Chapter 996 1087 Navy Heads South

Chapter 996 1087 Navy Heads South

With the capital already settled, Wei Guangde sent a note to the Ministry of War to write it.

All matters in the South China Sea are naturally left to the Navy Admiral Yu Dayou to handle, and he is also given the power to make arbitrary decisions when the situation arises.

After all, the distance from the southeast to the capital is not that close. If everything had to be reported and the fighter planes were fleeting, a big mistake might be made.

After that, Wei Guangde wrote another letter to Yu Dayou directly in the check-in room, planning to arrange for his family to send it to him later.

After all, his status is different now. Although he is powerful in the court, the more he is like this, the more the palace is afraid of him, so he cannot make any mistakes.

Even though he and Liu Shouyou had a certain tacit understanding, Wei Guangde could not guarantee that Liu Shouyou would really be loyal to him.

After all, Jinyiwei is the emperor's minion, and the one he should be most loyal to is the palace.

What's more, although Liu Shou controls Jin Yiwei, it is not monolithic, and he may not be able to take into account all aspects of Jin Yiwei.

If the palace sent someone to monitor him alone, they could hide it from Liu Shouyou through Dongchang and Jinyiwei.

In fact, Wei Guangde believed that the palace must have done this, but he didn't know to what extent.

Not only him, but also Zhang Juzheng.

Orphans and widowed mothers can only be bullied by those who are really evil. If you have a little conscience, it is better not to make any decisions.

Thinking about Dorgon, you should know the pros and cons of being a widow with a baby.

Of course Yu Dayou, who was still stranded off the coast of Chaozhou, didn't know what was going on in the capital. He was still anxiously waiting for reports from various places, including the two navy fleets sent out for reconnaissance.

Yes, of course Yu Dayou will not place his hopes on speculation. These days, he has been sending people to order the coastal guard station to step up prevention and patrol, and report the results at any time.

The purpose, of course, is not to allow the Lin Feng pirate group to take advantage of the opportunity to plunder the Ming Dynasty again.

While he was looking through the documents reported from various places in the cabin, a soldier from outside quickly opened the door and came in. After standing in front of him, he clasped his fists and said: 'Sir, there is news from Luzon. ’

"What? Have you found any trace of Lin Feng?"

Yu Dayou immediately put down the official document in his hand and asked anxiously.

"It is said that Lin Feng has been discovered and is still on Luzon Island."

The soldier replied.

"If there is a document, bring the person quickly. I want to question him personally."

Yu Dayou immediately ordered.

Soon, the captain of the centipede boat was brought into the cabin.

Before the visitor could salute, Yu Dayou was already eager to ask about the situation.

You know, for him, this period of time is like a year.

Because he had not received any report on the traces of Lin Feng's pirate group, he was worried that something had happened.

Especially worried about another thing, that is, Lin Feng will lead people around Dongfan Island and go north to attack the northern coastal counties.

The Ming Dynasty's defense against Japanese invaders mainly focused on the southeast, while the defense in the north had always been weak.

Although the possibility of this is very low, there has been no news about Lin Feng, which makes Yu Dayou inevitably have wild thoughts.

In the past few days, I spent every day on the ship's deck waiting for news.

But after all, he was getting old, and spending a long time on the ship building blowing the sea breeze made Yu Dayou, a hero for a lifetime, finally unable to bear it anymore.

It took these two days to return to the cabin and wait, but it was really too much to do.

Taking Deng Zilong's document from the other party's hand, he quickly opened it and asked, "Are you sure Lin Feng is still in Luzon?"

"Reporting to the Admiral, the news about Lin Feng in Luzon should be true."

Although the Ming army did not send anyone to investigate and verify when he left, everyone knew that a maritime businessman like Li Jin would not dare to fabricate lies to deceive the government.

You know, the foundation of maritime business is ships. If he dares to tease the navy officers and soldiers, it is conceivable that his ships will no longer want to sail on the sea in the future.

Who can know what happens on the sea.

The captain of the Baihu family talked about their experiences during the trip, mainly about their encounter with Li Jin, and when Li Jin returned to them and reported the news about Lin Feng to them.

Yu Dayou listened to his words, stared at Deng Zilong's letter, and a smile soon appeared on his face.

Yes, he also thought about it, maritime merchant Li Jin did not dare to deceive them.

In this way, the news that most of Lin Feng is still on Luzon Island should be true.

Yu Dayou also noticed the actions taken by Deng Zilong, which was to recruit vassal people on the spot to form an army, and formed vassal troops like the barbarians to encircle and suppress Lin Feng.

"Someone's coming."

Yu Dayou shouted loudly.

"grown ups."

The soldier next to him immediately took the order and said, "What are your orders, sir?"

"Immediately send an order, and all ships will immediately prepare their supplies and prepare to sail."

Yu Dayou ordered.

"yes."

The soldier agreed and quickly went out to deliver the news.

"You go down and rest first. This trip to Luzon requires you to pilot the ship. Let the soldiers have a good rest for a day. The army will set off tomorrow."

Yu Dayou said immediately.

The Nanhai Navy has no shortage of supplies.

These days, in order to be ready for dispatch at any time, all kinds of supplies consumed by the Navy are transported from Chaozhou Prefecture, so there should be no shortage of supplies on board the station.

It's just that we are going to sea after all, so for the sake of safety, we let each ship check again to see if there are any shortages of supplies, and they will be replenished today.

Yu Dayou was already calculating in his mind that it would take more than half a month for the Centipede boat to go back and forth, and this was because of the paddles.

The wind direction is not good now, which will naturally have an impact on the Nanhai Navy's southward activities.

It is expected that the voyage may take a month to reach its destination.

Warships like the Daifukusen relied entirely on sails and lacked speed.

Unfortunately, there is no better ship to replace it in the Ming Dynasty.

I can make a small centipede ship, but if it is larger, its maneuverability is still worrying.

In fact, due to the limitation of technological development, the West does not have any good ship type at this time, which can take into account the sailing in different seasons.

Therefore, the Western ships go out to sea, and they also need to consider the season and weather.

The navigation technology of the West at this time is not much more advanced than that of the Ming Dynasty.

At least, this is the case in the East Asian waters.

After everyone left, Yu Dayou thought for a moment and shouted to the cabin door: "Come here."

The cabin door was pushed open, and the personal soldiers outside hurried in and bowed to listen to the order.

"Send a message to the Denglai Navy, let them station outside Chaozhou and wait for military reports from all over the country.

If there are any traces of Japanese pirates, immediately set out to encircle and suppress them, and ask Xu Qiaoan to come to see me."

Although he was leaving with his troops, Yu Dayou did not forget the duties of the navy.

Last time, he led his troops north, which gave the pirates an opportunity.

This time, he led his troops south again, and naturally would not leave any gaps for them to drill.

The Denglai Navy continued to stay here, and if there were pirates attacking, they could attack immediately.

Although the Denglai Navy was slightly weaker, it was the court's army after all, and its firearms were equipped according to the standards of warships. It was still able to fight against other inferior pirates.

The next morning, with the sun rising from the eastern horizon, the Ming Dynasty South China Sea Navy was about to launch its first overseas expedition since its establishment.

Off the coast of Chaozhou Prefecture, the Ming Dynasty Navy stationed here was divided into two at this time, and more than 80% of the navy warships set sail and slowly sailed towards the southern waters.

A few days ago, the Denglai Navy finally arrived here according to the route set by Yu Dayou.

Although he was mentally prepared, Xu Qiaoan was still deeply shocked by the scene he saw.

Not only Xu Qiaoan, but also his naval officers and soldiers.

In the northern waters, the Ming Dynasty only had one maritime force, the Denglai Navy, so in the area where they were active, they were the boss there and the most powerful maritime force.

Although their ships were generally old, they were also the most powerful navy.

Although many people had encountered the grain transport fleet escorted by the South China Sea Navy in the waters off Shandong before, that was only a part of the Denglai Navy, and many navy officers and soldiers had never seen the majesty of the South China Sea Navy.

Especially after communicating with Yu Dayou, Xu Qiaoan went back and eliminated and replenished some newcomers.

Yu Dayou said that the mental state of the navy officers and soldiers was really too bad, and they were not like what soldiers should be like.

For this reason, he re-screened and returned all the old soldiers to their respective guards, and re-selected a group of soldiers who were familiar with water.

So, when he saw the South China Sea Navy going out to sea, he was still shocked by the scene, with sails covering the sky and the sun in sight.

The soldiers gathered together, pointing and whispering at the fleet of the South China Sea Fleet that was going away, and naturally all of them caught Xu Qiaoan's eyes.

However, he could only envy and be jealous.

As the commander-in-chief of the Denglai Navy, he naturally wanted to make his navy a large fleet like the South China Sea Fleet all the time.

Especially those gunboats that looked like bird boats, but were very different, and the huge number of cannons on the bow and both sides left a deep impression on him.

Even though he was not familiar with such naval warfare, he was deeply shocked.

It can be imagined how amazing the power of a salvo of such warships lined up in a row would be.

A single ship can fire twelve shells to one side of the ship, and those gunboats can fire nearly a hundred shells at the enemy at a time. How can they fight?

How many warships can get close to them? I am afraid that they have been hit by shells, and there will be casualties on the deck.

In the past, the Ming navy had artillery fire, but it was definitely not the first choice. It was still mainly melee combat and fire attack.

According to Yu Dayou, the goal of the South China Sea Navy was to develop into a maritime force that relied on a large number of artillery to fight in the ocean, which completely overturned Xu Qiaoan's previous deep impression of naval warfare.

He even learned from Yu Dayou about the powerful armed forces of the Yi people's merchant ships.

The firepower of a single ship even exceeded that of the South China Sea Navy gunboats that he coveted.

Well, he could only sigh secretly that he was ignorant in the northern waters.

Because the Ming Dynasty had always only conducted tribute trade in the south, even if there were envoys to pay tribute to the capital, they mostly landed in Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong and arrived in Beijing through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, not by sea at all.

Naturally, the northern navy was unaware of what the southern navy had already seen, and had no idea that the methods of naval warfare had changed drastically.

"Alas, I don't know when the court will pay attention to the Denglai Navy and allocate money to build a batch of such warships."

Xu Qiaoan was inspired. The deputy general beside him hurried forward and whispered in his ear: "If you want the court to allocate money, I'm afraid you still have to ask the Lord to come forward.

I heard that the Nanhai Navy is in its current situation because their admiral has a big backer in the court, who can get money for them.

Not only the money from the Ministry of Works, but also the money from the southeastern provinces, will be delivered on time every year, never in arrears."

The deputy general's words also reminded Xu Qiaoan that although the Xu family still has some say in Shandong, it is also very limited. After all, this is no longer the era when the words of the nobles in the early days of the country are effective. Only the words of the civil officials count.

"Admiral Yu has the cabinet Wei Ge Lao behind him. He is in charge of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works, so he can naturally provide convenience for them."

Xu Qiaoan is certainly not blind or deaf, he still knows about the things in the capital.

However, his Xu family is not the Xu of the Duke of Wei and the Duke of Ding, and has nothing to do with Wei Guangde.

"Should you ask the Lord to talk to the Duke of Wei in Nanjing? I heard that Wei Ge Lao is the brother-in-law of the Duke of Wei. As long as we get close to him, we should be able to get some convenience."

The deputy general whispered.

Now the Marquis of Yongkang is in Nanjing, so he is also a member of the noble group, and he can still talk to the Duke of Wei, the boss of the nobles in Nanjing.

"I will write a letter to try later, otherwise I don't know when the Shandong Provincial Administration will delay the payment of money and grain."

Xu Qiaoan is also suffering. It seems glorious to be in charge of the Denglai Navy, but only he knows the inside best.

The money and grain are in the hands of the civil officials. If they don't pay the money and grain on time, he, the general, can only go to Jinan to ask for help, which is really embarrassing.

But there is no way, the military generals are weak now.

In many places, the fifth-rank military governor dared to point at the nose of the second-rank general and curse, and the military generals did not dare to retort.

Do you want to say that these military generals have no one behind them?

That is of course impossible. Without someone in the capital, you can't even inherit the position.

This is the general environment of the officialdom now, and civil officials can suppress military generals.

"I heard that the South China Sea Navy went to Southeast Asia this time to grab the territory of Luzon.

It was originally a vassal state of my Ming Dynasty, but now it is occupied by the barbarians."

The deputy commander continued.

"That's the case. For the sake of safety, Admiral Yu took all the main forces of the South China Sea Navy away, just to avoid causing trouble in Luzon.

With soldiers in hand, he is naturally not panicked, and he can also force the barbarians to bow their heads."

Yu Dayou would not tell the low-level generals in the army about this kind of thing, but high-ranking officials like the general of the Denglai Navy are also the top existence in the current Ming Navy, so they naturally know it.

"The encirclement and suppression of the Lin Feng pirate group is fake. The order from the capital is to take at least half of Luzon.

The barbarians occupied Luzon, but they will not continue to submit to the Ming Dynasty. In order to prevent it, a certain number of troops are stationed in Luzon to monitor at any time."

Xu Qiaoan said.

These were also discussed on Yu Dayou's boat the day before yesterday. At that time, he knew that the barbarians relied on strong ships and powerful guns to seize territory everywhere.

And their powerful armed merchant ships were also mentioned by Yu Dayou at this time.

When Yu Dayou called him to his place yesterday, Xu Qiaoan was still visiting a gunboat to learn about the tactics they practiced.

The Ming Dynasty, because the Han people were in power, did not have the situation of being afraid of this and that at that time in the Qing Dynasty, and their foreign thoughts were still very open.

Although they did not accept all Western things, they were also good at absorbing and using them for their own purposes.

So, after obtaining weapons such as the Portuguese cannon, the red cannon and the bird gun, they found their huge power on the battlefield, and naturally accepted them quickly and quickly popularized them in the army.

There is no doubt that if the Opium War had been fought against the Ming Dynasty, the outcome would have been hard to predict.

It’s just a pity that God did not bless China. (End of this chapter)