Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 872 - 724: Assembling the Dragon Bone

Chapter 872: Chapter 724: Assembling the Dragon Bone

The Shenqi Union encountered numerous difficulties while repairing the first "Yunzhong warship."

They spent nearly half a year just figuring out the structure of the warship and mapping the blueprints.

However, during the second one, the repair speed of the warship increased sharply.

Although the second warship was more severely damaged, this time the Shenqi Union restored it to its original state in just six months.

This efficiency was partly because the Shenqi Union had experience from the first repair, and partly because Master Zhongliu had handed the complete blueprints over to Li Xuan.

He also had an artisan team overseas, comprising over nine hundred Artifact Refiners and seasoned craftsmen, all gifted to Li Xuan.

Master Zhongliu had no choice but to pass them on; he neither had the spare funds to support these individuals nor the ambition to continue constructing "Yunzhong warships."

The inclusion of these craftsmen significantly accelerated the Shenqi Union’s production of firearms and cannons and the repair of warships.

Leng Yurou even followed the Court’s orders to repair the two warships’ bows, which included two main cannons with a range of 120 li.

She demanded an exorbitant fee of eight million teal, but the Court accepted the charge through gritted teeth. The reason was that only the Shenqi Union possessed the requisite technology,

The Rebel Army of Prince Yi had constructed layers upon layers of defensive fortifications in Shaanxi, causing endless complaints among the Jin troops stationed there.

Although their casualties were few, they were trapped in a cycle of digging tunnels, blasting, digging again, and blasting again.

The Court also invested hundreds of thousands of yuan in funds and provisions daily for this campaign.

They urgently needed the power of the Yunzhong warship to break through Prince Yi’s army’s defenses.

Li Xuan first observed the trial voyage of the second Yunzhong warship, "The Yongle," followed by the trial firing of the warships’ main cannons.

The results were satisfactory; although they couldn’t utilize the Yunzhong warship’s Five Elements Hunyuan Array, the twin main cannons still reached the expected effective range of 120 li, not disappointing the Court.

Their firepower also satisfied the personnel of the Ministry of War. Li Xuan estimated that a city wall of Xiangyang’s caliber could only withstand about one hundred rounds of continuous bombardment.

Only, the cannonballs were somewhat expensive, costing thirty thousand teal each, comparable to those used in electromagnetic guns.

To bring down the walls of Xiangyang City would thus require three million teal of patterned silver, not accounting for the defenses restored by the city’s guards.

Li Xuan was acutely aware of the characters of his sister-in-law, Su Zhaojun, and Leng Yurou—they both had hearts as black as coal.

After watching the firepower demonstration of the two Yunzhong warships, Li Xuan headed to Peacock Manor’s workshop established in Tianjin.

In the nearby dockyard, six ironclad steam warships custom-ordered by the Court were being feverishly constructed.

These steam-powered naval warships were significantly cheaper—the total cost for all six was merely six million eight hundred thousand teal, with delivery scheduled for early next year.

Li Xuan was also very interested in these ironclad warships and went to inspect them personally.

These six ironclad warships differed entirely from the earlier steam-propelled screw ship the Shenqi Union had built to validate their technology.

Although they also had wooden hulls, their displacement reached fifty-five thousand bushels—equivalent to five thousand five hundred tons.

The hulls were covered with a four-inch thick layer of iron armor, with even thicker armoring below the waterline, up to five and a half inches—to protect against large marine beasts whose destructive power far surpassed that of artillery.

Each ship was fueled by coal, powered by steam engines, and propelled by screws. Each warship was equipped with one hundred twenty-six cannons of various sizes, along with thirty harpoons launched by gunpowder—especially designed for killing large sea beasts.

However, the Ministry of War still had doubts about the reliability of screw propellers and steam power, and in the blueprint design, strictly ordered the Shenqi Union to preserve the sails.

The Shenqi Union’s construction speed was extremely fast; these six massive warships were already taking shape, looking quite formidable.

The construction of these six warships was overseen by an externally hired elder from Peacock Manor, the contemporary Mohist Giant, Mo Changsheng, who had recently joined the Shenqi Union incognito.

He felt tremendously honored and proud to oversee the construction of such epoch-making warships.

"Since ancient times, although there have been ships covered with iron armor, those were basically just vessels loosely clad in a layer of iron. Before today, there has never been such a massive hull, nor such thick armor, and importantly, being able to move at sea speeds comparable to that of a carriage," Mo Changsheng excitedly explained to Li Xuan, then sighed regretfully, "It’s a pity that the Court officials lack the ambition. If only we had thirty of these warships, our Jin Dynasty would be invincible at sea, capable of sweeping across the entire Nanyang—even those large marine beasts would be forced to flee."

Li Xuan thought this rationale was sound, but the problem was that the Court currently lacked the funds.

Following the desires of the regent ministers, they didn’t even want to build one; these six ironclad ships were the result of Li Xuan pressing against opposing opinions.

While those regent ministers placed little importance on the naval forces, Li Xuan understood the immense benefits of overseas territories.

—Just in Yizhou alone, solving only the issues of malaria and epidemic diseases could provide a settlement for tens of millions of people.

The yearly trade from Nanyang alone was always calculated in millions of teal. In the future, even if Jin only collected "escort fees" from shipping, it could bring in over thirty million teal in revenue to the Court each year.

Yet Li Xuan currently also didn’t plan to allocate the Court’s limited funds to shipbuilding.

He wondered why build so many of these wooden-hulled steamships?