Chapter 565- Star Guiding Technique
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
The Nanyang Navy currently had three squadrons, the Beihai Bay Squadron housed in Beihai City, the Yashan Squadron housed in Yashan City, and the Jiaozhou Squadron housed in Zhenhai City.
Out of the three, the strongest one was the Cai Mao led Yashan Squadron. It had now expanded to three divisions. Even without mentioning his commanding ability, Ouyang Shuo had recognized Cai Mao's incredible sailor training ability. In a short period of time, he had managed to make the Yashan Squadron the strongest squadron in the territory.
Pei Donglai’s Beihai Bay Squadron ranked second with two divisions.
As for the newest Jiaozhou Squadron, it only had Yanhuo Yaonie leading one squadron.
Based on the military organization, the navy was similar to a legion corps. The squadron was equivalent to a legion, while the divisions in the navy were like the divisions in the army.
Currently, the three legion corps of the army had all been formed up.
On the other hand, even though the navy had obtained their title the earliest, they were still in a mess. The three squadrons added together had six divisions, only slightly better than one army legion.
The navy in the territory was lagging behind; this was already an undeniable fact. There were three reasons behind this matter.
Firstly, a lack of navy generals.
This was the most crucial point. After all, the best navy general in the territory was only Cai Mao.
As for the earliest navy general, Pei Donglai, he had already broken through the bottleneck and upgraded to advanced general with the help of the territorial buffs. If he wanted to go up another step, it would be as difficult as ascending the heavens.
Yanhuo Yaonie, on the other hand, had immense potential. It was only a matter of time for him to become the shining star of the navy army.
In comparison, the army of the territory was littered with stars.
Secondly, it was difficult to train sailors.
In contrast to the army, the navy consisted of sailors apart from the navy soldiers. Their training period was long and their needs were huge. Naturally, this restricted the expansion of the navy.
Apart from the normal sailors, the captains, chief officers, and second officers were all extremely difficult to train. Each captain was hard to come by.
Hence, Ouyang Shuo had already especially arranged the Military Affairs Department to recruit these talents in Quanzhou. Even so, they still could not meet the expansion needs of the navy.
Thirdly, a lack of seafaring experience.
Cai Mao was a typical local navy general. Asking him to train the navy in Yashan City was already pushing it. If one asked him to head out into the ocean, it would exceed his capabilities.
However, if it was just nearby sea warfare, there was no need to possess such a huge navy army. Instead, such a navy would cause a huge burden on the territory finances.
Hence, they restricted the expansion of the navy.
Even Military Affairs Director Du Ruhui kept a conservative attitude toward this problem.
Apart from that, during the Gaia 2nd year, the numerous threats had forced Ouyang Shuo into putting all their strategic effort and resources into the army.
Now, internally, Ouyang Shuo had already decided to take a break.
The territory could use this time to develop the navy.
Recruiting Zheng He at this time was a huge lucky event for the navy.
If not, why would he call Bing'er a super invincible lucky star.
Whatever Ouyang Shuo wanted, she summoned. Along with the buff from the Silver Prayer House, it was a match made in heaven.
Zheng He was born in the 4th year of Emperor Hongwu's reign, the second son of Ma Ha.
During the winter of the 13th year of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty troops attacked Yunnan. Ma He was just ten years old, and Ming Army Deputy Commander Lan Yu took him into Nanjing. There, he was castrated and entered Yong Le's Yanwang Manor.
In the first year of Yong Le's reign, a monk accepted Ma He as a disciple of the Bodhisattva precept. His monk name was Fu Jixiang.
During the 2nd year of Yong Le, Zheng He had achieved many victories in war. Yong Le awarded him the surname Zheng for his war contributions and called him Zheng He. Then, he was promoted to the internal official eunuch, a 4th grade official only lower in rank compared to the eunuch of the imperial ceremony office. Zheng He was intelligent and able in battle, causing the Yong Le Emperor to rely on him a lot.
From 1405 to 1433, he sailed down to the west seven times, completing an unprecedented feat. On the 8th year, 4th month of the Xuande Emperor’s rule, he died in India and was buried on the Nanjiang Nushou Mountain.
Let's not mention his troop commanding ability, just his identity as a grandmaster voyager and his vast experiences in sea travel would bring about a huge change to the navy army.
His voyaging technique made use of astronomy, landmarks, compasses, and water depth measuring. As the Pacific Fanguo Records recorded, “Using chopped trees as a base, engravings as words, and a floating needle on water to direct the ship."
Amongst these techniques, the most famous one was the Star Guiding Technique.
Star Guiding Technique was not some witchery. Rather, it employed a scientific method to deduce the direction and location through stars.
This technique was groundbreaking at that time amongst voyagers.
At the same time, as the boat had stored freshwater, the stability and anti-sinking ability problems were all solved. These factors allowed him and his crew to sail on even during the harshest of conditions.
During the day, they would hang different colored flags to communicate with one another.
At night, they would use lanterns to reflect the situation. If there was poor visibility due to factors like a fog, they would use drums and horns to communicate.
All in all, Zheng He was a living voyaging treasure. With him, the territory navy would have the confidence to step into the deep oceans.
That afternoon, Nanjiang Governor-General House gave out an imperial order.
It appointed the god rank general Zheng He as the fleet admiral of the Nanyang Navy. He would obtain the title of Commander-in-Chief, similar to a marshal of the legion corps.
Zheng He had just arrived. Even without having time to grow familiar with the situation, he was directly thrown into a high ranking position.
Such a special honor was something that not even Baiqi and the others had obtained.
One could see how much importance Ouyang Shuo had placed onto him.
As a legendary voyager, although his personal martial arts skills were strong, his commanding ability could not compare with Baiqi. However, he had a strength that the other generals did not possess.
He could lead a huge, long distance traveling navy.
This was the reason why Ouyang Shuo treated him so well.
Ocean warfare, especially after the warships were equipped with cannons, totally did not need personal strength. The important factor was someone to lead them forward.
Zheng He undoubtedly had such an ability.
Ouyang Shuo had reasons to believe that under his leadership, the Nanyang Navy could truly be built up.