Louis XIV was ecstatic about acquiring three large shipyards in his new homeland, but then embarrassingly discovered that he had no money for shipbuilding, or to be precise, no capital ships.
Even if the Ming Empire's shipyard is obtained, the shipyard is large enough and the equipment is ready, and cheap coolies can be hired to reduce costs.
Under this circumstance, building a ninth-level battleship with a full load displacement of more than 50,000 tons would require at least 160 million silver coins.
Setting the construction period to eight years and achieving an annual installment payment of 20 million will put a lot of pressure on the national treasury.
Will the Navy only be able to purchase one battleship in another eight years?
Do the procurement plans for aircraft carriers, cruisers, and destroyers have to be temporarily shelved?
Before the move, France's annual financial income was only 300 million silver coins at its peak, equivalent to one-tenth of the Ming Empire.
Military expenditure accounts for about one-third, which is 100 million silver coins, and the money used to purchase warships is only 30 million at most.
If the Navy wants to purchase additional battleships, it will need to use the loans provided to France by the Ming Empire.
In fact, if Louis XIV did not provide special funds for the purchase of ships to the navy.
The Navy can only rely on loans to buy ships, otherwise it will have to purchase one capital ship every ten years.
This is completely incomparable to the Ottoman Empire and the Inca Empire. They have a lot of natural resources in their own country, and the equivalent of silver coins is dug out.
In contrast, France's biggest specialty is wheat. However, except for the Ottoman Empire, whether it was the Ming Empire or the Inca Empire, there was no shortage of food at all.
The Ming Empire, in particular, has become the largest grain exporter in the world. Due to its relatively low export price, it has become the first choice for many food-deficient countries.
After reading "Analysis of World Naval Power 1740", French Navy Commander-in-Chief Tourville has voluntarily given up his plan to catch up with the Ming Empire Navy.
The strength of the two sides can already be described as a huge difference. He had estimated that the strength gap between the two sides was very large, but he did not expect it to be so huge.
The strength of the French navy is at most equivalent to about a quarter of the Ming Empire's naval strength, and it is not impossible to position it as one-sixth.
Even if the Ming Empire Navy did not purchase capital ships before 1800, it could maintain its control of the sea for a hundred years with these capital ships in active service.
Assuming that the French Navy can serve one ninth-level battleship every year, and the Ming Empire's naval strength remains unchanged, it will take more than thirty years for our country to approach the goal.
The reality is that France's national power is very limited. Even if it acquires a new territory and absorbs the local industrial production capacity, it will not be able to catch up with the Ming Empire within a hundred years.
After the launch of its latest batch of battleships, the Ming Empire Navy has nine level 9 battleships, nine level 8 battleships, 24 level 6 cruisers, 32 level 5 cruisers, 128 destroyers, One hundred and two frigates.
Although eight lower-performing Tier 7 battleships were retired, the quality of the battleship fleet was improved, not to mention that there were still thirty-two Type II aircraft carriers and thirty amphibious assault ships of the same type in the series.
In contrast, the French Navy only had a ninth-level battleship and a second-level aircraft carrier in service, and did not build any capital ships during the relocation process.
The Ottoman Empire has not been affected by the relocation of the Ming Dynasty and France at all. The scale of its naval capital ships has expanded to the point of three ninth-level battleships, three eighth-level battleships, and eight seventh-level battleships.
The navy of the Inca Empire was not to be outdone, with three level nine battleships, two level eight battleships, five level seven battleships, two type II aircraft carriers, and two type I aircraft carriers.
The comparison of the number of battleships between France and the Ottomans and Incas is 12-14-10, and the number of aircraft carriers is 2-2-4.
It can be seen that the three countries do not attach much importance to the development of aircraft carriers, but still focus on battleships.
The Ottoman Empire had a slight advantage over France in terms of battleships.
The Inca Empire had a slight advantage over France in terms of aircraft carriers.
In his heart, Louis XIV looked down on these two countries with almost no industry. Their so-called industry was nothing more than metallurgical plants and oil refineries established with the help of the Ming Empire.
Tourville would not think so. As a military general, he pays more attention to the existing balance of power. This is the reality, not the numbers in the armament plan.
Perhaps the national strength of the Ottomans and Incas only ends here, and is no better than France. As a result, their naval strength has not achieved the goal of surpassing the French navy in the past twenty years.
Louis XIV had already taken a liking to the Ming Empire's latest three-type aircraft carrier. This kind of warship actually had an angled deck, which could facilitate the take-off of carrier-based aircraft.
Tourville saw the benefits of this design at a glance, but it was more difficult to apply it to a Type II aircraft carrier with a displacement of only 30,000 tons.
Louis XIV hoped that his country could build an aircraft carrier with a displacement equivalent to that of a Type III aircraft carrier, so as to distance itself from its two main competitors in terms of military industry and naval strength.
The funds are generally available. At the worst possible outcome, they will stop building battleships and follow the strategy of the Ming Empire Navy and focus their development on aircraft carriers.
Tourville believes that the key battleship that will dominate future naval battles is the aircraft carrier. The aircraft carrier battle group composed of the Ming Empire's naval expeditionary fleet will play the most important role in naval battles.
Battleships cannot be considered completely obsolete, but in thirty years they will probably be reduced to aircraft carriers' helpers, and will at most participate in escort and shore strike missions.
Even so, French navy executives believe that in the future, they must maintain the level of at least fifteen battleships in order to maintain the second, or nearly second, position in the world.
There are still three battleships short of this goal. If one is launched every ten years on average, it will be just enough. However, the hole is currently relatively large and it seems that it cannot be filled...
The Navy definitely doesn't want a seventh-level battleship. It's best to have a ninth-level battleship. If that doesn't work, three eighth-level battleships can also be used.
Previously, in the Atlantic direction of Europe, only the Dutch and Swedish navies were competitors, but France had good relations with both countries.
In the direction of the Mediterranean Sea, there are the Ottoman fleet and the Ming Empire Navy Mediterranean Fleet.
The strength of both cannot be underestimated, but at least they still maintain a cooperative training relationship with the French Navy.
After moving my family to East Asia, the situation here is not optimistic.
The Bohai Sea is an inland sea, the Yellow Sea is a quasi-inland sea, and the East China Sea is a semi-inland sea. The French fleet needs to pass through the straits controlled by the Japanese to enter the Pacific eastward.
Fortunately, although Japan and South Korea were both allies of the Ming Empire, their military strength, especially the size of their naval fleets, was not large.
The Japanese navy included four seventh-level battleships, one first-class aircraft carrier, two sixth-level cruisers, two fifth-level cruisers, twelve fourth-level destroyers, sixteen third-level destroyers, twelve second-level frigates, and ten First class frigate.
The South Korean Navy has two seventh-level battleships, two sixth-level cruisers, two fifth-level cruisers, eight fourth-level destroyers, eight third-level destroyers, fourteen second-level frigates, and twelve first-level frigates.
The Prussian Navy heading south has also grown in strength in recent years with the support of the Ming Empire. Compared with ten years ago, it should be considered a leap forward.
One level 7 battleship, two level 1 aircraft carriers, one level 6 cruiser, one level 5 cruiser, eight level 4 destroyers, four level 3 destroyers, six level 2 frigates, and six level 1 destroyers have been put into service. Frigate.
The Dutch Navy is considered to be the strongest force in the region besides France. However, due to relocation, it has not added new capital ships in recent years and still maintains a scale of seven battleships and two aircraft carriers.
The Ming Empire's naval bases in the north included Dongcheng, Nancheng, Crab Claw Bay, and Jeju Island in the East China Sea.
The bases in the south include Da Nang, Cam Ranh Bay, Subic Bay, Singapore, Batavia, Semarang, Davao and a series of bases.
The defense of the Pacific Fleet of the Ming Empire Navy in the Western Pacific is handled by the First Fleet, which usually consists of six aircraft carriers, two battleships, ten cruisers, twenty destroyers, and twenty frigates.
If we only consider this fleet and its allies, then the number of aircraft carriers of the three countries of France, Hope and Ming, Japan and Korea is 6-7, which is only a slight disadvantage, while the number of battleships is 20-8, and the former European Combined Fleet has an absolute advantage.
Although Korea and Japan received strong support from their sovereign states after the Ming Empire moved, Louis XIV also knew the intentions of his old friends.
But he believed that even if the scale of the two navies could be expanded, they would not be able to match the combination of established naval powers such as France and the Netherlands, let alone Prussia.
Through the land exchange, Prussia obtained the Jiangnan region, the origin of the Ming Empire's three main products, silk, tea, and porcelain, and one of its most prosperous places.
Coupled with Nandu's industry and Ma'anshan's iron ore, Prussia's economic situation has greatly improved, with annual tax revenue reaching more than 100 million silver coins.
In addition, Zhu Cihong discounted some of the battleships given to Frederick before and after the move, so that the Prussian fleet, which was originally in name only, became more impressive.
Colbert believed that Prussia's national power was now approximately equal to one-third of France's new homeland, perhaps close to 40%. This amount of growth was very terrifying.
Fortunately, Prussia has no overseas territories, only a piece of land on the southeast coast.
Unless Frederick could annex the two principalities of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Hanover, he would be unable to compete with himself.
Compared with the south, where the situation is relatively chaotic, the northern region of the original Ming Empire is relatively clear.
Louis XIV owned the largest area of the Three North Region, and Benedict XIII was in Qufu, so he did not need much territory.
What disgusted Louis XIV was the Kingdom of Austria located in the north of Henan, which was the territory of Leopold and his son.
The south and north parts of Henan were divided into two parts, with one part going to Bavaria and the other part to the Palatinate.
That is to say, Henan consists of one kingdom and two princely states...
Louis XIV could only secretly be glad that the Duke of Hesse did not come to the Eastern world to join in the fun!
After acquiring the northern region of the Ming Empire, he could now border the Indian territories in the west, which was a great thing.
In the future, it may be possible to incorporate India into the mainland, thus establishing a French empire with an unprecedented local area!
It would be better if we could gain territory in Persia, but unfortunately it is more difficult to succeed and there is no chance for the time being.
Even so, in many publications published in New Paris, Louis XIV, who was crowned Emperor of Asia, had surpassed Charlemagne and became the leading emperor in French history with his contribution to the expansion of territory and the rapid increase of national power.
After the French media came to New Paris, they quickly copied the work of the Ming Empire's media, diversifying the types of newspapers, magazines, and comics they published, and the number also increased day by day.
They learned all the essence of their counterparts in the Ming Empire. They just took pictures of the emperor's horses, wrote some anecdotes, and wrote commentator articles on the current international situation and local news.
If we gather these three big pieces together, we can guarantee the harvest despite droughts and floods. Each sales volume will not be less than 500,000 copies. If the content is good, it will definitely exceed 1 million copies.
This is still far behind the newspapers of the Ming Empire, which sold millions of copies every day, but it has already made the French media very satisfied. After all, they need to adapt first and then develop.
Ordinary French people who moved to New Paris are also adapting to the new environment here. Many streets and buildings here are similar to those in Paris, but slightly different.
In particular, they can visit the palace of the Ming Emperor. This is the most interesting attraction for them. Even if the ticket price is expensive, they will feel that the school is worthwhile.
There are many similar attractions in New Paris for sightseeing. It may take a week and cost a lot of money to visit them all, but many people enjoy them endlessly.
Although the French cuisine has also been brought over, compared to the roast duck, hot pot, and spicy hotpot of the Ming Dynasty, it is not much cost-effective.
Especially in winter, the middle class can eat steaming mutton hot pot, and the poor can also make ends meet with a bowl of spicy hotpot and sesame seed pancakes, which is much better than drinking soup and eating bread.
What everyone is most unaccustomed to is eating spiny river fish, because seafood is relatively rare in the northern region, especially the northwest, and frozen products are only delivered in winter.
But in the Kingdom of Austria, this problem does not exist at all.
Although they have only been settled for a few years longer than the French, under the leadership of Leopold, the Austrians have become completely fond of eating braised Yellow River carp.
Of course, as a supplement, the mandarin fish with few spines and plumpness is farmed on a large scale, which is a good substitute for sea fish. Other river fish with few spines, such as yellow catfish, are also farmed on a large scale.
A change in diet due to a move was something neither Leopold nor Louis XIV had ever thought about.
When they visited the Ming Empire before, they only ate Ming meals because of their hosts.
But for ordinary people, due to livelihood constraints, they have to eat things they didn’t want to eat before.
If the poor cannot afford pork and can only afford fish, and the fish is still spiny river fish, then should they still buy it? To eat or not?
If you want to eat meat dishes, you have to learn to change and try to adapt to the new local food culture, otherwise don’t worry about it...
