I

  Chapter 726 723 [Myanmar invasion of soil]

  Hongyu Temple You Shaoqing Zhang Ruifeng was summoned by the emperor for no reason.

  He guessed that there might be a mission, perhaps to North Korea, or to the Western Regions, but he never dreamed that it would be Europe.

   "Are you from Longyou?" Zhao Han asked.

Zhang Ruifeng replied: "Reporting to Your Majesty, my hometown is indeed in Longyou County. However, when I was young, I went into business with my father and went as far as Yunnan. There were wars in the southwest and swords were everywhere, so I and my father did business in Jiangxi. Thanks to Your Majesty's benevolence." Jiang An Ding is good for business, and there was no more stable place at that time. Because of this, my father asked the minister to serve His Majesty, and the one who can win the world must be His Majesty."

   "You have a good father," Zhao Han asked with a smile. "The Longyou Merchant Gang is famous all over the world. I heard that it has been particularly active in recent years."

Zhang Ruifeng said: "Longyou merchants are not as rich and powerful as Huizhou merchants and Jiangxi merchants, and they don't form cliques like Western merchants (Shanshan merchants), and they don't have the advantages of sea trade like Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang merchants. Longyou merchants rely on It’s hard work, other merchants dare not go, and other merchants look down on them, so the Longyou merchants will take over.”

   "Longyou businessmen have made great contributions to restoring people's livelihood in the north." Zhao Han nodded in approval.

  In recent years, the imperial court has immigrated to the north in large numbers, and there are also preferential treatment in terms of business tax. Businessmen from Anhui, Jiangsu, and Jiangxi moved after hearing the news, but they basically only went to big cities in the north.

  Longyou merchants found another way to do business in small northern counties. In the backward areas of Yunnan and Guizhou provinces, big businessmen from all over the country were reluctant to go, and it was Longyou merchants who came out collectively. The shadow of Longyou merchant gang can be seen everywhere on the southwest border, and even went to Vietnam to do business since last year.

  Zhang Ruifeng said: "Not only can the livelihood of the people in the north be restored, but also the merchants can make money. This is a matter of benefiting the country, the people and themselves, and Longyou merchants are duty-bound."

  Zhao Han asked: "I heard that Longyou merchants have started to develop overseas?"

Zhang Ruifeng said: "Taiwan and Luzon are mostly merchants from Fujian, and they hold together to exclude foreigners. If Longyou merchants can't get in, they can only go to Ryukyu and Fangzhang counties to collect some local goods and timber. Now the imperial court has seized Malacca, Fujian Cantonese businessmen thought it was too far away, so they basically only went to Banten and Palembang. Longyou businessmen encountered this gap and were already organizing sea trips, and decided to go to Malacca for a living.”

  Maritime merchants from Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang are of course willing to sail to Ryukyu and Malacca. However, they are engaged in maritime trade, while Longyou merchants will stay and develop.

  Longyou Merchant Gang didn't have sea ships, so they went to Ryukyu and Fangzhang counties to live. They are responsible for receiving goods from the natives and selling them to passing Fujian ships, and they actually earn some hard-earned odds and ends.

  The imperial court was happy to see this situation, so when organizing immigration, it basically did not recruit in Longyou County. It is mountainous and the land is barren. Young and strong men like to travel far away to do business. As a result, most of the farmers at home are old, weak, women and children. Recruiting immigrants in Longyou County will be messy.

  In fact, men in Anhui and Shanxi are also accustomed to running businesses away from home, and most of them started from small businesses. But they didn't go far, perhaps to neighboring counties, or to neighboring provinces, while Longyou merchants directly crossed several provinces, and even went to the Western Regions and Burma as early as the Ming Dynasty.

  Zhao Han said with a smile: "You dared to go to Yunnan to do business when you were young. You must not be afraid to travel far, so I will give you an errand to go to other countries."

   "But according to His Majesty's orders!" Zhang Ruifeng hurriedly stood up and cupped his hands.

   Zhao Han waved and said, "Come here."

  Zhang Ruifeng stepped forward, stood cautiously, and looked at the world map that the emperor took out.

Zhao Han pointed to the map and said: "Passing Malacca, the fleet will proceed along the land. You will encounter a small country, which has been accepted as a vassal. Further north, it is the territory of Siam. You only need to negotiate with the local officials, you don't need to go See the king of Siam. Then Toungoo (Myanmar), order him to surrender quickly, and send his envoy to Nanjing to present his letter of credence."

   "If Dongyu doesn't want to surrender, should he go ashore and teach him a lesson?" Zhang Ruifeng asked.

  Zhao Han warned: "Remember, your mission is to go to various countries, not to fight. If Dongyu refuses to accept Wang Hua, you can just write it down. Don't delay the trip."

   "Please remember!" Zhang Ruifeng took the order.

  Zhao Han continued: "Further ahead is Arakan (the southwestern coast of Myanmar and the eastern coast of Bangladesh). This country is a deadly enemy with Siam. Its people are not afraid of the sea. If they are damaged along the way, they can recruit supplementary sailors in Arakan."

  The Chittagong port of Bangladesh in the later generations also belonged to the territory of Arakan at this time. This country is the little overlord of the sea in the Bay of Bengal.

  A hundred years ago, Arakan was repeatedly plundered by Portugal, and occasionally cooperated with Portugal, and has already mastered Portuguese navigation and gun technology. Arakan has a close relationship with Taungoo (Myanmar), and they often join forces to fight Siam, and once they even pulled Portugal.

Zhao Han said: "Further ahead, there is India, also known as Tianzhu. The southern states of Tianzhu, you can make friends with them as much as possible. The north is the land of the Mughals. There is a Mughal emperor of Mongolian blood. You should visit Mughals. Emperor Wo'er, maybe we can cooperate in the future, I will write a letter for you to pass on."

"Further ahead is Persia, you should also visit the king. As for the African coast, there are no countries, they are all city-states and tribes, and we must try our best to make friends with them. Of course, use force when necessary, so as not to be underestimated by these natives. Europe, Britain, France, Holland, Spain, Portugal, these countries should all go and see. The Netherlands is arrogant and has become a target of public criticism, try to lure countries to war with the Netherlands!"

  A bunch of place names and country names made Zhang Ruifeng dizzy.

   Fortunately, he knew about it before, not because he didn't know everything, otherwise he would be blind at this moment.

  Zhang Ruifeng flattered and said: "Your Majesty has a deep heart, and he knows all the overseas countries like the palm of his hand. I admire you so much!"

  Zhao Han said with a smile: "You go to prepare, and go to sea when the trade winds come. Remember, collect information from various countries along the way. Names of countries, capitals, monarchs, languages, characters, geography, religion, specialties...all of these must be recorded."

   "Follow the order!" Zhang Ruifeng bowed and retreated.

  Zhao Han took out a memorial and continued to review it.

   This is a report from the Ministry of Household Affairs, which is a daily official document, but Zhao Han is in a good mood.

  According to reports from various provinces and counties, since last fall, all parts of the country have been enjoying good weather. Only some areas have snowstorms in winter, and only a few counties have spring drought after the beginning of spring. As long as there is no major flood, this year's summer and autumn grains will have a bumper harvest.

  Such a good year is the most face-saving year since Zhao Han regained the north.

"it is good!"

  Zhao Han picked up the Zhubi, and only marked one word, then leaned back on the chair and took a nap for a while.

  This official document made him relaxed and happy, so he had to enjoy a good mood.

  The problem of education funding left Zhao Han with no choice. The three-year compulsory education for all is not something that the agricultural country can afford.

   Moreover, in remote and backward areas, the quality of education is being left farther and farther away.

   Not only the teacher's problem, but also the textbook problem.

  Because of providing textbooks for free, this made the local government complain. To save money, students must turn in their books when they graduate or drop out, and the next class of students can reuse old books.

  However, primary and secondary school textbooks have been supplemented and adjusted many times.

  Schools with good educational conditions will naturally use the latest version of textbooks. And those remote and backward schools are still using old textbooks from a few years ago. When students take graduation exams, they will find that some topics have not been studied at all.

  The only fortunate thing is that the number of middle school students nationwide is far lower than the number of primary school students. Middle school textbooks happen to be the most frequently adjusted, with new mathematics and physics content added every two or three years, and these two subjects are in a period of explosive results.

   After a short break, Zhao Han reviewed the memorial again.

   Soon the good mood was destroyed. The earthquake in Chengdu destroyed more than 3,000 houses and killed and injured thousands of people (accurate statistics cannot be counted).

  The cabinet has approved the disaster relief, and at the same time suggested reducing or exempting taxes as appropriate, Zhao Han casually approved the word "permitted". Disaster relief matters must have been done by local officials long ago, not to mention officials from Datong, even officials from the Ming Dynasty would quickly make arrangements—the Great Guanzhong Earthquake during the Jiajing period, although Emperor Jiajing turned a blind eye to it, local officials were very active in disaster relief.

  Hey, I should have slept more if I knew it earlier, God really deserves it.

  Continuing to look down, I was in a bad mood, and suddenly became extremely bad.

  The chief envoy of Yunnan made a report, and King Toungoo ordered the envoy to Kunming, requesting that it be attached as a vassal state of China.

  Myanmar took the initiative to recognize his father, which was originally a good thing. But Mubang chieftain heard the news, and quietly sent people to Kunming to report Dongyu's invasion of China's border, and asked for Mubang's consolation seal by the way.

  Mubang, Mengyang, and Mengmi areas in northern Myanmar originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty.

  In the thirty-second year of Wanli, Toungoo (Myanmar) attacked Mengmi and asked Mengyang chieftain to send troops to help. Sihong, chieftain of Mengyang, refused and killed the envoy of Dongyu. Dongyu then turned to attack Mengyang, and Sihong was defeated and killed.

  In the thirty-fourth year of Wanli, Dongyu attacked Mubang. Before the reinforcements from Yunnan arrived, Mubang fell, and the governor of Yunnan, Chen Yongbin, was sentenced to death in prison.

  Everyone in the world knows the three major Wanli campaigns, but during the Wanli period, Ming fought against Burma for decades. The Taungoo Dynasty in Burma continued to encroach on the land of Ming Dynasty, and Yunnan officials and troops had to deploy tens of thousands of soldiers on the border. The mountain roads were rugged, and the army food was difficult to transport. A large number of civilians lost their families because of food transportation.

  Now, Mubang, Mengyang, and Mengmi are all in the hands of Myanmar, and they have not returned their land. Now they still have the face to enclose and ask for the golden seal and documents.

  Historically, the Toungoo Dynasty in Myanmar also requested canonization in the same way after killing Emperor Nanming. Regardless of the Manchu Qing, the three lands of Mubang, Mengyang, and Mengmi were all given to the Toungoo Dynasty. Later, during the Qing-Burmese War, China once took back the lost land, but Lord Qianlong had a brain twitch, and with a wave of his hand, he took the initiative to reward the territory.

  The memorial is attached to Huang Yao's "paste yellow", which is an accompanying document of the military.

   Huang Yao, who lives in Yunnan, writes things more clearly. Those lost lands are very poor, and the mountains are high and the forests are dense, so the transportation of military supplies is extremely difficult. If you want to fight, please give him two years to prepare, and you have to use the armed police force in Yunnan to assist. It is best not to send reinforcements from other places. The climate on the border of Yunnan is complicated, and the troops from other provinces may not be able to bear it.

  Zhao Han replied: "Yunnan inspectors are dispatched by you, and all counties in Yunnan also cooperate as much as possible. Within three years, I will recover Mubang, Mengyang, and Mengmi."

  (end of this chapter)