Chongzhen and I became partners

Chapter 686 Ryukyu Expeditionary Force

When Wu Sangui was making trouble in the south of Korea, it was far away on the Songjiang Mansion in the south of the Daming River. Although it was raining continuously, the atmosphere here was extremely hot.

At the conscription office at the gate of the Yamen, there was a long line of people who asked to join the Ryukyu Expeditionary Army.

The level of popularity has reached the point where not only the age requirement is required, but also military household experience or sailor experience is required.

But even so, an official came to the recruitment office and announced: the number of people is full, and the recruitment is suspended.

Hearing this announcement, the young and strong people who were still queuing up became noisy. Why is it full of people?

However, they only dared to talk with their mouths, but they really didn't dare to take action to make a fuss.

"I even promised the second girl next door that I will definitely be able to report to the Ryukyu Expeditionary Army. Now it's over, the money to marry a wife is gone!"

"Me too. I was thinking of building a new house for my family with the money from military meritorious service! Look at Brother Niu, it was because he participated in the Luzon Expeditionary Army. When he returned home, the money earned from military meritorious service was married and built again." I'm so envious of the dead!"

"Isn't it? Look at the return of the Luzon Expeditionary Army, the things in our Songjiang Mansion are a lot more expensive. They have more money, and they buy everything more expensive!"

"I really didn't expect that the expedition to Luzon was thought to be dangerous, but it turned out to be a good thing, not to mention smooth sailing, and everyone made a wife's money!"

"..."

After the Luzon Expeditionary Army received the order, Zeng Ying and Yang Zhan led the navy back to Songjiang Mansion. They needed to replenish their troops and ships, and then went on an expedition to Ryukyu.

In addition, Lu Jiude, the supervising army, stayed in Luzon, and would not return with the American Bo Zheng Zhibao until the king of Zhou took over as a vassal.

The supervisor of the Ryukyu Expeditionary Army is Zheng Sen, the commander of Jin Yiwei, who is still in the process of rendezvous from the north.

Zeng Ying and Yang Zhan were drinking by the window on the second floor of the restaurant not far from the yamen.

At this time, looking at the bustle at the gate of the yamen, Yang Zhan said with a little emotion: "I really didn't expect that just a few years ago, the common people were as afraid of joining the army as a tiger, but now, they are all thinking about not being able to join the army." And complained!"

"That's because the changes in the past few years have been too great!" Zeng Ying was not surprised at all after hearing this, and immediately took up the topic and said, "I used to be in the army and owed my salary for several years, but now, don't say goodbye." Yes, when our Luzon Expeditionary Army came back, which soldier didn’t pay a lot of money? Even if this fertile land in the south of the Yangtze River can make the locals jealous, the number of people joining the army will naturally increase!”

In addition to the military pay, the Luzon Expeditionary Army also captured a lot in Zeelandia City and Manila.Therefore, the rewards in the army are naturally high.

At this time, Yang Zhan nodded immediately after listening to Zeng Ying's words, and then remembered something, and asked Zeng Ying: "The court's decree says that the supervising army will bring some iron-clad steam warships here. How many do you think this time?"

"Nanjing Shipyard has already sent ten armored steam warships." Zeng Ying listened and said after thinking, "Tianjin Shipyard should have about the same number, right? Even if Tianjin Shipyard is bigger, for The transformation of the armored steam warship is more skilled, and it is estimated that it will not exceed much."

This explanation is very logical. After hearing this, Yang Zhan said with a little joy: "We came back this time and only brought back five iron-clad steam warships. If there are 25 more iron-clad steam warships, then there will be [-] iron-clad steam warships." , with other warships, even if the number of Japanese navy is much larger than ours, we can still win!"

"That's right, iron-clad steam warships still have a lot of restrictions on sailing warships!" Zeng Ying nodded and echoed, "However, there is no weakness at all against Japanese ships. 25 iron-clad warships The steam warships, lined up in a row, can disperse the Japanese navy warships, and hand them over to ordinary warships to clean them up!"

After a pause, he thought of something, and then said: "It's just that the more iron-clad steam warships, the more logistics supplies for coal. There is no coal in Ryukyu, so it has to be transported from our mainland!"

Yang Zhan listened, but smiled and said: "This is not a big problem. The Japanese pirates in Ryukyu are only a part sent by the Satsuma Domain. There are very few. After we conquer Ryukyu, we have to wait for the progress of North Korea. During this period, There is plenty of time to hoard enough coal in Ryukyu, so that once the Wa Kingdom is conquered, there is no need to transport it from China."

For now, the Ryukyu Expeditionary Force is announced to the outside world, but only Zeng Ying and Yang Zhan know that their real purpose is to conquer the Wa Kingdom, and first destroy the Japanese Navy who returned from North Korea.

The two were talking, when suddenly, they heard movement from the street.

"Go, go and see, wow, it's too big!"

"The imperial court is mighty, it's really too powerful!"

"..."

Hearing this movement, Yang Zhan looked out the window and found that the people were running towards the port one after another, calling for friends, as if to see something rare.

Just when he was about to say something, he heard hurried footsteps from the other side of the stairs, and then Zeng Ying's general Yu Chong appeared at the door, and excitedly said to the two people in the room: "The supervising army leads twenty ships. The steam ironclad has arrived! Wow, there is a steam ironclad, it is really too big!"

When they heard that Zheng Sen had arrived, the two dared not neglect and left the table immediately.

At the same time, seeing Yu Chong's shocked appearance, Zeng Ying couldn't help becoming a little curious, and asked, "Is it very big?"

"It's very, very big!" Yu Chong said excitedly after hearing this, "It's about as big as three No. [-] Fuchuan, and it looks too imposing!"

"Sealing the boat and warship?" Zeng Ying immediately thought of something when he heard it, and said in surprise, "Go, go back and have a look!"

The Fengzhou was originally built by the Ming Dynasty to confer the kings of overseas vassal states and to show the country's prestige.Therefore, at least in terms of momentum, it is definitely very powerful.

In fact, the Fengzhou was 47 meters long, and the No. 27 Fuchuan, which was the largest warship in the late Ming Dynasty, was [-] meters long. In fact, it was not as many as three ships.But Fengzhou gives people the feeling that it is very big.

Now that Fengzhou has been transformed into a steam armored warship, the sense of menace is even stronger.

It was also the same. After hearing the news, the people in Songjiang Mansion flocked to the port to watch the excitement.

When Zeng Ying and Yang Zhan rushed to the port, there were already a lot of people on the pier watching.The huge monster Feng Zhou was still approaching the port.Fortunately, this is the mouth of the Yangtze River, and there is a deep-water wharf, otherwise, there is no way to dock.

Everyone's eyes were attracted by this behemoth, and admiration was endless.

Even Yang Zhan, Zeng Ying and others were shocked when they saw it.

Afterwards, the two hurried over, and after waiting for a long time, the Fengzhou warship finally docked safely, and Zheng Sen came down to meet the two general soldiers.

The Ryukyu envoys, that is, Zheng Zhou's son and grandson also rushed over and recognized that it was Feng Zhou who had arrived in Ryukyu before, but now it was an iron-clad steam warship, so naturally there was another burst of excitement.

As a result, the Ryukyu Expeditionary Force has been formed, with as many as 35 warships, including [-] iron-clad steam warships.In addition, there are about [-] transport ships, which are not transporting troops, but food, grass, coal, etc., mainly those military supplies that are difficult to obtain on the Ryukyu Islands.

In terms of the size of the expeditionary force, it is similar to the Luzon Expeditionary Force.But in terms of combat power, it is definitely only strong but not weak!

Similarly, in the Ryukyu Expeditionary Force, Portuguese sailing warships were also recruited, increasing from the original three to five.

Portugal has already received the capital's decree. For the Portuguese, there are a thousand people who are willing to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.Therefore, on the one hand, they hurriedly sent people to Lisbon to report the news, and their king Joao IV would finally decide whether to accept the emperor's will, but on the other hand, Du Chen, the military leader at Haojingao, cooperated very actively. Lost the qualification to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.Therefore, this time, all the sailing warships from Portugal on the Haojingao side were sent.

After all, through the experience of participating in the Luzon Expeditionary Force, they have already realized that there is no country that can be the opponent of Ming Dynasty just around Daming.The Portuguese who are familiar with Daming know how much profit they can make from trading with Daming.

Moreover, they are also very aware of Lisbon's plight.Although after becoming a vassal state of Ming Dynasty, Lisbon could not hope that the suzerain would send troops to protect it, but the money earned from Ming Dynasty would allow Lisbon to find more allies, thus ensuring that Lisbon would not be destroyed by Spain.

On the other hand, they also knew that the Netherlands might also become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, which the Portuguese were not happy to see, let alone see the Netherlands becoming a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty but Portugal not being a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the enthusiasm of the Portuguese is very high, and they listen to Daming the most.

..............................

At this time, on the Dutch side, who worried the Portuguese, Kuiyi and others who rented a lucky boat from Daming Tianjin Port and rushed back, finally rushed to Batavia.

The governor of Batavia, Anthony, was very surprised when he heard the urgent report from the port, saying that all the officers and men of Zeelandia City who had been escorted by Ming to the capital for trial had all returned, and hurried over to check the situation.

Whether it's asking for guilt or anything else, always ask clearly before talking.

In addition, Anthony at this time felt very uneasy about the Ming army taking root in Luzon.I am deeply horrified by Daming's changes in overseas strategies.

Luzon can be defeated by the Ming army, and Batavia is not too far away from Luzon, and it is possible for the Ming army to fight there again.

Therefore, he wanted to find out what was Daming's attitude towards Batavia?After all, as far as the present is concerned, the relationship between the Netherlands and Daming is actually still hostile.

On the port side, the Dutch were already watching. When Anthony passed by, he happened to see Kui Yi get off the boat. Before he could speak, Kui Yi couldn't wait to speak first.

(End of this chapter)