It is actually inappropriate to compare the navy with the Tang Dynasty Western Company.
Because the navy's annual military expenditure of several million taels is purely an expense, not an investment.
Although the Tang Dynasty Western Company has an army and colonies, it is still a commercial company in the final analysis. At most, its business model is rather special. Since it is a commercial company, it must pay attention to profits.
In the final analysis, the corporate fleet of the Datang Western Company is still a commercial force, rather than a military force purely serving politics. However, the Portuguese's troubles in the Indian Ocean seriously harmed the commercial interests of the Datang Western Company.
, for this reason, the Datang Western Company fleet also dispatched frequently, but the strength was still slightly smaller.
Under such circumstances, when people from the Navy came to the door and said that they wanted to sell a batch of old warships of the Navy, including even two cruisers, the people from Datang Western Company were immediately interested.
In fact, many of the active warships of Datang Western Company were also purchased from the Navy, but the number purchased was not large, and they were purchased piecemeal one by one. It has never been done in such a large scale.
Big deal on battleship tickets.
In fact, the navy's sale of warships, in addition to supporting the Tang Dynasty Western Company's fleet to fight the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean, also had the idea of taking the opportunity to retire a number of the navy's old warships and raise funds to purchase new warships!
Although it is said that wooden warships these days can serve for decades as long as they are well maintained, the tactical positioning of the early batch of warships in the Datang Navy is somewhat different from that of today's Datang Navy.
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The most obvious among them are the cruisers and frigates in early service, whose displacement was obviously smaller than the battleship standard established seven years after Xuanping.
Since the seventh year of Xuanping, the various types of warships built by the empire have basically had clear standards. Cruisers must be at least 800 tons or more, so as to ensure firepower and ocean seaworthiness.
The tonnage of the frigate also needs to reach more than 450 tons!
But before the seventh year of Xuanping, the standard for cruisers was only 550 tons, and the standard for frigates was only 350 tons.
Although early warships can still be used, they are obviously not very smooth to use.
In addition, the shipbuilding technology in the early years was not mature enough, the quality of the warships built was also uneven, and repair and maintenance were troublesome. Now, the navy simply takes advantage of this opportunity to sell them off.
As for Datang Western Company, there is no issue of standards. They are a commercial company and they do not engage in large-scale fleet battles. Their warships are mostly used for escort.
What's more, they are not willing to buy large-tonnage warships.
After all, Datang Western Company is still a commercial company, and it is impossible to pursue the combat effectiveness of battleships regardless of cost. On the contrary, cost is what they care about most.
Now that the navy has active warships for sale, and the prices are low, they are naturally quite tempted.
After simple negotiations, the two parties basically finalized this batch of transactions!
The Navy will sell two 550-ton cruisers and six 350-ton frigates to Datang Western Company in batches. These warships will retain their armament when they are sold. At the same time, the Navy needs to train for Datang Western Company.
Relevant command officers and sailors, well, in terms of personnel training, the Navy will actually do a more straightforward job by then, specializing in training new people. Who has the spare time? Moreover, the Navy still has a large number of retired officers and soldiers who have reached their retirement age and are waiting for employment arrangements.
Woolen cloth.
Therefore, the Navy will directly retire a group of officers and sailors who are willing to work in the Datang Western Company fleet.
Although the Tang Western Company fleet is just a commercial fleet, despite its nature, it is similar to a serious army. This is also an officially recognized armed force with a formal designation.
Many officers who find it difficult to get ahead in the talented army and navy, but who are unwilling to give up their military career, are often willing to choose to continue serving in the fleet of the Datang Western Company.
This package deal between the Navy and Datang Western Company, including the sale of the warship itself, the sale of ammunition, personnel training, etc., was priced at 600,000 taels of silver.
This price is very satisfactory to Datang Western Company, and it is also profitable for the Navy. In short, both parties are quite satisfied.
The purchase price of these old warships, even cruisers, was only a little over one hundred thousand taels of silver back then. After being used intensively for so many years, they can still be sold for almost the cost price. This is not a huge profit.
The Navy has recovered almost all of the original shipbuilding costs, and can then use the money to purchase new warships.
For Datang Western Company, this price is naturally a bit expensive. They are not stupid either. They know that the Navy sells these warships to them at almost no loss or even a small profit.
But do they care?
Don't care!
Because they got almost an entire fleet that can be used immediately!
It only cost 600,000 taels of silver to purchase an entire fleet, but if a few merchant ships were robbed and sunk by the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean, it would also cost hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
Almost every merchant ship that goes out to sea these days, especially those large merchant ships with hundreds of tons or more, is a moving treasure. The hull itself is not valuable. It is cheap at tens of thousands of taels and expensive at only a hundred thousand taels, but it is loaded with
The goods are very valuable.
For example, in the past two years, Spanish merchant ships have detoured from the Americas to Luzon and the Tang Dynasty via the Pacific Ocean to trade with the Tang Dynasty. Every time they come, what kind of goods are loaded on the ship?
Almost all gold and silver!
Yes, the Spanish are so awesome, or helpless!
They came all the way from the Americas and it was impossible to carry any low-value goods. Otherwise, they would not be able to buy expensive spices, silks, porcelain and other goods when they arrived in East Asia and bring them back to Europe. Other expensive goods,
There are many Tang Dynasties but they are not needed.
Seriously speaking, the Tang Dynasty these days is the largest exporter of industrial products and all kinds of luxury accessories!
Whether it is various industrial products, silk, porcelain, tea, etc., these are actually not cheap. The value of a ship of silk can easily reach hundreds of thousands of taels of silver!
The Tang Dynasty was also the largest importing country these days, but most of the goods that the Tang Dynasty needed to import were various industrial raw materials and agricultural products, as well as some special products from other countries.
For example, sulfur from Fuso, high-quality shipbuilding timber from Southeast Asia, cotton from India and West Asia, and anthracite from Annan.
In addition, in the border trade with the northwest and north, a large amount of cattle, horses, sheep and other livestock are imported, as well as a large amount of wool, cotton and other goods.
Although these bulk imported goods weigh a lot and are valuable, they are actually not very valuable per unit price.
Therefore, nowadays, whether the Spaniards or the Portuguese, in fact, in order to balance trade, they often directly transport shiploads of gold and silver.
In recent years, as the empire has used gold to calculate prices, and gold has become the main trading currency, the empire's attitude towards silver has been very ambiguous. It is still accepting, but the price is getting lower and lower.
There is no way, even though the silver reserves within the empire are increasing, the devaluation of silver is inevitable.
In this regard, the major financial institutions within the empire, under the guidance of the Finance Department of the Ministry of Taxation, have gradually begun to use gold for pricing in bulk trade. The Royal Bank has also begun to issue gold tickets and corresponding products for overseas trade and domestic bulk trade.
check for gold coins.
However, there is still a long way to go before we can completely establish the gold standard!
The main domestic transactions are still based on silver. Well, silver notes are also an extension of silver currency.
Gold trading is mainly concentrated in overseas trade and bulk transactions.
Therefore, to a certain extent, the current imperial financial world implements a dual-standard system of gold and silver, and there is no fixed exchange rate between the two parties, but a floating exchange rate based on fundamental market fluctuations.
From the financial system within the empire, we can also witness the amount of gold and silver imported from overseas trade in recent years.
However, the Spanish, Portuguese and other European merchants were quite helpless. If they had not come directly with gold and silver, they simply would not be able to afford large quantities of silk, spices and other goods.
And it is precisely because of the huge value of the goods on these merchant ships that whether it is the Spanish, the Portuguese, or the Tang Dynasty, they will actually escort the merchant ships.
Sometimes fleets are even organized and warships are used to conduct special escorts to ensure safety along the way.
The main purpose of these warships purchased by Datang Western Company is also for escort!
Spending hundreds of thousands of taels of silver to purchase an entire fleet for escort is more cost-effective than sinking a few merchant ships worth hundreds of thousands of taels of silver.
After the two parties reached a preliminary agreement, the agreement was submitted to the imperial court for discussion. After all, this was not an ordinary military trade, but involved both Datang Western Company and the Navy. In fact, they did not have the final decision-making power.
The decision-making power lies in Li Xuan's hands.
Naturally, Li Xuan was not the one to embarrass himself. Both of them believed that this deal was for each of them to get what they needed, so Li Xuan easily approved it.
Not long after the transaction was approved, the Navy officially handed over the above-mentioned eight warships to Datang Western Company!
Not long after, at the Datang Western Company's exclusive pier in Guangzhou, eight warships began to lower the navy's red dragon-sword-holding flag with a blue background, and then raised the flag of Datang Western Company: a black tiger flag with a red background!
Black tiger, this is the exclusive symbol of Datang Western Company.
In the beginning, they actually wanted to use the dragon logo, but because the dragon is the exclusive symbol of the royal family, except for the emperor, in theory, other institutions are not allowed to use the dragon symbol.
In addition to the royal family, the only people who use the dragon symbol are the military who have been personally chartered by Li Xuan. The flags of the army and navy are blue flutes and red dragons holding swords, but this red dragon is a chubby red dragon.
As for the Guards, they use the royal family’s iconic blue dragon, which is a blue dragon holding a sword flag with a yellow background!
The national flag is the blue dragon flag with a yellow background commonly used by the royal family.
So in the end, Datang Western Company used the black tiger as the company's logo and became the flag of the company's fleet!
When the Tang Dynasty Western Company fleet flying the Black Tiger flag set sail, preparing to first go to the Southeast Asia and then enter the Indian Ocean, it also represented that the conflict between the empire and Portugal entered a new stage!