Chapter 3505
The cost of the order of twenty-five ships is certainly not a small amount. Fortunately, these ships are civilian models, and the price is still much cheaper than real warships. Otherwise, Masato Masuyama would not be able to raise enough funds at the moment even if he emptied his pockets.
Another benefit of ordering civilian ships is faster delivery. Masato Masuyama previously ordered warships at the Zhoushan Shipyard on behalf of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The delivery period was much longer than that of civilian ships. It was normal for the delivery time to be more than one year.
Due to the limited production capacity of these private shipyards in Fujian, no shipyard can take this large order. Therefore, the 25 ships ordered by Zengshan Zhengli will be allocated to multiple shipyards for simultaneous construction. This is why private shipyards can The main reason for greatly shortening the delivery period.
The only thing that made him feel a little dissatisfied was that the Fujian Shipyard refused to negotiate, apparently determined that no other shipyard could take on such a large order during this time.
When such a big customer came to the exhibition, Liang Quan, who was in charge of the command, naturally had to come out to receive it in person. He convened representatives from various shipyards and held a special briefing session for Masuyama Masari.
The design and construction plans of these ships that can be used for civil-military transformation are ready-made, and there are basically no details that need to be adjusted. The two parties hit it off immediately, eliminating the need for haggling, and drafted a shipbuilding contract together that afternoon.
This progress can be said to be extremely fast, but in comparison, the Matalan people we received in the morning were more cheerful. They were the real big donors who were not short of money. They even skipped the briefing session and visited the prototype ship. The contract was finalized during the process.
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. There is still a 10% fee, which needs to be paid after the ship is delivered and accepted.
If the new ship is not delivered on time, the remaining 10% of the cost will be the shipyard's liquidated damages. However, the shogunate now urgently needs warships to increase its naval warfare capabilities, and Masato Masuyama does not hope to save this 10% of liquidated damages in the end.
After the signing ceremony, Masuyama Masato once again mentioned the mysterious customer who had placed an order with Fujian Shipyard before him, hoping that Liang Quan could tell his true identity.
However, Liang Quan, an old fox who has been in the business field for decades, knows that this order was obtained by making Zengshan Zhengli suspicious and deceived, so how can he reveal the answer to him. After going around and around for a long time, they still refused to disclose the true identity of another major customer to Masato Masuyama on the grounds of commercial confidentiality.
"The only thing I can tell you is that that big customer has purchased a lot of armaments from our country in recent years, and he must be preparing for a big fight!"
Liang Quan obviously knew what Zengshan Zhengli was afraid of, so he took the opportunity to express his anger. He was telling the truth. As for how the other party would understand it, that was not something he needed to worry about.
Sure enough, Masuyama Masari didn't think too far about the client Liang Quan was referring to, and subconsciously thought that the mysterious client should be related to him - otherwise, why would the other party avoid answering whether the mysterious client was from Japan?
After this back and forth, instead of eliminating the misunderstanding, it deepened.
This also made Masuyama Masato more and more convinced that the war preparations of the Kyushu vassals had reached the stage where the war was imminent. If the shogunate wanted to conquer these local forces in the future, there would probably be several fierce naval battles.
When Masato Masuyama left the exhibition, he saw two freshly baked large posters hanging at the entrance of the exhibition. The contents were two large orders signed on the first day of the exhibition. Although the true identities of the two major patrons were not stated on the poster, the numbers of twenty and twenty-five ships were specially marked in larger fonts, and this was only the first day of the launch.
This is definitely an achievement worth being proud of. Even Zhoushan Shipyard, which is known as the number one shipyard in the East China Sea, may not be able to achieve such a high order-taking efficiency.
The ship show was only a few miles away from the Zhoushan Forum, and the news had already spread among the guests from various countries on the second day.
Although it is not uncommon to book a ship in Haihan, and many people even planned to take time to take a look at this ship show, on the first day, two major customers actually ordered more than 40 ships. It can't help but make many people wonder what happened at the exhibition.
During this day's forum event, many people took the initiative to ask Haihan senior officials whether Haihan's shipbuilding prices were about to rise, so some well-informed people seized 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 in certain areas. After all, it is a very common practice to purchase civilian ships from Haihan and convert them into warships.
The senior officials of the executive committee actually didn't know what happened, so they could only quickly call Xu Yuzhuo and ask him to give a brief explanation.
Liang Quan had gone to see Xu Yuzhuo last night and reported to him the impressive results on the first day of the exhibition and the operation process in between.
Ning Qi smiled and said: "If I had known this, we should have arranged for the government-owned shipyard to also participate in the exhibition!"
Bai Kesi reminded: "The production capacity of major government-owned shipyards has been scheduled for two or three years. Even if you participate in this exhibition, it will be difficult to make much actual profit."
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 warships, so they settle for the next best thing and buy a monkey version and go back to modify it themselves. There are also horses. For someone like Lan Guo, if you are not short of money but are in a hurry, you will definitely place your order wherever the delivery is quick.”
Ning Qi asked curiously: "I heard that the Tokugawa Shogunate and Kyushu forces have bought many ships from us. How is the current strength comparison?"
Yan Chujie said: "If we look at numbers alone, the shogunate must be stronger. After all, the financial resources are far greater than those of the local daimyo, and the size of the armed fleet still has a great advantage."
Ning Qi turned to Shi Diwen and said, "You shouldn't let Jiuzhou lose so easily. You must have arranged a backup plan, right?"
Shi Diwen smiled and said: "In order for them to continue fighting the civil war for a long time, they must have equal strength. For us, it is to level the bowl of water. Whichever side is weaker, we will find ways to help. ”
As for how to help the weaker Kyushu vassals, Shi Diwen did not elaborate, because for Haihan, there were too many methods and means available. As long as the cracks between the fingers are opened a little, what leaks out is enough for the Kyushu feudal lords to repel the shogunate and protect themselves.