Southern Ming: A boy soldier at the beginning, supporting the world

Chapter 384: Expansion of the Navy
On August 20, the Huben Town and the Fourth Infantry Town moved out on time. Thanks to the Lingqu Canal and Xiangjiang River, the Red Army had sufficient food and grass supplies, but the military pay was already insufficient.

Xuben Town added two new regiments of personal soldiers, totaling 24,000 soldiers and horses; the fourth infantry town was established on the spot, totaling 54,000 soldiers and horses, and all kinds of military equipment such as guns, ammunition, uniforms, and flags had to be re-supplied.

The number of Red Army combat and garrison troops has soared to 300,000. At the same time, they are fighting in the two battlefields of Huguang and Jiangxi, and are organizing a large-scale battle in Changsha, so military expenditures are soaring.

Fortunately, Zhenxing Bank was on the right track and had established a strong credit in South Vietnam. The Red Army could first issue IOUs to the soldiers, thereby alleviating the problem of military pay shortage. If everything went well, the Red Army would be able to capture Hunan and Jiangxi before the Spring Festival, which would be more than enough to feed 300,000 soldiers.

At 9:00 pm, Cen Danchu boarded a ship at the Hengzhou East Gate Wharf and rushed to Changsha by water. The Navy Brigade Commander Ruan Tingfeng accompanied him, the Artillery Brigade and the Auxiliary Brigade took the water route, and the Cavalry Brigade and the Personal Guard Brigade traveled along the river.

Looking to the rear, the Fourth Infantry Battalion's camp stretched for miles and had not yet moved out. The Red Army had too many soldiers and had to move out in different routes and at different times.

The Huben Regiment was in the front, advancing along three routes along the Xiangjiang River. The Fourth Regiment was in the rear, and Li Dingguo's Tenth Brigade went through Youxian, Liling and Liuyang, on the one hand responding to the battle situation in Jiangxi, and on the other hand raiding the Qing army's flank.

The Xiang River flows northward, surging endlessly. The Red Army's sails are like snow, and the iron cavalry is like a forest. Danchu stands on the bow, feeling full of confidence. The Dashi Army and the Cixing Fan were defeated one after another, but the Red Army won battle after battle. Who is the destiny? It is as clear as a mirror.

"Tingfeng, how was this long dragon ship transported here?" Danchu asked, pointing at the long dragon warship in front.

He was the commander-in-chief of an army, and he usually had to deal with urgent military and political affairs. He had many followers and rode on a tugboat. The tugboat was large and heavy, had no power, and was towed by a long dragon.

The Red Army had renovated the Lingqu Canal in preparation for the Northern Expedition, but the Lingqu Canal had been in disrepair for a long time and the navigation conditions were poor, so only small baggage ships could pass through. The Navy Association managed to get this long dragon warship to the Xiangjiang River, which was a miracle.

"After extensive renovation, the Lingqu Canal has improved its navigation conditions a lot. Normally, it can accommodate ships of 200 tons. During the rainy season, the water level of the Lingqu Canal rises and warships of 400 tons can pass through."

In ancient times, ships were made of wood. Before building a ship, the amount of wood needed would be calculated in advance and the ship would be measured by the number of wood. For example, a twenty-wood ship means that twenty pieces of wood are needed to build the ship.

Over time, the ancients used the number of timbers to measure the size of ships, and the government also used the number of timbers as the basis for taxation. During the Zhengde period of the Ming Dynasty, it was stipulated that the banknotes would measure the length and width of the ship to determine the amount of banknotes to be collected. For example, if the bow of a foreign-going ship was 1 feet long and had 1 beams, it would be counted as 16 timbers and 100 strings of banknotes would be collected.

Generally speaking, one ton of wood is equivalent to about 150 kilograms of displacement today. A ship of 200 tonnes has a displacement of more than 15 tons. A ship of 400 tonnes has a displacement of more than 30 tons. A three-story ship uses 550 tonnes of wood and has a displacement of about 45 tons.

"After the Battle of Yudu, I was ordered to be transferred to Guangxi. In June, there was a lot of rain in Guangxi, and the water level of Lingqu rose, so the Sanban ship still couldn't pass. We dismantled the cannons, masts, sails and other things, and barely allowed the Sanban ship to pass through the Lingqu. As for the Changlong warship, it drafted too deep, so we had to use dozens of sheepskin valves to increase buoyancy. But the effect was not good, and it was easy to get stuck and hit the shore. Therefore, we only transported one Changlong, but we rushed to transport a lot of Sanban ships, more than 60."

Ruan Tingfeng thought for a moment and added, "Yes, throughout the rainy season, we transferred two battalions and six battalions of naval forces from Guangxi, including one long dragon boat and more than 60 three-pan boats."

Sixty three-panel ships were enough for the Red Army to fight in Hunan, but if they wanted to conquer Jiangnan and Sichuan in the future, these ships would be far from enough.

The tugboat was towed by the long dragon boat, and escorted by six three-plate warships. The wind and the current were favorable, and the boat was moving very fast.

At about 3:30 pm, Hengzhou City was getting farther and farther away. The Xiangjiang River was much wider. Two long river islands appeared in front of us, one small in the west and one large in the east, shaped like a pair of chopsticks. It turned out that the Zhengshui River and the Leishui River merged into the Xiangjiang River in front of the river island, carrying a lot of silt, and each of them formed a river island. The river water here washed the riverbed, the water level was deep, and the river was wide. The Red Army set up a grain platform here, and the Navy Association set up a forward base here. Seeing the main battle troops passing by, the auxiliary soldiers of the grain platform and the navy base rushed to wave flags to salute.

"What is the name of this place?" Danchu asked.

Gu Yanwu carefully studied the geography and said, "Your Majesty, this place is where the Zhengshui, Xiangjiang and Leishui rivers meet. The two sandbars in the river ahead are called Chopsticks Island by the locals. They are used to calling the area around Sanjiangkou and Jiangxinzhou Chopsticks Island."

Chopstick Island, Chopstick Island... Dan Chu silently recited the name of Chopstick Island, seeming to be very familiar with it.

By the way, in the late Qing Dynasty, Zeng Guofan founded the Hunan Army. At first, he had conflicts with the Green Camp in Changsha and had to move to Hengzhou. He set up a shipyard in Kuaizizhou, Hengzhou, and built the Hunan Navy from scratch. He invented the three-board, long-dragon, and fast-crab warships, and imported foreign iron cannons from Guangdong and installed them on the warships. From then on, the Hunan Navy had an overwhelming advantage over the Taiping Navy and played a key role in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion.

On the other hand, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had a weak navy, and thus lost Huguang and Jiangxi. Huguang and Jiangxi have many deep mountains, produce huge trees, and have convenient water transportation on the Xiangjiang and Ganjiang rivers, which are convenient for building warships. After the Taiping Army lost Huguang and Jiangxi, it was even more unable to build naval warships, and gradually fell.

Danchu naturally had no way of sharing these things with the other generals, but the lessons of the Taiping Army were enough to serve as a warning.

Danchu secretly made up his mind, pointed in the direction of Kuaizizhou, and said: "The water here is deep and the river is wide. We can set up a shipyard here, cut down huge trees from the deep mountains upstream, and build warships at the Kuaizizhou shipyard."

He did not act on impulse, but called Mo Guangshu, Qian Bingdeng and others and said: "Huguang has a vast network of waterways. If our army wants to recover Huguang or take over Jiangxi and Nanzhili, we must expand the navy and build more warships.

"The Red Army only has one division of the Neijiang Navy, and most of the warships are left in Guangxi. Now that the rainy season has passed, it is inconvenient to transport the warships. This clan has decided to immediately set up a shipyard in Hengzhou to build ships on the spot, and then recruit sailors from Guangxi and Huguang to expand the Neijiang Navy first."

The navy is very expensive. The Neijiang navy is cheaper than the naval army, but much more expensive than the land army. If you want to recruit an additional navy in Hengzhou, you need to transfer sailors and supplies from Guangxi, organize people to cut down large trees in Quanzhou, Yongzhou and other places, and build a shipyard in Hengzhou. Each of these requires a huge amount of money.

Danchu seemed to have seen through everyone's thoughts and said, "This vassal has withdrawn 100,000 silver taels from the treasury specifically for the expansion of the navy. The designation is set as the Second Navy Division, and the Navy Division is renamed the First Navy Division, which is affiliated to Huben Town. This matter will be handed over to Deng Yao, and he will temporarily serve as the commander of the Second Navy Division."

Deng Yao was originally a general under Li Mingzhong, and he surrendered to the Red Army with Li Mingzhong. He was loyal, brave and courageous, and was a fierce general. He was now the deputy commander of the Navy.

Mo Guangshu felt relieved and took the opportunity to advise: "To increase the number of naval divisions, we need to rely on the Guangxi garrison division. But there is a problem that has been around for a long time, and I beg the king to make a decision.

"The king advocated equality between civil and military officials, changing the long-standing malpractice of valuing civil officials over military officials. However, the garrison commander is a third-rank official, while the governor is a second-rank official. The garrison commander often deals with the governor of Guangxi, which makes him seem inferior to him."

The garrison commanders were responsible for guarding the rear and generally did not need to fight in the field. Most of their officers were wounded and older soldiers. They could not charge into battle as they did in the past, and had few opportunities to make meritorious deeds. If they were forced to leave the garrison due to injuries, they could only serve as assistant commanders in the garrison, which was lower than the governor, which was really inappropriate.

"The garrison troops are also an important part of the Red Army and should not be taken lightly. In this way, the garrison corps of each province can be upgraded to garrison towns. There is no need to increase the number of troops, and the officers can be promoted by two ranks. The commander of the garrison town will be the same as the commander of the combat troops, both of whom are of the second rank, so that it will be easier to do things."

(End of this chapter)