In the next few days, Masanori summoned Shuzo again, but this time he also summoned Ashikaga Ikki and the Japanese envoys. After Masanori talked with Tayama Naoyoshi, he issued an edict to Ashikaga Yoshisai,

Ashikaga Yoshizai was again crowned the "King of Japan" and was also rewarded with some property and a Japanese King's Seal representing Ashikaga Yoshizai's status.

Don't underestimate these rewards from Masanori. Although they are not worth much, they represent the attitude of the Ming Dynasty. As long as Ashikaga Yoshiki has these, his reputation will immediately increase, and he will be able to win over more powerful daimyo.

, which is exactly what Ashikaga Yimai needs most.

In addition, what Tayama Shangyi and Ashikaga Ikki did not expect was that after the reward, Emperor Masanori actually announced in person that Zhou Zhong would be appointed as the Admiral of the Four Seas of the Ming Dynasty, taking charge of the maritime affairs of the Ming Dynasty, and would also hand over all matters related to assisting them.

Handle it to Zhou Zhong, which means that if they have anything to do in the future, they only need to contact Zhou Zhong.

Although Tayama Naoyi and Ashikaga Ikki were very shocked by the news, they quickly reacted. They first expressed congratulations to Zhou Zhong, and then began to flatter Zhou Zhong. After all, they were not stupid. They knew that they could do it in the future.

What kind of assistance he gets depends entirely on Zhou Zhong's face.

After meeting Zhengde, Zhou Zhong took Tianshan Shangyi and others out of the palace. As a result, the other party insisted on inviting Zhou Zhong to dinner, and during the meal, he gave Zhou Zhong a gift.

Zhou Chong also accepted the principle of acceptance. After all, he would use people like Tian Shan Shangyi to disrupt the political situation of Japan in the future. It was also necessary to maintain good relations with these people now.

In the afternoon, Zhou Zhong finally got rid of the entanglement of Tianshan Shangyi and others and returned to the mansion in a carriage. However, as soon as he entered the gate, a servant immediately came to report that a guest came to visit him specially.

.

When he heard that someone was coming to visit, Zhou Zhong couldn't help but be a little surprised. Not many people knew about his visit to the capital. In addition, the appointment of Admiral Sihai was only known to a few people and was not spread. However, someone came to visit at this time.

Him. This seems a bit strange.

When Zhou Zhong came to the living room, as soon as he entered the door, he saw a strong old man with a gray beard sitting in the hall drinking tea. When he saw Zhou Zhong coming in, the old man immediately stood up and said with a smile: "This must be

It must be Lord Zhou, Admiral Zhou, the old Jingyang Bo Shenying has met Lord Zhou!"

"Shenying?" Zhou Chong was also surprised when he heard this name. This was the second time he heard this name. Last time, he suggested Zhengde to pay attention to the rebellion of Liu Liu and Liu Qi. However, Zhengde immediately changed his mind without saying a word.

The Beijing camp was sent to suppress the rebellion, and the general leading the Beijing camp was Jingyang Bo Shenying.

"Haha~, it turns out to be the old general God. A few days ago, I heard His Majesty praise the old general for his hard work. Zhou has always wanted to visit you. I didn't expect that the old general came to visit you today. It really makes Zhou very honored!" Zhou Zhong

He also said very affectionately that the admiral of the Four Seas he held was a military position. In the future, he would inevitably have to deal with the army, so it was necessary to have a good relationship with this divine hero now.

Seeing Zhou Zhong's enthusiasm, Shenying also felt flattered. Even though his current official position was higher than Zhou Zhong's, in fact, Shenying's life has not been easy during this period of time. Speaking of which, Shenying was also unlucky. At the beginning of this year

Sometimes, someone accused him of being too old

He is no longer suitable for military service, but Shenying is similar to Zhengde and likes to stay in the army. Moreover, although he is over sixty years old, his body is very strong. Even if he goes into battle to kill the enemy in person, there is no problem, so

There is nothing wrong with being a military commander.

It was Shenying who didn't want to retire from the army, so he thought of a way, which was to bribe Liu Jin, who had not yet fallen. As a result, he not only kept his official position, but also got the title of Count Jingyang, and even pacified An.

When King Hua rebelled, Liu Jin also sent him there, and for a time he enjoyed unlimited glory.

It's a pity that as the saying goes, "For good fortune comes misfortune", Shenying never expected that Liu Jin, who was once so powerful, would suddenly fall, and the former eunuchs would also be liquidated. What's even more unfortunate is that he also

He was targeted by the imperial censor, and was even included in a book that included him among the eunuchs. As a result, he was worried these days and had even prepared to return to his hometown after becoming an official.

Prepared, but unexpectedly, he was unexpectedly turned around. He was actually ordered by Zhengde to lead the troops and perform meritorious service. This made Shenying ecstatic, and after many inquiries, he knew that the suppression of the overlord's rebellion was thanks to Zhou Chong's suggestion, which made Shenying

Shenying was also very grateful. He had wanted to visit the palace for a long time, but he was busy with the expedition these days, so he finally found time today.

Zhou Zhong had some guesses about Shenying's purpose of coming, and he also wanted to make friends with the other party, so he was very enthusiastic about Shenying. After ordering people to serve tea again, he started chatting with Shenying, and he also took advantage of the opportunity.

Taking this opportunity, I asked Shenying about the situation of the Ming army.

Shenying was also grateful to Zhou Zhong, and naturally knew all about Zhou Zhong's problems. According to him, the highest military organization in the Ming Dynasty was called the Fifth Army Dudufu. It was originally called the Dadudufu, but Zhu Yuanzhang felt that it was too big.

The power of the Dudu's Palace was too heavy, so the Dudu's Palace was divided into five, namely front, back, left, right and center, which commanded the capital camp and the guards in various places.

However, the Governor-General of the Five Armies only has the power to command troops, but does not have the power to mobilize troops. The Ministry of War has the power to mobilize troops but not to command troops. The two restrain each other. However, during the Zhengde period, the Governor-General of the Five Armies has lost its political participation and deliberation power and has become controlled by the Ministry of War.

, an institution that could only simply execute orders, which also marked the decline of the power of the Ming Dynasty’s warriors.

Zhou Zhong was most concerned about the combat effectiveness of the Ming army. After all, he was about to lead his troops to sea. Although Shenying was an army general, things in the army were all the same, and he must know better than himself.

In response to Zhou Zhong's question, Shenying showed a wry smile. It turned out that according to Shenying's knowledge, most of the guardsmen across the country have been rotten, and the only army with real combat effectiveness is the Beijing camp.

And the northern frontier army, the Beijing camp is divided into three major battalions, namely the Fifth Army Battalion, the Three Thousand Battalion and the Shenji Battalion. The 12th Regiment Battalion selected from these three battalions has frequent drills and has considerable combat effectiveness, but

The Beijing camp is stationed in the capital all year round, and there are few opportunities for actual combat.

Compared with the Jingying camp, the frontier army stationed in the north is the most effective army of the Ming Dynasty. The frontier army does not refer to a specific army, but refers to the general name of the army stationed in Gansu, Liang, Su, Xi, Ningxia and other border areas.

, these troops are stationed on the border all year round, and have to fight with the Mongols who go south almost every year.

When it comes to war, it can be said that the actual combat capability is extremely strong. Although the capital also has a certain degree of combat effectiveness, compared with the frontier army, it is useless. However, the frontier army has a heavy responsibility and cannot leave the border lightly. Therefore,

When something happened in the Ming Dynasty, the most they could do was mobilize the capital camp to put down the rebellion.

After introducing Lu Ying, Zhou Zhong asked Shenying again about the navy of the Ming Dynasty, but Shenying smiled bitterly, shook his head and said: "Master Zhou, since the sea ban, my Ming Dynasty has not paid much attention to the navy.

I heard that you are from Songjiang, so you must also know something about the coastal guards. The soldiers of the coastal guards are actually the navy, but now I’m afraid they don’t even have ships!”

After hearing Shenying's words, Zhou Zhong also nodded with a wry smile. He also saw with his own eyes the Qingcun Qianhu Institute on the other side of Songjiang. The military households in the entire Qianhu Institute had long become tenant farmers of the officers.

They have little fighting power, and at most they can block roads with weapons to collect taxes. The entire Qianhu Station doesn't even have a boat.

"Old General Shen, most of the guard posts along the coast are in dire straits. I know this, but there are still two relatively complete naval divisions stationed in Guangzhou and Ningbo. Those two naval divisions should still have a certain amount of strength.

Combat strength, right?" Zhou Zhong opened his weapon again at this time.

Guangzhou and Ningbo were tributary ports for overseas vassals, and Zhou Chong had long admired the two navies there, and he had already planned to integrate the two navies after taking office.

For the direct army of himself, the admiral of the world.

However, when Zhou Zhong mentioned the two naval divisions in Guangzhou and Ningbo, Shenying still frowned and said: "Master Zhou, although I don't know much about the naval divisions, they are all similar in fighting. As far as I know

, although the two navies in Guangzhou and Ningbo are relatively complete in structure, they also have a lot of warships.

, but in recent decades, our Ming Dynasty has never encountered any enemies from the sea. Even if the navy continues to train, I am afraid that the best result will be the same as the Beijing camp. They are just superficial goods used to deal with those rebellious people at home.

OK, but if it is used to fight against foreign enemies, the situation may not be optimistic!"

Hearing Shenying's analysis, Zhou Zhongye suddenly felt as if someone had poured cold water on him, and his mind suddenly sobered up. Although Shenying's words were not pleasant, what he said was true. The reason why Ming Dynasty retained Guangzhou

The purpose of the two naval divisions in Ningbo is not to fight.

, but to show their military force to the tributary countries. In other words, the two naval forces are just the same. In addition, they are far away from the capital. I am afraid that the generals of the two naval forces are not very interested in training.

As a result, the two naval forces probably have no fighting capability at all.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chong's mood suddenly became heavy. He didn't understand military affairs in the first place. In addition to introducing some more advanced weapons, he didn't know how to increase the combat effectiveness of the army. Originally, he hoped to take over two retained

A navy with a certain fighting ability, plus him

He also knew very well about the Portuguese attack on Malacca. If he chose the right time to attack Malacca, he would definitely be able to defeat the Portuguese. However, he missed one point. If the two naval forces had no fighting capacity, even a sneak attack would be useless.
Chapter completed!