"You must know that cement can only be transported by large trucks. [More good-looking ones are on ^^^^^^^^^^^] The official road along the way is very difficult. During the journey, you must also beware of local governments taking advantage of the situation to rob. What I mean is that if cement is also transported directly to Laizhou Bay where we are, would it be much faster?"

The foreign trade officer standing in front of him clearly understood some things about the fleet.

Under Wang Daotian's gaze, he only took a cup of tea to think about it and gave Wang Daotian a very affirmative answer.

"Mr. Wang, your idea is completely feasible..."

"If you walk the official road, you can only walk fifty or sixty miles a day even if it goes very smoothly. However, the waterway is very different. If it goes smoothly, you will definitely have no problem walking three or four hundred miles a day."

"It only takes three days to start from Shanxi and take the Yellow River waterway to Laizhou Bay."

After hearing the answer he wanted, Wang Daotian's eyes quickly shot out two rays of light.

With a deep expression on his face, he asked the Foreign Trade Officer in front of him: "I don't know if these big ships docked on the dock can sail on the Yellow River..."

"Yes..." The official gave Wang Daotian a positive answer without thinking.

At this time, Wang Daotian's deep-minded face was covered with a smile again...

He Guozhong, who was still puzzled by his side, analyzed: "Captain He, I have found a transportation method here that can save us money and a lot of energy. I hope you can support me, Commander He. After all, you are the one who is the real person in Laizhou Bay."

Seeing the confusion expression quickly revealed on He Guozhong's face, Wang Daotian quickly explained.

"Captain He, my idea is that whether it is the food we need now or the sea salt we use in the future, we need a lot of manpower and material resources to transport it to circulate between Shanxi and Laizhou Bay."

"If you use a large cart to walk on the official road along the road in the past, a large cart can only transport one thousand kilograms of sea salt. More importantly, a large cart requires at least two slow horses, a coachman and an escort."

"If we calculate it based on the fact that it takes ten days to transport sea salt, just one grain. It costs at least two taels of silver to transport a thousand kilograms of sea salt."

"If you consider other aspects of consumption, you will definitely have a few taels of silver."

"A thousand pounds of sea salt will cost three taels of silver to be sent from our feet to the Shanxi fine salt workshop. The two thousand pounds of sea salt will cost at least six hundred taels of silver."

“But what if we take the water to transport these sea salt?”

"Xiaoguan just took a look at it. Such a large ship docked on the dock can carry at least two thousand dan of cargo."

"That is, two thousand dans of sea salt can be transported by only one ship."

"It only takes three days for a ship to go from Laizhou Bay to Shanxi. We calculate it based on ten crew members of a ship. The entire transportation process only costs less than twenty taels of silver. It only accounts for a fraction of land transportation."

"More importantly, when we go by land, we may be troubled by governments everywhere, or even robbed by them. However, as long as we go by sea, all these problems will not be a problem..."

At this time, He Guozhong, who was not good at political affairs, was also shocked by the huge gap between the two.

Shocked, he asked Wang Daotian directly: "Mr. Wang, you are not wrong. There is really such a big gap between water transportation and land transportation..."

Wang Daotian nodded and affirmed: "Absolutely, and the more things you transport, the bigger the gap..."

At this time, He Guozhong was already scared by the set of data that Xin had just calculated.

He Guozhong clearly remembered that before he left Datong, Dashuai had a relationship with him: as long as the salt field under his feet was developed, there would be no problem in producing two million dans of sea salt a year.

Since this is the case, I calculated it according to two million dans of sea salt. According to Wang Daotian's method, two million dans of sea salt were transported to Shanxi by boat and a large truck, saving nearly 600 taels of silver.

You know, this is just the money saved by transporting sea salt.

If grain, cement, etc. are included, in a year, transporting materials and sea salt by fleets can at least save millions of taels of silver for the Shanxi Governor's Office...

At this time, He Guozhong, who was shocked, was already moved.

After taking a deep breath, he asked Wang Daotian: "Mr. Wang, what do you think?"

Wang Daotian's eyes lit up and he quickly replied: "Captain He, I just counted it. There are at least fifty merchant ships parked at the dock... We can try to see if we can buy ten ships from them and try to transport them..."

"If land transportation is really cheaper and more convenient, we will report to the Governor's Office and suggest that the Governor's Office form a larger fleet, specializing in water transportation between the two places..."

"Just do it like this..." He Guozhong said loudly without thinking about it.

In the Governor's Office of Datong, Shanxi, since Sun Chengzong already knew that Wei Zheng was pretending to be sick, there was no need for Wei Zheng to continue pretending.

Therefore, when the letter sent by He Guozhong arrived at the Governor's Office, Wei Zheng had already returned to the Governor's Office.

After reading the expedited book sent by He Guozhong, Wei Zheng's first idea was not to form a fleet dedicated to transportation, but to form a navy army that could not only be used for transportation, but also for water wars...

Wei Zheng's imaginary goal was the Later Jin Tartars, so there were very few, and he never even considered the navy.

However, as his strength became stronger and he gradually gained the strength to fight against the court. Wei Zheng had to consider the navy, a military branch he had never contacted before.

In the face of a relatively powerful naval army in the court, if I did not develop a naval army and went to the water-filled Jiangnan area, I would not be able to confront the imperial naval army.

Therefore, when the Tiger and Leopard Army forced their crossing the Yellow River, it was like a seed that was about to sprout, buried in Wei Zheng's heart.

However, because of the sudden troubles, Wei Zheng had no energy and no chance to mention this matter.

Now, this letter from He Guozhong just gave Wei Zheng the opportunity to develop the navy and fleet.

Soon, military advisor Zhou Shuyuan, Datong prefect Wang Peng and others were called to the Governor's Office by Wei Zheng.

After reading the book, he was not clear about Zhou Shuyuan who was thinking about Wei Zhengxin, so he answered on the matter: "Master, judging from the series of data listed in the book, the lower officials fully support Captain He's proposal."

"In Xiaguan's opinion, although it is very important to form a fleet, it is not what Xiaguan values ​​most."

"What made Xiaguan most excited was the convenience brought to us by water transportation..."

"Once we really turn against the court in the future, the land route to the two provinces of Shanxi and Shaanxi will definitely be blocked by the court."

"At that time, even if we don't have to worry about food, the imperial seal will still have an impact on other aspects of us."

"But if we have a waterway connecting the outside world and have a water transport fleet that belongs entirely to our own. In the face of the imperial seal, we will have a more guarantee in disguise."

"Along the way, if we can really save millions of taels of silver freight a year, this silver alone will allow us to form a large fleet..."

Wang Peng, the governor of Datong, followed closely and nodded in agreement: "The Grand Marshal, the subordinates fully support the military advisory office... According to the cost of ordinary transport ships, one million taels of silver, we can definitely form a fleet of hundreds of transport ships."

Under the gaze of Zhou Shuyuan and his two pairs of eyes, Wei Zheng shook his head unexpectedly.

Finally, he answered under the gaze of two pairs of puzzled eyes...

"Military advisor, if it is really just a simple matter to form a merchant ship fleet, I just need to hand over this letter to you for processing. How could I take so much effort to call both of you? To be honest, I want to form a merchant ship fleet, but to form our own naval army in the name of forming a fleet..."

"Shui Army..." the two of them stared at their eyes and asked incredible expressions.

In the eyes of the two, only one complete country is qualified to form a naval army, army, cavalry... multiple arms. Once the Tiger and Leopard Army forms a naval army, it means telling the court that the Tiger and Leopard Army is no longer willing to be defeated and will rebel sooner or later.

Besides, the navy is not a musketeer, and warships are not muskets that can be made casually. Without long-term accumulation and production, it is absolutely impossible to form a navy force.

Therefore, a trace of incredibility flashed across the faces of the two people, and they were solemn as never before.

Under Wei Zheng's gaze, military advisor Zhou Shuyuan gave his worries without any hesitation.

Faced with a series of problems that might arise from the formation of a navy army, Wei Zheng was not discouraged, and his expression did not show even a slight disappointment.

After taking a deep breath, he analyzed to the two of them: "I have just done this, and I plan to secretly form a navy army in the name of forming a fleet. That is, before we really turn against the court, this navy army will be our secret force."

"As for the concerns between warships and naval soldiers, I think this is not a problem at all..."

"Don't forget that the Ming Dynasty today is no longer the Ming Dynasty hundreds of years ago. As long as we have the money in our hands, there is nothing we can't do..."

"Without naval soldiers, we would use generous military salaries to go to the imperial navy to dig people. Without warships, we would go to the shipyard in Jiangnan to buy them. As for the weapons on the warships, we could build them ourselves..."
Chapter completed!