The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 367 Yangtze River Navy
Jiang Han was not worried about Shaanxi.

Deng Yang has been in Hanzhong for two or three years, and he has both an official background and a military identity.

Previously, during his inspection of the Jianzhou camp, he had sent a secret letter to Deng Yang, instructing him to be responsible for establishing an intelligence network in Hanzhong.

Actually, Jiang Han didn't need to specifically remind him; Deng Yang is now doing very well in Hanzhong.

Since Deng Qi led his troops in rebellion, the officials and princes in Hanzhong have become much more restrained, fearing that they might incite another government army in Hanzhong to rebel.

You have to understand that Deng Qi killed a military officer before he fled to Sichuan. If someone were to have a moment of despair and open the guarded official road to let the enemy attack the city, they would all be finished.

For the sake of their own lives, Wang Zaitai, the prefect of Hanzhong, and Zhu Changhao, the Prince of Rui, unanimously decided that they must win over a trustworthy general in the army.

After much deliberation, the two decided that the garrison commander Deng, who guarded Jinniu Road, was quite suitable. He was polite and knew how to conduct himself properly, so they decided on him.

Deng Yang seized this opportunity and infiltrated the enemy's core circle in one fell swoop.

He first used the scarce medicinal herbs and Shu brocade he had on hand to send gifts to the prefectural government and the prince's mansion under the guise of offerings of respect, in order to get closer to the two sides.

In return, Wang Zaitai and Zhu Changhao gave Deng Yang a purchasing job, allowing him to smuggle large quantities of Sichuan salt, summer cloth, Shu brocade, and other goods through the Jinniu Road.

Over time, their friendship deepened.

Later on, Deng Yang no longer needed to submit a formal letter before entering or leaving government offices and princely residences; he could simply go directly to their doors.

It felt just like being at home; I strolled around leisurely.

Thanks to this relationship, Deng Yang was able to make his plans in Hanzhong with ease.

He dispatched his soldiers, disguising them as caravan guards, innkeepers, and even itinerant doctors, to infiltrate key locations.

The scouts not only drew up detailed maps of Hanzhong's defenses, marking the locations of various passes, granaries, and armories, but also ascertained the troop deployment of the local garrison.

Moreover, Deng Yang even had access to details of the official correspondence between Wang Zaitai and Governor Sun Chuanting.

Thanks to the constant stream of intelligence sent back by Deng Yang, Jiang Han had a thorough understanding of the situation in Hanzhong.

It's no exaggeration to say that with this intelligence and the three thousand troops under Deng Yang's command, Jiang Han could easily take Hanzhong.

Deng Yang also wrote several times, expressing his eagerness to try his hand at military affairs, asking when the royal army would march north so that he could cooperate in achieving great things.

However, Jiang Han kept quiet about it and never gave a direct answer to the matter.

In his mind, Dengyang's strategic value actually far exceeded that of Hanzhong.

After all, the territory is there, and we can fight whenever we want, but people are the most crucial element.

To expose Deng Yang, a pawn that has been buried deep within, just to seize Hanzhong would be a loss that outweighs any gain.

Jiang Han firmly believed that with Deng Yang's adept social skills, given time, he might very well make further progress.

If one day the court has no one else to rely on, Deng Yang might actually rise to a high position and command a regional army.

At that time, he will play a greater, even decisive, role.

Therefore, when Zeng Rui mentioned the trade routes towards Shaanxi, Jiang Han simply waved his hand and vaguely replied:
"There is no need for Shaanxi to worry, I have already made arrangements."

"As for Fujian, I also have acquaintances there."

"Back then, Zheng Zhilong, the coastal defense guerrilla leader in Fujian, sent his fourth brother, Zheng Zhifeng, to Sichuan to pay a visit."

"Zheng Zhifeng spent more than half a year in Sichuan and Guizhou, and closed several valuable business deals."

"Once the business is established, we can use the pretext of delivering goods to open a guild hall in Fujian."

Jiang Han was confident that he could find acquaintances in Shaanxi, Fujian, and even Hubei and Hunan provinces.

But the real difficulty and key point lies in the capital.

The capital city is the foundation of the nation and the political center. Any slight movement in the court can affect the overall situation of the country.

Therefore, Jiang Hancai had to find a way to establish a reliable base in the capital.

Making profits through trade was secondary; the important thing was to take the opportunity to curry favor with the powerful and wealthy, win over officials, and thus grasp the court's movements and understand the emperor's thoughts.

However, Zeng Rui seemed somewhat embarrassed by this, and stammered as he said:

"Your Majesty is wise; the direction of the capital is indeed the key."

"But...but since His Majesty took control of Sichuan, he has severely punished a number of corrupt officials, gentry and unscrupulous merchants."

“Those officials and gentry who used to be able to deal with the government and had great wealth have either been beheaded or exiled; now, not even one in ten remains.”

"Currently, within Baoning Prefecture, there is no suitable candidate for this position in the short term..."

Jiang Han was stunned when he heard this; he never expected there to be such a difficulty.

However, upon closer examination, it seems to make sense. After all, in the late Ming Dynasty, any merchant who could deal with the government was a ruthless predator.

Selling inferior goods as superior ones and adulterating them for profit are considered having a conscience; hoarding and speculating to drive up grain prices are the real ways to get rich.

Such a person would certainly be the primary target of the Han army's purge, so how could they have allowed him to live to this day?

Besides, even if these wealthy and corrupt merchants wanted to defect, Jiang Han might not dare to use them.

No one can guarantee that these class enemies, whose homes were ransacked and whose families were exterminated, will truly repent.

Ultimately, it's always the people on your own side who are the most reliable.

"Since there's nothing ready-made, let's do it ourselves."

Jiang Han turned to Zeng Rui and gave the order.
"You, Baoning Prefecture, will take the lead in this matter and be responsible for establishing a government-supervised, privately-run business."

"The government secretly provided funding and then tried to recruit some small and medium-sized merchants with clean backgrounds and honest lives to invest in and jointly establish a new business."

"On the surface, the business should follow the rules of private commerce. Remember not to send anyone with official rank to participate, and do not have any contact with the managers or employees below."

"Baoning Prefecture, as the location of the headquarters, ensures that the core of the business is in the hands of the government."

"There must be a lot of goods in the warehouse. Whether it's the cloth and glassware from the Ministry of Works workshops, or Shu brocade and medicinal herbs, a portion of them can be transferred out. All that's needed is to keep good records and supervise the process."

"Remember, the primary goal of a business is not to make a profit, but to establish a foothold and gain a foothold."

"As for the specific personnel, I will personally assign them. You only need to be responsible for building the framework and providing convenience and cover for it."

Having said all that, Zeng Rui understood perfectly well.

He nodded and said solemnly:

"Understood. I will find a suitable candidate and draft the regulations as soon as possible."

"We will try to get everything arranged within three months and have someone take over."

After arranging this matter, Jiang Han stayed in Baoning Prefecture for a few more days, where he not only investigated government affairs but also met with some local officials.

He then led his men south to Shunqing Prefecture, and eventually to Kuizhou Prefecture, a major town on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River.

The main purpose of this trip was to inspect the Yangtze River Navy, which was being organized by Li Laowai.

In Jiang Han's strategic plan, the Yangtze River Navy holds a very important position and is the focus of this inspection.

If the Han army wants to move eastward into Huguang and even threaten the entire south in the future, it must firmly grasp the Yangtze River, this golden waterway.

Unlike the flat plains of the north, the south is crisscrossed by waterways and mountains, making the areas where people gather quite diverse.

To connect the fragmented parts of southern China, there is only one main line: the Yangtze River. Stretching east to west, the Yangtze is not only a natural transportation artery but also the lifeblood of the south.

From west to east, it connects four fertile lands.

The Jianghan Plain centered on Jiangling, the Huguang granary surrounding Dongting Lake, the fertile land of Jiangxi relying on Poyang Lake, and the vast and rich Yangtze River Middle and Lower Reaches Plain.

These regions are all densely populated and rich in resources.

Throughout the south, whether it was a military stronghold like Jingzhou and Wuchang, or an economic hub like Wuhu and Yangzhou, almost all of them were built along rivers and prospered because of water.

It can be said that whoever truly controls the Yangtze River holds the lifeline of the entire South.

Losing the natural barrier of the Yangtze River would inevitably leave us vulnerable to others in terms of material transportation, troop deployment, and information transmission.

Even if Jiang Han intends to move north to control Shanxi and Shaanxi, he is not prepared to launch a full-scale attack on the south for the time being;

However, as long as there is a powerful navy sailing on the Yangtze River, it will be enough to deter any force that attempts to carve up the south of the Yangtze River, preventing it from relying on natural defenses to form its own independent entity.

However, strategic concepts are only one aspect; there are many practical problems.

The so-called Yangtze River Navy of Kuizhou Prefecture was less a navy and more like a large, cobbled-together transport fleet.

Jiang Han stood on the riverbank and looked around. There were very few ships that could truly be called warships.

Most of them were smaller sentry boats, patrol boats, as well as cargo ships and troop transport ships.

There was nothing that could be done about it; Jiang Han's unit had been missing a leg since its inception.

The foundation of the Han army almost entirely came from the border troops in the three northwestern regions.

When it comes to galloping on land and fighting on horseback, they are all experts. But when they are on the turbulent river, many of them can't even stand steadily, let alone handle a boat and fight.

Furthermore, when it comes to building a navy, the geographical conditions of Kuizhou Prefecture and even the whole of Sichuan are somewhat inadequate.

Although the Sichuan Basin has numerous waterways, it lacks large, open, and calm bodies of water like Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake for fleet exercises.

Since its establishment, the Yangtze River Navy has operated primarily on inland waterways such as the Yangtze and Jialing Rivers.

Although these waterways are quite wide, there are many dangerous shoals and hidden reefs in many places, especially in places like the Qutang Gorge and the Yanyu Shoal.

Such hydrological conditions are adequate for the passage of some small and medium-sized vessels, but they cannot meet the needs of training and operation of large warships.

Of course, the Yangtze River Navy does not have a single large warship available at present.

The main problem was a lack of shipwrights and experience in building large warships.

Although Sichuan craftsmen can build ships, they mostly build civilian vessels such as cargo ships, passenger ships, and fishing boats.

They searched all over Sichuan but couldn't find many shipwrights who knew how to build large warships.

Most of those skilled in shipbuilding were concentrated in state-run shipyards along the southeast coast, which were basically controlled by the Zheng family.

Jiang Han estimated that shipwrights skilled in building large warships could be found in places like Dongting Lake, Chaohu Lake, and Poyang Lake.

However, it is unknown how much combat power the Ming army's inland river navy still had at the end of the Ming Dynasty.

But something is better than nothing. After all, the original Ming army was just poorly equipped and lacked training; its structure hadn't collapsed yet.

If Jiang Han could take over a naval fleet, he could find a way to gradually restore its combat effectiveness.

The key issue is that Sichuan did not have an independent naval force at all.

The core strength of the Ming Dynasty's navy was concentrated in important cities along the Yangtze River, such as Nanjing, Anqing, and Jiujiang, responsible for protecting the capital and ensuring the safety of the Grand Canal. The focus of military defense in Sichuan was always on land routes.

In addition, during the late Yuan Dynasty, the Xia-Shu regime relied on its navy to establish a separatist regime in Sichuan, and even once repelled the Ming navy led by Tang He.

Therefore, after conquering Xia and Shu, Zhu Yuanzhang deliberately weakened Sichuan's naval power.

Throughout the Ming Dynasty, Sichuan did not have a large-scale naval force.

Only in places like Chongqing, Luzhou, and Xuzhou were some garrisons equipped with naval warships, but their tasks were mostly miscellaneous, such as patrolling and maintaining order, cracking down on smuggling and theft, and transporting soldiers.

With the collapse of the garrison system, most of the warships in these areas were old and dilapidated, rendering them unusable.

The original naval soldiers either became boat trackers or laborers, or they became roadblocks that set up roadblocks on the river, with no fighting ability whatsoever.

That's why Li Laowai was extremely unwilling when he learned that he would be in charge of building the navy.

With a lack of ships and manpower, how can we build a navy?

But he had no choice; he dared not disobey Jiang Han's orders and could only try anything as a last resort.

After consulting with his colleagues, Li Laowai finally figured out a way.

Since it is impossible to build large warships in the short term, we should settle for second best and requisition a large number of civilian ships to set up the framework first.

Large cargo ships and salt ships, after being selected, can be converted into warships.

Protective wooden planks were added to the hull, and gun emplacements were created at the bow and stern for mounting small and medium-sized cannons.

In this way, a batch of usable "quasi-warships" were finally modified, solving the problem of going from nothing to something.

He adopted two methods for dealing with the naval soldiers.

On the one hand, they tried to recruit former Ming Dynasty sailors from the garrisons in Chongqing, Luzhou, Xuzhou and other places;
Although these people are poorly trained, they at least know the most basic skills such as boat handling, sailing, and hydrographic identification. With rigorous training, they can be trained much faster than the army, which is full of landlubbers, having to learn everything from scratch.

On the other hand, Li Laowai turned his attention to the Yangtze River and its tributaries.

In these places, a large number of people from the canal gangs and fishermen who have been fishing for generations have long been active.

These men have been around water since childhood. Not only are they proficient in swimming, but they are also very familiar with the hydrological conditions of every section of the waterway. They are natural-born sailors.

Li Laowai offered the same high monthly salary as the soldiers, which allowed him to successfully recruit these people into the army.

Of course, before officially enlisting, these sons of the canal gangs, fishermen and Tanka people had to spend some time in the recruit camp.

After all, they all come from the common people and have complicated backgrounds. We not only need to find out their origins, but also give them a good training.

The recruit camp not only trains physical fitness and teaches basic military skills such as combat and firearms, but more importantly, it familiarizes recruits with Han army flags, drum signals, and discipline.

Only in this way can an ordinary citizen gradually transform into a qualified soldier.

During his inspection of the new recruits' camp, Jiang Han unexpectedly spotted a familiar face: fisherman Lin Chaosheng.

When Jiang Han led his army to attack Baoning Prefecture, the Ming army ruthlessly sank the ships of Lin Chaosheng and his men in order to cut off the waterway.

Enraged, Lin Chaosheng led a group of fishermen to join the rebel army. With their familiarity with the waters of the Jialing River, they made significant contributions to the capture of Baoning Prefecture.

Today, Lin Chaosheng has been promoted to captain of the Yangtze River Navy, commanding more than 500 sailors.

His presence at the recruit camp was also on Li Laowai's orders, to train the newly recruited naval soldiers.

It can be said that, under Li Laowai's painstaking management, the Yangtze River Navy was built up with stumbles and setbacks for more than half a year, and finally managed to achieve a certain scale.

More than 200 small warships and 300 cargo ships and troop transport ships were assembled, with a total of more than 1,200 naval officers and soldiers.

However, Jiang Han was also well aware that with the current strength of the Yangtze River Navy, it was nothing short of a pipe dream to try to control the Yangtze River and intimidate other provinces.

Leaving aside distant examples, just consider the series of important military towns along the Yangtze River in Hubei and Hunan provinces: Yiling, Jingzhou, and Wuchang. Which one of them wasn't a tough nut to crack, with high walls and deep moats, easy to defend and difficult to attack?
Without a powerful navy to blockade the river and provide fire support, the army alone probably wouldn't even be able to get close to the city walls.

Heading east out of Huguang (Hubei and Hunan) could very well turn into a protracted and arduous struggle.

(End of this chapter)