"Seventy-one ships are equipped with bombardment guns?"
Emperor Zhu frowned slightly when he asked.
If he had other options, he wouldn't spread the bombardment out so quickly. In fact, this kind of weapon cannot be hidden for too long, because the Ming Army has a large number of French and Dutch military advisers. They have already seen bombardment cannons, wooden brackets, spent bullets, and wooden tube fuses - these things are just an idea. , you will know it when you see it!
In addition, the Spaniards also witnessed the power of bombardment guns in naval battles. This kind of weapon was not only seen in the battle of Dinghai Anchorage, but also in subsequent escort and diplomatic battles. There were even some wooden shells that hit Spanish warships but did not explode and were picked up by the Spaniards. ——Not to mention that the wooden shells of this era will produce dumb bombs, even the industrialized production of artillery shells in later generations will often produce dumb bombs, so as long as they are used, they will be picked up and taken back to the village...
Since there is no way to keep it secret, it might as well be used generously by Ming Dynasty!
Anyway, the upgrade of naval ships caused by the spread of technology will not cause much loss to the Ming Navy, which originally did not have many armed Galen ships. However, the two naval powers of Britain and the Netherlands have a bit of a headache!
"That's right," Huang Binqing, the naval commander, said, "Seventy-one ships are equipped with... ranging from one door to four doors, all installed on the forecastle and stern of the ship. Orbital, can fire in all directions.”
Now, the whole world knows!
Zhu Cixiang nodded, "When can we set off? Who will be in charge?"
Huang Binqing said: "Now we are waiting for the wind direction to be right. The admiral of the coalition fleet will be Abel Jansson Tasman... He served as fleet admiral and captain in the Dutch East India Company, and he was also a naval academy student. Deputy Chief, he is very familiar with the situation of our Ming Navy."
"What about the Marquis of Xiamen?" Zhu Cixiang asked, "What does he do?"
"He wants to serve as deputy to Admiral Tasman." Huang Binqing replied.
"Very good!" Zhu Cixiang nodded, thinking: With Tasman, an old sailor, at his side, Zheng Jiangong can always make great achievements, right?
"Where is the army?" Emperor Zhu asked again, "How many troops are you planning to send?"
The Ming Dynasty had a Marine Corps, but the number was very small, with only a few battalions. Two of the battalions were still stationed in Chenggong Bay. Only 1,500 people could participate in the Satsuma expedition. With this, people can't defeat those crazy martial artists in Satsuma Kingdom, so the army must be mobilized.
"The army has prepared a division," Wu Sanfu said, "a total of more than 13,000 people are ready to go at any time. Including the marines, the total number is 15,000!"
"That's it?" Zhu Cixiang frowned, "Is it enough?"
"Your Majesty," Huang Binqing said, "we only have these few ships! One ship can carry one or two hundred troops for a cross-sea expedition, which is quite a lot... In order to transport these fifteen thousand people, the Navy Department has mobilized Fifty-five big bird boats, there’s really no way we can do more.”
Thirty-six Galen ships plus fifty-five big bird ships, a total of ninety-one large-scale ships, which has already taken a lot of effort from the Navy Department—big bird ships and large bird ships operating along the coasts of Nanyang and Daming. Of course, there are far more Galen ships than this number, but the Ming Dynasty needs to rely on these ships to import food from Siam, Annan, Jing Haijun and Jinou Army, so they cannot requisition them all.
In addition, there is no wireless telegraphy on sea ships these days. As soon as they leave the port, the Ming Navy Department has no way to contact them.
"Is there any news from Japan?" Zhu Cixiang asked again, "The Tokugawa shogunate will also send troops to attack the Satsuma clan, right?"
Traffic with Japan has been cut off by Garcia's fleet. It's not that it's impossible to go, but it's extremely risky!
Therefore, the Navy Department of the Ming Dynasty was not willing to risk the precious Galen warships.
"There is no news yet," Huang Binqing said, "but the news we got before the traffic with Japan was cut off shows that the shogunate is preparing for war!"
Emperor Zhu took a breath and was about to give an order when he saw the eunuch Huang Xiaobao, the eunuch Bingbi, the eunuch, trotting in from the outside with a memorial in his hand - obviously the urgent memorial he had just received, it should be The officials who stayed in the cabinet or the commander-in-chief had people transfer them here.
Emperor Zhu didn't like secret memorials. Generally, only the Jin Yiwei and the Metropolitan Procuratorate could bypass the secret memorials in the cabinet and the generalissimo's house. Other memorials must be forwarded by the General Affairs Department to the two governments. After being read by the big bosses of the two governments, they will be reported to Emperor Zhu. If the elders of the two palaces happen to be attending the imperial meeting when the memorial is delivered, then the officials left behind will read it and the important news can be delivered directly to the imperial court.
Different from the styles of several wise emperors before the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Cixiang did not actually care about being deceived by the ministers below, and he was not interested in understanding the sufferings of the people - how could the primary stage of capitalism not be suffering? Where did colonialism come from?
Therefore, Zhu Cihong's way of managing the country is to delegate power to the two governments, and his method of maintaining long-term peace and order in the country is to toss a bunch of generations of nobles. If these generations are not trained well, the world will not last long.
If these people are educated well, at least decades after Emperor Zhu's death, the world will not be in great trouble...
"Long live my lord, I came from the handsome man's house." Huang Xiaobao said to Zhu Cihong.
"Sanfu, please read it." Zhu Cixiang was not too lazy to read it, but respected the "right to read memorials" of the heads of the two governments - he fully trusted them!
Wu Sanfu took the memorial and opened it, his face immediately showed joy.
"Your Majesty, good news!" Wu Sanfu said, "The Henan is back! It entered the Wusong River yesterday... They are back from the New World! And they have already established a stronghold in the New World!"
"Okay!" Zhu Cixiang nodded heavily, "I came back just in time... This is a good sign! The route to the New World has been opened. Now we just wait for us to defeat the Satsuma clan and control Kagoshima Bay, and then we can move eastward across the ocean. The land of the American Protectorate has been restored!”
He used "restoration" rather than occupation...after all, northwest America has been owned by the Celestial Empire since ancient times!
He paused and asked, "How is the condition of the Henan? How are the crew members doing? Can they participate in the Satsuma expedition?"
Letting the Henan participate in the Satsuma expedition is actually a reward, because the expedition fleet already has 91 warships and troop transports, which is so large that the Spanish fleet will not dare to resist it, so the naval operation is bound to win.
"The Henan is in good condition, and most of the crew members are in good health. After learning that the coalition fleet was about to go on an expedition, they all requested a fight."
"Okay!" Zhu Cixiang nodded, "Then we will incorporate the Henan into the expedition fleet... wait until they return from Satsuma Domain and discuss their merits together!
When the time comes, I will go to Shanghai in person to pick them up and cleanse them! "
...
Shanghai, the most prosperous commercial city in the Ming Dynasty, has never been so crowded with warships as it is now! Including the Henan that just returned, there are now a total of 92 warships flying the sun and moon flags on the Wusong River (because they received money from Emperor Zhu, the ships of the four countries of Britain, France, the Netherlands and Portugal also flew the sun and moon flags). Two columns were formed, arranged in sequence from Wusongkou, looking majestic!
The forts on both sides of Wusongkou are also on the highest alert! In addition to the 36-pound and 48-pound bronze long guns that had been placed there for a long time, many bombardment guns that could fire 24-pound wooden shrapnel shells were temporarily added.
Shanghai Port has become the most difficult seaport in the world... probably not one of them!
The 15,000 army and marines who will land on the land of Satsuma Domain in Japan have all boarded the ship. Their leader is Li Yuanyin, the admiral of the Japanese Conquest Army. He is also the main force of the Japanese Conquest Army and the commander of the Army's First Division.
This new generation of Ming army generals who rose to prominence in the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains is now standing on the deck of his command ship, a military-type Wanshi Big Bird ship, watching the buildings on both sides of the Wusong River slowly recede. .
The coalition expedition fleet is sailing out of Wusongkou!
Ninety-two warships, troop transports and 15,000 expeditionary troops will rush to distant battlefields!
Satsuma Domain! The Great Tomorrow Soldiers are finally coming!
