Lao Daitou secretly glanced at Yang Huairen's face when he was thinking, and suddenly felt that the prince really wanted to build a warship, but this made him a little puzzled.

The real warship he said was used for war, but the Great Song Dynasty had never fought with anyone at sea, and now it is useless to build warships.

If the prince is just for the sake of Wu Dejun or simply his own face, then there is no need to build a good warship, just build some ships that are a little stronger than merchant ships to serve as combat ships.

Such a ship can be used as a war ship with a slight modification, and the cost will be 20% more, and there is no need for the shipyards of Li & Fung Supervisor, those private shipyards can be built.

He didn't want Yang Huairen to waste money in vain, so he said carefully, "If the prince is not for fighting, in fact, there is no need to build the kind of warship that the old man said, the cost is too expensive and not cost-effective."

Let those private shipyards build some cargo ships, and they can be used as warships according to their use, and the main task of our Great Song Dynasty Navy is to patrol along the coast, and this kind of ship is enough to deal with it. ”

Yang Huairen came back to his senses at this time, shook his head with a smile, "My uncle said that I laughed, I, Yang Huairen, never coped with it, I refused to deal with it when I ate and cooked, and I never coped with such a big thing as shipbuilding." ”

Lao Daitou still didn't believe it, and Cen Xiaonian also helped, "What our prince wants is a real warship, not a broken ship like the Changguo Army." ”

At this time, even Cen Xiaonian did not maintain the Changguo Army, so that Lao Dai Tou gradually believed that Yang Huairen's idea of building a real fleet was not a joke.

But he was still a little hesitant, and asked again, "Lord Wang, if you really think so, Li & Fung Shipyard may not be able to do it now."

The craftsmen were scattered to the private shipyards in various places, and although those shipyards could also build large ships, with their strength, they still had a lot of time to go to build warships.

But if you want to gather these craftsmen from the new and restart the Li Fung Shipyard, it should be difficult, most of them are no longer craftsmen and are not subject to the constraints of the imperial court.

And even if they were willing, those maritime merchants would not agree, now that maritime trade is prevalent, and the shipbuilding industry is hugely profitable, they will never let go of their money and send the craftsmen back to build warships for the prince. ”

Yang Huairen nodded, in fact, he understands this very well, as a businessman, he can naturally understand the thoughts of businessmen, people spend money and effort to poach the craftsmen, just to help themselves make money.

Everyone knows about patriotism, but in the face of interests, there should not be many businessmen who are willing to give up their interests for the sake of the country.

However, Yang Huairen still smiled, he felt that this was not necessarily a bad thing, wasn't it just for the sake of profit, so it was not impossible to use interests to drive these businessmen in Jiangnan to contribute to the country.

"Uncle, you don't have to worry about this, I just ask you, can the one large, four and five docks in the Li & Fung Shipyard still be used?

If these dockyards are still usable, how many people will be needed to build all the warships you mentioned? How much time does it take to build a warship? ”

The old man didn't expect Yang Huairen to be so serious, although he couldn't fully believe that it would be true, but if he could restart the Li & Fung Shipyard, it would be a dream come true for him.

"Back to the prince, the Li & Fung Shipyard looks like it has been abandoned, in fact, it is just in disrepair, and it is absolutely no problem to renovate and reuse it for shipbuilding.

Even the cost of re-repairing is not a small amount, some supporting facilities need to be replaced, and it also costs thousands of dollars to repair it simply, and if it is a major repair, it may take more than 10,000 yuan.

If you build a warship, you will naturally need more manpower than a cargo ship, and generally speaking, you need 30% more manpower than a cargo ship, and you must be skilled craftsmen.

The largest dock can build 5,000 or even larger ships, and if you build such a big ship, you need 100 craftsmen, 200 auxiliary craftsmen, and 200 other miscellaneous helpers.

A small dock can build a variety of small and medium-sized ships of less than 3,000 materials, and for example, it takes five to six months to build a medium-sized warship of 2,000 materials, and the manpower requirement is half that of a large ship. ”

Yang Huairen thought for a while, and felt that the shipbuilding speed that Lao Daitou said should be reasonable, but unfortunately he still felt that it was a bit slow, if it was at such a shipbuilding speed, it would take at least two years to build a fleet that met his requirements.

But it's uncertain whether he can stay in Jiangnan in two years, so he can't afford to wait.

"Uncle, what are you talking about about the shipbuilding period? For example, if I can provide enough materials, and the craftsmen will double the wages for you, and let them work in two shifts day and night, will the construction period be cut in half?

Of course, this is without sacrificing the quality of the warship. ”

Lao Daitou was a little confused, and said in his heart, why is the prince in such a hurry? However, he thought about it, and there was a similar situation in the past when Li & Fung Shipyard was at its most prosperous.

In addition to the craftsmen of Li & Fung Supervisor, it also attracted many shipbuilders from all over the world to work here, and the shipyard at that time was working day and night, and in the case of abundant manpower, the construction period could indeed be shortened by half.

"According to what the prince said, it is indeed possible to shorten the construction period to half, in fact, when building a ship, the key step of forming the main structure of the warship must be completed in the Li & Fung Shipyard.

The final steps such as equipment installation and decoration do not necessarily have to be completed here, after the ship is formed, it can be launched for sea trials, and after there is no problem, the ship can also be driven to an ordinary port or other shipyard for the final construction steps. ”

Yang Huairen was overjoyed when he heard this, "Very good, very good!" Then it's decided. ”

Then he turned to Cen Xiaonian and said with a smile, "Cen Geling, your good days have come." ”

Cen Xiaonian looked at Yang Huairen smiling at him, and was a little flustered in his heart, and he didn't understand what Yang Huairen meant by suddenly saying this, so he asked carefully, "What did the prince say this?" ”

Yang Huairen stood up and looked back at the shipyard in the distance and said, "From now on, Li Feng Jian Shipyard will be changed to City Bosi Shipyard, what do you think?" ”

Cen Xiaonian was shocked at first, and then overjoyed. This is naturally a great thing, and the shipyard is no longer useful to Li & Fung, but has become a burden that they want to throw away sooner.

But for the Municipal Shipping Division, with the government-run shipyard, Cen Xiaonian can use various means to restart the shipyard operation, and now that the maritime trade is so prosperous, the shipyard must be profitable.

And this money is earned for the official family's inner treasury, the emperor is naturally happy to have excess cash, and Cen Xiaonian's position in Jiangnan will definitely be stable, how can he not be happy?