Chapter 1884 Military Exercise in Zhongzuo City

Xu Xinsu's statement is no exaggeration. If Haihan hadn't intervened in the situation in Fujian, Zheng Zhilong might have killed Xu Xinsu long ago and then went ashore to clear his name, gain an official position and turn tens of thousands of pirate soldiers into Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers. By then Haihan would have forced

Due to the situation, it is very likely that the person to befriend will be Zheng Zhilong, and then there will be no Xu family who is covering the sky with one hand in Fujian today.

However, the actual situation is actually more complicated than Xu Xinsu said. Haihan sent troops to intervene in the situation in Fujian not only because of the dispute between Shibazhi and Xu Xinsu, but more importantly, there was support from Western colonial countries behind Shibazhi, and Haihan

If Han wanted to gain control of the Fujian Strait, he could not allow Shibazhi to truly take shape, so it was imperative to send troops. As for choosing Xu Xinsu as a support target, it was more or less a matter of course, but the subsequent development of the situation proved that Haihan had

This investment was extremely cost-effective, and in just a few years, he had a loyal ally and a powerful auxiliary army in the Ming Dynasty.

Xu Xinsu has carefully studied how the Haihan people started to prosper, continued to expand externally, and developed step by step to where they are today. He knew that there were some things that he could not imitate, such as the many black and white weapons in the hands of the Haihan people that were difficult to copy.

Technology, but the lowest threshold is in the military field, and Haihan can provide the greatest support.

Now even if Shibazhi comes back from the dead and returns to Fujian, Xu Xinsu will no longer feel nervous about it. He doesn't even need Haihan's help. His troops with advanced equipment and rich combat experience are enough to clean up the war in the past.

The arrogant Shiba Zhi in the Fujian Strait.

Although Xu Xinsu's investment in the military is large, the returns are also quite generous. It is precisely because Xu Xinsu has continuously allocated huge military expenditures to his troops year after year to improve their equipment and training levels, and even spent a lot of money to send them overseas to participate in the Haihan Army.

Taking the lead in organizing military operations, the Fujian Army now enjoys the title of "Little Han Army" in the Ming Dynasty, and even the imperial court has no way to do anything about it.

After Li Huang landed on Xiamen Island, he soon saw the Zhongzuosuo City, which Xu Xinsu was proud of. Although Li Huang's military knowledge was very limited, it was not difficult for him to see that the defense line of this city was similar to that of his own country.

The Datong River base is similar to the Zhangzhou city defense that we have seen before. The city wall defense line is not a straight line, but is concave and convex in a zigzag shape.

According to Xu Xinsu's explanation, this is a Haihan-style defense line construction method. The purpose is to allow the defenders to form cross defensive firepower when encountering an siege, thereby increasing the efficiency of killing the enemy. However, the wall of Zhongzuo City

There is still a gap in height and thickness compared to Zhangzhou City. As for the Datong River Base, due to the limited construction period, there was no time to build the entire city wall. Most of the sections were just trenches used as bunkers and protection for the combatants.

In fact, his ability is not as good as that of Zhongzuosuo City.

Although the scale of the city defenses varied, Li Bo could indeed see the obvious Haihan style. After they boarded the city wall, Li Bo even noticed the artillery deployed on the city wall with the words "Haihan" engraved on its body.

The words "Ordnance Industry" are followed by a string of symbols that Li Bo cannot understand. This shows that it comes from the arsenal in Sanya and is authentically made in Haihan - this is comparable to the second-hand Spanish goods that Shi Diwen sold to the Ming Army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang in Zhoushan.

Be more advanced.

The guns and cannons equipped by the Fujian Ming Army were all made by Haihan, which made Li Fu very envious. Before he went abroad, he heard the military judge Shen Jingzhen mentioned that North Korea originally planned to purchase large quantities of weapons from Haihan, but the budget was limited.

You can't buy much at all. If the weapons and equipment are not in place, the formation and training of the new army will be greatly affected, and the formation of combat effectiveness will be further delayed. However, it is said that Haihan Bank can provide special loans, but let North Korea take them.

The mineral deposits were used as collateral, but the results had not yet been reached when Li Bo left North Korea, so it is not yet known whether this road will work.

But Xu Xinsu has a rich family, so she certainly doesn’t have to be so embarrassed when buying weapons from Haihan. In fact, most of the time, it is Haihan who takes the initiative to control the number of weapons sold to Fujian for safety reasons, rather than whether Xu Xinsu can afford them.

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The next drill conducted by Xu Xinsu's troops was indeed exactly the same as that of the Haihan Army. The formations in combat conditions were 70% or 80% similar to what Li Bo had seen at the Datong River base. If it were replaced by the Shanghai Han Army,

With his outfit and the conspicuous red and blue flags, Li Bo felt that he might really be able to frighten his opponents on the battlefield.

Li Bo actually wanted to find some faults in this military exercise to prove that the gap between the Fujian Ming Army and the Korean Army was not that big, but he soon discovered that this idea was in vain. This military exercise was piled up with money.

The troops are not young soldiers. Xu Xinsu organized and trained them according to the standards of the Haihan combat troops. They also had many opportunities to fight side by side with the Haihan army. Their actual combat effectiveness was far better than that of the ordinary Ming army, let alone facing the Haihan army.

The Qing cavalry was almost defenseless against the Korean army. The performance of this Ming army in the exercise was indeed worthy of their title of "Little Han Army".

This reminded Li Bo of a Chinese proverb he heard when he visited Zhoushan Island: Money is not everything, but no money is absolutely impossible. Xu Xinsu was able to build a strong army by spending a lot of money, but North Korea did not have it.

Without money, it is difficult to effectively improve the combat effectiveness of the country's army. No matter how high your ambition is, you still have to talk with money in the end. If you don't have real money, don't think about dreaming about building a strong country all day long. Daydreaming is more like a daydream.

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Everyone wants to imitate Haihan's successful model and have an armed force as powerful as Haihan's army, but only a handful of people are truly qualified to realize this vision. In terms of North Korea's current conditions, it is impossible to

There are only two ways to raise military expenses as soon as possible. One is to exchange minerals and natural resources for special loans provided by Haihan Bank. The other is to follow Annan's approach and directly exchange population and land for weapons and other military resources.

Judging from the current situation, North Korea is unwilling to easily transfer population and land to Haehan. The second route is probably unavailable, so the only way left is to pledge resources. But what can be done from this as a condition of transaction?

Li Bo doesn't know how much weapons and equipment Haihan received in exchange. Even according to the current most optimistic estimates, the size of North Korea's new army will not exceed 5,000 people.

When Li Bo was in Zhoushan, he also had brief contact with the Ming army generals in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. He also heard that many military leaders wanted to imitate Xu Xinsu's fortune history, controlling local trade while strengthening their own arms, but after actually meeting the real master,

, Li Bo felt that there was a clear gap between the vision and knowledge of the military leaders in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and Xu Xinsu. It is no wonder that Xu Xinsu was able to control a province in just a few years, while his colleagues in Jiangsu and Zhejiang had difficulty finding a

The breakthrough point of momentum.

The most significant difference is that Xu Xinsu has become one of Haihan's allies a few years ago. Although the military leaders in Jiangsu and Zhejiang have overt and covert trade dealings with Haihan, they have never dared to be as clear as Xu Xinsu. They can choose their camp and position carefully. This caution means that they can only get the weapons and equipment sold by Haihan at high prices, but they cannot gain the trust and wider support of Haihan like Xu Xinsu. Just buying some muskets and artillery can only The real reason why the Fujian Ming Army became stronger was to increase the apparent combat effectiveness of the troops, and the senior officers sent by Xu Xinsu in batches to Haihan for further training every year, and the troops sent overseas to cooperate with the Haihan Army in combat.

In fact, many people understand the truth, but there are very few people who can actually do it. North Korea is also working hard in this direction, and after the anti-Qing war, the relationship with Haihan has risen to a new level. How much Li Bo can see and learn while studying abroad, and what ideas he can bring back to North Korea, may have a great impact on North Korea's future development in the military field.

After watching the hour-long exercise, Li Bo was invited to review the Zhongzuo garrison participating in the exercise with Xu Xinsu. This small detail reminded Li Bo of his earlier observation of the Haihan Army's military exercise on the Datong River. Qian Tiandun also had the same arrangement. It seems that the Fujian Ming Army imitated the Haihan military system thoroughly. Even such non-combat content was copied. It is no wonder that its combat effectiveness is closest to that of the Haihan Army.

After reviewing the troops, the two returned to Zhongzuosuo City together, where there was still a briefing meeting waiting for Li Ming. This group of overseas-study officers from North Korea were also allowed to attend the lecture.

The speaker of this briefing was Xu Yuzhuo, Li Bo's only local acquaintance, and the content was about the strategic significance and international environment of the Fujian Strait. A large nautical chart from Liaodong to Hainan Island was hung on the wall. The locations of Zhangzhou and Zhongzuo are clearly marked, allowing viewers to know where they are at a glance.

The reason for arranging such a briefing is because Xu Xinsu hopes to make the Joseon Crown Prince understand that Fujian is not only a military ally of Haihan, but also plays a very important role in the international trade system built by Haihan. Role.

"...It is not difficult to see from the map that the sea lanes from Haihan to the north of the Ming Dynasty, as well as North Korea, Japan and other countries, all need to pass through the offshore Fujian. Whether the Fujian Strait is safe or not is directly related to the interests of many countries. Therefore, the Fujian Navy has always been one of Haihan’s key assistance targets.”

Xu Yuzhuo's explanation made Li Bo's thinking suddenly clear up a lot. Haihan's emphasis on the offshore waters of Fujian will indeed affect their attitude towards the Fujian Ming Army led by Xu Xinsu. This is just like the Haihan Army's plan to take measures against the Qing Dynasty in the Liaodong region. Military operations also require logistical support from North Korea to a certain extent, so they chose to enter into an alliance with North Korea.

However, judging from the markings on the map, Haihan did not place his treasure on the Fujian Ming Army. They also made deployments near Taiwan Island across the strait. Kaohsiung Port and Jilong Port in the south and north of Taiwan Island, As well as Magong Port in the Penghu Islands, there are Haihan garrisons. Even if there are changes in Fujian, the garrisons in these places will be able to protect the safety of the Strait waterways.

Of course, the position of the Dutch Port of Damien, which is sandwiched between the ports of Haihan and Haihan, is very embarrassing. In the past, it was the window for the Dutch East India Company's trade with China, but now the trade share of the Port of Damien is almost

They were all robbed by Haihan. The local area has basically lost the opportunity to make money through trade, and can only operate as an ordinary colony.

But for Li Pu, his focus was rather strange. He looked at the voyage from Seoul to Sanya and the location of Zhangzhou intuitively on the chart, and judged that almost two-thirds of the voyage had been completed. However,

Considering that there may be several stops along the way, the time required is still difficult to judge.

Then Li Bo noticed that the large island labeled as the Haihan Kingdom seemed to be much smaller than his own country. If he hadn't experienced so many things, it would be hard for him to imagine that such a small country in the South China Sea could actually have the ability to do so.

It occupies so many places overseas and can carry out military intervention thousands of miles away from its homeland, affecting the international situation in the region.

But after personally experiencing the changes in the situation in Northeast Asia in recent years, Li Bo also understood that large land area does not mean strong national power. Otherwise, how could the size of the Ming Dynasty be overtaken by the small Jurchen tribe and even Liaodong be lost?

, and now it is in a situation of being passively beaten all year round. The rise of Haihan also gave Li Bo hope for the prosperity of the small country.

At this time, Xu Yuzhuo had already talked about the Fujian Ming Army's expeditions with the Haihan Army in all directions, from the Liaodong Peninsula and the Korean Peninsula in the north to Manila Bay in Luzon Island in the south. In recent years, the Haihan Army has sent troops to conquer various places, and Fujian has almost always sent troops with them.

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This topic indeed attracted Li Bo's attention again, and he listened with interest to Xu Yuzhuo's detailed experience of fighting side by side with the Haihan Army over the years. Although he was not a soldier, he was still at a young age after all, and he had just experienced a battle to defend the country.

War, I am most passionate about this type of topic.

However, Li Bo was just listening to the excitement, and the amount of information received by An Dao-seok and other North Korean officers from here was much greater than that of Li Bo. They knew very well how much consumption it would cost a country to launch a foreign war. With Haihan launching a foreign war

The frequency of wars makes it difficult to imagine that this is a small country with a population of only more than 300,000. Its terrible victory rate in foreign wars without a single defeat is even more shocking. Although they have all seen Haihan on battlefields such as the Datong River Base

However, it is still difficult to imagine how the Han army in Hainan could maintain such a high frequency of attacks and undefeated record with limited strength.

Thinking that the Fujian Ming Army was an army trained with the help of Haihan, and that a large number of Fujian officers, including Xu Yuzhuo, had studied abroad in Haihan to receive military training, An Daoshi and others had even more expectations for their study abroad career.
Chapter completed!