Feng Ziying's guest is Shen Yourong.

Shen Yourong came here a few years ago, and this time he came back because he had a confrontation with his direct boss Wang Ziteng, so that Shen Yourong realized the seriousness of the problem and came back to Feng Ziying.

Shen Yourong's perception of Feng Ziying is very complicated.

As a veteran general in his early fifties, if he didn't have a little pursuit of his career, he would not work tirelessly to travel between his hometown, Fujian and Jingshicheng.

Of course, the pursuit of career is not to be promoted and make a fortune, but to realize the ambition in his chest.

Shen Yourong felt that although he was over fifty years old, his physical condition was in the prime of life, which was enough to take on any more arduous and difficult challenge.

Years of experience in Liaodong and Fujian have given him a deep understanding of the sea conditions from Jinzhou to Yongping to Denglai all the way to the Yangtze River estuary and the coast of Zhangzhou, which is an advantage that no one else has.

Seeing that the arrogance of the Japanese at sea has not subsided, but the Xiyi people have entered East Asia in a big way, the Franco-Rang people have occupied Sulu Luzon, the Hongmaofan is trying to get involved in the East, and the English have gone deep into the South Seas and began to compete with the Hongmaofan for spices, Shen Yourong has been worried.

It was no longer feasible for the Great Zhou to follow the former Ming Sea ban policy, especially after Shen Yourong felt the power of Hongmaofan's advanced ships, artillery and firearms, this pressure kept him awake at night.

Although he repelled Hongmaofan's involvement in Penghu, Shen Yourong was very soberly aware that if it weren't for his huge geographical advantage, the Great Zhou Naval Division would not be able to compete with Hongmaofan's ship and artillery superiority.

If the Great Zhou does not catch up, the gap brought by this technological advantage will become more and more huge, and in the end it will overwhelm the geographical advantage, especially the imperial court's management of Dongfan is still too careless, and it is more of a formality, which is more dangerous.

If there is no strategy to open the sea, Shen Yourong is just that, the great politics of the imperial court are not something that he can change with a single general.

But now that Xiao Feng proposed the opening of the sea and received strong support from the imperial court, it meant that the differences between the northern and southern scholars on this strategy had basically been bridged and began to be implemented, and the whole process was rapidly promoted.

The imperial court newly established the Yamen of the Governor of Denglai, and Shen Yourong had no opinion on the appointment of a martial minister like Wang Ziteng as the governor of Denglai.

Wang Ziteng's many years of experience as the envoy of the Jingying Festival and the governor of Xuanda, coupled with the fact that he was not only deeply used by Emperor Yuanxi, but also did not fall out of favor with the new emperor after entering the era of Emperor Yonglong, such a person is not a bad thing to serve as the governor of Denglai, at least when Wang Ziteng got a million taels of silver from the imperial court to build the governorate of Denglai, Shen Yourong was even very excited and supportive.

But he didn't expect that although Wang Ziteng got back so much silver, he spent all his attention on integrating Denglaiwei Town and Denglai Army, and had little time to take care of the construction of the dock, shipyard and sailor fleet, which was completely inconsistent with the intention of the imperial court to set up the governor of Denglai at that time.

Shen Yourong heard Feng Ziying introduce that the imperial court set up the governor of Denglai for three purposes.

First, build a powerful and elite fleet of sailors, which can control the entire Bohai Sea and even the Heishui Ocean and the West Sea, and ensure that the transport fleet can land and land anywhere in the Bohai Rim and North Korea.

Second, find out, familiarize yourself with, and open up the routes to the Whale Sea and Ezo Land as soon as possible, and strive to control and master these routes and the Whale Sea and Ezo Land, and finally realize the goal of connecting the East China Sea Jurchens, including the begging charmers, through the sea routes, and complete the purpose of pincerizing the Jianzhou Jurchens.

Third, establish a strong Denglai army as a strong backing for the army of the two towns under the command of the future governor of Jiliao.

The first undisputed one is to be placed in the first place, then the construction from the dock to the shipyard is the first to bear the brunt, and then it should be the construction of the naval fleet, ships, artillery and sailors and soldiers, all of which are indispensable.

The second and third purposes can only be talked about under the premise of the smooth progress of the first purpose, to open up the route and control the sea area, the naval fleet is needed, and the Denglai army is also mainly built to be transported to any place in the Bohai Bay through the naval fleet to land in Liaodong Town and Jizhen to support Liaodong Town and Jizhen Town.

But now Wang Ziteng's approach is reversed, and he goes all out to build the Denglai Army first, and the construction of the water division can be delayed and shrunk, and as for the second purpose, he has long been left behind, and he didn't even bother to mention it.

This also aroused Shen Yourong's great dissatisfaction.

In the early stage, he looked for Wang Ziteng, but Wang Ziteng didn't spend much time in Denglai, and often returned to Beijing on the pretext of coming back to report the progress to the cabinet and the Ministry of War, and often couldn't find anyone.

The building of the Denglai army is indeed in full swing, the original establishment of the Denglai army was set at 30,000 people, Wang Ziteng has transferred 30,000 people from the two town guards of Denglai in a fairly short period of time, and then recruited and formed by himself, and began an orderly training, I have to say that Wang Ziteng still has a few brushes in these aspects.

However, the 30,000 troops were originally set aside by the Ministry of War for the Governor of Denglai to be gradually formed within three years, but Wang Ziteng completed it within a few months with great vigor, and the consequence was that the money he received from the Ministry of War was spent on the Denglai Army, and the Denglai Navy fleet and Dengzhou wharf, shipyards, barracks and even artillery purchases were far away.

Shen Yourong couldn't afford to wait, so he went to Beijing to find Wang Ziteng to reflect it a year ago, but the effect was not good, Wang Ziteng's mind was on the Denglai Army, and he didn't have much enthusiasm for the construction of the water division.

There was no way, Shen Yourong also found Feng Ziying.

Besides, Shen Yourong was upright and brave, but he also knew that he could sit in the position of the commander of the Denglai Navy Fleet, which was recommended by Feng Ziying, or in other words, Feng Ziying was his master.

The master of a four-rank general is a six-rank Hanlin Academy, but this is the case.

Feng Ziying's energy is not comparable to his Shen Yourong.

But Feng Ziying's reply to him was to take the initiative to report to Wang Ziteng again, and strive to obtain Wang Ziteng's support, after all, the Admiral of Denglai Navy Division is subordinate to the Yamen of the Governor of Denglai, especially in the construction stage, even more so, you can't bypass the Yamen of the Governor of Denglai to intervene directly, even the Ministry of War can't do the same.

"Governor Wang's attitude is like this, no matter what I say, he will not agree." Shen Yourong already had deep exhaustion and worry on his face, "As far as I know, Governor Wang even intends to lobby the military department and cabinet to expand the Denglai army to 50,000 people, if so, in the future, the naval fleet will not be built in three years, that is, in five years and ten years, it will be meaningless for me, and I might as well go back to my Fujian to be that general." ”

"Expand the Denglai army to 50,000?" Feng Ziying was taken aback.

Although he had known for a long time that Wang Ziteng's mind was the Denglai Army, he would definitely not attach too much importance to the naval fleet, otherwise how could he let Shen Yourong serve as the Admiral of the Naval Division just because of his own recommendation, and recommend a general in the Denglai Army to give it a try? Don't even think about it, Wang Ziteng still wants to firmly control the Denglai Army in his own hands.

But expanding the army to 50,000 is too exaggerated, how can the Ministry of War and the Cabinet agree? The Denglai Army was originally used as a reserve for Liaodong Town and Jizhen Town, and at your expansion speed, you will have to quickly catch up with the scale of Jizhen, and then you will lose the significance of setting up the Denglai Army.

Originally, the purpose of setting up the Denglai Army was to be lean and flexible, so as to facilitate the transportation of the naval fleet, but now that you are so inflated, how can you transport it flexibly?

"Well, the expansion of the Denglai army is not my concern, as long as the governor can convince the imperial court, it doesn't matter, but the imperial court allocated limited money and silver to the governor of Denglai's yamen, and it is clearly stipulated that the first goal is to build a strong naval fleet, this is the cart before the horse, the main and secondary reversal, is unacceptable to me, now the construction of the wharf is stopped less than halfway, and the construction of the shipyard can only be carried out smoothly by borrowing from Haitong Yinzhuang, but once it comes to the construction of naval ships, as well as artillery casting, this is all about spending a lot of silver, The loan of Haitong Yinzhuang is also limited, and if you give up halfway, the loss will be even greater, I don't understand what the Governor thinks, will the imperial court tolerate him like this? ”

Shen Yourong was extremely troubled.

He didn't want to stiffen the relationship with Wang Ziteng, although the appointment needed to get Wang Ziteng's nod, and if Shen Yourong was exempted, the Admiral of Denglai Sailor, it would not be up to Prince Teng, and it would require the Ministry of War and the Cabinet to decide, but as the Governor of Denglai, Prince Teng has a hundred ways to make you, the Admiral of the Sailor, unable to be the Admiral.

Feng Ziying was not surprised.

What is Wang Ziteng's mind Feng Ziying knows a little, there are no soldiers in his hands, he is the governor of the empty head, and he still has a group of henchmen and generals in Beijing and Xuanda who have been gradually squeezed out by Chen Jixian and Niu Jizong who need to be placed, and only the larger the scale of the Denglai army, he can place these people.

If he can't solve the demands of his subordinates, how will he lead this team in the future?

As for whether he is in such a hurry to build the Denglai Army, and whether there are other deeper ideas, it is difficult to say, Feng Ziying can only say that he hopes he doesn't, otherwise, that is, the Wang family will either ascend to the sky or wipe out the clan.

"In this way, General Shihong, I will try to find time to meet with Governor Wang to talk, but before that, you have to try your best to advance according to the schedule, especially since the shipyard has basically taken shape, and even some Xiyi craftsmen have been hired in place, then the design and selection of materials must be done, even if the scale is smaller, it was originally planned that three or five ships will be built at the same time, and now one or two ships can be tried, so that you can also accumulate experience and avoid making mistakes in the future,......" Feng Ziying encouraged: "Here I will give you an answer as soon as possible." ”