"Big brother, I've been working on power generation equipment recently, do you have any good suggestions?" Qiaoxi's words almost made Li Xuanqing fall to the ground and generate electricity? What's the situation? I haven't implemented the results of the first industrial revolution yet, how did you jump to the electric revolution?

However, Li Xuanqing gradually understood the latter's idea after receiving the plan handed over by Qiaoxi, Zhang Qiang's expedition in the South China Sea returned, and the biggest result he brought back this time was to figure out the geographical location of the Ryukyu Islands and Luzon Island, and as expected, the rich copper resources in Luzon also entered the sight of the Imperial Assets Group and the Logistics Department after Zhang Qiang's return. The former is because Li Xuanqing and his wife have the insight and understanding of copper mines in later generations, and they want to include the copper ore resources on Luzon Island in the mining list of the empire's natural resources in advance. In recent years, the Equipment Department and the Ministry of Land and Resources have specialized personnel to explore minerals in the vast grasslands of the north, and the copper mines are at the forefront. But after Li Xuanqing was unwilling to expose the location of the later Jiangxi copper mines in advance, the only remaining option was to reach out to the South Seas, and the biggest choice was Luzon.

"Planning to develop wind power on the South Sea Islands? It's too early to happen, and there's a reason why the power revolution is happening. We can't interfere too much. Li Xuanqing knew Qiaoxi's thoughts, but after thinking about it, he still shook his head. Now that Datang has gradually embarked on the road of self-development, Li Xuanqing does not intend to use the knowledge brought by his later generations to interfere with this development process, after all, the biggest bend has been broken by himself, and the rest have been able to steadily and gradually widen the distance and gap with other tribes by relying on self-development.

"No, what are we going to do with those islands? Could it be that a sea of warships was laid? Qiaoxi was also a little distressed: "No one in this place may know their value now, but when the industrial revolution in the Central Plains comes to an end, how can we control so many islands?" ”

"Then grasp the big and let go of the small, control the main traffic arteries, and let the rest develop." Li Xuanqing smiled: "And I have a way to control as much of this sea pearl chain as possible." Li Xuanqing's method is actually the method of later generations, and it may not be possible to realize it now, but now that the royal shipyard has become the vane of the design and manufacture of Datang navigation ships, Li Xuanqing is trying to find a way to see. In later generations, Britain controlled almost all the world's sea communication arteries in the era when the sun never set, and then plundered large areas of land as colonies on this basis, so as to support an island nation to control the seven seas for a hundred years. In this life, Datang's shipbuilding industry has been on the right track, and with the development of steam power, the speed and carrying capacity of ships are also catching up little by little, and there is already the possibility of implementation. Therefore, Li Xuanqing did not have too many worries about Qiaoxi's distress, but pulled Qiaoxi to start studying the newly designed large cargo ship with a load capacity of more than 5,000 tons in Tianjin Shipyard. Li Xuanqing wanted to add the design of the future cargo ships out of the warehouse and into the warehouse, while Qiaoxi planned to innovate the port facilities and let the Shenzhou Machinery Factory produce and design the latest equipment, so that it could be matched with the new cargo ships and increase the throughput of the maritime trade port.

Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi's method later became the standard equipment for new wharves in major ports across the country, and a large number of new cargo ships began to be built and launched in Tianjin and Dalian shipyards, and in order to meet the increasing demand for new cargo ships, the Royal Shipyard began to build new assembly lines at the Third Shipyard in Hangzhou Bay and the Fifth Shipyard on Liuqiu Island, outsourcing all the previous production tasks to other shipyards in China. In just four months in the second half of the seventh year of the Apocalypse, the Royal Shipyard directly launched more than a dozen such freighters, and was immediately taken away by Zhang Qiang and began to sail towards Luzon. However, after that, the logistics department gathered five heavy metal smelting families led by the Yuwen family and the Murong family to follow with machines and workers, preparing to rough the rough smelting on the island in advance, and then transport the copper embryo back. This approach of the Logistics Department was subsequently adopted by all the large families in the South Seas. In response to this situation, the navy, which has gained huge benefits from maritime trade, has also begun to enter a period of rapid expansion, and the improved warships of the Shandong class began to be outfitted in the Tianjin shipyard, using the latest power equipment, and then renovating a new cabin design, so that the cruising range of the improved Shandong-class began to increase from 3,500 kilometers to about 5,500 kilometers, and the range was nearly doubled. The Cabinet also began to meet to discuss the feasibility of including these discovered islands in the Tang Dynasty's overseas territory, and soon after, the Nanyang Affairs Department was established to be responsible for the full-time management of this maritime territory in the South Seas.

At this time, Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi also quietly came to Tianjin, and after meeting with Xu Xingxia, Xu Xingxia led the formation of a Nanyang Trading Company in Tianjin, which is currently the most complex company in the Tang Empire, and its members not only include people from the six major families, but even the two behemoths of the royal family and the logistics department are also among them. Nanyang Trading Company began to mobilize the largest forces of the Tang Dynasty, both non-governmental and semi-official, and began to develop in Nanyang. However, unlike the Western Ocean, which was mainly a trade distribution center and a commodity market, this vast island scattered across the sea in the South China Sea was clearly positioned by Li Xuanqing as the exploitation site of the natural resources for the development of the empire and the official territory for the next industrial transfer of the empire. All family caravans that go on an expedition to the South Seas must understand that the mineral resources found can be exploited and disposed of by the discoverer, but the islands they are located on must be handed over to the Empire free of charge, and the routes explored must be unconditionally reported to the Imperial military. Of course, the Imperial Military and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry will do everything in their power to protect the explorers' powers, and provide protection and rescue when necessary.

This approach of developing in tandem with the West but with a completely different position also made all the merchant families involved in it begin to understand the starting point of the Empire's considerations, and to ensure the Empire's requirements for territorial expansion under the premise of ensuring the interests of explorers. In this way, the importance of the Imperial Navy became more and more important in this expedition and the establishment of the territory of the South Seas, gradually catching up with the pace of the army.

However, these were not the problems that Li Xuanqing had to consider at this time, and after the appearance of naval warships and new freighters, Li Xuanqing began to outline the location of important islands in the South Sea. But then what made Li Xuanqing and Qiaoxi smile bitterly was that although Nanyang had a general name of the Three Buddhas in his memory at this time, it was the name obtained by the Central Plains Dynasty, in fact, at this time, the Nanyang Islands were basically primitive societies, and the invasion from the Western religion had not yet begun, so this island was basically in the position of its own occupation for the Tang Empire, so the previous experience was not very useful. Therefore, Li Xuanqing simply began to expand in the southeast and southeast directions based on the Manraka Strait, which really allowed him to screen out dozens of strategic points, plus Luzon and the Ryukyu Islands, which was equivalent to being connected with Japan and becoming a bright pearl in the southern sea surrounding the territory of the Central Plains.

"Big brother, are you going to take out this map now? There are still a lot of areas that our expedition hasn't been to before. Qiaoxi frowned and said: "In fact, the station of the Nanyang Fleet in this way will be moved south, so the Nanyang Fleet will need to choose a new home port." ”

Qiaoxi's words made Li Xuanqing ponder for a while, this is no longer a problem of the southward movement of the Nanyang Fleet's station, but a problem that the Western Fleet is also facing at present, and under the situation that the overseas bases are getting farther and farther away from the home port, it is difficult to meet this need by relying on this simple fleet division. So Li Xuanqing thought for a while and said: "Qiaoxi, I plan to re-split the three major fleets, reorganize the Beiyang Fleet, and become an inland sea fleet to protect the empire's mainland, and then move all the Nanyang Fleet to Manraka and other places, establish a new military port in the local area, and place the entire Nanyang Fleet in the Nanyang." As for the Western Fleet, it will be split into two fleets, with the Lion Kingdom as the boundary, what do you think? ”

"It's true that this division is possible, but is the big brother worried about the afterlife? In the absence of you and me, if the admirals rebel, we will not be able to counter the vast overseas territories. At this time, there are only two of them, so naturally they can say anything. So Qiaoxi shook his head and said, "It is true that countermeasures are needed." In my opinion, there are at least three points that can be implemented in advance, and the big brother's inland sea fleet must be one of them, right? ”

"I do have this concern, no matter what, the territory of the Tang Empire cannot be reduced, it can only be expanded." Li Xuanqing nodded and said, "The size and equipment of the Inland Sea Fleet must be able to confront half of the strength of the three overseas fleets at the same time. "In fact, the Inland Sea Fleet is designed to allow the local dynasty to directly control a reliable naval fleet in case of emergency, which can be used to counter overseas attacks, so that it can have the strength to quell the rebellion.

"It's also said that the Inland Sea Fleet is in the hands of the royal family, and if you add the cutting-edge technology in the hands of the mainland, it will be about the same. And the patriotic concept on the part of the Ministry of Education is getting deeper and deeper, and this situation is actually just in case. Qiaoxi said with a smile.

"Okay, help me pick out the ports of the naval fleet, the home port is not the same as the overseas stronghold." Li Xuanqing pulled Qiaoxi and began to sketch the location of the fleet's home port. In fact, there is a good port on the Luzon side, Cavite or Antimona in later generations, but these two places are destined to have a Chinese name in this life. Therefore, after Li Xuanqing circled Luzon, he set his sights on other islands in the South Sea.

When Li Xuanqing was sketching out the home port of the Nanyang Fleet, in fact, the expedition team on the Nanyang side had already rushed towards the islands of the Nanyang like thousands of horses. And some of the caravans even reached the idea of those natives in Nanyang, because of the development of large-scale infrastructure in China, the labor gap is too big, so the idea of these merchants was quickly fed back to the marines, so some of the marines began to enter Nanyang, so in just half a year, a group of inexplicable natives came to the major large-scale construction sites of the empire, and these aborigines who were sold as prisoners of war were all over almost all the construction sites of the Tang Empire in the following years.

While human trafficking was rapidly carried out by governments across the empire, the abundant natural resources were also transported back to the country by boats, and even the abundant timber resources began to be brought back to China to be made into various products and sold everywhere. Under the strict environmental protection within the empire, timber became the most surgent resource, and in the first year or two it became popular and increased in value, especially those of high value.

However, because the most rapid development after the South China Sea exploration is carried out is those coastal ports, after a large number of material resources into the port, those ports connecting the railway and the industrial zone have developed rapidly, especially the major ports in the north, and even the ports along the south of the Yangtze River including Hangzhou, have also taken this ride, a large number of minerals in Hangzhou and other places after unloading and then transferred to the mainland, and then sent to the major industrial zones on their backs. After the abundant inbound resources, not only Hangzhou Port has expanded rapidly and become a veritable southeast economic center, but also the most important point is that Hangzhou Thorn Mansion has now begun to plan an industrial zone and began to develop coastal industries in accordance with the plan of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

While seeing the opportunity of this wave of development, Li Xuanqing also found Guo Chongtao and held a meeting in the General Staff to separate and reorganize the three major fleets of the Navy. The Beiyang Fleet began the first round of expansion, and in addition to undertaking the cruising tasks of the Beiyang Fleet itself, it also took over all the tasks of the Nanyang Fleet and formed the Inland Sea Fleet. Expand the cruising range to cover a huge sea area from Japan in the north to Shimojiao in the south. The Nanyang Fleet was stationed in the Nanyang Islands and extended its combat and patrol range to the entire Nanyang islands. In this way, the overseas territory of the empire was instantly expanded a hundredfold due to the southward movement of the Nanyang Fleet. In the face of such a big task, not only the General Staff and Navy Minister Guo Chongtao, who attended the meeting, had a solemn face, but even Cen Tianshi and others who attended the meeting were unable to digest it for a while. Although the Cabinet has set up a Department of Nanyang Affairs to take charge of the affairs of the Nanyang Overseas Territories, he did not expect Li Xuanqing's mind and pace to be so fast, so that the Cabinet and the General Staff Department could not keep up with the pace for a while.

"Grasp the big and let go of the small, and occupy the main traffic arteries in advance." Li Xuanqing pointed to the large and small islands on the map and said: "Then you will digest as much as you want to occupy and develop in advance." However, the navy, as a law enforcer in the early South Seas and a symbol of imperial power, must be stationed in advance. ”