People in the Song Dynasty were lawless

Chapter 486: Mission to the West to Promote the Prestige of Our Country

The next day, early in the morning.

After breakfast, the imperial envoy delegation represented by Tan Wenxue and Zhang Youwei officially prepared to set off.

Officials from the Guangdong Road Transport Office and local government representatives from Guangzhou saw him off.

The ships and the men were ready.

After the imperial order was issued, Guangdong Road took on the task of dispatch and escort.

Send guides and translators to escort the delegation all the way west.

Naturally, this mission was not as big as Zheng He's, with a large group of tens of thousands of people.

But there are also more than 5,000 people.

In addition to the more than 100 people in the diplomatic mission, there were also a large number of fleet sailors, attendants, soldiers, and some personnel led by many guides and translators.

However, the Guangzhou navy led 5,000 people to sea, accompanied by an ironclad ship and several supply ships of the Jinghai Navy.

In this way, the fleet maintained a size of more than 100 ships and 13,000 people during the South China Sea period.

The Song Dynasty's navy has not developed over the years. It still has seven fleets, each with 5,000 people, and the number of active naval soldiers is 35,000.

Even if the relevant logistics, maintenance, support, supply and other personnel are included, the total number is only more than 50,000, which is not a significant increase in scale.

However, the strength of the navy has achieved a qualitative leap.

Since the first ironclad ship was launched in the seventh year of the Qingli period, there are now six of them, and the seventh is under construction, to ensure that every navy has at least one ironclad ship.

And as the technology of ironclad ships became more mature, later ironclad ships produced became even more powerful.

For example, the first ironclad ship had a displacement of only 500 tons, the second one was 1,200 tons, the third one was 1,800 tons, and the fourth one was 2,600 tons.

By the time the sixth ship came along, it had reached 13 tons, was 18 meters long, meters wide, had an average cruising speed of knots, and a maximum speed of knots when fully operational.

Therefore, while improving the quality, the Song Dynasty did not increase the number of troops, but only needed to ensure the continuous production of ironclad ships.

After all, with the current size of the navy, it is already able to guarantee absolute control of the oceans, which is enough for the Song Dynasty to dominate the entire world's oceans and thus occupy a dominant position in global trade.

As for further improvement, there is no need for it for the time being.

Because if the combat effectiveness of the Song Dynasty Navy is compared to 100, then the combat effectiveness of the navies of all countries in the world can only be considered 5.

All added together, it's just a scumbag with a combat power of 5.

Many countries don't even have large ships over 20 meters. They only have small boats like fishing boats. No matter how many there are, it is useless. They have no firearms and cannot get close to the Song Dynasty Navy.

Therefore, whether it is 100 against 5 or 1000 against 5, there is actually no difference. Continuing to improve the navy's combat effectiveness is just a waste of national strength.

Therefore, the current national policy of the Song Dynasty is to fully develop the economy and science and technology, and it is sufficient to steadily maintain and improve the combat effectiveness of the army.

Once industrial accumulation is sufficient, upgrading armaments will be a natural thing to do.

"The director said that after industrialization begins, it will be like a train that is always moving forward. It can only move forward and cannot move backward. Now our Song Dynasty is rising like the morning sun, and its momentum is unstoppable."

After the hour of Chen, Wang Han was standing on the dock, watching the sun rise in the east, his eyes filled with a sense of rising pride.

Su Yan and other Guangzhou officials nearby also held their heads high.

Under the scorching sun, countless merchant ships raised their sails on the Pearl River wharf, and countless large ships sailed towards Guangzhou.

Among these thousands of huge ships, there was an extremely large one with two tall sails. A huge chimney emerged from the middle, and billowing white smoke rose straight into the sky. The ship with a ferocious appearance was extremely dazzling.

This ship is the second ironclad ship of the Song Dynasty - Guangzhou.

Because the war in the north had ended, after the first ironclad ship, Taizhou, was delivered to the Ninghai Army stationed in Taizhou, the Song Dynasty began to focus on the south.

Southeast Asia to be exact.

Therefore, the second ironclad ship was immediately equipped to the Jinghai Army stationed in Guangzhou to open up Mayit, Srivijaya and other places.

Compared with the Taizhou, which is only 33 meters long and 6 meters wide, the Guangzhou is 46 meters long and 8 meters wide. It looks like it is only 10 meters longer and 2 meters wider, but its load capacity and displacement are doubled.

The main reason is that the Taizhou is not fully armored, but only armored on the outside. Most of the internal parts and craftsmanship are the same as those of the Song Dynasty ships, so the main part is similar to the ordinary Song Dynasty ships, except that it has more iron armor on the outside and two steam engines inside.

The subsequent ironclad ships gradually increased the proportion of steel and the number of steam engines.

For example, by the time of the sixth ironclad ship, the Dengzhou, owned by the Shandong Weihai Navy, most of the hull of this giant ship had been replaced with steel, and the number of steam engines had reached 10.

The seventh ironclad ship under construction is made entirely of steel. It is expected to be 130 meters long and 19 meters wide, with a displacement of more than 9000 tons and 12 steam engines, making it a behemoth.

Although the Guangzhou was not much bigger than the Taizhou, its size was already very exaggerated compared with those ordinary merchant ships docked at the port.

The largest sea-going ship of the Song Dynasty could reach more than 100 meters in length. Although it could not be compared with the Fujian ships that Zheng He used to sail to the West, it was not much different.

However, few people would choose it to go out to sea.

Firstly, such a large ship is very expensive and ordinary merchants simply cannot afford it.

Secondly, ancient wooden ships had poor ability to withstand wind and waves. If a ship was too large, even if it could carry a lot of cargo, it would most likely capsize once it encountered a storm.

Many Song Dynasty merchant ships were unearthed in the waters near Quanzhou and Guangzhou in later generations, but few of them were over 50 meters in length.

They are almost all about 30 meters long, 10 meters wide, with a displacement of about 600 tons and a load capacity of about 800 tons, and are similar in size to the Taizhou.

The reason is that businessmen are profit-driven and will not put all their eggs in one basket. It is impossible for them to choose such a large ship, which would put them in danger of being wiped out by a storm.

Therefore, the ships docked at the dock are all less than 30 meters in length, generally between 30-20 meters.

In this situation, the Guangzhou, which is almost one size larger or even twice as large as these ships, stands out among the crowd and is dazzling.

"Is this the Guangzhou?"

Tan Wenxue and others also focused their attention on the huge warship with surprised expressions.

"Yes, this is the Guangzhou!"

Su Yan praised: "I also thought it was spectacular when I saw it on the spot."

"It is truly a great national weapon."

"I heard there are many pirates on the route. With this divine ship protecting us, what is there to fear?"

"Yes, I think we will be safe on this mission."

Other officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs all praised it.

In addition to the Guangzhou, there are more than 80 ships of various sizes docked nearby.

If the escort ships of the Guangzhou navy are included, the total number is more than one hundred.

They were moored at a separate pier, with soldiers standing guard all around, causing the onlookers and merchants in the distance to talk about the matter.

"Oh my god, this is the first time I see such a big ship."

"What's the big deal? It's said that the Dengzhou of Shandong Weihai Navy is more than 20 zhang long and 5 zhang wide, more than twice as long as the Guangzhou."

"real or fake?"

"Of course it's true. Haven't you read the newspaper?"

"I heard that the Guangzhou is stationed in Guangzhou. Why haven't we seen it before?"

"Because the Jinghai Army's base is not outside the square city, but in the Xiangjiang Silver Field in Dongguan County, to guard against pirates."

"So that's why we haven't seen pirates in these years." The people then understood why they had never seen the Jinghai Army or pirates before.

People in later generations believed that pirates were rampant only during the Ming Dynasty.

In fact, during the Song and Yuan dynasties, the scale of pirates was already very large.

Since the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court has stationed troops in Hong Kong, Macau and other places to guard against pirate attacks.

But pirates were still very rampant. For example, during the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Dayou, the governor of Quanzhou, defeated more than 1,000 invading pirates in the Penghu Islands and captured more than 400 prisoners. This shows how powerful the pirates were at that time.

Therefore, there are local navies in Guangxi, Guangzhou, Fujian and other places. The Jinghai Navy and the Anhai Navy are the main navies of Guangzhou and Quanzhou respectively. They not only guard the local areas, but also often go out to sea to hunt pirates.

Under their siege, the pirates who had been rampant in the coastal waters of Guangxi, Guangzhou, Fujian and other places disappeared for a while, and in recent years, fishermen along the coast have rarely heard of pirates.

At this moment, the morning sun was high in the sky, with the Guangzhou as the main ship. Under the scorching sun, the dragon flag of the Song Dynasty was piercing through the sky, and it was fluttering in the strong wind.

The diplomatic corps slowly arrived near the port terminal where the fleet was located.

When we got closer, we realized that the Guangzhou was even bigger than we had imagined. When people stood next to it, it was like the difference between an elephant and an ant.

However, the diplomatic corps was not on board the Guangzhou.

Because the Guangzhou needs to face crises that may occur at any time. Once there is an enemy attack, it will need to fight everywhere to play a defensive and counterattack role, and cannot be protected like the main ship.

So the delegation's ship was a sail-powered paddle wheel ship, 36 meters long and 11 meters wide, not much different from an ordinary sea vessel.

In those days, the Song Dynasty sent a fleet to America, which contained many giant Fujian ships over a hundred meters long. However, the American fleet only sailed near the edge of the sea and along the coastline, which was slightly safer.

In addition, the journey was too long and there was no country supply along the way, so they had to send large ships with more supplies for the voyage.

This time, the Song Dynasty was on a diplomatic mission to various Western countries, and the country had supplies along the way, so there was no need to worry about supply issues. Moreover, many of the envoys had to cross the ocean and not go near the sea, so safety was naturally the priority.

“This ship is also very spectacular.”

"Although this ship is made of wood, it is the best ship made in the Song Dynasty. If ironclad ships had not been built, this ship would have been the best."

"There are so many big ships behind us."

"Those are horse ships, which are used to transport goods. The smaller ones are grain ships, which are used to carry grain and grass. There are also coal ships, which supply coal to the ironclad ships. There are also warships, which can assist the ironclad ships in combat."

"I see."

"In addition, some warships have assault boats on their sides. They are extremely fast and can quickly counterattack if they encounter an enemy attack."

"It's really eye-opening. I've never seen such a scene in my hometown of Zhangpu."

Everyone boarded the main ship, and many officials in the delegation were amazed, although the people selected by the court were basically officials from the southern coastal areas who were familiar with water and not seasick.

However, even these officials who grew up by the sea had rarely seen such a majestic fleet, which amazed them.

At this moment, as the officials boarded the ship, many soldiers, sailors, and entourage also began to board the ship one after another.

The goods had been prepared long ago. After the diplomatic corps arrived yesterday, the workers at the dock were hired by the Guangzhou government to move the goods overnight. In addition to food, fresh water and other resources, there were also coal, artillery shells and bullets.

Everything is ready now.

It didn't take long before all the crew members were on board.

When Wang Xianjin saw that the time was almost up, he said to Tan Wenxue and Zhang Youwei, "You two, everything is ready now. Do you need to make any other preparations?"

"no need."

Tan Wenxue knew what he meant, shook his head and bowed, saying: "After sending you a thousand miles, we must finally say goodbye. Brother Youwei and I have been entrusted with the emperor's orders, so we should set off early."

"Okay, then I wish you all a safe journey!"

Wang Han bowed in return.

Su Yan also said: "You have traveled across the ocean to promote the prestige of our Song Dynasty. The journey is long, so please take care."

"I have received the Emperor's order. Please ask Wang Caosi and Su Taishou to convey our message to the court. We will definitely fulfill the order. When we return, we will definitely bring the envoys of various countries with us to participate in the New Year's meeting next year!"

Tan Wenxue said seriously.

Zheng He's next trip to the West was about two years, but that was because he stayed in the local area for a long time. He often visited a certain country and stayed in the port for several months.

In fact, under normal circumstances, it doesn't take that long at all.

According to the records of Zhao Ruoshi, a geographer of the Southern Song Dynasty, in his "Records of Foreign Countries", it only took Arab merchants 160 days to reach Quanzhou from the Persian Gulf, sailing with a favorable wind and trading at various ports.

And it was not a direct route, but had to go south from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Aden, to the Yemeni Dynasty and the Sagwe Dynasty (Ethiopia), and conduct East African trade with the locals first.

After replenishing the goods, they continued south to Bipaluo (Somalia) and Chengba (Tanzania) for trade, and finally went to the Song Dynasty.

Such a one-way voyage would take more than five months, and a round trip would take a year, and there would be trade in between.

If you go directly from the Persian Gulf without going to Africa, it will only take more than two months to reach Quanzhou, a journey of about 150 kilometers, an average of about kilometers per day.

The Song Dynasty's envoys did not need to engage in trade. They only stopped at the ports of various countries along the way and, in their official capacity as the Song Dynasty court, invited local countries to attend court meetings in the Song Dynasty. Therefore, they spent most of their time on the road and did not stay in any place for too long.

Therefore, the Guangdong Transportation Office communicated with local merchants many times and finally determined that if everything went well, they would be able to travel back and forth in just half a year.

Even if an accident occurs, it will not exceed ten months.

In this way, if we set out in March, we should be able to get back before December at the latest. Then we can take a boat to Xiangyang and take a direct train to Bianliang to attend the Song Dynasty's annual meeting next year!

"Excellent!"

Wang Han nodded, raised his hand and held Tan Wenxue's fist, saying: "I'll wait for you to come back in Guangzhou!"

"Everyone, take care!"

"Take care of yourself!"

Everyone said goodbye to each other.

Wang Han and others got off the boat and stood on the shore.

Tan Wenxue and others also stood on the side of the boat and waved to them.

"woo woo woo woo!"

With the order to set off, the whistle sounded and Guangzhou took the lead in starting preheating.

The ship behind moved slowly and left the dock.

Tan Wenxue and his companions' main ship gradually moved towards the wide surface of the Pearl River.

Wang Han and his men were still standing on the shore, waving.

After a while, the fleet officially deployed on the Pearl River. Under the coordinated command of the Jinghai Navy and the Pearl River Navy, various flags were flying and they left the port in an orderly manner.

"The chancellor said that the Song Dynasty must show the world how powerful we are. This time, we are going to publicize the power of our Celestial Empire!"

Wang Han stood with his hands behind his back and said softly, "This time, we should follow the example of the Han people."

"Even back then, the Han Dynasty only terrorized the Western Regions, but this time, we are going to terrorize the whole world!"

Su Yan responded.

The two looked at each other and then burst into laughter.

The ironclad ships carried enough coal fuel. As long as the Guangzhou was there, a battleship and some small and medium-sized warships with hundreds of artillery pieces, plus more than two thousand soldiers with rifles, would be enough to intimidate the West!

(End of this chapter)