prosperous age

Although Wei Guangde had already discussed with Zhang Juzheng and Tan Lun long ago to transform the Denglai Navy into the East China Sea Navy, there were many changes involved, which could not be summarized in one sentence.

The current Denglai Navy is a Dusi Navy, which is managed by the Shandong Dusi instead of directly under the Ministry of War.

The four naval forces designed by Wei Guangde were offices at the Dusi level, just like the South China Sea navy commanded by Yu Dayou, which was not under the management of the Dusi of Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong and Guangxi, but was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War.

The same goes for the West Sea Navy, which has already established a framework. In the future, it will not be under the management of the Burmese Dusi, but will be directly under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War and have a parallel relationship with the Burmese Dusi.

This was also the means Wei Guangde used to prevent the Burmese Dusi from becoming too powerful and developing warlord tendencies.

You know, it’s not that no one in the Ministry of War has raised objections to the South China Sea Navy’s excessive power.

The current South China Sea Navy's sphere of influence covers not only several ports in the Ming mainland, but also basically governs Ryukyu, Luzon and Jiugang, and even controls the ports of Myanmar.

The so-called West Sea Fleet is, at best, just a squadron separated from the South China Sea Fleet, and its jurisdiction is so large that it is difficult for everyone to accept.

It was because Wei Guangde insisted on having his own way that he gave Yu Dayou such great power.

Of course, the current strength of the South China Sea Navy is only temporary. When Ryukyu gradually becomes stable, the imperial court will set up two prefectures in the south and the north to govern the entire island respectively.

Of course, according to the current management model determined by Zhang Juzheng, Ryukyu will still be under the management of the Governor of Fujian. After all, the two places are very close to each other.

Liaodong was originally placed under the jurisdiction of Shandong because it was close to the sea route.

It was only many years later that Liaodong's development had stabilized and it gradually broke away from Shandong's control. However, it never established a provincial administration commissioner to govern it as an independent province. Instead, a governor was appointed and it was still managed by the dusi.

This model may actually be used as a reference by Greater Ryukyu in the future. A Ryukyu governor may be appointed to directly manage Greater Ryukyu and contact Lesser Ryukyu.

Little Ryukyu is actually the Ryukyu Kingdom.

Xiaoliuqiu was too remote. The Ming Dynasty would not gain any benefit from controlling it, and would also lose a lot of money.

Not to mention whether Little Ryukyu has the intention to submit to the Ming Dynasty now, although it is loyal, the King of Ryukyu may not be willing to give up his throne.

In fact, even if the King of Ryukyu wanted to incorporate the Ryukyu Islands into the Ming Dynasty at this time, Zhang Juzheng believed that the cost outweighed the gain and was totally unprofitable.

Just a few islands, something that the Ming Dynasty could do without.

The reason why the Ming Dynasty allowed the South China Sea Navy to land on Ryukyu was because it needed timber for shipbuilding, and transporting the timber from Guangxi was time-consuming and labor-intensive.

Of course, the fact that Ryukyu was close enough to the Ming Dynasty and had not yet formed a national system was also one of the reasons why Zhang Juzheng agreed.

Wei Guangde left the cabinet and returned to the Ministry of War.

"Brother Zili, I'm here again."

Wei Guangde walked into the lobby and gave a wry smile to Tan Lun who came over to greet him.

"Haha, Shandai, you are the one who is in contact with the Ministry of War. It is right for you to come and visit us more often, so that we don't have to run to your cabinet when we have something to do and ask for instructions on our own issues."

Tan Lun said happily.

In fact, the Cabinet does not have the power to manage the six ministries, and the Grand Councilors and Chancellors are not subordinate to each other, so they can be completely ignored.

It’s just that the cabinet ministers are closer to the emperor, which means they can influence the imperial power more, so if the minister wants to keep his position, he has to get the support of the cabinet ministers. This is why there is now the illusion that the cabinet controls the six ministries.

"Ask Sansheng to come over. He still has to do today's work."

Although Wei Guangde did not intend to let Zeng Shengwu take over the Ministry of War, he certainly could not change people before the war.

Moreover, given his relationship with Zeng Shengwu, even if Zeng Shengwu really wanted to be transferred from the Ministry of War, his place would have to be arranged first, and it would have to be at least higher than his current position as Vice Minister of the Ministry of War.

If his status was lower and his power was less than before, it would be difficult for Zhang Juzheng to get through that hurdle.

However, the official positions in the imperial court were filled to the hilt, so it was not easy to find a position for Zeng Shengwu.

Therefore, he can only stay in the Ministry of War for a while until another position becomes vacant.

This is not hot tofu that can be eaten in a hurry.

However, the work that needs to be arranged still needs to be done, let alone something that can only be covered up in official documents and glossed over in a perfunctory manner.

Not long after, Zeng Xingwu came in. After they exchanged greetings, Wei Guangde told Zhang Juzheng about his concerns.

"That is to say, the imperial court does not want to implicate Altan Khan, or to leave traces of Huang Taiji's border violations?"

Tan Lun sat on the side in silence, and Zeng Shengwu spoke.

"Yes, I hadn't thought about this before. I just wanted to avoid damaging the relationship with King Shunyi. But it was my uncle who reminded me that I had to do this. The document was not allowed to mention Huang Taiji. Just say that the enemy cavalry invaded the border."

Wei Guangde said.

It may sound a bit like taking off pants and farting, but that's how politics is sometimes.

"Understood. I'll give the order right away."

Zeng Shengwu nodded immediately.

In fact, this is not a big deal.

"All the documents that were previously sent out that involve King Shunyi must be taken back and destroyed, and reissued."

Wei Guangde reminded again.

The document has been sent out, but it cannot be kept. It must be replaced with a new one, otherwise it will be embarrassing in the future.

Zeng Shengwu nodded slightly, indicating that he would take on the task, carefully check and register all the documents sent out, and take them all back after the war.

"There is another matter, which is what I mentioned earlier, the formation of the East China Sea Navy based on the Denglai Navy, which will also be included in the agenda this morning.

I remember sending a letter to the Shandong Military Commission before, have you received any response now?"

Wei Guangde talked about the division of the East China Sea Navy again. The Ministry of War had already given the Shandong Regional Command a tip-off earlier. After all, the area was full of Shandong troops, including the territory.

Not asking for Shandong's opinion will also hurt the relationship.

"The Shandong side is very happy. They have long wanted to dismantle the Denglai Navy and let them return to their respective units. After all, those ships are all dilapidated and they are always worried that the ships will sink in the open sea and they will have to pay to clean up the mess.

In fact, if it weren’t for the order to prepare for the Japanese invasion, Shandong Dusi’s ships would not have been willing to launch.”

Tan Lun chuckled.

He personally handled this matter, so he was naturally very clear about the connection with Shandong. The seagoing ships sent to Shandong by the Ministry of Works of the Ming Dynasty were all assigned to the lower guards, but because they were afraid of taking responsibility, most of these ships were left on the coast to be exposed to wind and rain, and never landed.

Some daring ones even exchanged their new ships for old and dilapidated civilian ships and made a profit from the difference.

The court had few ships to begin with, and was also responsible for coastal defense, so even if there was some benefit, it was better than nothing.

After all, once a boat is demolished, it may be decades before the next boat is built. Who would consider these boats as a way to make money?

Not only is it not a way to make money, it is also considered a nuisance by many officials.

Now the Ministry of War is planning to separate the navy from the Dusi, and they are naturally willing to do so. In the future, the navy and warships will no longer be under their management, which will save a lot of trouble, especially with regard to military pay.

"only

Most of the sailors of the Denglai Navy came from the Dengzhou and Laizhou garrisons, but there were also soldiers from other garrisons, as well as the Denglai Water City, and these must also be settled.”

This is the request of the Shandong Dusi, which is that the Dusi will no longer be responsible for the salaries of these soldiers, but will have to be paid by the Ministry of War.

As for the construction and maintenance of the water city, the Shandong Dusi will not spend a penny on it.

The military pay allocated by the Ming Dynasty's Ministry of War was only for the nine border military garrisons, while in the inland provinces, it was raised by the military governors and distributed from local taxes. Therefore, the Shandong military governor was eager for the Ministry of War to take these expenses.

If Wei Guangde wanted to divide the family, he would naturally have to find out the garrisons under the jurisdiction of Shandong Dusi before making a decision. So he said to Zeng Shengwu, "Brother Sansheng, please ask the Ministry of Personnel to take out the map of Shandong for us to see."

The Zhifang Division is a key department in the Ministry of War. Although its benefits are not as lucrative as those of the Wuxuan Division and the Wuku Division, its power is indeed considerable.

The Zhifang Division under the Ministry of War was in charge of maps, city gods, garrisons, beacons, the distance of defense roads, and the naturalization of the four barbarians.

According to the current system of the Ming Dynasty, whenever a foreign guest arrived, the Honglu Temple would first inquire about the country's mountains, rivers, and customs, and then make a map and submit it to the emperor, and send a copy of the map to the Zhifangsi. If a foreign guest with special customs came to the court, a map of his appearance and clothing style would be reported to the emperor.

It can be seen that the most detailed maps available to the Ming Dynasty were in the hands of the Zhifangsi, which were even more detailed than the maps collected in the inner court, not to mention that there were special people who followed up and revised and replaced them on a regular basis.

To be honest, before seeing the map of Shandong, Wei Guangde had in mind the idea of ​​assigning Dengzhou and Laizhou to the management of the Denglai Navy. However, after seeing the map sent by the Zhifangsi, Wei Guangde knew that this could not be done.

Denglai and Lai prefectures occupy almost one-fifth of the territory under the jurisdiction of Shandong Regional Military Commission. It is hard to say how Shandong Regional Military Commission will riot after so much of the territory was taken away at once.

It doesn't mean that if the garrisons were taken away, the Shandong Regional Military Commission would be happy because it would have to pay less military pay.

Without the garrisons of these two prefectures, the influence of Shandong Dusi would decline sharply.

The most crucial thing is that Denglai Prefecture is actually a peninsula extending from Shandong into the sea. It is easy to separate them, but without the support of Shandong Dusi, if a strong enemy comes from the sea and Shandong Dusi does not make any effort to resist, it will be very bad.

If you don't think about the future, you will have immediate worries. Wei Guangde will not take on too much responsibility for this matter.

Don't think that the Ming Dynasty's strong national strength will not provoke other powerful enemies overseas.

Not now, but what about in the future?

Over the next few hundred years, the West developed rapidly, but easily surpassed China and became second-rate.

Even if he had control over this life, he would not dare to say that the Ming Dynasty would still be able to stand at the top of the world a hundred years later.

The northernmost part of Dengzhou Prefecture is Penglai, where the Denglai Water City is located.

Because Dengzhou and Laizhou prefectures were located deep in the sea, almost all of Shandong's ships were assigned to the coastal garrisons of the two prefectures. This is why the navy was called Dengzhou Naval Camp.

Dengzhou Garrison was the main force of the Denglai Navy. When Wei Guangde gathered all the warships in Shandong, they were actually naval officers and soldiers from Dengzhou and Laizhou, so they were naturally designated as the Denglai Navy instead of the Shandong Navy.

"The main water strongholds in Shandong are Penglai, Weihai and Aoshan. Because they all have good harbors, they all have garrisons."

When Zeng Shengwu took the map, he asked carefully about the situation of the water fort. At that time, all military ports were called water forts. Penglai Water Fort was called Water City because of the addition of brick and stone city defenses.

Wei Guangde saw Jiaozhou Bay on the map, which is Qingdao in later generations. However, this place had not been developed at that time. However, because the bay was well located and could avoid sea storms, the Ming Dynasty once again dispatched Lingshan Guards to be responsible for local defense.

To the east along the coastline of Jiaozhou Bay is the territory of Aoshanwei, which is Jimo in later generations. Its current development is much better than that of Jiaozhou Bay, so Zeng Shengwu also tends to incorporate Aoshanwei into the Denglai Navy and make it a naval port.

Wei Guangde carefully read the map and referred to the several garrisons mentioned by Zeng Xingwu. He roughly formed his own opinion, so he said to Tan Lun: "I propose that Penglai, Weihai and Aoshan be included in the East China Sea Navy Water Fort, and the garrisons will be Aoshan Guard, Chengshan Guard, Jinshan Left Guard and Xunshan Back Guard.

The soldiers of other garrisons were incorporated into the Penglai Garrison under the military system, and all naval officers and soldiers would be transferred to the newly built Penglai Garrison in the future.

In addition, the garrisons where water forts are located in Huai'an and other places in Nanzhili, as well as Tianjin Garrison, are also placed under the jurisdiction of the East China Sea Navy. What do you think?

As for Liaodong, we must also find a place to build a water fortress and put it under the jurisdiction of the East China Sea Navy."

Since it is called the East China Sea Navy, it naturally cannot have a port only in Shandong. There must also be ports in the Bohai Bay and Nanzhili. Of course, the Liaodong Peninsula, another gateway to the Bohai Bay, is also indispensable.

"Gaizhou Guard and Jinzhou Guard can be separated from Liaodong. There is also a Liaodong navy on Juehua Island with more than a hundred small boats, which can also be incorporated into the East China Sea Navy."

Tan Lun suddenly said.

Tan Lun only recently learned about the navy on Juehua Island.

Because the waves in the Bohai Bay are usually not strong, it was the first place chosen by Ningyuan for grain storage, and a group of small boats were provided to transport grain and fodder.

However, Tan Lun didn't know much about the situation on Juehua Island, so he was just making a suggestion.

However, Gaizhou and Jinzhou were places that the Shandong Navy often visited in the early years, especially Gaizhou. Most of the materials allocated by the imperial court to Liaodong were landed in Gaizhou, which already had a relatively mature port terminal.

Wei Guangde didn't have much impression of the other two places, but he still knew Juehua Island, so he immediately asked: "Is there a guard post on Juehua Island?"

"No, the Ningyuan Guards are stationed there. There are only a few people living on the island, so the Ningyuan Guards feel that this place is safe, so they moved the granary to the island. Small boats can directly transport the grain to the Ningyuan City South Pier, which is very convenient."

At this time, the Jurchens had not yet caused trouble in Liaodong, so the Ming army naturally would not station a large number of soldiers here. Usually, there were only a hundred people guarding the granary.

Wei Guangde knew this place because of that tragedy.

In the first month of the sixth year of the Tianqi reign, a battle took place between the Ming Dynasty and the Later Jin. Nurhaci led his troops to attack Ningyuan. After failing to capture it for a long time, he raided Juehua Island.

Although Juehua Island is isolated in the Liaoxi Bay, 18 miles from the shore, the climate that winter was extremely cold and the sea water froze, causing the Later Jin to cross the natural barrier and land on the island. In the end, more than 10,000 Ming troops and civilians on the island were slaughtered by the Later Jin, and countless food, fodder and ships were lost.

Shaking his head slightly, Wei Guangde still denied the plan to take over Huadao.

For coastal defense, Juehua Island seems to be of no value.

That is to say, the rise of the Later Jin Dynasty between the Baishan and Heishui rivers in the late Ming Dynasty gave this place strategic value because of the competition for the Liaoxi Corridor.

If this point is not taken into consideration, Juehua Island will have no objection at all.

The Ming army actually started to operate Juehua Island from Sun Chengzong. Before that, the Ming army controlled Liaodong and did not need Juehua Island as a logistics base. (End of this chapter)