Gao Pangshi had a fleet staying in Japan, and the emperor actually knew about it. Not only that, the emperor also knew about the situation of Lian Gao pragmatically leaving a small number of armed servants (Lu Shi) in Japan. However, there is a difference in understanding here.
Regarding the fleet issue, Zhu Yijun has never regarded the fleet of the Sea Trade Alliance as an armed force. In his eyes, Jinghua's maritime force only counts those serious warships newly built in recent years, so there are only a few of them in total. According to the information he obtained, there is only one battleship in the Jinghua Kanto Squadron of the Maritime Trade Alliance, and the rest are all armed transport ships, so the combat effectiveness may be very worrying.
Maybe the word "transport" in the armed transport ship is too misleading. Anyway, in Zhu Yijun's mind, that squadron can probably fight pirates, and serious combat has nothing to do with them. There is simply no need to analyze how big this misunderstanding is.
As for the issue of the mainland army, the information Zhu Yijun received at the beginning was: "The great Situ left 1,800 servants in Misaki Castle on the coast to provide assistance to his in-laws, the Narita clan's Yusheng Castle."
In other words, Zhu Yijun only knew that Gao Jingshi had left 1,800 armed servants in Misaki Castle, and the purpose was to embolden his concubine Narita Kai's natal family and the Narita clan's Yusheng Castle.
One thing to say is that if it was a few years ago, Zhu Yijun would have felt that the 1,800-man servant army was quite powerful. However, due to the large scale of the Ming Dynasty's Conquest of Yuan Dynasty, a full 600,000 troops were dispatched. This led to the emperor becoming less sensitive to numbers after the war.
With only 1,800 people, what can they do? No wonder it can only embolden the Narita family! This made Zhu Yijun obviously underestimate the so-called land division. He thought that it was just sending some people to help the Narita family look after their home. At most, it would add some defense to Misaki Castle, the main anchorage of the Maritime Trade Alliance in Kanto, Japan. Strength, the rest can be ignored.
But what is the reality? The Japanese believe that the strength of the Jinghua Squadron is "more than 30 giant ships, nearly 10,000 elite soldiers with iron artillery, supporting fortified cities, and erecting large cannons, which cannot be easily overcome."
In fact, this estimate is relatively accurate in terms of the total number of people, because although the regular force sent at that time, the Marine Corps, was only about 1,800 people, there were many naval personnel, the most important of which were the accompanying ships of thirty armed transport ships. personnel.
According to the establishment of Jinghua armed transport ships, each armed transport ship has a capacity of 180 people. Thirty ships have a capacity of 5,400 people. Add in the Kanto Squadron flagship "Left-wing Hussars" with a capacity of about 300 people, which is close to 6,000 people.
In addition, as it had been predicted, Luo Yuan believed that he would either need to rebuild Misaki Castle or directly set up defenses on the island of the city. Therefore, with Gao Pangshi's approval, he mobilized more than a thousand design craftsmen and Qiang Qiang from Jinghua Infrastructure. Labor, in fact the entire fleet brought about 9,000 people.
However, the Japanese don't know the actual number of crew members on each ship, so the estimate is a little low, but it doesn't hurt.
As for the combat effectiveness of these people, ask Toyotomi Hidekatsu, who had four broken ribs, he will probably have a better say.
Zhu Yijun did not take the Kanto Squadron as a big deal. Instead, he asked Gao Jingshi about the main force of the Japanese navy, hoping that Gao Jingshi could give him a more accurate judgment on the strength of the Japanese navy.
This point of high pragmatism is somewhat difficult to state clearly, because looking back now, the so-called "main force of Japanese naval forces" may have been built by Jinghua with their help!
At the beginning, Toyotomi Hideyoshi took the initiative to discuss secretly with Kyoka, hoping to exchange Tamana Castle for Ninja Castle, and asked Kyohwa to no longer support Odawara Castle. To this end, he sent his younger brother Toyotomi Hideyoshi to meet with Luo Yuan, and it was achieved. Some terms of cooperation.
Toyotomi Hidenaga mentioned a big deal during the meeting. On behalf of the Toyotomi family, he formally proposed arms purchase to the Maritime Trade Alliance!
Yes, it's the kind of arms purchase that everyone knows: buying warships, buying artillery, buying muskets, buying gunpowder... He even wants to introduce some production lines - of course he doesn't know the word production line, but this is what his statement undoubtedly means:
"Build the necessary facilities and tools for us to build relevant warships, artillery, muskets and other items. If we need to teach and train craftsmen, please send someone to guide us. We are willing to pay the corresponding cash for this." Then he added One sentence: "The price is negotiable."
Unfortunately, Commander Luo rejected him cleanly and said: "I am only the commander of the Kanto Squadron, and I rarely get involved in specific business matters. But as far as I know, our factories in Jinghua only sell products and have never sold production technology. thing."
Toyotomi Hidenaga was obviously a little disappointed, but having said that, disappointment was a disappointment, and it was actually what he expected, so he also had a backup plan. The backup plan is very simple. There is nothing you can do if the production line cannot buy it temporarily. It is also good to buy some finished products in case of emergency. However, these finished products are "customized services" and must be discussed in detail with Jinghua.
Take warships as an example. In the past, Jinghua only sold armed transport ships to domestic merchants in the Ming Dynasty. However, due to its high pragmatism and emphasis on standardization (this was from cost considerations, including production and maintenance), Jinghua’s armed transport ships were all of the same specification. , very unified.
Of course, specifically, there are also certain "customized services", but this kind of customization service is relatively simple, mainly due to the difference in gun load, which is divided into four types: standard gun load, medium load gun, small amount of gun load, and no gun load. Class - The thirty armed transport ships ordered by Toyotomi Hideyoshi before were the lowest standard unloaded gun models. Of course, that was mainly because Gao Pragmatic refused to sell him guns.
However, the warship the Toyotomi family proposed to purchase this time had to be customized even in model, because they felt that the armed transport ship was too big and the various costs were a bit expensive. They needed smaller warships.
Because most of the Japanese naval forces were upgraded by recruiting pirates, they are accustomed to using smaller ships, and they do not yet have the "giant ship and cannon" doctrine, so they believe that it is not cost-effective to replace all of them with Jinghua-style armed transport ships. He proposed a plan for two customized warships, hoping that Jinghua could design and build a batch specifically for them.
According to the plan proposed by Toyotomi Hidenaga at the time, the Toyotomi family first needed to use the size of the Anzha ships as a rough standard, and asked Keihua to design and build a batch of new Anzha ships. The main requirement was to not reduce their defense capabilities and carrying capacity. Significantly increase the speed.
The second custom-made warship is the new Kanshipun. The requirements are opposite to those of the new Anzai ship. It is to strengthen its defense while maintaining its speed, and it is best to increase its carrying capacity.
Theoretically speaking, if shipbuilding technology reaches a certain level, the relationship between these three standards is nothing more than that if you are strong, I will be weak, and if you are weak, I will be strong. There is no premise of maintaining one or two dimensions and improving the other. dimensions. But the problem is that Japan's shipbuilding technology is quite backward at this time. There is still a lot of room for improvement in the technical level of Anzha and Kanfune, so in fact, Jinghua is capable of technological upgrades for them.
This kind of technological upgrade does not even require Jinghua to spend too much effort, because at this moment, apart from Jinghua, the Ming Dynasty's own shipbuilding level can almost meet the requirements of the Toyotomi family - of course this refers to the warship level of the Ming Dynasty's regular navy , rather than referring to the products of private shipyards, which are too complicated and have mixed quality.
Jinghua can use the common lucky ships of the Ming Dynasty (there are many kinds, pick two of them) and slightly improve them to meet the needs of Japan. The only issue to consider is the price.
Before Luo Yuan went to Japan, Gao Jingshi personally briefed him on the matter, and then granted him quite a lot of authority, including authority over arms transactions.
However, the authority Gao Pragmatic gave him was not to allow him to trade, but to tell him what he could not trade. Gao Pragmatic's original words at the beginning were "I cannot teach others what I value."
However, it was Luo Yuan's first time to take on an important responsibility, and he was afraid that his understanding would be biased, so he asked "what is an important weapon?" Gao pragmatically replied: "The most powerful and latest weapons among the equipment assigned to the garrison are the heavy weapons." Now Luo Yuan was relieved.
According to Gao Pragmatic's explanation, Luo Yuan believes that the arms purchase proposed by the Toyotomi family is overall feasible - because the largest battleship they want is less than the size of an armed transport ship, and the armament on the ship is of course mediocre, at least it is impossible to carry the No. 1 gun .
The No. 1 gun is the largest artillery currently equipped by the Beijing Guards and the various armed servants in the Ming Dynasty. It is generally used for bastion defense in key areas, mainly in southern Xinjiang.
Of course, more of them may be installed on battleships in the future - only pure warships will be installed, and armed transport ships will not be installed, because the load-bearing capacity of the artillery deck is not enough, and the deck may be damaged during a salvo. Since the number of pure warships is currently limited, there have never been many "production lines" for the No. 1 gun, and the production capacity is also relatively limited.
In Luo Yuan's view, the No. 2 cannon is no longer within the highly pragmatic ban on sale, and can be sold to the Toyotomi family - in fact, the Toyotomi family had already obtained it from some nobles in the Sea Trade Alliance. Some, in fact, I can’t help but think the difference is not big.
So Luo Yuan asked Toyotomi Hidenaga in detail, and the latter said that the new Daifuku ship they wanted should be equipped with twenty giant barrels (No. 2 guns), but Luo Yuan told Toyotomi Hidenaga based on his own professional vision that with the new type of ship The size of the Dafu ship cannot carry more than eighteen artillery pieces. Otherwise, if the cannon is fired, the deck may be shattered. Secondly, it may also affect the speed and seaworthiness. It is definitely not worth the gain.
At first, Toyotomi Hidenaga thought that Luo Yuan was just selfish and didn't want Japan to get more artillery. After careful questioning, he found that Luo Yuan spoke clearly and clearly. He didn't understand many of the explanations at all - but he "didn't know how serious it was", so in the end Adopting Luo Yuan's opinion, the number of guns carried by the Dafu ship was set at eighteen, including six No. 2 guns and twelve No. 3 guns.
The new small Fukusen is actually not small, and is one size larger than the ordinary Kansai ships in Japan. It was finally determined to carry two No. 2 cannons and ten No. 3 cannons.
Next it’s time to talk about price. Although Luo Yuan is not from the shipyard, he has worked his way from an ordinary technical employee in Jinghua to the captain of the pure warship "Left Cavalry", and he knows the cost price and ex-factory price of ships very well. Therefore, he first quoted a price of 60,000 taels of kuping silver for a new big fortune ship and 40,000 taels of kuping silver for a new small fortune ship.
Toyotomi Hidenaga was shocked when he heard this and asked why Luo Yuan was so expensive? Luo Yuandao: "After all, it is customized. Jinghua has to specially redesign and form a new production system to build it. The price is naturally a bit more expensive."
The good one is "a bit" more expensive. The armed transport ship is about 30% larger than the new Daifuku ship. It carries 28 guns, including eight No. 2 guns, but the price of a single ship is only 55,000 taels. He actually quoted a price of 60,000 taels for the new large fortune ship that was significantly smaller than it, and for the new small fortune ship that was only two-fifths the size of an armed transport ship, he actually quoted 40,000 taels.
This is not killing people, this is killing pigs!
However, Toyotomi Hidenaga had done his homework and knew the price of armed transport ships within the Ming Dynasty, so he immediately raised a tactful question. However, Luo Yuan said plausibly without any red face or heartbeat: "Your Majesty the Great Nayan said something a bit unprofessional. My master is not His Majesty the Emperor. How can this important matter of selling military weapons to neighboring countries not be taken care of from top to bottom?" What’s the point? How expensive is it to manage this? You might as well think about the Japanese ministers.”
Toyotomi Hidenaga was stunned and speechless. What you said makes so much sense, I'm speechless. However, he finally came up with a trump card and said: "What if our Toyotomi family purchases in large quantities? This can always be a little more flexible on the price, right?"
Luo Yuan had been waiting for the words "bulk purchase" for a long time. When Toyotomi Hideucha said this, he immediately asked: "What is a large quantity? How much is this large quantity?"
Toyotomi Hideucha laughed loudly and replied boldly: "Your Highness, to be honest, our Toyotomi family will need as much as Kyoka can build these two new types of lucky ships!"
In terms of money business, since Luo Yuan did not have the final say, the two parties could only roughly confirm their intentions at that time. In terms of price, the final negotiated result was 55,000 taels per new large fortune ship and 30,000 taels per new small fortune ship.
The price reduction of the Dafu ship is not that big, and it still remains at the price of an armed transport ship; however, the small Fu ship is indeed too small, and its armament level is really not that good in Luo Yuan's opinion, so the price is compressed a little more severely. The price dropped from 40,000 taels to 10,000 taels. In the end, each ship was 30,000 taels, which was not cheap at all.
Of course, another key to why Luo Yuan dared to agree to such a deal was that the Toyotomi family was the real big buyer. The intention reached by both parties was that Jinghua would deliver twenty large fortune ships and forty small fortune ships every year, with a total value of A whopping 2.3 million taels of silver!
This "intention" was finally approved by the Sea Trade Alliance - in fact, Gao Pragmatic was hesitant at the time, but later it was approved because of the strong support of the nobles, coupled with the "Vision of the Beijing-China Two-Ocean Fleet in the Twenty-Year Wanli Years" , the strength of the "Kwantung Squadron" will also be greatly increased, so Gao Pragmatic finally agreed.
It is precisely because of Jinghua's "strong support" that the real core force of the Japanese Navy is far from the defective products in the original history, but the thirty Jinghua armed transport ships (without original guns, but Japan secretly improved them, and the actual main force (covered with iron sheets), twenty Jinghua-modified large fortune ships, and forty Jinghua-modified small fortune ships.
None of these new warships have yet appeared on the Korean battlefield, and they are the real trump card of the Japanese navy!
Unexpectedly, the main force of Japan's naval force was actually produced by Jinghua. Zhu Yijun's face could not help but darken, and he did not speak for a long time.
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Wan Xiao JJ", "Cao Mianzi", and "Altay's Lao Xi" for their monthly support, thank you!
