When Wu Sangui was making trouble in southern Korea, far away in Songjiang Prefecture in the south of the Ming Dynasty, although it was raining continuously, the atmosphere here was extremely hot.
At the recruitment office at the Yamen Gate, there was a long line of people asking to join the Ryukyu Expeditionary Force.
It is so popular that it not only requires age, but also requires military experience or sailor experience.
But even so, an official arrived at the recruitment office and announced: The number of soldiers is full and recruitment is suspended.
Hearing this announcement, the young people who were still waiting in line started to make a fuss. Why is it that the number of people is already full?
However, they only dare to talk, but they really dare not take action to make trouble.
"I even promised the second girl next door that I would definitely sign up for the Ryukyu Expeditionary Force. Now it's better, the money for a wife is gone!"
"Me too. I'm still thinking about using the money from military service to build a new house for my family! Look, Brother Niu, it's because he joined the Luzon Expeditionary Army that he returned home. The money he earned from military service was spent on marrying a wife and building a new house.
I’m so envious of you!”
"Isn't that right? Look, when the Luzon Expeditionary Force comes back, the things in our Songjiang Prefecture are a lot more expensive. They have more money, so everything they buy is expensive!"
"I really didn't expect that the expedition to Luzon was going to be dangerous, but it turned out to be a good thing. It was all smooth sailing, and everyone made a profit!"
"..."
After the Luzon Expeditionary Force received the order, Zeng Ying and Yang Zhan led their navy back to Songjiang Prefecture. They needed to replenish troops and ships, and then went on an expedition to Ryukyu.
In addition, the supervisor Lu Jiude stayed in Luzon and would not return with the American Bo Zheng Zhibao until the King of Zhou took over the vassal state.
The supervisor of the Ryukyu Expeditionary Force is Zheng Sen, the commander of the Jinyiwei, who is still coming from the north to join them.
Zeng Ying and Yang Zhan were drinking by the window on the second floor of a restaurant not far from the Yamen.
At this time, looking at the excitement at the Yamen Gate, Yang Zhan said with emotion: "I really didn't expect that just a few years ago, people were afraid of joining the army, but now, they are all worried about not being able to become soldiers.
And complained!"
"That's because there have been so many changes in the past few years!" Zeng Ying was not surprised at all after hearing this. He immediately took up the topic and said, "In the past, when I joined the army, I owed military pay for several years, but now, if I don't say goodbye,
Yes, just when our Luzon Expeditionary Force comes back, which soldier has not made a lot of money? Even if this rich land in the south of the Yangtze River can make the locals jealous, the number of people joining the army will naturally increase!"
In addition to military pay, the Luzon Expeditionary Force also captured a lot of items from the cities of Jelanja and Manila. Therefore, the rewards in the army were naturally high.
At this time, Yang Zhan nodded immediately after listening to Zeng Ying's words. Then he remembered something and asked Zeng Ying: "The imperial decree said that the Supervisory Army will bring some armored steam warships over. How many do you think there will be this time?"
"Nanjing Shipyard has sent ten armored steam warships." Zeng Ying heard this and said after thinking, "Tianjin Shipyard should have about the same number, right? Even if Tianjin Shipyard is bigger, for
The transformation of the armored steam warship is more skillful, and it is estimated that it will not exceed much."
This explanation was very logical. After hearing this, Yang Zhan said with a little joy: "When we came back this time, we only brought back five armored steam warships. Let's add twenty more to reach twenty-five armored steam warships."
As for the ship, if we cooperate with other warships, we can win even if the Japanese navy has a much larger number than us!"
"Yes, iron-clad steam warships still have a lot of restrictions against sailing warships!" Zeng Ying nodded and agreed, "But against Japanese ships, there is no weakness at all. Twenty-five
The armored steam warships, lined up in a row, can scatter the Japanese naval warships, and then hand them over to ordinary warships to take care of them!"
After a pause, he remembered something, and then said: "It's just that the more armored steam warships there are, the more logistical supplies there are for coal. There is no coal in Ryukyu, so it has to be transported from our mainland!"
After hearing this, Yang Zhan smiled and said: "This problem is not big. The Japanese pirates in Ryukyu are only some sent by the Satsuma clan, and there are very few. After we conquer Ryukyu, we have to wait for the progress in North Korea. During this period,
There is plenty of time to stockpile enough coal in Ryukyu so that once the Japanese are conquered, there is no need to transport it from the country."
For now, the Ryukyu Expeditionary Force has been announced to the outside world, but only the two commanders-in-chief, Zeng Ying and Yang Zhan, know that their real purpose is to conquer the Japanese country, and first to destroy the Japanese navy returning from North Korea.
The two were talking when suddenly, they heard movement on the street.
"Go, go and see, wow, it's so big!"
"The imperial court is so powerful, so powerful!"
"..."
Hearing this movement, Yang Zhan looked out the window and found that people were running towards the port, calling friends, as if to see something strange.
When he was about to say something, he heard rapid footsteps coming from the stairs. Then, Zeng Ying's general Yu Chong appeared at the door and excitedly said to the two people in the room: "The supervisory army led twenty ships.
The steam-armored warship has arrived! Wow, there is a steam-armored warship, it’s really huge!”
When they heard that Zheng Sen had arrived, the two of them did not dare to neglect and left the table immediately.
At the same time, seeing Yu Chong's shocked look, Zeng Ying couldn't help but become a little curious and asked: "How big is it?"
"It's very, very big!" Yu Chong said excitedly after hearing this, "It's about as big as three No. 1 Fortune Ships. It looks so impressive!"
"Sealing the warship?" When Zeng Ying heard this, he immediately thought of something and said in surprise, "Let's go back and take a look!"
Fengzhou was originally built by the Ming Dynasty to canonize kings of overseas vassal states and show national prestige. Therefore, at least in terms of momentum, it is definitely very powerful.
In fact, Fengzhou is 47 meters long, while No. 1 Fuzhou, the largest warship in the late Ming Dynasty, has a length of 400 meters and is 27 meters long. In fact, it is not as many as three ships. But Fengzhou gives people the feeling
, which is very large.
Now that Fengzhou has been transformed into a steam-armored warship, it gives people an even stronger sense of threat.
Likewise, after the people in Songjiang Prefecture heard the news, they rushed to the port to watch the excitement.
When Zeng Ying and Yang Zhan rushed to the port, there were already a lot of people watching on the pier. The huge boat Feng Zhou was still parking at the port. Fortunately, this is the mouth of the Yangtze River and has a deep-water pier. Otherwise, it would all
Can't dock.
Everyone's eyes were attracted by this behemoth, and they were filled with admiration.
Even Yang Zhan, Zeng Ying and others looked shocked when they saw it.
Afterwards, the two hurried over and waited for a long time before the Fengzhou warship docked safely. Zheng Sen came down to meet the two commanders.
The Ryukyu envoys, Zheng Zhou's son and grandson, also heard the news and came over. They recognized that this was a sealing boat that had arrived in Ryukyu before, but now it was an iron-clad steam warship. Naturally, they were excited again.
As a result, the Ryukyu Expeditionary Force has been formed, with as many as 500 warships, including 35 iron-clad steam warships. There are also about 500 transport ships, not to transport troops, but to transport food and grass.
Supplies and coal are mainly military supplies that are difficult to obtain on the Ryukyu Islands.
In terms of the scale of the expeditionary force, it is almost the same as the Luzon Expeditionary Force. But in terms of combat power, it is definitely stronger than weaker!
Similarly, in the Ryukyu Expeditionary Force, Portuguese sailing battleships were also recruited, increasing from the original three to five.
Portugal has received the decree from the capital. For the Portuguese, it means a thousand people are willing to become vassal states of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, they quickly sent people to Lisbon to report the news, and their king Joao IV made the final decision whether
Accepted the emperor's will from the Ming Dynasty, but on the other hand, Du Chen, the leader of the army on Haojing'ao's side, cooperated very actively, fearing that he would lose the qualification to become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, this time, the Portuguese on Haojing'ao's side
All the sailing warships were sent.
After all, through the experience of participating in the Luzon Expeditionary Force, they have realized that no country around the Ming Dynasty can be the opponent of the Ming Dynasty. The Portuguese who are familiar with the Ming Dynasty know best how much profit they can make from trade with the Ming Dynasty.
But that's it.
Moreover, they are also very aware of Lisbon's predicament. Although after becoming a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, Lisbon cannot hope that the suzerain country can send troops to protect it, but the money earned from the Ming Dynasty can allow Lisbon to find more allies, thus ensuring
Lisbon was not destroyed by Spain.
On the other hand, they also knew that the Netherlands might become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, which the Portuguese were not happy to see, let alone that the Netherlands could become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty but Portugal could not become a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, the Portuguese were very motivated and listened to Ming Dynasty the most.
……………………
At this time, the Dutch, who had worried the Portuguese, and Kui Yi and others, who rented a ship from Tianjin Port and rushed back, finally arrived in Batavia.
When Antony, the governor of Batavia, heard the urgent report from the port that the officers of all sizes in the city of Zelandia who had been taken to the capital for trial by the Ming Dynasty had returned, he was very surprised and hurried over to see the situation.
Whether you are asking about guilt or anything else, you must first ask clearly before speaking.
In addition, at this time, Anthony felt very uneasy about the Ming army taking root in Luzon. He was deeply alarmed by the changes in Ming's overseas strategy.
Luzon could be captured by the Ming army, and since Batavia is not too far from Luzon, it is possible for the Ming army to attack again.
Therefore, he wanted to find out what the Ming's attitude was towards Batavia? After all, for now, the relationship between the Netherlands and the Ming was actually still hostile.
At the port, all the Dutch were already watching. When Anthony passed by, he happened to see Kuiyi getting off the boat. Before he could speak, Kuiyi spoke eagerly.