Chapter 280 The Sword Points at Japan () Off topic
Heavy fog is not only an obstacle to movement, but also the best cover, especially for those who are familiar with the environment.
The fleet of the Maritime Trade Alliance has been hiding around Sacheon since the landing in Sacheon, and has never appeared outside Busan Port, but staying in Sacheon does not mean that it is parked in the port and does nothing.
They clearly investigated the hydrological and sea conditions in the sea area between Geoje Island and Noryangjin. Not only did they map and mark the location of the islands and the direction of the ocean currents, they also searched for local Korean fishermen and tried their best to ask about possible extreme weather at different times and periods.
In short, the Sea Trade Alliance fleet has made corresponding preparations for all factors that may affect operations in this sea area.
Speaking of which, this is also a fine tradition formed by the Maritime Trade Alliance, especially Jinghua, over the years. After all, Gao Pragmatic's understanding of the "Century Navy" has a large proportion of "how to form a fine tradition."
However, there are also certain factors of coincidence that the encirclement can be formed in the fog.
When the heavy fog began to appear, it was actually not bright yet. Due to the close distance between them, the four ships of the Ming Army turned on their windproof signal lights for the purpose of contacting the command. They happened to be discovered by the main fleet moving slowly eastward.
Since the large windproof signal lamp is still one of the special features of the Maritime Trade Alliance (a glass cover with a retort-like structure, the lower base can be removed to replenish lamp oil and replace the wick, and the outside is fixed and protected by covered wire mesh), so the "Dongchang"
"Captain and interim fleet commander Gao Shengyi knew as soon as he heard that the decoy formation must have returned.
Gao Shengyi immediately ordered to get in touch and learned that the Japanese navy was not far behind the decoy formation. He did not hesitate to order the formation to be changed and a targeted encirclement net was deployed.
This is not a siege, there is no siege, it is a complete siege from all directions.
Of course, the force division is not evenly distributed. The flagship "Dongchang" second-class battleship and the two third-class battleships "Changning" and "Changding" are all assigned to face the enemy head-on.
Five first-class cruisers are assigned to the left wing of the fleet, or the northern position, and six second-class cruisers are assigned to the right wing, or the southern position.
At this time, in addition to the four decoy formations that had been operating continuously for a day and night, and the twelve ships that had been previously transferred to support operations outside Busan Port, there were still thirty armed transport ships left. Gao Shengyi assigned fifteen of them to go around the encirclement.
In the east, that is, behind the Japanese navy, five ships were allocated to each of the three routes in the west, south, and north.
Judging from this configuration, the east route blocking the Japanese army's return route has the largest number, but there are no main warships; the front of the west route is the strongest because there are three battleships that can be called the giants of the sea in today's world; the north and south two
There are cruisers on the road, and there are many of them, and they are equally powerful.
Obviously, the three north, south, west and south roads are the main attack routes, while the east road is mainly responsible for blocking the entrance to prevent the Japanese navy from escaping back to Busan after being defeated. As the north and south routes each have several cruisers with strong combat effectiveness and fast speed, they can also be used on the east road.
It exists as a pursuit fleet when there is a hole in the blockage.
There is no doubt that this is a sure-kill formation. It is not intended to leave even a glimmer of hope for the Japanese naval forces. It is completely aimed at annihilating it. In fact, this is also a reflection of Gao Shengyi's emotions in this battle - he is
It’s really frustrating.
At the beginning of the expedition, when he saw that his master had mobilized such a large-scale main force of the Beiyang Fleet, he was already prepared for a shocking decisive battle with the Japanese navy, and he was thinking of a "Battle of Baijiangkou". , followed the example of the Tang Dynasty, and defeated Japan in one battle.
Who would have expected that after North Korea, the master only transferred twelve armed transport ships in his fleet to the imperial navy to help blockade the Busan Port, while the real main force of the battle stayed in Sacheon "with nothing to do" and could only do some hydrographic reconnaissance. Noisy business".
This made Gao Shengyi, who was holding his breath to fight a big battle, almost depressed. Every day, he was wondering when the battle situation would change, so that the Beiyang Fleet, which had been holding back its energy, would vent its anger, lest the two fleets of the North and the South would be separated. He was underestimated by those guys from Nanyang during the annual routine joint exercise.
Having said that, it is necessary to briefly describe the development and performance of the Nanyang Fleet in recent years.
During the Battle of Luzon, Gao pragmatically dispatched the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance with the Beiyang Fleet as the core in order to train the Beiyang Fleet, which rarely had opportunities for large-scale actual combat (mainly because of the need to lead the nobles to explore new markets). The fleet, together with the Marine Corps and other land-based armed servants, fought the entire battle of Luzon.
The Nanyang Fleet, except for sending a group of sailors who were familiar with the conditions of the Luzon Sea to act as guides, almost did not participate in the war at all, which led to some voices of dissatisfaction within the Nanyang Fleet.
Jinghua’s system is self-contained, but its top-level system is ultimately still the Ming Dynasty’s domestic servant system, which resulted in that in principle, except for the high-pragmatic couple and the Gao family clan members, everyone else was a slave.
What is a slave? The biggest characteristic of slaves is that they all belong to the master physically. For example, when the master divides the family, he must distribute them together with other properties, and the master can sell and transfer them at will.
In other words, the master is the "only" to the slave, and the slave is "one" to the master. The master is the owner of ownership, and the slave is only the owner's property.
Property does not require self-awareness, and all will depends on the owner, so the Nanyang Fleet does not dare to be dissatisfied with Gao Pragmatic's decision.
However, people are human after all, not to mention that Jinghua's reward and punishment system is very clear and strict. As part of the armed servants, in addition to "promotion and salary increase" such as length of service and daily meritorious service, they want to gain status and wealth. The best way to accumulate is to make military exploits.
There was almost no actual fighting in the acquisition of the Aralia Peninsula (Malay Peninsula) before (in fact, they also fought a few small countries, but they were basically at the level of armed marches). It was Huang Zhiting who finally used military threats and economic oppression to obtain the land from Portugal through political means. Received in human hands.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! This caused the Nanyang Fleet, which had held back a big breath and prepared for a big fight with the Spanish and Portuguese Empire, to be dumbfounded on the spot. In the end, it only received a month's salary increase as a reward, and the entire fleet came aboard. Very disappointed from top to bottom.
When it came time to conquer Luzon, it was clear that Luzon should be within the responsibility of the Nanyang Fleet from a geographical point of view. However, because the Ming Dynasty was accustomed to treating Luzon as part of the "Eastern Ocean", the task was assigned to the Beiyang side, even more so. This aggravated the depression of the Nanyang Fleet.
Not long after this, not only did Gao Pingshi learn that the Nanyang Fleet was in a mood, but Huang Zhiting, who was stationed in southern Xinjiang on his behalf, received an intelligence alert from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and had to tailor some additional tasks for the Nanyang Fleet.
At that time, the Indo-China Peninsula and the Aralia Peninsula were already in the hands of Beijing, and the remaining unconquered areas in the Southeast Asia were probably the so-called "East Indies" or "Spice Islands" in later generations. Naturally, these additional tasks were nothing more than targeting them.
Naturally, Gao Pragmatic would not call these places the "East Indies". He called them "Nanyang Islands" according to the Chinese custom. Therefore, the mission statement finally obtained by the Nanyang Fleet was the "Nanyang Islands Plan".
In fact, the plan was very rough at the time. It was filled with all kinds of highly uncertain wordings such as "if there is an opportunity", "if conditions permit", "if the time is right" and so on. It did not issue any instructions to the Nanyang Fleet.
Clear task objectives and deadlines for completion.
In short, this is a "statement of intent". As for how much your Nanyang Fleet can achieve, it doesn't matter.
Obviously, the original intention of Gao Jingshi and Huang Zhiting was just to give the Nanyang Fleet a "head start". In fact, they didn't hold much hope. Gao Jingshi wanted to digest the Indo-China Peninsula first, such as building Dingnancheng, the core of the rule, and then building Nanyang trade.
The center is Aralia City (Malacca City) and the Nanyang Naval Center Huzhou City (Singapore).
As for the Nanyang Islands... you might as well wait to avoid indigestion.
However, as these years passed, the third phase of the construction of Dingnan City was completely completed. Jinghua built the largest, most advanced and extremely strong super city in the history of Nanyang slightly south of Bangkok, as the core of its rule in southern Xinjiang.
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How big will the city be after the completion of the third phase of the project? Compare it to the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
Of course, for political expression and military practical purposes, Dingnan City did not adopt the square and symmetrical layout of the central axis like the Ming Dynasty capital, but instead turned it into a super-large bastion-style city.
Its periphery is a polygon with up to twenty-eight protruding triangular parts. It is more like a gear shape than a star shape.
Each "gear" is a firepower point, and up to one target force can be deployed, which is 1,756 people. Twenty-eight gears mean 49,168 people, a front-line defense force of nearly 50,000 troops.
Of course, it is not necessarily necessary to arrange a full strength. Each "gear" has a battalion of about 500 people, which can also better complete the defensive task. In this way, the total number of front-line troops can be reduced to more than 16,000 people, but the strength is not
The reduction is too large, allowing the defender to fully adjust flexibly according to the actual situation.
The nominal palace of Siam, but in fact the core of Beijing's rule, is located on a peninsula almost in the middle of the city. The peninsula is not small, but the connection to the land is quite long and narrow, making it extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack.
The peninsula itself is adjacent to the Chao Phraya River, and there is a large lake on the peninsula, so there is no shortage of water sources. Even if there is an accident, it will definitely be able to hold on for a long time. In addition, as long as the naval advantage always exists, even the worst can be done.
Leave by water and boat.
The third phase of the Dingna City project cost Jinghua a huge amount of money, but the final effect was remarkable and even shocking. Not to mention that the nobles from all over southern Xinjiang were shocked by the work. Not only did the nobles who had received the quota for relocation all follow Jinghua's instructions, They requested to move to the city, and even many small and medium-sized nobles who did not get a quota asked their grandfathers and grandmothers to find ways to live in Dingnan City.
Is this strange? It’s not strange at all. Dingnan City is like the city of Rome during the Roman Empire. Nobles from all over the country and even in the conquered areas regard it as a paradise on earth and want to become Romans.
They were frantically scrapping land in their own local area, but their highest ideal was to make money and live in Rome, which was exactly the same as the attraction of the Italian Empire to many shepherd dogs in later generations. Oh, on the contrary, it should be said that the Italian Empire imitated Rome.
After the completion of the third phase of the project, Dingnan City will be the Rome of southern Xinjiang, which naturally attracts the nobles of southern Xinjiang to flock to it.
In this way, two goals were achieved: first, the elites of southern Xinjiang were brought into the high-pragmatic hub; second, the financial pressure on Beijing was suddenly reduced - even because Ding Nancheng began to collect taxes, it suddenly changed from a financial black hole to Gold mountains and silver seas.
Why dare to call it Jinshan Yinhai? Because in the second year after Dingnancheng began to collect taxes, the customs trade volume reached 5.8 million yuan, almost surpassing Suzhou Prefecture, the first prefecture of the Ming Dynasty. And Dingnancheng’s commerce (including industry and Handicraft industry), the total agricultural tax is as high as 1.27 million taels, ranking first in southern Xinjiang, even surpassing Aralia City (Malacca). What is this if not gold and silver?
Of course, the reason why Dingnan City has such ferocious statistics is because it has a powerful siphon effect, not only sucking the blood of all Siam, but also sucking the blood of surrounding kingdoms, but... this is not exactly what Gao Pragmatic wants. ?
Before the proportion of "Han" exceeds more than 70% of the whole South Xinjiang through immigration and naturalization household registration system, such a strong central and weak local model is a policy that Gao Pragmatic will always adhere to. Although he will also establish kingdoms relative to the whole South Xinjiang There are some "sub-center" cities in Xinjiang, but there will no longer be any place that can be designed and built on the scale of Dingnan City.
At least, certainly not until the "Han Qi Cheng" is achieved.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Now that the huge loss has turned into a surplus, Gao Pragmatic can not only use it freely in the Ming Dynasty and North Korea in the north, but of course he also has the ability to support the Nanyang Fleet, which will greatly accelerate The ability of the Nanyang Fleet to "make trouble" was revealed.
In the second year after the construction of Dingnancheng was completed, the Nanyang Fleet brazenly dispatched troops on the grounds that the Kingdom of Aceh supported pirate forces to rob merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty, and easily annihilated the main force of the Kingdom of Aceh's navy - if that was considered the navy.
Then, the Nanyang Fleet ignored the fact that the Kingdom of Aceh had sent envoys to Dingnan City to ask for Huang Zhiting, and took advantage of the fact that Dingnan City had not yet issued any instructions, dispatched two Marine Corps targets, and directly arrived at the capital of the Kingdom of Aceh.
Because the troops were dispatched too quickly this time, it was a magic weapon descending from the sky, and the top brass of the Aceh Kingdom were wiped out. Just as the top brass of the Aceh Kingdom fantasized that the ruling structures of the kingdoms in southern Xinjiang would basically be retained, the same would happen to Jinghua on their own side. When dealing with it, bad news came.
It turned out that Huang Zhiting had known the plan of the Nanyang Fleet for a long time, so he delayed summoning the envoys of the Kingdom of Aceh in Dingnan City. It was not until the capital was occupied that he finally ordered the Nanyang Fleet to "restore the Ming Dynasty Old Port Xuanwei Division" on Sumatra Island.
Naturally, Huang Zhiting did not do this on her own initiative, but Gao Pragmatic had already given instructions, so she soon presided over the reconstruction of the Xuanwei Department in the old port and appointed a man named Shi Xiwen as the "Quan Xuanwei Envoy"
, that is, the acting ambassador of comfort. At the same time, Huang Zhiting reported to the Ming Dynasty, requesting confirmation of this appointment.
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PS: I don’t plan to write about the Nanyang Islands in detail. After thinking about it, I decided to briefly describe it when writing about Beiyang.