open sea

Chapter 374 Inspiration
Chen Mu organized three guards in Lusong, and wanted to build a guard in Ryukyu, but he never thought of building a guard in Sulu, because he had inquired before he came, that Sulu country lacked gold, silver, copper and iron and did not produce food.

Pearls, precious stones, tortoise shells, sulfur, and wood that are abundant in the country can all be exchanged for through trade, and cheap cotton cloth and grain can be exchanged.

There is not much value for excavation. The geographical location is an archipelago. It is inconvenient to dispatch troops and horses, and it is sandwiched between Luzon and Borneo. Chen Mu's position for this place is that it can continue to pay tribute to the emperor. The relationship is good, as long as Not worse, just maintain good trade relations.

However, the relationship between Sulu and his neighbors is not very good, and he has recently fought with Portuguese maritime merchants. The three kings of Sulu need to strengthen the army, especially Chen Mu's army that can scare the enemy away with a single shot.

And now Chen Mu seems to be unable to refuse, because Dong Wang opened the lacquer box in front of him, and the box, which was one foot long, six inches wide and four inches high, was filled with pearls. Big.

And there are eight pearls of different sizes that are the most outstanding. Chen Mu is not sure whether these things can be called pearls—he has never seen pearls that can be double-strength.

But among the eight in the wooden box, there are two on each, and the heaviest one weighs four or seven renminbi, which is a priceless treasure.

No, these eight are priceless treasures.

This is not the biggest pearl that Sulu could pick. The biggest pearl they picked was the 19th year of Yongle when Uncle Dong Wang went to Beijing to pay tribute to Cheng Zu with a strange green pearl weighing seven taels.

Because of its good texture and bright luster, Sulu pearls have always been the most expensive pearls, sometimes even surpassing Hepu pearls in the same quality and size in Daming.

After knowing that Sulu produced pearls, Pinto told Chen Mu what he knew. According to Western calculations, it was 520. Someone got a pearl named Orvieto Pearl in Panama. It is very big, weighing one hundred and four jelly, less than two cents.

That pearl was later bought with pure gold 650 times its weight, which is 90 taels of gold.

Now each of the pearls in this wooden box is bigger than Orvieto's pearl, and each of them is the top grade carefully selected by the Eastern King.

Especially Dong Wang pressed Chen Mu's hand excitedly and said: "If these are not enough, Xi Wang and Dong Wang will have more."

What else could Chen Mu say?

Sometimes it is not impossible to change the positioning.

"Soldier training and military weapons, this matter requires the approval of the Ministry of War. Wait for Chen to send a letter to see the response from the Ministry of War. However, there are a few conditions. I hope the Eastern King can agree." Chen Mu pushed back the bead box and said: "One In order to train the three guards in Sulu, Han people will be appointed as the commanders of the three divisions; secondly, this army should respect the orders of the heavens and help each other when the countries encounter difficulties in the future; thirdly, the countries in Southeast Asia must not attack each other.

"Respect the emperor's edict, and the princes will not annex or invade the barbarians."

Dong Wang's eyes became sharper, and the muscles on his face seemed to be stiff. He asked, "Dare to ask the general, who is the barbarian?"

He knew what Chen Mu said was to respect the king and fight against the barbarians.But he didn't know why he heard the Central Plains theory thousands of years ago at this time.This kind of theory that once preserved the Central Plains actually has infinite destructive power to the surroundings, especially when the fleet stops at the door of one's own house, this kind of theory is chilling to the bone.

"Those who do not respect the Celestial Dynasty will be barbarians; we use the same language and culture, but the barbarians attack each other, such as Mancijia and Lu Song, who cannot stop them. If all countries do not join forces, they will be defeated one by one and be enslaved forever. .”

"Eastern King once fought in Xiyi, so you should know that what Chen said is true. Don't you know about Lu Song and Mancijia?"

Chen Mu actually didn't want to propose respecting the king and fighting barbarians at this time. His set of ideas has not yet been fully formed, but he has a general idea in his mind. In fact, even this idea is not his own, it was proposed by Xu Wei.

With the help of the influence of the Central Plains on the surrounding area for hundreds of years, the power of the Ming Dynasty was concentrated and the first line of defense was built. Even if they were not allowed to exert more power, they could not be used by the enemy.

Xu Wei saw with his own eyes that hundreds of Spaniards landed in Luzon, and in just a few years they could pull up a local native army of no less than [-] people. This is just Luzon. What does it mean to Daming?

Hearing that the barbarians mentioned by Chen Mu were Xiyi, not them, Dong Wang felt a little relieved, but he went on to say: "Sulu Sanwei respects the order of the heaven, and this is a matter of my three kings. All countries are not allowed to invade each other, as long as they don't come to attack each other and are willing to sell us food, this king will not wantonly raise troops."

"But the commander of the Three Guards cannot be a Han person. The commander is under Qianhu, right? Qianhu can be appointed by a general from the Celestial Dynasty. I want to be the commander myself."

Hey!
Chen Mu couldn't help giving Dong Wang a high look. The military power still had to be in his own hands, and the leader had to have such a clear understanding.

He wondered: "Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven who proclaimed himself a vassal king and served as a commander. The official position is too small, and the commander needs to obey Chen—but it doesn't matter. If Your Majesty wants to be the commander in person, Chen will report it."

The Eastern King smiled and said, "Isn't this King obeying the orders of the angels now? It is enough for the general to report to the Son of Heaven."

Chen Mu nodded, and said to Dong Wang and Li Dan: "Since this is the case, if the court agrees, we can use the abacus to calculate the military resources and buy armaments easily. As for the price of weapons, Dan'er will negotiate with the three kings when the time comes, how about it?"

King Su Ludong nodded one after another. In his opinion, it doesn't matter how much the pearl is worth, and it doesn't matter how expensive the military weapon is. These beads can be picked continuously, and it is more important to enrich the military resources.

"This is the advantage of elementary school!"

Chen Mu did not return to his residence in the city, but took Li Dan directly aboard the Chihai ship, told Xu Wei who was waiting on the ship, and said with emotion: "A small country with an inch of land, although its power is small, can seize the opportunity in an instant. Their king is very aware of the situation in the middle school, like me in Ming Dynasty, every year or two, the matter of Guangdong was sent to the capital, but there is still no result."

Xu Wei shook his head and smiled, and said: "However, the country is small and its strength is also small. Even if the general gave them the methods of making blunderbusses and cannons, they would not be able to make the ordnance to arm the three guards in three to five years."

"What Mr. Xu said is that even if it is the Nanyang Guard, there are so many weapons to be made suddenly, and it will take half a year to make them. It is still necessary to order the Xuanfu, and both sides will make it together."

Chen Mu calculated in his mind that Sulu Sanwei alone would require ten thousand matchlock guns, sixty two-pound and five-pound guns, plus Ryukyu, which would not be completed in a short while.

However, this number is counted as a reserve. In fact, only [-] shots are needed to start the drill, and it can be delivered slowly later. The training itself is not something that can be seen in a short time.

While Chen Mu and Xu Wei were discussing the Greater China theory of respecting kings and repelling barbarians, they were thinking about the daydream after the steam engine was put into use. Zhao Shizhen, who had rushed back from the Central Plains, also came to the Sulu Islands with Zhang Juzheng's letter.

"Elder Ge asked me to compile a book to teach the prince?"

Chen Mu pursed his lips as if seeing delicious food. This letter allowed him to find a little light in his confusion, which was the light that completely pulled the Great China Empire out of the quagmire.

There is nothing more inspiring than teaching the heir to an empire.

(End of this chapter)