lcionline Chapter 586 Marine Corps
Chapter 586 Marine Corps
While the rulers of the Ming Dynasty were secretly plotting peace with their ministers, the Qionghai Navy fleet was en route to Tianjin.
If they pursued Abatai by land, the Qionghai Navy would never catch up with him; the only option was to take a shortcut by sea. According to information gathered by Wang Qinian, Abatai was heading north to Shunyi to meet up with Ajige, so Tianjin was the only way. If they could land at Dagu Port, they would have a chance to intercept Abatai again.
On the way, the staff of the Military Affairs Office had already simulated the entire process of intercepting Abatai in Tianjin, considered the possibility of his escape, and formulated a detailed plan. According to this plan, the Qionghai Army, which consisted entirely of infantry, would find it difficult to contain the Later Jin army, which was mainly composed of cavalry—especially since the enemy had been defeated in Changyi and had no will to fight. The cooperation of the local garrison was necessary. If several cavalry units could be mobilized to infiltrate and divide the enemy, thus hindering Abatai's actions, it would not be impossible to annihilate this army.
However, Liu Ye was unable to mobilize the troops in the Tianjin and Baoding areas, so he could only seek help from the capital. Tianjin was very close to the capital, and a fast horse could make the round trip in two or three days. As long as the court did not make any bureaucratic mistakes, it was feasible to bring back the Ministry of War's order to mobilize troops to cooperate with the Qionghai Army in intercepting Abatai before he arrived.
Yan Guang also suggested sending the captured Tartar heads along with the enemy's heads to bolster the emperor's and ministers' confidence and let the court and the public know that the Qionghai Army was capable of blocking or even annihilating Abatai's detachment.
A few days later, the fleet arrived at Dagu Port in Tianjin.
Dagukou was a crucial coastal defense fortress during the Ming and Qing dynasties of China, located at the mouth of the Haihe River in southeastern Tianjin. It is approximately 170 kilometers northwest of Beijing, bordering the Bohai Sea to the east and the Haihe Plain to the west, facing Tanggu across the river. Known as the gateway to Beijing and Tianjin and a vital passage between land and sea, it was described as a strategic location connecting nine rivers and seven provinces. In 1404, after Emperor Yongle (Zhu Di) established Beijing as the capital, he built a city and garrison in Tianjin, and constructed mounds and cannons at the mouth of the Dagukou estuary.
The Ming Dynasty historically neglected maritime power. While inland city walls were continuously fortified, the Dagu Forts, crucial gateways to Beijing and Tianjin, were poorly managed. Over two centuries later, the forts, built during the Ming Dynasty, are dilapidated from weathering, much like the Humen Forts at the Pearl River Estuary. The fact that these two most famous forts in modern history, one in the north and one in the south, have fallen into such a state of decay demonstrates the profound weakness of the Ming Dynasty's maritime defenses.
Standing at the majestic bow of the "Guangdong" ship, Liu Ye used binoculars to survey the rusty cannons and lazy soldiers sunbathing at the Dagu Fort in the distance. He shook his head repeatedly, then turned to Liang Xiaoming and said, "If the Later Jin had a decent navy, a large army could set off from Lushun, cross the Bohai Bay, and land at Dagu Port in Tianjin. They could reach the capital in the shortest time, without needing to detour through places like Xifengkou. At that time, the million-strong army in the border towns would become useless, history would probably be rewritten, and the Ming Dynasty's lifespan would be shortened."
Liang Xiaoming said regretfully, "Those people in the imperial court are all short-sighted. They let such an important position go to waste. If I were in charge of setting it up, I would build bamboo-reinforced concrete forts with 24-pound or even 48-pound coastal defense guns. As long as it's not an ironclad warship, I could sink any ship that comes along. I would make Dagu Fortress as solid as a rock."
Liu Ye laughed and said, "Let's bring this up again when we take over the Forbidden City someday. Right now, the more dilapidated the Dagu Forts are, the better. If we want to land in Tianjin by sea, it will save us a lot of effort."
Liang Xiaoming habitually started to imagine following this sentence: "Landing in Tianjin and taking the capital? Then should we establish a marine corps as a branch of amphibious operations? After all, the army is not a professional at beach landings."
Liu Ye's eyes widened: "Establishing a marine corps? Is that really necessary? In the entire Asian continent, including the Ming Dynasty, the Later Jin Dynasty, Japan, Korea, and even Annam, who values sea power? Who has professional coastal defense artillery? In this timeline, there is no such thing as a beach landing. Just transport the army directly there."
Liang Xiaoming had an extraordinary passion for weapons design and military buildup. He said with resentment, "Even if our potential enemies don't have decent coastal defense fortifications, there must be troops stationed in sensitive areas, right? The ancients even had the strategy of attacking while the enemy is crossing the river! Landing operations, no matter the era, always require a certain level of technology. If the enemy is prepared and we can't quickly seize the beach and deploy our forces, we'll be put on the defensive. For one thing, they might surround us and unleash a barrage of arrows while most of our men are still in the water. How can we fight like that? You know, many soldiers in the army can't swim; they even need to be rescued if they fall into the sea."
After hearing Liang Xiaoming's words, Liu Ye couldn't refute them. The situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and the possibility Liang Xiaoming described couldn't be ruled out.
Liang Xiaoming continued, "The army's main artillery is the 10-jin field gun. Even though it is much lighter than the Hongyi cannon, with the addition of the vehicle and gun carriage, its weight is still measured in tons. Moving the artillery ashore is a huge undertaking and cannot adapt to rapid amphibious warfare. Our main base is in Qiongzhou, and we fight far from home, relying on sea transport. I personally think it is very necessary to establish a small but elite and well-equipped marine corps to support the main force's operations."
Liu Ye couldn't help but ask, "Compared to the imperial army and the Later Jin army, our army already has a generational advantage in equipment. How can it be any more sophisticated? Did you leave behind some treasure?"
"We don't have any special weapons, but we can put the rifled guns on the agenda." Liang Xiaoming chuckled. "With the current conditions, we can rifling the flintlock guns, but we can't mass-produce them. However, it shouldn't be a problem to arm a small unit. At worst, we can just make one gun per person, custom-made, and discard it after firing. Anyway, we're not short of money now, so it doesn't matter if we waste a little."
"A rifled gun?" Liu Ye asked. "Why can't it be mass-produced? What advantages does it have over the guns we use now?"
"Currently, there is no suitable mechanical equipment, so we can only rely on pure manual craftsmanship to draw the rifling. This is not much more efficient than the imperial craftsmen drilling the barrel of the musket inch by inch by hand, so the output is naturally low. But this is not the most important obstacle. The biggest difficulty is controlling the clearance and accuracy. If the bullet caliber is too small, the clearance between the bullets will be too large, and the bullet will not be able to embed itself in the rifling and generate rotation, thus rendering the rifling meaningless. If the bullet caliber is too large, it simply cannot be loaded into the barrel. Skilled craftsmen may be able to control this clearance within a certain range by hand and produce a rifled gun that meets the requirements, but large-scale mass production is out of the question. The Qionghai-style rifle that we are using now is a smoothbore gun, with very low accuracy requirements. The clearance between the bullets can be large. As long as it does not explode and can fire the bullet, that is enough. With the current conditions, we can achieve a certain degree of standardized assembly line operation, so large-scale mass production is possible."