The Prosperous Era of Longwan

"Can the Nanyang Navy warships carry so many people and horses?"

This is actually the topic that Zhang Juzheng is concerned about. It is no small matter for ten thousand people to cross the sea.

If the Nanyang Navy has been able to ensure that a force of ten thousand people can cross the sea for several days, does that mean that the Navy no longer needs to allocate more funds?

Can this money be taken back to the court and used for other things?

Wei Guangde was not a fool. When he heard Zhang Juzheng's question, he guessed something.

After all, just now, he was still thinking about the fifty thousand taels of silver, worried that it would be embezzled by the court.

The household department of the Ming Dynasty was really short of money.

Immediately, Wei Guangde looked at Zhang Juzheng, looked into his eyes and said: "Speaking of this matter, I still have an idea here, but it is not mature yet. Since it has been said here, I might as well say it and let everyone discuss it. "

Speaking of this, Wei Guangde said with a smile on his face: "As for the shipping of grain, because the Nanyang Navy had large ships, it was arranged for the Nanyang Navy to go north to escort the grain.

But the Nanyang Navy also has its own things to do, such as protecting the tranquility of the sea areas of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong, and working on expeditions. It is also a threat to the southern coastal counties.

I checked the Ministry of War documents before and saw that Denglai still has a navy. However, it has lacked support in recent years and the navy's warships are old and cannot be used.

Since the Nanyang Navy has its own errands, the court might as well pay attention to the Denglai Navy now.

This is my plan. Since the Nanyang Navy belongs to Nanyang, it will definitely go south in the future. "

Having said this, Wei Guangde glanced at Lu Tiaoyang again, and then continued: "Go to the old port and see what's going on there. Otherwise, with the barbarians entering Nanyang in large numbers, the countries in Nanyang will have long forgotten our great tomorrow." Go to the country.

As the sovereign state, we should also care about the surrounding countries to see if they are being bullied by the barbarians and make decisions for them. We cannot always let them pay tribute while we do nothing. "

Hearing what Wei Guangde said, Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang ignored it and began to guess in their minds.

Sure enough, Wei Guangde immediately continued: "The Nanyang Navy needs slightly larger warships and new gunboats to go to Nanyang."

Regarding the Western centipede ship that made the Ming Dynasty's imitation of naval warfare more powerful, Wei Guangde directly asked the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry to call it a "new gun ship", at least so that no one would know that it was an imported product.

"I plan to transfer some of the warships in the Nanyang Navy fleet that are not suitable for ocean-going, as well as those small lucky ships, from the Nanyang Navy to the Denglai Navy, and use the Denglai Navy as the backbone to build the Beiyang Navy.

One south and one north, protect the peace of my Minghai Sea.

The mission of the Beiyang Navy is not only to protect the safety of the northern coastal counties, but also to serve as envoys to North Korea and communicate with Liaodong.

Of course, the Beiyang Navy also performs the task of guarding the grain and sea transportation every year. The Caoshan Division and the Ministry of Industry allocate money to the Beiyang Navy every year to build large transport ships. "

After Wei Guangde finished speaking, he noticed that Zhang Juzheng frowned.

"Shan Loan, to build the Nanyang Navy, the imperial court did not allocate much money. Most of it was allocated by the provinces of Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong for the sake of peace and security in the maritime areas. For your newly built Beiyang Navy, the coastal counties in the north may not be willing to spend more money. .

Moreover, the south is rich and they are willing to contribute some money to ensure peace.

But the Japanese pirates in the north were not like those in the south. I am afraid that not most of the money for shipbuilding would have to be borne by the imperial court.

Nowadays, the situation of the Ministry of Household Affairs is very tight, and there is no money to allocate it. "

Zhang Juzheng opened his mouth to complain about the difficulties in the Ministry of Revenue, and also pointed out that the source of funding for the Nanyang Navy was not from the imperial court, but the Beiyang Navy he mentioned seemed to require the majority of the funding from the imperial court. How could this be possible?

"The Ministry of Industry and the Caoshan Bureau will not be able to afford the money for shipbuilding to transport grain."

Wei Guangde just said lightly: "As for the large warships, they can be replaced by the Nanyang Navy. After all, the threat to the northern coast is indeed not great."

Every year, the Ministry of Industry and the Water Transport Yamen allocate special funds to build canal ships. Now they just use the money from building canal ships to build sea-going ships. Wei Guangde doesn't think it is difficult.

“In this way, the Nanyang Navy can also focus on matters in Nanyang without having to worry about the safety of the northern seas.

The division of the Ming Dynasty Navy into two could also maintain the balance between the north and the south, and prevent the Nanyang Navy from having too much power. After all, it would have more constraints from the northern navy. "

Wei Guangde continued.

“The Chief Envoy of Shandong Province has previously reported that the entire province cannot support the Denglai Navy.

The Denglai Navy was originally formed, firstly to prepare for Japan, and secondly to communicate with Liaodong.

Now it seems that these two are no longer needed, so why build a larger naval fleet. "

Lu Tiaoyang finally spoke up and expressed his opposition.

He is from Guangxi, so naturally he has no yearning for the sea. In fact, most Ming Dynasty officials only saw the land in front of them and ignored the sea.

After all, if "The Theory of Sea Power" were thrown out in this era, most of them would not accept it except those countries in Europe that have already gained benefits through colonization.

In their eyes, the sea is also dangerous, and the reason why they risk their lives to go to sea is the countless gold, silver and spices overseas. They need these wealth.

And what about Ming Dynasty?

It seems that they are short of money, but they will not plunder wealth from overseas, so the profit from sea trade is not large, and they have no intention of doing so.

And those families that made their fortunes through sea trade were unwilling to let more people participate in the process, contact each other, and deliberately suppressed the Kaihai sect so as to help them monopolize the money they obtained.

Those inland officials are the important targets of support for these coastal maritime merchants. They can help speak out in the DPRK without attracting the attention of others.

After all, sea trade is very profitable, and many people along the coast know that if coastal officials speak out, they will be easily criticized.

Wei Guangde didn't answer his words. At this time, he just lowered his head as if in deep thought.

Obviously, this gesture was just because he didn't want to talk to them more. After all, neither Zhang Juzheng nor Lu Tiaoyang seemed to support his proposition.

Seeing Wei Guangde's reaction, Zhang Juzheng and Lu Tiaoyang knew that Wei Guangde had informed them in advance and had no intention of discussing with them.

Thinking about it, the yamen involved in the establishment of the Beiyang Navy are nothing more than the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of War and the Water Transport Yamen, and the heads of these three yamen seem to be people from his side. Even if they want to intervene and oppose, they are afraid that It is also difficult to achieve.

Thinking of this, Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but look at Wei Guangde one more time.

At the beginning, Wei Guangde gave up the struggle for the power of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Ministry of Personnel and other yamen, and only reported to the Ministry of Housing and Industry and the Ministry of War. It seemed that he had already planned it.

Although the Ministry of Industry does not have as much money as the Ministry of Household Affairs, it actually has considerable power and wealth.

By this time, Zhang Juzheng regretted that when Wei Guangde proposed that Wang Zongmu be the governor of water transportation, he did not strongly oppose it.

Knowing that this was the position Wei Guangde wanted to win in order to win grain and sea transportation, and seeing his persistence in this strategy, Zhang Juzheng chose to give in at that time.

Unexpectedly, Wei Guangde didn't have enough water transportation, so he hooked up with the navy.

Thinking of the Navy, Zhang Juzheng couldn't help but look at him one more time, and was a little unsure of Wei Guangde's true thoughts. Did he really want to take the Ming Navy to Nanyang and restore the Xuanwei Division in the old port?

Because apart from obtaining spices and gems from overseas, the Ming Dynasty did not seem to have anything worth looking forward to. Instead, it required the court to invest a large amount of money to build large ships. Therefore, after settling the accounts, the Ministry of Accounts agreed that it was a loss-making transaction.

As for the spices brought back, they were originally converted into salaries and distributed, but the officials were extremely dissatisfied with the money returned.

Therefore, from then on, Ming Dynasty officials privately sentenced people to the death penalty for going to sea.

It's not that Zhang Juzheng has never heard that sea trade is very profitable, but he also knows that sea trade is also very dangerous. The so-called profit and risk are directly proportional.

Although he didn't have any concept of direct proportion and inverse proportion, he still knew the general meaning.

Instead of risking your life to make a lot of money, it's better to make a small amount of money in peace of mind.

As for the court reforms he planned and carried out in spite of the disapproval of the world, they were actually forced to be carried out, because if the court policies were not adjusted, the Ming court would really not be able to persist.

Reading history books can help you understand the rise and fall of dynasties. Zhang Juzheng read history books and knew that if the Ming Dynasty continued to move forward, its decline would only be a matter of time.

He didn't plan to argue with Wei Guangde at this time. Zhang Juzheng just glanced at Lu Tiaoyang and planned to come down to find an opportunity to discuss with Lu Tiaoyang how to squeeze Wei Guangde's rights, especially to take back some of the rights of those yamen. He couldn't let it go. He connected these yamen together, making it difficult for him, the chief minister of the cabinet, to control them and found them in trouble.

This cabinet meeting produced almost no results, and it was not easy to explain everyone's attitude.

Wei Guangde actually wanted to take precautions to prevent the two cabinet ministers from being surprised and objecting when he took action.

Give them time to think. As for whether to win their support, Wei Guangde doesn't think there's a rush.

Whether it is going to Nanyang or forming a new army, it seems that it is not a very urgent matter. Anyway, it has already started.

He already has the navy and the army, he just needs to slowly expand their scale, which will also take time for them to grow, and all he needs is to wait for an opportunity, an opportunity to send troops to Southeast Asia.

The top priority of the imperial court was to pacify the domestic situation first before fighting against the outside world, and the war in Liaodong was the most urgent matter.

At this time, on the Yellow Sea, a huge fleet flying the sun and moon flags bypassed the Shandong Peninsula, turned from north to west, and continued to move forward.

On a huge fortune ship in the middle of the fleet, a general wearing a first-grade official robe was looking into the distance.

Not long after, a small boat rowed over quickly and leaned next to the big fortune ship. Someone put down the cable. The people on the boat climbed onto the big ship along the cable rope, hurriedly entered the cabin, and walked quickly along the stairs to the platform of the fortune ship.

"Commander."

The visitor stood behind the official, bowed and saluted.

"Is there anything unusual about those cavalry soldiers?"

The general looked back at the visitor and asked aloud.

"Commander, the cavalry soldiers are very honest and obedient now. I don't see anything wrong with them.

The general has already ordered them to observe carefully. If there is any abnormality, they should immediately send a signal and call for nearby ships to pass by. "

The general hurriedly cupped his fists and said.

"Well, what happened last year was weird. I thought about it for a long time. The ship sank without any sound. The most likely thing was that someone dug through the bottom of the ship.

Most of the grain transported this time is military grain to be transported to Liaodong, so there must be no mistakes. "

The general turned around at this time and said seriously.

A face tanned by the sun, who could it be if it wasn't Yu Dayou.

"I have arranged several of our brothers on each ship. They are all extremely skilled people. They are definitely not something that the sailors can handle."

That general was the leader of Yu Dayou's bodyguards. In order to ensure that the five hundred thousand stone grains were safely delivered to Tianjin this time, and to prevent what happened last year from happening again, Yu Dayou sent his own soldiers and his subordinates who had followed him on the battlefield for a long time to death. Assigned to the ship, the purpose is naturally surveillance.

If an accident happens under his nose, Yu Dayou will never let it go easily.

Those officers and soldiers who escaped from the shipwreck last year were resettled.

And when he learned the news, it was only a few months after the incident, so it was naturally difficult for him to continue to pursue it.

After all, Caosi had settled the case in this way, and of course he, an outsider, couldn't get involved.

This time is different. He is the commander of this fleet, so he naturally has the power of life and death over everyone here.

"Commander, before the fleet turned around, the patrol ship of Chengshan Guard came over to inquire and asked if they wanted to dock for a rest."

The leader of the soldiers whispered again.

"There is enough food and water on the ship, so we won't dock."

Yu Dayou shook his head, turned around and looked at the sea ahead, but he was still sketching the nearby sea map in his mind.

Chengshan Guard is the guard station closest to the east in Shandong. The fleet will turn west here and will pass through the Miaodao Islands in two or three days. The fleet will really enter the Daming Inland Sea.

Here, the Liaodong Peninsula and the Jiaodong Peninsula are encircling each other, which also makes the Bohai Sea calm.

It would be a joke if an accident happened in the Bohai Sea.

At this moment, multiple large ships in front of them fired signal flags one after another, alerting the fleet to a situation ahead.

Immediately, Yu Dayou's face turned gloomy when he saw this scene.

The leader of the soldiers also noticed the flag hung by the warship ahead and said suspiciously: "This place has just passed Chengshan. Where did this situation come from?"

"Speed ​​up and look ahead."

Yu Dayou just gave an order, and then some personal guards went down to deliver the message.

Soon, the triple sail of the Fuchuan slightly adjusted its direction, and the ship's speed gradually increased.

During this trip, the warships of the Nanyang Navy needed to take care of the cannons, so they kept deliberately lowering their speed.

Half an hour later, Yu Dayou's ship had appeared in front of the entire fleet, but not far in front of them, a fleet composed of dozens of ships of different sizes appeared in front of them.

"Commander, this is the fleet of the Denglai Navy. They should be returning to Penglai Water City."

Seeing this fleet, the sun and moon flags were also hoisted on them.

In this sea, there can be so many ships. Except for the Denglai Navy, the leader of the soldiers could not think of any others.

"Well, let's catch up. I want to see what Navy Denglai is like."

Yu Dayou ordered. As a result, the ship did not change its speed and sailed quickly towards the fleet ahead.

In less than half an hour this time, they had already caught up with the boat behind them. Looking at the officers and soldiers of the water camp wearing shabby Ming army uniforms on the boat, Yu Dayou kept shaking his head.

Speaking of which, the Denglai Navy is still the main maritime force defending the capital, but I didn't expect it to be like this.

Not to mention the old ships, the officers and soldiers also had no fighting spirit, just like the soldiers on the shore. (End of chapter)