Therefore, appointing you as the Navy Governor is only the first step of control. Your real mission is to reverse the corrupt administration of the Navy and the corruption of the shipyard.

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the world could still build a ship with six thousand materials, but now, it cannot even build a ship with four thousand materials. In the final analysis, there is a management problem."

"What the shop owner said is that the noble officials of the Ming Dynasty did not see the vastness of the overseas countries. The foreigners' ships were equipped with new weapons and they encouraged going to sea. The Ming Dynasty's forbidden seas would naturally lag behind others."

Zheng Zhilong is just a pirate who is being recruited, so he is even more unhappy with the officialdom, and his complaints are straightforward and accurate.

"This is why His Majesty appointed you. He needs you, a loyal minister with overseas experience and outstanding ability, to come in and disrupt the situation."

Chen Ye chatted with Zheng Zhilong for a while, and then went out with Zheng Zhilong after his servants brought him breakfast.

Looking at the sedan at the door, Chen Ye thought for a moment and asked Zheng Zhilong to drive away the people and release an off-road vehicle from the window.

"This is a car that can carry four people or one stone of cargo and travel two thousand miles a day.

The Royal Army will also be equipped with large-scale transport trucks in the future, which can also travel two thousand miles a day and carry twenty people or two hundred stones of cargo.

As long as the official reputation is good, tens of thousands of soldiers from the capital can arrive in Fujian within four days at most.

Mr. Zheng, do you feel that with these things in place, the Ming Dynasty’s territory will remain as it was before, beyond the emperor’s control?”

Looking at the off-road vehicle that suddenly appeared on the ground, Zheng Zhilong remembered the telegram Zheng Zhibao sent him, which included information about a large iron vehicle that could transport many people.

At that time, he was still thinking that if that kind of large iron car was used to transport troops to distant places, wouldn't it be much better than a horse-drawn carriage? Now when he heard Chen Ye's words, the limitations of the times were opened up and he discovered the horror.

If there were thousands of such vehicles, pulling tens of thousands of elite soldiers and charging across various places, I am afraid that only places in Sichuan with numerous mountain paths could resist them.

And on this coastal area, where can't we find a flat place that can be opened to traffic?

After the two got into the car, Chen Ye drove the car to the main road. The sailors and villagers looked at the iron car curiously. Shi Lang rode in front of him with a nervous look on his face.

Because goods are often transported from Zhengzhai to the seaport, the road is also very wide and flat. At least there is no problem if two horse-drawn carriages can run in parallel. It is the same as the official road.

It is not difficult for an off-road vehicle to drive on such a road, so Zheng Zhilong's experience is that the speed is faster and the comfort is better than that of a horse-drawn carriage, but it is not as comfortable as a sedan chair.

When there was no one in front of him, Chen Ye also performed an acceleration, driving hundreds of meters at a speed of 120 yards, which made Zheng Zhilong realize what the speed of the times is.

As we got closer to the harbor, there were more and more people on the road. However, Shi Lang ordered people to drive them away, so no cars hit anyone.

"By the way, I must not let many people see me when I move the boat here. You still have to clear the place."

Chen Ye looked at the sea level getting closer and closer, and said calmly, rows of mud houses are resting places for sailors and fishermen.

"Mr. Zheng gave the order last night. The shopkeeper will drive in that direction later. There is a small bend over there, which is where our warship will dock. Mou Zheng has asked everyone to leave temporarily."

"Okay."

Chen Ye continued to drive and stopped at the warship port that Zheng Zhilong said. After getting off the car, Chen Ye looked at the rows of sailboats tens of meters across on the opposite seaside, and some even reached hundreds of meters, which was very spectacular.

"This is your warship?"

"That's right, in addition to some clipper ships, there are also dragon turtle ships here, all of which are equipped with artillery.

There is also a 2,500-ton gunboat in the innermost part, and that gunboat has a total of thirty artillery pieces.

Here are the most powerful warships of the Ming Dynasty today, and we still have more than fifty warships protecting merchant ships in Benwan, Tsushima, Luzon, and other places."

Zheng Zhilong was a little proud. Among all the people in the Ming Dynasty, apart from the imperial navy, he was the strongest.

However, the imperial court's combat power was so poor that it was useless to have many ships. Some of them were in disrepair and had not been trained for a long time, which made them much more powerful than the official army.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, I never thought a wooden boat could be so big. It would be perfect for a target.

If you were to build a frigate, it would only need a 76MM main gun and it could be wiped out by roll call. Missiles and everything else would be a waste."

Hearing Chen Ye's surprised and disdainful words, Zheng Zhilong wanted to refute, but saw Chen Ye wave his hand, and a red and black ship appeared in the distance on the sea.

The reason why it is placed so far away is because Chen Ye will start it later. If it is placed closer, it will easily hit the rocks and it will be difficult to operate the steering.

Zheng Zhilong looked into the distance. The ship looked very strange. The front was the bow, the middle was concave and looked like a warehouse, and the back was a several-story building.

The length was more than thirty feet, but it was not beyond his understanding. It didn't look like a large ship with tens of thousands of materials. This was Zheng Zhilong's first reaction.

But after he reacted, his pupils shrank sharply twice.

Because he noticed that this ship was actually completely armored. Such a large iron-clad ship must be many times heavier than a turtle-shell ship.

He couldn't imagine how the boat could float and how it could reach the load capacity Chen Ye mentioned.

Moreover, the ship didn't even have a mast, and it looked like it had no place to paddle. This also made Zheng Zhilong wonder how it could run on the sea. Could it be towed by other ships?

"Let's go, Mr. Zheng, go up and enjoy it."

"This... the shopkeeper, he is some distance away from us. Shall I order someone to operate the boat to get there?"

"Who said that there is a speedboat? By the way, we need to ask those who want to learn how to control this boat to come with us."

"Shopkeeper, they are a little far away now."

As soon as Zheng Zhilong finished speaking, he saw Chen Ye wave towards the water, and a smaller iron boat appeared on the water. It still had no oars and no sails, but they could paddle across this small boat by getting some oars themselves.

Zheng Zhilong suddenly thought that in order to keep this area secret, all the people in this harbor had been temporarily evacuated to the camp area. Now there was not even a living person in the harbor.

Chen Ye also reacted, got on the car with Zheng Zhilong, drove back to where Shi Lang was waiting, asked Shi Lang to take someone with him, and followed the car to the harbor on horseback.

The group of people noticed the cargo ships at sea at the harbor. After all, this was their harbor, so it was easy to spot the sudden addition of a ship that did not belong to them.

"Let's go, everyone, get on the speedboat first, and then pass by the speedboat.

However, the speedboat can only carry six people, and the remaining ten brothers can only use your own boat to get over."

"Zheng Wei, Zheng Qiang, He Er Er, the three of you go get four oars while the others board the boat."

After hearing Chen Ye's words, Zheng Zhilong directly ordered a few people to get oars, and the others went to drive the clipper boat to board the ship, leaving these few people who were strong enough to row the boat.

"Get oars? No, this boat can move by itself."

????

"Then you three go down and push the small iron boat to the shore."

Although Zheng Zhilong didn't know the principle of this ship, but Chen Ye dared to say so, he believed that it would definitely work.

After following Chen Ye to the beach, the three sailors took off their clothes, swam to the bow of the ship, pushed the speedboat over, and then let Chen Ye and the others board the ship.

Zheng Zhilong and Shi Lang sat and kept banging on the main body of the speedboat, listening to various crisp sounds, a little confused.

The speedboat made of fiberglass, alloy and high-strength plastic has a similar metallic texture. Zheng Zhilong can be sure that this boat is not made of iron-clad wood.

Chen Ye walked to the back of the speedboat and pressed the button on the propeller's integrated engine, causing the engine to shake with a faint smoke.

Then the propeller began to rotate slowly, and Chen Ye also walked to the driving position, took the steering wheel, and drove towards the cargo ship.

This action made Zheng Zhilong and others stunned. Thinking of the off-road vehicle that Chen Ye drove just now, and then feeling the fast-moving speedboat, Zheng Zhilong felt lagging behind for the first time.

The speedboat's unmanned rowing and fast sailing made Zheng Zhilong understand that the ocean era was about to change.

But after more than ten seconds, Chen Ye began to slow down and arrived under the cargo ship. He followed the rope ladder prepared in advance to the deck of the bow, and then walked along the stairs to the empty cargo area.

The entire cargo ship is not big, at least not as big as the largest sea-going ship in the Ming Dynasty.

The 5,000-ton sea-going ship is only 18 meters wide and 99 meters long, which is even worse than the current major European warships, which are more than 150 meters long.

But Zheng Zhilong and the others did not underestimate it at all. The reason lies in the material of this ship.

It's really pure iron, with the red rust, the huge screws, and the anchor chain.

As if there were thorns on his feet and hands, Zheng Zhilong kept stamping his feet and knocking on the boat. Shi Lang restrained himself a little, and the three sailors didn't even dare to say anything. They could only open their eyes and observe the several-meter-high tower surrounding the deck.

Ship wall.

Zheng Zhilong also discovered the characteristics of the cargo ship at this time, that is, there is no obstruction on the plane, and the ship walls on both sides are very good, which makes the cubic space appear large. With this kind of plane space, they can carry a lot of things.

With a little modification, many forts can be set up on both sides, and tens of thousands of commercial supplies, including warships and merchant ships, can be loaded in the middle.

The pure iron bow and hull are not afraid of other people's cannons, and they can directly ram other people's wooden ships at full power. It's exciting to think about it.

"How about it? Mr. Zheng, these small ships are just future merchant ships. In other words, the flagships and battleships of the Royal Navy are not like this."

"Oh my god, shopkeeper, are you lying? Is this just a small one?"

"Your Majesty, please don't be rude! As the shopkeeper said, this kind of iron ship with 15,000 materials is indeed small, and there are also 60,000 materials."

After Zheng Zhilong gave the order to Shi Lang, he could not calm down. There was no need for more such big iron ships. As long as ten ships were loaded with projectiles, he could blow up the butts of Europeans and drag all the crooked sailors to Japan.

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Chapter completed!