Chapter 24: Advancing North Korea (2)

"The tide is flat and the two sides are wide, and the wind is hanging by the sails." Zhao Xuyang gently recited Wang Wan's poem, and the passion in his heart rippled around with the waves.

From a scholar to becoming a staff officer of the Liaodong Navy, for a Confucian scholar who was deeply influenced by "supervising the family and governing the country and pacifying the world" since childhood, it was not easy to let him abandon the idea of ​​valuing culture and neglecting military affairs into the army.

But a month ago, when his small boat attacked by pirates was rescued by the Liaodong Navy, everything quietly changed.

Such a large ship and such an exquisite murderous weapon hit his heart heavily. At the beginning, Zhao Xuyang didn't care much about the navy.

But during the few days on the boat, the conversation between the burly and the burly admiral, who was not very fluent in Chinese, and Zhao Xuyang completely changed him.

Salini's knowledge made him feel the greatness of the world for the first time. It turned out that at the end of the sea was not Xiniu Hezhou, but there were countless countries, with people of all kinds of skin colors, such as blond and blue-eyed white people like Salini, black people with black skin and black hair like Kunlun slaves, and big cannibals with tight bodies.

Those seas, those things, and those people were so fascinating to say from Salini. When the fleet arrived at Jinzhou Port, Zhao Xuyang was completely infected by the personal charm of the Liaodong Navy Deputy Admiral and the sea-like personal charm.

He was about to join the navy immediately, and it happened that the navy was recruiting the staff and the Boy Battalion. Intellectuals like Zhao Xuyang naturally became a staff officer.

At this moment, the brand new Liaodong Navy Second Fleet slowly sailed out of Jinzhou Port. Zhao Xuyang looked into the distance from the forecastle, with ambition and desire to conquer the sea burning in the hearts of young people.

After a year of operation, the Liaodong treasury consumed 120,000 taels of silver, and three brand new "Yue"-class battleships of three thousand materials gathered into an army.

It is 200 tons larger than the dynasty level. The entire ship can be equipped with 36 artillery pieces, and the personnel on the ship reach 268. Such a majestic giant ship was something Zhao Xuyang could never have imagined before.

The design of the new-level battleship has been greatly improved. The forecastle of the "Yue"-class battleship is one meter lower than that of the dynasty class, and the Marine cabin is hidden under the main deck.

In the sailing era, Western sailing ships also experienced such changes. Obtaining the upper hand is the only way to naval battles of sailing and ships require more flexible steering.

Now, in the eyes of later generations, this change of the Liaodong Navy was another great invention of the Liao kingdom, but history is always so easy to cause misunderstandings.

The design of lowering the forecastle is mainly because the pirates' ships are usually small, and the high forecastle affects the steering of the large ship. Therefore, Salini summarizes past experience and designs to lower the forecastle height, thus making the ship more flexible.

Who would have expected that it would be an unexpected gain, and it was a coincidence with the trend of history.

There are also six new "famous general" cruisers with 2,000 materials launched at the same time as the "Yue" class. This ship is thin and pursuing speed and flexibility. Although it is equipped with only twenty artillery pieces, its cost is only 40% of the "Yue" class.

In terms of cost-effectiveness, the "famous general" level is more suitable for equipping the current Liaodong navy. It can completely suppress old-fashioned blessed ships of the same tonnage using its advantages in speed and firepower.

The second fleet with nine warships of all sizes has surpassed the First Fleet and became the elite force of the Liaodong Navy. All sailors and officers and soldiers are veterans of the First Fleet. Moreover, the latest Navy Staff and Boy Battalion have settled on each ship.

A new generation of naval commanders will also grow with the new fleet.

The Second Fleet was also an epoch-making fleet because it had the most powerful and secret weapon of this era - artillery, which, in modern terms, was a front-mounted slide boring cannon.

The cannon body is nine feet long (about one meter eight), with an outer diameter of nine inches and four minutes (28 cm), and an inner diameter of three inches and five minutes (10 cm). Made of pure copper, it fires solid shells and flowering grenades.

Many important parts and basic shapes of the artillery were drawn on the sketch by Zhu Zhi and then supervised by Jiao Zilong. After Zhu Zhi inspected it, he felt that it was basically very close to the front-mounted smoothbore cannon I remembered.

Solid ammunition is used to deal with the opponent's ships. The effective range is 1,000 steps; the maximum range of the flowering ammunition is 1,500 steps, and is used to kill people on the deck and attacks on the opposite shore.

In Zhu Zhi's view, the front-mounted smoothbore cannon they produced was already the most powerful weapon of this era, but it was also a giant beast of gold swallowing. A cannon material and artificial cost a total of 230 taels of silver. If you want to get all the equipment of the entire Liaodong Navy, it will cost more than 400 taels of silver and cost 90,000 taels of silver.

After spending 120,000 taels of silver to build a new fleet, Liaodong could no longer afford this number, and now only the three latest battleships of the Second Fleet were equipped.

Training and combat readiness also require a large number of shells, which also devour the Liaodong treasury.

Without the need to stingy with the miser Guo Ming, Zhu Zhi could no longer stand it. After the last "Yue" class was launched in the autumn, the Liaodong Navy will have nineteen warships of more than 2,000 materials, and all the naval budgets for Hongwu in 28 years were exhausted. Only after the spring of the next year will new keels be placed on the ship.

Of course, Zhao Xuyang didn't know that such a mighty and majestic land fleet cost tens of thousands of taels of silver. Now the second fleet is starting its first long voyage. The land sailors have been training in the offshore for two months and are gradually familiar with the performance of the new ship.

But sailors who have not experienced the storm can never become warriors who conquer the sea.

Salini was looking at the chart carefully in the captain's room in the back cabin, five days ago.

The Liaodong Dusi sent a top-secret military order, ordering him to lead the Second Fleet to sail, target Danluo Island, where he would join the Liaodong Navy First Fleet and assist Wang Luchao in guarding the island.

There is another military order, that the Li Dynasty army cannot know that the Liaodong Navy assisted Wang Luchao, and this one made Salini very worried.

...

Wang Luchao has been a little impatient recently because the spy sent by the meticulous works in Seoul said that Li Chenggui sent 30,000 troops and hundreds of warships to conquer Tara, and was about to set out soon.

Although nearly 10,000 anti-Li people have gathered on Danluo Island, these are all mobs.

Wang Luchao's basic power was the original personal guards of his father, a thousand households formed by his tribe members, and the five hundred troops that could be counted on for the Jinzhou guards that the King of Liao lent to him.

Among the other people, Jinzimu, the largest pirate in southern Goryeo, was the main one. He had more than 20 ships of all sizes and 3,000 soldiers and generals; there were also rebels of all sizes and several pirates.

Although Zhu Zhi sent him a thirty-person training officer corps, the remaining officials of Goryeo lacked understanding of the role of this small team. They were not only unwilling to receive training, but also intentionally neglected.

Therefore, in half a year, only Wang Luchao's personal guards trained into an army according to the training methods of the Liaodong Army. After winning the first battle, they seemed to have become some elite. The other horses fished for three days and dried the net for two days, but they were still ordinary.

But even if there are 1,500 elite troops, Wang Luchao dared not be optimistic at all in the face of a 30,000 army. What caused him the most headache was not the foreign enemies, but the internal differences.

Many of the mobs from all previous dynasties were privately rumored that the army sent by the King of Liao was a restraining force against the Wang Lu Dynasty; Goryeo did not need the power of the Han people to restore the country, etc.

"Your Highness, a messenger has come from the King of Liao." A guard came to the camp to inform. Wang Luchao woke up from his thoughts and quickly invited people to enter the tent.

I saw the visitor dressed in blue clothes, with a grim face, and respectfully bowed. Wang Luchao quickly helped him up and said, "Please get up, I don't know the name of Gao's surname."

The person came to say, "Go back to Your Highness, I'm here to experience it in the Liaodong Dusi. There is a letter from the King of Liao." As he said that, he took out a letter from his close-fitting clothes and handed it to Wang Luchao.

Wang Luchao took the letter and read it carefully. He quickly walked off the chair, bowed to Yuyi, and said, "His Royal Highness the King of Liao sent a mission to come, Lu Chao is deeply honored."

Yu Yi replied with a bow and said, "Thank you, Your Highness, this time, Yi came here on the order of His Highness of the Liao King, and Yi decided to do his best to assist."

Wang Luchao said: "Sir, you are polite. Now the enemy is facing you, I hope you will give me some advice."

Yu Yi said: "Your Highness, before coming, His Highness of the King of Liao had something to say to him. His Highness of Liao explained eight words: The enemy is facing the enemy, let's stabilize the internal worries first."

Wang Lu nodded thoughtfully and stopped talking. Yu Yi said: "Your Highness, my Liaodong Navy in the Ming Dynasty will soon have a brigade to help. Your Highness the King of Liao instructed that if Liaodong is in the final stage, Danluo will not be allowed to lose.

Wang Lu said oh, nodded slightly, and saw that Juyi was sitting on the spot and said nothing else, then he suddenly realized: "Sir, come from afar, go back to the camp to rest first, and hold a banquet to greet him tonight." Juyi stood up and bowed and said leave.

Seeing that Yu Yi withdrew from the tent, Wang Luchao's face suddenly turned dark. Zhao Yucheng, who was serving the side, observed his words and said, "Your Highness, the King of Liao is a bit too bullying. We came to Danluo to lay the foundation. He sent an army and a teaching team, and now he sent an imperial envoy.

”

Wang Lu stood up at Hudi and paced back and forth in the big tent. Zhao Yucheng said again: "Your Highness, there has been rumors on the island that the Liaodong teaching team spread widely in the army. Danluo Island was because of the blessing of Liao King Fuze that gave His Highness a place to stand.

From then on, did I, the Goryeo soldiers, only knew that there was the King of Liao but not His Highness?”

"Enough, shut up!" Wang Luchao said irritably, "We have only a few people in a foreign land. If it weren't for the favor of the King of Liao, we might not even have this place of standing. If it weren't for the army sent by the King of Liao, we could defeat the Li thief's attack? Could it be that pirates? If it weren't for the teaching team, would the guards you led have such a prosperous military appearance now? You must know that without the King of Liao, we would not have today. If we leave the King of Liao, we might not have a place to bury tomorrow.

”

Li Cun, who served as the chief of staff of the shogunate, said: "General Zhao is sincere, and His Highness is clear. It is true that without the help of the King of Liao, we would not be able to succeed.

But it does not mean that we will always be under the jurisdiction of the Han people. Just send troops, at least we can still get their help.

But now the King of Liao is getting more and more excessive, and he actually sent an aide, whose name is Assistant, is actually an imperial envoy. From then on, I am afraid that the power of Your Highness will be slapped by the Han people sooner or later."

"Okay, stop talking, I know. Seeing that Li Zhe's 30,000 troops were about to cross the sea, you still have the heart to fight for power and profit, and you have to wait until you escape the crisis before you talk about it.
Chapter completed!