The unit of measurement for Chinese ships is material, and one material is the volume of one cubic foot. That is to say, one ton is equal to approximately three materials.

A large ship with 5,000 materials and a load capacity of 1,600 tons. It can be said that this is a warship capable of suppressing the entire East Asia and even Asia.

Among the three major naval divisions of the Ming Dynasty, the strongest one was the Beihai Navy. Due to the need to protect the capital, shipping, and the frequent trade between China and North Korea, its size exceeded 8,000 men.

The main ships are the 3,000-material ships, with a total of five ships.

Based in Tianjin and Dengzhou.

The Donghai Navy is in the Zhoushan Islands and is responsible for protecting the Yangtze River estuary and ports such as Ningbo. There are two large ships with three thousand materials.

The Nanhai Navy is in Fujian and is responsible for the ports and sea conditions in Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan and Fujian. Therefore, it has three large ships with a capacity of more than 5,000 people.

The three major naval forces protect thousands of miles of sea territory, which is barely enough.

It's not that Zhu Yixi doesn't want to increase investment, it's just that sea-going ships are too expensive, especially artillery.

Take a battleship with 3,000 materials as an example. The cost of making this ship is only 1,000 silver coins, and the number of cannons it can carry is 30. The average cannon is 500 yuan, which is 15,000 yuan.

two.

If there is a war, the gunpowder will not be poured out without money. When the cannon is fired, there will be ten thousand taels of gold.

To maintain the current three major naval divisions, the annual daily maintenance costs exceed one million yuan. Under the pressure of the emperor, the Fifth Army Governor's Office had to allocate an additional two hundred thousand yuan for shipbuilding.

As a result, not only the governor's office was full of complaints, but even the household department couldn't stand it. The navy couldn't get in and out, which was really annoying.

After all, the Japanese pirates are gone and the pirates are nowhere to be seen. Maintaining a huge navy is of little use.

Zhu Yixi did not suppress speech, and a few complaints were nothing.

When the benefits from the South continue to flow, people will succumb.

"How long will it take to build a ship with 5,000 materials?"

"Your Majesty, it will take about a year and a half."

"too slow."

Zhu Yixi frowned and felt unhappy.

At this time, the emperor's majesty was revealed, and several people could not bear it. Their knees unconsciously softened and they knelt on the ground.

The missionary on the side was a little confused and muttered a few words to the translator. When he understood what he said, his face was full of helplessness.

My God, I’m afraid no one in Europe would kneel down like this when seeing an angel!

"As soon as possible!" The emperor glanced at several people and did not embarrass them. He just took a look.

This fell far short of his expectations.

"Your Majesty, there are large shipyards in Taiwan that can build such ships."

Suddenly, the missionary spoke quickly, and the translator was stunned for a moment before he came to his senses.

"oh?"

Hearing this, the emperor became interested.

Taiwan actually has such a large shipyard?

The translator on the side continued: "Your Majesty, after the Portuguese went to Taiwan, they rebuilt the gun factory and shipyard. After all, from Manila to Fujian, and then north to Japan and North Korea, you need to pass through Taiwan."

"The demand for repair and shipbuilding was very strong, so the Portuguese returned to their old business and introduced craftsmen in Manila and Batavia. Coupled with the participation of many missionaries, Taiwan's shipyards became very large."

"Although it is not the Dagukou Shipyard, they have mature craftsmen who can build ships immediately."

"That's true." Zhu Yixi suddenly realized, with a smile on his face.

At this time, the atmosphere immediately became much more relaxed, and the craftsmen also breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then we will use a two-pronged approach. The five thousand material ship must become the main force in a short time."

Having said this, Zhu Yixi had a thought in his mind. He couldn't wait that long.

However, the development of Taiwan Government was beyond his expectation.

After taking Taiwan, due to insufficient population and the takeover of Macau, a large number of Western barbarians had nowhere to go, so Zhu Yixi treated Taiwan as an open port and allowed them to settle freely.

In fact, people from mainland China can still live here even if they do not have household registration.

This has created a special open environment in Taiwan, and even a large ship with 5,000 materials can be built.

"Let Jin Yiwei collect the situation in Taiwan."

After lowering his head and giving instructions, Zhu Yixi began to patrol the shipyard.

Dagukou Shipyard is not only government-run, but also run by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. It is a cooperation between the two parties, so it can not only undertake shipbuilding tasks for the military, but also build ships for civilians.

For example, a large number of modified armed ships have become the favorite type of merchants. Not only do they have a huge load capacity, but they also have weapons to protect them.

It can be built for long voyages, offshore, and can even repair and clean ships. It can be said to be all-round.

According to the current prosperity of shipping, excluding military orders and private ships alone, Dagukou Shipyard can make at least 100,000 yuan a year.

Tianjin Mansion is very young, and the three guards have only been integrated for a few years. There is not much to see, so he took his three sons for a walk. Then he turned around and returned to Beijing.

Counting the round trip, it only took three days.

At this time, Jin Yiwei presented the intelligence collected by the Taiwan government.

Zhu Yixi glanced at it, which was beyond his expectation.

In just a few years, Taiwan's population has exceeded 500,000 and is approaching 600,000.

Since there were no household registration restrictions, many pirates, escaped slaves, and merchants came here enthusiastically.

Of course, there are also many Westerners, with more than 30,000 settling in Taiwan.

In this way, the style of Taiwan is very different from that of mainland China.

Its architecture is a combination of Chinese and Western, each with its own characteristics, and there are many Gothic churches; economically, the Dutch, English, Spanish and Portuguese have built more than a hundred banks, with an unprecedented scale.

In terms of system, the Taiwan government adopts the policy of using foreigners to control foreigners, choosing China experts to govern its own people, as long as they pay taxes on time.

As a result, there are actually four Xiyi Streets in Taiyuan County, which is governed by the Taiwan Prefecture.

The British, Dutch, Portuguese and Spanish each occupy one street, with the Portuguese making up the majority.

"This is like the role of Hong Kong's port back then."

The emperor groaned, feeling a little surprised.

From his personal point of view, the prosperity of the Taiwanese government has fueled the development of the Jiade Plain, with the establishment of a large number of manors and squatter houses one after another.

There are forests of sugar cane and tens of thousands of workers.

Sugar, this addictive thing, is continuously transported from Taiwan to the mainland.

Unfortunately, Taiwan's annual production of brown sugar is only one million stones. It not only needs to satisfy the mainland, but also needs to be exported. The supply is really in short supply.

You must know that mainland China alone has a population of 150 million. People are not addicted to sugar. Everyone loves sweetness. This market is so vast.

What is sold to the mainland every year is less than 20% of the output.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yixi couldn't help but feel a little melancholy.

When will Taiwan’s sugar be able to satisfy mainland people?

And how much of the income from internal funds is lost due to the loss of output?

To go south, you must go south.

By the time he was fully prepared, I don’t know what year or month it would be.

The millions of indigenous people in the Philippines are the best labor force.

"Let Zhang Qi come to see me..."

Two hours later, the shocked Zhang Qi left the palace and couldn't wait to return home. She couldn't contain her excitement and said: "Contact those chambers of commerce, we have a big deal."

The sugar mills in Taiwan are basically controlled by dozens of large families. Only 30% of them are controlled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but nearly 70% of the plantations are taken over by the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Hundreds of thousands of acres of sugarcane land are enough to determine the price of brown sugar.

In a sense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs is the emperor who decides on sugar merchants.

In order to achieve better sales and maintain profits, under the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Taiwanese government established the Brown Sugar Guild.

All sugar shops and sugar merchants are involved in this process to maximize profits.

What’s even more crazy is that all sugar will be sold at auction, and the auction will be next year’s brown sugar.

It's like pre-ordering.

For sugar merchants, this allows them to recover their blood faster without losing money, and the risks are borne by those merchants.

Merchants who purchase brown sugar are like salt merchants under the Salt Law. They purchase a certain amount of brown sugar and sell it in different regions. The source is the big families in each province.

"It's only the beginning of the year? Why is there another auction?"

"You're crazy, don't you want to increase the price?"

The sugar merchants were wailing, but their steps were not slow, and they entered Zhang's house one after another.
To be continued...