"Your Majesty, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy also believes that capturing Port Arthur is the best choice!" The speaker was Qiu Rong, the right minister of the Ministry of War.

Now the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty has two ministers on the left and right. The left minister is in charge of the military and political affairs of the army, and the right minister is in charge of the naval affairs. They are in charge of the navy, not in charge of the navy's military affairs.

Therefore, the Military Command Department in charge of naval military orders is a subordinate of the right minister of the Ministry of War. The Military Advisor Office in charge of army military orders is an yamen at the same level as the Ministry of War, and there is no reporting relationship between them.

The reason for this arrangement is, of course, to prevent the Army Minister (Zuo Shangshu) of the Ministry of War from gaining too much power and posing a threat to the future imperial power.

The Minister of the Navy (You Shangshu) has few soldiers to dispatch on land and cannot pose any threat to the imperial power, so there is no need to impose too many restrictions. Therefore, the Minister of Military Affairs of the Navy has become a subordinate of the Minister of the Navy.

.

The real power of the Navy Minister is therefore much greater than that of the Army Minister!

"Lushunkou is a natural port that can dock large-scale offshore sailing ships, and it is also a port that does not freeze all year round..." Qiu Rong said, "At the same time, it is also a military port for the Qingyao Beiyang Navy. Although it is tightly guarded, the port facilities are also relatively complete. Once

Since I own it, large soft-sailed ships worth more than 10,000 stones can sail directly into the port, and the efficiency of transporting troops and food will be greatly increased!"

The so-called 10,000-stone ship refers to a load capacity of 10,000 shi, which is about 600 deadweight tons, and a displacement of about more than 1,000 tons. The long-sea ships currently owned by Nanyang Trading Company and the Ming Dynasty Military Department are basically of this level, and

Their "ancestor" is the Great Eastern, which was hijacked by Zhu Heji many years ago and then forcibly bought... This large ship, which has long been obsolete in Europe, has finally been taken over by Guangzhou.

The shipyards in Quanzhou and Songjiang have suffered a lot.

Qiu Rong then added: "If we don't take Port Arthur and land in a place without a big port, even if it is easy to capture, the subsequent transportation of troops and food will be a big trouble. It is better to be harsh at the beginning and kill Port Arthur.

Got it!"

Zhu Heji nodded: "Since the navy and the Dengzhou camp have this intention...then take capturing Lushunkou as the first goal after the war begins!"

The matter of the surprise attack has been settled with one blow!

But now is not the time to end the meeting and go back to each other's homes, because Zhu Heji still wants to play bigger.

"Qing Yao has stationed 60,000 troops in Liaodong. If we don't mobilize some, it will be difficult for us to launch a surprise attack, right?" Zhu Heji looked at the Liaodong Peninsula on the big map with burning eyes, "Then how should we mobilize Liaodong?

Qingyao?"

"We can attack Ningyuan first!" Zhao Zhongyi said, "Qingyao has been preventing us from attacking Liaodong, so all the soldiers are in Liaodong, and there are not many garrison troops in western Liaoning. At the same time, there are many fortresses left by the former Ming Dynasty in western Liaoning.

If we capture a few and establish a firm foothold... it will be equivalent to dividing Qingyao's three major armies: the Liaodong Army, the Beijing-Tianjin Army, and the Kouwai Army. Kang Mazi will definitely fight back with all his strength.

.”

What he is talking about now is the strategy that Dengzhou Camp has been preparing for two years. It already has a fairly complete plan, but it does not suit Zhu Heji's wishes.

Zhu Heji asked: "Is it just Ningyuan?"

"Isn't one Ningyuan enough?" King Zhu Tian was stunned, "Our Dengzhou camp has a total of more than 70,000 people, and we have to guard against the Qingyao attack from Shandong. If we can send 60,000 people to the northern expedition to Liaodong, Liaoxi will be able to hold up the sky.

If we want to attack Ningyuan to lure the enemy, Ningyuan must send at least one town, and the remaining three towns can be attacked at Lushunkou... If we divide our troops to attack elsewhere, there will not be enough troops to attack Lushun."

Zhu Heji shook his head, "Regardless of the soldiers in Dengzhou...the four towns are all concentrated in the Lushunkou area!"

"No division of troops?" King Zhu Tian asked, "Then how to mobilize Qingyao's Liaodong Army?"

"There is no distinction between troops in Dengzhou," Zhu Heji said, "We can send troops from elsewhere!"

"From somewhere else?" King Zhu Tian still didn't understand what his son meant. "Is it necessary to go directly from the south of the Yangtze River to the Bohai Sea by sea?"

"If you don't enter the Bohai Sea, why enter the Bohai Sea?" Zhu Heji shook his head, "Let's enter North Korea!"

Entering North Korea?

This time it was not King Zhu Tian who was stunned, but everyone in the map room was stunned.

In fact, everyone has suggested more than once in the past two years that Zhu Heji should attack North Korea...at least to destroy the Qing Dynasty's "concession" Haizhou Port on North Korea's territory.

Moreover, people in North Korea have been secretly contacting Ming Dynasty, hoping to ask Ming Dynasty to quickly send troops to help North Korea drive away the Tartars.

However, Zhu Heji only talked but did not take action. On the one hand, he sent envoys to North Korea and asked King Li Yin of North Korea to expel the Qing Dynasty and foreign barbarians in Haizhou. On the other hand, he did not send any troops to North Korea and even vetoed the navy's proposal to send warships to attack Haizhou.

Hong Kong’s suggestions.

Due to Zhu Heji's "gentlemen talk but not actions" and Kangxi's decisive troop dispatch, the "Northern Expedition" faction in North Korea had already lost power. Now the ministers assisting King Li Zhen are almost all "Shiqing faction".

You guys originally thought that Zhu Heji's intention was to pacify the country first before fighting against the outside world. Unexpectedly, now that a civil war is about to start, he is thinking of sending troops to North Korea... This is King Zhu Daming's plan, guys.

It becomes increasingly difficult to understand.

"Your Majesty," Zhuge Sanhe, who was good at calculating and calculating, was a little confused about Zhu Heji's thoughts, so he frowned and reminded, "This country of Korea joined the Sixteen-Nation Alliance under the pressure of Qing Yao.

...Although most of the sixteen countries are quite far away from North Korea, Japan may still send troops under the instigation of the Netherlands and Spain. If we want to take action against North Korea, we'd better find a way to mobilize them.

Let’s go to Japan.”

Right Prime Minister Yu Zhongxian also echoed: "Your Majesty, Tokugawa Mitsuki, a disciple of the great scholar Zhu Shunshui, is now in a high position. Who is the deputy general of the shogunate? Perhaps Mr. Shunshui can be asked to come forward and persuade the Tokugawa shogunate to make peace with me and withdraw from the Ten

Six-Nation Alliance."

Zhu Heji nodded and said with a smile: "That's fine, you can ask Mr. Shunshui to work hard. But on the Ryukyu issue, we can't waver at all!"

This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Zhuge Sanhe and Yu Zhongxian both frowned a little. If the Ming Dynasty did not give in on the Ryukyu issue, how could the shogunate withdraw from the Sixteen-Nation Alliance?

In fact, the Tokugawa shogunate was drawn into the Sixteen-Nation Alliance by the Dutch and Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty because the Ming Dynasty always used the Ryukyu issue to provoke them.

They joined the alliance not so much to oppose the Ming Dynasty, but rather to use their alliance as a bargaining chip to engage in diplomacy with the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, if Ryukyu is captured by thunder earlier tomorrow, the Tokugawa shogunate will hold its nose and admit it... Ryukyu is not the territory of the Tokugawa shogunate, but the territory of the Satsuma clan.

After the Satsuma Domain took possession of Ryukyu, they used Ryukyu's special status to circumvent the Tokugawa Shogunate's seclusion order and secretly trade with foreign barbarians and the Ming Dynasty, which did not benefit the shogunate's rule at all.

But now that the shogunate is under pressure from public opinion, it is difficult to cede Ryukyu to the Ming Dynasty... and the Ming Dynasty is just "talking". In this case, even if Tokugawa Mitsuhiro is willing to help, the shogunate will probably not withdraw.

Sixteen-Nation Alliance.

Not only will they not withdraw, they may even send three to five hundred warriors to station at the Japanese Pavilion in Busan to show toughness when the Ming Dynasty sends troops to Korea.

Zhu Heji paused and then asked Zuo Chunqiu: "Commander Zuo, how are we going to start the situation in North Korea? Is there any record at the Military Advisor Office?"

"Report to your Majesty," Zuo Chunqiu replied, "Now there are two factions in Korea: the Confucian Party and the Confucian Party. The leader of the Confucian Party is Yin Yin, the original leader of the Northern Expedition and the Southern People's Party. He

After being squeezed out of the center by the North Korean king Li Yin, he colluded with the old and out-of-power leader of the Western Party Song Shiyeol. Both wanted to squeeze out the Confucian Party around Li Yin and return to the North Korean center...

We can provide assistance to the Confucian Party in North Korea and let them start an uprising in Seoul, the capital of North Korea, and try to control the North Korean monarch, so that we have an excuse and support to send troops."
Chapter completed!