Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1464 Information Preparation ([-])

"Where are the main French fleets moored? Can you confirm?" Captain Zhou Yu, who was disguised as a businessman in a tavern on the port of Brest, quietly looked at the ships in the anchorage outside the window and asked softly.

This time he came to the port of Brest on a merchant ship. The ship shipped a lot of high value-added commodities such as soda ash, steel bars, mechanical parts, dyed leather goods and even the whole machine, which were purchased by certain French businessmen. , dedicated to the handicraft workshops of various industries including the textile industry on the outskirts of Paris-this was established under government financial subsidies. It existed in the Richelieu era, and after several ups and downs, Colbert took charge of the French financial power It finally prospered and became a major base for the production of industrial products in France.

The above-mentioned commodities exported from the east coast are basically urgently needed by the French (although there are no substitutes on the European continent from time to time, but the price is much higher than that of the people on the east coast), so there is no trade Restrictions and tariff barriers have been removed, and after unloading at the port of Brest, it will basically be shipped to Paris without charging too much, so this kind of trade between France and the East Coast is still flourishing-but that's all However, for a large number of ordinary textiles, high-grade silk, ordinary leather goods, etc., the French levied high tariffs to protect their own industries.

Therefore, in these years, there are still some merchant ships from the east coast who will go to France to do business, but the number is not much. This time, the flute-shaped transport ship "Yao Chi" that Captain Zhou Yu boarded in casual clothes was like this.Two assistants came with him, one is a translator who is familiar with the French social situation, and the other is a spy from the State Intelligence Agency. targeted.

The reason for choosing the port of Brest is naturally because it is a so-called dual-use military and civilian!Although warships and merchant ships are moored separately, they can basically be seen.Besides, in naval battles in this era, a large number of merchant ships are supposed to be recruited into battle. Although the combat power is not very good, it is no problem to make up the number. Weaknesses in large-scale naval battles in the future, and have begun to gradually reduce the proportion of merchant ships in the fleet, but that's them!This is France, France with few large ships in the whole country!Merchant ships are also extremely important armed forces for the French Navy, so they are still worth observing.

"It should be a few ships over there. It seems that they are all last-class warships. The tonnage is not large. Basically, they are not qualified to go to the battle line for artillery battles." Those French ships said casually: "French naval construction is really outdated. The tonnage of the ships is small, the speed is slow, the maneuverability is not good, and the caliber and barrel of the artillery are also very poor. In fact, some artillery of our army was brought to France. Anyone can be a naval gun, I think they should invest huge sums of money to improve their naval equipment, even if they don’t have the money to build ships, it’s best to update these old artillery, otherwise why would they fight us, why not send their heads?”

"Don't take it lightly. In fact, the French still have two warships that can pose a threat to us, such as the 'Crown'. This is a large warship with a displacement of thousands of tons. It has two gun decks and 70 guns. We It’s best to collect information about this kind of main battleship, otherwise I’m afraid it will be troublesome after a real fight.” Another translator who was acting as an assistant curled his lips and said disdainfully.

"Come on, the design of a battleship like the 'Crown' is already very problematic. Did you not see it and only participated in a few naval battles before it died down? It's really not conducive to sailing, tsk tsk, Richelieu The old ships built in the era were still built by the French in La Rochelle. The quality and design are very bad. No wonder the design of French warships is now entirely dependent on the Dutch. Who can blame me if I don’t have talents in this field!” Intelligence The official also retorted: "Look at the same ship again. The 'St. Louis' designed and ordered in the Netherlands in 1626 is much better in use than the ship designed and built by the French themselves. I haven’t sailed a few times since then, but it’s really better than the French themselves. In the field of navigation and shipbuilding, the French can only lose latecomers and chasers...”

The intelligence officer's words made the interpreter speechless for a moment.This French-born young man who graduated from Bingtuanbao has lived in France for many years, and has a certain understanding of all aspects of society. He also has some admiration for the achievements of France, but this time the intelligence officer told the truth, and he could not refute it——France The performance of the ships built by humans is so backward that basically no one will use them except for the natives, because they are too bad, too unsafe, and the price is not cheap.

In addition, there are still some speechless things in the French warship construction process, that is, too much spending in unnecessary places, so that the cost soars and the budget is unsustainable.For example, when the French are building warships, they like to make some fancy reliefs on the bow and stern of the ship, and at the same time color, embellish, gilt, and polish them. It is a waste of money. A lot of naval military spending.

In fact, bow and stern statues are very popular in Europe. There are ships in many countries, but no country is as "perverted" as the French, who spend a lot of money to invite artists to design, carve and decorate. Small ships are here. On the one hand, it costs thousands or even thousands of yuan, but the big ships can go to sea, and there are tens of thousands of yuan (such as the "Royal Sun" in the late 17th century). It's a pity to waste on such meaningless decorations in battle.

In addition, the French's captain's room, officer's room, bridge, and officer's dining room are all too well decorated.The ground is covered with carpets, which is the so-called "high and low matching", that is, tapestries and carpets imported from Ottoman are used on large ships, silver tableware is used, and the workmanship of furniture (such as wine cabinets) is also very exquisite. Equipped with a few musical players, it looks like a nobleman; almost the ship is covered with ordinary carpets and silk fabrics produced in Lyon, and the furniture is made of good materials as much as possible. In this regard, no money is willing to spend , so that people from the east coast who knew about the middle way for the first time were extremely amazed: this Frenchman deserves to be born to enjoy!

With such officers who love to enjoy themselves, such poorly trained sailors, such backward ship performance, and such a scarce number, if the French Navy can achieve any beautiful results, it is really a ghost!The way they are now, at best, they can bully Spain after the treasure fleet went to the New World. Even Portugal may not be able to do it.Therefore, the Admiralty on the East Coast is very confident in defeating the French Navy (the complete annihilation of the French Navy depends on "fate"), and is also very confident in relying on Spain as a logistics base to block off part of the French coast. Of course, the necessary reconnaissance operations before that are also Can't be less.

"Shut up and observe carefully." After lighting himself a cigarette with a match, Captain Zhou Yu lightly reprimanded the two of them, then sat aside and began to write a report——

"...The main fleet of the French is generally stationed in Dunkirk, Cherbourg, Rochefort, Brest, Toulon and other places. After the British bought it, this port with unique conditions became the favorite of the French Navy. After building fortresses, docks, shipyards, gun repair shops and other facilities here, most of the French warships stayed there. In addition Rochelle, Calais, Marseilles, Bordeaux and other ports used to have some warships, but now they are gone - at least not for a while - I deeply doubt that these warships should be in the Dutch over and over again Urged, sent to Dunkirk by Louis' order, though they probably won't engage the British directly..."

"...According to the synthesis of information over the past few months, the French finance minister, Colbert, does not like the king's high-spirited policy, whether it is in the army or the navy. But the king Louis XIV hopes to have a strong To deter Europe and the whole world in order to satisfy his own vanity. Therefore, Colbert had to let the king equip and maintain a relatively powerful modern navy, so that the ships with the gold lily king's emblem can sail in all corners of the world , but this kind of thing is undoubtedly never achieved overnight, it requires many years of constant investment. Louis XIV had just had this idea in 1665-perhaps he was inspired by the second English in full swing. The stimulation of the Dutch sea battle-most of his planned fleet is still gone, only a small part is on the berth. Therefore, if our navy attacks the Kingdom of France now, it is equivalent to easily hitting the French with a time difference, that is, in their Before the naval power increased rapidly, they won the battle, successfully fulfilled their military alliance obligations to the Spaniards, and received rewards justifiably. I was thinking, this is luck, there is no better thing than this ..."

"...But there are also some influential nobles in the Kingdom of France who are persuading the king to build and expand the navy, and then strive to open up overseas colonies. They seized on the king's love of luxury and weakness, and pointed out that once French ships sailed all over the world, then From now on, Louis XIV will be able to have everything he needs like the leading figures in England and the United Provinces, and the king's court will also have an atmosphere of solemnity, greatness, and beauty that makes other European courts greatly inferior and eclipsed. This reason is very It is easy to impress Louis, because he calls himself the Sun King, and hopes that his light will shine on everything around him, and that he will be respected and admired in courts in Europe and even the world..."

After writing this, Zhou Yu unconsciously glanced at a box in the corner of the room. There were clothes in the box, all of which were purchased with a lot of money from Paris, and brought back for reference.Without exception, these clothes were handed down from the palace, and eventually spread to the middle and small aristocrats and the wealthy class. The materials, workmanship, and dyeing of these clothes are endless, and most of the raw materials have to be purchased from overseas. , such as a sapphire blue velvet embroidered with intricate and exquisite patterns and badges with gold and silver threads, this gorgeous dress has an unparalleled allure for the French nobles who are greedy for vanity - the people on the east coast will use these samples I bought it back, mainly to study the commercial fashion trend of French clothing, as a reference for several major textile companies, and let them know how to make better money from the French.Of course, we can also study some other things from it, such as analyzing the social conditions in France from the details of workmanship, raw material origin, and cost (calculated from prices), but this is the work of the National Intelligence Agency and has little to do with ordinary people. .

In addition, King Louis XIV of France established a hierarchy in the royal family that continues to this day.He adjusted the responsibilities of the hierarchy and added new positions such as the Royal Clothes Officer around him, which caused a surge in the number of court service personnel; The number of tables has increased significantly.And there are quite a lot of dishes, exquisitely prepared, and its richness can be compared with the meals of many kings. It is specially designed for officers and followers who often eat together, and foreigners are often invited to eat.This undoubtedly means that the astronomical expenditure can almost catch up with the expenditure of the Spanish royal family, which has always been bloated and expensive.

Naturally, Louis XIV could not ignore such heavy financial pressure, so some nobles proposed to him to develop the size of the naval fleet and merchant fleet, like the United Provinces, to open up vast overseas colonies at will and carry out entrepot trade of their specialty products At that time, Louis XIV was also quite moved - the large amount of financial subsidies given to the French East India Company is evidence - this may explain that in the next few years, France will gradually increase investment in the shipbuilding and shipping industries, and increase the size of the fleet. It once expanded to the level of the sum of Britain and the Netherlands (at the end of the 17th century, the total size of the French main fleet had reached 12 to 14 tons, far surpassing the Netherlands), which attracted the attention of the whole of Europe.

But for now, the French navy is still weak and vulnerable. If the East Coast Navy quickly ends the battle and forces the French to surrender, it should have time to reap enough benefits before the sleeping lion wakes up.As for the French navy after the rage, the biggest headache is not the east coast, but Spain, England, the United Provinces and the Italian city-states. They will naturally find a way to unite to deal with the French.

"Observe here for another two days. After the ship is full of cargo, we will go to Amsterdam. Then we will change a ship, and then go to the port of Toulon to scout the French Eastern Fleet (that is, the Mediterranean Fleet. The official name of the French Atlantic Fleet is the Western Fleet) )." Captain Zhou Yu finished writing part of the report, lit another cigarette, and said to the two.

(End of this chapter)