Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 180: Will the Imperial Court Send Military Forces to Goryeo? Nahachu is Shocked and Suspicious [Subscribe]

Speaking of which, words like "Long-distance Exploration Training Camp" and "First Exploration Fleet" are very different from the language habits at that time, but they were caused by the influence of Liu Kuan on Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao and others.

Although Fang and Chen were both commanders, Fang Mingqian was in charge of the training camp affairs.

Fang Mingqian is Fang Guozhen's nephew. After surrendering to Zhu Yuanzhang, he built cities along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang to defend against Japanese pirates and eliminate pirates. He has made many contributions and has a long history. He is now nearly fifty years old.

He heard the reply, "Replying to the Left Commander-in-Chief, although the officers and men of the exploratory fleet have been training daily since they were selected last year, it is inconvenient to go out to sea or go into the water during the winter, so they have only practiced shipboard skills such as handling the guns."

"Next, we must have our soldiers sail out to sea more often, even training in the depths of the ocean, so they can be competent for long-distance exploration missions."

Li Wenzhong frowned slightly and asked, "Can the training be completed within two months?"

Fang Mingqian and Chen Zhongming exchanged glances, then gritted their teeth and said, "Yes!"

"Okay." Li Wenzhong nodded, "Take me to inspect the camp."

"I will obey my orders."

Immediately, Fang Mingqian and Chen Zhongming led Li Wenzhong to inspect the camp.

In late August last year, after Zhu Yuanzhang issued an order to establish a "Long-distance Exploration Training Camp", Li Wenzhong first spent two months recruiting thousands of soldiers from the navy in Hebei, Shandong, Zhili and Zhejiang, and then ordered Fang Mingqian and Chen Zhongming to be responsible for training and other matters.

It was also Zhu Yuanzhang's intention to form an exploration fleet by recruiting rather than conscripting.

Because the fleet was going to explore the route to America, a voyage would last for half a year or even one or two years. If the soldiers were not volunteering but were forcibly conscripted, they would be more likely to collapse in spirit during the long voyage and cause trouble.

Since they were recruited, the treatment of the soldiers in the exploration fleet was naturally different from that of other Ming troops.

Today, the Ming army is almost entirely composed of garrison troops, similar to the military farming soldiers of the late Han Dynasty and the Tang Dynasty's palace soldiers - military pay is guaranteed by the production of the garrison fields and does not need to be distributed by the court.

However, the food and other supplies needed during wartime are still controlled, transported and distributed by the court.

In other words, the Ming army's pay at that time was food and cloth.

If the soldiers wanted to get money, they had to rely on the produce from the garrison's fields or the rewards after the war. This was also the reason why the Ming army was so excited at the thought of war.

Long-distance exploration is different from siege and capture of strongholds, and it places high demands on the soldiers' will and combat skills.

Therefore, the officers and soldiers of the First Fleet were not only recruited, but also received high salaries.

Taking ordinary soldiers in the fleet as an example, when they are training in the camp, they will receive a monthly salary of two strings of coins; if they are performing near-shore missions, they will receive a monthly salary of three strings of coins; and if they are performing long-distance missions, their monthly salary will be as high as six strings of coins!

If you die during a mission, the minimum pension is 120 kan!

In fact, the Ming Dynasty’s pensions for soldiers at that time were not low - if a soldier died on the battlefield, his family could receive three years of military pay in one lump sum. For an ordinary soldier, for example, this was about 36 stone of grain.

And after that, they can still receive 3 to 6 rations of food every month as the surplus soldiers of the garrison until there is a man in their family who has grown up. Then they can be promoted to regular soldiers and receive food according to the regular military salary.

One hundred and twenty strings of cash could buy sixty dan of grain at that time, which was almost twice the normal pension.

At the beginning, Li Wenzhong followed Zhu's instructions and announced the treatment of the exploration fleet while recruiting soldiers from various naval units. This prompted the soldiers to sign up enthusiastically, and in just two months, thousands of elite naval soldiers were recruited.

After inspecting all aspects of the camp, Li Wenzhong came to the camp command center.

"Commander Fang, have the soldiers of the First Exploration Fleet gathered at the Grand Parade Grounds. This Admiral wishes to review them."

"As ordered!"

After receiving the order, Fang Mingqian sent the officers accompanying him to pass on the message, and soon the sound of drums to gather troops was heard in the camp.

At this time, Li Wenzhong was standing in front of the sand table in the command room.

The sand tables of other troops are mostly land, while the sand table of the exploration fleet is mostly water - this sand table uses blue cloth as the base and mud and sand to make land islands.

It mainly includes the later Yellow Sea, East China Sea, Sea of ​​Japan and parts of the Pacific Ocean, the Korean Peninsula, the Japanese islands and the Ezo Island in the north, which are naturally also shown on the sand table.

Even the later Oki Islands and Sado Islands in the Sea of ​​Japan are shown.

The reason why the sand table can be made so complete and standard is that the Beiyang Navy has a new map given by Zhu Yuanzhang - this map was pieced together by Zhu Yuanzhang based on some relevant information in Liu Kuan's computer and tablet.

Li Wenzhong looked at it for a moment, then asked, "I remember the document you submitted mentioned a training plan to sail out of Bohai and across the Yellow Sea to Heishan Island after the spring."

Chen Zhongming is mainly responsible for the exploration fleet's sea training and future long-distance exploration.

Chen Zhongming was a naval commander who had risen through the ranks of the army. He was just forty years old and responded briefly, "Yes."

Li Wenzhong looked at Heishan Island on the map - this island is in the southeast corner of the Yellow Sea, very close to the southwestern islands of Goryeo, estimated to be only ten or twenty miles away.

He said, "Although according to court documents, Heishan Island belonged to China during the Song and Yuan dynasties, the Ming Dynasty never sent troops there after its establishment. I'm afraid the island has been occupied by the Koreans."

"This island is very close to the islands off the southwest coast of Goryeo. Even if Goryeo doesn't have a garrison on the island, its navy will arrive quickly. You must be vigilant when setting up camp on this island to avoid a surprise attack by the Goryeo navy."

The two of them responded "yes" first.

Chen Zhongming then asked, somewhat puzzled, "Excuse me, Left Commander-in-Chief, according to court custom, since we don't know whether Goryeo occupies this island, shouldn't we first send an envoy to inform Goryeo that the Ming Dynasty will station troops on this island?"

Li Wenzhong's expression was slightly strange, and then he said, "Since Heishan Island originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, why should we inform Goryeo?"

"But···"

Chen Zhongming was about to ask something else when Fang Mingqian interrupted him. Fang Mingqian said, "Commander Chen, Goryeo was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty and shouldn't have occupied Heishan Island. Now that the Ming Dynasty wants to establish a camp on Heishan Island, it's already magnanimous of us to not hold them accountable for occupying the island. How can we justify notifying them before landing on the island?"

"If that were to happen, where would the dignity of the Ming Dynasty be?"

Chen Zhongming was able to rise from a small soldier to a commander, so he was not just a warrior. After listening to Fang Mingqian's words, he finally understood something, nodded immediately, and stopped asking questions.

Li Wenzhong seemed reluctant to discuss the topic further and instead asked, "Your Majesty wishes the First Exploration Fleet to explore at least as far as the northeastern peninsula of Ezo Island this year and establish a transit camp on the island for voyages to North America. How confident are you?"

Upon hearing this, Fang Mingqian and Chen Zhongming both showed hesitation.

Chen Zhongming then clasped his fists and said, "To the Left Commander-in-Chief, the farthest I've sailed before was the Ryukyu Kingdom. While the peninsula northeast of Ezo Island is far away, most places along the way can be navigated by land, or there are islands connected."

"And now we have the help of a sextant and a telescope. If nothing unexpected happens, it won't be difficult to sail to this peninsula. I just don't know if it's occupied by anyone."

Li Wenzhong nodded at first, then recalled his previous conversation with Liu Kuan and said, "Don't worry, even if there are people on this peninsula, they are all natives and will not be a match for our army."

"You will establish a transit camp here in the future. The real enemy is the severe cold—Liaodong is already so cold, and this place is much further north than Liaodong, so it must be extremely cold."

"Of course, the imperial court has already devised a variety of strategies for you to keep warm. From now on, the garrison troops only need to follow the imperial court's instructions and they will be able to safely survive the winter."

In fact, Fang Mingqian and Chen Zhongming had also learned about these things from official documents, but they were inevitably lacking confidence in such a long voyage to such a remote place, which was something they had never done before.

Now, after hearing what Li Wenzhong said, my confidence has increased a little.

At this time, an officer came to the hall door, clasped his fists and said, "Reporting to the Left Commander-in-Chief, Commander Fang, and Commander Chen, the First Exploration Fleet has completed its formation at the Grand Parade Grounds!"

Seeing that the First Exploration Fleet had gathered its forces so quickly, Li Wenzhong smiled slightly and said, "Come, let's go take a look with this Commander-in-Chief."

After saying that, he strode out of the command room first.

When the group arrived at the parade ground, they saw more than 3,000 soldiers wearing fiery red Ming navy uniforms, lined up in neat rows and standing tall on the parade ground.

Because they were a navy and used a lot of firearms, Li Wenzhong did not let the soldiers conduct drills in the large parade ground.

After watching for a while on the reviewing platform, he walked through the formation with his personal soldiers, carefully observing the spirit and spirit of these soldiers.

Seeing that these soldiers not only had rosy complexions, but also plump cheeks and were full of energy, he felt even more satisfied.

Speaking of which, the soldiers of the exploration fleet have daily meals similar to those of the emperor's personal army, and they train every day, so it is normal for them to be so energetic.

Li Wenzhong returned to the reviewing platform, said a few words to affirm the training results of the exploration fleet, expressed encouragement to the soldiers, and then left the training camp with his personal soldiers.

He was the Left Admiral of the Ming Dynasty Naval Commandery and personally supervised the Beiyang Fleet. He was very busy with official duties and it was impossible for him to spend too much time here.

Fang Mingqian and Chen Zhongming ordered the soldiers to continue training on their respective ships, and then went to the command room together.

Seeing that he was surrounded by his personal guards, Chen Zhongming said, "Thank you, Brother Fang, for your words of advice."

Fang Mingqian said, "We are all colleagues, no need to be polite."

Chen Zhongming then asked, "Does the imperial court intend to use military force against Goryeo?"

Fang Mingqian smiled and said, "Korea is now a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. It's hard to say whether the imperial court will use military force against it, but I'm afraid we'll have to take a few of its islands off the coast."

"For example, Jeju Island lies across the North American exploration route granted by the imperial court. If it cannot be owned by the Ming Dynasty, wouldn't it be like a thorn in the side of the throat?"

Chen Zhongming looked at the sand table as Fang Mingqian pointed, a gleam of light flashing in his eyes. He said, "If that's the case, then I'm afraid the imperial court also intends to take these Falkland Islands."

Fang Mingqian didn't answer, but smiled and said, "So, the imperial court is going to make great use of the navy, and we have arrived at a good time."

"But I'm already old, and I'm afraid I won't have many opportunities to make achievements. Brother Chen is ten years younger than me, and it's time for him to make achievements. If you become successful in the future, don't forget the friendship we worked together."

“We will never forget each other.”

···
···
Time flies and it is March.

As the Ming army continued to dispatch troops and transport food to Liaodong, the signs became difficult to conceal, and Nahachu finally became aware of it.

Taizhou City (now the ancient city of Sijiazi in Baicheng City, Jilin Province).

The palace of Prince Kaiyuan.

In a hall decorated in a mixture of Mongolian, Han, Liao and Jin styles, Nahachu, who was sitting tall and fat on the armchair, suddenly stood up.

He said with a puzzled look on his face, "The Ming Dynasty attacked the imperial court (Northern Yuan) two years ago, and I heard that they later sent troops to Yunnan. How come only a year later, they are attacking me again?"

"Zhu Yuanzhang used military force so frequently. Didn't he know the lesson of excessive military spending? Furthermore, even if the Ming Empire had sufficient food and fodder, how could it have transported it to the north in just one or two years?"

At this time, there were many people participating in the discussion in the hall.

A scholar in his fifties, who looked clearly Han Chinese, said, "Your Majesty, the Ming Dynasty probably transported grain to Liaodong by sea."

　First update

　　I was delayed by something and was a bit stuck, so I arrived late.

　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)