This is a really good boat!
This is really a good gun!
I didn’t expect that the Ming Dynasty had such good ships and cannons!
I'd heard long ago that the ships and cannons of the Imperial Navy were different, built at great expense by the Ming Emperor. People thought they were just a little bigger, and after seeing them, they were indeed bigger, but who could have imagined they were so different inside?
The gun in the hands of the soldier next to him also caught Zheng Zhilong's attention.
Zheng Zhilong's men also used guns, but they were still at the stage of matchlock guns and had not even obtained flintlock guns.
But looking at the guns these soldiers carry, they are obviously different from the guns our own people carry, and they must be extremely powerful.
Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but sigh in his heart, this emperor of the Ming Dynasty is really an extraordinary figure. Just this ship and this equipment, how much money would it cost?
It is true that Zheng Zhilong was jealous, but he also understood another thing: the imperial court was not easy to mess with.
On the other side of the boat, a group of people also came up from below.
The leader was a eunuch, not very old, with a kind and smiling face. But no one dared to look down on this eunuch.
Fang Zhenghua was a leader among the younger generation of eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty. Apart from the big bosses of the Imperial Household Department, Fang Zhenghua was also extremely trusted by the current emperor, which allowed him to represent the palace in the navy.
In addition to Fang Zhenghua, there was another military general who looked to be in his forties. His name was Zhang Changzhong and he was the military supervisor of the General Staff Office.
Behind them stood a fat man in his fifties, with a large belly, a fat head, and big ears, looking rather silly. Shi Laifu, from the Imperial Household Department.
All three of them are relatively special characters in this fleet.
After boarding the warship, Shi Laifu said with a smile, "This ship is really great! Every time I see it, I'm envious. I wonder when our ship will be finished? Then we can set sail."
"Don't even think about buying a ship like that." Zhang Changzhong said with a smile, "There's no way we're going to trade with the Royal Navy's warships. Your ships are definitely not like that."
Glancing at Zhang Changzhong, Shi Laifu said unhappily, "I know that too. Isn't that unimaginable? You guys in the General Staff Office are just occupying the shipyard all day long. What's the point of building so many warships? What's wrong with building us some merchant ships?"
"There are no warships here. If you go out, you will be robbed by pirates." Zhang Changzhong glared at Shi Laifu and said.
"You can't just keep building warships." Shi Laifu also said with his eyes wide open: "We provide you with all kinds of money and supplies every day, so what's wrong with you building us some merchant ships?"
"With merchant ships, you can have money and supplies, so you can build more warships. This is a good thing. But you guys are obsessed with warships all day long. Can't you think of something else? Are you a bunch of idiots?"
Hearing Shi Laifu's words, Zhang Changzhong snorted coldly and said, "That requires us to have enough! How many ships and artillery pieces do we have? It's not enough at all. Where can we find a shipyard to build your ships?"
Fang Zhenghua, who was standing aside, smiled but said nothing. This was not the first time these two had argued, and he had no interest at all.
Or rather, it was not a dispute between these two people, but a dispute between the Imperial Household Department and the General Staff Office.
This matter has been going on for a long time. Fang Zhenghua is standing on the side of the palace, and it is not appropriate for him to take sides with anyone.
The Imperial Household Department felt that the General Staff Office was being too excessive. They monopolized the shipyards and built warships for the General Staff Office every day, preventing the Imperial Household Department from even building merchant ships. It wasn't like the Imperial Household Department didn't give the General Staff Office the money it earned. Over the years, it had provided the General Staff Office with a huge amount of food, equipment, and supplies. These people in the General Staff Office had no conscience at all.
Moreover, after acquiring merchant ships, they made more money, the General Staff got a bigger share, and they could build more warships. Why didn't the General Staff understand this? What was going on in their heads?
A bunch of idiots!
The General Staff believed that warships were the most important, and merchant ships were not important. How could we fight a war without warships?
If you go to sea without warships, you can't defeat the pirates. Even if you go out to sea for trade, you will either be robbed or killed. Only with good warships, and more warships, can you protect merchants.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs thinks that you have enough. Such a large fleet is not enough?
The General Staff felt that this was not enough. They thought, "This is just the beginning! There are too few ships." Putting aside other things, with so many ships competing for attention, what are we compared to?
How much does a bunch of idiots cost?
We don’t even have the money to build it for you, and you’re not letting us make money?
This is when the two sides started to argue, and they kept arguing, but to no avail. Eventually, the matter was brought to the palace to see how His Majesty would resolve it.
As a result, His Majesty also dragged his feet at the beginning and ignored them at all, allowing the General Staff to continue building warships.
Everyone knows that His Majesty hopes to destroy more warships.
But the Imperial Household Department was not doing well either, they cried poor and had no money.
Under such circumstances, the emperor could only order the construction of another shipyard in Shandong, specifically to build merchant ships for the Imperial Household Department to go out to sea. Only then did this matter calm down.
However, a new problem arises. It will take a long time for the shipyard in Shandong to be put into use.
This time, the imperial court and Korea jointly attacked Japan, which was a great opportunity for merchants, and the Imperial Household Department naturally would not let it go. They wanted to ask the General Staff Office to cede the Tianjin shipyard so that they could build a batch of merchant ships for them.
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