On the tenth day of April, the trial fleet arrived at Ukushima, the headquarters of the Kyushu Marine Police Station, greeted by the West Kyushu Patrol Fleet.

In the middle of last year, based on the actual situation over the past year, the Tamra Garrison consulted with Mr. Zhao and made a major adjustment to the water police bureau under its jurisdiction.

The most important of these was the abolition of the Shiroyama Water Police Station and the establishment of the Kyushu Water Police Station.

This is because it has been found through practice that the Security Department of the Garrison Area can fully shoulder the security work of the Garrison Area Base and the home port. According to the management knowledge taught by Mr. Zhao, overlapping responsibilities means buck-passing and inefficiency, so it is necessary to unify them.

Of course, the Chengshan Water Police Station has another mission - patrolling the route from Tamra to Kyushu Island to guard against the Japanese pirates coming from the east. But now the entire Kyushu Island navy has been completely wiped out in the "Punishment Operation" and the subsequent "Clearing Operation".

But now Kyushu Island is completely under the control of the garrison. Obviously, moving the garrison eastward to Ukushima Island, which is located on the main channel, can greatly enhance the protection of the shipping route and better monitor the Kyushu waters to ensure the implementation of the "Three No Ocean Ban Orders".

The so-called "Three Bans on Foreign Ships" means that except for the merchant ships of the Tamra Chamber of Commerce flying the flag of the garrison zone, no force on Kyushu Island is allowed to build ships with more than two masts, a length of more than two meters, and more than ten oars.

Any oversized vessel is not allowed to appear on the sea. Once discovered, the cargo will be immediately confiscated, the crew will be sentenced to lifelong labor education, the owner will be listed on the blacklist of dishonest persons, and will be prohibited from trading in Yokozeura, Oita, Hakata, and Tanegashima, and will not be allowed to go to sea at all.

Even the smallest Kohaya boats in the naval forces of each feudal domain were four feet long and had thirty to forty oars. Nowadays, the "three-no-small boats" on the sea of ​​Kyushu can only be used for offshore fishing and transportation, and cannot be used for combat at all. Therefore, there is no navy in the entire Kyushu Island.

Kyushu Water Police Bureau has two police stations.

One is the Tanegashima Police Station, which, in addition to protecting the production on Iwo Jima, is also responsible for monitoring the movements of southern Kyushu, especially the Shimazu family, and guarding against the sudden northward movement of the southern sea lords.

The Takashima Police Station was set up at the narrowest part of the Bungo Channel leading to Usuki Castle in the Seto Inland Sea. In addition to providing escort for the Tamra Trading Company's cargo ships traveling to and from Usuki Castle, it was also responsible for protecting the Otomo family from invasions by the Seto Inland Sea naval forces, while also monitoring the dishonest old king.

In this round, the two schools were separated in the east, west and south of Kyushu, providing all-round and all-round protection for Kyushu Island, completely cutting off their connection with Honshu and Shikoku. From then on, they hid in the small building and became one, regardless of winter, summer, spring and autumn!

~~

Ukushima is a diamond-shaped island at the northernmost tip of the Goto Islands, covering an area of ​​25 square kilometers. It has beautiful silver sand beaches that are rare in Japan. The sea water on the shore is also very shallow, which is very suitable for... bikinis!

Unfortunately, due to the influence of the Little Ice Age, the Sea of ​​Japan was still cold in April, so Mr. Zhao had to shift his attention from Qiaoqiao to the white lighthouse on the fort.

On the lighthouse, a signalman raised a flag welcoming the port.

Soon, a pilot boat with the hull number 666 came and guided the fleet slowly across the breakwater and into Uku Port.

There are two concrete piers in the harbor, where five medium-sized warships with hull numbers starting with 2, ten light warships with hull numbers starting with 3, twenty patrol boats with hull numbers starting with 4, and several special vessels such as transport ships are quietly moored.

This is only half of the strength of the West Kyushu Patrol Fleet. The other half of the fleet patrols the sea and provides escort guidance for the trial fleet.

In addition, the Iwo Jima Police Station also has a South Kyushu Patrol Squadron under its jurisdiction. The Takashima Police Station also has a West Kyushu Patrol Squadron under its jurisdiction. The one bureau and two stations together have 20 medium-sized warships, 40 light warships, 80 speedboats, and more than a thousand artillery pieces, not counting the coastal defense artillery.

How can we fight against those rotten fish and shrimps in Japan?

~~

At the dock, more than a thousand coast guards lined up in an orderly queue and played music to welcome Mr. Zhao to inspect.

If you look closely at the coast guards, you will find that the uniforms worn by the police officers in the first rows are normal dark blue, while the uniforms worn by the police officers in the back rows are brown.

"Those wearing brown police uniforms are auxiliary police recruited from the slaves of the Li Dynasty officials according to the instructions of the young master." Seeing that Young Master Zhao was looking at those guys in brown police uniforms, Rong Sheng, the director of the Jiuzhou Water Police Bureau who came to greet him, explained: "In order to enhance their sense of pride and belonging, they are also lined up together."

During the Age of Exploration, the reason why Europeans, especially the Portuguese, were able to support fleets and colonies all over the world with such a small population was that they recruited a large number of natives to serve as vassal soldiers in the colonies to maintain their rule and to do the main physical labor on the ships, such as carrying shells and raising and lowering sails.

Even the British navy used a large number of black slaves and Indians to reduce the demand for its own sailors.

The advantages and disadvantages of doing so are obvious. The advantage is that the same domestic sailors can be used to operate more ships. It also frees domestic sailors from heavy physical labor and allows them to concentrate on improving combat skills. The disadvantage is that the loyalty and morale of the vassal soldiers cannot be guaranteed. In order to maintain military discipline, severe punishments can only be used, which intensifies the atmosphere of confrontation on the ship. It will also breed the idea of ​​privilege among domestic soldiers.

Master Zhao felt that what the Ming Dynasty lacked the least was people, so he initially refused to accept servant soldiers.

But later on, it became really useful… With the establishment of many water police stations and police stations with low levels of confidentiality, the demand for manpower increased day by day.

If only Ming police officers were used, all the newly trained police officers in the Coast Guard School this year would have nothing to do. Mr. Zhao didn't want the Coast Guard officers he had trained at great expense to be trapped in daily security patrols and logistical services, day after day, and lose all their sharpness.

Moreover, servants are cheap! The auxiliary police recruited from the slaves of the Joseon Dynasty only get one tael of silver per month, and five of them are not as good as one official maritime police. So it is difficult to resist this kind of **...

So Mr. Zhao agreed to recruit some auxiliary police from the Li Dynasty workers in Xingang City and supplement them to various water police stations.

In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the Marine Police, it is currently stipulated that "auxiliary police officers are not allowed to go on board ships, carry guns or fire artillery", which means that they can only be used as labor on land support units, patrol boats, transport ships, tugboats, etc. However, this has greatly alleviated the shortage of staff in the Marine Police.

~~

"I think you are doing this to show off." Zhao Hao laughed and asked Rong Sheng, "How are these auxiliary police officers doing?"

"How should I put it?" Rong Sheng scratched his cheek and said, "Too good. These guys train very hard, work hard without complaint, never cheat or slack off, they are simply too serious."

This is normal. Official slaves and servants were all slaves in the Joseon Dynasty. Now they have the opportunity to be human beings, to eat well and wear warm clothes, just like a dream. The most fearful thing is to be beaten back to the original state, who dares to slack off? With the fear of falling into the class, the group will naturally roll inward.

Moreover, if you perform well, you may be able to escape slavery and become an overseas employee of Jiangnan Group. Then, if you perform well again and become a formal employee, you can become a naturalized Ming Dynasty citizen and become a nobler existence than the people of the Joseon Dynasty! With the hope of class transition, you will naturally roll inward to the extreme... This is much better than simply giving money.

"We are too harsh on the Japanese." He then changed the subject and said, "Now every time we arrest someone, they draw their knives and chop them if they resist. Now the Japanese are no longer afraid of us, but afraid of them instead."

"That's right. Try not to let our people take direct action. If you want to hate the Japanese, just hate them." Zhao Hao smiled and touched his chin. The Koreans were indeed born to be traitors.

The psychological distortion of the officials' slaves will only get worse.

"Yes, now when we arrest people, they are the ones who board the ship and our people provide the rearguard." Rong Sheng nodded with a smile and helped Master Zhao down the gangway.

"Salute!" Zhong Yuan, the police commissioner of the Coast Guard Bureau, shouted loudly, and the coast guard officers and soldiers saluted in unison.

To the sound of the inspiring Coast Guard March, Mr. Zhao, accompanied by Rong Sheng, reviewed the Coast Guard force and gave a passionate speech to them.

The marine police officers looked at their Master Zhao with excitement and applauded. The auxiliary police officers couldn't stop crying and looked as excited as if they had seen the Buddha.

The convert's enthusiasm is indeed true, and he is the number one convert in Ming Dynasty...

After the speech, the officers and soldiers returned to the camp. Master Zhao shook hands and talked cordially with the police officers one by one, giving them warm words of encouragement.

Then came the traditional program, having lunch with ordinary police officers.

The cafeteria was bright and clean, with fresh flowers on display. It was obvious that it had been specially cleaned.

However, Mr. Zhao did not point it out. In a group that pays attention to rules and discipline, formalism is inevitable.

The lunch was naturally very sumptuous. In addition to a variety of fish, shrimp and seafood, there were also abundant vegetables and pork, beef and mutton... The food was even better than that in the garrison area.

"The canteen has put a lot of effort into this meal." While dealing with the salt-grilled sweetfish in front of him, Mr. Zhao smiled and said to a third-level police officer sitting next to him, "Can you eat half of this normally?"

The young police officer smiled and said, "No."

"What do you eat?"

"We mainly eat seafood, eggs every now and then, and meat only during festivals." The young police officer said, "But rice and steamed buns are enough to fill me up, but eating seafood all day long makes me almost sick."

"Live by the mountain, eat by the mountain; live by the sea, eat by the sea. There are fishing grounds in the Five Islands. When we patrol, we can bring a trawl net and come back with a full harvest." Rong Sheng smiled and said, "Add to that the dried meat, preserved fruits, and meat sauce we provide, which meets the daily nutritional standards set by the Security Bureau... Of course, we still have a lot to improve."

"The main reason is that the Marine Police Department has more and more people. There are more than 2,000 police officers and auxiliary police on the island. All the islanders have been relocated. We can only grow vegetables and raise pigs, cattle and sheep by ourselves, and the supply cannot meet the demand for the time being." Zhong Yuan also quickly added: "We have expanded our production capacity of non-staple food, and we are also preparing to purchase vegetables, fruits, and some live poultry and livestock from nearby islanders. Unfortunately, the Japanese don't eat meat and don't raise much."

"Then encourage them to raise them." Zhao Hao smiled and said, "If they don't want to do it, let the lord give the order."

"The lord of Goto, the Uku family, has been removed from the list." Secretary Ma reminded him softly.

"Oh, I forgot about that. That's even easier." Zhao Hao smiled and said to the bald man who was willing to take the last seat: "You can go back and issue an order to assign the residents of the five islands to the Marine Police Bureau. It shouldn't be difficult, right?"

The bald man was none other than the Japanese old Wang who came to pay a visit to Zhao Hao... Oh no, it should be Kyushu Tandai Otomo Sorin. Upon hearing the order, he quickly spit out the half-eaten grilled eel in his mouth into his handkerchief and nodded hastily:

"It's a small matter. It's their blessing to be a subject of the Celestial Empire!"

ps. Sorry, the kids are at home so I only finished one update today. It's too late to stay up late to post, I'll post three updates tomorrow.