1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2464
The "Black Ship Incident", which was originally played by the US fleet in history, was staged two centuries earlier by Shi Diwen, and the content of the trade treaty that forced the shogunate to sign was extremely beneficial to Haihan. The trading privilege of a Japanese port, and also got Sasebo Bay at a very low price.

However, compared with the American fleet that visited Edo Bay in historical records, the East China Sea Fleet used by Shi Diwen is obviously much larger.The U.S. fleet entered Edo Bay twice in 1853 and 1854 to show off its force, and only eleven warships were dispatched in total, although the largest tonnage frigate, the Saskona, was larger than Haihan's Majestic-class warship. But it is also just a steam-powered wooden battleship, and its firepower level is not even as good as that of the Haihan battleship.

During Shi Diwen's visit to Edo Bay, almost all the main force of the East China Sea Fleet was mobilized, and more than forty combat ships and soldiers pressed the border. Naturally, the shock effect was far from comparable to that of the American fleet. Therefore, the treaty signed later The favorable conditions obtained in China naturally greatly exceed those of the Americans.

However, the black ship incident in history indirectly led to the downfall of the shogunate, and the current ruling foundation of the shogunate is still relatively solid. Whether the treaty signed by the two countries will affect the rule of the shogunate in Japan is difficult for the Haihan Executive Committee to predict. A long-term observation is required.

Except for gold and silver mines, the Japanese archipelago has no other valuable large-scale mineral deposits, and the land is mainly mountainous, so the development value for Haihan is relatively limited, but as a sales market for industrial products and a source of population, it is more suitable for Haihan. Han interests.Therefore, Shi Diwen's actions against Japan are also based on this judgment. First, occupy the natural harbor of Sasebo Bay in Kyushu at the western end of the Japanese archipelago, so as to control the trade route between the Japanese archipelago and the East Asian mainland. Foreign import and export trade is all under the control of Haihan.

Even if businessmen from European countries enter this market in the future, it is unlikely to obtain the same trading conditions as Haihan. After all, if the Japanese shogunate wants to make concessions, it has to bring the armed fleet under the eyes of the Haihan people. It is likely to cause unnecessary misunderstandings among the Haihan people, and there may even be a risk of conflict. This is a completely unnecessary risk for Western businessmen who are seeking commercial interests.

Shi Diwen's approach has also been fully supported by the naval commander Wang Tom.Both he and Shi Diwen were members of the North American gang back then, and they still had some obsession with Haihan's expansion in the Pacific, especially the development of North America.A few years ago, Wang Tom led the North Sea Fleet to visit the northern waters, because he had the idea of ​​sailing eastward from the Bering Sea to the North American continent in the future.However, although the voyage of the North Pacific route is relatively short, about 4000 nautical miles, the navigation conditions are not ideal, and the route is full of bitter cold and uninhabited areas. It is difficult to complete the voyage with existing ships, so its attention has returned. on the traditional route.

The South Pacific route used by both the Spaniards and the Portuguese extends from South America to Southeast Asia via New Zealand and Australia. The voyage is about [-] nautical miles, and it is also the longest route in the Pacific Ocean.

Wang Tom and Shi Diwen, who are familiar with the Pacific environment, believe that the Central Pacific route should be the most suitable ocean route for development at this stage. Starting from Japan, you can reach the west coast of North America via the Ogasawara Islands-Midway Island-Hawaii Islands, and from Taiwan Or from the Philippines, you can reach the west coast of North America via Guam-Marshall Islands-Hawaii Islands. The voyage of these two routes is shorter than the southern route, and the islands that can be stopped for supplies on the way are also better than the barren northern route. .

Although the official road and the Marshall Islands in the second route are currently occupied by the Spaniards, this small trouble will not stop Wang Tom and others from their determination to open up the North American route. The local Spanish colonists were not too difficult.

In the development report submitted by the Navy to the Executive Committee in 1646, Wang Tom clearly pointed out that "the two natural harbors of San Francisco Bay and San Diego Bay on the west coast of North America must be in the hands of Haihan", and suggested that these two The location is Haihan's first batch of colonies in North America in the future.

Although the two bay areas have been discovered by Europeans in this period, large-scale colonies have not yet been established. As long as Haihan can organize an armed fleet to arrive in the area, he should be able to occupy the area.

However, the Executive Committee still believes that the focus of the current foreign expansion should be on East Asia, especially the struggle between the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty has entered a critical stage. No matter how the two win or lose, Haihan needs to have enough troops Gathered near the coastline of the East Asian continent, ready to take over the chaos at any time.

In the original history, the Qing army had already reached Zhejiang in 1646, and the Ming Dynasty was gone.However, in this time and space, thanks to Haihan's support, Daming did not suffer a crushing defeat like in history, but still fought back and forth with the Manchus in the Liaodong Bay area.

Both high-level officials knew that if they lost this head-to-head confrontation, they would probably be driven straight in by their opponents, and they would have no power to fight back.What's more, in addition to the immortal opponent, there is also a Haihan who is watching covetously.If anyone loses, Hai Han will definitely take advantage of it and bite him hard.

Based on such a situation, neither side dared to hold back any more in this war. Even if the consumption of military expenditure, materials and personnel had reached the limit, they could no longer think of a truce.

In contrast, the Ming Dynasty, which was superior in national power and supported by Haihan, had an advantage in this protracted tug-of-war. Although the Manchu Qing obtained a large number of Han population through plunder in the past few years, it was difficult for these population to In the short term, it can only be transformed into combat power, and can only be supported by Manchu's own armed forces.

Of course, Ming's advantage is only relative. The population base far exceeds that of the opponent, allowing Daming to quickly replenish the soldiers consumed by the front line. But now that both sides are already using firearms to fight, the number of casualties is higher than that of the cold weapon era. too much.In the first half of 1646 alone, tens of thousands of soldiers died in the battle between the two sides.

In stark contrast, the coastal area of ​​Daming, which was brought under Haihan's control in recent years, is peaceful and peaceful, and there are even many prosperous cities like Ningbo and Guangzhou.Even though there are still a few people who still insist that Ming Dynasty is the orthodox dynasty, there are still many people who think that there is nothing wrong with living under Haihan's rule, at least it is peaceful and there is no need to worry about being affected by the flames of war.

(End of this chapter)