Dragon Sea Empire

In the Ming Dynasty, the children of military households were essentially the same as those of civilian households in terms of political treatment. Hereditary military officers received traditional Confucian education. To be promoted to the next level, the war knowledge they master mainly relies on self-study and exploration in civil wars and foreign wars, and the precepts and deeds of elders and colleagues. The soldier class does not have any systematic military knowledge training. train.

Therefore, Yin Feng could not refer to all the existing military systems in China. He could only design the modernized military system of the Chinese company based on the military system of the Western firearms age. , A large number of people will be eliminated during the training process. Therefore, Yin Feng adopted a typical line of elite soldiers. The awe-inspiring escort team includes water troops, infantry, cavalry, and artillery, a total of 20000 people (excluding the half-time Zhuang Ding team) ), but the military expenditure is no less than the cost of the imperial court's 10 soldiers on the nine sides.

In addition to the annual rated expenses, the excess of these expenses is all spent by Yin Feng with his own share dividends, plus a part of the expenses provided by Li Lihua. Therefore, the guards are equivalent to Yin Feng's private soldiers, not Yin Feng. The original intention when creating this army, but now the uncooperative attitude of some members of the board of directors forced him to pay for the soldiers himself.

The complete officers, non-commissioned officers, recruits, and logistics systems of the Chinese Army have been gradually improved in the past five years. The first generation of non-commissioned officers and new officers trained by the military academy have entered the grassroots of the army. The Chinese Guard is entering a stage of rapid and stable development. The steady increase in military spending over time has become the basis for all this.

Yin Feng is worrying about military expenditure these days, and he is even more restless when he hears that Japanese pirates are about to attack Ryukyu.

Large-scale military expansion is imperative, but military spending has become a bottleneck. This is what annoys Yin Feng the most. The Chinese company has money, and the land taxes and taxes of the entire Ming Empire are not as high as the annual trade profits of the Chinese company. However, those board members Most businessmen generally believe that the Chinese army is strong enough, and they have already negotiated peace with the government, and there is no need to expand the army and prepare for war for the time being. Yin Feng also does not want to break the rules he established: major expenditures and important actions must be discussed and decided by the board of directors. Therefore, the end of the year is approaching, and the amount of military expenditure for next year has not yet been determined.

However, the preparations for the battle against the Japanese pirates cannot be stopped. Except for the "Manila" of the same level, which will be stationed in Luzon Island, all the warships of the Feizi have gathered in the port of Taiwan, together with the 900-ton class and 60 cannons built by the Taiwan shipyard. The Flying Eagle has a total of four large warships, Flying Tiger, Flying Leopard, Flying Wolf, and Flying Eagle.

The remaining 20 three-masted large-scale blessing boats serving as escorts and transporting goods, 10 three-masted blessing boats, 50 two-masted blessing boats stationed in Taiwan and Penghu, and hundreds of small sailing boats and fishing boats gathered in Hong Kong and Jilong Danshui and other places, this is the largest gathering since the establishment of the Chinese company's navy. Zhao Tie's "Hurricane Team" will go to Ryukyu, and they are currently going north in batches to gather in the Taipei area. They will set off before March next year. go north.

The young officers of the Operation Department of the Chinese Army, under the leadership of some foreign officers such as the veteran general Chen Di and the old Portuguese mercenary Coutere, are planning the battle plan day and night. There is no need for a war against the Japanese. It was kept secret, so the staff team for this operation included a large number of foreign officers.

The black pro-guards trained by Magaro have expanded to 150 people. Yan Siqi's cadet army has made a lot of contributions in the battle against Dadu Fanguo. Therefore, Yin Feng approved Yan Siqi to be the commander of the newly created independent battalion. The main non-commissioned officers and officers are the go-getters in the student army, so they are called "boy scouts".

……

The Chinese company is gathering troops to prepare for the war, and the Satsuma Shimadzu family is also training soldiers intensively. The number of ronin samurai who came to Satsuma from all over the country has reached as many as 1000 by the end of the year. It was approved by the Shogunate, but he didn't want to dissatisfy Tokugawa Ieyasu of Junfu because of gathering a bunch of ronin. The supporting 500 soldiers and 100 warriors have also set off.

The Dasmarinas monk became the head of the Shimadzu family's military training, and he worked hard every day on the playground to train the iron gunners. The Japanese's hard-working spirit can still adapt to its devil training, but the monks at this moment are completely Unlike a missionary of God, he is simply an iron-blooded Spanish soldier.

It is well known that Yin Feng attaches great importance to intelligence work, but for the closed domestic situation in Japan, or the actions of the Satsuma domain, the Chinese company can only find out through indirect channels; foreign missionaries, businessmen or ronin.

Chen Zhongji has been to Chongyuan Temple in Shuli several times these days, trying to meet the vice abbot of Chongyuan Temple, Lord Yimoli.

The diplomatic exchanges between Ryukyu and Japan are often made by monks as envoys. The vice abbot Yimoli has just returned from his mission to Japan. Chen Zhongji wanted to ask him about the situation in Japan.

The mission of the Ryukyu Kingdom this time is mainly to explain that the Ryukyu Kingdom cannot send an official "envoy of gratitude".

The so-called "envoy of gratitude" is completely unreasonable troubles of the shogunate and Satsuma. Since the 30th year of Wanli (the seventh year of Qingchang ﹑ AD 1602), there have been several incidents of drifting ships from the Ryukyu Kingdom. The first case was that the Ryukyu ships drifted to Sendai Fan (AD 1602), drifted to Hirado for the second time (AD 1603), and the third time was a tribute ship sent to the Ming Dynasty, which also drifted to Hirado. Every drifting boat incident was under the special instructions of Ieyasu , received safe repatriation, especially the last time, Ieyasu's attempt to reopen trade with the Ming Dynasty had been shattered, so he dealt with it more carefully. It can be said that Ieyasu expected as many Ryukyu shipwrecks to drift to Japan, the better, so as to express his gratitude to the Ming Dynasty. Ryukyu's kindness made him feel grateful for Japan's repatriation, and then received Ryukyu's diplomatic help to the Ming Dynasty.

Ieyasu entrusted the task of escorting the Ryukyu crew to the Shimadzu family. They must not be neglected and must ensure the safety of the Ryukyu people. At the same time, Shimadzu ordered the Ryukyu King Zhongshan to send a "Thanksgiving Envoy". Ieyasu attached great importance to this. They just wanted to make Ryukyu feel Japan's kindness. However, Satsuma is a window for Ryukyu to communicate with Japan. Historically, the Shimadzu family had no close relationship with Ryukyu. During the Muromachi period, Satsuma unilaterally claimed that Ryukyu was a vassal of the Shimadzu family (actually groundless), which the Ryukyu country has always hated, because the Shimadzu family never regarded Ryukyu as an independent country equal to Japan. The country looks at it and humiliates Ryukyu everywhere, so Ryukyu has always kept a respectful distance from the Shimadzu family, but this time Japan actually asked Ryukyu to send a thank-you envoy to Ieyasu (according to the rules, it can only send a thank-you envoy to China), which undoubtedly humiliated King Zhongshan indirectly. At that time, the Ryukyu Kingdom was in power from the pro-Ming sect Xie Mingqinfang Zheng Jiong. He firmly opposed Japan's request and believed that no envoys of any kind should be sent to the arrogant Japan. The official envoy came to Japan to thank Ieyasu for his kindness in repatriating the Ryukyu sailors.

In the 34th year of Wanli (AD 1606), Xia Ziyang, the envoy of the Ming Dynasty, went to Ryukyu to enshrine Shang Ning. Japan had to issue an ultimatum, threatening Ryukyu to send an envoy of gratitude to Japan immediately. The monk Immori of Chongyuan Temple was sent to Japan to explain the inability of the Ryukyu Kingdom to send an official envoy. At the same time, Shimadzu also sent Ubara Zongan to Ryukyu to deliver the letter from Satsuma to King Shangning of Zhongshan, insisting that Ryukyu send an official envoy as soon as possible. In 1608 (the 13th year of Keicho in Japan), the Shimadzu family sent the monk Longyun of Daci Temple to Ryukyu according to the order of the shogunate, and urged the Ryukyu country to send envoys to "thank you".

This kind of action to challenge the suzerainty of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty should have known a little bit in the report of the Ryukyu tribute, but the Ming Dynasty had a dark eye on the domestic situation in Japan, and did not understand and did not want to know at all. The entire court was intriguing internally. Among them, there is no mentality to know the fate of the vassal state thousands of miles away.

When the Japanese war of aggression was imminent, the rulers of the Ryukyu Kingdom never thought that the Ming army would send troops for this purpose, so Ryukyu was also preparing for the war, but the country was small and weak, and Ryukyu was too infected with the weakness of the Ming Dynasty. Military armaments were slack. Except for a few people from Xie Mingqin Fang Zheng Jiong who were serious about preparing for war, most of the other Ryukyu nobles and landlords were just dawdling and muddling along.

Chen Zhongji is very worried about the current situation in Ryukyu, but he has worked hard for more than half a year, but he can't persuade any powerful figure in Ryukyu to support him. Xie Mingqin, Zheng Jiong, also has no confidence in the Chinese company. Although he approved the establishment of the Chinese business hall, but But the Chinese company is no longer allowed to increase the number of people stationed in the embassy. Therefore, Chen Zhongji's men who can fight are only 200 veterans of the fourth regiment brought by himself and the 30th regiment who arrived one after another later, 20 soldiers from the special battalion, and the other is the embassy Most of the clerks, servants, book offices, etc., although they have undergone military training, are half-baked people who have never really used a knife or gun. As merchant ships return to China one after another, there are fewer and fewer Chinese sailors in Naha Port. Only more than [-] sailors stayed in Ryukyu for the winter due to illness.

Around the beginning of spring, the army of the Satsuma clan might come. Chen Zhongji was already furious, but the vice abbot of Chongyuan Temple, Lord Yimoli, was very patient. After three days, today I finally summoned Chen Zhongji, but the tea ceremony started as soon as we met.

From noon to dusk, when the sky had gradually dimmed, the monks lit candles, and Chen Zhongji, who had been lingering for a long time with nothing to gain, was about to bid farewell dejectedly, but Lord Yimo, who had been rambling about the scenery of the Ming Dynasty, said: "What does Benefactor Chen want?"