Back to Ming Dynasty with Industrial Revolution System

Chapter 1419 Attacking East India Company
After the news of the reorganization of the East India Company was confirmed, it spread to Calcutta Fort.

Qin Zuoming is still the supreme commander of the East India Expeditionary Force, and Chen Bangyan will be transferred from the Nanyang Fleet to serve as the commander of the soon-to-be-established East India Company's armed merchant fleet.

"The above action is really fast. They came up with a reorganization plan so quickly. According to this plan, it is estimated that Kasim, who has just become the king of Bengal, will be uncomfortable." Qin Zuoming knew that the military department would send 700 regular soldiers to him next time. His subordinates obeyed his orders, and planned to expand the 2500 native mercenaries to 10000. He couldn't help but feel sad for Kasim, who had finally ascended to the throne.

In front of the efficient and powerful East India Company, Kasim could only cede the power and wealth in his hands little by little until he couldn't bear it.

"Are you going to start recruiting new mercenaries?" Chen Bangyan asked.

"There is no need to go so fast. Kassim's throne is not yet hot, and we have just defeated the army of the Mughal Empire. If we increase the number of mercenaries to 10000 now, it is estimated that Kassim will Red-eyed, and even turned against us. We will maintain the scale of 2500 people for the time being, and then increase the number every month, and by the time they find out, it will be too late." Qin Zuoming said.

After the East India Company resolved to engage in greater trade and expansion in the South Asian subcontinent, the restructuring act proceeded swiftly.Several bases in Calcutta, Bangladesh, Madras, and Goa are undergoing personnel adjustments. Each base has a commercial manager, a customs manager, and a supervisor.

Subsequently, commercial stations, guild halls, customs offices, and factories were established in various strongholds.

At present, the East India Company's expansion focus is on the populous Bengal area, where there are a lot of farmland and jute fields.

The Bangladesh Coal Company under the East India Company was established, and mineral experts brought apprentices and workers to Bangladesh to explore minerals.There are few precious metal mines here, but there are still many coal mines in Bangladesh and other nearby states.

According to the "Calcutta Treaty" signed by the East India Company and the King of Bengal, the East India Company has the right to operate a wide range of businesses in Bengal, even the coal mining industry is no exception.

The purpose of setting up a coal company in Bangladesh is to have its own coal mine, to provide coal for the factory's steam engine and the upcoming steam ship, and even export it to the mainland in the future. The amount of coal required by the local area is also increasing day by day.

More villagers and refugees were attracted to the vicinity of Calcutta, forming large and small villages, which began to become a new economic center.

In order to control the coast of India, Jiangnan Shipyard and Guangdong Shipyard are working overtime to produce armed sailboats for the East India Company.This armed merchant ship can simultaneously carry cargo and bombard approaching pirate ships.Although it is far from a real warship, this kind of armed merchant ship with sails is not inferior to pirate ships, Arab merchant ships and even Western armed merchant ships in the Indian Ocean.

At the same time, a 1200-ton ironclad frigate and four mosquito ironclad ships produced by Dalian Shipyard were sent to Nanyang and joined the Nanyang Fleet.

Malacca City, the main fleet members of the Nanyang Fleet gathered in this important stronghold guarding the Strait of Malacca to welcome the new members of their fleet.

"This is the iron-clad frigate? What an iron lump!" Deng Qianlong boarded a 1200-ton iron-clad frigate with the officers and lieutenants of the Nanyang Fleet.

At present, the Ministry of the Navy divides ironclad ships into four grades. Those above 8000 tons are called main ironclad ships, those above 2000 tons but less than 8000 tons are called ironclad cruisers, and smaller ironclad ships below 2000 tons are called ironclad frigates. As the name suggests, third-class ships are small ironclad ships used to perform patrol and defense tasks in various important ports.Those less than 1000 tons are shallow water mosquito ships, which can only sail along the coastline or inland rivers, but the advantage is that they can sail in shallower waters.

"The hull is very different from the sailing battleship we use. The hull is narrower and longer. What is the structural principle of such a ship?"

"I don't know. This is something that the shipyard has to consider. We just need to learn how to use it. Look at this ship. Although the number of cannons is not many, it seems that the naval cannons are heavier and more powerful than the cannons used on ordinary sailing ships. huge."

"These are 68-pound guns and 40-pound guns, which are really exaggerated. The cannons we usually use are mostly 12-pound and 24-pound guns. They are incomparable with such artillery. There are also iron plates on the hull, and there are no indigenous ones. Ships can penetrate such armor."

The officers and soldiers of the Nanyang Fleet praised the iron-clad frigate when they seized it. Most of the officers and soldiers even thought that it was overkill to use the iron-clad frigate to deal with the aborigines.Not to mention the hull of the ironclad ship, even ordinary armed merchant ships cannot penetrate the indigenous sampan boats with small indigenous firearms.

"Although the first ironclad ship was given to the Fourth Fleet, our Nanyang Fleet also has an ironclad ship!" Deng Qianlong patted the 68-pound gun on the bow, full of expectations for the future.

Just a 1200-ton ironclad frigate is shocking, so how terrible is the first generation of main ironclad frigate under development?
"Sir, we must find a way to win the main ironclad ship of the Daqin class. Why should we share one of the two ships with our Nanyang Fleet?"

"First of all, you must learn to use the steamboat. This thing is not cheap, so please take care of it carefully. If it hits the rocks within a few days after it is handed over to us, I will not spare you!" Deng Qianlong said.

"Yes!" Many officers of the Nanyang Fleet responded in unison.

The Ministry of the Navy took into account that the navy soldiers serving in Nanyang had no experience in operating steamships, so they arranged for the trainees who had been trained in the Naval Lecture Hall to come here. They were also tasked with teaching the officers and soldiers of the Nanyang Fleet how to use this steamship New style ships.

After a month of study, the officers and soldiers of the Nanyang Fleet barely learned how to operate the steamship. Then Deng Qianlong deployed two mosquito ships near the oil fields in Sumatra to protect the oil fields from being damaged by the natives.Two other Mosquito ships are deployed in Borneo, also to protect oil fields.Ironclad frigates patrolled the various important strongholds.

When aboriginal fishermen, aboriginal merchant ships, and foreign merchant ships found black-smoky iron ships haunting important shipping lanes in the South China Sea, they, who had never seen steam ships, even involuntarily avoided unknown monsters.

However, some European businessmen began to pay attention to the increasingly popular steam ships, and they recorded a large number of descriptions of this strange ship in the logbook.

(End of this chapter)