The Ming Dynasty did not revolutionize

Chapter 47 The Foundation of the Ming Dynasty

When the Ming Dynasty was preparing for war, the number of land troops to be sent and the size of the naval fleet had already been planned long ago.

The general plan was informed to Gravier and Adams, who were asked to arrange to send the personnel back to their homeland.

It will make it easier for the armies of the two countries to prepare for coordinated operations.

When French Foreign Minister Gravier received the briefing, he was obviously shocked by the scale of the troops that the Ming Dynasty was preparing to send to North America.

“Your Excellency, we certainly hope that the Ming Dynasty can send as many forces as possible to participate in the war in North America.

“But the Ming Dynasty’s main target should be near its homeland, such as India.

“So the Ming Dynasty prepared 64 battleships, more than 120 secondary warships, and more than 160 armed merchant ships to go to North America.

"How should we plan the defense of the Ming mainland and operations in the Indian Ocean?"

Without waiting for the Ming Dynasty's Honglu Temple Minister to explain, Adams used the Ming Dynasty military system, which he had learned about, to explain:

“This fleet may seem huge, but it is actually only two-fifths of the Ming Central Navy.

"The Ming Dynasty has five military governorates, each of which has a naval fleet under its jurisdiction.

“The fleet that will be sent to North America only belongs to the two governorates.

"There are three other fleets of the Governor's Office left in the mainland, which are enough to deal with the battles on the west coast of the Pacific and the Indian Ocean.

“Moreover, many of the vassal states under the Ming Dynasty also have their own naval fleets.

“Although the scale of individual ships is not as large as that of the Ming Dynasty’s central government, the total number of warships is more than that.

“So the number of warships that Ming sent to North America probably accounted for less than one-third of the entire Ming navy.

"As for the Ming army, it goes without saying that the fleet at sea cannot carry enough troops.

"The 30,000 troops sent this time are only about one-seventh of the Ming Dynasty's standing army."

In order to show off his strength and intimidate the representative of the Western barbarians, France, the Minister of the Honglu Temple deliberately took the initiative to introduce the situation of the Ming Navy:

Since the middle of the Chongzhen period and later, the Ming court vigorously developed the navy.

On the basis of the original five military governorships, a naval governor was established in each governorship.

Each governor-general's office has a naval fleet within its jurisdiction, which means that the navy was divided among the five governor-general's offices.

By the spring of the 33rd year of Xianning, the Ming Navy had a total of 160 main battleships.

Among them, there are sixteen first-class battleships with a displacement of about 3,000 tons, and each ship is equipped with more than 100 guns.

There are sixteen second-class battleships with a displacement of more than two thousand tons, and each ship is equipped with more than eighty guns.

There are 128 third-level battleships with a displacement of about 1,500 tons, and each ship is equipped with more than 60 guns.

The first three levels of battleships are mainly used for fleet decisive battles and are the deterrent force of maritime powers. They basically have no other routine tasks.

Below this, there are more than twice as many level 4, 5, and 6 non-main battleships.

It is mainly responsible for daily patrols in the mainland and colonies, escorting merchant ships on major routes, attacking enemy merchant ships and other low-intensity tasks.

In this war against Britain, the Ming Navy was divided into three parts.

The fleet of the Rear Military Governor's Office remained in the home port of Zhoushan, patrolling and deploying defenses in the Yangtze River estuary, Zhoushan, and Ryukyu areas to deter the Qing people in the north.

At this time, the Qing Dynasty also had a navy, which was relatively weaker than that of the Ming Dynasty and Britain, but it was still ranked among the top in the world.

The main purpose of the Qing navy was not to challenge the Ming Dynasty's maritime power in the western Pacific, but to protect their routes to North America.

Therefore, the Qing navy operated in the northern Pacific Ocean most of the time and basically did not enter the east coast of the Ming Dynasty. The fleet of the Right Military Governor's Office of the Ming Dynasty moved to Andaman and patrolled and deployed around the Andaman Islands.

Keep the shipping routes in the Indian Ocean open and prepare to attack Britain's colonies in India.

The Central Military Governor's Office fleet moved to Brunei, patrolled and deployed in the core area of ​​the South Pacific Islands, and commanded the vassal state navy to guard the South Pacific mainland waters.

The Ming Dynasty now has a feudal system, with many vassal states in the local areas.

Most vassal states had their own coastlines and naval fleets of a certain size.

In particular, the Fujian Navy of the Zheng family, the Duke of Min, had a fleet whose size was almost the same as that of the navy of an ordinary small country.

If we simply look at the number of warships, the total number of warships of the local navies is greater than that of the central court.

If we only compare the size of individual ships, total tonnage, and local organization and command capabilities, they are far inferior to the central court navy.

The main battlefield of this war will be in the Atlantic Ocean.

Both the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean are relatively safe, with only sporadic British warships and armed merchant ships appearing at most.

The Central Military Governor's Office and the local fleet are enough to handle it.

The warships of the Front Army Governor's Office and the Left Army Governor's Office formed the Ming Dynasty's North American fleet, which was heading for the Atlantic Ocean to fight.

At the end of his speech, the Minister of the Ministry of Rites suddenly changed the subject, smiled and shook his head, saying:
“The Ming Dynasty actually didn’t attach much importance to the navy, because the Ming Navy’s previous mission was just to guard the South Pacific Islands.

"The real enemy of the Ming Dynasty has always been the Qing people in the north, or what you call the Tatars.

"If Ming Dynasty needs to fight in the ocean for a long time, we can even build twice as many warships as we have now.

“After all, four hundred years ago, we already had two hundred warships, and we often brought thirty thousand people to visit Africa.

"At that time, our Ming Dynasty had just driven out the Mongols, and the local population was only about 60 million.

"The shipbuilding technology, steel smelting technology, number of craftsmen, etc. at that time were far inferior to those of today."

Gravière was stunned after hearing this, as if he suddenly realized how vast the Ming Dynasty's foundation was.

Now these troops are only part of the Ming Dynasty’s normal army, and they are enough to participate in the world-class war in the North Atlantic.

In order to confront each other and participate in the war on the European continent, France and Britain inflated their domestic and foreign debts, which led to the emergence of navies and armies of similar size.

What’s more, what happened more than 400 years ago was outrageous. That was during the Hundred Years’ War between England and France, and France was still fighting with the British over territory.

Although they are still fighting with the British over colonial territories, this has been the case for hundreds of years.

The point is, you had a population of 60 million four hundred years ago, but now the British and French combined have less than 60 million.

Now... now the total population of all white people in Europe, even if the Russians in Eastern Europe are included, may not be as large as the population of Ming Dynasty itself.

The more Gravière thought about it, the more worried he became. Was it a good thing to bring Ming Dynasty into the North Atlantic now?

What should we do if the Ming people come and never leave?
But we must not defeat the British in the end but instead attract the giant Ming Dynasty.

"No, after the war, when we negotiate with the British, we must not let the Ming Dynasty take the islands in Central America."

Gravier silently made up his mind.

………………

I have to go out for something, so I'm sending it out as soon as I finish it. You guys can just take a look at it. I'll check and revise it when I come back in the evening.

(End of this chapter)