Huangzhou, Bakou, in an unnamed shipyard, craftsmen are building ships, this ship has just begun to be built, I can't see what it looks like, but only from its structure, it is obviously different from ordinary ships.

The shipbuilders talked to each other from time to time, and many of them did not speak with the local accent of Huangzhou, nor the accent of Jingchu in Shannan, and Zhang Yu, the lieutenant of Xiyang Wangfu, watched from the sidelines, and from time to time talked to these craftsmen with special accents through 'Tongshi'.

These craftsmen are shipwrights from Panyu, Guangzhou, Lingbiao, whose ancestral shipbuilding skills are very experienced in building sea ships, and now they have come to Xiyang, Huangzhou, located in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, to offer advice for the construction of new ships.

Pure sea ships and river boats have ready-made styles that can be copied, but it is rare to have both river navigation and deep-sea navigation at the same time.

For hundreds of years, most of the ships that entered the sea from the Yangtze River to the coastal areas of the mountains and surfaces sailed along the coastline, and the ships sailing in the shallow sea were different from those sailing in the deep sea.

Ships suitable for deep-sea navigation are not necessarily suitable for sailing in the Yangtze River, and the specific performance is poor maneuverability, flexibility, stability, and vice versa, Zhang Yu hopes to find a new type of ship that can take into account both types of waters.

This is related to the needs of Xiyang Palace, the ship full of goods departs from Bakou and enters the sea along the Yangtze River, this section of the voyage is relatively calm and the current is relatively stable, so the bottom of the ship can be flat, which is convenient to sail through various shoals without running aground, and it does not matter if the center of gravity of the ship is higher.

After entering the sea, the ship has to cross the Black Water Ocean and reach the Wakoku Hakata on the other side of the sea, and this part of the voyage must break through the stormy waves, so the bottom of the ship must be a pointed bottom, and the center of gravity of the ship must be lowered.

Ships sailing between the river and the sea, to adapt to two types of water at the same time with a ship type, it is a little tricky to 'finalize', the ships made by Xiyang Wangfu before are only a preliminary consideration of the two needs, and the results are considered "passing", but they are still far from "excellent".

In fact, this problem is very easy to solve, that is, to transport goods to Guangling, Jiankang and other places in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River by river boat, and then transfer the goods to sea ships to go to sea, which is nothing more than the cost of loading and unloading, and a little delay.

But the problem is that the current Guangling or Jiankang is not the land of the Zhou Kingdom, and once the valuables contained in them are seen on the way to transfer goods, it is easy to invite trouble.

In particular, ships returning from the Japanese kingdom must be laden with a large amount of silver, and who will let go of this windfall once the horse's feet are exposed when they are transferred from sea ships to river ships in a foreign land?

Therefore, based on various considerations, the palace still wanted to come up with a "general-purpose ship type" with excellent performance, and specially invited Guangzhou shipwrights, who are good at manufacturing sea boats, and Huangzhou shipwrights, who are good at making river boats, to figure out a new ship type and put it into trial as soon as possible.

In view of this, Zhang Yu, who originally followed the king of Xiyang to fight in Gwangju for a generation, was sent back by Lord Lang to 'see the progress', and by the way, he sent a letter to the palace to report his safety, and at the same time saw off the fleet to the Wa Kingdom.

Zhang Yu and his companions have opened up a new route, from the mouth of the Yangtze River directly across the Heishui Ocean, to the port of Hakata in the Wa Kingdom, this route has not been easy to come by, bringing a lot of money to the king of Xiyang, and must not be idle.

It's just that the Yangtze River route was cut off before, and last year Zhang Yu and his entourage returned from the Wa Kingdom and ventured to Lingbiao Guangzhou, where they happened to encounter the army of the King of Xiyang who captured Guangzhou, so they transported the goods back to Xiyang, so that the King of Xiyang could get a lot of income.

Now that Zhou and Chen are on good terms, taking advantage of the smooth navigation of the Yangtze River and the southeast wind, the fleet of Xiyang Wangfu set sail again, but Zhang Yu did not follow the fleet to the east, because Lord Lang had other things to do for him.

Supervising the construction of new ships is one thing, and the other is guarding the house.

Yuwen 15 is now leading troops to fight outside, and Sima Zhang Dingfa, the palace who returned to Xiyang before, after resting for a while, took the 'turn' guards to Xiyang to obey the order, so Zhang Yu, who had not returned home for more than half a year, had to 'take turns to rest', go back to Xiyang to rest and be responsible for the security of the palace.

Although Shi Hao Wubo, the governor of Huangzhou, has now been promoted to the governor of Huangzhou, the other party is busy with affairs and cannot always pay attention to the safety of the Xiyang Palace, so the palace's own escort team must be able to deal with any emergencies and ensure the safety of the royal family, so someone needs to be fully responsible.

Zhang Yu didn't dare to take this lightly, but he was worried about another issue.

Last year, he brought back a large amount of silver from the Wa Kingdom, which was worth a lot of money, but it was quickly spent, and not only that, but most of the profits from the various industries of the Xiyang Palace, excluding the expenses of the palace, were invested in the war, and there was not much left at all.

Outsiders say that there are many industries in Xiyang Palace, and they are making money every day, but they don't know that at the same time as making money every day, it is the sunrise to make money, and fighting a war costs more money than doing anything, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it costs money like a flood.

In order to ensure the supply of grain and grass and ensure that the soldiers are well fed and clothed, the government must mobilize a large number of materials to the front line, but the Huangzhou Governor's Office is different from other government offices, not requisitioning civilian materials for free, but spending money to buy them.

But even if it is purchased at a preferential price, it is a huge monthly expense, and the so-called "huge" means that it is not enough to fill in the tax revenue of the Huangzhou Governor's Office for a year.

The normal expenditures of the government must be supported by taxes, including taxes in kind and money (mainly commercial taxes), and the rewards for officers and soldiers after their meritorious service and the pensions after they are killed or disabled must be supported by the taxes of the government.

It has been more than a year since the war continued, and the Huangzhou government could not afford to pay for the procurement of military supplies, and the gap was naturally filled by the king of Xiyang with money, and it was more than a year to fill it.

And now, with the spread of the battle line, military expenditures are getting bigger and bigger, and the money in the pocket of King Xiyang has become more and more tight.

Zhang Yu couldn't understand why Lord Lang had to pay out of his own pocket to fight, he sometimes saw Lord Lang holding a thick pile of bills in a daze, sighing for a long time, so he was also anxious.

He didn't know how to make money, he only knew that the fleet could bring back a lot of silver on a trip to the Wa Kingdom, and only by doing this well could he share the worries of the lord Lang.

However, the fleet goes to the Wa country to go back and forth, if it is fast, it will take several months, and if it is slow, it will take more than half a year or even a year to come back.

Thinking of this, Zhang Yu had a sad face, recalling the strange smile of Lord Lang, he suddenly remembered what the other party said, that is, "empty gloves white wolf".

Empty gloves white wolf, it seems to be a common saying, but Zhang Yu has never heard of it before, the meaning of this sentence, in terms of trading, is probably to do business without capital, without paying a deposit, take other people's goods to sell, and use the money from the sale to repay the payment.

It's a bit like borrowing a chicken to lay an egg.

Zhang Yu couldn't figure out how Lang mainly did this, he wondered if he was tearing his face and directly "borrowing" from the rich and big?