I want to be emperor

Chen Jingyun wants to build a shipyard, naturally not to build naval ships and then compete with the empire... This is unrealistic.

He only wants to build some small-tonnage offshore and inland river military ships. The technology does not need to be advanced enough to be sufficient. Inland river warships can be used to escort inland river areas and attack the indigenous people who are still in a tribal state.

Offshore ships are used for coastal patrols and smuggling inspections.

No matter what era or where, smuggling traders will always exist, even in barren lands like Africa.

In order not to pay the originally small tariffs, many people will engage in various smuggling, transporting goods to the West African Kingdom, or secretly transport export goods from the West African Kingdom to evade export duties.

Even Chen Jingyun himself actually engaged in smuggling secretly, contacting black market smugglers to purchase some restricted mechanical equipment, weapons and equipment.

Although the West African Kingdom currently only allows the import of single-shot rifles, Chen Jingyun actually has at least two to three hundred Type 24 Chu army eight-mm repeating rifles in active service, and even two Type 42 rifles. What about the heavy machine gun...

The above two weapons are both cash weapons of the Chu army that are prohibited from export.

But it was not the same that reached the West African Kingdom through smuggling channels, and then reached the hands of Chen Jingyun, becoming the secret weapon of Chen Jingyun's personal guard.

But Chen Jingyun's own smuggling does not mean that he likes others to engage in smuggling in his kingdom...the lost customs duties are all his money.

But if you want to check smuggling, especially at sea, then patrol ships are definitely indispensable.

Prior to this, although Chen Jingyun's West African Kingdom had also established a so-called navy, the ships equipped were all offshore patrol boats modified from small civilian ships. They had low speeds, no protective capabilities, and even firepower was difficult to deploy. .

This encounters the ships of some illegal Chu smugglers active in the West African waters... It is not certain who will fight whom.

In this part of Africa, there are various security companies, agricultural development companies, mining development companies... and then there are many various civilian armed personnel hatched.

This is still talking about some registered civilian armed personnel... there are also a lot of illegal ones.

Many scum and criminals who cannot survive at home will choose to go to Africa, India, West Africa, Europe and other overseas areas to hang out in those colonies.

And what these people do in these indigenous-controlled areas that are not directly ruled by the empire is naturally not human affairs. They do whatever they want to make money.

After making money, returning to the country, and paying taxes to the tax authorities, who is not a decent person?

Therefore, it is perfectly normal to see some Chu people carrying artillery for smuggling on the coast of Africa...

The West African Kingdom also suffered a lot from this. They went to the Chu people several times to complain, but the Chu army didn't care at all...these smugglers were evading the taxes of the West African Kingdom, and those who were killed during the resistance were also the West African Kingdom. They have nothing to do with the Chu army.

This does not jump out and say that your West African Kingdom killed innocent people indiscriminately and violated the interests and safety of Chu merchants. It was already treated as a vassal state established by a few Chu people such as the West African Kingdom and the Kingdom of the United States and Song Dynasty.

If this were replaced by India, West Asia and Europe... it would be fine if nothing happened in normal times, but if you encounter a stubborn colonial official of the Chu Empire, if you dare to kill the smugglers of the Chu Kingdom, they will send troops to destroy them. country.

Although this West African Kingdom seems to have established an independent country, in the eyes of the empire's senior officials, this is also the territory of the Chu Kingdom. The people who are in charge are Chu people, and the smugglers and Chen Jingyun and others from the West African Kingdom are fighting for their own interests. , the higher-ups in the empire just pretend they can't see it... and treat this as an internal dispute. You can play it by yourself, and we as parents won't interfere.

And Chen Jingyun only thought about building offshore warships after he learned about the attitude of the empire's senior officials, at least the colonial officials in West Africa.

Since the superiors don't care, then you can only protect your own interests by yourself.

It's just that the West African Kingdom tried to purchase warships... but found that it was not easy to do.

It's not that the empire doesn't sell... In fact, the empire allows them to purchase some inland river battleships used to attack the natives and small offshore patrol ships to inspect smuggling. Only some real ocean-going battleships or large-tonnage offshore battleships can threaten them. The warships of the Da Chu Empire Navy are not for sale.

Then some advanced warship equipment, especially naval guns, will also be purchased with restrictions. For example, the current rapid-fire guns are not sold. What is sold are some outdated early breech-loading rifled naval guns.

However, when it comes to the procurement of warships from a few subordinate countries, the Chu people also implement the ordinary weapons procurement principle, that is, they are uniformly represented by the weapons trading companies in the respective regions.

what does this mean?

This means monopoly...

You can choose the ship type. Although on the surface it seems that there are expensive and cheap ones, in the final analysis, the prices of these weapons and equipment, including warships, are actually determined by the weapons trading company!

The pricing power for exported weapons has never been in the hands of the five major domestic arms manufacturers, but in the hands of the arms trading company jointly controlled by the five major domestic arms manufacturers.

It is precisely because of this pricing model that there is a strange thing that a flash cap shotgun in one area costs 20 Chu Yuan, and a matchlock gun in another area also sells for 20 Chu Yuan.

The arms trading company of the Da Chu Empire did this kind of monopoly.

Then Chen Jingyun discovered that the price of this warship was extremely expensive... The price they purchased for the same patrol ship was at least three times more expensive than the Chu Army's own purchase...

This is not three times the amount of ten yuan and twenty thousand yuan, but several times the amount of one hundred thousand and two hundred thousand yuan.

If they want to buy a patrol ship of several hundred tons, they can probably buy a frigate of more than a thousand tons at this price.

Under such circumstances, even though Chen Jingyun made a lot of money selling cotton, coffee and cocoa, he still felt pressure.

Then he took the next step and wanted to purchase some second-hand warships retired by the Chu Army... The Chu Empire's navy was too large, and the service life of the warships was also limited. A large number of various warships were decommissioned every year .

The condition of some of these ships is not too bad. They can be used with some repairs and modifications.

But after a quick calculation, a second-hand boat costs only a few dollars, but the cost of modification and repair is expensive. In the end, it is better to just buy a new one, but the performance is not so good.

In the end, the West African Kingdom had no choice but to order a patrol ship of more than 800 tons as its flagship, two offshore patrol ships of more than 300 tons, and a dozen inland river gunboats of several dozen tons.

This shelf seems to be set up, but it is still not enough... The coastline of the West African Kingdom is also quite long, and it also needs to go deep into the interior to fight with the indigenous people and inspect smuggling.

What to do at this time?

Continue to buy new ones? Impossible... The West African Kingdom's fiscal revenue simply cannot withstand it.

In the end, I had no choice but to make it myself.

Of course, building it yourself does not mean that you can build everything from steam engines to naval guns. In fact, it is not the case. The West African Kingdom only plans to build a ship hull...steam engines and naval guns are still imported. Although it is inevitable that the African arms trading company will still make a lot of money in this way, it can at least save a lot of costs.

But even if you just want to build a hull, and it is the hull of a small offshore patrol ship of one or two hundred tons, it is still not easy.

Steel ships are not that easy to handle, and military steel battleships are even more difficult to handle. The technical standards are much higher than those of civilian ships...

Until now, this first self-built warship is still in the dock. It has been built for two years, but it is still far from being launched... The adapted imported ship-borne steam engines have been in the warehouse for too long. It’s dusty!

On the other hand, the construction technology of civilian ships is much less difficult, and there are no core components required, especially steam engines, which are all imported. Many other components, such as transmission systems and even propellers, are actually not required. It’s imported&……

The Kara Shipyard in the West African Kingdom really just built a hull.

But even so, it was quite successful... The Kingdom of America and Song Dynasty on the other side of the world has been developing shipyards for more than ten years, and now its technology level is only at this level.

Now Chen Jingyun hopes that this year's technical equipment control regulations will be loosened, liberalizing some technologies and equipment, and allowing enterprises in the administrative territories to purchase... The political status of the West African Kingdom and the various trade benefits it enjoys are also under the jurisdiction of the empire. The administrative territory is quite large.

The technical equipment control regulations of the Dachu Empire are actually updated frequently and are not static... Many equipment are currently restricted for export, but they will be liberalized in a few years... After all, you can't always be stuck in purchasing equipment in the administrative territory. no.

There are also a large number of Chu people living in the administrative territory, and there are also many Chu companies.

Of course, the objects of the technical equipment control regulations that are liberalized every year... are actually limited to administrative territories and a few Chu-origin vassal states such as the Kingdom of West Africa and the Kingdom of the Song Dynasty... Don't expect ordinary indigenous vassal states.

Regarding the indigenous countries, the Dachu Empire has always maintained the strictest attitude towards the control of technical equipment. Although it is not that every screw is not sold, things like steam engines are definitely not sold...even the low-pressure steam engines that have been eliminated.

Although many indigenous people can also obtain a small amount of machinery and equipment through smuggling... but it is only a small amount... but it cannot support an industrial country.

The Dachu Empire wanted to ensure global hegemony, especially economic hegemony, and technical restrictions were an inevitable choice... Otherwise, it would be to sell some equipment and then cultivate an economic competitor.

The mistakes made by both the Soviet Union and the Americans will not be made again by the Chu Empire!

Of course, this means that the Chu Empire is still a feudal monarchy, and it is a strong official-based country... Capital has almost no say in the empire, so this policy can be implemented.

If capital gains the right to speak, then a few capitalists will push to restrict the export of equipment for the sake of the so-called market... After all, the life and death of the country is none of his business, he only wants to make money.

Unfortunately, the current Da Chu Empire is an official-based country, and those who control the voice are bureaucrats... And those who control domestic capital are not capitalists, they are still bureaucrats... because the leading companies in the Da Chu Empire are basically various A government-run enterprise.

Some core industries are exclusively government-run enterprises, and private enterprises are not even allowed to get involved, such as national defense, food, banking, insurance, urban public services, and trains. In addition, some basic livelihood industries are dominated by official capital, such as steel, Shipbuilding, general machine tool equipment, steam engines, automobiles, etc.

The three major domestic steam engine manufacturers are all government-owned enterprises.

Of the three major general machine tool equipment manufacturers, two are government-owned enterprises.

Of the four major automobile manufacturers, three are government-owned enterprises.

The three major ocean shipping companies are all government-run enterprises.

All domestic crude oil mining companies are all government-run companies. Private companies only exist in the fields of refining, transportation, and sales.

There is only one railway, and that is the Dachu Empire Railway Corporation.

There is only one food company, the Dachu Empire Food Corporation.

There is still only one salt service company, the Da Chu Empire Salt Service Corporation.

So in the Dachu Empire, there were quite a few capitalists, and some of them were quite wealthy.

Like Song Erniu, there are estimated to be thousands of super-rich people across the country with a net worth of over 10 million, and there are also only a few super-rich families with a net worth of over 100 million...

The head of the Li family in Foshan and the Qin family in Suzhou are both well-known super-rich families in the country. Their family wealth has already exceeded 100 million.

But... in a global empire of more than 700 million people, the number of such capitalist tycoons is too small, and even their wealth is also small.

Not to mention anything else, if the oil industry is fully liberalized, it is estimated that a super rich man worth hundreds of millions of dollars will be created...

In the original time and space, the United States in the mid-to-late 19th century was a typical country controlled by capitalists. With only a few tens of millions of people and little control over overseas markets, it spawned a large number of billionaires... Various monopolies and trusts.

But in the Chu Empire, it was government-run capital that dominated the market... The biggest difference between government-run capital and private capital is that private capital aims to pursue profits, while government-run capital aims to maintain rule.

Well, at least that was the case in the Chu Empire.

The economic leader in the Dachu Empire has always been official capital. This has never changed from the founding of the country to the present.

As for the Ministry of Industry and the provincial industrial departments that control these huge official assets, as well as the Ministry of Finance and other professional bureaucrats who control the financial industry, they are the ones who determine the direction of the empire's economic policy...capitalists have nothing to do with it.

And as the boss of these economic bureaucrats...the Emperor of the Chu Empire, Luo Zhixue, is the largest capitalist on earth!

And this capitalist is different from ordinary capitalists. Luo Zhixue is not just for making money... He is thinking about the development of the entire empire and even the fate of all mankind.

This has led to the emergence of many things that seem to violate market principles.

However, these so-called violations of market common sense were taken for granted in the Chu Empire.

In this era, it is very difficult for indigenous countries to develop industry... This is not a question of whether you can do it, but a question of whether the empire is accurate.

For the West African Kingdom, it also faces these problems if it wants to develop and grow.