Tourville had previously heard about the Netherlands exchanging its overseas territories for the purchase of level 3 ironclads. He also believed that the Ming Empire would not easily deliver more than four level 3 ironclads to the Netherlands at one time.
However, the reality was more exaggerated than his imagination. The Ming Empire actually took out ten level three iron-clad ships, and they were all brand new. This made him surprised and greatly stimulated.
This not only shows that the shipbuilding strength of the Ming Empire is very important, but both sides must have been planning for a long time. The target is France, taking this opportunity to support the Dutch Navy, thus inhibiting the development of the French Navy.
Colbert also agreed with Tourville's guess, but he was unable to do anything about it. The strength and status of the Ming Empire was transcendent in the world, and it was definitely not something that France could shake at the moment.
Perhaps it was because of Prince Kong Dai's aggressive expansion in North America, especially the continuous march of troops westward, and the acquisition of some of the land belonging to the Ming Empire's tributary countries, which aroused the dissatisfaction of the Ming Empire.
This led to this relatively extreme situation. If the situation is true, it means that the emperor's dissatisfaction with France's aggressive expansion in North America is no longer a recent thing.
The Ming Empire's navy still uses the island of Mallorca in the western Mediterranean and does not interfere too much in the war situation in North America. This does not mean that the other side can tolerate the situation continuing to develop.
Colbert had a bad feeling. If France, the second-largest country in the world, repeatedly encroached on the interests of the world hegemon and continued for a long time, I am afraid that it would not get a very ideal result in the end...
Rather than saying that paying ten third-level ironclads to the Netherlands at one time is a big deal, it is better to regard this deal as a disguised warning to France!
After forming alliances with the Netherlands and the Ming Empire respectively, we can no longer easily tear up the agreement and declare war on the Netherlands.
No matter how ambitious His Majesty the King is, he is self-aware. Declaring war on the Ming Empire at this time may be equivalent to declaring war on half of the world.
Not only His Majesty the King, but any reasonable Frenchman did not dare to do this. Even Prince Condé asked his troops to pursue the enemy under the banner of pursuing the enemy before they dared to continue to advance westward.
No one dares to claim that the Ming Empire is the enemy of France, otherwise the person who said this will definitely be regarded as a public enemy by most French people!
Nobles, generals, and wealthy businessmen benefited greatly from Ming-France trade every year. After the war between the two countries, this money was directly cut off.
No one wants to see this happen, so the best result is not to happen at all!
Even if the Ming Empire's army really fought with the French army on the North American battlefield, it would ultimately be classified as a misunderstanding, not even military friction!
Thinking of this, Kolbe felt more and more that His Majesty the King's ambition was not proportional to his strength...
At the very least, it was an irrational decision to at least acquiesce to Kong Dai's messing around in North America. This behavior that constantly harmed the interests of allies was indeed an irrational decision.
According to the memories of the ambassador to the Ming Empire, his emperor never published an article in a newspaper about his dissatisfaction with France's harm to his own interests in North America.
Only a fool would think that the emperor didn't know anything about this matter. On the contrary, the other party has not expressed his position, maybe he is waiting for a suitable time...
No matter what, it is best to wait until one's side has digested the construction technology of the third-level ironclad ship, otherwise all efforts will be in vain.
Tourville really wanted to see the Ming Empire unable to deliver ten third-level ironclad ships to the Netherlands, which might lead to a credit crisis in the Ming Empire.
However, the facts disappointed him. According to the telegram sent by the counselor in Tianjin, the other party had already delivered everything.
Tourville, who was very upset, could only drink to drown his sorrows, because the strength gap between the French navy and its Dutch counterpart had suddenly widened by more than twenty years!
France might be able to catch up with the Dutch within ten years by building six Class III ironclads, in addition to the four already purchased.
We can only achieve this small goal first, and then we can truly realize our original intention of overtaking the Dutch by relying on the technical advantages of building a third-class ironclad ship by ourselves.
All of this is based on a special precondition, that is, within ten years, the Ming Empire will not provide the Dutch with fourth-level ironclads!
Otherwise, we can only stare blankly, and this bold conjecture is not impossible to realize.
The ten third-level ironclad ships that the Netherlands has now obtained did not cost a single silver coin!
The ten years before, plus the ten after, add up to twenty years.
If you accumulate one million silver coins every year, you will have 20 million silver coins.
If doubled, it would be 40 million silver coins, which should be enough to pay the down payment for a level four ironclad ship.
Tourville even thought that if the Dutch had to sell land and buy ships by then, it would be a huge blow to the French Navy...
I heard that the Dutch still had two pieces of land in the South Asian subcontinent, which gave Tourville a headache just thinking about it.
Fortunately, France also has good land in this area, and may be able to make a preemptive strike.
Tourville did not want to turn arms procurement into a real estate transaction, but he had no money, so what could he do?
Assuming that the current price of a level three ironclad ship is 40 million silver coins, then a level four ironclad ship priced at 70 to 80 million is definitely not expensive.
In the future, ironclad ships will become more and more expensive as their displacement increases, and it will be even more difficult for the French Navy to purchase them!
Colbert was different from Tourville, who only had to be responsible for naval affairs.
This time when I came to the Ming Empire, in addition to purchasing level three ironclad ships and corresponding technologies.
Of the 35 million silver coins he brought, there were still 20 million unspent, and Kolbe had no intention of taking them back.
Especially after seeing the performance of airplanes and machine guns, Kolbe had mixed feelings.
The development of military technology in the Ming Empire had reached a point where he was stunned.
The spies lurking in the Holy Roman Empire submitted information about weapons similar to machine guns to Paris. Now that I have seen it with my own eyes, it is indeed worthy of the name.
The emergence of this kind of weapon means that the cavalry will be completely reduced to an auxiliary unit in the future.
If a machine gun is installed on a tank and the tank gun launches an attack, the cavalry will really have no chance at all.
Using infantry groups to launch a foot attack without tank cover is tantamount to asking for death.
The two battles of Budapest and Vienna ended up being trench warfare, which seems not unreasonable.
Leopold's army suffered unprecedented heavy losses, which was probably closely related to the emergence of machine guns.
When asked about the price, one machine gun costs up to 5,000 silver coins, and 100 of them is 500,000 silver coins!
The French Army's introduction has expanded to nearly 500,000. According to the standard of one machine gun for every 100 people, at least 5,000 must be equipped.
The total amount is 25 million silver coins, which is more than the money in Colbert's pocket...
One can only hope that the Ming Empire can transfer manufacturing technology and achieve localization to reduce procurement costs.
Since the machine gun is a newly developed weapon, the price of technology transfer should not be underestimated. It is as high as 50 million silver coins, which is equivalent to the price of a third-level ironclad ship.
Kolbe then settled for the next best thing and purchased a hundred machine guns. He would take them back to the army for trial first. If the effect was good, he would then consider purchasing more.
Even the unit price of five thousand silver coins is equivalent to the price of purchasing two hundred flintlock guns.
But weapons purchasers are not short-sighted. From the perspective of cost reduction, how cheap is it to equip the navy with wooden warships?
An armored ship easily costs tens of millions. What a waste of His Majesty's money!
Even if His Majesty the King cannot completely replace his army with revolvers or magazine-type rifles, it should be possible to decorate the facade with a small number of machine guns, right?
The higher the technical content of the weapon, the higher the price. This is mutually reinforcing. The cost of making a machine gun cannot be lower than the cost of picking up rocks to hit people.
As for the plane...
Now, like the fourth-level ironclad ship, it is not available for purchase at the moment, and it will be unlocked until 1700.
Unless Colbert can hold on until that time, we will never see the day when the French Air Force is equipped with fighter jets. valley
Spies lurking in the Ming Empire said that they only knew that things like airplanes burned oil, and that other information could not be obtained for the time being.
After watching the flight show, Kolbe could of course guess that the plane burned oil.
Anyone with eyes will know that this thing doesn’t emit steam, so it must be like an airship, using fuel!
Colbert suddenly felt that these spies were just a bunch of idiots who came to the Eastern world to eat, drink and have fun!
Since the other party kept the plane strictly confidential, outsiders had very few opportunities to see it, let alone touch it, so Kolbe forgave these idiots!
I was lucky enough to be able to see the true appearance of the aircraft, which meant that my visit was not in vain. I at least learned about the development level of the Ming Empire's military industry.
The emperor of the Ming Empire comforted the finance minister and said that most people's life is a journey full of regrets!
The person you love may not love you!
What you want to buy, you can’t even buy if you have money!
There are some delicacies that you have never even heard of in your life, let alone trying them!
After you raise your child, you find out that the child belongs to Lao Wang next door...
But so what?
Now that you have embarked on the road of life, you must keep going!
Those who gave up halfway have now been reduced to ashes!
The way you walk doesn’t necessarily mean how good-looking you are. If you are capable, you should at least finish the walk, no matter whether it goes well or not!
After Colbert heard the words from the interpreter, he was deeply moved and felt that the emperor was a man of extraordinary wisdom.
He was regarded as an immortal by the people of Ming Dynasty, and according to Western standards, he was a demigod.
It would not be an exaggeration to attribute all the changes in the Ming Empire to the so-called immortal power.
In comparison, Louis XIV, as a mortal king, was able to dominate Europe, which was already quite remarkable.
Regarding the future development of the two countries, the emperor said that France was an important partner of the Ming Empire in Europe. Regardless of the past, present, or future, the Ming Empire was committed to developing friendly relations with France...
The well-informed Colbert believed that the emperor's words of comfort were true to his heart.
After that, it will be regarded as perfunctory and a routine speech, so just listen to it.
After some testing, Kolbe felt that the possibility of a large-scale war between the two countries in the near future was relatively low.
After a long time, such as twenty years later, it will be difficult to say.
But by then he would have passed away long ago, and he wouldn't be able to care so much.
The national power of the Ming Empire was more than five times that of France, almost equal to the combined power of the entire Europe.
Its military strength, relying on its top-notch technology, may exceed the military strength of all Europe.
The combat effectiveness of one million well-armed Ming troops is equivalent to five million European coalition forces.
No one in the industry will admit this embarrassing fact, but no one will deny it easily.
Within Europe, Sweden and the Netherlands both concluded military alliances with the Ming Empire.
Venice and Rome were both partners of the Ming Empire. Counting the Ottomans, half of Europe maintained good relations with the Ming Empire.
As Russia was almost destroyed by the Ming Empire, the Ming army had captured Moscow, which was equivalent to pushing it all the way to the door of Europe.
Colbert still doesn’t know the Ming Empire’s next strategy for Europe, but one thing is certain, the empire’s influence on Europe will increase significantly!
Wanting to eliminate the other party's influence as soon as possible is tantamount to daydreaming.
The only feasible way is to take advantage of this opportunity to maximize the benefits for yourself!
If the Ming army continues to advance westward, destroys Boli, and threatens the security of the Holy Roman Empire, France cannot turn a blind eye.
Before that, Kolbe still had to see what valuable things he could buy in the Eastern world...
Arriving at Beidu New City, Kolbe felt as if he was in a huge garden.
There is no excrement on the roads, as horseback riding or horse-drawn carriage travel is not allowed.
Either take a steam carriage, a rickshaw, or ride your own bicycle.
There are drainage channels on the roadside that can quickly discharge rainwater and sewage into the sewer.
Compared to Paris, that city that always exudes a stench is really disgusting...
The French Embassy also moved to the New City, and the living environment is comparable to the Palace of Versailles.
Many people regarded being able to work at the Embassy in the Ming Empire as a sign of success.
Some wealthy merchants and nobles engaged in overseas trade would also send some members of their families to live in the Ming Empire all year round.
This group of people has almost become the happiest group of people in France. The living conditions and living environment they enjoy are almost only inferior to those of the king and queen.
There are also some veterans who followed Marshal Turenne to fight in the Ming Empire and then voluntarily stayed here.
Most of them are now married and have mixed-race children and even grandchildren. They work in institutions of the Ming Empire and receive pension benefits.
At least Colbert never heard from the ambassador about French veterans who were over fifty and still hungry.
It is said that the emperor arranged for a total of no less than 500,000 German mercenaries and French veterans back then. It must be said that he did something very bold.
Considering the huge population base of the Ming Empire, it is not very difficult to absorb these foreign soldiers as long as the money is available.
When their mixed-race second generation was born and grew up, their speech and behavior would be the same as that of ordinary Akito.
When he saw the newly published map of the Ming Empire, Kolbe was speechless again.
More than half of the Eurasian continent was occupied by the Ming Empire.
Although most of the land is located in the north, it is not as good as some countries and regions located in the south.
There is no doubt that being able to connect with each other is the most important thing.
If the Holy Roman Empire could border Spain, the Habsburg family would not have lowered their noble heads.
What's more, the Ming Empire also had lands in Southeast Asia, Australia, southern Africa, and northwest North America.
It directly controls nearly one-fifth of the world's land area, and its influence has spread all over the world.
Faced with such a behemoth with a population of 300 million and the largest land area in the world.
Colbert began to think thoughtfully...
