Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 461 Unreformable Port
The construction speed of Dongfan Shipyard is really amazing.

It's only been a month or so, and more than a dozen docks can be started.

Although these docks were all dismantled from the Armed Forces City, it didn't take much effort to prepare and process materials, but disassembly and assembly alone was quite laborious!

At the moment, the efficiency of the Ministry of Industry is really frighteningly high.

The construction speed of the new dock is also quite fast. More than 30 docks can be built in two or three months, which is not much slower than dismantling and installing.

Taichang found that he didn't seem to need to stay here and stare, because the officials from the Ministry of Industry were much more professional than him.

He still has a lot of things to do. He hasn't organized people to explore the large sea area south of Java yet, and the Ming Dynasty's route to the Americas has to be planned quickly.

This route is not just to draw a line on the map, nor is it to build some armed merchant ships and order people to sail there.

Wherever a large fleet passes, there must be a large supply point and a large port, not only on the American side, but also on the Ming side.

Otherwise, it would be a problem for everyone in the entire fleet to eat and drink. If there is no place to dock in bad weather such as strong winds and waves, that would be unbearable.

After all, no matter how big a ship is, it can't carry too much fresh water, and bad weather is inevitable when sailing at sea.

Especially for such a long route, it would take a month or two for the ship to sail there, and it would definitely not work if there were no large supply points and large ports along the way.

He has already thought about the starting point of this route, which is Taicang Port in South Zhili.

Because the supply of goods in Nanzhili is sufficient and the water and land transportation is relatively developed, the speed of mobilizing goods must be faster than other places.

Moreover, Taicang Port is also the closest port to Dongyang Xintang State Mansion, and its location is also the most suitable.

However, there seemed to be too few docks for berthing large ships in Taicang Port. There were more than [-] ocean-going ships, and several large docks would definitely not be able to accommodate them. He had to order someone to renovate them.

Early this morning, he summoned Wang Zheng and Peng Bin to the flagship, prepared to confess and left.

He took the two of them to stand in front of the binoculars and scanned the distant shipyard before saying solemnly: "Liangfu, Yanru, this shipyard will be handed over to you.

I have already explained to Boya, let him bring the Dragon Fang warship and most of the Navy fleet's Dragon Fang warships to stay here to help you transfer supplies.

There are also [-] Shenji Battalion soldiers and [-] Tunwei Qingzhuang who are also at your disposal. It is no problem to build all these fifty docks a year ago, right? "

Wang Zheng nodded again and again, "No problem, no problem."

Taichang nodded slightly, and then asked again: "How long will it take to build two hundred armed merchant ships?"

Wang Zheng reckoned: "Right now, sixty ships have been cast out of the twelve docks, and they could be built almost a year ago.

After the new year, if the forty docks dedicated to building armed merchant ships are started at the same time, and the waterways are all filled, it will take more than five months to build [-] ships.

If only 140 ships and [-] ships are made up, it will only take more than four months.

Your Majesty, did you say that after the end of the new year, should we rebuild 140 ships or make up [-] ships? "

Taichang thought about it for a while, and then said decisively: "Let's build another [-] ships. It is estimated that we will have to wait until May or June next year to sign an alliance with Spain. We don't need to build [-] ships in order to catch up with a month's time."

It's almost done here.

He was about to wave his hands to make Wang Zheng and Peng Bin retreat, but Wang Zheng cupped his hands carefully and said: "Your Majesty, just leave the matter here to Yan Ru, and I still want to go back and develop an iron-clad warship with five thousand materials." After all, the docks in Wubei City have been dismantled, and there is a place for it. If everything goes well, maybe I can build you a huge ship with [-] materials in May and June next year to be your flagship."

I'm afraid this guy has always had the giant ship with five thousand materials in his mind.

Taichang smiled slightly and said: "Okay, you can figure it out for yourself, if you think it's okay to leave it to Yanru here, then go back with the next boat to Wubei City to pick up things, this time I'm not Go directly back to Beijing, I still have to go to Nanzhili and Dongyang to plan the route from Daming to America."

Oh, it turns out that we can't hitchhike the boat back.

Wang Zheng nodded helplessly, and then took Peng Bin to leave.

Immediately afterwards, Taichang set off with twenty Aegis ships and more than two hundred Spike warships.

There are two routes from Dongfan Zuowei to Taicang Port.

One is to go west first, pass through Penghu Wei, rush to Quanzhou Prefecture, and then go north along the coastline to Taicang Port.

The advantage of this route is that it is quite safe, large and small ships can go there, and there is a place to stop in case of strong winds and waves.

However, such a detour directly increases the voyage by four to five hundred miles, which is equivalent to wasting half a day.

The other is to go directly north, pass through Dongfan Zhongwei, Dongfan Right Back and Dongfan Backguard, and then cross the sea in a straight line to Taicang Port.

The advantage of this route is that it saves about four or five hundred miles of voyage.

However, ordinary small boats dare not go this way, because it is more than 1000 miles from Dongfan Weiwei to Taicang Port. If there is no place to dock in strong winds and waves, it will be dangerous.

Taichang brought the strongest Aegis ship and the combined Spike warship. It can be said that he is not afraid of storms at sea, so naturally he would not choose to take a detour.

He took the direct route to the north, and before Shen Shi the next afternoon, Taicang Port was already in sight.

At this time, Taicang Port is not usually busy.

Because the Ming Dynasty has wiped out all the pirates and Japanese pirates in the Far East Sea, and all the southeast interest groups that used the sea ban to make money have also been wiped out.

Moreover, the Far East has almost completely become Ming's territory, basically there is no fighting between various forces, the route is very safe, and there is no need to worry about any accidents for the ships passing by.

Therefore, there are so many merchant ships from various countries that come to Taicang Port to buy goods, not only from various vassal states of Ming Dynasty, but also from the Mughal Empire, Persia, Dashi and other places, and even merchant ships from Portugal and Spain often come here to buy goods. purchase goods.

However, most of these merchant ships are sailing ships with a price of about [-], and few of them are worth [-].

This is also the reason why only a few large wharfs have been built in Taicang Port. If it hadn’t been known that the Spanish ocean-going fleet would come to dock here, the large wharves might not have been built.

Because at that time, Ming Dynasty didn't have any ships with two thousand materials, and it was even more impossible for other countries in the Far East to have them.

The fact is the same, the countries in the Far East don’t have any ships of [-] materials at the moment, not even the Western countries, if the ships from Portugal and Spain don’t come, there are basically only merchant ships of [-] materials here.

Taichang turned the binoculars and glanced for a while, and couldn't help frowning slightly.

At this moment, the small piers on both sides are full of merchant ships, but the big pier in the middle is empty.

If he ordered to change all the small wharves into big ones, where would these merchant ships with about a thousand materials stop?

It seems that the business is very good and there are troubles. It seems that Taicang Port cannot be remodeled at all.

He can't make the merchant ships of other countries have no place to stop for the convenience of the armed merchant ships of the Western Company!
If people don't even have a dock for docking, they won't be able to load goods.

It's a bit of a hassle now.

He thought for a while, and then asked, "Feihong, do Western companies buy a lot of goods from here?"

Zheng Zhilong said without hesitation: "There are quite a lot of them, such as cheap porcelain, tea, and dried fruits and so on. These sales are very good. We don't produce these things ourselves, and there are not many people to buy goods, so we generally The merchants here are all purchased on their behalf."

This means that the fleet of the Western Company must stop here for a while.

How to do it?

Taichang frowned and pondered for a while, then waved his hands and said: "The Spike warships on both sides of the flagship spread out and hang on the sides of the other Aegis ships."

Soon, the twelve Spike warships on both sides of the flagship separated and connected to the other Aegis ships, while the flagship slowly sailed into the port and docked at the pier in the middle.

Xu Fuyuan and Xia Yunyi who came here after hearing the news had already been waiting on the pier for a long time.

Taichang directly ordered someone to summon them up.

These two people have also been promoted to the doctor of the Ministry of Commerce, but they still haven't returned to Beijing.

Because this is the only commercial port in Ming Dynasty that is open to the outside world, and the business is getting better and better. It is impossible for the Ministry of Commerce not to send important officials here to manage it.

Therefore, they have been watching here and have basically never returned to the capital.

These two guys, who were still a little bit young at the beginning, have become a bit young and mature now.

Looking at their young and steady appearance, Taichang couldn't help recalling the situation when the Ministry of Commerce was just established and Taicang Port was about to be opened.

At that time, the city of Taicang was deserted and there were no people there.

At this moment, even the port terminal is full of people.

Alas, the change is so fast!
Taichang secretly sighed, chatted with the two of them cordially, and then waved and led everyone to the meeting hall.

There are too many small merchant ships berthing at Taicang Port, and there is no way to transform them. What should we do?

(End of this chapter)