In the middle of October of the second year of Hongwu, in Weihaiwei Military Port, Emperor Sima Shu led a large number of senior military generals to come here to prepare to observe the actual combat exercises held by the Admiralty at close range, so as to judge the effectiveness of the Navy's training in the past two years.

The sun slowly sets over the mountain beams, and the sunset reflects the western sky in a fiery red.

Located at the northeastern tip of the Shandong Peninsula, Weihai Weijun Port was busy, and the Emperor of the Great Jin Empire, Sima Shuzheng, together with Zuo Shilang, the head of the Admiralty, Zhu Zheng, the governor of the Second Fleet, Li Jun, the commander of the First Fleet, and Wang Wei, the chief of the Marine Corps, were making pre-war preparations in the Liugong Island Naval Base.

The actual combat exercise organized by the Navy was aimed at seizing Jeju Island, and the main purpose was to practice the Navy's ability to conduct landing operations. Ever since Sima Shu revealed his intention to take Jeju Island, the navy has taken this as a goal to motivate itself to progress.

After a year-long preparation, the Admiralty resolutely came up with this plan for the actual combat exercise of seizing Jeju Island when the two major fleets of the Navy had initially formed their combat strength, and prepared to report to the emperor the results of the Navy's training over the past two years. Prior to this, the navy had conducted a number of landing operations along the coast of Qingzhou and had accumulated a certain amount of combat experience.

Jeju Island is also known as Tamna Country, some people say that there are thousands of households, but there are no more than 10,000 soldiers, and the combat effectiveness is very low. Basically, it will not pose much of a threat to the army, which is why the Admiralty chose Jeju Island as the first real combat target.

"Zhu Aiqing, how are the preparations for the battle going?" Sima Shu was still a little worried in his heart, after all, this was the first time that the navy had gone abroad to conduct an island landing operation, although the enemy was very weak. But the unpredictable climate at sea is the biggest threat to the navy.

"Your Majesty, now the minister knows how difficult it is to put his ideas into practice! The complexity of the operation on Jeju Island far exceeded the initial estimates of our Admiralty Division. Although the military division has considered many problems in advance, such as they have stockpiled enough military supplies in advance, expanded the production capacity of ships, recruited and trained sailors, and even conducted corresponding drills in logistics medical camps. But now our biggest problem is how to safely transport tens of thousands of troops to Jeju Island! ”

"Your Majesty, this question may seem simple, but it has many unpredictable dangers. One of the most threatening is unpredictable weather conditions, and in the event of a storm or other bad weather, it will greatly disadvantage the actions of the fleet. ”

"According to the news from the Military Intelligence Agency, Jeju Island is 350 nautical miles from Weihaiwei Military Port, taking the 'Weihaiwei' fourth-class sail battleship as an example. When sailing at sea. Taking into account the factors of ocean current and wind direction, the average speed is about 4 knots, with a maximum speed of 8 knots when downwind and a minimum speed of only 2 knots when headwind. ”

That is to say. Ideally. The Weihaiwei can sail 192 miles in 24 hours. It takes less than two days to get to Jeju Island from Weihaiwei. But in fact, we found out in training that warships cannot walk in a straight line at sea. In order to obtain favorable wind direction and ocean currents, it is common to take a more tortuous route. Based on the experience of several naval visits, it is estimated that the voyage from Weihaiwei to Jeju Island will take about six days. ”

"In these six days, nearly 10,000 troops drifted on the sea, and the consumption of materials alone was a lot! In order to ensure the smooth operation of seizing Jeju Island, the Admiralty mobilized a total of about 80 Fuchuan ships to ensure logistical supply, of which there were 20 Fukufu ships with 500 materials alone! ”

"Which overseer is your Admiralty going to use as the main force in this combat mission?"

"Your Majesty, in order to seize Jeju Island, the Second Fleet will act as the main attacking force, and the First Fleet, that is, the Offshore Fleet, will act as a logistical support force."

"How is the training of the Second Fleet? How are you adapting to the new warship? ”

"Your Majesty, after a period of exploration, coupled with the support provided by Your Majesty. Our navy has already explored some new tactics and put forward the concept of 'battle lines'. ”

Sima Shu was a little overjoyed when he heard this, he didn't expect the navy to carry out such a good change in tactics. First of all, let's explain what a battle line is, during the entire period of the Sail Age and later the Steam Age, when naval warfare was carried out, the fleets of the two warring sides each lined up in a single column to enter the combat area, and after reaching the firing range, they fired at each other, and if you look down from the air, you will see that there are parallel lines formed by two sailing ships connected end to end, and the inside of the two lines is filled with gunsmoke (of course, in a windless state). And this straight line composed of battleships is called the "battleline", from which the name "battleship" comes from.

"Your Majesty, in the course of previous exercises, the officers and men of the Navy have found that the direction of the wind has a great influence on the tactical choice of warships, and the relative position of two sailing ships or two fleets depending on the direction of the wind involves the most important tactical issues, and it is also one of the issues that our admirals are most concerned about."

It was for this reason that the ministers chose to use troops on Jeju Island near winter, when the northwest wind was blowing on the sea, which was conducive to the exercise of the navy to gain the upper hand. The significant advantage of a ship gaining the upper hand is the ability to enter and withdraw from battle at will, as well as to create a favorable offensive posture when choosing a method of attack. The ships that had the upper hand could not attack, their combat situation was limited to defense, and they could only fight according to the enemy's intentions. ”

"And we are considering tactics to gain the upper hand, also to prevent the enemy from using fire attacks under the dog's rush to jump over the wall."

Sima Shu was stunned when he heard this, but he didn't expect that the navy was quite closely considered, and in the era of sails, the rational use of arson ships often played a decisive role in the outcome of the battle, although it was only an accessory to the fleet.

For wooden ships of this time, arson ships resembled modern torpedoes. The hulls of ships in the Age of Sail were made of wood, and the power of an arsonist ship was that once it collided with an enemy ship, it would cause the enemy ship to burn until it burned up.

Historically, there have been many naval battles in which arsonists have participated and played a decisive role, and in 1588, Spain and England fought a major battle in the Flemish Sea. Taking advantage of the favorable winds, the British arsonist ship rushed to the Spanish "Armada".

The "Invincible Armada" was destroyed in this battle, and the greatest contributor was obviously the arsonist ship.

And the wind direction at this time is obviously not conducive to the opponent's use of fire attack!

"Hehe, it seems that your navy really does not take the enemy seriously, and also, with the strength of Jeju Island, it is impossible to pose a threat to our fleet at sea. But Zhu Aiqing, I still have a question. Sima Shu has no doubts about the navy's choice to fight with the upper hand, and to tell the truth, it doesn't matter whether the navy chooses to have the upper hand or the upper hand.

"Your Majesty, please correct!" Zhu Zheng was stunned when he heard this, and then arched his hand.

"Although you avoided the possibility of arson by the enemy in the direction of the wind, when we approached Jeju Island, the effect of the wind was already very small, if the enemy sent small boats to the approaching fleet to set fire, how should your fleet respond? Or how will our fleet defend against enemy fire in naval battles in the future? ”

"Please rest assured that Your Majesty has many small ships and Cangshan ships in the main fleet, especially the Cangshan ships, although they do not play a role in sea battles, their movements are flexible and extremely fast, and they can completely intercept the opponent's small boats and not make the other party have any possibility of approaching." Zhu Zheng replied confidently.

"Well, very good, it seems that your navy has been doing well in the past two years. By the way, Aiqing will introduce me to the combat power of the main battleship, I am now curious to know how strong the fourth-tier battleship is! ”

"Yes, Your Majesty, the Navy's newest battleship 'Weihaiwei' is a fourth-class double-deck battleship, equipped with a total of 74 front-loading smoothbore guns. According to different uses, this kind of gun is divided into two categories: one is a naval gun with strong penetration and a long range; The second is a mortar with a relatively short range but great destructive power. ”

"In terms of ammunition selection, the Navy currently has three main types: one is a solid bullet used to destroy the enemy's hull; the second is a shotgun used to kill and injure enemy personnel, which is often referred to as a flowering bullet; The third is a chain bomb used to destroy the mast of an enemy ship and incapacitate it in order to capture it. ”

"In this conquest of Jeju Island, the fleet mainly used flowering shells and solid shells, mainly to provide fire cover for the landing force and kill and injure the enemy resistance forces."

"Oh? Your navy has mastered the coordinated operation of infantry artillery? Sima Shu was taken aback, he didn't expect the navy to have such a tactic, which was a killer tactic to seize the islands in the sea in the future.

"This, this, in fact, is not mastery. In the beginning, in order to avoid accidental damage, our fleet first implemented fire coverage on the target, and when the time was ripe, the marines launched a landing operation. And now that the Navy has mastered a little coordination, at least the Marines can attack amid the roar of naval guns. ”

"Okay, very good, after Aiqing's actual battle this time, I hope the navy can practice this tactic well, and we will use it when we seize other islands in the future."

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

In the following three days, Sima Shu, accompanied by the admirals, conducted many deductions before the war, striving to be foolproof. Three days later, the expeditionary fleet consisting of the first and second detachments officially set off from Weihaiwei Harbor.

A total of 12,000 officers and men were dispatched on this expedition, including 6,000 marines, 3,000 logistics and transport personnel, and a total of 150 ships, more than half of which were logistics ships transporting supplies.

"Aiqing, this is the first ocean-going operation of the navy to Jeju Island, I hope that all the princes can cooperate, and I will wait for the good news on Liugong Island!" Sima Shu took the hand of Zhu Zheng, commander-in-chief of the Jeju Island Campaign, and earnestly instructed that the navy in this battle can be described as an elite all-out battle, and it is a rare actual combat exercise.

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, the ministers will live up to Your Majesty's trust, and will definitely turn Jeju Island into the territory of my Great Jin!" (To be continued......)