"Vice General Yu!"

"The humble position is here!"

"Yu Haichao performed well in the previous defense battle of Zhenjiang Fort and made great contributions. Although the reward decree reported to the imperial court by the Governor has not been received, the Governor intends to transfer him from your East Road Navy to the South Road to mobilize

Give him a group of 400-ton warships to form the left wing of the Southern Navy, and let him command it, what do you think?"

"A batch of 400-material battleships?!"

"Yes,

The number of 400-material warships under his command this time will be at least five."

"Hai Chao is the nephew of a lowly official. The governor respected him and promoted him. That is his blessing. He has no objection to the lowly official."

Faced with Yang Zhen's statement, Yu Liangtai thought for a while,

He quickly agreed.

Although I will no longer have the help of my nephew Yu Haichao in the East Road Naval Camp,

However, after more than a year of integration of the East Route Naval Camp, he was already at his fingertips, and in fact he did not really need the assistance of his nephew.

Therefore, Yang Zhen's arrangement is actually a good thing for Yu Liangtai.

"The commander-in-chief is rebuilding the naval camp on the South Road. It is not enough to just have a big ship with 400 materials. He also needs ships with 100 materials or even smaller ones. Now that the tide is coming to the South Road, I will use his accustomed subordinates and some

Give him all the boats, big and small, and ask him to bring them with him!"

"Okay! This is the best! Hahahaha!"

After hearing Yu Liangtai's reply, Yang Zhen was also very happy and burst out laughing.

"Of course, the new 400-material warship built by the Jinzhou Shipyard this time will be indispensable to you, the Commander-in-Chief. You can send people to Jinzhou Bay later.

You can get one from Xiang Ping Bo as your new ship and flagship!"

After saying these words to Yu Liangtai, Yang Zhen did not forget to ask Qiu Biyong to hold out a brand new folded Big Dipper flag.

Solemnly awarded to Yu Liangtai.

With the presence of Yan Shengsan, Guo Xiaowu and Yu Haichao, Yang Zhen's planned South Road Naval Battalion has basically taken shape.

However, Yang Zhen's idea for the rebuilt South Road Naval Camp this time was of course not only to guard Lushunkou, but more importantly, to prepare for the next war to attack the Japanese slave country Kyushu Island.

Therefore, Yang Zhen not only needs young talents among naval generals, but he also needs candidates who are familiar with the navy and heavy artillery.

Therefore, Jin Yukui, who surrendered to Yang Zhen at the East Gate Wengcheng of Zhenjiang Fort, appeared in Yang Zhen's mind.

When Jin Yukui was under Shang Kexi's command, it was as if he had returned to his old career and returned to his old profession of navy. However, because he did not have Shang Kexi's trust at that time, he was selected to be responsible for training and commanding the Han Army with the Blue Banner.

gunner.

Although he himself was not happy about it, due to a strange combination of circumstances, his men still gathered a group of carefully selected heavy gunners.

Now these people, following Li Lu, Yang Shen and the others, have also returned to Lushunkou, the base camp of Jinhai Town, so they come in handy.

"Yang Shen!"

"The humble position is here!"

"This time to rebuild the South Road Navy, warships alone are not enough. We must also have cannons, heavy Hongyi cannons, sky cannons, and Folan cannons."

This time,

Yang Zhen called the main generals of each regiment and camp who returned to Lushunkou,

Yang Shen, who was in charge of the Artillery Regiment Battalion of the Eastern Expeditionary Army, attended the meeting.

But Jin Yukui did not attend.

Therefore, Yang Zhen could only give the order to Yang Shen.

"What I mean is that Jin Yukui, who was originally from the Navy, and his heavy artillery and gunners were transferred to the South Naval Battalion to serve. Jin Yukui was the right-wing staff general, and half of his troops were assigned to various ships to serve as gunners. What do you think?

how?"

"Well, even though I have been ordered to command the artillery regiment and battalion, I do not own the artillery regiment and camp. Everything I have is subject to the arrangements of the governor!"

The artillery regiment and battalion were finally replenished and strengthened in the Battle of Zhenjiang Fort. Naturally, Yang Shen did not want to be split up.

However, as he said, the artillery regiment and battalion are not his personal team, but a team built by Yang Zhen.

Faced with Yang Zhen's arrangement, no matter whether he was willing or not, he had no reason not to accept it and could only agree at the moment.

"Very good, that's it. Later, you ask Jin Yukui to report to Yan Shengsan, and then come to see me!"

"I humbly obey my orders!"

After Yang Shen accepted the order, Yang Zhen looked around at everyone, and finally his eyes rested on Lin Qingye's younger brother Lin Siye. After thinking about it, he said to him:

"Lin Siye!"

"The humble position is here!"

Although Lin Siye had met Yang Zhen before, he had never personally attended a meeting like today.

As soon as Yang Zhen called his name, he immediately stood up from his seat, followed others' example, clasped his fists and bowed, and saluted Yang Zhen.

"Well, this time your fleet is temporarily docked in Shuangdao Bay. After a short rest, you have replenished food and fresh water. You will continue to go to Denglai with Vice Admiral Yu to transfer immigrants."

"I understand the humble position!"

As soon as Yang Zheng said something, Lin Siye immediately took the order.

"Very good. You were stationed near Shicheng Island before, but that is the East Route Navy station. It is not a long-term solution for you to always be stationed there.

"So, what I mean is that after you return from Yingzhou Island, you will be stationed in Dalian Bay, and your military supplies and food will be supplied by the South Road. Do you have any opinions?"

When Lin Siye heard this, he understood what Yang Zhen meant. Yang Zhen wanted to provide them with a long-term place to stay.

Of course, Lin Siye could not have any objections to this. After all, their troops had many conflicts with the immigrants from the islands on the Jinhai East Road, and they had long wanted to relocate.

"Bizhong thanks the governor for taking care of him. I don't have any objections. I think my brother will definitely not have any different opinions!"

"That's good. After you send off the immigrants this time and return from Yingzhou Island again, remember to contact Yan Shengsan and handle the handover!"

"I humbly obey my orders!"

Faced with these arrangements made by Yang Zhen, Lin Siye, who originally thought he was just a foil, was overjoyed and hurriedly knelt on the ground to receive the order.

The discussion that started at noon that day was extremely efficient. Including the previous interviews, it took less than an hour in total.

But at this meeting, Yang Zhen quickly solved the problem of rebuilding the South Road Naval Camp.

The persons named, whether present or not, soon received formal orders from the Assistant Camp Affairs Office of the main town government.

Yan Shengsan, the former guerrilla commander of the Zhonglu Navy Battalion, took his fleet that had just returned from Yingzhou Island and took over the old port of Lushun in the Port of Lushun. He took over 400 warships and became the commander of the South Route Navy.

Chinese military strength.

After receiving the order, Yu Haichao, who originally belonged to the Jinhai East Road Naval Battalion, led a group of subordinates and ships to break away from the East Road Navy fleet stationed in the Lushun New Port behind Laohwei and entered the Long River Estuary.

The old Longhe camp became the left-wing force of the Southern Navy.

As for Jin Yukui, he also came down the same day after receiving the order and came to Jinhai General Town Hall to meet Yang Zhen.

Yang Zhen also formally introduced him to Yan Shengsan, Yu Haichao, and Guo Xiaowu, who happened to be in the main town hall, and also explained to them in detail his idea of ​​using cannons to equip warships.

Compared with the 400-material warship built by Jinzhou Shipyard, the giant plywood ship Yingzhou that Guo Xiaowu and others obtained from the Dutch Nagasaki Merchant House is not only half the length of the Yingzhou, but also only the width of the Yingzhou.

Half, and the depth of the ship is not even half that of the Yingzhou.

The depth of the 400-material warship, that is to say, the height from the upper main deck to the bottom of the ship, was only about six to seven feet at the highest point, which was about a little more than two meters in later generations.

Because there are watertight compartments built at the bottom of the ship, about one-third of the depth of the six- or seven-foot-high ship is actually taken up by the watertight compartments on the bottom.

As a result, for a 400-material warship with only two decks in total, the distance from the top main deck to the bottom deck is usually only about four to five feet.

Faced with such a height, it would be difficult for an adult of normal height to stand up straight and walk normally inside.

In comparison, the giant plywood ship Yingzhou obtained by Guo Xiaowu and others from the Dutch Nagasaki Merchant House obviously has much more space.

The reason why the Yingzhou is called a plywood ship is because it is different from the sea-going ships that were popular in the coastal areas of the Ming Dynasty and even on the seas of East Asia at that time. It has a deck between the bottom deck and the top deck.

In other words, the Dutch plywood boats had three decks: upper, middle and lower decks.

The two spaces in the middle of the three decks are where various artillery pieces are installed and various supplies are loaded.

A general plywood ship can be equipped with dozens of heavy artillery pieces on its two gun decks.

For some particularly huge plywood ships designed specifically for maritime operations, if their two artillery decks are fully utilized, one ship can be equipped with hundreds of light and heavy artillery pieces.

In this regard, the 400-material warship currently built by Jinzhou Shipyard is incomparable.

The 400-material warship that Yang Zhen accepted and brought back to Lushunkou only had two decks. This alone reduced the space for equipping artillery by half.

And Yang Zhen has also seen it with his own eyes. If the recoil of the heavy Hongyi cannon is taken into account, according to the length and width of the 400-material warship and the spatial dislocation in the cabin, the cabin of a 400-material warship is at most

It can only carry eight heavy Hongyi cannons.

However, considering that a large number of musketeers and grenadiers of the Eastern Marching Army and navy battalion soldiers were transported in the cabin, as well as a large amount of ammunition and food supplies, the number of heavy artillery loaded on each ship should be reduced.

Of course, if it is loaded with sky cannons or flying thunder cannons produced by Lushun Cannon Foundry, then the number can be much larger.
To be continued...