In Zhu Yijun's mind, Japan was originally one of the Ming Dynasty's "non-conquest countries" and had not imposed a military embargo on it earlier, so it was in trouble, but the Sea Trade Alliance was not to blame.
When it comes to doing business, if you didn’t have any regulations saying it’s not allowed before, then it must be freedom without prohibitions. There is no way to go back and investigate this matter, otherwise wouldn't the person responsible become the great ancestor? So now we can only consider making amends.
"The imperial court will issue an edict on this matter, strictly prohibiting the subsequent sale of military-related products to Japan. After you join the cabinet, you will first submit a proposal and list the specific projects." Zhu Yijun said seriously.
"Yes, I obey the order." Gao Pragmatic didn't say much, and he didn't even say anything like "I won't be able to do the job after you join the cabinet" - that was originally meant for others to see, but the emperor Not counting others.
They are both monarchs and ministers, and in fact they are also political allies. There is no need to point out the well-known kind. Regarding Gao Pingshi's entry into the cabinet, it can be said that as early as 20 years ago, the very naive young Zhu Yijun had this "goal". Even after 20 years, nothing has changed. It can even be said that the goal has become more determined.
"Besides..." Zhu Yijun mused: "Since the main force of the Japanese navy was created for them by the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, then you must be very clear about their weaknesses, pragmatically?"
"I do know something. It can even be said that... I have deliberately led my navy astray." Gao Pragmatic answered with his hands raised.
"Oh?" This answer really surprised Zhu Yijun, and he asked: "How did you go astray?"
Gao Pingshi said: "Your Majesty, you know that Yu Xujiang (Yu Dayou) is good at naval warfare. He has made a sharp judgment on water warfare: naval warfare is nothing but a big ship defeating a small ship, a big blunderbuss defeating a small blunderbuss; multiple ships To defeat a few ships, use many blunderbuss to defeat a few blunderbuss.”
"Well, I've seen this sentence before. Yu Dayou himself wrote it in his inscription, and the Ministry of War also expressed a similar view." Zhu Yijun nodded and said, "What, is he right?"
"Of course," Gao pragmatically smiled and said, "Naval battles rely on strong ships and powerful cannons."
"So?" Zhu Yijun said hesitantly: "The warships you built for the Japanese country were not deliberately made to be weak for them, right?"
"That is not the case, and it is difficult to do so. After all, Japan is an island country. Although its navy has limited shipbuilding capabilities, it still has the ability to distinguish whether the hull is strong." Gao Pragmatic shook his head.
"Then how can we lead astray?" Zhu Yijun was puzzled.
"First, Jinghua itself does not sell original ship-borne artillery to them. If they want to install artillery, they must modify it themselves."
Zhu Yijun still didn't understand and asked: "This is just a matter of extra effort. Didn't you say before that there are other people who quietly sell cannons to them - even if they are old cannons, they can still be used, right? "
"But Chen secretly provided some craftsmen to the Japanese country in advance for them to recruit privately to 'guide' them in the renovation." Gao pragmatically smiled and said: "The method of installing artillery provided by these craftsmen is flawed - simple In other words, it is not strong enough to support a full-side salvo."
"What is a full-side salvo?" Zhu Yijun was stunned for a moment. He didn't know these specialized tactical terms.
Gao pragmatically said: "In current naval battles, a tactic that is commonly used and that both sides strive to use is called 'side salvo', which means that all the artillery on one side of the warship fire at the same time. And full-side salvo refers to the artillery on both sides." Even the cannons on the bow and stern of the ship fire at the same time, which usually only occurs when being surrounded and engaged in a trapped beast's fight."
Zhu Yijun thought for a while and asked: "If we are surrounded, it seems that there is no good way to think of. Although this 'cross-road' is useful, its scope of application is not large. Besides, what will this 'not strong enough' lead to? result?"
Gao pragmatically said: "At the least, it causes the artillery to break away from the gun position and cannot continue to be used; at worst, it cracks the artillery deck, causing serious chaos in the battleship's artillery layer, and even affecting the safety of the ship itself."
Regarding the scope of application, Gao Pragmatic also added: "In addition, although the Japanese navy has more warships than North Korea, its scale cannot be compared with our Ming Dynasty, so this means that when they fight the Koreans, although they are not large The above problems may arise, but as long as our Ming Dynasty navy participates in the war, the possibility of the Japanese navy being surrounded and causing the above problems will greatly increase."
Zhu Yijun thought deeply and said: "In other words, once I join the battle against the Japanese navy, I should go to surround the Japanese pirate navy, causing problems with their warships. This can greatly speed up the speed of our army's defeat of them. Yes Bar?"
"That's probably true." Gao pragmatically said, "But this is just one of the things I arranged."
"Is there anything else?" Zhu Yijun was a little surprised and asked, "What else is there?"
"The largest warship of the Japanese navy is actually the Jinghua armed transport ship with the cannons removed." Gao pragmatically said: "According to the Japanese tradition, at the same time, I asked the Jinghua craftsmen in Japan to think of some ideas, and successfully made the Japanese use these warships. The modification ideas have also gone astray: reducing artillery and strengthening defense."
Zhu Yijun was very happy to hear it at first, but when he heard the last sentence, he was very puzzled: "Reducing artillery is definitely disadvantageous, but why is strengthening defense a wrong approach?"
Gao Pragmatic raised his eyebrows slightly and replied: "Because it is impossible for the armed transport ship purchased by the Japanese country to have a major change in the size of the hull, which means that the premise of the modification is that the hull remains unchanged. So, under the current technical conditions, the firepower And armor are actually two things you can't have your cake and eat it too.
The original Jinghua armed transport ship is actually the most balanced design arrangement. Those sold to the Japanese country had not previously carried artillery, and the sources of their artillery were very complicated, and the quality of the artillery they received varied. Therefore, the number of ship-borne artillery was reduced by about half or more, but the remaining spare load capacity was reduced. Used to strengthen defense.
The emperor may have thought that since it was a spare load, there seemed to be nothing wrong with strengthening the defense, but this was not the case. Ship design is a very complex project. The center of gravity of the ship is calculated at the beginning of the design. Later modifications can easily affect it, causing a shift in the center of gravity, which in turn affects the seaworthiness. Simply put, the ship will It's hard to drive.
It is difficult to sail the ship, which will further reduce the artillery hit rate and affect the combat effectiveness. Moreover, these changes in the center of gravity will also cause many problems for the sailors on the ship, such as the bumping of the ship, which will affect daily rest, affect combat efficiency, etc. In short, there will be a series of troubles, which will be even worse overall. "
"That's it!" Zhu Yijun nodded with satisfaction. In fact, he didn't actually understand how serious these impacts were because of Gao Pragmatic's explanation, but he understood Gao Pragmatic's personality. Since Gao Pragmatic dared to say it, then these things must be It has quite an impact.
However, Zhu Yijun also had his real focus. He paused and asked: "Since the Ming Dynasty originally had no military embargo on the Japanese, why did you come up with so many tricks against them in advance?"
Gao Pragmatic had already anticipated that the emperor might ask this question, so he replied without hesitation: "If you are not of my race, your heart must be different. I am the person who talks about the sea trade alliance, and I need to consider the profits of the alliance, so Some things that should be sold must be sold; but I am a minister of the Ming Dynasty. Whether the things sold will cause a serious threat to the Ming Dynasty, I naturally need to consider clearly.
Even if this possibility seemed very difficult to become a reality at the time, I must take precautions to prevent anything from happening in the future, and I will be ashamed of my father, my colleagues, and my people. . "
"If they were all like you, my court would have less trouble. Alas." Zhu Yijun sighed, but soon remembered something again, and said pragmatically to Gao: "By the way, when it comes to naval battles, the one you recommended Division Admiral Chen Lin made one - or rather two... very interesting requests."
After all, Gao Jingshi just arrived in Beijing today. Although he was well-informed, he did not know everything in detail. For example, Gao Jingshi had not received the news about Chen Lin's request mentioned by the emperor, so he was stunned for a moment and asked Said: "What request?"
Zhu Yijun raised his eyebrows slightly and said: "He proposed to resign from the post of admiral of the navy to prepare for Japan, but expressed his willingness to serve as deputy. At the same time, he also asked the imperial court to appoint another distinguished minister from Beijing as the admiral of the navy."
Gao Pangshi's heart was moved, but before he could reply, Zhu Yijun continued: "If not, then he will ask the imperial court to give him authority and allow him to recruit "sea ships of this province" in Guangdong to go north to meet the enemy, and ask "this province Sea-going ships are not allowed to refuse recruitment, and any violation will be regarded as resistance to the order."
Seeing Zhu Yijun's obviously teasing smile, Gao Pragmatic had to smile bitterly and said helplessly: "This guy is quite brave, and he actually decided on me."
Zhu Yijun laughed loudly, pointed at Gao Pingshi and said, "What, you didn't expect that, did you? Ha, the person you recommended turned against you, how do you feel?"
Gao pragmatic sniffed and said: "Although it seems that he did not do this very authentically, it also shows that he still has an accurate judgment on the general trend, and will also use the existing conditions of the court to achieve strategic goals."
Zhu Yijun still smiled and asked: "Then how do you think I should approve it?"
Gao Pingshi said angrily: "This is what your Majesty should judge. How dare I overstep my authority?"
"Let's talk about it, you are going to be the elder of the Pavilion, isn't it natural to discuss politics!" Zhu Yijun chuckled and said: "Should the Beiyang Fleet contribute, or the Nanyang Fleet contribute?"
Zhu Yijun's words clarified Chen Lin's thoughts. His two requests were actually very simple. The former was to let the Beiyang Fleet contribute, and the latter was to let the Nanyang Fleet contribute.
In the former case, since the naval admiral has been replaced by a distinguished minister from Beijing, he must be a member of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance. If he wants to go on an expedition, it is impossible not to consider his own safety, so he will definitely bring at least his own fleet with him.
Among the nobles of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, there is no one who is worthy of being the naval admiral this time. Not to mention asking the entire alliance to borrow some strength, even if we only focus on our own fleet, there are at least ten or twenty Beijing armed transport ships. Moreover, it is an original and genuine one, which can completely serve as the core force of the fleet.
With the existence of this group of forces, coupled with the warships that Ming Dynasty can mobilize, the winning rate will naturally increase greatly when fighting the Japanese navy.
In the latter, if the imperial court allows Chen Lin to recruit "provincial sea-going ships" in Guangdong to participate in the war, it means that he can recruit a large part of the Beijing-China Nanyang Fleet. In fact, he can even recruit more Beijing-made armed transport ships from the private sector—— This point has been explained in the previous article. Jinghua sold ships in the Ming Dynasty on a standard basis, especially armed transport ships.
Guangdong, as the core part of Nanyang trade in the Ming Dynasty, has a large number of private fleets in the Pearl River Delta areas such as Guangzhou Port. Whether it was Gao Pragmatic's expedition to Annam or Huang Zhiting's later expedition to Burma, Siam, Guangdong and other places, many maritime merchants participated.
So it can be said that not only are their hardware capabilities strong enough, they even have practical experience. As long as the imperial court allows Chen Lin to recruit and use them at will, he even dares to boast: "As long as I take the Guangdong recruitment fleet northward, I can defeat the Japanese navy."
However, there is an issue here that Zhu Yijun did not pay enough attention to, that is, Chen Lin was only interested in pursuing Beijing's ideas, but did not care much about the Ming Dynasty Navy. Does this mean that the Ming Dynasty Navy is not worth mentioning?
It's not that bad, but compared with the ships built by Jinghua, it is indeed a bit behind. At this time, the equipment of the navy of the Ming Dynasty was mainly Fuchuan, which is a general name for a type of ship born on the coast of Fujian. It has a wide bottom tip, a wide bow tip and a wide stern, and two raised ends. The building materials are mainly pine, fir, camphor and nanmu from Fujian, and there are six models in total.
The lucky ships used in naval battles, specifically No. 1 and No. 2. According to what Qi Jiguang said when he was in Zhejiang: "The lucky boat is as tall as a city and cannot be driven by human power. It relies on the wind. The Japanese boat is naturally shorter than my little cang boat, so the lucky boat rides on the wind and presses down, like a car crushing a mantis." Ship strength is not about fighting manpower." His views on naval warfare are basically consistent with Yu Dayou's, and of course they are also basically consistent with Gao Pragmatism.
According to the "Military Bei Zhi": "Using firearms and the undulations of the waves may not necessarily hit the thieves. Even if they hit, it will not be much, but they can frighten the enemy's heart and ears. There are two things to rely on: shooting Buddha It's a good idea. But if you don't hit it, no ship will be crushed, that's the first thing. Use fireballs like fireballs on the bows of the ships. When they meet, throw them down from a height, and the fire will burst out and the pirate ship will be burned. The second thing."
It can be seen that compared with the Japanese Navy, the Ming Navy also has obvious advantages in large ships, high freeboards, and the ability to collide in close combat situations. However, compared to the Jinghua armed transport ship, it is slightly behind due to the lack of artillery power and the old-fashioned Folan cannon.
Among these great fortune ships, the first one is called the great fortune ship. It has three turrets, a wide bottom, and a high bow and stern. It can accommodate a hundred people. "The draft is too deep, starting and stopping are slow and heavy," and its maneuverability is relatively poor. No. 2 is called the Fortune Ship, which is slightly smaller than No. 1 and is "compatible with common use" - the common use is actually mainly due to financial considerations.
The lucky boat is as tall as a building and can accommodate hundreds of people. The bottom tip is wide, the bow is raised and spread, the stern is high, the draft is about 3.5 meters, the bow is equipped with a head gun, and the sides are equipped with 6 Qianjin Folang machines, 3 bowl-mouth blunderbuss, 20 thunder cannons, and spray cannons. 60, 10 fire blunderbuss, 500 crossbows, 10 gunpowder crossbows, 300 rockets, 100 fire bricks, and thousands of cold weapons. There are 64 crew members, 9 sailors and 55 soldiers.
Similarly, according to the description in "Military Bei Zhi", this kind of giant ship has a three-story building on top. It is surrounded by protective boards, protected by thatch and bamboo, and erected like a wall, with two sails and masts. There are four floors in it. The lower floor is equipped with ballast stones, the third floor is placed with fresh water tanks, and the second floor is where soldiers live. The top floor is a terrace, which needs to be climbed up from the ladder on the third floor. The wings are used as railings on both sides, and people can lean on it to fight. The arrows, stones and artillery can be fired overlooking it. It is really a weapon in naval warfare.
The floors here are different from the Western terminology used by Jinghua. For example, Jinghua's so-called "two-deck gun" refers to the two decks that can fire artillery, and does not count the deck below.
However, the common shortcoming of these two types of great fortune ships is that they have poor maneuverability. "They are as tall as a city and cannot be driven by human power. They rely entirely on favorable winds and tides. However, it is inconvenient to return. Moreover, their drafts are deep, and they only benefit from the vast ocean. In the Caspian Sea, If it is easy to get stuck, it must be rescued by the sentinel ship." ("Comprehensive Examination of Continued Documents")
The latter types of Fuchuan are generally not used for long-sea operations, so there is no need to say more here. However, several problems can be seen from the above alone: the most important of which is that the Jinghua armed transport ship is larger than the Daifuku ship, but there is no problem of poor maneuverability. It can be seen that the ship model developed by Jinghua is compatible with the advantages of Western-style warship design. It is even better than the Fu Ship, with stronger personnel and weapons on board.
As a Guangdong general, Chen Lin certainly saw these issues clearly, so he made those two requests.
Since the emperor insisted on letting Gao Jingshi choose, Gao Jingshi had no choice but to choose one. He thought for a while and said: "In this case, it is better to select one of the honorable ministers to be the naval admiral for this battle - Beiyang is close after all, making it easier to dispatch."
This was not what Zhu Yijun expected, so the emperor nodded in approval and asked: "Who do you think is better to choose?"
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PS: The Southern Coding Dog, my hands are frozen, so don’t read.
