Chapter 386: Nanhua's Lifeline (Third Update, Please Subscribe)
Nanhua can build warships that are no worse than those of the British!
Edward Thornton felt like Zhu Xianhai was joking when he said this.
How many countries in the world can build warships now?
Nanhua...can build warships.
Of course they knew how to build warships. After the British banned the export of warships to South China a few years ago, they began building their own warships.
It's just that the warships they built were smaller in tonnage.
But can they build large warships?
"Any navy with the slightest ambition will buy battleships, sir!"
Lieutenant Colonel Seymour said.
Edward Hobart Seymour was a naval officer who had participated in the Crimean War and the Second Opium War under the command of his uncle Michael Seymour. After the signing of the Treaty of Beijing, he cruised the Yangtze River with the fleet and visited the capital of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Tianjing. In 1862, he fought against the Taiping Army in Zhejiang and participated in the battles to capture Ningbo and Jiading.
After returning to England in 1863, he served as a staff officer under his uncle, the commander of the Portsmouth Navy. Later, he became a captain and commanded a gunboat. A month ago, he came to Buenos Aires - because he was familiar with China and could even speak some simple Chinese.
It can be said that he and China really have a "connection". Decades later, he became the commander-in-chief of the Eight-Nation Alliance.
Now, because he understands China, he was sent to Nanhua, but this place is definitely different from the Qing Dynasty.
"I believe they will definitely buy battleships, Your Excellency."
Then Seymour added in a skeptical tone.
"As for manufacturing? We'll have to wait at least another twenty years!"
Are combat ships that easy to build?
There are not many countries in the world that have the technology to build combat ships.
But just one week later, when Seymour was invited to Nanhua, he was at the Nanhua Shipyard, looking at the battleship whose keel had already been laid. He was filled with astonishment and it took him a while to speak.
"Are you sure you want to make your own?"
"Captain Seymour, since the Shanxi Incident, when Britain unreasonably banned the sale of warships to us, we have no other choice."
Standing next to him, Li Xuelin, commander of the Coast Guard, pointed to the laid keel and introduced it.
"We have built merchant ships with a displacement of 13,000 tons. Our shipbuilding capacity is second to none even in Europe. Now the warships we are building have a displacement of only 7,000 tons."
7,000 tons, okay, okay, it’s only 7,000 tons.
Seymour said to himself in his heart.
In fact, according to the design specifications, the displacement is only 6,800 tons, its main armor is only 305 mm, the deck armor is 76 mm, and the conning tower is 160 mm. This warship designed by Ruanda borrowed from the most advanced combat ship design of the era at the beginning of its design.
"...In order to obtain good defense, we adopted a special construction plan. Its two turrets are located in the bulge of the hull and arranged diagonally. The port turret is closer to the ship than the right turret and is located in the corner of the armored fort. This makes it the most heavily protected armored fort, with a maximum thickness of more than 300 mm."
"What? 300 mm! Its tonnage is only 6,800 tons! How is this possible!"
As a naval officer, he obviously couldn't believe that a ship with such a small displacement could have such thick armor. It was simply unimaginable.
They are not bragging!
Seymour's surprise caught Li Xuelin's eyes, but he only responded with a kind smile.
The reason why this could be achieved was the adoption of a "special construction plan", namely the "Central Ironclad Fort". This plan was first proposed by the Marshal. That day, he brought Luanda to the Marshal and introduced his design plan.
While feeling proud, his thoughts went back to a few months ago when he brought Luanda to the Marshal and recommended the warship he designed to the Marshal.
"Unlike any other South American country, South China has extensive maritime interests, not because of how many overseas interests we have, nor because of our colonies in Central Africa, but because of the lifeline!"
lifeline!
Standing in Zhu Xianhai's office, Luanda was like a newborn calf, pointing out the lifeblood of Nanhua without any hesitation.
"The Congo River owned by the Central African Company is not important. At most, there are coffee plantations there. Alaska in the Arctic is also not important. It is just some canned fish. Maybe they can bring considerable economic benefits to Nanhua, but so what? Is it important to Nanhua?"
Is it important?
It depends on how you look at it. The China-Africa Company can bring a large amount of tropical crops such as rubber, coffee, palm oil and sisal to South China every year. Although the number of Chinese immigrants in Alaska has not exceeded 4,000 until now, the local canned fish output value has exceeded 5 million silver dollars. The economic returns brought by these two places are extremely considerable!
But are they the lifeblood of Nanhua?
Obviously not.
What is the lifeblood of Nanhua?
Ruanda walked to the map and drew a line between China and South China.
"From Huaxia to Nanhua, the entire Pacific Ocean is the lifeline of Nanhua. The future of Nanhua does not lie in how many colonies we open up, nor in how much territory we occupy, but in how many Chinese people there are on this land!"
But it depends on how many Chinese people there are on this land!
Although Luanda's words were not as loud as thunder, his point of view was surprisingly consistent with Zhu Xianhai's.
"There are 1.5 million Chileans in Chile and 1.5 million in Argentina, which add up to 3 million. Don't mention Indians or mixed-race people. They are not Chinese. They are not of our race, and their hearts must be different. If we want to rule this land forever, we must rely on ourselves, on the Chinese. Now South China seems to have more than 4 million Chinese immigrants, but how can this be enough? There are 3 million non-Chinese foreigners in the areas we currently occupy. In Peru, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador, there are at least 15 to 16 million foreigners living there. We want to rule them? How do we rule them?"
As early as when he was studying in the UK, Ruanda was influenced by the colonial thoughts of European countries at that time and believed that the future of South China lies in external expansion. After all, in this world of tigers and wolves, there is no place for the weak to survive.
Either you become the strong preying on the weak, or you become a fish on the chopping board, at the mercy of others!
"People! In the final analysis, it's still people! We need a large number of immigrants to dilute the population of South American countries. We need at least 30 million immigrants to change the population structure here. We must go from a minority to a majority, and finally to an absolute majority. There is no other choice. This also means that the lifeline of South China is..."
Once again drawing a line on the map with his hand, Ruanda spoke in an emotional tone.
"It is the Pacific Ocean. Only by mastering the Pacific Ocean can we have a future and obtain sufficient immigrants without any obstacles! The Pacific route is the real lifeline of South China! It is the lifeblood of South China! The future is there!"
(End of this chapter)
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