their natal relatives to their advantage, and the court changed colors.
Gao Mo was also a little frightened by Liu Xin's words. In fact, he also felt that his wife's power was too much and her prestige in southern Xinjiang was too high. However, as an old servant of the Gao family, he really couldn't use his slave to doubt his master, so he never Dare to say it.
At this time, Gao Mo could no longer pretend to be stupid. He coughed lightly and said in a low voice: "If the master is hesitant, it is better to wait until the Nanzhang matter is over and see how Madam handles Huang Yinglei before making a decision."
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