Longjiang Shipyard is located in the northwest of Jinling near the Sanxia River, west of the Yangtze River, east of the Qinhuai River, since the Hongwu period began to set up, has existed for more than 20 years, the cumulative construction of one-third of the Ming Dynasty ships and river boats, with the world's largest shipbuilding craftsmen and the most mature technology accumulation.

After Zhu Gaochi ascended the throne as emperor, Xu Hao, out of consideration of various factors, went against Zhu Di's style of making great moves in history, and sent people to supervise the construction of sea ships in a very low-key manner, nominally to resist the Japanese and open up the tributary channel at the request of the subject countries of the South Seas.

The whole shipyard is like a small city, with a width of 138 zhang from east to west, and a length of 354 zhang from north to south, with an area of more than 500,000 square meters.

Xu Hao did not want to be disconnected by political factors in the inheritance of technology, so he successively recruited thousands of shipbuilders from Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Fujian and Jiangsu to move to Liaodong, and hired craftsmen from Longjiang Shipyard to open various workshops and shops such as joinery, painting, and twisting.

In terms of navigation concept, although Xu Hao very much hoped to see the glorious scene of Zheng He's treasure fleet in history, and also longed to lead nearly 30,000 navies to gallop across the sea, but this kind of country-led way is destined to inevitably end up in "political death" no matter who runs it.

It is because Xu Hao rarely talks about navigation to people, and he will never advocate any "tribute to all countries", because history has proved that the so-called great achievements of Zheng He in the West are just feats for future generations to admire, and they have no substantive significance, and they will disappear in a flash in the pan.

What China in the time of Zheng He. It truly assumes the responsibility of a civilized power, is strong but does not seek hegemony, spreads benevolence and love to friends, proclaims and awards, and has a thick exchange and thin future, all of which are self-absorbed flattery. The real significance is to open up overseas trade routes, even though it has existed for thousands of years as early as the Tang and Song dynasties.

Of course, the face project must be done, and the treasure ships produced by the Longjiang Shipyard will be used to support Zheng He's voyage to the West.

At this time, Xu Hao stood on the high platform at the mouth of the river leading to the Longjiang River, staring at the huge stone sluice that could be opened to drain the water when building a ship. Close the gates. Nearly 10,000 craftsmen are working day and night to build the famous sea ship giant, and seven docks side by side can build more than a dozen sea ships of all kinds at the same time.

The nearby military camp was converted into a navigation academy, training tens of thousands of various talents who had already completed seven voyages to the West, and after a year of repeated persuasion. Zhu Gaochi finally ordered the abolition of the sea ban to a limited extent. But the premise is that the cost of the national treasury is not too large. People are not allowed to move overseas in large numbers.

Xie Jin and other officials frequently praised the incomparable treasure ship, but Xu Hao said to Mu Hui and Mu Yi and the other brothers: "Right now, Baihua's intelligence mentions that the Portuguese State in the Western Continent is also under the instruction of the monarch. Large-scale construction of ocean-going warships began, one east and one west, in order to explore the entire world. ”

Mu Hui said with a smile: "Maybe I will meet on the sea in the future, and then I will let the people know the majesty of my Ming Dynasty, and I have to let the lord of the country come to see His Majesty." ”

Xu Hao smiled and said, "I hope so, too." ”

There are four neat and solemn navigation colleges in the whole Ming Dynasty, in addition to Longjiang College, one is still located in Weihai, Shandong, one is far away in Dalian, and the last one is set in Quanzhou, Fujian.

Xu Hao had already drawn up a detailed plan a few years ago, and it can be said that most of the money he earned over the years was used to invest in improving weapons and preparing for navigation, not to mention the huge returns that would be generated by maritime trade, even if the cost could not be recovered, it would be worth it, and it was necessary to minimize the dependence on the treasury, and try not to give civil officials an excuse to oppose it.

Historically, the Ming Dynasty adopted a state-led ocean-going tribute, while European countries encouraged personal risk-taking, and Xu Hao intended to adopt a do-it-nothing approach, secretly encouraging the Ming to go overseas, ostensibly not supporting or opposing it.

The founding academy is probably listed as the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, of course, going to sea must be approved by the Ministry of War, and the emperor can only implement it after the decree, but the small-scale inspection of the coast is equivalent to military training, and it is also within the scope of the Governor's Office's rights.

An observatory was set up in the academy to recruit people from all over the world who were proficient in geography and cartography, and to hire well-known mathematicians and astronomical calendar families, who, in addition to teaching knowledge, were given official positions such as staff professors, and received a salary to increase their enthusiasm.

At the same time that the imperial court began to prepare for the compilation of the Hongxi Grand Canon, he sent personnel to collect a wide range of documents such as geography, meteorology, trade winds, ocean currents, shipbuilding, navigation, etc., and in order to prevent the destruction of materials caused by fire or human factors, all texts were copied in multiple copies and stored in the libraries of various academies.

Collect and sort out the maps of the past dynasties, train relevant personnel to draw new maps, improve the compass and other navigation instruments, improve the large ships suitable for sailing on the ocean, and put forward the concept of three-masted sailing ship on the basis of the traditional four-cornered sail, so that no matter whether it is downwind or upwind, you only need to adjust the angle of the sail, and no longer depend too much on the wind direction.

Techniques such as sealing cabins are all original inventions of China, and Xu Hao formulated the standard for the main ocean-going warships on the basis of the Ming Dynasty's ability to build large seagoing ships of 1,000 tons.

Adopt the design concept of the three-masted sail battleship, the first class battleship shape is raised and the tail is upturned, the navigation is relatively fast, not afraid of wind and waves, the mainmast is four zhang high, the length of the ship is more than 20 zhang, the cabin is five floors, the surface of the ship is as high as the city, it can accommodate a crew of 300 people, three layers of gun deck, equipped with 68 guns of various types, and a displacement of 1,000 tons.

The second-class three-masted gunboat, which is slightly smaller, has a similar shape, with a two-tier gun deck, about 40 guns, a capacity of 150 people, and a displacement of about 600 tons, and a total of four ships have been built so far. It is characterized by faster sailing and is not afraid of wind and waves, and in the future it will be used as the flagship of overseas patrol detachments of naval divisions in various places.

The third-class three-masted gunboat, which is one size smaller, has a total length of about 13 zhang, a displacement of 400 tons, a crew of 80 people, and 20 guns.

In addition, the construction of traditional large treasure ships, horse ships, grain ships, boats, and war ships has been completed one after another, and the size of the entire fleet has reached 15,000 people, which will increase or decrease in the future according to the actual situation overseas.

If you talk about the comfort of taking a ship, the battleship can never be compared with the Ming Dynasty treasure ship, the marshal's mansion is built on it, just like a palace, divided into two gates and two gates, as well as gorgeous official halls, halls, back halls, side rooms and other facilities.

The carved study and bedroom are ideal for the whole family, with a staggering 7,000-ton carrying capacity, a longitudinal bottom keel, and a multi-layer bottom design, which can be described as both comfort and safety.

In March of the first year of Hongxi, Zheng He led 34 ocean-going expedition sailing ships, set out from Jinling through the Bohai Sea to Dalian, and then obtained supplies along various ports in Korea, continued to Vladivostok in later generations, and advanced all the way north towards the Bering Strait, and began to establish colonial ports after arriving in North America.

Xu Hao hoped that Zheng He would eventually reach South America through the Caribbean and find the various food crops that the Ming Dynasty urgently needed.

In March of the same year, the Ministry of War ordered the assembly of 100 ships of all kinds, with a strength of 8,000 troops, under the command of Mu Yi, the target was Jeju Island in South Korea in the future.

It turned out that according to the latest information, the Yuan Dynasty Governor's Office on Jeju Island has not surrendered to North Korea so far, but Xu Hao immediately decided to send troops to seize it, under the banner of recovering the homeland of the previous dynasty. In history, it was not until decades after the fall of the Yuan Dynasty, that is, around the tenth year of Yongle, that the military and civilians on the island surrendered to Korea.

It is no stranger to Seo Hao of Jeju Island, which is the largest island in South Korea in the later generations, with beautiful scenery and known as Hawaii in South Korea, with high temperatures and abundant rainfall all year round.

From the mouth of the Yangtze River to the northwest, Jeju Island can be reached, and if it can be successfully occupied, then it will be possible to establish a port base and attack Tsushima Island, where the Japanese invaders are entrenched, and the Goto Islands outside Nagasaki, which is only 800 kilometers from Shanghai and less than 300 kilometers from Jeju Island.

The merchant ships sent by Xu Hao brought back a lot of accurate information, at this time Nagasaki was just a desolate place like a fishing village, but there were many ports nearby that had been formed as early as the Tang Dynasty, belonging to the territory of Hizen Province, superior geographical conditions, backward economy and people's livelihood, since the Kamakura period has been the base camp of the pirates.

During the Hongmu Dynasty, more than a decade before and after the Meitoku Rebellion of the Wa Kingdom, the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu succeeded in curbing the expansion of the Hizen Kuniyama clan and reducing his family territory from eleven kingdoms to three kingdoms.

After the Meitoku Rebellion, the traditional powerful Uchisuchi clan owned the territory of the Six Kingdoms and became the most powerful daimyo in Kansai, so they monopolized foreign trade and accumulated a lot of wealth, which made Ashikaga Yoshimitsu turn to plot against the rising Ouchi clan.

In the four years of the Battle of Yasukan, the Onaga Rebellion also broke out in the Wa Kingdom, and Yoshihiro Ouchi was ordered to declare a rebellion against the shogunate on the way to Kyoto, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu, who had been prepared, was appointed as the general and led 36,000 men to attack Yoshihiro Ouchi.

After the death of Yoshihiro Ouchi, the Ouchi clan has been in a slump since then, and the samurai groups in various parts of Hizen Province are like scattered sand, and Ashikaga Yoshimitsu immediately prepared to send an envoy to the Ming Dynasty to congratulate.

That is, because of the death of Ouchi Yoshihiro, the Ouchi family split into two factions, Ouchi Morimi and Ouchi Hiroshige, fighting each other viciously, the battle of Yasukuni ended, and the two factions also after two years of melee, Ouchi Morimi eliminated Ouchi Hiroshige, the last resistance force.

Wa tradition: Whenever a daimyo dies, a large number of ownerless samurai wander around.

In February of this year, the Japanese invaded the area around Songjiang Mansion in the Ming Dynasty, giving Xu Hao the best excuse to send troops, and it also meant that Xu Hao, who could not bear it anymore, decided to retaliate against the Japanese State with a tooth for a tooth.

Because Emperor Gao listed the Wa State as a non-conquest country, Xu Hao did not plan to conquer the Wa State, and after recovering Jeju Island, he would acquiesce in the removal of the Ming military flag and govern his people in his own way! (To be continued......)