Wang Ling snorted coldly in her nose and said, "It's just a lucky nouveau riche." ”

Wang Xuan shook his head: "He is definitely not a lucky and nouveau riche can explain, I think he is a very good young man." ”

Wang Ling said disdainfully: "What is the point of a person who likes to study cooking so much?" Wang Xuan shook his head and said: "His current achievements are by no means something that can be described by a nouveau riche, I think every step he has taken since he took over Lanting Villa is very meaningful, implying a hindsight." As for the study of cooking, there is a saying that 'governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh.' He can make the food so delicious, and he can also manage the country in an orderly manner. You see, his achievements don't stop there. Wang Ling looked at Wang Xuan, who was looking into the distance and nodded thoughtfully.

When Fang Xiaoyu returned home, a guard stepped forward and reported, "Young Master, Butler Guo Cheng from Lanting Villa is here. Fang Xiaoyu nodded and said, "Let him in." After a while, Guo Cheng walked in and said, "Young master, just now Lord Zhao Quan sent someone to send a secret document, indicating that it is top secret, and I am not worried that I will personally send it to you." ”

Fang Xiaoyu didn't open the information immediately, but put the secret document on the table and started a routine with Guo Cheng: "There is a housekeeper Lao Guo, how is the business of Lanting Villa recently?" Fang Xiaoyu didn't immediately open the secret document sealed by fire paint, and he didn't want Guo Cheng to see the contents of the confidential information.

Guo Cheng heard Fang Xiaoyu's question and hurriedly said: "Young Master, in addition to planting crops in Lanting Villa recently, the few commodities that need to be supplied to the Fang family's shops are still in production, and there is no change, but a lot of workers have been transferred, and there are not enough personnel, and the output has been affected." ”

Guo Cheng was one of the first group of house slaves to follow Fang Xiaoyu, and he was also an old man, and the other party Xiaoyu was absolutely loyal. Fang Xiaoyu said: "Thank you for your hard work, I have to carry out construction in the Chinese territory recently, and this worker is the most lacking, and he can only be transferred from the villa." If you don't have enough people, you can add more. ”

Guo Cheng said: "Young master, since the last time the booklet was leaked, everyone has been very careful, even the guards have been dismissed by Lord Zhao Quan in the name of strictly preventing spies, how dare I add more people casually." Fang Xiaoyu said: "Those who have followed me for a long time, there should be no problem with loyalty." ”

Guo Cheng said: "Many of those people were transferred to Zhonghua Ling, and they were assigned to a few factories in Luoyun Mountain, and now the rest are also in charge." Fang Xiaoyu said: "Otherwise, it's better to buy some slaves, anyway, the output can't be reduced, especially the things that need to be customized for the Fang family's shop." What is the recent production of weapons workshops? ”

Guo Cheng said: "With those five thousand-ton hydraulic presses on top and a few more steam engines as power sources, the output of this weapon has not been reduced, and hundreds of rifles can be produced a day, and there can be more than 20,000 rounds of bullets." Fang Xiaoyu nodded and said, "Recently, we have received a big order, you have to be optimistic, try to speed up the manufacturing of weapons." ”

Guo Cheng said: "I will be more careful and strive for more." After listening to Guo Cheng's words, Fang Xiaoyu was relieved, the emperor's order was enough just from Lanting Villa, and as for the gun that Wang Xuan wanted could be from the weapons factory of Zhonghua Ling. After talking for a while, Guo Cheng went back.

When Guo Cheng left, Fang Xiaoyu opened the secret letter. Opening the thick pile of documents inside, Fang Xiaoyu found that it was the detailed information of the Japanese Navy and the Eastern Continent Fleet of the Saar Empire stationed in the Strait of Malacca that he asked Zhao Quan to collect after meeting Marshal Xiahou Min last time.

The Saar Empire did not attach much importance to the Eastern Continent, and due to logistical problems, they did not send many fleets, in addition to five waist gun room type ironclad ships, there was also a new type of ironclad ship with a displacement of more than 8,500 tons, this ironclad ship was equipped with two 305 mm bow guns and 152 mm stern guns.

The others were more than thirty wooden warships and four old-fashioned ironclads with sideline guns. Except for the new ironclad ship that was the flagship, Fang Xiaoyu didn't pay attention to this fleet, but the Japanese fleet made Fang Xiaoyu worry a lot.

At this time, the Wa Kingdom had three armoured gunhouse-type ironclad ships, namely the Musashi, Hiei, and Showa. In addition, there are two unprotected cruisers of less than 2,000 tons, "Yaeyama" and "Chiyoda", and three new cruisers "Kongo", "Tsukushi" and "Katsuragi".

These three cruisers were all new cruisers with a speed of 20 knots, although the armor was still somewhat insufficient, but the caliber of the main guns was 254 mm, and before their own cruisers were built, as long as they dodged the three ironclad ships that the navy was about to serve, they could basically be invincible. In addition, Zhao Quan also noted that the Saar Empire was building two more cruisers for the Japanese navy, and it was said that these two cruisers could reach a high speed of 23 knots.

Fang Xiaoyu put down the information and sighed, this small country had begun to surpass the Imperial Navy in silence. Now that Fang Xiaoyu has the two gun sales money from the royal family and Wang Xuan, as long as the port in the goblin territory is completed, Fang Xiaoyu can start building a powerful fleet, and he secretly prays in his heart, hoping that he will still have time to form a navy, and not let the Japanese country prepare first.

At this time, on the harbor of Kyoto Bay near the capital of the Japanese Kingdom, a large steamer was docking, this is a regular steamship from Kyoto to the New World, and an old man with white hair is slowly walking down the suspension ladder, if Xu Shouchang is here, he will definitely recognize it, this is his teacher's biggest competitor, the second warship designer of the Nantes Empire, Bai Laoyi.

Several Japanese officials in the port immediately stepped forward to greet them, and one of them bowed his head and saluted: "Mr. Bai Laoyi, welcome to Kyoto, I welcome you on behalf of the emperor." Bai Laoyi waved his hand tiredly: "I'm very tired on the boat, I need to find a place to rest." ”

The official immediately said courteously, "We have prepared a mansion for you, please come with me." Bai Laoyi said: "I only came to design a warship for you this time, so you don't have to be so polite, I don't know what kind of warship you want." The official said, "Our intelligence agents have discovered that the Lanfang Empire is building three large ironclad ships, and we want to design a warship that can sink these ironclad ships." ”

Bai Laoyi nodded and said: "Don't worry about this, I have designed a lot of warships in the Nantes Empire, and I have a lot of experience, I heard that their chief designer is called Xu Shouchang, this person has worked in the Nantes Empire, but he is only doing drawing work in the design institute, and he is a guy who talks on paper." You don't need to worry, his teacher is not very good, let alone him. As a competitor, Bai Laoyi was quite disdainful of Xu Shouchang's teacher Dietman.

In the past few days before the Chinese New Year, probably because of the approaching engagement date, the Xia sisters were a little shy and did not come to Fang Xiaoyu again, and the bored Fang Xiaoyu lived a stable life at home for two days, in addition to talking to his father and several grandfathers a few times, Fang Xiaoyu also designed several more dishes for Yixian Lou, especially now that the weather is cold, Fang Xiaoyu has designed several new hot pot bases and soup dishes heated by open flames, which are greatly appreciated by diners.

Last time, Fang Xiaoyu promised Wang Xuan to open a branch in Tubo County, so he and the money shopkeeper began to ponder recruiting a large number of people to train chefs, and strive to expand the stores of Yixian Lou and McDonald's fast food restaurants outward, and open a series of chain stores, striving to cover the entire Lanfang Empire within ten years.

Fang Xiaoyu saw that the emperor liked the cooking skills of Yixian Lou so much, and immediately hoped that his Yixian Lou could train the imperial chef for the emperor, so that they could also make delicious meals, Emperor Xiahou Ying was naturally very happy, and greatly praised Fang Xiaoyu, of course, the various seasonings produced by Lanting Villa also had an order from the palace.

Subsequently, Xia Hou Ying, who was very interested, took out the kind of rifle that Fang Xiaoyu gave him and tried the gun on the spot, which made the minister surprised by this extremely fast rate of fire, and some senior officers even asked Marshal Xia Jun about the possibility of replacing this gun in the army. Marshal Xia Jun was aware of the high price of this rifle, and he directly rejected the good ideas of these officers.

For example, Cheng Feng, who arrived a few days late for Fang Xiaoyu and the others, was also very moved to see the superior performance of the Lanting Type 1 rifle, but the tense relationship between the Cheng family and the Fang family made it impossible for him to open his mouth to Fang Xiaoyu, so he had to go through Xia Yuyan, hoping to resell some rifles from him.

Xia Yuyu and Fang Xiaoyu mentioned it, Fang Xiaoyu immediately agreed, this arms business can definitely make money, Fang Xiaoyu naturally wants to make a lot of money, as for the price, it is naturally not low, Fang Xiaoyu said that the cost price is five hundred yuan, and if he sells it to Cheng Feng, it will become eight hundred, Xia Yuyan naturally can't give him a thread in vain, and he asked for fifty yuan for each gun, and the bullet has become one yuan and five rounds.

After all, the Cheng family has a deep family background, and Cheng Feng also ordered 50,000 rifles and 50 million rounds of ammunition, and Fang Xiaoyu sold more than 40 million yuan in this transaction. Coupled with the two transactions between the emperor and Wang Xuan, Fang Xiaoyu threw away the cost, and the net profit earned nearly 70 million, Fang Xiaoyu's most headache The problem of building warships was solved, and the side effect was that the Cheng family's attitude towards Fang Xiaoyu had changed to a certain extent, after all, Fang Xiaoyu sold them such an advanced rifle very happily. In the Cheng family's view, Fang Xiaoyu intended to reconcile with them.

After the New Year, Fang Xiaoyu and the Xia sisters held a grand engagement ceremony, and the Xia sisters officially became Fang Xiaoyu's fiancées. At the end of the debriefing, the lords must return to the territory, Fang Xiaoyu is no exception, before leaving, the Xia family sisters sent Fang Xiaoyu far away.