Chapter 35 Commander (6) Lu Shunde is in his forties, quite tall, his whole face is frosty, and his eyes are as sharp as eagles.

He looked at Hong Tiangui, who was wearing a royal robe, and bowed down respectfully!

"The last general, Lu Shunde, has seen His Majesty the Heavenly King!"

Hong Tiangui pulled him up, smiled and said, "General Lu has worked hard!" The king has ordered someone to prepare a banquet to catch the wind! ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Lu Shunde opened his mouth, as if he had something to say.

"General Lu doesn't have to worry, you can settle the soldiers under your command first, and this king will inspect the whole army later!"

"Yes!" Lu Shunde clenched his fists, and then quickly commanded his fleet to dock towards the dock.

The wharf of Tianjing City is very large, in the Manchu Dynasty is one of the largest wharves in the south of the Yangtze River, after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom occupied Tianjing, the wharf here was depressed a lot, and the shipping boomed, so that the wharf along the coast quickly surpassed the inland wharf of Tianjing City.

The ships docked, and then groups of soldiers disembarked from the army, lined up in front of the docks, and headed for the city.

The army led by Lu Shunde was a temporary patchwork army, but along the way, Lu Shunde used it to exterminate the water bandits, but the entire army was kneaded together, and now it looks much more neat and mighty.

Hong Tiangui looked at this army, his face full of joy.

He had already heard the origin of this army from Lu Shunde's mouth, only the five brigades of this provisional army were elite, and the others were all supplementary hardcovers, and the combat effectiveness was inferior to that of the young army. But the advantage of this army is that the squire has very little influence on it, and it is easier to control it himself. What's more, Lu Shunde is proficient in water warfare, which is a naval army given to him by God.

The kings of the front line can not pay attention to the construction of the navy, but Hong Tiangui cannot, if he wants to keep the Tianjing City, he must have a capable naval army to swim on the Yangtze River to ensure inland shipping.

After inspecting the whole army, Lu Shunde led his four division commanders to the Tianwang Mansion to participate in Hong Tiangui's banquet.

"Your Majesty, the ministers are now out of the command of the King, and from today onwards, they will only obey the orders of His Majesty the Heavenly King!" Lu Shunde was the first to speak, and the other four division commanders had calm faces, obviously they had such an awareness before they came, and then this opportunity to show their loyalty.

Hong Tiangui smiled and said, "General Lu is loyal to the country, and this king is grateful, but this king seems to be better at water warfare?" I wonder if the general is willing to rebuild the naval army for this king? ”

Hong Tiangui is not polite, time is not waiting, Lu Shunde's qualifications determine that he will be tied to the kingdom of heaven, Hong Tiangui is willing to believe in him and reuse him.

Lu Shunde's face changed, and he showed a complicated expression.

"I wonder how large the naval army Your Majesty wants to build?" Before the Heavenly Kingdom's naval army was not small, but unfortunately because of the backwardness of the warships, it has been pressed by the Manchu Qing Dynasty in the inland river, and even most of them later went ashore to become infantry troops. This made Lu Shunde dare not believe Hong Tiangui's idea of building a naval army at will.

"How big does the general think it takes to build a fleet capable of crisscrossing the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River?" Hong Tiangui asked in a deep voice.

Lu Shunde said without thinking: "Your Majesty, now the Heavenly Navy's navy is not facing the problem of people, but warships, the subordinates came all the way from the south of the Yangtze River, exterminated 20 large and small water bandits along the way, and captured hundreds of large and small warships, but these ships are all old wooden ships except for the British steamer, which can only be used in real naval battles." And if the Kingdom of Heaven wants to completely defeat the Manchu Shimizu Division, it needs at least ten or more steamships as the main force. ”

"Ten steamers? Even if the king has the heart, I am afraid that it will be difficult to buy it in a short time. The shipbuilding industry under the command of the Heavenly Kingdom is withering, and at most it can produce some wooden warships, which cannot be changed in a short time. Hong Tiangui smiled bitterly.

King Gan has been contacting Britain and France, but unfortunately because the army of King Zhong is pressing on the front line in Shanghai, and now the Manchu garrisons around Shanghai have almost been purged, King Zhong may launch an attack on Shanghai at any time, so no foreigners in Shanghai have paid attention to King Gan's contact, and Hong Tiangui is also helpless, let alone buying Western warships.

Lu Shunde was silent, he naturally understood the difficulties of the Kingdom of Heaven, otherwise he would not have targeted the water bandits along the way, now he has more than 100 ships, most of them are useless fishing boats, and there are only seven or eight of them with combat effectiveness, and most of the ships are earthen cannons, and they can barely cross the tributaries, and they are a little weak in the face of the big ships of the Manshui Division on the vast surface of the Yangtze River.

"General Lu, this king knows that it may be a bit abrupt to say this, but this king hopes that you can be the commander of the Heavenly Navy, responsible for preparing for the construction of the real navy of the Heavenly Kingdom, and this king will allocate 1 million taels of silver for the construction of the navy, is General Lu willing?" Hong Tiangui said in a deep voice.

Lu Shunde's expression was full of confusion, the commander of the navy, he has risen in rank, but if he really wants to build a naval division, most of the provisional army under his command will be handed over, after all, it is impossible for the newly built navy to use more than 10,000 people.

Hong Tiangui was not in a hurry, but just looked at Lu Shunde quietly.

In the end, Lu Shunde gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, if Your Majesty agrees to the minister's three conditions, the minister will go to prepare for the construction of the navy!" ”

"General, please!"

"First, I will bring all the men and horses under my command into the navy; Second, His Majesty allocates at least 1,000,000 taels of silver every year for the construction of the navy; Thirdly, the Navy is not an Army, and Navy soldiers will no longer participate in the Army's battles in the future. After Lu Shunde finished speaking, he looked at Hong Tiangui with anticipation.

Hong Tiangui smiled slightly and said, "General Lu's mind is understandable, but the navy is not the army, and not everyone can become a navy. For the first article of the general, this king wants to change it for you, and the first thousand people of the navy are enough, but this thousand people this king allows you to choose from the entire army under the command of this king. Article 2 The king has no opinion, the king understands the importance of the navy, and the amount of silver allocated to the navy every year will only increase, not decrease. As for the third article, this king can also promise you, and even this king can promise you that the specific battle of the navy can be decided by itself. ”

Seeing what Hong Tiangui said categorically, Lu Shunde showed an excited look on his face. He stood up, knelt on one knee, and said loudly: "The last admiral and naval commander, Lu Shunde greets His Majesty the Heavenly King!" ”

Hong Tiangui smiled and asked him to get up, and then Hong Tiangui announced the reward for the new soldiers of the Shiwang Army, and gave a day off like the original young army, and the whole Tianjing City was lively all of a sudden.

Lu Shunde acted extremely quickly, he transferred the original brigade of men and horses under his command, and then selected 500 people from the entire army, this more than 1,000 people formally established the Heavenly Navy, in order to distinguish the original Heavenly Navy, they took the navy as the name, Hong Tiangui personally appointed it as the first fleet of the navy.