Dragon Sea Empire

Yin Feng spent a whole year in the army, eating and living with the newly recruited soldiers, and was busy reorganizing the Chinese Army. Now the Chinese Army has begun to form its own complete staff system, officer corps, military education system, and logistics. Supply system, etc. Zhao Tie's first regiment, Mai De's second regiment, Li Xing's third regiment, Zhao Xuanming's fourth regiment, and Yan Siqi's fifth regiment, as the main force of the Chinese infantry field field, began to take turns in Lu**yuan A multi-arms joint exercise was carried out, and the main force of four regiments was concentrated at most at one time, and preliminary attempts were made to develop the combat organization of the troops to the division level.

At the same time, Li Kuiqi's Artillery Regiment, Andrew's Cavalry Regiment, and Lu Dahai's logistics troops all began to join the multi-army joint military exercise. Yin Feng himself did not realize that his efforts had made his troops advanced in technology and tactics. The level quickly surpassed the armed forces of the European powers and all surrounding countries.

The drill of the navy fleet also began to develop from the role of supporting the army to the direction of independent combat. During the Battle of Kagoshima Plain, there was a major mistake in the cooperation between the sailor musketeers and the infantry of the Chinese army, which almost changed the situation on the battlefield. Afterwards, Yin Feng held several review meetings at the military academy. Everyone agreed that this was due to the fact that the training and combat requirements of the sailor musketeers were completely different from those of the infantry, and that the sailors and infantry brothers lacked the practice of cooperating with each other. It is also an important reason.

Therefore, referring to the experience of later generations of the Marine Corps and the colonial garrison units of European powers, Yin Feng used the Sailor Musketeers completely as a mobile force at sea: the indigenous riots that often occurred in the territory of the Chinese Company in Nanyang will be replaced by those with strong mobile capabilities at sea. The sailor musketeers will be in charge of pacification, allowing the sailors to display their mobility and flexibility in small-scale fierce battles; With the development of the battle, all the tasks of the colonial garrisons will be transferred to the Sailor Musketeers. Of course, the Sailor Musketeers and the fleet will also participate in large-scale battles and take on strategic and tactical tasks. However, in Yin Feng's opinion, in a short time In China, the Chinese army will not launch a large-scale strategic offensive war.

The naval combat training of the navy fleet has been forced by Yin Feng to make a great leap forward to the Nelson era in another time and space. On the one hand, this is the role played by Yin Feng's foresight as a traverser, and it is also the Chinese army's cannon giant ship doctrine in recent years. After showing great influence, some generals of the navy took the initiative to think about the results of the research.

In the 40th year of Wanli (1612), Yin Feng officially issued the "Combat Regulations" within the navy. This regulation reflects the result of Yin Feng's advanced understanding of naval warfare tactics. The purpose is to destroy the sailing ability of the enemy ship, and eventually damage the hull and sink it. At that time, the navies of various countries still attached great importance to the attack on the mast of the enemy ship in naval battles. The purpose was to kill the deck personnel of the opponent and reduce its maneuverability. Help capture the opponent's warship.

Yin Feng specially copied Nelson's "stern shot" tactic.

The largest cannon equipped on the Chinese naval battleship has reached [-] pounds, which is specially designed to destroy the ship's plank, and it is extremely powerful.

At that time, the warships of the European maritime powers were divided into one-tier, two-tier, three-tier, and even four-tier warships according to their size. The two sides of each tier were corridor-like artillery decks with long rows of cannons, and the middle was a traffic passage. On both sides are wooden ship planks of ten to tens of inches. It is difficult to penetrate when the two sides are fighting on board. Even if they penetrate, the solid shells can only penetrate one hole, and the damage is limited.

The most vulnerable part of a battleship's armor is the bow and stern, because when they are in battle, the bow and stern are all facing friendly ships, and no special protection is needed. The designer did not expect that someone would use the "stern fire" method. The so-called "stern fire" is to break through the enemy battleship array, circle around the enemy ship's tail in the melee, and bombard the opponent's fragile poop with armor-piercing projectiles, and then attack The quasi-exploded hole fired flower-like cannonballs into the enemy ship. Since there were no partitions inside the warship at that time, the cannonballs fired in this way could hit the ship from the stern to the bow, causing a massacre on the entire deck. Killing effect.

This is also the tactic Yin Feng designed to deal with the Spanish fleet. The expeditionary force of the Spanish Empire to recover Luzon has already set off. This news was brought back by Ye Hua's fleet.

The first main battleships of the Zhonghua Company, Feilong and Xinxing, carried two three-masted Fuchuan and five two-masted Fuchuan, loaded with goods such as silk, ceramics, embroidery, tea, cloth, ironware, books, etc. Before leaving Taiwan port to sail to Europe, after nearly two years of sailing, Ye Hua's fleet circled the Cape of Good Hope, went north to the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean, passed the coast of West Africa, and arrived in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.

The Ye Hua Fleet is the first Chinese trading fleet to officially come to Europe. On the day it arrived in Lisbon, all the churches in Lisbon rang their bells to celebrate the wealth and culture brought by the Chinese. Of course, wealth is full. The cargo of the ship was sold out, and these goods directly from China were snapped up by a large number of European merchants, which made Ye Hua's fleet make a fortune, and the currencies and gold and silver of various countries were piled up on the deck of the Chinese ship.

The best candidate for cultural exchange is naturally Yin Feng’s brother-in-law, Zeng Shan; among the thousands of people in the entire fleet, only Zeng Shan is a scholar who has taken the imperial examination, Jewish businessmen such as Bernardo, and monks such as You Wenhui When introducing him, they put the "doctor" hat on his head.

Originally, Zeng Shan, who had no hope of official career and was discouraged by seeing too much darkness in the officialdom, had almost given up his efforts in literature. Unexpectedly, he was unexpectedly regarded as a representative of Chinese culture in Europe. Not only the dignitaries in Lisbon repeatedly invited him to During the dinner and discussion, the bishop of Lisbon soon invited him and representatives of Chinese businessmen to go to the Vatican in Rome to meet the Pope.

Ye Hua commanded the Feilong and Xinxing, fully loaded with unsold goods in Lisbon, and set off for Rome, Italy.

Zeng Shan took part in the long voyage when the fleet just set sail; however, when crossing the Indian Ocean, he was already shocked by the size of the world; when the fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch sailors on board told him that Already [-] miles away from China, the cultural superiority of Sinocentrism in his mind has been crumbling. When he saw the majestic city of Rome, the magnificent Vatican Cathedral and other buildings, the concept of treating Europeans as barbarians began to collapse. Now, when he saw the majestic and towering ancient Roman Colosseum, and the ancient Roman aqueduct with complex and exquisite structure stretching hundreds of miles, he especially learned that these buildings were built in the pre-Han period of China and have been preserved to this day. The sense of cultural superiority has basically collapsed: such a majestic building can only be built by civilized people, and Europeans are completely different from the frontier barbarians in his mind.

Although he has always had a dislike for the political systems of European countries, he has given up the self-centered cultural superiority of sitting in a well for a long time, and began to look at Europeans and their civilized world with an equal eye. However, he has always been suspicious of Catholicism , the main reason is that his mother is a Buddhist.

Zeng Shan left several Chinese poems and some copybooks in Rome. These works are only second-rate things in China, but they have become the favorites of later archaeologists and collectors.

Yin Feng later felt very sorry. If it was not a second-rate literati like Zeng Shan, but a representative of mainstream Chinese culture at that time went to Europe, the possible impact would be really unpredictable. Unfortunately, the mainstream Chinese culture of this period Representatives: basically no one in the official and gentleman class would think of going abroad for inspection.

After Zeng Shan visited Pope Paul V, he did not become a Catholic; the accompanying Chinese Jesuit monks such as You Wenhui were commended by Pope Paul V.

Accompanied by Bernardo, Zeng Shan and his party later traveled around Europe. During this period, there were rarely large-scale wars in Europe (Northern and Eastern European countries were still fighting, generally speaking, the scale was not large), so Zeng Shan watched The Europe I have come to is a Europe with rapid economic and cultural development.

On the return voyage, the Chinese merchant fleet carried merchants and goods from Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries, and by the way, Jesuit missionary Kinney Court who collected European science and technology books for Yin Feng.

Jin Nige returned to Europe a few months earlier than Ye Hua’s fleet because he was on a Portuguese merchant ship familiar with sea routes. He tried his best to collect books for Yin Feng. When he returned to China, he and his assistants brought a total of more than 6000 volumes of books. However, Ye Hua knew that these books were specified by Captain Yin Feng, so he let Jin Nige aboard the Xinxing ship.

However, when their fleet docked in Lisbon, Portugal again, they were expelled by the Spanish Navy: They were told that the Spanish Empire did not welcome the Chinese merchant fleet. The counterattack on Luzon Island, if it wasn't for the Chinese fleet carrying a large number of European merchants and European goods, and even the goods of Spanish merchants, the Spanish Imperial Navy must have started attacking Ye Hua's fleet long ago.

Ye Hua was very anxious, but fortunately he was familiar with the return route, and there were European merchants to guide them, so they left Europe smoothly. Near the Cape of Good Hope, the fleet suddenly encountered a strong storm, and the two two-masted ships ran aground. After the cargo on the ship was transferred, Ye Hua had to abandon the two ships.

In this shipwreck, three Chinese sailors were killed; at the same time, because the other ships in the fleet were fully loaded and the crew was saturated, the 130 Chinese sailors on the wrecked ship had to stay in the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the largest ship in Africa. The earliest Chinese immigrants in the Dutch colonies in the south.

In 1612, in August of the 40th year of Wanli, No. 11 months after leaving Europe, the remaining ships of Ye Hua's fleet successfully entered the port of Taiwan, and the first Chinese voyage to Europe was largely concluded.

The news that the Spanish army had set off, accompanied by the return of Ye Hua's fleet, came to the ears of people in Taiwan Port.