Chapter 988: Satsuma Domain — Take That! (Please Subscribe)

"All seventy-one ships have been fitted with bombards?"

The Zhu Emperor frowned slightly as he asked.

If there had been any other choice, he would not have spread the bombards so quickly. This weapon could not actually be kept secret for long, because the Ming army had large numbers of French and Dutch military advisers, who had long since seen the bombards, the wooden-base explosive shells, and the wooden-tube fuses — these things were just an idea; once you saw them, you understood them!

Moreover, the Spanish had also seen the power of the bombards in naval combat. Not only at the Battle of the Dinghai Anchorage, but also in the later convoy and commerce-raiding actions, they had seen this weapon. Some wooden-base explosive shells that struck Spanish warships had even failed to explode and been picked up by the Spanish — never mind that wooden-base explosive shells of this era produced duds; even industrially produced shells of later ages often produced duds. So once they were used, someone would pick them up and copy them.

Since secrecy was impossible, the Great Ming might as well use them openly!

In any case, the upgrading of naval vessels caused by the spread of this technology meant little loss to the Ming navy, which had few armed galleons to begin with. It was Britain and Holland, the two naval powers, who would have a headache!

"Correct," said Huang Binqing, Commissioner of the Navy. "All seventy-one ships have been fitted with them — as few as one, as many as four, all mounted on circular tracks on the forecastle and sterncastle, able to fire in all directions."

Now it was done — the whole world would know!

Zhu Cilang nodded. "When can they depart? Who will command?"

Huang Binqing said: "We are now only waiting for a favorable wind. The admiral of the allied fleet will be Abel Janszoon Tasman. He has served as fleet admiral and ship captain in the Dutch East India Company, and he is also the deputy head of the Naval Academy, so he is thoroughly familiar with our Great Ming navy."

"Then what about the Marquis of Xiamen?" Zhu Cilang asked. "What will he do?"

"He wishes to serve as Admiral Tasman's deputy," Huang Binqing replied.

"Very good!" Zhu Cilang nodded, thinking: With an old sea dog like Tasman leading him, Zheng Jiangong can surely accomplish something.

"What of the army?" the Zhu Emperor asked again. "How many troops are prepared to be sent?"

The Great Ming did have a marine corps, but it was very small — only a few battalions, two of which were garrisoned at Success Bay. Only 1,500 men could be committed to this Satsuma expedition. That number could never defeat the war-mad warriors of the Satsuma domain, so the army would have to be deployed.

"The army has prepared one division," Wu Sanfu said. "More than thirteen thousand men in all, ready to depart at any time. Together with the marines, the total is fifteen thousand!"

"Only that many?" Zhu Cilang frowned. "Will it be enough?"

"Your Majesty," Huang Binqing said, "we only have so many ships! A single ship carrying one or two hundred soldiers across the sea on campaign is already considerable. To transport these fifteen thousand men, the Navy Commission has already assembled fifty-five great bird ships. More than that is truly impossible."

Thirty-six galleons plus fifty-five great bird ships made ninety-one large seagoing vessels in all — already a tremendous effort by the Navy Commission. Of course, the great bird ships and galleons active in the Southern Ocean and along the Ming coast far exceeded this number, but the Great Ming relied on these ships to import grain from Siam, Annam, the Jinghai Army, and the Jin'ou Army, so they could not all be requisitioned.

Furthermore, ships of this age had no wireless telegraph or anything of the sort. Once they left port, the Ming Navy Commission had no way to contact them.

"Is there any news from Japan?" Zhu Cilang asked again. "The Tokugawa shogunate should also be sending troops to suppress the Satsuma domain, should it not?"

Communications with Japan had already been cut by Garcia's fleet — not that passage was impossible, but the risk was extreme!

So the Ming Navy Commission had been unwilling to risk its precious galleon warships.

"No news yet," Huang Binqing said. "But all reports received before communications with Japan were cut indicate that the shogunate is preparing for war!"

The Zhu Emperor let out a breath and was about to give the order when he saw Huang Xiaobao, brush-holding eunuch of the Directorate of Ceremonial, trotting in from outside, clutching a memorial in his hand — clearly an urgent memorial just received, forwarded by officials of the留守 Grand Secretariat or the Marshal's Office.

The Zhu Emperor disliked secret memorials. Normally only the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Censorate could bypass the Grand Secretariat and the Grand Marshal's Office to submit secret memorials. All other memorials had to be forwarded by the Office of Transmission to the two offices; after the grandees of the two offices had read them, they were then reported to the Zhu Emperor. If a memorial arrived while the grandees of the two offices happened to be attending an imperial conference, then the officials left on duty would read it, and urgent matters could be delivered directly to the imperial presence.

Unlike the style of several wise rulers before him in the Great Ming, Zhu Cilang did not actually care about being deceived by his ministers, nor was he interested in learning about the hardships of the common people — how could the early stage of capitalism not be harsh? Without hardship, where would colonialism come from?

So Zhu Cilang's way of governing the country was to delegate power to the two offices, while his method of maintaining long-term peace and stability was to put a bunch of second-generation nobles through the wringer. If these second-generation heirs were not properly trained, the Great Ming realm could not endure.

If these people were properly taught, then at least for several decades after the Zhu Emperor's death, the realm would not fall into serious disorder.

"Your Majesty, it has been forwarded from the Marshal's Office," Huang Xiaobao said to Zhu Cilang.

"Sanfu, you read it." Zhu Cilang was not too lazy to read; he was respecting the "right to review memorials" of the heads of the two offices — he trusted them completely!

Wu Sanfu took the memorial, opened it, and at once a look of delight appeared on his face.

"Your Majesty, good news!" Wu Sanfu said. "The Henan has returned! It entered the Wusong River yesterday. They have come back from the New World! And they have already established a foothold there!"

"Excellent!" Zhu Cilang nodded emphatically. "Its return comes at just the right time — this is an auspicious omen! The route to the New World has been opened. Now we need only defeat the Satsuma domain, seize control of Kagoshima Bay, and then we can push east across the ocean and recover the lands of the America Protectorate!"

He used the word "recover," not "occupy." After all, the northwest of the Americas had belonged to the Celestial Empire since ancient times!

He paused. "What is the condition of the Henan? How are the crew? Can it take part in this Satsuma expedition?"

Letting the Henan join the Satsuma expedition was actually a reward, because the expedition fleet already had ninety-one warships and troop transports — a massive force that the Spanish fleet would surely not dare oppose, so the naval operation was certain to succeed.

"The Henan is in good condition, and most of the crew are in good health. Upon learning that the allied fleet was about to go on expedition, they all volunteered for combat."

"Good!" Zhu Cilang nodded. "Then assign the Henan to the expedition fleet. When they return victorious from the Satsuma domain, their merits will be rewarded together!

At that time, We shall personally go to Shanghai to welcome them back and wash away the dust of their journey!"

Shanghai, the Great Ming's most flourishing commercial city, had never seen such a gathering of warships! Including the just-returned Henan, there were now ninety-two warships flying the sun-and-moon battle flag on the Wusong River (because they had taken the Zhu Emperor's silver, the ships of Britain, France, Holland, and Portugal had all also hoisted the sun-and-moon flag), drawn up in two columns, arrayed in order from the mouth of the Wusong inward, looking thoroughly majestic!

The forts on both banks of the Wusong mouth were also at the highest state of alert! In addition to the 36-pounder and 48-pounder bronze long guns long since emplaced there, many bombards capable of firing 24-pound wooden-base explosive shells had been temporarily added.

Shanghai harbor had become, quite simply, the hardest seaport in the world to attack — probably without equal!

The 15,000 army troops and marines who would land on the soil of the Satsuma domain in Japan had all completed embarkation. Their commander was Li Yuanyin, Admiral of the Japan Expeditionary Corps, who was also the commander of the corps' main force, the First Army Division.

This new-generation fierce general of the Ming army, who had distinguished himself in the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, now stood on the deck of his command ship — a military-type ten-thousand-bushel great bird ship — watching the buildings on both banks of the Wusong River slowly recede.

The allied expedition fleet was sailing out of the Wusong mouth!

Ninety-two warships and troop transports and fifteen thousand expeditionary troops were about to set out for the distant battlefield!

Satsuma domain! The celestial troops of the Great Ming were finally coming to strike!

(End of Chapter)