Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1740 Aiding Korea to Fight against the Japanese ([-]) Aiding the Korean Navy to Prepare for the Admiral of the Japanese Navy

In Zhu Yijun's mind, the Wa country was originally included in the Ming Dynasty's "Nation Not Conquered", and it had not been embargoed by military sales earlier, so this step of trouble came, but it was no wonder the Maritime Trade Alliance.

When it comes to business, if you didn’t stipulate that you couldn’t do it before, then you must be free without any prohibition.There is no way to go back and investigate this matter, otherwise, wouldn't the person responsible become the great grandfather?So now we can only consider making amends.

"The imperial court will issue an order on this matter. It is strictly forbidden to sell those military-related products to Japan in the future. After you enter the cabinet, you will first submit a list of specific items and list the items." Zhu Yijun said solemnly.

"Yes, the minister obeys the order." Gao Yushi didn't say much, and didn't even make any remarks such as "the minister is difficult to do after you enter the cabinet"-that was originally for others to see, but the emperor Not counting others.

They are not only monarchs and ministers, but also political allies in fact, the kind that need not be mentioned but are well known.It can be said that Gao Yushi entered the cabinet as early as 20 years ago, and the very naive little Zhu Yijun had this "goal". Even after 20 years, there has been no change, and it can even be said that the goal has become firmer.

"Besides that..." Zhu Yijun murmured, "Since the main force of the Japanese navy was built for them by the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, then you must be very clear about their weaknesses."

"I do understand something, and it can even be said that...the minister deliberately led his navy to go astray." Gao Yushi answered with cupped hands.

"Oh?" Zhu Yijun was surprised by this answer, and asked, "How did you go astray?"

Gao Wushi said: "Your Majesty, you know that Yu Xujiang (Yu Dayou) is good at sea warfare. He made a sharp conclusion about water warfare: naval warfare is nothing more than a big boat defeating a small boat, a big blunderbuss defeating a small blunderbuss; Defeat few ships, use many guns to defeat few guns."

"Well, I've seen this sentence before. Yu Dayou himself wrote it in his inscription, and the Ministry of War also expressed similar views." Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "What, is he right?"

"Of course." Gao Wushi smiled and said, "Naval battles rely on strong ships and sharp guns."

"So?" Zhu Yijun hesitated and said, "The warship you built for the Japanese country is not deliberately made weak for them, right?"

"That's not possible, and it's very difficult to do so. After all, Japan is an island country. Although its navy has limited shipbuilding capabilities, it still has the ability to distinguish whether the hull is strong." Gao Wushi shook his head.

"Then how did you go astray?" Zhu Yijun was puzzled.

"First, Jinghua itself does not sell original shipboard artillery to them. If they want to install artillery, they must rebuild it themselves."

Zhu Yijun still didn't want to understand, and asked: "It's just a matter of extra effort, didn't you say before that someone else secretly sold them guns—even if they are old guns, they can still be used, right? "

"But the minister quietly provided some artisans to the Wa country in advance for their private recruitment, and 'guided' them to rebuild." Gao Wushi smiled and said: "The method of adding artillery provided by these craftsmen is flawed-simple In other words, not strong enough to support a broadside salvo."

"What is salvo?" Zhu Yijun was taken aback for a moment, he didn't know these special tactical terms.

Gao Wushi said: "Current naval battles generally use more tactics that both sides must strive to use. It is called 'broadside salvo', which means that all the artillery on one side of the warship fires at the same time. Full broadside refers to the artillery fire on both sides. Even the guns at the bow and stern are firing together, which usually only happens when you are surrounded by beasts."

Zhu Yijun thought for a while and asked: "If you are surrounded, it seems that there is no good way to think about it. Although this 'forked road' is useful, it does not have a wide range of application. Besides, what will this 'not strong enough' lead to?" result?"

Gao Pragmatically said: "In the slightest, the artillery will be out of the gun position and cannot be used anymore; in the worst case, the artillery deck will be shattered, causing serious chaos in the artillery layer of the battleship, and even affecting the safety of the ship itself."

Regarding the scope of application, Gao Wushi also added: "In addition, although the warships of the Japanese navy are more than those of North Korea, their scale cannot be compared with that of our Ming Dynasty, so this means that when they fight with North Koreans, although they are not large The above-mentioned problems may arise, but as long as our Ming navy participates in the war, the possibility of the Japanese navy being encircled and causing the above-mentioned problems will increase greatly.”

Zhu Yijun thought about it and said: "That is to say, once I join the navy, I should go to surround the pirate navy, so that their warships have problems, and this will greatly speed up the speed of our army defeating them, yes Bar?"

"Probably so." Gao Wushi said, "But this is just one of the minister's arrangements."

"Anything else?" Zhu Yijun was a little surprised, and asked, "What else?"

"The largest warship of the Japanese navy is actually the Jinghua armed transport ship without the artillery." Gao Wushi said: "According to the tradition of the Japanese country, at the same time, I asked the Jinghua craftsmen in Japan to think of some ideas, and successfully let the Japanese have a good understanding of these warships. The idea of ​​modification has also gone astray: reduce artillery and strengthen defense."

Zhu Yijun was very happy to hear it first, but he was puzzled when he heard the last sentence: "Reducing artillery is definitely not good, but why strengthening defense is a wrong way?"

Gao Wushi raised his eyebrows slightly, and replied: "Because the armed transport ships purchased by the Japanese state cannot even have a large change in the size of the hull, that is to say, the premise of the modification is that the hull remains unchanged. Then, under the current technical conditions, the firepower The two items of armor and armor are actually incompatible.

The original Jinghua armed transport ship is actually the most balanced design layout.Those sold to Japan had no artillery in the first place, and the source of their artillery was very complicated, and the quality of the artillery obtained was uneven, so the shipborne artillery was cut by about half or more, but the remaining vacant load capacity was reduced. Used to strengthen defenses.

The emperor may think that since it is an empty load, it seems understandable to strengthen the defense, but it is not the case.Ship design is a very complicated project. The center of gravity of the ship is calculated at the beginning of the design. Later modifications can easily affect it, causing the center of gravity to shift, which in turn affects seaworthiness—in short, the ship will It's hard to drive.

If the ship is difficult to sail, it will further reduce the artillery hit rate and affect the combat effectiveness.Moreover, the sailors on the ship will also cause many problems due to these changes in the center of gravity, such as the turbulence of the ship affecting normal rest, affecting combat efficiency, etc. In short, there will be a series of troubles, which are even worse overall. "

"That's it!" Zhu Yijun nodded in satisfaction and admitted. In fact, he didn't really understand how serious these effects were because of Gao Pragmatic's explanation, but he understood Gao Pragmatic's personality. Since Gao Pragmatic dared to say, these things must be There is no small impact.

However, Zhu Yijun also had his real focus. He paused and asked, "Since Daming didn't impose a military embargo on Japan, why did you make so many tricks on them in advance?"

Gao Yushi had already expected that the emperor might ask this question, so he replied without hesitation: "If you are not of my race, your heart must be different. I am the talker of the maritime trade alliance, and I need to consider the alliance's profits, so Some things that should be sold must be sold; but the minister is a minister of the Ming Dynasty, and whether the things he sells will cause him to pose a serious threat to the Ming Dynasty is naturally something that the minister needs to consider carefully.

Even though this possibility was really difficult to become a reality at the time, the minister must also plan ahead and take precautions before it happens, so as not to cause something to happen in the future, and he will be ashamed of his father at the top, his colleagues at the middle, and the common people at the bottom. . "

"If we were all like you, my court would have less trouble, alas." Zhu Yijun sighed, but soon remembered something, and said to Gao Yushi: "By the way, when it comes to naval battles, the naval battle you recommended Admiral Chen Lin made one -- or two... very interesting requests."

After all, Gao Yushi only arrived in Beijing today. Although he is well-informed, he doesn't know everything in detail. For example, Gao Yushi has not received the news of Chen Lin's request mentioned by the emperor. Said: "What request?"

Zhu Yijun raised his eyebrows slightly, and said: "He offered to resign from the post of admiral of the North Korean navy, but expressed his willingness to serve as a deputy. At the same time, he asked the imperial court to appoint another Beijing Xunchen as the admiral of the navy."

Gao Wushi's heart moved, and before he could answer, Zhu Yijun continued Shi Shiran: "If not, then he will ask the imperial court to grant him authority to allow him to recruit 'sea ships from this province' in Guangdong to meet the enemy in the north, and ask 'this province to Sea-going ships' must not refuse to be recruited, and those who violate it will be regarded as resisting the edict."

Seeing Zhu Yijun's obviously teasing smile, Gao Yushi also had to show a wry smile, and said helplessly, "This guy is so bold that he even took his idea on the minister's head."

Zhu Yijun laughed loudly, pointed at Gao Wushi and said, "What, you didn't expect that, did you? Ha, the person you recommend is interested in you, how do you feel?"

Gao Wushi sniffled and said, "Although it sounds like he didn't do it properly, it also shows that he still has an accurate judgment on the general trend and will use the current conditions of the court to achieve strategic goals."

Zhu Yijun still smiled and asked, "Then how do you think I should reply?"

Gao Wushi said angrily: "This is what the emperor should order, how dare the minister do it for you?"

"Let's talk about it, you're going to be an old man, isn't it a matter of course to discuss politics!" Zhu Yijun laughed and said, "Is it the Beiyang Fleet or the Nanyang Fleet?"

Zhu Yijun's words can be regarded as clarifying Chen Lin's mind. His two requirements are actually very simple to put it bluntly. The former is to let the Beiyang Fleet contribute, and the latter is to let the Nanyang Fleet contribute.

For the former, since the admiral of the Navy has changed to Beijing Xunchen, this person must be a member of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance. It is impossible not to consider his own safety if he wants to go out, so he must at least bring his own fleet.

Among the nobles of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, who is worthy to be the admiral of the navy this time, not to mention that he went to the entire alliance to borrow some strength, even if only talking about his own fleet, there must be a dozen or twenty Jinghua armed transport ships. And it is the original genuine one, which can completely serve as the core force of the fleet.

With this group of forces, plus the warships that Daming can mobilize, the chances of winning a battle with the Japanese navy will naturally increase greatly.

In the latter case, if the imperial court allows Chen Lin to enlist "provincial ships" in Guangdong to participate in the war, it means that he can recruit a large part of the Jinghua Nanyang Fleet, and in fact he can even recruit more Jinghua-made armed transport ships from the private sector— This point has been explained earlier in the previous article. Jinghua sells ships in the Ming Dynasty according to the standard, especially armed transport ships.

As the core part of the Ming Dynasty's Nanyang trade, Guangdong has a large number of private fleets in the Pearl River Delta region such as Guangzhou Port.Whether it was Gao Pragmatic's strategy of Annan, or Huang Zhiting's expedition to Burma, Siam, Guangdong and other places, many maritime merchants participated in it.

So it can be said that not only are their hardware powerful enough, but they even have actual combat experience.As long as the imperial court allowed him to recruit Chen Lin at will, he even dared to boast: "As long as I lead the Guangdong recruitment fleet northward, I can defeat the Japanese navy."

But here is a problem that Zhu Yijun didn't pay enough attention to, that is, Chen Lin was so focused on the idea of ​​Jinghua, but he didn't care too much about the Daming Navy. Does this mean that the Daming Navy is not worth mentioning?

It's not that unbearable, but compared with the ships built by Jinghua, they are indeed a bit behind.At this time, the equipment of the navy of the Ming Dynasty was mainly Fuchuan, which was a collective name for a type of ship born in the coastal area of ​​Fujian.The building materials are mainly pine, fir, camphor, and nanmu from Fujian, and there are six types in total.

Fuchuan used in naval battles, especially No. [-] and No. [-].According to what Qi Jiguang said when he was in Zhejiang: "The lucky boat is as tall as a city, it cannot be driven by manpower, and it depends entirely on the wind. Ship strength is not about fighting manpower." His views on naval warfare are basically the same as Yu Dayou's, and of course Gao Pragmatism is also basically the same.

According to "Wu Bei Zhi": "Using firearms and waves between the ups and downs may not be able to hit the thief. Even if it is hit, it is not much, but it can be used to frighten the enemy's heart and ears. There are two things to rely on: launch Buddha Langji. If you don’t hit the target, then there will be no boats and no fans. One thing. When they meet each other, throw a fireball or something on the bow of the ship, and the fire will set off and the boat will burn. Two things.”

It can be seen that compared with the Japanese navy, the navy of the Ming army also has obvious advantages in close combat situations such as large ships, high freeboards, and the ability to collide.However, compared with the Jinghua armed transport ship, it is slightly behind because of the lack of artillery power and the old-fashioned Fran cannon.

Among these great blessing boats, one is known as the Great Fortune Boat, with three towers, a wide bottom and a high bow and tail, which can accommodate hundreds of people.The second is called Fuchuan, which is slightly smaller than the first, and it is "suitable for use" - the common use is actually mainly due to financial considerations.

The lucky boat is as tall as a building and can hold hundreds of people.The bottom tip is wide, the bow is raised and opened, the tail is tall, and the draft is about 3.5 meters. The bow of the ship is equipped with a head gun, and the two sides are equipped with 1 thousand-jin Flang machines, 6 bowl-mouth guns, 3 thunder guns, and spray tubes. 20, 60 firecrackers, 10 crossbow arrows, 500 gunpowder crossbows, 10 rockets, 300 fire bricks, and thousands of cold weapons.There were 100 crew members, 64 sailors, and 9 fighters.

Also according to the description in "Wu Bei Zhi", this huge ship has three floors above.There are guard boards beside it, protected by thatched bamboo, erected like a wall, with two sails and masts.There are four layers.The lower floor is equipped with ballast stones, the third floor is where fresh water tanks are placed, and the second floor is where soldiers live.The uppermost floor is a terrace, which needs to be climbed up from the ladder on the third floor, with plank wings on both sides as railings, people leaning on it to fight, and arrows, rocks and cannons are all fired from a bird's eye view, which is really a weapon for naval warfare.

The floors here are different from the Western style used by Jinghua. For example, Jinghua's so-called "two-deck gun" means that there are two decks where artillery can be fired, and it does not count below the deck.

However, the common disadvantage of these two types of big blessing boats is that their maneuverability is not good. It is easy to glue shallow, and you have to help the sentinel boat." ("General Examination of Continuing Documents")
The latter types of Fuchuan are generally not used in open sea warfare, so there is no need to say more here.But just from the above, we can see a few problems: the most important one is that the Jinghua armed transport ship is bigger than the Dafu ship, but there is no problem of poor maneuverability. It can be seen that the ship type produced by Jinghua is compatible with the design advantages of Western-style warships. It is better than Fuchuan, and the crew and armament on board are also stronger.

As a general in Guangdong, Chen Lin certainly saw these issues clearly, so he made those two requests.

Since the emperor insisted on letting Gao Yushi choose, Gao Yushi had no choice but to choose one.He thought for a while, and said: "In this case, it is better to choose one of the ministers as the admiral of the navy for this battle - after all, Beiyang is close, so it is easy to dispatch."

These words did not meet Zhu Yijun's expectations, so the emperor nodded in approval, and asked again: "Who do you think is better to choose?"
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(End of this chapter)