The fifteenth day of the first lunar month, the Ghost Festival, is the time to go on an expedition.
Chen Kan's fleet finally arrived at the Lion Kingdom at the entrance to the Strait of Malacca, which was later the island chain south of Singapore.
The Lion Country is an island country and a small country, occupying a larger area at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula and the Birla Islands at the entrance to the Strait.
Chen Kan sent envoys to requisition a port on the Bura Island chain from them as a temporary residence, and ordered them not to pass on the news that the Ming Dynasty's fleet had arrived at the entrance of the strait to anyone.
The Lion Kingdom has no choice. The Ming Dynasty, Sumatra, and Manchuria cannot afford to offend them.
But Chen Kan's fleet is just outside the country's gate and can destroy the country at any time, so they can only choose to suffer this loss.
Zhang Dong led his guards and quickly built a wooden house on the island to serve as Chen Kan's temporary command post.
Chen Kan summoned more than a thousand senior generals in the army to announce the strategic deployment of Nanyang.
Previously, only Song Qing and Chen Kan's personal guards knew that Chen Kan was preparing to divide his troops. Therefore, when he announced his strategy of dividing his troops in public, he immediately aroused a burst of opposition.
Both Tan Cong and Dou Xing felt that this was too risky.
The Qianhu under his command are equally divided between those who oppose and those who agree.
But... Chen Kan called them here this time just to announce his decision, not to ask for their opinions.
Therefore, facing the opposition of Tan Cong and Dou Xing, Chen Kan turned a deaf ear and just issued a military order to divide his troops.
Song Qing played a role of admiration very well. When Chen Kan announced the strategy of dividing the troops, he pretended to be dead, but the moment Chen Kan issued the military order, he took it faster than anyone else.
Tan Cong and Dou Xing looked at each other, and a flash of anger after being deceived suddenly flashed across their faces.
Tan Cong frowned and said: "Commander, since you and Commander Jie have decided to divide the troops, why do you need to summon the general and others to discuss it?"
Chen Kan smiled slightly, looked at Tan Cong and asked, "Commander Tan, are you planning to disobey military orders?"
Chen Kan's tone was calm, but there was murderous intent in his eyes.
Tan Cong couldn't help but trembled, and suddenly realized that the person in front of him was a ruthless person.
So, he gave up and returned to the team to start pretending to be quail.
Tan Cong gave up, and Dou Xing naturally refused to persist. He had to show a helpless smile, cupped his hands and said, "I will let the commander-in-chief do what I want."
"very good!"
Chen Kan nodded with satisfaction.
The reputation he has built up in the Ming Dynasty over the years is not in vain. At least it has very good results in terms of being arbitrary.
Because Chen Kan is different from other generals, he can really kill people.
Other generals may still worry about this and that, but Chen Kan does not.
Back on the grassland, Cheng Feng, as his confidant and favorite general, had to be slapped by him, not to mention his two temporary subordinates, Tan Cong and Dou Xing.
If they are unwilling to cooperate, Chen Kan doesn't mind replacing two lieutenants.
It just so happens that he has not killed anyone since he went to sea to establish his national prestige.
However, since they know their interests, Chen Kan will not embarrass them.
After glancing around at the generals in front of him, he pulled out an order arrow from the table and shouted: "Song Qing obeys the order."
"The general is here!"
Song Qing took a step forward, raised his hands and answered.
Chen Kandao: "I will give you three thousand troops to go deep into Sumatra and pretend to attack Bolingbang, the capital of the country. I will also give you 120,000 bullets, 9,000 grenades, and 2,000 servants..."
Song Qing took the order arrow and said respectfully: "The last general has received the order!"
Chen Kan continued to issue orders in an orderly manner. Even though Tan Cong and Dou Xing were unwilling to do so, this time Chen Kan personally led the team and they had no choice but to cooperate fully.
After all, this time they were still going to implement lightning tactics. If something went wrong, the fifteen thousand of them might stay on the sea forever.
"Woo~"
The horn sounded, and Song Qing led his three thousand people to leave the fleet.
Even the servant army following behind was quite critical. They came to ask for help, not to help fight.
But after Song Qing exchanged a few words with Masako Gomatsu, her originally dissatisfied face suddenly became excited.
Seeing the change in this woman's expression, Song Qing couldn't help but sneer in her heart.
He only promised that after Masako defeated Bolin State, he could take all the wealth in the city.
But... only if they are still alive at that time!
Song Qing set off, and Chen Kan still had to wait for news at sea.
After all, Song Qing didn't have wings. After the news of his attack on Bolingbang reached the strait, it would take about ten days for Abi Town to bring in troops to return reinforcements.
Zheng He on the other side of the strait learned the news of the withdrawal of troops from Abi Town, and the time would not be much different from Chen Kan.
Regardless of whether Zheng He arrived in Malacca first or Chen Kan arrived in Malacca first, with the artillery fire covering the area, the tactics of blocking Manlacca's sea of people would not be a big problem.
As soon as the two fleets converge, it will be the day when Paramesura goes to the Ming Dynasty to dance.
But before that, Chen Kan still needs to think about how to continue the plan against Nanyang.
The plan in Liaodong is going very smoothly. The Jurchens have successfully occupied North Korea and are encroaching on the Japanese mainland at a rapid speed.
When the Jurchens completely occupied Japan and killed the Japanese people to a certain extent, the Ming Dynasty could take advantage of the situation and send troops to take over these two territories from the Jurchens under the banner of revenge for their younger brother.
But the current situation in Nanyang is completely deadlocked.
Originally, Chen Kan hoped that Sumatra and Manchuria would continue to fight to unify the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and then secretly encouraged the winner to march toward the north of the Southeast Asian Peninsula.
In the end, Nanyang was unified to compete with the Ming Dynasty, and finally these places were brought under the rule of the Ming Dynasty.
It's just that Chen Kan had calculated everything, but he didn't expect that Abizhen would choose to join forces with Paramesoula to target Zheng He. Not only did the two countries cease war, but he also forced Zheng He to temporarily lie dormant on the other side of the strait to wait for rescue.
In a sense, this can be regarded as a manifestation of Abizhen's talent and strategy.
After all, not everyone has the courage to challenge the owners of strong ships and cannons after seeing the power of them.
After pondering for a long time, Chen Kan still had no clue.
After all, the situation in Nanyang is much more complicated than that in Liaodong.
After all, there is only one country like North Korea in Liaodong, and the ethnic composition is relatively pure. They are either Mongolians, Jurchens, or Koreans.
The Nanyang is different. The Nanyang is not a complete landmass, but a huge island chain.
There are hundreds of countries on these islands, and some islands are occupied by thousands of people, so they can claim to be a country.
There is a sea in the middle. If you want to conquer another country, you must take a boat.
But there are no resources on some islands that are worth sending troops to compete for by several big countries in Southeast Asia.
This leads to the fact that these countries in Southeast Asia have little ambition.
This situation is very similar to the Western Regions during the Han and Tang Dynasties.
The Western Region is also composed of many small countries. A city is a country, and there are deserts between countries.
It is difficult for such a loose country to give birth to a hegemonic power.
Take Manchuria and Sumatra as examples. They have the largest population and the largest land area in Southeast Asia. They also occupy the Strait of Malacca, a choke point on the sea. They are well-deserved maritime powers in Southeast Asia.
But it is just a powerful country, and it is still one step away from being a hegemonic power.
It is only a little stronger than the few restless small countries on the Southeast Asian peninsula, but it is also very limited.
Chen Kan didn't know about these things before he came to Nanyang.
He only knew that the situation in Nanyang was complicated, but he never thought it would be so complicated.
If he had come to Nanyang earlier, Chen Kan would not have chosen to copy Liaodong's strategy of killing people with a borrowed knife to drive away tigers and devour wolves to Nanyang.
Because there is no possibility of success at all.
It's hard for Zheng He to persist at sea for so long and honestly follow Chen Kan's plan.
Chen Kan thought about it for a whole day. It was not until the evening that the sound of Zhang Dong pushing open the wooden door woke him up, and he finally came back to his senses.
"Master Hou, it's time to eat!"
Zhang Dong held the tray and placed a meal in front of Chen Kan.
Chen Kan nodded and ate the food on the plate absently, but he was still thinking deeply in his mind.
Zhang Dong stood aside and saw Chen Kan's distracted look, so he couldn't help but asked aloud: "Master Hou, what's bothering you?"
Chen Kan nodded subconsciously and shook his head subconsciously.
But Chen Kan's actions aroused Zhang Dong's curiosity even more.
It's just that Zhang Dong is a qualified personal guard, and he never asks too many questions that shouldn't be asked. This is the only way he can always be valued by Chen Kan.
Therefore, despite the curiosity in his heart, he did not continue to speak, but was ready to wait for Chen Kan to eat and clean up the mess.
Chen Kan didn't say much, thinking about various possibilities while eating.
His expression was focused and serious, so serious that he even ate all the strong spices in the dishes.
Zhang Dong was speechless and wanted to remind him several times, but he couldn't bear to disturb Chen Kan's thoughts.
Finally, after Chen Kan took several mouthfuls of air without tasting anything, he was surprised to realize that there was no food in the bowl.
Chen Kan put down his chopsticks, suddenly turned to look at Zhang Dong, and asked: "Zhang Dong, you said, I want to eat a big fat fish, but the big fish doesn't want to be fat. What should I do?"
In Chen Kan's words, I am the Ming Dynasty, and the big fish is Nanyang.
Daming wanted to eat Nanyang, but the fish in Nanyang was now too thin for Daming to eat.
Chen Kan didn't expect Zhang Dong to give any useful answers, he just wanted to ask.
Sure enough, after listening to Chen Kan's question, Zhang Dong's face suddenly showed confusion.
After a moment, he cautiously asked: "The big fish that the Marquis said doesn't want to grow fat, is it because the big fish doesn't want to eat the bait, or the owner doesn't feed it the bait?"
This question was asked so well that Chen Kan didn't know how to answer it for a moment.
After thinking for a moment, Chen Kan muttered: "The big fish is too lazy and unwilling to eat the bait."
Zhang Dongruo nodded with understanding and continued to ask: "Is it because the big fish are unwilling to eat all the baits, or are they just simply not eating a certain kind?"
"Um?"
As soon as Zhang Dong said this, Chen Kan's eyes suddenly lit up.
Then, as if something suddenly occurred to him, he murmured to himself: "The big fish won't eat the bait, won't eat the bait, won't eat the bait, what should I do, what should I do, what should I do?"
Zhang Dong didn't hear clearly what Chen Kan was saying to himself.
But this did not prevent him from telling the next answer. He looked at Chen Kan and continued: "If you don't eat one kind of bait, then change it to another kind of bait, but the premise is that you can't let the big fish know that you want to eat it. If the big fish still refuses to eat, then continue to change the bait, and there will always be something that can make the big fish fat."
Chen Kan couldn't stop nodding, and the smile on his lips became wider and wider.
When Zhang Dong finished his words, Chen Kan couldn't help laughing: "Hahaha, yes, change the bait, why didn't I think of such a simple thing?"
Chen Kan's sudden laughter made Zhang Dong stunned for another moment.
He knew that what the Marquis asked about fish and bait just now was definitely not just about fish, but Chen Kan didn't elaborate, and he wouldn't ask in detail.
After all, his suggestions can help Mr. Hou, so he is very happy.
After you are happy, you still have to clean up the mess.
He honestly put away Chen Kan's bowls and chopsticks. Seeing that Chen Kan was lost in thought again, Zhang Dong quietly left the room without saying anything.
As soon as Zhang Dong left, Chen Kan eagerly found the sea chart and started studying it.
Zhang Dong's words provided him with a new idea, which was bait.
At the beginning, Chen Kan ignored this problem and simply believed that Ming Dynasty could benefit by provoking a fight between all parties.
But now that I have ideas, my way of looking at the problem has become more profound.
The reason why the Jurchens were encouraged by Chen Qia to march into North Korea and Japan was because Chen Qia found them bait that suited the taste of the Jurchens.
Founding of the country.
The Jurchens wanted to found a country, but Liaodong was too cold and the environment was too harsh to be suitable for founding a country.
So they had reason to occupy the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese Kingdom, because they needed a place with a warm climate to establish their own country.
But Nanyang is different.
Sumatra and Manchuria have no reason to invade the neighboring small countries, because they are already the most powerful countries in Southeast Asia, and they have no interests in the neighboring countries.
So when Zheng He was around, he could still start a war between the two countries with just one mouth.
But as soon as Zheng He left, they immediately called a truce.
And they also joined forces to target Zheng He.
The reason for the current situation is that the two countries found that they would not gain much from fighting like this.
When they fought when Zheng He was around, they could get tangible benefits because Zheng He provided them with support.
Now that Zheng He is gone, no one will benefit them anymore. If they continue to fight, they will end up with both sides losing.
So they decided to call a truce and join forces to seize Zheng He's fleet and share the goods equally.
Of course, another very important reason is that Nanyang is far away from the Central Plains, and there is no unified thought or ancient saying.
The root cause of the problem has been found, and the next step is to prescribe the right medicine.
Since Nanyang doesn’t have any unified thoughts, wouldn’t it be enough to let Nanyang have this thought?
Sumatra and Manchuria feel that war is not beneficial to them, so why not let them benefit from war?
It was very simple for Chen Kan to achieve this goal. It was even so simple that Ming Dynasty only needed one sentence to force them to launch a war.
That is an economic blockade!
All Ming needs to say is that it will not allow any Ming caravans to do business with these two countries, nor will it allow all Ming vassal states to do business with these two countries.
can achieve the goal.
And the reasons are all ready-made. The two countries blocked the strait without authorization and attacked the Ming Dynasty's fleet. This was a provocation to the Ming Dynasty's majesty.
Therefore, Ming Dynasty wanted to impose an economic blockade on these two countries.
The two countries of Sumatra and Manchuria made their fortunes by relying on the straits and commerce.
If there is no one to do business with them, then the luxurious life of the powerful in their country cannot be maintained by the small amount of taxes paid by the extremely poor people.
And they have become accustomed to caravans traveling from various places bringing them all kinds of good things.
They are also used to the convenience brought to them by all kinds of good things.
They don't need to develop domestic resources, nor do they need to farm, they just need to enjoy themselves every day.
And once these things are gone, can the powerful people in the two countries who are accustomed to luxurious life accept such a gap?
Obviously it can't be done.
No, what should I do?
There are two options, either develop the country and find ways to be self-sufficient, or start a war and rob other countries.
There are so many small countries in Southeast Asia that can trade normally with other countries, but they are the only two countries that can only watch helplessly. If others don't sell things to them, their things can't be sold.
Can they have balance in their hearts?
As long as they launch a war against small countries like those in Southeast Asia, it is not up to the two countries to decide when the war will end.
Because then they will see that those small countries are no longer something they can bully at will.
They have advanced weapons and advanced warships.
As for the other small countries, what will happen to them when they discover that the so-called Nanyang power is so vulnerable?
They will feel that these two big countries occupy too much territory, and they will feel that the tax collection power in the strait should be equally divided.
And once the situation develops like this, how can Manchuria and Sumatra tolerate not eating the meat but becoming a money-giving boy?
Then the situation in Nanyang will suddenly become either the east wind prevails over the west wind or the west wind overpowers the east wind.
No matter which Guofeng becomes the final winner, Chen Kan's goal can be achieved.
Because as the war spreads, the idea of unification will be deeply buried in the hearts of every Nanyang indigenous people.
Speaking of which, Chen Kan had seen these things too many times in later generations.
In the game between great powers and great powers in later generations, economic blockade is only the basis.
The final result after the game is that Central Asia has become a wasteland.
But Chen Kan had never thought of these things that were familiar to him in his previous life.
If Zhang Dong hadn't provided him with ideas at the critical moment, I'm afraid he would still be thinking about how to drive away a wolf and swallow a tiger and kill someone with a borrowed knife.
After clarifying his thoughts, Chen Kan immediately began to reflect on himself.
His layout was still a bit small, and he could only see a certain chess piece, but he never thought that all countries could become chess pieces.
Being stuck between Manchuria and Sumatra is really not what a time traveler should do.
