"How can it be so easy to build a navy? Japan has not built a Western-style sailing ship that can conduct long-sea operations for more than 20 years. There are not many craftsmen left who made the Date Maru... and Japan has also

There are not enough sailors, and with Japan’s current capabilities, it is already very difficult to maintain the logistics of crossing the sea and conquering the imperial court. How can there be any spare capacity to develop a navy?”

Tadakatsu Sakai, the elder, immediately expressed Tokugawa Iemitsu's thoughts. Japan's maritime embargo was actually an act of self-destruction of martial arts! Although the embargo did not last long, it still affected Japan's shipbuilding and navigation industry.

Caused huge damage.

Before Japan gave up on going to the sea and fell into self-isolation, the shogunate relied on the assistance of Spanish and Portuguese engineers and mobilized 800 shipbuilders, 700 blacksmiths and 3,000 carpenters to complete the Date Maru armed galenic ship in only 45 days.

Built. This armed Galen ship has a light load displacement of up to 500 tons and is equipped with 16 guns. The load tonnage is estimated to be between two and three hundred tons. It is no less than the 300 load capacity used by the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy for the Luzon expedition.

A ton-sized Dutch Galen ship!

Today, Japan has not built a "big-sea ship" with a load capacity of more than 500 materials for many years! Moreover, these "big-sea ships" do not have the ability to sail across the ocean. They can only wander around the coast of the Japanese archipelago, and at most go across the sea.

Korea.

If the Korean naval forces had not scrapped themselves after the "Imjin Japanese Rebellion" ended, Tokugawa Iemitsu's campaign would probably have turned into a battle to defend Kyushu.

However, even if the imperial conquest campaign went smoothly, Japan's lack of naval power was also clearly revealed in this war.

When Toyotomi Hideyoshi launched the Korean conquest thirty or forty years ago, Japan's navy was still able to send hundreds of thousands of invading troops to Korean soil.

But now in this campaign of conquest, the total force deployed by the Tokugawa Shogunate on the Korean Peninsula was only 30,000. Just transporting these 30,000 people to Korea and providing supplies made the Tokugawa Shogunate's navy complain endlessly.

Because they invested too few troops, the Japanese troops who entered Korea were unable to expand their results. They originally wanted to occupy Jeolla Province and Gyeongsang Province, but now they cannot even occupy Gyeongsang Province. They only occupied Jeolla Province.

The southern coastal areas of Gyeongsang-do and some offshore islands as well as the entire Jeju Island.

If not for the fierce offensive of the Qing army on the northern front, they occupied most of Gangwon Province and Gyeonggi Province, and also invaded the northern part of Gyeongsang Province that was originally occupied by the Japanese army. They occupied the two large cities of Sangju and Gyeongju, and joined forces with the Japanese army.

The outcome of the Tokugawa shogunate's conquest of Korea was probably not much better than the outcome of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's conquest of Korea.

However, the Joseon Kingdom, which lost Pyongan Province, Hamgyeong Province, the entire Hwanghae Province, Gangwon Province, Gyeonggi Province, most of Gyeongsang Province, and part of Jeolla Province, still survived with the support of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty and the Netherlands jointly captured Luzon, which made Tokugawa Iemitsu and the senior officials of the shogunate feel extremely worried.

Once the Ming Dynasty's naval power was diverted to the coast of Korea, the Tokugawa Shogunate's campaign to conquer the country might suffer a disastrous defeat, and even the mainland might be invaded by the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the conservative faction in the shogunate, led by the elder Sakai Tadakatsu, wanted to imitate the Muromachi shogunate and pretend to be a vassal in order to avoid the attack of the Ming Dynasty.

"Actually, the gap between the naval strength of Japan and Ming Dynasty is not big. It is completely feasible to start catching up now!" Matsudaira Nobutsuna, as Tokugawa Iemitsu's "jindai" (that is, Iemitsu's representative), presided over the campaign to enter the imperial court.

Of course, he also deeply realized the weakness of the Japanese navy, so he advocated vigorously developing the navy. In his view, the gap between the Chinese and Japanese navies was not insurmountable.

Nobutsuna paused and then said: "Because whether it is the Ming-style bird ship, Fu ship, Guangzhou ship, or the Japanese-style Anzha ship, the Da'an house ship has been eliminated by the times and can only be used for maritime transportation.

It cannot be used in naval battles."

"Really?" Tokugawa Iemitsu asked with interest, "What kind of ships can be used for naval battles nowadays?"

"Of course it's a Western-style Galenic galleon...it should be equipped with at least 16 broadside cannons, just like a ship like the Date Maru!"

Matsudaira Nobutsuna said to Tokugawa Iemitsu: "It took Japan 45 days to build one Date Maru. Now we can also build ten or even fifteen Date Maru in 450 days. If two of them arrive

It is entirely possible to build thirty or forty Date Maru ships in three years!

If there are thirty or forty Date Maru ships, Japan can become a maritime power like Spain, the Netherlands, and Portugal, and it will be no problem to fight against the Ming Dynasty."

Sakai Tadakatsu snorted: "Izu Mamoru (Matsuhira Nobutsuna's official position), don't you know that when the Date Maru was built, the shogunate hired many Spanish and Portuguese masters? And most of the sailors who operated the Date Maru were also

He's Spanish... We may be able to hire great craftsmen in Shanghai and Macau, but what about sailors?"

Shipbuilding engineers are actually easy to get, you just have to pay for them. Because the output of Sado Jinshan and Iwami Ginzan is still very high, the current Tokugawa shogunate is still quite rich, but sailors are not easy to deal with. At that time, Spain

The ship on which the Governor of the Philippines was traveling was lost off the coast of Japan, and more than 200 people on board were picked up by the Japanese. The sailors who controlled the Date Maru were among these 200 people.

But these people are no longer in Japan. It’s not that Japan has no sailors, but its base is too small and cannot be compared with the Ming Dynasty. Now the maritime trade in East Asia and Southeast Asia is actually in the hands of Chinese merchants. At least some

Thousands of ships ply the seas in East and Southeast Asia. In Japan, due to the maritime ban for many years, private sea trade has ceased to exist. Only official overseas trade under the leadership of the shogunate remains. Only a few ships travel to North Korea. It is rare to go to Siam.

Luo, Annan.

So it is no exaggeration to say that Ming's "sailor resources" are at least 1,000 times that of Japan!

In the 17th century, those who could rival the Ming Dynasty in the number of sailors were the first-class maritime powers such as the Netherlands, Britain, Spain, and Portugal.

Of course, although there are many sailors in the Ming Dynasty, there are only a handful of sailors who can sail the ocean routes with soft sails. But sailors who can't sail the oceans with soft sails are better than landlubbers who get dizzy after getting on board!

And now there are Dutch people teaching you, you can always learn soft sailing. As for sailing on the ocean, it is nothing more than learning to use instruments such as quadrants, right angles, and quadrants to measure the dimensions of the earth, and at the same time, learning to use the changes in the waxing and waning of the moon to calculate

Longitude...then it's time to accumulate experience and charts.

Among them, instruments such as the quadrant, the right angle meter, and the quadrant are very simple and not complicated to use. It is not a secret to guess the longitude by looking at the moon, and it is easy to obtain. The only difficulty is the nautical chart, but in East Asia and Southeast Asia

Sailing was not a problem for Ming sailors.

"If we don't have ships, we can build them!" Matsudaira Nobutsuna said firmly, "If we don't have sailors, we can learn from the Westerners... As long as we are determined, we will be able to build enough to fight against the Ming Dynasty within a few years.

The navy. Our Japanese samurai are not afraid of committing seppuku, how can they still be afraid of the ocean?"

"Maybe before we can build up a naval force that can fight against the Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty will come to conquer us!" Sakai Tadakatsu shook his head, "And who can we learn from? The Netherlands has been attracted by the Ming Dynasty, and

Spain and Portugal...are eyeing Japan again!"

"Compared with the threat from the Ming Dynasty," Matsudaira Nobutsuna said word for word, "Spain and Portugal are nothing! Moreover, Spain has lost Luzon Island and has no stronghold that can threaten Japan's security, so

There is no need for Japan to treat Spain and Portugal as enemies. Besides, Spain will not be reconciled to losing Luzon. If they want revenge, they can only join forces with Japan!

Therefore, I request His Highness to decisively end the seclusion of the country, implement the method of reform and founding the country, learn the art of Western navigation, establish a Western-style navy, and compete with the Ming Dynasty on the sea!"

With a "pop" sound, Tokugawa Iemitsu slammed the tatami with the fan in his hand, and then said loudly: "Yasi! What Izu said is exactly what I want... Japan must be more open to the method of seclusion for the founding and reform of the country."

, compete with the Ming Dynasty!
Chapter completed!