"And it's not just about price.

Such a luxurious, such advanced ship does not stay in the Atlantic, runs to China, and sells to me, the Chinese, how can I smell full of conspiracy. Zhao Dagui couldn't help but shake his head.

"Hehe, then you might have a cold. Stark, on the other hand, didn't care.

"There must be something wrong with the origin of this ship, can't we tell about it?"

"Sorry, Mr. comprador. ”

Zhao Dagui wanted to put something out of Stark's mouth, but he didn't expect this person to look at him, but his mouth was very tight, and he couldn't get anything out of it.

In the end, the two decided to put the ship on hold for a while, go to see other ships first, and then inspect the ship repair yard or something.

Zhao Dagui followed Stark around the port, and Stark introduced which land could be taken down as a special berthing point for regular cruise ships in the future, and how to build ancillary facilities such as docks and warehouses.

Zhao Dagui casually asked the price of these lands, and found that it was extremely cheap, because the regular cruise project is a project supported by the British, as long as you pay a certain handling fee, you can circle five or six hundred acres of land in the port, as for this money, it is only five or six yuan per mu.

This is still a port, and there are many people who are eyeing it, and the land price can be half cheaper if they buy land and build houses in the urban area of the island, and if it is a vast wasteland or rural land outside the urban area, it is even more like giving it for nothing.

In addition, looking for sailors and technicians or something, Stark patted his chest and promised that he could help recruit without alarming the governor as high, as long as Zhao Dagui was willing to give a sufficient salary, that is, to buy the necessary machinery and equipment or something, he had relatives who happened to be doing this kind of business, and he could help with the purchase.

In the end, Stark also took Zhao Dagui to the shipyard opened by the British on the side of Yuangang and asked him to go in for an inspection.

There are new Western shipyards in Hong Kong, built shortly after the end of the Opium War, and after they were built, steamships were built, although they were only small paddle wheels and wooden-hulled ships, but they were already very good in China.

Zhao Dagui was secretly moved, and asked the boss if he could transfer the shipyard and sell all the personnel, machinery and land, but the British boss offered an outrageously high price, it seems that the factory was built not long ago, and he was comfortable, and he didn't have much thought of transferring business.

After thinking about it, Zhao Dagui could only give up.

Zhao Dagui followed Stark around and had a rough idea in his heart, and finally said goodbye to Stark and agreed to discuss in a few days.

Although Zhao Dagui has never been to Hong Kong, it does not mean that there are no connections, many firms such as Jardine Matheson have firms in Shanghai, and there are also headquarters in Hong Kong, and some of the staff and captains of foreign banks that Zhao Dagui has met are many in Hong Kong at this time.

Zhao Dagui arranged for more than 50 people to rest with him, and he visited these familiar foreigners to inquire about the situation here, especially the origin of the incredibly advanced iron-hulled ship.

After some inquiry, Zhao Dagui knew that the ship was indeed a little tired.

Originally, it was a troop carrier that the British Admiralty had booked with the shipyards of the Great Western Railway, but it changed its purpose during the construction and became more and more luxurious, and then the designers of the shipyard did not know what to think, and attached a lot of new technologies to him, such as iron-hulled technology and propeller propulsion technology.

In the end, the Admiralty was very satisfied with the ship, but somehow the reporter and the parliament knew about it, and some people sarcastically asked whether the Admiralty was going to take the taxpayers' and the Queen's money and build itself a luxury pleasure boat.

This ship really doesn't look like a troop carrier, if it's a warship and a transport ship, it's even less like, and the senior officials of the navy are a little speechless--- in fact, Zhao Dagui personally thinks that those uncles may really want to use this ship as a pleasure boat.

Because of the uproar caused by this matter, the Admiralty sent the ship overseas to avoid the limelight, and somehow arrived in Hong Kong, China;

Then, everyone thought that as time passed, everyone would forget about it, but there was no such thing, and there were still people, especially political opponents, who used this matter to attack the navy for spending money on military salaries, and they also had to re-examine the navy's account books over the years, and even thought that the navy's dispatch of ships overseas was a sign of weakness.

After a headache, the senior admirals of the navy decided to sell the ship, simply out of sight and out of mind, and calmed down public opinion in the country.

Since the ship is in Hong Kong, this heavy responsibility fell on the head of Debe, and as a result, Debeo was also depressed, am I so like a backstabber, but considering the power of those people in the navy, this little favor can't be helped.

It's just that it is very difficult to sell such a luxurious steamship in China, those rich foreigners would rather buy more practical cargo ships, and as for the rich Chinese, well, don't expect the Chinese to buy any steamships.

Coincidentally, Bafur in Shanghai said that there was a Chinese comprador, a particularly rich man, who wanted to buy a steamship to open a regular shipping route or something, so Zhao Dagui entered the governor's field of vision, thinking that selling this ship to this Chinese comprador would kill two birds with one stone.

Oh, it's a legendary story, after Zhao Dagui knows the ins and outs, he doesn't know what kind of expression he should have.

However, Zhao Dagui was very interested in this ship, and he really had to take it down.

Zhao Dagui didn't know much about the steamships of this era, but he knew that the world's earliest iron-hulled propeller steamship was built by the British Great Western Steamship Company:

In 1837, the company designed and built the famous wooden-hulled paddle steamer "Grand West", the largest steamship of its time (displacement 1,300 tons) and the second steamship to cross the Atlantic, only a few hours later than the first Sirius, but with a faster average speed;

Beginning in July 1839, the company designed and built its second large steamship, the Britannia, launched in 1843, which was the world's first iron-hulled propeller-propelled steamship, and by the way, took over the title of the largest steamship from the Great West.

With a displacement of 3,400 tons, a length of 98 meters and a width of 15.39 meters, the Britannia has engines capable of up to 1,000 horsepower, a speed of 10 to 11 knots (19 to 20 kilometers per hour), can carry 1,200 tons of coal, carries 360 passengers with 120 crew members (modified a few years later to carry 730 passengers), and 1,200 tons of cargo.

In this way, the ship that Zhao Dagui saw was a miniature version of the famous "Great Britain", and I don't know how immeasurable it was influenced, and it became a troop carrier booked by the Admiralty, and then it was pulled to Hong Kong for sale.

(Knowing the note: nature is the power of the creator god, ahem)

No matter how shrewd Stark was, he couldn't realize that Zhao Dagui was bound to win this ship.

A few days later, Zhao Dagui made another appointment with Major Stark to bargain for the price of the ship, and only offered 120,000 yuan, which made Stark make a shocked expression.

When negotiating the price, Stark was unusually tenacious, and after the final price was reduced to 200,000 yuan, he was unwilling to take a step back.

"In this way, I raised the price to 190,000 yuan, and then set this matter, how about it?" Zhao Dagui finally asked.

"Hehe, if someone is not in a hurry to sell this ship, it will not be able to buy it for 300,000 yuan. Stark shook his head and said, "In this way, I will provide you with a message worth 10,000 yuan, and we will still make a deal for 200,000 yuan, how about it?"