The Academy of Sciences calculates based on current inflation standards that the cost of a single ninth-class ironclad ship (Bismarck-type battleship) expected to start construction in more than 20 years will be as high as 150 million silver coins.
In other words, the cost of one level nine ironclad ship is equivalent to two level eight ironclad ships (Scharnhorst). If the cost cannot be controlled, the construction cost will be close to 200 million silver coins.
For Zhu Cixiang, this amount is not unbearable.
The worst case scenario is to cut down the six-, seven-, and eight-level battleships, and use the navy's shipbuilding funds mainly for building such super battleships.
As long as the quality is guaranteed, there is no problem in letting Bismarck serve for a hundred years.
Perhaps a nuclear power system could be installed, eliminating the need to refuel during the entire service life.
At the World Summit held in 1710, heads of state participated in the Ming Dynasty Ship Review.
Eight King ships, 12 Blücher ships, four Bismarck ships, eight Dingyuan ships, 28 Yoshino ships, four Laiyuan ships, and 10 Zhiyuan ships that have completed sea trials participated in this ship review.
After seeing that the Ming Empire built so many new warships in seven years, Louis XIV, who owned three level six ironclads (Blücher), couldn't help but feel "sour" again...
Even among these new battleships, two King's belong to Zheng Zhilong, one King belongs to Poirot, and one Blücher belongs to Karl XII.
According to the book "Analysis of World Naval Power" published that year, as of this year, the Ming Navy is still the hegemon of the global ocean.
It has six level seven ironclads (King), twenty level six ironclads (Blücher), twenty-four level five ironclads (Bismarck), twenty-sixth-level ironclads (Dingyuan), one hundred and twenty-two A third-class ironclad (Yoshino), and more than fifty second- and first-class ironclads.
It has naval bases in the Americas such as Long Beach, De Juarez, Panama, and Santa Marta, and in Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean it has naval bases such as the Maldives, Ceylon, Aceh, Batavia, and Manila.
Coupled with the fact that many island bases in the South Pacific can be used at will, the Ming Navy's Pacific Fleet almost controls the sea control of most of the Pacific.
Even in the Atlantic Ocean shared with European countries, the Ming Empire also owned many naval bases in North America such as St. John's, Halifax, Boston, New Amsterdam, Miami, and Havana.
Normally, non-major third-level bases are stationed with large numbers of third-level ironclad ships. Only this ironclad ship can achieve global average deployment by virtue of its numerical advantage.
Each secondary base is deployed with a number of level 5 and level 4 ironclad ships, which are used for combat readiness and can also serve to deter opponents.
Only the most important first-level bases, such as Long Beach, New Amsterdam, Cape of Persia, Ceylon, Changi, Gold Coast, Xiamen and other places, will deploy battleships such as level seven and level six ironclads.
In order to prevent the enemy from finding out the situation of each first-level base, all first-level naval bases adopt the method of rotating capital ships for stationing.
The number and types of capital ships will not be consistent, and some bases will not have any capital ships docked at a certain time.
Since most of the bases are in relatively good locations, the local temperature is very livable, and the Ming Navy's logistical supplies are top-notch.
In particular, there is nothing wrong with the food, and there will be no shortage of pay, so there will be no problem even if the base's standing troops are stationed for a long time.
French Navy Commander-in-Chief d'Estrère jealously believed that the combat effectiveness of his own naval fleet was equivalent to the strength of a squadron of the Ming Empire Navy.
To be precise, it is equivalent to about one-eighth of the other party's!
Even so, I'm afraid it's an optimistic estimate.
Because D'Estre found out that the latest shipbuilding plan implemented by the Ming Empire included the construction of eight level seven ironclad ships and eight level six ironclad ships.
Even if only half of these sixteen battleships belong to the Ming Empire Navy, after these battleships are launched, the gap between it and the French Navy will further widen.
The Second European War allowed France to drain its treasury. With this money, it could buy a seventh-level ironclad ship.
D'Estre believed that it would be unwise for His Majesty the Emperor to help Leopold, even if he ended up with the Rhineland.
Including interest, France spent 550 million silver coins to buy the Rhineland. This move was certainly not cost-effective.
In order to urgently replenish blood in the mainland, no less than three million slaves were transported to France from West Africa during the war.
Kolbe expected that the same amount would have to be transported to ensure rapid digestion of the already occupied Iberian Peninsula.
At best, the former rich peasants are now farmers, each with dozens of slaves under his command.
On the contrary, due to the laziness of black slaves, per capita productivity is actually declining.
Fortunately, there are machines like tractors that can make up for this gap, otherwise the harvest would be really ugly.
Today, there are approximately 15 million black slaves and their descendants in France, accounting for nearly one-third of the total population.
Fortunately, slaves have relatively low IQs, so as long as the labor quota is not too harsh, they will not rebel easily.
Otherwise, His Majesty the Emperor would not need to support Leopold. He would be too busy just to use the army to put out the fire in the backyard...
After seeing the seventh-level ironclad, Louis XIV began to regret his participation in the European War.
France finally exchanged its American territories for two level six ironclads and related construction technology, and the Ming Empire launched seven level ironclads.
The first batch of four seven-level ironclad ships were launched eight years ago, but they were not publicly displayed because Zhu Cixiang did not hold a ship review.
Now there are eight seventh-level ironclad ships in this batch, and they are being reviewed at sea. The scene is quite spectacular.
Louis XIV could still exchange French India for the purchase of four seventh-level ironclad ships and related construction technology, but he was stuck just at the French ambassador to the Ming Empire to talk about the situation.
India?
Just kidding?
Emperor Haojing is not interested in flying cakes, sacred cows, or Ganges water at all!
There was no need to send troops there. The third brother thought it was cold, so he took the initiative to play in the mud in the Northeast...
Before Louis XIV, William III also tried to exchange Dutch India for two to four level seven ironclads.
The result is still the same. Zhu Cixiang neither needs the vast number of third brothers nor the third brother's land.
Isn’t there a serious shortage of labor in your country?
Hurry up and transport the three brothers and three sisters-in-law who are good at singing and dancing!
This made Louis XIV and William III very puzzled, thinking that the greedy emperor of the Ming Empire was not interested in India.
Could it be that there is some hidden secret here? ? ?
William III woke up earlier than Louis XIV and sent out many expeditions.
I began to conduct in-depth exploration of the Dutch Indies. After struggling for several years, I finally harvested a bunch of gems and gold!
It seems good, but these things are not what William III really wants.
In order to further explore the truth, a daring Dutch expedition team also went to the roof of the world.
According to rumors from the far east, there is an axis of the earth here, and the exit of the axis is the entrance to all secrets.
The expedition of more than 100 people took half a year, and after more than 50 people died, they had to retreat to the starting point.
They only reached a height of about six thousand meters and could no longer move forward.
Breathing is very difficult there, and one can suffocate at almost any time.
William III was not satisfied with this result, but there was nothing he could do about it.
So five more expedition teams were sent to the same place. Before he participated in the ship review, all the expedition teams had not returned...
William III believed that perhaps there was indeed the axis of the earth there, which was the location to defeat the Ming Empire. However, he was unable to send anyone to enter it for the time being.
In William III's diary, more than ten pages contain relevant information.
The term "Earth's Axis" comes from a conversation between a factory guard and a certain audience in his spare time after drinking...
It is said that the emperor sent a large number of factory guards to the snowy area to search for the Earth's axis, but the factory guards who went there narrowly escaped death, and those who survived did not dare to come back.
Most of the dead factory guards were eaten alive by the snowy mountain savages, which made the audience shudder, fearing that they would also be eaten by those monsters.
This gossip spread more and more widely, and finally reached the ears of the Dutch ambassador, so he wrote a letter and reported it to William III thousands of miles away...
Who started it all?
you still need to ask?
Zhu Cixiang was not worried at all that the other party could find the axis of the earth, because without an oxygen bottle, the limit was to be able to climb to a height of five or six thousand meters.
If you get too bad, you may die at any time and at any time. At that time, you will be seeking your own death. You will not even have a chance to be rescued, and you will not be able to blame others.
Of course, this kind of news will not be published in newspapers and magazines, so believers can only confirm it themselves. There are also many foolish and bold people in the Ming Dynasty who are not short of money.
But when they entered Wusi Zangdusi, they were completely dumbfounded. The climate there was completely different from what they imagined, and the further in they got, the more terrifying it became.
When I see the endless towering Kunlun Mountains in front of me, I can only bow down.
Most of the explorers had penetrated less than 500 miles into the capital and were forced to retreat.
Because they really can't hold on any longer. This is the result for ordinary people who have not received special training.
If the bodyguard or guide is a retired soldier, you may be able to walk a little further, but it is impossible to reach the end.
"Husband, is there really an axis of the earth there?"
"If you believe it, you have it; if you don't believe it, you don't have it!"
"..."
"Maybe they can discover the demon kingdom that King Gesar defeated back then!"
This is how Zhu Cixiang responded to the questions raised by some concubines.
Some people wanted such an answer, and a certain emperor gave them one.
In addition, finding that answer requires your efforts and even your life.
"What if this Earth's axis is used by someone with ulterior motives?"
"That's the best!"
"What is the explanation for this?"
""Push Back Picture"!"
According to the factory guard's report, on the day he came into this world, the book that had been kept in some temples and even in the homes of wealthy gentry spontaneously burned on its own.
Some experts have calculated that the return of the prince from the immortal world has disrupted the inherent way of heaven, and the thousand-year results calculated by Yuan and Li are no longer valid.
Then some experts pointed out that this still requires calculation? It’s just obvious!
The Jianghu people then had a strange scene of "experts from all sides" engaging in verbal battles for decades...
Of course, this does not affect Zhu Cihong's time to eat, drink, play music, and dance, and his life is full of joy.
Chief Assistant Xia Wanchun once asked about the "Earth's Axis" in private, but Zhu Cixiang's explanation was not as unreliable as the explanation given to the concubines.
But there is only one sentence - when the time is up, we will all leave!
It sounded like his last words, but Xia Wanchun felt that the decision was not that simple, and it would be unclear for a while.
If we really leave, where will we go?
Is it the new capital to the west?
Since it is a capital move, what does it have to do with the "Earth Axis"?
Xia Wanchun even went out of his way to ask an expert for advice. A certain expert explained that maybe a hundred years from now, there will be big changes!
This answer shocked Xia Wanchun, and the expert did not explain much, only that the secret must not be leaked.
Then he openly collected a test fee of two hundred silver coins...
The price was not cheap, but Xia Wanchun also benefited a lot, at least he didn't think about it before.
Could it be that Emperor Haojing had some foresight?
It is certain that he really has immortal power!
Because the heads of state of various countries extended their lifespan by taking elixirs, even Sun Chuanting, who was on the verge of death, was saved by the elixirs.
However, Xia Wanchun did not believe that there was an enemy in the world that was difficult for the emperor to defeat, unless the opponent also had immortal power, and the immortal power was even more powerful.
A hundred years later...
Xia Wanchun believed that he would no longer be alive by then, and it would be great if the emperor could lead the people of Ming Dynasty to move to other places outside the mainland.
"Husband, do I need to be prepared?"
Queen Xue Wanqing has never asked about the "Earth's Axis". When other sisters asked, they would only listen from the sidelines, but the curiosity in their hearts was unavoidable.
"I will prepare whatever needs to be prepared for you. You can just bring your own clothes and belongings. Previously, I asked the eldest son to go to Australia and the second son to the East. Now do you know my good intentions?"
Do you think I don't do my job all day long, just eating, drinking and having fun?
That is the daily life of a certain fat prince!
Even an emperor found it boring to lie down and curl up all year round.
Why not make more drying barrels now and prepare nuclear bombs to destroy the earth at any time?
"...This...concubine is very grateful!"
Queen Xue Wanqing and Crown Princess Liu Xier knelt on the ground together. Only now did they know the true intention of their son being sent overseas by her husband.
"Those two places are fine, so I let them live there permanently. We can just take care of ourselves. This matter should not be made public, nor should it be made internally. I plan to move the capital within 190 years."
By 1900 at the latest, a certain emperor will be able to walk away.
"...I obey!"
Xue Wanqing and Liu Xier were the first to accompany Zhu Cixiang, so they naturally knew their own rules.
What you let yourself know, you must keep in mind.
On the contrary, then you must not talk too much.
Now that they know this secret, the two women naturally feel at ease.
After giving instructions to his two wives, Zhu Cihong continued to drink tea and read the newspaper.
This matter was planned decades ago and has been implemented for a long time. Now it is on track.
After the ship review, Zhu Cihong sold a batch of ironclad ships at a discount, which was regarded as a small profit for the court.
