Valley Emperor

This huge fleet going to the Americas, like the previous fleets for immigration, trade, and exploration to the Americas, is the result of the tripartite cooperation between the Navy, the Immigration and Reclamation Division, and the American Trading Company.

For the Americas, the empire has basically formed a consensus on immigration and development, but when the immigration and development will be developed is a question of conflict between multiple parties.

For the navy, it is natural to hope that the sooner the better, the sooner the Americas are developed, the sooner the empire's strategic focus will be shifted to the Americas and the ocean. The benefits to the navy are innumerable.

The same is true for the Immigrant Colony Division and the American Trading Company. The Immigrant Colony Division has always been the vanguard of the empire's foreign expansion, especially when those immigration officials knew the richness of the American continent and the local geographical environment was good. When the Southeast Asian region was as bad as it was, immigration to the American continent was regarded as the main immigration task in the future.

For the Immigration and Reclamation Division, any place suitable for immigration is a good place and needs to be occupied as soon as possible.

As for the American Trading Company, this company was only established four years ago. It is the latest established one among the trading companies controlled by the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises. This American Trading Company and the other three in the Datang Empire have official The trading companies in the background are different.

There are ocean-going trading companies with official backgrounds in the Datang Empire, including Datang Dongyang Trading Co., Ltd., which specializes in trade in the Fusang region, and Datang Nanyang Trading Co., Ltd., which specializes in trade in the Nanyang region. These two trading companies belong to Ordinary trading companies, although they have an official background, strong capital, and many ships, are no different from other private trading companies.

However, the Datang Western Trade Company is a bit special, because this company has a Western trade license, monopolizes the Western trade, and can legally have large-scale armed forces.

The American Trading Company combines some of the characteristics of the above two. First of all, the company does not say that it has a monopoly American trade license, but this company has an American construction license, which is also specially designed for Designed by American Trading Company.

The construction permit allows the American trading company to build immigration strongholds, cities, etc. on the American continent, and has part of the administrative assistance management rights for these cities they have established by themselves. This part is the same as the Western trading company. At the same time, in order to protect these port cities, the The company forms an armed force of a limited size.

However, these armed forces have great restrictions, that is, they are only allowed to be stationed on the American continent and carry out military operations against indigenous peoples.

At the same time, if there is a conflict with Spain, Portugal and other major maritime powers on the American continent, the American company's armed forces have only the right of self-defense. If they want to launch an active attack, they need to report to the military and obtain approval before they can.

At the same time, all armed employees of the company's armed forces must be citizens of the Tang Dynasty, and the officers among them must be veterans.

This American trading company is partly similar to the American trading company, but some of its authority is less than that of the Western trading company. For example, it does not have the special power of monopoly trade, and it does not have the power to independently conclude treaties and declare war with any country. , these powers were limited to the indigenous tribes on the American continent.

At the same time, when fighting the enemy, the Western Trading Company has independent power and can fight against any country or force on its own, as long as the scope is limited to India, West Asia, Africa, and Europe to the west of Malacca.

Then the imperial military actually has no right to intervene.

This is not the case with the American Trading Company. They can only fight against the natives freely, but against European civilized countries, they only have the right of self-defense, not the right to attack freely.

Of course, this is only the official power of Spain and Portugal. If it is just these two ordinary immigrants, merchant ships, etc., it doesn't matter, you can decide for yourself. After all, there are too many pirates these days, and pirates attack merchant ships. Even in the port, it often happens, Spain has been attacked, and Datang is no exception.

So, not worth the fuss.

As for who those pirates are and whether they are the navy of a certain country, there is no need to go into this kind of question, because it is useless to investigate, and everyone will not admit it.

Almost a miniature version of the American Trading Company, the pioneer in the development of the Americas in the Tang Dynasty, has been jumping up and down in recent years to promote immigrants to develop the Americas.

The Navy, the Immigration and Reclamation Division, and the Inter-American Trading Company agreed and worked together on immigration to develop America.

That's why this large fleet is today.

Moreover, this huge fleet is different from the previous fleets. A considerable part of the ships in this fleet are equipped with steam engines.

It's not that there has been no steam ship to the Americas before. Last year, a steam merchant ship arrived in the Americas, but the scale was not large, and because there was no coal supply along the way, the steam engine was not actually started. It will start only when there is no wind or other emergencies, and it usually saves coal burning.

But this time, in order to ensure the safety of the fleet and the time required for the voyage, of course, and more importantly, the American Trading Company sent a small coal mine in the Americas, which is ready to use steam engines as the main power on a large scale.

Although it is only a small coal mine from the Americas, it is coal anyway.

After the exhausted coal supply in the Americas, ships that use sails and sails on a large scale to and from the Americas will be able to use steam power.

When the huge American fleet set sail with smoke, countless people along the Huangpu River were watching them set sail.

The formation and plan of the American fleet is not for any purpose, and even in order to expand its influence, the American trading company is still carrying out large-scale publicity.

Therefore, on this day, many people are paying attention to this fleet.

Navy officers and immigration officials, not to mention the insiders of the American Trading Company, others are also paying close attention.

Other trading companies are paying attention to this action, because the American trading company does not have a trade monopoly, which means that if the American side is profitable, other trading companies can also take a share.

Unlike the trade between India and Africa and Europe, which is monopolized by the Western Trading Company, at present, except for the merchant ships of the Western Company, no other company's merchant ships can cross Malacca to India.

For this kind of monopoly, the upper echelons of the empire also intend to make changes, but considering the huge role of the Western Trading Company and the huge operating costs of the company, if there is no support from the profits brought by the monopoly trade, then the Western Trading Company may also be struggling. .

You must know that at present, the Western Trading Company has established its core base in Gohe State, India. It has successively established more than a dozen colonial bases on the east and west coasts of India, and has penetrated deep into the Indian mainland. stronghold.

It has even established strongholds in West Asia and the east coast of Africa. The most distant one is located in southern Africa, near the Cape of Good Hope. Here, the Western Trading Company made a huge investment and used a large fleet to transport a large amount of cement and other materials at one time, and then landed. , and bribed the local tribe to provide labor, etc., and secretly built a large-scale bastion in three months.

When the Portuguese noticed and sent a fleet to attack, the fortifications such as the bastion had been completed, and a full eight hundred armed employees were stationed.

In the end, the two sides fought a continuous war for three years around the South African stronghold, but Datang Western Company resisted.

But it is a pity that the Western Trading Company has not been able to establish a stronghold on the west coast of Africa. Those Portuguese are like lunatics. They are stationed in South Africa to watch a large number of fleets, and they are strictly guarded at the Cape of Good Hope. During the blockade operation, Datang Western Trading Company tried several times, but after the ship was destroyed and the people died, this thought was temporarily extinguished.

The establishment of these strongholds, each of which means one or even several wars.

Not just with the natives, but more with the Portuguese.

At present, the conflict and competition between the Portuguese and the Empire in India has entered the most intense event. The two sides basically tore off their faces and attacked each other's colonial strongholds.

Many of the strongholds of the Western Trading Company were snatched from the Portuguese.

Of course, the Portuguese also robbed many of the strongholds and merchant ships of Western trading companies.

What's more interesting is that the two sides fought to death in India, but they lived in peace in the South China Sea, and there was not a lot of business that should be done.

In India and Africa, Western trading companies fought with indigenous people and Portuguese, and their annual military expenditures were astronomical ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ If there was no subsidy from the profits of Western monopoly trade, they would have gone bankrupt long ago.

Therefore, in view of the situation in India and Africa, the monopoly of the Western Trading Company will not be revoked in a short time.

Therefore, many trading companies set their sights on the Americas.

There is a brand new undeveloped market, and it can bypass the grape people and the Datang Western Trading Company, and trade directly with Europe through the Spaniards. The prospects are very bright, and many trading companies are already preparing to go to the Americas. flight route.

These trading companies are paying attention, and ordinary people are also paying attention. Some poor people hope that the Americas will bring back good news. If it is really beautiful and rich, and there are countless good land waiting for you, then you must bite your teeth and then He boarded an immigrant ship and went to America to seek a living.

In the Wusongjiang Hotel at the Wusongjiangkou in Shanghai, a group of people also stood on the balcony and looked at the huge fleet on the Huangpu River outside.

Most of the people in this group were officials in official robes, but among the men in official robes, there was a young man in civilian clothes.