Chongzhen Undergraduates

As for the combat method of this battle, I am afraid that no one in the entire hall can answer it.

Thinking about thousands of years in China, there are only a handful of large-scale naval battles. Even the last naval battle between the Yuan Dynasty and the Song Dynasty was fought in the coastal waters.

Fighting naval battles in the open sea?cowardly!

"My Majesty, why don't we wait for the Dutch to come by themselves, so that our army can relax and wait for work?" Zuo Maodi said.

"Zuo Aiqing, this is a typical thinking of land warfare. The defenders of the land battle wait for work with leisure, and the enemy is exhausted to make an expedition. But today we are discussing naval warfare. The Dutch did not have an expedition at all. Their fleet has already controlled the entire army. In the South China Sea, my Ming's sea trade can't even open a single ship. This is the difference between naval warfare and land warfare."

"So what's the matter, let's not do the sea trade business anymore!" Gu Yanwu, a middle-aged man, opened his mouth and came.

"If you don't do sea trade, then Master Gu's salary for this month will be owed to the court first, is that okay?" Fang Yuegong waited for Gu Yanwu, a junior, to scold him angrily.

"Do you know how much of the imperial court's taxes are obtained by sea trade?" Huang Zongxi has traveled overseas and gained experience, so he quickly and quietly grabbed Gu Yanwu.

"How much?" Gu Yanwu was taken aback for a moment, he only knew how to do theory, how could he know about the percentage of tax revenue.

Huang Zongxi stretched out two fingers, and then waved them in front of Gu Yanwu's eyes.

"So much?" Gu Yanwu was taken aback. The traditional intellectuals of the Ming Dynasty didn't know how profitable the sea trade was, they all thought that only the land could produce.

"That's too much? When I go to Europe and other places, [-]% of the taxes in the Netherlands are paid for, and there are thousands of warships." Huang Zongxi obviously felt that it was time for Gu Yanwu to go out and see.

Everyone listened to Fang Yuegong's words, who dared to speak out again, since the Dutch's fighting style is different from before, how to fight this battle depends on the emperor Zhu Youjian's arbitrary decision.

"Who can lead the army to resist the enemy above the sea?" Zhu Youjian walked quickly to the dragon chair, and then asked the important ministers of the Ming Dynasty under the steps.

All the ministers look at me and I look at you, even Li Yan dare not answer.

"I am willing to lead the army." In desperation, Zheng Chenggong had no choice but to stand up.

Zhu Youjian looked around, he was the only person in the Ming Dynasty who dared to take on this leader.

"Since everyone agrees to fight this battle, and the chief general is in place, all the ministers need to unite with me to win this battle. Now I'm here to make a real deal with all my lovers, and see what capital we have to fight Dutch."

Everyone stretched their necks and looked at Zhu Youjian's desk. Everyone knows that after the recovery of Taiwan Island, the emperor has deliberately tilted a lot of resources towards the navy, but what is the scale of this development? , no one knows.

Because Taiwan and the mainland are separated deliberately by the government, until now the imperial court has no idea of ​​the strength of that side.Many people speculate that it is impossible for Zhu Youjian to develop the strength of Zheng He's fleet in a short period of time.

"Xuan Yao Qisheng has an audience." Zhu Youjian himself did not open the memorial on the desk, but called out.

After a while, a thin and capable official walked in cautiously with his waist down. Everyone knew at a glance that this was a foreign official. It was the first time he had entered such a power center, and he was still a little trembling.

"Yao Qisheng, report to the ministers about Taiwan's current strength." Zhu Youjian raised his eyelids and said proudly.

"Yes." Yao Qisheng saw the emperor's expression and knew that today's matter would be of great benefit to him, so he was no longer timid, and became more courageous.

When it comes to Taiwan's population and taxation, it's not worth mentioning. The whole figure is sky-high and only the size of a larger county in the mainland.But when Yao Qisheng reported the scale of the shipbuilding, even Fang Yuegong didn't believe it.

"Taiwan Island currently has five large and small shipbuilding factories and 33 dry docks. On average, one dock can build a first-class warship in three months..."

"What? It's impossible." Zuo Maodi waved his hands repeatedly.

The construction speed of a large ship in this era is calculated on a yearly basis. The preparation of the timber alone even takes several years. How could it be built within three months?

"Zuo Aiqing, if it's possible, let's not talk about it until Yao Qisheng finishes." Zhu Youjian stopped Zuo Maodi from speaking.

To explain why Daming's shipbuilding speed is so fast, apart from the fact that the wood is prepared in advance, after the entire ship shape is finalized, the hull manufacturing has also learned the methods of later generations, and it can be modularized if it can be modularized.

To put it bluntly, Ming's warships are played differently from Europeans, but they learned from Mao Zi's method of manufacturing tanks during World War II, that is, to reduce the strength of the hull wood, and then mass-produce them on an assembly line.The hull that originally required rough wood was changed to standard wood, and regardless of whether it was teak or not, it was used.

"This isn't a battleship, it's a wooden box." Zuo Maodi scorned after hearing this.

"Will it be too childish?" Li Yan also felt uneasy.

"I also want to build a batch of durable warships, but time is running out. I don't expect these warships to sail at sea for ten or eight years, as long as they can survive this battle." Zhu Youjian said.

At this speed, the shipyards on Taiwan Island alone have built 150 large and small warships.There are still ten shipyards in the mainland, and the scale is even larger than that of Taiwan. Everyone thought about it, and what Zhu Youjian presented to everyone was actually a huge fleet of [-] warships.

"No wonder the emperor always said that copper is not enough." Zhu Lvjian muttered to himself.

With so many warships, the cannons needed are gone. Daming’s copper reserves are basically currency. Of course, the central bank needs to introduce substitutes to recover these copper coins.Of course, war costs money, especially the navy, which is piled up with silver.

Although Zhu Youjian tried to reduce the manufacturing cost of the warship, he dared not and could not play tricks on weapons and equipment, as it was a matter of life and death for soldiers.The gorgeous warships of the Beiyang Fleet contain outdated weapons and ammunition. It is impossible for Zhu Youjian to not know this lesson.

The reason why the hull structure of the dare to block battleship is not as good as that of the Dutch is because the current artillery technology of Ming Dynasty is more advanced than that of the Dutch.In order to surpass the Dutch naval guns, the Southern Ordnance Company specially compared the artillery on the captured Dutch warships. The current naval guns of Ming Dynasty surpassed the European cannons by 200 meters in range, and the rate of fire was almost three times that of the opponents, because the new Cast cannons began to adopt breech loading.The use of rear loading for cannons will of course greatly increase the rate of fire, but the corresponding shells also need to be changed. The naval shells use cylindrical flowering shells.

"I thought that such a large-scale fleet could no longer be called a navy." Zhu Youjian said looking at Zheng Chenggong with a blank face.

"What does your majesty think the name will be changed?" Zheng Chenggong was slightly expectant.

"Daming navy. Daming's eyes should look at the ocean from the water surface, so our navy should be called the navy. In the future, we will go to the ocean and gallop thousands of miles across the sea." Zhu Youjian said.

"Long live the Navy!"

Chapter 594: The Tragic Journey of the South China Sea Fleet

The weather in early May has turned fine. The rainy season in Guangzhou has passed, and it will be sunny for a long time.

In Qiongzhou Island, which is further south, it has always been a marginalized country. This is just like the cultural characteristics of the Central Plains, which attaches great importance to the north and ignores the south.

The fleet led by Gan Hui left Guangzhou during the rainy season, but when he arrived in Qiongzhou, the sky remained clear.

This is a Ming Dynasty fleet with distinctive features. Its main warships are Fuchuan, supplemented by sand ships and arson ships.On the warships, the flags are fluttering, and the gongs and drums are loud, and the sound can be heard from a long distance. It is very lively.

There are not many people in Qiongzhou Island, and the farthest to Yazhou is just some local mountain people, plus a simple dock, to supply some clean water and simple food.

"General, shall we still move forward?" Yang Yi is the captain of the flagship and a colonel of Gan Hui's department.

Shi Lang was no longer in the South China Sea Fleet, and Gan Hui was transferred by Zhu Youjian to take charge of the overall situation.But this burden is not easy to pick. Some dilapidated warships are not as good as the East China Sea Fleet, and even the generals are mostly vulgar and illiterate fools.

This Yang Yi is already a rare new general who has received professional military training.

"If we go further south, we will go deep into the South China Sea. Why didn't we encounter any enemies along the way?" Gan Hui seemed to be talking to Yang Yi, but also seemed to be talking to himself.

The main force of the Ming army's navy has been assembled in Taiwan, but the grasp of the battlefield is always in a state of blindness.The Dutch had completely controlled the South China Sea, and since they passed on some military information from Annan, there was not a single piece of information that could pass through the sea.

The Dutch are still great!

"The people in Yazhou City haven't seen the red-haired ghost yet, but the fishing boats that have been dispatched successively have never returned. General, something is wrong." Yang Yi said.

"The order goes on, all ships are along the coast, and all ships should not lose their sight, and call the police if they encounter an enemy." Gan Hui said with a frown.

Fuchuan's movement is really unpleasant, especially when sailing against the wind. After all, the hard sail is cumbersome to operate, and it is slowly pulled up slowly, and the transfer between the fleet is like a turtle crawling.

"boom!"

Gan Hui looked at these officers and men of the South China Sea Navy who were obviously behind the Fujian Navy in terms of professionalism, and hesitated to speak several times.However, after a meal, in the southeast direction, a signal flare suddenly rose on the sea in the distance.