Looking at the two eager army and navy leaders in front of him, Emperor Zhu frowned a little - France and the Netherlands are not weak chickens!
It will cost a lot to defeat them! And this income...
France was the era of the Sun King Louis, the heyday of the Bourbon dynasty, with a cloud of famous generals and a sea of elite soldiers! The Prince of Condé, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and François Eugen—just Henry Chu’s cousin... He has been raised to 8 years old now, and he is still an Italian dwarf. As soon as you hear it, you know it’s awesome! Today's France is really more awesome than the other, and each one is shorter than the other. It's hard to deal with them even if you think about it!
Now is the time for the Netherlands to be awesome, because there is no "water-replacing-army" war that shattered the Dutch country, and it also gave the Netherlands an alliance of "the Netherlands on the sea and France on the land". Therefore, the Netherlands' national strength is still at its peak, and it is not far behind in the latest naval competition. Like the Ming Dynasty, they have built a new battleship with a load capacity of 1,000 tons and can be equipped with 40 12-pound long-barreled bombardment guns. The strength is just new!
Of course, if we just look at paper strength, the Dutch Navy and the French Navy together are far inferior to the Ming Dynasty Navy.
The Pacific type battleships currently equipped by the Ming Dynasty for use in the decisive battle in the ocean include Pacific A, Pacific B, and Pacific C, a total of three new models.
Among them, the Pacific A-type is the latest to be finalized among the three models, with the smallest tonnage and a load capacity of only 700-750 tons (the Pacific A-type ships are not exactly the same, so the tonnage varies). The armament is also the weakest, equipped with 24 12-pound long-barreled bronze cannons. However, the number of constructions is the largest. A total of two modifications have been produced, and a total of 45 ships have been built. In addition, the design of a third modification has been completed. The Navy has placed an order for 15 ships, which are being shipped from Nanjing, Shanghai, Quanzhou, Shipyards in Guangzhou and other places have started construction.
The Pacific Type B was finalized later, with a slightly larger tonnage of 800-850 tons, and strong armament, equipped with 32 12-pound long-barreled bronze cannons. At present, one modification has been launched and 20 ships have been built. The second modification is being designed and has not yet been finalized.
The Pacific Type C is the latest model, with a tonnage of over 1,000 tons! Currently there is only one model, with a total of 8 ships built and 7 more under construction. The design of the first modification of the Pacific Type C has also begun.
In other words, a total of 73 ships of these three types of battleships have been built so far, with 23 more under construction.
Of course, these three types of capital ships capable of decisive ocean battles are not the entire lineup of the Ming Navy's main fleet.
The Ming Dynasty Navy also has two special battleships, the Malacca type and the hard sailing type. Among them, the Malacca type is also divided into three types: A, B, and C. A total of 30 ships have been built, and all are currently completed (three ships have been lost).
The hard sailing type is a cheap battleship modified based on the commercial Pacific sailing ship. As the Pacific Rim route has become more and more popular in the past two years, more and more Pacific hard sailing ships are put into use. It can There are more and more sailors who are skilled in sailing this type of sailing ship. Moreover, shipyards across the Ming Dynasty did not know how many Pacific hard sailing ships were built. Those experienced shipwrights could say that they could build a ship with their eyes closed. Therefore, the cost of building a hard-sailed Pacific battleship is very low!
In addition, because Pacific hard sailing ships use hard sails, there are fewer sailors on board, and the cost of use is much lower than soft sail type capital ships.
Moreover, the sailors of the Ming Dynasty were very familiar with the Pacific hard-sailed warships, so it would not be difficult to recruit some merchant sailors to join the Pacific hard-sailed warships.
Because of the above advantages, the Ming Dynasty has a large number of Pacific hard-sail battleships, more than a hundred!
Of course, the shortcomings of this kind of Pacific hard-sailed battleship with outstanding advantages are also outstanding, that is, the speed is too slow... so it can only do some chores such as escorting, transporting, bombarding coastal targets, and supporting landings. .
If the Pacific type battleships, Malacca type battleships, and Pacific hard-sailed battleships are added together, the total number of bombardment gun battleships owned by the Ming Dynasty is more than 200, which is more than the total number of bombardment gun battleships owned by Britain, France, and the Netherlands!
Therefore, the current paper strength of the Ming Dynasty Navy has almost reached the historical level of the British Royal Navy at the end of the 18th century.
With such strength as the backing, Qin Mingtao and Chen Shangchuan will certainly be strong!
However, Emperor Zhu was not as arrogant as these two... In his opinion, it was not worthwhile to drag the Ming Navy's old people out to compete with the Dutch and French navies!
Picture what?
Although the French and Dutch navies have relatively few battleships, if they really have to fight, the Ming Navy has a higher probability of winning.
But today's navy is a business of "kill 1,000 enemies and suffer 800 self-losses". If the main force of the French and Dutch navies were to be completely wiped out, at least half of the main force of the Ming Navy would have to be lost.
Even the ships, equipment, and personnel pensions, at least 20 million taels of silver have been wasted?
Of course, 20 million is not impossible to get... The question is, if you invest this 20 million, where will the return be? Can Aurangzeb give 50 million?
impossible!
The Ming Dynasty spent 20 million to save him, and then... there was no more!
Blood loss!
But what if the Ming Dynasty is a little more timid? Huddle in Malacca and let France, the Netherlands, and Dashun go to India to grab it...Aurangzeb can't stand it anymore. At this time, we can negotiate the price, and maybe we can negotiate for 100 million!
Zhu Cixi is a good person and is willing to save the Indian people... but he cannot just let them be colonized by France! The French are more hateful than the British. When the revolution comes, they will have freedom, equality and fraternity.
What will happen to the vast numbers of working untouchables in India who were colonized by the French? Not even a pariah can be allowed to be a pariah!
So Zhu Cixiang is willing to save the untouchables in India...but the problem is, there is a fee!
How can you save people from fire and water without even negotiating a price?
Zhu Cixiang frowned and turned his attention to Zheng Sen, the Minister of Revenue - Your father is a profiteer, and you also understand economics. You should know what I mean, right?
"Your Majesty, don't worry, the Ministry of Revenue has money!"
As soon as Zheng Sen opened his mouth, Zhu Cihong was disappointed - you are not as good as Zheng Zhilong! If Zheng Zhilong were here, he would definitely cry for poverty at this time!
"Are you rich?" Zhu Cixiang winked at his senior brother.
"Your Majesty, you can rest assured!" Young Master Zheng Sen, how can he cry about poverty? Immediately, he patted his chest and said, "I can raise a military expenditure of 100 million for Your Majesty!"
100 million, you still want to spend 100 million... spend 100 million to save Aurangzeb? Do you think I am the Allah that Aurangzeb worshiped several times every day?
Zhu Cixiang was so angry that he didn't want to talk to Zheng Sen anymore. He immediately turned to look at Grand Duke Luo - you, the chief minister, look very cunning, you must be able to understand the holy will, right?
"Your Majesty, now that Li Jicheng has colluded with the Western Barbarians and exterminated himself from the Celestial Empire, and recently killed his mother and imprisoned his biological father, it is really unjust. If the imperial court sends troops to conquer at this time, it will definitely get a lot of help, and a great victory can be expected!"
By the way...you are a Donglin Party member! Zhu Cixi then remembered that Grand Duke Luo was the favorite disciple of Donglin Party leader Qian Qianyi! No wonder he talks so much about political correctness... Li Jicheng is going to India to become a Brahmin and a Kshatriya. Why are you stopping him? Aurangzeb didn’t give us any money! Let him go! If he goes away, won't it be easy for us to regain Yunnan? I still need Dao Duo to help... who will help in vain? They are all coveting the Ming Dynasty’s rewards!
Wei Zhongcheng, Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has already seen Zhu Cixiang's thoughts...Long live the Lord is scared! Long Live Master is getting older and does not have the ambitions of the past. What he wants now is to arrange for his descendants so that the Ming Dynasty will last forever, just like the great ancestor Taizu did in his later years.
There is not much point in starting a war with the French and the Dutch in the Little Western Sea. Even if you can beat them to the ground, if you want to open up a country or several countries in India, you have to continue to invest heavily and recruit troops for expeditions.
Moreover, India is also a place full of diseases, and the people from China are not accustomed to the local environment. If you are so motivated, you might as well work more in the New World!
Thinking of this, Wei Zhongcheng opened his mouth and said to Zhu Cixiang: "Your Majesty, although I am a civil servant, I also know a little about the art of war, and I know the principle of avoiding reality and making mistakes!"
