Yes, Britain's sea power, even though the strong rise of the Chinese Empire and the establishment of the East African colonies have caused a trap on the map layout of India, the pearl of the British Empire, but in fact the British have always firmly held the hegemony of the world's seas. 》し

Britain's sea power has three major guarantees: one is a huge fleet all over the world, and the second is his colonies all over the world, which means that its fleet has overseas bases for logistics all over the world, which help the British fleet to cover the whole world, and the third is the trade routes and merchant fleets accumulated by the British Empire for a hundred years.

At that time, the Netherlands was known as the coachman of the world, and the first two points were not strong enough, so the Netherlands lost everything. Less than half a century after the founding of the Chinese Empire, even with Lin Hong's plug-in, it only qualified China to challenge the sea power of the British Empire.

In fact, the countries in the world today have the ability to challenge Britain's sea power are France and China, the French Third Republic at this time is more aggressive and purposeful than the same period in history, the defeat of the Franco-Prussian War made the romantic French completely sober to face their own situation, the French army was inspired by the national humiliation to reinvigorate, and the reorganized army and navy of France could not immediately start a war against Germany, Manchu's passion was used in the development and conquest of colonies, Algeria, Tunisia, North Africa, A large amount of land in West Africa was seized by France. There was such an irreconcilable contradiction between Britain and France on the colonial question, and of course it would be difficult to say if it was to be said later.

Therefore, the situation of the British Navy is now serious, in Europe it has to face France next to it (Germany is not in danger at the moment), in the Indian Ocean to beware of imperial movements, fortunately in Asia Britain has no place to stand, otherwise he will have to face the powerful Imperial home fleet. There is also Australia and New Zealand to protect under the Pacific, and in the Caribbean and South America there is less pressure, and the Yankees have not yet developed a navy (mainly because they don't have the money right now).

Merchant ships cooperate with trade routes, and fleets escort. The empire's current trade routes are mainly divided into two parts, one is the colonial route and the other is the European route.

Needless to say, the colonial routes were mainly in the South Seas, North America, and Africa. The European route is more complicated, and the trade route through the Suez Canal mainly goes to France, Spain, Italy and Ottoman Turkey, but there is also a small share in the Balkan Peninsula. The trade routes of the Atlantic route were to France, Germany, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries, and of course, Britain was no less.

Tao Chunguang, almost forty years old, the proudest thing in his life is not the wealth of the Wanguan family but the son Tao Zhiming who was admitted to the Imperial University, Tao Zhiming is now studying in the Department of Finance and Economics of the Imperial University, in fact, Tao Chunguang wanted him to study the Department of Political Science at the beginning, after all, the official-based ideology is the real way to get ahead.

Today was supposed to be a happy day, his son, who was studying in the imperial capital of Xianyang, came home from vacation, and his mother was so happy that Zhang Luo was doing the same as a holiday. But Tao Chunguang still had a sad face, and he almost didn't write the words "I'm worried" on his face.

"What's bothering my father? Why don't you say it and let your son think of a way for you? After distributing gifts to his younger siblings, Tao Zhiming saw his father's sad face at a glance.

"If only you had a heart!" Father Tao looked at his son and smiled.

"How can a father look down on his son?! No matter what the son says, he is also a college student, and he is not much able to share some of his father's burden. ”

"Alright! For my father, what I have been worried about these days is still a business matter, you also know that our family's shipping business is a new industry according to the newspaper, our company has always been dealing with the government, undertaking the military and political shipping business, is the designated supplier (the empire's special support policy for civil and commercial people, this is not the special treatment of the big chaebol, and the local government has taken care of many merchants, companies, enterprises, and local governments. The so-called shipping supplier is responsible for transporting the goods or personnel formulated by the government or the army to the designated place, generally the navy buys materials for the supplier to transport to various overseas bases or colonial ports, the life is very simple, but the profit is not small, the oil and coal are all out of the military, the supplier will go out of the ship and people, if the goods are less, the supplier can also bring some of their own goods), but now according to the above means that this kind of business will be undertaken in the form of bidding in the future, and what I am afraid of now is to lose my job. ”

Tao Zhiming smiled and said: "What is my father worried about, so that's the case!" ”

"Do you have a solution?" Tao Chunguang looked at his son eagerly.

"There are still many solutions?"

"Tell me about it."

"First of all, let's talk about the changes in government policy, as far as my son is concerned, the government is very right to do this, and the cancellation of the specific supply on the one hand strengthens the market vitality, and on the other hand, it is conducive to the development of the following enterprises."

"I understand this, I'm afraid that if the bid fails, what will happen to my company?"

"So my father has two options now?"

"How?"

"First, whether it is a reorganization or a layoff, the rectification of the company is to improve the company's capabilities, and this time I just took the opportunity to sweep away those relatives in the company." Tao Chunguang's Dow shipping company has many relatives who have been shoehorned over, and Tao Chunguang is not easy to say outright.

"And what about the second method?"

"Abandon this bid!"

"Give up?"

"Yes, give up, with your father, your experience and connections in North America and Africa over the years, we can completely pass on and start ocean shipping."

"The idea is good, but the ocean freighters that I can use now are only four, how can they compare with those giants that have already taken shape?"

"If you don't have enough ships, buy them, I heard that the shipbuilding industry of the empire can now go to the water for more than two hundred years and a new ship, it depends on whether you want to, father. As for those big heads, we can't get rid of those big companies and big chaebols, but now that the empire's foreign trade is getting bigger and bigger, we don't have to worry about running out of opportunities. ”

"Okay, I'll go to the shipyard and place an order for him to buy five or six big ships." ――

In 1880, the total tonnage of the Empire's merchant ships was already very close to that of the British, but from 1878 to 1880 the Empire's merchant tonnage increased by more than 1.6 million tons, and in 1880 the total tonnage of the Empire's merchant ships reached 4.31 million tons. Surpassing France to rank second in the world and close to the United Kingdom, of course, it does not mean that whoever is more than the other is the best, but this data actually reflects China's development in commercial trade and import and export