Longzhongzhuang, Beijing Institute of Technology Building, conference room.
Eighteen "Zhuge Liangs" gathered together, everyone wearing a silk scarf, a crane cloak, and a feather fan in their hands. Each one was really more mysterious than the last!
Zhuge Weidao, like other Zhuge strategists, now pretends to be "Zhuge Liang". He is still waving his feather fan gently in the middle of winter. Not to mention how proud he is - he has now truly entered the decision-making level of the Ming Empire. !
Even though his current military rank is still lieutenant colonel, his position can be promoted to captain of a cruiser. But the current system of the Ming Empire is like this. Even if the members of the core group of the eight major families are white men, they are still figures in the decision-making circle of the Ming Dynasty. And the Zhuge family's military advisors undoubtedly have the most say among all the family's core groups - after all, these Zhuge military advisors are able to make calculations, and they can also lead other aristocratic families to make a fortune together.
Zhuge Weidao knew at a glance that if this system continues to develop, the eight major families are likely to evolve into entities like the deep state, hiding behind the scenes and controlling everything...
"Fellow strategists, I am already 76 years old this year, and will be 77 years old on the first day of the Lunar New Year the day after tomorrow... In the blink of an eye, I am getting old, and it is time to step back from my position. And I also want to take advantage of the opportunity. Now that I can move around, I want to go to Europe again, meet old friends for a while, and by the way, represent the Ming Dynasty to discuss naval arms control with various countries. So after the New Year, I plan to resign from the position, and then lead an arms negotiation delegation to a Go to France."
Zhuge Weijiu, the old man, opened his mouth with explosive information and instantly interrupted Zhuge Weidao's thoughts. He looked up and found that the other military advisers were also a little surprised. They all turned their attention to the old prime minister who had actually controlled the affairs of the Ming Dynasty for more than thirty years as the right prime minister.
"Great Military Advisor, you are about to retire. Which of us can take over as right minister?"
The person who asked the question was Zhuge Weiyi, the Minister of the Navy. Judging from the interested look on his face, he must have been addicted to the idea of becoming prime minister.
Zhuge Weijiu stroked his beard and said: "I told Zheng Yiguan (Zheng Guozhong) about this. It's hard for the world to stop talking... Now is the time when everyone needs to work together, so our Zhuge family and The Zheng family cannot always monopolize the position, and they have to let others do it. I, the Zhuge family, will take the lead in this matter, and let Yu Shaoquan be the next right prime minister. He is not young anymore. It’s time to retire in a few years, and then you, Lao Shi, will take over. In addition, Yu Shaoquan’s household department will be taken over by Zheng Shiguan (Zheng Guoan), the Secretary of the Navy, and the Navy will be given to you, Lao Shi.”
After hearing what the great military advisor said, Zhuge Weidao also sighed a little. Of course he knows what the old man means by "the mouth of the world"?
The New Ming Dynasty has implemented compulsory education for so many years and opened so many universities. Of course, it has opened up the people's wisdom. Of course the people of the world, especially the knowledgeable people in the world, are dissatisfied with the long-term monopoly of politics by the eight great families! And the economy of the Ming Dynasty has not been very prosperous in the past two years... In short, it seems that the positions of the left and right prime ministers of the Ming Dynasty are either Zheng or Zhuge.
So Zhuge Weijiu and Zheng Guozhong discussed letting Yu Shaoquan, Yu De's uncle, known as "Old Master Yu" Yu Quan (Shaoquan's nickname), take over, and at the same time move the Zheng family's Admiralty Secretary Zheng Guoan. The position of Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs was vacated for Zhuge Weiyi to take over.
Zhuge Wei paused for a long time. Seeing that no one objected, he said to Zhuge Weiyi again: "Old Shi, last time we Gongdao Guang Emperor tested the British, but in the end we found a paper tiger who is strong on the outside but weak on the inside! Continue! It’s time for the British to invade Japan to find out our bottom line... Japan is an island country and has no land border with the Ming Dynasty. If he wants to provoke a provocation, he must do it at sea. We can’t be like the British and be fooled by others. It turned out to be a paper tiger!"
"How is that possible?" Zhuge Weiyi said with a smile, "Our Ming Dynasty Navy already has ten 'Hongwu Emperor' class in service! How can the Japanese Navy be our opponent?"
Zhuge Weijiu shook his head and said: "We not only want to win, but we also want to win beautifully and quickly... We want to win big and win quickly! We want all the countries participating in the Versailles Naval Peace Conference to know that I am invincible. !
Lao Shi, I heard that the Japanese Navy has four Four Heavenly Kings ships specially designed to deal with our armored ships. Each of the Four Heavenly Kings ships is equipped with a 320 mm caliber cannon...Our Hongwu Emperor We can't let them sink one of them, or even cause serious damage! If the navy is embarrassed when fighting the Japanese navy, not only will the Japanese Congress fight more and more vigorously, but Western countries and even the Rakshasa Kingdom will side with Britain and oppose us. "
Zhuge Weiyi almost laughed out loud after listening to the words of the Great Military Advisor: "Great Military Advisor, your words are too unprofessional. The Four Heavenly Kings ships are simply garbage ships... useless. A ship of more than 4,000 tons needs more decoration. Isn’t the 155mm gun very good? Even if it can’t penetrate the armor of the ironclad, it can still bombard targets on the deck. But those little Japanese just want to stare at our eight or nine thousand ton prince ship and build a 320mm cannon. There is only one door for each ship, and there are two Heavenly Kings ships in the front and two Heavenly Kings ships in the back. Could it be that in a war, two ships are facing the enemy at the bow, and two ships are facing the enemy at the rear... Hahaha, are you kidding? !”
As he spoke, the man couldn't help it and burst out laughing.
But having said that, these four "Tenno ships" named after the Tokugawa Four Heavenly Kings are indeed garbage. The weird design of a small boat carrying a cannon greatly reduces the density and accuracy of firepower, and the hit rate must be appallingly low!
Don't go up against the Ming Dynasty's older generation "Prince"-class ironclads (named after the Ming Dynasty Prince's king number), that would be too bullying. If we take three to four thousand ton cruisers to deal with them, it will be a sure thing.
As for the Hongwu Emperor-class... isn't shooting the Four Heavenly Kings like target shooting?
Zhuge Weijiu turned to look at the Chief of Naval Staff Zhuge Weiyong again. Zhuge Weiyong smiled and said: "Brother Ten is right, the Japanese navy is definitely not our opponent, and it doesn't need three major fleets to gather together. One Beiyang Fleet can do it." The Japanese navy was easily dispatched."
The Ming Dynasty's navy had three major fleets: Beiyang, Nanyang, and Mainland. Among them, the Nanyang Fleet, which is responsible for sea control and defense in the direction of the Nanyang Islands, the South China Sea, and the Strait of Malacca, is the absolute main force. Seven of the ten Hongwu Emperor-class ships currently in service are under the jurisdiction of the Nanyang Fleet. The Beiyang Fleet is weaker than the Nanyang Fleet, but stronger than the Home Fleet. It has the remaining three Hongwu Emperor-class ships to support sea control and defense around the Ryukyu Islands, the Japanese Islands and the North Pacific to the waters near New Manchuria. The local fleet is a fleet that guards the home and hospital. It is filled with a bunch of old ships and only operates along the coast of the Ming Dynasty.
"Brother 108, you are also a navy man, please tell me." After Zhuge Weijiu listened to Wei Yong's opinions, he thought of Zhuge Weidao who was really good at calculating and wanted to hear his opinions.
Zhuge Weidao was not as optimistic as the two of them. He frowned and said: "Since the main force of the Japanese navy is not our opponent at all, then they should not easily leave the port to die...most likely they will huddle in Wugang to protect themselves. Ships to avoid the battle, and at the same time dispatched light boats and armed merchant ships to break up the enemy at sea and attack! Brother Ten, Brother Fifty-one, tell me, if the Japanese Navy adopts this tactic, how should we defeat it? "
"This..." Zhuge Weiyi is a shipbuilding expert. After hearing Zhuge Weidao's words, he immediately thought of a disguised attack ship, "Daozi, you are right! Although the Japanese built small boats like the Four Heavenly Kings to carry big guns, It's a crappy ship, but most of their naval generals studied in the UK, and the navy's consultants are all hired with high salaries from the UK. They probably don't really think they can rely on the Four Heavenly Kings to fight us in a fleet battle. I think most of them secretly built many attacks The ship is usually disguised as a merchant ship, and only after it gets close to our merchant ship will it suddenly set up its artillery and open fire!"
"How to deal with this?" Zhuge Weijiu asked.
Zhuge Wei used a black face and also sank: "To deal with raiding ships, the usual way is to organize escorts, that is, to gather the ships into a team and escort them by cruisers or destroyers...the firepower of cruisers and destroyers Should be enough to deal with raiding ships."
Zhuge Weidao said again: "What about the attack ship laying mines on our route?"
"This..." Zhuge Weiyong's face turned even darker, "I'm afraid the loss is inevitable!"
At this time, Zhuge Weidao saw the confident look on Zhuge Weidao's face, and knew that he had a solution, so he shook his feather fan and asked: "One hundred and eighty, if you have any clever tricks, please tell me!"
Zhuge Weidao smiled and said: "As long as the Tokugawa shogunate surrenders, won't all problems be solved?"
"But how could the Tokugawa shogunate surrender so quickly?" Zhuge Weijiu said, "If their navy does not go out and the attack ships can defeat the battle and achieve results, they may have the idea of selling for a price... ...Unless we make a large-scale landing! But Japan can mobilize millions of troops, so the landing may be..."
"No need to land!" Zhuge Weidao shook his head, "Grand Military Advisor, do you know the situation in Nagasaki City and Hiroshima City?"
