Gu Kai's argument against the expansion of the navy's fleet is indeed a repetition of the same old tune, and Tom Wang's explanation for this is also nothing new. The Navy has a long training cycle and a large investment, and when it is not fighting, there seems to be no obvious return on it, and this is a well-known reason, and the military has to debate this issue with the anti-war people in the community every year to fight for a limited military budget. In the past few years, even those who have not been directly involved in it have been able to memorize the arguments of both sides, and it is difficult to be incited by the speeches of both sides.

But even the opposition can hardly deny the importance of the navy's control of key shipping lanes at sea. One of the steps taken by Haihan to take Qiongbei was to first cut off the channel of the Qiongzhou Strait to eliminate the possibility of the Ming Dynasty increasing troops to Hainan Island from the sea. The control of the sea area of the Pearl River Estuary was the only channel for Haihan to successfully control the maritime trade in the richest areas of the two Guangzhous. As for the importance of the shipping route of the Fujian Strait, there is no doubt that Haihan invested his troops to fight in Fujian, which was thousands of miles away, in order to control this important sea route connecting the South China Sea and Northeast Asia.

Of course, the rapid expansion of the military's armed forces is bound to cause unease among some people within Haihan, and the military's presence in Fujian waters in the second half of this year has further aggravated this perception. With regard to the Executive Committee's plan to continue to expand the control zone to the north, the military, instead of obeying the arrangement and giving full support, insisted that Taiwan should be taken first, and "arbitrarily" carried out reconnaissance and reconnaissance operations against the area. Later, he strongly advocated the development of Kaohsiung Port as the next colony of Haihan in the southeast sea of Daming. However, this action also made the base camp unable to make relevant preparations in a timely manner, and the pre-development process of Kaohsiung Port was not as smooth as usual. It took a full month for the base camp to basically coordinate various related affairs, so that the investment and infrastructure construction of Kaohsiung Port could continue to be implemented.

In the eyes of Gu Kai and others, this is actually a table of the military's self-reliance. It is pointless to argue about the right or wrong choice of the military, because the Executive Committee has already approved the military's approach and provided corresponding support, even if the military chose Kaohsiung Port arbitrarily, it is now a fact that cannot be changed. However, controlling the pace of the military's expansion and preventing it from over-aggrandizing itself is still a necessary means in the eyes of the opposition. If the military continues to let it do so, ◇dǐng◇diǎn◇小◇ said,.@.≦os_(); Perhaps in a few years, the Executive Committee will be reorganized into a military junta.

Although everyone is accustomed to this kind of argument and lacks enthusiasm to participate, there will be people who will step up to help lead the rhythm. The reason why the military has been able to win more and lose more in the discussions of various meetings is that they are not alone, and there are still a few hardcore allies.

Schneider was the first to speak for the military, after all, the Ministry of Commerce wants to expand the scope of trade in the region, and it can be said that every step is inseparable from the support of the military. The rise and fall of the military is closely related to the interests of the Ministry of Commerce, and as the person in charge of the Ministry of Commerce, Schneider must take the initiative to advocate for the military.

Schneider spoke: "Gentlemen, our Ministry of Commerce has planned a trade route to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions as early as 1630, but this plan is still on paper today, for the simple reason that we do not have enough maritime weapons to provide protection for our merchant ships in the East China Sea. If the navy's fleet is not effectively expanded, it will be difficult to implement the northern trade and migration routes that you have envisioned before. ”

"But now the Ming merchant ships that are transporting immigrants from the north for us do not have any armed protection. Someone immediately questioned Schneider's words.

Schneider said, "This is indeed the truth, but you only notice the situation, but you don't notice the risks and consequences it brings. In the past three months, a total of seven merchant ships transporting migrants have encountered pirates off the coast of the Zhoushan Islands off Ningbo Prefecture, and four of them have failed to escape, and even the ships and people have been taken captive. In addition, there have always been small groups of pirates along the coasts of Taizhou and Wenzhou, and there are even many pirates who have crossed the sea from Japan. Transporting immigrants to us from the north is indeed a profitable business, but the risk is also very large, and there are not many Daming maritime merchants involved at present, otherwise we can import immigrants several times faster at present. ”

"Maybe we can change the model and send armed men to escort merchant ships, which can not only save the cost of building warships, but also reduce the operating costs of the entire navy. If we do encounter pirates, then the armed men on board will be able to effectively defend against them by virtue of our superiority in weapons. "Another scenario has been proposed.

"What you said sounds okay, but it's unlikely to be possible in practice. Tom shook his head and replied: "First of all, if the armed personnel accompanying the ship are only equipped with light weapons, then the effect is not obvious in the battle at sea. In the undulating seas, it is more or less a matter of luck to hit an enemy ten meters away with a rifle. If it is equipped with military artillery, we do not have so many idle artillery to complete the deployment, and the structural strength of the merchant ship is not as strong as that of the warship, and the deployment of military artillery also requires the reconstruction of the deck and side of the merchant ship, and the time and money required are also costs that cannot be ignored. The armed personnel of the Golden Shield Escort have also received the task of escorting the ship before, but to be honest, the effect is not ideal, and they can only deal with a small group of pirates, and it is impossible to play a deterrent role like the naval fleet. ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, if it can work as long as we arm bodyguards, then why do we spend huge sums of money to build an army? Even if we don't fight, the role of the navy is irreplaceable!" Yan Chujie waved his fists excitedly: "Have you all forgotten how the code name of our Haihan came about? Sea power! Sea power! Sea power is the foundation for us to gain a foothold in this era, the foundation for us to conquer the world in the future, and the premise for you to enjoy glory and wealth in the future! With a strong navy, it is possible to achieve the sea control we want!"

"But the shipbuilding budget submitted by the military has more than doubled compared with the budget of previous years, although what you just said is also reasonable, but is this also too much?" Ning Qi questioned the military's naval military budget.

"The increase in the budget is mainly due to the fact that the next generation of warships will generally add steam propulsion systems to their ships, so that they can have stronger combat capabilities. ”

"Military steam engines aren't that expensive, are they?" Ning Qi continued to ask.

"The increased military spending is not only the cost of manufacturing steam engines, but also the improvement of the hull structure, the increase in operating and maintenance costs. After all, the sail power used in the past did not have much operating cost, and the dǐng only had depreciation expenses and labor costs. However, with steam propulsion, coal and fresh water will have to be added to the supply supplies, and it is likely that we will need to increase the number of supply ships in the fleet. In this way, military spending will certainly increase compared with previous years. But I can assure you that building a steam fleet will be a very worthwhile investment, and you will not hesitate to agree with my views when our fleet crushes our opponents at sea. Tom Wang patiently explained.

"Regarding the new generation of warships proposed by the military, I would also like to say a few words. Yue Zhiyun raised his hand and signaled: "Everyone knows that the appearance of steam warships is of epoch-making significance for the navy, although our navy has been equipped with several 'majestic class' hybrid warships before this, but what we have to do now is to install all the combat ships with the latest propulsion system, so that the entire fleet can speed up at sea." Don't think that this seems to be just a matter for the military, in fact, the civilian use of military science and technology is the most important thing that deserves our attention. Perhaps in a year or two, we will be able to install small steam engines on civilian ships on a large scale, so that our maritime trade will enter a period of real rapid development. ”

"It's not just a gain for the shipyard, for the industrial sector, the mass production of the steam engine is also a leap in productivity. Bai Kesi took Yue Zhiyun's words and continued: "In the past, we used to build only one or two steam engines for shipbuilding, which was not only high in production costs, and it was difficult to standardize the production process. However, if we can increase the number of units manufactured in each batch to ten, twenty or even more, then the cost of mass production will be effectively reduced, and we can also train a group of industrial workers and technicians who really master the engine manufacturing technology. I don't need to say more about how much this will promote the development of our industrial system, right?"

At least seventy percent of the people in the group are from science and engineering, and the Industrialists have always been one of the most influential voices in this group, and even above the military most of the time - after all, the military's armaments come from the industrial sector, and for the military, the industrial sector is the uncle that cannot be provoked. Of course, fortunately, this uncle will stand on the side of the military most of the time to speak, after all, interests come first, and the military's orders have always been an important part of the benefits of the industrial sector, and the industrial sector will not be ambiguous when it is time to support the military.

Every time there is a critical moment, the industrial department will come out to sing and make peace with the military, and the Ministry of Commerce is beating a side drum next to it, and the opposition is basically powerless to do anything about this combination, and basically can only stay in the verbal veto. This meeting was no exception, and in the end, the military's military budget was voted on by the Executive Committee in a noisy noise.

According to the military's proposal, all military combat ships that began to be built in 1633 would adopt hybrid structures, and the purely sail-powered warships built in previous years would be phased out for use by other departments such as justice, commerce, and shipping. The new steam fleet will be organized separately and will not be assigned to the existing four fleets. After all, it will take more than three or five months to build a whole steam fleet, and it will take a year or two before it can really form combat effectiveness.

It is also worth mentioning that the Navy's steam fleet adopts a double flagship formation, that is, two "Majestic-class" warships will be included in this epoch-making special fleet. Of course, this also means that the cost of the entire fleet will increase by about two to three percent. However, the military top brass agreed that the price was well worth it, and that a fleet of two "Majestic-class" warships would be enough to deal with any rival in the Far East at this time.

However, the financial burden brought by this is not small, and the navy's military budget for the coming year alone is equivalent to almost half of the annual income that Haihan can obtain on the entire Hainan Island. However, Schneider, who was in charge of the budget, thought that this price was acceptable, because after the fleet was commissioned, the Haihan had the spare strength to expand the commercial routes to the north and provide sufficient armed protection, and soon be able to open up sea routes to the rich areas of central and eastern Daming, and completely control the sea areas around Hangzhou Bay and the Yangtze River estuary in Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions according to the previous operation mode at the mouth of the Pearl River, and control most of the local maritime trade. The huge amount of money invested in the construction of the navy was soon able to be recouped through the huge trade surplus after Haihan officially entered the local trade system.

Schneider did not have any idea of who was right and who was wrong about the controversy between the military and the opposition, and his aim was to expand the territory of the Haihan business empire he ran as much as possible. In his view, the military's method of establishing influence was too simple and crude to be unsophisticated, and to infiltrate the guò trade, and to gradually control the economic lifeline of these regions while spreading culture and values, and thus increase the influence of the Haihan in the region, which Schneider considered civilized and efficient.

Of course, Schneider also knows very well that on the road of foreign expansion, it is not enough to rely only on the means of "inducement" in exchange for the obedience of the outside world, and the "coercion" of the military is also a necessary weapon. And the most useless weapon is probably a pure mouth cannon. Therefore, Schneider still supports the military's strong advocacy of building a new fleet.

The military will also take measures to reciprocate this, such as continuing to support Schneider in the next executive committee re-election, and disposing of the old military ships that have been eliminated and replaced in the future to the Ministry of Commerce as special service ships at a low price. Of course, these trading conditions will not be put on the table, but they are just mentioned during a private dinner, and everyone is diǎn together, and they are usually tacit. Seeking a diǎn benefit for oneself and the department without affecting the big political situation is also a very normal move for those who have been in the officialdom for several years.