When Li Xuan saw the design plan of the Pacific submitted by the Royal Assets Department, he was stunned. He was not surprised by its tonnage, although more than four thousand tons seemed huge.
But in fact, the Navy already has designs for warships of 3,000 tons or even 5,000 tons. However, the military equipment is very conservative. When the technology is not too mature, the Navy is not willing to take too many risks.
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Anyway, in the current navy, even a two-thousand-ton battleship can defeat the battleships of other countries. There is no urgent need for larger-tonnage battleships in a short period of time, so although they have a design plan, they have not implemented it.
, they plan to build a batch of 2,000-ton battleships and 1,000-ton cruisers first, and then build large-tonnage battleships in a few years after the steel and steam engine technologies have become more mature and stable.
Therefore, it has a large tonnage and huge power, which looks very eye-catching, but it does not stun Li Xuan. What really stuns Li Xuan is that the decoration of this ship is really luxurious.
No matter what kind of gold or silver is used as decoration, it is difficult to describe how luxurious the decoration of this ship is. I can only say that the price of the decoration is equivalent to the cost of the hull.
The cost of the hull, even including the steam unit, is actually only more than 400,000 yuan, but the decoration cost has reached more than 200,000 yuan, making the total cost more than 700,000 yuan.
This is definitely the most expensive ship ever built in human history!
And this is not a warship, just a civilian passenger ship!
God knows how they designed it!
In fact, Li Xuan's original intention was just to let the Pacific Shipping Company build a few large-tonnage passenger ships to carry passengers on weekdays and serve as troop carriers during wars. However, he did not expect that the people below would directly build luxury passenger ships.
And they are not messing around. They also attached a detailed report, saying that if it only caused ordinary passenger ships, the tickets would be too cheap to maintain operations. Such large operating costs and construction costs could only be achieved by using luxury passenger ships.
Only way can be profitable.
Since they have said so, Li Xuan has nothing to say. Anyway, the management of Pacific Shipping Company is not stupid. Since they have come to such a conclusion through analysis, Li Xuan will naturally not say anything else.
Well, anyway, the empire is developing rapidly now, and the demand for ocean liners will only increase, not decrease. Even if it has been operating at a loss in recent years, in a few more years, there will definitely be no need to worry about passengers.
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The Holy Emperor Li Xuan expressed no objection, so the construction of the Pacific Ocean officially entered the construction stage. The Pacific Shipping Company directly placed an order to build the hull to the Hong Kong Ding Sheng Shipyard, the only domestic shipyard capable of building such large-tonnage ships.
At the same time, we are also conducting a nationwide bidding for interior decoration projects of ship cabins.
Everything is moving forward steadily.
However, the official laying of the keel will have to wait until autumn!
Because the 5,000-ton dock that can build the Pacific has not yet been completed. The first 5,000-ton dock at Hong Kong Ding Sheng Shipyard will not be put into use until October this year, and construction will start at that time.
Pacific.
The emergence of the Pacific is a special example, a product of political pressure and not the result of market choice.
In today's domestic shipping market, thousand-ton passenger ships are the best choice in the market. Ships of this tonnage have mature technology and although the cost is still a bit high, as more and more ships are equipped with thousand-ton
Ton ship construction capacity, the cost will definitely fall further.
At the same time, thousands of tons of ships are very suitable for coastal routes and some inland routes, and are also very suitable for ocean voyages.
Also a product of political pressure was the Tang military's series of external expansions.
Because the current external expansion of the Tang Empire, especially in India and Africa, is definitely a loss from a purely economic perspective.
The expedition force organized by the Tang Dynasty cost a lot of money. If you just want to earn back these military expenses by relying on overseas trade, you don't know when.
However, external expansion is often a combination of political, economic, military and other factors. In the Tang Empire, the entire empire did whatever Li Xuan said.
If we fight in Africa, we will fight in Africa. Why do we have so many concerns?
However, the current situation of the African expedition fleet is not very good!
When the African expedition fleet of Dong Qiankun and others arrived at Mada City, they rested for a long time before continuing to the African continent, which was the only stronghold of the Tang Empire on the southeastern coast of Africa: Xiyinzhou.
After arriving in Xiyinzhou, the expedition fleet encountered trouble again. Due to the unsuitable climate and long-distance voyage, many soldiers fell ill.
Although the disease was under relatively good control, no infectious diseases affecting the entire army were found, and the sick soldiers did not die of the disease directly, but most of them were ill, and it was not easy to recover.
Therefore, after arriving in Western India, the African Expeditionary Fleet did nothing but rest and recuperate.
This rest and recuperation lasted for several months. It was not until May that the African Expeditionary Fleet finally recovered its breath.
At this time, half a year had passed since they set off from Ceylon Island!
If you include the departure time from China, a full year has passed.
These times alone can illustrate how difficult it is to conduct a cross-sea expedition in this era.
After Dong Qiankun arrived in Xiyinzhou, he also fell seriously ill and even had a high fever for several days. However, he finally recovered and recovered slowly after resting for more than half a month.
In May, Dong Qiankun, who had recovered from his illness, officially embarked on a journey south to fight with his army, which had also just recovered!
Just when Dong Qiankun led nearly 10,000 ground combat troops to South Africa to fight, the Second Joint Landing Fleet also completed their initial mission. In addition to leaving more than 20 ships as backup, well, that is, to prevent the situation
No, in addition to the transport ship used to receive the evacuation of the army troops, other ships unloaded all the various supplies at the West Indian port and then returned to the Indian island of Ceylon.
As for the dozen or so warships of the Navy's Indian Ocean Fleet, they naturally stayed in Africa to fight.
Dozens of transport ships of various types returned from Africa. Most of the ships returned empty, and only a few ships carried specialty goods from Africa.
There is no way, the empire's strongholds in Africa are typical military strongholds and are not used for business at all, so it is impossible for them to bring any goods back.
After these ships return to India, the civilian ships among them will be disbanded, but the transport ships belonging to Datang Western Company or the navy and army will continue to perform supply transportation tasks from India to Africa.
Although Dong Qiankun's troops carried a large amount of supplies, they still needed to be replenished continuously. Otherwise, if they ran out of artillery shells, they would be at the mercy of others.
The African war has progressed to this point, and the landing part has ended. The next step is to see when Dong Qiankun can capture South Africa.
When Dong Qiankun led the troops to march towards South Africa, he personally received news of promotion from home. In order to commend him for his military exploits in conquering Ceylon Island and southern India, and also to encourage him to make further military exploits in Africa, the military specially sent
He was promoted to Army Major General and served as the commander of the African Expeditionary Force, with full authority to command the Tang Empire's ground operations in Africa.
Originally, Dong Qiankun and his troops belonged to the combat order of the Indian Expeditionary Force. Although he himself commanded the expeditionary force, his position was the brigadier general of the first mixed brigade of the expeditionary force.
Now the troops he leads will be separately organized into the 'African Expeditionary Force', alongside the 'Indian Expeditionary Force'. Of course, the Indian Expeditionary Force has more troops, and its commander has the rank of Army Lieutenant General. His African Expeditionary Force
The expeditionary force now has less than 10,000 people, and only one major general of the army will end.
Being promoted before the war was naturally a good thing and made Dong Qiankun very happy.
In the past few years, he has fought in Southeast Asia, India and Africa, going through life and death. Needless to say, there were dangers involved, but his superiors did not treat him badly.
His military rank was promoted from Army Lieutenant Colonel to Army Major General. He was promoted three levels in a row in just a few years. This kind of promotion speed would be basically impossible in China.
Only those soldiers fighting overseas can receive such special treatment.
Officers serving in the country, even a proud emperor like Ying Yikang, have to go through qualifications and get gold-plated. When he graduated last year, he was an Army Major. After fighting in the Fuso Battle, he was still an Army Major. If he wanted
If I make any further changes in my military rank, I can only hope to serve in the northwest by the end of the year.
But Dong Qiankun, he was not a proud son of the emperor. His status, background, and military talents could only be regarded as average in the huge army of the Tang Dynasty.
His promotion was all based on his solid military exploits, and no one could find fault with him. This is why when he was promoted, there was no opposition in the country.
If it were another person who had been promoted three levels in a row in his thirties, became an army major general, and was still in charge of an overseas expeditionary force, he would have been sprayed with blood.
It's just that Dong Qiankun was promoted, which seems to be a good thing on the surface, but it also means greater pressure.
Dong Qiankun knew that the African Expeditionary Force was being watched by everyone in the country. Whether and when it could capture South Africa was directly related to the empire's global strategy, as well as to his personal future.
If we can win South Africa quickly and beautifully, then everything is easy to say. Maybe in a few more years, we may have the opportunity to further become an army lieutenant general before the age of forty. Looking at the active army lieutenant generals under forty years old,
There are only a handful of contemporary empires, and every one of them is a person with outstanding military exploits. If they do not make mistakes in the future, they will all be capable of becoming Army Generals and Deputy Privy Council Envoys.
But if the battle does not go smoothly and he cannot even win South Africa, then unfortunately, his career will basically come to an end.
Don't give so many reasons. If you lose, you lose. Since you lose, you have to bear the consequences. There is a high probability that the country will directly send another general to take his place in commanding the war in South Africa!
The fate of Dong Qiankun who was replaced was naturally not that good. Being transferred to a casual position was considered a minor matter. Otherwise, he might be forced to retire from active service like many of his senior military officers.