As for whether the expedition soldiers could win the battle, Emperor Chongzhen was not too worried. Their greatest difficulty, in his opinion, was mainly crossing the Pacific.
If the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty were to figure it out on their own, even Emperor Chongzhen knew that there was a warm Pacific current that could be used. But it would definitely be a bad thing if there is no familiar person to lead the way. Going on a large-scale expedition without going back and forth to figure it out will definitely lead to big losses.
But this time, it was Anders who led the Portuguese fleet. They basically knew what they needed to pay attention to along the way. After all, although they did not have fleets traveling between the Americas and Asia every year like the Spaniards, they also had colonies in South America and the Southeast Asia. The back-and-forth demand is just not as famous as the Spaniards.
In addition, during this expedition, a total of nearly 500 large and small warships of the Ming Dynasty were launched, and the number of people was just over 30,000. I believe there aren't many Spanish people in the entire Americas. Not to mention, the commander-in-chief of this expedition is still the old commander Sun Chuanting.
He will lead this huge fleet to America. Although the most important task assigned to him is to establish a stronghold in North America first, so that the war with the Spanish can be postponed.
But Emperor Chongzhen estimated that if Sun Chuanting and his fleet reached North America safely, as long as he understood the strength of the Spaniards he faced, he would definitely not be able to help but take action. Because Sun Chuanting had a sense of urgency.
After all, Sun Chuanting was born in 1593, which is now the 25th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty. If converted to AD, it would be 1652. In other words, Sun Chuanting is already fifty-nine years old. Fortunately, he has a strong body, but time waits for him. If he doesn't fight more wars and perform meritorious service while he can still move, how can he get a title and leave his name in history?
Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen himself actually felt a sense of urgency. Because his body was born in 1611, he is now forty-one years old. If he aims to conquer the world, he doesn't have much time.
Thanks to the availability of the eavesdropping system, Ming Dynasty has never experienced failure in a major war. Otherwise, if it fails several times, it will definitely delay the progress of conquering the world.
Now the war is advancing outwards, far away from the mainland of Ming Dynasty. Just like Zheng Zhilong said, in this case, you must be fully prepared and defeat the enemy's effective force in one battle, only then can you see the hope of conquering the world in your own lifetime!
Thinking of this, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but secretly thought: Okay, let's continue to storm the troops and equipment, and we'll do it when we're almost done!
When Emperor Chongzhen returned to the capital and continued to focus on domestic construction, Li Dingguo's troops had already arrived at Bombay, the second target for handover with the Portuguese.
This Bombay is just seven small islands in the Arabian Sea. Later generations of Bombay were continuously dredged and filled on this basis, and eventually became a peninsula, connected to the mainland by bridges and causeways.
In the early sixteenth century, the Sultan of Gujarat ceded the land to the Portuguese colonists. Nowadays, it has not developed as it did historically. The Portuguese did not give this place to Britain as Catherine's dowry, but to the Ming Dynasty.
At this time, the largest Portuguese leader in Bombay was the former Governor of Colombo, Philips. He had originally withdrawn to Goa, where there was still a Portuguese colony. However, because it was agreed with the Ming army that when the Ming army established a foothold in Ceylon, they would continue to move westward to take over Bombay. Therefore, Phillips brought as many men as possible to Bombay.
He came here not to serve as a forward stand for the Ming army and to prepare for the handover so that it could be handed over at any time. Instead, he began to frantically plunder the surrounding resources. What he wanted was to make a final profit before handing it over to the Ming army.
When he was in Colombo before, although he already knew that Ceylon was going to be surrendered to the Ming army and he was doing looting, he didn't know when the Ming army would arrive. He is also very difficult to mess with, which makes his robbery always painless.
But in Mumbai, it's different. He knew that the Ming army was coming, and there were no Dutch colonists to restrain them. Although the Mughal Empire was more powerful than the Kandy Kingdom in Ceylon when facing the natives, the center of gravity of the Mughal Empire was mainly in the Delhi area, far away from Bombay. Very far. Anyway, he just grabbed a handful and left, so he had no worries.
At this time, Phillips still didn't expect that the Ming army would arrive so quickly. While going out to greet him, he said to Johnson: "You have always said that the country is rich and prosperous. Look, it is just a small Mumbai. They can't wait to come over and take over!"
Johnson felt a little embarrassed and replied: "Rich people have money, but who cares how much money they have? Although Bombay is not very good, it is already a place of the Ming Dynasty. They are thinking about it and hurriedly come to ask for it. That’s understandable!”
Phillips grinned when he heard this, but this time he did not refute, nodding and saying: "Yes, but it has only been half a year. Didn't the Ming army say that they must gain a firm foothold and capture the entire Ceylon before they come to hand over Bombay? If you rush here now, you are breaking your promise!"
Hearing this, Johnson couldn't help but stand still, his face became serious, and he told Phillips: "Orientals are the best at saving face. You must never say in front of them that they don't keep their word. I tell you, if your temper If you are close to it, you will fall out. I don’t think you will cast a shadow on our relationship with Mingguo just because you are unhappy, right? "
He had no problem with Phillips bringing his men to Bombay and ruthlessly robbing the natives before the handover. Even if Ming Guo knew about it, there was no reason to say anything. After all, before the handover, this was still a Portuguese place. The Portuguese could do whatever they wanted, and no one could control it.
However, if Phillips later turned against the Ming army, it would definitely not be something that Joao IV could bear. Johnson's existence is to ensure that this kind of thing cannot happen, so he emphasized it again.
Because in the six months he and Phillips had been together, he could always feel Phillips' resentment towards the Ming army. He was afraid that Phillips would be irrational, not understand the customs of the Ming army, and do something bad.
Soon, they arrived at the dock and saw that the Ming army had only arrived with about fifty warships, and not all of them were large warships. Phillips curled his lips and sneered in his heart. It seems that I guessed right. The people of the Ming Dynasty were eager to get to Bombay, and they couldn't wait to come here only half a year ago.
On the surface, he still put on a fake smile and went up to greet Li Dingguo, the commander-in-chief of Bombay of the Ming Dynasty. Thinking about things in my mind, I couldn't help but say: "Ah, I really didn't expect it to come so quickly! I thought it would take at least a year for you to come to Mumbai. No, let me There is a feeling of being caught off guard again, which makes you laugh!"
This time, Li Dingguo had a translator by his side. When he heard this, he translated it to the commander-in-chief.
When Li Dingguo heard this, he smiled and said: "It is because I guessed that you may not be ready for the handover, so the Governor asked me to lead a small team first. It can give you more time to hand over, and the Governor will take the lead later." If we get there, it won’t be like Colombo.”
Upon hearing this, Phillips glanced at Johnson. Although he saw him winking, he couldn't help but said: "Hey, didn't you come to Bombay only after occupying the entire Ceylon? So, you have done it all?"
I just feel uncomfortable in my heart. If I embarrass this heavy soldier of the Ming Army, I will feel more comfortable. And at this level, I believe no one will say anything if it gets out. If the General Soldier of the Ming Dynasty really wants to fall out over this, even their Lord Governor will not agree!
What he didn't expect was that after hearing this, Li Dingguo actually smiled and nodded and replied: "Yes, after you left, the Hongyi fled after hearing the news and had already withdrawn from Ceylon. The Kingdom of Kandy could not hold on for long, and now it has The country was destroyed, Rajsinghe II is also dead, and the entire Ceylon belongs to the Ming Dynasty. The Governor is currently inspecting farming matters. I will come over when the handover is completed."
"..." After hearing this, Phillips and Johnson were stunned for a moment. When they came back to their senses, they looked at each other and saw the shock in each other's eyes.
You know, the Portuguese have been running Ceylon for hundreds of years, but they just can't occupy the entire Ceylon, and their energy has been restrained here. Later, the Dutch came, and it felt even more overwhelming.
Although the Ming army came in large numbers this time, they did not expect that the Ming army could capture the entire Ceylon so quickly. You know, if the natives cannot defeat the enemy on the coast, they will definitely retreat to the mountains. No one knows better than the Portuguese themselves how terrible it is for the natives to retreat into the mountains!
That Rajsinghe II was not mediocre. He used the terrain of the mountainous area to defeat the Portuguese army many times. Even if the Ming army is more powerful, they have just arrived, and it has only been half a year. They may not have figured out the topography of the mountainous areas in central Ceylon and the distribution of forces. How could they occupy the entire Ceylon, and even Raj Singh? Did He II die?
With this in mind, Johnson spoke first and asked Li Dingguo: "You are really amazing! But how did you do it? It has only been half a year and you have really wiped out all the enemies in Ceylon?"
Li Dingguo had already noticed the shock of these Xiyi people. To be honest, Li Dingguo felt very happy, so he replied calmly: "It's useless even if I say it, you can't learn it..."
He could feel the reluctance of the previous Francois, so he didn't mind taking advantage of the situation to "reciprocate", and then told the Ming Dynasty's strategy, leaving both Phillips and Johnson stunned: This was how they conquered Ceylon!
