Kunlun slaves was a general term, referring to laborers captured from Africa, or from Jiaozhi, Burma, Siam, and other places, who were all collectively called Kunlun slaves.
Among them, Kunlun slaves from Africa were generally tall but dull-witted, and would be lost in a pile of coal. Kunlun slaves from Jiaozhi, Burma, Siam, and other places were relatively smarter, but much smaller in stature.
However, the slave sailor standing in front of Yang Tao and the锦衣卫校尉 had a skin color that was completely different from the black of African Kunlun slaves. It was more like the black of a normal person who had been sun-drenched for more than ten or twenty years. If it weren't for the skin color being too dark, this person would be almost indistinguishable from ordinary Ming Dynasty commoners.
Yang Tao and the锦衣卫校尉 certainly wouldn't delve into how Zheng He had descendants. After all, the Western Fleet was so large that it was perfectly normal for some people to be left behind in Africa.
The key was the existence of this descendant of the Western Fleet crew. As long as Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, still acknowledged Emperor Yongle as his ancestor, he had a responsibility to bring back these Ming descendants who had been lost overseas for hundreds of years.
Similarly, Africa would become territory of the Great Ming since ancient times because of the existence of this group of Ming descendants from Africa.
It was only after the锦衣卫校尉 had someone take the nameless descendant of the Zheng He fleet away to rest that Yang Tao suddenly came to his senses, "That what, we let that East India Company merchant ship go, how should we handle the issue in Jiaozhi?"
The 锦衣卫校尉 looked at Yang Tao in confusion and retorted, "I agreed to let them go for you, but your South China Sea Fleet has over thirty warships, and they didn't agree. What are you worried about?"
"As for the flintlock guns appearing in Jiaozhi... this is actually a trivial matter. Prince Qin's scolding was due to the lax blockade, not that these tens of thousands of flintlock guns could affect the war situation in Jiaozhi."
"Think about what His Majesty said in the newspaper? Wishing for the people's prosperity, and hoping that all soldiers and generals will not harm the people of Jiaozhi – are there any Ming people in Jiaozhi?"
"Prince Qin and His Majesty are brothers born of the same mother. When it comes to military matters, they were all taught by His Majesty himself, so the Front Army Commander's Office will definitely bombard their way through."
This time it was Yang Tao's turn to be confused.
In terms of shamelessness and ruthlessness, Yang Tao, as a proper soldier, couldn't compare to the锦衣卫, let alone someone like Zhu Jinsong who claimed in newspapers to not harm the people of Jiaozhi while actually preparing to plow the land with cannonballs.
The 锦衣卫校尉 continued, "Furthermore, our Great Ming still has a large debt to settle with these Dutch barbarians."
Yang Tao's face immediately darkened, "I am from Henan..."
The 锦衣卫校尉 didn't pay attention to Yang Tao's expression. After all, the common people of the Great Ming had always been like this. Just like the stingy Shanxi people and the slick Beijingers, such mutual insults were not uncommon in the Great Ming.
Compared to the debt between the Great Ming and the Dutch barbarians, the mutual insults between the common people of the Great Ming were not even worth mentioning.
The 锦衣卫校尉 said, "In the fifth year of Qianlong, these Dutch barbarians massacred our Central Plains people on a large scale overseas. At that time, the old dog Qianlong and the Qing court regarded the Central Plains people overseas as abandoned people, pitying those tens of thousands of people..."
Hearing what the 锦衣卫校尉 said, Yang Tao no longer cared about arguing that he was from Henan.
In fact, Yang Tao, or rather, the vast majority of the Central Plains people, had no idea that such a thing had happened in the fifth year of Qianlong, and even the Qing officialdom knew about it only in limited numbers.
Thinking of the tens of thousands of people massacred by these Dutch barbarians, Yang Tao couldn't help but clench his fists until they crackled, "This is not over! Let's go back and sink them!"
The 锦衣卫校尉 stopped Yang Tao, "What's the hurry? Let's settle this account with them after we've recovered Jiaozhi. The top priority is to send the news of Zheng Gong's fleet descendants to His Majesty."
In fact, one thing this 锦衣卫校尉 said was not wrong, which was that Zhu Erdan never cared whether Ruan Phuc Anh had a few more tens of thousands of flintlock guns in his hands—
For every flintlock gun Ruan Phuc Anh had, the Great Ming could have ten more. The more Ruan Phuc Anh used his flintlock guns and ammunition, the more the Great Ming could use, and in addition, they could prepare ten more cannonballs, plus a hundred Menglianggu-style bullets.
Zhu Erdan also didn't care about the South China Sea Fleet's blockade of the sea. In fact, Zhu Erdan deliberately allowed the South China Sea Fleet to open the way, which enabled the East India Company to pass through Siam and deliver flintlock guns and silver to Ruan Phuc Anh.
As for the 锦衣卫校尉 on the Yizhou, he was still just a校尉. If he were to be promoted to the锦衣卫, he would be qualified to know Zhu Erdan's true intentions.
Because Zhu Erdan's true intention was never just Jiaozhi, but to kill the rabbit while gathering grass, and conveniently get rid of Siam and Burma. Because his elder brother once said that the greatest threat to the Great Ming was never the Qing Dynasty, nor the grasslands, but the Great Ming itself, and the distant sea.
If Jiaozhi, Siam, and Burma could all be recovered, then the Great Ming would have sufficient strategic depth. As long as the Great Ming itself did not falter, it could cope with any risk from the sea.
And to recover Siam and Burma, there must be a legitimate reason—what reason could be more legitimate than Siam and Burma secretly supporting Ruan Phuc Anh's rebellion against the Great Ming and secretly transporting guns and ammunition to Ruan Phuc Anh for the Qing Dynasty?
Anyway, they hadn't sent congratulatory envoys to his elder brother.
Yes, whether it was Burma, Siam, or Jiaozhi, these four countries did not send congratulatory envoys to Zhu Jinsong when he first ascended the throne. Even when Zhu Jinsong had already occupied sixteen provinces, these countries still did not send congratulatory envoys.
If you say Burma didn't take the Great Ming seriously, this is understandable. After all, Burma had fought a war with the Qing Dynasty. Burma knew the level of the Qing Dynasty, and at that time, Zhu Jinsong had only occupied a few provinces. Moreover, the Ming remnants who were stranded in Burma during the Yongli period were always causing trouble for Burma, so it was understandable that Burma did not rush to send congratulatory envoys.
The problem lay with Jiaozhi and Siam. These two countries had a deep-seated hatred for each other in the past, but now they had colluded. The Siamese royal family even sent troops to support Ruan Bao Ying's restoration.
Therefore, Zhu Erdan planned to eliminate all of them—after the Great Ming perished, the performance of these countries and Korea proved one thing, no matter how filial the adopted sons were raised, they were still just adopted sons.
Asking them to cry out for the Great Ming and shed a few tears was probably the limit for these countries. Asking them to wear mourning for the Great Ming and fight to the death for the Great Ming was simply nonsense.
In fact, this was the inadequacy of the tributary system.
For example, in the original history, after 1840, these countries successively sought the Qing Dynasty to rule them, but no one had ever heard of anyone working wholeheartedly for the Qing Dynasty.
To put it bluntly, under the tributary system, raising these outer vassals in the Central Plains hall was equivalent to raising a few adopted sons. Their role was basically a dumping ground for commodities. The Central Plains hall would not care too much about their life or death, and they would not truly regard the Central Plains hall as their own father.
On the contrary, the colonial system played by the European barbarians was more magical.
Look at Canada, they still acknowledge the rule of the Queen of England.
Look at India, they genuinely bled and sweated for the British Empire.
However, Zhu Erdan's thoughts were good, and the plan was implemented very well. Even Siam and Burma had been cooperating with Zhu Erdan's script and court performance. The problem was that the Yizhou discovered the descendants of the Zheng He fleet, which suddenly happened.
Zhu Erdan went mad then.
The Great Ming had bought many laborers in recent years. After all, when building mountains and roads, many places could only be filled with human lives. And Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of the Great Ming, was reluctant to let the people of the Great Ming die, so the consumption of laborers was quite fast.
Who knew if there were any descendants of the Zheng He fleet left overseas among the previous laborers?
Thinking of this possibility, Zhu Erdan immediately sent someone to pass the news to Zhu Jinsong, and Zhu Jinsong, upon receiving this news, was also stunned.
To be fair, Zhu Jinsong did not care about the lives of the African laborers, nor did the lives of the European barbarians and the various barbarians in the South China Sea fall within Zhu Jinsong's consideration.
Cold-blooded? Not at all.
As a proper scholar, Zhu Jinsong had always believed in the saying that those who are not of our kind will have different intentions, and the performance of Tubo, Japan, and the Jurchens had all confirmed this.
Li Er Feng sent craftsmen and books to Tubo, a large number of bald monks took seeds, farming tools, and books to the east of Japan, the Great Ming took in the Jurchens, and Korea even sighed, "Among all the foreign states, the Jurchens received the most."
And the result?
Tubo once attacked Chang'an, and the Japanese barbarians caused a world-shattering massacre in Jinling, while the Jurchens... the Jurchens massacred the entire Sichuan, and finally blamed it on Zhang Xianzhong. Even the Ming History compiled by the Jurchens themselves was full of errors and omissions, claiming that Zhang Xianzhong killed six hundred million people in Sichuan—at that time, the total population of the Great Ming was only about two hundred million, and no one knew how Sichuan had six hundred million.
Including the current performance of Jiaozhi, Siam, and Burma, those outer vassals, basically proved what it meant that those who are not of our kind will have different intentions.
Moreover, industrialization requires bloodshed—either the blood of others, or the blood of the people of the Great Ming.
Some people may feel that the more it is at this time, the more they should shed the blood of the people of the Great Ming. It seems that without this, it is not enough to prove the greatness of the Great Ming, not enough to unite the people of the Great Ming, and not enough to comply with the will of heaven and the hearts of the people.
Unfortunately, Zhu Jinsong never had such an idea.
Whether barbarians or laborers, did they pay a single cent of tax to the Great Ming? Did they send their daughters into the imperial palace? Did they ever perform even one day of corvee labor for the Great Ming?
No, right?
Therefore, if there must be bones buried under the railway, and if it is destined for people to die while opening mountains and digging caves, why not let a group of laborers die instead of the people of the Great Ming sacrificing themselves? Isn't this problematic?
However, when Zhu Jinsong learned that there might be descendants of the Zheng He fleet left overseas among these laborers, Zhu Jinsong couldn't sit still and quickly sent people to various construction sites to verify the origin of these laborers.
This is like a lawyer from a certain American country who has been advocating for the abolition of the death penalty and later worked hard to restore the death penalty.
However, after sending people to verify the laborers in various places, Zhu Jinsong remembered several other keywords in the intelligence.
Holland, East India Company, Batavia, Red Creek.
How notorious the East India Company was, I believe anyone with a little understanding of history knows.
In fact, the East India Company is divided into the Dutch East India Company and the British East India Company. Their nature is similar, and the bad things they have done are also similar.
The Great Ming has not yet formally established commercial relations with the British East India Company, because the purification technology of the Great Ming is still a bit lacking, and Zhu Jinsong has not made the corresponding preparations.
As for the Dutch East India Company, it is not just a matter of purification technology.
ps: Recommend a book, written by Guan Gou, "Qi Tun Da Ming". He is an old author on Qidian for many years, his character is guaranteed, and I am relieved to sacrifice him to heaven.