As expected by Wan Lei, after the Ming court learned of the military disaster in Korea, it was unable to send troops to aid the DPRK, so it could only order the Liao army entrenched in Liaodong, that is, the Yan rebels, to send troops into the DPRK. Such a decision by the court would naturally weaken the Liao army.
However, the decision-makers of the imperial court made formalistic mistakes. They never imagined that what the Liao army wanted was this edict, because in this way, the Liao army could legitimately invade North Korea.
Speaking of North Korea, it is also an emerging country. Its predecessor was called Goryeo, and it was originally a vassal state of the Mongolian Yuan Dynasty. After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, it switched to the Ming Dynasty, but it had both sides.
collude, covet
In the territory of Liaodong in the Ming Dynasty, ten years ago, the Goryeo general Li Chenggui, who held military power, launched a coup and came to power. He became the actual leader of the Goryeo Kingdom, began to change the Yuan title system, and obtained the canonization from the Ming Dynasty with the right to know the state affairs of Korea.
Quan knew that the king of Korea was not the king of Korea. Although Li Chenggui was dissatisfied with the Ming Dynasty, he was forced by the tyrannical power of the Ming Dynasty and did not have another incident. Seven years later, the first princely rebellion occurred in Korea. Li Chenggui’s fifth son
Li Bangyuan launched a coup, killing the crown prince Li Bangshuo and the powerful minister Zheng Daozhuan, and forced Li Chenggui to abdicate.
Li Chenggui was already old and ill, so he had no choice but to give way to his second son Li Bangguo. However, this did not bring long-lasting peace to North Korea. Soon after, the actual leader of North Korea, Li Yuanfang, launched another coup and took the throne from his brother.
, he petitioned the Ming Dynasty for the title, and finally he was granted the title of King of Korea, and the country of Korea was finally recognized by the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, the purpose of Emperor Jianwen's official canonization of North Korea was to win over North Korea, because it was the time of King Yan's rebellion. Emperor Jianwen did not want North Korea to fall to the Yan rebels, so he compromised. For this reason, North Korea also repeatedly appealed to the Ming Dynasty
He donated war horses and other materials to help the Ming Dynasty suppress rebellion, so Jianwen also had a good impression of North Korea.
However, North Korea's move offended the Yan rebels. After Zhu Di was killed, Zhu Gaoxu inherited the rebel forces and harbored a grudge against North Korea. Now he has occupied Liaodong and has tens of thousands of troops. If he does not avenge this right now, what more will he do?
At that time, North Korea was located to the east of Liaodong, which was a thorn in Zhu Gaoxu's side. Unless it was conquered, he would not be able to conquer the south with peace of mind.
However, Zhu Gaoxu had just received the canonization of the King of Liao from the Ming Dynasty and could not blatantly invade North Korea, so he secretly colluded with the Jurchens in Liaodong and gave them some benefits, allowing them to enter the country first to plunder. There were too few Jurchens, so he could not
He might occupy North Korea, so he sent some elite soldiers disguised as Jurchens to join him.
Tens of thousands of cavalry appeared in North Korea, catching the King of Korea off guard. At this time, North Korea had just experienced two princes' rebellions, and its national power had been greatly reduced. Moreover, the King of North Korea was eager to carry out land reform, which touched the interests of many nobles, resulting in
People's hearts were scattered, and the morale of the army was relatively low. Naturally, it was unable to resist the invasion. Ping'an Road, Ning'an Road, and Hwanghae Road, which bordered the Ming Dynasty, fell one after another. Seeing that the enemy was about to attack Hanyang, the capital of North Korea, North Korea urgently needed the Ming army.
of assistance.
Of course, the Ming Dynasty could not just watch its vassal state be destroyed, otherwise the power of Heaven would be gone. However, it was now surrounded by enemies and could not draw out its troops, and the Ming Dynasty and North Korea were separated by Liaodong. Although the King of Liao accepted
Although he won the canonization, he would definitely not let the Ming army pass by. After thinking about it, he could only let the Liao army send troops one way, which would play into the wishes of the King of Liao.
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty could not let the King of Liao send troops in vain. Before sending troops, King Zhu Gaoxu of Liao sent people to ask the Ming Dynasty for 500,000 shi of military rations and various military supplies. The court was not easy to bargain with, and only agreed to give half of it upfront.
After the chaos in Korea was settled, the remaining half was given, hoping to use this method to contain the Liao army to prevent it from occupying Korea and not leaving.
In addition, the Ming Dynasty still had a hand in hand. Although it could not send troops to North Korea on land, the navy began to gather on a larger scale. Emperor Jianwen appointed Yu Min, the Marquis of Yuecheng, as the chief of the navy, leading more than 300 warships.
More than 40,000 navy troops went north to the Korean waters to transport grain to support the Liao and Korean armies, fulfilling the Fisherman's Hope.
Of course, when this navy goes north, in addition to the above purposes, it will also pass by the sea outside Shuntian Mansion. As for what they are doing, Wan Lei certainly doesn't think that they are just passing by to make soy sauce. In short, such a large fleet is hanging around nearby.
Fortunately, it would take at least a month to prepare for such a large naval force to be assembled.
One month is the time to save lives. After Wan Lei learned the news, he asked the shipwrights to rush to build warships, and the navy also trained hard to form combat capabilities before the Ming Navy invaded in large numbers.
In the fiery June, Wan Lei, dripping with sweat, directed the shipwrights to install the cannon on the Zhenyuan No. 1. This cannon is the latest steel-cast cannon. It is completely black and extremely smooth. The cannon is nearly four meters long, has a caliber of 15 centimeters, and can be reloaded.
Fifty pounds of ammunition has a range of about 700 meters.
The barrel of the newly cast steel cannon is not too thick, so the gun body is not too heavy. In addition, the artillery has the characteristics of long barrel, high muzzle velocity, long range, small launch angle, low and flat trajectory, and can be aimed directly.
, there is no need to calculate ballistics, so the shooting accuracy is very high, within one mile, the error does not exceed two meters. As long as large targets within the range can be hit once aimed, it can be said to be a ship-breaking weapon.
I have to say that the boatmen introduced by Zen Master Mu Dao are very reliable. They divided the cabin into four floors, with the upper and lower floors separated. The upper level was beaten upside down, but the lower level could still maintain power and combat power. Even if the enemy occupied the ship building
, still unable to capture the entire warship, you have to attack from the top to the bottom to complete the capture.
What's even more commendable is that the sound insulation effect between the upper and lower cabins established by the shipwrights is very good. There is a thick deck, so you can't hear the people talking above. It can isolate people. Even if the top is defeated, the bottom will still fight hard.
, will not be defeated across the board. And communication relies on bamboo tubes that run up and down. The officers above do not need to send people down the cabin, but can also directly give orders to the soldiers below, which is convenient and fast.
Of course, there are many details of improvements on the Zhenyuan. Although there are no watertight compartments, there are still partitions in each compartment. Even if the thick shell of the warship has holes and water enters, the water-incoming area can be quickly sealed.
To prevent shipwreck, the safety factor is still very high.
Just as Wan Lei was inspecting the internal structure of the warship, a guard ran in and said: "Sir, Miss Liu asked to see you, saying that she has something important to discuss."
"Let her sit in the command room first and don't let her look around." Wan Lei didn't want to spread the news that he had a good steel cannon, lest Mrs. Liu and his gang clamored to buy it again. After all, this thing is not for sale, so the cabin
Outsiders are not allowed to visit the lower part.
Liu Wan led a few soldiers and stood in the command room, looking around, but there were more than a dozen strong men with camouflage on their faces standing around the command room. Of course she knew that these black-faced people were Wan Lei's guards——
The Jingzhong Guards usually don't show their true colors to others, and they seem to reject people thousands of miles away. She can't figure out their origins, and as for other thoughts, she can't even deal with them.
Soon, Wan Lei came up from the cabin. He washed his face and then said, "What's the matter?"
"Young Master Wan's warship has been built so quickly. Why don't you invite us to visit it?" Liu Wan accompanied her with a flower-like smile, but Wan Lei was not fooled and just said calmly: "Is it too fast? I still think it's too fast.
slow."
In fact, in terms of shipbuilding speed, the construction of the Zhenyuan was extremely slow. You know, the shipyards in the Ming Dynasty could build hundreds of warships a year. Of course, the construction of the Zhenyuan was slow except for the craftsmen and
In addition to the lack of materials, the Zhenyuan was more difficult to build than Fu Chuan and Sha Chuan.
Not to mention anything else, just the ribs one after another, it would take dozens of boatmen more than ten days to assemble them. The Fuzhou ship adopts a watertight warehouse design, which requires very few ribs and few ship plates.
There are few, so it can be formed by simple splicing, using much less materials and man-hours.
Seeing that Wan Lei did not agree to allow people to visit the interior of the warship, Liu Wan did not dwell on the issue and asked with a change of tone: "When will the young master's warship be able to go to sea for combat?"
"Well, according to the schedule, it will take ten days before we can actually go to sea to fight." Wan Lei didn't hide anything. Anyway, the military port and Dagu Port are very close, so many things can't be hidden even if they want to.
"Ten days? That's too long." Liu Wan frowned and said, "My godmother sent me a message, stating that the imperial navy has been assembled and will head north via the coast of Shandong in a few days.
There are three hundred warships and hundreds of ships of various sizes."
"I have also received this news. Once the Ming Navy approaches, our navy will go out to sea, and the coast will be undefended. I suggest you make plans early, and it is best to abandon the harbor." Wan Lei had already prepared to abandon the ship.
The plan for the port, because the two Zhenyuan and the two Dingyuan have been formed, can go to sea to fight guerrillas. As for the port, all the materials have been shipped away, and all the new cannons have been packed away. If they want to stay, they can only leave an airport for the other side.
.
"It turns out that the young master has been prepared for a long time. It seems that the little girl is unfounded. Oh, by the way, because there are too many enemies, the godmother suggested that we join forces to fight together. I wonder what will happen to the young master in the future?" There are three hundred Ming troops.
There were many warships, and Madam Liu's side was definitely no match for them, so she asked Liu Wan to find allies.
"Well, I'm not the commander of the navy. How to fight is the military's business. I can't interfere. You can just discuss it with Commander Liu."
"Commander Liu asked me to come to the young master to discuss it. He said that if the young master agrees, he will obey the order." Liu Wan did not want to do Tai Chi and said directly.
"How many ships do you have now?" Wan Lei asked with a frown. To be honest, he didn't want to cooperate with Mrs. Liu and her group, because their warships were very poor, and they might be a hindrance when the war started.
, but if you ignore it, you may lose an ally in the future.
"My godmother has seventeen warships, and I can gather three here, for a total of twenty warships. We have too few warships, so we can only fight and run, and we cannot fight head-on with the Ming army."
"Twenty versus three hundred, this is definitely not an advantage. No wonder Mrs. Liu wants to partner with me. After all, she can't support such a large army by herself." When Wan Lei thought of this, he said: "It's not impossible to join forces to fight.
Yes, but I have one request, that is, all actions will be directed by us. If you do not act according to the instructions, we will leave you alone."
"Well, I'm afraid it's not good. If you ask us to lead the charge and die, we will go too?" Liu Wan said in a slightly playful tone.
"Don't worry, we won't let you die, but if you don't obey orders and run around, we won't take the risk to save you, lest you get involved."
"We have twenty boats, and you only have four. Who is taking advantage of whom?" Liu Wan asked rhetorically.
"Twenty ships of yours may seem like a lot, but you only have eighty cannons at most. One of my ships is equipped with a hundred cannons, and four ships are four hundred. Even without you, our four ships would fight guerrillas.
It can also repel incoming enemies. Tell me, who is taking advantage of whom?"
"Well, a little girl can't make the decision. She has to wait for the godmother to come before she can make the decision."
"You'd better let her go north quickly. Our navy will set sail within ten days. By then, even if you want to get close to us, you won't be able to find us."