Wild North America 1846

Chapter 529 Long-term strategy for naval development

Author: Portuguese toothless

Chapter 529 Long-term strategy for naval development

As a rising star among the world's great powers, the Tang Empire developed very fast and led the second wave of industrial revolution represented by electrification and chemical industry. It was at the forefront of the world in this field and had great development potential.

The British Empire, however, sticks to its old ways and still clings to the glory of the world's first steam technology revolution era, rejecting new technologies represented by electrification and chemical industry.

In related fields, it lags behind countries such as Germany and France, not to mention the Tang Empire, which is far ahead.

But we cannot despise the strength of the British Empire because of this. After all, this is the hegemon of the Seven Seas that has been the world's hegemon for nearly two centuries. It has an extremely profound heritage and nearly 30 million square kilometers (note; it has not yet reached the peak of the Victorian era).

A vast colony with a population of 330 million (including colonies and protectorates).

In terms of military expenditures alone, the British Empire allocated 99.41 million pounds in 1869, equivalent to 500 million Tang Yuan, and the Royal Navy accounted for 3/4 of the military expenditures.

compare with

The military expenditure of the Tang Empire is about 75 million Tang Yuan per year, which is equivalent to about 15 million pounds. The military allocation for the Royal Army and the Royal Navy is 6:4. The Royal Army still accounts for the majority of the allocation, which is used to maintain a total of about 370,000 soldiers.

Human Army and a series of overseas military operations.

The annual military budget of the United Kingdom is more than 6.5 times that of the Tang Empire. Looking at the military allocation of the Royal Navy alone, the British Royal Navy is 14 times that of the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire, which is a huge gap.

This is the basis for the UK to maintain the largest Royal Navy in the world, with more than 680 ships and a total strength of more than 367,000 troops, more than the British Army.

Among the main ships equipped by the United Kingdom, the main ones are large ocean-going battleships ranging from 5,500 tons to 12,000 tons. Its naval strength is that of France, Tang Dynasty, Kingdom of Prussia, Austrian Empire, and Ottoman Empire combined, especially in the Mediterranean, Atlantic and Indian Oceans.

Naval superiority.

Although the British Royal Navy is still equipped with a large number of sailing battleships and sailing frigates, it is undergoing the largest wave of replacing old ones with new ones in history.

In the past 10 years or so, the British Royal Navy has launched an average of more than 17 steam-armored warships into service every year, with the peak reaching 23 ships. It is simply crazy shipbuilding regardless of the cost. Such a large-scale project has made it beyond the reach of other countries in the world.

From 1860 to 1869

Britain's annual military appropriation is no less than 90 million pounds, and it invests heavily in updating equipment for the Royal Navy to maintain its maritime supremacy.

By comparison

The Royal Navy of the Tang Dynasty is a small force. In recent years, military expenditures have gradually increased, reaching an average annual scale of about 30 million Tang Yuan, worth about 6 million pounds.

Among them, equipment maintenance costs and personnel costs, the construction costs of 37 overseas naval bases and local forts and forts account for most of it, leaving less than 20% for adding weapons and equipment, which is about 5.5 million Tang Yuan, worth about 1.1 million pounds.

The size of the Royal Navy is not small. It has two marine divisions with a total of 27,600 people, 16 coastal fortress garrison regiments with about 41,500 people, a total of 23,600 officers and soldiers on main ships and military auxiliary ships (including naval officers and soldiers on rotation), the Naval Staff Headquarters and

There are a total of 13,100 subordinate institutions, teaching staff of various naval academies, naval station and naval warehouse logistics personnel, and more than 7,600 armed officers and soldiers at naval bases stationed abroad, totaling about 113,000 officers and soldiers.

As the main military force of the Tang Empire to safeguard sea power, the Royal Navy is a high-tech branch of the military. Its salary level is in line with that of the UK, which is about 80% of the income of the Royal Navy for the same position in the UK. The annual personnel maintenance cost is close to 1,900.

Wan Tangyuan is the bulk of military spending.

some of

The annual salary of a rear admiral-level naval admiral is about 2,400 to 3,000 yuan, about 450 to 500 pounds, which fluctuates depending on the position. The salary is lower at the Royal Navy headquarters and higher at overseas bases because of the additional overseas subsidy.

cost.

The annual salary of a colonel-level naval officer is about 1,300 to 1,500 yuan. Most naval officers at this level are captains of battleships or commanders of overseas bases. Their duties and powers are very important, and they are also the backbone of the Royal Navy;

The annual salary of naval officers at the lieutenant colonel level is about 850 to 1,100 Tangyuan, and the annual salary at the Major level is less, almost at the level of 550 to 700 Tangyuan, which is about 6 to 8 times the annual salary of ordinary workers, a decent middle-class income level.

The income of grassroots sailors in the Royal Navy is also much higher than that of ordinary workers. The torpedo operator is about 230 Tangyuan per year, the gunner is 260 Tangyuan, the first class sailor is 130 Tangyuan, the second class sailor is 110 Tangyuan, the third class sailor is 82 Tangyuan, and the trainee

Sailors, marine division soldiers, and ordinary garrison soldiers earn an annual salary of 22 Tangyuan.

This is because Marine Division and garrison soldiers are all compulsory soldiers, and only receive a nominal monthly allowance. They are not professional non-commissioned officers and officers, and their income is naturally much meager.

Except for the annual salary of third-class sailor Tang Yuan 82, which is about the same as the annual income of an ordinary worker, there is not much difference between them.

Other high-level sailors and technical troops are about 2 to 3 times the income of ordinary worker families, and they are worthy of the title of aristocratic troops.

average

The average annual median salary of the Royal Navy is NT$172 (including lower-paid soldiers in the Marine Division and the garrison), and the annual personnel expenditure is close to NT$18 million, which almost eats up 2/3 of the navy's budget allocation.

Calculated comprehensively

Of the Royal Navy's annual weapons purchase cost of RMB 5.5 million, less than half can be used to purchase new ships, because a considerable amount of artillery shells must be purchased every year for training and storage, which is a large expenditure.

The service life of naval gun barrels is generally about 200 to 300 rounds. New gun barrels must be purchased for replacement, and some necessary military auxiliary ships must be purchased. This is a force multiplier for ocean warfare, and investment is essential.

Lin Lin finally calculated that the naval budget that can be used to purchase new main ships every year is between 2.5 million and 3 million Tang Yuan. The more squeezed, the less relaxed, roughly within this range.

To purchase an advanced iron-clad steam battleship with a weight of more than 8,500 tons, such as the "Zhenyang" class, the equipment cost would be 2.3 million Tang Yuan, or approximately 460,000 pounds.

In other words, purchasing one such capital ship will almost consume all the Royal Navy’s purchase expenses for one year.

Coupled with the need to add new ships of the light cruiser class, the Royal Navy's annual weapons purchase costs are very tight.

However, Emperor Richard did not allocate additional funds from the Royal Household Office, and the generals of the Royal Navy did not make additional requests. After the imperial meeting, they happily went their separate ways.

The reason

The Royal Navy is not as poor as it appears on the surface. There are many ways to make money without breaking the law. Therefore, as long as His Majesty the Emperor gives permission, the construction of two "Zhenyang" class steam iron-clad battleships can be started in one year.

question.

for example;

The Royal Navy performs patrols all year round and is the best choice for major banks, telegraph offices, shipping companies, and oil companies in the empire to transport large amounts of cash. Whether it is escorting huge amounts of cash from overseas back to the empire, or escorting cash from overseas provinces

Coming and going, asking a Royal Navy warship to take you there is the simplest and safest way of transportation.

so far

The Royal Navy has a very high reputation in this regard, and has not had a single case of money being lost. It is even more favored by banks and large overseas companies.

For example, the major oil companies that make huge profits overseas every year basically need to escort large sums of gold, pounds, francs, and German marks from Europe back to the empire every month, which are worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

These precious cargoes are small in size and high in value. They can be put down in two or three officer cabins on naval warships. The escort warships can get a lot of benefits from top to bottom. The Ministry of the Navy is also full of food. This has almost become a

Things that everyone knows.

It is a matter of course that one-third of the escort revenue flows into the admiralty's small treasury to make up for the shortage of equipment costs.

In addition, the Royal Navy's daily anti-smuggling and theft operations, the trophies of ships captured in overseas battles, the convenience of cargo circulation in overseas bases, etc., all have some benefits that can be shared.

How much money is in the Admiralty coffers?

This is also a secret matter. Only a few senior officials in the Admiralty, the main officials of the Audit Office and the palace know about it. Outsiders don't know the depth.

Therefore, naval officers and soldiers do not receive such a small salary on the surface. In fact, it is much higher. They have become an aristocratic branch that is envied by everyone and has a generous income.

It’s not surprising to think about it

Those armed militia groups in South America were able to make a lot of money in colonial expansion wars. How could the Royal Navy fleet running rampant off the coast of the Brazilian Empire have no extra money to make?

Is the war in vain?

A 600-ton merchant ship is loaded with cotton and coffee. How much is the ship and its cargo worth?

So... even if a 6,000-ton cargo ship transports coal, each ton of coal is worth between 2.5 Tang Yuan and 2.8 Tang Yuan, and the revenue from the cargo alone is tens of thousands of Tang Yuan.

The Imperial fleet that expedition to South America sank and captured more than 210 ships of various types during the war. The Royal Navy must have been severely fattened, and only part of it was turned over to the Imperial finances.

The only ones who were unlucky were the Brazilian Empire and the shipowners. It would be great to be able to get the empty ship back in the end.

As for the goods, there is no way.

It is precisely because of various benefits that the officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy and the Royal Army are eager for war. "Rejoicing at the news of war" is not a slogan or an empty imagination, but the voice of the vast number of officers and soldiers of the Royal Navy and Royal Army.

Britain's annual military expenditure is six and a half times that of the Tang Empire, but the economic scale of the Tang Empire is 76% of that of the UK. It seems that the difference is not big. Why is the gap in military expenditure so big?

Did the Tang Empire have no money to invest in armaments?

the answer is negative.

The imperial family of the Tang Dynasty was the richest royal family in the world, with a huge surplus of hundreds of millions of Tang Yuan each year. It is speculated by the outside world that it is between 200 and 300 million Tang Yuan, but no one knows the actual amount.

The Imperial Government of the Tang Dynasty had abundant finances. While it invested heavily in imperial infrastructure and important project expenditures, it also had surplus financial funds to invest in large-scale mining companies, reaping huge dividends on a rolling basis.

As long as the industrial enterprises that have sprung up in the country meet the standards of technology enterprises, they can receive tax exemptions and a series of other preferential policies, and receive financial support, so that they can grow rapidly.

The Tang Empire had several of the world's top banks, the eight major oil giants that monopolized the world's petrochemical products, the world's leading transnational telegraph bureau, a booming industrial economy, and numerous tax sources, so there was no shortage of money at all.

Why self-limit the expansion of the Royal Navy?

This has to mention the "hide your strength and bide your time" policy formulated by Emperor Richard of the Tang Dynasty. The army and navy can be expanded to an appropriate size without overly stimulating British sensitive nerves and triggering a transatlantic arms race.

Based on the principle of what is sufficient, the Tang Empire's military development focused on safeguarding the interests of the Americas and taking into account the existence of maritime military forces in the Western Pacific. For many years, it did not develop ocean-going ships above 5,000 tons.

It was not until the main fleet of the Royal Navy of the British Empire developed to a certain scale that the "Zhenyang-class" steam ironclads were born.

It is clear

This is when the Royal Navy of the Tang Empire deliberately controlled the scale and tonnage of its main ships, conveying an intriguing message.

Some national radicals will oppose this approach, thinking that "it is an act of abolishing martial arts", "our Tang Empire has developed to this day, and both civil and military arts have reached their peak, so there is no reason to be isolated in a corner" and "the empire should actively participate in the European stage."

Competition is the core of the world. "We should not be timid, we should vigorously develop the Royal Navy and expand overseas colonial interests"...

in public opinion newspapers

There is no shortage of these radical remarks. Many "Greater Chinaists" believe that the development of the empire is too conservative, and they should implement an aggressive colonial expansion policy to compete with Britain and France and other world powers for colonies around the world. Vigorously developing the Royal Navy is the first prerequisite.

Actually looking back

The strategy of "hide your strength and bide your time" has ensured the stable and rapid development of the Tang Empire so far, maintained the close alliance between the Tang Empire and Britain, and fully protected the empire's interests in the Americas. It is the most suitable strategy for the current development stage of the Tang Empire.

Strategy is undoubtedly the right choice.

current stage

What the Tang Empire pursued was to digest the fruits of colonization and develop and strengthen its national power. It also strived to surpass the UK's world's largest economic scale in the next 10 years, thereby becoming the world's largest industrial economy and achieving the goal of prosperity for the country and its people.

current stage

The Tang Empire did not pursue transoceanic colonization, nor did it pursue hegemony with Britain and France, nor did it pursue participating in the fierce competition in Europe, nor did it pursue maintaining the absolute security of the transatlantic trade line. So why should it stimulate Britain's sensitive nerves?

Woolen cloth?

The most stupid thing in the world is arrogance. The most typical example is;

Decades later, Kaiser Wilhelm II brazenly challenged the British Royal Navy's hegemony, eventually triggering World War I that affected the entire Europe and most of the world.

If the British are good at talking, they are easy to talk to. If they are not good at talking, they are really going to death.

But no matter you, France, Germany or anyone else, as long as it threatens Britain's maritime hegemony, it will launch an all-round containment without any hesitation. That is a truly ruthless character.

What are the serious consequences of the Tang Empire stimulating Britain at this stage?

The first is the complete interruption of transatlantic trade routes. Never doubt the ability of the British Royal Navy to dominate the Atlantic. It is just a matter of effort.

The Tang Empire's proud exports of chemical products, machinery, grain and various food products were all interrupted. The economy suffered an unprecedented blow. The goods that were exported in exchange for huge amounts of money piled up, and all transatlantic trade came to nothing.

This will cause serious civil strife in the Tang Empire, food prices will plummet, large and small enterprises and financial institutions will go bankrupt, and oil companies that are making money every day will become a huge burden, producing huge amounts of kerosene, gasoline, diesel and other chemicals.

Products can only be dumped into the ocean in vain.

What else to do?

There are not that many storage facilities that can accommodate hundreds of millions of barrels of petroleum products a year, so they can only be burned or dumped.

Secondly, it will definitely trigger a cross-oceanic expedition of the European Allied Forces organized by the United Kingdom. Its scale should be more than one million people, and up to ten million people. This unprecedented war may last 5 to 10 years or even longer.

.

Unless the British Empire completely collapses and declines, and the entire European coalition cannot fight, the war will never stop.

At a critical moment when their global hegemony is at stake, the British will not care about the cost.

History has proven that whether 1 million, 2 million, or 10 million people die in a war, one must fall before the war is over.

The Tang Empire had little chance of winning against the whole of Europe, or in other words against the whole world, on its own.

The colonies of Britain and France together cover more than 50 million square kilometers and have a population of more than 500 million. Together with the war forces mobilized by European countries, the total population exceeds 750 million.

Such a balance of power was an unbearable burden for the Tang Empire.

never forget

The 19th century was a period when white people dominated the world. Europeans who had not experienced the severe beatings of World War 1 and World War 2 were brave and good at fighting, but they were not as peace-loving as later generations. Their tempers were as quick as firecrackers, and the threshold for starting a war was low.

To be ignored.

The Tang Empire's attempt to fully develop the Royal Navy was a naked provocation, not only against Britain's global hegemony, but also against the white world, so launching a cross-ocean jihad was a natural progression.

Once is not enough twice, twice is not enough three times, just like what the Europeans did in the Middle East, triggering endless wars in North America.

Just to satisfy the arrogant dream of global hegemony of some national radicals, it blatantly challenged the bottom line that the British Empire could not touch, thus causing a major setback in the development of the entire country. This can no longer be described as "stupid".

Richard knew clearly how the British dealt with Kaiser Wilhelm II who challenged his bottom line?

Even if World War I was launched, which spread across Europe and most of the world, killing tens of millions of people, the Germans would never be allowed to rise.

The British did not accept any explanation and resolutely nipped the German nation in the bud. After World War I, they placed heavy handcuffs on the development of the German nation, dooming the tragic fate of being surrounded and beaten in the future.

Even though Kaiser Wilhelm II was the grandson of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, it did not affect Britain's determination to attack Germany and completely destroy the foundation of the German Empire's rule. This is the ruthlessness of the British.

How similar are the historical developments?

From the end of the 18th century to the beginning of the 19th century, when French Emperor Napoleon dominated Europe, Britain took the lead in organizing seven anti-French alliances, gathering almost all of Europe's forces to deal with the powerful French Empire, and won the final victory.

To challenge the British maritime hegemony in this era is to commit suicide-to-death hatred without any easing.

In the development strategy formulated by Emperor Richard

In the next few decades from now on, the empire will focus on developing economic and political influence, supplemented by developing military power, until the First World War begins as scheduled...

The long road to world dominance will not be achieved overnight.

(End of chapter)