Liqun went south to the port of Xingnan on the ship of the messenger liner company.

And after he left, a sizable naval fleet quietly sailed into the slightly empty port of Rocha, which was part of the ships of the Navy's First Fleet. They were joined by two "captive ships" that had been converted from the South African River Harbor, which had been purchased by the Southern Railway Company as the seventh and eighth ships owned by the company, and they would then load a large quantity of supplies at the port of Luocha and then descend south to Shanhou Fort to deliver supplies and supplies to the Shanhou area, which was in full swing.

After more than three years of stealthy privateering, the navy now has a deep pocket, with more than $2.5 million in cash through the auction of ships and cargo - a portion of which can be used, since most of the money comes from domestic, and if used, it will not cause serious inflation in the "little pool" of the Eastern Republic of China.

Of the money, in addition to half of the money handed over to the Executive Committee and the promised share to be distributed to the officers and soldiers, the Admiralty still had more than 750,000 yuan left at its disposal. Therefore, after reporting to the executive committee for approval, they took out 150,000 yuan to subsidize the Southern Railway Company to fund them to speed up the construction of a special wharf for battleships and auxiliary batteries in Xingnan Port; In addition, 100,000 yuan was given to the Western Forging Plant and Tieling Special Steel, and they were funded to speed up the research and development of large-tonnage hydraulic presses and steel rolling equipment; In the end, they also gave 50,000 yuan to the Ship Design Institute of the Academy of Natural Sciences to fund them to develop a variety of ship types.

After removing the 300,000 yuan in cash, the Admiralty still has a huge amount of 450,000 yuan in hand. As for what the money will be used for, it seems to be clear now. Zhenhai Shipyard has already received an order of 200,000 yuan from the Admiralty for the three-deck battleship "Executive Committee". The plant has now begun intensive preparatory work. The start of construction is already on the way. Of course, the construction funds of the "Executive Committee" obviously did not require 200,000 yuan, and the reason why the Admiralty transferred 200,000 yuan to the account of the United Industrial Credit Bank was actually to subsidize the research and development funds invested in the early stage of the Zhenhai Shipyard -- anyway, the Admiralty is not short of money now, and it is happy to be a boy who scatters money and makes good fortunes everywhere.

In addition, the Admiralty also placed an order for the construction of 2 sail frigate gunboats at the Dayuhe Naval Shipyard, and an order for 8 river shallow water gunboats and a hospital ship at the Hyundai Special Shipyard, which cost more than 100,000 yuan at once; Is there more than 100,000 yuan left? Navy Commander Lu Ming planned to build a new coastal defense fort in Jingjiang Port and Yancheng Port, and then repair the building of the Admiralty, and that was almost it.

In addition to the proceeds from the auction of ships and goods, the navy actually seized a large number of foreign gold and silver coins in the past three years, which was converted into more than 500,000 yuan of silver dollars on the east coast, but this money could not be used for the time being. Because the number is too large and it is more out of thin air (in fact, it is no different from gold mining), once it enters the market, it will inevitably cause serious disturbance to the real economy of the east coast, which is currently developing in a healthy and orderly manner, so it can only be temporarily transported to the Shipu Mint (a newly opened mint near the Shipu Reservoir) in the Wujiang area. Utilizing the abundant local water resources) to be minted into the East Coast Silver Dollar, which was sealed in the vault of the Northwest Reclamation Bank of Zài. As for the part that the soldiers should get their hands on. They will have to wait for two years, and two years later, they will use the certificate of deposit issued this time to the Northwest Reclamation Bank to receive the bonus with principal and interest.

However, in the short term, the Navy may not be able to continue to do this kind of good thing. One is that although they have moved to the Caribbean, the southeast coast of North America, the Gulf of Guinea, the coast of Brazil, and the coast of South Africa in the past three years, their frequent privateering activities have still attracted the attention of European countries.

Second, after several years of hard work, the people of the East Coast have cultivated a large number of Spanish compradors in the Viceroyalty of Peru, who have made a fortune by guò and the smuggling trade of the East Bank, and their power and influence have become stronger and stronger in Peru - correspondingly, the share of goods on the East Coast has also increased - and at this time, it is difficult for foreign goods to shake the dominant position of the East Coasters in the region, unless they supply goods that cannot be produced on the East Bank. In such a situation, it seems no longer necessary in the short term to crack down on smuggling vessels from European countries to Peru.

The third, and most important factor, is that the Executive Committee may need to use the Navy next, so it has found a way to recall the ships of the First Fleet that are roaming the open sea in batches. As for where they are to be used, the Executive Committee has made it very clear to the Admiralty: Brazil.

Because things are getting a little tricky now! In order to express their dissatisfaction, the Brazilian colonial authorities brazenly used the stick of economic sanctions to cut off trade between East and Portugal, which made the people on the east coast a little uncomfortable. Not to mention the sugar, tropical fruits, candied dried fruits, feathers, cocoa, coffee, tobacco, and small commodities including silver and bronze ware, embroidery needles, fish hooks, buttons, and candlesticks, which were closely related to the daily lives of the people, the severance of cotton and shipyards, the two largest commodities imported from Brazil on the east coast, still made the members of the Executive Committee particularly upset.

The ship material is easy to solve, Spain's Central American region also has Brazilian sumac wood (but the quantity is far less than Brazil's), and it should not be a problem for the compradors in Peru to buy some, it's just a big deal to spend a little more money, but cotton is a little difficult to do!

As we all know, many countries in Europe have begun to develop the cotton textile industry, such as the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, France, Venice, Sweden, Spain (mainly concentrated in the South Netherlands) and so on. For example, Leiden, the "textile city" of the Netherlands, the Netherlands, has also built some cotton textile factories in addition to wool textiles, such as the cotton and linen, silk and linen, and silk and cotton blended industrial zone in Manchester, England, which even competes fiercely with the Indian cotton cloth sold back by the British East India Company, such as the privately funded and government-supported cotton textile factory in Paris, France, and so on.

The rise of the cotton textile industry in Western Europe greatly reduced the sources of raw materials for people on the east coast. For example, the Florida cotton market, which used to be the exclusive property of East Coasters, is now gradually being squeezed in by some European merchants; For example, some cotton plantations on the islands of the Caribbean Sea are also exporting a declining share of cotton to the east coast.

As a result, the East Coast has begun to import Brazilian cotton in recent years – and the country's cotton plantations have also grown rapidly in recent years, and Brazil's population has increased considerably more than in the same period in history – to make up for the lack of quality and quantity of self-produced cotton.

Therefore, a few years ago, when a large area of land suitable for growing cotton was discovered in the western coastal basin of New Huaxia Island, the government of the east coast also made great efforts to develop it in accordance with public opinion, intending to gradually reduce the import demand for foreign cotton and increase the self-sufficiency rate of cotton, an important industrial raw material. Unfortunately, due to the shortage of manpower and the attacks of the natives of the Manaber Kingdom, the cotton plantations in the Cotton River Valley still have a limited scale of cotton production, and the east bank still has to import foreign cotton vigorously.

But now the Portuguese have begun to sanction us, and have completely cut off trade between the two countries, which is unreasonable! We will never accept such a domineering act of the Portuguese that violates the principles of free trade! At this time, the navy, as the most powerful tool to embody the will of the country, must be ready to play at any time. After all, many times you can't convince others by lip service, you have to use the right way to put pressure on people at the right time, so that you can achieve a better result.

Of course, the East Coast Republic, as a "rogue state" that has always practiced double standards, cannot see how they first naked disregarded the interests of the Brazilian colonial authorities and colluded with the Dutch West India Company. The Portuguese blame themselves for being too weak and caught up in a protracted war with Spain and the Netherlands, and at this time, your demands and interests will naturally be selectively ignored by many people. It's not about justice, it's just about strength!

Moreover, it is foreseeable that if the Portuguese do not quickly get rid of the quagmire of war, vigorously reform their domestic political, economic and religious policies, and encourage the development of industry and commerce to improve the country's strength, similar slaps in the face will be staged one after another, and the Portuguese will either endure or get out, and there is no third way to go. After all, on the east coast today, with a series of first-hand information about the Anglo-Dutch war sent back by Mo San, there are more and more people within the Executive Committee who are inclined to unite with the Netherlands to contain the British. In such a line of thinking, it is not surprising that Portugal is destined to become a bargaining chip in the bargaining between the great powers.

If you don't see it in Europe, Portugal is just a pitiful bargaining chip right now. The country has been mired in a protracted war with the Kingdom of Spain since an uprising against the Kingdom of Spain in 1637 (which eventually became independent in 1640). The Portuguese naively thought that they were at war with the Habsburg royal bloc led by Spain, so they would naturally be able to join the anti-Habsburg bloc led by France, but the reality was that the Portuguese were greatly slapped in the face! Because Britain, the Netherlands, France and other countries agreed that Portugal's strength was insignificant and could not add much bargaining chip to victory in the war, but they possessed too much wealth that was not commensurate with their position, it might be more cost-effective to regard the Portuguese as enemies, and the Portuguese were tragic.

This fact once again proves to people what it means to be a weak country without diplomacy, especially in the face of a gang of robbers, your weakness and wealth are the original sin, which is an unbreakable truth in the world!

On April 1, 1653, a large number of warships from the east coast sailed into the Zhenhai Harbor Naval Base after being restocked, awaiting further instructions from the Executive Committee and the War Department. (To be continued......)