Shi Lang was holding the package and standing in front of a courtyard.
The appearance of this courtyard was no different from before he left.
This is where his father Shi Daxuan lives.
Shi Daxuan is a naval garrison in Qiongzhou, responsible for combating piracy and smuggling in the waters off Guangzhou and the South China Sea.
This is a position that a naval admiral who has retired to the second line will most likely hold.
The fleet docked at Temasek, and Admiral Li Pinglang reported the European war to His Majesty the Emperor and the top brass of the Navy.
His Majesty the Emperor's decree was quickly conveyed via telegram.
The fleet will collectively record first-class merit, and the meritorious officers will also record their merits individually and receive rewards.
They heard medals and bonuses issued by the imperial court in Temasek.
Ordinary soldiers take half a year off, which is a common practice in the Navy when sailing long distances.
The generals needed to shoulder more responsibilities. They rushed to the major fleets of the navy to pass on the experience of this naval battle to friendly forces.
Admiral Li Pinglang went to the capital to report to His Majesty the Emperor and senior military officials.
Shi Lang was in charge of the First Fleet, the squadron stationed in Guangdong and Guangxi.
When he arrived in Guangzhou, he immediately came to Qiongzhou Mansion to see his father. He would be even busier in the next few days.
Shi Lang pushed the door open and walked into the courtyard. He saw Shi Daxuan walking his dog in the courtyard.
"Dad, I'm back."
Shi Daxuan looked up and saw his son Shi Lang coming back.
He stood up tremblingly and immediately welcomed his son into the house.
If the Shi family wants to develop in the future, it still depends on what position their son can climb to.
As an old pirate, he would be satisfied if he could die a good death, and it would be impossible for him to continue to rise in the ranks.
When Shi Daxuan was young, as a pirate leader, he suffered a lot of hidden wounds.
He was recruited by the Great China Empire Navy and taught his sailing experience to the navy, so he chose to retreat to the second line.
When I was a pirate, my biggest wish was to clear my name and go ashore in my later years.
In his later years, if the pirate leader cannot clear his name and get an official position, his whole family will not end well.
Shi Daxuan took out the Maotai wine and asked the kitchen to cook some dishes to go with the wine. He and his son Shi Lang ate and chatted.
He previously knew that his son Shi Lang was performing a special mission.
Such unspeakable tasks are generally extremely risky.
Now that my son Shi Lang can come back safely, that is the best ending.
The father and son were drinking and chatting.
Shi Lang told his father about the situation in Europe and the powerful power of armored ships.
Shi Daxuan told his son about the recent major events in the empire.
"Son, I really didn't expect that the Imperial Navy has become so powerful now.
You are now an excellent general who can command ironclad battleships.
You must give full play to this advantage, so as to make your position more stable."
Shi Daxuan is very satisfied with his current status.
His son Shi Lang was very likely to go one step further, which made him drink a few more glasses of wine involuntarily.
Shi Lang also recalled what his father Shi Daxuan talked about.
Shi Daxuan must belong to the navy, and he pays more attention to matters at sea.
The largest material imported by the Imperial Customs is not food or mineral resources from overseas ethnic governments.
Rather, they are struvite excavated in Nanyang or on small islands in Nanyang.
Fertilizer made from this kind of struvite has become the most popular fertilizer among farmers and can double the yield per mu.
It is precisely because of the continuous increase in grain production that the imperial court announced this year that it would solve the problem of food and clothing.
Areas that are not suitable for growing food, except areas with strategic value, may be used to grow other cash crops.
All the local people have immigrated overseas, and people will no longer starve to death in areas controlled by the empire.
This is a huge achievement that no dynasty has ever achieved in history.
Emperor Su He's prestige is as good as any emperor in history.
Some wealthy areas in the plains have already solved the problem of food and clothing.
They are also experiencing a baby boom, and each family is used to raising more than five or six children.
A well-to-do family would marry an extra foreign wife. Among them, Japanese women and Korean women were the most comprehensively sinicized and were welcomed by the people of the empire.
These are the result of the empire's overseas colonization, continuous import of money and materials, and feedback.
Many people who went overseas to seek a living turned into big landowners and businessmen.
In this way, the people in the inland are envious, and stimulated by the benefits, many people go overseas to earn a fortune.
This directly led to the emergence of sailing craze in the empire.
When Shi Lang left the empire, there were only some signs of sailing fever.
After a year of development, the craze for sailing has completely reached its peak.
Shi Daxuan learned that there are as many as 13 new shipyards opened in Guangdong this year.
Shi Lang couldn't imagine that the scale of the official shipyard was so large that it couldn't even build merchant ships.
To what extent has the craze for sailing reached such a level that businessmen with a keen sense of smell have spent a lot of money to open shipyards.
Shi Daxuan told him about this matter, that is, Shi Daxuan and his former friends were planning to open a shipyard together.
They can only build wooden ships, and they cannot build steam-powered giant iron-clad cargo ships at all.
Shi Daxuan asked his son Shi Lang if he had any connections and could get shipbuilding technology.
Even though Shi Lang was drunk, he quickly refused the matter.
He does have connections that can help the family, but the connections should not be used on this matter.
Relationships with big shots must be used at the most critical moments.
Shi Lang raised his glass, clinked it with his father Shi Daxuan, and turned to talk about other topics.
After he sobered up, it was already the next day and he immediately rushed to Guangzhou Port where the First Fleet Squadron was located.
Haikou is not far from Guangzhou and can be reached quickly by boat.
Admiral Yang Wanjun waited until Shi Lang arrived and immediately greeted him.
"General Shi, your performance in Europe has completely established the reputation of the Imperial Navy.
The underground commendation telegram has reached the entire army.
When I saw the telegram, I was really excited.
Our fleet has just received the ironclads, and there are still some deficiencies in the use of the ironclads. We all rely on the guidance of the division general."
Shi Lang felt relieved when he saw Yang Wanjun being so polite.
After all, to complete this teaching mission, the cooperation of local generals is needed.
If the local people have sectarian views and set up obstacles for his teaching, it will be very difficult to teach them.
The Naval Headquarters of the Metropolitan Government will assess their teaching.
Those assessment officials don't care about these things.
Whether or not to teach is a matter for the instructor. He has the power of the instructor but cannot even control his subordinates. Such a person will definitely not be a qualified commander.
Shi Lang walked over and exchanged military salutes with Yang Wanjun, and shook hands.
He said politely: "Admiral Yang is very complimentary. I will definitely do my best to help the fleet quickly become familiar with the combat skills of ironclads."
Admiral Yang Wanjun only hoped that Shi Lang was a truly capable general.
The tradition of the Imperial Navy is to introduce the old into the new.
The empire will propose multiple new technologies for verification. Whichever one is tested on the battlefield, it will quickly disseminate this new technology using the old method to introduce the new.
Which army can quickly master new technologies? Once there is a war that requires the deployment of troops, it will definitely deploy troops that are more proficient in new tactics.
Admiral Yang Wanjun has inside information that the Imperial Navy's first armored battleship is about to be launched.
The Imperial Navy will form its first battleship fleet.
Which army can become one of the components of the battleship formation, participate in wars and get promoted in the future, is not a problem.
Under the leadership of Admiral Yang Wanjun, Shi Lang quickly arrived at the berth of the warship.
He saw that all the ships parked in the military port were armored cruisers, a dozen in total.
He couldn't believe how rich the armored cruisers of this squadron were.
Their fleet was only allocated three ships that year, so they were allowed to travel long distances to fight in Europe.
This strong contrast, that is, the treatment of biological son and godson, is really incomparable.
Admiral Yang Wanjun is a human spirit, and he immediately saw the change in Shi Lang's eyes.
"Many people in the imperial court have doubts about the capabilities of ironclads. If His Majesty hadn't stood up to all the objections, the Navy would have had to wait a while longer before equipping ironclads on a large scale.
News of your victory reached the Empire, and the capabilities of the ironclads were tested in actual combat.
The shipyards are like dumplings, constantly manufacturing ironclads.
Now the government-run shipyard has canceled private orders and is fully engaged in the production of ironclads and other warships.
The Navy's goal is to completely replace sailing ships with ironclad ships.
In terms of manufacturing difficulty, I think ironclad ships are easier to build than sailing ships.
As long as the steel is qualified, it can pass through the shipyard and manufacture ironclad ships on a large scale.
Sailboats do require special shipbuilding wood, and the wood also needs to be dried in the sun for several years.
At that time, major shipyards were looking for wood suitable for manufacturing warships, which greatly restricted the scale of naval warships.
Because we are closest to the Guangzhou Shipyard, we can obtain the ironclad ships accumulated by the Guangzhou Shipyard as soon as possible.
If the imperial court had not decided to go all out to build ironclads, these first-generation ironclads with some defects would have to be shipped to various parts of the navy."
Admiral Yang Wanjun was very happy that the Admiralty Department of the Governor's Office obtained detailed information on the European battlefield.
They improved the ironclads in a targeted manner and decided to go all out to build ironclads. Some fleets just wanted to wait for stronger ironclads.
These people still don't have enough experience. They take one step at a time and try their best to get the armored ship that others don't want into their hands.
After hearing this, Shi Lang was very emotional. Not only was there a nautical craze among the people, but also among the military.
Ironclad ships will completely replace sailing ships. I wonder how powerful the Imperial Navy will be when it is completed?
Shi Lang said happily: "The empire's industrial strength is too strong, and manufacturing warships is like making dumplings.
The empire is so powerful that I can’t even describe it in words.”
With excitement, Shi Lang went to train the naval fleet and instruct them to use ironclad ships to face the enemy in various environments.
…………………………
The capital of the Great China Empire, inside the Qianqing Palace in the Forbidden City.
Emperor Su He saw that the army and navy of the Metropolitan Governor's Office were quarreling again.
Before the empire, the army was strong and the navy was weak.
With the empire's borders stabilized, no surrounding force dared to provoke the empire.
The army drew its sword and looked around at a loss. There were no enemies around.
The East India Governor-General's continuous pioneering war did not require the regular army to end, and the local militia could teach the weak Indian country a lesson.
India is a geographical term that consists of many small countries that are not affiliated with each other.
When the empire attacks a country in the Indian region, there is no need to worry about siege by other countries.
Only the military strength of the East India Governor's Palace is needed to continuously complete the pioneering war, eliminate each country in the Indian region, and complete the empire's rule over the local area.
With the railway network extending in all directions, the empire did not need to maintain a large army on its frontiers.
The empire has a fixed annual military expenditure. With the development of the navy, the army's military expenditure must be reduced.
In order to reduce military expenditures, the Army can only lay off excess troops.
This directly led to huge differences between the Army and the Navy.
Minister of the Army Qin Xiangkun slammed his hand on the table.
"The Navy wants to build a battleship, and the cost of a battleship is as high as 2.5 million taels of silver coins.
The sail battleship only costs 300,000 taels of silver coins.
Cruisers already have no rivals on the sea, so I don't think battleships should be built.
This is a complete waste of military spending and this technology should be mothballed."
When Minister of the Navy Li Guofeng heard this, he said in a stern tone: "Qin Xiangkun, you must have an overall strategic vision and cannot focus on the country.
An empire must have important weapons to control the country. Now the major vassal states are as far away as America and Africa.
No matter how strong the army is, the vassal countries will not feel the pressure.
Only the power of the navy can reach the vassal country at any time and completely extinguish the vassal country's disobedience.
Battleships are the absolute overlord of the sea. As long as the scale of battleships is maintained, the empire can overwhelm any country with its own strength.
The navy can bring far more benefits to the empire than the army.
Every penny the empire provides to the navy now can be exchanged for tangible benefits."
When Qin Xiangkun heard this, his face turned purple with anger.
Li Guofeng was scolding the Army in disguise. It just swallowed up a lot of resources without giving back to the empire.
"Our army conquered all the vast territory of the empire.
Your navy can only capture a few islands at most. Without the assistance of the army, you cannot even conquer a county.
Send a fleet to Europe, this war has verified my statement.
Even if the navy achieves such a huge advantage, you cannot continue to expand your results."
"Our navy has been developing, unlike your army, which just rests on its laurels and talks about its previous achievements."
Emperor Su He watched the dispute between the army and the navy, but he did not intervene in the dispute between the two armies.
Military expenditure is an important means for the emperor to control the governor's office, and the cabinet and parliament restrict the governor's office.
Emperor Su He's ideal system was that civilian officials could not restrict the development of the military.
But the military cannot become a wild horse and completely let itself go, with the military's interests kidnapping the empire.
He saw the dispute between the army and navy reaching its most intense moment.
As the emperor, Su He slowly spoke: "My dear friends, the focus of your debate is simply whether battleships are useful.
Count Li Pinglang, who went to Europe to command operations, has arrived in the capital.
Dear friends, please listen to his thoughts, I think you will gain something different."
His Majesty the Emperor spoke so eloquently that the army and navy immediately stopped quarreling.
When they quarrel, they are expressing their side's attitude.
The main reason is to compete for the favor of His Majesty the Emperor.
Now that His Majesty the Emperor has given a plan, whichever side fails to show appreciation will have more to lose.
The young eunuch who was responsible for delivering the decree received a verbal order from Emperor Su He.
They immediately went to summon Li Pinglang and went to the Qianqing Palace to report on matters related to the navy's operations in Europe. (End of this chapter)