The ecstasy of the two princes came from the fact that Gao Pragmatism changed the restrictive attitude of the maritime trade zoning.
Originally, Gao pragmatically divided the fleets belonging to Jinghua into the northern and southern fleets based on geographical divisions, which actually resulted in a trade situation in which the elites of the capital were unable to enter Fujian and further south because they were members of the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance. This made the Beiyang Sea
The scope of foreign trade of the trade alliance is limited to North Korea and Japan.
At the beginning, this restriction did not cause the powerful people (not just the nobles, but mainly the nobles) to have too much discomfort. The reason was that they had just set foot in maritime trade at that time, including the ships they owned and the geographical location they were familiar with.
The basic capital is still very immature and fragile. In addition, the Beiyang Sea Trade Alliance allows internal transactions within the Ming Dynasty (from Liaodong to Zhejiang). No matter from which point of view, this restriction does not matter to them.
However, with the continued rapid development of maritime trade, five years after the establishment of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance, this restriction gradually became an unbearable shackles for the powerful.
Take the two Dukes Zhu Yingzhen and Zhang Yuangong as an example: The land accumulated by Zhu Yingzhen’s mansion for more than a hundred years now has less than 10,000 hectares left. According to the calculation method of the Ming Dynasty, one hectare is equal to one hundred acres.
, the remaining nearly 9,000 hectares of fertile land (only the best remaining) in the Chengguo Duke's mansion is still astonishing, reaching 900,000 acres, but so what? It is only a fraction of what it was ten years ago.
At the same time, the merchant ships controlled by the Duke of Chengguo grew from scratch, grew from small to large, and have now developed into the second largest force in the "Beiyang System" after Jinghua. At this moment, Zhu Yingzhen owns Jinghua's standard armed transport ship 55
17 commercial ships of various types with smaller tonnage and capable of entering inland rivers were purchased in the early stage.
Excluding those old and small old-fashioned merchant ships, the 55 Jinghua-style armed transport ships alone are an astonishing scale, because the standard of armed transport ships is actually very high: it has a displacement of 800 tons (1600 tons), is designed for open-air deck guns, and is a single ship.
It has 28 artillery pieces of various types and has a crew capacity of 180 people.
The 55 Beijing-style armed transport ships meant that the total tonnage of the ocean-going ships in the hands of Chengguo Duke Zhu Yingzhen reached 44,000 tons, with 1,540 light and heavy artillery pieces (including 440 No. 2 heavy guns and 1,100 No. 3 light guns), and nearly 10,000 sailors (
9900) people.
What about the British Duke Zhang Yuangong? He was a little worse than Zhu Yingzhen, because Gao Pragmatic gave him some other benefits in the early years, such as the supply of briquettes to the capital and other miscellaneous items, so his investment in maritime affairs was not as good as Zhu Yingzhen's.
However, even so, the British government owned 42 Beijing-style armed transport ships, with a total tonnage of 33,600 tons, 1,176 light and heavy guns (336 No. 2 heavy guns, 840 No. 3 light guns), and 7,560 sailors.
As for the Xu family of Duke Dingguo, because Xu Wenbi is old and moderate in his work, his investment in maritime trade is not as "burning the boat" as Zhu Yingzhen and Zhang Yuangong, so it is less than the former two. However, after all, Duke Dingguo is also the Duke of the Three Kingdoms in the capital.
One of the top wealthy families, it is easy to lose face with too little capital, so it also owns 25 Beijing-style armed transport ships.
In addition to the Duke, the princes and uncles also each own more than a dozen or at least seven or eight armed transport ships.
All in all, this force combined is astonishing in number, even exceeding the total number of armed transport ships owned by Jinghua's Beiyang Fleet. If Jinghua had not gradually built a number of warships in recent years that can be used as pure warships (but they can still be used during non-war times)
cargo), even Jinghua cannot guarantee to exceed the overall strength of the nobles (only refers to Jinghua Beiyang Fleet).
Today, in addition to nearly a hundred armed transport ships, the Beiyang Fleet also has one third-class battleship, two first-class cruisers, and two second-class cruisers.
Among them, the third-class battleship has a displacement of 1,600 tons, a two-layer deck gun design, 72 artillery pieces of various types (8 No. 1 heavy guns, 28 No. 2 heavy guns, and 36 No. 3 light guns), and a crew of 460 people.
Although this third-level battleship is only equivalent to two armed transport ships in terms of tonnage alone, because it is a warship class, the construction standards are much stricter, so that the final cost is about 4 armed transport ships, and the cost of a single ship is as high as 240,000
2. [Note: This cost refers to the cost recorded in the British naval historical materials of the same period, and takes into account Jinghua’s cost advantages in wood, manpower, etc., and then obtains it through mainstream currency conversion in world economic history research.]
Due to the huge Dingnancheng construction plan, Jinghua's finances have been tight in the past year or two. Only three battleships of this class have been built (originally five), two of which are in the Nanyang Fleet and one in the Beiyang Fleet.
This third-class battleship of the Beiyang Fleet was naturally used as a flagship, and was named "Liu Rengui" by Gao Pragmatic. This name naturally has some implications: Liu Rengui was the commander-in-chief of the Tang Army in the Battle of Baijiangkou in the Tang Dynasty, and the commander-in-chief of the Tang-Silla Allied Forces.
After the Battle of Baijiangkou, Japan was so beaten that it dared not look westward for hundreds of years.
One battleship and two classes of four cruisers constitute the core deterrent force of the Beiyang Fleet. Together with more than a hundred armed transport ships, this is the strength of the Beijing Beiyang Fleet. The Beiyang Fleet plus nearly two
One hundred armed transport ships represent the strength of the entire Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance.
This strength comes from ten years of rapid development, during which there were almost no construction restrictions.
However, this disorderly large-scale construction gradually caused problems: there were more ships, and although the trade volume was also growing, because the market was limited after all, and the Warring States Period in Japan was almost over, the growth of trade volume could no longer keep up with the rate of ship construction.
speed.
In other words: the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance urgently needs to open up new markets to satisfy its growing maritime transport capacity and desire for profits.
This desire for benefits is what Gao Pragmatic hopes to see, because in his view, the biggest problem with reform is whether the adjustment of benefit distribution can satisfy vested interests.
Gao Gong and his uncle and nephew insisted on reform measures such as clearing land ownership, forcing countless powerful people to surrender their land to the people. If the powerful people are not given new benefits as compensation, this force will form resistance to the reform.
For a while, it may be possible to rely on the emperor's decision and trust to carry out the reform, but as time goes by, this resistance will become stronger and stronger, until the lower levels begin to obey the government, and eventually the whole body will backfire, and people will die and the government will cease.
No matter how strong the capital is, it is impossible to fight against the country's elite capital; no matter how much trust Gao Pragmatic has gained, it cannot be more important than the foundation of the emperor's rule. Therefore, his consistent thinking is "I will lead everyone to make more money", and never
Yes, but I don't dare to just block it and not open it up.
Now that the development of the Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance has entered a bottleneck period, Gao Pragmatic has to consider letting them enter Nanyang. Although entering Nanyang may dilute Jinghua's profits, how can I say this? The southern maritime merchants want to go to Nanyang, Jinghua
There are no restrictions, and it is not impossible for many northern powerful merchants to enter.
Even from a highly pragmatic overall perspective, this matter itself is still worthy of promotion. After all, only when more and more "ruling classes" attach importance to sea trade and turn to sea trade can the rejection and opposition to the opening of sea within the Ming court be resolved.
The smaller the society, the more likely it is that the Ming Dynasty will be able to complete its thinking shift and make this country more and more open.
Instead of closing the door and boasting about being invincible, it is better to open the door and be the best in the world!
As for choosing to attack the Philippines, Gao Pragmatic certainly has his own considerations. Although Spain is still at the peak of its national power, the peak of its national power alone is not effective. Spain now has too many enemies. And the biggest problem is King Philip II.
He is a bit like Yang Guang. Doesn't that mean he doesn't have a grand strategy? How can someone who dares to say "the world is not enough for me" not have a grand strategy?
His problem is that his grand strategy is so big that even Spain, which is so powerful and almost as if it is favored by the gods, cannot bear it.
From a political perspective, Gao Pragmatic believes that there are three reasons why Spain turned from prosperity to decline: first, the internal organization of the Spanish Empire was loose, and the development of its monarchy was quite limited; second, Spain retained a large number of feudal remnants, and the country
It mainly represents the interests of the great aristocracy and the monastic class of the Catholic Church, and the political structure is relatively rigid and primitive; finally, in order to safeguard its own interests, the ruling class has implemented a series of self-destructive economic and religious policies.
From an economic point of view, the reason for its turn from prosperity to decline is that in the second half of the 16th century, Spain's domestic agriculture, handicrafts and commerce generally declined; the price revolution caused by the large influx of American precious metals into Spain and the entire Europe further hit
It has affected the development of its economy; in foreign trade, Spain is in an extremely unfavorable position, with a large amount of gold and silver wealth flowing out, and the national finance cannot make ends meet and has gone bankrupt many times. In short, the Spanish economy has fallen into a vicious cycle of decline.
Furthermore, the harm done to the country by the internal and external wars in Spain was too great. War was related to the prosperity and decline of the country, and cautious rulers knew not to talk about war lightly. Philip II's reign lasted for forty-two years. During these four years,
In twelve years, Spain only enjoyed peace for a short six months, and was in a state of war the rest of the time.
The war itself was a waste. Spain had made too many enemies and exhausted its national strength. However, the effect of the war was still very poor: the Netherlands was still independent; France still won the victory with Henry IV (even though he later converted to Christianity).
Catholicism)... Among the three major wars in recent times, the only one that cannot be considered a complete failure is the Anglo-Spanish War, which most later generations thought was a failure.
In fact, Spain could not be considered a loser in the Anglo-Spanish War. At least at the end of the war, the overall strength of the Spanish navy was still strong. On the contrary, the British navy was pushed into a period of decline. Of course, the subsequent effects of this war were many, such as the rise of the Dutch navy.
Such situations are all caused by the aftermath, which cannot be explained in just a few words.
How much did Spain consume its national power? Take the ongoing Dutch War, which lasted for 26 years and cost Spain a total of 100 million ducats.
What is the concept of 100 million ducats? This gold coin minted by the Republic of Venice in Italy is approximately pure gold and weighs 3.56 grams. In other words, Spain invested 356,000 kilograms of pure gold for the Netherlands War.
In the Ming Dynasty, this would be 7.12 million taels of gold, or 71.2 million taels of silver! And you must know that this battle was only one of the six wars fought by Spain during the reign of Philip II.
Some people may think that war itself is also a way to stimulate the economy. Although Spain has many wars, theoretically it should also have a stimulating effect on the economy.
However, the fact is that Spain hardly stimulated the domestic economy from these wars. The reason is that almost all of the wars fought by Spain were outside the homeland, and most of them were far away from the homeland.
In order to save trouble (or not understand), the Spanish generals basically chose to purchase weapons, food and all other needs nearby, so these expenditures were almost in vain and did not have much stimulating effect on the domestic economy.
The only thing that has stimulated the domestic economy is probably the shipbuilding industry. But what is very funny is that after Philip II took advantage of the Portuguese succession crisis to become the co-king of the Kingdom of Portugal, in order to win the favor of the Portuguese nobles, he spent a lot of money on
The shipbuilding business was handed over to Portugal, which promoted the development of Portugal's shipbuilding industry.
As a result, Portugal... became independent again, while Spain's efforts were in vain.
Against this background, Gao Pragmatic thought that it was safe for him to seize the Philippines now. No matter how unhappy Philip II was, he would not have the energy or ability to cross half a world to attack him.
Go on an expedition.
Of course, even if he wanted to do it, Gao Pragmatic would not panic at all. Tsarist Russia also did this kind of stupid thing in later generations, and the result was that it basically ruined the Russian Imperial Navy's fortune, but it actually helped Japan's position in East Asia.
Can the Spanish sailing fleet complete the task that modern navies have been unable to accomplish?
The strength of Beijing and China's two-ocean fleets is not weak. Unless the Spanish Armada uses space teleportation to directly land in Manila without damage, its high pragmatism will not be wasted.
As for the land war, there is no need to mention it. Although the former governor of the Philippines, Sander, even suggested that Philip II mobilize 20,000 troops to conquer the Ming Dynasty, Gao Pragmatic knew very well that this was just talking in his dreams.
The combat effectiveness of the European army in the era of geographical discovery is completely different from the combat effectiveness of the European army in the era of industrial revolution. Compared with the Chinese army in the same period (late Ming Dynasty, mid-to-late Qing Dynasty), the gap is also completely different.
The performance of the European army in Asia during this period was actually relatively average. It would be no problem to defeat the small backward countries in Southeast Asia with the same force. However, as long as the small backward countries concentrated on a greater military advantage, the European army would still suffer.
This level is actually about the same as the elite soldiers of the Ming Dynasty - the elite soldiers here do not refer to the complete servant troops, but to the troops with the servants as the core and combined with the guards soldiers. For example, Liu Wei's tribe in the Ming-Burma War in the original history
, Deng Zilong's troops, even with this level of elite troops, their record against Southeast Asian countries is about the same as Portugal's.
Even because Liu Wei and his troops obviously had more troops than Portugal, they rarely suffered defeats. On the contrary, Portugal was defeated or retreated several times due to insufficient troops during the conquest process.
The Spanish Army's combat effectiveness is stronger than that of Portugal, but in Gao Pangshi's eyes, there is no secret to the Spanish Army's special skills. It is nothing more than the Spanish Grand Square. The bayonet formation that Gao Wushi is now promoting to the Ming Dynasty's frontier army is actually
The above is an improved evolution of the Spanish Grand Square, which is their enhanced version. The bayonet array tactic itself came from Jinghua, and Jinghua is the original work.
If we want to conduct benchmarking, Gao Pragmatic basically believes that the combat effectiveness of the Spanish Army will not exceed the level of the Dingnan Garrison.
However, the Dingnan Garrison, as the main force that Gao Pragmatic predicts will occupy the core defense area in his rule of southern Xinjiang, will eventually reach 60,000 men (not yet full). Spain will definitely not be able to handle this force alone.
What's more, Spain currently has less than 2,000 troops in Manila, so pragmatically it doesn't even need to use the garrison.
Zhu Yingzhen and Zhang Yuangong couldn't help but feel excited and nervous after hearing Gao's pragmatic explanation, and asked: "What does Rixin mean that the battle to capture Manila City will be completed by the Marines of our Beiyang Maritime Trade Alliance?"
----------
Thanks to book friend "Cao Mianzi" for your reward and support, thank you!
Thanks to book friends "Cao Mianzi", "Chishui Duan," "Jiahui", "Huanjing HJ", and "book friends 141216122515977" for their monthly ticket support, thank you!
