If you traveled back to ancient times, while others ate Guanyin clay, you would actually have giant

Niujia Town, Boat Workshop.

It was the same mysterious group as last time, and the conditions were the same: return the ship in the form of strategic supplies. Having cooperated before, Gong Sheng was naturally adept at it. However, this time Zhou Wu gave prior notice, raising the price by 50% compared to last time.

"What? A 50% increase? Shopkeeper, don't be greedy, or you might earn money but not live to spend it."

Upon hearing this, the Ministry of War officials were initially startled, but then turned cold and threatened.

"Gentlemen, I really haven't charged you exorbitant prices. If you want to wait according to the order time, I won't add a penny. But you always want the ship in stock. You are all regular customers. Our orders have such long waiting times. If you want the ship in stock, we can only exchange it with the previous customers. We definitely have to give them some compensation before they will agree."

Gong Sheng's words were completely unreasonable, and the officials in the Ministry of War wanted to make trouble, but they found that they couldn't find any reason to object.

"This 50% discount is only for our regular customers. Others would come and want an extra 50% but still can't get the goods."

The officials in the Ministry of War were no match for Gong Sheng, a seasoned veteran. With just a few words, they silenced him and obediently raised the price by 50% to take delivery of the goods.

The group left the shipyard dejectedly.

What should we do with these supplies?

Then someone remembered that the source of this gap had not yet been found.

"How about we just count it as part of the bandit suppression?"

"Are you crazy? This time it's the Crown Prince and Zhou Wu leading the troops. Do you think they're like that idiot Fourth Prince?"

Someone suggested the same method as last time, but it was firmly rejected. After all, this time the opponents were the Crown Prince and Zhou Wu, and neither of them would be so foolish. Especially Zhou Wu, whose reputation in the court was that he was not one to suffer losses, so it was best to avoid getting involved with him.

"What can we do? The deficit is so huge. If it's discovered, it's a capital offense."

This won't work, that won't work, and people immediately started to panic.

"What's the rush? We can just allocate the tasks to other projects later."

Seeing that everyone was starting to panic, someone stepped forward and said something that immediately calmed everyone down.

. . . . . .

"Zhou Wu, the Ministry of War has already reached an agreement with the shipyard, and we'll have ships soon."

"Great! With ships, we are now a real navy."

Seeing the Crown Prince's excited expression, Zhou Wu could only pretend to cooperate. The boatyard belonged to him; how could he not know that?

"Zhou Wu, I've suddenly realized that you seem to value the navy very much. Is there something I don't know about this?"

During his time in Niujia Town, Li Junren saw and thought about many things. The small village of Niujia had been transformed into the largest port city under Zhou Wu's leadership.

The Great Dragon didn't even have the concept of a navy before. In fact, no country in the world has a navy. The establishment of the Great Dragon's first navy, and even the concept of a navy, was proposed by Zhou Wu.

Li Junren wanted to know why Zhou Wu was so obsessed with building a dock and a navy.

"Does Your Highness really want to know?"

No matter how Zhou Wu refutes it now, he and the Crown Prince are already bound together by the world.

"All ears."

Li Junren immediately adopted a humble and inquisitive attitude.

"Your Highness, do you think the land area of ​​the world we live in now is large?"

"Of course. Putting aside everything else, the territory of my Great Dragon Empire alone is vast, probably stretching for tens of thousands of miles. And that's just my Great Dragon Empire, not even counting other countries."

"If I were to tell Your Highness that land only accounts for 30% of our world, what would Your Highness think?"

"What! Thirty percent! Is Zhou Wu really telling the truth?"

These words did indeed overturn Li Junren's worldview. In this world, not only him, but everyone else did not have a concrete understanding of the ocean. So everyone only knew that the ocean was very large, but they did not know exactly how large it was.

Zhou Wu gave a specific quantity, which far exceeded Li Junren's understanding, and Li Junren didn't finish digesting it for a long time.

"Zhou Wu, I finally understand why you are so determined to develop the ocean and establish a navy."

Although Zhou Wu was usually carefree and irresponsible, Li Junren knew that he was a completely reliable person, so he had no doubt that there was anything wrong with what Zhou Wu said.

"The ocean is a great treasure. Humanity's exploration of the ocean is still at zero. I hope that our Great Dragon can be at the forefront of the world."

There are already too many capable people on land, and we don't need another Zhou Wu. Zhou Wu hopes to help Da Long, just like John Bull did back then, to become a coachman at sea and dominate the world by relying on the ocean.

"Zhou Wu, if I ever get that position, I will definitely support you with all my might."

Upon hearing Zhou Wu's idea, Li Junren repeatedly agreed, even uttering these treasonous words.

. . . . . . .

Over the next few days, ships arrived one after another, and Li Junren personally inspected each warship.

"Why do Zhou Wu's ships look a bit old?"

Li Junren immediately saw the problem.

"Oh, really? Let me see. Oh, it's normal for every ship to go out to sea for trial voyages once it's ready."

"Oh. I see."

After taking only two steps, Li Junren realized something was wrong again.

"Zhou Wu, why are there heavy crossbows on the ship? I don't remember Li Zheng's warships having any."

"Uh, you're the Crown Prince, so the Ministry of War will definitely treat you differently from the Fourth Prince."

"Oh, really? They're quite sensible."

These ships originally belonged to the navy, and now that they were back in the navy's hands, no one except Li Junren showed any joy.

"Your Highness, you should make the most of your time to train with the ship. During this period, it would be best if you lived and ate on the ship so that you could adapt to life on board as quickly as possible."

"Well, you're right."

Li Junren agreed with Zhou Wu's words, so he decided to stay on the ship for the next few days.

"By the way, Zhou Wu, which cabin are you planning to stay in?"

"I don't want to stay in a cabin, I want to go home."

"Go home to live? What do you mean? Don't you live on the ship?"

"Yes, I have something very important to attend to recently, so I'll leave the fleet matters to you, Your Highness."

After saying that, Zhou Wu ignored Li Junren's reaction and got off the ship and left.

"What has Zhou Wu been busy with lately?"

"I don't know, little one."

Li Junren casually grabbed a sailor next to him and asked, but the man was just a low-ranking officer and naturally didn't know what Zhou Wu was busy with every day. So this directly led Li Junren to think that Zhou Wu was slacking off, but he didn't blame him. He just thought that Zhou Wu was letting him relax before the big battle and spend more time with his family.

Time was running out for Li Junren and Zhou Wu, so Li Junren personally led the troops in training these past few days. Although Zhou Wu didn't accompany them in the training, he instructed Lin Niangzi to keep gathering intelligence on the White Skull.