Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 262 The Rebels Launch an Attack on Shanxi (Part 1)

In mid-April, the spring breeze is in full bloom.

Around noon, the Haihe River was rippling with shimmering blue waves.

At this time, the dock waterways of the Haihe Shipyard were filled with ships, creating a magnificent sight.

These ships weren't built by the Haihe Shipyard. The Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding capabilities weren't that amazing. The ice and snow hadn't even melted for ten days, so it was impossible to build so many ships.

In fact, these ships were all small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships used for hauling timber.

The craftsmen at the shipyard in the capital have been busy for almost half a year. The amount of processed timber is not small. This timber takes up a lot of space; a thousand pieces of timber takes up more space than tens of thousands of catties of ore.

This time, they are building more than 2,000 ships of 1,600 timber each. The amount of timber cannot be transported by railcars at all. Therefore, they wait until the river is unblocked and then use ships to transport it directly.

The timber that had been brought over was piled up like mountains outside the shipyard, and inside the shipyard, the hulls for the medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships and the small Weiyuan warships were being built.

The massive keel frames of the shipyards, which are over twenty feet long, have been erected, and the craftsmen working on and around the shipyards are densely packed together, making it a truly magnificent sight.

Around 9 a.m. that day, Zhu Jue had just finished reviewing the memorials and rushed over here, and the relevant officials also arrived one after another.

Around 1:00 PM, under the bright sun, a group of imperial officials gathered at the dock next to Haihe New City.

Wang Zheng was extremely excited. This time, more than two thousand giant ships were being built at the same time. He wouldn't have dared to even think about it before.

During the Wanli and Tianqi reigns, it was impossible for the Ming Dynasty to build two thousand giant ships at the same time, let alone two hundred or even twenty. At that time, it would be considered quite good if the Ming Dynasty could build two giant ships at the same time!
At this moment, more than two thousand giant ships were under construction simultaneously, and as the chief officer in charge of shipbuilding, he was extremely excited.

Lu Xiang-sheng and Zheng Zhi-long were somewhat troubled.

This is because these merchant ships and warships all need to be operated by people.

This batch consists of more than two thousand ships. Even if each ship requires one hundred people to operate, it would still require more than two hundred thousand soldiers.

The key point is that these ships will continue to be built, and they will be built simultaneously in two shipyards. At the time, the Beijing Shipyard can build 500 small Zhiyuan merchant ships and 500 medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships at the same time!

These assembled merchant ships are built very quickly, with a batch typically built in less than three months. Moreover, they can still construct the hulls while the world is frozen over, meaning at least three batches can be built in a year.

With so many ships, where do we get so many people to operate them?

Lu Xiang-sheng and Zheng Zhi-long were extremely worried.

After checking the shipbuilding progress, Zhu Jue looked at the expressions of the two men and asked curiously, "Jiandou, Zhilong, what's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?"

We're not feeling unwell.

Lu Xiang-sheng thought for a moment, then cautiously said, "Your Majesty, once these more than a thousand Weiyuan warships are built, I'm afraid the Beijing garrison won't have enough manpower to operate them."

At this time, the Beijing garrison had a total of 520,000 soldiers. 220,000 went to Liaodong, another 100,000 went to Jizhou Town, and another 50,000 went to the Americas. In addition, there were more than 10,000 assigned to Pan Yunteng. The total number of soldiers in the Beijing garrison who could operate the warships was only a little over 180,000, less than 200,000.

Last year we only had about two hundred small Weiyuan warships. It was a little better. Each warship was equipped with two hundred soldiers from the Beijing Garrison, so it only numbered a little over forty thousand.

This year, however, is different. The eighty small Zhenyuan warships that the Beijing Shipyard started building last winter are about to be completed. Just those eighty small Zhenyuan warships alone will require at least 20,000 men to operate.

This is even more remarkable; a batch of 1,250 small Zhiyuan warships has been assembled, and the planks are already bent, while the other materials have been processed. It will be completed in less than two months, requiring at least 200,000 soldiers to operate them. The Beijing garrison simply cannot muster that many men right now.

Yours is actually considered good.

Zheng Zhilong sighed and said, "Your Majesty, I need even more manpower. We now have more than two thousand small and medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships. These Zhiyuan merchant ships alone require more than three hundred thousand men to operate. I have almost recruited all the able-bodied men from the coastal garrisons."

Next, the capital shipyard will be building another 500 small Zhiyuan merchant ships and 400 medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships, while here we have 1,250 medium-sized Zhiyuan merchant ships. This will require over 200,000 soldiers to operate them. I don't know where to find the manpower!

Having enough manpower is a real problem.

The speed at which they build their ships is truly terrifying; they're not building hundreds or thousands of ships a year, but thousands. And all these ships need people to operate them.

The reason why the Netherlands, the "maritime coachman," was quickly replaced by Britain and France after dominating the seas was simply because it didn't have enough manpower to operate its ships.

The entire Netherlands, including men, women, and children, amounts to only about a million people. Now, they don't even have enough manpower to operate these 10,000-plus ocean-going ships. It's only a matter of time before their position as the maritime hegemon is taken over.

The Ming Dynasty didn't lack manpower; the key issue was that the steam engine technology couldn't be leaked.

Zhu Jue thought about it carefully, and then solemnly said: "I have already checked. During the Hongwu reign, the total number of garrison households in the Ming Dynasty was more than 2.7 million."

Now, after deducting the more than one million in the nine border regions and the three to four hundred thousand along the coast, there are still one to one million three to four hundred thousand. If we further deduct those in the Northwest and the Central Plains, there are at least one million left. We can recruit and select these able-bodied men for the garrison.

These able-bodied men of the garrison have basically never left their posts, so there shouldn't be many who have been bribed by traitors. Recruiting them to control the ships shouldn't be a problem.

"Jian Dou and Zhi Long, these able-bodied men of the garrison are entrusted to you. Zhi Long, send a small merchant ship to fetch them; Jian Dou, send soldiers from the Beijing garrison to select and train them. Those who are loyal and elite will be incorporated into the Beijing garrison, and the rest will be incorporated into the navy."

Now we shouldn't be short-handed.

However, you need to give me a number; I can't just select randomly.

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiang-sheng cautiously asked, "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, how many troops have we selected in total this time? How many have been assigned to the capital garrison, and how many to the navy?"

Naturally, the more the better.

Zhu Jue thought for a moment and then decisively said, "Let's select one million this time. It would be best if the Beijing Garrison could be equipped with one million men, and the rest can all be incorporated into the navy."

Uh, so this means the navy is only allocated a little over 500,000 troops?
Are these 500,000-plus troops enough?

Also, I don't have enough trusted subordinates.

Upon hearing this, Zheng Zhilong cautiously replied, "Your Majesty, I originally only had 50,000 men under my command. With so many ships, my original 50,000 men are responsible for operating and commanding them, as well as guarding the steam engines on the ships 24 hours a day. I'm afraid that this will not be enough."

What should we do about this?

Zhu Jue pondered, "Most of the garrison troops in the inland areas should be trustworthy. Have your trusted subordinates carefully screen them. Those who are without any problems can be trained to operate ships, command troops, and even guard steam engines."

Oh, so you can select able-bodied young men from the inland garrisons to guard the steam engine?

That should be fine.

At least, there shouldn't be any problems this year.

The problem is that even these 500,000-plus troops won't last long; they'll probably be insufficient next year.

Should we discuss this issue with His Majesty now?
As Zheng Zhilong was pondering this, Fang Zhenghua suddenly strode in, carrying a memorial, and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, an urgent report from Shanxi."

What are Gao Yingxiang and Zhang Xianzhong up to now?

Do they dare to deal with the princes of Shanxi?
Zhu Jue took the memorial and frowned slightly upon reading it.

The Shanxi Military Command reported that Zhang Xianzhong had advanced north from Lu'an Prefecture, captured Wuxiang and Yuci, and was now threatening Taiyuan Prefecture.

Gao Yingxiang marched from southeast to north from Pingyang Prefecture, capturing Jiexiu and Pingyao, and advancing directly towards Taiyuan Prefecture.

Taiyuan City is in grave danger!
The cabinet also submitted a draft proposal, suggesting that Hou Xun, the Left Vice Minister of War, be appointed as the governor-general of Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi, and that a large army be mobilized to suppress the rebels.

These guys, they want to seize military power again, don't they?

You just wait!

(End of this chapter)