I really don't want to be emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty

Chapter 214 The Navy's Best Training Partner

Chapter 213

In the age of sailing, seagoing ships generally sailed along the coastline of the mainland.Cheng Shijie set off from Xigang, Jinzhou, Liaodong, and when he arrived in Dengzhou City, he called on his former boss Sun Yuanhua.

After resting in Dengzhou, I went all the way south, but when I arrived at Haizhou Bay, Haizhou Bay (Lianyungang) was called Haizhou in ancient times, also known as Haizhou Bay.

A dozen or so pirate ships appeared on the sea surface in the South Bay of Haizhou Bay. These pirate ships were mainly a dozen small gunboats of [-] or [-] materials, and the leader of them was a black-tailed boat.

Although these pirates didn't hang flags, they didn't need to look to know that they were samurai warriors. The unique Tsukiyo hair temples, samurai swords in their hands, and bamboo armor were really obvious.

"Little days dare to provoke me, I'm so tired of work!"

Around Cheng Shijie's Eight Princesses are four Seawolf-class battleships with [-] materials, of course they are also the Four King Kongs of the Ning Navy. In the past, the Four King Kongs could be regarded as the main battleships of the Ning Navy. , the Four King Kong became Mrs. Niu.

They have withdrawn from the sequence of the Ning Navy's main fleet, serving as the close guards of Cheng Shijie, the Ning Navy's chief soldier.

Cheng Shijie was about to give an order, and Shen Boyun, the former shachuan leader who followed Cheng Shijie back from Liaodong, said: "Commander, why use a bull knife to kill chickens, some Japanese pirates, we don't need the brothers of Ning Haijun's navy, our Shen family can also deal with them!"

In all fairness, the strength of the Shachuan Gang is not weak. Otherwise, Zheng Zhilong would have swallowed the Shachuan Gang long ago. Although Zheng Zhilong owns more than 3000 ships, the Shachuan Gang only has [-] or [-] ships. There is a faction that sits on the fence and watches the tigers fight, and this is the Jiangnan Maritime Group.

They did not allow Zheng Zhilong's family to dominate, so when Liu Xiang was fighting against Zheng Zhilong, they contributed money and effort to help Liu Xiang.When Zheng Zhilong was dealing with the Shachuan Gang, the Jiangnan Maritime Business Group also helped the Shachuan Gang.

The reason is simple, the lips are dead and the teeth are cold.If the Shachuan Gang is killed by Zheng Zhilong, and Zheng Zhilong is the only one in the sea, their Jiangnan Maritime Group will be suppressed to death by Guangdong Maritime Merchants and Fujian Maritime Merchants. In comparison, Zheng Zhilong is closer to Fujian Maritime Merchants and Guangdong Maritime Merchants .

The Shachuan Gang is a maritime merchant in name, specializing in shipping. In fact, there is a blurred dividing line between pirates and maritime merchants in this era.When you can do business, do business well. If the other party is too weak, then grab it.

When the Shachuan Gang was doing business with Liaodong, if it wasn't for the Ning Navy's strong combat effectiveness and the deterrence of the Haizhou victory, the cooperation between the Shachuan Gang and Liaodong might not have been so harmonious.

Cheng Shijie also knew very well that Shen Boyun was not joking, the sailors of the Shachuan Gang really had the strength to easily eliminate these little pirates from more than a dozen ships.

Unfortunately, what Shen Boyun didn't know was that Cheng Shijie's attitude towards the little days was different from that of Ming people, and the little days of the Ming Dynasty were actually different from those of later generations.Compared with the national character, Xiaotian belongs to the dog, and whoever conquers them will wag their tails at them.

Daming is a behemoth who can easily rub the little days on the ground. Many little days participated in the Korean War, and they have a deep fear of Da Ming.Even though Zheng Zhilong is from the Ming Dynasty, the samurai in the small days are not disgusted with Zheng Zhilong who is loyal to the Ming Dynasty, but are proud of it.

"Shen Boyun, you are now a member of the management committee of Liaodong, and a sixth-rank magistrate of Haizhou. As a civil servant, you must have the cultivation of a civil servant. Don't do things like beating and killing!"

"Yes, handsome!"

Cheng Shijie said: "Besides, when a lion fights a rabbit, you should do your best. These days, pirates just use it to sacrifice the flag!"

Seeing that the battle was about to break out, Zhu Weiti couldn't help feeling a little nervous standing beside Cheng Shijie.

But Cheng Shijie was very relaxed.

Naval battles in the age of sails meant that both sides seized the upper hand, because warships in this era relied on sails as their main power, so the wind direction was very important.

Ning Navy ships also have the upper hand. In terms of wind direction, pirates are actually at a disadvantage. Whether it is shooting arrows, shooting guns, or firing guns, the range is affected by the wind direction.

These pirates saw that Cheng Shijie's fleet was divided into two parts, and the two parts were getting farther and farther apart. These pirates understood that Cheng Shijie didn't take them seriously at all, but left a small fleet alone, preparing Surround them directly.

When the pirates found out that Ning Haijun's warship was speeding up these days, they started to want to run, but the problem is, it's too late for them to run now.

"How could their battleship be so fast? You see, their sails are not even full, and they are nearly two knots ahead of us. If they are all full, they can definitely run faster. How did they do it?"

The pirates don’t know how fast the Ming warship is. The answer is actually very simple. Because of its function, in the era of sailing warships, in order to pursue a huge carrying capacity, merchants would build large ships with a ratio of three to one. In this way, the ship has good wind and wave resistance, and also has a strong loading capacity, but sacrifices speed in this way.

However, the battleships of the Ning Navy, especially the warships of several specifications with more than [-] materials, are completely different from the [-]-material gunboats. This kind of warship is specially used for fighting, so their hulls are more slender. ,faster.The fastest clipper ship can run faster than the first generation of coal-eating ships.

Of course, this kind of warship is not without disadvantages, because the hull is slender, and it is prone to problems when facing headwinds.

There are still more than 2000 steps away from the pirate ship. These pirates are actually not panicked, because in this era, even if it is a Western warship, the shelling distance is within 400 meters, and the best distance is 300 meters or even [-] steps. Otherwise, it would be impossible for Zheng Zhilong to defeat the Dutch by jumping gangs.

"Boom boom boom..."

The sound of the cannon was like thunder in midsummer, and it exploded above the thousands of miles of waves. In an instant, a large black cloud rose on the blue sea, and the muzzle fire erupted. Pirate's ship.

The lack of Ning Haijun's artillery is unable to hit the first hit like the artillery of later generations. At least within the range of 2000 meters, firing belongs to the era of luck.Whether you can hit the target depends on luck.

Cheng Shijie didn't live by luck either. The method he adopted was covering bombardment. If one shell failed to hit the target, then ten salvos would be fired, and if ten shells failed, then a hundred shells would be fired.

Cheng Shijie’s use of three-inch naval guns and four-inch naval guns is like the rocket launchers of later generations. He is not proficient enough to make up the number. Naval guns of this era dare not use quantity to make up for accuracy. There are two reasons. The first is the front-loading type. The smoothbore gun has a slow rate of fire and needs to be cleaned. It cannot shoot two shells in one minute, and the shells are expensive.

For Cheng Shijie, this is not a problem at all. First of all, the naval guns of the Ning Navy, whether it is a three-inch gun, a four-inch gun, or a five-inch gun, are all rear-mounted, and they are metal shells. Except that the detonation method and the power of the shells are far inferior to those of later generations, they have actually reached the level of the 60s and [-]s.

The effect of the first shot was not very good. It can be said that the hit rate was extremely poor. Only one shell hit a pirate ship, and it was a blind cat hitting a dead mouse. Rows of tall water columns.

However, the shell that hit the pirate ship, even though it was a three-inch gun, directly blew the pirate ship to pieces.

The corner of Cheng Shijie's mouth twitched, and he made a very objective evaluation of this massive but ineffective shelling: "Poor!"

But the problem is that the pirates who were being bombarded didn't think so. Although most of them didn't hit directly, a row of drainage columns raised on the sea accidentally overturned two pirate ships, which meant a round of shelling , they lost three ships.

What made the pirates extremely desperate was that before they recovered from the violent bombardment, Ning Haijun's second round of naval guns came.

Cheng Shijie didn't mind if Ning Haijun's gunners were accurate or not, it was purely for practice anyway, and it was better to be idle anyway, as the three-inch guns and four-inch guns made heart-pounding roars at the same time, the black muzzle sprayed There was a thunderstorm-like flame, and twelve artillery salvos from each battleship fired. The huge recoil made the battleships feel a little uncomfortable, and the battleships seemed to retreat a bit.

This shooting distance is even closer, about 700 meters, and more than 100 shells hit the sea, causing high water columns on the sea surface, which means that more than 1000 taels of silver were shot Float.

Cheng Shijie didn't care about the loss of more than 1000 taels of silver. Once he defeated Zheng Zhilong, it would be a thousand times, ten thousand times the investment, and he could easily return his capital.

Shen Boyun finally understood where Cheng Shijie's confidence was, because in this round of shelling, four shells directly hit the pirate's warship. This kind of warship with four or five hundred materials, even a three-inch gun, can blast a warship with one shot. The big hole, the sea water poured in instantly, the little day pirates who were lucky not to be killed by the bomb could only swim in the sea.

From Cheng Shijie's point of view, the hit rate of Ning Haijun's naval guns is too low, less than [-]%. , more than half of the pirate ships have disappeared, and the combat effectiveness can only be described as horror!
With five rounds of bombardment by the Ning Navy, the entire sea was completely cleared.

At that time, the tranquility was only temporary. Starting from Haizhou Bay, the pirates who appeared in the small days were only the vanguard of Zheng Zhilong. However, there were dozens or dozens of pirate ships immediately after.

Now Cheng Shijie understood that Zheng Zhilong wanted to test the true strength of Ning Haijun.

"Marshal, it looks like they want to test the combat effectiveness of our navy!"

"True gold is not afraid of fire, let them see!"

"But!"

According to Li Zhixiang's idea, it is absolutely impossible to let the main battleship go into battle now, but to use a large number of small gunboats to fight Zheng's.

In the past, the Ning Navy Navy had more people and fewer boats. When the Dongjiang Army surrendered to the Ning Navy Navy as a whole, more than two-thirds of the sailors had no boats. They could only serve as infantry on the pier to protect the pier. .

However, as the three major shipyards of the Ninghai Navy are producing at full speed, and Cheng Shijie, who is rich and powerful, has prepared a large amount of timber, not to mention the ones prepared in Liaodong, even the timber stored by Sun Yuanhua in Dengzhou at the beginning is enough for Cheng Shijie to use for two years. All the wood used in the new ship of the Ning Navy was prepared by Sun Yuanhua.

The speed of warship production is getting faster and faster, and the warships are getting bigger and bigger. The navy officers and soldiers are faced with the fact that there are fewer people and more ships. You must know that the current main battleship Haisha class has 340 three people per ship, and ten ships is three thousand. 430 people, and the main force of the Ning Navy Navy is now 37 ships, which is more than 1 soldiers.

What's more, there are also the Jusha class with 240 materials, and the Seawolf class equipped with 37 people. As for the [-] people on the [-]-material gunboat, most of them were transferred from sailors who had no battleships. Most of them are recruits from the Liaonan Navy Naval Teaching Team.

These small gunboats and old gunboats also need a lot of training, so that they can participate in the battle, which is also a good training opportunity.

Cheng Shijie said with a smile: "Our warships are all new, and the soldiers are not very familiar with them. It needs to be adjusted. With pirates around, isn't this the best training opportunity? What's more, no matter how well we train in normal times, we can't compete with real warships. The battlefield is still different, and now there is such a good opportunity, but it is hard to come by!"

In fact, Cheng Shijie is most afraid that Zheng Zhilong will follow the old routine and use a small group of pirates to test him. Even if Zheng Zhilong knows the combat characteristics and strength of the Ning Navy Navy, so what?

What Cheng Shijie needs is time, and it takes time for the soldiers to become familiar with the warship.

Because of the use of a large number of machinery, under the modular operation, the warships of the Ning Navy can be mass-produced, and one batch is the next wave of dumplings.

But the problem is that these warships are built, but it does not mean that they have enough strength. In order to increase the combat effectiveness of the navy, Cheng Shijie has already transferred gunners from the artillery chief Yuan Shiliang. It will be water-based, at least not seasick.

In this way, Ning Haijun's navy still lacks the last link, which is running-in.

If Zheng Zhilong came directly to Stud and led Zheng's more than 3000 warships to a decisive battle with the Ning Navy, Cheng Shijie definitely had no other choice but to desperately.

Fortunately, Zheng Zhilong sent a small group of pirates here. Although Zheng Zhilong could be exonerated from the charge of attacking Cheng Shijie, the problem was that it gave Ning Haijun enough training time.

Under the cooperative training of the pirates in the small days, the combat effectiveness of the Ning Navy has risen in a straight line. From the very first round of volleys, they can even achieve zero results. The frequency of the ups and downs, the amount of advance.

This is to calculate the undulations of the waves, the range of the naval gun's angular movement, and fire the gun within a specific time, so that it can hit the target.

A sharpshooter needs a lot of bullets, and a sharpshooter also needs a lot of shells. The main battleship of the Ning Navy is in the front, firing at the pirates. The bullets came in a steady stream.

From Haizhou Bay to Hangzhou Bay, the sea distance is equivalent to more than 900 miles. However, Zheng Zhilong, a considerate enemy, has sent more than 200 small pirate ships and five or six thousand small day pirates. Naturally, Ning Haijun will not You're welcome, all of them sent to the bottom of the sea.

……

Daheng Island in Hangzhou Bay is a large island located in the Zhoushan Islands. It is a large island that is long and narrow from east to west and narrow from north to south. It extends from east to west and is nearly [-] miles wide. .

Daheng Island was originally occupied by a group of pirates, but when Zheng Zhibao arrived on Daheng Island, Tian Shiwan, the pirate leader of the island, surrendered to Zheng Zhibao, and Tian Shiwan was sent by Zheng Zhibao to attack the Ning Navy Navy .

But Tian Shiwan didn't dare to provoke Ning Haijun, he just watched from a distance, and more than [-] small pirate ships and more than [-] pirates under Yamamoto Taro's command were wiped out, so he dared to go back to Zheng Zhibao to report the news.

"what?"

When Zheng Zhibao on Daheng Island heard that more than [-] fierce Japanese samurai under Yamamoto Taro died like this, it was a big loss for the Zheng Group, and Zheng Zhibao frowned.

He didn't feel sorry for those Japanese warriors, but Ning Haijun's combat effectiveness surprised him.According to the information he has, there are about [-] ships of the Ning Navy going south this time.

Although the Ning Navy has a lot of warships, the problem is that, like the Zheng Group, most of them are old and broken ships, used to fill up the number, and most of them are small boats of three or four hundred, or even five or six hundred.Its main battleships are less than thirty.

Although there are only more than 200 small Japanese pirates under Yamamoto Taro's command, there are 31 black-tailed boats among them.

You know, the warriors in the old days are not the soldiers of the Daming Guards who are like beggars, but they have been practicing martial arts since childhood, and all of them have good martial arts skills, and they are ruthless, not to mention the warriors in the old days are particularly tenacious in fighting. .

Ordinary guard soldiers of the Ming army would retreat in fright after 1 people died, but the samurai in the small days could fight to the end, and even Zheng Zhibao himself could not kill Yamamoto Taro and his subordinates so easily.

The six thousand warriors who are not afraid of death are a powerful force. Such a force is enough to turn Jiangnan upside down, but it makes Ning Haijun all crushed to death as easily as pinching ants. This shows that What?
It shows that the combat effectiveness of the Ning Navy is definitely not low, and it is seriously inconsistent with the rumors.

Ning Haijun is too strong!

This made Zheng Zhibao take a deep breath!
I'm afraid this battle will be difficult to fight, and it may be kicked to the iron plate.

In fact, Zheng Zhibao missed the best opportunity to destroy or Zhongchuang Ning Navy. From Haizhou Bay to Hangzhou Bay, this short sea route of more than 900 miles, Ning Navy officers and soldiers have been training with battles. Artillery fired at least twenty or thirty shells, which made their technology significantly improved.

Now Zheng Zhibao decided to go north.

Following Zheng Zhibao's order, the warships of Zheng's Group entrenched around Daheng Island began to move, and the white sails of seven or eight hundred warships seemed to be white clouds attached to the sea.At the bow and stern of the ship, on the port and starboard sides, the black muzzles rise high, like mouths full of blood, trying to swallow people.

……

In the night, the moon is slightly dim, and the Eight Princesses also does not have the ability to sail at night. In order to avoid accidents, it will anchor and set sail at night, and will set sail after dawn in the daytime.

There is no need to go on land at sea. Although Zhu Weiti does not suffer from seasickness, she does not sleep well. In just a dozen days, Zhu Weiti has become much haggard, and there are blisters on the corners of her mouth. fire.

Cheng Shijie is still considerate after all, so he asked Shen Boyun to find a few craftsmen from the Shachuan Gang, and according to Cheng Shijie's intention, they built a soft couch similar to a swing, and placed it on the first floor of the Eight Princesses, which is the top floor. deck.After Shen Boyun understood Cheng Shijie's needs, he actually asked someone to find some golden nanmu wood, which was actually Shen Boyun's bedroom in his own cabin.

Shen Boyun dismantled the Qiangongbabu bed on his own Jiqiu, and used the golden silk nanmu wood on this bed to make a soft couch that could shake for Zhu Weiti. It was carefully carved and the surface was carefully polished. However, it also looks exquisite and elegant.

Zhu Weiti lay on this soft couch, but slept very peacefully, but the problem was that it was windy in Shanghai. In order to avoid being damaged by the sea wind, he built a small wooden house on this swing couch. Even with a burning brazier, it's not too cold.

Seeing that Cheng Shijie was not sleepy, Shen Boyun said: "Commander, we are going to Chongming Island soon. When we arrive at Chongming Island, we can attack and defend!"

"How does it feel to be homecoming?"

Cheng Shijie was right. Shen Boyun was returning home this time. As the leader of the Shachuan Gang, Shen Boyun had a fortune of millions and had tens of thousands of people under his command. The problem was that he had no official status, even a small Chongming The county magistrate, he also has to be careful with smiling faces.

Even military officers, who are the most despised by civilian officials, especially those messy inspections, can still make a businessman without a background want to die.

It's just that after taking refuge in Cheng Shijie, Shen Boyun was added to the Liaodong Management Committee. The members of the Liaodong Management Committee were appointed by Cheng Shijie and were not recognized by the court. However, in fact, the members of the Liaodong Management Committee are more or less part-time.

For example, Song Xiance, the director of the management committee, originally had a fourth-rank official position in the Ninghai Navy as a commanding officer. When Cheng Shijie served as the appeasement envoy of Liaodong Economic Strategy, he became the appeasement envoy. Liaodong Governor's Mansion is a matter, and Lin Xuzong is also a matter, and he is the fourth grade.

People like Zhou Yandong, Chen Guodong, Shen Mingyu, Zhang Yu, Zhao Wencai, Shen Shikui, Li Zhixiang, and Yuan Shiliang held military positions in the Ning Navy.

Xie Zongze's official position is Liaodong Xuezheng, Xie Jinglin and Zhang Huaize each have official positions, Shen Boyun is the magistrate of Haizhou, and he is a fifth-rank official.

(End of this chapter)