3.7.18 Pioneers of sea power --- Zheng He and Mahan
Bajiao smiled slightly and said: "Even if it confirms the rise of sea power thought in modern times, many of Zheng He's pioneering practices are enough to become models for future generations." After saying that, he waved his sleeves, and several pieces of white paper fluttered out from the sleeves. Xiao Wu quickly stepped forward to take it, and took a closer look. The first one was a list of Hai Quan's six factors.
Chart 64 List of six major factors of sea power
Chart 64 List of six major factors of sea power
Just listen to Bajiao continue: "In 1840, the year of the Opium War in the late Qing Dynasty , Alfred Thayer Mahan, an expert on sea power, was born. In the professor building of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point---his family came from a family of naval and professors, and produced many military academy presidents. When Mahan grew up, he summarized many relevant facts based on hundreds of years of naval warfare history in European countries. Theory---that is, 'Sea Power Thought'. "
" You can slowly learn the ideological content that conforms to the modern trend, but you must keep in mind the conclusion reached by reasoning--China has a large land and a large population. The coastline is long, so naturally we should occupy the sea rights that match it, and we should never give it up."
Xiao Wu looked at the table for a while, then rolled his eyes and said: "According to this table, geographically, we should try to occupy the central island. How to occupy it? What if there are no such conditions?"
Bajiao laughed and said: "As long as you have perseverance, there is always a way. Take Mahan's plan for the United States as an example. He strongly advocated the annexation of the Hawaiian island nation by the United States; because the Hawaiian Islands are located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, the United States' maritime power can easily encompass the entire Pacific Ocean. "
" Facing questions from members of Congress, Mahan even shouted, "I want islands." "Don't be a human being" slogan - if the people of Hawaii refuse to become a US territory, or if the United States does not want to bear too many citizens of other races, then they will be physically eliminated. "
" The war between the United States and Hawaii will soon continue. As a result, the King of Hawaii was deposed and the territory became a state of the United States. As a result, the United States easily obtained the "giant unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. From then on, it had the best base for the Pacific Fleet. "
Chart 65 The United States seeks Hawaii (in the middle of the Pacific Ocean)
Chart 65 The United States seeks Hawaii (in the middle of the Pacific Ocean)
Pictures from the Internet
Xiao Wu's mind turned quickly, and he murmured: "This horse. Han is really tricky! With his plan, the United States took the lead in the naval battle against Japan during World War II! "
Xiao Wu then thought again: "So Zheng He controlled the Malacca Strait and Using the Sultanate of Malacca as the South China Sea control center is an excellent strategic plan. "
" Nowadays, China has filled in several islands in Sansha City . It seems that it has also absorbed similar ideas from its predecessors; its purpose is to obtain a control hub in the middle of the South China Sea, so as to gain an upper hand in the local sea power struggle. ? "
Chart 66 Triangular Island Reclamation Operation Area in the South China Sea
Chart 66 Triangular Island Reclamation Operation Area in the South China Sea
Pictures from the Internet
Bajiao saw Xiaowu and said with a smile: "If we talk about competing with the United States in the depths of the Pacific, China is temporarily at a disadvantage. ; But in the South China Sea, China can establish a strong local advantage so that it will not fall behind in the competition for maritime rights in the region. This is the most basic application of sea power thinking. "
" Since ancient times, the entire Austronesian language sea area has traversed the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Starting from the African island of Madagascar, controlled by monsoons and ocean currents, it has freely spread the Austronesian people eastward. Most of this is the result of natural factors, but Zheng He has formed a relatively mild colonial consciousness and uses man-made management methods to manage the Strait of Malacca, the central hub of the South Island world."
Chart 67 Austronesian Ocean Current Migration Chart
Chart 67 Austronesian Ocean Current Migration Chart
[The ocher part in the middle is the Malay world]
The picture comes from the Internet
Xiao Wu suddenly understood, nodded and said: "Not bad. It turns out that a large part of sea power is the result of human management, not simply the result of natural conditions! By the way, the third item on the form also says that a country's large territory and long coastline may be a disadvantage in sea power---why is this? "
Bajiao Nianxu said with a smile: "This is related to the characteristics of naval battles. What is fundamentally different from the characteristics of land warfare is that naval warfare relies entirely on offense, and even defense is offensive. "
" Therefore, sea power is aggressive and aggressive. If a country's territory is too large, its coastline is too long, or its terrain is fragmented, it may face mobile and flexible maritime attacks, so that the defender will lose sight of one thing.
Xiao Wu was shocked and thought: "When the opponent attacks from the sea, they can choose any point on the long coastline to break through." Just like a poisonous mosquito bites a bison, no matter how strong the bison's body is, there is nothing he can do and has to flee. "
Bajiao smiled and said: "So for most of the Ming and Qing dynasties, they tried to use the ' sea ban ' method to fight against the 'sea power'---forbidding their own people from going to the sea and letting them find another way to make a living. But this is just an escape thought, like a buffalo trying to escape from a poisonous mosquito.
Xiao Wu smiled and said: "Besides, it's useless to talk about the 'sea ban' - no matter how you ban it, the sea is there, and you can't stop those who are willing to run into the sea." "
Bajiao stroked his beard and said: "But if we face the 'sea power' passively, there will be great consequences. During most of the Ming Dynasty , the southeastern coast was plagued by Japanese pirates. Since the Japanese pirates had the "privilege" of sailing at will and the opportunity to randomly choose to land in different provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Fujian, the resistance from the court and the people was mostly ineffective. "
" In the Opium War at the end of the Qing Dynasty, British warships from afar first attacked the vicinity of Guangzhou; after seeing that they could not capture the Humen Fort, they moved to Dinghai, Zhejiang; in Dinghai, they killed and wounded the chief military officer of the Qing Dynasty. After it was of little use, it turned to the Bohai Bay to intimidate Beijing; in the end, the senior officials of the Qing Dynasty had to sign an alliance under the city. It can be seen that the longer the coastline, the less conducive it is to resisting threats from the sea. "
Xiao Wu took a deep breath, nodded and said: "That's it! If one's own side cannot control the sea, then approaching the ocean will be a terrifying thing! No wonder there is a market for "sea ban". It turns out that the imperial court is deeply afraid of the ocean, because there may be many threats at sea that cannot be defended on land! "
Bajiao laughed and said: "But on the other hand, when you control the sea power, the overall benefits you gain are unimaginable. "
" Taking the Ming Dynasty's anti-Japanese war as an example, the Japanese invasion that lasted for centuries caused headaches to officials in China's coastal provinces, feudal officials, and even the emperor. Millions of civilian casualties were accumulated, property losses amounted to hundreds of millions, and there was nothing anyone could do. This was entirely because they gave up their sea power and were tired of defending the land. To put it harshly, this is all something you asked for! "
" If we take out some treasure ships that will be scrapped sooner or later from the shipyard, control the main maritime routes between China and Japan, send people to monitor important sea routes, and launch a naval battle when the opponent's ship is halfway, we can easily destroy all the Japanese pirate ships. Hit the bottom of the ocean. I guarantee that they will never see what China looks like until they die. The Japanese pirates in the back would not dare to come again, and the Japanese troubles would naturally be eliminated. "
Xiao Wu was shocked and said: "Is it really that easy? I know that Zheng He's treasure fleet is very powerful, but is Japan's naval fleet so weak that it is vulnerable to a blow? "
Bajiao laughed, shook his head and said: "This cannot be regarded as a naval battle between China and Japan! The main components of Japanese pirates are only Japanese farmers and a small number of bankrupt samurai. They don't go to the sea very much on weekdays, so they can't be called a navy at all."
"According to the quality requirements of regular sea runners, it was really easy for the Chinese fleet in the early Ming Dynasty to defeat those Japanese pirates who were not good at water at sea! In fact, as pirates, the maritime strength of Japanese pirates is far from comparable to the strength of the old port king Chen Zuyi . "
Xiao Wu stayed for a while and murmured: "The Ming Dynasty spent a huge price to resist the Japanese pirates. The war lasted for several generations, and the manpower and financial resources spent were countless. Many small towns were even built along the coast for defense; famous generals such as Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou fought countless battles, but the overall results were not good. "
" It can be seen that passively defending Japanese pirates on land is really thankless, because the initiative, mobility and flexibility are always on the opponent's side. "
Bajiao stroked his beard and nodded: "Actually, Yu Dayou once suggested that the imperial court use the power of the navy to proactively attack the Japanese pirates overseas; however, no one listened to this suggestion. As a result, many desperate people had no choice but to move. To this day, many descendants of farmers who moved from entire villages in the hardest-hit areas of Fujian can still be found in Jiangxi. "
" In the end, although the Ming Dynasty still curbed the proliferation of Japanese pirates, in my opinion, it didn't have to be so painful and troublesome. If one-tenth of its manpower and financial resources were given to the Ming Dynasty Navy (Treasure Fleet), if they used offense as defense, they might have captured the Japanese mainland long ago. ”
Chart 68 The scope of the Japanese invasion areas in the Ming Dynasty
Chart 68 The range of the Japanese invasion areas in the Ming Dynasty
[From Liaodong to the Guangdong coast, no one was spared]
The picture comes from the Internet
Xiaowu looked at a picture of the Japanese invasion in the Ming Dynasty Tu, suddenly felt like an enlightenment, and said slowly: "I finally understand! When the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty abolished Zheng He's treasure fleet for their own selfish desires, they thought they saved the country hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and thousands of lives (which did not exist), but in fact the price that the people were about to pay for this was Ten times, a hundred times more! This is the most stupid thing in the world..."
Bajiao nodded, and pointed to a table of the four elements of naval strategy, saying: "Naval warfare uses offense as the only means, which is similar to the cavalry warfare of the grassland peoples on land--- Since it is basically impossible to defend on the grassland, at most a simple fence bunker can be built to gain some preparation time for a counterattack. Some people think that building some forts along the coast can complete coastal defense, but the result will definitely be that one will miss ten thousand, and it will basically not have any good effect. "
" In addition, naval strategy is very suitable for a centralized mechanism. Whichever side is more likely to form a unified command and quickly assemble during a war, whichever side is more likely to form a local advantage and be closer to victory. "
" Therefore, it is most important to maintain a strong mobile fleet instead of simply scattering ships in various ports and shipyards. It is necessary to ensure that once an order is given, maritime forces can be gathered at one point as quickly and efficiently as possible, minimizing any restrictions. "
Chart 69 Four Elements of Naval Strategy
Chart 69 Four Elements of Naval Strategy
Xiao Wu looked at the table of four naval elements for a while, nodded and said with a smile: "These four are indeed very reasonable. It seems that when a naval battle is launched, the position of the warship is very important, just like the situation when both sides grab rebounds in the basketball game . "
" Our team's players should try their best to dominate the inside line and push the opponent's players out of the outside line, so that the rebound will easily fall into their own hands. Then, regardless of offense or defense, the initiative always lies with one's own side, and it feels as if one's own side has more people than the other side. "
Bajiao grinned, nodded and said: "That's right. When Mahan elaborated on the four elements of naval strategy, he wrote an equation 'Power = Strength + Location', that is, 'the equation of power is power plus location'. In addition, he also emphasized one point in particular-'the centralized approach is the introduction to naval strategy'. "
" Judging from the two factors that Mahan repeatedly emphasized, Zheng He's treasure fleet did extremely well. Every time they fight the enemy, they are always in an excellent position, making use of their strengths and avoiding weaknesses, and rarely go deep into the interior.The cooperation between the fleets is also excellent. In addition to Zheng He himself, many friends are able to complete the flanking attack on the enemy even when communication with each other is not smooth. From the perspective of world ocean history, this is a rare and invincible navy.
Xiao Wu nodded and sighed deeply: "Think about the future navies at the same level as Zheng He's fleet , such as the Spanish Armada . They only lost the battle with the British fleet and bid farewell to history. of. However, Zheng He's invincible maritime legion suddenly "disappeared in the air", which must have made all the maritime heroes around the world sigh! "
Bajiao nodded and said: "In addition, Mahan also explained the nature of the naval base and the nature of naval warfare offensive and defensive. These connotations are not difficult to understand today. "
" However, Zheng He's advanced marine thinking enabled him to do well in all aspects. At that time, he never allowed his fleet to become an appendage of any port base, but allowed many ports to serve the treasure fleet. For this alone, almost no heads of state at that time had this idea. "
Xiao Wu suddenly said: "I understand. Land-based thinking has led many countries to believe that the purpose of warships is to defend ports and coastlines. This rigid thinking means that even if some ships are built, the naval force will still not be strong. "
" In the Sino-Japanese War of Sino-Japanese War at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the performance of the Qing Dynasty Navy once again illustrated this point - if the thinking is old-fashioned, having more armored battleships may not be useful! "
