Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 743 Fierce, Fast, but Expensive

An airplane is something that allows you to sit in it and fly into the sky, just like the mythical bird that carried the Heavenly Emperor through the heavens.

As Xia Lin drew the airplane on the paper, he described the feeling of sitting in it. It would only take an hour to travel three thousand miles. If he took off from the far east at sunrise, it would still be dark when he arrived in the western region.

"Can an airplane outrun the sun?!"

"In theory, no problem."

This sentence plunged Emperor Jingtai into a fantasy, where he imagined himself riding on the back of a giant bird and soaring through the sky.

If riding a speedboat is this enjoyable, how amazing must it be to ride a giant bird?

"What if this giant bird had a chariot attached to its back? I could sit in the chariot and let this giant airplane bird carry me through the skies, how about that?"

Are you afraid of dying?

"afraid."

"Then don't think about such things." Xia Lin put down his pen, looked up from the porthole, and said, "I wonder what Old Zhang is doing right now. We've been wandering around for days and haven't seen a single Kou Mao. Could they be hiding?"

Xia Lin was absolutely right. These Japanese pirates had indeed gone into hiding. They were currently on an island in the Zhoushan Archipelago, a secluded and remote place. Without a guide, even a celestial dog would be in for a rude awakening.

Most of these river bandits were Japanese pirates, making up about 70-80% of the group. The rest were either local exiles or people on the run from criminal charges.

Their leader was actually a woman, but she was no ordinary person. Someone who could command thousands of desperados was obviously no pushover.

She was around thirty years old. She was kidnapped by Japanese pirates to be their wife. After the Japanese leader died, this woman became the leader of the pirate crew through her decisiveness and ruthlessness.

Although she was beautiful, she was as ruthless as a snake. Before her, no pirates would ever do such a thing as turning living people into food. But she did it, and even turned it into an industry chain. They would plunder the coast of Wei, Luzon, Japan, and even some other small islands, and imprison the people they captured to demand ransom. But even if they got the ransom, it was almost impossible for the kidnapped people to return alive. These hostages would eventually be killed and turned into human jerky. Some of the jerky was used as food, and the rest was sold as dried fish in the surrounding markets.

They also took the opportunity to use the ransom money to purchase daily necessities to replenish their inventory.

They would also disguise themselves as ordinary people and mingle in markets across the country to conduct trade. In any case, they caused widespread panic in both the Great Wei and many surrounding countries.

Most importantly, they also used their changeable identities to immediately hide when they encountered encirclement and suppression, and then come out to do things again when the situation eased up a bit. If they encountered something that they could not avoid, or if it was a large-scale encirclement and suppression, they would hide back in Japan. This is because their real backer was Soga no Iruka, who was currently fighting fiercely with Prince Yamashiro Ōe, the son of Prince Shotoku, in Japan. Soga no Iruka did not support the Confucianism of the late Prince Shotoku, opposed sending people to the Central Plains to study, and advocated isolationism.

These pirates grew up under his patronage, primarily to sabotage relations between the two countries. A large portion of these pirates were samurai he had trained, which explains their formidable fighting prowess.

"Has the messenger who was gathering information not returned yet?"

The pirate leader, named Haizhu, was originally from Quanzhou. After wandering here, she was kidnapped by the pirates she had met before. Now, she sat in the main hall, which had been converted from a cave, looking down at the people below with a furrowed brow: "Tell me carefully, just how big is that ship?"

"It was a giant ship, twenty feet long, with a modified mast and head. It was extremely fast. We initially thought it was a merchant ship, but after we passed it, we realized it was a warship."

"Twenty zhang (approximately 33 meters)."

Upon hearing this, Haizhu frowned. The largest ship she had was only seven zhang long. Seven zhang might sound like it wasn't much smaller than a twenty-zhang ship, but in reality, a seven-zhang ship was more than ten times smaller than a twenty-zhang ship. It was definitely a giant ship.

"I can't count on you useless people anymore. Quickly pass on my message and tell the people lying in ambush in Ningbo Prefecture to reply immediately!"

Meanwhile, at the Ningbo Shipyard, Xia Lin's fleet had returned for resupply, which would take about five days. At this moment, he stood in the dock, looking at the giant ship whose keel was being erected, listening to the report from his students with his hands behind his back.

"Commander, you said you'd let us go all out with this new ship, but I don't know... how much money did you prepare?"

"Never mind that, it's enough for you to build a fleet anyway." Xia Lin raised his chin: "Give me the parameters."

The student next to him cleared his throat: "The new ship will be built as a multi-masted warship rather than a modified one. Compared to merchant ships, its hull will be narrower, which will improve speed and maneuverability. A deeper draft will help maintain stability. We're trying a three-deck design with a wood-iron-wood structure for protection. We've designed five decks for the cabins, with as many cannons as possible installed, except for the bottom airtight compartment. However, the current cannons are too heavy, so we've already sent a letter to the Fuliang Forging Bureau, asking them to develop a lightweight, rapid-fire cannon as quickly as possible."

"Hmm." Xia Lin nodded. "Don't worry about saving money, have fun as much as you want. What are the ship's specifications?" "It's 40 zhang long and 17 zhang wide, which is 127 meters long and 54 meters wide. The draft is about 7.2 meters. However, Ningbo Port is a deep-water port, so it can be launched. The power mainly consists of a combination of rigid sails and rotating oars. This time, we plan to try using 27 compartments plus a lift-up rudder to ensure its survivability. We've also changed our approach to the sails, using a rigid sail structure with barres on the tent-like surface. Although this type of sail is heavier and harder to raise, it has extremely high wind efficiency, which increases the ship's speed. Furthermore, the mast doesn't have a fixed barre, making it adaptable to sudden changes in the sea conditions, allowing for flexible turning and effective use of winds from multiple directions."

"You're taking on such a huge project right off the bat?" Xia Lin frowned. "Couldn't you have built a sub-flagship? A hard-sailed battleship over a hundred meters long, right? It'll have to displace at least eight thousand tons. How long will it take you to build it, ten or twenty years?"

"Headmaster...you are right, big is good, huge is strong. We've brought out the biggest, largest, and strongest design."

"I don't have that much time to waste here!"

"Oh, this?" the student said confidently. "I've already written back to ask for help. All the students from the College of Science and Engineering, the College of Architecture, and the College of Engineering will come with a construction team of 27,000. As you said, since we can't afford to wait too long, we should try to maximize the time available. What one person does in a lifetime, a thousand people can finish in a month. Ten thousand people can do it in three days, right? With the existing boatmen, the scale here will be about 50,000 people. I can't guarantee it will take a month to build this one boat, but I'll definitely get it launched within two months!"

"Your mother..." Xia Lin swallowed the curse that was on the tip of his tongue: "Say it, how much silver?"

"Let the headmaster give me two million taels first. It might be a little short. I'll negotiate with the students later, and it should be cheaper. But it won't be less than two and a half million taels. I'll try to keep it under five million taels."

Xia Lin felt a chill run down his spine. What did five million taels mean? In the previous period when prices were unstable, one tael of silver was roughly equivalent to 750 yuan in purchasing power in 2010. Now that prices are relatively stable, the average purchasing power has increased. The average purchasing power is now about 1300 yuan per tael of silver.

One million taels is equivalent to 13 billion yuan in purchasing power in 2010, while five million taels is roughly 65 billion yuan in purchasing power at par. 6.5 billion yuan is enough to build a Type 055 destroyer.

and many more……

If this ship appears, would it be equivalent to the Type 055 destroyer of this era?
So it seems like this thing isn't expensive at all. A warship capable of destroying a nation for this little price is actually quite a bargain...

"A naked ship! A naked ship!"

Before Xia Lin could finish thinking, this shout brought him back to reality. After hearing it, he grabbed the student by the neck and dragged him to a corner: "You little brat, tell me honestly, how much kickback did you take?"

"I swear to God, may I be struck by lightning if I take even a penny of kickback, and may I die without anyone burying me."

"really?"

"It's absolutely true, Headmaster. If you don't believe me, I'll tell you..."

Xia Lin's forehead throbbed as he listened to the account. Oh... so five million was just the price of the bare ship. If you include the crew, parts, supplies, and the attached fleet, it would cost fifteen million taels in total.

What does 15 million taels mean? That's equivalent to one-third of the total tax revenue of the Great Wei Dynasty last year...

It might not seem like much on its own, but this only includes the navy and doesn't include other military forces. If this gets out, everyone will say it's a waste of resources and a warmongering tactic.
"We'll talk about the fleet later. Even the richest family has run out of food; we still have to make a living. Get this ship up and running within five million, understand?!"

"Headmaster...five million bare ships..."

"I don't want to hear your complaints. Get me a solution. Same old rule, whoever was responsible for the design and construction of the ship must bear joint liability in the inscription. Don't try anything funny."

"Headmaster, five million is really not enough...it's really not enough!!!"

When Xia Lin told the Jingtai Emperor the news, the emperor, who was assembling an airplane with wooden planks, trembled: "Young Master Duo?"

"Five million taels, for a bare ship."

"I...I...you..."

"Let's see if we make it or not."

“I have seven million taels of silver. This is all the private money in my inner palace that I have saved for many years. You can spend it, but you have to make me feel that the money is well spent.”

"Stop talking nonsense, I know it's expensive." Xia Lin walked to the shelf next to him and took out the jade seal: "I'm going to make some money, can I borrow this for a few days?"

(End of this chapter)