Zhu Youzhen thought about it for a long time, and finally thought about one thing clearly. In their own way, they may not be able to train real admirals, but according to the school-running plans of these naval staffs, they will certainly not be able to train admirals.

In any case, even if his method can't train admirals, at least he can cultivate some talents who study natural sciences.

Thinking of this, Chongzhen strengthened his position and decided to build a naval officer academy according to his own ideas, after all, now he has the final say.

However, for Yu Zhigao and others, he did not give orders so bluntly, but said how he thought about it.

"What do you think is the worst enemy of a navy at sea? In fact, it is not a strong fleet that meets the enemy.

I have heard the story from Western missionaries that there is a country in Europe called Spain, the Western country that occupies the island of Luzon, which was once the maritime overlord of Europe.

The country once had a powerful fleet, called the Armadada. The country had a conflict with a small country in the north, so it sent more than 100 warships, carrying more than 3,000 cannons, and more than 20,000 soldiers, to attack the small country called England in the north.

However, due to the incompetence of the commander-in-chief appointed by the king, such a powerful fleet was defeated by an enemy far weaker than himself, which was not the worst for Spain.

Worst of all, the incompetent fleet commander chose a route back to Spain that he was completely unfamiliar with, only to be caught in a storm in an unfamiliar sea.

Defeated by the British, the Armada lost less than a eighth of its ships, but after the storm, the Armada lost more than half of its ships.

Since that war, Europe's most powerful maritime empire has lost control of the seas.

This story tells us that it is not a bad thing for a naval general to not be able to command a battle. But if the wrong decision is made, not only will an entire fleet be destroyed, but it will also lead to the demise of a country.

Therefore, a naval commander must have a wealth of knowledge of natural sciences, establish a correct world view, and have a courageous and resolute character. This is what the Naval Academy needs to train for these cadets. ”

For the story that Chongzhen said, these naval staff officers felt a little incredulous. They really couldn't imagine that in the wilderness of the far west, there would be a country with such a powerful fleet. It is even more unimaginable that such a huge fleet was defeated.

If the story had not been told by the emperor himself, they would have scoffed at it as nothing more than the braggadocio of Western missionaries. Just as these Westerners often boast that their gods can feed thousands of people with five loaves and two fishes.

Because the emperor was convinced of this, these naval staff officers could only say that the story was indeed very philosophical. However, a naval staff officer couldn't help but ask: "Your Majesty said the truth, the minister understands a lot, but what is the purpose of learning a musical instrument?" Music doesn't seem to make people make any good judgments, does it? ”

Zhu Youzhen naturally replied to this question: "Since I have established a navy, warships always have to go to sea for a long journey. With today's seafaring technology, it's easy for a ship to get lost in the middle of the ocean.

When the ship was lost, the Westerners prayed to God to help them out of their misfortune. If my warship is lost at sea, what do you think should be done to keep the captain calm at all times, so that the sailors on board do not go crazy out of despair? ”

Yu Zhigao hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty means to use music to soothe their nerves in times of despair, so as not to give up hope of being rescued?" ”

With the emperor's nod, the other naval staff officers also began to feel that what the emperor said was not so whimsical, and there was still some truth.

In the midst of doubts, Chongzhen's proposal to adjust the curriculum and academic system of the Naval Officer Academy was approved.

Subsequently, Yu Zhigao asked the emperor to decide, that is, the Tianjin and Denglai naval divisions were merged, and after the establishment of the Bohai Fleet, the number of fleets was planned to increase to 120,000, the number of ships was planned to increase from the current 178 to 432, and two fleet bases in Tianjin and Miaodao were built, and 350,000 yuan was allocated for supply and demand.

Zhu Youzhen read the report for a long time before he said to Yu Zhigao: "It's good that the Bohai Fleet wants to expand its scale, but I think it's better to manage the warships specially used for combat and the transport ships that are only used to transport military supplies, and the latter is still managed by the logistics department.

In addition, it is also possible to set up a shipping company for the retired officers and men of the naval division to operate, and to hand over the transportation of some non-military equipment and the transportation of non-direct combat sites to this shipping company, so that at least the unnecessary expenditure of the fleet can be reduced. ”

Yu Zhigao only thought about it for a moment, and then said with some embarrassment: "However, if the battle on the front line is urgent, and the ships and numbers of the combat fleet are insufficient, how should the minister deal with it?"

You can go through the General Staff to urgently requisition the ships of the logistics department and the civilian shipping company, and then return them to the establishment after the war. ”

Under Chongzhen's drastic moves, the Bohai Fleet formulated by Yu Zhigao was reduced to one ship. The transport fleet of the logistics department is set at 334 ships, and the scale of shipping companies to be built has also reached 77.

Yu Zhigao was a little frustrated by this, but he still reminded Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, in this case, it seems that the transport fleet and shipping company do not have so many enough sailors. ”

Zhu Youzhen replied without hesitation: "Let them recruit fishermen along the coast of Shandong, as well as the canal workers, I don't think there will be enough manpower." ”

Just when Yu Zhigao thought that the fleet budget he had reported would be cut by half, Zhu Youzhen looked at the map spread out on the table and said: "In addition to the two fleet bases in Tianjin and Miaodao, I want the Bohai Fleet to also establish a fleet base in this place. ”

Yu Zhigao looked in the direction of the emperor's finger and found that the place the emperor pointed to was a bay on the head of the Liaodong Peninsula.

"Lushun?" Yu Zhigao subconsciously read out the name on the map.

Zhu Youzhen nodded and said: "Lushun is now in our hands, and it has always been under the jurisdiction of Dongjiang Town.

The terrain of Lushun is dangerous, and the back of the mountains and the sea is a place of beauty. But if the port is blocked, it becomes a dead place. Therefore, to defend Lushun, it is necessary to pay equal attention to land and sea, guard the port with land batteries, and protect the lifeblood of Lushun with warships at sea.

If Denglai, Miaodao Islands, Changdao Islands and Lushun are all included in our army, then the Liaodong Peninsula will be cut off from the sea.

For the Ming Dynasty, the existence of this defensive line also ensured that the enemy coming from the sea could not threaten the important places of Gyeonggi in the Bohai Sea. ”

Yu Zhigao had been in Fujian for a long time and did not know much about Zhangpan's affairs, but the topography of Lushun made him think that the emperor was right to order to strengthen Lushun's defenses.

Wang An and Song Wulie themselves are from Denglai sailors, and they are very clear about this past. They have always believed that Lushun, which looks across the sea from Denglai, is indeed the screen of the Liaodong Peninsula.

It's just that after Yuan Keli left office, the later governor of Denglai lost his enterprising spirit to recover the Liaodong Peninsula, and used the Denglai Naval Division from an offensive arm as a fleet to ensure the logistics and transportation of Liaodong and Dongjiang towns.

These mid- and lower-ranking officers of the naval division are inferior to the military attachés on land in the eyes of the civilian officials, and they will listen to their advice.

In addition, the maintenance materials and funds of the sailors' ships were wantonly greedy, so the rather powerful Denglai sailors began to decline within a few years.

After seeing that everyone agreed to his plan, Zhu Youzhen continued: "I will allocate some cement and steel bars, and there will be a construction team to build a fortress in Lushun in the same way as the Western platform.

Before that, the General Staff should send a survey team to conduct a detailed survey of the entire terrain of Arthur in order to prepare for the design of the Arthur fortress.

In addition, the current defenders of Lushun will be screened, all unreliable personnel will be transferred back inland, and a new army will be formed in the Denglai area to prepare to replace the Lushun defenders..."

The emperor's order made Yu Zhigao and other naval staff officers very satisfied. The construction of the Arthur fortress and the formation of a new army made the Bohai Fleet greatly strengthen its own power and control the entire Bohai region, which meant that the Bohai Fleet would no longer be subordinate to the name of local officials such as the governor of Denglai.

And because of the construction of the Arthur fortress and the formation of a new army, the allocation of the Bohai Fleet not only did not decrease, but increased to 500,000 yuan.

Subsequently, Chongzhen listened to these staff officers introduce to him the construction technology of naval ships. Only then did Zhu Youzhen understand why the cost of these ships was so cheap.

Because most of these ships are made of pine and fir wood, and according to the regulations of the Ministry of Industry, 30% of the old wood needs to be used in the new ships to save timber.

Pine wood is overhauled every 5 years, while cedar wood is 10 years, but Guangdong has special boats made of iron wood, which can be more than 15 years old. However, the timber grows slowly, and there is no big timber, so it can only build small boats.

Fujian and Guangdong are mountainous, rich in tree resources, and most of the tung oil, lacquer, and hemp used in shipbuilding come from the south. Therefore, these naval staff officers all believed that it was not cost-effective to build a shipyard in Tianjin, and it would be more cost-effective to build a shipyard or * ships in Fuzhou.

Of course, Chongzhen will not agree with this statement, even if Tianjin shipbuilding is more expensive, this shipyard is controlled by the imperial court. Not to mention that the shipbuilding technology developed is not easy to be spread, the shipbuilding industry alone can help him absorb many refugees from Liaodong.