Fourteenth year of Zhengde, December.

Zhejiang Beiwei General Soldier Man Zheng, Deputy Chief Soldier Ning Botao, and Zheng Qianhu Dai Zhiquan led the Qiantang Naval Division to expedition to Malacca. There were a total of 28 large and small warships, 17 temporarily requisitioned armed merchant ships, and more than 8,000 soldiers and sailors - the Shuangyu pirates came, and the Zhejiang Metropolitan Division also sent 3,000 guards to follow.

The morale was very high, because the emperor listened to Wang Yuan's advice, and if he won this battle, he would definitely be rewarded.

Every soldier who participated in the battle was rewarded with a large plot of land in Temasek, Longya Mun or Bintan for his exploits. Even the ship-accompanying technicians who can't participate in the war can also get a piece of land, and anyway, the overseas territory will be rewarded casually.

The rewards of the generals are even more outrageous, and those who are willing to stay overseas to colonize will directly become the owners of the island above 1,000 households. If one of the households agrees to stay, the one with the highest military achievements can serve as the Governor of Temasek, overseeing Temasek, Long Tooth Mun and Bintan.

Zhejiang's left and right political envoys, chief and deputy envoys, collectively opposed this overseas expedition, but they could not stop it at all.

Because the Qiantang Water Division built ships and expanded the army, it was approved by the emperor. And directly bypassed the military department and recruited soldiers as Jinyiwei, and the Qiantang Water Division all held the Jinyiwei waist card.

Secondly, whether it was an army expansion or an expedition, the silver came from maritime trade and tariffs, and did not let the household and local governments pay for it. Civil officials can't get food and salary to their necks, so they can only impeach Wang Yuan and Jiang Bin to bewitch the saint and advise Zhu Houzhao not to use military force.

On December 26, the Ming sailors arrived in Singapore, and the king of Malacca sent a fleet to follow.

But it was all rags, twenty-three rowing galleons, and a handful of old breech mortars. Historically, the fleet of the King of Malacca would be beaten by two Portuguese warships a few years later.

The two thousand Sultan Guards of the King of Malacca are not bad, and with the aura of the Restoration Buff, they must be more powerful than the guards of Southern China.

With such a huge fleet, even if it is disguised as a caravan, there is no way to deceive the Portuguese, not to mention that the Great Ming Treasure ship is also coming!

However, since the reimbursement of sixteen ships in Hangzhou, the Portuguese Malacca fleet now has only a dozen ships available. The newly replenished warship, which is currently lying in the Goa dock, will take at least half a year before it is launched.

Seeing a large number of enemy ships coming, the Portuguese Malacca fleet slipped away, without any idea of fighting back - with the size of the treasure ship, who wants to provoke it?

The fleet stayed in the harbor to guard against the enemy at sea, and Man Zhengqin landed with 5,000 Ming soldiers and 2,000 Malacca Sultan's Guard.

"This is also called Wangcheng?" Man Zheng smiled contemptuously.

The prince of Malacca, Alla Ude Din, replied embarrassedly: "Manraka is a small country and a widow, and it cannot be compared with the upper kingdom of the Celestial Empire. ”

The city of Malacca, with a population of more than 100,000, has only wooden walls!

Among them, the west and south sides face the sea, and most of them are sandy beaches.

After the Portuguese captured the city, it has been in operation for more than ten years, and there are now 500 regular soldiers and 1,000 native soldiers stationed in the city. Near the city, there was also a simple castle, but the castle was poorly repaired due to the lack of stone - historically, the Portuguese later built castles and demolished mosques and local tombstones just to get enough stone.

Man Zheng was still thinking about how to attack the city, and the west gate was directly opened.

Nina Chatu, a wealthy Indian businessman, came out with a group of third brothers, knelt down and said, "Nina Chatu, a merchant from Suryawamsha, welcome the Chinese general into the city. ”

The Fire Warrior Yasan was also mixed in and said with a smile: "This is a merchant from Tianzhu, who has been living in Manraga for several generations. ”

"Very well, you have all made meritorious contributions." Man Zheng nodded in approval.

After the army entered the city, another group of Han Chinese came. The leader was dressed in silk, knelt on the ground and kowtowed, saying: "Chen Sheng, an outcast of the Celestial Empire, lead the clansmen to meet the general!" ”

"Well, get up." Man Zheng said with a smile.

In a short time, a group of Javanese arrived, and there were 500 Javanese warriors, armed with javelins, who wanted to follow you.

Chen Sheng pointed to the front and said, "There are two parts of the city of Manraka, the southern city is for the commoners and the northern city is for the nobles, and the middle is separated by the Malacca River. When King Manraka was there, the nobles were all in the northern city, and now the northern city is inhabited by the Franco-man, as well as the native soldiers they recruited to defend it. To cross the river, it is necessary to capture the only bridge, which has pillboxes and artillery on the other side of the bridge, and those enemy troops also have firearms. ”

Well, the siege has just begun.

Man Zheng approached the bridge and looked at it from a distance, and suddenly had a headache, the bunker was too tricky, and he would definitely be shot if he wanted to cross the river. Even, at the other end of the bridge, is directly the gate of the watchtower.

These watchtowers were built by the king of Malacca.

Man Zheng couldn't understand how such an easy-to-defend and difficult-to-attack terrain, defended by tens of thousands of Malacca soldiers, could be captured by a thousand Portuguese? Even if there are traitors in the southern city, they can't be killed in the northern city at all.

The Prince of Malacca, Ala-Ude-Uddin, also known as Muzaffar II in history and the founding monarch of the Kingdom of Johor, asked, "Your Excellency, how should we attack?" ”

Man Zheng smiled: "How to attack?" It's obvious. Am I stupid enough to hit a bunker from the bridge? The city of Manraka is very large, the Manraka River is also very long, and we have the advantage of our forces. Go get some small boats, if there are no boats, just remove the door panels, and cross the river from other places. ”

The eastern part of the northern city, with stone walls and pillboxes near the river, can only be reached by the only bridge.

However, the western part of the northern city was accessible to the shore, and that area was originally inhabited by Malaccan nobles, soldiers and artisans. Man Zheng led his troops to swim across from this place, and soon came to the Xicheng area of Beicheng.

Although they managed to cross the river and get ashore, they had to face the tall walls of the city – only the area where the royal family of Malacca lived was surrounded by stone walls, and the rest of the city was covered with wooden fences.

"Boom!"

The artillery on the city walls was the first to fire, and more than a dozen salvos killed two unlucky people, but the nearby houses suffered even more.

Those enemy artillery belonged to the early Ming Dynasty.

The guns of the Sultan Guards also belong to the early Ming Dynasty.

Chen Sheng, a local Chinese leader, once gave advice to the Portuguese siege of the city, and at this time said to Man Zheng: "General, there are only 500 franc soldiers in the city, but there are 1,000 native soldiers recruited on the spot." The general may wish to send someone to shout, those who surrender to the city can be spared death, and those who have made meritorious contributions can receive a large reward, and take them to settle in the Ming Dynasty. ”

Man Zheng was puzzled: "Why did you take them to Daming to settle down?" ”

Chen Sheng explained: "The origin of these native soldiers is complex, and there are people of all ethnic groups. They honor the Buddha Lang machine, the fox is pretending to be a tiger, arrogant and domineering, and there are too many people who usually offend. If they didn't promise to take them away, these native soldiers would not dare to surrender and sacrifice the city, and they would die a terrible death if they stayed. ”

"That's right," Man Zheng laughed, "and shout over there." ”

Anyway, Daming can have three big islands, which is also the land of Daming, and it is necessary to bring these native soldiers over. It's just that instead of bringing them over to enjoy happiness, they are taking them to farm, open up wasteland, and mine.

"Soldiers in the city, listen, we are the great soldiers. The Franc machine detained the Ming envoys, the emperor was furious, and led a large army to arrive, and the Franc machine fleet had already fled. Surrender quickly, the Ming Dynasty will only kill the Franc Man, and the rest of the soldiers of all races can be forgiven. Those who put down their weapons are exempted from the crime, and if they kill one of the Franc machine people, they will be rewarded with ten catties of silver. If you wish, you can leave Manraka with the Ming fleet, and you don't have to worry about the revenge of the enemies here......"

The Portuguese fleet fled, and the defenders in the city knew about it, and now the morale of the army is very low.

The interpreter shouted the words, and two thousand Sultan guards followed suit, causing chaos in the city in an instant. The shouts of killing inside shook the sky, and gunshots rang out from time to time, apparently the native soldiers had "revolted".

Without bloodshed, the royal city of Malacca was recovered.

The real battle, in fact, was not far outside the city, where there was also a Portuguese castle garrisoned by 1,500 Portuguese soldiers.

Let the Ming soldiers attack the castle, and it is a castle where all Portuguese soldiers are stationed?

Man Zheng will not be the wronged leader!

This guy took a boat directly and prepared to return, threw the castle to the Sultan's guards, and the prince of Malacca led his troops to fight slowly, and he had already said that the Ming Dynasty was only responsible for recovering the royal city.

The prince of Malacca was very embarrassed, he only had 2,000 Sultan's guards in his hands, how could he take down a castle garrisoned by 1,500 Portuguese soldiers?

Stay alive and dead, and ask Manzheng to help people to the end.

Man Zheng smiled: "In the war, I will definitely not help." However, you can spend money to buy a firecracker, a new type of firecracker in the Ming Dynasty that is better than the Franc machine, and you can arm a large army casually. But I have three requests......"

"Please." Alla Udeuddin hurriedly said.

Man Zheng said: "First, you have to reduce the commercial tax of Manraka City a little, and you can't let these righteous people work in vain; Second, the Han people in Manraka City should be given preferential treatment, and they should not be exploited at will in the future. Thirdly, I will sell you 3,000 firearms, of which 1,000 firecrackers must recruit local Han Chinese. ”

There are a lot of Han people in Malacca, who have settled since the Song Dynasty as early as the Song Dynasty, and even the bloodlines have been integrated to the point where they don't know that they are Han.

However, these requirements of Manzheng will definitely make countless Han people recognize their ancestors and return to their ancestors, and even many people who pretend to recognize their ancestors.

Of course, the idea was Wang Yuan's idea, which was nothing more than laying down a nail and greatly "increasing" the proportion of Han Chinese. For this reason, 3,000 guns were also transported by ship, so that Man Zheng could find a way to sell them to the king of Malacca at a high price.

As the founding monarch of the Kingdom of Johor in history, Ala-Ude-Din will not be fooled easily. In other words, he didn't see the rabbit and didn't scatter the eagle, and bargained: "I can agree to these requests, but Da Ming must help build the castle." ”

The deal is done.

Man Zheng did not carry out a strong attack, but divided his troops to surround the castle, beating gongs and drums outside the castle in turn, and from time to time fired a cannon at the castle.

Anyway, it just didn't let the Portuguese soldiers in the castle get a good night's sleep. After tossing for more than half a month, although those Portuguese soldiers could still bear it, they all had signs of nervous breakdown.

Human beings are very adaptable, and in the end, those Portuguese soldiers were so used to the noise that they didn't bother to move even when the castle was shelled.

Then, Manzheng suddenly asked the Sudanese Guards to attack, and he also beat gongs and drums to warn the enemy beforehand......

(Recommend a book "The Front Wave", and students who have the conditions can go to order it for the first time.) ）