Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 315 The So-Called Smuggling Route

"Do you have a steamboat?!" Wang Tiechui's brows suddenly widened, and he laughed, "I'm just saying, I saw a ship with a chimney in the harbor just now. I didn't think about it. Alas, after going to sea for a few months, this person has become stupid."

"It can only be said that there has been a preliminary breakthrough in the steamship." Zhang Xiao smiled reservedly. He is one of the main R&D personnel of the "Breaking Wave". The "Broken Wave" multi-purpose ship is only experimental. Its power is mainly based on sail power, supplemented by steam paddle wheel power. Because the "Popeye-1" steam engine currently used on the ship The technology is not very good yet, and there is still a lot of room for improvement. And our coal combustion calorific value is also too bad, which affects the endurance of the ship. Overall, this ship is a breakthrough for us, and the future Ships will also get better and better. In less than two years, maybe we will have steam engines with higher output power, and maybe we will be able to install propellers on ships. In short, please have confidence in our modern special shipyard, haha .”

"Zhang Gong, anyway, you are also a temporary captain. After you go back, tell your superiors to assign the 'Breaking Waves' to our second fleet?" The fleet is said to be a fleet, but it is completely incomparable to the First Fleet with its main force. There are only three or four broken ships in total, but it is necessary to fight alone against the European naval threats in South Africa, East Africa, and even the Far East. This task is obviously too much Heavy, the strength is obviously insufficient. Forget it, I will write the report myself, and strongly demand that the 'Breaking Waves' be placed under the command of the Second Fleet, otherwise I will quit as the fleet commander! Whoever wants to do it!"

"Don't be too busy playing the trick of retreating to advance." Zhang Xiao waved his hands with a smile, and said, "There are still many practical problems that have not been resolved. The first one is the follow-up improvement series of the Popeye steam engine. The people in the No. 1 Machinery Factory have to be urged to improve it quickly. You may not know how heavy the tasks of the boiler workshop of the No. 3 Machinery Factory are now. 4-5 generations; at the same time, they are still vigorously developing the Barbarian-[-] for steel rolling, and the Barbarian-[-] for steam trains. In short, their tasks are very heavy, and we have to urge them at any time, otherwise God knows Have they put their minds on the development and improvement of the Popeye steam engine? It is planned to separate the boiler workshop from the first machine factory and establish a new enterprise specializing in steam engines. I think you can work hard and help out in this area. Maybe he will devote more resources to the Popeye series steam engines. In this way The overall development progress of our steamship will be much faster."

"I am obliged to do this." Wang Tiehammer assured, patted his chest, "If you have any other questions, please bring them up together. Old Wang, I still have some old connections, maybe I can help you with something. Tell me, I'm listening, it's time to write a report, it's time to sign it, it's time to say hello, let's talk!"

"The next thing is about the development of the Tacheng Coal Mine." Shi Qinjie glanced at Zhang Xiao and the others, and then said personally: "The quality of the coal produced by the local Ping An Mining Bureau is extremely poor, which is very bad for the endurance of the ship. A big obstacle, after all, the capacity and tonnage of the cabin are limited, and more coal with a higher calorific value can sail for a longer distance. A while ago, we found it near the southern port of Tamatave, which is more than two days away. A coalfield that is definitely not small for us at this stage. The coalfield produces high-quality hard coal, which is comparable in quality to the Sakua coalfield in the south of Madagascar. The coal produced in this coalfield is used as coking coal, or It is quite suitable as thermal coal. Our side has already prepared to jointly apply to the executive committee to occupy the Tacheng area, and then set up the Tacheng Mining Bureau to lead the development of the Tacheng coal mine. What do you think of this matter?"

"This is a very good thing!" Wang Tiehammer said without hesitation, "I firmly agree! If you didn't say anything, write my name on it too! This matter is definitely a top priority for our navy. Don't worry, about this I will write to Commissioner Xiao and Commissioner Wang of the executive committee to ask them to help me and try my best to facilitate this matter.”

"Then I will let go of half of my heart." Shi Qinjie, Zhang Xiao and the others looked at each other and smiled, "This matter is related to the overall situation of the country's industrial development. I think Prime Minister Ma will definitely agree, and Minister Shao of the Materials Department will also agree. Eighty-nine are not far from ten, and this matter will almost be done, hehe!"

"By the way, are we off topic?" Liao Meng, who had just recovered from seasickness in the past two days, sat aside and said abruptly.Just now everyone was still discussing how to bypass the influence of the Dutch in the East Indies and find another way to go to the coast of Daming. In the blink of an eye, everyone turned to the development of coal mines. This building is quite crooked.

"Yes, yes, continue with the topic just now." Wang Tiehammer said excitedly, "Now that we have steam boats, things will be much easier. Can we sail directly eastward from Fort Xinhua following the southwest monsoon in summer? , and then set up a stronghold on the north coast or west coast of Australia? This stronghold will have the most basic defense facilities, enough food for 1 people for half a year, and a large coal storage warehouse. By the way, there must be the ability to repair ships. Do After arriving here, our ship can stop here for a while, and then we can look for an opportunity to go east along the Timor Sea, bypass New Guinea, pass the Solomon Sea and then go north, and go straight to the coastal waters of Daming. It is time for the return journey There are still some troubles, if there is insufficient coal--this is almost inevitable--then you need to have a stronghold along the coast of Daming, I will choose Jeju Island for this stronghold, what do you think?"

"Jeju Island is not bad." Zhang Xiao first agreed, "With the weak combat power of the Korean Kingdom, our big ship will sail there, and then send a small army to land on the island. Based on the air leaks along the northern coast of Daming and the fact that the government had lost control of the local area at that time, we swaggered ashore to collect refugees, or simply kidnapped them forcibly, probably no one could cause us any trouble."

"Actually, we have another method." Zhang Xiao said after thinking for a while, "We can also set up a stronghold along the coast of India. The construction of the stronghold is exactly as we said before, and then our ship sails all the way relying on the power of sails. Arrive at the waters near Ceylon Island, then turn on the steam engine and sail eastward at full speed. With the speed of those old-fashioned sailing ships of the Dutch less than half of ours, it may be difficult to intercept us. The advantage of this method is that the coal consumption is very small, Moreover, it is a mature route, and the wind is smooth. Even if the Dutch find our ship, they will only stare blankly. Unless they mobilize a large number of ships to block the Strait of Malacca, they will never want to stop our steam ship from passing through. I thought about it, if it is " If we build a ship based on the "Breaking Waves", a ship can transport at least 500 people at a time. The more ships we build, the more people we can transport at one time. But this is not a way, the Dutch always see you in their Drilling under the nose, I will definitely not be able to bear it for a long time, and will still mobilize a large number of capital ships to block the strait. This route, after all, seems to be better than taking the southern Timor Sea and the Solomon Sea, but as a Alternate routes are also good."

"How about taking the Pacific route? Have you ever demonstrated it?" Shi Qingjie stared at a hand-drawn map in front of him for a long time, and finally asked suddenly: "I mean to cross the Strait of Magellan from the mainland via the Baleen Whale Harbor, and then along the The Chilean coast goes north, and then the Spanish Manila Galleon route goes west along the North Pacific equator and enters the coast of China. How about this route? Is it feasible?"

"It's not very feasible." Wang Tiehammer only glanced at it and said: "In fact, a group of staff members of the Admiralty have demonstrated this route a long time ago, and the conclusion is unrealistic. First of all, we can't fly in Chile. Or the Spanish seaport in Peru to stop for supplies. This place is as important to the Spaniards as the East Indies is to the Dutch, and no one else can get involved. All cities here are restricted trading cities, and no one without a charter is allowed. Foreign or domestic ships enter the port, so there will be no supply points in this section, which is quite disadvantageous. And when we cross the Pacific Ocean, we can’t find those small islands. You let us find a mainland, but in the vast ocean Finding a small island depends on luck, and it is impossible to find it every time. And if you don’t find it right once, then you will be in big trouble. Therefore, I can only say that this route is unrealistic, at least not now. It can only be used as a backup route for the backup route above, and it is the last option.”

Several people discussed on paper for a long time, and finally formed several plans into documents. After signing their names, they prepared to submit them to the Ministry of the Navy for reference, and they left the rest of the matter out of their control.

On October 1641, 10, four ships including the "Breaking Waves", which had been delayed for a day because of the return of the Second Fleet, set sail, left Xinhua Bay, and headed for the mainland.They left with them, in addition to a large amount of cargo, there were several reports submitted by the Madagascar pioneer team to the executive committee, among which was the most crucial application for the establishment of the Tacheng Mining Bureau.In addition, there are several private letters. Shi Qinjie and others believe that these private letters will definitely provide greater assistance to their careers here.

(End of this chapter)