The emperor once again emphasized at the meeting that people are valued and weapons are lightened, so that Sun Chengzong and others finally confirmed that the emperor has always attached importance to the quality of military personnel, and it is not just a casual talk.

After talking about the army's weapons configuration and training grouping, Chongzhen then continued to Sun Chengzong: "I hope that the military academy will send a few outstanding officers to participate in the overseas arms trade with Shen Pei. ”

Mao Yuanyi immediately objected: "Your Majesty, let the officers go to business, and also pick outstanding officers, is this a waste of talent." ”

Zhu Youzhen shook his head and said: "I don't want them to do business, but to observe and learn about war, and an officer who has not undergone the baptism of war cannot become a real commander."

A hundred deductions in the classroom are not as good as a real war. But no matter how big or small the war is, as long as it is a war, there will be casualties. Wouldn't it be a good thing to be able to water our officers with other people's blood? ”

Several staff officers who had been promoted from the army agreed with the emperor's remarks, and subconsciously nodded.

Most of the staff officers from civilian officials frowned, but Sun Chengzong was unexpectedly silent, he agreed with the emperor's statement intellectually, but he was a little disgusted emotionally.

After all, he has received an orthodox Confucian education, "Do not do to others what you would not do to yourself." "A gentleman is a man of righteousness, and a villain is a man of profit." Thoughts have long been integrated into his blood.

Chongzhen's overly profit-oriented thinking made him a little difficult to accept, but he also knew that this was the best way to train officers.

The Ming army's several defeats with the Later Jin Dynasty not only lost a large number of veterans, but more importantly, the death of a large number of middle- and lower-ranking officers with rich combat experience caused a complete fault in the military command system of the Liaodong Army.

This is also why after the Battle of Quang Ninh, the Ming army could no longer fight with the Later Jin army in the field, and could only put forward the concept of war with artillery in Jiancheng.

Although the army officer academy built according to the emperor's suggestion was able to train middle and lower-ranking officers in batches in an unprecedented way, in fact, no one except the emperor had confidence in whether these officers could be put to use.

As the emperor said, only after the test of blood and fire can everyone know whether the military academy can succeed in this model of training officers.

Under Sun Chengzong's silence, Chongzhen's proposal was not met with fierce opposition. At the meeting, it was decided to set up a special military observation office to be responsible for this matter, and Mao Yuanyi, as the main writer of the rules and regulations for the preparation of military regulations, naturally became the presiding officer of this office.

In the ensuing in-depth discussion, the participants detailed the responsibilities of the dispatched officers, familiarized themselves with and understood the use of firearms and combat methods of the Europeans, observed the combat and command methods of the local aborigines, and collected all relevant information such as the local climate, geography, resources, and social composition.

In addition, at Chongzhen's suggestion, the General Staff agreed that the Tai Hospital would send a few doctors to join the military observation group in the name of the army to understand the local disease situation and cultivate experience in treating firearm injuries by the way.

After the discussion on the affairs of the army was completed, Sun Chengzong and the others left the conference room first, and asked Chongzhen, Yu Zhigao, and other newly promoted naval staff officers to continue to discuss the relevant affairs of the navy.

At this time, the Ming Dynasty despised coastal defense and attached importance to the defense of the fortress, so whether it was the cabinet or the military department, the support for the establishment of the naval officer school or the formation of the northern navy was very small.

The military department never regarded the Tianjin and Denglai naval divisions as a maritime combat unit, but regarded them as a maritime transport team and a subordinate unit to support the Liaodong Army.

The generals of the Navy's division were not only not valued by the imperial court, but also difficult to get promoted, and most of the commanders of the Sailor Division were transferred from the army.

This also made the Ming naval division have changed from the king of the sea in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean in the early Ming Dynasty to an offshore army that relies on the coastline to fight.

Yu Zhigao's transfer from the general army of the Fujian Navy Division to the governor of Jingying Rongzheng was initially considered to be a temporary measure taken by the emperor to distrust the generals of the Beijing camp, who had a close relationship with Wei Zhongxian, rather than the emperor's attention to the performance of the navy.

However, when Fan Yonggao, Wu Zhenyuan, Wang An, Song Wulie and other officers of the Navy Division were also promoted to the General Staff, everyone seemed to be able to feel that the emperor did have some additional thoughts about the Navy Division.

And for Fan Yonggao, Wu Zhenyuan and others, it was really a surprise to be able to enter the General Staff of the Governor's Mansion of the Five Armies, which meant that they could finally speak in front of the emperor.

After Sun Chengzong left, these newly promoted naval staff officers began to introduce to the emperor what they had been preparing for a long time, about the command system and combat methods of the Daming Naval Division.

After Zhu Youzhen listened, he didn't express any opinions, he turned his head to Yu Zhigao and asked, "So how is the preparation of the Naval Officer Academy?" Do you have any plans for the Naval Academy? ”

Yu Zhigao immediately handed a booklet in his hand to Chongzhen and said, "The minister has prepared a plan for running the school, and I also ask Your Majesty to look at it." The renovation of the Naval Academy has been basically completed, and it is estimated that it will officially open on 10 May.

The number of the first batch of naval cadets recruited was 223, including more than 20 children of salt households, more than 30 children of fishermen, more than 10 transfer students of the Army Military Academy, more than 80 officers and soldiers of the Navy Division and Jinyi Guard, and the rest were children and family members of the Xun family. ”

"Family? When did these relatives even care about the education of their families? Zhu Youzhen held the plan in his hand, looked up at him, and asked suspiciously.

"That's not it, they originally wanted their family to accompany their children to school so that they could keep them safe. However, the military academy did not allow the cadets to bring their families and retinues to the school, so they came up with this method. Yu Zhigao immediately explained.

Zhu Youzhen let out a "hmm", lowered his head and looked at it intently, the plan in his hand, and the staff officers in the conference room were waiting with bated breath.

After a long time, Zhu Youzhen put down the plan in his hand, and then slowly pressed the temple on his forehead with his left thumb, and thought quietly for a while.

Yu Zhigao's plan was in fact copied according to the curriculum of the Army Military Academy, and apart from extending the duration of the school from six months to 12 months, there was basically no change in the curriculum of study.

Zhu Youzhen finally put down his hand and said to the officers who had been watching him: "Although there are some similarities between the navy and the army, there are still differences in most aspects. ”

Yu Zhigao replied a little nervously: "Please also ask Your Majesty to correct." ”

Zhu Youzhen's hands pressed the plan and said calmly: "What I want to build is an ocean-going navy, and the purpose of establishing the Naval Officer Academy is to train leaders who can lead the navy to conquer the seas.

And the plan you have given me is nothing more than to train a group of army officers to fight on the deck. The biggest difference between the Navy and the Navy is that don't be afraid to stay away from the coastline, don't be afraid of unknown risks, don't be afraid that this world is unconquerable. ”

For the emperor's sensational words, the naval staff officers in the conference room looked at each other, they really couldn't accept it, and their past combat experience in the naval division was completely denied.

Wu Zhenyuan finally couldn't help but whisper: "But Your Majesty, whether it is a navy or a naval division, the ultimate goal is to fight with the enemy at sea, if these combat courses are not taught in the school, then what should we teach them?" ”

Zhu Youzhen just rolled his eyes, and then quickly said: "Teach them music, mathematics, physics, all natural sciences, and then learn some philosophical knowledge, and finally the skills of combat, the study system of the naval school has been extended to 3 years, of which 2 years are for school study, and the last year is for internship on board." ”

"Tone... Music? The emperor's whimsy suddenly made Yu Shigao and others stupid, they really couldn't figure out what the relationship between music and combat was, and in the emperor's imagination, this was not training naval officers at all, but cultivating scholars.

Zhu Youzhen looked at the speechless and overwhelmed staff officers in the conference room, and suddenly smiled and said: "Yes, music, people who can't learn a musical instrument can't be the captain." Of course, the instruments such as the Hu Ji, the erhu, and the pipa are not counted, and the instruments taught in the military academy can either soothe the spirit or invigorate the heart. ”

Yu Zhigao finally came back to his senses, although he didn't dare to disagree with the emperor, but the military academy taught musical instruments, if the naval officer school taught a group of gentlemen who were looking for flowers and willows, he, the first principal, would become the laughing stock of the Ming Dynasty.

He stubbornly admonished Chongzhen: "Your Majesty, it is good to learn music to cultivate temperament, but after all, the army is where masculinity is, isn't it too feminine to let naval officers learn musical instruments?" Will it hurt the morale of the Navy? ”

In response to Yu Zhigao's exhortation, several staff officers also nodded yes, and Zhu Youzhen was also a little undecided.

As a matter of fact, Zhu Youzhen, like these naval staff officers, knew nothing about how to build a navy in the age of sails.

The only place where he was slightly advantaged was to worship the developed information society of later generations, and he had seen a lot of films about naval warfare and heard about it: 10 years of the army, 100 years of the navy. and so on.

And in 1628, at this time, Europe also did not have a modern naval command system. However, the Age of Discovery, which lasted for nearly 200 years, has accumulated enough rich experience in maritime navigation and combat for European countries.

If he remembered correctly, soon after Cromwell cut off the king's head, the British navy would be organized in the manner of the Iron Cavalry, and the rudiments of the structure of the British Royal Navy would be laid. From that moment on, the gap between East and West in navigation technology will become wider and wider.