Shen Yourong frowned slightly and thought about it before saying, "It depends on what the court wants."
"Oh?" Feng Ziying just said "oh" without saying anything, waiting for the other party to continue explaining.
"With the current financial resources of the imperial court, I am afraid that the cabinet and the Ministry of War only want to temporarily restore the Liaonan-Denglai route and protect the Liaodong military supply line. If that is all, it is also simple to repair the existing ships of the Shandong Navy. After a while, if we add some more ships, we also need to add some small cannons, well, we can make do."
Shen Yourong said reluctantly, obviously not agreeing with this strategy, but it was the most likely approach to be adopted by the court. After all, it was the cheapest, and maybe tens of thousands of taels of silver could be used to make do.
Feng Ziying did not expect Shen Yourong to be so pessimistic about the court. It seemed that Shen Yourong was heartbroken by the attitude of the court bosses when he was in office in Liaodong and Fujian.
"General Shen, this kind of strategy can only be said to be better than nothing. If it is really like this, the court does not need to set up a special governor of Denglai. Even a governor is more than enough." Feng Ziying shook her head, her eyes clear.
"You don't need to test me. Although Ziying has a low position, I proposed the strategy of opening up the sea. Even the cabinet ministers and the emperor also came to me to specifically discuss where to spend the money after borrowing the debt. Then Denglai - - It is imperative that the Liaonan route will control the future trade between Korea and Japan. Even Fujian, Zhejiang and even Guangdong and Guangxi will follow suit in the future. Of course, it may be a little later. We need to consider a priority. Therefore, I want to listen to General Shen More practical advice.”
Shen Yourong's face heated up.
He didn't expect the other party to be so frank, which made him seem a little narrow-minded.
Standing up solemnly and cupping his fists, Shen Yourong apologized in a deep voice: "Master Feng, Mr. Shen made a mistake. What he said earlier contained some emotions that have been stirred up by all parties over the years. After hearing what Mr. Feng said today, Mr. Shen feels ashamed. Feeling even more excited.”
"It doesn't have to be like this. Mr. Shen cares about his family and country. Ziying can only admire him, but time has not waited for us. Since Wenyan recommended General Shen, Ziying can naturally trust him. What General Shen said before also made Ziying feel shaken, and she had the urge to express her feelings. So Ziying sincerely hopes that General Shen can give Ziying a more valuable suggestion."
Feng Ziying's words made Shen Yourong feel even more embarrassed. He calmed down and said: "If the imperial court really intends to build a navy, then in Shen's opinion, the original ship model should be abandoned and the Western ship model should be used." Using the new shipbuilding technology brought by the Yi people, we selected the latest Karen ship of the Western Yi people as the main ship of our naval fleet..."
Seeing the confusion on Feng Ziying's face, Shen Yourong explained: "Karen is said to be from Franji, and some say that it is from Galen. Well, it evolved from a medium-to-large three-masted schooner with a pointed bottom. The larger schooner is more suitable for ocean navigation. It is said that it is already quite popular among the Westerners. It can be seen everywhere in Sulu, Luzon and Manchuria in the South China Sea, but it is not as big as ours in the offshore areas. Zhou’s Fuchuanshachuan is more practical,..."
One sentence brought Feng Ziying's impression of Shen Yourong to a new level.
Galenic ship? Not just anyone can say this word.
Although Feng Ziying's knowledge of ships can only be based on impressions from some past lives, he also knows that Galen ships have a long history of serving as warships in the Age of Discovery, and can even be said to have dominated an era.
"What are the advantages of this kind of Galen ship? Well, can we build it?" Feng Ziying once showed off in front of the cabinet and the emperor, but to be honest, he didn't know what he was thinking, so he could only tell the big story first. , to stabilize the hearts of Emperor Yonglong and the ministers in the cabinet, otherwise it will be difficult to win their support.
"There are many advantages. Firstly, it is suitable for ocean navigation. Secondly, it is more suitable for deploying artillery. Thirdly, it can also make better use of changes in sea wind direction. Of course, there are also disadvantages. The operation is complicated and requires a lot of sailors. If it is on a warship, it will be huge. It takes up space, but I think that in future naval battles, such as jumping ship and boarding battles, it will be increasingly difficult to adapt to numerous artillery and complex sea areas. It is even more necessary to choose suitable sea areas for operations. But how can war give us so many choices? "
Feng Ziying understood clearly that this person really had the real stuff. The officers and soldiers in the naval fleet and even the pirates and Japanese pirates in the Great Zhou Dynasty were still addicted to relying on rocket fire attacks and jumping ships to engage in battles. When it came to victory or defeat, he had already seen further and saw the changes in the naval battle, which shocked even Feng Ziying.
Seeing Feng Ziying's silence, Shen Yourong also thought that his point of view was too unconventional and unacceptable to the other party. He was slightly disappointed, but it was normal to have second thoughts.
Who can understand this if you are not a person who eats this kind of rice or has been in contact with ships at sea for a long time?
For thousands of years, relying on rocket fire attacks and gang-hopping battles to decide the outcome has been regarded as the norm by everyone. Even the emergence of muskets and artillery has not changed everyone's ideas.
Everyone feels that the instability and hit rate of artillery cannot be a magic weapon for victory, and firecrackers can only be used as auxiliary weapons like bows and arrows.
Didn't he think so ten years ago? If he hadn't seen the red-haired ships and artillery configurations in Penghu, as well as the drills of such ships in naval battles, he wouldn't have believed in such naval battles. The decisive factor has shifted to relying on artillery to determine victory or defeat.
Taking a deep breath, Feng Ziying calmed down: "General Shen, I agree with what you said, but can we build such a ship? In addition, do you think that artillery will play a key role in future naval battles? Function, but can our Dazhou artillery be adapted to the use of this kind of ship? I know that our Dazhou navy also has artillery on board, but they are not big and the response is not very good. What is the reason? If we, Dazhou, made it ourselves It is difficult for artillery to adapt to navy ships, how to solve it?"
Shen Yourong's heart trembled slightly, suppressing the joy and surprise in his heart: "Master Feng, do you agree with these views of mine?"
Feng Ziying laughed and said, "General Shen, you don't think that I don't know anything about maritime matters when I propose the strategy of opening up the sea and convince the cabinet ministers and the emperor? Then how can I convince them? Really? Do you think that the ministers in the cabinet and the emperor can be deceived by just talking?"
After hearing what Feng Ziying said, Shen Yourong didn't care about the teasing meaning in Feng Ziying's words. He calmed down and said: "Master Feng, in front of you, Shen didn't hide anything. You said it." These are very difficult, but they are not insurmountable..."
"... Karen, uh, is the Galen ship you mentioned, and it also includes the Clark sailing ship that is more suitable for merchant ships. In fact, it is very common in Sulu and Luzon. There are also shipyards in Manila, including Francois. We have a lot of visits between Folangji and Hongmaofan on Sundays. Although these ships are very technical, they can be built as long as we are determined to build them..."
"..., it is nothing more than spending money to hire their shipbuilding technicians. In fact, although such talents are rare in Guangdong, Guangxi and Luzon, you can still find one or two. Of course, it is definitely far from enough. If you really want to build one as soon as possible , you can entrust those Folangji and Hongmaofan to go to their home country to hire such technicians for us, and promise them huge profits, and everything will happen!"
"We can even go directly to Luzon and Manchuria to dig people secretly. There are many Folangji people in Luzon, and there are many Hongmaofans in Manchuria. They both have factories for building ships, and as far as I know , many of them come to us because they are struggling to make a living, and most of them come here to look for a life when life in their home country is difficult or even unsustainable. As long as they have this technology, we are willing to offer higher and more generous treatment. Then I can dig them out for my use, and our craftsmen can also learn from them..."
Shen Yourong became more and more excited as he talked, "Shen had originally come into contact with those Folangji and Hongmaofan many times. They were very interested in coming to Zhou Dynasty for trade, but the imperial court's policy of banning seas disappointed them. If we If we can use this as a condition to allow them to come directly to our Great Zhou for trade and provide some conditions, I think they can recruit such craftsmen for us..."
Feng Ziying was also a little excited.
Only when he came to this time and space did he deeply feel that as a liberal arts dog, although he had advantages in many current affairs and history, he had little knowledge of the common technologies before the industrial revolution, except for the occasional one or two because of interest. Everything else I've covered is at a loss.
Like the shipbuilding technology that Shen Yourong mentioned before, and the artillery and gun-making technology that may be involved, these all require science and engineering technology accumulation. I don't even have a basic golden finger in this area, how can I cheat?
But think about it, even if you are an engineering dog or a scientific dog, you may not be able to understand the technologies of that era. Therefore, if you really want to solve the problem, you have to start with the basic industrial technologies of this era.
Although the Great Zhou Dynasty in this era had some scattered advantages, its closed institutional thinking made the entire education, technology and industrial system begin to lag behind the Western European countries that entered the Age of Discovery.
"General Shen, can the artillery technology I mentioned earlier be operated in this way?" Feng Ziying asked.
Shen Yourong hesitated for a moment, "Mr. Feng, I'm afraid that artillery and artillery manufacturing technology is also a top secret in Xiyi. It's probably not easy to obtain this kind of technology. Of course, Xiyi people value profits and they have traveled thousands of miles to come. I I think if we can provide preferential treatment in trade, maybe we can."
Feng Ziying was very satisfied. Shen Yourong's performance had far exceeded his imagination. In this era, it is rare to have such a sober person with a broad vision.
"Well, General Shen, I understand. Apart from these, what else do you think we need to solve immediately?"
"Dongfan." After a long time, Shen Yourong said slowly: "Shen is worried that if we can't completely control Dongfan as soon as possible, Folangji and Hongmaofan will peek at Dongfan sooner or later."