The first difficulty is the dock.

The so-called dock is built on the shore of the port for parking ships and repairing ships. There are no less than 20 docks in Okura Port. Compared with the various ports along the coast of Middle-earth, the docks of Okura Castle are very advanced, and ocean-going sailing ships such as the "Golden Jade" are built in them, but these docks are all too small for building dragon slaying ships.

According to the design details, the dragon slayer ship is 46 zhang long and 9 zhang wide, and when fully loaded, the draft of the ship's side is three zhang, the deck will be four feet and seven feet above the water, with four layers of wooden cabins, and the ship will have nine masts and can hang 23 sails. And such a behemoth can still sail at a speed of more than five watches on the sea, that is, its speed is not below that of a small clipper.

In terms of the size of the Dragon Slayer alone, it is more than all the docks in Okura Port, so if you want to build this ship, you will have to build a larger dock.

To build a large dock, no matter how laborious and time-consuming, silver taels are also indispensable, at least tens of thousands of taels must be spent.

If the dockyard can be repaired as long as there are enough silver taels, there are some difficulties that are difficult to solve even with silver taels, such as the lack of shipbuilders.

Ocean-going ships are built in a shipbuilding workshop, often led by a shipbuilder who assists the craftsmen and small workers in the workshop. Among them, the shipbuilder directs the progress of the ship construction and arranges the work of everyone in the workshop, the craftsmen include carpenters, blacksmiths, lacquerers, clothmen, etc., who also need to have good craftsmanship, and the small workers only need to do some hard work, which is not very demanding.

Ordinary ocean-going sailing ships often require an experienced shipbuilder led by dozens of craftsmen and hundreds of small craftsmen, and it takes several months to build. However, to build a giant ship such as the Dragon Slayer, the requirements for shipbuilders and craftsmen are much higher.

The detailed drawings of this ship were designed by more than a dozen of the top shipbuilders in the Western countries, including the most advanced shipbuilders in the world today, and none of the existing shipbuilders in Okura Castle could implement it. The shipbuilders who can build this ship must not be found on the Middle-earth continent, and they must be hired by Western countries.

According to Hua Bushi's judgment on the detailed study of shipbuilding, even if a top Western shipbuilder is invited, it is not easy to build this ship, and the most feasible way is to hire at least six to seven shipbuilding masters, and work together to have greater certainty.

If this is the case, the number of craftsmen required will also increase exponentially. No shipbuilding workshop can have so many craftsmen, which means that in order to achieve this, several workshops must cooperate, which is completely impossible to operate in the same way that one workshop repaired ships in the past. In fact, the steel keel is the most advanced ship in the world today, and to build it is a major innovation in today's shipbuilding industry.

In the past, Sima Zhufeng hired shipbuilders to design the dragon slaying ship, but it was completed in the western country, and he did not invite those shipbuilders to Okura Castle, but now to build this ship, he must directly invite shipbuilders. Top shipbuilders are also rare among the major seafaring powers in the West, and it is not easy to invite them to Okura Island, which is far away from the ocean, and it is not easy to do it even if it costs two silver without a special way.

Another problem that is not easy to solve with silver is artillery.

The Dragon Slayer is a warship, and if you want to use it against the giant shark ship of the "Black Dragon Palace", you must equip the ship with more advanced guns than the giant shark ship. In terms of firearms, the Ming Dynasty is also inferior to the Western countries, in fact, the Franc machine and Hongyi cannon used in the army of the Ming Dynasty today are all imitations of the artillery of Western European countries.

Although there were many merchants from the West who made money selling weapons at Okura Castle, the truly most advanced naval guns and firearms were possessed only by the armies of Great Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, and other countries in many Western countries, and it was forbidden to sell them to foreign countries, so it was impossible for ordinary merchants to obtain them.

For the Western European powers that want to compete for hegemony on the oceans by force in the current Age of Discovery, this is a matter of course.

Although there were many difficulties, it did not make Hua Bushi lose his determination to build a dragon slaying ship. After a few days of careful study of the detailed drawings of shipbuilding, he divided them into two categories: those which could not be easily solved with silver, such as shipbuilders and artillery, and those that could be done at the cost of building docks, employing ordinary craftsmen, and purchasing materials.

According to his rough estimates, in order to build the dragon slaying ship, the cost of various matters would be as high as one million taels of silver. Raising these taels of silver is a huge problem in itself.

After listing all the calculated results one by one and transcribing them on a piece of paper, Hua Bushi left the study and instructed the men to prepare the horses.

This was the first time in a few days that he had left the Bardal Tower, and a quarter of an hour later, the eldest young master was already sitting in the meeting hall of the City Lord's Mansion, and the paper was placed on the round table in the center of the room, in front of the City Lord's eldest lady, Sima Rulan.

At the round table in the hall, Chai Lin and Yao Yuanxiao were also present.

Sima Rulan read the paper and handed it to Yao Yuanxiao on the side.

Her beautiful eyes flowed, she looked at Hua Bushi, and said, "Mr. Hua's face is not good, he must have been too tired in the past few days, and he should pay attention to rest." Lan'er asked Xiaohong to stew a bowl of ginseng soup to make up for Mr. Hua's body. ”

After the trip to Whale Swallowing Island, her attitude towards Hua Bushi seemed to be much closer, and she looked at each other at this time, her eyes were full of concern.

Hua Bushi hurriedly said: "Thank you Miss Lan'er for your concern, but the ginseng soup doesn't need to be stewed, I have a poor constitution under my congenital constitution, and my face is often not very good, and it is not good to take the medicine of the big tonic." ”

Sima Rulan smiled and said, "If you say no, then don't use it!" Wait a minute, Lan'er will make a few home-cooked side dishes and ask you to try them, Mr. Hua will not refuse, right?"

Hua Bushi said: "Then thank you Miss Lan'er." ”

While the two were talking, Yao Yuanxiao had already read the note.

This "Wanjintang" elder was not as calm as Sima Rulan, his brows had already been twisted, and he said: "According to Young Master Hua's calculations, it is really too difficult to build this dragon slaying ship! Not to mention that the matter of shipbuilders and firearms purchase is difficult to achieve, we can't afford this silver two costs alone, in Yao's opinion, this matter should be put aside for the time being, and we will make plans when we have the conditions in the future!"

Sima Rulan said: "Elder Yao, how many taels of silver can we get from the 'Wanjin Hall' now?"

Yao Yuanxiao said: "A few days ago, when the pirates besieged the island, they spent three or four hundred thousand taels to settle those indigenous Baba, and these days they have spent more than 200,000 taels to buy food, and most of the silver taels that we've accumulated over the years in the 'Wanjintang' have been used, and now we can only take out another 200,000 taels at most." ”

Sima Rulan turned to Chai Lin again and said, "Now that we are short of silver taels for shipbuilding, can Uncle Chai fund some?"

Nanao Chai Yuan is a family of squires on the rich side, and in fact, it can also be regarded as the rudder of the "Wanjintang" on the Middle-earth continent.

Seeing Sima Rulan's inquiry, Chai Lin said: "In the past few years, there have been continuous natural disasters in various realms of the Ming Dynasty, and there is a shortage of soldiers, and the business is very difficult to do.

Sima Rulan said: "Uncle Chai, don't say that, it is very rare to be able to take out 200,000 taels in today's year, how can Lan'er be too little." ”

She paused, but her eyes turned to Hua Bushi, and said: "Mr. Hua has heard it, our 'Wanjintang' only has such financial resources now, how to build the dragon slaying ship, please ask Mr. Hua to take the idea!"

Hearing Sima Rulan's words, Hua Bushi couldn't help but cry and laugh.

When the eldest young master came to the City Lord's Mansion today, he listed all the difficulties in building the Dragon Slaying Ship and gave it to the "Wanjintang" to discuss countermeasures, but he didn't expect that the eldest lady of the city lord would throw all the problems back with just one sentence, as if he was the person in charge of the "Wanjintang".

Hua Bushi smiled bitterly: "400,000 taels of silver, there is still more than half of what is needed to build a dragon slaying ship, even if Hua Bushi is sold, he can't sell this lot of silver taels, and Miss Lan'er asked me to make up my mind?"

Sima Rulan pouted and said, "If you can't even make up your mind, Lan'er will be even more helpless." But I know Mr. Hua will definitely have a way, right?"

Although Sima Rulan doesn't have much experience in the world, she is also a smart girl in Bingxue, and a mischievous smile appeared on her face at this time, as if she had recognized that Hua Bushi would definitely have an idea.

Chai Lin, who was sitting on the side, also spoke: "Young Master Hua is resourceful, there will definitely be a way to solve this matter, why don't you come out and let us listen to it?"

Hua Bushi sighed and said, "Okay, since the head of the Chai family also said so, Hua Bushi will offer a clumsy plan, but this plan is quite risky, whether you dare to do it or not is up to Miss Lan'er and the two elders to decide." ”

Sima Rulan said: "As long as it is Mr. Hua's plan, Lan'er will dare to do it, Mr. Hua just has to say it!"

Hua Bushi pondered for a moment before he spoke: "Now that we want to build a dragon slaying ship, we are still short of more than half of the silver taels, you say that if a person is in urgent need of silver taels, but the cash in his hand is not enough, how should we solve it?"

Yao Yuanxiao said: "I am looking for relatives and friends to borrow." ”

Hua Bushi said: "Eighteen thousand taels of silver is enough, but now who has six or seven hundred thousand taels of silver who can lend us six or seven hundred thousand taels of silver? For the sake of today's plan, it is definitely not feasible to borrow money all the way." ”

Yao Yuanxiao said: "It's not okay to borrow, can't it be stealing and robbing?"

Hua Bushi shook his head and said, "We are not pirates of the 'Black Dragon Palace', so we can't do that kind of thing. ”

Chai Lin's expression suddenly moved, and he said, "Young Master Hua's intention, could it be to gamble?"