Chapter 1006 1097 Power surges

Chapter 1006 1097 Power surges

Just as Lieutenant Miguel was talking to Commander Savella, Deng Zilong was standing on the coast, looking at the fleet entering the bay in disbelief.

Yes, it was a fleet, a fleet larger than he had imagined.

According to the report he received, the number of local ships that followed the last fleet back exceeded one hundred.

In their words, at least four thousand people could be carried.

When the warship docked at a simple pier and put up the gangplank, Captain Lin took a man wearing a white wide robe and a belt off the ship, and a few more people came down sparsely behind him, including both Ming soldiers and people wearing exquisite white robes.

Obviously, they were the leaders of the army brought by Captain Lin.

Deng Zilong certainly would not despise them.

In the past few days, through exchanges with those locals, Deng Zilong has roughly understood the strength of the locals on Luzon Island.

Although there are many tribes of different sizes on Luzon Island, they are roughly divided into three categories: large, medium and small.

Large tribes can summon more than 2,000 strong men, medium-sized tribes can generally gather thousands of people to fight, and then there are small tribes, which are not strong enough. Every time a conflict occurs, they can only send out at least a hundred people, and at most several hundred people.

The strength is so clear, so many small tribes choose to unite with each other to fight against tribes that are stronger than them.

After uniting, their strength can barely reach the strength of large and medium-sized tribes, and they can barely protect themselves.

Just like the several tribes that came to help before, they were small tribes that usually united together. Their individual tribes could not gather many strong men, so they could only unite to protect themselves.

This time, they learned that it was the suzerain country that called them, so they came to help so actively, not only because of the promise of the Ming army, but also to find a backer.

The current Luzon Island is different from before.

Not only are there local tribes fighting each other, but there are also Spaniards watching covetously.

But they are weak after all, so they only gather 1,600 people.

Although these people are not all of them, they are almost half of their military strength.

The news he got from the ship he came back from two days ago was that the Sulu Kingdom, south of Luzon, would send 5,000 troops to help the Ming Dynasty.

Sending out 5,000 people to help, what does that mean?

Even when the Luzon King's tribe was at its strongest, it could only mobilize 3,000 to 4,000 troops.

With this power, he could call other tribes on Luzon and become the de facto king.

This was also the reason why Zheng He's fleet came here and determined that he was the King of Luzon.

At this time, Deng Zilong could say without hesitation that the army he commanded was the strongest fighting force on Luzon.

There were hundreds of Ming army soldiers on his ship, and more than 6,000 locals to help, a huge army of 7,000 people.

Such an army, even in the Ming Dynasty, would require several guards to gather so many people.

Before, his own strength was weak, so Deng Zilong did not dare to turn against the barbarians, but now that his armed forces have expanded several times, he has other ideas.

Can we rely on this army to completely eliminate the Yi people expeditionary force after the Spaniards and the Lin Feng pirate group fight?

Once such a plan succeeds, the number of Yi people on the island will be reduced to only three or four hundred people, which will be able to fulfill Wei Ge Lao's final wish and completely control Luzon and make it the new territory of the Ming Dynasty.

Just as Deng Zilong was calculating the feasibility of this plan in his mind,

Captain Lin had already seen Deng Zilong in the distance, so he said a few words to the soldiers behind him, and then the man said something to the local.

Soon, a group of people who got off the boat first came towards Deng Zilong in a mighty manner.

"Greetings, sir."

When people approached, Captain Lin saluted Deng Zilong first.

Deng Zilong's rank in the guard post was the commander of the guard, which was much higher than his centurion, and his military rank was also higher than his. He was also the commander of their fleet, so he was naturally polite.

Who said he was the favorite general of the admiral? Even though he was a newcomer, Yu Dayou still respected him very much. This was the result of having someone above him.

"Get up."

Deng Zilong raised his hand to support him and said.

After the greetings were over, Captain Lin immediately introduced the person who followed him to Deng Zilong.

"Sir, this is King Bakker of Sulu, a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. This time, he heard that our dynasty was sending people to encircle and suppress pirates, so he brought the army of the country to help."

Although these vassal states were really not worthy of the Ming Dynasty, they were of a very high level.

The king of an independent vassal state was the same as a prince, so Deng Zilong could not be arrogant and had to salute.

Just as Deng Zilong was about to salute, Baker waved his hand and said, "We are here to help the Celestial Empire chase down pirates. Once here, you must obey General Deng's orders.

As for the king, this is not Sulu, so naturally, it doesn't matter."

Having said this, Baker excitedly took two steps forward and was already very close to Deng Zilong.

He said with red eyes, "According to the family tradition, the Celestial Empire has not sent anyone to Sulu for more than a hundred years. If I hadn't met General Lin, I would have thought that the Celestial Empire had forgotten us overseas vassals.

It's also because we don't live up to our expectations. There are no large ships crossing the sea in the country, otherwise we wouldn't have gone to the Ming Dynasty to pay homage to His Majesty the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty for more than a hundred years.

This time, I followed General Lin here because I hope that when General Deng leads his troops in triumph, he can take me with him to the Ming Dynasty to meet His Majesty the Emperor of Ming Dynasty. "

Bakir's words were sincere. Although he may not be very loyal to the Ming Dynasty, in the current treacherous situation in Southeast Asia, if he could not tightly embrace the thick thigh of the Ming Dynasty court, he was really worried that the Spanish would attack him.

Although there are only a thousand Spaniards in Luzon, the Spaniards came to spy on Sulu before, so they naturally found out the details of the Spaniards.

I know that only a very small number of Spaniards are here now, and their main energy is still in the east, where it is said that there is a more vast land.

Well, there, it is not the country of their Spaniards, but further east, far, far away, is the country where they were born.

This alone made Bakr realize that the situation in Southeast Asia would become even worse in the future.

The source is the barbarians who keep coming.

Being able to travel far across the ocean to reach the continent to the east, and also be able to occupy it.

According to the information he learned, there were many countries there that were far more powerful than his Sulu country, but they were all conquered by the Spanish.

The legend of the Inca Empire is even more talked about by the Spaniards.

Bucker was really frightened.

He was eager to meet the emperor of the Ming Dynasty and express his loyalty to him, hoping to gain protection from the powerful suzerain country of the Ming Dynasty.

At first, Bakir did not think of coming in person. He only planned to send two of his generals to follow.

But when he was waiting for the army to gather and prepare food, he remembered what his old father-in-law said.

In fact, this was not what he thought of, but what the princess, the authentic Sulu royal family, mentioned.

That is, earlier, the King of Sulu State personally visited the Ming Dynasty. After the Ming Dynasty fleet arrived, the king sent envoys to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty, and each time they gained a lot.

Most of the treasures collected at home were gifts from the Ming Emperor at that time. They are really exquisite.

Therefore, the Sulu royal family has this tradition, which is to remind the next successor of this matter. As long as the Ming Dynasty court fleet arrives, they must send envoys with local products to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty.

While getting closer, you can also get many benefits.

This is the thinking of small countries. They can only try to take advantage of big countries, and they must show loyalty to gain protection from big countries to ensure that their throne can be passed on.

With this matter in mind, Bucker decided to come over in person.

Use the preparation time to arrange matters in the country. As long as he can gain the friendship of Ming officials and go to Ming to meet His Majesty the Ming Emperor, he will be as stable as Mount Tai in Sulu.

Sulu people actually have legends about the Ming Empire, and occasionally they can encounter merchant ships from the Ming Dynasty passing by.

As long as Ming Dynasty supports him, no one in the country will dare to covet his throne and can only obey his orders.

This is the influence of a big country.

Even if nothing is done, it will subtly affect the political atmosphere in neighboring small states.

Deng Zilong had a brief exchange with Bakeer politely, got to know the two generals Bakeer brought, and took them to the tent that had been prepared long ago.

On their trip to Nanyang this time, they had no arrangements to contact the king of the vassal country, so naturally there would be no tents that could meet the etiquette requirements.

The tent prepared for Bakr was already the largest among the tents they had brought.

They were tired from traveling, so Deng Zilong only prepared hot water for them to wash up, and then let them rest first. He also prepared a sumptuous banquet for them in the evening.

Deng Zilong just personally settled Bakker and his party. As for the soldiers brought by Sulu, they were naturally arranged by the military supply people below. The large amounts of grain and grass brought by Sulu were also moved into the military grain depot.

After that, Deng Zilong took Lin Baihu to his camp. He wanted to know in detail everything that happened during their trip.

There was something wrong when he led troops to encircle and suppress pirates, but the king of the other party came in person.

In the big tent, someone brought tea to Lin Baihu, asked him to drink some water, and ate two snacks, and then he began to understand the situation.

Although, Deng Zilong had already learned about their previous experiences in detail.

However, when they were still asking about their experiences, Miguel came with the boat.

He could only hurriedly arrange how to fool the barbarians without understanding the situation in detail.

Yes, when Miguel arrived, the navy warship that came back to report had already met them and was brought back here.

Deng Zilong was very stupid and did not tell the news that five thousand troops were about to arrive, which naturally caused the Spaniards to make some misjudgments.

In fact, if the Spaniards really knew that the Ming Dynasty had contacted Sulu to send troops and already had an army of 7,000 people in the Philippines, it is hard to say what they would choose to do.

After all, they have already experienced Ming's influence and appeal, so it's hard to say if they don't have other ideas.

Gathering more than a thousand people was more or less within their acceptable range.

"Did King Bakr say he wanted to follow you from the beginning?"

After listening carefully to Lin Baihu's account of their experiences during this period, Deng Zilong directly asked the question he had been thinking about for a long time.

"this."

Lin Baihu hesitated for a moment and then replied: "Sir, on that day, King Bakr did not say that he would come with me. He only said that he would send two generals from the country to lead an army to follow me.

It was the same the next day, but in the evening, when he held another banquet in the palace to entertain the general, he mentioned this matter and said that he wanted to bring troops here in person.

After Lin Feng's pirate group is surrounded and suppressed, he still wants to return to the Ming Dynasty with our fleet to pay tribute to the emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

They also said that they had not paid tribute for many years and were worried that the Ming Dynasty had forgotten them, so they planned to go to the Ming Dynasty in person to tell them about the situation in these years. It was not that their Sulu country was unwilling to pay tribute, but that they lacked large ships to cross the sea.

The general didn't really know how to respond to his request, so he had no choice but to bring the person over. "

"It doesn't matter."

Deng Zilong waved and smiled, indicating that he didn't have anything to worry about.

The vassal states went to pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. In fact, the Ming Dynasty never refused and treated them with courtesy, so there was no taboo.

"Look at it, is Sulu domestically stable these days?"

Deng Zilong asked again.

"It's not bad. At the end of the preparation period, the general and his men visited the capital of Sulu. It felt quite prosperous. I didn't hear of any chaos or signs of rebellion in the country."

Lin Baihu said immediately.

In his eyes, the Sulu Kingdom is actually pretty good. At least it can be regarded as a peaceful country and a peaceful people. The people seem to be very loyal to their king.

As for the two original kings, they were not passed down due to various reasons. The system of three kings coexisting in the past became the dictatorship of one king.

However, such a system is actually more in line with the thoughts of people like Lin Baihu.

In the Ming Dynasty, both the government and local people actually believed in the saying that there is no second day in heaven.

How could the small country of Sulu have three kings standing side by side?

Of course, this is what the people below think. If it is a cabinet minister, whether it is Zhang Juzheng, Wei Guangde, or anyone else, they will not think so.

For the foreign vassals, the more things the better, for the king, the more things the better, so that their strength will be shared and they will become weaker and weaker, and they will have to rely on the Ming Dynasty for everything.

Wei Guangde was able to convince those in power inside and outside the palace because Mang Yinglong had almost unified the southeastern peninsula. If he was allowed to continue to develop, and when he finished occupying that area, he would not be able to look toward the Ming Dynasty in the northeast.

We can no longer breed tigers to cause trouble.

No matter how much Ming officials looked down on the southwest barbarians, they also knew that they should try their best to prevent them from becoming bigger and becoming a factor affecting the stability of southwest Ming Dynasty.

Wei Guangde had already arranged for the Liaodong General Army. After spending so much energy, it was natural that there would be practical results. The best situation would be to divide the Toungu dynasty and restore them to their original appearance.

"Has everyone settled down?"

Deng Zilong looked at his quartermaster and asked.

"The soldiers of the Sulu Kingdom are all camped in the north, which is far away from here."

The man immediately answered with clasped fists.

"Go ahead and keep your mouth shut. Don't let anything slip when Miguel comes."

Deng Zilong just ordered.

As for Bakr's arrival, well, that's not what he should be concerned about.

When Yu Dayou comes, let him make arrangements.

Deng Zilong thought so.