Annan, Jinggang.
This place originally called Da Nang in later generations has been on the fast track of vigorous development hundreds of years in advance since it was favored by Gao pragmatism. Just over two years later, on this coastal plain, which was originally just a few small fishing villages, a new city of Jingang, second only to Thang Long in Annan and even larger than Thanh Hoa, has been miraculously built.
Gao Mengnan, the commander-in-chief of the three towns of Nie'an, Hue, and Guangnan, who was "recommended" by Jinghua Group and officially appointed by the Annan Metropolitan Commander-in-Chief, held a grand military parade in Jinggang today to welcome Annan's deputy commander-in-chief and the Vietnamese governor. The arrival of Huang Zhiting.
Important figures from the three towns participating in this military parade also include Gao Wuqin, deputy commander-in-chief of the three towns, Gao Jing, commander of the Annan Squadron of the Beijing-China Nanyang Fleet, and others.
The troops participating in this military parade are divided into two parts: land and sea.
On the army side, the Jinggang Guard Army gathered 20,000 troops to participate in the military parade, of which 7,000 were those who were about to go to southern Myanmar with Huang Zhiting;
As for the navy, all members of the Annan Squadron, which had just been temporarily strengthened, were participating. At the same time, Ming and Annan civilian armed ships that were willing to participate in this expedition were also gathered.
Among them, the fleet belonging to Jinghua has a total of one first-class cruiser with a cost of 2,400, three second-class cruisers with a cost of 2,000, and eighty-four armed transport ships; there are also thirty-nine civilian armed ships actively participating in the conscription.
Since there is no fixed number of guns carried by civilian armed sea ships, we will not count them here for the time being. We will only calculate them based on the fleet to which Jinghua belongs. The investment in this expedition is shocking:
According to Jinghua Shipyard and fleet standards, the first-class cruiser has two decks of guns, 52 artillery pieces of various sizes, a crew of 346 people, and the cost of a single ship is as high as 160,000 taels of silver;
The second-class cruiser is a one-deck gun, equipped with 42 guns of various types, and each ship has a capacity of 288 people. Three ships were dispatched this time, with a total tonnage of 3,000 tons, 126 artillery pieces, and 864 men. A single ship of this class cost 120,000 taels of silver, and the three ships totaled 360,000 taels.
Jinghua's armed transport ships are 800-ton class and have open-air deck guns. Each ship has 28 guns of various types and has a crew of 180 people. The total tonnage is 67,200 tons, 2,352 large and small artillery pieces, and a crew of 15,120 people.
The cost of a single Jinghua armed transport ship is cheaper than the previous two levels of serious "warships". However, because Gao Pragmatic positions them as "quasi-warships", the cost of a single ship is still as high as 55,000 taels of silver. The eighty here The total cost of the four ships was astonishing, reaching 4.62 million taels of silver, which was more than half of the wealth that Jinghua Sea Trading had accumulated in the past ten years.
If you add in the private warships with varying numbers, the number of sailors participating in the Beijing Expedition Fleet alone will exceed 20,000, which is more than the landing force Huang Zhiting will lead.
The fleet has more than 3,500 large and small artillery pieces. Even though the ship-borne light artillery at this time can generally only be used to fight pirates, Jinghua's own fleet strength is enough to fortify it: among them, the No. 1 heavy artillery More than two hundred, and more than three hundred No. 2 heavy artillery pieces - these five hundred heavy artillery pieces of this period alone would require almost three thousand people to operate them.
Although Gao Jing still went on the expedition in the name of "Commander of the Annan Squadron of the Nanyang Fleet" this time, in fact the fleet he commanded already accounted for 80% of the combat effectiveness of the entire Nanyang Fleet. If serious losses unfortunately occurred, even with high pragmatism Financial resources also require three liters of blood.
After all, this is a super expedition with a fleet cost of over five million taels alone.
Gao Pragmatic even suspected that the Ming fleet might not be able to reach this cost when it first sailed to the Western Ocean, because shipbuilding during Zhu Di's period was different from his. It was a political mission, and it was not popular at that time to equip so many expensive artillery and wood. It may even be directly requisitioned, and there is no money to be made down there, so the total cost will definitely be much cheaper.
Jinghua's shipbuilding is basically commercial shipbuilding. Even if Jinghua's fleet orders ships from Jinghua's own shipyard, the purchase price will not be much discounted.
In a highly pragmatic view, shipyards must also be profitable, otherwise how can they continue to develop? Only when we are responsible for our own profits and losses can we have the motivation to develop and have sustained competitiveness.
As for where the money for the Jinghua Fleet's ships comes from, it is of course the proceeds from the shipping fleet's sea trade! The reason why Jinghua's armed transport ships are dozens of times more than the first and second class cruisers is because armed transport ships are ultimately tools for making money. As for their "arms", they are a special product of this era and are used to deal with the sea. Threatening.
Countries around the world, especially Western navies, are almost following this development model at this time - even Spain cannot afford to support many pure "navies", and the same is true for the poorer England. Everyone has to rely on armed transport ships.
England even issued "private licenses" to its own pirates in exchange for being able to recruit them to fight for the country during wars.
Of course, Gao Jingjing's situation in Southeast Asia is different from that of "game-breakers" like England. He is more like the Spanish Navy in Europe at this time. He is the top vested interest, so he has always focused on attacking pirates. , supplemented by recruitment, there is absolutely no possibility of issuing a privateering license.
It is precisely because of this that Jinghua has as many as thirty-nine civilian armed ships actively following Jinghua's expedition. Jinghua always rewards merit. Although it is dangerous to follow, it will definitely gain huge benefits if it wins. These days There are not many timid people who dare to make a living by the sea. When they heard about this opportunity, of course they sharpened their knives and attacked the pigs and sheep.
Even now, the people in the Annan Squadron who most hope to have a big fight with the Folangji are not Gao Jing or the people from the Jinghua Fleet, but the bosses who each have one or two armed ships.
Huang Zhiting and his 13,000 troops appeared outside Jingang City on time. Gao Mengnan and Gao Wuqin welcomed the arrival of the "Deputy Commander of Annan" in accordance with the scheduled etiquette.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Huang Zhiting's army set up camp at the designated location, and she herself watched the artillery and volley display of the Jinggang garrison.
Artillery skills include a series of tactical actions, such as rapid transfer of artillery teams, rapid formation and firing angle positioning, artillery salvo coverage, and layer-by-layer advancement of artillery.
The infantry display almost ignored cold weapon confrontation, and mainly conducted volley drills, including the new "three-stage attack" that I don't know whether it is Gao's or Qi's, bayonet volley hollow square, carriage camp hollow square, gun volley Array approaching and so on.
They even gathered the few cavalrymen in the Jinggang garrison and conducted a joint combat drill in which the musketeers approached and attacked with two wings of musketry cavalry to surround and cover the battlefield.
Overall, at least it still looks decent.
As a true front-line general who commanded the Battle of Liangshan, Huang Zhiting naturally has her standards of measurement. In her opinion, the tactical literacy of Gao Pragmatic's "Jin Ding Army" is sufficient, but she doesn't know whether it is a problem with Gao Pragmatic's own tactical settings or the nature of the army itself. She always feels that they seem to be better at defensive operations. , offensiveness, or to put it more bluntly, aggression is somewhat lacking.
Huang Zhiting asked Gao Mengnan and Gao Wuqin privately. It turned out that these two people actually didn't know much about military affairs. Gao Wuqin even said that "since they are a garrison, guarding the local area is their first priority." Huang Zhiting almost rolled her eyes.
Fortunately, Gao Zhang, who accompanied him, finally saved some face for the "Gao Family Army", saying that this situation was what Gao Pragmatic had expected. He said: "Master believes that our army's advantage lies in firearms, and the advantage of firearms lies in range and firepower. That is, the amount of intensive projectiles released per unit time. In this way, to give full play to its advantages, a stable and dense front line is needed to enable soldiers to load and shoot calmly and at high speed. Therefore, whether it is the Jinggang Guards or the upgraded Most of the Dragon Guard Army's training focuses on ensuring the stability of the battle line as its top priority."
"I see." Huang Zhiting nodded to express her understanding, and then asked: "Is there any arrangement for the city defense drill I requested before today?"
"Yes, yes." Gao Mengnan said immediately: "Since Jinggang is a free port decided by Qiuzhen himself, now there are not only people from Ming Dynasty and Annan, but also many people from foreign countries in the port. Therefore, in order to ensure that military secrets are not leaked, I took it upon myself to change the acting location to twenty miles south of Jingang."
Huang Zhiting said: "General Gao is very worried. Although these foreigners are here to do business, we cannot rule out the possibility that they may be involved in detailed operations... But is there a city in the place you mentioned that can be used for defensive exercises?"
Gao Mengnan said: "That place was originally called Th?yS?n in the Annan population, which means 'water mountain'. It is a mountain on a plain. Although this mountain cannot be said to be tall or majestic, it is still enough in that area. Overlooking the surrounding area, you can even vaguely see Jingang from the top of the mountain, so we built a fort there as the outer defense base of Jingang, and I think it should be able to meet the needs of this exercise."
Huang Zhiting nodded secretly and thought: Although the clan brother Gao Lang used in the three towns in the south does not know much about military affairs, it can be seen that he still put a lot of thought into it, not to mention that he basically completed the Golden Port in just two years. City construction, it can be seen that he is better at government affairs. As the general leader of the three towns, his performance can be described as outstanding.
Originally, Gao Mengnan had arranged a reception banquet, but Huang Zhiting declined the offer on the grounds that the military situation was urgent. The group of people rushed to Shuishan without stopping to watch the prepared city defense drill. Even lunch was served under Huang Zhiting's leadership. He made do by eating dry food on his horse.
Huang Zhiting had a good impression of Gao Mengnan, and Gao Mengnan was also secretly amazed by this legendary female general who now seemed likely to become his sister-in-law.
According to his previous thinking, although Huang Zhiting commanded the bloody battle in Liangshan, the commander was the commander, and he was probably just sitting in the army like Gao Pragmatic. It was not necessarily true that Huang Zhiting himself was as good at ups and downs as a man. But today, he saw with his own eyes that this female general who was already the vice-capital of Annan was walking on a horse while eating naan cakes to satisfy her hunger without any discomfort at all. Only then did he realize that he had really underestimated her.
But after finishing the twenty-mile journey, Gao Mengnan was even more impressed.
Because he came with the army this time, there were no Taiping horses to ride, so everyone rode military horses. As a result, he was riding a horse in thin casual clothes and couldn't stand it. He felt that his bones were about to fall apart, and he even ate naan cakes casually. After a few bites, he hid it quietly.
Huang Zhiting, who was wearing a cowl, not only finished the whole piece of naan bread, she was still in high spirits when she dismounted, and she didn't seem to be feeling any discomfort at all - the key was that she had already traveled for several hours in the morning.
Gao Mengnan couldn't help but admire in his heart: They say that wolf soldiers are easy to raise and can fight. It seems that they are not bragging. It's just that a young girl's family has to endure more hardships than men. She actually has a background like a local emperor. This shows that the wolves under his command are The quality of the soldiers.
No wonder that after the wise brother Qiuzhen took control of the Cen and Huang families, even Annan, who had been unable to stabilize the Ming Dynasty for decades during its heyday, dared to attack him. Although Qiuzhen was confident in his political skills, who would dare? Do you think you can trust the combat effectiveness of the wolf soldiers? Don’t you see how Cen Ling got the title of King of Hell? The Cen family's wolf soldiers are like this, and the Huang family can be as famous as the Cen family with a slightly weaker force, so naturally they will not be far behind.
Gao Mengnan was distracted, but Huang Zhiting didn't notice him. Instead, she looked at the fort on the water mountain with great interest for a while, then suddenly turned around and asked: "General Gao, this fort is quite interesting. I It looks a lot like Gao Lang...er, the kind of bastion that Gao Cheng mentioned to me?"
Gao Mengnan came back to his senses and pretended not to hear the word "Gao Lang". He also seemed to turn a blind eye to the two red clouds that quietly rose on Deputy Dutong Huang's face. He coughed lightly and replied: "Good teaching, Deputy Dutong knows." , this Water Mountain Fort is indeed a bastion."
Huang Zhiting saw that he didn't notice the blunder she just made. She breathed a sigh of relief and returned to business. She asked with a little surprise: "But Prime Minister Gao Gao told me that he only had a general understanding of the structure of the bastion. , I haven’t had time to think about it in detail yet, here you are...I mean, this Shuishan Castle doesn’t look like it was built recently. It looks like it was built for at least a year, so what’s going on? "
Gao Mengnan didn't know much about military affairs, and he didn't know that Huang Zhiting actually judged from the dark moss in the gaps between some buildings in Shuishan Fort that it was built at least a year ago. He just nodded after a moment of surprise and said: "Deputy Commander-in-Chief With a sharp eye, this Shuishan Fort has been built for a year and a half - when Jingang City only built a city wall, twelve peripheral fortresses of Jingang City, including Shuishan Fort, had been built, because our construction ideas at that time It’s about ensuring safety first.”
Huang Zhiting nodded, but did not interrupt Gao Mengnan because he obviously had not finished speaking.
Sure enough, Gao Mengnan paused for a moment and then continued: "As for why these fortresses were built into bastions... In fact, Qiu Zhen told us about the problem of bastions earlier. I didn't know what a bastion was at that time, but But I remember Qiuzhen’s description of the bastion.
I wonder if the deputy governor knows that there is a priest named Luo Mingjian who visited Qiuzhen in Annan more than two years ago? But Qiu Zhen had discussed some cooperation with him, including recruiting various talents from Father Luo Mingjian's hometown. It seemed that Father Luo Mingjian had some connections in his hometown. Many Westerners with tall noses and deep eyes came to Jinggang one after another. Adhering to the will of seeking truth at the time, I made appropriate selections and comparisons among these people, and most of them were They were hired, especially those in the field of architecture. These bastions were built under their suggestions. However, they were also shocked by the cement in Jinghua, and asked me how Qiuzhen could understand the lost secrets of Rome in the past... "
Huang Zhiting is not very interested in the history of cement. She only cares about the structure of the bastion now. She watched it intently for a while and said: "General Gao, after the drill, I want to take a good look at this bastion. In addition... Forgive me, if Commander Gao doesn't know much about the structure of this bastion, I wonder if I can find a master craftsman who knows how to build the bastion to explain it to me?"
A ruler is shorter and an inch is longer. Gao Mengnan didn't feel offended. He smiled and said: "It's not difficult. There are no less than twenty architects from Italy in Jinggang. I'll send someone here." Invite a few over."
Huang Zhiting was very satisfied and thanked her with a smile, thinking in her heart: Excellent! It seems that I can bring a few "architects" who can build bastions to Bago this time. As long as this thing is as powerful as Gao Lang said, even if Mangyingli goes south, I can deal with him well. After a lot of fighting...the thief chieftain's national power must be exhausted.
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