On the 28th day of the tenth lunar month in the 25th year of Wanli, Xiao Ruxun, Marquis Zhennan of the Ming dynasty and the Chief Commander of the Burmese Imperial Border, was ordered by Emperor Wanli to lead 3,000 troops and 40 warships to attack the Spanish colony of the Philippines which caused the deaths of the Daming immigrants and the Daming soldiers.
On the morning of the same day, Xiao Ruxun held a meeting at the military port of Yangon and announced that he would personally lead the troops to attack the Spanish in Luzon and avenge the people and loyal soldiers who died tragically in Daming.
"In the past, Chen Tang said that those who openly offend the strong Han will be punished no matter how far away they are. This brilliant saying has not disappeared after thousands of years and still exists in our hearts. I hope that the soldiers will never forget these words. If there is a clown in the world who openly offends Huaxia, the Han soldiers will risk their lives to attack! No matter how far away they are, they will be punished! "
The soldiers shouted in unison, "No matter how far away they are, they will be punished!"
"Let's go!"
Xiao Ruxun waved the flag and the drums rumbled. The navy set off!
For this expedition, Xiao Ruxun brought Chen Longzheng, the Chief Counselor of Foreign Affairs. Yuan Huang was left to guard the headquarters in Burma and everything was handled by Yuan Huang.
Xiao Ruxun rode on the flagship, Zhennan. This warship was the largest warship in Burma and weighed 700 tons. It was a gift from the shipyard masters to Xiao Ruxun. Xiao Ruxun named the ship after himself and made it the flagship of the Burmese Navy. During normal times, it was the ship of the Chief Commander of the Navy, Jiang Dahai, and during times of war, it was the flagship.
Speaking of which, the matter of naming warships separately was first done by Xiao Ruxun in the Daming. Before this, the Ming Dynasty's navy was not organized, so there was no tradition of naming warships separately. Usually, it was a sentry ship, a lucky ship, a sand ship, a black ship, and so on.
After Xiao Ruxun named the warship, the navy began to name warships with outstanding battle achievements. In every naval battle, only the three warships with the most battle achievements had the right to be named. Thus, up until now, out of the four hundred warships in the Myanmar Town fleet, only twenty-seven of them had names. The rest were named after the Great Ming Dynasty.
Only a famous warship could become the flagship of a small or medium-sized naval battle, and the captain of a famous warship was usually qualified to become the vice commander-in-chief of a B Squadron.
The Burma Town Navy Xiao Ruxun set up had one commander-in-chief, Jiang Dahai, and ten vice commander-in-chiefs, each commanding ten B Squadron. This time, it was the Sixth B Squadron, the fleet under the command of vice commander-in-chief Wang Wei.
Originally, if Xiao Ruxun did not go to war, the Zhennan Warship would not go to war, and neither would Jiang Dahai. But since Xiao Ruxun had decided to go to war, then Jiang Dahai must accompany him and become the commander of the fleet.
Speaking of which, the army under Xiao Ruxun's command, be it the army or the navy, were all built by him. There was basically no Ming Court influence in them. The five thousand old Ningxia Firearms Battalion was formed by the officers and soldiers he personally chose in Ningxia. It was his starting force.
When he came to Burma, the soldiers he expanded the army were also chosen by himself. Later on, he used his military achievements as proof to promote the basic officers and middle officers. The choices were all made by him, and there was no Ming Court interference.
The navy was even more so. If one were to say that the old subordinates who followed him still had Ming Court military positions, then the officers of the navy were all personally promoted by Xiao Ruxun. When the Ming Court transferred the navy back, they basically only left ships for Xiao Ruxun, and not many navy officers.
There were only about three to five hundred officers and soldiers, not to mention the former captains and other officers. Only three or four of them remained, and these old people had all died in more than three years of naval battle. Many of the old navy soldiers had also died in battle, but the new people they had trained had grown rapidly.
It could be said that the navy was completely made up of soldiers and officers chosen from refugees. They were all personally promoted by Xiao Ruxun. For example, he had now appointed the chief of the navy, Jiang Dahai. This guy, whose name was full of water characteristics, was from Fujian. In the past, he had been a ship operator who followed merchant ships. At the age of seven, he had followed his family to run merchant ships.
Later, when he was 21, the merchant ship he followed was attacked by pirates. The people on the ship, including his father, were all killed by the pirates. He hugged a piece of wood and had some dogsh * t luck, floating back to the coast of Fujian.
However, because the people on the ship had all died, there was no one else at home other than his father. His mind was in a trance, and he became a refugee. In a muddle-headed state, he was sent to Burma with a group of people.
He had originally thought that he was waiting for death, but in the end, he welcomed the second spring of his life. It was just in time for Xiao Ruxun to expand the navy and call for people who had experience as sailors and ship operators to join the navy. He was the first to sign up, and 20 days later, he participated in the first naval battle of his life.
Some people were born to fight, and some people were born to be war geniuses. This was inexplicable.
For example, Huo Qubing went to the battlefield at the age of 17. Until his death, he had never lost a battle. Who had he learned the art of war from? How many years had he learned it? Did he have any experience?
However, the Xiongnu, who had defeated countless experienced generals of the Great Han Dynasty, were really unlucky to fall into Huo Qubing's hands. They lost every time they met Huo Qubing, and they never won. In the end, they fought all the way to the Wolf Storey Mountain, and even their base was destroyed. How could he be so good at fighting when he went to the battlefield at the age of 17?
Yue Fei once said, "The ingenuity of using one's mind lies in one's heart."
This "heart" was probably something that only war geniuses had.
Huo Qubing had it too. That was why he was a war genius. He was born for war, and when the war was about to end, he died. It was as if he had only lived for those short six years, leaving behind an everlasting legend.
Jiang Dahai's name had the words "Jiang" and "Hai" in it. His father had given him this name in the hope that he would be able to conquer the rivers and seas. He was illiterate, and after going through Xiao Ruxun's literacy campaign, he had barely mastered more than 300 words. But even so, he had never tasted defeat in the three years he had joined the navy.
The first time he participated in a naval battle against pirates, his eyes were bloodshot. At that time, he was just an ordinary cannoneer, but he did the captain's job. The captain of that warship was killed by a pirate's stray bullet, and the warship was surrounded by three pirate ships. The inexperienced sailors and soldiers on the ship were in a mess.
It was this guy who held his breath and focused. With bloodshot eyes, he pierced through the command tower of a pirate ship and killed the captain of the pirate ship. Then, he switched to explosive shells and fired three shots in a row, blowing up the pirates on the ship into pieces.
His heroic performance and marvelous accuracy inspired the courage of the soldiers. The rookies followed him and fought bravely, sinking a pirate ship and killing their way out of the encirclement. After that, Xiao Ruxun personally met with him and promoted him to captain on the frontlines.
In the year that followed, he commanded his own warships and cannoneers and won every battle. In the second battle, he sank three pirate ships, and in the third battle, he sank four pirate ships. In the fourth battle, Xiao Ruxun directly gave him the authority to command seven warships in a B Squadron and let him act alone, chasing after a group of twelve warships that was made up of twelve warships.
This group had just robbed a Ryukyu merchant fleet, and the Ryukyu people were powerless to chase after them, so they asked Xiao Ruxun for help. Xiao Ruxun thought about it and sent Jiang Dahai.
No one thought well of him, and even Yuan Huang doubted Xiao Ruxun's decision. He thought that such a decision was too dangerous. What if something happened to an illiterate Hokkien boy as the commander of a sub-fleet? Not only would it hurt Xiao Ruxun's prestige, it would also hurt Daming's.
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