Chapter 330: Sea Forces

"Well, it is said that the Li Sheng Dynasty sent out tens of thousands of naval forces and more than a hundred warships, but only a dozen small boats returned in the end!"

"It was also because of this defeat that the Li Sheng Dynasty was in turmoil. Since the year before last, many rebels have appeared in the Li Sheng Dynasty. The Li royal family has been defeated in battles and almost lost nearly half of its territory. But I don't know what the situation is now!"

Sun Cheng said.

He has been staying in Tenglongwei for more than half a year in the past, and knows little about the changes in the situation outside. Naturally, he doesn't know what the situation of the Li Sheng Dynasty has been in for more than half a year.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "Sure enough, the outside world is very exciting, pirates, dynasties, rebels, haha, it's really lively!"

Sun Cheng laughed and said, "If you want to talk about liveliness, the southeastern sea area is the most lively!"

As he said, he unfolded the lower part of the sea chart, revealing the southeastern sea area of ​​Dayong.

Yang Zhengshan has seen the sea charts around Dayong, and has many impressions of the southeastern sea area of ​​Dayong, the biggest impression of which is that there are many islands.

The northeastern waters of Dayong are mainly dominated by the Lisheng Dynasty and the Desheng Dynasty. There are also many islands, but most of them are offshore islands close to the coast.

But the southeastern waters of Dayong are different. Large and small islands are connected into pieces, like countless stars in the night sky.

"My lord, this is the Lusheng Dynasty, this is the Annan Dynasty, and this is the Jinlong Dynasty!"

The Lusheng Dynasty and the Jinlong Dynasty are both located in the southeastern waters of Dayong. The territories of the two dynasties are like two broad beans next to Dayong.

The Annan Dynasty is not an island dynasty, but a land dynasty. It is located in the south of Dayong and has a long coastline. It can also be regarded as a dynasty in the southeastern waters of Dayong.

"In addition to the three major dynasties in the southeastern sea area, there are Xingyue Island, Shenmu Island, Dihuo Island, Jiuxing Island, etc. These large islands have their own forces. They are not pirates, but they regard themselves as sects. However, they have connections with many pirates in secret, and even many pirates are supported by them behind the scenes!"

"Xingyue Island, that is, Xingyue Sect, they have many connections with the Lv Sheng Dynasty. It is said that Xingyue Sect has always wanted to replace the Lv Sheng Dynasty and establish its own dynasty!"

Yang Zhengshan opened his mouth slightly. He naturally knew Xingyue Sect. After all, he had dealt with Yuheng Xingtang of Xingyue Sect before.

He didn't expect that Xingyue Sect's ambition was so big that it wanted to establish its own dynasty.

"In addition to these sect forces, the rest are pirates and merchants. The relationship between pirates and merchants is intricate and difficult to sort out."

"There are hundreds of pirates on this densely packed island. The strong ones have tens of thousands of people, who are both merchants and pirates. The weak ones may have only a few hundred people, and they are extremely cruel!"

Sun Cheng said slowly.

After listening to this, Yang Zhengshan couldn't help but sigh: "No wonder the court has been unable to eliminate the threat of pirates. How can it be eliminated?"

Sun Cheng showed a bitter look, "How difficult is it to eliminate the threat of pirates?"

"Your Excellency may not know that some pirates may be supported by these dynasties. A hundred years ago, during the reign of Emperor Dezong, there were more than a dozen pirates landing and causing chaos on the southeast coast of Dayong every year!"

"In order to quell the pirate rebellion, Emperor Dezong built 67 cities along the coast, added nearly 100 garrisons and patrol offices, and formed a 100,000-man navy! It took ten years to suppress the pirate rebellion!"

"However, in order to quell the pirate rebellion, Dayong's national strength was greatly damaged. The 100,000 navy soon became abandoned because it lost the support of the court. Until now, Dayong's navy can only be trapped in the near sea and has no strength for expeditions!"

Sun Cheng shook his head with some regret.

Darong has been passed down for more than 300 years, and its national strength has fluctuated, and it has also experienced many crises.

Until now, there are many rotten and corrupt places inside Darong. Emperor Chengping is like a paperhanger, patching up the seams to prevent such a big ship from sinking.

In fact, the more Yang Zhengshan knows about Darong's history, the more he feels that it is not easy for Emperor Chengping.

What was the situation of Darong when Emperor Chengping ascended the throne?

In the court, because Emperor Chengping came to power improperly, there were turbulent and crises everywhere. For this reason, Emperor Chengping spent several years to control the situation in the court.

On the northern border, the Hu tribe was eyeing covetously. The Donghai Hu tribe and the Wuliang Hu tribe invaded for years. It was not until the Battle of Heiyun Mountain that the Donghai Hu tribe was seriously injured and the northern border was peaceful.

It took ten years to quell the rebellion of the Tusi in the southwest of Darong.

In the southeastern sea, pirates are rampant and often harass coastal areas.

In recent years, Darong has been hit by frequent natural disasters, including severe drought in Chongshan Town, severe drought in Hengshan Prefecture, severe flood in Kuizhou Prefecture, etc.

All these things, if there was a new emperor, the current Darong might have been in chaos. It was Emperor Chengping who could stabilize the government and patch up the Darong Dynasty.

…

For the next two days, Yang Zhengshan stayed on the ship, either asking Sun Cheng about the distribution of maritime forces or watching Yu Tonghai drill the navy.

This time the navy went out to sea not just to transport goods or escort merchant ships, but also for drills.

So during the voyage, the navy officers and soldiers were not idle, and they kept changing their formations and interweaving according to Yu Tonghai's command.

The main ship issued orders with flags, drums, and horns, and the surrounding warships changed directions and formations according to the orders, interweaving and coordinating with each other.

This is a test for every captain of a ship, because on the sea, message transmission is relatively troublesome, and sometimes the message transmitted is not very accurate. In many cases, the captain needs to understand the command of the main ship according to his own ideas.

At the same time, he must observe the friendly ships around him to ensure that there will be no collision and that they can cooperate well.

For these, the captains of Tenglongwei are almost all novices. Although they have gone through a period of learning and training in the near sea, they still need to practice slowly after entering the deep sea.

Yang Zhengshan stood behind Yu Tonghai, looking at the warships with different formations, and it can be seen that the soldiers' operations seemed a bit clumsy and flustered.

The most important thing is that many warships in the rear cannot receive orders.

"What if the warships in the rear cannot receive instructions when the wind and waves are strong?" Yang Zhengshan suddenly asked.

Yu Tonghai said helplessly: "Then the captain can only make the decision and act freely!"

Whether it is flag signals or drum sounds, the information transmission will not be very accurate.

If it was on land, you could still send a messenger over, but on the sea, you can't send someone to swim over, and as for sending a small boat over, that wouldn't work either, because of the timeliness.

Once the battle is underway, the situation on the battlefield changes rapidly, and by the time the boat sends the order, you don't know what the battle situation will be like.

Yang Zhengshan frowned and looked up at the clear sky.

He set the day for sailing, which was naturally the best day, but his weather sensing was also limited in range. Yang Zhengshan had not specifically verified the range of weather sensing, but he knew that the range should not be small, and should be hundreds of miles in radius.

At this time, the weather was clear, and the warships behind could not see the orders issued by the main ship. What if the wind and waves were strong?

Conveying orders one level at a time?

It wouldn't work either!

Because a navy is not a level-by-level system, except for the main ship, the other ships are almost all at the same level.

The reason is very simple, the functions of various ships are different, and they need to perform different tasks during combat.

For example, the patrol boats are all scouting in front, the Haicang ships are all acting as frigates around the main ship, and the distribution of the eagle ships is much wider, some need to warn on the periphery, and some need to guard around the main ship.

Gradual communication is not possible.

Yang Zhengshan frowned and continued to observe, and suddenly he saw Yu Tonghai raised his hand to protect his eyes to block the sunlight, revealing a look of surprise.

"Don't you have a telescope?"

"Telescope? What is that?" Yu Tonghai asked puzzledly.

Yang Zhengshan held his forehead, he felt something was wrong, always felt that Yu Tonghai was missing something in his hand, but he didn't remember it for a while, just now Yu Tonghai used his hand to block the sunlight, he remembered.

There is no telescope!

"It's something that allows people to see farther!" Yang Zhengshan said.

Yu Tonghai shook his head blankly, "What is that?"

Yang Zhengshan thought about it, and said helplessly: "Forget it, let's talk about it later!"

The manufacturing principle of the telescope is very simple, but the glass lens is a bit troublesome to make.

He knew that the main material for firing glass was quartz sand, and there were many other auxiliary materials, such as soda ash, soda, lime, etc.

It should not be difficult to fire glass, but it is somewhat difficult to make glass with high transparency.

Yang Zhengshan thought that he could find someone to experiment when he returned. This matter needs to be tested slowly and cannot be rushed.

...

After sailing for three days and two nights, the fleet arrived near the coast of Songhe Prefecture in the evening of the third day.

There were no accidents along the way. Yang Zhengshan also wanted to see the pirates in this world, but he was disappointed. They did not encounter pirates at all.

Da Rong's Jiangnan refers to Suzhou Prefecture, Hangzhou Prefecture, Sangzhou Prefecture, Haizhou Prefecture, Songhe Prefecture and other prefectures.

Among them, Songhe Prefecture is located in the southernmost part and is considered the most inconspicuous prefecture in Jiangnan.

However, the destination of their voyage this time is Songhe Prefecture.

After entering the coast of Songhe Prefecture, Sun Cheng took a dozen guards to the shore in a small boat.

At about midnight, Sun Cheng returned in a small boat, but Luo Shang also returned with him.

"Greetings, sir!" After Luo Shang boarded the Dafu ship, he saw Yang Zhengshan and immediately showed a happy smile.

Yang Zhengshan nodded slightly, "When can we dock!"

"Tonight!" Luo Shang pointed to the southwest and said, "The dock I bought is over there, not far from here!"

Although these warships and merchant ships belong to the Tenglong Guard, Yang Zhengshan cannot openly take these ships to those large ports.

It's not because he can't take troops out of the country privately. The navy is different from the land army. It's normal for the navy to exercise at sea. Whether Dayong has a clear boundary division of the sea area, it doesn't matter even if it runs far away, but if there is a major loss, that's another problem.

Yang Zhengshan mainly doesn't want to deal with the Maritime Customs. Going to those large ports will definitely not escape the interrogation of the Maritime Customs, so it's better not to go, so as not to cause more trouble.

Under the leadership of Luo Shang, they soon came to a bay.

This bay is not big, surrounded by small hills, and the so-called dock is also small. Merchant ships can dock, but the big ships definitely cannot dock.

However, this place is hidden. Although the big ships cannot dock, they can enter the bay. Once they enter the bay, it is difficult to find them around.