Chapter 660 The First Battleship of the Tang Dynasty
The retaliatory action that the Francois wanted to take could not be carried out because they had no courage to land at all. Not to mention that they could only send a few hundred landing troops all the way. Even sending thousands of people would be of no avail.
The Haojing War began with a land war. At that time, the Tang Army only dispatched a mere infantry battalion, and the number of auxiliary troops was only more than 600.
The Folangji people probably gathered hundreds of musketeers and more than 200 sailors with cold weapons such as spears, swords and shields, and a total of more than 300 land troops, but they were unable to do so for a day.
If you hold on, you will be driven into the sea that day.
If you don't dare to land, you can only play naval battles. But for naval battles, the Tang Navy only operates offshore and does not go out at all. As soon as it encounters the large fleet of the Folangji, it immediately runs back to the port or near the fort, letting them
Franji was also helpless.
The only naval battle we fought was with the Ming Navy because of a misunderstanding. As a result, the Fo Langji people now had an additional Ming Navy enemy.
Even the blockade of Datang's sea trade was actually only superficial and could not be completely blocked. Instead, it attracted the dissatisfaction of many pirate gangs. The fleet blocking the coast of Guangdong has had many incidents with pirate gangs in nearby waters.
conflict.
Even several large pirate gangs entrenched in Zhejiang and Fujian, such as the powerful pirate gangs headed by Xu Dong and Chen Sipan, are quite dissatisfied with the Fo Langji people's barbaric blockade of the Guangdong coast.
Because they are not only pirates, but they are also seafarers. For example, Xu Dong, his fleet has been to Guangzhou Port many times, selling saltpeter, sulfur and other materials urgently needed by the Tang Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, thus making a lot of profits.
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They were quite dissatisfied with the Folangji people's blockade of the Guangdong coast!
Blocking people's wealth is like killing their parents!
So the current situation in Nanyang is very interesting!
It was basically a mess, with the Ming navy, the Francois, the Spaniards, and even all kinds of pirates and merchants mixed in, while the Tang Dynasty sat firmly on the Diaoyutai, and the Tang Navy hid.
Building ships and training troops under the protection of coastal ports and forts, it is as if we have not seen the battles and fighting between various maritime forces along the coast of Guangdong.
Anyway, now the Tang Dynasty only does business in the trading ports, collects taxes, and purchases all kinds of strategic materials it needs. As for how the pirates at sea fight and compete with each other, that has nothing to do with the Tang Dynasty.
Anyway, after a group of pirates died, another group of pirates would come to the two trading ports of Guangzhou and Lianzhou to do business. As long as the Tang Dynasty opened the trading ports, these pirates and even foreigners would flock here for profit.
Why?
Because these are currently the only two ports in China that can trade freely. Under the Ming Dynasty, there was no such a good trade port. Emperor Zhengde ordered the opening of Ningbo, but this Ningbo is said to be a trade port, but
It is worse to say that it is a tribute port. The fleets coming from all parties can only trade in the name of tribute, which is completely different from free trade.
Even though the Folangji people themselves sent a fleet to blockade the city in an official name, in fact their private merchant ships would still go to Guangzhou and Lianzhou for trade.
As for the official fleet of the Tang Dynasty, it was originally small. Now, under the influence of the Ming Navy and the Folangji people, it has stopped going to sea on a large scale. Even if it occasionally goes to sea, it is usually under the name of ordinary trading houses.
Name, disguised as an ordinary maritime merchant, to reduce risks.
Li Xuan also wanted to rectify the chaos in the Nanyang region and open up trade routes to make maritime trade more prosperous. However, the Tang Navy was so weak that it could not even maintain the Pearl River Estuary at his doorstep, let alone the outer waters of Nanyang.
The Tang Navy has a long way to go!
Although the threat of the Folangji is very limited, Li Xuan does not want the Folangji to show off along the coast of Guangdong all the time. At the same time, it is also better to consolidate the coastal defense and expel the Ming navy, so Li Xuan at the beginning of the year
At that time, with the original military expenditure of the Navy, 500,000 taels of silver were transferred from the internal treasury and delivered to the Navy.
These silvers were used as special funds for shipbuilding, to build ships and guns.
After receiving the money, the Tang Dynasty Navy did not let the money grow moldy in the warehouse. In an instant, it placed an order for two third-class cruisers and five third-class frigates.
As a result, the number of third-class cruisers under construction or planned to be built in the Tang Dynasty has reached five, and as many as ten third-class frigates!
The only troublesome thing is that the main gun of more than 14 kilograms required in a third-class cruiser is still unable to be mass-produced. The outfitting of the first third-class cruiser is still half a year away, and the Navy has already
Yes, backup plan is enabled.
The first two third-class cruisers were equipped with four captured fourteen-pound cannons according to the original design. Each ship had four captured fourteen-pound cannons. There were exactly eight captured fourteen-pound cannons, no more, no less, just enough.
However, the next three ships adopted a backup plan, which was to use nine-pound cannons instead. This was also impossible, although the current Tang Dynasty did not have the means to mass-produce fourteen-pound cannons and above.
Woolen cloth.
However, the artillery needed for third-class cruisers has been solved. At present, the Tang Dynasty is able to produce its own nine-pound artillery. In addition to the mass production of Zhaoqing Arsenal, several other arsenals are also starting large-scale mass production. These
Although the output of Jiujin artillery is still small, shipbuilding takes time, and this time is enough for those arsenals to produce enough artillery for the navy, and it can also free up part of the production capacity to supply the army.
In addition to cruisers and frigates, the two main battleships used for long-sea operations, the Tang Navy also expanded in other aspects!
For example, continue to refit merchant ships into armed merchant ships!
At present, the Datang Navy continues to carry out large-scale refitting of merchant ships, preparing to more than triple the size of the existing armed merchant ships, bringing the number of armed merchant ships over 200 tons to more than 20. As for armed merchant ships under 200 tons,
Because the number of artillery carried is too small, the long-sea navigation capability is too poor, and the overall combat effectiveness is too poor, the Tang Navy has now stopped large-scale modifications and handed over the existing ones to the Pearl River Fleet.
Then many small and medium-sized ships in inland rivers and offshore areas were built to meet the transportation and escort tasks in inland rivers and offshore areas.
Especially now that the Tang Army is fighting everywhere. Although inland water transportation is not available in many places, if inland water transportation can be used, the logistics department will use inland water transportation as much as possible. This has created a large demand for inland river gunboats.
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The Pearl River Fleet of the Datang Navy, its subordinate Dongjiang Squadron, Beijiang Squadron, and Xijiang Squadron, and the inland river gunboats and transport fleets affiliated to these three squadrons, are already widely active in large and small rivers throughout the Pearl River Basin.
At the same time, the Yangtze River Fleet was set up in advance, the Ganjiang Fleet was set up in southern Jiangxi, and the Xiangjiang Squadron was set up in southern Huguang to provide local inland water transportation and escort, and to support army operations.
After all, although the current Datang Navy is a navy in name and attaches great importance to the development of an ocean-going navy, in fact, the core of development at this stage is still the inland river fleet, focusing on inland river escort, transportation, and support for army operations.
This resulted in the Tang Navy's inland river fleet being quite large in scale.
The three squadrons of the Pearl River Fleet and the two squadrons of the newly established Yangtze River Fleet have a total of more than 200 armed ships ranging from tens to hundreds of tons, and medium and large ships of more than 100 tons.
More than twenty ships.
But Li Xuan knew that although the river fleet had many ships, large ocean-going warships were still needed to defend the sea. These river warships were generally not equipped with large-caliber artillery, and even had few cannons.
, especially those armed ships under 100 tons, their main guns are only three-pound or two-pound shotguns, or they are simply equipped with various bowl-mouth cannons captured from the Ming army.
Only some armed ships with a tonnage of 70, 80 or even 100 tons or more will be equipped with cannons, but most of them are only at the level of five-pound cannons, and even seven-pound cannons are rare.
To put it bluntly, if these two hundred or so inland river ships are all pulled out, their firepower cannot compare with the existing ocean-going fleet of armed merchant ships of the Tang Navy, let alone the fleet of professional third-class cruisers and frigates.
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Li Xuan knew very well that only those professional ocean-going battleships could carry the future of the Tang Navy!
Therefore, Li Xuan has always been very concerned about the progress of the third-class cruisers and frigates currently under construction.
Due to the continuous invasion of the coastal areas by Folangji, the Tang Dynasty Navy also constantly forced the Ministry of Industry to build ships as soon as possible so that the Navy could get real warships as soon as possible!
The effect of this kind of coercion is still very obvious. The Datang Navy's first professional warship, the third-class frigate Wuzhou, was finally launched into the water after a full year of hull construction thanks to the overtime efforts of the Zhaoqing Shipyard of the Ministry of Industry.
, once it is launched into the water, outfitting can begin, and the overall construction period has been shortened by two months than originally expected.
In addition, the outfitting of wooden warships these days is relatively simple. It mainly involves hoisting the cannons, installing the sails, and then sewing and repairing them. Of course, this does not include sea trials and other tests.
This also means that the Wuzhou will not stay in Zhaoqing for too long after it is launched. It will soon be able to sail down the river with a light load, and then directly join the First Fleet. It is expected to be initially stationed in Haojing and join He Folang.