Chapter 410 The Navy's Great Expansion! Two Generals at once!
Zhang Mingzhen watched the imperial navy fighting the Zheng navy on his flagship. He was a little lost in thought! The intensity of the naval battle was beyond his expectation. Hundreds of large warships were fighting together, and the sea within a hundred miles was erupting at any time.
During the war, large warships were being sunk every day.
That was a big fortune ship. The value of a fortune ship plus its artillery was over ten thousand taels of silver, and two or three ships could be sunk in one day! After ten days of fighting, the imperial court had less than thirty fortune ships left.
Five or six of the lucky ships brought by Zhang Mingzhen were also sunk. Of course, the Zheng family suffered even greater losses, with nearly forty large ships suffering heavy damage and withdrawing from the battle.
What impressed Zhang Mingzhen most deeply was the terrifying firepower on the imperial ships. The multi-barreled artillery they equipped was simply a weapon for close combat. Any close combat was a sea of artillery attacks. It was precisely because of this gun shield that the Zheng family's navy became more and more powerful.
Suffer a loss, otherwise the imperial navy may not be able to sustain the losses long ago.
In the naval battle that lasted for a month, the navy lost about half of its main battleships. If the battle continued like this, the navy would no longer have combat power. Fortunately, the Zheng family could no longer bear the losses, so the main force withdrew from the river mouth and went back to rest, leaving only some small boats.
to contain.
Is this a naval battle in the new era? Such an unprecedented scale made Zhang Minzhen feel that he could not adapt to the situation. Before coming to Jiangkou, he felt that although he was a guerrilla, he had worked hard to save some wealth, including a dozen lucky ships, plus
With three or four auxiliary ships, he was still considered a big leader. But when he actually participated in the naval battle, he realized that he was nothing compared to the Zheng family and the imperial navy. When did the world become like this?
?More than 50 ships are unavailable? It's really crazy. At first, he thought that with all his wealth, he could become a general. Now he thinks that he can't be as good as Shang Ruocheng.
Hard to say.
"Another fleet from the imperial court is coming! General Fuping, you and Ruocheng will take the fleet to greet them." After receiving the news from the sentinel ship, Ren Shuangyou quickly found Zhang Mingzhen and the others and asked them to meet the replenishment fleet heading south.
The consumption is too great, and Ren Shuangyou and the others are now eagerly looking forward to the addition of new troops.
After Zhang Mingzhen and the others welcomed the replenishment fleet, Ren Shuangyou quickly counted how many warships came over. There were more than thirty warships, but there were only four Dafu ships, and the others were small ships.
"Commander, the ships coming this time are all equipped with multi-barreled artillery, so that we don't have to modify them anymore, and they can basically go into battle immediately. The most special thing is that there are four iron-hulled winter ships, all covered with iron plates. Generally speaking,
The solid cannon can't do anything." After Fang Ruocheng saw Ren Shuangyou, he quickly told him the specific situation of the fleet.
"Iron-hulled ship? Can an iron-hulled ship float on the sea?"
"Of course! The person who brought the fleet here said that this kind of ship is specially used to defend against offensive fortifications. It is very strong! It also has two multi-barreled cannons. As long as it rushes into the opponent's ship array, it will be enough for them."
The hull ship was designed and produced by Zhu Youjian's idea combined with the idea of the Korean turtle ship. The ship is relatively small and slow, but has strong assault capabilities and is more suitable for breaking the deadlock when the war is intense.
"General Fuping, please transfer two lucky ships, two iron-hulled ships, and five other ships to your fleet this time! Replenish the crew members who lost the ships to these ships so that they can be restored and strengthened as soon as possible.
Combat strength. By the way, has there been any decree from the imperial court regarding the appointment of General Fu Ping?" Zhang Mingzhen's fleet has suffered relatively heavy losses in the past few days, so Ren Shuangyou thought of replenishing him first so as to repay his favor. In addition to this,
In addition to returning favors, the sailors in his fleet are easier to use and are more flexible in naval battles than the current navy's crew.
"I almost forgot about this! The imperial court gave a decree to General Fuping, who was temporarily appointed as the deputy commander of the navy with the rank of major general. His department was temporarily under his command and cooperated with the main force of the navy. After the naval battle at Jiangkou eased, he will carry out further operations on his department.
For reorganization, Deputy Commander Zhang still needs to go to Beijing to report on his duties."
After Zhang Mingzhen received the imperial edict and the new military uniforms, he calmed down a lot. In addition to his appointment status, the imperial edict also included a placement plan for his subordinates. His troops were temporarily paid three taels of silver dollars per soldier.
The imperial court was very generous and directly brought them three months of military expenses. After the formal reorganization, the specific salary situation will be determined based on the actual situation, and military pay will be issued in a regular manner. In addition, the family records of other departments will also be moved to Jiaozhou after the war.
Aoshanwei, who will give each soldier twenty acres of land, and the newly built shipyard and munitions factory will also give each soldier a job quota for his family.
"Commander, when the soldiers are sent to work in the munitions factory, are they really given a monthly salary of silver? Is the salary as much as twenty taels?" Zhang Mingzhen was so overwhelmed by the outrageous placement method. A soldier received three taels of silver dollars.
In addition to the salary, the family certificate will receive another twenty taels. With this salary alone, the soldiers and their families can live a middle-class life. The families of the soldiers are generally small households, and they only support five or six people.
"Of course, the imperial court takes great care of soldiers and their families at the moment."
"But there are some soldiers who don't have adult male qualifications to serve in military factories? They may not be able to enjoy such a good policy."
"It doesn't matter if you don't have male candidates, but you can also have adult female candidates. There are many jobs that women can do in the military equipment factory of the imperial court. This is a job that can be done for a lifetime, and there is still a pension to get when you get old. Now our team
Many soldiers here are like this, the couple are working for the imperial court, and their lives are very rich."
Both of them can receive salary from the imperial court? How can you be a soldier and fall into a trap? Just when Zhang Mingzhen wanted to ask Ren Shuangyou and the others for more detailed information, the guard came over and reported that it was Zheng Cai who came to the headquarters to ask for an audience.
…
It was already the end of August, and the Vietnamese attack on Songjiang had progressed beyond the previous plan. Only then did Zhu Youjian receive the battle report that Ren Shuangyou and his men had captured Songjiang Fucheng.
In the military command hall, Zhu Youjian summoned Huang Degong, Zhou Yanru, Chen Xinjia, and Liu Yuanbin, who had been newly transferred to the rank of general, to hold an imperial military meeting.
"Ren Shuangyou and the others finally captured Songjiang City, and the Zheng family's harassment of Jiangkou and the entire southbound route has basically stopped. Although this battle went beyond plan and nearly a hundred warships were lost. However, the harvest was considerable.
After this battle, the navy was officially established and was able to control the sea north of the Yangtze River. In addition, it also gained two unexpected generals, thousands of soldiers, and over a hundred Dafu ships. Although Zheng Cai brought the ships over,
If they are dilapidated, they can be renovated by the shipyard. Within half a year to a year, these ships can almost be used as new ships. In other words, in the middle of next year, the imperial navy will officially become a force with 200 main battleships, and
Now we will discuss the appointment of Zheng Cai and the combat missions of the navy after the expansion."
Zheng Cai was aware of current affairs and joined the imperial court. With the dilapidated lucky ships he brought, the navy had the conditions to rapidly expand its strength. These dilapidated ships should not be underestimated. The progress and technical difficulty of repairing dilapidated ships are much faster than building new ones.
In a year, the shipyard built seventy or eighty ships, and repaired another hundred sea-going ships. In an instant, the Ming Dynasty's navy more than doubled. At least it would not be bullied as badly as it was in the Battle of Songjiang!