Ming Jiajing: Starting from Immortality

Chapter 296: Bloody Battle in Lion City, the Strait Returns to Ming!

Whether voluntarily or unwillingly, Xiong Wencan delayed for more than ten days until the arrival of the imperial edict and the royal command flag.

If he doesn't march west, he will be executed on the spot.

Xiong Wencan could only give the order to weigh anchor and set sail. Standing on the deck, looking back at the land that was getting farther and farther away, he knew that he might not be able to come back alive in this lifetime.

The chief of the guards specially appointed by the cabinet came forward and said in a serious tone: "General, the wind is strong at sea, please go back to the cabin and rest."

Xiong Wencan turned around and looked at the upright commander of the guards and the dozens of soldiers behind him, and gave a sad smile.

It seems that he is going to die at the hands of these guards.

But what else could he do? His life was in the hands of the commander of the personal guards, and his eldest son Xiong Yuehui and his other sons, as well as the entire Xiong family, were in the hands of the imperial court.

If the Portuguese mission to seize the Strait of Malacca and the port of the Governor-General's Office in India fails, their death and the annihilation of their clan will become a reality.

Xiong Wencan is not Li Chengliang. As a Buddhist layman, he may not have much inclination towards good, but he still has some. He cannot abandon his wife and children and lead an army to rebel.

Moreover, the imperial court had learned the lessons of Li Chengliang and the Liaodong Army. This group of personal guards was a sword hanging over the heads of all military officers.

Anyone who dares to rebel will be killed without mercy!

As for bribing the personal guards?

The cabinet, especially Hu Zongxian and Wang Chonggu, who came from the military and formulated this system, had thought of it long ago.

All the personal soldiers of the officers and generals of the Ming Dynasty were from good families. The higher the rank of the officer and general, the more loyal the personal soldiers were to the Ming Dynasty and the emperor.

The imperial court gave generous treatment to officers and their personal soldiers, including generous benefits to their families, to ensure that the soldiers and their families would have no worries about food and clothing after retirement.

Even on his first day as a personal soldier, he discovered that the officers he was protecting had rebelled against the country, so he executed them immediately and then retired.

Serving as a personal soldier for just one day can guarantee a lifetime of wealth. Who would tie his head to his belt, give up the lives of the young and old in the country, and follow an officer to betray the country.

It's not impossible, but it's also unlikely.

Deputy General Ding Qirui, Lieutenant Generals Yang He and Chen Qiuyu also went onto the deck and looked at each other in silence. The four groups of guards were stacked up layer upon layer, like a fortress or a southern wall.

There is no turning back, only moving forward.

The Western Expedition Army set out from Wan'an Beach and occupied the Strait of Malacca, which was only more than 2,000 miles away.

The weather was good, with clear skies and no wind, and the water was surging but without waves. After more than ten days, the naval soldiers could stand on the deck and overlook the wide yet narrow mouth of the strait.

It is not far from the first city in the Straits, Singapore.

In the sixth year of Zhengde in the Ming calendar, the Portuguese fleet, led by Afonso the Elder, used its advanced artillery technology to launch a fierce attack on Malacca City, and eventually succeeded in occupying the city, and later captured Singapore.

After occupying the Strait of Malacca, the Portuguese quickly established a trading system.

They controlled the trade routes in the Strait of Malacca, imposed tariffs, and monopolized the trade of spices, silk and other commodities between the East and the West.

Shrewd Portuguese merchants also set up trading posts and warehouses in Malacca to store and transship goods, making huge profits through trade.

Due to the shortage of Portuguese troops and the closeness of the Malacca Strait to the Portuguese port in India, it was under the management of the Portuguese Governor-General's Office in India.

Relying on its powerful ships and guns, the Portuguese repeatedly suppressed the counterattacks of the Malacca natives, and established churches and schools in the cities of Malacca to influence and manipulate the thoughts and behaviors of the natives.

It can be said that the Portuguese successfully controlled Malacca and turned it into their colony through four major means: military conquest, economic control, political rule and spread of faith.

However, this place has been the territory of the Ming Dynasty since ancient times.

The Sultanate of Malacca, known as Malacca during the Ming Dynasty, was established around the second year of Jianwen in the Ming calendar.

At that time, the Srivijaya Empire in Sumatra was conquered by the Majapahit Empire army from Java, Indonesia. Afterwards, a prince of Srivijaya, Parameswara, led about 3,000 men to flee to the Temasek area and seized control of the area.

But five years later, the Parameswara regime was attacked by Siam again and was forced to flee north again. It eventually stabilized its position in Malacca City and named the place Malacca (Malacca) after the common Malacca tree in the area, and established the Malacca Sultanate.

When Malacca was first established, it still had to pay tribute to Siam, which was much more powerful than itself.

But not long after, Emperor Chengzu Wen sent envoy Yin Qing to the local area, establishing direct contact between Malacca and the Ming Dynasty.

Two years later, the fleet of Zheng He, the eunuch who sailed to the West, visited the area, and Zheng He, the eunuch, stayed there for six days.

In the ninth year of Yongle, Parameswara himself formed a delegation of up to 540 people and came to China with Zheng He's fleet to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

Emperor Chengzu Wen also officially appointed him as the King of Malacca. After that, Malacca officially became a tributary state of the Ming Dynasty, and thus broke free from the control of Siam.

For the next hundred years, Malacca remained one of the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty.

It was not until the fourth year of Zhengde that the Portuguese, through conspiracy and trickery, obtained a port in Malacca. Just like the Wangxia Peninsula, they secretly transported troops in the name of trade.

Finally, in the sixth year of Zhengde, the Malacca Empire was caught off guard by internal and external forces, and was overthrown before it even had time to ask the Ming Dynasty for help.

It was a long time later that the Ming Dynasty received the news, but by that time, Emperor Zhengde was busy leading an expedition against the Tatars, and then was busy leading an expedition against the rebel king Zhu Chenhao. In the end, he died without an heir.

Such an important strait was almost completely forgotten by the Ming Dynasty.

But no matter when you think about it, this strait belongs to the Ming Dynasty. According to the court's world strategy, the Strait of Malacca is an inseparable part of the Ming Dynasty forever.

Portugal conspired to destroy the vassal states of the Ming Dynasty and occupied the Strait of Malacca for fifty years by trickery and plunder. The Ming Dynasty will settle these accounts with Portugal one by one!
The Ming Dynasty's warships on the westward expedition could see the Strait of Malacca, and the Portuguese warships that had been waiting for a long time in the shelter of the strait could naturally also see the thousands of Ming warships from their high altitudes.

With just one cannon shot, hundreds of light sailing ships, with their flags hoisted, came towards us.

Even though the Portuguese warships were outnumbered by thousands, they showed no fear.

As early as the 18th year of Hongzhi in the Ming Dynasty, Portugal defeated the combined fleet of Egypt and Turkey with 2,000 warships with only 18 sailing ships. The Battle of Diu proved the advantage of Portuguese sailing ships in naval warfare and laid the foundation for Portugal's maritime hegemony.

With eighteen against two thousand, the fearless Portuguese soldiers were never afraid. Now, with a hundred against a thousand, the advantage is on my side!
Through the telescope, Xiong Wencan looked at the light sailing ship with triangular sails and square sails with a strange expression. Although this kind of ship is fast, flexible, and can sail safely in shallow waters, it also has great disadvantages. It cannot carry enough weight and is not strong enough.

Therefore, in the navy of the Ming Dynasty, light sailing ships were eliminated very early and replaced by civilian merchant ships.

Well, when the Japanese pirates invaded the southeastern provinces before, they mostly used light sailing ships like this. The Ming Dynasty had a lot of experience in how to deal with them.

Such a fierce attack made many naval soldiers' eyes red, and they couldn't help but think of the time when the southeastern provinces were ravaged by Japanese pirates.

New and old grudges!

Xiong Wencan put down the telescope and gave the order: "The first, second and third battalions stay here, and the other battalions form up!"

it's time to.

Let these barbarians see what "equivalence is strength" means.

Immediately, several generals issued orders to the entire army, stating that a naval battalion consisted of 100 warships, which was equivalent to the so-called Portuguese fleet.

The 1st, 2nd and 3rd battalions slowed down their march, and the other battalions quickly overtook them. The vast sea formed a "V" shape, encompassing the entire Portuguese fleet.

"Fire!" Xiong Wencan shouted the order, instantly breaking the silence on the sea, and countless gun muzzles pointing at the Portuguese fleet spewed flames!

Almost at the same time, many guns of the Portuguese fleet turned around and fired back at Xiong Wencan's naval warships on the sea.

The artillery fire from the navy warships was more than fierce. Countless shells hit the Portuguese ships, and countless people were blown into the air and fell into the sea from the air.

The Portuguese fleet's artillery fire also hit several naval warships, and fires immediately broke out on the ships.

"Keep firing!" Xiong Wencan shouted loudly.

The "Woo-woo" horn sounded, and the commander on the command ship also sent a flag signal to the naval warships on the sea to continue firing.

The artillery fire continued, and columns of water exploded all around the Portuguese fleet. The Portuguese fleet wanted to retreat, but the navy warships had already surrounded them.

The battle formation formed a circle, with no way to retreat or advance, and countless terrified bird cries were heard across the Portuguese fleet.

When facing death, people have two choices: one is to scream and shout, and the other is to give it their all. Facing the artillery fire from the front and back of the navy warships, several damaged Portuguese ships rammed the nearest navy warships without hesitation.

Most of the Portuguese fleet was smashed by cannonballs in the fearless charge, but one fleet got what it wanted and rammed a naval warship.

The two ships collided, and the Portuguese fleet's light sailing ship was immediately shattered, while a large hole was broken in the navy warship.

The telescope showed the captain's joy at dying together, which turned into despair.

Xiong Wencan was indifferent. This is a light sailing boat!

In the autumn of the 41st year of Jiajing in the Ming Dynasty, under the deployment of Xiong Wencan, Xiong Wencan led the Western Expedition Army at the mouth of the Malacca Strait, salvaged and captured 8,000 Portuguese alive, killed or seriously injured more than 12,000 Portuguese, destroyed 100 ships of the Portuguese fleet, and achieved the first complete victory of the Ming Dynasty's offshore operations.

……

Ming Dynasty, the capital, the cabinet, the shrine of the virtuous and good.

Two rows of long desks were placed between the left and right pillars of the hall. The Portuguese delegation stood in front of the long desk on the right, while the chief minister of the cabinet Gao Gong, the left vice minister of the Ministry of Rites Liu Wenzhen and the officials stood in front of the long desk on the left.

All matters were just as they had been on the day when the Portuguese delegation made the impolite request for trade. The only difference was that the eyes of everyone in the Portuguese delegation could be described in two words: damn "clear"!
In the Battle of Lion City, nearly half of Portugal's "Invincible Fleet" that dominated the sea was destroyed, and the navy was either killed or captured alive.

Before the Portuguese Governor-General in India had figured out whether to take revenge, the entire Strait of Malacca, from Lion City to Malacca City and then to Penang, had changed hands.

Regarding justice and cultural identity, I believe no country in the world understands it better than the Ming Dynasty.

After seizing control of the Strait of Malacca, the first thing Xiong Wencan did was to find the members of the former royal family of Malacca, the Mahmud Shah family.

Since Mahmud Shah's descendants fled Malacca on a large scale half a century ago, Xiong Wencan only found traceable bloodlines from his branches.

Xiong Wencan, as a general of the suzerain country, directly gave this member of the tribe a name, Xiang Ming.

His surname is Ma and his name is Xiangming, so he is Ma Xiangming.

Xiong Wencan announced that the Ming Dynasty would help the Malacca Kingdom to restore its independence. Then, on the third day, the Malacca King Ma Xiangming and countless indigenous people who had suffered greatly from the Portuguese invasion formally presented a document to Xiong Wencan, requesting to submit.

Just like the Ryukyu Kingdoms, the indigenous people of Malacca expressed their allegiance and utmost respect to the Ming Dynasty.

Xiong Wencan, a mere military man, agreed to the Malacca Kingdom's request for annexation on behalf of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor, and the imperial court without asking for permission.

When the news reached China, the whole country was shocked. From the cabinet on down, countless officials condemned Xiong Wencan's usurpation of power, but no one denied that the Strait of Malacca would belong to the Ming Dynasty.

In short, Xiong Wencan, who was arrogant because of his military achievements, enjoyed the same treatment as Yan Song, Xu Jie, Yan Shifan, Zhang Juzheng, Gao Gong and other cabinet ministers.

After Xiong Wencan incorporated the Strait of Malacca into the territory of the Ming Dynasty, he "cleansed" the Portuguese and their traces in the Strait of Malacca.

The Western-style churches and schools built by Portugal were all destroyed. The Portuguese and the mixed-race Portuguese and Malacca people were all arrested and imprisoned together with the Portuguese sailors who were rescued from the sea.

Everything Portugal possessed in Malacca, including the gold and silver collected as tariffs on ships passing through, and the spices and silk stored in trading posts and warehouses, were all confiscated in the form of fines.

Xiong Wencan's methods made the Portuguese Governor's Office in India extremely panic-stricken. The Governor of India, Sheffield, was amazed by this act of erasing all traces of the enemy's existence.

But we also recognize the power, terrifying power, of this ancient civilization that has dominated the East for five thousand years.

Portugal's military strength in India was similar to that in the Strait of Malacca. Taking revenge would be self-humiliating. Portugal's position as the maritime hegemon in the East had been shaken. Sheffield, who recognized the reality, chose to follow his heart.

As the Governor-General, Sheffield ordered the delegation in the capital of the Ming Dynasty to renegotiate with the Ming Dynasty, submit an equal trade request to the cabinet, and was willing to exchange the sailors and Portuguese imprisoned in Malacca for a price.

The arrogant Portuguese deputy ambassador Pedro finally lowered his head, and the entire negotiation was fully responsible for the still gorgeous (weird) ambassador, the Portuguese Duke, Alfonso the Younger.

Little Alfonso had a good talent for languages ​​and learned Chinese. Although his speech was a little vague, he could still hear clearly. He said, "Dear Prime Minister, please allow me to extend my most sincere greetings to the honorable Emperor. Our country is willing to establish new exchanges with your country. Everything in our country and its dependencies can be opened to you. Our country will be your eternal friend..."

(End of this chapter)