prosperous age

Chapter 973 1062 Daming Gun Ship

Wei Guangde shook his head and smiled lightly at Li Chengliang: "Do the Liaodong Jurchens obey their leader's orders?"

"Well, you should probably listen."

Li Chengliang frowned and replied.

"Then win over the tribal leaders and give them what they want. It's just a piece of loose sand. Do you dare to fight against the Ming Dynasty?"

Wei Guangde said.

"Uh"

Li Chengliang was speechless after hearing Wei Guangde's words.

But it seems reasonable to think about it. As long as the sphere of influence of these tribal leaders is strictly limited, how much strength can they develop?

If they are not given the opportunity to annex the smaller surrounding tribes, their development space will be restricted. If they expand outward, they will inevitably encounter hostility from the surrounding smaller tribes.

In this case, as long as the court upholds neutrality and handles disputes between tribes fairly, it can effectively suppress those tribal leaders with evil intentions and bring back the leaders of small and medium-sized tribes.

Because their status completely needs to be maintained by the court, otherwise they will be annexed by the big forces around them.

Of course, I think so, but in practice, there are actually problems.

Just like Liaodong, it may have been like this before. The imperial court could fairly handle the conflicts between the Jurchen tribes.

However, as an official in Liaodong, he had many contacts with those tribal leaders, so it was inevitable that he would have personal relationships.

When something really happens, can we put aside our personal relationships and deal with it impartially?

To be honest, it's actually difficult.

The failure of the Liaodong Incident was actually due to this kind of human relationship, which eventually turned into the current chaotic situation.

"From now on, it will be a routine practice for Myanmar's general military officers to be replaced every three years, and the maximum will not exceed five years. They will not be like other general military officers who will continue to hold the position as long as there is no decree from the court."

Wei Guangde continued.

Li Chengliang didn't think much about this. He was born and raised in Liaodong, so naturally he didn't want to stay in the southwest all his life.

He also has the thought of returning fallen leaves to their roots.

In fact, before, he was really worried that he would be left in Myanmar for a long time.

Compared with Liaodong, Myanmar is even more of a borderland.

It can be said that no official in the Ming Dynasty would take the initiative to choose to go to the southwest. Going there would be as uncomfortable as being exiled.

Wei Guangde's words gave Li Chengliang some reassurance that he would not stay in Myanmar for a long time.

"This question is because you are a military commander and the handle of the sword is in your hand, so I am telling you this.

Civil servants are inevitably soft-edged and often cannot make up their minds, which requires you, the commander-in-chief, to make a judgment. "

Judging from Li Chengliang's expression, he shouldn't be bad. Wei Guangde took advantage of the situation and continued.

"Mr. Wei Ge, I know what to do, but..."

After all, Li Chengliang is a general who has fought in many battles, and he actually still has many concerns about this battle.

In fact, it’s not that people will become pampered after winning many battles. On the contrary, people who really fight will actually become more careful the more they fight, because they have seen too many dead people, and they are somewhat afraid in their hearts, fearing that they will become one of the corpses.

"If you have any concerns, feel free to speak up. There is no need to hesitate in front of me. You are no longer the commander-in-chief of a town, but the governor of the governor's mansion. You should make decisions."

Wei Guangde said.

"Mr. Wei Ge, based on the information handed over by Jin Yiwei, in the past twenty years, the Toungoo Dynasty has been constantly using troops abroad, and its armies have experienced hundreds of battles."

Having said this, a look of hesitation appeared on Li Chengliang's face.

"What, are you scared?"

Wei Guangde asked cheerfully.

"Mr. Wei Ge, Li, I really don't know how to write the word "fear" in this life, but I have to be responsible for the officers and soldiers under me."

Li Chengliang replied immediately, all the hesitation on his face was gone, leaving only a look of determination.

"It is a blessing for the officers and soldiers that Governor Li can think so."

Wei Guangde smiled and continued: "This is why I asked you to allocate troops to the four southwest provincial guards and train them as soon as possible.

I heard that several of your sons are already in the military camp. In that case, why not send them over and let them select sergeants and be responsible for training? "

"How much military pay can the imperial court prepare for this battle?"

Li Chengliang naturally knew how to recruit and train troops, so he naturally had to be fully prepared for such a war.

However, before that, the most important thing for Li Chengliang was to know how much money the court could afford.

Fighting is actually about making money. If you give the soldiers enough military pay, they can rush forward and destroy all the enemies in front of them.

But precisely this simplest thing became the most difficult thing to do in the Ming Dynasty.

With no money in hand, I have no confidence in fighting.

He dared to sweep across Liaodong with his servants because he paid his servants a lot of military salary.

Of course, these military salaries are all deducted from the defense posts in Liaodong, otherwise everyone will not have enough to eat and everyone will not be able to fight.

If the battle is defeated, he, the commander-in-chief, can still do well.

Sometimes, the generals in the army are not necessarily greedy, but they are unable to make choices.

"All the money and food from the four southwest provinces this year will be left to you. In the past, you will bring another 100,000 taels of silver, all of which are newly minted silver treasures by the Ministry of Industry.

I will personally take care of this matter. This amount of money is enough for you to recruit 20,000 to 30,000 elite men. "

The food and salary left in the southwest is mainly to provide food for the army, and one hundred thousand taels of silver can meet the military salary expenditure of an army of 20,000 to 30,000 for two years.

Don't think that the more people needed to fight in ancient times, the better. Ancient books record tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of troops. In fact, most of them are imaginary numbers.

In a big battle, there are actually very few and not many people who actually go into battle to kill the enemy, and the number of people who decide the outcome of the battle is only a few thousand.

This is also the reason why Li Chengliang was able to almost sweep through three thousand servants in Liaodong and defeat the Mongolian and Jurchen tribes that came to invade.

Three thousand soldiers who are good at fighting are enough to crush all enemies on the battlefield.

Why did Zhu Yuanzhang establish the Wei system?

In the heyday of the Ming army, a fully-staffed guard station with more than 5,000 people was able to destroy a small country and support a medium-sized war.

Although Myanmar's Taungoo dynasty claims to be able to mobilize an army of 100,000 to 200,000 troops, in fact most of them are farmers who have put down their hoes. They are unlikely to have any combat effectiveness, that is, they are just flattering.

That's why Wei Guangde believed that 20,000 to 30,000 well-trained Ming troops were actually enough to completely defeat the Toungoo dynasty.

You know, the Mongols are very powerful, especially the cavalry, but the 20,000 to 30,000 Mongolians were still invincible against the 10,000 Qi army. They could only flee in embarrassment and be chased all the way.

This time in the expedition against Wang Gao's tribe, the Ming army also showed a devastating attitude and easily defeated its opponents.

Although Qi Jiguang did not encounter a tough battle, he also got some news from Li Chengliang's subordinates. Facing the elites of Liaodong, the soldiers and horses of the Jurchen tribe were completely vulnerable.

They are also indigenous people who take advantage of the terrain to fight. Wei Guangde does not think that the combat effectiveness of the Burmese army will be much higher than that of the Jurchens.

It was nothing more than ambushes and sneak attacks, which later generations called special operations.

But in reality, this tactic is useless for a real war. It just destroys some so-called key nodes, but its impact on the battle situation should not be overstated.

Well, that is to say, in a war where there is a great disparity between strengths and weaknesses, the weak can gain some achievements through this method, while the strong can win the war more easily.

Hearing that Wei Guangde had prepared sufficient food and wages for him, Li Chengliang felt reassured, but he still asked: "Li has a team of servants in Liaodong. I wonder if you can go with me on the expedition?"

"Aren't those servants all military households in Liaodong? They are organizing military households in Liaodong."

Wei Guangde frowned and said, "You can select a thousand people to be your personal guards, but not the others."

After Li Chengliang was transferred to the capital, those servants had actually dispersed. According to Qi Jiguang's order, although they did not directly return to the original guard post and still formed a separate army, they had been dispersed into several cavalry units and handed over to several guerrillas. The general leads.

Qi Jiguang would not directly let these people join his troops, because Qi's army had its own requirements for the selection of soldiers, even if they were well-trained.

The soldiers and horses trained by Li Chengliang paid more attention to individual martial arts, while Qi Jiajun paid more attention to teamwork, which was a completely different combat direction.

It's a pity to just return to the original guard post. After all, there is still some direct cooperation with each other, and they are all cavalry, so the structure is retained, but the military pay is less than before.

It is conceivable that such a team of servants is no longer the cavalry that dared to sweep across Liaodong during the Li Chengliang period.

The rest were just trivial matters, and Wei Guangde dismissed them with just a few words.

In fact, when he came here this time, Li Chengliang came to Wei Guangde mainly for money and food. It would be impossible to fight without money and food.

As for military training, the Toungoo Dynasty is still taking action against Laos, and it is impossible to take action against the Ming Dynasty in the short term.

The Yunnan Chengxuan Political Envoy Department has also begun to take action. Even if the war is approaching, it will take at least a year or so.

After solving the problem of money and food, the only thing left is to select generals and sergeants, and Li Chengliang is also good at these.

When he left the cabinet, he was already planning when to go south and southwest for a tour.

At this time, Yinbao had already appeared in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. After the people came into contact with Yinbao, they quickly accepted it from their initial doubts.

As Wei Guangde said, the quality of the silver treasures cast by the imperial court was completely in accordance with the decree, saving merchants the trouble of chewing and weighing.

In fact, in private silver trading, especially broken silver, in addition to biting and weighing, sometimes there are great differences in the identification of fineness.

The former silver treasures and copper coins currently in circulation can barely meet the market's needs for transactions.

What's more, the first people to get silver treasures were officials and military households in Beijing.

According to Wei Guangde's request, the first batch of silver treasures and copper coins were distributed directly to officials in Beijing and the soldiers of the three major battalions as salaries and military pay. Naturally, there was no obstacle to their circulation in the market.

As for the officials in the capital of the Ming Dynasty, their attitudes changed very quickly from the shock when they first heard about it to the satisfaction after seeing the real thing.

At the Ministry of Household Affairs, a large amount of silver treasures have begun to be allocated, and newly minted silver coins are rapidly spreading in and around Gyeonggi.

The imperial court had sufficient silver, and the minting speed of the Ministry of Industry was naturally very fast. The silver ingots from the six ministries and the palace were transferred to the Baoyuan Bureau for recasting. A small amount of silver from the Changying Treasury of Taipu Temple was also transferred there. However, after this batch of silver was minted, Instead of transporting it back to the warehouse, it was handed over to the Jin Yiwei, through whom they began to secretly exchange it for gold on the market.

If you exchange it through the official office, you will have to ask what it is for.

In Jinyiwei, it was the order given by the superior, so there was no reason to ask any questions, just follow it.

This is a good way to hide the cabinet's intentions.

The exchange through Jinyiwei can also reassure the palace.

It's just that the exchanged gold will not be transported to the Baoyuan Bureau for casting of gold coins for a while, because it is too late to cast silver treasures there at this time.

These naturally do not require too much intervention from Wei Guangde. In fact, the officials below have been a little busy from the beginning to now, and they already have a complete process and can just follow it step by step.

Wei Guangde was always supervising the quality of Baoyuan Bureau's coins. At this time, even though Ge Shouli was seriously ill, he often sent censors or even went over to supervise in person.

In Zhejiang, there was a commotion at Linshanwei Pier.

On the dock, there are more than a hundred warships of various sizes from the Nanyang Navy docked. Navy officers and soldiers are also running between the warships and the dock, constantly transporting supplies to the ships.

Obviously, the navy is about to go on patrol, and the soldiers are preparing to go to sea.

In front of the gate of the water village, the commanding officer Deng Zilong was waiting here with a group of navy generals.

Not long after, more than a hundred war horses appeared at the end of the official road in the distance and came quickly towards this side.

"The Admiral has arrived, everyone is ready to welcome him."

Deng Zilong turned around and gave instructions to his generals.

The generals behind him nodded in agreement, and their attitudes and actions became respectful.

Deng Zilong was commanding land warfare in Jiangxi and had not been in contact with the navy for a long time. However, he was diligent and eager to learn. Yu Dayou simply left him in the water camp for training.

Because of his military exploits and being a native of Jiangxi, he was already a commanding officer when he was transferred to the Nanyang Navy, so his official rank was quite appropriate.

Soon, Yu Dayou led people to the gate of Shuizhai.

"I will see you later, Lord Admiral."

A group of generals, led by Deng Zilong, paid homage to Yu Dayou. After asking them to get up, Yu Dayou asked if the preparations for going to sea had been completed.

"My Lord Admiral, the navy has completed preparations for going to sea. Only a small amount of supplies have not been completed. It will not be delayed for half an hour at most."

Deng Zilong replied.

"That's right. I just ordered it yesterday and it's ready today."

Yu Dayou nodded and glanced at the busy navy officers and soldiers on the dock. "You said that the bird ship has been modified and can be tested?"

Yu Dayou was still more concerned about this matter. Wei Guangde was more superstitious about Western-style warships, but it was not easy for the Ming craftsmen to quickly master their construction methods. Even if they sent people to steal the craftsmanship, it would still take time.

However, since what Wei Guangde wanted was the broadside bombardment of the navy warship, Yu Dayou would not wait for time to pass in vain, so he also ordered the navy officers, soldiers and craftsmen to find ways to solve the matter.

Therefore, some craftsmen who had seen Western-style armed merchant ships proposed to directly modify them with bird ships in the navy.

Bird boats are sea-going ships along the coast of Zhejiang. They are characterized by their beak-shaped bow and fast sailing speed, so they are called bird boats. They are usually three-masted sailing ships.

Bird boats are developed from wave boats. They have a pointed bow and a low hull. They were initially small in size. However, in order to go out to distant seas, the Nanyang Navy ordered a batch of bird boats more than 20 meters long. , equipped with oars and sculls, which can be used to lean on the sail when the wind is strong and swing the oars when there is no wind.

But in terms of maneuverability, the bird boat is not as good as the centipede boat learned from Hao Jing. That thing is more maneuverable because there are paddles on both sides, and it can maintain a very fast speed even when there is no wind.

However, the centipede ship is okay as a melee weapon, but it cannot deploy a large number of firearms because the space is limited and a large number of sailors exist, occupying not much space.

The moderate bird boats were selected and transformed into gun boats.

(End of this chapter)