1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3210
In the past few years, Haihan and Daming fought intermittently on the battlefield several times, but the result was that Haihan pushed all the way, and Daming had no victories. The performances on the north and south fronts were completely defeated, and finally had to beg for surrender. to end the war.

Of course, Thomas has also studied the relevant battle reports. There is no doubt that the strength of the Ming army is much weaker than that of the Haihan army.

Fortunately, Daming has a strong blood and has a vast country as a strategic depth. Even if Haihan wins, he will not be able to swallow Daming in one go. The war between the two sides will come to an end in the form of an armistice agreement.

In the past few years of the armistice, Haihan continued to expand his army and prepare for war, and occasionally he could take out his hands to clean up his opponents in the direction of the South China Sea.And Daming has been battered by the internal chaos of the peasant army, and has hardly had any chance to recuperate.

Under the ebb and flow, the power gap between the two countries will undoubtedly be further widened.Thomas believes that if the two countries go to war again, Ming's situation may be even more difficult than the previous confrontation.

And Simao used the 30-year war in Europe as an example, obviously wanting to follow some old historical examples and use Ming Dynasty to hold back Haihan's expansion.

Just based on Daming's current situation, it may be difficult for Haihan to fall into the quagmire of war.And Simao's idea is obviously to give some support to Daming secretly, otherwise it is very likely that the army will be defeated as soon as the war starts, and there is no way to hold Haihan back.

But this kind of approach is too dangerous, once exposed, it will inevitably be self-defeating. At that time, wouldn't it be the initiative to provide Haihan with a reason to turn his face?
Simao also expected that Thomas would object to this matter, so he said calmly: "I am just offering an idea to achieve the goal, and I am not trying to stand with Daming...We can slowly figure out how to do it. "

After Yan Chujie's speech, the exhibition officially opened.

I don't know whether it was Yan Chujie who noticed their arrival, or whether the exhibition did not restrict foreigners at all. In short, they were not blocked when they entered the venue, which made Simao, who had always been uneasy about Haihan's attitude, heave a sigh of relief .

Simao's goal is very clear, to see the newly commissioned Zhoushan of the East China Sea Fleet.This huge battleship was very conspicuous among the row of ships by the river, and its hull was almost half the size of another majestic-class battleship adjacent to it.

Simao is very eager to know what new technological breakthroughs Haihan made on the Zhoushan.

But when they came to the ship's side of the Zhoushan, they found that there was no gangway for boarding the ship, and everyone could only stand on the pier and watch it nearby.

Simao immediately found a naval officer who was present, and expressed his desire to visit the ship with his decent Haihan Mandarin.

The young officer responded with a smile: "There is no arrangement for the Zhoushan to be open to the public. If you want to board the ship, please follow the signs. We have arranged for several other warships to be open to the public."

Simao was still dissatisfied, but the other party no longer paid attention to him, which made him feel a little frustrated.I ran across the city of Hangzhou for more than ten miles in the early morning to queue up here, but was told that I couldn't get on the ship. Isn't this a waste of time.

Simao has dealt with the Haihan military for many years and is no stranger to the navy's ships.He has experience riding on majestic-class battleships as small as reconnaissance boats.

But the main purpose of visiting the exhibition today is actually for the Zhoushan, but standing on the pier, you can only look up at the high side of the ship. Come!

Simao spread his hands to Thomas, shrugged, and said nothing, but the helplessness and disappointment were all written on his face.

However, for ordinary people who are able to visit naval ships up close for the first time, even if they cannot board the largest warship, there is no complaint.

On weekdays, when navy ships dock at the docks along the Qiantang River, military restricted areas will be demarcated in advance to keep civilian ships far away, and irrelevant people and others will not even be able to enter the docks.

Next to the berth of each ship participating in the exhibition, there is a large display board, which introduces the origin and service status of the ship.Where it was built in what year and month, when it was served, where it has been, the combat operations it has participated in, and the results it has achieved are all listed one by one.

There are also several sailors next to the exhibition board, who are specially introducing to those illiterate people.

Many people take their families with them, helping the old and the young, and the whole family goes out together.From the elderly to the young children learning to speak, they all admired the mighty and majestic fleet in front of them.

"It seems that we are not the only foreigners who are interested in this exhibition."

Thomas catches a sudden glimpse and shows Simeon his finger.

Simao turned his head and saw a few Japanese people not far away, with vague faces and some impressions, they should also be the diplomatic envoys they met the day before yesterday.

When these few people got together, Tsukiyo's half-bald head was too conspicuous, and he could be noticed at a glance in the crowd.

Simao said in a low voice: "Several groups of people have come from Japan this time, and I don't know which side they belong to."

Thomas said: "They are from the Tokugawa shogunate, I have the impression. The leader is named Masuyama Masatoshi, and it is said that he is the uncle of the current shogun."

As an old diplomat, Thomas was obviously better than Simao in remembering people and events.Although he only met these Japanese briefly at the welcome banquet and military parade, he could still quickly identify the identities of the Japanese.

Simao frowned slightly: "I've heard about this person. He also visited Haihan two years ago, and he came to Haihan to buy arms. It's just that there is no more definite news about what he bought. .”

"However, the arms sales meeting held quietly by Haihan yesterday didn't seem to invite them."

Thomas said: "After all, they are not Haihan's allies, and they will definitely not be able to pick good things first."

While talking, the Japanese pointed at a certain exhibition board, their voices became louder, and they almost quarreled with the Haihan soldiers next to them.In the end, it was Masuyama Masari who stopped his subordinates and took them to visit another place.

Simao felt a little curious, so he took Thomas to the place where the dispute happened just now.

They thought that the anger of the Japanese must be related to the content on the display board, but there were too many Chinese characters on the display board, and the two of them could only read half of them together, so they had to turn to the soldiers next to them for help.

It turned out that the warship moored next to it had participated in the battle against the Hirado Domain in 1638, and it was already an old ship that had been in service for nearly 20 years.The exhibition board introduced in detail the achievements of this warship in the Battle of Hirado that year, which obviously made the Japanese just feel uncomfortable.

(End of this chapter)