Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 98 I hope Hai Bo is calm

"More than ten thousand materials?"

In the dock of Longjiang Shipyard, the officials who heard Zhu Gaoxu's question took a deep breath, as if they were about to faint.

"Your Highness, this..." The official laughed a few times, then bowed and apologized: "I forgive you for being ignorant, but I have never heard of any place where a large ship made of all materials can be built. Even if it is possible, I am afraid it is not made of wood. "

"Isn't it made of wood?" Zhu Gaoxu was stunned for a moment, then realized and cursed secretly: "This damn marketing account."

Obviously, he heard the implication of the official's words, that is, it is impossible to build a warship made of wood.

After thinking clearly, Zhu Gaoxu asked calmly: "I wonder how big a warship the shipyard can build?"

"This..." Faced with this question, the official pondered for a moment, and finally said angrily: "I don't even know the maximum size that can be built, but the largest ship built in recent years is the Fengzhou of the Ministry of Rites, with a captain of ten Five feet, two feet and six feet wide, and two thousand and five thousand materials."

As soon as the official said these words, Zhu Gaoxu didn't know whether he was sad or happy.

He is sad that the largest ship built by the shipyard with the highest craftsmanship in Ming Dynasty is only over 800 tons.
What he was happy about was that his uncle did listen to him and asked the shipyard to build the ship bigger.

The disappointment on Zhu Gaoxu's face was noticed by the officials. In order not to make Zhu Gaoxu unhappy, the officials could only bite the bullet and said:
"Actually, the craftsmen in the shipyard have also tried it. As long as the wood is large enough, the keel can be laid at least 25 feet. However, it is not suitable for use as a warship. It can only be used as a merchant ship. The next best thing is the biggest warship. The ship should be about 22 feet tall, but no one in the shipyard dared to try."

"22 three feet?" Zhu Gaoxu came back to his senses and asked again. When the official nodded, he breathed a sigh of relief.

If it is 22 three feet, it is similar to the largest sail warships in later generations, and may have a tonnage of more than 2000 tons.

If he remembered correctly, Columbus's ship was only over 100 tons. He couldn't remember the exact amount, but it was definitely not more than [-] tons.

Based on this calculation, the current shipbuilding technology of the Ming Dynasty is really far ahead of foreign countries, but it has not broken the shipbuilding technology of the early Ming Dynasty in Zhu Gaoxu's impression.

"I see, thank you for your advice."

After learning about the shipbuilding limit in the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Gaoxu felt relieved. After bowing in return, he further discussed the cost and labor of each ship with the officials.

The two walked around the dock and chatted, which probably solved many doubts for Zhu Gaoxu.

First of all, the cost of building ships at Longjiang Shipyard was indeed as cheap as he thought. Even the two thousand-material warship currently being built only cost 460 yuan.

If such a warship were placed in Europe, the price would probably skyrocket several times. Although the cost of building it in Ming Dynasty was also high, it was simply a drop in the bucket and not worth mentioning in terms of Ming Dynasty's financial situation.

For example, the current amount of military grain in military camps across the country is nearly 800 million copper coins every year.

As long as there is enough wood, it is possible to build tens of thousands of warships with [-] materials using half of the army's grain.

Of course, this was completely unnecessary for the Ming Dynasty, because there was no force in the world worthy of the Ming Dynasty building so many warships.

Thinking about it carefully, Zhu Gaoxu suddenly felt that it was ridiculous that Liu Daxia said during the Chenghua period that "the eunuchs of the Three Treasures spent 60 yuan on their voyages to the West."

60 guan of money is a big expense in any country, but for the Ming Dynasty, it is just an expense that can be saved by a little increase in revenue and expenditure.

It is really ridiculous to use this as an excuse to prevent the voyage to the West.

"Gao Xu!"

Zhu Gaoxu was communicating with officials when a familiar voice suddenly came from behind him.

He turned around and saw that the person coming was indeed Xu Huizu, who had been busy preparing for the Japanese invasion recently.

"Uncle" Zhu Gaoxu bowed and saluted more than ten steps away. Seeing this, Xu Huizu came forward with several soldiers.

"I'm here to see Duke Wei." The official next to him bowed. He seemed to be familiar with Xu Huizu, so he didn't give his name.

"Well, Zhao Geng, please step aside first, and I'll have a few words with this kid."

Xu Huizu stepped forward, signaled to the officials to step back, and then looked at Zhu Gaoxu with a slightly worried look.

Zhu Gaoxu felt a little embarrassed by his look and couldn't help but rub his fingers.

Today, Xu Huizu was wearing a crimson round-neck robe. It looked like he had just returned from other places.

When he saw the officials and soldiers retreating, he took Zhu Gaoxu out of the dock. After walking to the coast, he turned around and said with a complex expression:

"I heard about your matter this morning, so I rushed back here."

"You have acted steadily this year, why are you so reckless about this kind of thing?"

During this year, Xu Huizu watched Zhu Gaoxu grow and change, and was naturally reluctant to let such a capable nephew embark on a path of no return.

But after listening to his words, Zhu Gaoxu could only smile bitterly in his heart, and he finally understood why Xu Huizu was not trained by Zhu Yuanzhang.

Obviously, Xu Huizu did not see what Zhu Yuanzhang meant at all, let alone guess what Zhu Yuanzhang was thinking.

If he acts like this as a deputy, it's fine, but if he does it himself, it may be difficult to gain the trust of the superiors while making great achievements.

Zhu Gaoxu took a deep breath, looked at Xu Huizu and said calmly: "Uncle, don't ask about these things. Instead of discussing things that have become a foregone conclusion, I would rather know how you are doing in eradicating the Japanese invasion."

"You..." Xu Huizu looked at Zhu Gaoxu in front of him with mixed emotions.

From Zhu Gaoxu's words, he knew that this matter was not something he could interfere with, because if he could interfere, or even say that he could protect himself, Zhu Gaoxu would not directly reject him like this and prevent the discussion from continuing.

This statement sounds outrageous. After all, Xu Huizu is already a very popular minister, but if you think about it carefully, he has no close trust or real power at all.

Although he accompanied Li Jinglong to various places for military training many times, he was only a companion, and the military training could not produce confidants at all.

A true confidant must be both prosperous and devastated, but he has no such colleagues at all.

Don't worry about colleagues. Although Zhu Gaoxu has no close confidants, he has the status of the emperor's grandson, which means that he is destined to be more resistant than Xu Huizu.

Xu Huizu stopped questioning Zhu Gaoxu, but the worry on his face did not go away. He really didn't want his nephew to be involved in this kind of thing, because Zhu Gaoxu not only represented him, he also represented the Yan Palace.

"I have sent people to investigate carefully about the Japanese invasion. As you said, they have detailed operations in ports such as Shuangyu in Zhejiang, Zhangzhou in Fujian, and Qiongzhou in Guangdong, and their bases are mostly on islands in the sea..."

Xu Huizu looked at the rows of docks behind him: "You have also seen that I am asking Longjiang Shipyard to build large ships in order to go deep into the sea and completely eliminate these Japanese pirates."

"How strong are the Japanese pirates?" Zhu Gaoxu did not follow Xu Huizu to look at the dock, but just discussed the basic issue.

Faced with the problem, Xu Huizu's face became more solemn: "Based on the current news, the Japanese pirates are densely scattered on the sea. There are dozens of them and thousands of them. They are heading from Songjiang to Guangxi. I'm afraid there are more than [-] Japanese pirates." More than ten thousand people."

As soon as Xu Huizu's words were spoken, even Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but take a breath of cold air.

You must know that this is the Hongwu period, not the Jiajing period. The Japanese pirates during the Jiajing period were still the Ten Japanese pirates and the Three Han Dynasties, but the Japanese pirates during the Hongwu period were the reverse of the Ten Japanese pirates and the Three Han Dynasties.

If such a large number of real Japanese were left in the Jiajing period, I am afraid that Qi Jiguang, Hu Zongxian and others would have to be busy until their death to finish them off.

After such a comparison, Zhu Gaoxu also admired his father. He was able to wipe out all the Japanese pirates in East Asia and Southeast Asia in more than ten years. His determination was really beyond the comparison of ordinary people.

At the same time, this history also taught Zhu Gaoxu that annihilating offshore Japanese pirates can only alleviate the Japanese invasion, but cannot completely eliminate it.

If we want to truly eliminate the Japanese pirates, we can only follow Yongle's voyages to the West and build an unparalleled maritime military unit to completely attack the Japanese pirates in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia.

Zhu Gaoxu was still thinking, but Xu Huizu thought he was shocked by the number of Japanese pirates, and couldn't help but said calmly:
"I have reported to Your Majesty the number of Japanese pirates along the coast in the form of a memorial."

"Right now, I have trained 5000 sailors on Chongming Island, built more than [-] ships in Longjiang and other shipyards, and placed more than [-] artillery pieces. I think it will be enough to encircle and suppress the Japanese pirates one by one."

"It's just that the speed of encirclement and suppression is too slow. I'm afraid that when the Japanese pirates in Zhejiang are being encircled and suppressed, the Japanese pirates in Fujian and Guangdong and Guangxi will be alerted. By then, they will have escaped to Nanyang and it will be difficult to encircle and suppress them."

The result Xu Huizu said is inevitable. Japanese pirates are people, not stones. When they see the group of Japanese pirates in Zhejiang being wiped out, they will naturally wait and see.

Once they discovered that the Ming Dynasty had completely eliminated Japanese pirates, they would flee to Nanyang in droves.

After two years, Xu Huizu and the navy returned without success, and they would return to the coast and continue to plunder coastal states and counties.

This method is actually as primitive as the Mongols in the north, but it is not practical.

If we want to completely eliminate Japanese pirates, we still have to start from the root, and this root is Nanyang.

But judging from Lao Zhu's current point of view, he is unwilling to send troops across the ocean to clean up the Japanese pirates in Nanyang. After all, the former Yuan Dynasty also tried to send troops to Nanyang, but in the end he failed.

Zhu Yuanzhang held a conservative attitude towards Annan, Nanyang and Japan, but this was also a decision made in view of the failure of the former Yuan Dynasty.

At this point, Zhu Gaoxu could not blame Zhu Yuanzhang harshly. After all, the Hongwu years were mainly about recuperation, and the expansion of territory was a matter for his successors.

It's a pity that Lao Zhu's successor made the wrong move.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxu's face flashed in Zhu Gaoxu's mind, but he was quickly cleared from his mind.

After pondering for a while, he explained to Xu Huizu: "We have to make long-term preparations for the Japanese pirates. It is best to restore the Penghu Inspection Department. After the Japanese pirates in Fujian and Zhejiang are cleared, the troops will be divided into three groups and go all the way north to clean up the coasts of North Korea and Shandong and Liaodong. Pirates and Japanese pirates.”

"Go all the way south to wipe out the Japanese pirates in Guangdong and Guangxi, and station the inspection department in Penghu all the way to prevent the Japanese pirates from Southeast Asia from crossing the sea and heading north."

Zhu Gaoxu did not mention Taiwan in his words. The reason is simple, because it is not realistic to travel to Taiwan at the moment.The Taiwan Strait does not look wide, but in fact it is much more difficult to cross the sea from Fujian to Taiwan than to Ryukyu or Luzon.

The Taiwan Strait is wide at both ends and narrow in the middle. Due to the influence of topography, monsoon wind speeds are faster than those in the East China Sea and South China Sea.

In addition, the Taiwan Strait blows the northeast monsoon in winter and the southwest monsoon in summer. If you start from southern Fujian, the route is at right angles to the monsoon, making it unsuitable for navigation.

This factor, coupled with the complex submarine topography of the Penghu waterway between Taiwan's main island and Penghu, ocean currents and strong winds, caused ancient shipwrecks to occur frequently here, which was called the Black Water Ditch.

It’s not easy to get to Penghu, but it’s even harder to get to Taiwan.

Therefore, although there are records of the Han people developing Penghu during the Song and Yuan Dynasties, it was not until the middle and late Ming Dynasty that Taiwan was able to set foot on the mainland.

But even so, even in the Qing Dynasty, the ending of immigrants to Taiwan described in "Elegy of Crossing Taiwan" is still "six deaths, three stays, and one return". It is conceivable that with the current navigation technology, crossing Taiwan from the coast of Fujian is very useful. Risky things.

Rather than taking this uncertain risk, it is better to choose Luzon, which is far away but relatively easy, and the existence of larger islands has been confirmed.

Of course, this does not mean that Ming Dynasty could not migrate its population to Taiwan.

Zhu Gaoxu clearly remembers that in ancient times, the safest way to cross the sea from the East Asian continent to Taiwan was to go straight south from the Yangtze River Estuary. This was the only relatively calm route.

Of course, the prerequisite for taking this route is that there must be a large island at the end of the route that can be replenished. Otherwise, it will be difficult to return to Fujian, and in the end, only a boatload of corpses can be sent to Luzon.

Such conditions made the Fujian and Zhejiang maritime merchants in the middle and early Ming Dynasty know nothing about Taiwan, but they knew the distant Luzon well.

In addition, even if we reach Taiwan, the largest Jianan Plain in the west may not be able to be cultivated.

Although the Jianan Plain is large, it is not fat at all because it is too primitive.

On the contrary, due to saline-alkali problems and lack of water sources, the Chianan Plain has long been the least productive agricultural area in Taiwan, far inferior to the Taipei Basin [-] and Taichung-Changhua area.

This situation did not improve until the Japanese built the "Jianan Dazhen" in the 30s.

Also because the Chianan Plain cannot provide much food, Taiwan has suffered from food shortages for a long time since the Opium War and needs to purchase rice from Fujian.

Unless someone migrates dozens or millions of people to Taiwan in one go, and then uses manpower to build the "Jianan Dazhen" in advance, the Jianan Plain will become Taiwan's granary hundreds of years in advance.

However, as far as the current situation is concerned, it is better to throw the same population directly to Luzon and Annan than to throw it in Taiwan. After all, these places still have at least some developed land, while Taiwan is basically in a primitive environment.

In this case, for Ming Dynasty, the cost of mastering the Penghu Islands was lower, and the effect was also very impressive.

"I understand. I will report this matter to His Majesty when I go back later."

Xu Huizu was still very impressed with Penghu. After all, this place was abandoned a few years ago.

"By the way..." Zhu Gaoxu reminded: "If my uncle sets up the Penghu Inspection Department, he can ask the Fujian and Zhejiang fishermen about the location of the Taijiang River mouth. The fishery there is developed. If they relocate to Penghu, the local people can make a living on it."

"Okay, I understand." Xu Huizu nodded, then looked at Zhu Gaoxu and hesitated to speak.

Zhu Gaoxu understood that he was worried about his affairs with Fu Youde and Feng Sheng, but Zhu Gaoxu also knew that his uncle could not really help him in this matter, and would instead involve him.

Faced with this situation, he raised his hands and bowed: "Uncle, walk slowly."

"Okay..." Xu Huizu had a complicated expression and just responded before turning around and walking deeper into the shipyard.

However, he took a few steps forward, but still couldn't hold it back. He stopped and looked back at Zhu Gaoxu. He hesitated for a long time, and finally could only say:
"Then Yang Qiu is a good man. He led a fleet to annihilate hundreds of Japanese pirates on an island a few days ago. Now he has been officially awarded the title of Thousand Households in Chongming by the Governor."

Yang Zhan's father was given the nickname "Dai Qian Hu", which has to be said to be good news.

Zhu Gaoxu bowed to Xu Huizu in return, stood up, and turned around to leave Longjiang Shipyard.

He came to Longjiang Shipyard mainly to see if his uncle did what he said, and also to see what level Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding technology had reached.

Now that both goals have been achieved, there is no need for him to stay long.

In front of Xu Huizu, Zhu Gaoxu's figure gradually moved away, and finally walked out of Longjiang Shipyard.

"Alas..." With a long sigh, Xu Huizu also turned around with difficulty and went to mind his own business.

As for Zhu Gaoxu, after he walked out of the Longjiang Shipyard, he saw Zhang Guang and Li Zhong taking off their helmets and armor and sitting in a pavilion in the distance to rest.

The two men were very tired after walking four miles in armor, and now they were lying in the pavilion and fell asleep.

Next to them, Chi Huan stood on the grass and nibbled on weeds.

When Zhu Gaoxu approached, Chi Huan snorted several times, and Li Zhong and Li Zhong were startled and suddenly sat up.

"Your Highness!" The two hugged their armor and weapons tightly. After standing up, they saw Zhu Gaoxu standing at the door of the pavilion, and they hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"Haha..." Zhu Gaoxu laughed a few times: "Put the armor on Chi Huan and put it on when you get close to Jiangdong Gate. Don't delay my return to Beijing."

That's what he said, but both Li Zhong and Zhang Guang could tell that he said it deliberately because he was worried that they would be tired.

The two of them blushed a little, as if they felt that they were ashamed of their behavior when they fell asleep just now. Zhu Gaoxu took care of such a good horse for them.

"Let's go."

Seeing the two of them looking like this, Zhu Gaoxu also shook his head and walked back the way he came.

Seeing this, Li Zhong and Fan Guang carefully hung the armor on Chi Huan, untied Chi Huan, and led him towards Jiangdong Gate.

They embarked on their return journey outside the city, and in the Wuying Palace in the city, Zhu Yuanzhang also returned here after his morning dynasty.

"Wish you good health, grandpa emperor..."

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang walking into the hall, Zhu Yunwen and Zhu Gaochi stood up and bowed in salute. Zhu Yuanzhang nodded calmly and then sat down.

"Grandpa, here is a memorial from Wei Guogong, which is about the pacification of the Japanese."

When Zhu Yunwen saw Zhu Yuanzhang sitting down, he also took out the memorial of Xu Huizu that he had dealt with before and handed it to him, and further said:
"There is good news in this matter, but there is also something about the Japanese invasion. My grandson feels that this is a serious matter, and he needs to see it in person before he can rest assured."

"Well..." Zhu Yuanzhang saw that Zhu Yunwen was so serious, so he took the memorial and read it ten lines at a time.

It has to be said that Xu Huizu's performance in defeating Japanese pirates was quite good. In the past month or so, Xu Huizu beheaded more than [-] Japanese pirates. This was while using the old warships and the hundreds of soldiers from the Chongming Institute.

If the large ships from shipyards in Longjiang and other places are launched and the five thousand sailors on Chongming Island can go into battle, then the day when the Japanese pirates in the offshore areas will be pacified is not far away.

Seeing this, Zhu Yuanzhang felt a little happy, but the number of Japanese pirates written by Xu Huizu later made him feel less happy.

Although he had learned from Zhu Gaoxu that the number of Japanese pirates at sea was increasing due to the pacification of the Northern and Southern War in Japan, he still did not expect that the number of Japanese pirates would increase to this extent.

"It must be resolved early and cannot be delayed any longer..."

Zhu Yuanzhang just had an idea in his mind, and he raised his head and ordered Zhu Yunwen:

"The Ministry of Household Affairs was ordered to allocate another 40 guan of money and 2 Dafu ships to the Duke of Wei. He ordered the Duke of Wei to select another [-] sailors from the three prefectures of Su, Song, Chang, and Zhejiang Dusi. The total number of sailors was [-], and it was established as the Pingwa Navy. , Wei Guogong was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the war against the Japanese."

"Within three years, I want to see the coast clear of Japanese pirates!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's words were very encouraging, and Zhu Yunwen seemed to have already guessed it, and bowed in agreement unhurriedly.

Zhu Gaochi and the other three people in the palace listened to these words, but they knew very well that it was impossible for only [-] navy troops to quell the Japanese pirates along the coast. Unless the number of troops was increased in the future, it would be difficult to see results.

The expressions of the three people were caught by Zhu Yuanzhang, but at this moment he was not thinking about what they were thinking, but what kind of opinions Zhu Gaoxu would express if he were here.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Zhu Gaoxu had very rich insights into overseas countries, and even Zhu Yuanzhang himself relied on him a little.

He didn't think it was anything. Instead, he felt that God had sent down a curtain on his old Zhu family and gave his family an outstanding third-generation son.

It's a pity that this third-generation descendant is still too kind and weak in temperament.

The Ming Dynasty did not need so many kind-hearted and weak-tempered children, not to mention that there were too many kind-hearted and weak-tempered children among the third generation. What he wanted was people like Lao Si.

"Alas..." Zhu Yuanzhang glanced at the four grandchildren in the palace, but he felt that the four grandsons who were once very pleasing to his eyes did not match the person he imagined.

After much deliberation, only Gao Xu, that bastard, fits the bill somewhat.

"It would be nice if your boy's personality could return to what it used to be..." Zhu Yuanzhang sighed, thinking of the ruthless and cunning Zhu Gaoxu at this moment.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands. Although his body and brain were still processing the memorial, his mind was full of the scene of Zhu Gaoxu contradicting him yesterday.

Involuntarily, Zhu Gaoxu's appearance at that time gradually appeared on the memorial. The perseverance between his eyebrows made Zhu Yuanzhang unable to help but admire it. Unfortunately...

Zhu Yuanzhang closed the memorial, looked away from the Long Case, and looked at the sunny sky outside the window, and couldn't help but squinting his eyes slightly.

"It's a pity that loyal heroes often die at the hands of treacherous villains..."

(End of this chapter)