***
Two days later, the North Sea Fleet, having received a message via carrier pigeon, urgently increased its food and ammunition supplies, and then set out from its home port of Lushun in a mighty manner.
Shi Lang was now the admiral of the Beihai Fleet, with Bai Shiliang as the chief admiral and Liu Zhongqin as the deputy admiral.
The entire North Sea Fleet had a total of 1 treasure ship, 6 clipper warships, 20 old-style gunboats, and 90 small and medium-sized warships such as eagle ships, bluff ships, and sand ships.
Hai Rufeng's ocean-going fleet is almost entirely made up of treasure ships and clipper warships, while the North Sea Fleet and the East Sea Fleet are mostly small and medium-sized warships;
The difference in this configuration is mainly due to the fact that the main tasks of the North Sea and East China Sea fleets are to be responsible for daily patrols in the Daqin waters, arresting thefts, investigating smuggling, etc. There is really no need to configure too many large ships and big guns. Instead, those small and medium-sized warships are economical and practical.
Since the South China Sea Fleet is responsible for the security of the South China Sea islands and is ready to support the ocean-going fleet in operations at any time, its warship configuration is much stronger than that of the North Sea and East China Sea Fleets. If you calculate carefully, the weakest is probably the North Sea Fleet.
But the warships Shi Lang brought out this time were also very impressive, including 1 treasure ship, 6 clipper warships, 12 old-style gunboats, and 30 small and medium-sized warships such as eagle ships. A total of nearly 50 ships.
Compared to North Korea and Japan, this was already a force that could not be underestimated. Especially the treasure ship that was more than 40 meters long, like a hen leading her chicks, cutting through the waves, the huge figure was very shocking.
In the huge command cabin, Shi Lang and a group of staff were discussing around a nautical chart.
Deputy Admiral Liu Zhongqin was the same as always, unable to change his carefree character. He crossed his legs and chewed a betel nut all the time.
Liu Zhongqin was a general with many military achievements, and he was an old man who had joined the Qin army since Huguang. If it weren't for his carefree character, illiteracy, and unwillingness to learn, he probably wouldn't have to be relegated to the position of deputy admiral.
He chewed it for a while, spat out the betel nut with a "puff", then grabbed the sleeve of his old partner Bai Shiliang and wiped his mouth.
Bai Shiliang, who was drinking tea, was so angry that he almost choked to death.
"Hunjianglong! You really are a stubborn person... "
"Old Bai, why are you so angry? Look, we are all in military uniforms, and you are the only one wearing a wide-sleeved official robe. If I don't use your sleeve to wipe it, who else should I use?"
"you you... ... .."
"No, no, no, Lao Bai, I promised that when I get to Japan, I will immediately find a few Japanese women to serve you comfortably, okay. Hey, Lao Shi, I heard that you used to go to Japan often, and you must have played with a lot of Japanese women, so tell us about it first."
Shi Lang looked up at him, then at Bai Shiliang, revealing an expression of helplessness.
"I say, Old Shi, what's so good about this sea chart? Damn it, can the little Japanese really turn the tables? It's just a tiny place. They dare to call themselves the emperor. For this, I think the little Japanese should be trampled on the ground several times. I don't know what your majesty is thinking..."
"Admiral Liu, Japan is still quite powerful and should not be underestimated. Moreover, our cruise to Japan this time is complicated. It is not as simple as just going to fight a war. What is more important is to use the smart force proposed by Your Majesty to maximize the interests of our Great Qin at the lowest cost."
Liu Zhongqin really wanted to refute a few words, but these ideas were indeed proposed by the emperor. He was fearless, but he did not dare to refute the emperor.
Bai Shiliang rolled his eyes and said, "Admiral Shi, what's the use of playing the lute to a cow? What do you plan to do when you go to Japan this time? Have you made a plan?"
Liu Zhongqin was not convinced and immediately snorted, "What are you talking about? Don't think you can fool me just because you read a few books. You said a lot of nonsense, isn't it just that the best way to attack the enemy's strategy, the next best is to attack the enemy's alliances, and the worst is to attack the city? You think I don't understand this nonsense?"
Shi Lang and Bai Shilang looked at each other in surprise. They really didn't expect this guy to say such a thing.
Shi Lang smiled faintly and said to Bai Jinliang: "At present, it depends mainly on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ye Bu Shou. We need to wait for the next news whether we can directly enter Edo Port when we go to the sea off Japan. This plan is not easy to make, so we should act according to the situation when the time comes."
Liu Zhongqin seemed to have caught something wrong and immediately laughed, "That's bullshit. What's the difference between what I said? We can only stay at home and wander around the sea all day long while watching the ocean-going fleet and the South China Sea fleet enjoying themselves. We finally got a chance this time. Old Shi, just don't be a softie. No matter what, we have to do a big fight this time. I won't come back until I turn the little Japanese upside down."
When Shi Lang heard this, he was shocked. This guy was none other than the famous Hunjianglong, who dared to do anything. If he really got the urge to do something big in Japan and ruined the court's deployment, it would be a disaster.
In order to avoid a rift between the chief and deputy commanders, he said nothing but secretly gave Bai Shiliang a wink. The position of the deputy commander in the army was very special, and matters of coordination happened to be under the jurisdiction of the deputy commander.
"Liu Zhongqin, put away your ugly look. If you really ruin His Majesty's business, believe it or not, His Majesty will kick you to the North Sea to herd sheep." Bai Shiliang flicked the sleeve that Liu Zhongqin had used to wipe his mouth, and used the emperor to put pressure on him.
"Hey, Lao Bai, Lao Shi, I, Lao Liu, know what you are worried about. Don't use the emperor's majesty to pressure me. Let me make this clear. I won't ruin your business, but when it comes to eating meat, let me go first."
After hearing this, staff officer Zhao Xin and others exchanged glances and said nothing. The relationship between the three main officers of the North Sea Fleet was very delicate. Deputy Admiral Liu Zhongqin had always been dissatisfied with Shi Lang, and he was an old man who followed the emperor, so he did not take the usual laughter and scolding seriously.
On the surface, Deputy Chief Bai Shiliang always criticizes Liu Zhongqin, but in fact, he and Liu Zhongqin have been partners for a long time and they have a good relationship.
As the commander-in-chief, Shi Lang usually has to be tolerant in everything, but in fact he also has a stubborn temper and might quarrel with Liu Zhongqin if things go wrong. This time the troops were sent to Japan, there was some discord from the beginning. Who knows what kind of evil things will happen when they arrive in Japan
At this time in Edo Castle, because Tokugawa Iemitsu died suddenly, the Tokugawa shogunate was somewhat ineffective in command, and nearly a thousand ronin led by Yui Masayuki rebelled, causing chaos in Edo Castle.
After Abe Tadayagi urgently mobilized the army to suppress the rebellion, Yui Masasetsu was defeated and retreated from Edo Castle, and finally retreated to Sekigahara.
Sekigahara is the dividing line between Kanto and Kansai in Japan. Kanto includes Edo, Kanagawa, Chiba, etc. Kansai refers to the Kyoto area.
After Yui Masasetsu was defeated and retreated to Sekigahara, there were not many ronin left around him, and he could be wiped out at any time under the pursuit of the shogunate army.
Unwilling to accept defeat, Yui Masayuki decided to make one last desperate effort. When he withdrew from Edo Castle, he left some ronin in the city as accomplices, preparing to assassinate important figures of the shogunate, spread rumors, create panic, and incite the lower classes. As a result, there were rebellions in Edo Castle from time to time. The situation improved slightly after the Tokugawa shogunate imposed martial law with heavy troops.
But at this time, a fierce quarrel broke out among the four retainers of the shogunate who were entrusted with the care of the young emperor. The quarrel was caused by the long-standing dissatisfaction of Sakai Tadakatsu and Matsudaira Nobunaga with Abe Tadaki, and the fuse was the different opinions on how to deal with the ronin.
Given that the rebellion was led by ronin, Sakai Tadakatsu proposed expelling all of them. Most people also felt that ronin were unproductive, causing trouble everywhere and difficult to control. This time they even attempted to overthrow the shogunate, so expelling them was reasonable, and everyone agreed.
However, Abe Tadayuki expressed a different opinion. He believed that all ronin should not be expelled because of a rebellion. Instead, they should be actively guided so that they have something to do and a fixed income to support their livelihood. Only in this way could the problem be fundamentally solved.
As a result, the two sides had serious disagreements and refused to give in to each other, which intensified the long-standing conflict.
Here we have to talk about the group of Japanese ronin.
The Tokugawa shogunate once issued a decree to divide society into four levels: samurai, farmers, artisans, and merchants, collectively known as the "four classes of people"; the "samurai" among the four classes refers to the samurai class, which belongs to the ruling class, while farmers, artisans, and merchants are the ruled civilian class.
The samurai who were no longer supported by their feudal lords and had lost their source of livelihood and had to wander around to find food were called ronin.
As these ronin were members of the "scholar" class, none of them wanted to farm or do menial work because that was not in keeping with their status as "scholars".
But there were too many samurai, and the various feudal lords could not support so many of them. These samurai lost their source of livelihood and thus became the biggest source of unrest in Japanese society.
Abe Tadayuki's proposal to increase employment and ensure that samurai had a fixed income to solve the problem was very far-sighted. If you think about it carefully, this is the fundamental solution.
However, Edo had just been ravaged by the Japanese invasion and was still resisting in Sekigahara. At this time, Abe Tadaki's proposal of such a countermeasure was regarded by Sakai Tadakatsu and others as a manifestation of appeasement, compromise, and incompetence.
No matter what time, those who advocate war always seem more justified!
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ps: The response to the chapters about Japan is so cold that even the monthly tickets are almost gone, which is a bit unexpected. I beg for monthly tickets again (to be continued..)
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