I want to be emperor

Chapter 399 Guangzhou Industrial Base
The Pearl River Fleet seems to be quite large now, with more than 100 ships and thousands of personnel.

However, most of the ships in the Pearl River Fleet are small boats such as ordinary small sampans, and they can't get on the table at all.

What can really be used in combat is that there are more than a dozen sailing inland river and offshore warships similar to centipede ships. They are the food guys of the pirates in the past, and they are specially used for offshore plunder.

And these sailing boats are also very fast, and the displacement is only about tens of tons, and the artillery they carry is also small and small.

And there are even fewer large ships that can go to sea, only a dozen or so, and even these so-called large ships are actually only two to three hundred tons, and only ten to fifteen long-barreled artillery are equipped. between.

If these ships were placed in the British Royal Navy in the eighteenth century, they wouldn't even be considered sixth-class warships... they belonged to the kind of miscellaneous ships that were not popular...

Even if it is a sixth-class battleship, it needs more than [-] long-barreled cannons.

In the Great Chu Empire Navy, these dozen or so ships can only be barely classified as second-class frigates.

The second-class frigate of the Great Chu Empire Navy is required to carry between ten and twenty artillery pieces.

The first-class frigate is required to carry more than 22 artillery pieces. The Daye-class frigate currently being mass-produced by the Great Chu Empire Navy belongs to the first-class frigate and is equipped with [-] long-barreled naval guns.

As for the second-class frigate, although there is this classification in the Navy of the Great Chu Empire, it is generally awarded to those old-style ships that were captured or surrendered, and among the newly built warships, there is no second-class frigate. The main ocean-going battleship is a first-class frigate equipped with 22 artillery pieces.

Going further down, although there are still ships with smaller tonnage and fewer artillery, they are offshore patrol ships or simply inland river warships, the kind that do not have the ability to sail in the ocean, and they are basically all sails. Ship type, also known as the centipede ship.

It is said that the Navy of the Great Chu Empire has a good impression of this kind of centipede ship, and thinks that this kind of ship is very maneuverable. incomparable.

Although the firepower carried is a bit weaker, it does not need much powerful firepower for patrolling inland rivers and coastal waters. There is a five-pound naval gun mounted on the bow, and several two-and-a-half-pound naval guns and short-barreled shotguns are installed on both sides. That's about it.

At present, the Great Chu Empire has successively built and served more than 30 centipede ships in the Yangtze River Basin. Among them, the large centipede ships have more than 40 paddles, more than 20 on each side, and each paddle is assigned to two strong men. Sailors, so that such ships are extremely fast.

And these more than 30 centipede ships are currently the main ships of the Chu army fighting against the Zheng Zhilong Navy at the mouth of the Yangtze River. They are more useful than those armed merchant ships when guarding the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Of course, this kind of boat can only be used in inland rivers, or in more complex offshore waters. If it runs into the vast sea, it will basically be beaten to death.

The aborigines of the Nanyang people used to use these centipede ships to fight against the Western colonists, but they were beaten by the large armed merchant ships of the Western colonists... Well, the Western colonists did not use professional large sailing warships, but armed merchant ships that's all...

However, whether something is good or not depends on how it is used. It is naturally unreliable for the centipede ships of the Chu army to go to sea to fight with Zheng Zhilong's large sea ships.

But if it is a defensive operation in the narrow Yangtze River, it is still barely usable.

Therefore, the Navy of the Great Chu Empire has built a lot of centipede ships to serve in several fleets in the Yangtze River Basin.

Now there are more than ten centipede ships in the Pearl River Fleet, but these centipede ships were used by the pirates to plunder in the past, but now they have become the ships of the Chu army's inland river and offshore defense operations.

At present, the navy is urgently building more centipede ships in Guangzhou to enrich the defensive combat capabilities of the Pearl River Fleet.

Of course, relying on centipede ships alone is not enough. If you want to control Lingdingyang and completely control the mouth of the Pearl River, you need real warships.

The combat effectiveness of more than a dozen second-class frigates in the Pearl River Fleet is too poor. For this reason, the Ministry of the Navy has collected civilian merchant ships for refitting, and is also preparing to directly build Daye-class first-class frigates and Xiangyang-class second-class cruisers in Guangzhou.

For this reason, after repelling Zheng Zhilong's fleet, Xia Qiuyang has been rushing to build warships. He said that he was rushing, but in fact, he went to several responsible officials of the Ministry of Industry in Guangzhou every day to urge them to expand rapidly. The production capacity of warships.

In this regard, several officials sent by the Ministry of Industry to Guangzhou to be responsible for rectifying and developing local industries were also entangled by Xia Qiuyang...

Nima, we have only been in Guangzhou for about half a month, and we have not even completed the basic rectification of local workshops and craftsmen. A series of factories such as Guangzhou Machinery Factory are planning to build, but it will take time.

Not to mention other things, just the most core Guangzhou Ironworks, the expected new plant has not yet started construction.

Of course, the fact that these factories have not yet started construction does not mean that the Great Chu Empire has no weapons production capacity in the Guangzhou area. In fact, there are still some, and the output is not low...

Because the Great Chu Empire sent troops into and took control of Foshan Town at the beginning of June. Although this Foshan is only a small town under the administration of Guangzhou Prefecture, it is not even counted as a county, but this place was very important in the Ming Dynasty. famous.

Because iron is produced here!

Strictly speaking, there are actually no iron mines or coal mines in Foshan, and there is not even much local output of charcoal needed for ironmaking these days.

The reason why Foshan is famous for its iron smelting is purely because of the developed local water transportation, which can continuously receive iron ore and charcoal resources from other regions through the Pearl River system, including the Xijiang, Beijiang, Dongjiang and other water systems.

A large amount of iron ore and charcoal from northern Guangdong and Guangxi were collected in Foshan, where they were refined into iron and made into various iron products, which were then exported by water or even sea.

The famous contemporary Guangguo is produced in Foshan.

Let’s not talk about the past, let’s say that in the past ten years or so, Foshan has become a relatively important gun for the Ming court, especially the production base of the Hongyi cannon.

In the past two years, with the rise of the Great Chu Empire and the wave of field artillery and new matchlock guns, the governors of the Ming court followed up one after another, and Foshan once again became the leader of the Ming army in Guangdong, Guangxi and even surrounding areas. gun supply base.

Except for a small part of the guns used by the Guangdong and Guangxi new standard army established by Xiong Wencan, most of them came from Foshan, except for a small part from Haojing (Macau). The half-pound and five-pound field guns and the anti-thief cannons are considered very advanced weapons in contemporary times.

Without the production capacity of guns in Foshan, Xiong Wencan would not have been able to create the largest new standard army in the Ming court.

Now that Foshan is in the hands of the Great Chu Empire, the Great Chu Empire will naturally not waste Foshan's gun production capacity.

At least until a series of advanced factories organized by the Ministry of Industry are put into operation, the production of steel and guns in Foshan must be maintained.

To supply the Chu army fighting in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas nearby, including the army and navy.

The strength of the Chu army entering the Guangdong and Guangxi regions and the subsequent recruiting of the surrendered troops is not a small sum.

At present, there is one main division, three garrison divisions, one mortar regiment, and one heavy artillery regiment in Guangdong.

That is, the seventh division, the eighth artillery regiment, the seventh division's temporary heavy artillery regiment, the No.11 garrison division, the No.16 garrison division established after the capture of Shaozhou, and the No.17 garrison division established after the capture of Guangzhou. Currently, there is only one regiment-sized No. [-] garrison divisions.

And as the Chu army successively captured Huizhou, Zhaoqing, Chaozhou, Gaozhou, Luoding, Leizhou, Qiongzhou and other places in Guangdong, they should still capture or accept many local troops from the Ming army who surrendered. It won't be a big problem if a few thousand people come to supplement the No.17 Garrison Division.

At that time, the above-mentioned ministries will basically be at full strength, and the total strength of these full-strength Chu troops will exceed 5.

In addition, there are thousands of people in the navy. These days, the navy is not only full of sailors and gunners, but also a large number of land combat troops used for jumping gangs.

The combat needs of so many people require a large amount of various weapons and ammunition, not only guns, but also a large number of cold weapons, such as armor, spears, and waist knives.

In the previous battles of the Chu army in the Guangdong area, the above-mentioned weapons and ammunition basically needed to be produced from the Hantian Arsenal, and then transported thousands of miles south by water, land, etc. Although most of the way can be transported by water, the transportation cost is still very high. .

In order to reduce transportation costs, it is also because Hantian Armory and other factories in the Yangtze River Basin still need to support the fighting in the Fujian and Zhejiang regions, and also need to maintain the fighting in the Jiangbei region. More importantly, it is necessary to start hoarding a large amount of ammunition for the subsequent Northern Expedition battle.

For this reason, Luo Zhixue personally instructed the Ministry of Industry to set up a new weapons and ammunition production base in Guangzhou, following the model of Xiangyang Industrial Base, Daye Industrial Base, Dangtu Industrial Base, and Changsha Industrial Base, relying on the local convenient water transportation in Guangzhou City Conditions, relying on the rich local artisan resources, build an industrial base integrating iron smelting, machinery, and weapons.

However, if this industrial base wants to be established and put into operation, even if it is only the initial trial production, it may take half a year, and it is far from quenching thirst.

Therefore, all kinds of iron-making and iron-related workshops in Foshan, regardless of whether they are government-run or private-run, naturally need to maintain production to continue to supply the Chu army in the Guangdong and Guangxi regions.

Therefore, instead of declining due to the arrival of the Chu army, the iron-making industry in Foshan was further stimulated and developed.

The Ming court built guns in Foshan, and they were all buckled up. If they didn’t buckle up, they couldn’t do it. They had no money...

But the Great Chu Empire is different. The Great Chu Empire is rich, and the army is even richer.

When the rich army places an order, it is very happy, not to mention the large order, and it is very happy to give the money.

It's just that some local businessmen in private workshops feel that such a Chu army is being taken advantage of, and if they don't slaughter them, they don't kill them for nothing, so all kinds of cutting corners come...

(End of this chapter)