"It's going to be another pot of porridge today." In the Hailing Port Naval Base, Jiang Yaohui, commander of the First Fleet, walked into the office, threw his military hat on the table, and said a little tiredly.

In the past few days, the Admiralty has convened a meeting of representatives of the three major fleets at the Hailing Port Military Base for a meeting on the distribution of military expenditures. As the most powerful of the three fleets and at the same time the host, the First Fleet originally planned to increase its share in the military expenditure allocation next year, further increasing the current proportion from 70 percent to 80 percent, so as to complete the expansion of the First Fleet and the replacement of old and new ships. In order to convince the commanders of the other two fleets to agree to this new distribution plan, the First Fleet agreed to extend the life of its ships that were about to be decommissioned, and then dumped them to the other two fleets at a low price of half selling and half giving away, so as to strengthen their strength.

As expected, this plan provoked strong resistance from representatives of the second and third fleets. The representative of the Second Fleet was particularly outraged, pointing out that the country was about to enter the Indian Ocean in a big way, and that India was not investing more at this time. It's completely contrary to the country's major policies!

The Second Fleet is so "grumpy", and the Third Fleet is very much different! Although their tone was not so fierce, their tone was just as serious, and they pointed out: "As the changes in the situation on the mainland became more and more unfavorable to the East Coast Republic, and the degree of civilization of some separatist princes of the Qing State, the Shun State, and even the Ming State became more and more enlightened, the interference effect of the three feudatories in the Far East on the mainland situation became worse and worse, and the exchanges between the Chinese forces and other countries outside the East Coast became more and more frequent. In order to reverse this unfavorable situation, the east coast now urgently needs to expand the strength of the two major sub-fleets of the Third Fleet (the Okhotsk Naval Detachment and the South China Sea Detachment) in order to strengthen its control over Chinese mainland's 10,000-mile maritime frontier. ”

The fierce opposition of the Second and Third Fleets was a major headache for the First Fleet. Colonel Jiang Yaohui, the commander of the fleet, who personally attended the meeting, spoke well to the representatives of the other two fleets, but did not make them change their minds, as if they had received a very clear order from their superiors before they came to the meeting, that is, to resolutely fight against the First Fleet and defend their own interests.

Colonel Jiang Yaohui argued with them for a day, but in the end he didn't convince anyone, so he could only dismiss the meeting and return to his office. After the meeting, he actually found a representative of the Admiralty and a familiar deputy minister, but this old man was extremely slippery, and he didn't show any tone at all, and his Tai Chi skills were profound, so Jiang could only retreat.

"These guys, one by one, don't know anything! Don't look at what the situation is now, the world of great contention! What is the point of the Second Fleet and the Third Fleet's little abacus? Not to mention the South China Sea Fleet, the Caribbean Fleet and the Cape Verde Fleet are weak and have a certain influence on the local situation, but they are still far from a dominant position. Hmph, I know when I get the benefits, now I have to divide the money, one by one is like an iron rooster, what a bunch of bastards! Colonel Jiang Yaohui lit a pipe for himself, sat on a sofa in the office with Erlang's legs crossed, and said with some annoyance.

The adjutant lightly made a pot of tea, then stood opposite Jiang Yaohui and said softly: "Commander, this matter of fighting for funds will definitely not be smooth sailing." In the past, when we were in the Third Fleet, every time we fought for military expenses, didn't we also quarrel with the people of the First Fleet? At that time, Li Zemin and Commander Li of the First Fleet were regarded as the number one villain by our Third Fleet. Now that feng shui is turning, we have come to the First Fleet, and we will naturally become villains in the eyes of others. ”

"Hehe, you guy, you're not wrong. I have been fighting with the First Fleet for more than 10 years, and I have not taken any advantage in the competition, and I hope that the ministry will continue to support us this time, and don't let those two fleets take advantage. Colonel Jiang Yaohui took a puff of cigarette and said with a smile.

In fact, deep down he was still a little worried. He graduated from the navigation school and did not have an outstanding background, compared with the other high-ranking officers of the fleet who were mostly descendants of the founders, he was just an ordinary Ming immigrant, who entered the navigation school since he was a child, and became a student of the naval boss Lu Ming, and then relied on his own ability and a certain amount of luck, all the way to the top, and finally became the current commander of the First Fleet.

He also knows that people like him have obvious disadvantages when competing with those second-generation founders. Take the matter of fighting for military expenses as an example, the resources and connections that Li Ze *min and Mo Liee's two people can use are much stronger than him. Therefore, even if the First Fleet is the first of the three fleets, it is unknown which side the Admiralty will lean towards, and what if one of the bigwigs is done with the job and tilts towards the other two fleets in terms of resource allocation?

And once such a thing happens, it will inevitably greatly damage Jiang Yaohui's prestige in the First Fleet, so that a lot of work in the future will not be easy to carry out. You must know that he Jiang still has a little bit of self-motivation, and wants to fight again before retiring to see if he can get a dignitary position in the Admiralty, such as a deputy minister with a higher rank, etc.

"Commander, I don't think you need to worry too much about this." The adjutant said: "Actually, the old men in the ministry have always been very sober, knowing that the First Fleet is fundamental, and they will definitely support us." The reason why we are still ambiguous and unwilling to express our attitude now is that we want to quarrel with the Second and Third Fleets first, kill the arrogance of those two groups, and then come out to make peace. These guys are very good and won't come out to offend people first, but their attitude should still be very clear. ”

Actually, Adjutant Jiang Yaohui's words are to the point. Although the Republic of China on the east coast of China is located in three oceans, in the final analysis, the core territory is on the west coast of the Atlantic, where the main population, cities, farmland, factories and power institutions are located, and all depend on the protection of the First Fleet (the jurisdiction of the South China Sea Fleet), and the First Fleet has always received about 70% of the funding for many years, which has been a good proof of the Admiralty's "great love" for them.

Moreover, as trade with the New World continues and the situation in Europe changes, the case for strengthening the First Fleet is becoming more and more strong: the South China Sea Fleet needs to update its ships to protect the security of its homeland, the Caribbean Fleet needs to update its ships to maintain the trade order in the Caribbean, and the Cape Verde Fleet needs to update its ships to better intervene in the increasingly complex European continent. Compared to them, the requirements of the other two major fleets are less adequate -

The opponents faced by the Second Fleet were too scummy, and neither the Portuguese nor the English had enough strength to challenge the Second Fleet head-on. The Dutch East India Company, the only one that could pose a threat to the Second Fleet, was focused on doing business, and even if they were dissatisfied with the East Coasters, their merchant nature made it difficult for them to really make up their minds about who they would fight directly.

The strength of the Third Fleet is inferior to that of the Second Fleet, and the length of the coastline they need to control is very staggering, and even if they expand their forces by two or three times on the basis of their current strength, it will still not be enough to block China's 10,000-mile sea frontier off the coast. And since it can't be blocked, what's the point of tossing? It is better to obediently leave the military budget and give up the limited resources to the more important First Fleet, which is the logic of the First Fleet, and at the same time the logic of the vast majority of the Admiralty over the years.

This logic is based on a high degree of economic interests, Europe, the New World and part of the West African continent have provided a lot of profits to the East Coast Republic of China, and at the same time, the industrial products of the East Coast can be effectively sold, feeding a large number of industrial, commercial and even agricultural enterprises in the country, and strongly promoting the country's industrialization, and the positive effect is very huge.

Far Eastern trade is far worse by comparison. People in the world always think how precious tea, silk and porcelain in Chinese mainland are, but at the end of the 17th century, when tea was just becoming popular, the market for this thing was not very large. Although the market for silk and porcelain is not small, it is far from being as big as imagined, after all, there are only a few merchant ships a year in Britain, the Netherlands and other countries, and the European market is limited at this time, and it may not even be much larger than that of Asian countries such as Japan. In addition, the East Coast itself also produces its own porcelain, and also imports raw silk from Persia, Punjab and other places to produce silk, which disperses the demand for Chinese goods.

What's more, what good is it for the country to engage in pure resale trade, except for making some money? Can it promote the industrialization of the country? Obviously, it is very difficult, and if it is survived, it will have some positive impact on the shipbuilding industry, and the vast majority of the profits obtained from trade have not entered the field of industrial production, and have not effectively nourished the chain of industrial production, and have not stimulated the forward development of technology.

Therefore, for the renewal and addition of ships of the Third Fleet, let's wait a little longer, and talk about the First Fleet first!

"Commander, in the past two or three years, the situation on the European continent has not changed at all. Many people have commented that the "Peace of Ainaut" signed before is not a peace treaty for many countries, but just an armistice agreement, and sooner or later the European continent will continue to fight, and France, the Netherlands, Austria, Spain and other countries will still play the leading role. In the face of the changing situation in Europe, in order to protect our markets and interests, we must build up a plausible maritime armed force in order to intervene in the situation in Europe in the immediate vicinity. As the Cape Verde squadron, which is close to Europe, it naturally needs to be greatly strengthened. The adjutant said while pouring tea for Jiang Yaohui.

"Also, the Ottoman Turkish side is not very quiet. After gaining great advantage from the defeat of the remaining Austrian army on the Hungarian side, Kara Mustafa Davidzi from the Koprulu family was again coerced by the officers and began to lead his army into the heart of Austria. The Agas believed that the main Austrian forces were being pinned down by their allies, the French, and that the country was empty, and that it was a good time to attack. The adjutant continued: "Commander Jiang, this is a big variable, and it may have a profound impact on the future trend of the situation. It seems to me that neither side was ready for a decisive battle, but it came suddenly. On the Ottoman side, after removing the men and horses that had withdrawn and remained in Hungary, there were still about 150,000, of which 50,000 soldiers should have been, but the composition was complex, the morale was average, and the battle was long and fatigued; The Kingdom of Austria currently has 20,000 soldiers killed in the country, even if this will be urgently called, but this often takes a cycle, and the quantity and quality cannot be guaranteed, unless the tens of thousands of elite main soldiers are withdrawn from the Western Front, but the French will definitely not let them do it. These two countries are not ready, and they are suddenly about to fight, is our country also ready for a big change in the situation on the European continent? Anyway, I heard from some colleagues in the ministry that the authorities were deliberately strengthening the Cape Verdean naval detachment so that in the event of a drastic change, they would have enough strength to respond quickly and even directly send warships to intervene in the situation. ”

Jiang Yaohui nodded silently after listening. As a high-ranking military officer of the East Coast Republic of China, how could he not understand the current trends of the country? To put it simply, the current national policy of the East Coast has changed a lot compared to ten, twenty or even thirty years ago! With a population of 5 million, an annual fiscal income of more than 20 million yuan, and an industrial production capacity second to none, the East Coast Republic of China has indeed gained a certain degree of confidence and has begun to interfere with foreign countries.

Of course, due to various factors, the people on the east coast can basically only rely on the navy for their current means of foreign interference, and this naturally requires first of all to strengthen the building of the navy and increase the strength of all fleets and sub-fleets! In this matter, the First Fleet undoubtedly has a great advantage, and they are the sharpest sword of the Executive Committee to intervene in the situation in Europe, and naturally have the right to receive the greatest inclination of resources.

According to a plan made by the Admiralty before, the Cape Verde Squadron of the First Fleet needs to maintain more than 20 professional warships that can be dispatched at any time - now it is not as good as before, twenty or thirty years ago, maybe ten elite warships could effectively affect the situation in a sea area, but now it is not possible to effectively intervene in the situation in a region, and it is not yet possible to ensure success, which undoubtedly means a huge upfront investment, and the First Fleet requires an increase in the proportion of naval military spending, It's not too much to say, it's all for the needs of the country.

Of course, the most ideal solution is for the state to increase the overall military expenditure next year, so that there is a lot of room for easing everyone's contradictions, after all, there is more money, even if the proportion allocated is low, maybe the absolute value is not so low, and this is enough. As for whether the government will increase military spending next year, to be honest, there is still a lot of possibility, because the current government is a little different from the previous one, and the second generation that has gradually come to power is full of interest in actively interfering in the external situation.