"Well, what kind of news is worth 10,000 yuan, Mr. Major, don't fool me. Zhao Dagui asked disappreciatively.

"You want to buy equipment for the shipyard, recruit skilled workers, and set up a shipyard in the northern port, right?

These shipyards in Hong Kong are running very well and making money, so you don't have to think about it, at most I will introduce a reliable shipyard, and your ship can go there for maintenance when it comes to Hong Kong in the future.

If you want to build your own shipyard or shipyard, you have to go to Macau.

It used to be the only Westerner settlement, and there were a lot of good shipyards, as well as a few technicians and workers.

But now, the merchant ships are repaired in Hong Kong, and many of the shipyards there are not able to operate, and there are bankrupt.

If you are interested, I can introduce you to take a look, isn't it much better to save money in running a shipyard than to fight for a mere 10,000 yuan here?"

"This, a thousand birds in the forest, it is better to have a bird in the hand, is there no such proverb in the West?" Zhao Dagui asked rhetorically.

However, Stark's limit seems to be 200,000 yuan, and Zhao Dagui also knows that he can't lower the price anymore, so he can only agree to the transaction at a price of 200,000 yuan.

Then, Zhao Dagui also bought a small steam ship and a thousand-ton sailboat through Stark, although they are second-hand ships, they are both sturdy and durable, and they can be used for a long time, and the prices are 35,000 yuan and 42,000 yuan respectively, which is quite reasonable.

In the end, Zhao Dagui also demarcated 800 acres of land near the port, 500 acres of land in the urban area not far from the governor's palace, and bought thousands of acres of land in the farther suburbs.

Stark was a little disapproving, feeling that it was really unnecessary for Zhao Dagui to value land so much, but he didn't intend to say anything, he helped Zhao Dagui go through the formalities and quickly get the property rights certificate of these lands, and said that if Zhao Dagui still wanted to buy land, he could go directly to him, it would definitely be fast and good.

Stark felt that he had taken advantage of the ship, and was willing to compensate him for the matter of land, which would be generous to the empress.

In addition, things like recruiting people, Stark also patted his chest, with his identity as a naval lieutenant and a former celebrity at the time of Debe, these are small things, Zhao Dagui can entrust them all to him, even the Stark company opened by his relatives can also help a lot.

Since leaving Shanghai, Zhao Dagui has spent almost 290,000 yuan to enclose thousands of acres of land in Dinghai and more than 2,000 acres in Hong Kong, as well as three Western-style ships.

If you add the land in Shanghai, Zhao Dagui has nearly 10,000 acres of land in his hands, which is the easiest land to appreciate, which can be regarded as a profitable business.

The staff of Dagui Commercial Bank, the guys of Fuwei Dart Bureau, and the faculty and staff of Oriental Students were all shocked when they knew that Zhao Dagui had bought three Western ships.

Other people are okay, the scholars of the Western School of the Oriental Academy, on the iron-hulled steamship of more than 1,000 tons, feel everywhere, and they simply can't put it down.

"This ship will be called the Vostok in the future. Zhao Dagui was in a good mood and said with a wave of his hand.

"Good. A scholar clapped his hands and praised, but said regretfully: "Westerners can build such good ships, but my Chinese shipbuilding technology is really not as good as that of the West." ”

"It is terrible and deplorable that wealth comes from the sea, and danger comes from the sea. Another scholar echoed with a calm face.

"There will be bread, and so will the big ship. I made an appointment with foreigners to buy shipbuilding equipment and build a shipyard, and I believe that soon we will be able to build such iron ships ourselves. Zhao Dagui encouraged everyone.

If that's the case, the world is very lucky. In the future, I will switch to the art of shipbuilding, and I must build such a good ship for China. The scholar who spoke first said.

Zhao Dagui nodded secretly in his heart, the future decline of China in the past hundred years depends on whether these Western scholars can turn the tide.

"If you have relatives and friends in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, please come over, our Oriental College is now short of scholars who are dedicated to practical research, and there are not enough of them.

I also ask you to help me a lot, whether my Huaxia can return to the top of the world's civilization in the future depends on you. Zhao Dagui said to everyone.

"The principal is serious, let's do our best. The scholars replied with heavy expressions.

Because of historical reasons, the largest distribution of Western scholars at this time was still the earliest opening of Guangzhou, because the circle of Western studies is small and refined, these scholars from Jiangsu and Zhejiang have many acquaintances or exchange letters with these Guangzhou scholars, and such a big name as Li Xinlan also enjoys a high reputation in the Guangzhou Western school circle.

Zhao Dagui provided a sum of money for the scholars to visit the scholars in Guangzhou and other places in Guangdong, and to bring in the scholars of the Western school and their students to Shanghai as much as possible.

With the treatment and academic level of Oriental College, I believe that many people are interested.

Then, leaving the three newly purchased ships in Hong Kong and entrusting the shipyard to make some necessary improvements and repairs, Zhao Dagui himself rushed to Macau with Stark.

Major Stark came from a well-known family, and his family's strength and influence in Britain were even stronger than those of Pudingcha and Deber.

This allowed Stark to receive an extremely good education, and he was a very intelligent man, who was proficient in poetry and songs, and had a deep attainment in both military and natural sciences.

Of course, this also explains his temperament.

Such a person should be a star in the British upper class social circle, I don't know why he came to Hong Kong, just to explain with a pioneering spirit, I'm afraid it's reluctant.

However, these have little to do with Zhao Dagui, the two have been dating for a short time, but they have established a very good friendship, and they have a sense of sympathy, from Hong Kong all the way to Macau, and rushed to several local shipyards.

Stark was very familiar with the Portuguese shipyard owners in Macau, and took Zhao Dagui to several shipyards and was warmly received by the shipyard owners.

Macao's military and shipbuilding industries were once extremely developed, and at the end of the 18th century they were claimed to be the most advanced in Asia, but now they are somewhat declining.

In the past, there were several military factories in Macao, and the gun manufacturing technology was quite advanced, which left a strong mark in the history of the late Ming Dynasty.

At the end of the eighteenth century, the last military factory in Macao closed down and was no longer in operation, so there is no military factory in the city today, which is a pity for Zhao Dagui.

Although the technology of shipbuilding is not as good as that of Europe, it is much better than that of local Chinese shipyards, and at least until the Opium War, all foreign merchant ships in China had to be repaired and repaired in Macao.