Liqun took the messenger liner company's ship to Xingnan Port south. ￡∝

After he left, a large naval fleet quietly sailed into the slightly empty Luoqia Port - some of the ships of the first Navy fleet. Together with them, they also sailed into Luoqia Port, two "captive ships" modified at Hezhong Port in South Africa. These two ships have been bought by the Nanzhi Railway Company and become the seventh and eighth ships owned by the company. Next, they will ship a large amount of supplies at Luoqia Port, and then go south to Shanhoubao to transport supplies and supplies to the Shanhou area, which is under construction in full swing.

After more than three years of sneak privateer operations, the Navy is now rich and has obtained a total of more than 2.5 million yuan in cash by auctioning ships and cargo - this part is usable because most of the money comes from China, and it will not cause serious inflation in the "small pool" of the East Coast Republic.

Among these money, in addition to half of the money paid to the Executive Committee and the share of the promised officers and soldiers, the Navy Department still had more than 750,000 yuan left in hand to freely distribute. So, after reporting to the Executive Committee for approval, they took out 150,000 yuan to subsidize the Nantie Company, and helped them accelerate the construction of Xingnan Port battleship special terminals and affiliated artillery batteries; they took out 100,000 yuan to the Western Forging Factory and Tieling Special Steel, and helped them accelerate the development of large-tonnage hydraulic presses and steel rolling equipment; in the end, they also took out 50,000 yuan to the Ship Design Institute of the Academy of Natural Sciences to support them in developing a variety of ship types.

After removing the 300,000 yuan of cash that was scattered, the Navy Department still had a huge amount of 450,000 yuan in hand. As for the purpose of this money, it seems very clear now. Zhenhai Shipyard has received an order from the 200,000 yuan three-deck battleship "Executive Committee" from the Navy Department. The factory has now begun intense preliminary preparations. The start of construction is on the verge of construction. Of course, the construction funds of the "Executive Committee" obviously cannot cost 200,000 yuan. The reason why the Navy Department transferred 200,000 yuan through the United Industrial Credit Bank account actually means subsidizing the R&D funds invested by Zhenhai Shipyard in the early stage - Anyway, the Navy Department is not short of money now, and is happy to be a boy who spends money and makes a good relationship everywhere.

In addition, the Navy also placed an order to build two sail guard gunboats at the Dayuhe Naval Shipyard, and ordered eight inland shallow water gunboats and a medical ship at the Modern Special Vessel Factory. This time, more than 100,000 yuan was spent. The remaining more than 100,000 yuan? Navy Commander Lu Ming planned to build a new coastal defense fort in Jingjiang Port and Yancheng Port, and then repair the building of the Navy Department. That's it.

In addition to the proceeds from these auction ships and cargo, the Navy actually seized a large amount of foreign gold and silver coins in the past three years, which was about 500,000 yuan in the east coast silver coins, but the money cannot be used for the time being. Because the number is too large and it is more than 500,000 yuan (as opposed to digging gold mines), once it flows into the market, it will inevitably cause serious interference to the East Coast real economy that is currently developing healthy and orderly. Therefore, it can only be temporarily transported to the Shipu Mint (a newly opened mint near the Shipu Reservoir. Using the rich local water resources) in the Wujiang area, it is mint mint and sealed into the East Coast silver coins and sealed in the vault of the Northwest Reclamation Bank. As for the part of the share that the soldiers should have obtained, they can only wait two years later. Two years later, they will go to the Northwest Reclamation Bank to receive the bonus with principal and interest based on the certificate of deposit issued this time.

However, in a short period of time, the navy may not be able to continue doing such good things. One is that although they have moved to the Caribbean Sea, the southeastern coast of North America, the Gulf of Guinea, the coast of Brazil, the coast of South Africa and other places in the past three years, the frequent privateing activities have still attracted the attention of European countries. After all, they have been sunk by them, and the twenty or thirty ships captured are real. Europeans have long suspected that this matter is related to the people of the East Coast, but there is no tangible evidence at present.

Secondly, after years of hard work and development, the East Coast people have trained a large number of Spanish compradors in the Peru Governor's Governor's District. These people have made a fortune through smuggling trade with the East Coast, and their power and influence are becoming stronger and stronger in Peru. Correspondingly, the share of East Coast goods is also becoming larger and larger. At this time, it is difficult for foreign goods to shake the East Coast people's dominance here unless they supply goods that cannot be produced on the East Coast. In such a situation, it seems that there is no need to crack down on smuggled ships from European countries to Peru in the short term.

Third, and the most important factor, that is, the Executive Committee may have to use the Navy next, so it found a way to recall the First Fleet ships wandering offshore in batches. As for where to use them, the Executive Committee has made it clear to the Navy Department: Brazil.

Because things are already a little tricky now! In order to express their dissatisfaction, the Brazilian colonial authorities brazenly launched a big stick of economic sanctions and cut off trade between East and Portugal, which made the East Coast a little uncomfortable. The two largest commodities imported from Brazil, including sugar, tropical fruits, candied fruits, feathers, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, and small commodities including silver and bronze ware, embroidery needles, fish hooks, buttons, candlesticks, etc., are not mentioned. The two largest commodities imported from Brazil on the East Coast have made the Executive Committee feel particularly upset.

Ship materials are easy to solve. There are also Brazilian suma in Central America (but the number is far less than that of Brazil). It should not be a problem to buy some through compradors in Peru. At worst, it would be a little more money, but cotton is a bit difficult to deal with!

As we all know, many European countries have begun to develop cotton textile industry, such as the Netherlands, Britain, France, Venice, Sweden, Spain (mainly concentrated in the South Netherlands). In these countries, the three countries should be the largest in the scale of the Netherlands, Britain and France, and are also supported by the official system. For example, Leiden, the "textile city" in the Netherlands has also built some cotton textile workshops outside of wool textiles, such as the cotton linen, silk linen, and silk linen blended industrial zone in Manchester, England. The cotton fabric produced in this industrial zone even competes fiercely with the Indian cotton fabric sold back by the British East India Company, such as privately funded by Paris, France, and government-supported cotton textile workshops.

The rise of cotton textile industry in Western Europe greatly compressed the source of raw materials for East Coast people to obtain. For example, the Florida cotton market, which was previously exclusive to East Coast people, has gradually been squeezed in by some European merchants; for example, some cotton plantations on Caribbean islands, the share of cotton exported to the East Coast is also decreasing.

All of this has led to the East Coast vigorously importing Brazilian cotton in recent years - and Brazil's cotton plantations have also achieved rapid development in recent years, and Brazil's population has also increased a lot compared with the same period in history - to make up for the shortcomings in the quality and quantity of self-produced cotton.

It is not that no one in the East Coast is worried about this situation. Therefore, a few years ago, when someone discovered large areas of land suitable for cotton planting in the western coastal basin of New China Island, the East Coast government also made great efforts to develop it in accordance with the public's opinion, intending to gradually reduce the demand for foreign cotton imports and increase the self-sufficiency rate of cotton, an important industrial raw material. Unfortunately, the days are still short. Due to the shortage of manpower and the attacks of the indigenous people of the Menaber Kingdom, the cotton plantation in the Cot River Basin is still very limited, and the East Coast still has to vigorously import foreign cotton.

But now the Portuguese have begun to sanction us and have completely interrupted the trade exchanges between the two countries. This is outrageous! We will never accept the Portuguese's domineering behavior that violates the principles of free trade! At this time, as the most powerful tool to reflect the will of the country, the navy must be ready to go on the field at any time. After all, many times, people cannot convince others by talking. You have to put pressure on others in the right way at the right time, so that you can achieve more ideal results.

Of course, as the "rogue state" East Coast Republic, which has always implemented double standards, they cannot see how they first ignored the interests of the Brazilian colonial authorities and colluded with the Dutch West India Company. They only saw that the Portuguese were really hateful and actually imposed economic sanctions, which was forbidden punishment! If the Portuguese wanted to blame them, they blamed themselves for being too weak and fell into a protracted war with Spain and the Netherlands. At this time, your demands and interests will naturally be selectively ignored by many people. This has nothing to do with justice, it is just because of strength!

And it can be foreseen that if the Portuguese do not quickly get rid of the quagmire of war, vigorously reform domestic politics, economic and religious policies, and encourage the development of industry and commerce to improve the strength of the country, similar slapped behaviors will be staged one after another. The Portuguese either endure or leave, and there is no third way to go. After all, on the east coast today, with a series of first-hand information about the British-Dutch war sent back by Mo San, more and more people within the Executive Committee tend to unite the United Kingdom to make Britain. Under such a way of thinking, it is not surprising that Portugal is destined to become a bargaining chip for transactions between major powers.

Haven't you seen that in Europe, Portugal is just a pitiful bargaining chip now. Since the uprising against the Spanish Kingdom broke out in 1637 (eventually independent in 1640), this country has been trapped in a protracted war with the Spanish Kingdom. The Portuguese originally naively thought that when they were fighting with the Habsburg royal group headed by Spain, they would definitely naturally join the anti-Habsburg group headed by France. But the reality is that the Portuguese were slapped in the face! Because Britain, the Netherlands, France and other countries agreed that Portugal's strength was insignificant and could not add much bargaining chips to victory in the war, but they occupied too much wealth that was not commensurate with their status, so it might be more cost-effective to treat the Portuguese as an enemy, so the Portuguese was tragic.

This fact once again proves to people what a weak country has no diplomacy, especially when facing a group of robbers, your weakness and wealth are original sins, which is an irrefutable truth in the world!
Chapter completed!