Chapter 343 International Espionage - Imperial Postal Company

[Today's first update]

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On the blue Atlantic Ocean, the waves roll one after another.

Since the opening of the Atlantic route, the center of European trade has shifted from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, and the prosperity brought by the United Kingdom, a transit point in the Atlantic.

As the Spaniards brought back huge treasures from the Americas on a large scale, ships full of gold, silver and jewels made the European countries jealous, and they sent their own caravans and raiders to the Americas to rob the Spaniards of wealth.

With Britain being the first to challenge Spain, the Netherlands, France, Denmark, and Sweden joined the ranks of the Spanish treasure fleet in the next half century.

On the main channel of the ocean, you can see ships from various countries hanging everywhere.

A silver sailboat broke through the waves and galloped through it like a flying fish.

"Oh my god, what kind of monster is that?"

"With a speed of twenty knots, who created her?"

When the people on the nearby ships saw it, they were all amazed, and a series of question marks came to their minds.

In this day and age, such a fast ship, only a sloop could do it. But it was a small boat of tens to a hundred tons, and the ship in front of me was six or seven hundred tons.

Moreover, the hull is smooth and flat, unlike the hull of a ship spliced together with wood.

There was also a large-caliber gun on the front and rear decks, which was actually arranged in the open air, like two pillboxes.

In addition to the high sails that are still within people's awareness, the entire hull has exceeded people's visual space.

The dragon flag was flying, it was the ship of the Chinese Empire.

The lead ship of the Sea Sparrow-class fast communication ship, Sea Sparrow One.

……

In the fourth year of Shenwu, the Sea Sparrow-class fast communication ship was officially launched, and after rigorous sea trials, it officially joined the special service fleet of the Royal Navy of the Chinese Empire at the end of that year.

As a ship that the Empire has really put into practical use, the test effect of the lead ship Sea Sparrow is quite good, the maximum speed soars to 22 knots, the cruising speed is also two knots more than when designed, reaching 19 knots, and the steel-hulled hull brings great safety, and it is difficult to sink in case of enemies. The naval engineers did not expect the performance of the Sea Sparrow to be so good, and the transcendent status of the clipper ship was immediately highly valued.

The Royal Navy Special Service Fleet Command was established, and from the end of the fourth year of Shenmu, the Imperial Government was forced by the urgency of information transmission to submit an application directly to the Emperor Shenmu the Great, bypassing the complicated and lengthy approval process, and the Emperor Shenwu directly ordered an additional 30 million silver dollars to build the Special Service Fleet.

Although the special service fleet belongs to the battle sequence of the Royal Navy and serves the Imperial Navy, the Imperial Military Intelligence Agency was ordered to build an overseas intelligence listening station and urgently needs the services of the special service fleet.

After receiving additional funding, the Special Service Fleet Command will build the first batch of 20 Sea Sparrow-class fast communication ships. However, the empire's steel production could not keep up at this time, the total amount of steel made in the whole year was only more than 50,000 tons, and twenty Sea Sparrow-class communication ships would consume 40,000 tons of high-quality steel, and the plan to build twenty ships a year could not be completed. At the same time, the empire consumed a lot of steel, and the War Department needed a huge amount of steel to support the manufacture of weapons in its foreign colonial wars.

The other industries of the empire also show a demand for steel, although the amount of individual demand is not high, but the empire has a vast territory and a large population, and the amount of steel used in all walks of life adds up, which is also a huge number when brought together.

As a result, the Imperial steelmaking enterprises were practically unable to meet the Empire's steel needs. However, due to the technical secrecy of weapons-grade steel, the empire made it impossible for the people to smelt weapons-grade steel, and could only smelt pig iron and wrought iron, and a small number of individual blacksmiths were able to smelt a small amount of steel by hand.

Steel could not meet the needs of the Empire, so the Special Fleet Command could only complete the construction of five fast communication ships per year, divided into four years, and complete the construction of all twenty communication ships.

In the sixth year of Shenwu, the first batch of five Sea Sparrow-class fast communication ships were completed and handed over to the special service fleet, plus the original Sea Sparrow, a total of five, which were numbered as Sea Sparrow No. 1 to No. 6.

Although there are only six fast communication ships, the special service fleet has sent them to the world's major oceans to gather intelligence, and the results are still good. It only takes about 100 days for the Sea Sparrow-class communication ship to depart from Tianjinwei in Asia to London, England, Europe, which is basically enough time to meet the intelligence transmission of the Empire. Other countries want to know what happened to the Chinese Empire in the East, and the news lags for more than a year, but the Chinese Empire can know what is happening in other countries in about three months.

This time difference was very important for the Chinese Empire to make strategic deployments, and it took the lead.

……

From the day the Sea Sparrow arrived in Europe, this fast communication ship of the Chinese Empire left a deep impression in the eyes of Europeans.

Compared with the mystery of the Chinese Empire in the East, and compared to the appearance of the Imperial Chinese Navy cruiser fleet on the global oceans, the previous ones were not as strong as the shock that this fast communication ship gave to the Europeans.

From more than a year in the past to only 100 days from London to Beijing, this shock is indescribable. At the same time, the unique flying scissor bow of the East, the high freeboard, and the long-line steel-hull hull give the Europeans a strong visual impact and ship theory.

Before that, Europeans did not believe that ships made of steel could float on water. When they saw the Sea Sparrow, they were given the same blow to their minds as Galileo attacked Copernicus, causing waves in the European nautical world.

European countries, especially coastal ones, were interested in the Sea Sparrow-class fast communication ships for the first time.

However, the Sea Sparrow was part of the Imperial Chinese Navy, and not everyone from any country could come up to see it. In addition to countries that have good relations with the Chinese Empire, countries such as Spain and the Netherlands can only look at it from afar.

King Charles I of England, who seemed to be glad at his alliance with the Chinese Empire, turned into excitement. He never expected the influence of the Chinese Empire to reach Europe, so he used to see Sino-British relations at the level of "gimmicks". In other words, King Charles I of England used the Chinese Empire as an excuse as a "gimmick" for him to dissolve parliament and strengthen royal power.

Now, Charles I felt the influence of the Chinese Empire from the fast communication ship Sea Sparrow, and at the same time saw a new political bargaining chip.

When the British and French governments asked the Chinese Empire to know more about some of the parameters of the Sea Sparrow-class communication ships, the Imperial Government unreservedly sued them.

In the eyes of the British and French governments, the Chinese Empire was undoubtedly generous, and the British government considered the Chinese Empire to be a very kind and reliable ally. However, in fact, it is. When the British and French ship engineers came on board to experience the ship, they learned that this new type of ship could not be built in their own country.

Of course, at this time, the imperial government exaggerated the matter of how to build the Sea Sparrow several times, and the Sea Sparrow, which cost 1.3 million yuan, was exaggerated tenfold, and the unit price was 13 million silver dollars.

When the two governments received this news, they were immediately surprised, and then they realized how extravagant it was to build such ships, and at the same time, they also felt the strength of the Chinese Empire on the other hand.

Increasing the influence of the Chinese Empire in Europe was the main reason why the Sea Sparrow was open to Britain and France. As the two major maritime powers of the next two or three decades, the Chinese Empire needed to forge in their minds from the outset a subconscious notion that it could not defeat the Chinese Empire.

The British had developed maritime trade, but it was limited to textile and handicrafts, and the British steel industry was still very weak, and the use of artillery was still cast in bronze, and iron weapons were not yet widespread, let alone steel. A Sea Sparrow requires more than 200 tons of steel, which is equivalent to two years of British iron production, and the quality is not up to the standard of steel.

In turn, France has a well-developed iron-smelting industry and ranks first in Europe. At this time, the large-scale use of iron industrial products in France had already begun. But France produced a lot of iron, two-thirds of the Chinese Empire, but there was not much steel for the construction of steel-hulled ships. At the same time, the French did not have a hydraulic press to forge steel and a steam engine to power it, so even if their steel was up to par, they could not build a battleship like the Sea Sparrow.

The Chinese Empire announced the construction cost of the Sea Sparrow, which cost up to 13 million silver dollars to the British and French navies, and the original intention of ordering several modified warships from the Chinese Empire was also dispelled.

The Chinese Empire did not intend to sell the Sea Sparrow-class communication ships to European countries, and the reason for the high price was that it did not want European countries to follow suit. In this way, the Chinese Empire could maintain a leading position over Europe in terms of communications.

Sure enough, the countries of Europe all knew about the sky-high construction cost of the Sea Sparrow, and even the richest countries Spain and the Netherlands shook their heads and frowned. The Dutch parliament abandoned the idea of seeking such a fast communication ship, but tried to imitate it with a wooden hull. The Spanish Empire had money, and the nobility especially wanted to get a few of these fast ships as a show of status and status. However, the war between the Spanish Empire and the Chinese Empire had not stopped, and the Chinese Imperial Government would not agree to export this type of warship to Spain.

At the same time, King Charles I of England trumpeted the alliance between England and the Chinese Empire in Europe, hindering the reconciliation between the Chinese Empire and the Spanish Empire, and making the Kingdom of England no longer seem lonely.

The purpose of the first Sea Sparrow to arrive in Europe was not only to show off the strength of the Chinese Empire, but also to serve as a vehicle to hear the latest news in Europe. The Sea Sparrow anchored in England and received permission from King Charles I to sail the River Thames and anchor in London.

In this way, the Sea Sparrow can get the latest news from Europe directly from London.

Britain trumpeted its alliance with the Chinese Empire, much to the annoyance of the Spaniards, and to the benefit of France and the Netherlands. At this time, Britain, France, and the Netherlands were allies against the Habsburgs, and France had helped the Chinese Empire build the battleship Dingyuan, so France sent French envoys to Beijing through the Guò Sea Sparrow, hoping to form an alliance with the Chinese Empire in order to obtain some technical and economic assistance. After all, the Chinese Empire was also a party to the war against Spain and had a common enemy. Although the Dutch government was quite critical of the Chinese Empire because it had lost some colonies in the Far East, it also hoped to draw the Chinese Empire into the war against the Habsburgs for the sake of overall interests.

Although France and the Netherlands did not expect the Chinese Empire to send troops to Europe to help in the war, it was also good that they could involve the power of the Spanish Empire overseas.

At the same time, the real purpose of the two countries is to trade between the East and the West.

At this time, the news of the Chinese Empire's canal digging in the Suez region had long spread throughout Europe. The attitudes of European countries were mixed, some wanted the Chinese Empire to open the Suez Canal, most of which were Mediterranean coastal countries, and they hoped that after the canal was opened, trade would be restored. Others are neutral, because they are too far away from the Mediterranean, trade in the Mediterranean is dispensable for them, and they are even more reluctant to offend the Chinese Empire and establish a strong enemy. The third is to oppose the construction of the Suez Canal by the Chinese Empire, and these countries are worried that after the Chinese Empire opens the Suez Canal, European powers will invade Asia and eastern Africa through the Suez Canal.

In short, the attitude towards the construction of the Suez Canal by the Chinese Empire varies from country to country.

The Dutch, British and other trade-oriented countries were eager to shorten the sea distance between Europe and Asia, and France, which was close to the Mediterranean Sea and also wanted to restore trade in the Mediterranean, had long set their sights on the Suez Canal, knowing that it was an important strategic location.

At this time, the Chinese Empire dug canals, which meant a lot to them.

For this reason, under the mediation of Britain, France and the Netherlands concluded treaties with the Chinese Empire, in which both sides respected each other's interests and that any issue should be resolved through negotiation first, so as to avoid a direct outbreak of armed conflict.

The conclusion of such an agreement with France did not have any disadvantage to the Chinese Empire. However, after the conclusion of such a treaty with the Dutch, the military expansion of the Chinese Empire in Southeast Asia would be suspended.

For this situation, the Chinese Emperor Deng Haonan also made a comprehensive consideration. If the Chinese Empire insisted on confronting the Dutch, it was expected to severely influence the Dutch strategy in Europe and Asia. Deng Haonan did not want the Anglo-Dutch war to be extinguished, and the Dutch aimed the spearhead at the Chinese Empire, so Deng Haonan chose to wait for the Dutch to deal with the problem.

With the Sea Sparrow-class communication ships, the Chinese Empire became more closely connected with Europe. The Sea Sparrow communication ship is responsible for the link between the East and the West, and travels between the three oceans of Europe and Asia.

In the beginning, the Sea Sparrow communication ship only helped to transmit messages between governments and helped the Chinese Empire gather intelligence from all over the world. Later, with the increase in the number of Sea Sparrow communication ships, the business began to expand and serve the private sector in addition to the government. For example, helping with carrying parcels, letters, carrying passengers for fulfillment, etc. The expansion of these operations forced the Chinese Empire's special service fleet to be divided into two departments, one was still the intelligence system controlled by the Military Intelligence Bureau, and the other became the postal company of the Chinese Empire.

In the seventh year of Shenwu, the Chinese Empire established the Imperial Postal Company.

Imperial Postal Company, as the first multinational corporation in the Chinese Empire, and became the world's first international postal service company.

After the establishment of the company, it first set up port post offices in European countries, and with the expansion of its business, it also set up post offices in overseas colonies in European countries. In this way, the company helps governments and individuals to deliver mail and make a significant profit. While collecting information from all over the world. Due to the vast service area and the large number of people contacted, the intelligence of the empire was more detailed, and the company became the vanguard of the Chinese empire to dominate the world.

However, after the Sea Sparrow communication ship appeared in Europe from the beginning, in addition to arousing the frenzy of Europeans, it also aroused the prying eyes of many government and non-governmental forces.

The Sea Sparrow communication ships sailing on the ocean are often harassed in various ways. Some approached the Sea Sparrow communication ship to get a closer look at the new ship, while others wanted to loot the new warship. After all, the cost of 13 million silver dollars is as high as any force wants to take it for itself.

Of course, not suffering losses is always not a long memory.

When the forces that tried to rob the Sea Sparrow were hostile, the Sea Sparrow either sped away or returned fire with their guns.

It's just that the Sea Sparrow communication ship only has two main guns, and it's okay to scare some individual boats, and when it encounters pirates, the other party is not afraid at all, and the group attacks it to force the Sea Sparrow communication ship to escape.

Of course, these are minor troubles. The biggest trouble is that whenever the Sea Sparrow communication ship encounters the Spanish fleet, the other side will definitely discharge a group of warships to surround it.

However, after several attempts, the Spaniards gave up the idea of capturing the Sea Sparrow communication ship. The reason is that the opponent's speed is too fast, and the Spanish ships can't catch up, and if the small sailboat is discharged, the opponent's all-steel hull will smash the small sailboat to pieces.

However, to the dismay of the Spaniards, it was. Before, they took the initiative to provoke the Sea Sparrow communication ship, but when they gave up their thoughts, the other party did not give up, and turned to trouble the Spaniards.

At the beginning, the officers and men of the Sea Sparrow-class communication ships of the Chinese Empire did not dare to exchange fire with the Spanish fleet because of their insufficient firepower. But after many harassments by the Spaniards, each time the Empire's communications ships were able to escape easily. In this way, the officers and soldiers of the Chinese Empire no longer worried about being captured or sunk by the enemy, so they took advantage of their speed and armor advantages to use rotating main guns to harass the Spanish ships.

Most of the time, the Sea Sparrow communication ship can not inflict a lethal attack on the enemy, but in the face of frequent harassment by the Sea Sparrow communication ship, the Spaniards are in a hurry but have no way to take the other side, and sometimes the Spaniards will always make some mistakes in a hurry, which gives the opponent a chance, and the result is a heavy loss. E