Chapter 17 Japanese pirates
During this period of time during the Hongwu period, He Xi's biggest impression was that he was full of martial virtue. He Xi almost didn't have to think about war. It seemed that the Ming Dynasty was always going from one victory to another. The enemy was never the one who restricted the Ming Dynasty. But geography.
And Chen Zuyi is a big pirate. But only how many people. No more than ten thousand people. Even if he united with the Nanyang bandits, there wouldn't be much. At least from Daming's perspective, it's nothing at all.
How can you not win?
Tang He snorted coldly and said, "Your generation, please note that winning is too easy. After hearing that they have won many battles, they feel that they can win in anything, but they don't analyze it at all."
"First of all, Chen Zuyi is far away in Nanyang. When the army arrives in Nanyang, can we find Chen Zuyi? There are many islands in Nanyang. What should I do if Chen Zuyi is hiding? The expedition is in vain. When the time comes, how will I explain it to the people of the world?"
"Secondly, the Ming Dynasty soldiers came to Nanyang, and they only dealt with Chen Zuyi. Do you believe it? Do the many kings of Nanyang believe it? It should be noted that the Mongols were invincible and invincible, but they suffered a huge defeat in Java. The Mongols are not as good as Java? Because it’s beyond our reach.”
"When the time comes, the court will not be fighting just Chen Zuyi. How should we deal with the situation in Nanyang then?"
"If we really want to fight, it's not impossible to win. But we need to mobilize a large number of troops, at least tens of thousands of navy troops. In addition, the scale of the labor expedition may not be as large as the Battle of Yunnan, but it is a lot of determination. Almost all the coastal guards are It’s time to use it. Is such a big price really worth it?”
"The court is not doing anything else?"
He Xi felt secretly ashamed after hearing this.
He Xi reflected on himself. I feel that there were constant military victories during the Hongwu period, and there were no major defeats. Perhaps it’s not just because at the beginning of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, martial virtue was abundant. But the Ming Dynasty, headed by Zhu Yuanzhang, really understood military affairs and war.
Because of this, soldiers should not attack lightly, but they will hit the target if they attack.
Just like the war with Mongolia, Hongwu repeatedly attacked five years ago, with great intention of destroying this imperial power. In the fifth year of Hongwu, after the peak showdown between Xu Da and Wang Baobao, Zhu Yuanzhang judged that the foundation of the Yuan Dynasty was still there and could not be destroyed for a while. Just change your strategy immediately.
The King of Liang in Yunnan had been independent for more than ten years. If it had not been for the murder of the envoy, Zhu Yuanzhang would have tolerated him.
It's not that Zhu Yuanzhang has a soft temper and Ming Dynasty doesn't want face. In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang has always been pragmatic when considering national affairs. We will not rashly launch troops just because of the life or death of one or two people. Although I feel a little sorry for those envoys who died for their country. But sometimes the court must think so realistically.
Rather, use force and moderate force. It also reflects the wisdom of a politician.
He Xi also forgot that the Ming Dynasty's expansion into Southeast Asia started with Zheng He's voyages to the West. Prior to this, Nanyang was not actually submissive to the Ming Dynasty. Exchanges between countries are also based on strength. No matter how powerful the Ming Dynasty is. For the kings of Nanyang, it was all over the horizon. The troops in the Central Plains are not as good as those in Nanyang, so we don't want them to see how powerful they are. Nothing is easy to handle.
Chen Zuyi has more than ten thousand troops, but it is a small matter.
Whether the Southeast Asian countries obey the Ming Dynasty or not is a big deal.
He Xi said: "Uncle Tang, I was wrong. What do the Japanese pirates look like?"
Tang He said: "The Japanese pirates are not much different from Chen Zuyi. Their roots are not in the southeast coast. They are in Japan. To harass the southeast, there are only two ways. The first is to go south along Ryukyu and from Ryukyu to Ningbo. The other is to go directly westward. , along the coast of the government and the countryside, to Liaodong and Shandong areas."
"It's easy to say it's a crusade against Japan. But in fact, the expedition cost countless people. Your Majesty, in fact, you have always wanted a political solution. You have written many times to ask the King of Japan, the Ashikaga family, to restrain the people and quell the Japanese pirates. But Japan did not give face. This is how we met Japan cuts off tribute.”
"The key to dealing with Japanese pirates lies in Ryukyu. The imperial court treated Ryukyu favorably and moved Han people into Ryukyu. It was intended to use Ryukyu as a barrier to prevent Japanese pirates from going south."
"The number of Japanese pirates is actually not that large. A thousand of them would be considered a large group."
Tang He sighed, rubbed his temples, and said: "Actually, there is no way to guard against thieves for a thousand days. But now we have to guard against thieves for a thousand days. It's really troublesome."
Perhaps during the Jiajing period, Japanese pirates became bigger. But during the Hongwu period, the threat at sea was really scabies. Just say there's something wrong, it's not a big deal. But it makes people feel uncomfortable and it is very difficult to solve it. And it happens repeatedly.
Tang He fought many dangerous and fierce battles. None of them troubled him, but today's situation made Tang He scratch his head and sigh.
He Xi said: "How will the Duke prepare to respond?"
Tang He said: "What else can we do? Before I came, I had discussed it with His Majesty many times. I decided to build many castles along the coast to guard important places on the coast, and to use coastal guards to patrol the sea and guard against Japanese pirates and pirates."
Many castle guards on the southeast coast were built by Tang He. It was not until the Jiajing period that the military boom in the southeast caused a wave of new castles.
Of course, this is a story for later.
He Xi also had a wry smile in his heart.
In fact, in He Xi's view, Tang He built so many castles. As far as civil engineering is concerned. If you calculate the cost, it is definitely not low. If we use the statistical calculations of later generations, so many large and small cities will be built along the southeast coast. The cost is estimated to be about the same as assembling tens of thousands of troops to launch a Nanyang expedition. Even the cost of coastal construction is likely to be higher.
the reason is simple.
The troops and warships used in the Nanyang Campaign were not disposable. It is just a one-time use, and the cost will not be simply calculated. As long as there is no major defeat, the cost of transporting troops and food by sea is not high. But it is different to build so many castles and fortresses along the southeast coast.
That's real estate. Perhaps the cost is not high if depreciated over a long service life. But it has to be paid once.
But the problem still returns to the original problem.
Under the corvee system, labor costs were negligible, or undercounted. Sometimes for corvee work, people are required to bring their own dry ingredients.
Under this system, almost all the supplies needed for a southern expedition had to be allocated from the treasury. But building a castle along the southeast coast is different. You can definitely recruit corvees. And there are generally many castles along the southeast coast. But it is distributed along the long coastline. In the case of using corvee labor, the pressure was evenly distributed to the people in various places. rather than concentrated in one place. The common people can also bear it.
The imperial court had very little financial resources to use. If we also use the guard army, the cost will be even lower.
Moreover, this project has long-term plans. There is no need to rush the construction, so the local pressure on the court will be lighter.
From this perspective, Zhu Yuanzhang's decision is the most appropriate. This problem was solved with the minimum cost. With a solid defense line and a long-term training mechanism. For a long time from now on, neither Japanese bandits nor pirates will be able to cause any big trouble.
This is enough.
Facts also prove it.
When Japanese pirates really started to attack, they only arose after the garrison army had declined terribly. Even at that time, various military stations also fought some fierce battles. It's not that the Weisuo army still has the courage to go to war. But the pirates discovered that these guards were located in important coastal defense locations. No more pulling out. Can't go deep into the hinterland.
This was launched.
It can be seen that Tang He has worked hard on this system.
He Xi thought about it for a long time. Although he felt that Tang He's method was not good, this method of being beaten passively and preventing thieves for a thousand days was very passive. But he couldn't think of any good ideas.
There seem to be many ideal solutions in the world, but they all require cost considerations.
Zhu Yuanzhang obviously had no intention of waging war in the southeast.
The focus of Ming's national defense is now in the north, and it will also be in the north in the future. This will not waver. Even Zhu Yuanzhang himself could not be shaken. The imperial court only has so much money and food in one account. It is impossible for Zhu Yuanzhang to create money out of thin air.
With this little money, there are very few choices. Although Tang He's method is more passive and stupid, there are many things that can be done with the money. There are more things that Tang He can't do.
He Xi secretly thought: "Perhaps, after a while, I will need to go back to Beijing to have a good talk with him."
