In the evening, the four of them returned to the inn, Liu Yifeng, Li Hongji and Zheng Zhilong's expressions were a little gloomy, only Feng Shuo was proud, it can be seen that the task of the four people was only completed perfectly.

"I'll do it first." Liu Yifeng sighed and said, "Lao Li and I are in charge of a black market, he went to the city district, and I went to the mall area. The situation on my side is exactly the same as the situation in the city of Mt. Aoshan, and the other party will not sell the firearm to me, a stranger. They bluntly said that I had to have a post written by someone with local prestige before I could sell it to me. ”

Li Hongji nodded after Liu Yifeng finished speaking, and said: "Yes, the same is true on my side, but I investigated a piece of information, it is said that the black market firecrackers in Ganshan City are out of stock, and the two black markets have very little inventory, and it is estimated that even if we find someone to help us write posts, we won't be able to buy a few." ”

Feng Shuo interjected at this time: "I can't buy a single one, the black market is out of stock, and the batch of goods on our ship is what they ordered." ”

The three of them looked back at Feng Shuo, and he continued: "I had a fight with a black market guard, and after the fight, I invited him to drink, and he told me when he was a little drunk. In the first half of this year, many people were robbed, and the stock of firearms in Jinshan City was suddenly bought. ”

No wonder this kid smells of alcohol and is dirty.

Liu Yifeng did not doubt the authenticity of this information, it was very logical. Maybe the black market still has inventory in their hands, but their inventory must have passed the warning line, and they should not sell the remaining inventory casually. Those who do black market business have favors on both sides of black and white, and those firecrackers are used to deal with these favors.

Zheng Zhilong saw that Li Hongji had finished speaking, and Feng Shuo had nothing to add, and said: "My side is also full of bad news, although there are many ships to Jinshan City, there are no vacancies for us." ”

The three of them didn't understand, they looked at each other and waited to hear Zheng Zhilong's explanation.

It turns out that there is no passenger route between Jinshan City and Jishan City, such as between Jishan City and Jishan City.

At present, all the ships from Gushan Castle to Jinshan Castle are owned by the trading houses, although they will also sell empty seats on the ships to some small merchants and explorers, but that needs to be booked.

"I've investigated, and there's still a vacant ship to Jinshan City in two months."

Two months later......

4 people, you look at me, I look at you, I don't know what to say.

Feng Shuo thought for a moment and asked, "Is there a boat for rent?" ”

He is a horse dealer experience, in Daming locality, there is a rental horse service, there will be some people in a hurry to buy their horses halfway.

Zheng Zhilong shook his head and said, "Feng Shuo, the boat is not a horse. ”

He knew Feng Shuo's past and explained: "The ship has a lifespan, even if you don't use it, it will slowly age when soaked in water, so few trading houses will let the ship idle." When they build a ship or buy a ship, they calculate the minimum number of ships they need. ”

Feng Shuo nodded, indicating that he understood, and asked again, "Is the ship expensive?" Can we just buy a small boat, recruit a crew to transport us there, and then sell the boat when we get to Jinshan City? ”

This is also the typical thinking of a horse dealer, but it works, Zheng Zhilong glanced at Feng Shuo.

But he still shook his head and said: "I don't think that there are idle ships for sale in Yushan City now, and it takes half a year to start rebuilding one, this is still the speed of the Central Plains Shipyard, and we are not sure if the Dongshan Prefecture Shipyard has the ability to build ships." ”

"Besides, a dhow that can carry 50 people starts at 1,000 taels, not counting the cost of seafarers and maintenance, just the cost of shipbuilding, if you want to build a ship and send us to Dongshan Prefecture, I estimate that it will be close to 3,000 taels."

Feng Shuo stopped talking and smacked his tongue secretly.

Liu Yifeng was curious and asked about the cost of Nanyang-class and Zhenghe-class.

"The cost of the Nanyang class is 8,000 taels." Zheng Zhilong replied: "I don't know about Zheng He. ”

Li Hongji took over the topic: "The cost of Zheng He-class is 12,000 taels, not counting artillery." ”

Feng Shuo felt as if his jaw was dislocated, and Liu Yifeng was some of the thoughts in his heart that disappeared in an instant.

I have to say that when he was planning for the future in Caoshan City, he thought about forming a private fleet dominated by Zheng He-class after making money from gold mines. But now it seems that these world's top transoceanic ships in this era are really only played by the state apparatus.

"But ......" Li Hongji hesitated, but still said: "The shipbuilding is built by the Maritime Safety Administration, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry, and there are too many stakeholders in the middle. ”

Zheng Zhilong and Feng Shuo didn't understand, after all, they had too little contact with the official face of the Ming Dynasty, but Liu Yifeng understood it in seconds.

He already knows very well what a behemoth the Maritime Safety Bureau is in this Ming Dynasty, and he can basically equate it with the Six Ministries. Daming's large-scale ship manufacturing, the three major departments are responsible for it at the same time, and there are indeed too many interests to dredge in the middle.

To put it bluntly, there are too many officials at all levels who reach out in the middle.

In later generations, many people always had a misunderstanding that there were no corrupt officials in the prosperous era. This concept is absolutely wrong, corrupt officials exist all the time, but the forces that suppress them are strong and weak.

Although this Ming Dynasty is full of martial virtue and looks extremely strong, it has inherited quite a lot of problems left over from the middle of the Ming Dynasty after all. Liu Yifeng has never been in the Central Plains in the true sense, and he also believes that this Ming Dynasty only relied on expanding the territory and plundering overseas to cover up all kinds of problems in the local area.

After all, there is no good solution to the problems left over from the middle of the Ming Dynasty to the Qin Emperor, Han Wu, and Tang Taizong. On the contrary, with these 3 war mad emperors, let them really be the current Wanli Emperor, it is estimated that this Ming Dynasty's martial arts will be more abundant.

Judging from the corruption situation at the grassroots level of the Maritime Safety Administration, Liu Yifeng believes that the kickbacks between a Nanyang-class and a Zhenghe-class are not more than 10%.

Li Hongji also stopped at the point, and he didn't dare to say more. Although in the Southern Army and the Navy, the soldiers who washed the thatched hut knew that the military leaders above and the officers of the military department must have been corrupt.

Since the sea is blocked, let's go by land, Feng Shuo figured this out and excitedly raised this point.

Liu Yifeng glanced at him, and poured cold water on this former horse dealer who always wanted to form a cavalry team without any hesitation: "The distance between Yushan City and Jinshan City is thousands of miles, which is farther than Shuntianfu to Yingtianfu. By land, how long are you going to walk? Besides, there is no road between these two places, and we have to open the road ourselves! ”

Feng Shuo sat down weakly for a while.

It takes at least two days for the messengers of the military department to change horses and people all the way between Shuntianfu and Yingtianfu, which is a thousand miles of horses specially configured by the military department for major military situations. If it is an ordinary foot horse, it starts in 10 days. Ordinary carriage caravans, starting in half a month and walking for a month, also abound.

And the premise of all this is that there is a gallop between Yingtianfu and Shuntianfu, there are countless cities and towns that can be replenished, and there is a wilderness between Ganshan City and Jinshan City.

The four of them were a little shocked, and sat down in front of the Eight Immortals table in Liu Yifeng's room without speaking.

At this time, Liu Yifeng suddenly found that all the previous experiences were too smooth, which gave him the illusion that it would go on smoothly, but the reality slapped him hard.

He had a strange thought: Is the benefit phase of my beginner's tutorial over?