Chapter 1025 1116 The army arrives
"Sir, do you really believe Lin Fengchun and the others?"
In the Ming army's camp in the north of Tortoiseshell City on Luzon Island, in the Chinese army's tent, Wang Wanggao, Lin Baihu and other 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 tell the news to the barbarians if we steal the city.
We currently have several thousand people, but we always feel that our strength is still slightly insufficient.
Although there are only two to three thousand soldiers in the city, we don't have many truly combat-effective troops here. Just those recruited soldiers are fine for waving flags and shouting, but they are really bad for marching and fighting. "
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 when he rushed 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 didn't want the barbarians to get involved.
"Sir, it's 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 was Bai Hu, who was out patrolling the sea today. He was patrolling north of Luzon with two ships. One was to guard against the barbarian fleet making small moves behind them, and the other was to contact the naval fleet.
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.
Therefore, instead of waiting for the navy to search for it, it is better to send a fleet to take the initiative to respond.
After waiting for so long, news about the navy finally arrived. Deng Zilong stood up immediately after hearing the news.
"The Admiral came 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 drawn 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.
Just as everyone in the room was having a heated discussion with expressions of joy, Deng Zilong looked at the hundred households and asked, "Has the Admiral arrived?"
"I met the Marshal's fleet. After contacting the vanguard, I sailed back to report the news. I left a boat to lead the way. I thought the Marshal would be here soon."
The hundred households hurriedly clasped their fists and said.
"In this case, we don't need to discuss it. We can 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 commander-in-chief came at the right time."
"Go to the beach to greet you."
"Now that the commander is here, it will be more reliable to steal the city and there will be no mistakes."
"I also have this worry. I'm 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, there is no need to worry about the lack of troops.
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, and no ships appeared.
In fact, the Ming army now has fishing boats going out to sea to catch fish every day to supplement the food consumption in recent days.
However, these boats are all brought by local people and sail out of the bay for fishing. Only boats that are lucky enough to catch a large amount of seafood in advance will return early.
Seeing the empty dock, only a few Ming army warships docked here, and the entire bay was empty.
After 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 is just like other places, but there are really many fruits."
Deng Zilong peeled a banana, 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 forest 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 that can grow three crops of rice a year. Lingnan can only grow two crops."
"What's the matter, you still want to get some fields here?"
"It's too far away from Ming Dynasty, and the output will not be good enough to go back."
Several people were talking in low voices about the fields in Luzon. Although it was good here, the distance was still a problem.
Develop land in Luzon to obtain output, but it is indeed difficult to transport it back to 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, you're looking here, haha."
Deng Zilong just smiled and said something to them.
"Sir, you have never farmed, so you don't know that the fertile land here is even better than in western Guangdong."
"My lord is from Jiangxi, so you should know."
Lin Baihu said.
"Yes, I'm not good at farming, but I still have a few acres of thin farmland at home, so I can still see the favorable conditions here.
As for you saying that the harvest grown here will not be transported back to the 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."
"Don't want to come here."
After hearing his words, someone quickly answered.
"What if we stay here for a year or two?"
Deng Zilong continued to ask.
"If it's 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, a medium-sized fortune ship that came here with Deng Zilong, but behind, there were two large fortune ships and other ships.
"Come here, maybe because we are worried that we can't berth a large number of ships here. 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.
"I will finally pay my respects to the Admiral."
When Yu Dayou took the people off the ship, Deng Zilong immediately led the generals to 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 started asking questions.
"Sir, this matter is a bit complicated. Please come with me to the camp and explain it in detail."
At this time, several warships had already docked, and people were getting off the ships one after another. Most of them 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. Everyone should try it."
When we arrived at the Ming Army camp, the layout of the Chinese military tent had been changed. Many small tables were placed on both sides. Everyone was sitting behind the small tables. The tables were 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 invited Deng Zilong to sit next to him and 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 that Deng Zilong said that they had summoned thousands of local troops in Luzon to participate in the siege of Tortoiseshell City, Yu Dayou was surprised and kept asking, only to learn that the main force recruited this time came from the Sulu Kingdom in the 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 the Ming Dynasty was encircling and suppressing pirates, so he came to help with the battle.
However, King Bakr still wants to wait for our army to return to the army and send him to Daming to meet with His Majesty the Emperor."
Deng Zilong whispered Bakr's appeal, "The actual situation is that the barbarians of Luzon seem to be eyeing the Sulu Kingdom. King Bakr is worried that Sulu will follow the path of Luzon, so he wants to obtain protection from the Ming Dynasty."
"You went to see their governor. Do you think the Yi people have ambitions towards the Southeast Asian countries?"
After listening to Deng Zilong's introduction, Yu Dayou asked with an expressionless face what he thought of the Yi people.
"Not to mention other things, but the Yi people banned the trafficking of sweet potatoes to the Ming Dynasty, and their ambitions are clearly exposed."
Deng Zilong replied in a low voice: 'As far as the general knows so far, this sweet potato is very adaptable and can be grown in many places, and the yield is not bad.
The Yi people did not seem to restrict the spread of sweet potatoes in the Southeast Asian countries, but they prohibited 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. However, they did not 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, so knowledge about them was naturally limited.
In fact, even if Wei Guangde comes here, he can't explain it because he doesn't understand the technology in this area.
The reason why everyone who traveled through the Ming and Qing Dynasties knew about sweet potatoes and knew that sweet potatoes saved the country was 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’s a rare commodity, then the sweet potatoes must be safely transported to 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 explain it.
"By the way, sir, in the past few days, Lin Feng's subordinates Lin Fengchun, Yan Youqian and other leaders in Tortoise City have contacted our army privately and want to surrender to Kaicheng."
Deng Zilong knew that the topic of sweet potatoes was not easy to continue, 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 would be a dead end.
"To survive, they want to be pardoned by the court."
As soon as Deng Zilong said it, he felt Yu Dayou in front of him look solemn.
"You agreed?"
"Without the imperial court's will, how dare 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 remembered him for his contribution in suppressing the Japanese, he would have been imprisoned and said to have died. "
Yu Dayou said, "Then 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 and deliver it 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 their life and death, and the rights are not in my hands, so I only ask the general to report the truth to the court and intercede for them."
Yu Dayou remained silent, but finally opened the wooden box, took out the letters inside and read them carefully.
After a long while, Yu Dayou, who had read all the letters, put the letters into the box again. He lowered his head and thought for a while before saying: "It seems that they are quite sensible people and have not made any inappropriate ideas."
"Sir, I just know that before you arrived, we were still discussing whether they really surrendered sincerely."
Deng Zilong said softly.
"It should be true. If he pretends to surrender, he 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 raid is aimed directly at local officials. Once successful, the local officials 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 said finally.