Fu Shanhe

Chapter 135 Shipbuilding
The lobby of the Ministry of War.

"Commander Li, you came at an unfortunate time.

The positions of Shangshu and Shilang in the Ministry of War are now vacant, leaving only me, the Langguan, in charge of daily affairs.

Rebuilding the Yangzhou Water Fort is such an important matter, I really cannot make the decision."

Liu Qiming spread his hands and said.

The imperial court wanted to kill a chicken to scare the monkeys, and the Nanjing Ministry of War happened to be caught in the crossfire.

A large number of officials were imprisoned, and he, a fifth-rank official of the Ministry of War, became the highest-ranking official in the Nanjing Ministry of War for the first time.

According to Dayu law, subordinate officials can perform duties in the absence of their superiors.

The law is one thing, and the actual implementation is another.

It's okay to handle daily affairs, but when it comes to major matters, you need to take responsibility.

In the officialdom, everyone has his own job.

We finally waited for the people in front to fall down, and saw the opportunity to make further progress. We can't cause trouble at this time.

Adhering to the principle that the more you do, the more mistakes you make, and the less you do, the fewer mistakes you make, Liu Qiming decisively chose to postpone all matters.

"Master Liu, this excuse of shirking responsibility is only enough to fool those ignorant people.

Although I cannot say that I have memorized "The Law of Dayu" by heart, I still know the basic information.

The current emperor is wise and enlightened, and the six ministers and cabinet officials in the capital are all virtuous ministers.

You act according to the law, so who can find fault with you?

Could it be that you are lazy by nature and don't want to fulfill your duties! "

Li Mu asked sternly.

Of course he knew that the position of Chief of Nanjing Ministry of War was vacant.

If he didn't know that the Ministry of War lacked someone to take the lead, he wouldn't have come here in such a hurry.

As the saying goes, there are no tigers in the mountains, but monkeys are kings.

When the Shangshu Shilang was in power, he, the lieutenant general, was just a small fry and had to report to his superiors in a proper manner.

Even if it is approved, the extent of support from the Nanjing Military Department will be decided by them.

Now all the senior officials in the Ministry of War are vacant, and only a group of minor officials are left in charge. Naturally, the deterrent effect is greatly reduced.

Judging from Liu Qiming's performance, it is clear that this acting person in charge lacks confidence.

The less confident he was, the more confident Li Mu became.

Although it may seem like bullying, in the Dayu Dynasty, it would be difficult to get things done efficiently without doing so.

"Commander Li, don't say that!

Your subordinate..."

Without waiting for Liu Qiming to explain, Li Mu interrupted:
"Master Liu, what did I say?
Was it Dayulv who was wrong?

Or do you think the emperor is not wise?

Or do you think the officials in the six ministries of the cabinet are not wise officials?"

The series of questions made Liu Qiming break out in sweat.

Any one of these problems can be fatal.

Deep down, he was close to collapse.

I have heard for a long time that a difficult lieutenant general has come to Yangzhou. He is more than difficult, he is clearly a living devil.

They have always been from the Ministry of War, controlling the local generals. They have never seen such a rebellious Tiangang as the one before them.

“Dayu Lu can’t be wrong!
The current emperor is a rare leader of a revival, he must be wise and enlightened!
The officials in the court are role models for ministers, and are all wise ministers of the time!"

Liu Qiming said while suppressing his anger.

Acknowledging these contents would be equivalent to agreeing to handle the matter of rebuilding the Yangzhou Water Fort, otherwise he would be derelict in his duty.

After opening the document, the content seemed normal at first, but Liu Qiming soon discovered something was wrong.

"General Li, if we want to rebuild the Yangzhou Water Fortress, we can just rebuild it on the original site. Why do we need to add so many camps?

There were also officers from the water fort, and there were hundreds of people who were specifically selected by name.

Could it be that the Yangzhou Navy is just an empty shell and all its personnel have to be drawn from navies in other places?
The demands for money and food are even more unreasonable!
The construction cost is 300,000 taels of silver, and the annual maintenance cost is 200,000 taels, which is simply impossible.

You have to know that the Jiangnan Navy only has 200,000 taels per year, and their jurisdiction covers the entire Nanzhili.

......"

After pointing out a series of problems, Liu Qiming's expression suddenly looked much better.

Since we are forced to do business, we should do it in a fair and impartial manner.

No matter who you are, if he is not comfortable, then no one else can be comfortable.

“Sir Liu, the locations of these camps were not chosen by me.

If you really want to know, take a map of Yangzhou and look at it carefully and you will find the reason.

There is no need to be too serious about this. Even if it is brought to the cabinet for discussion, it will be approved.

As for the issue of transferring personnel, as you said, the Yangzhou Navy is now just an empty shell.

To be honest, there is not a single soldier in the Yangzhou navy right now.

To reorganize the navy with a clean slate, it is natural to draw personnel from other navies.

You can rest assured that these people are not very popular in the navy of various places.

After issuing this transfer order, everyone will thank you and no one will come to make trouble.

You don't have to pay for the navy's food and wages, so there's no need to worry about it.

I have already communicated with the prefectural government and the governor's office, and they will bear half of the expenses.

The imperial court's appropriation can probably meet one-quarter of the needs, and we will find ways to raise the remaining shortfall.

You don’t need to worry about whether the court will approve it or not. Someone will be responsible for solving it.

What the Nanjing Ministry of War needs to do now is to issue transfer orders and staff the necessary personnel for the reorganization of the navy as soon as possible.

By the way, we will issue shipbuilding orders to shipyards in various places. We will send people to communicate with them about the specific number and specifications of warships.

The cost of building the ships will also be paid from the cost of rebuilding the Yangzhou Navy, so there is no need for my colleagues in the Ministry of War to be burdened."

Li Mu said calmly.

Information asymmetry is his biggest advantage.

The behind-the-scenes owner of the Lianghuai Salt Field was all a fraud he had pulled up.

In fact, when it comes to rebuilding the navy, only Li Mu himself is active.

The safety of the salt fields can be ensured by the protection of the army, and there is no need to spend a lot of effort to reorganize the Yangzhou navy.

But Liu Qiming was not aware of these things.

In his opinion, Li Mu's fearlessness was all due to the confidence given by the big boss behind the scenes.

Just look at the military expenditure and you will know that unless someone makes a request, the local government will not give the money readily.

Maybe the Nanjing Ministry of War had also made arrangements, but things were delayed because the people above were arrested.

He was not notified, most likely because he had been marginalized before.

Facing Li Mu alone, Liu Qiming dared to create some trouble to let him know the power of "current management".

After all, there is a difference between civil and military affairs.

If a military general wants to reach out to the civil official camp and retaliate against him, the cost will be very high.

These are just trivial matters, not worth the princes and marquises behind to spend a huge amount of money on.

But if it involved the person behind the Lianghuai Salt Industry, Liu Qiming would not dare to have such an idea.

Although there is no direct evidence, from the analysis of known information, it can be confirmed that some of the civil service leaders got a piece of the pie.

Having offended people once and been ostracized by colleagues, he didn't want to experience it a second time.

After thinking about it for a while, Liu Qiming completely lost his temper.

Even if Li Mu wanted to bypass the Nanjing Military Department and connect directly with the shipyard, he was too lazy to ask.

"Commander Li, I have done everything I can.

As for the follow-up questions, you can handle them on your own!"

After stamping the seal of the Ministry of War and leaving a copy of the official document, Liu Qiming served tea to the guests on the spot.

There was no way to make friends with him. Seeing Li Mu's nonchalant look, he was filled with anger. His colleagues in the government office were not helpful either. They just watched the whole process and no one even spoke up to help.

The officials below behaved even worse. When they saw Li Mu, they were more enthusiastic than when they saw him.

In theory, he was acting as the Shangshu and was the undisputed boss in the government.

But in the eyes of everyone in the Ministry of War, he is still the official with no sense of existence.

The power we have now is all empty.

As soon as the ministers and vice ministers appointed by the court take office, they will be demoted back to their original state.

Apart from putting on airs in front of local military commanders, his status in the yamen did not improve substantially.

“Thanks to Sir Liu for today’s matter.

I will try my best not to trouble Sir Liu with the following matters."

Li Mu said with a smile.

In his opinion, the Lord Liu in front of him was very interesting.

I want to move up, but I don't want to take risks.

Judging from the speed with which he found faults in the official document just now, this person is definitely a qualified slave in the government office.

He has done a lot of work and taken a lot of blame, but he has never received any benefits.

Misfortunes may also bring blessings.

If he really integrated into the small group of the Ministry of War and shared the benefits, he would have no chance to sit here at this moment.

……

After coming out of the Ministry of War, Li Mu went straight to the Longjiang Shipyard without stopping.

This ancient shipyard can be traced back to the previous dynasty and has a history of more than 300 years.

At its peak, it was the largest shipyard in the Dayu Dynasty.

As the imperial court's finances dried up, investment in the navy gradually decreased, and this ancient shipyard also declined.

Although its scale has long been surpassed by private shipyards, its technological foundation is still in the first echelon today.

It is called a shipyard, but in fact it is a complex arsenal.

Not only can you build warships, but you can also cast a variety of weapons such as cannons, thunder bombs, stone shells, etc.

"Commander-in-Chief, what you drew is a Western warship!"

Yan Jingcheng said with a frown.

As an official assigned by the Ministry of Industry to the shipyard, he had some knowledge of the warships.

The prototype of the warship on the drawing is obviously different from Dayu's mainstream warships.

“Can it be built?”

Li Mu asked with concern.

As a layman, the drawings of the sailing warships he provided were limited to their appearance.

The specific internal structure can only be solved by the shipyard's craftsmen themselves.

"A few years ago, Fujian fought a war with the Portuguese and captured this type of warship. We also studied it.

It is not difficult to build them, but the problem is that these warships have a deep draft and are not very practical.

It's fine to sail on the sea, but once it enters an inland river, it will run aground.

For the same load capacity, the cost is much higher.”

Master Yan reminded carefully.

If a warship is built but cannot be used, then we will be held responsible, and we must be frank with that in advance.

"Master Yan is right, I am aware of these shortcomings.

However, this type of ship also has its own advantages, it can carry more artillery.

When fighting at sea, its power is much stronger than that of ordinary warships.

During the Fujian naval battle that year, the imperial court dispatched a large number of warships to defeat the Portuguese fleet.

I will not build all of these warships. Just a few to show off and deter pirates will be enough.

For the remaining warships, we will purchase conventional warships.

The requirements are very simple: the warships must be as strong as possible and the guns must be as large-caliber as possible.

You can freely choose the size of the warship.

As long as the combat effectiveness is guaranteed, I can accept it even if it is a little bigger."

Li Mu said calmly.

Everything went as he expected. The technical threshold for early sailing warships was not high.

At least for Dayu, building such a warship is not a difficult task.

It did not become popular because, on the one hand, officials felt it was impractical, and on the other hand, they were afraid of taking responsibility.

The military has not changed, let alone the civilian population.

In terms of transportation capacity, Dayu's Fu ships are much stronger than these things.

It can take into account freight and also has certain defense capabilities.

"If Lieutenant General Li insists, I will arrange for someone to calculate the cost.

Because it had never been built before, the cost of the first battleship was much higher than that of an ordinary battleship.

In addition, the shipyard cannot guarantee the actual combat capability of the warships.

We can only promise you that when the warship leaves the factory, the guns installed on the ship can be fired normally and will not cause major damage to the hull.

If there are any cost overruns during the construction of the warship, you will also be responsible for them."

Master Yan tried hard to persuade them to retreat.

As the person in charge of the shipyard, he really didn't want to make any trouble.

If it succeeds, everyone will be happy, but if it doesn't meet expectations on the battlefield.

Young masters like Li Mu may not be in trouble, but the officials under them will definitely take the blame.

Fortunately, Li Mu was a lieutenant general in the army and concurrently served as the garrison commander of Yangzhou, under which there happened to be a navy.

There are many officials in between, and many people to take the blame, and it is not his turn, otherwise he would not dare to accept it.

"Don't worry, you just need to ensure the quality of the warship, and I will take care of the rest.

Tell the craftsmen below that after the warship is completed, Ben will come to test it personally.

If the live-fire test shows that the power exceeds that of existing warships, each person will be rewarded with five taels of silver.

If anyone makes a significant contribution, he will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver.

I will personally report to the court and ask for credit for you!"

Li Mu promised on the spot.

Rewarding with silver was just a pie in the sky for the craftsmen, while asking for merit was just a big pie in the sky for Master Yan.

The bureaucrats in charge of technology in the Dayu Dynasty have always been synonymous with misery.

No matter how well you do your job, most of your efforts can be wiped out by a few strange and lewd tricks from the Qingliu people.

It is extremely difficult to show up in the court.

The naval commanders knew the importance of technology, but the problem was that their status was just that.

In normal times, it is very good to be able to fight for your own interests.

Who has the time to care about others?
Except for the department that specialized in casting cannons, bird guns and other military equipment, which was also valued by the court, other technical bureaucratic positions were just exiles.

"Since the lieutenant general has said so, I will do my best to do it.

I will come up with a preliminary budget within three days.

As long as there is enough funding for shipbuilding, I guarantee that the warship can be launched before the end of the year!"

Director Yan said excitedly.

In the past, tasks were always issued and then completed within a deadline.

If you fail to complete the task, you will be dragged out and beaten with a stick.

There is no reward, and the masters above don't care what the people below think.

(End of this chapter)