Seeing Eunuch Tao, Su Ze also smiled, and the two walked into the Shipping Department side by side.
As soon as he entered the Shipping Department, Eunuch Tao began to express his bitterness.
"Xianggong Su, you are finally back! This year, the Japanese pirates invaded, and the merchant ship of the Ryukyu Mission came once. The court has repeatedly ordered the money to be sent to the capital. If this continues, I, the guarding eunuch of the Shipping Department, will not be able to do anything. It’s the end!”
Of course, Su Ze knew it was not such an exaggeration. Nowadays, the position of guarding eunuch in Shibo Division is a hot one, and only Eunuch Tao can still manage to maintain it.
Entering the main hall, Su Ze didn't beat around the bush and said directly: "I heard that Eunuch Tao built a batch of warships?"
Eunuch Tao sighed and said: "In order to open up the Ryukyu trade, I used the remaining silver from the Shipping Department and the new money from the Mint Department to build twenty warships with a thousand materials, but I couldn't move them!"
The fact that the trial ship was robbed by Japanese pirates was concealed by Eunuch Tao. It was really embarrassing.
Su Ze said: "Normally, this naval battle is different from the land battle. It is difficult to form an army in a hurry."
"Steering the sails and steering the rudder are all technical tasks. Even combat at sea is different from combat on land."
Eunuch Tao frowned. Now he also knows the difficulty of training a maritime army, but time waits for no one.
The inner court has urged him several times. If the backlog of silk in the Shipping Department is not sold, Eunuch Tao may lose his royal family.
Su Ze said: "I, Lin Baihu of Changning Guard, are good at naval warfare. However, Changning Guard is fully prepared and the number of sailors who can board the ship can only be five. If you want more escort ships, Changning Guard alone is the best choice." No way."
When Eunuch Tao saw that Su Ze didn't directly say no, he knew that there was still hope for the matter. He always trusted Su Ze and asked quickly:
"What can Mr. Su do?"
Su Ze said: "During the Yongle period, the navy of the Ming Dynasty was able to conquer the ocean and pay tribute from all the countries. Not to mention the small Japanese pirates, even the Japanese countries were destroyed."
"But now that the peace has been long, the various defense stations have neglected training. Many naval warfare methods have been lost. Many sea guards can't even recruit sailors who can drive large ships."
Eunuch Tao nodded repeatedly. Su Ze was right. This is the situation in various health centers in Fujian today.
One of the reasons why Qi Jiguang has been passive after entering Fujian is that the coastal guards in Fujian are too weak to allow Japanese pirates to come and go like the wind. It is difficult to achieve decisive results with just an elite army. Instead, they are constantly attacked by coastal Japanese pirates. The generals and soldiers were exhausted due to the mobilization.
Fuzhou Port was originally an important coastal town. When Zheng He sailed to the Western Ocean, part of his fleet set sail from here.
Some of the ships used by Zheng He on his voyages to the Western Ocean were also built here.
This is why Eunuch Tao was able to find the manufacturing manual for the thousand-material ship from Zhuwei's dock.
But with only ships, without captains and sailors who can drive the ships, and without naval soldiers who can fight at sea, there is still no way to open up the route to Ryukyu.
Su Ze said: "Another reason for the chronology of the Wei Institute is the traditional succession of father and son, the shortcomings of family inheritance."
"In fact, in the early days of the Republic of China, all the coastal guard stations were very good at this method of maritime warfare. By the Yongle period, there were many generals who were good at commanding naval warfare."
"However, as the country's dynasty has been peaceful, many maritime warfare methods have been passed down from father to son. There are fewer and fewer guardsmen who can fight on the water, and those who can sail and sail are regarded as secrets passed down by the family. On the contrary, many of the nobles from the coastal guards have never been to the sea."
Eunuch Tao nodded. In order to move these twenty warships, he had indeed visited many coastal guard stations. This was indeed what he told Su Ze.
Su Ze said: "Marine warfare is different from land warfare. When land soldiers join the army, they only need to have sufficient soldiers and food. They can form an army in a few months. After winning a few battles, they can be called elites."
"But the navy is different. Maritime operations require soldiers to learn combat drills first, and they also need to cooperate with practical training on the ship. It can only be accomplished in a few months."
Eunuch Tao now had a completely bitter look on his face. If he had followed Su Ze's method and waited until one year to train the navy, he would have been sent to Nanjing to guard the mausoleum due to poor performance.
No, going to Nanjing to guard the mausoleum is considered a good job. There is a high chance that going to Fengyang to guard the ancestral mausoleum will be a good job.
Su Ze changed the subject and said, "But there is also a quick fix."
Eunuch Tao was like a drowning man, grasping hope. He immediately asked: "What can I do?"
Su Ze said: "Since the sea trade was cut off, there have been many unemployed sailors in ports such as Zhangzhou, Fuzhou and Quanzhou."
Eunuch Tao's eyes lit up. Of course he knew where these sailors came from. These were sailors trained by maritime merchant families who had been engaged in the smuggling trade for a long time.
Eunuch Tao originally wanted to recruit these people, but on the one hand, these people are all old oilmen at sea. He does not have anyone who understands military management to manage them. These old oilmen may even kidnap the ship and join the Japanese.
Su Ze said: "But these sailors can only be used to sail ships, not to fight."
Eunuch Tao nodded repeatedly and asked, "Where will we recruit the soldiers for the battle?"
Su Ze said directly: "The best soldiers are under the hands of my father-in-law."
"Under the Za family?"
Eunuch Tao pointed at himself in confusion.
Su Ze nodded and said: "May I ask my father-in-law, how many craftsmen are there in the workshops responsible for minting coins in Fujian now?"
Eunuch Tao was still minting money in Fujian. He blurted out: "Now there are ten mints in Fujian and two thousand coin craftsmen."
Su Ze asked again: "How many miners are there in the Dajian furnace and mine managed by the Fujian Mining Department?"
Eunuch Tao thought for a while and said, "There are probably more than seven or eight thousand people."
Fujian produces high-quality Fujian iron. There are three Dajian furnaces, and each iron factory has thousands of craftsmen.
In addition, there are various mines in Fujian, and there are also a large number of miners working in government-run workshops in these places.
Eunuch Tao was in charge of the entire Fujian minting and had investigated some places before. He also had management rights over the mines of these government-run workshops.
When Su Ze asked about this, Eunuch Tao finally came to his senses and asked, "Mr. Su is talking about recruiting these craftsmen and miners?"
Su Ze nodded.
Eunuch Tao paced back and forth and said, "When it comes to soldiers, these miners and craftsmen are indeed good."
The Qi Jiajun were miners recruited by Qi Jiguang from Zhejiang. These miners often fought with weapons. Qi Jiguang, who was training in Zhejiang, noticed that these miners were strong and well organized. They could advance and retreat together when fighting with weapons, and their combat effectiveness exceeded that of ordinary farmers.
Eunuch Tao said: "But is it really okay for these craftsmen to get on the boat?"
Eunuch Tao also put in a lot of effort. Combat at sea is completely different from that on land. Whether ordinary people can stand firm on a ship after going to sea is a problem, let alone fighting with weapons.
Su Ze said confidently: "If I practice swordsmanship and archery now, I'm afraid I won't be able to catch up with the Japanese pirates if I practice for another year. To quickly form an army, we need to find another way."
"This new approach is just a bludgeoning weapon!"
Of course Eunuch Tao also knows how to use blunderbuss.
In the words of the Fujian health centers and Qi Jiajun: "Dogs don't even use the blunderbuss issued by the imperial court!"
The court's blunderbuss often extinguished the matches and failed to ignite the powder. These were considered minor problems, but if they were just that, it would be fine.
Big problems such as exploding chambers and jamming of lead bullets also continued. Many soldiers did not dare to aim and shoot with the blunderbuss issued by the court for fear of being blinded by the blunderbuss.
Eunuch Tao said: "The soldiers are not willing to use the blunderbuss issued by the imperial court, and they are not as powerful as Fo Langji's blunderbuss."
Su Ze said: "It is true that the blunderbuss issued by the imperial court are not good, but the quality of the iron in Fujian is good, and there is no shortage of blacksmiths. The gunpowder workshops of each guard station can also produce gunpowder. Why not make the blunderbuss yourself?"
Eunuch Tao's eyes brightened even more: "Xianggong Su can also make blunderbuss?"
Su Ze said confidently: "It's just a bird gun, what's the problem? The Folangji people can make it, but we in the Ming Dynasty can't make it? Eunuch Tao also knows why the Ministry of War's workshop can't make bird guns, right?" ?”
Eunuch Tao nodded repeatedly. He was a eunuch in charge of weaving, printing and dyeing in the palace, so he naturally knew the situation of these government-run workshops.
Although the craftsman household system in the Ming Dynasty was not as strict as the military household system, craftsmen near the capital still had to serve in the capital.
Some of the craftsmen in government-run workshops are craftsmen who have been working in this workshop for generations and are called sitting craftsmen.
Some of them were employed by nearby craftsmen in turn and were called craftsmen.
Since the imperial dynasty, no matter whether they are sitting craftsmen or practicing craftsmen, they are unwilling to serve in government-run workshops and will often try their best to escape from serving.
And the managers of these workshops are all there to make money and don't pay attention to production quality at all.
It's okay if it's a palace industry, but even if you're making money, you still have to ensure quality.
If it were a weapons manufacturing workshop like the Ministry of War, it would be shameless. Not only would the weapons delivered be of poor quality, but the quantity would also be lacking.
Now that the imperial court has ordered imitation of bird guns, there are still so many bird guns of poor quality issued.
By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the government-run workshops had almost lost their manufacturing capabilities. High-end weapons such as cannons could not be manufactured at all. Xu Guangqi could only purchase them from the Portuguese in Macau, or salvage Dutch shipwrecks from coastal areas.
Su Ze said: "Father, as long as we set up a firearms workshop outside Fuzhou City and recruit a thousand soldiers from the miners and coin craftsmen, within two months we can clear the Ryukyu shipping route and resume the Ryukyu tribute trade!"
"Okay!" In order to keep his current position, Eunuch Tao gritted his teeth and spent all his wealth to support Su Ze in training this navy.
The next day, the Fujian New Anti-Japanese Army was established, and Su Ze served as the general regiment's training envoy. Using the twenty newly built lucky ships of the Municipal Shipping Department as a team, he trained the new navy to fight against the Japanese.
Everyone in Fujian has expressed strong support for this team training.
The situation in Fujian was chaotic, and regiments were popping up all over the place. Many counties relied on the regiments organized by local gentry to protect themselves.
Su Ze was from Fujian Jieyuan and had experience in organizing team training in Jiangnan. It was not strange for everyone in Fujian that Eunuch Tao entrusted the ship to him to organize team training.
Even the entire Fujian officialdom gave Su Ze a lot of support.
On the edge of Fuzhou Port, Fuzhou officials also allocated land for Su Ze to build the "Navy New Army Lecture Hall."
However, Su Ze was not willing to build a military lecture hall on land. Instead, he chose to find a small island called Chuanshi Island outside Fujian Port and set up the Navy Lecture Hall on the island.
According to Su Ze, the martial arts hall is located on an island, which allows students to focus more on their studies. At the same time, the island is closer to the sea, allowing for some simulation training at sea.
In fact, Su Ze set up the martial arts hall on the island in order to better control these students and avoid the government's infiltration and interference in the martial arts hall.
The Fujian government naturally did not doubt his presence and strongly supported Su Ze in building schools and dormitories on the island.
Eunuch Tao was also very efficient in his work. In less than half a month, he recruited 300 merchant sailors, plus a thousand miners and coin craftsmen, all of whom were sent to the Kawaishishima Navy Lecture Hall.
The Fuzhou Ship Division also came forward to set up a gunfire workshop outside Fuzhou City, and also set up a water-powered hammer arsenal to specialize in the production of bird guns.
Su Ze asked Eunuch Hu for Little Eunuch You and asked him to be responsible for solving the problem of the gun barrel and gunpowder.
It took Su Ze half a month to settle the food, clothing, housing and transportation issues for the students on Chuanshi Island. He also transferred several junior officers from the Changning Guard to serve as instructors and first conducted discipline and formation training on Chuanshi Island.
After finishing his work at the New Army Lecture Hall, Su Ze had time to come to the gun arsenal outside Fuzhou City.
Young Eunuch You is very talented in making weapons. In the past half month, he has figured out the reason why the imperial blunderbuss exploded.
"Mr. Su, the imperial blunderbuss exploded in the chamber. The proportion of powder and explosives issued by the court was uneven, and the soldiers did not operate it in a standardized manner. They often overfilled the ammunition, causing the chamber to explode."
Su Ze nodded. He had trained gunners and knew the level of officers at the Ming Guard. They themselves didn't even know how to fight with guns, let alone their soldiers.
Some generals believed that more gunpowder would be more powerful, and they took it upon themselves to ask their men to load more gunpowder, resulting in frequent bore explosions.
Young Eunuch You added: "Another reason is that the quality of the iron used by the imperial court is uneven. According to Mr. Su, these irons contain more impurities, are not forged enough times, and have insufficient bearing capacity when the explosives explode, resulting in An explosion occurred."
"What's the solution?"
Little Eunuch You took out a gun barrel and said:
"This is a barrel made of our Fujian Fujian Iron. Mr. Su, do you think it is no different from the barrel of a Folan machine gun?"
After Su Ze took it, he found that the barrel of the gun was very smooth, and it was indeed no different from the purchased Franco gun.
Young Eunuch You said: "You only need to beat it repeatedly to get a qualified gun barrel. In fact, the imperial court is not without this craftsmanship, but the arsenal of the Ministry of War is poorly managed and the number of forgings is far insufficient, which is why the quality is so low."
Su Ze sighed. He also knew that the technological gap between the East and the West had not widened at this time, and even some of Ming's technologies were still advanced.
However, low management levels and serf-style government-run workshops are important issues that restrict the yield rate of weapons.
Su Ze patted Little Eunuch You on the shoulder and said: "Gather the craftsmen, I want to talk to them about their monthly salary. Once these blunderbuss are built, there will be rewards."
"Little Eunuch You, you should also make a rule. All blunderbuss must be engraved with the name of the craftsman who handled them. Those with a low yield rate must be held accountable. Rewards and penalties must be clearly defined!"
(End of chapter)
