My Daming New Empire

Page 431

The large blessing ship of Ming Dynasty, the Great Treasure Ship is the largest ship in the world today, and the design of the ship is also at the forefront of the world.Taking Zhu Zhanji's flagship as an example, there are city walls built on the deck of the hull. Even if the ship is on board, it is difficult for the enemy to attack the deck.

However, no matter how strong a wooden ship is, it is still a wooden ship, and the wooden deck is not very resistant to the recoil of the artillery, which is a big problem.

Of course Zhu Zhanji knew how to solve this problem, that is to make the fort track and use spring buffer.

It's just that he is not a god, so it is impossible to cover everything. He didn't think about it until something went wrong.

He nodded and said: "Ship reconstruction, when I return to Daming this time, Gu will arrange for the Ministry of Industry and the Department of Internal Supervision and Construction to solve it together. Do you have a good plan for the specific process of how Daming won the sea power?"

Zhu Zhen said again: "Now my Ming Dynasty has a huge advantage in artillery and ships. The rest is mainly how to restrain other forces and stabilize my own advantages. Looking at the world map, I have dozens of places along the way to the west of my Ming Dynasty. Important checkpoints, these places seem unimportant, but to me, Ming, occupying these places can control the development of other countries' fleets."

Zhu Zhanji glanced at Zheng He and said with a smile, "Haha, just like Guyi!"

No one knows better than Zhu Zhanji the importance of sea bases to a country's sea power.When he mentioned it to Zheng He, Zheng He still felt that it was not worthwhile and objected.

But Zhu Zhanji also knows that Zheng He is the real handsome talent, and although Zhu Zhen is more in his favor, he is only a general.

Because Zheng He analyzed this issue from a macro perspective, from the standpoint of the country.To set up a base tens of thousands of miles away, the soldiers are far away from their hometown, and the cost is huge, just for some maritime advantages in the battle situation, the gain outweighs the loss.

And Zhu Zhen is a pure general, he will not consider other aspects, but only analyze the problem from the perspective of war.

Putting aside historical experience, Zheng He's opinion is more in line with the interests of a politician and a country.

Zhu Zhanji asked deliberately: "If I, Ming Dynasty, occupy these checkpoints, it will cost a lot, is there a good plan?"

Sure enough, Zhu Zhen had nothing to say, he bowed and said: "Chen Yulu..."

At this moment, Huang Yuan stood up suddenly, and said loudly: "Your Highness, I have a plan."

Everyone looked sideways. Although Huang Yuan received much attention, he was only a defense after all.He was able to attend the battlefield meeting mainly because he was serving as the minutes of the meeting, that is, the clerk.

On such an occasion, he dared to stand up and speak now, which was actually a little overstepped.

But Zhu Zhanji didn't care about this, and crossed his legs.Liu Wan hastily placed a brocade stool in front of him and propped his legs up.

Zhu Zhanji leaned on the dragon chair, raised his legs, and said carelessly, "Speak!"

Huang Yuan said loudly: "I have been in charge of the fleet's logistics and supplies, and I know the fleet's consumption like the palm of my hand. Although the cost of our Ming fleet's voyages to the West is huge, the profit of a trip is dozens of times. Setting up bases overseas is expensive. Huge, but as long as the fleet keeps going, the profit is enough to cover the cost of the base.

Of course, the size of the fleet in the future does not need to be as large as this time, just like the case of the Duke of Dian in the past.A trip to the West every year, during which recruits replace veterans, and profits make up for expenses, and these bases can be set up.The soldiers stationed in the garrison can be replaced for up to three years before returning to the country, and there is no danger of morale being negative. "

This is almost the same as what Zhu Zhanji thought. Zhu Zhanji glanced at him appreciatively and asked, "What other opinions do you love?"

Zheng He stood up at this time and said: "Your Highness, Huang Yuan's strategy is indeed feasible, and I agree with you."

Zhu Zhanji nodded and said: "Where to set up a base? How many troops and materials are needed for the base? How much does it cost to build the base? All of these require the cooperation of your loved ones. Other places can be discussed later. If you want to send troops, attack Xiu Da Ming and the Giant Rock of Gibraltar, one south and one north, control the Strait of Gibraltar. In this way, the throats of the entire European countries will be choked by my Ming. We will discuss this matter in detail today..."

Attacking Ceuta is easy to say. This was originally the territory of the Marin Kingdom, but it was only occupied by Portugal, but Gibraltar belongs to the Kingdom of Castile. If Ming sent troops for no reason, it would be detrimental to morality.

Regardless of other countries, Ming can't lose the cloak of civilization and become like them just because other countries are barbaric.

Now that Zhu Zhanji has made a decision, everyone has come up with suggestions on how to negotiate with Ma Linguo and what conditions to buy Ceuta.

How to cooperate between the two countries to make Marin a supply place for Ming soldiers was discussed.

Regarding the attack on the Rock of Gibraltar, Zheng He is also willing to act as an emissary to the Kingdom of Granada, cooperate with Granada, accept the "request" of the other party, and then occupy the Rock of Gibraltar.

One person counts the disadvantages, and everyone counts the long. Before midnight, everyone made up a complete set of plans, and then they rested and waited for the dawn.

The reason why Zhu Zhanji dares to occupy Ceuta and Gibraltar now is because these two places are easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Ceuta faces the sea on three sides and mountains on one side, and the Rock of Gibraltar is a natural rock mountain.

This place is a stone mountain, and the side facing the land is still a natural cliff. It only needs to defend a rugged road on the west side, and no amount of troops can attack from the land.

As for attacking from the sea, it is also very difficult, because this is a stone mountain that goes straight up and down, and only a few places can land.

Historically, in order to recapture Gibraltar, Spain beat out all its brains, but did not take it back, which shows the precipitousness of this place.

Needless to say, the geographical location here, controlling this place is equivalent to controlling the economic line of Europe.

But it is impossible to rely solely on Ming's soldiers. If Da Ming wants to occupy this place permanently, he must have an ally to provide logistics services for Ming's soldiers.

Therefore, the role of Marin is now highlighted.

They can provide auxiliary manpower for Daming, and can provide food and vegetables for Daming.It can even provide beautiful women to calm the hearts of Ming soldiers.

If there is an emergency and Gibraltar can't hold it anymore, the soldiers don't have to fight to the last person. They just need to retreat to Marin and wait for the reinforcements to come before fighting back.

At this time, Zhu Zhanji was actually very fortunate. None of the soldiers who came to Europe with him, whether it was Zheng He, Zhu Zhen, or Xue Lu, including Jin Chun, the head of the civil servants, was a hindrance.

Not only do they not hold back, but they are also very capable, allowing Zhu Zhanji to carry out any decision smoothly.

Now, he is full of confidence in the results of his trip to Europe.

(After resolving internal differences, Ming soldiers will officially appear in the European world! Hahaha...)

Thank you for seeing people with lights, bamboo sticks, and your rewards, thank you for your support

Chapter 47 Sent to Ceuta

Zhu Zhanji did not attend the meeting on the second day. The language barrier was one aspect, and the main reason was that he didn't want to stay with a bunch of smelly people for a whole day.

However, he asked Zheng He to bring an invitation letter to Osman III, inviting Osman III to visit his palace at night.

Marin State cannot be said to be poor. Although it is still a slave society, there are land, cattle and sheep, and their people will not go hungry.

But they have very few resources. Apart from food, cattle, sheep, and salt, they have no other materials that can be exchanged with others.

Europeans are not short of meat, their cattle and sheep cannot be sold, and the quality of desert wool is not as good as that of European countries, so they can only be sold at low prices.

It can also be said that they are poor.

They want everything in Daming's hands, and they can't put it down for any kind of product, but they can't afford it at all.

The gold and silver that were not much in the first place seemed to be gone without being exchanged for something, which made them even more jealous after hearing that the Ming Fleet still had more than 100 ships of cargo.

Many nobles offered to exchange black slaves for goods, which surprised Zheng He and the others.

For Daming, although there is also human trafficking, most of them are those who are defeated in war, or poor people who cannot support their children, so they will sell their children.

But like them, it is really unreliable to directly exchange people who do not belong to them for goods.

Zhu Zhanji, who had been paying close attention to the negotiation scene, immediately made a decision to let Zheng He agree.Daming can ask for those black men in their prime, and offer a high price of ten taels of silver, but there is one prerequisite, that is, to eunuch those black men.

In fact, Zhu Zhanji was the happiest when he heard the Marin people's proposal.

He has been worrying, whether it is Europeans or Arabs, the trade with Daming is too much, and the trade is less, so in the long run, the trade will become unbalanced.