Chapter 1088: Seven Hundred Thousand Troops! (Please Subscribe)

The three territories Luo Dagong mentioned were the three prefectures of southern Thailand that would remain restive for generations to come — a long, narrow strip of land with sea on both sides, the Gulf of Siam on one side and the Andaman Sea on the other, the Andaman Sea being part of the Indian Ocean.

"Once we take Pattani, Songkhla, and Yala," Zhu Cilang said, weighing his words, "we will have entered the Indian Ocean!"

Luo Dagong said, "Your Majesty, this is the perfect moment to enter the Indian Ocean."

"Is it?" Zhu Cilang was somewhat hesitant.

The Great Ming held a great advantage in the Pacific, because the war between Spain on one side and England and France on the other was not yet over, so they could not yet commit large naval forces to the Pacific.

Moreover, after the Battle of Kagoshima Bay, the pattern of naval warfare had undergone a profound change, just as it had after the historical Battle of Sinope — every nation now had to rebuild its main battle fleet. That meant everyone was starting from the same line, which naturally favored a colossus like the Great Ming. So for the time being, no one would challenge the Great Ming in the North Pacific.

But the Indian Ocean was extremely crowded — it had always been crowded!

The followers of Islam were unwilling to lose their dominance; the Ottomans and the Mughals both watched with hungry eyes; Portugal, Holland, and England contended for supremacy; France was still squeezing its way in. Add a Great Ming to that, and it would likely burst at the seams.

Luo Dagong said, "Your Majesty, the Foreign Ministry recently received a report from the Superintendency in Siam: an envoy from the Mughal Empire of India has arrived and raised the matter of cooperating with our dynasty against the Khanate of Bukhara. Clearly they wish to befriend us."

"What? Against the Khanate of Bukhara?" Zhu Cilang was somewhat baffled.

Wasn't the Khanate of Bukhara in Central Asia? How had it provoked the Indians?

"Your Majesty," Luo Dagong said, "the Khanate of Bukhara and the Mughal dynasty of India are hereditary enemies. The Mughal dynasty descends from the Timurid dynasty, and the Timurid dynasty was destroyed by the Uzbek Khanate, the predecessor of the Khanate of Bukhara. Today the Mughal ancestral homeland is controlled by the Khanate of Bukhara. And the Mughal Emir Aurangzeb has long cherished great ambitions — he styles himself Alamgir, meaning Conqueror of the World, and is bent on retaking the ancestral lands in the north and pacifying all the states of India in the south."

"Conqueror of the World?" Zhu Cilang laughed. "That's quite a claim. Then why doesn't he go conquer Bukhara instead of contacting our dynasty?"

"Because this Conqueror of the World is not much of a general," Luo Dagong said. "He was once crushingly defeated by the Khanate of Bukhara. Now that he sees our dynasty's vassal, the Dzungar tribe, inflicting a great defeat on the Khanate of Bukhara, he has conceived the idea of an alliance."

"Then is he not afraid that Sengge of the Dzungars, after conquering Bukhara, will march south into India?" Zhu Cilang asked.

"Apparently not," Luo Dagong said with a smile. "And this matter has nothing to do with us, so we might as well take the opportunity to make contact with India. As long as we form an alliance with the Mughal dynasty of India, entering the Indian Ocean will present no problem."

"Very well," Zhu Cilang said. "Who can serve as envoy?"

Luo Dagong said, "Peng Ziqin, the Superintendent in Siam, can serve as envoy. After his mission to India, he can also be sent on to the Ottoman Empire and Europe. The situation in Europe has changed greatly of late — England's Lord Protector has been replaced, and the war between Spain on one side and France and England on the other seems to have been decided."

To have gone from the question of chastising the Shun all the way to the situation in Europe — what a leap!

Zhu Cilang nodded and said, "It is indeed time for a mission to visit Europe! Duke, have the Foreign Ministry draw up a plan for the mission as soon as possible. We wish to review it."

"This subject receives the decree."

Zhu Cilang continued, "Chief Grand Secretary Wei, arrange Our western progress to Wuhan. We have not been to Wuhan for many years. This time We shall stay there for some time and give Li Guo a proper fright."

"This subject receives the decree."

Zhu Cilang then said to Wu Sanfu, "For the Qishan front, it will not do to leave the two generals Shang and Kong in command. Send Jiang Xiang to take the field as Commander of the Qishan Army. Also order the Shuofang and Anbei garrisons each to detach five thousand elite troops, to march under Jiang Xiang's command.

As for Sichuan, Zeng Ying remains in overall command — he is the military governor, after all.

For Yunnan and Guizhou, establish a Governor-General, to be filled by Mu Tianbo, with Yang Zhan as Commander of all Yunnan-Guizhou forces. Allocate military funds, and permit Mu Tianbo and Yang Zhan to recruit tusi troops from Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, and Huguang for the campaign.

As for Huguang, also establish a Governor-General, to be filled by Cao Youyi, with the Xiangyang Army and Jingzhou Army under him, commanded respectively by Yan Yingyuan and Qi Yuanbi."

Zhu Cilang raised his voice: "Thus we have seven routes of punitive armies — Qishan, Guanzhong, Xiangyang, Jingzhou, eastern Sichuan, Yunnan-Guizhou, and Siam — a claimed seven hundred thousand! And with Us personally leading the campaign, Li Guo will surely be trembling with fear this time!"

Seven hundred thousand!

That was quite a boast. Not counting the forces of the outer vassals, the total strength of the Great Ming court plus the various inner garrisons — navy and army combined — did not even amount to seven hundred thousand!

Yunnan, Kunming, the Wuhua Palace.

The news that the Great Ming had succeeded in pacifying Liaodong and was about to send seven great armies totaling seven hundred thousand to pacify Sichuan and Yunnan arrived almost back to back.

Li Guo, the Son of Heaven of the Shun, was at once seized by the feeling that catastrophe was upon him!

"Grand Strategist, reckon it up for Us — does the Ming really have seven hundred thousand troops?" Li Laiheng, the Army-Soothing Crown Prince, had also hurried over from Ava, and now he was asking Song Xiance to count it out on his fingers.

"Your Highness, do not panic," Song Xiance said, full of confidence. "In the old days the late Wan Sui would from time to time claim a host of a million — in truth there was never anything like that many. This subject estimates that Emperor Zhu is falsely claiming seven hundred thousand this time; in reality he has at most five hundred thousand."

Five hundred thousand was still no small number!

Li Guo shook his head repeatedly. "What is to be done? What is to be done?"

"Imperial Father, since ancient times soldiers have met the coming troops and water has met the rising flood," Li Laiheng said. "What is there to fear if the enemy has five hundred thousand?"

Li Guo looked at his son. "Does Our son wish to command the army and face the House of Zhu in battle?"

"No," Li Laiheng said. "Your son suggests that Imperial Father expand the army to resist Zhu Ming!"

Expand the army?

Li Guo thought to himself: the current 250,000 fubing households are already almost more than we can bear. Expand the army further — will there still be food to eat?

"How would we expand the army?" Sun Kewang, the Prince of Qin, asked.

Li Laiheng said, "First, have all boys in fubing households who have reached the age of fifteen enlist, be concentrated for training, and be formed into a Children's Army, just like Zhu Ming's Youth Army. In this way we should be able to expand the army to some 270,000 or 280,000.

Then recruit another 70,000 or 80,000 new soldiers, making a total of 350,000 fubing. Though fewer than Zhu Ming's 500,000, that would be enough to hold our own."

The Shun had 250,000 fubing households, but 50,000 of those were officials and clerks, so the number actually able to take the field was only around 200,000 — a bit few, it was true. But expanding the army by 150,000 at one stroke did seem somewhat drastic.

"One soldier is forty shi of grain, so 150,000 is six million shi!" Niu Jinxing shook his head. "Even reckoning rent at five dou per mu, that would require twelve million mu. Where are we to find those twelve million mu?"

"What is so hard to find?" Li Laiheng said. "We can grant the land currently rented to peasant households to the fubing, and let the peasants pay rent to the fubing instead."

It had to be said, the Shun dynasty's capacity for mobilization was astonishing!

Because after the Shun dynasty had implemented its two fundamental state policies — enclosing land to support the army and granting land by headcount — it held all the land and population of the country in its hands.

Even the land granted by headcount was not private land, but public land. So there was nothing improper about the court transferring this land to the fubing as office land. It was just that the current 250,000 fubing already occupied roughly one-third of the Shun's land. If another twelve million mu were added, half the land of the Shun's two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou would likely belong to the fubing.

"If all the land goes to the fubing, the court's rent income will shrink," Niu Jinxing said, still shaking his head. "This coming war is likely to be long and drawn out, and we will certainly have to issue annual grain rations to the fubing. If there really are 350,000 men in service, grain rations alone will come to 2.1 million shi a year! Add the annual stipends, and five million shi will not cover it!"

"Then levy a surcharge!" Li Laiheng said.

"A surcharge?" Li Guo thought to himself: what a familiar word!

"Right!" Li Laiheng said. "What must be levied must be levied! Without a surcharge — the Shun dynasty may soon cease to exist!"

Niu Jinxing said, "To burden fewer than 35 million mu with the regular land rent plus a surcharge of at least 15 million shi, and on top of that several million bolts of cloth — it is simply too heavy!"

"It will be fine!" Li Laiheng said. "The Ming collects a hundred million taels in taxes a year. We are only talking about 15 million shi of rice plus a few million bolts of cloth — what of it? If we do not collect it, and the Ming seizes Sichuan and Yunnan, the common people will suffer all the more!"

Li Guo nodded. "That is true. For the sake of the people, let it be done."

(End of Chapter)