The beggar emperor at the end of Ming Dynasty - Chapter 577

Qin Huan intended to support the Xiao family in Wuhan to set up one fleet, and then the businessmen in Jiangsu and Zhejiang to set up one by joint equity.

Qin Huan plans to set up three new departments under the Ministry of interior. One is the ship manufacturing department, which governs two shipyards in Wuhan and Shanghai. Wuhan is responsible for building river ships and Shanghai is responsible for building large commercial seagoing ships.

He plans to divide the Shanghai Shipyard into two parts, half to the royal family and half to the Government Council, which can build warships and merchant ships, and then support dozens of small private shipyards in Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangzhou.

What scale these private shipyards can develop and what kind of ships they can build depends on them. Of course, others are allowed to join the shipbuilding industry.

The other two departments are the river transportation department and the sea trade department. As the name suggests, the river transportation department is responsible for managing the river transportation fleet, and the sea trade department is responsible for overseas trade.

The Government Council is not allowed to intervene in maritime trade. It is mainly responsible for management, tax collection and formulating relevant systems.

For example, in addition to the municipal shipping department, it must also set up a department to manage the transportation of all rivers in the world, issue operation licenses to all ships, patrol all rivers, crack down on unlicensed ships and eliminate water bandits.

In terms of tariff, Qin Huan also decided to reform it, otherwise it would be unreasonable to collect it according to the current way of the Government Council, and there were too many loopholes.

In the future, seagoing ships for sea trade should also be built according to the regulations of the imperial court. They are divided into five types according to the tonnage. Each type should pay relevant business tax and apply for a sea license once a year.

If it is found that there is no certificate, not only the cargo of the ship will be confiscated, but also the people on board and their owners will be sentenced for smuggling. At that time, the customs will set up naval fleets to combat smuggling in all provinces.

In addition to the operation tax, the tariff can not be exempted. The operation tax is collected according to the tonnage of the ship, once a year, and the tariff is collected according to the type and quantity of goods.

In order to increase efficiency, merchants must also make a box according to the size specified by the imperial court, and collect customs duties according to the number of boxes in the future.

The tariff of each commodity is different. It is formulated according to the price, weight and volume of the commodity itself. Each box can only contain one kind of goods. Even if it is not full, it has to pay the tax of one box. If mixed loading is found, it will be charged according to the most expensive commodity.

At that time, the Navy will intercept and conduct spot checks at sea from time to time. Once it is found that the goods are secretly carried in the warehouse, it will not only impose a fine and confiscate the cargo ship, but also investigate the merchant’s smuggling crime.

There’s no way. If we don’t impose strict criminal law, I’m afraid many businessmen will only pack two boxes and go to sea, and then secretly let the boat transit. After all, such a long coastline is too defenseless to send people to wait all the time. Moreover, there are a large number of fishing boats fishing at sea, which can’t be checked every time.

Although this kind of wooden frame is certainly much smaller than the previous container, it is not suitable for current seagoing ships, so a new commercial seagoing ship must be designed.

Of course, Qin Huan would not implement it immediately. He would first release the news and relevant regulations, and then implement it in five years, so as to give the local maritime merchants a preparation time for the change of ships and the transformation of the transformation.

In order to centralize tax collection, Qin Huan only planned to open a few trade ports. In addition to Shanghai, one was set up in Ningbo, Zhejiang. There were only one province in Fujian, Fuzhou, Guangdong, Guangzhou and Liuzhou, Guangxi, and no more than two at most.

As for the north, it is enough to set up one in Tianjin and Qingdao Bay in previous lives. No more is necessary.

Another problem is that for offshore domestic transportation, for example, from Shanghai to Guangzhou to Tianjin, if the same tariff is charged, I’m afraid no one will go by sea, so the tariff must not be charged, and only the operation tax will be charged.

This operation is very troublesome. For example, the merchant ship owner said he was going to Guangzhou, but he finally went to Southeast Asia. What can you do for him?

Therefore, every merchant ship of sea trade should have a number. When handling the operation license, in addition to paying the operation tax, it should also pay a deposit.

Then, for all goods destined for China, the types and quantities of goods on board shall be counted clearly at each port and the date shall be marked.

Similarly, the goods, types and dates of cargo ships calling from other ports should also be counted clearly. The accounts of each port every six months can clearly know that the cargo ship did not transport the goods to the destination or how many baskets were missing.

In this way, he had to pay both the transportation tax and the deposit, and he had to build and buy merchant ships. Coupled with the expensive customs duties and the expenses of relevant sailors, it was doomed that the peddlers were unable to carry out ocean trade. In fact, Qin Huan didn’t want anyone to buy a broken ship for sea transportation.

Sea trade and sea transportation are two concepts that can be completely separated. Businessmen with financial resources can buy a large number of sea ships to transport goods for others. Businessmen with small financial resources can entrust these commercial ships to help transport. They only need to purchase goods at home and open up sales overseas.

Of course, if you have money, you can also serve as both marine insurance and transportation. The Royal trade office is such a department, that is, it does its own marine trade and also helps other businesses transport and earn freight.

Therefore, in addition to inspecting ports and docks and reviewing naval warships, Qin Yu’s visit to Shanghai this time also has an important purpose, which is to design several merchant ships specially used for transporting goods. These cargo ships include not only ocean going cargo ships, but also river flat bottomed ships.

Now there are 90 warships in service, including 10 500 ton cruisers, 30 300 ton destroyers and 50 100 ton frigates, which were launched at the end of last year.

After two or three months of training, the navy has initially acquired the capability of ocean going operations.

The second batch of warships under construction is even more numerous. There are not only 20 cruisers, 30 destroyers, 100 frigates, but also a 500 ton supply ship.

This supply ship was transformed from a cruiser. Because it was a template ship, only one was built.

The other three warships have been finalized and have entered the stage of mass production. As long as the raw materials are sufficient and the speed is very fast, the frigates of more than 100 tons can be assembled in only two months in good weather. If the people don’t stop working at night, they can even build one in a month.

No way, this kind of workshop is responsible for producing all accessories according to the standard size, and then transporting them to the slipway and assembling them according to the sequence number. Once skilled, the efficiency is unimaginable.

It is faster than the modular assembly of steel warships. After all, there is no need to weld between wood, and the internal decoration is not complex. Of course, this is inseparable from the exquisite craftsmanship of Chinese carpenters and the tenon and mortise structure. However, in order to make the warship structure more firm, copper nails are also needed afterwards.

Even larger destroyers and cruisers can be assembled in only three or four months. Then, with the inspection, oil painting, sea trial and weapon installation, they can be completed in more than a month.

So today’s shipyards can launch a batch almost every six months. As for the quantity of each batch, it depends entirely on the speed of processing accessories in each workshop and the manpower of carpenters. As for the slipway, it’s not a problem at all.

However, with the large-scale production of the three warships, dry wood has been in short supply, especially the giant wood used to make keel and ribs.

Among them, the 60-70 meter long keel of a cruiser should not only be made of solid and high-quality wood, but also be at least two people in diameter. It should not be too curved. These ancient trees are transported from the deep mountains and forests in the southwest.

Although he could walk by water, he still needed a lot of manpower to operate, so Qin Huan came up with the idea of casting keel with steel, so as to save cost and even ballast stone.

Because at present, the cost of a keel from cutting down, transportation, and finally getting it to Shanghai for processing and molding accounts for more than half of a warship. Although it is unreasonable, it is a fact.

Because the biggest advantage of modular assembly is not efficiency, but the rational use of wood and the fact that ordinary carpenters do not need too many professional carpenters who understand shipbuilding. Ordinary carpenters can win the processing of accessories, which is why the shipyard has such a large output. There are too many ordinary carpenters in China, and they process one or two kinds of wood every day and become teachers after working for one or two months.

In terms of materials, we can also maximize the rationalization. Good solid wood is used for keel and ribs, and it is a whole one. Good wood is used below the waterline, but it can be worse above the waterline. As for doors and windows and internal decoration, ordinary wood can be used.

Qin Huan knew that if he wanted to build thousands of ocean ships a year, the keel problem must be solved, otherwise it would definitely drag him back.