New Shun 1730

The sound of drums rang out. The level of the meeting was different depending on the drumbeat.

Soon, all the people who were supposed to be there arrived. The staff officer in charge of organizing the meeting counted the number of people and reported to Li Li that all the people were there.

This was the first time that Li Li attended a military meeting within the navy. Before, he only followed Liu Yu to watch some lively events outside of formal meetings.

Staring at the white porcelain cups, long tables and sea-blue woolen tablecloths in front of him, he couldn't help but feel a sense of freshness.

This sense of freshness passed in a flash. After observing the candidates who came to the meeting, he also found it quite interesting.

The navy is well-equipped.

There are many officers and few warships. In addition to the trainee captain and the captain, there are still a lot of people left, many of whom are called staff officers.

In addition to those who were transferred away, the number of staff officers was obviously based on the future expansion of the navy and the division into several fleets.

The staff officers responsible for operations are divided into four groups, each with a chief officer in charge. When necessary, any group can form a fleet headquarters.

This time, the people transferred to the Privy Council directly transferred a group, plus some personnel from the logistics, baggage, organization, and supply departments. There are three groups left, and the chief officers of the three groups are all here.

The chief officer of the logistics staff is also here. There are two staff groups responsible for the siege of the Marine Corps and the fortress. One has already gone to Vladivostok with Du Feng, and the other group is represented by the chief officer to attend this meeting.

The rest are the captains of each ship, but not all captains participated, but only six captains participated.

In Li Li's opinion, these captains are those that Liu Yu believes are capable of fighting independently at sea.

No matter how you look at it, the ratio of officers in this navy is a bit extravagant, at least it is too extravagant under the reality of too few warships at this time.

I thought Ying Suo Bo clearly wanted to reserve officers in advance according to half the number of the British or Dutch navies. If I, the governor of the navy, cannot gain enough benefits for the navy, won't these hungry officers feel incompetent?

Putting aside this difficult future matter, he first read the Privy Council order, which was clearly in Liu Yu's style, which all the officers could hear.

After reading it, he said: "The Privy Council ordered the navy to send half of the fleet, carrying a battalion of marines, and a battalion of engineers and fortress soldiers, to find an opportunity to occupy Busan as soon as possible and clear the Japanese consulate there."

"Then the navy will leave a part of its forces to garrison Weihaiwei and patrol Jiaoliao to Tianjin. When the simple artillery fort in Busan is repaired, the main force will go to Busan to station."

"Then, there are two things to do. First, the navy will patrol and map along the coast of Japan to find out the real situation of the Japanese deployment."

"Second, transport 2,000 land forces to Busan, in Landing and harassing at the weak points of Japan. The army has also received orders and will come back for negotiations soon. "

"The court will send officials from the Li government to Busan with the warships soon. They are on the way and ask Korea to cooperate. There will be someone to supervise the subsequent transportation of supplies, so there is no rush for this."

"Since I am only responsible for the general situation and personnel, the staff should come up with a plan first. I think you also have intelligence from Korea and Tsushima."

The officers finally waited for the news of the war, and they were eager to fight.

The staff officer at the side immediately took out a piece of paper and said, "Your Excellency, there was a plan before. If you think there is no problem with this plan, please order it to be issued."

Li Li was worried about what to do. When he heard that there was a plan, he was also stunned and asked curiously, "Did you know that you would fight like this?"

"Your Excellency, no. The General Staff Department usually formulates various possible plans for future use."

While answering, the staff officer thought to himself, nonsense, we are not here to eat dry rice.

Not to mention the plan in the direction of Busan, there is even a plan to station in Ryukyu to harass the southern Japanese country.

There are even plans for the navy to get rid of the army and take down a few cities by themselves to get a ransom for the city, to capture Nagasaki before the army to get a sum of money, and to set fire to Edo, etc. It can be said that there are all kinds of ideas. Whether to use them or not is another matter.

Now that it is under the jurisdiction of the Privy Council, the Privy Council only talks about the general outline, and as a staff officer, it is natural to only come up with a plan that conforms to the strategy of the Privy Council.

The plan was handed to Li Li, who glanced at it and thought to himself, what is the meaning of my existence? Why does it feel like there is no difference between me and not me?

The plan above is very detailed. It is planned to form a squadron of eight cruisers, four troop transport ships, two fast exploration ships for mapping and reconnaissance, and two baggage ships converted from merchant ships.

Going from Weihai to Busan is as simple as a child who has left home returning home, and there are people from the courtesy government to convey the emperor's will to the vassal state of Korea, so it is natural to use force first and then courtesy.

When we get there, we will first wipe out the Japanese mansion, and then blockade Tsushima Island with warships, forcing the lord of Tsushima to leave on his own initiative. If we can talk, we will talk. If we can't reach an agreement, we won't be in a hurry to fight. Just let the warships blockade it. It's best to force him to leave.

In Busan, the location for building and reinforcing the artillery has been selected as the location of the fleet port.

How to deploy the cannons to cover the port and where to arrange the military camps and granaries are all detailed and clear.

There are two different alternative plans later.

First, if the imperial court sent people from the Li government to Korea, if they could communicate, they could pay Korean civilians to help build military camps and artillery positions.

Although Korean people only used rice and cloth as currency, the Korean government recognized silver.

Even the approximate amount of wages that should be applied for was written. If the Korean side can provide military rations, they can also choose to buy them with silver, thus saving some shipping power.

Second, if the negotiations are fruitless, they will directly attack Donglai Prefecture in Korea and force the Korean side to agree to send people.

Li Xi looked at this very detailed plan and asked curiously: "How did you get this map of the Korean port?"

"My Lord, we surveyed in disguise of pirates; we surveyed in disguise of shelter; we surveyed in disguise of shipwrecks. Moreover, every year, immigrants to the Whale Sea take this route, and surveys are done along the way from time to time, so we have been prepared."

Li Xi nodded, thinking that it was already so familiar, what else did he need to say?

What exactly does he do as the Governor of the Navy?

Now I am getting more and more confused. It seems that I don't have to worry about anything? But it seems not quite right.

I was more confused, and I knew that this was not the time to think about this. After thinking for a long time, I seemed to understand a little bit.

At least at this time, I should decide who will be the commander of the squadron and who will be the deputy commander. These things are not written here.

The six captains present are all capable of being the commanders of the squadron. Although he doesn't know much about the navy, he also knows who ranks in the top three among the first batch of captains of the navy.

After thinking about it, the most suitable person to lead the squadron at this time is either Mi Ziming or Chen Qinghai. They can't all go, and someone has to stay here to prepare for the second step to avoid any accidents.

After a little thought, I know who to choose.

"Michael, be the commander of this squadron. Complete the preparations as soon as possible, and once the people from the Li government arrive, we will set off."

"Yes!"

Mantou stood up and listened to the order, and the others were convinced.

I also think that Li Li chose Liu Yu's confidant, which is also a statement.

It's mainly about attitude. For this little thing in this plan, let alone the six top-ranked captains present, even if someone is pulled over from the outside ship, they can do it.

In the words of the captains, they don't care about the marines, so in this plan, they only need to do two things.

Blockade Tsushima Island and wipe out the Japanese navy on Tsushima Island; then start to draw maps, harass and investigate, and stroll along the long distance from Kyushu Island to Ezo.

After allocating the squadrons for the expedition, Mantou reminded.

"Sir, the money for the construction in Korea..."

Li Li slapped his head and thought that he had to hire people to work in Korea this time.

This money should definitely be paid by the court, but he needs to report to the court himself, and it may be too late to get it.

The amount is not much. According to the budget above, only about 20,000 taels are needed.

The navy has decided to stay in Busan in the future, so although this artillery fort needs to be repaired temporarily, it can't be too improvised. Since the navy has decided to stay in Busan in the future, the maintenance of the naval port and the barracks cannot be done once and for all.

"Uh... how do you usually solve this money problem?"

"My Lord, the army has special funds for emergencies, and only the commander can use them. But after using them, please report to the court for reimbursement. If the court does not reimburse, it was previously paid by Ying Suobo himself."

"Uh..." Li Xi's mouth twitched. He was a prince who had not yet been crowned a king, and he could not save much money in a year. He was not as rich as Liu Yu.

He seemed to understand a little more about the significance of his existence as the "Governor of the Navy and Military Affairs", and he was also responsible for asking the court for money.

"Can this special fund now raise 20,000 taels?"

"Okay."

"Then withdraw it first."

He asked someone to teach him, and according to the existing rules in the navy, he wrote down the official documents, handed them over to people to withdraw, and then asked them to disperse.

As soon as they dispersed, another group of people gathered around.

Some asked him to sign and distribute this month's military pay. According to the rules, once he went to sea to fight, he would advance one month's military pay to the sailors.

Some asked him to sign orders to receive gunpowder, weapons, and fortress cannons. The quantities were all in the plan, but he had to sign.

Some asked him to sign orders to disembark. Before going out, sailors were usually given two days off to go ashore and do whatever they wanted, and spend the little money they had just received on brothels and bars.

These were things that were not planned before. Piles of paper piled up in front of him. Li Li held a pen in one hand and the seal of the navy in the other. He was afraid of making any mistakes, so he read them word by word.

After signing half of them, Li Li couldn't help asking, "Did he also sign when Ying Suobo was here?"

The officers nodded, thinking that in theory, yes, but he had his own retainers and secretaries, and generally these things could be signed by someone else.

After explaining the situation, Li Li thought that he had just arrived and was a defective prince before, so he didn't have many confidants around him.

Some of them don't know anything about the navy; now he directly chooses from the navy, and he is not familiar with it, but he is afraid that the person he chooses will take power arbitrarily.

For a moment, he felt that he seemed to understand why the previous dynasty had to have a cabinet. It would be good if he was like Zhu Hongwu, who had been trained since childhood, knew everything about big and small things, and was energetic. If not, it would be really troublesome.

It's better not to rush, first look and learn by yourself, and then cultivate a few confidants after understanding.

He also thought that it was fortunate that Ying Suo Bo had no intention of monopolizing the power of the navy, and the system was well organized. Otherwise, let alone himself, even those nobles who knew military affairs would take at least a year to understand the internal operation of the navy.