I want to be emperor

Chapter 589 Malacca

In November of the 11th year of Chengshun, many warships of the Great Chu Empire Navy escorted many large armed merchant ships of the Nanyang Trading Company to the south.

In addition to them, many merchant ships heading to Nanyang also set off with them in order to obtain the escort of the navy, and at the same time to gather self-protection and avoid pirate attacks.

When the autumn and winter wind blows, it is the peak time for a large number of merchant ships from the Great Chu Empire to go to Nanyang for trade.

When sailing in autumn, not only can you get the acceleration of the monsoon and make the sailing speed faster, but you will not encounter too many storms, and sailing is safer.

However, this does not include the ships of the Liuhe Trading Company. In the summer, the two lucky boats of the Liuhe Trading Company sailed to Nanyang under the headwind of the south monsoon several months in advance. Sailing against the monsoon is more difficult and riskier. , but the competition is also smaller, relatively speaking, the profits will be more.

By the time the Nanyang Trading Company's fleet headed for Nanyang, Liu Jiaquan had already led the fleet back to Guangzhou against the wind.

When returning to the voyage, Liu Jiaquan was also able to see the Navy's escort warships and many large armed merchant ships in the Nanyang Trading Company because they were sailing on a fixed route.

Looking at the huge Shenghe on the sea ahead, which was a circle larger than the escorting warships next to it, Liu Jiaquan was full of envy and hatred.

This is the real armed merchant ship!
It can carry thousands of tons of cargo in one load, and has powerful naval gun firepower, and can carry hundreds of crossings. With such an armed merchant ship, it is impossible to go anywhere in Nanyang.

Let alone Nanyang, he dared to run even in the Indian Ocean.

However, Liu Jiaquan also smiled when he thought of Luohua Shipyard.

Calculating the time, Luo Hua Shipyard should have completed the basic shipyard construction, and the [-]-ton sea-going ship I ordered should have entered the time for material preparation.

In another year or so, I should be able to get a thousand-ton large ship.

If there is no accident, his own Liuhe Trading Company will be the fourth trading company in the Great Chu Empire with a thousand-ton large-scale ship.

The former Songjiang Naval Shipyard, Guangzhou Shipyard, and Li’s Shipyard, their [-]-ton large-scale ship production capacity was basically covered by the three major trading companies. It is impossible for other trading companies to come from these three shipyards for many years to come. Get a thousand-ton big ship in your hand.

And by becoming a shareholder of Luohua Shipyard, he successfully obtained an order for a thousand-ton large-scale ship, and also obtained the right to prioritize orders.

According to the agreement, the first two thousand-ton ships of Luohua Shipyard will belong to his Liu family, and the third, fourth or even fifth ship will depend on the situation!

At that time, if there is no problem with the funds, if there is nothing wrong with the shipyard, and if the maritime trading company continues to maintain its current prosperity, then Liu Jiaquan will raise funds and use the right of priority to continue to order the third ship and even sell it. The fourth and fifth thousand-ton large-scale ships.

If the situation is not good by then, then Liu Jiaquan will naturally not use the right of priority, and then there will be a trading company begging him to obtain these thousand-ton large ships.

In any case, except for the three major trading companies, other trading companies have to follow Liu Jiaquan's ass to eat ashes.

Although there may only be a time difference of two or three years or even one or two years, for the sea trade with huge value and huge profits, these few years are enough to bring huge profits to the Liu family.

While Liu Jiaquan was enjoying the beautiful scene of his [-]-ton big ship after it entered service, on the Shenghe in the same sea area, Mr. Xiahou, dressed in a scribe robe and holding a binoculars, was standing calmly on the deck, using the binoculars Observe the surrounding sea.

The surrounding sea is relatively calm, and there are many ships in the surrounding sea, but they are all the ships of the Great Chu Empire.

There are two blessing boats approaching in front of the left. The crew has informed that the two blessing boats are the ships of Liuhe Trading Company, a large number of non-governmental trading companies with relatively strong navigation skills and combat capabilities.

Xia Houjun has also heard a little about this company and even Liu Jiaquan, the owner of this company, because when Xia Houjun served in the Pearl River Fleet, he was ordered to go to sea many times to encircle and suppress pirates along the coast of Guangdong. One of his goals was this All of Liu's family.

However, Liu Jiaquan was smarter. At that time, he went directly to the coast of Vietnam, and later registered as a trading company. Such a big pirate leader suddenly became a sea trader... It sounds very nonsense, but in the early years of the Great Chu Empire It is very common in the coast.

Most of the dozens of trading companies with ocean-going trade licenses in the Great Chu Empire are pirates. Of course, they may not think so, they still think that they are maritime merchants, and they just rob occasionally...

Not to mention private trading companies, even the Shiba Trading Company directly under the Ministry of Industry, the predecessor of this company is the merchant fleet split from the gang under Zheng Zhilong's department!

On the contrary, Nanyang Trading Company and Dongyang Trading Company are relatively pure. The crew members are all from the navy, and even many ships are retired from the navy.

To some extent, these two trading companies are actually the Navy's second-line fleet...

"This Liu Jiaquan is quite courageous. He has been running against the monsoon route like this all the time, and he is not afraid of accidents one day." Xiahou Jun still admires this Liu Jiaquan.

The man who takes risks is never too big, and the man who keeps taking risks is even more so.

Except for the two lucky boats of the Liuhe Trading Company ahead, Mr. Xiahou found no other foreign ships, and the rest of the surrounding area were all his own ships.

His own six merchant ships, three in a team, formed two columns and sailed side by side after a certain distance.

On the side and rear, there are more than a dozen armed merchant ships of other trading companies. They also listed two end-to-end columns in accordance with the Navy's instructions.

The navy's multiple escort warships are scattered around the front, back, left, and right.

Thousands of meters in front of the Shenghe, there are two cruisers of the Great Chu Empire Navy. That is Suzhou and Hantian, behind them is a frigate.

These five warships are in front, forming a relatively large search and alert area, ensuring that other approaching ships can be found in advance.

There is a frigate on the left and right of the merchant fleet, and there is also a frigate in the rear, which is also responsible for the outer security.

Seven warships of the navy plus six large armed merchant ships of the Nanyang Trading Company loaded with valuable cargo, plus more than ten ships of various types from other trading companies, the size of the entire fleet reached more than 20 ships.

A fleet of this size is definitely at the level of a giant in the South Seas. Whether it is the Dutch or the Portuguese, unless they come out in full force, it is difficult for ordinary warships to cause any real damage to this fleet. sexual threats.

This is also a major feature of the merchant ships of the Great Chu Empire who went to Nanyang for trade, that is, they sailed in groups with the navy's escort fleet.

I'd rather go slower and make some troubles to ensure safety.

On the contrary, Liu Jiaquan is like this, sailing against the monsoon on his own, and most of the time sailing alone is relatively rare.

Like Liu Jiaquan, they are usually maritime merchants who are confident in their own navigation skills and combat capabilities. Such maritime merchants are relatively rare.

After all, the Liu family all came from professional pirate backgrounds... and although most of the sea merchants used to occasionally act as pirates in the past, most of the time they were mainly engaged in trade and business.

The difference between them is still relatively large.

After Xiahou Jun observed the surrounding situation and confirmed that there were no mistakes in the navigation of the six armed merchant ships under his command, he then checked the sea conditions and weather, which made Xiahou Jun feel at ease.

Xia Houjun is not only the captain of the Shenghe, but also the fleet leader of the Nanyang Company's merchant fleet this time. After all, he himself retired from the navy with the rank of colonel. After joining the Nanyang Trading Company, he served as the deputy director of the navigation department. Today, years later, he has been promoted to the head of the navigation department of Nanyang Trading Company.

Therefore, Mr. Xiahou is not only a captain, a fleet leader, he is also one of several senior executives of Nanyang Trading Company.

Otherwise, it would be impossible for him to take six top-level large armed merchant ships and carry millions of goods across the sea. Ordinary people can't afford such a heavy responsibility.

All he has to do is to ensure the safety of the voyage, and successfully lead the fleet to India for trade, and then buy a batch of various goods from India and return.

At the same time, naturally, we must not forget to finalize the route along the way, supply ports, and improve the Indian Ocean route.

His work pressure is still quite high. If there is an accident on this voyage and he loses all his money, he doesn't know how many domestic businesses will go bankrupt.

Therefore, he is very cautious along the way, even if he is still in the relatively safe South Seas, it is still on a fixed route.

When Mr. Xiahou felt relieved and returned to the cabin to rest, the sailors on the Shenghe were still working!
This is a behemoth with a full load displacement of more than 600 tons, with three main masts and a huge and complex sail system.

To keep such a behemoth sailing according to the captain's order and ensure safety, a large number of sailors are required to constantly adjust the sails every moment.

Adjust the angle of the sails, adjust the number of sails.

When the wind direction changes, adjust the angle of the sail in time to ensure the course and speed.

When the wind changes, part of the sails should be opened or retracted to ensure the speed and avoid damage to the sails when the wind is too strong.

Of course, the weather on the sea is not stormy now, so the work of the sailors is relatively easy.

However, this good weather did not last long, and the fleet was hit by relatively large winds and waves the next day.

The waves are gradually increasing. Looking down from the sky, the sea seems to be quite calm. However, this is an illusion caused by the vastness of the sea and the lack of reference objects.

The actual situation is that the waves are not small, waves continue to beat the hull of the Shenghe, and when the waves are relatively large, the sea water will rush directly to the deck.

At the same time, the appearance of waves is bound to be accompanied by strong winds.

Violent winds are not a good signal for sailing ships. In the face of strong winds, the sails cannot be opened too large, otherwise the mast will break and the sails may be torn

.

But you can't lower all the sails, because then the boat will lose power and won't be able to keep its course.

When a ship encounters a storm, the best way is not to drift with the current, but to sail along the waves with the wind. During this process, some sails should be kept to obtain power. This power is mainly used to maintain the course, otherwise the ship will be blown. If the side of the boat affects the waves, it is easy to capsize.

At this time, Mr. Xiahou was already braving the drizzle falling in the sky, constantly observing the changes in the surrounding sea conditions.

However, he is not worried at this time. For those small offshore vessels, this level of wind and waves may be dangerous or even fatal, but for a big guy like the Shenghe, this level of wind and waves is just shaking. More, just toss the sailors, but there will be no actual danger.

Not to mention the Shenghe, even a few other ships with a thousand tons or even seven or eight hundred tons will not be in any real danger.

It is a little dangerous for some small-tonnage merchant ships in other trading companies following behind the fleet. Many merchant ships in trading companies are lucky ships carrying two to three hundred tons of cargo.

Because this kind of lucky boat is small, its ability to resist wind and waves is also worse.

Looking back at those ships that are struggling in the wind and waves, and even looming, you can feel their hardship.

Sure enough, after the wind and waves calmed down, the escorting navy sent a report that the main mast of a Fuchuan was broken in half by the wind and waves, with serious power loss and severe water ingress in the hull, requiring maintenance work on the sea.

This situation is normal for ocean-going voyages these days. Small-tonnage sailing ships are still too poor in anti-risk capabilities in the face of wind and waves.

And this also made Xia Houjun firmer in his proposition of large-scale merchant ships.

Traveling in the ocean requires the face of complex and changeable weather at sea. The risk of a ship being too small is too high. The ship sinks, people die, and the loss of cargo is enough to cause huge losses.

To run ocean-going routes, larger ships are necessary. The lowest standard is a few hundred tons of cargo, and it is best to be able to carry thousands of tons of cargo.

Even if the price of this new type of large-tonnage sea-going ship is more expensive, it is worthwhile to increase the cost of trade.

Going out safely and returning safely with profits is far better than sinking directly after going out to sea and returning nothing!

The fleet headed south all the way. Although there were a few accidents due to a storm attack midway, it was relatively safe on the whole, and no pirates who were short-sighted were encountered.

The fleet arrived in Manila on Luzon Island smoothly all the way, and traded with the Spaniards who controlled the place.

Then the fleet arrived in the Straits of Malacca. At this time, the entire huge fleet began to separate. Two naval warships escorted two merchant ships from the Nanyang Trading Company and many armed merchant ships from other companies to Bada under the control of the Dutch. Via, trade with the Dutch.

The rest of the ships went to Malacca controlled by the Portuguese.

However, at this time, the Portuguese had extremely weak control over Malacca, and at the same time, the Dutch were also eyeing Malacca.

For example, after the Portuguese failed in Macau, they shrank the power of Southeast Asia to Malacca and strengthened the defense of Malacca.

At the same time, the Great Chu Empire did not want to see the Dutch alone controlling the Nanyang trade, so they also secretly provided some support to the Portuguese, providing some guns and so on.

Therefore, the Portuguese's defense in Malacca is much stronger than in previous years, but it is also limited.

Now the Portuguese are in the period of the War of Independence and are fighting with Spain. Without local support, the overseas colonies are hard to protect themselves.

If it hadn't been for the strong support of the Great Chu Empire in the past few years, they would have been beaten down by the Dutch.

But even so, they probably won't be able to support it for a few years.

Because the Great Chu Empire has also become interested in Malacca in the past two years, especially after the naval strength has soared.

The only suspense is, whose hands will Malacca fall into?

Is it the Netherlands?
Or the Great Chu Empire that has risen strongly in the South China Sea?

(End of this chapter)