The Tang Navy carried out adjustments and reforms in the first half of this year. After the Yangtze River Fleet accepted a large number of armed merchant ships, it did not hesitate to risk the ships being intercepted and sunk to pass through the Yangzhou Fortress. Naturally, it was not to drive the ships to Jinling Pier.
Li Xuan took a few glances at him.
But for the safety of point guard Yang Jiang!
Because the Ming Navy used a large number of small boats and forts to block the Yangtze River Navy's Ganjiang and Xiangjiang fleets from entering the Yangtze River, it also blocked the main force of the Tang Navy from entering the Yangtze River. Therefore, in the past six months, the Tang Dynasty had
There are always many scruples in operations on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
The most important point is that the Tang Dynasty has so far failed to use the main stream of the Yangtze River for large-scale material supply transportation. Various ammunition and guns in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions in the south rely on the navy to transport by sea to Wusong Port, and then
Then it is transported to various places in the south of the Yangtze River by land transportation or small-scale river transportation.
Not to mention, the Ming army took advantage of the navy and occasionally sneaked across the river to attack. Even if such attacks could not actually cause any losses, they still made the Tang Dynasty very depressed.
The army had to deploy general troops in many cities on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and at the same time dispatch a large number of troops to be stationed in a wide area. This resulted in a serious dispersion of the army's strength.
For this reason, the Army has very strong opinions on the Navy, and they have had public quarrels at imperial strategic meetings several times. The Army requires the Navy to quickly enter the main stream of the Yangtze River and not to mess around at the mouth of the Yangtze River. The Ming Army does not want to
Will run to Songjiang Mansion.
But the navy also has troubles that cannot be told!
The navy does have ships, and there are currently five cruisers and 13 frigates in service. However, these ships are large and, more importantly, have very deep drafts, so they are very restrictive for fighting in inland rivers.
Not only are they overqualified but extremely dangerous, if they break into the Yangtze River and the Ming Navy releases hundreds of fireships from the upper reaches, and then engages in a gang-hopping operation, these warships of the Navy will suffer huge losses.
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But we couldn't just watch the Ming Navy control the Yangtze River, so after thinking hard, the navy began to reform, preparing to gather most of the armed merchant ships of the First Fleet into the Yangtze River Fleet, and then venture to the main stream of the Yangtze River to fight.
Even if these ships sink, the Navy will not feel too distressed.
You must know that the hull and gun of a current cruiser cost hundreds of thousands of taels. Even a cheap frigate costs tens of thousands of taels more.
Armed merchant ships are much cheaper. The hulls are cheap and there are not many guns. Even an armed merchant ship of about 300 tons can be purchased for at most two to thirty thousand taels of silver.
Of course, the more important thing is that most of the armed merchant ships in the Tang Dynasty's navy are sand ships, Guangzhou ships, Fu ships and other ship types. However, the ones assigned to the river fleets this time are sand ships and Guangzhou ships, which are suitable for inland river and offshore operations.
, a ship with a shallow draft.
After the success of the first adventure, the Yangtze River Fleet planned to continue its efforts. Three days later, it gathered the remaining fourteen armed merchant ships and tried to break through the Yangzhou Fort.
The same choice was made at night, and the same choice was made on a rainy night.
But this time the Ming Navy was also prepared. It frantically prepared more than 200 small boats of various types to launch a fireship offensive, and cooperated with the Yangzhou Fort to launch a fierce attack.
At dawn the next day, although the armed merchant ships that broke through successfully passed the Yangzhou Fort, their losses were greater than the last time. Four ships were sunk, and most of the remaining ones were injured.
Faced with this result, the people of the Yangtze River Fleet breathed a sigh of relief. Four ships were sunk, but at last ten ships successfully passed the test.
Together with the ten warships that successfully passed through a few days ago, the Yangtze River Fleet of the Tang Navy had twenty armed merchant ships available for combat on the main stream of the Yangtze River.
At the same time, the Yangtze River Fleet also carried out large-scale shipbuilding operations in many city ports on the south bank of the Yangtze River, such as Jinling City. Although the ships built were only small and medium-sized ships, mainly tens of tons.
After two breakthroughs, coupled with the self-built cabinet ships, the Yangtze River Fleet has managed to gather a battle-worthy strength in the Yangtze River Basin west of Yangzhou and east of Hukou.
And these battleships played a very important role in the subsequent operations of the Tang Dynasty.
At least with the support of these warships, the Army's subsequent cross-river operation plan can be realized.
Yes, the Tang Dynasty was already preparing to launch a cross-river battle. However, the cross-river battle was different from previous traditional battles. Crossing the river was difficult, and subsequent supplies were even more troublesome.
Therefore, the Army is still very cautious at the moment and is only making early plans. However, when the cross-river campaign can be launched will depend on the follow-up details.
Regarding these military matters, Li Xuan no longer interferes in specific matters, but only controls the overall direction.
Li Xuan's requirements for the military were very simple. One was to defend the area south of the Yangtze River, and the second was to find opportunities to launch a cross-river campaign and seize the north of the Yangtze River.
In particular, the two nails of Yangzhou and Anqing must be pulled out.
These two places are not only obstacles for the Tang Dynasty's army to go north, but also threaten the security south of the Yangtze River at any time. These two places are like two knives, pressing against the soft belly of the Tang Dynasty, making the Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty felt threatened at all times.
However, although Li Xuan gave the military a task.
But the military is ready to complete this task, so that is not what Li Xuan cares about. Matters such as war still need to be left to professionals, and he still has many affairs throughout the empire waiting for him to deal with.
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Although the army and navy have wanted to launch a battle across the river, such a large-scale battle will not be launched for a while. According to the management of previous years, it is impossible to launch it, at least during the autumn harvest.
Launching a large-scale operation in this rainy season would be a disaster.
At the same time, the Ming army on the north bank of the Yangtze River continued to accumulate strength. Anqing and Yangzhou were operated as fortresses by the Ming army, with more and more troops. The Ming Dynasty not only recruited troops in the areas north of the Yangtze River, but also
At first, some people ignored it and mobilized a large number of troops from the north to go south.
Even the border troops began to mobilize on a large scale. In order to free up the troops of the border troops, Emperor Zhengde even pinched his nose and agreed to Anda Khan's request for mutual trade to relieve the pressure on the border towns.
And after the northern Ada Khan suffered a bloody blow in the border town last year, he also found that these Ming troops were more difficult to fight than before. After this, Emperor Zhengde agreed to his mutual trade.
So I just accept it when it's good.
After initially stabilizing the northern border towns, Emperor Zhengde began to dispatch a large number of border troops to go south, almost half of the border troops were dispatched south.
As for the newly organized and trained new armies in Shandong and Henan provinces, all of them have been transferred. Even the new armies in Shaanxi, Shanxi and other places have also been transferred out.
Plus the newly reorganized Jingying camp.
Emperor Zhengde plans to amass at least 200,000 troops in Jiangbei, with the nickname of 500,000 troops!
Moreover, among the 200,000 troops, at least 50,000 are frontier troops, and 8,000 of them are the most elite cavalry. Most of the infantry are also units equipped with a large number of guns and artillery.
In addition, there were about 60,000 new troops supported by the northern provinces.
Anqing and Jiangbei have about 40,000 new troops.
The remaining approximately 50,000 people are the guardsmen and young men.
In other words, the troops gathered by the Ming army in Jiangbei included more than 150,000 new-style troops using guns and cannons. The strength of their combat effectiveness is unknown, but the number of guns and cannons was definitely large.
Emperor Zhengde spent all his money to raise these troops. To this end, he even began to collect thieves' wages in the entire north. Then he also followed Zhang Yue's example, setting up checkpoints in some areas and starting to collect commercial taxes.
Naturally, the ministers were all opposed to it, but Emperor Zhengde at this time was still in charge of so much, and directly sent his eunuchs to collect taxes.
Because Emperor Zhengde knew very well that if he could not defend Jiangbei, the Ming Dynasty would really come to an end, and he would be the king of subjugation. Such a result was not what Emperor Zhengde wanted.
Emperor Zhengde has been in control of the court for more than 40 years and has firmly suppressed the officials in the court. His skills are naturally beyond the reach of ordinary emperors. After this was enforced, the tax revenue collected was able to barely sustain the needs of the frontline troops.
military spending.
Of course, this requirement is actually only a few million taels of silver, and this number is actually far from enough for an army equipped with a large number of guns and artillery. Therefore, in fact, whether it is Jiangbei General Soldier, Fengyang
The commander-in-chief and other frontline generals have already begun to collect military expenses on their own.
The person they learned from was naturally Zhang Yue. Zhang Yue had been doing this for several years without any major consequences. Moreover, he relied on his own troops and lost many battles, but he still got promoted and made a fortune.
Such successful examples will attract others to learn from them, and Yu Dayou is one of them.
And the person they were learning from, Zhang Yue from Huguang, was immersed in collecting money and training his standards as usual.
After supervising Sichuan, he gained the financial support of Sichuan. The scale of his supervision has expanded rapidly. Since the tragic defeats in Hengyang and Changsha, it has been a year and a half. Zhang Yue's supervision has not only restored
In addition to the original strength, the scale was expanded to 100,000.
In addition to the 40,000 trained troops under his command, the number of troops is 140,000.
The total number of Ming troops in Jiangbei and Huguang has reached 350,000, and the number of new-style troops equipped with guns and artillery exceeds 300,000. The official caliber of the Ming Dynasty is that the officers and troops on the north bank of the Yangtze River
There are millions of lions!
But in terms of combat effectiveness, no one thought that they could defeat the puppet Tang rebel army on the opposite side with the same number. Now all the emperors and ministers of the Ming Dynasty hoped for was that they could defend the north bank of the Yangtze River!