The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 105 The Poor Ming Navy
Deng Zilong originally thought that he would not be reused.

He is already fifty-six years old and has been fighting on the battlefield for more than thirty years.

Because he had been fighting outside for many years, his face was exposed to wind and sun, and there was too much dead skin, so he looked like he was over 66 years old.

Liu Jing was not yet thirty years old, and was at his most brave and fearless.

More importantly, Liu Jing had commanded cavalry battles, but he was not good at commanding cavalry battles.

Under such circumstances, it was normal for Wanli to choose Liu Jing instead of him, and he had no objection.

He thought that after Wanli promoted him to deputy general of the Beijing camp, he was going to let him go home to retire.

Who would have known that at about noon the next morning, Wanli summoned him to the imperial city again.

Moreover, at this time, the corridors and open spaces in the imperial city were already densely packed with the Embroidered Uniform Guards and the Imperial Guards' light cavalry.

Wanli and a beautiful lady were even waiting for him inside Xi'an Gate.

That beauty was really beautiful, and she was even taller than him.

What is this for?

He was a little confused.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli raised his hand and introduced, "This is the Imperial Noble Consort. Her surname is Qin and her name is Lan, which means orchid."

Uh, it turns out to be the Imperial Noble Consort.

Deng Zilong quickly bowed and said, "This humble general pays homage to Her Majesty the Imperial Concubine."

Wanli ordered someone to bring a warhorse, then smiled and said, "General Deng, get on the horse. I will take you to see a place."

what?
His Majesty is so kind to the meritorious soldiers.

Not only were they all promoted yesterday, but their military merit awards were also received. Regardless of how many enemies they killed, they were all awarded. Those who killed dozens of enemies received several thousand taels!

Moreover, the hundreds of meritorious soldiers they brought this time have been incorporated into the Shenwu Camp and become full-time officers, commanding cavalry.

The Emperor was probably worried that he would be unhappy because he had not been given a real job, so he personally took him out for an outing.

Deng Zilong was flattered when he heard this and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

After saying this, he jumped onto the horse.

Seeing this, Wanli stopped talking and waved his hand, saying, "Let's go."

"Boom", a thunderous sound of horse hooves rang out, and 20,000 Jinyiwei and imperial guards cavalry swarmed out of Xi'an Gate and headed straight for the north of the capital.

The people in the capital have become accustomed to it by now.

Wanli liked to go to the Mountain Resort. He went there in spring, summer, autumn, and even in winter before the world froze.

They have seen it so many times that nothing is surprising to them anymore.

The civil and military officials in the court did not dare to care about the rebellious little emperor.

If anyone made the little emperor unhappy, he would really chop people to pieces. Everyone was still frightened by the killing spree last year.

No one dared to control where the little emperor wanted to go.

The mighty cavalry team left Deshengmen, crossed the Wenyu River, and arrived at the Summer Resort in less than an hour.

When Deng Zilong saw the densely packed barracks, courtyards and rows of water wheels inside the wall, he was a little confused again.

This summer resort is completely different from what he imagined.

They entered the one in the lower right corner of the grid.

Here is a row of docks, densely packed warehouses and two rows of glass-making workshops. From the outside, it looks like a dock town.

What did His Majesty take him to see? Was it to see the waterwheel?

The water wheels on both sides of the Chaobai River are truly spectacular, but this one doesn't seem to be anything to see.

He was just in a daze when Wanli actually took the Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan into the warehouse next door.

Many Jinyiwei and imperial guards actually jumped off their horses, quickly took off their coats, and changed into ordinary people's clothes.

After a while, Wanli and Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan also changed into casual clothes and came out.

Deng Zilong was even more confused this time.

Wanli waved his hand and said, "General Deng, let's go aboard and talk."

After saying this, he led Imperial Noble Consort Qin Lan to a centipede boat docked at the pier. The Jinyiwei and Imperial Guards who had changed their clothes also boarded the boats one after another. However, they did not board the same boat. The two hundred or so people were dispersed and boarded five centipede boats.

Seeing this, Deng Zilong hurriedly boarded the boat that Wanli had just boarded.

This centipede boat seemed to have been modified. The observation holes for the rowing soldiers on both sides were installed with glass windows, and several rows of long reclining chairs were installed in the originally empty space in the middle of the cabin.

Wanli raised his hand to signal him to sit down beside him, then asked, "General Deng, you should be familiar with navy ships, right?"

He was quite familiar with this. He had suppressed rebellions in Nanzhili, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Huguang and other places. The rebels in those places were basically in the mountains, and the imperial army could only be transported back and forth by naval ships. For this reason, he also studied naval warfare tactics and read a lot of military books on the subject.

Deng Zilong nodded repeatedly and said, "I know a thing or two about this."

That's a humble statement.

In history, you were the commander-in-chief of the Ming navy during the Wanli Korean War.

Wanli nodded slightly, then said solemnly: "I want to rebuild the Ming Navy. How about you become the commander-in-chief of the navy?"

what?
It's not enough to be promoted to deputy general of the Beijing camp, he also has to be promoted to commander-in-chief of the navy!

It turned out that His Majesty did not want him to go home to retire, but wanted him to command the navy.

Deng Zilong was stunned for a moment, then he quickly stood up, bowed and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

Wanli raised his hand and pulled him to sit down, then sighed softly and said, "The current Ming navy is really pitiful."

This is the truth.

The current Ming Dynasty navy is really pitiful.

The grain transport army was equipped with tens of thousands of grain ships, but the total number of warships of the Ming navy, large and small, was less than half of the grain ships.

Moreover, at that time, the Ming Dynasty rarely built ocean-going ships of more than 1,000 tons, and the 800-ton centipede ship was considered the main warship of the navy.

The current Ming Dynasty Navy is pitifully weak compared to the Ming Dynasty Navy during the Yongle Dynasty.

Deng Zilong nodded slowly and said, "Yes, the navy ships nowadays are too small. During the Yongle Dynasty, warships with a capacity of less than 1,000 tons were only used for communication, espionage, and miscellaneous tasks. They were not considered navy warships at all."

Wanli asked bluntly, "How long do you think it will take for the Ming navy to recover its combat capability to that of the Yongle Dynasty, and how much will it cost?"

This is not just a matter of time and money.

Deng Zilong thought about it carefully, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, now the Ming Dynasty rarely builds warships with a capacity of more than 1,000 tons. I estimate that even the Jinling Treasure Shipyard can only build a large ship with a capacity of 2,000 tons at most. I am afraid that it cannot build treasure ships with a capacity of 3,000 tons, 4,000 tons, or 5,000 tons.

I have been to the Longjiang Treasure Shipyard in Jinling. The shipyards there have been abandoned for over a hundred years. Not only are they overgrown with weeds, but the waterways used for building treasure ships are almost filled with mud and sand.

This is recoverable.

Wanli thought for a moment, then decisively said, "Then we'll mobilize the craftsmen and spend a year repairing the docks and waterways. We'll see how long it will take and how much it will cost."

Now is the Age of Exploration, and those colonial bandits on the European continent are looting all over the world. If you don't have a strong navy, you can only expect to be beaten.

Therefore, the Ming Dynasty Navy must restore or even surpass the level of the Yongle Dynasty.

This is really not difficult.

Deng Zilong explained in detail: "Your Majesty, not all the navy ships at that time were built by the Longjiang Treasure Shipyard. The Longjiang Treasure Shipyard only built dozens of treasure ships. The other ships were built by shipyards in Shandong, Fujian, Guangdong, and even Zhenjiang, Suzhou and Songjiang.

"I estimate that if the navy is to restore its combat capability to that of the Yongle Dynasty, it will need to repair the docks and waterways of several shipyards. As for the time it will take, it will take at least ten years and will require an investment of at least tens of millions of taels."

Ten years and tens of millions of taels?
I have to spend this money.

While the two men were discussing, the five centipede boats had already sailed downstream, along the Chaobai River, Beiyun River and Haihe River, directly to the sea. Then they rowed north along the coast for two or three hours, then entered the Luan River and went upstream. They did not arrive at the dock outside Luanzhou City until around 5 p.m.

There are even more water wheels here. The whole way from the mouth of Luanhe River to Luanzhou City is densely packed with twelve-bucket water wheels. To the north of Luanzhou City, there seem to be endless water wheels!

When Deng Zilong saw this, he couldn't help but look shocked.

Only then did he remember the rumor in the capital that Duke Dingguo Xu Wenbi was not doing his job properly. He ignored the affairs of the Rear Army Governor's Office and went to Luanzhou to mine iron and coal mines and make money by smelting iron.

Now it seems that the rumors are true.

So many water wheels are definitely not used to draw water for irrigating the fields. There are houses behind the water wheels, and there are chimneys on the roofs.

Obviously, these are iron smelting workshops.

This Duke is really willing to spend money. How much wood would be needed to build so many water wheels, and how many craftsmen would be needed to build them?

If these craftsmen and these timbers were used to build navy warships, the number of navy warships would probably exceed the grain transport army's grain transport ships.

At this time, Wanli entrusted the affairs of the navy to him. He had already begun to think about the navy of the Ming Dynasty. When he saw rows of water wheels, he could think of naval warships.

(End of this chapter)