Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 964 Technology

After listening to Adolf's explanation, Zhu Shenzui concentrated and thought carefully. On the one hand, he was sorting out the complicated context of Adolf's narration, and on the other hand, he was thinking about how to gain benefits from Sweden and Poland after establishing diplomatic relations with them.

This benefit is certainly not simply money. The real purpose of Zhu Shenzui doing this is to create trouble for Tsarist Russia in the north, so that Tsarist Russia will be trapped in the quagmire of war in Europe and unable to devote more energy to military operations in the east.

Poland is a special country. Zhu Shenzhui learned about the general history of Poland during his university years. After its establishment, Poland was one of the powerful countries in Europe, but it was destroyed three times afterwards. Of course, it is still a long time since the first destruction of Poland. If Zhu Shenzhui's memory is correct, the first destruction of Poland was in the late eighteenth century, which is more than a hundred years ago. Although Poland has begun to decline, it is still not to be underestimated in Europe in terms of land area and national strength.

As for Sweden, it is not necessary to mention that it is now the mid-to-late 17th century, and Sweden is actually on the rise compared to Poland's decline. By the beginning of the 18th century, Sweden will become a powerful empire, and the Swedish Empire in its heyday cannot be underestimated by the whole of Europe. With its strong military and economic strength, it has established its hegemony in the Baltic region, and its army is invincible in Europe.

Both of these countries are in some trouble at the moment, but in the long run they are the best allies for the Ming Dynasty.

Whether it is Sweden or Poland, there is no conflict of interest with the Ming Dynasty, let alone political contradictions. Moreover, they all have a common enemy - Tsarist Russia. In this case, the strategy of making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby countries left by our ancestors is the best choice. In addition, by opening up formal diplomacy with the two countries, the Ming Dynasty can also take this opportunity to take the first step in the world and regain the feat of Zheng He's fleet sailing to the West.

Of course, this is a later story, at least it is impossible to do so far. At present, the navy of the Ming Dynasty is divided into the north and the south. The north is Zheng Hongkui's Shandong navy, and the south is Zheng Zhilong's Fujian navy.

Of the two navies, the Shandong Navy was established not long ago, and its warships are far inferior to those of the Fujian Navy in both quantity and size. Moreover, the Shandong Navy does not have many large ships, and the ships it has can only sail near the ocean, but cannot go to the open sea.

Even though Zhu Shenzhu had planned to gradually move the Shandong Navy southward and control the Nanyang routes except the northern routes, he could not do it in reality. First of all, it was because of Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong's Fujian Navy almost monopolized the entire Nanyang route. Even if the admiral of the Shandong Navy was Zheng Hongkui, even if he was a brother, Zheng Zhilong would not hand over the routes in his hands. Moreover, Zheng Hongkui is no longer the same as before. He is no longer the weakest member of the Zheng brothers. After the Liaodong crossing sea battle, Zheng Hongkui directly broke away from the Zheng Group, set up his own business, and completely surrendered to the court.

Secondly, the Ming Dynasty currently did not have the technology or shipyards to build large ships. Since Emperor Hongzhi, the two largest shipyards of the Ming Dynasty, the Qingjiang Shipyard and the Longjiang Shipyard, had become decorations. As the Ming government no longer went out to sea, the technology that was originally capable of manufacturing the world's most advanced treasure ships at the time was abandoned. These shipyards never built a treasure ship again, and were only responsible for building ordinary grain ships, offshore warships, fishing boats, etc. on weekdays.

Over the years, the skilled craftsmen died and the interruption of technology made these shipyards lose their original functions. What's even more outrageous is that the treasure ship manufacturing materials of Zheng He's voyages to the West that were kept in the Ministry of Industry and the Imperial Palace during the Hongzhi period, including the sea charts described and recorded by Zheng He's fleet at that time, disappeared inexplicably. How did these things disappear? How did they disappear? It remains a mystery to this day.

It was not easy for the Ming Dynasty to reproduce the glory of Zheng He's fleet. Without a suitable shipyard, craftsmen, technology and blueprints, the Ming Dynasty could not build treasure ships. Moreover, from the current navigation technology, although the Ming Dynasty treasure ships have certain advantages, compared with the navigation development of Western countries in the past hundred years, Western sailing ships have surpassed treasure ships in terms of speed and ocean-going practicality. The only difference is that they are slightly inferior in loading and stability.

Changing this situation will take time, a lot of money and manpower, and the restoration of technology is even more important. Zhu Shenzhu plans to start with diplomatic relations with Sweden and Poland. Through such exchanges and mutual envoys, he can establish contact and obtain Europe's current advanced shipbuilding technology from the other side to restore Ming's shipbuilding capabilities.

Thinking of this, Zhu Shenzhui asked Adolf whether the Kingdom of Sweden and the Kingdom of Poland had such shipbuilding technology, whether they could provide it to the Ming Dynasty for use and recruit suitable craftsmen from Europe to the Ming Dynasty.

Adolf thought about it and gave an answer to this question. He told Zhu Shenzhui that the best shipbuilding industries in Europe are currently in the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Britain. After all, the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal are known as the first countries to enter the Age of Navigation, especially the Spanish Invincible Armada, which was once famous and was the strongest maritime overlord in Europe. Although the Spanish Invincible Armada was defeated by the British in the Battle of Gravelines in 1588, the th year of Wanli, Spain's power at sea is still very strong. Even if the British came from behind, they could not completely replace Spain's position as the overlord of the ocean.

Although Portugal is a small country, its navigation technology is extremely advanced due to its geographical location. This can be seen from the fact that Portugal once occupied Malacca and still owns the Macau and Nagasaki routes. Portugal's power at sea is not weak. As for the Netherlands, it is now known as the coachman of the sea and occupies an extremely important position in the world's marine trade. Taking advantage of the Thirty Years' War in Europe, the Netherlands competed with Spain, Portugal and even Britain for overseas colonies, and attacked everywhere, becoming the most powerful maritime power now.

Compared with these four countries, Poland, as a landlocked country, does not have much shipping industry, but Sweden is quite good in shipping technology. After all, Sweden owns part of the Baltic Sea. In order to control the Baltic Sea, Sweden has a fairly strong navy and corresponding shipbuilding technology.

However, Sweden's shipbuilding technology has its flaws, mainly because the Baltic Sea is only an inland sea, which cannot be compared with the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. Due to the limitations, the ships built by the Swedish shipbuilding industry have no problem sailing and fighting in the Baltic Sea and the Mediterranean, but they are not capable of sailing in the unpredictable Atlantic Ocean, crossing the continent or even reaching the Far East.

"Your Majesty, if your Ming Dynasty needs it, as a friendly country, I can represent the Kingdom of Sweden to provide the Ming Dynasty with the corresponding shipbuilding technology, including hiring shipbuilding craftsmen from Europe. However, the shipbuilding technology of the Kingdom of Sweden is not as good as that of the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom. This is why I will go to Lisbon first before I take a Portuguese ocean-going ship to Ming Dynasty. I hope Your Majesty can understand this."

Adolf answered Zhu Shenzhui's question sincerely. Zhu Shenzhui nodded to show that he understood and asked Adolf, "If Ming wants to obtain technology and craftsmen from these countries, do you think it is possible?"

"Your Majesty, although I personally hope to help you complete this task, I regret to tell you that this is absolutely impossible." Adolf said frankly.

"Why? Isn't it possible to spend more money, such as hiring a high salary?"

"Of course not!" Adolf shook his head without thinking, "Shipbuilding technology is cutting-edge technology in Europe, especially these four countries have the highest level of shipbuilding industry and shipbuilding talents in Europe. They can have their current status in the ocean because of these technologies and talents. Let me ask, which king would be willing to export these technologies? And allow the corresponding talents to go to other countries? Moreover, their shipbuilding industry will only undertake shipbuilding business in their own country, and will never undertake shipbuilding needs of other countries. This is related to national interests. No matter how much money is paid, the king and nobles will not allow it."

"What about Sweden? You just said that Sweden can provide it. Why is that? Is it because of its inferior technology?" Zhu Shenzhui couldn't help but ask.

Adolf smiled bitterly and nodded: "Although I don't want to admit it, this is the fact. Sweden's shipbuilding technology is just ordinary in Europe. Our shipbuilding technology and capabilities are decades behind those of these countries. The ships we manufacture cannot be compared with their warships at all, so naturally there are not so many restrictions. In addition, my family already owns two shipyards. Although these two shipyards are owned by the family rather than me personally, as a diplomatic envoy appointed by Her Majesty the Queen, I think that when I return to Sweden and bring your friendship and diplomatic permission, Her Majesty the Queen and His Excellency the Count will agree to this matter out of diplomatic goodwill, so you don't have to worry about the Kingdom of Sweden's commitment to this matter."

"So that's how it is..." Zhu Shenzhui finally understood what Adolf meant. This was exactly the same as the embargo on high-tech weapons in later generations. No country would sell the most advanced weapons to other countries, nor would it help other countries manufacture and supply the corresponding technical personnel.

These all have extremely strong restrictions. Don't underestimate the current European countries. Even if their respective political systems are still imperfect, they are related to the rise and fall of the country. Once this situation is discovered, it is tantamount to treason.

Thinking of this, Zhu Shenzhui also gave up the idea of ​​asking Adolf whether he could bribe the shipbuilding technicians of these countries privately and let them come to Ming Dynasty to serve Ming Dynasty. The risk of doing so is too great, the success rate is also very small, and it is not worth the loss.

Since Sweden can provide some technology and send craftsmen to Ming, it is better to have it than not. In Zhu Shenzhu's opinion, Ming's craftsmen are also very talented. Even if the technical drawings of the treasure ship are gone, the Chinese have always been one of the smartest groups in the world. With certain Western shipbuilding technology and the current technology of Ming, it may be possible to combine the East and the West to design and manufacture ocean-going warships that meet the needs of Ming. This is not impossible.

(End of this chapter)