Chapter 1537: A Blood Debt Never Forgotten

The navy was a newly established branch of the military. None of China's previous dynasties had ever possessed a formal navy to speak of, so traditionally, people did not value naval forces, believing that possessing the "All Under Heaven" was enough. By the late Ming, people had opened their eyes to the world and realized that the former "All Under Heaven" was merely a cramped corner. To guard against incursions from powerful overseas nations, His Majesty decided to establish a navy to defend the maritime frontiers.

However, although His Majesty personally founded the navy and had always placed great importance on it, thousands of years of entrenched thinking were not so easily changed. Most people still habitually confined their vision within the "All Under Heaven" and had no notion of relying on the oceans to expand territory and spread national prestige. Even among court officials, quite a few grumbled about the enormous military expenditures the navy consumed.

This entrenched mindset deeply worried everyone in the navy, who feared that one day the court would deem the navy too costly and slash its funding, weakening the Great Han's maritime strength. As the future emperor, if the Crown Prince could develop an interest in the navy and the ocean, nothing could be better for the navy's development. So he very much hoped he could personally spark the Crown Prince's interest in the sea.

As the Grand Admiral of the Great Han navy, he firmly believed that in this present age, Huaxia needed an imperial house that could see both the land and the sea; only then would Huaxia not miss its golden opportunity and allow the Westerners to seize the entire world.

"Luzon does indeed have many descendants of Huaxia now. In the middle period of the former Ming, the court was corrupt and local governance decayed. Many commoners along the coast had no means of survival, so they had no choice but to venture out to sea to make a living. Many went to Luzon, where they put down roots and multiplied." He continued explaining to the Crown Prince. "However, the various islands of Luzon are now in the hands of the Spanish."

Then, his expression darkened. "These people, it must be said, are pitiable. Making a hard living over there is one thing, but living under another's roof, their existence was precarious. The natives and the Spanish both bullied them. Even… even during the Wanli reign of the former Ming, the Spanish colluded with the natives to massacre the Chinese."

"What?" The Crown Prince was slightly shocked, his eyes widening.

"At that time, Spain transported silver through its colonies in the Americas and then traded with the Great Ming through their trading posts in the Philippines, causing a massive influx of silver from the Philippines. The Wanli court mistakenly believed the Philippines had silver mountains to mine, and egged on by certain people, sent officials to Luzon to investigate, attempting to open up a source of revenue there. But because these actions were carried out carelessly, they aroused the Spanish's fear. They worried this was a prelude to the Great Ming sending troops to the Philippines." As he spoke, Cai De's expression grew darker and darker. "These Spanish, through trickery, first bought up the Chinese people's weapons at high prices, then colluded with native accomplices to carry out a large-scale massacre of the Chinese. In total… in total they slaughtered over twenty thousand of our Chinese merchants and their families."

Because he had served at sea all these years, Cai De knew the full ins and outs of the matter very clearly. Moreover, within the navy, these events were regarded as a bitter grievance, and every time they were brought up, they filled everyone with furious indignation.

And the Crown Prince was just as furious as they were.

"Twenty thousand… over twenty thousand!" The Crown Prince slammed the table heavily. "These Spanish, they truly deserve to be killed, deserve to die!"

"At the time, the former Ming's Wanli Emperor was also furious. He even wanted to dispatch troops to directly chastise these Spanish and exact a blood debt for the children of Huaxia. It was just… just that the Great Ming's national power was already in decline, and its navy was weak, so this proposal could only be dropped and ultimately went nowhere." Cai De sighed, clearly full of regret. "And later, the Great Ming's power waned further. Our dynasty rose in dragon ascendance, and troops had to be raised for war everywhere. For a time… there was no attention to spare to revisit the earlier matter with these Spanish."

"Over twenty thousand living souls—how can it just be dropped!" The Crown Prince's lingering anger had not subsided. "That Spain is nothing but a remote frontier country on the edge of the Western Ocean. How dare they come to Huaxia's doorstep, forcibly seize islands, and plunder and slaughter the children of Huaxia? Despicable, despicable! Even the former dynasty's Wanli Emperor, muddled and dim as he was, still knew righteous indignation for these slain Chinese. Our dynasty, which receives Heaven's mandate and follows its fortune—how can we ignore this?! Our dynasty… our dynasty must never let this rest peacefully with them!"

Perhaps because he was too angry, the Crown Prince's usual gentle demeanor had completely vanished, and he seemed instead to take on a bit of his father's likeness.

"His Highness speaks truly!" Cai De immediately echoed the Crown Prince's words. "The entire navy has long gnashed their teeth in bitter hatred at the Spanish's deeds. We all long for the day we get the chance to settle the score with these Spanish and avenge our fallen Chinese people!"

The Crown Prince's chest heaved continuously; he was already extremely agitated. If he truly had the power to decide, he probably would have already resolved to dispatch troops to the Philippines to chastise the Spanish and ensure every last one of them died without a burial place.

Zhao Song had originally been watching coldly from the sidelines, observing Cai De subtly guiding the Crown Prince, successfully making the navy capture the Crown Prince's attention. He did not want to interfere with Marshal Cai. But now, Zhao Song decided to cool the topic down a bit. The use of arms is a great affair of state; the power to decide on a national punitive expedition rests solely with His Majesty. If the Crown Prince, stirred up by Cai De like this, were to submit a memorial to His Majesty requesting the conquest of Luzon as soon as he disembarked, wouldn't that just be creating unnecessary trouble for everyone?

"Your Highness, we can all empathize deeply with such a tragedy. We soldiers of the army have also always been thinking about when we might cross hands with the Spanish and exact that blood debt. However… everything must be done step by step. Our dynasty now needs to pacify its periphery and restore peace and prosperity to the nation. Once the periphery is stabilized, our country can naturally go and clean up Luzon further away. Spain hangs isolated beyond the seas and would find it difficult to send reinforcements. As long as our country makes preparations and launches a campaign when the time comes, Luzon is nothing but an isolated island, ours for the taking! Then those Spanish will get a taste of the suffering the children of Huaxia endured back then!"

"Yes, that's right…" The Crown Prince also slowly regained his composure. "Matters must be handled one at a time. The nation is still newly settled and needs to stabilize its domestic finances and people's livelihoods, so we must extract gold and silver from Japan to stabilize domestic needs… Father Emperor must already have a well-formed plan. I will simply follow Father Emperor's methods… In the end, in the end, these Spanish cannot escape. Sooner or later, we must demand justice from them! When I return, I must submit a memorial to Father Emperor!"

"Your Highness, after the war with Japan is concluded, we officers and soldiers will surely sleep with our weapons pillowed, training hard, and when the time comes, we will certainly take Luzon for the Great Han!" Seeing that his objective had been successfully achieved, Cai De was overjoyed.

Under the sun's gaze, the fleet sailed straight along its course. The sea's surface still rose and fell in waves, and the wakes left by the ships gradually faded, until finally no trace remained.

It was another clear morning. The bay at Jinzhou today had a cloudless azure sky, though compared to the past, it had recently become much more bustling and clamorous. Inside and outside the port city, squads of soldiers shuttled through the streets and fields, yet there was little air of grim lethality; instead, they seemed quite relaxed and at ease.

In the former Ming era, this port had been only a small town, but by this spring of the eighth year of the Great Han, it had become a large-scale city of considerable size. Initially, to support the Zhao Army's military operations against Manchuria, it had been used as a port for receiving military supplies and had undergone preliminary development. Moreover, the Zhao Army's laborers and engineers had also repaired several transport routes deep into the interior, ensuring that the great army of the Zhao Battalion always had excellent logistical support, powerfully aiding frontline operations and accelerating the destruction of the Jianzhou Jurchens.

After the new dynasty was established, the Great Han continued its expansion in Liaodong, continuing to deploy troops on a large scale there. However, because overland transport incurred enormous losses and the local area could hardly sustain the consumption of a large army, the already established Jinzhou supply line continued to be used, and thus the prosperity of Jinzhou Port was sustained.

At the same time, because the great army was continuously stationed there, Jinzhou Port gradually expanded in scale. Large numbers of civilians and merchants also began to move in, eyeing the market there. Then, once the population flourished, merchants from the Great Han, Goryeo, and the frontier Jurchens also turned this place into a hub for selling goods, trading, and transshipping cargo, swarming here to settle in droves. Even some Western merchants came here seeking business opportunities.

Now, after these years of development, Jinzhou Port had already divided into distinct districts for commerce, military garrison, and residence, grandly becoming a huge city no less impressive than the counties and prefectures of the interior.

However, although Jinzhou had undergone initial development, Liaodong was ultimately different from the interior provinces. Those interior provinces had been established as provinces for many years and possessed complete government institutions, and the rules for trade and interaction had long become established customs. Liaodong, however, was newly conquered territory, so its civil administration structures were incomplete. Moreover, with merchants gathered from all corners of the realm, the local customs were far more fierce and unruly than elsewhere. As a result, the burden of maintaining public order fell more heavily onto the garrison troops. Only under the army's strict control was this place kept from descending into chaos.

In ordinary times, the garrison strength around Jinzhou Port was one regiment, and the colonel of this regiment was the person of highest status in all of Jinzhou City. A single word from him could make the city tremble, and he could be described as dictatorial and swaggeringly arrogant.

Yet now, this Colonel He Sheng—a very tall man, though slightly plump—was standing behind a pier on one of the docks, dressed in a brand-new military uniform, with a silver orchid medal pinned to his chest along with several other medals large and small. But his expression was extremely deferential, his waist slightly hunched, as if he hardly dared to breathe.

Besides him, a large crowd of people also stood behind the pier, similarly dressed in military uniforms with solemn expressions, their own medals likewise pinned to their chests. Submerged into this sea of military uniforms, Colonel He instantly became utterly inconspicuous.