Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

On the ship, the black smoke from the chimneys grew thicker.

Blown by the sea breeze, it drew a trail in the sky.

The speed of the ironclad was also increasing, but at this time, Emperor Jing and the officials had completely settled down.

They strolled leisurely on the deck, watching the scenery from different angles with great interest.

Although there wasn't much scenery to speak of, everyone just liked to watch.

Except for Li Yu and Fang Chenyu, who were running wildly on the deck.

Fang Zheng Yi was too lazy to care about these two children. They were already ten years old, and even if they were stupid, they wouldn't fall off the ship.

After watching for a while, Emperor Jing, after repeated sighs, turned his head and said, "Zheng Yi, accompany me to the engine room again. The steam engine is truly a divine object. I want to see how it works."

Fang Zheng Yi nodded, and then led Emperor Jing and the Crown Prince to the engine room again.

As soon as the door of the engine room opened, a heat wave rushed out from it.

Emperor Jing couldn't help but take a step back.

However, Li Yuan Zhao rushed in excitedly, studying the technical details.

He was very familiar with this kind of environment. The room where the steam engine was developed was always so stuffy.

The soldiers who were originally working in the room had stopped adding coal, and were observing the situation by the boiler with their backs to the door, the machines rumbling.

Emperor entered the room, Tang San was the first to react, and he swung his shovel to add coal frantically.

Xiao Yan glanced out of the corner of his eye, and followed suit, while quickly nudging his companion next to him.

"Zhang Xiao Fan, quickly add coal!"

"What are you adding? I added it according to the standard. Is the coal piled too densely and the firepower is not enough? Should I poke it with a fire poker first?"

"Why are you so honest! His Majesty is here..."

Tang San was on the side, leaned over and said in a sinister voice: "It's okay not to add it, you have already found a way to die."

The noise in the room was so loud that Emperor Jing and others didn't hear the three of them chattering.

After watching for a while, Emperor Jing asked, "Zheng Yi, can the coal storage of this ship support a voyage to Fika?"

Fang Zheng Yi shook his head: "I'm afraid not. According to the test data reported earlier, normally speaking, it still needs at least two refueling stops along the way. But if we put aside the economic issues, under special circumstances, we can equip this ship with a supply ship, which should be able to support it for a voyage to Fika."

"Hmm, what is the cost of this ship?"

"Excluding the hold and weapon configuration, the cost of the hull is about one hundred thousand taels of silver, which is more than ten times more expensive than an ordinary fully equipped sailing warship, but as long as Da Jing has five such ships as the main force of the fleet, the Da Jing navy will be enough to be the best in the world.

"And the cost will definitely decrease in the future. I believe that the Da Jing navy will eventually eliminate wooden ships, and this new type of ironclad ship will become the mainstream."

Fang Zheng Yi felt a little regretful as he spoke, this ship was too expensive.

Putting aside the shortage of talents, the maintenance cost is also sky-high. Scientific and technological advancements that are prematurely spawned are seriously unbalanced, and it is always difficult to ensure that there will be major defects in some aspects.

If Da Jing now fully equips this kind of warship, the Ministry of War's budget may be eaten up by the navy alone.

Just as he was thinking this, Emperor Jing's face showed a mysterious smile.

Heh, a mere one hundred thousand taels, it's so cheap.

It doesn't matter if we build dozens of them first!

"By the way, does this first ironclad have a name?"

"When I initially started the project, I had already set an unofficial name... Why doesn't Your Majesty give it a new one?"

"Tell me first, what was the unofficial name before?" Emperor Jing asked curiously.

Fang Zheng Yi said forcefully, "Once this ship comes out, the heroes will surely surrender, so I named it the 'Wide-Area Silence'."

"Hmm... The name is good, let's use this one."

As he spoke, Emperor Jing's forehead was already slightly sweating.

Seeing this, Fang Zheng Yi said: "Your Majesty, it's too hot here, why don't we go to the deck. Your colleagues have been here for so long, they should be hungry. There are many meals specially made for the navy on board, why don't we take this opportunity to taste them."

"Our kitchen here is also a bit interesting, the food is heated by the waste heat generated by the engine room."

Emperor Jing smiled: "Okay, Da Jing's fleet has been out to sea for so long, I haven't tasted what the navy's military rations are like, let's go."

Without delay, Fang Zheng Yi quickly directed his men to move a few tables and chairs to the deck.

Several large pots of rice were steamed, and various canned foods were placed on plates and heated before being served one by one.

Canned food has been invented since the first voyage to sea. Although there are always rumors among the people that cans are made of garbage scraps, they are still widely praised by the military and grassroots soldiers.

After so many years of iteration, the categories have become quite rich.

Not to mention that the food is delicious, the remaining canned bottles can be sold directly to foreigners at a high price to earn an extra income.

The ministers were seated on the deck, enjoying the surrounding scenery and eating canned food.

They were in a good mood.

Fang Zheng Yi was pulled to other tables and constantly asked questions. Minister of War Feng Jie asked: "Marquis, our military's canned food is all supplied by your Taoyuan County. There are rumors outside that your canned food uses scraps. I was too embarrassed to ask before, but today let's make it clear, is this true or false?"

"Lies! Absolute lies! There are always people on the market spreading rumors about this Marquis's industry, these are all red-eye diseases, everyone should not believe them. Everyone should have seen my character over the years, so I don't need to explain more, right?"

"I think you still have to explain, why is there pig liver in this braised pork can?"

Fang Zheng Yi took a closer look, there was really a piece of pig liver in the plate, picked up the chopsticks and quickly clipped it away and put it in his mouth: "It's pork, lean meat."

"Hey, hey, there's more here, why don't you taste it again?"

Seeing that he was going to deny it, the officials at the table simultaneously picked up their chopsticks and dug around, and found six or seven more pieces of pig liver, and then stared at Fang Zheng Yi with fierce eyes.

Fang Zheng Yi calmly picked up another piece of pig liver, put it in his mouth and tasted it carefully, and said seriously: "That's right, this is indeed pig liver. Look at my memory, I specially asked them to add more offal to the meat cans, I forgot! Sorry."

Feng Jie's expression turned cold: "Marquis, what the Ministry of War paid for was the money for pork! You added offal to it for me? To put it mildly, there is a problem with your canned food production, to put it bluntly, this is no different from stealing from the national treasury, you must give me an explanation today!"

Fang Zheng Yi ignored him and raised his chin and said: "What are you talking about, that's a good thing! Who can Fang Zheng Yi cheat, can he cheat the Da Jing navy?"

"I'm telling you, ordinary people want these offal and I won't give it to them! The nutrition is all in the offal, it is rich in protein, vitamins, it can relieve eye fatigue and treat dry eyes, and there is also fat to quickly replenish the soldiers' physical strength, these are the best foods at sea, do you understand science?"

The officials at the same table were confused, and Feng Jie was dumbfounded: "Marquis, don't use science to fool us when you have nothing to do!"

"Usually I invite you to Dongda to attend classes, but none of you listen carefully. Okay, I'll change to a saying that you can understand. Lord Feng, have you seen animal fights?" Fang Zheng Yi pouted.

"I've seen it, what's wrong?" Feng Jie said blankly, "Does this have anything to do with your canned goods being not what they should be?"

"What's not what they should be, I'm adding ingredients to you without increasing the price! I ask you, after a beast hunts, what does it do?"

"I know this!" An official at the same table slapped the table, "After a beast successfully hunts, it first cuts open the prey's stomach, then eats the offal, and finally eats the meat!"

"That's right!" Fang Zheng Yi clapped his hands, "Animals will never lie, they must eat the good things first, which shows that the offal is more nourishing than the meat, do you think it's right or not, is it scientific?"

The people at the same table looked at each other, and then nodded in unison: "Scientific, scientific!"

It seems to be the same logic, but this guy went around in a big circle, I always feel like something is wrong?

Feng Jie touched his head, just about to sit down, his eyes suddenly glanced into the distance, and he pointed his hand.

"Look, there are three ships coming over there!"

.....

(The second chapter will be later, sorry!)