After entering the room and taking a seat, Li Qiu said after chatting for a while, "I'm just chatting, and I haven't asked Haishan Zirui what situation you two are in right now."
"Haha, what is their situation? They have to pack up and go home! I went to say goodbye with me that day, but I kept them. These two are excellent navy generals. It would be a pity to go home to farm the fields. , but he insisted on leaving, but I couldn't stop him." Xiao Chen said.
"I can understand what happened to the two of you, but why are you so discouraged? Lord Lin Dongyang was unjustly imprisoned just like you, and now the emperor has reactivated him and entrusted him with important responsibilities?" Li Qiudao.
"Looking at what the prince said, how dare the two of us compete with Master Lin Dongyang?" Lin Zirui said with a bitter smile.
Who is Lin Dongyang? A high-ranking official in the border area, a second-grade official! What are the two of us?
We are just a small fifth-grade commander and a naval attaché as big as a sesame seed. Does the emperor know who we are?
"Your identities are different, but your experiences are similar." Li Qiu couldn't elaborate on what he said, but just vaguely said, "What Xiao Chen said makes sense. Since you two are proficient in water warfare, you should give full play to your talents and serve the country. If you work hard, you won’t have to talk about going home to farm anymore.”
"The two generals don't know something. The emperor has made our young prince the commander-in-chief of Haining Navy. He has an ocean-going fleet under his jurisdiction and is currently recruiting talents. If you two are willing to come and help, the prince will be very happy." Lin Qi He smiled and said, "So are you willing, willing, or willing?"
"Ocean-going fleet?" Liu Haishan sounded very new. "The villain was stationed in Haining Bay before. I didn't know there was such a fleet?"
"Yes, it seems that there are only some offshore frigates and patrol ships in the Haining Bay military port now, and there are no large warships? Are they transferred from Jiangnan?" Lin Zirui was also confused.
"You're right if you haven't seen it." Li Qiu said with a smile, "At present, our Haining Navy does not have a single soldier or a warship."
"What the prince said is different. If Haishan and Zirui join, wouldn't they be one soldier at a time? All they need now is a battleship." Lin Qi said with a smile.
oh……
Lin Zirui and Liu Haishan suddenly realized that you have nothing, Prince. Are you planning to start from scratch?
It is actually not difficult to form an infantry or cavalry force. You only need to select some grassroots generals, recruit some young and strong people, buy some horses, and train them for half a year and then go to the battlefield.
But the navy is not good. You don’t even have a battleship, so we can’t go into the water at all, okay?
It's not impossible to build a new fleet, but there are three prerequisites. First, there must be money. Second, there must be a lot of money. Third, there must be a lot of money!
Since it is an ocean-going fleet, it must have large-scale battleships. The price of a large-scale ocean-going battleship is at least three to four hundred thousand silver. If it is a large-scale iron-clad battleship with powerful firepower like Yanyun or Ross, the cost will be even higher. Got it!
This is just a battleship, not counting other auxiliary equipment...
In theory, an ocean-going fleet must have at least twenty main battleships, which would cost more than ten million taels of silver, not counting other frigates, cruisers, supply ships, and troop carriers!
Why is the development of our navy in the Great Zhou Dynasty so slow? In the final analysis, isn’t it because we didn’t invest enough money?
But this is actually understandable, because Emperor Li Wanjiang has never paid much attention to the navy, or he feels that investing huge sums of money to build an ocean-going fleet is of no use.
For example, the money spent to build an ocean-going fleet is enough to equip and build a 50,000-strong heavy armored cavalry...
If the emperor settles accounts like this, he is actually right.
Having money is only a prerequisite, but the next step is also full of difficulties. First of all, building a large ocean-going warship will take at least a year with the capabilities of Dazhou's most powerful shipyard. However, Dazhou has the ability to build large warships. There are not many shipyards in China, just a handful.
So even if there is enough money, if we start manufacturing now, it will take at least two years to build twenty warships.
This is still the most optimistic estimate, because it is impossible for those shipyards to do nothing but build warships for us!
Besides, other naval fleets also want warships. Do you think they can all come to you?
This is not very realistic. Of course, in theory, you can buy it ready-made, but who to buy it from is also a problem.
Warships are not merchant ships and cargo ships, and they cannot be bought and sold casually!
At present, Ross's armored battleships are first-rate, but firstly, they are expensive, secondly, they are impossible to sell to you, and thirdly, even if they are sold to you, they must be junk on the verge of being eliminated.
The battleships of Yanyun Navy are also first-rate, but I am afraid that Boss Xiao here is not willing to sell them. The relationship between Boss Xiao and the Emperor, Yanyun County and Dazhou is quite subtle...
Then there are countries like Japan, Burma, and Java. They probably won’t sell our warships easily, because isn’t the purpose of the ocean-going fleet we formed aimed at these countries?
"There will be money, there will be battleships, there will be everything..." Before Lin Qi finished speaking, someone else came.
It was Duan Qiyun, Zhang Heng, and Lin Feixiong who came. They had just sat down after greeting each other, and Li Toyota, a doctor from the Ministry of War, came in a hurry. As soon as they entered the door, they shouted "Sin".
But it turns out that Li Qiu invited quite a few guests today...
"Toyota is busy with official duties, so it's okay to be a little late. Qiyun, Zhang Heng, Feixiong, you three are idle people now, why are you late too? Aren't you not paying attention to our young prince?" Xiao Chen came early, so he was particularly angry.
"How dare you?" Zhang Heng said with a smile, "The three of us made an appointment to go find you first, and then we all came together, but unexpectedly we missed it, but Dean Shangguan was at home and insisted on checking for us. I injured my foot and was prescribed some maintenance medicine, so it was too late."
"It doesn't matter if you have frostbite on your feet, right?" Li Qiu asked.
"It has been cured." Lin Feixiong said, "If it weren't for Dean Shangguan, I'm afraid he would have been disabled long ago. Not only will his feet be disabled, but his legs may not be saved."
"Well, although the weather is getting warm now, it's still cold in the morning and evening, so you need to be more careful." Li Qiu said.
"Has the appointment from the Ministry of War been sent to you?" Li Toyota asked Lin Feixiong, "When do you plan to leave? Don't forget to look for me before you leave. I have something else, please take it home with me."
"I know... I was about to come and talk to the prince about this. Why did you let Qi Yun and Zhang Heng stay and just drive me away?" Lin Feixiong was appointed as Jiangdong General, which was considered a high promotion. But he was not happy either.
"Look at what you Fei Xiong said. This is an appointment from the Ministry of War. The emperor means it. You can't blame me, right?" Li Qiu said with a smile.
