Fang Yuan stayed in the shipyard for half a month, and together with Shen Mao, he studied the capital cost and technical problems of building ironclad ships.

According to Shen Mao's estimates, it would take at least 500,000 taels of silver to build an artillery carrier that could meet Fang Yuan's requirements, plus the cost of other warships in the artillery carrier formation, artillery equipment, and staffing. To build an artillery mothership formation, it will take at least 1.5 million taels of silver. And the annual maintenance cost is also more than 800,000 taels of silver.

This cost is a dark pain in Fang Yuan's view, raising this kind of strategic aircraft carrier formation is an act of burning money before and after crossing.

But if you calculate a detailed account, the total amount of foreign trade of the Ming Dynasty every year is at least 20 million silver, of which the Zheng Zhilong pirate group, as well as the Dutch and Portuguese smuggled more than 15 million taels, and the real sales through the formal channels of the Ming Dynasty are less than 5 million taels, and the profit is even lower, at most only 2 million silver.

As long as he can regain sea power and control the trade routes, the annual net profit will be at least 10 million taels of silver. For the sake of such a large sum of silver, in order to annihilate the Zheng family entrenched in Fujian, and the Dutch people who stole Taiwan, no matter how much money is burned to raise an artillery aircraft carrier formation, they can only grit their teeth and endure it.

Without too much hesitation, Fang Yuan approved the plan to build an artillery carrier formation, and the silver that needed to be paid would be allocated in batches in the future.

As for the technical difficulties in building ironclad ships, they may be difficult problems for the people of the Ming Dynasty, but they are not difficult in Fang Yuan's opinion. According to the problems of materials and processes raised by shipbuilders, Fang Yuan purchased a large number of industrial raw materials for hull fitting on Taobao, as well as modern steel and other materials required for hull keel compression and shock absorption, and made targeted efforts to make up for the bottlenecks of materials at this stage one by one.

After a month's delay in the shipyard, Shi Kefa, who was guarding Nanjing, finally came to the Taihu base in person at Fang Yuan's invitation to negotiate.

Fang Yuan held a banquet at the Taihu Lake base to welcome Shi Kefa's arrival. Because Shi Kefa was a loyal minister of the Ming Dynasty, Fang Yuan invited Princess Kunxing to the banquet again.

During the banquet, Shi Kefa's face was gloomy, he never showed a smile during the whole process, and occasionally nodded when he was entertaining, as if Fang Yuan had killed his ancestors for eighteen generations.

After a round of drinking, Shi Kefa couldn't hold back, and asked straight to the point, "Master Ma, you are just a governor of the Ten Provinces, you have Longfu Wangshu, and it is just a matter of encroaching on Zhejiang without authorization, and you will not even let go of Nanjing City?" ”

Fang Yuan smiled and said, "Shi Shangshu, what you said is biased, Zhejiang was slaughtered by Zheng soldiers and Japanese soldiers, so he invited me to hang the people. I worked hard to repel Zheng Bing and the Japanese soldiers, is there anything wrong? ”

Shi Kefa said coldly, "The master of the horse drove away Zheng Bing, but the Japanese soldiers occupied the dove's nest, what is the reason for this?" ”

Before Fang Yuan could answer, Princess Kunxing had already spoken, "Shi Shangshu, this is really wrong to blame the horse. The horse and the palace have made a petition to the court, requesting that the horse be canonized as the governor of Zhejiang. Three days ago, the imperial court had issued an edict to canonize the horse as the jurisdiction of the five prefectures of Nanzhili, and then the governor of Zhejiang. The governor of Zhejiang stayed in Zhejiang, and he also occupied the dove's nest? ”

Shi Kefa has never seen this edict from the imperial court, let alone collided with the princess, "Princess, this, the old minister will go back and find out." ”

Princess Kunxing said lightly, "Shi Shangshu, the concubine is the husband of the palace, Your Majesty, the queen's mother, and the prince are also the closest relatives of the palace, and they are all family." Bengong is really puzzled, I don't know why Shi Shangshu blindly targets the horse? ”

Shi Kefa said solemnly, "Princess, the old minister is also ordered to guard Nanjing City, and he can't help but be loyal to the Ming Dynasty." ”

Princess Kunxing coldly reprimanded, "According to the meaning of Shi Shangshu's words, the concubine and the palace are not loyal ministers of the Ming Dynasty, but chaotic ministers and thieves?" ”

Shi Kefa was buttoned off by one of her big hats, and he was immediately speechless.

Princess Kunxing said coldly, "The grievances and grievances between the concubine, the palace and the imperial court are the family affairs of the Ming royal family, and Shi Shangshu is just a courtier, how much does he know, he dares to slander the concubine and the palace, and he is even sowing discord between the royal family." If my father, emperor and queen mother have an edict to Shi Shangshu, asking you to monitor the horses and the palace, you can take it out now, and the palace has nothing to say. If there was no edict, would Shi Shangshu be too lenient in his affairs, and stretch out his hands to the royal court? ”

Shi Kefa was speechless, and hurriedly got up and arched his hand and said, "Princess, the old minister will never dare to interfere in the family affairs of the royal family. ”

Fang Yuan saw that Shi Kefa, an old stubborn man, was reprimanded by Princess Kunxing and was obedient, and laughed and said, "Shi Shangshu, I invited you here this time because I have something serious to discuss. ”

Shi Kefa was silent and didn't answer him at all.

Fang Yuan continued to take care of himself, "I want to lease the Longjiang Wharf and Longjiang Shipyard in Nanjing City, and ask Shi Shangshu to cut his love and fulfill it. ”

As soon as he opened his mouth, he asked for Longjiang Shipyard, and stretched out his hand directly under the city of Nanjing, Shi Kefa was furious when he heard it, and dropped the teacup on the table to the ground, "Donkey, the old minister was ordered to guard Nanjing City, and he will not let an inch of land." If the horse is strong and strong, and the city of Nanjing is forcibly captured, the old minister is willing to live and die with the city of Nanjing! ”

Fang Yuan saw that he didn't agree with his words, and his hot temper came again, and said with a smile, "Shi Shangshu, you must not be excited, listen to me calmly." I just borrowed the Longjiang Wharf and the Longjiang Shipyard, not to rob the city of Nanjing. Moreover, I will reciprocate the favor and give Nanjing City a generous compensation. ”

Shi Kefa also thought that he had resorted to bribery and bribery to infiltrate the power into Nanjing City, and said angrily, "Although the old minister is poor, he is not a greedy person, and he does not dare to exchange Nanjing City for compensation for horses!" ”

Fang Yuan laughed and said, "Haha! Shi Shangshu misunderstood, my compensation is not gold, silver and jewelry, but a little bit of strength, for the millions of people in Nanjing City to be optimistic about the most important Longjiang Wharf. ”

Before Shi Kefa could answer, Fang Yuan continued, "Jiangxi's Zuo Liangyu wolf son has ambitions and wants to annex Fengyang Mansion and Nanjing City. There is a sailor of the Xuanjia Army at the Longjiang Wharf, and Zuo Liangyu wants to enter Nanjing City is a fool's dream. ”

Longjiang Wharf is the most important wharf in Nanjing, guarding the waterway of the Yangtze River, as well as the safety of the Qinhuai River. Fang Yuan's conditions were very simple, Shi Kefa leased the shipyard at Longjiang Wharf, and Fang Yuan was optimistic about this most important wharf for Nanjing City.

This is also Fang Yuan's plan to kill two birds with one stone, one of which is, of course, to borrow Longjiang Shipyard to build an ironclad giant ship; The second is to curb the infiltration of Zuo Liangyu's forces into the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

No matter how much Zuo Liangyu tosses in Jiangbei, he will beat Ma Shiying, but Fang Yuan will never allow Zuo Liangyu's forces to reach into Nanjing City. The five alliances had repelled Zuo Liangyu's offensive before, and it was already very difficult, if Fang Yuan didn't intervene again, once Nanjing City was lost, it would be too late to deal with it in a hurry.

Shi Kefa also knows the huge pressure that Nanjing City is currently facing, Zuo Liangyu is eyeing him in the west, and Fang Yuan is coveting him in the east, all of them are wolf-like figures, and he has no bottom in his heart whether he can defend Nanjing City.

Fang Yuan offered to be stationed at Longjiang Wharf to resist the pressure from Zuo Liangyu for Nanjing City, and Shi Kefa was both surprised and worried.

Surprisingly, if Fang Yuan really sent troops to confront Zuo Liangyu, Nanjing City would be saved. What worries me is that leading the Xuanjia Army to the Longjiang Wharf will not lead the wolf into the house.

Seeing that he was hesitant, Fang Yuan smiled again and said, "Shi Shangshu, let me say something offensive to Zunyan, if I send troops to seize the Longjiang Wharf at this moment, or even attack Nanjing City on a large scale, can Nanjing City be able to defend it?" I invited Shi Shangshu to come, just because I didn't want to attack Nanjing City, I just borrowed the Longjiang Wharf and the Longjiang Shipyard. ”

Shi Kefa lowered his gaze and was silent. As soon as Fang Yuan invited, he came to the Taihu Lake base, that is, he saw that Fang Yuan had not escaped once when he went north to Xingbing Qin Wang several times before, and he was obviously more loyal to the Ming court than Zuo Liangyu, who was ambitious and never obeyed his orders.

His trip was to fight for his life and come to persuade Fang Yuan not to covet Nanjing City.

At this moment, Fang Yuan could obviously storm Nanjing City, but he repeatedly persuaded him with good words, which was to give him enough face for Shi Kefa. If a Longjiang wharf is leased, the Longjiang Shipyard can be exchanged for Fang Yuan not to attack Nanjing City, and even to guard the Longjiang Wharf for Nanjing City, this condition can be described as very rich, Shi Kefa is still quite excited.

Princess Kunxing opened her mouth again to persuade, "Shi Shangshu, this palace can guarantee that the concubine will never covet Nanjing City, you can't even trust this palace?" ”

With Princess Kunxing coming forward to vouch, Shi Kefa also went down the steps, got up and said to Princess Kunxing, "Since the princess is willing to vouch, what else can the minister not trust, the sailor of the horse can be stationed at Longjiang Wharf at any time." ”