The difference between warships and merchant ships is getting bigger and bigger. This has also meant that in recent years, even if the task is heavy, the Tang Navy has to frequently dispatch warships to escort the merchant fleet.
At the same time, we also try our best to allow overseas trading companies to go to sea in groups to avoid going to sea with single ships.
These armed merchant ships have a certain degree of self-protection capability. If they go to sea in groups, there will be no problems as long as they do not encounter the main warships of the navies of Spain and other countries.
But if you are alone, let alone encountering an enemy navy warship, even if you encounter ordinary pirates, it is easy to capsize in the gutter. In recent years, when you go to sea and encounter pirates or the Imperial Navy, you cannot escape. Many of them are alone.
The ship goes out to sea, or it is a small fleet of only two or three ships.
However, the Tang Empire encouraged trading companies to go out to sea in groups to conduct trade, which would also create a large target and attract more attention from the imperial navy or pirates.
There is no guarantee that they will not assemble the main fleet to intercept. This kind of thing has happened before. The Portuguese organized fleets many times to intercept the merchant fleets of the Tang Dynasty heading to the Indian Ocean. They also attacked some fleets of more than ten or even twenty merchant ships.
Dare to take action.
Under such circumstances, the Tang Navy had to specially dispatch warships for escort.
Therefore, in the past two years, a relatively unique Tang merchant fleet has been formed in the Indian Ocean, which is characterized by its large scale and escort by warships.
This can't be done without forming a group to protect ourselves or escorting. Each of the merchant ships that go out to sea these days is loaded with a lot of cargo, and the value of these cargoes is often higher than their merchant ships.
Every time a merchant ship is lost, it often causes hundreds of thousands of yuan in losses.
This is the case with the Shuilan of the Weilan Company where Lu Zhenjiang works. The hull of a Shuilan, coupled with steam engines, sails, and attached naval guns, has already reached an extremely expensive price of 150,000 yuan.
But the value of the Shuilan itself is still not as good as the cargo it carries.
In addition to silk, porcelain and perfume, which are the three major goods traded with Europe, the Shuilan also has many other export-oriented industrial products produced by the Tang Dynasty, such as plate armor, swords and other traditional military equipment for export.
, and tea bricks, a drink that has gradually become popular in Europe in recent years.
Among them are also indispensable the representative goods of the imperial industrial revolution, that is, woolen and cloth.
There are also mirrors, embroidery needles and all kinds of messy things.
The Aqua Blue not only carries various products from China, but also spices purchased from Southeast Asia during the voyage and some specialties from India.
There was a boat full of all kinds of goods.
However, the various specialties purchased from Southeast Asia and India are not very valuable. The reason why I brought them is because the Shuilan has already sold part of the goods in the Indian market, but when it comes to running a ship, it must not be an empty ship.
, so I bought some local specialties locally and took them to South Africa to sell to those Europeans.
In this shipment of goods, domestic industrial products account for the majority, but if these domestic goods are purchased domestically, they will only amount to about 100,000 at most.
However, if these Tang products were shipped to India, their value would be doubled, which would allow Weilan Trading Company to withdraw at least 300,000 yuan.
If it is shipped to West Asia and sold to merchants in the Ottoman Empire, the price can continue to increase by nearly 100,000.
If it is transported to South Africa and sold to Europeans, Azure Trading Company can sell it for more than 500,000 to 600,000 yuan. If the market is good, it can even sell for 700,000 to 800,000 yuan.
Just these domestic goods, if shipped to South Africa for sale, can allow Azure Trading Company to earn at least five times more gross profit. In addition, when the merchant ships return, they will definitely bring various specialties from Europe, Africa, India and other regions.
, although the profit of shipping these goods to the country is not very high, it is at least doubled.
This time, the Shuilan number alone is enough to bring a gross profit of at least 500,000, or even 600,000 to 700,000 yuan to Weilan Trading Company.
Although it takes a long time, it can still be called violence!
It was this kind of violence that stimulated more than a hundred overseas trading companies in the Tang Dynasty to rush to India and South Africa. It also gave them the courage to issue dozens of paychecks to even ordinary employees like Lu Zhenjiang.
Yuan monthly salary.
In fact, if it were a few years ago, the profits of the Indian Ocean route and the European route would have been higher, because they were monopolized by the Portuguese at that time. During the two years of war, the Datang Western Trading Company was still the monopoly of Western trading rights.
, so the profit is very astonishing, often more than ten times the profit.
However, since the liberalization of Western trade rights, more than 100 domestic trading companies have flocked to India and Africa. In this case, the profits of overseas trade will inevitably be diluted.
However, even the diluted profits are still very amazing.
In the domestic market, the stock prices of overseas trading companies that continue to rise are the most obvious example. In just two or three years, the stock prices of many trading companies have directly doubled, even if they were deprived of the monopoly of Western trade, Datang Western Trading Company
, also after the re-listing, the stock price is getting higher day by day.
However, behind this kind of huge profits, there are inevitably many navigation accidents. These days, driving a ship of hundreds of tons across the ocean is not an ordinary risk.
Why can Lu Zhenjiang get a salary of tens of yuan?
That's because he is using his life to make money!
Every year, many ships go to sea and never come back!
However, with the development of domestic shipbuilding technology, the risks of navigation will definitely be further reduced, but by that time, the profits of overseas trade will certainly not be so high.
For overseas trade, risks and profits are directly proportional.
The higher the risk, the higher the profit; the lower the risk, the lower the relative profit.
Lu Zhenjiang was lucky. He went to sea for more than half a year and had smooth sailing. He did not encounter any storms, impatient natives, pirates or other navies.
It was smooth sailing all the way to Motor City, and after resting here for five days with the fleet, he set off again, preparing to cross the last leg of the voyage to South Africa City.
From Motor City to South Africa City, this huge fleet does not go directly. After entering the east coast of Africa, it will pass by several Tang Empire colonies on the east coast of Africa. These colonies are also under the jurisdiction of the West Indian State.
Most of them were former Portuguese colonies, and were snatched away one by one by the Tang African Expeditionary Force during the war.
After the Tang Empire occupied these colonies, it did not talk about large-scale colonization in these colonial areas. For the time being, it mainly provided supplies for merchant ships along the way and conducted trade.
After all, the Tang Empire's immigrant settlements in Africa are mainly in South Africa.
In other places, military control is the main focus, but large-scale immigration will not be carried out for the time being.
Among the many colonies of the Tang Empire on the east coast of Africa, the largest was naturally Xiyin City. This was originally the largest military stronghold of the Tang Empire in its colonization of Africa and the bridgehead against the Portuguese.
However, after capturing the city of South Africa, the strategic status of this Western Indian state declined rapidly, and now it has become just an ordinary colony.
When Lu Zhenjiang arrived at Xiyin City with the fleet, because the Shuilan needed to dock for supplies, he was able to go ashore along with everyone else on the ship. This was the first time he set foot on land in more than a month.
However, he was not able to stay on land for long. One day later, after completing the supplies, the Aqua Blue set sail again, keeping up with the pace of the large army and continuing to South Africa City.
At this time, they were very close to the city of South Africa, and the fleet also entered South African waters.
On the way, Lu Zhenjiang had already discovered the periphery of the fleet. Occasionally, he could see other ships. Some of them were flying the flag of the Tang Dynasty, but some were flying random flags. These should be from Europe, North Africa and other regions.
The ship is gone.
However, these foreign ships basically avoided this huge fleet. Lu Zhenjiang's fleet totaled fifty-eight merchant ships, as well as four escort warships dispatched by the Indian Ocean Fleet.
After arriving at Motor City, the battleships sent by the African Squadron to meet the fleet also joined the fleet, including the battleship Fujian.
Fifty-eight armed merchant ships, plus nine warships, are enough to daunt any external force.
Not to mention that this area already belongs to South African waters, and the African Squadron of the Tang Dynasty Navy is stationed in the South African Port.
The African Squadron is actually part of the Indian Ocean Fleet and is under the jurisdiction of the Indian Ocean Fleet. However, due to distance and other factors, the African Squadron actually acts alone, and its strength is not weak. It basically accounts for 40% of the Indian Ocean Fleet.
It has three sail battleships, two cruisers, eight frigates, and more than ten offshore patrol ships.
It is worth noting that these offshore patrol ships were built locally in South African ports.
The Portuguese also set up a simple shipyard here before. Although the scale was not large, it would not be a problem for Datang to use it to produce offshore patrol ships of more than 100 tons after it was accepted.
The establishment of a shipyard in an overseas territory may at first glance seem to violate the Tang Empire's overseas territory management policy and the relevant regulations of the Import and Export Commission. However, this South African shipyard is actually a product that complies with the policy.
Because this shipyard does not use domestic machinery and equipment, nor does it try to manufacture its own machinery and equipment for use, its production model still follows traditional shipbuilding methods.
As for trying to circumvent or break through the relevant restrictive policies of the empire and try to build a modern shipyard in the port of South Africa, this is courting death.
The management of the Tang Empire's overseas territories was very strict, not only in terms of culture, education, politics and other aspects, but also in terms of technical restrictions.
And technical limitations have always been a top priority.
The Import and Export Committee of Datang can be proud to say that in the 20 years since their establishment, they have never approved the export of even a single screw!