Chapter 3505
Chapter 3505
Chapter 3505
The cost of the order for 25 ships was certainly not a small amount, but fortunately these ships were civilian models, and their prices were much cheaper than real warships. Otherwise, even if Zeng Shanzheng emptied his pockets, he would not be able to raise enough funds at the moment.
Another advantage of ordering civilian ships is that they can be delivered faster. The warships that Masatoshi Masuyama had ordered from Zhoushan Shipyard on behalf of the Tokugawa shogunate had a much longer delivery period than civilian ships, and it was normal for them to take more than a year.
Due to the limited production capacity of these private shipyards in Fujian, no shipyard can take this large order, so the 25 ships ordered by Zengshan Zhengli will be allocated to multiple shipyards for simultaneous construction. This is also the main reason why private shipyards can greatly shorten the delivery period.
The only thing that made him a little dissatisfied was that Fujian Shipyard refused to bargain, apparently believing that no other shipyard could take on such a large order during this period of time.
With such a big customer coming to the exhibition, Liang Quan, who was in charge of the command, naturally had to come out in person to receive him. He convened representatives from various shipyards and held a special briefing for Masayoshi Zengshan.
The design and construction plans for these civilian-to-military ships were ready-made, with basically no details that needed to be adjusted. The two sides hit it off immediately, eliminating the need for haggling, and drafted a shipbuilding contract that afternoon.
This progress can be described as extremely fast, but in comparison, the Matalan who received us in the morning was more straightforward. He was a real big money sponsor and he even skipped the briefing and finalized the contract during the visit to the sample ship.
According to the agreement between the two parties, the shogunate will pay a 30% deposit in the near future so that the shipyard can prepare materials and start construction. After the keel is laid, the remaining shipbuilding costs will be paid in multiple installments according to the construction progress. The final 10% of the cost will be paid after the ship is delivered and accepted.
If the new ship was not delivered on time, the remaining 10% of the cost would be the shipyard's penalty. However, the shogunate was in urgent need of warships to increase its naval capabilities, and Masatoshi Masuyama did not hope to save this 10% penalty in the end.
After the signing ceremony, Masatoshi Zengshan once again mentioned the mysterious customer who had placed an order with Fujian Shipyard before him, hoping that Liang Quan could tell him his true identity.
However, Liang Quan, who had been in the business world for decades, knew that the order was obtained by making Zeng Shan Zhengli suspicious, so he would never reveal the answer to him. After going around in circles for a long time, he still refused to reveal the true identity of another big customer to Zeng Shan Zhengli on the grounds of commercial confidentiality.
"The only thing I can tell you is that that big customer has purchased a lot of military equipment from our country in recent years. I guess he is preparing for a big move!"
Liang Quan obviously knew what Zeng Shanzheng was afraid of, and he added fuel to the fire. He was telling the truth, and as for how the other party would understand it, that was not something he needed to worry about.
Sure enough, Zengshan Masayoshi didn't think much about the client Liang Quan was referring to. He subconsciously thought that this mysterious client should be related to himself - otherwise why would the other party avoid answering the question of whether the mysterious client was from Japan?
After all this back and forth, the misunderstanding was not only not cleared up, but deepened instead.
This also made Masatoshi Masuyama more convinced that the preparations for war of the Kyushu feudal domains had reached the stage of being imminent, and if the shogunate wanted to conquer these local forces in the future, there would probably be several fierce naval battles.
When Zeng Shanzheng left the exhibition, he saw two large posters hanging at the entrance of the exhibition hall, which showed the two large orders signed on the first day of the exhibition. Although the real identities of the two big customers were not stated on the posters, the numbers of 20 and 25 were specially marked in large fonts, and this was only the first day of the exhibition.
This is definitely an achievement to be proud of. Even the Zhoushan Shipyard, which is known as the best in the East China Sea, may not be able to achieve such a high order-taking efficiency.
The ship exhibition was only a few miles away from the venue of the Zhoushan Forum, and the news had spread among guests from various countries on the second day.
Although ordering ships in Hai Han is not a rare thing, and many people even planned to take time to visit the ship exhibition, two major customers actually ordered more than 40 ships on the first day, which inevitably made many people curious about what happened at the exhibition.
During the forum that day, many people took the initiative to ask Hai Han's senior officials whether Hai Han's shipbuilding prices were about to rise, so that well-informed people would seize this opportunity to place orders with the shipyard.
Of course, some people think further and believe that this may be a sign of armed conflict breaking out in certain areas. After all, purchasing civilian ships from Hai Han and converting them into warships is a very common practice.
The senior officials of the Executive Committee actually didn’t know what had happened, so they could only quickly summon Xu Yuzhuo and ask him to give a brief explanation.
Last night, Liang Quan went to meet Xu Yuzhuo specially to report to him the impressive performance on the first day of the exhibition and the operational process in between.
Ning Qi smiled and said, "If we had known this, we should have arranged for the government-run shipyard to participate in the exhibition as well!"
Bai Kesi reminded: "The production capacity of major state-owned shipyards has long been scheduled for two or three years later. Even if we participate in this exhibition, it is difficult to get much actual benefits."
Yan Chujie also added: "Most of those who go to private shipyards to order civilian models of warships feel that they cannot afford the cost of building warships, so they will settle for the second best and buy a monkey version to modify it themselves. There are also countries like Matalan, which have money but are in a hurry, so they will definitely place orders with the fastest delivery."
Ning Qi asked curiously, "I heard that the Tokugawa Shogunate and Kyushu forces have bought a lot of ships from us. How do we compare their strength now?"
Yan Chujie said: "If we talk about numbers alone, the shogunate is definitely stronger. After all, its financial resources are far superior to those of the local daimyo, and the scale of its armed fleet still has a great advantage."
Ning Qi turned to Shi Diwen and said, "You won't let Jiuzhou lose so easily. You must have a backup plan, right?"
Shi Diwen smiled and said, "If we want them to keep the civil war going for a long time, they must be equally strong. For us, we have to treat them equally. If one side is weaker, we will find a way to help them."
As for how to help the weaker Kyushu vassal states, Shi Diwen did not elaborate, because Hai Han had too many methods and means available. If they only needed to open their fingers a little, what would leak out would be enough for the Kyushu vassal states to repel the shogunate and protect themselves.