Di Ming

Chapter 480 The Massacre of Haojing!

Weak in military force, even the strongest are useless!
Zhu Yin couldn't blame Guangdong either. To be fair, the people of Guangdong were actually quite tough; they were the main force in the later anti-Qing struggles, and they were ruthless in the Northern Expedition and the War of Resistance against Japan. The people of Guangxi were even more formidable.

In fact, all Han Chinese were capable of fighting. The problem was that the corruption, incompetence, selfishness, and cowardice of the rulers destroyed the military strength of the Han people.

Is it only in Guangdong?
The southern provinces alone had over 80 million Han Chinese, a considerable population, yet they couldn't muster 20,000 elite armored Han soldiers (excluding Nanjing). After the Zhengtong era, the main force of the Ming army in the south was always the Tusi (local chieftain) troops. It sounds utterly absurd.

However, this is the sad truth.

The Ming army in the south had 187 guards, and the Ministry of War had more than 800,000 Han soldiers and more than 50,000 Han warhorses, which sounds terrifying. But this was only on paper; in reality, 70% of them were non-existent "ghost soldiers" and "paper horses."

The actual number of Han troops in the south was only two to three hundred thousand.

These two to three hundred thousand Han soldiers from the south had low armor coverage, poor training, were embezzled from their rations, and were forced to farm and do odd jobs for their officers. Nominally a state-run army, they were in reality serfs bound by the military household system. These so-called government troops were only good at maintaining order, defending cities, and suppressing bandits; how could they possibly fight a hard-fought battle against Western professional armies?
How could Zhu Yin blame these garrison officers and soldiers for being cowardly and incompetent?

Zhu Yin had already begun to make changes, but he had only held power for half a year. The country was dealing with a myriad of issues, and the long-standing problems of the garrisons and military garrisons could not be solved overnight.

It will still take time to reform.

Today, the army is passing through Macau, and he will personally take back Macau and destroy the Macau authorities, who have a long history of misdeeds and crimes.

Zhu Yin was well-informed about the intelligence in Haojing and had long wanted to take action.

This precious peninsula, only a few miles in size, was rented by the colonists for a mere five hundred taels of silver a year.

However, as the colonialists' eastern trading center, Haojing's annual trade volume reached more than eight million taels of silver, which was two or three times that of Yuegang!
From this perspective, Haojing was the largest foreign trade port in the Ming Dynasty, not Yuegang, which was under the jurisdiction of the imperial court.

Ironically, the largest maritime trade port in the Ming Dynasty was controlled by foreigners and became the largest distribution center for smuggling.

Colonists and smugglers made millions of taels of silver annually through Macau, while Guangdong and the imperial court combined only made a few hundred thousand taels—a fraction of what the colonists earned!
It was truly a case of foreigners and wealthy merchants feasting on meat, while the imperial court and the Cantonese sipped soup.

Can this be tolerated?

Putting aside politics and military considerations, Zhu Yin would no longer tolerate the colonizers' occupation of Macau if he only considered economic interests.

Macau has now become a bustling peninsula city with over two thousand Westerners and people of mixed race. There are over eight thousand Han Chinese laborers and native residents, over three thousand Black slaves and Southeast Asian slaves, over one thousand Han Chinese wives and concubines of Westerners, over five hundred Han Chinese prostitutes sold in brothels, and over one hundred Han Chinese orphans in the Holy House Orphanage.

In total, there are approximately 15,000 people.

In this bustling, tiny port city, the colonists established a five-class system.

The top class consisted of Westerners, the second class of mixed-race Han women who married Westerners, the third class of Ming Dynasty merchants, interpreters, and craftsmen, the fourth class of Han Chinese laborers, and the fifth class of black slaves and Malay slaves.

The largest number of Han Chinese were isolated in slums.

Well, on Ming Dynasty territory, Han Chinese have become the fourth class!

This alone gives Zhu Yin reason to slaughter them all.

At present, Macau has not yet established a governor; the governing body is a council composed of foreigners. Nominally, the Ming government has the right to govern and patrol, but in reality, it is merely a formality, and the actual administration of Macau is in the hands of foreigners.

So much so that later, the magistrate of Xiangshan County in the Ming Dynasty needed permission from the Portuguese to enter Macau to handle cases.

The current speaker is Carvalho, a Portuguese Jew. He directed slave trading organizations to traffic Han Chinese overseas for a long time, viciously referring to them as "piglets."

This person turned Macau into a transit point for trafficking Han Chinese. Every year, hundreds or even thousands of Han Chinese were trafficked through Macau.

Later, a slave-trading shipwreck was salvaged in the Luzon Strait, and nearly two hundred Han Chinese skeletons, chained in iron shackles, were found in the hold.

Macau, with its large foreign population and its associated decadent lifestyle, suffered from a severe outbreak of syphilis and other sexually transmitted diseases. The Ruins of St. Paul's Hospital treated hundreds of syphilis patients annually. Many Han Chinese women infected with syphilis were left to fend for themselves. This led to the spread of syphilis in Guangzhou.

Macau also has the White Dove Nest underground prison, which has been used to imprison slaves, Han Chinese laborers, and rebellious Han women for many years.

Every year, hundreds of Han Chinese laborers, women, and abandoned infants die tragically in Macau. Yet, a steady stream of laborers, women, and orphans continue to be sent to Macau.

Zhu Yin also knew that with the decline of the Ming Dynasty, the colonial activities of foreigners in Macau were becoming increasingly rampant.

More than a decade later, during the late Wanli period, foreigners levied a poll tax on Han Chinese in Macau. Han Chinese who killed foreigners were sentenced to hanging and their bodies displayed for three days. Foreigners who killed Han Chinese were merely symbolically sent to Goa, India, as "exile." Han Chinese who stole were punished by having their hands chopped off.

Foreigners who committed adultery with Han Chinese wives confessed in church. Han Chinese who committed adultery with foreigners' wives (often Han Chinese women) were stoned to death.

In later generations, a large burial pit containing the remains of hundreds of Han Chinese was discovered in Hac Sa Wan, possibly a remnant of the massacre of Han Chinese by the Macau colonial authorities in the late Wanli period.

The colonial authorities also lent money at exorbitant interest rates to Han Chinese laborers, exploiting their wages to the point that more than 90% of the Han Chinese laborers were in debt, forced to work like cattle and sell their children.

For the Han people, Haojing was a miserable place.

As Zhu Yin thought this, his gaze grew even colder. His subordinates, who knew him well, all knew that their lord was about to kill someone.

"Prefect Yu," Zhu Yin said to Yu Anxing, "tell your troops to stop attacking Haojing. You can't take it anyway, so don't embarrass yourselves further. Now you only need to do one thing: immediately return to Guangzhou and convey my order to the Guangdong Governor Chen Dake, instructing him to immediately order the arrest of all foreigners, blacks, and Brahmin monks in Guangdong and imprison them all."

"Your subject will obey Your Majesty's orders!" Yu Anxing felt relieved and immediately accepted the order to return to Guangzhou.

Zhu Yin coldly ordered, "Do not fire the cannons at Haojing; there are many Han Chinese there. Lin Pei!"

"Present!" Lin Pei, a native of the Daishan Army, stepped forward. "Please give your orders, my lord!"

Zhu Yin said, "Send a musketeer battalion to wipe out the foreign soldiers in Macau within two quarters of an hour. I will not bully them by using numbers to win, but fight a fair battle to show these arrogant foreign barbarians what the true elite of the Ming Dynasty is."

Zhu Yin decided to let the musketeer brigade, which was of roughly the same size, get back at them.

"Yes, sir!" After receiving the order, Lin Pei immediately dispatched a musketeer brigade of more than four hundred men.

This musket battalion consisted of well-trained Jinghai Eight Banners soldiers, each equipped with fine padded armor, a fixed flintlock musket, a bayonet unique in the world, and a small hand axe.

The Jinghai Navy's musketeer unit was almost a modern firearms force. In addition to muskets, they were also equipped with portable small cannons, which were lighter than the tiger-squatting cannon invented by Qi Jiguang, but more powerful and faster in rate of fire.

A musketeer battalion, equipped with a small squad (about thirty men) of gunners, and armed with ten portable cannons.

As this musketeer brigade of over four hundred men stepped out, their orderly ranks, gleaming armor, and fierce, menacing aura were undeniable, clearly indicating a rare elite force.

Zhu Yin had more than twenty such elite and skilled pure musketeer units, which were organized into five firearms battalions.

After checking their ammunition, the more than four hundred men quietly awaited the order to attack. Their squad leader and deputy squad leader had already received maps of Macau.

Zhu Yin then ordered, "Chu Ying! Dai Shan!"

"Here!" Two Jurchen boys stepped forward together, their expressions excited, and said in Jurchen, "Please give the order, Uncle Little Tiger!"

Zhu Yin laughed and said, "Aren't you always eager to make a name for yourselves? I'll give you five hundred swordsmen and shieldmen, along with several dozen Jurchen warriors from your own troops, to capture the foreign barbarians and bring them all down. Not a single one of them can escape."

"Whoo!"

Daishan and Chuying were somewhat disappointed, but they immediately accepted the order. Rather than following the musketeers to capture foreigners, they preferred to be at the forefront.

But they also knew that although the foreign barbarians only numbered a few hundred, almost all of them were armed with firearms, and the warriors who led the charge would surely suffer heavy casualties.

Uncle Tiger is just feeling sorry for them.

Zhu Yin then said, "Send out the Zongbing troops!"

The messenger immediately relayed the order, and the two thousand soldiers who followed the main army also lined up on the beach in somewhat disorderly steps.

Due to the urgency of the situation, Zhu Yin has only recruited two thousand soldiers so far. The first seven hundred recruited were from the Shu vassal states and were trained for just over a month. The remaining thousand-plus soldiers were trained for as little as ten days before heading south with him.

These two thousand soldiers are currently powerless, yet Zhu Yin still led them to Burma.

Zhu Yin wanted them to gain experience in Burma, temper their character, courage, and strengthen the Ming Dynasty's sense of honor.

Two thousand soldiers lined up in formation. The seven hundred soldiers from the Shu vassal state, who had been training for more than a month, were already quite well-organized and far superior to the soldiers from other vassal states.

These seven hundred-plus soldiers from the Shu vassal state, having followed Zhu Yin on a journey of thousands of miles from Chengdu to Nanjing, had already undergone a rare and valuable experience. Coupled with over a month of intensive training by the Jinghai Army, they were essentially transformed.

In particular, a few of them caught Zhu Yin's attention.

As the commander of Zongjun, Zhu Yin visited Zongjun's camp several times to comfort Zongzi. He had already identified which individuals were outstanding and which had potential.

These soldiers from the Shu vassal state were three brothers. The eldest was Zhu Zhichu, the second Zhu Zhijing, and the youngest Zhu Zhiwen. All three brothers were promising talents. In particular, the youngest, Zhu Zhiwen, had the potential to become an excellent commander.

By some reckoning, these three are his "nephews".

At this moment, a soldier whispered to Zhu Zhiwen, "Zhiwen, why did Uncle make us form ranks? We are far from being a fully-fledged army."

Zhu Zhiwen smiled slightly, “I guess Uncle wants us to kill people to toughen us up. These foreign barbarians are all enemies. They dare to raise an army to resist the court, they are fearless and do not take our Great Ming Dynasty seriously. With Uncle’s temperament, can you let them go? Also, Uncle once said that the Western Allied Forces are coming soon, so we can’t keep these troublemakers around. Of course, we should go all the way and kill them all to eliminate future troubles.”

Na Zongbing asked in surprise, "You mean, Uncle wants to use the lives of these foreigners to test our courage, and make us, Zongbing, personally kill them?"

"Is that even a question?" Zhu Zhijing interjected. "It's definitely going to be us doing it ourselves. What, are you scared? Afraid to kill the enemy?"

Zong Bing snorted, "Who's afraid?"

"Alright," Zhu Zhichu said. "Don't speak in the ranks, wait for your uncle's orders."

The group immediately stopped talking.

Zhu Yin glanced at the group of people, then walked to the front of the Zongbing formation and said loudly:
"My uncles, brothers, nephews, and nieces, we are all descendants of the founding emperor. Why should we be afraid of the enemy's bloody tricks?"

"Emperor Taizu ruled the world on horseback. In his time, the Ming Dynasty was unparalleled in martial arts, and its spirit was as fierce as a tiger that could swallow up thousands of miles. Emperor Taizu eliminated the heroes, drove out the Tartars, and rebuilt China with his three-foot sword. Although Emperor Yongle's accession to the country was illegitimate, he still conquered the northern deserts, annexed Annam in the south, and sailed the oceans. He was also a man of great power and prestige."

"Although you are new recruits and not skilled in battle, your ancestral martial spirit is enough to make you take up swords and personally behead the enemy!"

"Later, once the foreign barbarians are captured, I will let you all personally kill them. Everyone will have a turn. Under the watchful eyes of all the soldiers, you must not be cowardly and disgrace the imperial army and the imperial clan. Anyone who dares not lift a finger will be immediately discharged from the military and have to fend for themselves!"

Upon hearing this, the two thousand soldiers were all excited and shouted like thunder, "Rest assured, Regent! We would never dare to disgrace the royal family!"

Just as Zong Jun was shouting, Li Yerong, the comprador entrusted by the foreigners, was finally brought to Zhu Yin's banner with trepidation.

Before meeting Zhu Yinqian, Li Yerong was quite confident. However, when he set foot on Hengqin Island and saw the imposing and fierce imperial army, his legs went weak and his thighs trembled. When he saw the Regent's banner, he was even more terrified.

He was a man who had seen a lot, but Zhu Yin's imposing presence still intimidated him.

“My lord, this man’s name is Li Yerong.” Kangxi pointed to the pale-faced Li Yerong, “He said he is a foreigner representing Macau and has come to negotiate with you.”

Li Yerong's legs went weak, and he knelt down, trembling as he said, "This humble one, Li Yerong, pays respects to His Highness the Regent, may he live a thousand years, a thousand years, a thousand thousand years..."

“Li Yerong?” Zhu Yin narrowed his eyes, his gaze cold and indifferent, like a lion or tiger eyeing its prey. “I know you. You’re a traitor. You’ve come to persuade me to let the foreigners from Macau go? What are your reasons?”

"Traitor?" Upon hearing these two words, Li Yerong shuddered, instantly forgetting all his previous reasons.

Before meeting Zhu Yin, he thought he could speak eloquently and repel an army with a single word. But once he actually met Zhu Yin, he was so frightened that he couldn't utter a word.

"Zhu Zhiwen!" Zhu Yin suddenly shouted.

Zhu Zhiwen, standing in the ranks of Zong Bing, perked up and hurriedly stepped forward, saying, "Nephew Zhu Zhiwen, please give your instructions, Uncle!"

Zhu Yin pointed at Li Yerong, "This man is Li Yerong. He is not only a cunning merchant, but also a traitor and a human trafficker. Everyone in Guangzhou knows him! He has sold hundreds or even thousands of Han Chinese women to foreigners!"

"kill him!"

"Yes, sir!" Zhu Zhiwen drew his Tang sword without hesitation and strode up to Li Yerong without slowing down his pace.

"Your Highness, spare my life!" Li Yerong cried, his face ashen. "I've come here because..."

As he spoke, he looked up and saw Zhu Yin staring at him with icy eyes, as if he were looking at a dead man.

Zhu Zhiwen swung his Tang sword and slashed heavily, cutting off Li Yerong's pleas for mercy.

With a "plop," blood splattered out, and a bloody human head rolled off. The headless body of the traitor Li Yerong bounced out like a frog, then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

It was a quick and painless death, but actually, it was a bargain.

"Good!" Zhu Yin nodded in satisfaction. "Zhu Zhiwen, you're very good."

Zhu Zhiwen knelt down, sword in hand, and said, "Thank you for your praise, Uncle! I dare not accept such praise!"

Zhu Yin waved his hand, "Musketeers, strike! Take Macau!"

With a single command, the end of the Macau colonists came.

...

Instead of Li Yerong's successful return, Van Lien and Calvallo were met by a Ming army musketeer squad of over four hundred men.

Upon seeing hundreds of Ming musketeers launch an attack, the foreigners immediately understood Zhu Yin's intentions.

This is a deliberate attempt to stage a fair fight and restore face for the Ming Dynasty.

"Good heavens! They're finally making their move!" Carvalho's face turned pale. "Fortunately, they only sent a few hundred men! If we defeat them, we might have leverage to negotiate, or at worst, we can surrender with dignity!"

Varian made the sign of the cross, saying, "Lord, protect your children! We are under attack from the devil and pagans!"

"Lieutenant Colonel Duarte! It's all up to you! You have over four hundred brave soldiers! Children, the Lord will bless you!"

Chief Officer Lieutenant Colonel Duarte saluted and said, "Your Excellency, the children will not disappoint the Lord! We will fight for honor and will not surrender easily!"

"Pass on my order: the musketeers, spread out and deploy skirmishers first..."

"Wait!" Matteo Ricci said anxiously, "I suggest we surrender immediately! This is pointless resistance! The Ming army is far too numerous!"

"If we surrender immediately, we might receive more humane treatment!"

"No!" Matteo Ricci refused without hesitation. "Proud whites, His Majesty's subjects, valiant knights, should not surrender so easily!"

Lieutenant Colonel Duarte drew his saber and brandished it, saying, "Let's duel like gentlemen! Let these cowardly Chinese understand that they are no match for us! No matter how many of them there are, they won't be enough!"

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than the Ming musketeers skillfully dropped to the ground in the front row, followed by the rear row lining up in order. Immediately afterward, another burst of flames rose, followed by bursts of smoke, and almost simultaneously, a sharp swan-like cry rang out.

That was the sound of a musket bullet tearing through the air!
"Bang bang bang—" A sudden hail of bullets came flying, and the foreign soldiers at the front fell to the ground, hit by bullets.

"what!"

"I've been shot!"

"Oh God!"

In just one exchange, dozens of foreign soldiers were killed or wounded, rolling around screaming in agony.

What? Lieutenant Colonel Duarte and the others were instantly dumbfounded.

How come the Ming army's muskets could shoot farther and be more effective than European muskets?!

how can that be!

All things considered, the range is at least twenty paces longer!

"My Lord!" Fan Li'an and the others were completely stunned. The quality of the Ming army's musket team and the quality of their muskets far exceeded their expectations.

However, at that moment, the portable cannons of the Ming army also fired.

"Boom boom boom!" The bombardment from ten small cannons was quite astonishing. Under the cover of the cannons, the Ming army's musketeers also fired again.

The foreign soldiers who didn't have time to operate the cannons on the gun emplacements suffered dozens more casualties.

Only then did the foreign soldiers begin to return fire with their muskets. However, the Ming soldiers opposite them were clearly well-trained; they quickly ducked at the first flash of light, making it difficult for the musket bullets to hit them. Even if they did hit, the distance wouldn't penetrate their superior armor.

Both sides had over four hundred men, all well-trained, but the difference in skill was immediately apparent in a single exchange.

In terms of tactics, artillery coordination, soldier quality, and firearms performance, the Ming army was clearly a level above. The arrogant foreigners were utterly crushed.

"What kind of tactics are these!" Lieutenant Colonel Duarte's eyes were bloodshot. "My God, we're going to fail! No!"

In the following rounds, the two sides fought purely with firearms. Hundreds of foreign soldiers were killed or wounded, and their formations were thrown into disarray. The Ming army, however, suffered only about ten casualties.

This is not only due to the difference in firearms, but also due to the difference in the quality of soldiers and tactics.

The Western firearms and tactical skills that foreigners were so proud of were now completely gone!
Fan Li'an and the others watched this scene in disbelief, as if they were trapped in a nightmare.

The Ming army's firearms troops were far more formidable than they had imagined. Their firing speed, accuracy, range, and tactical coordination were all superior to those of European soldiers!
"Bang bang bang—"

"Boom boom boom—"

After another round of attacks by the Ming army, the foreign soldiers, who suffered dozens more casualties, finally collapsed. The first to flee were the black and Indian soldiers.

The entire process took less than fifteen minutes.

Seeing the enemy fleeing in disarray, the Ming army's musketeers immediately launched a bayonet charge.

The foreigners were terrified at the sight. The Ming army's bayonet charge seemed to frighten them more than the firearms; they could no longer remain calm and turned to flee from the fort.

But what's the use of that?

The defeated enemy troops, having lost their command, had lost the ability to resist in an organized manner. They were killed by Ming soldiers with bayonets, close-range shooting, and throwing axe.

"Good! May the Ming Dynasty be victorious!" The Ming soldiers watching the battle cheered and were greatly encouraged when they saw the musketeers defeat the foreign soldiers so easily.

Local officials in Guangzhou, in particular, were feeling very proud and elated at this time.

The Regent's army was indeed invincible. The foreigners thought themselves powerful, but in front of the Regent, they were nothing but clay chickens and earthen dogs, utterly vulnerable!
"Kill!" Seeing the musketeers defeat the foreign musketeers and the city in chaos, Chu Ying and Dai Shan, who had been waiting impatiently, finally led their troops forward and captured the foreigners.

Soon, the entire 400-plus foreign musketeer squad was annihilated. Lieutenant Colonel Duarte was also killed.

Two thousand foreigners and mixed-race foreigners, led by Varian and Calvallo, were all brought before Zhu Yin's banner and forced to kneel down, forming a vast, dark mass of kneeling figures.

The foreigners, feeling deeply humiliated, were terrified as they looked at the incredibly young Ming Dynasty figure under the Ming army's banner.

Zhu Yin!

“Your crimes are heinous,” Zhu Yin said in a judge’s tone, looking at Fan Li’an and the others who had become prisoners. “You cannot live.”

Varian struggled to speak, saying, "Your Highness Regent! This is a misunderstanding, a terrible misunderstanding! I am an envoy of the Roman Catholic Church..."

Calvalio was so frightened that he lost control of his bladder on the spot. "Your Highness, Regent, I can pay a very high ransom..."

Zhu Yin, too lazy to look at them anymore, instead asked, "Who is Matteo Ricci?"

Matteo Ricci trembled. "I am Matteo Ricci."

Zhu Yin looked at this historically renowned missionary and waved his hand indifferently, saying, "Matteo Ricci, I will spare your life for now."

After saying that, he waved his hand at Zong Bing, "Kill them all except for this Matteo Ricci!"

"Kill!" Two thousand soldiers drew their swords and rushed forward, attacking the two thousand prisoners.

Almost one person after another swiftly brought down their blades, heads rolling in the air. These proud colonists were now being slaughtered like pigs and sheep.

Varian was beheaded by Zhu Zhichu, and Calvallo was beheaded by Zhu Zhijing.

For the first time, the soldiers displayed their ferocity, and no one dared to lag behind, for fear of disgracing the founding emperor.

In an instant, all the foreigners and mixed-race foreigners, except for Matteo Ricci, were killed!
This is the shocking massacre in Haojing that horrified the South China Sea!

(End of this chapter)