The Prosperous Era of Longwan

In the early years of Taizu Hongwu, there were only three guards in Laizhou, Dengzhou and Ninghai along the coast of Jiaodong Peninsula, which were under the command of the Shandong capital.

In the 30th year of the Hongwu Period, Japanese pirates raided Jiaodong. Taizu then added seven guards and three Qianhu Guards to the Shandong Dusi. From north to south, they were Qishan Guards, Weihai Guards and Chengshan Guards. , Ningjin Guards Qianhu Station, Jinghai Guard, Haiyang Guard Qianhu Station, Dasong Guard, Aoshan Guard, Lingshan Guard, and Andong Guard.

However, due to the long coastline and the scattered power of the guards, the anti-Japanese campaigns and battles in the early years of Yongle still mostly ended in failure.

For this reason, in the sixth year of Yongle, Emperor Chengzu established the "Governor-General Denglai Coastal Troops and Horses to Prepare Japanese Capital Commanding Department", referred to as Shandong Beiwa Capital Commanding Department. Haiphong, stationed in the capital city of Jiedengzhou.

Under it, three major battalions, Jimo, Dengzhou and Wendeng, were built to delineate defense areas and take charge of guard posts.

Among them, the Dengzhou camp guards Beihai, and has jurisdiction over the three Zuowei of Dengzhou, Laizhou, and Qingzhou, and the three camps of Qishan, Fushan Zhongqian, and Wangxuzhai.

Dengzhou is located on the edge of the country, surrounded by oceans, and has always been a navy fortress.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the state was promoted to the prefecture, and the Dengzhou Guards had seven thousand-household offices under its jurisdiction. Each thousand-household office was equipped with ten Japanese warships, and a total of more than seventy warships were under its jurisdiction.

After that, in order to prepare for the urgent needs of Japanese pirates, a naval palace was built in Shuicheng and a special naval camp was set up. The naval camp was led by generals or guerrilla commanders and was promoted by the governor of Denglai. This was the predecessor of the Denglai Navy, the Dengzhou Navy. .

From the 25th to the 35th year of Jiajing, the Dengzhou Navy had five naval battalions under its jurisdiction, namely Shuizuoying, Shuiyouying, Shuiying, Shuiqianying and Shuihouying.

Each battalion has one leading officer, each battalion has two sentries, and each sentry has one sentry officer. Each sentry is equipped with two Fu boats, one Hai Cang boat and two stern boats.

As a result, the Dengzhou Navy has a total of five battalions and ten sentries, fifty warships of various sizes, and more than three officers and soldiers.

In normal times, except for the Central Battalion, which is responsible for strictly guarding the Shuicheng base, the other four battalions each go out on patrol with one outpost, and the rest rest and train in the harbor. In other words, there are four outposts and twenty warships patrolling the sea all year round.

The Mingshui Army was organized with a "gang" on a single ship, and "every ten men were a gang."

There is a "Zhou Zong" on top of the gang. According to the "Ming Dynasty History and Military Chronicles", "the repairing of sea boats, relative to the size, may be a hundred or fifty joints to form a Zhou Zong."

Each water village belongs to various water villages along the coast, and each village has at least one water village. There are five water villages in Fujian, six villages in Ninghai, Zhejiang, and eight villages in Laizhou, Shandong. There are a total of 48 water villages in the country. In addition, every 100 households along the coast and the inspection department They are also equipped with 2 warships each, 10 for each thousand households, and 50 for each guard.

During the Longqing period, after Wei Guangde entered the cabinet, he was deeply aware that the large number of warships of the Shandong Guards were scattered, so he transferred all the ships of the guards near Denglai to Penglai Water City. This is how the current Denglai Navy was stationed. It is Penglai Water City.

Penglai Water City is also known as Dengzhou Water City and Dengzhou Beiwa City. In the ninth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty, in order to protect Dengzhou City, which was a maritime hub, from attacks by Japanese pirates and Goryeo pirates who were active at that time, it was built as a berth for warships in the Song Dynasty. On the basis of the stronghold, a military fortress with complete facilities was built.

Although Penglai Water City already existed at this time, it was certainly far inferior to the Penglai Water City built by Sun Yuanhua, the censor of Youqiandu and the governor of Denglai in later generations.

The Penglai Water City left over from later generations actually underwent large-scale reconstruction based on the current situation. In addition to the transformation of the original rammed earth walls into rammed earth-coated bricks, some of the city walls in the early Ming Dynasty also underwent large-scale reconstruction.

Sun Yuanhua even imitated the bastions popular in Europe at that time and built some forts here, turning it from a water city into a naval base.

Of course, the Ming Dynasty did not have a true navy at this time, only a navy.

Although, in the eyes of most people, there does not seem to be much difference between the navy and the navy, in fact the two are very different.

Generally speaking, the navy refers specifically to the military ship units operating inland, rivers, lakes and seas. The Ming Dynasty implemented a garrison system, so the water camp actually relied on the garrison. The officers and soldiers of the water camp themselves were the military personnel of the garrison. household.

The navy is actually a navy composed of military households "temporarily" transferred from the garrison.

If it is a navy, it is at least a military force that is independent of the garrison and can undertake independent offensive operations. It is called a navy.

In the history of our country, there were very few navies, and they were basically all navy or navy.

Even the Sanbao Fleet, which has been to the farthest sea, is not a simple military ship. It includes military ships, but it is difficult to call it a navy. It is actually a convoy fleet.

However, by the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was a navy that could barely be regarded as a real navy, and that was Zheng Zhilong's fleet, which had nothing to do with the Ming Dynasty Guard, was active in the East and Southeast, and controlled maritime hegemony.

Of course, Wei Guangde actually wanted to work in this direction, but he still needed the huge financial support of the court, so he chose to support Zhang Juzheng's reforms to ease the financial pressure on the court.

Only when Zhang Juzheng's reforms were effective could the Ming court have enough money to support the establishment of a true navy.

Now, the officers and soldiers of the naval battalion still have to receive their royalties from the court in their respective guards. At least this expenditure is on the books of the Ministry of War.

When Yu Dayou's boat caught up with the last two Ming army warships, the naval officers and soldiers on the boat were still curiously lying on the railing of the ship, watching the huge warship passing by, and the tall hull had an impact on them. A great sense of oppression.

You know, Yu Dayou's ship is not an ordinary large fortune ship, but a Fengzhou.

At the beginning, a huge fleet appeared behind the butt, which once frightened the only navy officers and soldiers in the north of the Ming Dynasty.

However, after the two fleets approached and confirmed each other's identities through flags, the officers and soldiers of the Denglai Navy calmed down.

But now a huge warship was catching up. In addition to marveling at the size of the other ship, they were also more surprised by his purpose.

A little disappointed with the Denglai navy in front of him, Yu Dayou turned around and ordered: "Look for the other side's general's ship and get on board."

With dozens of large and small warships, the opponent's general will certainly not be a guerrilla, but at least a deputy general.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the boss of the Denglai Navy, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Xie Zhen, led the patrol.

It's just that the possibility of this is somewhat small. Compared with the current generals of the Ming Dynasty, many of them have pursued luxury and enjoyment instead of fighting.

After continuing to chase for a while, the leader of the soldiers beside him stepped forward and whispered in his ear: "Commander, the medium-sized fortune ship in front should be the ship of the opponent's commander. Judging from the flag, it should be the commander of Denglai Navy. The fleet led by Xu Qiaoan.”

Yu Dayou looked closely at the warship in front and saw that the flag displayed by the other side showed that it should be the deputy general's ship. He was a little surprised and said: "Admiral Denglai Navy is only the deputy general? I thought it should be the deputy commander-in-chief."

"Strictly speaking, the Denglai Navy has only been established for a few years. It used to be just the Dengzhou Navy and was stationed in Penglai Water City, so it was commanded by the Dengzhou Guard. It is already quite a feat to be promoted to deputy general."

The leader of the personal soldiers replied in a low voice.

"Well, that's just for now. If we really follow Mr. Ge's idea and form the Beiyang Navy based on the Denglai Navy as the skeleton, the commander will at least be the commander-in-chief, and it's not impossible to even become an admiral."

Yu Dayou whispered.

"Ah, that's not on the same level as the Marshal."

The leader of the soldiers said in surprise.

How many warships does the Nanyang Navy have? There are more than 300 medium-sized and above warships, and more than 500 warships in total. This does not include those small ships. There are more than a thousand ships.

But based on the size of the fleet in front of Denglai Navy, it can be inferred that the total number of Denglai Navy warships will not exceed 200. If someone with such a little strength can hold the title of admiral, then the naval admiral of the Ming Dynasty is too worthless. Bar.

As Yu Dayou's ship chased after him, the captain's ship on the opposite side seemed to be aware of it. After hoisting a stop flag, the ship turned around and sailed out of the fleet.

Soon, not far outside the fleet, two warships gradually approached. After coming to a complete stop, a sailor rowed the oars to bring the two warships closer together.

Because the warship of Denglai Navy was smaller, the big ship lowered the long ladder after the small boat came up. Someone shouted to the opposite side: "Yu Dayou, the Admiral of the Nanyang Navy of the Ming Dynasty and the Right Commander of the Rear Army Commandery, is here. Please Denglai." The naval commander will board the ship to speak."

"I'll go up and have a look."

After hearing the shouting, the armored general on the opposite side walked out of the crowd and walked towards the long staircase.

"General."

A soldier behind him shouted softly.

"It doesn't matter, they are all officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty, not merchant ships, haha"

The general just smiled, continued to walk to the long ladder, and climbed up.

Several soldiers also followed behind him and climbed onto the opponent's warship.

The rules on the sea are to respect strength. When merchant ships encounter each other while walking on the sea, they will often take the initiative to avoid encounters and will not encounter each other.

If they meet together, they can only be treated with caution.

Because one moment we may all be merchants, but the next moment we may become pirates who rob merchant ships.

Moreover, because there is no way to escape because of the sea, the winner often chooses to kill them all, not only looting the goods on the other side's merchant ship, but also seizing the ship.

These days, building a sea-going ship costs a lot of money. Many large-scale merchants along the coast have accumulated huge wealth and huge fleets, often relying on this method, almost plundering the accumulated family property.

However, that was all aimed at maritime merchants.

They are all official ships of the Ming Dynasty. Is this necessary?

Although the fleet behind him was several times larger than his Denglai navy, there was no need for the other party to attack them, and it was impossible to kill them all. As long as one ship escaped, the consequences would be beyond Yu Dayou's ability to bear.

Soon, Yu Dayou met Admiral Denglai Navy on the top floor of the ship.

"The commander of the Dengzhou Guard, the last general, knows that Xu Qiaoan, the deputy general of the Denglai Navy, has met the commander-in-chief."

Xu Zhong still showed great respect for the famous Yu Dayou. The reputation of Yu Long and Qi Hu was quite prestigious among the Ming army.

Whether it is Yu Dayou or Qi Jiguang, they have won honors through victory after victory on the battlefield. For these mainland generals, they have nothing but admiration.

"Get up. I was ordered to escort the grain to Beijing. I met your troops patrolling the sea, so I came up to meet you. After all, we are all navymen, but I have never seen them in the south and north."

Yu Dayou looked at Xu Qiaoan who was kneeling on one knee and said hurriedly.

"Thank you, Marshal."

Xu Qiaoan then stood up and stood aside with a bow.

"Xu Qiao'an, are you related to the Xu family of Dengzhou Yongkang Marquis?"

Ask about the relationship first when meeting, and Yu Dayou is no exception now.

At his level, his words and attitude actually have a great impact.

"The last general is a descendant of Marquis Yongkang, and the current head of the family, Marquis Yongkang Xu Qiaosong, is my cousin."

Xu Qiaoan said.

"Haha, everyone, please relax and stop being formal. Qiao Song and I have known each other for a long time. We went to Nanjing to report to the Ministry of War years ago, and I met him in Zhenjiang."

Yu Dayou laughed.

Marquis Yongkang is the descendant of Xu Zhong, the hero of the Jingnan War. In his early years, Xu Zhong served as deputy Qianhu of Henan Guard and commander of Jiyang Guard, guarding Kaiping.

When Chengzu was in trouble, Xu Zhong led his troops to surrender. He made many military exploits and was promoted to the left governor of the former military governor's mansion and was granted the title of Marquis of Yongkang.

During the Yongle period, Xu Zhong was ordered to stay in Nanjing and assist the prince in supervising the country.

During the Zhengtong period, Xu An, the second generation Marquis of Yongkang, was ordered to be transferred to Dengzhou. After settling in Penglai, the Xu family prospered and flourished. Most of his descendants were distributed in Penglai City, Xujiaji Village in the south of the city, and in the east of the city. Chunyu, Yaxia, Shangying and other villages in Chaoshui Town have developed into a prominent family in Penglai.

Although Xu Qiaosong, the current Marquis of Yongkang, did not stay in Denglai to hold a position, he went to Nanjing in the late Jiajing period and served as the admiral of Cao Jiang and in charge of river patrols. He was responsible for protecting the safety of the river near Nanjing, the capital of Nanjing, and has stayed in Nanjing ever since.

Yu Dayou did not expect that although Xu Qiaosong left Denglai, the Dengzhou border guard station was still controlled by the Xu family.

Next, Yu Dayou asked about the current situation of the Denglai Navy, and learned that the eight major water villages in Shandong in the early years were all included in the Denglai Navy. It was based in Penglai Water City and could dock nearly a thousand large and small ships. The scale can be imagined.

"If I didn't have any responsibilities, I would like to visit Penglai Water City."

When Yu Dayou heard that there was such a huge navy camp here, he immediately became interested.

But thinking that I have to go to Tianjin to deliver grain, and then carry Ji Zhenjun to Gaizhou, I definitely can't delay my trip here, which is worth regretting.

"The commander-in-chief can come to Penglai Water City to have a look when he returns from the imperial errands. The commander-in-chief will be waiting for you at the end. You are welcome to visit the commander-in-chief at any time."

Xu Qiaoan said immediately.

Although he was not familiar with Yu Dayou, he knew that he had a relationship with his cousin Xu Qiaosong, so he naturally wanted to show his cordiality, so he invited him warmly.

"You must go and see it when you have time."

Yu Dayou smiled, then looked at the Denglai Navy not far away, and then asked: "I think your ship is just a medium-sized fortune ship. Is there no big fortune ship in the Denglai Navy?"

"this"

Xu Qiaoan boarded Yu Dayou's ship and was naturally envious. This ship was bigger than the ordinary Dafu ship. He had never seen such a big warship when he patrolled the sea in the past years.

Talking about it at this time, naturally I feel a little dull on my face.

"Commander, our Denglai navy used to have big fortune ships, but they were all in disrepair and could no longer go to sea.

In recent years, the imperial court and the Dusi have not allocated money to build new ships. These are the only ships in our Shandong Guard that can still go out on patrol. "

"As long as there are medium-sized lucky boats, how many are there?"

Yu Dayou asked curiously.

"There were eleven medium-sized lucky boats, seventeen small lucky boats, and the rest were sentry boats, which made the commander laugh."

Xu Qiaoan said embarrassedly.

"It's easy to talk about the ship. As long as the court is willing, you can make a big difference here in two years. However, I think the morale of the sailors on your ship is low. You should practice well after you return.

Also, it would be best to mobilize more sailors from the Denglai guards for training. How can this be done with such a small number of troops? "

Yu Dayou kindly reminded me. (End of chapter)