Chapter 4: Foreign Trade

“Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations ... entangling alliances with none” ― Thomas Jefferson

Rome, Papal States. August 1070

Pope Alexander was in trouble. His army in Sicily was being pushed back, and the Byzantines were pushing out from Bari. When they saw the Papal States were being beaten back in Sicily, they felt safe to recapture the land lost to the Normans, and since most of the Papal Army was in Sicily, the Byzantines were confident of success.

Andronicus of Bari, the local military commander, was sure of success. He had studied the Papal victory over the Normans and saw what worked and what didn’t. The British campaigns were more challenging to study because most of the losing troops were dead or in captivity. Andronicus didn’t know how firearms worked, but he had a few working examples bought on the black market.

Stopping Andronicus from equipping his forces with firearms was the expense of purchasing guns and training troops to use them properly. What he had was plenty of swords, pikes, and bows for the infantry and a unit of cataphract cavalry. If they could ambush Papal troops, the Byzantines could get their melee troops among them and defeat them before the Papal forces could respond.

En route to China. September 1070

Fàn Zongshi watched as the ship he was on seemed to fly over the waves. It was the first of a new class of armed trade ships launched by the Hull Naval Shipyard. Named the HMNS Explorer, she was 100 meters long with five towering masts that, along with clean lines, could propel the ship at a speed of 32KPH in favorable winds. The ship was equipped with a steam engine to propel the vessel in calm seas or port. Since she would have to operate independently for long periods, there were six Vulcan guns and a small detachment of marines to defend her from hostile powers. Instead of a wooden hull, this ship’s hull and mast were made with steel and painted to protect against corrosion.

When the new ship was launched, Marion thought it would be natural to ask Fàn Zongshi if he wanted to go along. By this time, he was fluent in English and well respected, so he could act as an interpreter for the crew once they reached a Chinese port. While at sea, though, he wasn’t in command; that responsibility fell to Commander Morwenna. She was a tough, no-nonsense Cornish officer with no sense of humor. What she was, though, was calm under pressure and very resourceful, which was why she had been given command. Within a week of leaving port, she had the grudging respect of everyone on board.

The ship’s holds were loaded with cloth, paper, and manufactured goods to be traded for silk, porcelain, tea, spices, and anything else they could find. Instead of using rocks or sand for ballast, the ballast of the Explorer was copper, tin, and iron ingots. If they had time and goods, they would also try to trade with Korea and Japan. Fàn Zongshi also had a personal mission; he wanted to bring his entire family back to Britain so they could live peacefully without fear of the government arresting them on false charges.

To hold the trade goods, they used a standardized metal container that was ten meters long, four meters high, and three meters wide. The ship could hold three containers in each hold, with six holds available. Six containers were tied to the deck, covering the hatches to increase the amount of goods further. To unload the containers, they had a portable crane that could be set up to lift the container and put it on the dock.

Before the ship left, Luke spent several hours discussing the journey with Morwenna. Several years before, Luke had carefully copied a world map and kept it in the classified works. He brought it out and explained to Morwenna what she would likely face. When she asked how Luke knew about the dangers her ship would face, he gave her his famous “don’t ask” look. Morwenna was smart enough not to pursue that line of questioning as her briefing continued. Two things Luke told her to exercise extra caution with were pirates and the Monsoon rains as they would be moving through the Indian Ocean during Monsoon season.

The trip south from Britain had been exceptionally smooth as the Explorer skirted the coast of Africa. Even though the journey had been smooth, the crew constantly looked for danger because they were alone if something happened. During their trip south, they stopped at various settlements and conducted trade. As the ship rounded the Cape of Good Hope, Morwenna was prepared for the bad weather they found and, using the steam engine, pushed through while swinging further south.

After they were clear, Morwenna ordered the ship to travel east northeast, so they were heading toward the Malacca strait. Once they were through, they could turn north and head toward China.

As they sailed through the Indian Ocean, they stopped at various islands to collect extra fresh water and food. Morwenna had the coordinates of the islands, so she knew when to shift course to replenish their supplies. Instead of taking casks off the ship and filling them with water on the island, they had several kilometers of canvas hose that could hook up to the ship’s water tanks to fill them directly. If the island was inhabited, Fàn Zongshi tried to trade with them. Some groups were eager to trade, while others were not. It didn’t take long to discover, much to Fàn Zongshi’s surprise, that glass beads and fish hooks were the two most valuable trade goods on the ship. The next most valuable items were cooking utensils.

By the time they were halfway across the Indian Ocean, all crew members sported a deep tan, with many having an all-over tan. Even Morwenna sported an all-over tan, with the sun bleaching her usually brown hair to a dirty blonde. It was discovered that by going nude, the sailors could dry off faster if caught in the rain. Injury and disease were constant worries for the crew, even though they had a well-respected doctor and a small medical staff aboard.

After a crew member was swept overboard during a storm, Morwenna mandated all crew wear life preservers when working on deck in the rain. She couldn’t afford to lose too many sailors to accidents. With the incessant heat, every crewmember was required to drink a minimum of five liters of water per day. If they ran low on drinking water and no islands were in sight, the steam engine would be started to operate the condensers, refilling the water tanks.

Except for the occasional storm, the Explorer had a smooth trip until they had to enter the narrowest part of the Strait of Malacca. To safely navigate the straight without charts, Morwenna had to slow down, running on topsails only. By slowing down, they were perfect targets for pirates who knew the waters. Pirates in these waters were plentiful with the political turbulence that had rocked the region over the preceding 30 years.

Morwenna was on deck taking a saltwater shower when a lookout sounded out

“SAILS HO!” Morwenna snapped her head around to hear the next part better. “Many sails bearing 0-8-0, range 3-0 kilometers, speed, 0-8 KPH.”

Morwenna called for binoculars and went to the rail. Looking over the seas to their east, she spotted the tops of the sails and nodded to herself. If they left her alone, she would leave them alone. Having made her decision and having her shower ruined, Morwenna used a rag dipped in fresh water to remove the salt from her body and replaced her uniform.

By the time she was finished, it was apparent the other ships were not going to leave her alone. Thirty ships were angling to intercept her and had the weather gauge. Morwenna had the time to start her steam engine but decided against that because she didn’t know what conditions they would find in the Chinese ports. They could also deploy more sail but could face the same pirates on their return voyage when they might not have the coal or ammunition to fight them off.

Arjuna, the commander of the biggest group of pirates in the western islands, was licking his chops. Ahead of him was the largest ship he had ever seen, and it didn’t seem to be aware of his presence, which was fine with him. Looking at his men, he saw they were already counting their share of the loot. What made him curious was what kind of ship he was facing since he had never heard of such a ship even though he had been going to sea all his life and was approaching 60 years of age.

The British crew was given an early lunch so they could fight without having empty stomachs distracting them because once they went to battle stations, the cooking fires would be out. After lunch, Morwenna could make out the details on the opposing ships, and what she saw was encouraging. None of the opposing vessels seemed to notice the gun turrets along the side of her ship, and they didn’t appear to care that her ship was much larger. By a rough count, the pirates had her outmanned, but all that meant was the ferryman would be busier today than usual.

Finally, it was time; Morwenna sighed and turned to her XO.

“It’s time. Call everyone to battle stations. Course and speed unchanged for now.”

“Aye, ma’am.” The XO snapped to attention and began issuing the needed orders. He was efficient as an XO but wasn’t commanding material, especially on a mission such as the one they were on. Below decks, Morwenna could hear the alarms signaling battle stations and a sailor brought her her helmet and life vest. As she put them on, gun crews pulled the canvas covers off their Vulcan guns, and marines moved into the rigging to be in a better position to pick off enemy officers. After putting her helmet and life vest on, she proceeded to the armored bridge to conduct the rest of the engagement.

Suddenly, a bell could be heard, and Arjuna had noticed the opposing crew strip the canvas off some strange domed object but thought nothing of it, a decision that would soon have deadly consequences. It was confusing to the pirates why the peculiar ship wasn’t changing course as they closed; all of them could see most of the sails were still reefed even though men were climbing into the rigging.

Fifteen minutes after going to battle stations, it was time. All enemy ships were within the recommended range of 250 meters; Morwenna intended to leave none of the enemy crews alive.

Fàn Zongshi was standing next to Commander Morwenna. He had seen these guns practice, but this was the first time he had ever seen everything working together, and it was impressive. All the systems worked together, and the commander had access to more information than Fàn Zongshi could comprehend.

Morwenna looked out one last time and turned to her gunnery officer.

“You may commence firing.”

Outside the armored bridge, Zongshi could hear the sound of the three starboard Vulcan guns firing and thanked the heavens he wasn’t on the receiving end. Looking out of his vision slit, he could see the pirates were not expecting their fat prize to fight back so viciously. Six boats rode lower in the water within a minute as the others tried to understand what was happening.

One moment, everything was going swell for Arjuna. His boats were closing with the large ship, and his men could smell blood in the water. The next, large clouds of smoke erupted from the sides of the enemy ship, and the sound of tearing cloth could be heard. Within moments, Arjuna realized they were in serious trouble when the boats ahead of him started sinking, and their crews were screaming in agony as they stared at their wounds. Then, all the sails were deployed aboard the enemy ship, and it began to circle them like a shark. Arjuna realized they were all dead, and there was nothing they could do but wait and pray.

Before the battle, the gun crews had been assigned targets so they wouldn’t have to wait for the officers to assign them during battle. Zongshi watched as the fire control officer controlled the guns since the turret crews couldn’t see what was happening. Then Morwenna got Zongshi’s attention:

“Left full rudder. Circle these bastards. Deploy all canvas. I don’t want any of the bastards escaping.”

The commander had never struck Zongshi as bloodthirsty, but here she was, condemning the rest of these men to a watery grave. As the ship turned, the gun crews continued firing. Some enemy boats had already sunk, and most were sinking. During their turn, the Explorer deployed all their sail, boosting their speed and delivering another shock to their adversary. With the added momentum, Morwenna kept her ship turning as they circled the pirates, shooting at anything that moved.

Before the Explorer could resume their base course, all the pirate ships had been sent to Davy Jones’s Locker, and Morwenna eliminated any remaining doubt that she was the right person for the job. While survivors were in the water, Morwenna sailed off without picking them up; they didn’t have room, supplies, or time to tend to prisoners. Thankfully, that was the only engagement they had while transiting the straight.

Frankfort, Holy Roman Empire. August 1070

Henry IV was in a bind. He needed to invest more money in his North Sea ports to expand trade and grow the economy, but he didn’t have the extra money to invest. The tax system was still a mess, although it was getting better. At least Henry wasn’t making the problem worse with reckless personal spending like other nobility. He lived frugally and didn’t have many servants. Instead of funding lavish feasts, festivals, and tournaments, Henry funded universal childhood education and infrastructure projects.

Still, he didn’t have enough money. Many infrastructure projects cost much more than Henry anticipated, with much of the cost traced to the lack of engineers. Without trained engineers, many projects had to be reworked so they would perform as needed, and some proved to be impossible.

One of those impossible tasks was the further expansion of the Port of Hamburg. After expanding it once already, the port needed to be expanded again to handle the increasing commerce, but if it were developed further, silt would become a problem. The harbor required a massive overhaul, but that took engineering and money, two things Henry didn’t have.

Something else Henry didn’t have money for was building railroads. His industrial base didn’t have the capacity or technological know-how to build rails, engines, or rolling stock in the quantities needed to make a significant impact. So far, Henry had only been able to fund a single rail line from Frankfort to Fulda with the goal of extending this rail line to Stettin on the Baltic coast. This would enable Henry to move troops against Poland much easier since his first goal was East Pomerania, which would cut Poland off from the sea.

Even that one line was turning into a moneymaker for Henry’s rail service. Following some of the text Gretchen had sent back before she defected, Henry set up a private company to operate the railroad. The state would support them in return for transporting government freight and passengers at a lower rate. While Henry owned most of the company, he didn’t hold everything because he sold company shares to raise the needed funding. Like the early port expansion, most people investing in his railway were Jewish or British merchants.

This first railroad proved a serious learning curve as workers made constant mistakes. Most of the track had to be re-laid because when they laid it the first time, many areas were broader or narrower than they should have been. Within a month of operating the first engine, a crew forgot to add water to the boiler, and it ran out, causing catastrophic damage to the engine. On another train, the crew overrode a safety valve, causing the engine to explode, killing the crew and destroying 20 meters of track. With every mistake made, the employees and managers learned what to do and what not to do.