On March 23, 1686, near the mouth of Duck Lake, the weather was clear and the southeast wind was force four.

"Chairman Ma, this is our newly completed giant warship 'Umbrella', which will soon be deployed to the Second Fleet as the flagship of the fleet." At the Zhengang Naval Base, Ma Wenqiang, chairman of the new Executive Committee, accompanied by many admirals and colonels, boarded the fourth ship of the "Executive Committee" class, which is the most powerful three-deck battleship in the Navy's combat sequence, for a review.

The "Umbrella" was named by Liao Xiaoyao, the fifth chairman of the East Coast Executive Committee, who has left office, and it means the umbrella of the East Coast's overseas colonies and allies, which is very domineering. Ma Wenqiang, who was elected as the new chairman of the Executive Committee by a high vote in the Founders' Council, also appreciated this very much, so he came to visit as soon as the Navy invited him.

As a civilian official, although Ma Wenqiang has also served as the captain of the Southern Pioneer Team, he is mostly strategic, and he is still relatively unfamiliar with the details of military equipment. Therefore, when I saw the battleship "Umbrella", which the country had spent a lot of money to build, I was very excited, and I walked through the three decks, and the ammunition depot, galley, lounge, dining room, conference room, captain's room, command bridge and other facilities were all entered to take a look. It's over, and I still laughed from ear to ear when I touched a 135 mm caliber gun, and the overall mood was quite positive.

Chairman Ma was happy, and the officials of the navy were naturally relieved, and then some people wondered whether it was time to strike while the iron was hot and allocate funds for the other two three-deck battleships "Milestone" and "Scavenger" that were being built on the slipway, and strive to complete the two warships and complete sea trials by the end of this year.

However, who Ma Wenqiang is, he has been immersed in officialdom for decades, and naturally he will not be caught by these little tricks of naval officials. He said vigorously that the appropriation of funds should be made according to the plan, and that the central government's finances are very tight at present, and every penny has a clear place to go, and it is impossible to break the original plan to accommodate the navy. You must know that in order to support the Navy's "five-year shipbuilding plan," the people of the whole country have tightened their belts over the years, and many funds for education, medical care, infrastructure, and scientific research have been compressed.

"After the 'Umbrella' is put into service, there is no need to sing empty city plans in this country!" Sitting in the officer's canteen on the ship, Ma Wenqiang gently stroked the tables and chairs full of beautiful wooden textures, and said with a smile: "There are two 'Executive Committee' class ships in Hong Kong, and this local coastal defense is safe." However, the Umbrella is about to go to service in the Indian Ocean, where it will be more effective and will help us in pioneering the Indian Seas. In short, during today's visit, I saw the phased results of naval construction. This is good, very good, and proves that the country's money is not spent in vain. From now on, I also hope that you will carry forward the spirit of not being afraid of hardship, tiredness, and courageous sacrifice, and spread the prestige of the East Coast Navy to the four seas. ”

Ma Wenqiang's words are tantamount to announcing the change in the national policy of the East Coast Republic of China. And this transformation has been seen in many places before, such as the strengthening of the military presence in the Caribbean and the Cape Verde Islands, such as the arrival of Portuguese troops (even if symbolic), such as the high-profile entry into India, and so on. However, it is the first time that it has been said through the mouth of the country's top leader, so its weight can be seen. Considering the reporters of Pravda, Kommersant, and Southern Railway Weekly, this news will definitely spread throughout the country as quickly as possible in the future, and then cause waves of discussion.

"Chairman Ma, the officers and men of the Navy have been waiting for this day for a long time." Admiral Li Zemin, who was also co-opted as chief of the general staff of the National Armed Forces at the Founders' Conference, stepped forward and said: "Now that the country is gaining more and more weight in overseas trade, it is obvious that it will not be possible to do without a strong navy, and this will obviously not guarantee our interests." Nowadays, the naval construction process of the European continent countries is very fast, Britain, the Netherlands and other traditional naval powers not to mention, the originally relatively backward Kingdom of France's naval strength in recent years has been a surprise attack, which is impressive. As far as the navy's standing professional warships are concerned, this country has surpassed the United Provinces and England to rank first, although its strength still needs to be further tested, but it is enough to show the determination of the people in the construction of the navy. The five-year shipbuilding plan drawn up by our country this time is very appropriate in terms of timing and is very conducive to the next action by investing a large amount of money in a short period of time to renovate the navy's old ships and expand the scale of the combat fleet. ”

In other words, the rapid expansion of the size of the French navy has been increasingly valued by traditional naval powers in recent years. In fact, people were shocked at the financial situation of the Kingdom of France, which maintained a large army and at the same time invested heavily in the seas, and thought it was inconceivable that they could do this. But in any case, the French did build a large number of warships, and equipped them with sailors and cannons, and this threat was not covered.

In this regard, the most nervous is undoubtedly the British and Dutch navies, which had previously taken turns to dominate the North Sea, the Baltic Sea and other trade hotspots, but the people on the east coast are also jealous, because the French are too crazy! Not only did they flaunt their might in Europe by relying on the reality of their naval power to increase dramatically—for example, they dispatched the Eastern Fleet to threaten Geno*Asia—but they also caused trouble in the Caribbean, even in India and Indochina.

As early as a few years ago, the people on the east coast learned through various channels that the French not only sent warships and immigrants to the Caribbean Sea to consolidate the few islands they occupied, but also showed expansion ambitions for Africa and the Far East: after seeing the little-known small country of Courland gain a foothold in the Congo River valley in Africa, and developed a number of profitable commercial activities such as tobacco cultivation and slave trading, the French were also red-eyed, and sent an expeditionary fleet to the Gulf of Guinea a few years ago, Establish a stronghold in a place called "Lagos" (meaning saltwater lake) by Portuguese slave traders, defeat the local natives, and officially begin colonial rule.

And that's not even counting the fact that the French are equally interested in the Far East! As early as 1648, when the Dutch East India Company took control of the whole of Siam's foreign trade and part of its economic power, the country wanted to get out of this unfavorable situation, and sent envoys to Europe several times, which then aroused the interest of Louis XIV.

In 1665, French Jesuit missionaries arrived in Siam and were warmly welcomed by Siamese from the king down to the king. Since then, the ties between the two countries have become closer, and French merchants have begun to try to break through the Dutch obstruction of trade with Siam, and with some success, in 1673 King Louis XIV of France wrote a personal letter to the King of Siam to strengthen relations.

In 1678, the French rebelled against Constantin Bercon, an employee of the Dutch East India Company, who became prime minister of Siam in 1684, and the French were very successful in Indochina! Later, with the permission of the King of Siam, the French sent two envoys, six missionaries and 800 army soldiers to land in Siam and officially began to operate.

In any case, the growing momentum of expansion shown by the French over the years is real. The Dutch saw it, the British saw it, and the people on the east coast, though they were half a world away, but they also saw it, not to mention the traditional allies of the Gena, who ran to the east coast to complain and ask for help.

And if they want to curb the ambitions of the French, the people on the east coast have no practical and effective means on land, so they can only think about it at sea. Among them, strengthening the naval strength and deploying it to various key nodes is probably the most effective means.

"The First Fleet is our country's most powerful maritime force, and now its Caribbean Squadron and Cape Verde Squadron occupy a considerable proportion of the new armed forces, which is a decision made by the country after careful consideration. Huaiyuan Island and Cape Verde Islands are the two key nodes for us to control the Europeans, and they are also the most important weapons for countries to seize overseas interests and exert stronger overseas influence in the future. The detachments of these two places must select elite generals and modern officers with an international perspective, and do not want to be such mediocre and conservative. In the event of an incident, the commanders of the two detachments should have the ability to make a decision on the spot, especially the Cape Verdean detachment, which is closer to Europe, and may consider granting the right to deal with the situation on the spot, without having to wait for the approval of the higher authorities in everything. Ma Wenqiang is different from the leaders of the previous generation, the policy program is more expansionist and hegemonic, and his words are full of imperialist tones, and one mouth is to restrict and influence whom, in fact, it is not much different from today's French.

At present, in addition to a fleet that is being strengthened one after another, there is also a first battalion of marines commanded by Rear Admiral Zhou Yafu on Huaiyuan Island. It has been heard that Chairman Ma Wenqiang Ma intends to deploy a Marine Corps, that is, the Second Marine Battalion, which is currently under construction, in the eastern Cape Verde Islands. The battalion was formed and trained by Zhou Yafu's deputy, and was based in the eastern Cape Verde Islands, cooperating with the naval fleet to radiate the surrounding areas and serve the overseas interests of the eastern republic.

It can be said that the five-year shipbuilding plan is being steadily implemented, a new marine battalion is about to be put in place, and in addition to the additional expenses for repairing and expanding the bases on Huaiyuan Island and Cape Verde Islands, the era of a strong navy has arrived. After sweeping away the bad luck of investment for many years, it is still worth looking forward to what kind of answer sheet they will hand over in the future.

At noon, Ma Wenqiang, Li Zemin, and other state leaders invited the ship's principal officers and reporters to lunch in the dining room of the battleship "Umbrella." With the help of the food at lunch, Ma Wenqiang talked about the importance of overseas trade with cane sugar, pepper, spices and other Wei introductions, which further aggravated the impression of a cadre. It is estimated that in the next period of time, the major newspapers will start to build momentum with this as a hot spot, and the future direction of the entire East Bank Republic has changed significantly.

As of August 1685, the total population of the Eastern Coast Republic of China had reached 5,938,000, of which 57% were born locally, less than 3,400,000; Ming people accounted for 29%, about 1.74 million; The total number of white nationals combined is close to 800,000, or 13 percent; The total number of non-national workers has declined slightly due to factors such as naturalization and repatriation to the North American continent, but it is still 235,000, and the number of white workers exceeds that of blacks by more than 40% - the domestic political situation is stable, the technology is advanced, and the industry and commerce are developed, so it is natural to seek expansion and greater influence abroad in the pursuit of higher living standards and more economic interests. You must know that a higher standard of living inherently means more resource consumption, and some of these additional resource gaps can be made up by developing the level of productivity, but some of them cannot be found, and they can only be sought abroad. Therefore, overseas interests have now become the top priority of the entire country, and strengthening the building of naval forces is naturally in the interests of all the people of the East Coast Republic of China, and even a large increase in financial expenditures is not hesitated to do so.

It is worth mentioning that the ambassadors of various countries to the East Coast who were invited to visit the battleship "Umbrella" today are also very different from each other. The envoys close to the people of the East Coast, such as the Duchy of Courland, the Republic of Geno*a, and the Kingdom of Portugal, were somewhat excited, although their countries were still at risk of enemy attacks by land; Countries that are not very good at dealing with the east coast, such as England, France, and the United Provinces, have a very complicated mood, and the stronger the fleet of the people on the east coast, the more unpleasant they will be, and the greater the pressure on the country. In the future, if an armed conflict breaks out with the east coast, overseas trade will definitely be greatly affected, and how to solve it will be seen in the future.

After visiting the Zhenhai Harbor Naval Base, Ma Wenqiang took a boat to Hue County, an economic city in the north. There, he first inspected the tropical cash crop plantation industry, which is now quite well-developed. He then received several special guests, namely the descendants of the Cornelis family from the Dutch West India Company.