Yin Feng spent a whole year in the army, eating and living with the newly recruited soldiers, and was busy reorganizing the Chinese Army. Now the Chinese Army has begun to form its own complete staff system, officer corps, military education system, and logistics. Supply system, etc., Zhao Tie's first regiment, Mai De's second regiment, Li Xing's third regiment, Zhao Xuanming's fourth regiment, and Yan Siqi's fifth regiment began to take turns in Lu**yuan as the main force of the Chinese army's infantry field. We conducted multi-service joint exercises, concentrating the main force of up to four regiments at a time, and initially began to explore the development of the unit's combat organization to the division level.
At the same time, Li Kuiqi's artillery regiment, Andrew's cavalry regiment, and Lu Dahai's logistics troops all began to participate in the multi-arms joint military exercise. Yin Feng himself was not aware that his efforts had made his army technically and tactically advanced. The level quickly surpassed the armed forces of the European powers and all surrounding countries.
The naval fleet's drills also began to develop from supporting the army to fighting independently. During the Battle of Kagoshima Plains, there were major flaws in the cooperation between the sailor musketeers and the Chinese infantry, which almost changed the battlefield situation. Afterwards, Yin Feng held several review meetings at the military academy. Everyone agreed that this was because the daily training and combat requirements of the Sailor Musketeers were completely different from those of the infantry. Moreover, the sailors and infantry brothers lacked the training to cooperate with each other. It is also an important reason.
Therefore, Yin Feng referred to the experience of later generations of Marine Corps and colonial garrison units of European powers, and used the Sailor Musketeers completely as a maritime mobile force: the frequent indigenous riots in the Chinese Company's territory in Nanyang would be caused by strong maritime mobility in the future. The Sailor Musketeers will be responsible for pacification, allowing the sailors to exert their mobility and flexibility in small-scale fierce battles; the work of exterminating pirates in various places will be completed by the Sailor Musketeers, and the infantry functions of the Chinese army will be specialized in large-scale land battles. As the battle develops, all the tasks of the colonial garrisons will be transferred to the Sailor Musketeers. Of course, the Sailor Musketeers and fleets will also participate in large-scale battles and assume strategic and tactical tasks. However, in Yin Feng's case, in a short time Within this period, the Chinese army will not launch a large-scale strategic offensive war.
The naval battle training of the navy fleet has been forced by Yin Feng to make a great leap forward to the Nelson era of another time and space. This is not only the role of Yin Feng as a prophet of time travel, but also the role of the Chinese army's cannon and giant ship doctrine in these years. After showing great influence, some naval generals took the initiative to think about the results of the research.
Yin Feng officially issued the "Combat Regulations" within the navy in the 40th year of Wanli (1612). This regulation reflected the result of Yin Feng's advanced understanding of naval warfare tactics. From then on, the Chinese army paid special attention to attacking the hulls of enemy warships. , the purpose was to destroy the enemy ship's navigation ability, and eventually damage the hull and sink it. At that time, the navies of various countries still attached great importance to attacking the enemy ship's sails and masts in naval battles, with the purpose of killing the opponent's deck personnel and reducing its maneuverability. Finally, through Join a gang to seize the opponent's warship.
Yin Feng especially pirated Nelson's "stern shot" tactic.
The largest cannon equipped on the Chinese navy's naval warships has reached 40 pounds. It is specially designed to destroy the ship's planks and is extremely powerful.
At that time, the warships of the European maritime powers were divided into one-, two-, three-, and even four-story warships according to their size. Each floor had corridor-like artillery decks on both sides, with cannons arranged in long rows, and in the middle was a traffic channel. The warships There are wooden ship boards of ten to tens of inches on both sides. It is difficult to penetrate when the two sides are fighting side by side. Even if they are penetrated, a solid cannonball can only penetrate a hole, and its lethality is limited.
The most vulnerable part of the battleship's armor is the bow and stern, because when they are in battle formation, the bow and stern face all friendly ships and do not need special protection. Unfortunately, God's calculations are not as good as those of man. At that time, warships from various countries The designer did not expect that someone would use the "stern shot" style of play. The so-called "stern shot" is to break through the enemy's battleship array, go around the rear of the enemy ship in the melee, bombard the opponent's fragile poop with armor-piercing shells, and then attack The hole that was about to explode was used to fire flying canisters into the enemy ship. Since there were no partitions inside the warship at that time, the cannonballs fired in this way could hit the enemy ship from the stern to the bow, causing a massacre on the entire deck. Killing effect.
This is also a human tactic designed by Yin Feng to deal with the Spanish fleet. The Spanish Empire's human expeditionary force to regain Luzon has set off. This news was brought back by Ye Hua's fleet.
The Chinese Company's first main battleships, the Feilong and Xinxing, carried two three-masted fortune ships and five two-masted fortune ships, fully loaded with goods such as silk, ceramics, embroidery, tea, cloth, ironware, books, etc., for five years It left the port of Taiwan and sailed to Europe. After nearly two years of sailing, Ye Hua's fleet bypassed the Cape of Good Hope, went north to the east coast of the Atlantic Ocean, passed through the coast of West Africa, and finally arrived in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal.
The Ye Hua fleet was the first Chinese trading fleet to officially arrive in Europe. On the day it arrived in Lisbon, churches throughout Lisbon rang bells to celebrate the wealth and culture brought by the Chinese. Of course, the wealth was full of The cargo of the ship was gone. These goods coming directly from China were snapped up by a large number of European merchants, making Ye Hua's fleet a huge profit. Currencies and gold and silver from various countries were piled on the deck of the Chinese ship.
The best choice for cultural exchanges was naturally Yin Feng's brother-in-law Zeng Shan; among the thousands of people in the fleet, only Zeng Shan was a scholar who took the imperial examination, Bernardo and other Jewish businessmen, and You Wenhui and other monks When introducing him, they all put the title of "Doctor" on his head.
Zeng Shan, who was originally hopeless in his official career and was discouraged by the darkness of officialdom, had almost given up his efforts in literature. Unexpectedly, he was now unexpectedly regarded as a representative of Chinese culture in Europe. Not only did the dignitaries in Lisbon repeatedly invite him to After attending a banquet and discussion, the Bishop of Lisbon soon invited him and representatives of Chinese businessmen to go to the Vatican in Rome to meet the Pope.
Ye Hua commanded the Feilong and Xingxin, loaded with goods that had not been sold out in Lisbon, and set sail for Rome, Italy.
When the fleet just set sail, Zeng Shan joined the voyage with the thought of giving up on himself; however, when crossing the Indian Ocean, he was shocked by the size of the world; when the fleet rounded the Cape of Good Hope, the Dutch sailors on the ship told him that here Already 20,000 miles away from China, his Sinocentric sense of cultural superiority was already crumbling. When he saw the majestic city of Rome, the magnificent Vatican Cathedral and other buildings, his concept of treating Europeans as barbarians began to collapse. When he saw the towering ancient Roman Colosseum and the hundreds of miles of ancient Roman aqueducts with complex and exquisite structures, he especially learned that these buildings were equivalent to those built in the Pre-Han Dynasty in China and preserved to this day. Zengshan's The sense of cultural superiority has basically collapsed: such a majestic building could only have been built by civilized people, and Europeans are completely different from the barbarians on the frontier in his mind.
Although he has never had a good impression of the political systems of European countries, he has finally given up his self-centered sense of cultural superiority and began to look at Europeans and their civilized world from an equal perspective. However, he has always been very suspicious of Catholicism. , the main reason is that his mother is a Buddhist.
Zeng Shan left several Chinese poems and wrote some copybooks in Rome. These works were only second-rate in China, but they became the favorites of later generations of archaeologists and collectors.
Yin Feng later felt very regretful. If it were not a second-rate literati like Zeng Shan, but a representative of China's mainstream culture at that time, the impact that might have had on a trip to Europe was really unpredictable. Unfortunately, the mainstream culture of China during this period Representative figures: Basically no one in the official, gentry or civilian class would think of going abroad for inspection.
After Zeng Shan met with Pope Paul V, he did not become a Catholic; the Chinese Jesuit monks such as You Wenhui who accompanied him were commended by Pope Paul V.
Later, Zeng Shan and his party, accompanied by Bernardo, also traveled around various European countries. During this period, it was rare for Europe to have no large-scale wars (Northern and Eastern European countries were still at war, and generally speaking, the scale was not large). Therefore, Zeng Shan saw that The Europe we arrived in was a Europe where the economy and culture were developing rapidly.
On its return voyage, the Chinese merchant fleet carried merchants and goods from Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and other countries. It also brought along with it the Jesuit missionary Ginny Ge, who collected European science and technology books for Yin Feng.
Because Jinnige was aboard a Portuguese merchant ship that was familiar with sea routes, he returned to Europe a few months earlier than Ye Hua's fleet. He tried his best to collect books for Yin Feng. When he returned to China, he and his assistants brought a total of more than 6,000 volumes of books. , Ye Hua knew that these books were requested by Captain Yin Feng, so he let Jin Nige board the Xinxing ship.
However, when their fleet docked again in Lisbon, Portugal, they were expelled by the Spanish navy: they were told that the Spanish Empire did not welcome the Chinese merchant fleet. Some Portuguese businessmen secretly told Ye Hua that the Spanish army had begun to mobilize troops and prepare to Counterattack on Luzon Island. If the Chinese fleet had not carried a large number of European merchants and European goods, including the goods of Spanish merchants, the Spanish Imperial Navy would have begun to attack Ye Hua's fleet long ago.
Ye Hua was anxious, but fortunately the return route was already familiar and there were European businessmen to guide them, so they left Europe smoothly. Near the Cape of Good Hope, the fleet suddenly encountered a strong storm and two two-masted ships ran aground on the rocks. After the cargo on board was transferred, Ye Hua had to abandon the two ships.
In this shipwreck, three Chinese sailors were killed; at the same time, because other ships in the fleet were fully loaded and the personnel were in a saturated state, the 130 Chinese sailors on the wrecked ship had to stay at the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the most dangerous place in Africa. The earliest Chinese immigrants in the Dutch colonies in the south.
In 1612, August of the 40th year of Wanli, the eleventh month after leaving Europe, the remaining ships of Ye Hua's fleet successfully entered Taiwan Port. The Chinese's first voyage to Europe was generally considered a successful conclusion.
The news that the Spanish army had set off also accompanied the return of Ye Hua's fleet and came to the ears of people in Taiwan Port.