On the second day, after the farewell, set sail.

When sailing to the Shandong Peninsula, it is night, and the large lighthouse mixed with rapeseed oil and whale oil from the Whale Sea glows in the night, guiding the passing ships.

The cold wind is steep, and the flickering lighthouse light is reassuring.

Shi Shiyong looked at the firelight in the distance from the deck and asked, "I remember that there was no such lighthouse here?" ”

Lighthouses and the like have long existed in China, and there are mound lighthouses at the mouth of the Liuhe River. Shi Shiyong has been away from Weihai for a few years, and he also wants to see what Weihai has become.

"This lighthouse is new. There are several islands around Weihai. One is to guide the boats, and the other is to instruct them not to enter the vicinity of Liugong Island. It was already a military port, and ordinary ships were not allowed to approach it, so they had to make a detour. ”

After a little explanation, at dawn on the second day, the two warships were cruising nearby, and when they saw Liu Yu's ship from a distance, they leaned over to escort them.

The two Western-style soft-sail warships made Shi Shiyong feel very relieved, but thinking about Japan, he was a little worried.

"My lord, in this way, even if civilian ships do not enter the port, I am afraid that those who have a heart will know that our dynasty is building a navy."

Liu Yu smiled and said, "How many Westerners have you heard from in Edo?" Dutch ships often went to Nagasaki, and they never saw Japanese ships built. As for those who went to Nagasaki to submit the Tang Feng story, how many of them knew the difference between a warship and a merchant ship? How many of them know the power of this Western warship? The Japanese people know that they just want to change, how can it be so easy? To control the sails of the boat, you have to start from scratch. I let them learn, and they won't be able to learn it in ten years. ”

"I spent a lot of money, and the court also made goodwill with France, and the ship-building craftsmen from France presided over it. The Japanese can find the Dutch, but the Dutch can build merchant ships here, and if they want to build warships, they have to go to Europe to find people. Whether it is allowed or not, back and forth, years later. ”

"I've been preparing for six or seven years in advance, and I've only been able to get a few ships? How many officers? How many sailors? ”

"In the world of great contention, one step is fast, one step is fast. Brother Heisei can rest assured. ”

Shi Shiyong also smiled: "I am relieved of Ying Saobo's decision. Your Majesty is relieved, what am I not worried about? It's just a little worried, since Ying Sabo said that there is no problem, then it's fine. However, what Ying Sabo said was right, the Japanese had seen Western warships a long time ago, and they had never imitated them. ”

Turning over the fjord, a new battleship was about to be launched, and the dockyard was busy, and there was a battleship that was basically formed.

The situation now is that people board the ship, not the boat and wait for people.

At this time, it is incomparable with the two or three thousand naval officers in France, but Liu Yu has trained more than 300 trainee officers and non-commissioned officers before, and there are already many successful ones who have relied on the previous training ships and the first French warships to buy.

A 64-gun battleship with a displacement of about 1,200 tons is also under construction, which is a French design, which is a bit of a guinea pig with a lot of money.

The French Navy had reached a helpless dead end, with no money and a sharp drop in tonnage, and the Count of Morpa, as Minister of the Admiralty, in order to save money and quickly shorten the gap with the British, strongly advocated abandoning the previous super-heavy three-deck warships, and instead designed warships with 74 guns.

This helpless move made the French battleships achieve a wonderful balance in terms of speed, firepower, and protection, and the cost performance was the highest.

But the latest French design will not give Liu Yu, but let Liu Yu choose to build 64 guns or old 74 guns.

Considering the situation around Dashun and the future war, Liu Yu still chose the first battleship with 64 guns, at least it can run a little faster, and the technology is more mature.

If the French mission had a pleasant conversation in the capital, they could have spent a lot of money to buy the blueprints of the new 74-gun battleship, which was a genius that made the British exclaim that their warship design was outdated.

If you can buy it, you can spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, and it will not become obsolete for at least a few decades.

If the conversation is not so pleasant, you can only learn from the outdated design and keep improving.

It is estimated that 74 gunboats will not be used for the time being, so they will be used by craftsmen to practice their hands first.

The scene of several warships being built at the same time made Shi Shiyong excited, although he didn't understand the difference, but he knew that this warship was very big. Based on what he had seen and heard in Edo, the Japanese warships were definitely no match.

When I got off the ship, a group of newly recruited sailors were training on the shore, and there was a group of recruited marines, and the naval officers who had been studying for several years and had nothing to do were bored, and it was not a holiday, so they had to train these sailors on the beach.

A coal ship has just docked in the port, and the Newco door machine with huge power consumption and low power is a coal-eating monster, if it weren't for the training of the officers and soldiers here to familiarize themselves with this magical power as soon as possible, purely economically, it would be much cheaper to pump water with cows, horses or manpower, after all, this is not a coal mining area.

Sure enough, Shi Shiyong was stunned by this "monster" that was smoking black smoke and carrying water, and asked Liu Yu a lot of strange and funny questions.

Liu Yu had answered these questions to others dozens or even hundreds of times before, so that he could answer some questions before Shi Shiyong could finish asking them.

Although he didn't understand it at all, this strange machine still brought great confidence to Shi Shiyong. This kind of confidence is based on the helplessness of the outdated skills that I have learned.

From time to time, there was the sound of gunners practicing and firing guns, which was indescribably pleasant.

"Brother Heisei, if you are interested, you can walk around in a few days."

Shi Shiyong shook his head and said, "Then forget it." The more I look at it, the more heartache I get. I have been in the Wa Kingdom for several years, and when I come back, I am like a rotten Ke person who dreams of Nanke, and everything has changed. I guess I can't read it, so don't read it. ”

While laughing, Liu Yu led him to see Kang Buxi, and asked Kang Buxian to help polish the translation, and then asked Shi Shiyong to rest first.

As soon as Shi Shiyong left, Kang Buxian asked directly: "How does Childe want to translate?" ”

Liu Yu smiled slightly and replied with two words.

"Arch fire."

"Understood. By the way, during the time Childe went to Songjiang, there was news from the Whale Sea. It is said that the Rakshasas are catching sea lions in Kamchatka, and the fur is excellent and there are many of them. However, the transportation is difficult, and I hope to be able to go to Heilongjiang for shipping. In addition, I hope to buy some food from us. This is a matter of the whale sea, and Childe is in charge. ”

"Uh......"

This is also the first time that Liu Yu, the envoy of the Whale Sea Festival, has dealt with the government affairs of cats and rats, although the Whale Sea is large, there is really almost nothing to take care of.

"I think so. However, the Rakshasa boats could not go to Heilongjiang. Let them change their goods at the mouth of the river, and our ships will transport them to the east, and collect some tolls. ”

"Grain can also be sold. Even if they sell, how many people can they have? I guess I'm tired of eating meat? They can't grow grain either, but it's just right to grow rye on both sides of the Heilongjiang River. If you want it, then sell it, change it for skin, and then exchange it for silver. ”

"You can write an official letter as I will. When the ice age is over, let someone carry it. It just so happens that I am also ready to fulfill my dream of Bering. ”

Kang Buxian smiled and said: "Childe, this is not a dream to fulfill Bailing, this is a toilet chip, and I will throw it away after using it." Now that the navy has begun to take shape, Bering's ability is better at nautical mapping, not battle formations. But it's okay to do this, and it saves him from nagging every day. ”

Liu Yu also smiled, nodded at Kang Buxian and said, "That's probably what it means." You can arrange these things first, and I'll pick the list of expeditions. There's one more thing......"

"After the New Year, the emperor seems to be forty, right? On his birthday, I want to go back to the capital. Prepare more glass, prepare it for 2,000 yuan, go to the original price, and I will pay for it. Prepare more wooden boxes and frames to advance the emperor's approximate dividends for next year, and I will paste 30,000 taels as a congratulatory gift. Prepare a few more boxes of cigarettes, short muskets, etc. ”

"Uh...... Childe, isn't this congratulatory gift a bit vulgar? The glass is okay, send money directly? Kang Buxian was quite surprised by the congratulatory gift that Liu Yu prepared for the emperor's fortieth birthday, and he didn't hear that he gave money directly to the emperor.

"What hasn't the emperor seen? What do you want to say what he is most happy to give? It's still money. Vulgar is a little vulgar, but the heart is comfortable. Giving glass, this is called wanting to take it, you must give it first. The emperor was afraid that people would say that he was extravagant, or that he would encourage the extravagance of the world, so he was reluctant to use large glass windows. But I guess I like it. Translucent and translucent, it is definitely stronger than window paper. ”

"Send a bunch, the emperor will reward it, the forbidden palace will be safe, and lead the trend. There are a lot of rich people in the capital, so they can sell a dozen of them. ”

As for the money, the emperor may not be committal, and even reprimanded him and said that he should not give money in the future so that the officials would not follow suit, but he must be happy in his heart. It is a military reform and an immigrant, and there must be a shortage of money in the interior, and the household government can contribute some money, but reward a leather coat stationed in the Western Regions; Or give some fur hats to the guards of the Forbidden Palace, etc., which can't make the household government pay. ”

"If the emperor is willing to issue a bunch of leather hats to the forbidden army, wouldn't my industry and the fur of the whale sea also open up a market?"

"Say a thousand things and ten thousand, it's all business."

There was already some Meng Lang who said this, and he didn't have much respect for the emperor, but Kang Buxian felt that it was very ordinary, and laughed with Liu Yu.

"If you want to talk about fishing, you still have the ability."

Liu Yu shook his head and said, "Have a fart ability?" I'm just willing to take the bait. Then you are busy, I'll go find Bering and talk about exploring north to the Americas. ”

Just about to go out, he came back with another pat on the head, and took out a large pile of bills from his arms and threw them to Kang Buxi.

"You've been with me for so long, and it's troublesome to pay money every month. You take these stocks, before you said that you want to marry a talented woman and you are afraid that you will not be able to support it, but now that you have money, hurry up and do your business. I went to the fireworks field all day, and then I got sick and died, and I was missing an arm. ”

When Liu Yu went out, Kang Buxian looked through the large pile of bills, which were worth about seventy or eighty thousand taels.

He put the bills in his hand, nodded and muttered to himself in the empty room, "Yes." ”