At the harbor of Long Beach, two sail frigates were whitewashed and covered with colorful flags, with a black dragon on a red background on one side and a navy flag with blue and white stripes on the top of the mast below. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Deng Xiyi looked at the two sail frigates that were officially assigned to the navy, and sighed: "If it weren't for the tight time, at least we would be able to complete the cladding of pig iron armor." ”

As a matter of fact, this Navy Colonel and the current chief in charge of the Navy still have some resentment about the current issue of naval construction. His previous plan for building up the navy was rejected almost instantaneously when it was discussed by the cabinet. The cost was enormous, the lack of step-by-step steps, and the size of the plan was too large, so there was no real chance that the naval construction plan would be put into practice. However, not all the content was vetoed, for example, several ship classes proposed by Deng Xiyi were inherited.

The two frigates named Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou in front of them are the Qi Jiguang-class frigates proposed by Deng Xiyi, which are just a reduced version. Deng Xiyi wanted to dismantle the ships and rebuild them, apparently the cabinet did not think that the speed of the voyage was worth the amount of work to be obtained. Now the speed of European warships is generally 7-10 knots, even if the Ming Dynasty ship type uses hard sails to add steam power, the speed can reach about 14 knots, steadily surpassing European sail warships, and the necessity of changing the ship type is very small.

Originally, Deng Xiyi also hoped to obtain iron-clad armor, but in order to escort the merchant fleet, the two frigates were directly sent into service after being modified with power and firepower. Qi Jiguang-class Type I frigate with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons, directly equipped 10 92 infantry guns on the ship, because the bow and stern of the bow and stern are relatively high, so it is impossible to place artillery, only one left and one right can be placed five gun positions, the firepower is not particularly ideal, especially the range of 2000 meters makes Deng Xiyi feel very sad. But this is also the best configuration that the military can come up with now.

Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou will escort four cargo ships weighing between 2,000 and 3,000 tons to Mexican ports to purchase grain from the region. At the same time, the newly established Datang International Trade Company also collected a lot of items that could be used for sale, such as surplus porcelain in the three fleets, as well as a number of kerosene lamps, glass products, and some metal products that were originally owned by the ships of the Republic of China and are now not used at all.

Of course, worried that the sales of domestic goods were not good, or that the merchants of Mexico were not financially adequate, the merchant ships also carried a batch of silver ingots, all of which were obtained by smelting the oceans of the Republic of China and the silver carried by Zheng He's fleet, which were all hard currency, although the production of silver in Mexico was large and the price was relatively low, but the cabinet still valued its gold reserves more.

Bai Nan also stood beside Deng Xiyi, smiled and comforted him: "These two warships are also strong enough, at least in this era, there are no ships that can deal with them. ”

Deng Xiyi said: "I'm afraid that if we encounter the siege of a large number of ships, it will be very difficult to rely on Qi Jiguang alone." ”

Bai Nan said again: "Hasn't the cabinet already approved this year's naval development plan?" Three more Type I Qi Jiguang-class frigates will be built, one Type II armored frigate will also be trial-produced, and the 6,000-ton Yangwei-class armored cruiser you proposed will also be trial-produced, and this development speed is actually not slow. ”

Deng Xiyi shook his head and said: "The main thing is to see the progress of the military factory, the military factory has been successfully completed, at least we can get a relatively large caliber artillery, our navy has customized a total of 76mm and 155mm two caliber naval guns, if the output can be guaranteed, we can install at least 16 76mm naval guns on the Qi Jiguang class, and we can equip 24 76mm guns and 6 155mm guns on the Yangwei class, especially 155mm naval guns, Only then can we destroy the enemy relatively steadily at a distance of four or five thousand meters. In addition, the steam engines we use now are all under 2000 horsepower, and they are all civilian models, so we can only make larger horsepower and more reliable steam engines for military power. After that, if we get a lot of fuel, whether we have to change to diesel power, these are all questions. ”

It's no wonder that Deng Xiyi is so obsessed with artillery, in addition to a small number of PLA mortars and the like, the main artillery is the Japanese 92 infantry gun and the American M101 105mm field gun, the number of 105 guns is small, and the recoil is greater, and now it will not be assigned to the navy at all. The two frigates took away 20 guns, which was also quite painful, so the cabinet had to urge the military industry group to quickly prepare for the establishment of a military factory to produce artillery and supply it to the army of the republic.

Two frigates are holding their induction ceremonies, while on the other side of the dock, laborers are working to carry the goods to be exported onto four freighters. This merchant ship operation did not consider several large sailing ships on Zheng He's side at all, because their speed could not catch up with the two frigates, and only the Republic of China freighters, who also had a speed of more than a dozen knots, had the ability to sail together.

In this way, in fact, except for some of the Ming Dynasty ships waiting to be converted into warships, most of the sailing ships will not be useful, because most of the freight tasks can be handed over to the modern cargo ships of the Republic of China, and the main cargo ships of the Republic of China are also as many as 100, and only four of them sailed this time, and the capacity is seriously exceeded. Most of the ships in Zheng He's fleet will be idle or dismantled, of course, the few with a displacement of more than 10,000 tons will be retained, which is the pinnacle of human wooden sailing ships, and a few may actually be converted into armored sail battleships designed by Deng Xiyi, and the rest may be used as museums in the future.

Bai Nan continued to comfort him: "The ship will naturally go straight to the bridgehead, Captain Deng, after all, we are at the forefront of the times, and we know the correct direction of development in the future, as long as we can ensure the continuous progress and development of our Datang, our Datang Navy will also continue to progress and develop." ”

Deng Xiyi pursed his lips and said, "Datang, this word is slowly becoming less blunt now, I hope we can really create a miracle in this land." ”

Bai Nan's tone was more determined: "It's a miracle that we came here. ”

Cruzado and Pérez both came to the port of Long Beach, and seeing the busy situation here, Pérez sighed: "Even if it is some ports in Europe, that is, to this extent, there are no ports of this scale in the Americas except here." However, the only reason why such a large port was built here was that they had a large number of ships, which could not be used at all. ”

Cruzado shook his head and said, "As you said, most of the ships here have not yet been utilized, because this is just a new country, it is thriving and full of energy, and I believe that in a few years, it will be more prosperous than Alpco, and even more than Seville and Gardez." ”

Pérez didn't say anything, because if he did help establish the Los Angeles to Alpulco or San Blas route, the more prosperous Los Angeles would be, the more profitable he would be. Pérez knew very well how difficult it was to mediate the reconciliation of the Tang West, and it was really difficult for Spain to give up Upper California, which is what the Tang people called California, but fortunately, in fact, Spain did not really control this area, but there were only a few outposts-like evangelistic offices and fortresses, and it was not without precedent for Spain to give up such an area.

The Seven Years' War had left Spain in ruins at the hands of the British, and now that the European powers were desperately trying to accumulate their strength, a war that would cost military and financial resources was never welcome, especially in a colony that was unlikely to bring Spain any gains. On the other hand, if Spain tolerated the presence of the Tang state in California and actively expanded its trade with the Tang state, then Spain could benefit greatly from it.

In fact, Bai Nan was not particularly sure that Spain would accept the conditions drafted by himself, but he knew that in the original history, at the end of the eighteenth century, the Spanish and British fought over the ownership of Nutka Point and the entire northwest region of North America.

Bai Nan did not expect that the signing of the agreement would be smooth sailing, and Spain might once again send forces to test Datang, and all Datang needed to do was to thwart the Spaniards' plans again and again.

So far, the territory that Datang has asked to occupy is only the California region, but in the future, as Datang's strength increases and the population increases, it will inevitably expand to Oregon further north, the unnamed British Columbia region and Alaska, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and even New Mexico on the east side of California.

Of course, this ambition is too huge to be described as a snake swallowing an elephant, but Bai Nan believes that as long as Datang is given time, they, the traversers from another world, will eventually have the opportunity to fulfill this grand wish.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and the first thing the Tang Republic needs to do is to establish its first territory, California. Bai Nan, as the special envoy this time, stepped on the Qi Jiguang and sent an envoy to the colony of New Spain.