Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 923

On June 1652, 6, the rumble of guns off the coast of Yancheng Port had just ended, and the naval ships returning from the exercise returned to the port one by one to rest and receive supplies, which made the residents of the small Yancheng Port immediately cheered.

海军官兵们对地方消费的促进作用那是相当明显的！毕竟，包括6艘战列舰——“八月十日”号等四艘外加新入役的“坚强不屈”号、“海上长城”号两艘战列舰——18艘风帆护卫炮舰、4艘食水补给船、3艘弹药补给船、2艘修理船、2艘运煤船、1艘医疗船、1艘运兵船、1艘通讯联络船总计38艘舰船的海军第一舰队，在人迹罕见的盐城港外海已经集中训练、演习了两个多月了。

During the exercise, most of the daily food consumption of more than 4900 naval officers and soldiers had to be supplied by Yancheng Port, which has a population of only 4000 people. burden.Fortunately, there is a certain amount of food reserves in the city, and the nearby residents like to raise ostriches, herd goats, and occasionally go out to hunt deer and guanacos. There are many sources of food, so these two or three It took a few months to fool the past—of course, the rewards are also very generous. The commercial sales of the entire city have reached the amount of last year in the past two or three months. China's navy is really not a worry-free thing.

Raising a navy is burning money!Captain Ventura's "Kingfisher" (belonging to the private "Messenger Liner Company") Galen sailing ship was berthed in the port to unload its cargo. When they heard that the naval warship had entered the port, they had to move to another berth at the request of the dock officials. The sailors on the "Kingfisher" booed as they continued to unload in order to give up the good berths that were originally in better positions to the Navy.

"Have you heard? The English Navy requires all foreign ships passing through the Strait of Dover to give them a 'flag-raising salute'! I don't know if our merchant ships should do this when they go to Riga and Archangel!" Nothing to do, Some of the sailors on the Kingfisher started chatting among themselves.

"Probably not." An elderly sailor with a wrinkled face said uncertainly: "I heard that the British did not strictly enforce this regulation. In fact, they mainly focus on the Dutch, and they don't care about ships from other countries." , They are not fools, and they will not be so stupid as to offend all countries now."

"In other words, only Dutch ships need to perform a 'flag-raising salute' to the British when they pass through the Strait of Dover? Can other countries not abide by it? This is not bad. I thought that in the future, our merchant ships will always have a British flag. , this is really unpleasant..." A young sailor heaved a sigh of relief.

"The British have invested heavily in the navy and shipbuilding industry in the past three years. You have also heard the bragging of those English sailors who came to trade. Why does the government encourage the building of large ships? Ships over 50 tons) are subsidized by 100 shillings per last, why are sailors earning more and more, etc., seeing their complacent looks, I feel like spitting, it’s nothing!" Some sailors used a slightly Said with a complex expression of envy and jealousy.

Captain Ventura was leaning on the side of the ship, eating a half-rotten fruit, while listening to the chatter of his sailors with a smile.As a veteran captain and manager of the "Messenger Liner Company", he certainly knows much more than them, especially when his fellow countryman Ensign Rossetti is still serving in the navy, he can always know Something not so easy for others to hear - certainly not a secret.

For example, he knew that the British fleet had entered a period of rapid growth since 1649, and almost every British port was carrying out shipbuilding, especially on both sides of the Thames Estuary.The British bourgeois government reiterated the shipbuilding subsidy policy of the Elizabethan era to encourage the private sector to build larger ships of more than 100 tons.You must know that the smallest fishing boat of the Dutch is 60 tons, but the fishing boats of the British are generally between 6-12 tons (and the number of fishing boats also accounts for the vast majority of the number of British boats). It is not a level, no wonder it was repeatedly collided by Dutch fishing boats at sea, resulting in the tragedy of ship crashes and fatalities.

However, since 1649, the situation has changed a lot. The British government clarified the basic national policy of building a country by sea, and began to overcome financial difficulties (for this reason, it had to auction off a large number of royalist properties), and vigorously built warships and ocean-going transport ships. At the same time, it also encourages the private sector to build new ships and large ships.All of a sudden, there was a shipbuilding fever in the UK, and the tonnage of ships also increased rapidly. According to a data circulated in Amsterdam, the total tonnage of British merchant ships has exceeded 18 tons. Twice the total tonnage (only ships under the jurisdiction of the China Southern Sea Transportation Company and the Ministry of Immigration, not including others)—but most of the large transport ships (with about 100 sailors) on the east coast are transporting immigrants here It is a kind of "special cargo" and does not participate in cargo transportation, so the actual shipping capacity is actually only about 2300% of that of the UK.And with the promulgation of the "Navigation Regulations", a law that has a great stimulating effect on the British shipping industry, the gap between the two parties is still widening rapidly.

Of course, the British also have troubles, that is, their shipbuilding costs are much higher than those of the Dutch.The Dutch man-made ship industry is not comparable to the British in terms of scale and intensification, which saves a lot of costs; at the same time, their mechanization is higher than that of the British, purchasing accessories (Amsterdam is the distribution center for boats), raw materials - because the Dutch Because they have mastered raw materials such as hemp, flax, masts, wood, tar, beeswax and other raw materials in the Baltic Sea and the Principality of Moscow, the cost advantage in this aspect is even greater-the cost advantage in this aspect; Much lower financing costs and labor costs, their shipbuilding costs are often only half of their British counterparts, and in extreme cases even only one-third of the British, which has greatly affected the development of the British shipbuilding industry.

The Dutch can start building hundreds of ships at the same time, which consumes a lot of shipbuilding resources and raises the average shipbuilding cost in Europe.They also send 700-800 ships (with an average tonnage of 280 tons, a total of 20.7 tons) to the Baltic Sea for trade every year. With their political and economic advantages, they almost monopolize the trade along the Baltic Sea. Timber, which is extremely critical to the British shipbuilding industry Iron, cables, asphalt, asphalt, beeswax, etc. are difficult to enter the British market - or even if they enter, the price is extremely high (this is a conscious behavior of the Dutch) - this makes British shipbuilding entrepreneurs furious, but helpless.

"Thanks to Tianzun, let us have the inexhaustible and inexhaustible timber treasure house of Xinhua Island; and also thanks to the enterprising Southern Railway Company, who helped our country's shipbuilding industry control in Tierra del Fuego and Chile. Endless beech forest; Finally, thanks to the wise executive committee, our country has its own independent ship design, construction and testing system, a stable number of skilled workers, complete supporting industries, and complete factory-run vocational schools for training Talent, our country's shipbuilding industry is efficient and healthy, and it is not controlled by anyone, thank you Tianzun!" Thinking of this, Captain Ventura couldn't help but took off the gossip pendant on his neck.

……

"The development of the British navy is too fast, and the speed is surprisingly fast." Lieutenant Commander Li Yi, the commander of the First Fleet, stood on the deck of the battleship "August [-]" sailing into Yancheng Port, expressing his concern. Said in a tone of voice towards Navy Minister Lu Ming who came to inspect the exercise.

Lu Ming served as the Chief of Staff of the Military Department with the dignity of the Minister of the Navy. He fought wits and courage with the generals of the Army. It has been a long time since he paid attention to the daily training of the Navy.However, this time the First Fleet held a large-scale military exercise in the sea off Yancheng Port. Lu Ming still took time out of his busy schedule to take a look at this military exercise that almost included most of the naval ships on the east coast. From a distance to get an update on the development of his beloved navy.

And the main generals of the navy also seized this opportunity and began to complain to the Minister of the Navy about the lag in the development of the navy on the east coast—that is, few new ships have been purchased in recent years, and a batch of them were launched this year. It hasn't been built for several years.

"According to news publicly circulated in Europe, by the end of 1651, the British Navy had increased the number of converted warships to 80-100 (the real number was 88), while ten years ago, this number was only twenty or thirty. This growth rate is really scary." Li Yi complained loudly to Lu Ming, "In comparison, the development speed of our navy seems too slow and too conventional, but now our country's overseas interests are getting more and more There are many, the sea lines of communication that need to be protected are getting longer and longer, and the slow growth of naval power has become a serious problem. Therefore, increasing investment in the navy and increasing the size of the naval fleet are the next stage of the Executive Committee Things to consider."

"The skyrocketing number of British warships is unsustainable, including the concentrated pressure release factor of underinvestment in the past 20 years. The benefits they have gained from this war are far greater than in the past, or the dictator Cromwell continues to tax and invest in the navy." Lu Ming patted Li Yi on the shoulder and said in relief: "Our navy is going The line of elite troops, large and sturdy ships, high mobility, strong firepower, high morale and well-trained officers and soldiers. According to the Ministry's calculations at the beginning of this year, after some new ships enter service, the annual salary of the navy's personnel will reach 67.44 yuan, training The cost will also exceed 120 million yuan. If it weren’t for the navy’s own small treasury with a large amount of privately plundered and sold stolen goods to subsidize the expenses, the navy maintenance fee of 200 million yuan this year can really bankrupt the country. The navies of European countries , there is no one that trains so frequently, so hard, and so scientifically as ours, so don't underestimate yourself, have confidence in yourself, and even more confidence in the 120 million yuan training fee you spend a year!"

"As for the rapidly expanding number of professional warships in Britain and the Netherlands, isn't the Admiralty or the Executive Committee not worried? But what's the use of worrying? Our national strength currently only allows us to have such a large navy. This is already the limit, unless we drastically reduce the training cost, we will keep the fleet, but then who will agree?" Lu Ming sighed imperceptibly when he said this, and said: "Everything must be done slowly. It also depends on whether the national strength allows it. The Government Affairs Council has already complained deeply about the huge military expenditure every year. It has proposed several times to reduce military expenditure and invest in economic construction, but we have stopped them. In addition, the army's emotions must be appeased Otherwise, many things in the military department will be unsolvable. Not only has their number been reduced over the years, but their military expenditure has also been falling all the way, from more than 80 yuan at the peak to about 55 yuan now. It is impossible to have no resentment! At this time, if the limited military expenditure is tilted towards the navy, do you think those simple-minded guys with strong limbs will rise up and rebel?"

"Why is it so difficult to do something..." After hearing so much from Lu Ming, Li Yi, who knew that the navy would not be able to expand in a short period of time, said in disappointment.

(End of this chapter)