Chapter 1509 Arrival in Liaodong
Mei Shengchuan came out to carry out this mission as the Minister of War of the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, many of the people he brought with him were elites in the military. These people were even more shocked than their superiors when they saw the Haihan warship. As the saying goes, a layman can see the excitement, but an expert can see the door. The naval gun firepower equipped on the Haihan battleship is not just about placing a few more cannons on several decks. This involves the ship's counterweight, hull structure design, and the gunner's strength. There are many details in various aspects such as training, cooperation with other warships, and wartime logistics. It is not easy to convert advanced equipment into combat effectiveness. In other words, even if the Ming Navy was equipped with such a warship, it would be difficult to fully exert its power without corresponding supporting tactics.
After the fleet sailed out of Zhifu Port and headed north for a while, they discovered that the leading Haihan warship seemed to be very familiar with the local sea conditions. The adjustment of the course made full use of the monsoon and ocean currents. This was not the case in Shandong and Liaodong. It's a skill that can be mastered by running back and forth for a few times. Immediately, someone reported to Mei Shengchuan that there might be members of the Ming Navy on the Haihan warship to help pilot the ship.
Mei Shengchuan did not feel surprised when he heard the news. Since Dongjiang Town had already formed a coalition with the Haihan people in Liaodong, it was not an incomprehensible move to send someone to the Haihan warship to pilot it. After arriving in Liaodong, we will surely see more jaw-dropping phenomena. Although he has not seen Dongjiang Town's performance in Liaodong with his own eyes, from the information gathered from various channels, he can roughly know that the cooperation between Dongjiang Town and Haihan has been very in-depth, to the point where Haihan takes the lead in almost everything. degree.
Mei Shengchuan is a senior official of the Ministry of War, and of course he understands why Dongjiang Town abandoned Daming to embrace Haihan. In recent years, the Ming Dynasty has been plagued by internal and external troubles, and Dongjiang Town's battle situation in Liaodong has become increasingly difficult. The year before last, General Shang Kexi led his generals to plunder Guanglu, Xiaochangshan, Shicheng, and Haiyang Islands, with a total of more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians. , took away all the military equipment and went to Houjin. Since then, the imperial court's trust in Dongjiang Town has been weakened to an even greater extent. Domestic supplies of materials and personnel have been almost completely interrupted. Dongjiang Town can only rely on the intermittent help of North Korea to survive. In this case, the Haihan people who had money and food naturally became their life-saving straw. What the Ming Dynasty was unwilling to give, the Haihan people were able to give it generously. In order to survive, the people in Dongjiang Town would naturally make choices that seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.
However, Mei Shengchuan guessed something wrong this time. The person who served as the navigator on the Haihan warship was not the Dongjiang Zhenming army, but soldiers from the former Dengzhou Navy.
Pan Yan was kidnapped by the rebels of Geng Zhongming and Kong Youde and defected to Liaodong. He was assigned to be stationed at Lushunkou. Soon after, he was captured by the Haihan Navy, which entered the area for the first time. Pan Yan was originally unwilling to serve Hou Jin. After being captured, Pan Yan decisively and actively sought opportunities to perform meritorious service. He explained the status of Hou Jin's garrison in Lushun to Wang Tom, who was leading the army at the time, and assisted the Haihan Army to successfully complete the combat mission at that time. . Pan Yan's professional military qualities during this period also won Wang Tom's favor, and he was recruited into the navy with an exception. After that, he went south to Zhejiang with the Northern Fleet to spend the winter, and received several months of training on Zhoushan Island.
Because he is familiar with the environment in the Liaodong Sea, Pan Yan participated in almost all combat operations of the Northern Fleet in the past year, and also made many military exploits during this period. He was originally a naval officer of the Ming Dynasty, and his military skills were much better than ordinary people. He was promoted quickly after changing his employer. Now on this exploration-class warship, Pan Yan has served as the first officer. , responsible for course formulation and command.
Pan Yan originally regretted not being able to follow Wang Tom to North Korea to show off his military power, but after he was transferred to Shandong, he found out that the Ming envoy who was going to Liaodong this time was actually the minister of the Ministry of War, and he suddenly felt that he was embarrassed. . After all, with his past status, how could he have the opportunity to come into contact with such a court official.
However, until he set off from Zhifu Port, Pan Yan actually did not get the chance to face Mei Shengchuan face to face. He only glanced at it from a distance on the dock, and he did not even see Mei Shengchuan's appearance particularly clearly. Naturally, Mei Shengchuan did not know that there were officers who originally served in the Ming Navy on the Haihan warship leading the ship. He just thought that this was the arrangement of Dongjiang Town and did not pay attention to it.
Since the three ships that Mei Shengchuan and his party boarded were all civilian ships, and their speed was much slower than that of the Haihan warship, and the sea conditions were not ideal, the voyage from Zhifu Port to Lushun took a full day to complete.
However, Mei Shengchuan's attention was not on the speed at this time. He had been attracted by the construction status of Port Arthur. According to the records of the Ministry of War, the Zhongzuosuo City built by the Ming Dynasty in Lushunkou was the administrative seat here, and a small number of naval troops were stationed in Lushunkou Bay. When Hou Jin captured this place, in order to prevent the navy from Dongjiang Town from returning, most of the facilities in the port were destroyed, and even the lighthouse on the Laohwei Peninsula was demolished. But at this time the fleet arrived at Lushunkou, and saw from a distance a lighthouse with a height of three to four feet standing on the Laohwei Peninsula in the dusk. The fire burning in the lighthouse, after being reflected by the mirror, was enough to illuminate the sea twenty or thirty miles away. You can see all the ships outside.
Although building a lighthouse seemed to be a very common move, Mei Shengchuan could feel Haihan's confidence after occupying this place. It was obvious that they had no worries about the Hou Jin or Ming armies taking back the port from the sea. The former is said to have had very few armed ships wiped out by the Haihan, while the latter's situation is more subtle - the ships leading the fleet into the harbor at the Laohuwei Peninsula have the flag of the Ming Army clearly hanging on their masts. Mei Shengchuan didn't need to ask to figure out that this should be the naval force affiliated to Dongjiang Town.
Although they know that most of the troops in Dongjiang Town are doing odd jobs here, this scene can still give the Ming officials who came here to inspect some psychological comfort - at least this place has not completely fallen into the hands of the Haihan people. , you can also see your own troops entering and exiting here.
However, after the fleet sailed around the Laohuwei Peninsula and entered the harbor, it was difficult to continue such self-deception. At least five or six Haihan-style warships were docked at the dock on the north shore of the harbor. They were all exploration-class warships. When compared with several ships flying the flag of the Ming Army, the hulls of the ships were quite a bit smaller. It seems a bit rustic and shabby.
This is also a coincidence that Mei Shengchuan came here, just in time for a fleet that came north from Zhejiang to Liaodong to change defenses and arrived here two days ago, so there was such a scene. Only one exploration-class warship actually in service in Liaodong went south to Shandong to meet Mei Shengkawa and his party, while all the other exploration-class warships were taken to North Korea by Wang Tom to show off. If Mei Shengchuan had come a few days earlier, there might not be as many Haihan warships in the harbor as there were in Dongjiang Town.
Of course, Mei Shengchuan did not know these inside stories. What he was concerned about was whether the Haihan Navy was really as powerful as the rumors. According to the intelligence he had obtained beforehand, Lushun already belonged to the rear of Haihan's occupied area in Liaodong. From this, he speculated that the main force of Haihan's fleet should be stationed on the coast near the Jinzhou Isthmus in the north. There are so many powerful warships on standby in Port Arthur at the rear, which shows that Haihan is indeed quite confident in naval warfare.
In addition, Umeikawa also noticed that the port here is not only for military ships to dock. There are dozens of large and small civilian ships docked on another coast about two miles away from these warships. side. And judging from the tall mechanical devices used for hoisting cargo on the coast, it is obvious that this is no longer a dock for civilian ships to dock temporarily, but has a special long-term use plan. Because of Mei Shengchuan's special status, this fleet will naturally not be arranged to the civilian ship docking area, but will dock at the military dock. After Mei Shengchuan disembarked, he met the local chief executive Sha Xi. This was also the second high-ranking Haihan official he had seen since Hao Wanqing.
"Mr. Mei must have been very hard after traveling all the way. It's getting late today, so we don't have to rush to talk about business, just eat and drink. I have ordered people to prepare a reception banquet in Lushun Fort to cleanse the dust of Master Mei and his party." When Sha Xi was in the south, he came into contact with quite a few Ming officials. Sha Xi also had his own tricks on how to win over these pretentious Ming officials. The easiest thing to let people off guard is undoubtedly the eating and drinking at the banquet.
Mei Shengchuan really appreciated the diplomatic attitude of the Haihan people. Regardless of whether the conditions were agreed or not, at least they were friendly and did not deliberately create a hostile and tense atmosphere. Moreover, these senior officials from Haihan seemed to be quite knowledgeable and did not deliberately put on any airs in front of themselves. If there was any discomfort, it was probably because they consciously or unconsciously showed their sense of superiority as local masters. . Obviously this place is still the territory of the Ming Dynasty, but the Haihan people have already behaved like masters, which makes Mei Shengchuan still feel a little grudge.
Of course, he would not reject Sha Xi's kindness. Relaxing the atmosphere would definitely be conducive to the subsequent negotiations. He knew this very well, so he readily agreed to Sha Xi's invitation. Although the distance from the port to Lushun Fort was not far, Sha Xi specially brought a special carriage to show his attention and preferential treatment to Mei Shengchuan.
Mei Shengchuan had long heard that the Haihan people were extremely extravagant and very particular about the enjoyment of life. When he saw this carriage with several glass windows inlaid on the dock and a glass oil lamp fixed outside the carriage, he couldn't help but sigh at the Haihan people. It's hard to imagine how wealthy the country is at home, to be so particular in an overseas occupied area so far away from the mainland.
After he boarded the carriage, he realized that the appearance was just one of them, and the riding comfort inside the carriage was also an unprecedented experience. Not only is the seat under the buttocks very elastic, the vibrations from the wheels during travel are also much lighter than that of an ordinary carriage, and there is almost no sound when the axles rotate and the wheels touch the ground. He had seen the road here before getting in the car. It was just an ordinary loess road. It could not be so smooth. There must be some ingenious means to achieve such a shock-absorbing effect.
Mei Shengchuan remembered the rumors he had heard before, saying that Haihan carriages sold for thousands of taels of silver in the south, and because of limited production capacity, they were still rare items that could not be bought on the market. People who wanted to buy them had to pay money to make a reservation. Waiting for schedule. Now that I am lucky enough to sit in this car, I really feel that it is worth the money. The glass windows on the front, back, left, right and even overhead of this carriage alone are worth at least a hundred taels of silver on the market. Haihan people are indeed very particular about these details for enjoyment. If it weren't for the fact that such a carriage would be too ostentatious in the capital, Mei Shengchuan would even have the idea of buying one.
Mei Shengchuan turned his head and looked out the window. In addition to the escorts he brought, Haihan also arranged for cavalry to protect the entire outside. However, in addition to the sabers of these Haihan cavalry, Mei Shengchuan noticed that their weapons were muskets with a barrel of about three feet, and some of them also had shorter handguns on their waists. It seemed that Dongjiang Town gave them The intelligence stated that the Haihan Company's cavalry had been fully equipped with firearms, which should be true.
Mei Shengchuan did not know that the muskets equipped by Haihan Cavalry had a continuous fire function and that the power they could exert in battle was enough to suppress the horseback shooting skills of Houjin Cavalry, but he at least felt Haihan's wealth from this. As the Minister of War, he knew very well how terrible the military expenditure required to equip a large area with firearms was. Moreover, equipping the cavalry with muskets means that the basic tactics of the cavalry must be completely adjusted. Probably only Haihan has the capital to try these new things in the military field.
At this time, it had been half a year since Haihan captured Lushun Fort from Hou Jin. Although there were still many private houses and civil facilities under construction outside the fort, the infrastructure inside the fort was basically completed, and it was used to entertain Mei Shengchuan and his party. The multi-purpose hall was just completed ten days ago, just in time to come in handy this time.
The reason why it is a multi-functional hall is that in addition to setting up banquets, this hall is mainly used to hold various meetings. Although the area of the hall is only more than 100 square meters, this is already a space that was vacated after squeezing and squeezing in Lushun Fort, which has limited space.
As expected, Sha Xi did not talk about political and military affairs during the dinner. He only chatted with Mei Shengchuan about the customs and customs of Liaodong, and then also talked about some interesting experiences he had in dealing with Ming officials in the south. As Mei Shengchuan listened, he realized that it turned out that this highly eloquent senior official from Haihan was specifically responsible for dealing with Ming officials when he was in the south. At that moment, he couldn't help but be a little cautious, lest he might neglect the other party's way.
Sha Xi didn't seem to care about this at all, and the content he talked about increasingly involved the high-level officials of various provinces. Mei Shengchuan, who had drank a few glasses of wine, felt his heartbeat speed up a lot. He didn't know whether it was the effect of alcohol or what Sha Xi said. The content is too exciting.
(End of chapter)