novelAbuy Chapter 130 Marquis of Luzon, Xu Chuang
Chapter 130 Marquis of Luzon, Xu Chuang
Upon hearing the emperor's words, Xu Chuang, who was already thirty-six years old, was no longer young and ignorant. He knew that this was not a question for advice, but rather a request for him to pledge his loyalty and to provide a contingency plan to reassure him, or rather, a sign of his apprehension.
After a long silence, Xu Chuang seemed to have made up his mind, so he knelt down on one knee and clasped his hands in a fist salute.
"Your Majesty, the vast ocean is fraught with unknown dangers. I have an only son in Nanjing who wishes to accompany you. I also request that a military supervisor be sent along to facilitate communication with the court!"
Liu Mu nodded upon hearing this. Xu Chuang's answer was watertight, saving face for both the emperor and his ministers. As long as such a general does not rebel, he is a pillar of the country.
It's like Emperor Wu of Han and Wei Qing.
Li Shimin and Li Jing.
Zhu Yuanzhang and Xu Da!
Thinking of this, Liu Mu slammed his hand on the table.
"Xu Chuang made great contributions during this crossing of the Yangtze River, first defeating the Dutch warships and then following Zhou Peigong to capture Nanjing!"
"I hereby bestow upon you the title of Marquis of Luzon!"
"If you can expand the territory of our great Han Dynasty during this trip to Southeast Asia, I will choose a county on Luzon Island for you to inherit."
Click!
Just as Liu Mu finished speaking, near the main entrance of the government office, Yin Huaxing, sitting at the very back, excitedly exerted force and broke the armrest of his chair.
Seeing everyone looking at him, Yin Huaxing immediately knelt down in the center of the hall, looking embarrassed.
"This humble general acted impulsively!"
"Please, Your Majesty, punish us!"
In fact, it wasn't just Yin Huaxing; the other generals around him felt the same way, because they all knew that the Han emperor was generous and would give away the positions of duke and king so easily.
First there was Wanyan Wu of the Jin Dynasty, then there was Zhao Lie, the governor of a region, and recently there have been other gentry and wealthy merchants who received fiefdoms, all of whom have fulfilled their obligations.
As military men, they had no money, and their troops belonged to the state. If they wanted to obtain fiefdoms and rise in status, they could only go out and govern a region.
Liu Mu saw it all.
But he did all of this on purpose.
If an empire wants to expand, the emperor cannot keep everything to himself.
What did it matter if Zhu Di made seven voyages to the Western Ocean, or if he exercised a tributary rule over the Ganges River? It was only a few decades, and it all vanished like smoke, leaving little trace in the annals of time.
The same applies to companies in later generations. Employee stock ownership makes them stronger than other companies, and their employees are more aggressive. Once they get a business, they are eager to devour the client.
The most representative example is Genghis Khan, who was able to sweep across Eurasia by having all employees hold shares.
Each time a city was conquered, Genghis Khan only wanted 10%, while the other 90% went to the generals and soldiers. Even Muqali, who was born a slave, was granted the title of King of the Grand Tutor Kingdom.
An army driven by self-interest will fight to the death as long as it has food to eat.
Thinking of this, Liu Mu looked at Yin Huaxing with a thoughtful expression, his thumb ring spinning incessantly.
"The Dutch could not exterminate the natives because their native population was small and they were too far away, while our Han people numbered in the millions and needed a lot of land to support them."
"Yin Huasheng, you are the top meritorious soldier in the Beijing Garrison. If I want to unify the islands of Southeast Asia, how many troops do you need?"
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He's here! He's here!
The emperor finally noticed me, Yin Huaxing.
It wasn't in vain that the chair armrest was broken.
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Yin Huaxing secretly pinched his thigh. His face, which had been contorted with excitement, turned serious under the sting of pain.
"Your Majesty, I have also seen the map. A single garrison of 5,600 men is enough to conquer those small indigenous kingdoms. After supplementing the army with servants, we can gradually erode some of the larger island sultanates!"
"Furthermore, I will continue to wage war, causing the local indigenous population to decrease at an alarming rate!"
Yin Huaxing's words aligned with Liu Mu's thinking: the Han Dynasty did not need to conquer Southeast Asia in one fell swoop; it only needed to gradually encroach upon it, providing enough food for its homeland.
"Very well, then the army going to Southeast Asia this time will be led by the Marquis of Luzon as Governor-General, General Yin Huaxing as Deputy Governor-General, and the Marquis of Holland, Metsuyi, as Governor of Southeast Asia!"
"However, I require that the able-bodied natives be left behind and sent to Tianjin Port in batches, as the empire's mines still need to be mined."
This arrangement was the result of much deliberation by Liu Mu. The three of them did not have much interaction, especially since Metsuiko was Dutch and essentially a lone minister in the Han Dynasty.
With him in charge of the people's livelihood and the city, the Han court could know the situation immediately, and no matter who ultimately succumbed to temptation, they could be attacked from both sides.
After Liu Mu finished speaking, he left the yamen directly. The gentry of Jiangnan still needed him to appease them.
No, it's unity!
Yin Huasheng felt his head buzzing. Had he really become the General Who Guards the South and joined the ranks of high-ranking generals of the Han Dynasty?
By the morning of the second day, ten large galleons, thirty converted merchant ships, twenty large Fujian ships, fifty medium-sized Fujian ships, and one hundred small Fujian ships had already gathered on the banks of the Yangtze River, covering half of the river surface.
The total troop strength is 20,000.
Eight thousand of them were sailors, and their families would also gradually move south, since the vast islands of Southeast Asia needed a large number of Han Chinese to suppress them.
The navy, led by Xu Chuang, mainly operated cannons and engaged in close-quarters combat. It had no warhorses but was equipped with a large number of firearms.
The fleet would depart from Nanjing, resupply in Ningbo, and then head directly south to Luzon Island, which is the Philippines in later times, and was then occupied by the Spanish.
However, Spain was in decline at this time, having been repeatedly defeated by France, the Netherlands, and England due to its past arrogance.
Even Luzon, in recent years, was threatened by Zhu Chenggong, who occupied Taiwan, and actually gave up all its southern territory, leaving the bastards to eke out a living in Manila.
With 20,000 troops and so many warships, crushing them would be like crushing ants. But Malacca was of utmost importance. The Dutch would only need six months to react, so Liu Mu only allowed the army to resupply and did not cause them any trouble.
Ten days after the navy left, in 1675 AD, the year 1876 of the Han Dynasty, Nanjing was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, and the sound of firecrackers was constant.
But this is not a celebration of the Han Dynasty's rule, but a celebration of the Han emperor. They will pay homage to Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, at the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum.
Those who didn't live in this era would never know the status that Zhu Yuanzhang held in the hearts of the Chinese people.
Even when Li Zicheng stormed into Beijing, no matter how arrogant and domineering he was, he did not disturb the ancestral hall of the Zhu family and even paid respects to the spirit tablet of Zhu.
When the Manchus invaded Nanjing, they deliberately avoided visiting the Xiaoling Mausoleum, and Emperor Kangxi frequently held public ceremonies to pay homage to it.
This is not just a simple show.
Rather, it was because Zhu Yuanzhang held such a high position among the people that the expulsion of the Tartars was placed last, while the execution of corrupt officials was placed first.
The Chinese people hate corrupt officials the most. No matter what the emperor's purpose was in killing them, they were still killed in the end.
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