Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 366

"put!"

"Bang bang bang-"

On the third day of February in the ninth year of the Apocalypse, accompanied by muffled thunder, the first battle of the Ming army in the spring did not take place in Yingzhou, which everyone was paying attention to, but in the southern part of the South Asian subcontinent.

More than [-] troops crossed the sea, and thousands of cannons fired...

The separatist regimes such as Jinji, Tanjore, and Mysore suffered devastating blows.

It has to be said that Huanglong overestimated these places and underestimated the fighting power of the Ming army.

When 10,000+ stone bullets were shot out of the barrel, they knocked down temples and city walls.

On the third day of the war, more than [-] cities along the coast of the five southern states were lost. On the tenth day of the war, even Huanglong had just arrived at Tanjore, which was captured by the army, and the five states lost one-third of their land area.

The fighting power displayed by the Ming army not only stunned the five major states, but also terrified Europeans such as Meneses of Kozhikode.

Don't mention them, when Huanglong set foot on the land of Tanjore, he was stunned.

"The whole army seized 630 seven catties of gold, [-] catties of silver, [-] boxes of precious stones, gold, silver, copper and iron ore..."

When Li Dan came to find Huang Long with the records of the Four Guards and the 32nd Battalion, Huang Long looked at the document in his hand and felt a little panicked, but more of a dazed one.

"So much was seized in ten days?"

Looking at the real gold and silver in his hand, which is worth more than 300 million taels, as well as other precious stones worth millions of taels, and mines worth tens of millions of taels, Huang Long felt like he was dreaming.

"How many beheadings?"

Sitting in the king's palace in Tanjore City, Huang Long asked Li Dan who was standing below with some anxiety, and Li Dan couldn't hide his smile and bowed:
"More than fourteen thousand levels..."

"Only more than fourteen thousand levels?" Huang Long was a little puzzled, his doubts were written on his face, he didn't understand why the five countries with an army of more than one hundred thousand retreated so quickly, but he asked again:
"Is there anyone who resists?"

"Of course there are. There are more than 32 nobles and merchants involved. If this group of people hadn't resisted, I am afraid that our army has already reached the hinterland of the five countries, and the five countries can be completely wiped out within half a month at most."

When Li Dan talked about this group of aristocrats from the Five Kingdoms who were struggling to resist, he almost gritted his teeth. It can be seen that he is very confident in destroying the Five Kingdoms in half a month.

"What are the casualties of our army?" Huang Long felt relieved a little bit, thinking that beheading the opponent's more than [-] levels, then perhaps his own casualties should also be huge.

However, Li Dan's answer was beyond his expectation again, the other party smiled and bowed and said:
"120 and seven people were killed in battle, and less than 300 were injured."

"It seems that the combat power of the Tubang is stronger than that of the Tubang..." Hearing such a battle loss ratio of one to thirty, Huang Long felt that he had made a big fuss over a trivial matter.

After sorting out his emotions a little bit and raising his position, Huang Long opened his mouth and said:

"All the gold and jewels will be sent to the capital. As for the silver, half will be reserved for the three armies, and the remaining half will be sent back to the capital."

"This..." Li Dan hesitated a little when he heard the words, and said cautiously:
"Would it be too much to keep half of it? Even if half of it is left, there will be seven 10,000+ taels of silver. If the officials of the court find out..."

"Whoever they are, just tell His Highness." Huang Long waved his hand and said indifferently:
"If His Royal Highness knows the achievements of the soldiers, he will not hesitate to reward them. Besides, if they are captured, they will be detained."

"Yes..." Seeing this, Li Dan had no choice but to agree, and Huang Long also said:

"The group of nobles who committed crimes were all escorted back to Ceylon Mansion and Wandao County to reclaim land. As for the natives from all over the country, after counting the cultivated land, they were allocated [-] to [-] percent as tenants of the imperial court."

"Yes..." Li Dan replied.

After all, he was the one who dealt with the natives of Nanyang safely, and Huang Long had his own experience on how to govern the natives.

Before he took action against the five countries, he had already understood the situation of the peasants in the five countries. These people were basically slaves of the nobles, and they had to hand over [-]% of the output of the land every year.

Right now, Daming has reduced the ratio to [-]% of the land tax, so the local natives will naturally not resist.

They didn't have any land in the first place, and they were all the property of nobles. This [-]% of their labor income was enough to make them give up on Daming.

"Take the Five Kingdoms completely before April, then register and make a book, and send the Five Kingdoms book to the capital for His Highness."

"The vassal kings of the five kingdoms can almost come to the vassal."

Huang Long stroked his beard, as if he looked down on the feudal vassals who could get so many territories for so much money.

"Captain, in this battle, the descendants of the Tang, Zhou, Huai, and Ji clans fought bravely against the enemy, and nearly three thousand children of the various clans in the army were beheaded."

Li Dan intended to speak for the feudal lords, but Huang Long snorted and said:
"More than 700 people beheaded more than 3000 people, what is there to brag about?"

"Don't be a fan at that time, even the country can't be defended, and the court has to wipe their ass for them."

"That's true..." Li Dan saw that Huang Long looked down on Zhu Fan, so he stopped speaking well of Zhu Fan's children.

"Okay, go down and manage it, tell Ji Ming (Shen Tingyang) to move more people to Ceylon Mansion."

"I estimate that after this battle, the group of Europeans from "Ke Ze Ke De" and "Nai Sai Si" will calmly sit down and talk with Shibo."

"If they haven't made a statement yet, let the eight major fleets cruise in their territorial waters!"

Huang Long said the transliteration of people's names and place names indifferently, but Li Dan could only bow down when he heard the words.

After a while, he withdrew from the palace, and Huang Long turned the palace into his temporary capital.

The Ming army began to suppress the rebellion of the nobles of the five countries, and tracked down those who were involved with the nobles. Among them, some ambitious and prepared people naturally found their targets...

"boom!"

"Catch them all!"

In the city of Kalabang in Mysore, when Zhu Yujian ordered in a cold voice, hundreds of soldiers from the guard battalion rushed into the noble mansion in an instant, and after imprisoning everyone, the long-planned house raid began.

As the richest man in Calabang City, Zhu Yujian's seizure made people jealous.

More than 3000 taels of gold, more than 7 silver coins, and three boxes of gemstones, these things made Zhu Yujian's eyes shine.

"Brother, we..." Zhu Yukai looked at the seizures, swallowed, and looked at Zhu Yujian, who thought for a while before saying:

"Turn in 3000 taels of gold, weigh the silver coins, and keep the odds. As for the precious stones sent up, the remaining gold and silver will be divided among the brothers below."

Although not much was embezzled, it still amounted to thousands of taels of silver.

Each of these hundreds of people can get ten taels of silver, and Zhu Yujian has accumulated several thousand taels of silver for his father Zhu Qiqi who is far away in Daming.

"With another hundred cities like this, my Tang clan will have a few 10 taels of silver."

Zhu Yukai reluctantly grabbed out a large handful of gold coins, while Zhu Yujian glanced at him, and then comforted him:
"Don't worry, I will let our five brothers all have their own territory!"

"Zhu Yujian!"

After Zhu Yujian comforted Zhu Yukai, Zhu Changqing's voice sounded from behind, and Zhu Yujian turned around to look. Sure enough, Zhu Changqing escorted a carload of gold and silver with hundreds of people and looked at him with a smile at the door.

"It seems that you have captured quite a lot..." Zhu Yujian smiled, after all, Tang Fan and Zhu Changqing's Huai Fan were allies.

"You are not bad." Zhu Changqing patted the wooden box behind him, then raised his chin: "Let's go first, you take your time, drink in the barracks at night."

"Okay!" Zhu Yujian raised his hand to bow in the air, and Zhu Changqing also bowed back, and then signaled the convoy to return to the barracks outside the city.

It can be seen that enriching one's own pockets is no longer an isolated phenomenon, but war is an uncontrollable factor after all. As long as people like Zhu Yujian and the others don't eat too much and make Huanglong feel uncomfortable, Huanglong will not trouble them.

Cities were breached one after another, and the gold and silver in cities were seized. Most people chose to hand over [-]% of the money, and only a small number of greedy people chose to hand over [-]% of it.

But no matter what, whenever a city is breached, the Ming army can get money and food.

In dealing with farming civilization, Han soldiers are always brave and good at fighting, even if it is not for military merit, it is only for gold and silver.

When the five major states faced such a Ming army, they were basically crushed and destroyed.

It didn't even last until March. Only on February 28, with the destruction of the Kingdom of Mysore, the land equivalent to a province of Guangdong was captured by the Ming army.

When the news spread to the north that the five kingdoms would be destroyed in 25 days, whether it was the remaining Vijayanagar kingdom, the major sultanates in the north, or the governors of the European countries in Kozhikode, they all believed that The Ming army is bragging.

However, after they investigated carefully, the real situation surprised them all.

In less than 25 days, the Ming army wiped out the five major states that the Netherlands and Portugal had dealt with for more than half a century without any success.

"16 people! 16 people!"

"How do they have such delivery capabilities?"

"Do Ming people have black magic?"

In the Portuguese Governor's Palace in Kozhikode, Peterson, the governor of the Dutch East India Company, is questioning the number of the Ming army. Compared with him, the Portuguese governor Menezes is more rational.

"We should now think about how to maximize the benefits."

"These Tianming people's fleets are sailing back and forth on the waterway, obviously to promote their force."

"I heard that the Stuart (British) army and the Bourbon (French) army have withdrawn from Kozhikode, and now it is only us and the Spanish army."

"We Portugal and you the Netherlands want to get rid of Felipe IV."

"Right now, if we can go out together and drive out the Spanish army, and then drive out everyone in Stuart and Bourbon, then even if we can't station troops in India, we will become the only trading country in Europe to Ming .”

Unlike the independence of countries that people in later generations think about, the 30 Years War is happening right now, and the Habsburg dynasty is still the ruler of the mainland, while Portugal and the Netherlands are now vassals of the Habsburg dynasty.

King Felipe IV of Spain is not only the king of the Spanish Habsburg dynasty but also the third king of the Portuguese Habsburg dynasty, and the lord of the Southern Netherlands (Netherlands).

Although the Far East looks peaceful right now, Europe is fighting in full swing.

Felipe IV and Zhu Youxiao took the throne very close. Not long after Zhu Youxiao took the throne, Felipe IV also inherited the throne of his father Felipe III in the first year of Tianqi.

But he is not as lucky as Zhu Youxiao, and has such a good brother as Zhu Youjian.

In order to win the 30-year war, he continued to expand his army. In the fifth year of the apocalypse, the number of troops under his command had reached 30.

When he was raising troops in Europe, he did not forget the trade with Daming. Unfortunately, before he made any moves, Zhu Youjian ordered Huanglong to send troops to take down the entire Nanyang region.

Spain, which lost Luzon, encountered a cold winter in foreign trade, but soon recovered with the peace of the war.

If there is anyone who benefits from the rise of Ming Dynasty, it is undoubtedly the Spaniards who currently control the channel closest to Ming Dynasty.

The fact is also true, Zhu Youjian didn't know how his policies benefited Spain when he was carrying out foreign trade.

Historically, Felipe would have been distracted by dealing with the independence of the Netherlands and Portugal during the Thirty Years War, as well as dealing with the troops of the Protestant League.

In the fifth year of the Apocalypse, the Protestant King Christian IV of Denmark, with the support of Britain, France, and the Netherlands, and the Protestant Alliance jointly launched an attack on Felipe's Hasburg Dynasty Group, and soon occupied the northwest of Germany.

At the same time, the British army led by Mansfield occupied western Bohemia.

The Protestant allied forces won successively, and then the Catholic group of the Hasburg dynasty could only hire the mercenaries of the Bohemian aristocrat Wallenstein.

Wallenstein then lived up to his expectations, defeating Mansfield at the Battle of Dessau Bridge in April of that year, and then defeating Denmark at the Battle of Vogast and taking control of Saxony.

But at sea, the Dutch navy has been attacking and capturing Spanish treasure ships, causing Spain's economy to decline severely, while the Netherlands' economy is booming because of its Southeast Asia region.

But the problem is that Zhu Youjian's random entry led to the complete withdrawal of the Netherlands, Spain, Britain, France, Portugal and other countries from Nanyang, and they could only curl up in Kozhikode in southern India and Daming's imperial shop for trade.

In this way, the person who suffered the most economically became the Netherlands. Therefore, the Netherlands was not as brave as in history, but was trapped in economic problems and increased its colonization of South America.

Logically speaking, even so, the situation facing Spain is still not very good.

However, Zhu Youjian's move to open up the saltpeter trade immediately benefited Spain, which is the westernmost route on the China-West route.

A large amount of saltpeter was continuously purchased by Spanish merchants and shipped to mainland Spain.

Although the Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and France were all blocking the Spanish saltpeter ships during this period, they could not stop the saltpeter trade between Spain and Ming Dynasty.

With the input of millions of catties of saltpeter, the output of gunpowder in Spain increased rapidly. Therefore, Felipe IV did not hire Wallenstein's mercenaries as in history, but only relied on the 30 troops with enough gunpowder to resist. Danish and British offensive.

Not only that, economically, since the imperial store of the Ming Dynasty was opened in Xiaoxiyang, the sea route was reduced from [-] months to [-] months. Therefore, more Ming Dynasty goods began to flow into Spain, which indirectly eased the situation. Some Spanish inflation.

Fighting wars is actually fighting the economy, and Spain's economy has risen due to the dumping of goods from Ming Dynasty, and because of the increased production of gunpowder on the battlefield, firearms can be used without scruples, so the situation in Europe has naturally changed.

Britain and France withdrew their troops readily because their troops were too small, and the combined number of the two was only 3000, and they could not keep their spice market at all.

Therefore, after Huanglong and Shen Tingyang received Zhu Youjian's handwritten letter and guaranteed that the spice trade would not be affected, the armies of the two countries directly chose to withdraw their troops after learning that the Ming Dynasty had destroyed the five major states in 25 days, and only kept hundreds of people. guard.

For them, they would not be able to fight against the Ming Dynasty. If they lost, they would lose spices and Ming Dynasty goods, especially the saltpeter from the Imperial Store.

That being the case, they should simply retreat, anyway, they only need to maintain the trade with Daming and they will not be punished.

It's a pity that Menezes and Peterson, who are trying to seek independence, don't have so many easy choices compared to their freedom.

They didn't want to leave, but they couldn't beat the Ming army.

After the fight, the trade was cut off, and Spain, Britain and France had the last laugh.

If there is no fight, although trade can be preserved, it will not be able to contain Spain's maritime trade, and the two countries' hopes for independence will also be shattered.

So at the moment they are very embarrassed. They want to fight, but they will be criticized by the nobles in the country. In short, they are not human inside and out.

If Spain and Britain and France are forcibly attacked, after the two countries monopolize the waterway, the domestic economy can be boosted, but the problem is that this is a bit contrary to some terms negotiated with Britain and France in Europe.

Don't force Britain and France to fight to the neutral camp at that time, then the two countries' desire for independence will be completely shattered.

"Let's retreat..."

Peterson didn't want to take any risks, and Menezes had a very uncomfortable face when he heard him say that.

It would be hard for anyone to give up the position of governor and the colonies of India.

It's just that in the east of the Cape of Good Hope right now, the European countries really don't have the strength to confront the reformed Ming Dynasty, and they don't even have the qualifications to become opponents.

Among other things, if they really declare war with Ming Dynasty, then the Ming Navy, which is strong enough to crush the entire European sea power, will start bombarding Kozhikode.

Not only that, but the four naval guards stationed by the Ming army in Mysore, an army of 2 people will immediately go north, and it will only take five days to reach the city of Kozhikode.

At that time, Portugal and the Netherlands may really have to kneel down and beg to regain their trading qualifications...

Economic wars are effective no matter what era they are in, and Zhu Youjian's economic sanctions against Europe have hit their nails.

Ming Dynasty was short of gold and silver, but the problem was that Japan and the vast Nanyang region had already provided enough, and the gold and silver brought by European merchants was just icing on the cake.

Without this flower, Daming's economic crisis could still be resolved, but it would take a few years later, but without Daming, a commodity exporting country, European inflation would be a slow poison, killing them sooner or later.

The three major commodity import destinations in Europe are Daming, India and America.

If they fight against Daming right now, then the first and largest commodity importing place will be gone, not to mention that their conflict lies in the second commodity importing place.

Once it can't be defeated, and Ming Dynasty cleans up India, then Europe will only be left with the Americas as an import place.

But the problem is that the gold and silver imported from the Americas was the culprit that caused inflation in Europe, so the three places actually complement each other.

Without Ming and India, and only relying on America, no matter how much gold and silver flows into America, the Europeans will not be able to spend it, because although the nobles have strong purchasing power, what they can consume is limited.

If the economy cannot circulate at the lower level, then inflation will explode sooner or later.

Peterson didn't dare to fall out with Daming, and the ambitious Menezes also made a move.

If the Ming army had only [-] soldiers, he might encourage other countries to fight against Ming, but the problem is...

The 16 projected troops are really a bit of a bully.

If Europe really had this delivery capability, it would have occupied all of the Americas long ago.

They couldn't defeat the Ming army in the first place, and now the Ming army is still overwhelming, what can they do...

"The rise of Spain is not a good thing for Ming. Maybe we can discuss trade with Huanglong. In short, Spain must be contained."

Menezes was at the end of his rope, and finally he had to set his sights on Daming.

If Ming took action to sanction Spain, then Spain's economy would decline, and its trade share would be divided among Britain, France, Portugal and the Netherlands.

"Will Daming make a move?"

Peterson is skeptical about this issue. After all, in his view, even if the Spanish dynasty returns to its peak, the one-time delivery capability to the Far East is only three to five thousand troops.

This strength is just a joke. You must know that Daming already had the ability to send more than 200 people to eastern Africa more than 2 years ago.

Peterson even suspected that if Emperor Ming wanted, they could send [-] troops to the European battlefield...

"Whether Daming will make a move, we at least have to fight for it."

Menezes sighed: "If we don't fight for anything, then once we lose this war, there will be no possibility of independence."

"Well, I will write a letter to Tanjore in your name, hoping that Huanglong can agree to our proposal." Peterson has no good way now.

After all, if this matter is done, even if they lose the Indian colony, they will be rewarded domestically.

But if this thing can't be done, it will be a bit bad...

After a short meeting and discussion, Peterson and Menezes jointly sent two letters to Huanglong in the names of Portugal and the Netherlands.

One was given to Huang Long, along with a thousand gold coins as a gift, and the other was given to King Qi and the Emperor of Ming Dynasty.

No matter what, after giving this gift, you can always get some good feelings...

With the melancholy of Peterson and Menezes, the clipper loaded with letters and gold coins left the port and started heading south.

It is estimated that Zhu Youjian himself did not expect that he just wanted to earn some foreign exchange, but he could actually affect the situation in Europe...

　Tomorrow, it is estimated that a chapter will be updated between twelve o'clock and one o'clock, and then Chapter 2 will be updated between six o'clock and seven o'clock.

　　Forgive me, after all, just like me, it’s 200 million words fast, and it’s updated [-] times a day, and there are not many "bull devils" who update while going to work, so the code is slower, not as "mighty and strong" as before.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)