I Am the Grandson of the Second Emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Earning 100 Million Taels at the Beginn

Chapter 313 I came to the West only for 4 things, killing people, robbing money, robbing slaves, and robbing territory!

"Woooooooo..."

The deafening sound of the siren resounded through Tianjin Port.

The two steel warships with colorful flags, cheered by the naval officers and dock workers, slowly entered the specially prepared berths at the dock.

"Your Highness, the people below are constantly arguing about the artillery of the two warships. Some are in favor of using the new artillery, and some hope to continue using the navy's short artillery or the army's new artillery."

"Those who are in favor of the use of new types of artillery feel that in future naval battles, warships will fight at long distances, and the combat distance will be several nautical miles or even tens of nautical miles. The short artillery can no longer keep up with the times."

"As for those who are in favor of the use of short cannons, they feel that the Ming Dynasty Navy is currently number one in the world. Although the future situation may develop like that, in the current era, we are still invincible."

"Combined with the defense capabilities of the new warships, the use of short guns can quickly destroy more enemies, and it can also ensure minimal casualties on one's own side."

"The two parties have been arguing for half a month about this, but in the end they couldn't reach a conclusion, so they came to me."

"I thought about it for a long time and felt that the new long-barreled artillery is the future development trend, while the short-barreled artillery is actually more suitable for the current maritime operations."

"My head is one big and two big. After thinking about it for a long time, I really can't make up my mind. Can you give me some advice?"

On the viewing platform at the pier, Li Hu looked at the two warships docked at the berth and being inspected by the shipyard personnel, and said something that had been in his heart for a long time.

Some time ago, the ship was snatched by Zheng He. From him, the general officer, to ordinary naval soldiers, they were very depressed.

But he didn't dare to rob them with Zheng He, so he could only admit it while pinching his nose.

Later, when Zhu Zhangui saw that everyone was unhappy, he reluctantly mentioned something to them.

In Zhu Zhangui's words, Zheng He is no longer young and has a disability. If it weren't for the Western incident, he would have retired a long time ago and traveled around the world with the Supreme Emperor.

This voyage is said to be to open up the west, but in fact the main purpose is to avenge Zheng He's soldiers who died in the west and lead them home.

As long as this wish in Zheng He's heart is fulfilled, coupled with the fact that the Ming Navy is so powerful, Zheng He will probably choose to retire and travel the world with the old man.

When Zheng He retired, wouldn't these two ironclad ships still belong to the navy?

Give it to Zheng He in advance, and it will be treated as Zheng He's pre-enlistment test for you. What's more, the crew who went to sea this time are all members of your navy. Zheng He also put up a name and said it was for Zheng He. It's still used by your navy.

With Zhu Zhangui's suggestion, the sailors came to their senses in an instant.

They fell into a misunderstanding and always regarded Zheng He and them as their competitors.

But after Zhu Zhangui's mention, they came back to their senses, as if this was the truth.

With Zhu Zhangui's suggestion, the navy officers and soldiers no longer hung their heads down, but instead had a heated discussion about how to transform the two warships. Of course, they were secretly competing for the positions of the two captains.

The imperial court has also built armored warships in recent years, but they are all made of wood and iron, and they are small in size. There are real pure steel warships, but those are as small as jelly beans. Do not make jokes.

Therefore, the Zhenyuan and Dingyuan are actually the first batch of ironclad warships to enter the navy and officially serve.

How to control the battleship and how to arrange personnel are internal affairs of the navy. Zhu Zhangui no longer cares about these trivial matters.

Arranging a good candidate is a matter of course for the subordinates. If the arrangement is not good, then Li Hu, the chief military officer, has neglected his duty.

The navy is also accustomed to this aspect. After several days of competition and secretly fighting for friendship, two middle-aged generals got this opportunity. Le is still blind to eyebrows.

There is no problem with the personnel, but there are differences at both ends of the naval guns.

Some far-sighted admirals hope to reduce or specialize the artillery of these two steel battleships, and even future steel battleships.

Some conservative generals think that the attack speed of long guns is slow and the firepower is very small, which is not in line with the current concept of heavy fire suppression by the navy. It is suggested that the short guns currently used by the navy should be used on ironclad ships, or that the army should use them. new artillery.

The two parties quarreled endlessly over this, and finally even Li Hu was involved.

Zhu Zhangui did not express any opinion on what kind of artillery the two warships were equipped with.

Now that the naval system has matured, as the top military leader of the Ming Empire (secretly), he only needs to guide the general development of the army. As for some smaller issues, this can be discussed by the people under his command.

What Zhu Zhangui wants is not a bunch of echoers, but the kind of generals who are thoughtful and assertive.

Since the navy was established seven or eight years ago, with the addition of new members, conservatives and radicals have also emerged within the navy. The two parties often have differences of opinion because of different ideas.

In the past, it was only a small problem, which could be resolved by mutual compromise, but now it is related to the direction of the future battleship artillery, and the two parties have been arguing endlessly.

Zhu Zhangui knew about the internal affairs of the navy, but he didn't take care of it.

As the saying goes, there are no factions in the party.

Only the collision of different ideas can spark unexpected sparks.

As long as the navy has no problems in terms of ideology and general aspects, Zhu Zhangui will not care about the small internal competition.

In the end, the two parties argued for half a month and still had no results, and then the two parties went directly to Li Hu, wanting the chief military officer to talk about his thoughts.

Regarding this matter, Li Hu didn't know what to say.

In fact, in his heart, he is more inclined to the short gun.

It may be due to his own culture. With the growth of age and the rapid development of the navy, Li Hu's eyes gradually couldn't keep up with the pace of the development of the navy.

Zhu Zhangui knew this, and so did Li Hu himself.

So the two have been looking for a new successor to the leadership of the navy, but currently no one under their command can take on this burden.

The main reason is that the main generals of the navy are all brought back from the sea by Zhu Zhangui before, and their cultural level and age are limited.

And those young people, because of their inexperience, were unable to shoulder this burden.

It is precisely because of this that Zhu Zhangui and Li Hu have considered establishing a vocational college specializing in the education of the navy at the Tianjin Naval Base, hoping to find someone who will shoulder the heavy burden of the navy in the future by casting a wide net.

It is also necessary to send the young generals in the navy to the academy to re-learn.

Although the navy is a profession that requires experience, the accumulation of knowledge is also very important.

The successor of the navy is a matter of the future. The current internal problems of the navy still need to be taken care of by Li Hu, the general officer.

After discussing with a group of people under him for a long time, Li Hu, who couldn't get a clue, found Zhu Zhangui after the two warships tested the water, and wanted to hear his thoughts.

"What's your idea?"

Seeing that Zhu Zhangui was maintaining the battleship, he asked without looking back.

Zhu Zhangui didn't express his thoughts, but wanted to hear Li Hu's decision first.

Li Hu hesitated for a moment, then expressed his thoughts.

"I think long guns have the advantages of long guns, but in the current era of naval warfare, short guns actually have greater advantages."

"As you know in the current naval battle, long-range artillery fires at a long distance. If the span is too large, coupled with the complex environment of the ocean, it is not bad if 10 artillery pieces can hit one. Even [-] or [-] artillery pieces cannot hit the enemy. One shot."

"In my opinion, such a battle is a waste of shells."

Zhu Zhangui looked back at Li Hu, "So, you agree with the use of short cannons."

Li Hu opened his mouth and shook his head helplessly.

"This is where I struggle. Although short cannons have the advantages of short cannons, you told me about the development of the navy back then. Long cannons are the future trend."

"With the development of artillery warships, warship combat will gradually be abandoned when it comes to the era of close-range shooting, and will be turned into long-distance shooting and estimated attacks."

"As the strongest force at sea, our Ming Dynasty must be at the forefront of the times if we want to ensure that this position will not be surpassed by the enemy."

"That's why I have been struggling with whether to choose the short gun or the long gun."

"Why don't you dress them all together!"

After listening to some of Li Hu's thoughts, Zhu Zhangui shook his head with a smile and made a point.

"Um, these can all be installed together."

Li Hu's mind froze for a moment, and he didn't realize how to install both long and short cannons.

"Your thinking is just on the edge of a dead end. You always feel that the unified caliber of artillery is conducive to command during combat."

Standing by the pier for a while, Zhu Zhangui turned around and went to the rest room on the pier, talking to Li Hu who was following his thoughts while walking.

"Although future naval operations will all be long-distance attacks, the enemy will always come close. Without short-range artillery, you can't hit a ship. Besides, the new warships don't have a ram angle, so what are you going to do! "

"So it is still necessary to equip some secondary guns, and these secondary guns are artillery for close combat, and their main purpose is to attack close-range warships."

"Not only that, in addition to these artillery, you also need to equip anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft heavy machine guns."

"air defense!"

Li Hu's eyes brightened slightly, "You are talking about guarding against airships that appear during the military parade."

Zhu Zhangui nodded, "Although only my Ming Dynasty has this kind of air combat equipment at present, don't underestimate the people of the world, maybe they will hit a ghost one day and also create aviation equipment. So we must Take precautions, even if these weapons are installed on these two warships, they may not be used until they are decommissioned, but we cannot do without."

"We must guide future generations in a good direction and predict all kinds of wars that are likely to occur in the future. Even if we don't need it, future generations may use it."

Li Hu's eyes were filled with admiration as he looked at the figure walking slowly forward.

The prince always has such a long-term vision, not only thinking about the present, but even preparing for the future.

Just these few words made an accurate judgment on the development of the navy in the next few decades or even hundreds of years.

Sometimes Li Hu thought, if the prince in front of him is not the heir of Daming, he must be an excellent naval commander.

It's a pity that the person who is most suitable to command the navy can only lead in a general direction in the future. After all, this prince will ascend the throne in the future and lead the whole world forward.

After two days of maintenance and repairs, the final installation of the two warships officially began.

The two battleships are equipped with four double-mounted artillery pieces, two at the front and the rear, and two cannons on the left and right flanks.

The caliber of the artillery is the largest currently produced by the Ming Dynasty, with a caliber of 230mm, which can fire armor-piercing projectiles, high-explosive projectiles, and illumination projectiles.

It is also equipped with 105 12-caliber secondary guns, 8 air-to-sea heavy machine guns, and two naval-type torpedo tubes.

After all the weapons are equipped on the battleships, the two battleships Zhenyuan and Dingyuan can be said to be armed to the teeth.

In the current era, these two warships are the representatives of invincibility.

If it is equipped with certain supply warships, the fleet composed of these two warships can suppress the current maritime power of any country.

At the beginning of October in the first year of Hongxi, a huge naval fleet was assembled overseas in Tianjin Port.

In addition to the two dazzling ironclad ships, there are 50 naval warships, which rise and fall with the waves around them.

Originally, 30 auxiliary warships were booked at the beginning, but Zhu Zhangui later considered this long-distance voyage. There was no supply base along the way, and it was impossible to get coal for the two warships to burn.

In order to prevent these two warships from burning things and crawling overseas, Zhu Zhangui made preparations in advance and increased the original 30 warships to 50, of which more than 20 were transporting coal and fuel. Specially supply these two uncles.

On the pier, tens of thousands of marines lined up neatly.

They wore sea-blue military uniforms, steel helmets on their heads, cowhide boots, and rifles on their backs, standing in neat rows.

If future generations see the scene in front of them, they will be amazed. How could this be an ancient army?

The current Marine Corps soldiers still use second-generation rifles.

There is no way, the production of the third-generation rifles is too slow, coupled with the lack of ammunition supply, the current supply is still the first and second regiments of the Royal Guard.

Therefore, the Marine Corps, which currently has no large-scale operations, is still equipped with the largest number of second-generation rifles.

"Grandpa, didn't you go to visit Mount Tai? Why did you come here again?"

Under the counting platform, Zhu Zhangui, who was about to go to the stage to review the legion, looked at a lot of old men beside him speechlessly, pointing at the warships in the distance and discussing.

Just this morning, when Zhu Zhangui and the others were about to set off, the old man hurried over with a group of veterans.

"Why, now that I'm not the emperor, I can't speak anymore, right? Do you think us old guys are getting old and drag you down, and feel like a burden."

The old man, who was in high spirits with a group of old guys, looked at the two iron-clad warships moored on the sea, and when he heard Zhu Zhangui's words, he immediately raised his nose and raised his eyes angrily.

"No, no, grandson doesn't mean that. What grandson means is that you don't know what kind of danger you will encounter when you travel all the way..."

Seeing that the old man was angry, Zhu Zhangui quickly waved his hands to explain.

"Okay, stop talking, just say whether you want me to go with you. If you don't let me board the ship, then I'll go by airship myself."

Before Zhu Zhangui finished speaking, the old man interrupted him with his hand and gave Zhu Zhangui a choice on the spot.

Zhu Zhangui sighed helplessly, "Then did you say hello to my father?"

What a joke to go in an airship, if there is some kind of big wind and waves at sea, I don't know where it will be blown.

If the old man was scraped off, his fat father would definitely beat him to death.

The old man snorted coldly, "I am his old man, where do I need to say hello to his son?"

After finishing speaking, he stopped talking to Zhu Zhangui, and led a group of veterans to happily advance the Zhenyuan Ship, which will be the flagship.

Looking at a group of old men walking away, Zhu Zhangui opened his mouth, finally shook his head helplessly, and gave instructions to a guard next to him.

"Send a message to the palace, saying that the Supreme Emperor has followed us, and let the emperor rest assured that I will take good care of them."

The guard saluted, then turned and left with big strides.

After the guards left, Zhu Zhangui tidied up the navy uniform on his body, and strode onto the military platform.

"Da Ming, Wan Sheng, Wan Sheng, Wan Sheng!"

As Zhu Zhangui stepped onto the stage, the marines and navy fleet officers and soldiers lined up roared loudly under the leadership of Zheng He Li Hu and others.

Striding towards the microphone of the Dianbingtai, Zhu Zhangui imitated the headmaster's hands slightly, and the place fell silent instantly.

"Soldiers, sons, brothers, after nearly ten years, we are once again embarking on the road to sea."

"Thinking back a few years ago, we fought all over the sea, were invincible, and gained a great reputation."

"However, there are some barbarians who have never heard of our Da Ming's name, and have never seen the ferocious power of my brothers. After we Ding Haigong made friends with us with friendship, they even despicably plotted against our brothers secretly, causing our brothers to die. Tens of thousands of brothers died tragically in the Western Sea."

"We have to avenge this hatred, we have to pay back this hatred."

"My sons, brothers, warriors of Ming Dynasty, tell me loudly, tell those brothers who died tragically in the west, tell the people of Ming Dynasty loudly, whether your bravery is still there, and whether your steel knives are still there Kill the enemy without leaving a piece of armor, and avenge those soldiers who died tragically."

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

All the soldiers roared loudly, Zheng He, who was a eunuch, even though his body was disabled, still raised his hands and roared loudly at this moment.

Zhu Zhangui looked directly at everyone, seeing that the morale of the soldiers had been mobilized, he didn't say any more nonsense, and slowly stretched out four fingers.

"We went to the west this time for only four things."

"First, kill people and avenge blood for those soldiers who died!"

"Second, grab money. Use the money you rob to exchange for more new equipment and warships from the imperial court, and continue to arm us."

"Third, robbing slaves. The corvee in your family has been exempted, but after all these jobs must be done by someone. In order to prevent our family from going back to corvee, we need more slaves."

"Fourth, that is to grab land, win ports one by one, build bases one by one, and prepare for our future conquest of the West."

As Zhu Zhangui stated the goal of the westward journey, all the soldiers raised their weapons and roared loudly, "Kill people, steal money, grab slaves, grab territory, kill kill kill!"

PS: A new chapter has begun again. I may write in detail about the upcoming Western campaign. I will write more than 5000 words today. I will think about who to attack first. If you have ideas, you can also mention them.

(End of this chapter)