Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 63 How to develop the navy

After Zhang Xiao finished speaking, there was no applause from the audience, but everyone stared at him more seriously.

Zhang Xiao calmed down and then started his lecture.

"Since it is a navy, it has ships that can go to sea. Now many of the ships in our Ming Navy still rely on oars. Such warships can be used in rivers and lakes, but if If you want to go to the ocean, you must improve on the basis of sailing ships. Because ships will get bigger and bigger, paddling can only be a temporary emergency method. Of course, sailing warships also have their limitations, such as when there is no wind. It will be difficult to do so. In the future, in addition to wind power, ships must also have other strong driving forces to be perfect. Of course, that is a matter of course."

"The most important weapon on the ship should be the artillery. The navy's artillery must be bigger and shoot farther. Now our Ming Navy has a variety of weapons, from swords, guns, bows and arrows to firecrackers, artillery and rockets. I'm not saying that other equipment is not important, but that there are still too few cannons in it. The bigger the cannons on the ship, the better, the more the better. The bigger the ship is, there will be dozens or even dozens of them on a ship. There are hundreds of artillery pieces, and a single salvo can decide the outcome.”

"If the navy wants to go to sea, it must have an excellent waterport. The primary goal of our Ming Dynasty navy is of course to defend the territory, especially the maritime security of the two capitals. To defend the capital, the main port of the navy must be set up in Liaodong There are also two places in Shandong, so the status of Liaodong will be more important in the future. The naval port to defend Nanjing must be placed at the estuary of the Yangtze River, that is, around Songjiang Prefecture. In addition to the two Beijings, other coastal areas will also It is necessary to deploy the defense well. This is not the only good port. Guangdong is also the focus of the navy's defense. Yizhou and Qiongzhou will also be important naval bases, which must be taken into consideration. If we ignore it, these places will have It may be that the Franji people or people from other European countries took advantage of the situation and occupied key areas and turned against the guests. We will be passive later. After the Franji people occupied a place, their technology in building fortresses was pretty good. Wait until they build the fortress If you get up and try to conquer it, it will be very, very troublesome.”

"If the navy wants to go further, it will now encounter the sphere of influence of the Folangji people. But these places are originally vassals of our Ming Dynasty. When the time comes, we hope that King Folangji will be able to understand the current affairs and help me with the Ming Dynasty. The navy has some convenience. Otherwise, the main force of their ships is far away in Europe, and it would not be easy to make a trip. Don't accidentally sink it halfway."

"Of course, safeguarding shipping routes will also be an important goal of the Navy. There are far and near routes. Let's start with safeguarding nearby routes, such as routes to Nanyang, and routes to North Korea and Japan after the war against Japan. Under the control of the Ming Navy."

Zhang Xiao explained his idea in one breath. The expressions of the people in the audience varied. Some were fascinated, some were confused, and some were indifferent.

"These are just some of my personal thoughts. You can write down what you think makes sense after listening to it. You can ignore what you think is uninteresting. If you think what I said is inappropriate or you didn't understand it, or you have other questions. If you want to ask, you can ask, and I will definitely tell you everything I know.”

"Zhang Shidu, the student has a question to ask. Although I don't know what the future naval battleship you mentioned will look like, but with hundreds of artillery pieces on a ship, the cost must be very high. I'm Daming Although the land is vast and rich in resources, natural disasters have not stopped in recent years, and the court is also short of money. The reason for the turmoil in the capital camp a few days ago was also due to lack of money. Zhang Shidu's plans are good, but he does not have enough money. These plans are Isn't it just empty talk?" an Imperial College student stood up and asked.

These Taixue students have always been so fierce, Zhang Xiao couldn't help but murmur in his heart.

"Excuse me, what's your name?" Zhang Xiao asked.

"The junior student's surname is Liang." Student Liang replied.

"Liang Jiansheng, you asked a very good question. The imperial court is indeed short of money now, and the navy does also spend money. However, the naval development plans I mentioned will not be implemented immediately in the next two years. The ports need to be inspected. The ship type needs to be readjusted, and the naval crews must be well selected, including what kind of artillery to choose for the navy's artillery, which must be carefully discussed. The development of the navy will definitely cost money at the beginning, but as long as the navy is built well, it will Money can flow in continuously. As long as we control the trade routes, we can make as much profit as we want. How to build an ocean-going navy in the first place? I'm talking nonsense about it, but it doesn't count. But I can take some European countries. Give an example and tell me how they built the navy."

"There are actually two so-called Franchi countries, one is called Spain and the other is called Portugal. Both countries are neighboring countries and compete with each other. Of course, the two countries have merged now. I will talk about the reason for the merger later. Let me talk first. Why did the two countries want to develop navies at that time? Because these two countries were located in the corners of Europe and wanted to find a route to the Ming Dynasty and Tianzhu, and then make a fortune. Therefore, the two countries’ heads at that time did not hesitate to empty their treasury, and even He made a promise to split the earth and become a lord, looking for warriors who could sail to explore the way. The King of Portugal relied on Dias and Vasco da Gama to find a new route to Tianzhu and our Ming Dynasty. The King of Spain sent Columbus to also Thinking of finding a new sea route, Columbus also brought a letter to Emperor Yuan when he set out. They didn't know that Yuan Dynasty was dead yet. Although they didn't find a new sea route to Tianzhu at first, they discovered it by accident. The American natives were not well equipped on the shipping route to the Americas, so they were conquered by the Spanish and plundered a large amount of gold and silver. Of course, Magellan of Spain also found a new shipping route to the Ming Dynasty. After the two countries had money, they naturally wanted to In order to build a navy to protect their own wealth, the Folangji people built more and more ships and ran around the world."

"The Francois have made money, and other European countries are also jealous. The most jealous one is the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is also located in a corner of Europe. It is still an island country and has great advantages in developing its navy. Unfortunately, the British started late, and the good territory at that time had been taken away. The Francois took over. But the British also had a way. They established a privateering system, which was to issue privateering licenses to their own citizens and encourage them to rob the Francois' ships, or even more powerfully. , washed up directly on the shore and plundered the overseas strongholds of the Fo Langji people. These privateers robbed things, and then divided them among the king. The king then gave these privateers officers and titles, and even made them marquises and generals. Fo Lang Of course the robots were angry and organized a large fleet to defeat the British, but unfortunately they failed to win. The British are now even more powerful," Zhang Xiao said.

(End of this chapter)