The first night, the generals and officials at all levels of the Beiyang Army were busy for half the night, and the next morning, the officials at all levels of the military government gathered together.

The number of ships needed for the Eastern Crusade was not as many as Black Cloud Dragon said, but they did need a lot of ships, at least four hundred, and they were sea ships.

The young head of the Beiyang Branch of the Ministry of War also had a headache about this matter.

"Ming Chen Shuai, it is not difficult to recruit 400 ships from the people, it is difficult to recruit 400 sea ships, most of the coastal areas in my north are fishing boats and civilian ships, even if they go to sea, they only sail along the coast, and there are very few sea boats, in previous years, the imperial court used ships, and if they need twenty or thirty ships, they will be transferred to the south of the country, and if they need fifty or sixty ships, they will be transferred to Fujian, and at this time there will be 400 ships in Beiyang, and they are all big ships, I am afraid that even if they are connected to Guangdong, it is not enough."

"If the ship is forcibly transferred, the people below are interested in currying favor, even if the number of ships is transferred, it may not be suitable."

What Wang Yingjiao said Chen Mu couldn't be clearer, in addition to the prosperous maritime merchants and coastal sailors in the Ming Dynasty, where are there any sea ships, ordinary people use boats are just flat-bottomed civilian boats, and they can't help the wind and waves at sea.

"Don't worry, this ship is not enough at the beginning, as long as the submersible can ask the military department to transfer a hundred ships, it will be enough."

"A hundred?"

Wang Yingjiao's originally embarrassed face calmed down slightly, and he said cautiously: "If there are only 100 ships, the lower officials will be requisitioned in full!" ”

Chen Mu had his own abacus, requisitioned 100 sea ships from the imperial court, and then borrowed more than 100 sea ships from Fujian, Guangzhou, and prosperous merchants, enough 200 ships, and then transferred one Dingjia warship and its subordinate fleet in each of the coastal provinces, so that he could gather enough sea ships needed for the Eastern Expedition.

As long as there are enough ships needed for the first phase of Beiyang to recruit troops for the Eastern Voyage, it is much easier to say that the second batch of ships will set sail.

"Give an order to the shipyards in Fujian, Guangzhou, and Nanyang, let them rush to make a batch of lucky ships, and the Dongyang military government will buy them according to the market price, by the way, and Lin Daoqian from Tangmin Island, and let him build some ships, and the problem of the second batch of ships can be solved." Chen Mu said and said to Ye Mengxiong, the head of the household department: "When Chen sets sail, Ye Gong will have to worry more about these things." ”

Ye Mengxiong nodded, and said: "The rice and grain required for the Eastern Expedition are very huge, and at present, they have purchased a large number of grain merchants from the major grain merchants in Beizhili, and the first batch of military funds required is not difficult to make up, and the follow-up will also purchase military funds such as dried meat, dried fish, and tea. ”

"Bean sprouts?"

Chen Mu slowly bowed his head and said: "I know that bean sprouts are often eaten by soldiers when they are in the South Seas, and some bean sprouts are sent on the ship to eat, but the Eastern Airlines is not as good as the South and Western Oceans, and there are more times when sailing along the coast and less when they are offshore, and they can replenish fresh water by digging wells anytime and anywhere, but China Eastern Airlines is different." ”

"The Eastern Airlines is less when it is docked, and more when it is offshore, and if there is not enough fresh water, it must be yawed to find land, but in the north the subsequent season, it is mostly frozen land and ice fields, and it is more difficult to sprout beans on the sea than on land, and it only takes three or four days on land, but it takes seven or eight days at sea, although the fresh water consumed is not much, it can make people live when necessary."

"However, in the first half of the journey, from Dagukou to 4,000 miles and hundreds of households, the soldiers can send bean sprouts on the ship, and the supplies along the way are quite stable."

As soon as Chen Mu said this, Zhao Shizhen on the other side took out a letter from his cuff and handed it to Chen Mudao: "Chen Shuai, this is a letter sent by the Nanyang Guard Ordnance Bureau in Beijing this year, and a few artillery pieces have been sent to Beiyang, which seem to be sample cannons, and the artillery has been loaded into storage. ”

"Oh? Sample cannon? ”

Chen Mu took the letter, which was sent by Guan Zunban of the Nanyang Ordnance Bureau, saying that now the casting process of the Zhenshuo General Cannon has matured, and the researchers of the Ordnance Department of the Navy Lecture Hall have taken the Zhenshuo General Cannon as the prototype, referred to the types of Portuguese and Xiyi artillery, and further manufactured several kinds of artillery suitable for different battles.

At the end of the letter, Guan Zunban cautiously mentioned that the Navy Lecture Hall had changed the specifications of the guns left by Chen Mu based on the weight of the shells, and instead used parameters such as the width of the breech to determine the shape and be more refined.

The corners of Chen Mu's mouth, who was reading the letter, curled up...... Chen's poison is getting less and less!

Among the guns sent by the Nanyang Ordnance Bureau this time, there is naturally a larger caliber ship General Zhenshuo cannon, which is actually unchanged from the previous artillery, but because of its long double diameter, it is called a long cannon, and the corresponding is naturally the naval General Zhenshuo short cannon.

In addition, the Ming Empire could not change the Fran mechanization, the ship with the Fran machine type Zhenshuo general cannon, compared with the same weight of the cannon has a larger caliber, this kind of military cannon design is designed to quickly, a large number of scattered.

In the design of the Navy's Lecture Hall Lu Bo, the ship's Franc aircraft should be placed on the top deck in large numbers to spit out scattered seeds in close combat and kill and injure enemy ships and sailors.

"This reminds me that I will send this letter and the sample cannon to the Beiyang Ordnance Bureau, first let the Ordnance Bureau copy a batch, and then send the imitation sample cannon to Xuanfu, so that the Xuanfu Ordnance Bureau will design it and formulate the standard of army artillery in the future."

Although Ye Mengxiong was the head of the household bureau, this did not prevent him from having a heart to care about military affairs, and he asked Chen Mu: "Chen Shuai, our ship is not superior to the Xiyi big ship, and the naval battle may not be advantageous...... What is good in the event of a war? ”

"I've thought about it."

Chen Mu asked Ye Mengxiong to sit down first, and then said: "In a short period of time, it is too late to build larger ships in various places, and it is impossible for us to wait for the new ships to be built in Beiyang, so at least next year." ”

"On the one hand, let the shipyards prepare to build larger shark ships, at least 2,000 shark ships as the main gunboat, load more guns, and strengthen the thickness of the ship's planks; Thirty of these ships will be sent to Amerika next year. ”

"But I'm afraid we can only use a few 1,500 Liuding Liujia this year as a façade, I have analyzed the situation in North Asia Melica, there are only local natives and Western and Portuguese forces, try to avoid provoking them in a short time, and when the third fleet arrives, there should be a decent fleet."

"The size of the ship may not work, although the ship shape has not developed to a greater extent in the past two years, but the ship guns have been replaced many times, and heavier guns can still give us the ability to threaten their huge ships, even if they have to go to war as a last resort, as long as they do not gather more than ten such large ships, we will not fall behind."

landed in the Americas, but it was really a competition.

England, France, Spain, Portugal, and all other nations fought for territory in the New World, building ports and trading posts, and setting up fortress after fortress.

Chen Mu recalled the landing coast that was selected on the sand table, and the corners of his mouth showed joy that could not be hidden.

The Ming Dynasty will also have a place over there!