1635 Han style rises again

Chapter 961 The Ambition of the Navy

On February 1680, 2, Chang'an,

"By the end of last year, our navy had a total of 96 warships of various types. Among them, there were 1500 second-class battleships of 2000 to 4 tons, 1200 third-tier battleships of 1500 to 10 tons, and 1000 to 1200 tons of battleships. China's fourth-tier battleships, namely 16 fast cruising battleships, 700 cruisers of the 1000-ton to 32-ton class, and 400 frigates of 700-34 tons; There are 22 exploration ships, 18 reconnaissance clippers, and 24 communication clippers. The total number of all the above ships is 16, and the total number of officers and soldiers is 176.”

"Our navy is divided into seven fleets, the specific distribution is as follows:

[-]. Local Fleet, the headquarters is located in Jianye Port, and there are four sub-fleets, namely the Northern Squadron, anchored at Jianye Port; The small town of South Fremantle, at the mouth of the Swan River); the Southeast Squadron, anchored at Daxing Port; the Dongzhou Fleet, anchored at Fort Runing, Governor of Dongzhou (now Wellington, North Island, New Zealand). "

"[-]. The North Sea Fleet, headquartered at Zhenhai Port (now Dili City, East Timor), Xuanhua Prefecture (now Timor Island), has four sub-fleets, namely Xuanhua Squadron, anchored at Zhenhai Port; Kaihua (now Java) Island) Squadron, anchored at Guangning Port (now Cilegon, Northwest Java, Indonesia); Borneo Squadron, anchored at Wuping Fort, Governor-General of Borneo (now Balikpapan, Kalimantan, Indonesia); Malacca The fleet is anchored at Temasek Island, Governor-General of Malacca."

"[-]. Weiyuan Fleet, the headquarters is located in Weiyuan Port (now Papua New Guinea Moore Port), and there are two sub-fleets, namely Weiyuan Squadron, anchored at Weiyuan Port; Xuanwu Squadron, anchored Xuanwu Port, the capital of Tongzhou (now Sorong City, Papua, Indonesia).”

[-]. The Annan Fleet, whose headquarters is located in Nanping Port (now Cam Ranh Port, Vietnam), the Governor-General of Annan, has three squadrons, namely the Annan Squadron, anchored at Nanping Port; the Siamese Squadron, anchored at Luoyong, the Kingdom of Siam Hong Kong; Malay Squadron, the anchorage is Pattani Port of the Sultan Kingdom of Pattani. "

"V. Ryukyu Fleet, headquartered at Renhua Port (now Naha Port) in the Kingdom of Ryukyu, with four squadrons under it, named Ryukyu Squadron, anchored at Hanxing Island (today's Miyako Island); Japan Squadron, anchored at Anyuan Port (today's Shimonoseki); Luzon Squadron, anchored at Huining Port (now Cebu City, Philippines); Yunzhou Squadron, anchored at Qingyuan Port, Yunzhou (today Hakodate City, Hokkaido).”

"[-]. Indian Ocean Fleet, headquartered at Jinmen Port (now Karachi, Pakistan), with four squadrons, namely the Indian Fleet, anchored at Jinmen Port; Bangladesh Squadron, anchored at Jiangling Fort (now Kolkata, India) City); the Red Sea Squadron, anchored in the Red Sea Governor's District is Guang'an Port (now Djibouti); the West Indian Ocean Squadron, anchored at Wangxiang Island (now Rodrigues Island, Mauritius)."

"Seventh, the South African Fleet (preparation), the headquarters is located in Changning (now Durban, South Africa) in the Governor's District of South Africa. It is proposed to set up two squadrons, namely the South African Squadron, anchored at Changning Port; the West African Squadron, The anchorage is Elmina Castle in the Netherlands."

The New Year's holiday is not yet over, but in a meeting room in the Triangle Building (Military Building) in the west of Chang'an City, almost all the senior military generals of the Qi State are gathered.They gathered together to discuss and revise this year's military budget intensely.

Unsurprisingly, the preliminary budget submitted by the military was rejected by the cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs, who demanded a re-approval. Don’t want to eat up nearly [-]% of the fiscal revenue without using your “brains” like this. .

You need to know that every cannonball wasted by your military is enough to make a school-age child lose half a month of food subsidies; every unusable warship you build is enough to consume thousands of farmers who have worked hard for a year. Every time you add a soldier, it means that dozens of immigrants will not be able to board the immigration boats of our Qi State, and our national strength will be enriched.

"From the point of view of political and socio-economic interests, the sea makes itself the most important and most conspicuous sea route that it can make full use of." Deputy Chief of the Military Department (The Chief of the Military Department is headed by the Emperor himself), Navy Minister, Hussar General (Admiral) Luo Shouxun waited for General Zhen Guo (Lieutenant General) Cao Xuan, the Chief of the General Planning Department of the Military Department, to give a detailed explanation of the basic family background of the navy, and looked at the more than 20 people present with a dignified expression. Senior Commander of the Navy and Army.

"Using the convenience of the sea, we can expand overseas trade for Daqi, seek overseas markets, export commodities, import raw materials for production, and carry out colonial plunder. Only in this way can the country move towards long-term prosperity and strength. Sea trade has certain limitations. Well, there will be many competitors and spoilers, which must force us to establish and develop sea power to control the sea."

"Sea power not only includes the use of force to control the sea, and the development and expansion of maritime military power, but also includes the development of peacetime trade and shipping that a military fleet originates from and relies on." Luo Shouxun paused, holding a teacup , took a peck lightly, and then continued: "In order to ensure that Da Qi has absolute control over the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, we must not only have more combat ships, but also build many corresponding overseas bases, port facilities."

"Everyone, Daqi is a country that is stepping into industrialization, and it is also a maritime country based on trade. This requires us to have the necessary command over the sea, and we must have a strong sea power. This sea power is a A unified system, which not only includes our naval fleet and overseas bases scattered all over the country, but also a large number of domestic merchant fleets and a mature shipping system. They interact with each other and are a combination of economic and military factors. .”

"In peacetime, our navy undertakes the task of protecting the security of transportation and trade. By deploying the navy in various places, we can expand the commercial influence in these places. In wartime, the strength of the navy and the enhancement of offensiveness can destroy the enemy's The enemy's main fleet, cut off the enemy's sea line of communication, seize trade transfer stations, colonies and activity bases, gain control of the sea, and achieve the purpose of destroying the enemy's trade."

"In future wars, the primary task of our navy is to destroy the enemy's fleet and seize command of the sea. But before the war occurs, the task of our navy is to exercise general control over sea traffic, that is, through political, military, It is a strategy to control the commanding heights by various means such as the economy to achieve actual control over the strategic points.”

"After more than 40 years of practice, it has been proved that actively expanding colonies and maritime strategic points has both commercial and military significance. The base system is a system that combines colonies and sea bases, and is the cornerstone of developing a powerful sea power. It belongs to our Daqi A colony can provide the most reliable support for its sea power from the outside, and can also use the colony as a naval base to control maritime traffic and trade, thereby controlling and restricting the economic activities of potential competitors.

"My Daqi dominates the Hanzhou continent, and is on the verge of two oceans. I have excellent geographical advantages and geographical location in controlling the sea. Therefore, our Daqi's ultimate strategic goal is not only to dominate the Indian Ocean, but also to control In the Pacific Ocean, to establish an Eastern order led by our Great Qi, what we want is the entire ocean world."

"For this reason, the development strategy of our Qi National Navy will also be adjusted and changed. We need to build a more powerful navy, and we must have a certain advantage when facing the major European maritime powers, rather than maintain a balance of power with them The so-called maritime superiority means that our Qi State Navy must have the ability, and let others see that we have the ability to maintain the smooth flow of maritime commercial routes and shipping safety with those areas in the world that have major interests with us. Any country or place None of them can, or even dare to do anything that threatens Qi's maritime interests."

As soon as Luo Shouxun finished speaking, the senior generals present were all erupted, cheering and applauding for this passionate and exciting speech.

In the tone of the deputy chief's speech, it seems that he does not want to reach a compromise with the cabinet and the Ministry of Household Affairs on the military budget, and is still planning to stick to the 3000 million annual budget.As His Majesty's brother-in-law, Luo Shouxun might be able to rely on this close relationship to gain His Majesty's support, and he would naturally be able to persuade the cabinet to obediently allocate funds according to the budget listed by the military.

"However, in building our navy, we also need to take care of the dissatisfaction of the cabinet ministries, be sympathetic to the difficulties of the people's livelihood, and plan carefully, so as not to waste any state money." When the atmosphere in the conference room gradually calmed down, Luo Shouxun said with a smile: "So, in the The purpose of calling you here on the occasion of the New Year is to let everyone have a discussion to see what can be saved, and to give an explanation to His Majesty and the cabinet."

Niu Hu, Minister of Army and Commander-in-Chief, Hussar General (Admiral) heard this, his eyes narrowed slightly.

Just now the deputy chief of the military department kept promoting the importance of the navy, but he didn't mention a word about the development and construction of their army, so he became a little vigilant.Obviously, Luo Shouxun's buttocks were already crooked by more than one point or two.Coupled with his concurrent position as the Minister of the Navy, the allocation of military expenditures will naturally be tilted towards the Navy.

Why, let everyone discuss again, shouldn't the army's military budget be cut again?

"Our navy has a total of 42 exclusive bases, of which 14 are located in the mainland of Hanzhou, 18 are in overseas directly-administered territories, and 10 are in overseas territories." Luo Shouxun opened the budget report, looked at it for a while, and then raised his head and said: "Among them There are as many as 17 bases controlled and managed by our navy that need to be newly built, refurbished, or expanded, costing more than 220 million yuan. In your opinion, which ones need to be postponed, which ones need to be cancelled, or which ones need to be transferred to civil affairs and commercial companies for them to issue money to build?"

"There is almost no risk of invasion by foreign forces in the entire Dongzhou Governor's District. We can cancel or suspend the construction of several naval bases as appropriate." He Zongyuan, the commander of the Navy's local fleet and General Zhen Guo (Lieutenant General) saw that Luo Shouxun was looking at him. Neng said helplessly: "The Dongzhou Squadron can continue to use the two civilian ports of Shouchang (now Auckland, North Island, New Zealand) and Huayang (now Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand), and Paradise Island (now Tahiti). ), Changle Island (Viti Levu, Fiji), Puning Port on Kuafu Island (Noumea City, New Caledonia), and several other naval bases may also suspend their expansion.”

"...the construction of several outlying island naval bases in the Weiyuan area can also be postponed."

"...The utilization rate of the two planned military ports on Sumatra Island is low and can be cancelled."

"...The Dunhua Fort (Peterpavlovsk City) naval base located on the North Ridge Peninsula (Kamchatka Peninsula) can be considered to be transferred to Yunzhou Trading Company for operation, which can save a lot of construction costs and personnel management costs."

"...The several ports and bases in the Red Sea region can be considered to be taken over by the Ottoman Trading Company. It must be more cost-effective."

"..."

"That's great!" Luo Shouxun nodded with satisfaction, "After cutting off the construction projects of these naval bases and ports, we can save..., um, a total saving of more than 90 yuan. However, let's discuss again, See where you can spare a little more money.”

"The planned increase in the salaries of officers and soldiers can be postponed." Yao Maowen, the Minister of Military Supplies and General Guangwei (Major General), suddenly said, "You know, the salaries of our officers and soldiers in Qi State not only far exceed those of Eastern countries such as Qin State, but also It is much higher than the salaries of officers and soldiers in European countries. If this salary increases, it is likely to exceed the salaries of most domestic merchant sailors."

Regardless of the military officers in Qi State, their income is generally several times higher than that of ordinary workers, and the income of ordinary soldiers has also been above the national average income line for a long time.Privates who enlist in the army in their first year are paid five dollars a month, which increases to seven dollars a month when they become privates in their second year.

As for non-commissioned officers, as the number of years increases, the salary will exceed ten yuan, and even reach the level of an officer.Not to mention, there are overseas allowances and various combat subsidies when going out to fight, and there are a lot of seizures on the battlefield, which makes the salaries of Qi's officers and soldiers far exceed the military level of all countries in the world.

During this period, whether it was the Chinese mainland, the European countries, or even England, which was isolated on the sea, except for the officers who could enjoy the treatment of "squires", the situation of ordinary soldiers was very bad.

For example, British naval officers are generally served by a large number of squires, forming the unique family system of the British Navy.The British royal family also often conferred knights and baronet titles on officers who performed well in naval battles, so that the proportion of nobles and gentlemen among naval officers far exceeded that of the army, and everyone in the navy regarded themselves as gentlemen.These naval gentlemen are often able to buy manors locally after retiring and become beneficiaries of the squire autonomy system.

Compared with the treatment of the winners in life of naval officers, the sailors of the navy are much more miserable, and these are precisely caused by their officers deliberately.Because during this period, the salary of British sailors was only one-third of that of merchant marine sailors, which was not attractive to the old sea dogs.In addition, the wages of merchant ships are paid on the spot, while the navy's tradition is to deduct half of the wages, and even have to default for many years, forming the navy's tradition of "keep the money and keep the people".

In times of peace, the British Navy owed salaries to sailors for two to three years, and it was not uncommon to be in arrears of seven or eight years in wartime.The salary of British sailors has to deduct pensions (about 7 pounds per year), bedding expenses, and it is difficult to send wages home when fighting all over the world.It is not uncommon for British sailors to work hard at the front, and it is not uncommon for family members to sell themselves at home to survive.

The gentlemen of the British Navy, not at all interested in changing the status quo, joined forces with the merchants to oppose the increase in the wages of soldiers.The merchants are afraid that the salaries of the sailors will snatch away the merchant sailors. The fathers and relatives of the navy gentlemen are either merchant ship owners, or they often get kickbacks from the merchant ship owners (the British Navy’s various supplies are [-] to [-]% higher than those generally available in the market). In favor of the proposal not to raise wages.What's more, the head fee of naval soldiers is high, and their own income may also be affected.

However, in Qi State, whether it is the navy or the army, since the establishment of the army, due to the extreme shortage of human resources at the beginning, it has always followed the route of elite soldiers, absorbing the best soldiers in the society with higher salaries, implementing specialization, High-intensity training has created an invincible world-class army.

With the rapid development of the domestic economy and the extremely prosperous overseas trade, the entire economy of Qi has experienced a small price inflation in recent years. The average salary of ordinary workers has risen to seven to eight yuan, so that the current salary of soldiers seems to be worthless. Too much competition.

Although Qi State implemented a universal compulsory military service system, the low treatment still made it difficult for the military to recruit better soldiers.Therefore, the military plans to increase the salaries of ordinary soldiers and non-commissioned officers by 20%, and the salaries of officers by 15%, in order to boost the morale and morale of the army.

"Whether it's on the battlefield or on the unpredictable ocean, tens of thousands of officers and soldiers in our country are all fighting with their heads up." Luo Shouxun thought for a while, then shook his head and said: "No matter how economical our military budget is, we can also save money." You can’t save your brothers’ hard work. So, let’s discuss other budget items. ... General Niu, do you have any items that can be optimized in your army?”

Hearing this, Niu Hu raised his head and looked at Luo Shouxun unkindly.

Damn it, I finally reached out to my army!
(End of this chapter)