Chapter 973 1062 Ming Dynasty Gunboat

Wei Guangde shook his head and smiled lightly at Li Chengliang: "Do the Liaodong Jurchens obey their leader's orders?"

"Well, you should probably listen."

Li Chengliang frowned and replied.

"Then win over the tribal leaders and give them what they want. It's just a piece of loose sand. Do you dare to fight against the Ming Dynasty?"

Wei Guangde said.

"Well"

Li Chengliang was speechless after hearing Wei Guangde's words.

But it seems reasonable to think about it. As long as the sphere of influence of these tribal leaders is strictly limited, how much strength can they develop?

If they are not given the opportunity to annex the smaller surrounding tribes, their development space will be restricted. If they expand outward, they will inevitably encounter hostility from the surrounding smaller tribes.

In this case, as long as the court upholds neutrality and handles disputes between tribes fairly, it can effectively suppress those tribal leaders with evil intentions and bring back the leaders of small and medium-sized tribes.

Because their status completely needs to be maintained by the court, otherwise they will be annexed by the big forces around them.

Of course, I think so, but in practice, there are actually problems.

Just like Liaodong, it may have been like this before. The imperial court could fairly handle the conflicts between the Jurchen tribes.

However, as an official in Liaodong, he had many contacts with those tribal leaders, so it was inevitable that he would have personal relationships.

When something really happens, can we put aside our personal relationships and deal with it impartially?

To be honest, it's actually difficult.

The failure of the Liaodong Incident was actually due to this kind of human relationship, which eventually turned into the current chaotic situation.

"From now on, it will be a routine practice for Myanmar's chief military officers to be replaced every three years, and the longest will not exceed five years. They will not be like other general military officers who will remain in the position as long as there is no decree from the court."

Wei Guangde continued.

Li Chengliang didn't think much about this. He was born and raised in Liaodong, so naturally he didn't want to stay in the southwest all his life.

He also has the thought of returning fallen leaves to their roots.

In fact, before, he was really worried that he would be left in Myanmar for a long time.

Compared with Liaodong, Myanmar is even more of a borderland.

It can be said that no official in the Ming Dynasty would take the initiative to choose to go to the southwest. Going there would be as uncomfortable as being exiled.

Wei Guangde's words gave Li Chengliang some reassurance that he would not stay in Myanmar for a long time.

"This question is because you are a military commander and the handle of the knife is in your hand, so I am telling you this.

Civil servants are inevitably soft-edged and often cannot make up their minds, which requires you, the commander-in-chief, to make a judgment. "

Judging from Li Chengliang's expression, he shouldn't be bad. Wei Guangde took advantage of the situation and continued.

"Mr. Wei Ge, I know what to do, but..."

After all, Li Chengliang was a general who had fought in many battles, and he actually still had many concerns about this battle.

In fact, it’s not that people will become pampered after winning many battles. On the contrary, people who really fight will actually become more careful the more they fight, because they have seen too many dead people, and they are somewhat afraid in their hearts, fearing that they will become one of the corpses.

"Speak up if you have any concerns. There is no need to hesitate in front of me. You are no longer the commander-in-chief of a town, but the governor of the governor's mansion. You should make decisions."

Wei Guangde said.

"Mr. Wei Ge, based on the information handed over by Jin Yiwei, in the past twenty years, the Toungoo Dynasty has been constantly using troops abroad, and its army has experienced hundreds of battles."

Having said this, a look of hesitation appeared on Li Chengliang's face.

"What, are you scared?"

Wei Guangde asked cheerfully.

"Mr. Wei Ge, Li, I really don't know how to write the word "fear" in this life, but I have to be responsible for the officers and soldiers under me."

Li Chengliang replied immediately, all the hesitation on his face was gone, leaving only a look of determination.

"It is a blessing to the officers and soldiers that Governor Li can think so."

Wei Guangde smiled and continued: "This is why I asked you to allocate troops to the four southwest provincial guards and train them as soon as possible.

I heard that several of your sons are already in the military camp. In that case, why not send them over and let them select sergeants and be responsible for training? "

"How much military pay can the imperial court prepare for this battle?"

Li Chengliang naturally knew how to recruit and train troops, so he naturally had to be fully prepared for such a war.

However, before that, the most important thing for Li Chengliang was to know how much money the court could afford.

Fighting is actually about giving money. If the soldiers are given enough military pay, they can rush forward and destroy all the enemies in front of them.

But precisely this simplest thing became the most difficult thing to do in the Ming Dynasty.

With no money in hand, I have no confidence in fighting.

He dared to sweep across Liaodong with his servants because he paid his servants a lot of military salary.

Of course, these military salaries are all deducted from the defense posts in Liaodong, otherwise everyone will not have enough to eat and everyone will not be able to fight.

If the battle is defeated, he, the commander-in-chief, can still do well.

Sometimes, the generals in the army are not necessarily greedy, but they are unable to make choices.

"All the money and food from the four southwestern provinces this year will be left to you. In the past, you will bring another 100,000 taels of silver, all of which are newly minted silver treasures by the Ministry of Industry.

I will personally take care of this matter. This amount of money is enough for you to recruit 20,000 to 30,000 elite men. "

The food and salary left in the southwest is mainly to provide food for the army, and one hundred thousand taels of silver can meet the military salary expenditure of an army of 20,000 to 30,000 for two years.

Don't think that the more people needed to fight in ancient times, the better. Ancient books record tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and millions of troops. In fact, most of them are imaginary numbers.

In a big war, there are actually very few people who actually fight and kill the enemy, and only a few thousand people decide the outcome of the war.

This is also the reason why Li Chengliang defeated the invading Mongolian and Jurchen tribes in Liaodong with only 3,000 family servants.

3,000 soldiers who are good at fighting are enough to crush all enemies on the battlefield.

Why did Zhu Yuanzhang implement the Wei Suo system?

In the heyday of the Ming army, a fully equipped Wei Suo with more than 5,000 people could destroy a small country and support a medium-sized war.

Although the Toungoo Dynasty of Myanmar claimed to be able to mobilize 100,000 or 200,000 troops, most of them were actually farmers who had put down their hoes and had no combat effectiveness at all, just to show their support.

So Wei Guangde believed that 20,000 to 30,000 well-trained Ming troops were actually enough to completely defeat the Toungoo Dynasty.

You know, the Mongolians are strong in combat, especially the cavalry, but 20,000 to 30,000 Mongolians are still no match for the 10,000 Qi family troops, and can only flee in embarrassment and be chased all the way.

In this expedition against Wang Gao's army, the Ming army also defeated the opponent with a crushing attitude.

Although Qi Jiguang did not encounter a tough battle, he also got some news from Li Chengliang's subordinates.

Facing the elite of Liaodong, the soldiers of the Jurchen tribe were completely vulnerable.

As natives who also used the terrain advantage to fight, Wei Guangde did not think that the combat effectiveness of the Burmese army would be much higher than that of the Jurchens.

It was nothing more than ambushes and sneak attacks, which were later called special operations.

But in reality, this tactic is useless for a real war, it is just to destroy some so-called key nodes, but the impact on the war situation should not be overstated.

Well, in a war with a huge disparity between the strong and the weak, the weak can gain some achievements through this method, while the strong can win the war more easily.

Hearing that Wei Guangde had prepared sufficient food and wages for him, Li Chengliang felt relieved, but still asked: "Li has a team of family servants in Liaodong, I wonder if they can go with me?"

"Aren't those family servants all Liaodong military households? They are Liaodong registered military households."

Wei Guangde frowned and said: "You can select a thousand people as your personal guards, but not others."

After Li Chengliang was transferred to the capital, those family servants had actually been dispersed. According to Qi Jiguang's order, although they did not return directly to the original guards and still formed an army separately, they had been divided into several cavalry units and handed over to several guerrilla generals to lead.

Qi Jiguang would not let these people join his army directly, because the Qi Family Army had its own requirements for the selection of soldiers, even if they were well-trained.

The soldiers and horses trained by Li Chengliang paid more attention to personal martial arts, while the Qi Family Army paid more attention to teamwork, which was a completely different combat direction.

It was a pity to return to the original garrison directly. After all, there was still some direct cooperation between them, and they were all cavalry, so the organization was retained, but the military pay was less than before.

It is conceivable that such a team of family servants is no longer the cavalry that dared to sweep across Liaodong during Li Chengliang's period.

The rest was just some trivial matters, and Wei Guangde sent people away with a few words.

In fact, this time Li Chengliang came to Wei Guangde mainly for money and food. You can't fight without money and food.

As for training troops, the Toungoo Dynasty is still taking action against Laos, and it is impossible to take action against the Ming Dynasty in the short term.

The Yunnan Provincial Administration Commission has also begun to take action. Even if the war is approaching, there is at least a year or so.

After solving the money and food, the rest is to select generals and soldiers, and Li Chengliang is also good at these.

When he left the cabinet, he was already thinking about when to go south to the southwest for inspection.

At this time, silver treasures have been released in the capital of the Ming Dynasty. After the people came into contact with silver treasures, they quickly accepted them from their initial suspicion.

As Wei Guangde said, the silver treasures cast by the court were cast in accordance with the imperial decree, which saved the trouble of merchants biting and weighing.

In fact, in addition to biting and weighing, there are sometimes great differences in the identification of the quality of silver in private silver transactions, especially broken silver.

The silver treasures and copper coins in circulation now can barely meet the needs of transactions in the market.

What's more, the first to get the silver treasures were officials and military households in Beijing.

According to Wei Guangde's requirements, the first batch of silver treasures and copper coins were directly issued to officials in Beijing and soldiers of the three camps as salaries and military pay, and there was naturally no obstacle to their circulation in the market.

The attitude of the officials in the capital of the Ming Dynasty changed very quickly, from the shock when they first heard about it to the satisfaction after seeing the real thing.

In the Ministry of Households, a large number of silver treasures have begun to be allocated, and the newly minted silver coins are also spreading rapidly in the capital and its surrounding areas.

The court had sufficient silver, so the Ministry of Works naturally minted very quickly. The silver ingots from the six ministries and the palace were all transferred to the Baoyuan Bureau for recasting. A small amount of silver from the Changying Treasury of the Imperial Household Department was also transferred there. However, this batch of silver coins was not transported back to the warehouse after being minted, but was handed over to the Jinyiwei, who began to secretly exchange it for gold on the market.

If it was exchanged through the government office, there would be no need to ask what the extra money was for.

In the Jinyiwei, it was an order from the upper seal, so there was no reason to ask more questions, and they just followed it.

This point could well hide the intentions of the cabinet.

Exchanging through the Jinyiwei could also make the palace feel at ease.

However, the exchanged gold could not be transported to the Baoyuan Bureau for minting gold coins for a while, because it was too late to mint silver coins there.

Naturally, Wei Guangde didn't need to intervene too much in these matters. In fact, the officials below had a complete process from the beginning, which was a little hesitant now. They just needed to follow the procedures.

Wei Guangde was always supervising the quality of the coins minted by the Baoyuan Bureau. At this time, even though Ge Shouli was seriously ill, he often sent out imperial censors, and even supervised in person.

In Zhejiang, at the Linshanwei Wharf, there was a commotion at this time.

At the wharf, there were more than a hundred warships of various sizes of the Nanyang Navy docked. The officers and soldiers of the Navy were also running between the warships and the wharf, constantly transporting supplies to the ships.

Obviously, the Navy was about to go on patrol, and the soldiers were preparing to go to sea.

In front of the gate of the water fort, the commander Deng Zilong was waiting here with a group of navy officers.

Not long after, more than a hundred war horses appeared at the end of the official road in the distance and quickly came over here.

"The admiral has arrived, everyone prepare to welcome him."

Deng Zilong turned around and instructed his officers.

The generals behind him nodded in agreement, and their attitudes and actions became respectful.

Deng Zilong was in charge of land warfare in Jiangxi, and had not been in contact with the navy for a long time, but he was diligent and eager to learn, so Yu Dayou simply threw him into the water fort to train.

Because of his military achievements and the fact that he was from Jiangxi, he was already a commander when he was transferred to the Nanyang Navy, and his official rank was suitable.

Soon, Yu Dayou led his men to the gate of the water fort.

"I see the admiral."

A group of generals, led by Deng Zilong, paid a visit to Yu Dayou. After letting them stand up, Yu Dayou asked whether the preparations for this voyage had been completed.

"Report to the admiral, the navy has completed the preparations for the voyage, only a small amount of supplies have not been completed, and it will not be delayed for half an hour at most."

Deng Zilong replied.

"Not bad. The order was just given yesterday, and it's ready today."

Yu Dayou nodded and looked at the busy navy officers and soldiers on the dock. "You said the bird boat has been modified and can be tested?"

Yu Dayou was still more concerned about this matter. Wei Guangde was more superstitious about Western-style warships, but it was not easy for Ming craftsmen to quickly master their manufacturing methods. Even if they sent people to learn from them, it would take time after all.

However, since Wei Guangde wanted the broadside artillery of the navy warship, Yu Dayou would not wait for time to pass away, so he also ordered the navy officers and soldiers and craftsmen to find ways to solve this problem.

So, a craftsman who had seen Western-style armed merchant ships proposed to directly use the bird boats in the navy for modification.

The bird boat is a sea ship along the coast of Zhejiang. Its characteristic is that the bow is shaped like a bird's beak, and the sailing speed is fast, so it is called a bird boat, usually a three-masted sailing ship.

The bird boat evolved from the wave-opening boat. It has a pointed bow and a low hull. It was small in size at first. However, in order to go to the sea, the Nanyang Navy ordered a batch of bird boats over 20 meters long, equipped with oars. When there is wind, it relies on the sails, and when there is no wind, it paddles.

But in terms of maneuverability, the bird boat is not as good as the centipede boat learned from the trench mirror. That thing has better maneuverability because there are oars on both sides, and it can maintain a very fast speed even when there is no wind.

But the centipede boat is okay as a close combat weapon, but it cannot be equipped with a large number of firearms because the space is limited and a large number of sailors exist, squeezing out the little space.

The moderate bird boat was selected and transformed into a gunboat.