Chapter 1025 The arrival of the 1116 army
"Sir, do you really believe Lin Fengchun and the others?"
In the Ming army camp in the north of Tortoiseshell City on Luzon Island, in the Chinese army tent, Wang Wanggao, Lin Baihu and others Several generals were discussing important matters with Deng Zilong.
After several days of secret contact, Deng Zilong has become more convinced that Lin Fengchun, Yan Youqian and others are really surrendering, and wants to exchange for a chance to survive.
Moreover, Lin Fengchun had already convinced several leaders in the north of the city, so they could deliver letters through arrows so brazenly.
However, Deng Zilong believed it, but several of his generals were worried that it was a false surrender.
"In the current situation, do you think Lin Fengchun and the others have any other way to survive besides surrendering?"
Deng Zilong said calmly, "The question we need to consider now is whether we need to steal the city. Tell the news to the Yi people.
Me. With the thousands of people we have now, we always feel that our strength is still a bit insufficient.
Although there are only two to three thousand soldiers in the city, there are not many troops with real combat effectiveness here. Just those soldiers who have been recruited. Waving flags and shouting is okay, but marching and fighting is really bad.”
During this period, Deng Zilong also observed the servant army recruited by his side and the Yi people. The overall impression given to him was that they had poor discipline and could not be regarded as an army at all.
Deng Zilong was really not sure whether he could defeat Lin Feng's remaining main force of pirates by rushing into Tortoiseshell City with such troops.
Unless the news is passed to the Yi people, after the Ming army breaks through the north gate, they immediately seize the east gate and let the Yi people lead their troops in.
But again, Deng Zilong wanted to monopolize Tortoiseshell City, but he did not want the barbarians to get involved.
"Sir, there is an urgent military situation. The commander-in-chief has arrived with the navy."
While the military tent was still discussing, the curtain of the military tent was rejected, and a figure rushed in.
The visitor is Baihu who is out patrolling the sea today. He is patrolling north of Luzon with two boats. One is to guard against the barbarian fleet making small moves behind them, and the other is to contact the navy ship. Team.
You know, although Luzon Island is not big, it is still quite time-consuming to find them, especially now they still set up the dock in a bay.
So instead of waiting for the navy to look for it, it is better to send a fleet to take the initiative.
After waiting for so long, news about the navy finally arrived. Deng Zilong stood up immediately after hearing the news.
"The Admiral has come at the right time. It's great."
Deng Zilong slammed his left fist into his right fist and shouted.
"Haha, the commander has finally arrived, and our problem of insufficient troops has been solved."
Wang Wanggao also shouted excitedly at this time.
With the addition of Nanhai Navy, their previous worries can be said to have disappeared.
Soldiers were mobilized from various ships of the Navy, and they could easily gather more than a thousand people, and they also carried a large number of firearms. Even if Lin Feng organized the pirates to resist stubbornly in the city, in the end they were nothing more than a mantis trying to use their strength as a chariot.
While everyone in the room was discussing with joy and excitement, Deng Zilong looked at the hundred households and asked, "Has the Admiral arrived?"
"I met the Marshal. The fleet, after contacting the vanguard, sailed back to report the news, leaving a boat to lead the way. I think the commander will be here soon."
The hundred households hurriedly clasped their fists and said.
"In this case, we don't need to discuss it. We will go to the beach and wait for the Admiral to come. Everything will be decided by the Admiral."
Deng Zilong said with a smile.
“Yes, the marshal is here at the right time.”
“Go to the beach to greet him.”
“The marshal is here, and it will be more secure to steal the city. There will be no mistakes.”
“I am also worried about this. I am afraid that it was a trap set by Lin Feng. The soldiers entered and were surrounded in the city. Now that the commander’s troops have arrived, I don’t have to worry about the strength of the troops. Insufficient.
If they dare to open the city gate, don't even think about closing it again. "
The people below followed Deng Zilong towards the seaside pier, talking in low voices as they walked.
Soon, everyone had arrived at the bay pier, but at this time the entire bay seemed extremely calm.
Actually, no ships appeared. On the Ming Army side, there are fishing boats going out to sea every day to supplement the food consumption in recent days.
However, these boats are all brought by local people and they all sail out of the bay for fishing. Only ships that are lucky and catch a large amount of sea cargo in advance will return early
Seeing the empty dock, only a few Ming army warships docked here, and the entire bay was empty.
Finding a shade under a tree, Deng Zilong and his generals hid under it, while soldiers brought various fruits picked from the forest.
"This Luzon, like others, has really many fruits."
Deng Zilong peeled a banana and ate it, and said to the generals.
“Yes, I heard from the locals that if you have nothing to eat, just go for a walk in the woods and you can always find something to eat, haha.”
"Actually, the land here is not bad. I heard that there are fertile fields cultivated by the Han people. They can grow three crops of rice a year. Lingnan can only grow two crops."
"What, you still want to get some fields here? ?”
“It’s too far away from Ming Dynasty, and the output is not good.”
A few people were whispering about the fields in Luzon, but it’s good here. But the journey is a problem after all.
Develop the land in Luzon to obtain output, but it is really difficult to transport it back to the Ming Dynasty.
If the transportation problem cannot be solved, even if the Ming Dynasty develops Luzon, it will be difficult to actually use the output here.
"You guys, if you can't get any farmland in China, just look here, haha"
Deng Zilong just smiled and said something to them.
"My lord, you have never farmed, so you don't know that the fertile land here is even better than ours in western Guangdong."
"My lord is from Jiangxi, so you should know."
Lin Baihu said.
“Yes, although I am not good at farming, I still have a few acres of thin farmland at home, and I can still see the favorable conditions here.
As for the harvest you mentioned from planting here, If you are not lucky enough to return to Ming Dynasty, do you plan to stay here?"
Deng Zilong smiled and asked casually.
“Of course I don’t want to, it’s okay to come here for a short time, but forget about being stationed for a long time.”
"I don't want to come here."
Hearing his words, someone quickly answered.
"What if we stay here for one or two years?"
Deng Zilong continued to ask.
“If it takes two years, it’s barely acceptable.”
Wang Wanggao next to him glanced at Deng Zilong and said something.
A few people chatted casually, waiting for the navy brigade to appear.
However, more than an hour later, the large number of warships they expected to see did not appear. Only six or seven warships sailed into the bay and headed towards the dock.
The first one was naturally the warship they were familiar with. It was a medium-sized fortune ship that came here with Deng Zilong, but behind it, there were two large fortune ships and other ships.
“Come here, maybe because we are worried that we cannot berth a large number of ships here, and the others are anchored outside the bay.”
Wang Wanggao saw the incoming ship and shouted immediately.
Deng Zilong stood up and walked out of the shade of the tree and walked towards the pier.
Not long after, the large fortune ship docked steadily on the shore, soldiers set up the springboard, and Yu Dayou's figure appeared on the deck.
"The general will pay homage to the Admiral." When Yu Dayou led the people to disembark, Deng Zilong immediately led the generals in salute.
"Everyone, get up. I have heard from Zhou Baihu that you have joined forces with the Yi people to besiege Lin Feng. What is the situation now? When can we take Tortoiseshell City."
Yu Dayou waved his hand to signal everyone to get up. , and then asked.
"Sir, this matter is a bit complicated. Please come with me to the camp and explain it in detail."
Several warships have already docked, and people are coming from the ship one after another. Most of those who came down were the commanders, lieutenants, or guerrillas of the Nanhai Navy.
After everyone came down and gathered at Yu Dayou, Yu Dayou said to Deng Zilong: "Lead the way and send people to settle the people on the boat."
"Don't worry, sir, we have prepared delicious food here in Luzon. I guarantee that everyone will like it."
Deng Zilong smiled hurriedly.
"Is there any delicious food in Luzon?"
Yu Dayou asked casually.
“Yes, there are some fruits that I don’t have in Ming Dynasty, and there are also sweet potatoes, which are grown by the Lin Feng sect, but they are already ours”
Deng Zilong said as he led everyone away from the dock and walked towards the military camp.
“This is sweet potato. It tastes really good. It’s a little sweet indeed. It tastes good. Let’s try it.”
When we arrived at the Ming army camp, the layout of the Chinese military tent had changed. , there were many small tables placed on both sides, and everyone was sitting behind the small tables. The tables were already filled with local dishes and fruits.
Yes, although he was on the battlefield, with the arrival of the Nanhai Navy of the Ming Dynasty, Deng Zilong no longer worried about anything else, so he directly prepared a reception banquet to welcome the arrival of Yu Dayou and others.
Yu Dayou greeted Deng Zilong to sit next to him, and also asked in detail about the current situation of the Ming army.
"You said the King of Sulu has also joined the army?"
When Yu Dayou heard Deng Zilong say that they actually summoned thousands of local troops in Luzon to participate in the siege of Tortoiseshell City, Yu Dayou looked surprised and kept asking, and then he found out The main force recruited this time came from the Sulu country south of Luzon.
“Yes, my lord, King Bakr of the Sulu Kingdom received Lin Baihu, who I sent to gather troops and horses. He knew that my Ming Dynasty was encircling and suppressing pirates, so he came to help with the battle.
But King Bakr still wants to wait for our army to return to the army and send him to Daming by the way. See His Majesty the Emperor."
Deng Zilong whispered Bakr's request, "The actual situation is that the barbarians in Luzon seem to be eyeing the Sulu Kingdom. King Bakr is worried that Sulu will follow the path of Luzon, so he wants to Obtained asylum from the Ming Dynasty”
"You went to see their governor. Do you think the Yi people have ambitions for the Southeast Asian countries?"
After listening to Deng Zilong's introduction, Yu Dayou asked him expressionlessly what he thought of the Yi people.
"Not to mention anything else, but the Yi people banned the trafficking of sweet potatoes to the Ming Dynasty, and their wolf ambitions are obvious."
Deng Zilong replied in a low voice: 'As far as the general knows now, this sweet potato It is highly adaptable and can be grown in many places with good yields.
The Yi people did not seem to restrict the spread of sweet potatoes in the Southeast Asian countries, but banned their introduction into the Ming Dynasty, which really made the general suspect that there was another conspiracy. ’
"Are there sweet potatoes in Sulu too?"
Yu Dayou asked with a slight frown.
"The King of Sulu once bought sweet potatoes, but the price was relatively high, but they didn't know how to grow sweet potatoes, so they never planted them."
Deng Zilong replied immediately.
“Is this sweet potato easy to store? I mean how many months can it be stored?”
Yu Dayou asked again.
“I don’t know about this, it shouldn’t be possible.”
Sweet potatoes were still a novelty to the Ming Dynasty at this time, and naturally their knowledge was limited.
In fact, even if Wei Guangde came here, he couldn't explain the reason, because he didn't understand the technology in this area.
The reason why everyone who traveled through the Ming and Qing Dynasties knows about sweet potatoes and knows that sweet potatoes saved the country is actually due to the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong a hundred years later, also called the prosperous age of sweet potatoes.
Because of the large-scale promotion of sweet potato planting, China's grain output at that time increased significantly, feeding hundreds of millions of people, and China's population increased dramatically.
Although it is ironic that sweet potatoes are prosperous, it is also an indisputable fact.
In fact, if the Ming Dynasty could obtain sweet potatoes in advance and promote their cultivation on a large scale, perhaps the widespread peasant uprising in the north in the late Ming Dynasty would not have broken out.
After all, the Chinese people are simple and honest, and no one will embark on the path of rebellion if they have a chance to survive.
“If it is a rare commodity, then the sweet potatoes must be safely transported to the Ming Dynasty.
And according to you, as long as there are raw sweet potatoes, they can be planted directly. There is no way they can stop the spread of sweet potatoes in Ming Dynasty. "
Yu Dayou also couldn't figure out the reason for the ban on foreigners, and he didn't know how to talk about it.
"By the way, sir, these days, there is Lin Fengchun, Lin Feng's subordinate in Tortoiseshell City. , Yan Youqian and other leaders contacted our army privately and wanted to surrender in Kaicheng. "
Deng Zilong knew that it was not easy to continue the topic of sweet potatoes, so he talked about their current situation with Yu Dayou.
"What conditions did they offer? ”
Yu Dayou was not surprised that someone in the pirate group wanted to surrender. In a dead city surrounded by people, continuing to follow Lin Feng was just a dead end.
"To survive, they want to be pardoned by the court."
As soon as Deng Zilong said it, he felt Yu Dayou's face in front of him became solemn.
“You agreed?”
“Without the will of the imperial court, how could the general dare to agree to such a thing.”
Deng Zilong immediately expressed his stance.
"You are not confused yet. It was because of this that Hu Zongxian was impeached by the censor.
If the imperial court hadn't thought of him for his contribution in suppressing the Japanese, he would have been imprisoned and said to have died. "
Yu Dayou said, "What do they say now?"
Deng Zilong waved his hand to summon the soldiers behind him and asked him to take out a box from under the desk next to him.
"Sir, these are the letters sent out from the city these days."
Deng Zilong handed the box to Yu Dayou with both hands and continued in a low voice: "They may also know that their life and death rights are not in my hands, so I just The request will be reported to the court truthfully and you can intercede for them."
Yu Dayou remained silent, but finally opened the wooden box, took out the letter inside and read it carefully.
After a long while, Yu Dayou, who had read all the letters, put the letters into the box again, lowered his head and thought for a while, then said: "It seems that they are quite sensible people and have not raised any inappropriate ideas. "
"My lord, it turns out that before you arrived, we were still discussing whether they really surrendered sincerely."
Deng Zilong said softly.
"It should be true. If you are pretending to surrender, I will definitely ask for an interview with you.
These people are used to the trick of catching thieves and kings."
Yu Dayou analyzed.
In fact, whether they are Japanese pirates or pirates, their overall strength is not strong, but they pose a huge threat to the Ming Dynasty. In addition to keeping their whereabouts secret, "beheading" is also their usual tactic.
The target of the raid is directly at the local chief official. Once successful, the local government will be leaderless.
This method was not only used in battle formations to kill Ming army generals, but also in offensive and defensive battles in prefectures and counties.
“Contact them and determine the time for the dedication of the city. I will dispatch a thousand soldiers to participate in the destruction of the city.”
Yu Dayou finally said.