The rise of the poor

Chapter 1994: Training the Navy
"General Yu, facing the Japanese invaders from Xuhai who are about to plunder, how do you think Zhejiang should respond?" Zhu Ping'an asked.

"Based on my understanding of the Japanese pirates, they are used to splitting up into small groups, especially when they are looting. In order to expand the scope and results of the looting, the Japanese pirates often use a small number of troops to disperse and loot, but they also cooperate with each other. They seem to be scattered, but they often cooperate with multiple small groups of Japanese pirates to set up ambushes and detours. Our army is often surrounded and defeated by the Japanese pirates when they attack. This time, the Japanese pirates in Xuhai will definitely do the same, splitting into dozens of groups of pirates with varying strengths to loot."

"To be honest, at the moment, our Zhejiang Garrison is not strong enough to fight. We can only defend. Taking the initiative to attack will not lead to our own death."

"I think we can order the people in the villages and towns in northern Zhejiang to temporarily move to the walled cities and order the garrisons to assist in the defense. The Japanese pirates are plundering for money, so if there is no opportunity to take advantage of them, they can move to other places."

Yu Dayou responded realistically, suggesting that people from northern Zhejiang flee to walled cities for temporary shelter.

"This is the only way at the moment." Zhu Ping'an nodded, called the clerks, and ordered them to quickly draft a document and send it to various places in northern Zhejiang.

"This can only treat the symptoms but not the root cause, and will make the Japanese pirates even more arrogant. If we want to treat the root cause, does General Yu have a good plan?"

After Zhu Ping'an finished arranging matters in northern Zhejiang, he asked again.

"Returning to the Minister, in my immature and foolish opinion, we must first train the troops, dismiss the old, weak, sick and disabled in the garrisons, select young and strong people to fill the garrisons, and intensify the training of the troops, so that we can have the strength to fight; then, I think the key to eliminating the Japanese pirates is at sea, not on land."

"Regarding the issue of being at sea rather than on land, please give us some details, General Yu." Zhu Ping'an was very interested in this and asked Yu Dayou to give us some details.

Yu Dayou cleared his throat and said, "First of all, the Japanese pirates come from the ocean. If we can intercept them on the sea and defend them overseas, then there will be no Japanese threat on land."

Zhu Ping'an nodded. What Yu Dayou said made sense. If the Japanese pirates were eliminated on the sea, they would no longer exist in the inland areas.

"Secondly, the Japanese pirates plundered inland. Their advantage was their warships. When they landed and invaded, in addition to the warships anchored at the seashore, they often left warships in the sea to support them. In this way, they could attack from all directions when advancing and retreat into the vast ocean when retreating. Warships were their advantage, but also their disadvantage. If we could destroy the Japanese pirates' warships, we would destroy their retreat route, and they would have no way to escape at sea. We deployed heavy troops along the coast, drove the Japanese pirates into the sea, and surrounded and annihilated them."

Yu Dayou continued.

Zhu Ping'an nodded repeatedly. Yes, the reason why the Japanese pirates were so elusive was that their warships were ready to pick them up and retreat back to the sea at any time. If their warships were destroyed, the Japanese pirates could be defeated.

"Of course, to defend against the Japanese overseas and destroy Japanese ships, we must have an elite navy. At present, our navy is still too weak. At present, our Jiangnan navy is mainly the Jianghuai navy of Linhuai Hou, the deputy general of Jianghuai. However, both the ships and soldiers are not as strong as the Japanese pirates, and they have been transferred to Yingtian by Governor Zhang Jing to assist in defense. At present, Zhejiang only has a navy under my command, with only more than ten large and small ships, which can only carry a thousand navy soldiers. The strength is far inferior to that of the Japanese pirates. We can only fight against small Japanese pirate fleets. When encountering large-scale Japanese pirate fleets, we can only avoid them."

Yu Dayou sighed when he said this.

In order to defend against the Japanese pirates overseas, an elite navy is necessary. However, the Ming Dynasty is short of navy. The only navy is the Jianghuai navy of Linhuai Hou, which is far less powerful than the Japanese pirates. The navy under Yu Dayou is even worse than the Jianghuai navy.
Therefore, Yu Dayou's idea of ​​resisting the Japanese invasion overseas was just a beautiful vision that could not be realized.

"General Yu, I've heard that you are good at naval warfare. If I ask you to train an elite navy, can you do it?"

Zhu Pingan asked.

"Return to the Ministry of Personnel. A good cook cannot cook without rice. At present, we have no ships, no people, no weapons, and no food and supplies. How can we train?"

Yu Dayou spread his hands with an embarrassed look on his face.

"What about you, can you cook a big meal?!" Zhu Ping'an looked at Yu Dayou with burning eyes.

"Of course I can. If not, please chop off my head." Yu Dayou replied firmly, with a look of confidence on his face.

"Very good. General Yu, if I ask you to train a navy, how much rice do you need?" Zhu Ping'an asked again.

"At present, I only have more than ten large and small ships under my command, which is far from enough. To train a navy that can compete with the Japanese pirates on the sea, at least ten large ships and thirty small and medium-sized ships are needed! In addition, the ships need to be equipped with artillery, the more the better. Naval warfare is different from land warfare. The more artillery on the ship, the better, and the larger the caliber, the better! Only in this way can my navy have an advantage in naval battles."

"In addition to the ships, we also need to recruit 3,000 fishermen as soldiers. The existing navy is like the garrison, which is unusable. We can only recruit fishermen and retrain them to form a navy that dares to fight and can fight."

"It takes silver to maintain the boats, at least 100 taels of silver per month. Three thousand fishermen need food and wages. Calculated at one stone of silver per person per month, three thousand stones are needed per month, and thirty-six thousand stones are needed per year."

"It's best to have one-third of the ships equipped with muskets, and each ship should have at least two cannons. The more the better."

Yu Dayou enumerated them one by one, and at the end, he sighed, "However, these conditions are too difficult to achieve. For example, the imperial court has not paid salaries for three months. In eastern Zhejiang, soldiers at a garrison mutinied and joined Wang Zhi because the imperial court withheld salaries."

"Food and wages are not a problem. I will pay the court's outstanding food and wages to various garrisons in the next few days," said Zhu Ping'an.

If you want the horse to run, you have to feed it grass. In the face of the war, the food and wages of the garrisons in various places must be sufficient.

When leaving Suzhou, the elders and fellow villagers of Suzhou donated 50,000 taels of silver and 50,000 shi of grain and fodder; his father-in-law also gave 100,000 shi of grain and fodder, which was enough to pay the salaries of the military garrisons in various places.

"Minister, haven't you heard that the court will reissue food and wages?" Yu Dayou was stunned.

"General Yu, you don't need to worry about where the food and wages will come from. In short, I will replenish the food and wages of each garrison within three days. Of course, it will be replenished based on the actual number of soldiers in each garrison." Zhu Ping'an waved his hand and said.

"Thank you, Minister. With the replenishment of food and wages, morale will definitely improve." Yu Dayou said happily.

"In addition, I will give you an additional 10,000 shi of grain and 30,000 taels of silver. You will immediately recruit 3,000 fishermen when you return. In a month, I will give you 12 large Fuzhou ships and 30 small and medium-sized Fuzhou ships. From today on, I appoint you as the admiral of the Zhejiang Navy, responsible for training the Zhejiang Navy! General Yu, do you dare to accept the appointment?"

Zhu Ping'an looked at Yu Dayou with burning eyes.

"I dare! I, Yu Dayou, am willing to die for you! With your support, I will be able to train an elite navy that will live up to the reputation of the Zhejiang Army! If I can't, you don't need me to do anything, I will cut off my own head!"

Yu Dayou stood up from his seat, clasped his fists and bowed with a determined look on his face, and signed a military order.

(End of this chapter)