The Pearl River Fleet now seems to be quite large, with more than a hundred ships and thousands of personnel.
However, most of the ships in the Pearl River Fleet are ordinary sampans and other small boats, which cannot be put on the market at all.
What can really be used in combat are more than a dozen sail-shaped inland river and offshore warships similar to centipede ships. They were the feeders of the pirates in the past and were specially used for offshore plunder.
And these sailing paddle boats are also very fast. The displacement is only about a few dozen tons, and the cannons they carry are also few and small.
There are even fewer large ships that can go to sea, only a dozen or so. And even these so-called large ships are actually only two to three hundred tons, and they only carry between ten and fifteen long-barreled artillery. between.
If these ships were placed in the British Royal Navy in the 18th century, they wouldn't even be considered sixth-class battleships... They were inferior miscellaneous ships...
Even a sixth-class battleship would need more than twenty long-barreled guns.
In the Da Chu Empire Navy, these more than ten ships can only be classified as second-class frigates.
The second-class frigates of the Da Chu Empire Navy are required to carry between ten and twenty artillery pieces.
First-class frigates are required to carry more than twenty artillery pieces. The Daye-class frigates currently being mass-produced by the Dachu Empire Navy are first-class frigates and are equipped with twenty-two long-barreled naval guns.
As for second-class frigates, although there is this classification in the Da Chu Empire Navy, it is generally awarded to those old ships that have been captured or surrendered. However, among its own newly built warships, there is no second-class frigate class. The lowest class The main ocean-going battleship is a first-class frigate equipped with twenty-two guns.
Further down, although there are ships with smaller tonnage and fewer artillery, they are offshore patrol ships or simply river warships. They do not have the ability to sail on oceans, and they are basically all sail oars. The ship type is also commonly known as a centipede ship.
It is said that the Imperial Navy of the Great Chu Empire has a good impression of this kind of centipede ship. It believes that this kind of ship is very maneuverable. As the saying goes, it can raise the oars when there is no wind and raise the sail when the wind is up. When necessary, the oars and sails can be used together. The speed and flexibility of a pure sailing ship are all. incomparable.
Although the firepower onboard is a little inferior, inland river and offshore patrol operations actually do not require much powerful firepower. There is a five-pound naval gun installed on the bow, and several two-and-a-half-pound naval guns and short-barreled shotguns are installed on both sides. That's about it.
At present, the Chu Empire has successively built and served more than 30 centipede ships in the Yangtze River Basin. Among them, the large centipede ships have more than 40 oars, more than 20 on each side, and each oar is equipped with two He was a strong sailor, so the ship was extremely fast.
These more than thirty centipede ships are also the main ships currently used by the Chu army to fight Zheng Zhilong's navy at the estuary of the Yangtze River. When guarding the estuary of the Yangtze River, they are more useful than those armed merchant ships.
Of course, this kind of ship can basically only be used in inland rivers, or in more complicated offshore waters. If it runs into the vast sea, it will basically be beaten to death.
The indigenous people of Nanyang also used these centipede ships to fight against the Western colonists. As a result, they were beaten by the Western colonists' fleet of large armed merchant ships... Well, the Western colonists did not use professional large sailing warships, but just armed merchant ships. That's all...
However, whether a thing is good or not depends on how it is used. It is naturally unreliable for the Chu army's centipede ship to go to sea to fight against Zheng Zhilong's large sea-going ship.
But if it is to carry out defensive operations in the narrow Yangtze River, it is still barely usable.
Therefore, the Dachu Empire Navy built a lot of centipede ships and served in several fleets in the Yangtze River Basin.
Nowadays, there are more than ten centipede ships in the Pearl River Fleet. However, these centipede ships were used by pirates to rob, but now they have become ships for the Chu army's inland river and offshore defense operations.
At present, the Navy is urgently starting to build more centipede ships in Guangzhou to enrich the defensive combat capabilities of the Pearl River Fleet.
Of course, centipede ships alone are not enough. If you want to control Lingding Yang and completely control the Pearl River estuary, you need real warships.
The more than ten second-class frigates in the Pearl River Fleet have poor combat effectiveness. For this reason, the Navy Ministry has collected civilian merchant ships for modification. It is also preparing to directly build Daye-class first-class frigates and Xiangyang-class second-class cruisers in Guangzhou.
For this reason, after Xia Qiuyang defeated Zheng Zhilong's fleet, he has been running around to build warships. He said he was running around, but in fact, he went to several responsible officials of the Ministry of Industry in Guangzhou every day to urge them to quickly expand the number of warships. production capacity.
In this regard, several officials sent by the Ministry of Industry to Guangzhou to rectify and develop local industry were also pestered by Xia Qiuyang...
Damn it, we have only been in Guangzhou for about half a month, and we haven’t even completed the basic rectification of local workshops and craftsmen. Even though we have already decided on the Guangzhou Shipyard, Guangzhou Iron Works, Guangzhou Arsenal, There are plans to build a series of factories such as Guangzhou Machinery Factory, but this will take time.
Not to mention other things, the construction of the expected new factory buildings at the core Guangzhou Ironmaking Plant has not yet started.
Of course, the fact that these factories have not yet started construction does not mean that the Chu Empire does not have weapons production capacity in Guangzhou. In fact, it still does, and the output is not low...
Because the Chu Empire had already sent troops to enter and take control of Foshan Town in early June. Although Foshan was just a small town under the rule of Guangzhou Prefecture, not even a county, this place was very popular during the Ming Dynasty. famous.
Because iron is produced here!
Strictly speaking, there are no iron ore or coal mines in Foshan, and even the charcoal needed for ironmaking these days is not produced much locally.
The reason why Foshan is famous for iron smelting is purely because the local water transportation is developed, and it can continuously receive iron ore and charcoal resources from other areas through the Pearl River water system, including Xijiang, Beijiang, Dongjiang and other water systems.
A large amount of iron ore and charcoal from northern Guangdong and even Guangxi were collected in Foshan, where they were refined into iron and made into various iron products. These iron products were then exported by water or even sea transportation.
The famous contemporary Guangguo is produced here in Foshan.
Let’s not talk about the past, but in the past ten years, Foshan has become a relatively important firearms and artillery production base for the Ming Dynasty, especially the production base of Hongyi cannons.
In the past two years, with the rise of the Chu Empire and the wave of field artillery and new matchlock guns, the governors of the Ming Dynasty also followed suit, and Foshan once again became the leader of the Ming army in Guangdong, Guangxi and even surrounding areas. Gun supply base.
Except for a small number of guns and artillery used by the Guangdong and Guangxi New Standard Army established by Xiong Wencan, most of them came from Foshan, including imitations of the Chu Army's first-year matchlock guns, The army's two-and-a-half-pound and five-pound field guns and thieves-killing cannons can be considered very advanced weapons in contemporary terms.
Without Foshan's gun production capacity, Xiong Wencan would not have been able to create the largest new standard army in the Ming Dynasty.
But now that Foshan is in the hands of the Da Chu Empire, the Da Chu Empire will naturally not waste Foshan's gun production capacity.
At least until a series of advanced factories organized by the Ministry of Industry come into operation, the production of steel and guns in Foshan must be maintained.
It was used to supply the Chu army, including the army and navy, fighting in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas.
The total number of troops that the Chu army entered to fight in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas and the troops that were subsequently recruited to surrender were not a small number.
Currently, there is one main division and three garrison divisions, as well as a mortar regiment and a heavy artillery regiment in Guangdong.
That is, the 7th Division, the 8th Artillery Regiment, the 7th Division's temporary heavy artillery regiment, the 11th Garrison Division, the 16th Garrison Division established after the capture of Shaozhou, and the 10th Garrison Division established after the capture of Guangzhou, which currently has only one regiment. Seventh garrison division.
As the Chu army successively captured Huizhou Prefecture, Zhaoqing Prefecture, Chaozhou Prefecture, Gaozhou Prefecture, Luoding Prefecture, Leizhou Prefecture, Qiongzhou Prefecture and other places in Guangdong, they should also capture or accept the surrender of many Ming army local troops. When the time comes, choose Thousands of people to supplement the 17th Garrison Division will not be a big problem.
By then, the above-mentioned ministries will basically be at full strength, and the total strength of these Chu troops at full strength will be more than 50,000.
In addition, there are thousands of people in the navy. The navy these days is not only composed of sailors and gunners, but also a large number of marine troops used for gang-hopping operations.
The combat needs of so many people require a large number of various weapons and ammunition, not only guns and cannons, but also a large number of cold weapons, such as armor, spears, and waist knives.
In the previous battles of the Chu Army in the Guangdong region, the above-mentioned weapons and ammunition basically needed to be produced from the Hantian Arsenal, and then transported thousands of miles south by water transportation, land transportation, etc. Although most of the transportation could be carried out by water, the transportation cost was still very high. .
In order to reduce transportation costs, and also because factories in the Yangtze River Basin such as Hantian Arsenal now need to support the fighting in Fujian and Zhejiang, they also need to maintain the fighting in Jiangbei, and more importantly, they need to start hoarding a large amount of ammunition for the subsequent Northern Expedition. battle.
To this end, Luo Zhixue personally instructed the Ministry of Industry to set up a new weapons and ammunition production base in Guangzhou, following the models of Xiangyang Industrial Base, Daye Industrial Base, Dangtu Industrial Base, and Changsha Industrial Base, relying on local convenient facilities in Guangzhou City. Water transportation conditions, relying on the rich local craftsman resources, create an industrial base integrating ironmaking, machinery, and weapons.
However, it is estimated that it will take half a year for this industrial base to be established and put into production, even for the initial trial production, and Yuan Shui cannot quench his thirst.
Therefore, the various original iron-making and iron-making-related workshops in Foshan, regardless of whether they are government-run or private, naturally need to maintain production to continue to supply the Chu army in the Guangdong and Guangxi areas.
Therefore, instead of declining due to the arrival of the Chu army, the iron smelting industry in Foshan area was further stimulated and developed.
When the Ming Dynasty built guns and cannons in Foshan, they had to do it in a censorship manner. They couldn't do it without censorship, because they had no money...
But the Great Chu Empire is different. The Great Chu Empire is rich, but the Army is even richer.
When the rich Army places an order, it's very satisfying. Not only the order is big, but the money is also very satisfying.
It's just that some local businessmen in private workshops felt that such a Chu army was being taken advantage of, so they cut corners in all kinds of ways...
