Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1758 Conflict Between Land and Sea!

Upon hearing Ye Mingsheng's mission assignment, all the naval officers present, including Zhang Baili, were taken aback.

Noticing the change in everyone's expressions, Ye Mingsheng looked at Zhang Wanli and asked:
What are your thoughts on this task?

Faced with Ye Mingsheng's question, Zhang Baili was momentarily at a loss for words, unsure how to answer.

The navy is different from the army. The army has food, weapons, and can quickly raise an army, form combat capability, and start fighting.

However, the navy is different. The navy needs ships and ports as home ports, and it also needs to carefully train sailors so that they can sail on the sea. All of these are very expensive. Training a navy costs far more money than training an army of the same number of people.

In recent years, the imperial court has been continuously investing in the construction of the navy despite tight finances. This has caused some dissatisfaction among the army, who believe that the court's investment in the navy is being squeezed from their army's budget, and that the money meant for the army is being given to the navy.

Therefore, the generals of the army in the Great Qian Dynasty generally did not have a good impression of the navy, and some extreme individuals were even quite hostile to the navy.

Against this backdrop, many people questioned the purpose of the navy and what the navy of the Great Qian Dynasty could do for the Great Qian.
The most classic question these people asked was: the Great Qian Navy has never fought a single battle for the Great Qian, yet it has already spent hundreds of thousands or even millions of taels of silver!
As the naval commander appointed by Ye Mingsheng, Zhang Baili was keenly aware of his heavy responsibilities. He never slacked off in his work, diligently training the navy and striving to transform this highly regarded force into a battle-hardened army…

However, the contempt and distrust of his army colleagues left him physically and mentally exhausted. At first, he was able to try to resolve the problem with a tolerant attitude, but he soon realized that he could never convince his army colleagues by just arguing with them. You can only shut them up with victory.

Therefore, as the naval commander, Zhang Baili very much hoped that Ye Mingsheng could assign them a combat mission so that he could have a victory to silence all the doubters.

Therefore, before Ye Mingsheng came to inspect this time, Zhang Baili had the idea of ​​showing Ye Mingsheng the strength of the Daqian Navy during the inspection and then asking Ye Mingsheng for instructions on the mission!

However, at this moment, Zhang Baili never expected that although Ye Mingsheng had assigned him a combat mission, this mission was so crazy that he didn't know how to respond.

Seeing that Zhang Baili was unable to answer for a long time, Ye Mingsheng urged him to ask:
"Zhang Baili, what are your thoughts? Just say it!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Baili said with difficulty:
"Your Majesty, Lei Island is tens of thousands of miles away from Tao Port. Even starting from Huacheng Port, the distance is over six thousand miles, taking several months to sail by sea. It would also require navigating through the territories of several local bandits and major pirates. Moreover, the sea conditions around the island are extremely complex; our navy has never been there before..."

Upon hearing Zhang Baili's words, Ye Mingsheng's expression gradually turned serious. Although Zhang Baili hadn't explicitly stated it, Ye Mingsheng understood his thoughts and immediately spoke:
"I'm not asking you to go to Lei Island to wipe out Sun Wenheng right now. You can use this goal to develop and grow stronger, and then go to Lei Island to kill Sun Wenheng when you are confident!"

Zhang Baili hesitated for a moment, still not wanting to deceive the emperor who trusted and promoted him, and said:

"Your Majesty, Lei Island is too far away, the marine conditions are too complex, and the surrounding area is full of local tribes and pirates. At present, we do not have the capability to carry out combat missions near Lei Island in the short term!"

Hearing Zhang Baili speak so bluntly, Ye Mingsheng's expression gradually turned cold, and he said:

"How long do you mean by 'short term'?"

Zhang Baili hesitated for a moment before saying:
"It will take at least three years, and five years if things proceed as planned!"

Upon hearing Zhang Baili's words, Ye Mingsheng frowned again.

Seeing the naval commander he had promoted in this state, Ye Mingsheng realized that his unfamiliarity with naval operations might have made him underestimate the difficulty of the navy taking down Sun Wenheng on Lei Island. However, Zhang Baili's answer also greatly displeased Ye Mingsheng!
Sun Wenheng is already over sixty years old, which is definitely considered old in this era. So if you give him another three or five years, he might die of old age or illness without the Great Qian Navy having to attack him!

Furthermore, he caused a huge deficit for Wanfu Bank. To uphold the dignity of the imperial court, Ye Mingsheng could not let him go, much less allow him to evade justice for three to five years…

Just as Ye Mingsheng was deep in thought, a voice suddenly came to his ear.

"Your Majesty, I have always believed that a year is enough time for our navy to take down that old scoundrel Sun Wenheng!"

Everyone present was stunned by these words. Ye Mingsheng also saw the person who had just spoken. He was about thirty years old, seven feet tall, with a broad back and a square face. What attracted Ye Mingsheng the most was his pair of bright eyes and the confidence in his expression, which was in stark contrast to Zhang Baili's worried face just now.

After sizing the other person up, Ye Mingsheng couldn't help but ask curiously:
"Who are you?"

"Your humble servant, Admiral Zhang Shirong, of the Navy!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded slightly and then asked:

Do you think the navy can take down Sun Wenheng in just one year?

Faced with Ye Mingsheng's question, Zhang Baili seemed a little anxious and started to give Zhang Shirong a meaningful look, but Zhang Shirong completely ignored it and said to Ye Mingsheng in a serious tone:
"No joking in the army!"

Hearing this so confident answer, Ye Mingsheng was curious about where his confidence came from. After all, his commander had just said it would take at least three years, and five years if things proceeded step by step, but this man said it would only take one year. Ye Mingsheng was eager to hear his plan, to know what kind of brilliant strategy he had up his sleeve. Just then, a guard hurriedly came to Ye Mingsheng's side and whispered something in his ear.

Hearing what the guard said, Ye Mingsheng's expression subtly changed. After a moment's thought, Ye Mingsheng instructed Zhang Shirong:

"Write down your ideas in a petition and submit it..."

"Yes!"

After giving his instructions, Ye Mingsheng ended the inspection and hurriedly left with his men.

After seeing Ye Mingsheng off, Zhang Baili immediately pulled Zhang Shirong into a private room. As soon as they entered, Zhang Baili angrily said:

"Shirong, what's wrong with you, kid?"

"Brother! I'm not crazy!"

"You still say you haven't gone mad? Tell me how you planned to go to Lei Island and kill Sun Wenheng in a year? You just said there's no joking in the military!"

At this point, Zhang Baili's eyes were filled with despair. The main reason he was able to become the commander of the Great Qian Dynasty was because his family had served in the Jiangnan Navy for three generations. He himself had previously served as a commander in the Jiangnan Navy and had led his troops to fight against pirates. Although the results were mixed and the record was not very good, he still had practical experience. Therefore, when Ye Mingsheng wanted to develop the navy and reorganize the Jiangnan Navy, someone with practical experience, good personal character, and no major blemishes stood out.

Zhang Baili knew that he had been given his fate and was meant to quickly build up the Great Qian Navy. To achieve this goal, he fully mobilized his network of connections, recruiting many people with naval experience into the Great Qian Navy. Among them were some of Zhang Baili's clansmen. Zhang Shirong, who had just spoken, was actually Zhang Baili's cousin and the son of Zhang Baili's second uncle.

It was precisely because of this relationship that Zhang Baili acted this way. In his view, Zhang Shirong's performance was tantamount to giving Ye Mingsheng a guarantee. Therefore, if Zhang Shirong completed this task, he would undoubtedly stand out and gain Ye Mingsheng's appreciation and favor. Conversely, if he failed, it would be a crime of deceiving the emperor, and he would be fortunate enough to have the chance to commit suicide...
Compared to his anxious and fearful cousin, Zhang Shirong appeared very calm and composed. He smiled and said to his cousin:
"Brother, His Majesty is very dissatisfied that you still want to take three to five years to wipe out Sun Wenheng. I heard that Sun Wenheng is already over sixty years old. By the time you finish him off, there probably won't be any bone fragments left!"

"Of course I know His Majesty is dissatisfied, but you can't just talk nonsense. You know how far away Lei Island is. Our current fighting strength is comparable to that of the Great Qian in the coastal waters, but an expedition to Lei Island would only result in a complete defeat!"

Hearing his elder brother's resolute words, Zhang Shirong said somewhat mysteriously:
"We don't have to do it ourselves to kill Sun Wenheng!"

Hearing Zhang Shirong say this, Zhang Baili asked with some suspicion:
"Shirong, what exactly do you mean?"

"Brother, it's unrealistic for us to take down Sun Wenheng in a short time with our own strength alone. But His Majesty entrusted this task to us, so we brothers have no choice but to rack our brains and figure out how to present this matter to His Majesty in a flattering way..."

Seeing his younger brother's relaxed expression, Zhang Baili seemed to sense something and immediately asked:
"Are you trying to use someone else to do your dirty work?"

Zhang Shurong smiled upon hearing this, but did not reply.

Although his cousin didn't answer, Baili felt he had guessed his cousin's thoughts. Not only that, he also guessed whose knife his cousin wanted to borrow, and immediately continued:

"You should be clear about the court's attitude towards the Jinghai Army. If you get too involved with them, it will be difficult to explain yourself later!"

Faced with his cousin's admonition, Zhang Shirong also suppressed his smile and said:
"I need to understand the specifics of the situation before I can give a detailed answer, but we should understand one thing: if we want to achieve something in the next few years and shut up those people in the army, we can't do without the help of the Jinghai Navy!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Baili fell silent. As the naval commander of Daqian, he was reluctant to admit that Daqian's navy needed the help of the Jing navy's pirates to achieve any results.

However, he had to admit that his cousin Zhang Shirong was right. The Great Qian Navy had too many debts in history. In the past few decades, the various forces of the Great Zhou were engaged in an arms race, but the content of the arms race was all on the land. Apart from Lu Jianchao of Jiangnan who maintained a navy, basically no one else had the idea of ​​training a navy, including Ye Mingsheng. Ye Mingsheng only started to vigorously train a navy after he basically unified the country.

All of these factors have resulted in the fact that, in the past few decades, the Great Qian Navy has not only failed to make any progress, but has actually regressed significantly…
Although Ye Mingsheng inherited the Jiangnan Navy, the current combat strength of the Jiangnan Navy is only suitable for the waters of the Nanjiang River. What Ye Mingsheng wants is a navy that can always defend the overseas interests of Daqian in the far seas. The two are fundamentally different. Therefore, the establishment of Daqian Navy is basically the same as starting from scratch, except for absorbing some of the core personnel of the Jiangnan Navy.

As the person in charge of the Daqian Navy project, Zhang Baili's idea was to proceed step by step. He originally thought that now that the Daqian Navy had initially formed combat capability, they should first annihilate pirates in the coastal waters, accumulate combat experience, and then gradually advance towards the South China Sea. However, he did not expect that Ye Mingsheng's idea was so big. He actually wanted the navy to go to Lei Island to carry out combat missions right now. This was like trying to get fat in one bite!
If Your Majesty continues to set such ambitious goals, then even if you managed to kill Sun Wenheng by chance, it will be difficult to complete the mission smoothly next time.

Seeing his elder brother fall silent, Zhang Shirong continued to persuade him:
"My elder brother's ambitions extend beyond the land! As commander, simply following the established procedures will not satisfy His Majesty!"

Hearing his cousin say this, Zhang Baili frowned slightly. Seeing this, Zhang Shirong wanted to say something more, but before he could speak, his elder brother interrupted him:

"Shirong, I will think about what you have to say! But before I make a decision, please remember not to act rashly!"

"After you finish writing your memorial to His Majesty, let me see it first!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Shirong sighed inwardly and nodded slightly. His elder brother was too cautious and didn't want to take any risks. But he also wondered if His Majesty could wait for him for three or five years.
At this point, we must use whatever means are available to eliminate Sun Wenheng with the help of the Jinghai Army. As for His Majesty dealing with the Jinghai Army, that can wait; let's resolve the immediate problem first…