Chapter 1480: The Navy's Plan

"Yes, Your Majesty." The Chancellor nodded, then turned to face the assembled officials. "The meeting is now in session! The purpose of today's meeting is the invasion of Japan. His Majesty's will is to raise a great army and, with the force of a thunderbolt, defeat the ruling shogunate in Japan, compelling the shogunate to accept our dynasty's demands—to hand over the disposition of its mineral gold and silver to our dynasty, and to grant our dynasty exclusive trading rights with Japan. I trust you are all already informed?"

After this opening statement, the Chancellor's gaze quickly settled on Zhao Song.

"To make Japan submit to our dynasty's disposition, we must naturally first crush the shogunate, leaving them no path of retreat. This, in turn, depends on our dynasty's great army beating Japan into submission. Therefore, military matters are of the utmost urgency; everything hinges on victory. The commander leading the troops for this expedition is Xingyang Count Zhao Song. Let him now explain the military preparations."

"Yes." Zhao Song stood up upon hearing this, and then the several staff officers beside him took out a number of already-copied booklets from the cases at their sides and distributed them to everyone present.

"The booklets contain confidential matters regarding the attack on Japan. I must ask all you gentlemen to keep them secret." Zhao Song first gave them this admonition, then continued his explanation. "For this punitive expedition against Japan, due to logistical constraints and to facilitate transport and maneuver, the troop strength is limited to one reinforced brigade. This specially organized brigade will consist of three full-strength regiments, each of which, compared to a standard regiment, will be further reinforced with elite companies. In addition to the infantry, a cavalry battalion of three knight companies will be directly attached to brigade headquarters. It will also be allocated fifty artillery pieces, and supported by a total of two thousand men from a supply regiment and an engineer regiment. The total strength will be approximately eight thousand men."

"Eight thousand men..." The Chancellor mused for a moment. "That is no small number. Transport and supply will not be simple. Can it not be fewer?"

"Chancellor, though the shogunate is decrepit, it is still a colossus after all. While it cannot be mentioned in the same breath as our dynasty, it still possesses some strength. However weak its soldiers may be, their numbers are still there; we cannot treat them lightly." Zhao Song hurried to defend his position. "Our army must maintain a certain number of troops to be able to maneuver against them and win a decisive battle. We understand the difficulties of an expedition and have always hoped to keep troop numbers to an absolute minimum. This figure is the result of detailed study and repeated discussion between myself and several staff officers. Apart from the supply and engineer troops, our combat-capable soldiers number no more than six thousand. There is absolutely no way to reduce them further..."

"In that case, it seems it cannot be fewer." Because Zhao Song's reasoning was sound, the Chancellor did not dwell on the issue of troop strength, instead nodding in agreement with his view. "Then where do you plan to draw the troops from?"

"Since the force is so small, yet must confront a colossus, the selection of troops for this campaign must be made with great care. We must select elite soldiers. Thanks to His Majesty's favor, he has already permitted me to pick elite troops from various regions on a priority basis. Furthermore, some strategic fronts still require heavy troop concentrations, so we cannot draw from there." Zhao Song first bowed his head toward the Emperor in gratitude. "The specific troop selection plan is as follows: Select one regiment from the brigade I originally commanded in Liaodong. Then, select companies from the command of Marshal Shi Manqiang in the Guizhou-Sichuan theater to form one regiment, with Li Huanghe as regimental commander, and select company and battalion officers accordingly. Draw one regiment from the Liangguang theater, with Ma Tongji as regimental commander, and select company and battalion officers accordingly. In this way, all three regiments will be handpicked units. We will surely be united in purpose from top to bottom, responding like limbs to the will, and defeat the Japanese shogunate!"

The Chancellor nodded again, voicing no further doubts.

Zhao Song's words, both overt and implied, suggested that his force structure had been personally approved, or even personally devised, by the Emperor. Moreover, since the Chancellor had never had much say over military personnel arrangements, he did not intend to dwell on this issue.

"An eight-thousand-man maritime expedition... the expenses required will truly be substantial." The Chancellor sank back into contemplation, then suddenly raised his head and looked at Navy Grand General Liu Tao, who was seated not far across from him. "Marquis of Jiujiang, can your navy sustain this? An army of eight thousand and its subsequent supplies, grain, and fodder are no small amounts. Will there be difficulties in transport?"

The man seated at the corner of the round table, wearing a blue military uniform and adorned with the First-Class Silver Orchid Medal, was the Minister of the Naval Military Affairs Department, the Marquis of Jiujiang, Liu Tao.

He had previously been a maritime merchant. After Xuzhou began developing maritime trade, he quickly joined the Xuzhou faction and participated in the founding of the navy, becoming one of its founders. Thus, after the new dynasty was established, he soon became one of the navy's leaders and was enfeoffed as a marquis.

The navy was a new branch of service specially established by His Majesty after the founding of the Great Han, administered by the Naval Military Affairs Department in the capital.

It oversaw the formulation and use of the navy's budget, the construction and maintenance of warships and naval bases, and other such matters, serving as the navy's central governing body. The various ports and all warships at sea were under the jurisdiction of the navy's various fleets. The Commander-in-Chief of the Fleets was a Westerner, Louis de Rochefort.

This Westerner was originally a missionary, but he had no religious zeal; instead, he was single-mindedly determined to make a fortune. After enduring many hardships, he arrived in an Eastern country. He had originally intended to cast cannons for the Ming Emperor, but unexpectedly, through a series of twists and turns, he fell into the hands of Xuzhou. He quickly threw himself into Xuzhou's service, unreservedly teaching the knowledge of casting, machinery, shipbuilding, and more that he had accumulated over many years to Xuzhou's craftsmen.

Consequently, he later became one of the principal founders of the navy. After the new dynasty was established, he was reappointed by His Majesty as Commander-in-Chief of the various fleets. Because he came from a French noble family, he declined the Chinese Emperor's offer of a noble title, accepting only the title of Grand Marshal of the Navy.

To facilitate command of the various fleets at sea, he was ordinarily stationed in Songjiang Prefecture, primarily commanding the East Sea and South Sea fleets.

His deputy, the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Fleets, was the Marquis of Langya, Cai De. He was ordinarily stationed in Tianjin, primarily commanding the northern fleets. He, too, was burdened with complex duties, so neither man attended the meeting; only the Minister of the Naval Military Affairs Department was present to represent the navy.

Over the years, although the navy had not received as much military funding as the army, because His Majesty valued it, it had always been able to develop vigorously. Through years of painstaking effort from top to bottom, the navy's strength had now grown into a grand spectacle, possessing a massive combat fleet and seemingly becoming the undisputed master of the Western Pacific region.

It was precisely because of such confidence in their maritime power that His Majesty and Zhao Song dared to plan the conquest of Japan so boldly and assuredly.

Upon hearing the Chancellor's question, the stern-faced Marquis of Jiujiang dared not be remiss and hurriedly answered respectfully.

"In reply to the Chancellor, the resources this expedition will consume are indeed enormous. After our calculations, the conclusion is that we can barely sustain it. At present, large stretches of the northern seas are frozen over, and many transport ships originally used to ship grain from the south are now idle... If we simultaneously and temporarily requisition all surplus transport ships from the various fleets, supporting this expeditionary force should not be a major problem."

"We still need to requisition transport ships from the various fleets..." The Chancellor was somewhat surprised. "Will this not affect the regular patrols of the fleets?"

"We have already contacted Tianjin and Songjiang. They both replied that there are currently no major operations and that they can free up a batch of transport ships for this campaign." The Marquis of Jiujiang's tone remained extremely respectful, showing no disrespect to the Chancellor despite the principle of separating civil and military affairs. "However, they both said this campaign must be concluded quickly. Otherwise, if these transport ships cannot be used for an entire year next year, it might impact the naval fleets' operations next year. Furthermore... the task of transporting grain from the south is also extremely pressing."

"The Ministry of Civil Affairs has already reported to me. The grain reserves in the granaries of the capital region and Northern Zhili are currently very optimistic. They should be able to sustain us for a considerable period through next spring and summer, so the grain transport task will ease somewhat during that time." The Chancellor immediately dispelled his concerns. "However, we cannot rely solely on consuming stored grain forever. After all, the realm has only just been settled, and agriculture in the capital region and Northern Zhili has not yet fully recovered... We must fight quickly and end this quickly!"

In fact, before the realm was unified, officials from the Ministry of Civil Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture had constantly worried about the grain situation in the Northern Zhili region, fearing that after unification, the imperial court's grain shipments would be insufficient to feed all the people in the north, leading again to famine and refugees, which would disrupt order in the capital region.

To their surprise, once they had truly unified the entire country and taken over the lands of the former Ming government and imperial clan, they discovered the situation was far more optimistic than they had previously imagined.

Take Baoding Prefecture, for example. In Baoding Prefecture, the former Ming imperial clan possessed vast amounts of imperial estate farmland. Even in the frequently famine-stricken years of the late Wanli era, these estates could still produce large quantities of grain. However, the Imperial Horse Supervisory Office and local strongmen who managed these imperial estates underreported their grain output, then concealed the grain and sold it privately, amassing huge fortunes—while countless common people wailed in the grip of famine, struggling on the brink of starvation.

After the new dynasty was established, His Majesty, deeply pained by the former Ming's bloated palace institutions and the lawless eunuch factions, abolished all the inner court eunuch agencies of the former Ming immediately upon ascending the throne, and further proclaimed that eunuchs would never again be used in the palace. The eunuchs from both inside and outside the former Ming palace were dismissed one by one. Those who were literate and capable were employed as civil clerks, treated equally with normal civil clerks. Those who were illiterate, old, and unable to find a livelihood were settled in centralized facilities. At the same time, His Majesty also explicitly proclaimed to the realm that the Great Han, starting from his generation, would absolutely never use eunuchs again, and would simultaneously control palace expenditures. Thus, the eunuch system, which had persisted for two thousand years, finally met its end after the new dynasty's establishment.

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