Chapter 649, Your Majesty, rest assured, you will never lose money
After listening to Liu Jin's words, Zhang Mao nodded in agreement, finally having a general direction in his mind.
Then he thought for a while and said: "Based on the current cost of building a warship in Tianjin Shipyard, wouldn't a warship cost more than 200,000 taels of silver in this navy?"
"Even if we bring ten warships, it will cost more than two million taels of silver?"
"My Ming Dynasty has thousands of miles of sea territory, plus the large and small overseas sea areas, these ten warships are of no use at all. After all, we need at least hundreds of warships."
"If you calculate it this way, the money spent just to purchase the naval warships will be tens of millions of taels?"
Zhang Mao calculated slightly, and suddenly he couldn't help but shook his head: "How much money you want, your Majesty will definitely not agree."
It was hard for Emperor Hongzhi to raise his internal funds, and now he had to spend tens of millions of money to sell them out. Emperor Hongzhi asked Zhang Maodu to sell them.
"It will definitely cost tens of millions of taels of silver, but it won't be that much for a year and a half."
"It can be built in ten or eight years. Calculated in one year, ten million taels of silver is enough."
"Besides, the Tianjin Shipyard is its own shipyard, so the price can definitely be cheaper. If you need more than 200,000 taels of silver per ship, tens of thousands of taels of silver per ship will be enough."
"In this navy, the bigger the ships, the better. Ships of various models, sizes, and functions must cooperate with each other to form a fleet to maximize combat effectiveness."
When Liu Jin heard this, he immediately smiled and shook his head.
Lao Zhang, this is not how this money is spent, not to mention that it is still the money from Emperor Hongzhi's internal funds, not the money from the Ming Dynasty's treasury.
"Judging from the current situation of our Ming Dynasty, we need at least three fleets, which can be called the Bohai Fleet, the East China Sea Fleet and the Nanyang Fleet."
"The Bohai Fleet is used to compliment Tianjin and the capital, and also governs the Yellow Sea area. As for the East China Sea Fleet, it governs the vast areas around the East China Sea, Korea, Japan, and Yuxi."
"The Nanyang Fleet is to be stationed in Nanyang to intimidate Nanyang and expand in the Nanyang region."
"Each fleet is equipped with twenty main warships, two hundred medium-sized warships, and a few small warships. In total, there are only sixty large warships. Fifty thousand taels of silver for each is not enough.
Three million taels of silver."
"As for large and small medium-sized warships, small warships, etc., although these are huge in number, they are also cheaper to build. A few million taels of silver are enough to get them done. Calculated in a short period of time, ten million taels of silver will be prepared.
It’s almost enough to build a battleship.”
"Of course, this is just a battleship. It also has corresponding artillery, muskets and other weapons and ammunition. It is estimated that it will cost at least several million taels of silver."
"Including the construction of the Naval War College, personnel recruitment, training, moonlighting, etc., at least 20 million taels of silver will be invested in this early stage."
"As for future investment, it depends on whether our opponent is strong or not. If we want to dominate the world and travel all over the world, this strength may be slightly insufficient."
"Especially after we occupy the Golden Continent and Australia, and also enter South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, the scale will at least expand several times in the future."
Liu Jin did some rough calculations and couldn't help being slightly stunned.
This navy is so expensive~
The Royal Military Academy of the Ming Dynasty and the New Army only cost Emperor Hongzhi a few million taels of silver a year, but this was enough for Emperor Hongzhi to raise a powerful army.
But this navy, just by doing the math, seems to be spending too much money, and if it starts with tens of millions of taels of money, the subsequent maintenance, upkeep, daily training expenses, combat, etc. will probably be astronomical.
.
Can Emperor Hongzhi agree?
Even though the properties Liu Jin purchased for Emperor Hongzhi were very profitable, the profits amounted to tens of millions of taels of silver in one year.
But this money can't all be used to support the army. This is the emperor's internal money, so some money should be saved for Emperor Hongzhi every year.
The expense is too great.
"Can your Majesty agree?"
After Zhang Mao heard this, he thought about it and frowned.
"First bring the memorial to His Majesty for a look. If it doesn't work, we can only build it slowly one year at a time. For this year, we will build the Nanyang Fleet first."
"When the time comes, we will first go to Nanyang to rob it. If we don't deal with it, if we deal with those countries, they will think that our Ming Dynasty is easy to bully."
Liu Jin was not sure at all, so he thought about it and said.
"Well, that's all we can do~"
Zhang Mao nodded and said.
Soon, the British Duke Zhang Mao drafted a detailed plan for the construction of the Ming Dynasty Royal Navy and the Ming Dynasty Royal Military Academy and sent it to Emperor Hongzhi.
Qianqing Palace, in the study of Emperor Hongzhi.
Emperor Hongzhi looked carefully at the memorial drafted by Zhang Mao. While reading, he nodded repeatedly and said: "Well, not bad, not bad~"
"Loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, this ideological education should really be put first. It is the same as the Ming Military Academy. This is very good."
Emperor Hongzhi was relieved and satisfied when he saw this.
As Liu Jin said, the navy is also an army and a powerful military force. Since it is a military force, it has the possibility to subvert everything.
Therefore, it must be firmly in the hands of the emperor, so that it is safe.
The ideological education of the Ming Dynasty Military Academy made Emperor Hongzhi feel reassured. The Ming army that emerged in this way, regardless of whether it was strong in combat effectiveness, was at least absolutely loyal to the emperor of Ming Dynasty.
Now the Royal Navy of the Ming Dynasty is also following this point, which is very reassuring.
"What?"
"Twenty million taels of silver a year?"
However, when he saw Zhang Mao's application fee figures later, Emperor Hongzhi couldn't help but scream.
This number is also too large.
Now the Ming Dynasty's new army only cost Emperor Hongzhi a few million taels of silver a year, which was very easy for Emperor Hongzhi. However, when he saw the expenses required for the navy, Emperor Hongzhi became uneasy.
"Immediately announce the British Duke Zhang Mao~"
"Well, call Liu Jin too."
Emperor Hongzhi stood up, walked around, thought for a while and then issued an order.
…
"Your Majesty~"
Liu Jin and Zhang Mao came to Emperor Hongzhi's study and shouted in unison.
"Sit down~"
Emperor Hongzhi looked at the two of them, then took out Zhang Mao's memorandum and said, "This navy spends 20 million taels of silver a year?"
"Your Majesty, this does not mean that we need to spend 20 million taels of silver a year, but if we want to build the three powerful navies in the plan, we will need to invest almost 20 million taels of silver in the early stage."
Zhang Mao thought for a while and replied.
Sure enough, too much money had been invested, and Emperor Hongzhi was no longer calm.
"We have to invest 20 million taels of silver in the early stage, but what about the later stage?"
Emperor Hongzhi asked again quickly.
"If the three fleets are enough to shock the world, the later investment can be less. It only requires regular maintenance, upkeep, updates of warships, naval personnel, the construction of naval bases, etc., which will definitely cost several million taels a year.
It’s necessary.”
"If the three fleets are not enough to awe the world and protect our Ming Dynasty's interests, then we need to expand our naval power, and the investment will be huge."
Zhang Mao thought for a while and replied.
"This navy is too wasteful."
After hearing this, Emperor Hongzhi couldn't help but ponder.
"Your Majesty, this navy must cost money, because the navy is different from the army. The navy travels with the vast ocean. Just the warship you want is of extraordinary value."
"That is to say, our Ming Dynasty can build warships ourselves, and we can buy them from Tianjin Shipyard at a cheap price. If calculated according to the market price, the price of this warship is more than 200,000 taels of silver."
Zhang Mao nodded and said that he also felt that the navy was really spending money.
"If there is a huge investment, plus the regular annual expenses in the future~"
Emperor Hongzhi hesitated.
"Your Majesty, please rest assured that you will never lose money on this matter."
At this time, Liu Jin stood up and said.
"Yeah~"
When Emperor Hongzhi heard this, he immediately smiled and motioned for Liu Jin to continue talking.
"Your Majesty, the main role of the navy is to safeguard our Ming Dynasty's maritime interests, but at the same time it can also open up more sea routes and develop more overseas colonies for our Ming Dynasty."
"If nothing else, just take Nanyang as an example."
"With the navy, our Ming Dynasty can easily take over the entire Nanyang region. When the time comes, we can take over any island. Because His Majesty paid for the navy to be built, it will naturally belong to His Majesty's industry."
"When the time comes, your Majesty, even if he is good at everything, will rent these islands to major commercial banks to build plantations, but he will not be able to rent them for tens of millions of taels of silver a year?"
"There is also Australia, the Golden Continent, such a huge land. The Golden Continent is not only rich in gold, but the Southern Golden Continent is also rich in silver."
"When the time comes, your Majesty will naturally occupy these gold and silver mines and develop them first. It will not be difficult to earn tens of millions of taels of silver a year."
"Your Majesty, with the navy, our Ming merchants can straighten their backs and walk around the world. Even if they do business around the world, they can bring tens of millions of taels of silver wealth to our Ming Dynasty every year."
"And if we don't have a strong navy, our Ming Dynasty's interests will not be protected in the future. Once we arouse the jealousy of others, war will inevitably come."
"As the saying goes, he who is prepared is safe from danger; if he is willing to fight, he will perish; if he forgets to fight, he will be in danger; if he forgets to fight, he will be in danger; if he does not forget, he must have a reasonable naval force. This is for the future of our Ming Dynasty."
Liu Jin very seriously explained to Emperor Hongzhi that this business would be profitable, and also pointed out the necessity of building a strong navy.
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