Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 184 First Fleet
"The coastal guard posts will be gradually transferred to the naval yamen in the next three years."

"Coastal defense roads and patrol roads should also be changed to naval escort captains, under the direct control of naval escort envoys."

"Each guard captain has jurisdiction over a coastal defense area."

According to the previous method of changing the military preparation road to the military guard captain, Zhu Youjian directly changed the coastal defense roads and patrol roads into the navy guard captain.

In this way, the navy has a base among civilian officials. The interpersonal relationships of these officials, as well as the affairs they are responsible for, will also be brought to the Navy Yamen.

As the Minister of the Ministry of War, Yuan Keli could not object to the increase of subordinate guard captains.

The official's study room is magnificent, and the old god is there. It seems that this matter has nothing to do with him.

According to the usual practice, the Chief Envoy and the Inspection Envoy are officials of the third rank or above who are recommended by the court. The chief ministers of Fuzhou and County and the members of the Jiuqing are the standing elected officials. The selection, appointment and removal of all officials are done by the Ministry of Personnel, and the supervisory officials are moved sequentially.

The sub-inspectors are usually the chief secretary who participates in political discussions and the deputy envoy of the judicial department. They are all moved according to the usual order, and there are few places where the official department can intervene. The coastal defense roads and patrol roads were changed to military guard captains, and they would be removed by the Ministry of War in the future. Of course, the officials would not be idle to stop them.

The trouble in this matter was not with the sub-inspector, but with the more senior officials with coastal defense responsibilities. Yuan Keli said:
"The governor of Tianjin is responsible for coastal defense, and his subordinates have coastal defense guerrillas."

"There is also the Zhejiang General Soldier, who was once the Prime Minister of Zhejiang Province's coastal defense, and there are also coastal defense officers in Guangzhou. What should we do with these generals?"

These messy official positions made Zhu Youjian feel that coastal defense needed to be rectified and naval affairs needed to be unified, so he immediately said:

"The south will remain as is for the time being, and adjustments will begin from the north."

"The coastal defense responsibilities of the governor of Tianjin will be transferred to the naval escort stationed in Tianjin."

"The Tianjin Coastal Defense Area was established under the jurisdiction of the guard captains and generals, and was specifically responsible for coastal defense."

"To the north of Liaodong, Ningyuan and Shanhaiguan, the Liaodong Coastal Defense Area will be established. To the east of Liaonan, the Liaonan Coastal Defense Area will be established. Further to the Dongpi Island area, the Dongjiang Coastal Defense Area will be established."

"These three coastal defense areas are all under the jurisdiction of the guard captains and generals. If the war is tense and more than one battalion is needed, a brigade general can be set up and the brigade general will govern."

"The Qingzhou Coastal Defense Road, Denglai Road, etc. in Shandong were changed into three coastal defense areas: Qingzhou, Denglai, and Jiaodong, under the jurisdiction of the guard captains and generals."

At this time, the Yellow River was still diverting the Huaihe River into the sea, and did not deposit sediment in the southwest of the Bohai Sea. Therefore, the coast in Qingzhou is now navigable. There was also a coastal defense road before, but it was converted into a coastal defense area by Zhu Youjian.

As for Denglai, it is even more important. It is even divided into the Denglai coastal defense area in the north and the Jiaodong coastal defense area in the south, responsible for the coastal defense of this peninsula.

The above seven coastal defense zones were established as a priority by Zhu Youjian and were uniformly managed by the Navy Yamen.

However, the Naval Yamen also has agencies such as the General Administration of Customs, and there will be more coastal defense zones in the south in the future. Therefore, after Zhu Youjian considered it, he imitated the military zones of later generations and ordered:

"These seven coastal defense zones are collectively referred to as the Northern Navy Zone and are under the direct control of the Navy Guard Envoy and the Navy Admiral."

"Due to war needs, the Liaodong Coastal Defense Area is under the jurisdiction of both the Liaodong Governor and the Liaodong Admiral."

"The Dongjiang Coastal Defense Area and the Liaonan Coastal Defense Area are both under the jurisdiction of the Liaonan Admiral."

"Navy Admiral Yu Zigao is responsible for overall planning and dispatch."

The three coastal defense areas of Liaodong, Liaonan, and Dongjiang are all managed by admirals. The Tianjin Coastal Defense Area is also the residence of the naval escort envoys.

Yu Zigao, the naval admiral, could only fully govern the three coastal defense zones in Shandong, but he had to be stationed on the front line of Lushun. This made him quite uneasy and said:
"Can I transfer ships and officers and soldiers from Fujian to strengthen the strength of Lushun?"

The biggest enemy of the Ming Dynasty was Hou Jin. Zhu Youjian fully agreed to this request and said:

"of course can!"

"In order to enhance the navy's attack capabilities, I authorize you to select elite generals and elite ships from the coastal navy to form the navy's first fleet."

"The main base of the First Fleet is in Lushun. For winter and coastal defense needs, additional sub-bases are set up in Weihaiwei, Dengzhou and Jiaozhou Bay, Laizhou, with squadrons serving as rearguards."

"The first fleet will be led by you, the naval admiral, who also serves as the commander-in-chief. The brigade general will be in charge of the squadrons, and the staff general will be in charge of each battalion."

"The composition of the fleet is modeled on Zheng He's fleet. Except for the temporary need for treasure ships, it can be divided into warships, grain ships, sailing ships, and horse ships, which are respectively responsible for combat, logistics, and personnel and horse transportation." "So the fleet must have a land force. , to facilitate landing operations in Liaodong and rescue the people in distress."

"Temporarily set up the First Marine Brigade and select elite soldiers and generals to form it."

With that said, Zhu Youjian looked at Mao Wenlong and said:

"Admiral Mao, from now on Admiral Yu will mainly cooperate with you in fighting."

"You need to select more elite soldiers to help form the first fleet."

Then he said to Sun Chengzong:

"The same goes for Liaodong. We need to communicate more with other places."

"After Commander Sun arrives in Liaodong, he selects several deputy commanders and staff generals to serve as brigade generals and staff generals in the Navy and Liaonan."

"All militaries need to communicate more to facilitate coordinated operations."

This was a continuation of the previous decision to move the generals in Liaodong, and Sun Chengzong could only agree.

Mao Wenlong was even more powerless to resist and also agreed.

However, neither of them planned to give Yu Zigao any elite soldiers and generals. Yu Zigao also wanted to bring the team of the First Fleet from Fujian.

Thinking that Fujian was still confronting Zheng Zhilong, and battles broke out one after another. Yu Zigao regrets now. He should have listened to Governor Zhu Yifeng earlier and appeased Zheng Zhilong. Why bother getting entangled with a pirate!
After becoming admiral of the navy, Yu Zigao had already set his sights on the whole country. Things in this corner of Fujian are no longer his focus.

In addition, Zheng Zhilong had power on the island and he was needed to open up Dongning Guard. Yu Zigao was already inclined to recruit Zheng Zhilong.

Thinking about this matter, Yu Zigao said to the emperor:

"The coast of Fujian is troubled. Pirate Zheng Zhilong has gathered tens of thousands of people and continues to harass the coast."

"I think that since we need to mobilize elite coastal naval forces to go north, we should recruit Zheng Zhilong."

Of course Zhu Youjian wanted to appease Zheng Zhilong. One of the purposes of teasing Yu Zigao to come to Beijing was to understand the situation in Fujian.

Now that Ming Dynasty is already fighting on the 2.5 front, it really cannot open another front. So when he heard Yu Zigao raise this matter, he immediately said to him:
"If Zheng Zhilong can appease him, then send an envoy to appease him."

"How strong is Zheng Zhilong? How many sailors are there?"

Yu Zigao and Zheng Zhilong had been fighting for a long time, and he still had some understanding of this, so he replied:

"About 30,000 people, thousands on boats."

"Some ships are made from foreign countries, and their sterns are tall and solid."

Zhu Youjian was surprised to hear that Zheng Zhilong already had this strength.

If this is the case, then it is even more important to appease the pirate gang of more than 30,000 people. If they cause trouble, the entire sea area will be in chaos.

However, Zheng Zhilong was originally a pirate, and his descendants later called themselves King Dongning. Zhu Youjian didn't want to let him grow in Fujian, so after careful consideration, he ordered:
"Send an envoy to Fujian by speedboat and ask Zhu Yifeng, the governor of Fujian, to appease Zheng Zhilong."

"Most of the people recruited were placed in Dongningwei. Zheng Zhilong and others were given positions in Dongningwei's Thousand Households and Hundreds of Households, and they were asked to help Dongningwei develop."

"In addition, let Zheng Zhilong select some elite soldiers and large ships to lead the fleet north and station it at the Weihai base as the first fleet squadron."

"If Zheng Zhilong goes north in person, then grant him the position of brigade general."

"If he does not go north, but selects more than 3,000 sailors, Zheng Zhilong and the generals who led the troops to go north will be awarded the positions of general and Dongning Guard Qianhu."

"If the ship's soldiers are less than three thousand, then let two people be trained as guerrillas and let the Fujian generals be careful."

(End of this chapter)