But if it wants to do well, this time it must succeed in its westward expansion. In order to advance westward, Datang Western Company spent almost all of its working capital, and then built the two cruisers Caiyuan Guangjin to serve as the company's foreign trade colonial guarantee.
, if the westward march does not succeed this time, I am afraid that the company will not even be able to get the money to maintain these two cruisers.
Because the trade license of Datang Western Company has not been announced yet, and the demutualization plan has not been disclosed. The main purpose is to avoid insufficient funds raised due to demutualization. Datang Western Company wants to rely on its own funds first.
First find the foothold of Western trade. Even if you can't go all the way to Europe, you must at least establish a number of stable trading stations in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. After seeing the dawn of huge profits, you can then recruit funds.
You have to know that the funds that Datang Western Company is preparing to raise are not tens of millions of taels of silver, but may reach a huge number of tens of millions of taels of silver. To raise such a large amount of funds, there is no huge amount of money.
It is good to have a policy of monopolizing trade, but it is also very difficult.
In addition, it is also to avoid being exposed in the early stage and being intercepted by the Portuguese!
In order to control the profits of trade from Asia to Europe, the Portuguese almost completely blocked the Indian Ocean, leaving the Spaniards, the world's leader these days, helpless. They worked hard to gain a trade foothold in Southeast Asia, and every day
Every attempt was sabotaged by the Portuguese.
Today, if the Tang Dynasty wanted to bypass the Portuguese and sail its merchant ships directly past Malacca, into the Indian Ocean, and then around the Cape of Good Hope all the way into the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, you know with your toes that the Portuguese would definitely go crazy.
And a very important point is that the trade between the Tang Dynasty and Portugal can be said to be cooperative with each other and very closely connected. The Portuguese need goods from the Tang Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty needs the Portuguese to sell goods to Europe.
, in a short period of time, no one can do without anyone.
If the Tang Dynasty fell out with the Portuguese now, it would be difficult for the Tang Dynasty to find other European countries to cooperate in transporting and selling porcelain, raw silk, industrial products and other goods in a short period of time, because other European countries simply would not be able to come through.
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Many restrictions have resulted in the Datang Western Company's westward exploration having to be kept secret!
After leaving Guangzhou, this fleet with a total of eight ships, six of which were armed merchant ships and two cruisers, with a total displacement of more than 4,000 tons, first followed the traditional route and headed south along the coastline, arriving at Lianzhou Prefecture.
, the last large-scale replenishment was carried out, mainly to replenish food and fresh water. It is worth noting that these replenishments included a lot of soybeans and mung beans, which were prepared to be soaked and produced to produce bean sprouts.
Bean sprouts are used to prevent scurvy. Although the current medical development in the Tang Dynasty is still very primitive, students at the Royal Institute of Technology know the term vitamin C, but to be honest, they still have not understood it.
What the hell is this? You can’t understand it just by reading the rudimentary textbooks written by Li Xuan and studying on your own!
But it doesn't matter if they don't understand. Now they just need to know that they need to replenish themselves in time when going to sea, and eat vegetables and fruits.
China has always had a tradition of eating bean sprouts, and under the leadership of Li Xuan, the Tang Dynasty Navy listed bean sprouts as a necessary food, and must carry beans every time they went to sea to produce bean sprouts.
And many merchant ships in China also have the tradition of eating bean sprouts!
This is completely different from the West. They don't know what scurvy is these days, let alone that scurvy is caused by a lack of vitamin C, and they don't know that vegetables and fruits can supplement vitamin C.
Therefore, sailing these days is actually a gamble for European sailors. If you go to sea for a long time, you will definitely get scurvy!
After the last large-scale replenishment of supplies, the fleet began to head south under the leadership of Gerdes, but it did not follow the traditional route, that is, all the way south along the coastline of Indochina.
Navigation in ancient times was difficult. In order to avoid getting lost, to replenish various supplies in time, and to avoid the super wind and waves in the deep sea, people usually sailed along the coastline.
But this time, in order to avoid the vigilance of the Portuguese, after the fleet left Lianzhou, it directly entered the depths of the South China Sea, away from the coastline, and then headed south.
After they were far away from the coastline, they also encountered great difficulties, because far away from the coastline, the route could no longer be confirmed by land. They could only rely on astronomy and compass for confirmation, which was actually very difficult for this era.
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At this time, Gerdes, an old pirate, gave full play to his expertise and led the fleet southward in a vast sea. Sometimes he changed the course multiple times in order to take advantage of the wind direction and ocean currents. After changing the voyage many times,
, was still able to return to the correct course. For this, more than 20 naval officers in the fleet were stunned and deeply admired!
Well, it is important to mention here that these twenty or so naval officers in the fleet are naturally not active officers of the Tang Navy. Although they were active officers of the Tang Navy a few months ago, they are now retired.
Then they were hired by Datang Western Company and became employees of Datang Western Company. There are two types of military ranks for them. One is their retired military rank, and the other is the military rank of armed employees of Datang Western Company.
The two are different.
But one thing is consistent, that is, it is clearly stipulated in the license that the armed employees, ordinary soldiers, and non-commissioned officers of Datang Western Company can hire ordinary people, and even local indigenous people, but officer employees must hire the Datang Army.
Retired officers from the Navy, Guards, etc. are not allowed to employ ordinary citizens or foreigners.
In order to allow the two cruisers to operate smoothly, Datang Western Company contacted the navy and hired more than 20 retired naval officers and more than 100 retired soldiers. Otherwise, they would not even have the manpower to control the two cruisers.
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However, these officers who have retired from the navy and now become employees of Datang Western Company are very impressed by Gerdes's sailing skills. In the vast sea, it seems to be the back garden of Gerdes's home, no matter what he does,
Come and go as you please!
Those officers are now staying with Gerdes every day, recording his every operation, and these will be extremely valuable navigation records, and there is simply no place to learn from them outside.
Gerdes doesn't care about the stealing behavior of a group of naval officers. He has many skills, and he is not afraid that these young men will finish stealing. Besides, he can sail safely in a deep sea based on navigation records alone.
Are you kidding? When they try it on their own in the future, sometimes they will cry!
Gerdes led the fleet to sail in the deep sea of the South China Sea, and did not encounter other ships along the way, because these days, except for them due to special circumstances, other ships basically sailed close to the coastline and basically did not go to
Coming from the deep sea of confusion.
On the way, they also encountered several islands and reefs. Although the islands were not big and there were no supplies to supply, every time this time, the fleet would stop, and Ying Zihua of Datang Western Company would dispatch Datang Western
The company's armed employees took a boat to the island, and then erected an inscription: Such-and-such island in the Tang Dynasty, on such-and-such month in the sixth year of Xuanping.
Then they will put up another small inscription with the same words, which reads: In the territory of Datang Western Company, trespassing is strictly prohibited, otherwise you will be responsible for the consequences!
Yes, Datang Western Company regards every uninhabited island it encounters along the way as the territory of the Tang Empire and the Datang Western Company. As for outsiders not recognizing it, that doesn’t matter.
Beat him until he admits it!
The official recognizes the ownership of the territories acquired by Datang Western Company overseas. In theory, if Datang Western Company is powerful enough to occupy the entire India, then the entire India will belong to the company's territory!
Along the way, the fleet did not go straight to Malacca because there were Portuguese people there and it would easily cause trouble if the fleet went there, so they first turned east to Luzon.
Luzon has always been a vassal state of the Chinese Empire. Now that the Tang Dynasty has unified China, it is no exception. The Luzon Islands are an inseparable part of the Tang Empire!
Well, now we just let the natives take care of it first, and when the Tang Empire is free, they will take back what they manage. What, the local natives are unwilling, just kidding, how can the natives speak these days!
The natives said they were unwilling? The Tang Empire said: "What are you talking about? Speak louder, I didn't hear...what? Louder..."
Of course, the Tang Empire is still very busy now. The domestic war is not over yet, and the Portuguese have to be on guard, so Luzon can't take care of it for a while, so this time we go to the Luzon Islands.
There was no plan to take back the direct jurisdiction of Luzon Island, but they were just planning to establish a small trading station there.
What, the local indigenous people say they are unwilling and want to object? Then fight until they are willing and not object!
On this fleet, Datang Western Company carried a total of nearly 600 people, more than 100 of whom had just retired from the navy, and more than 500 of whom were all armed sailors.
In addition, there are hundreds of sailors in Gerdes' fleet, well, they can also fight.
Sailors who go to sea these days are basically armed personnel, because maritime merchants either rob others or are robbed by others. It is normal for them to have a fight every time they go to sea.
If you don't know how to use a sword or a gun, you really can't be a sailor!