Chapter 2355 - 2084: Willing Participants, Willing Victims

"Damn ship, do you Gongsun Family crew even know how to navigate?" Yuan Shu stood at the port on the west side of Donglai, looking like a wet chicken, and angrily shouted at several aristocratic family members.

"There’s no one better at navigating than the Gongsun Family’s crew, at least not on this ship," Gongsun Gong pointed at Yuan Shu and retorted angrily, "If it weren’t for you, Yuan Gonglu, and your nonsense, would the ship have hit the reef? And if it weren’t for your antics after hitting the reef, it wouldn’t have capsized!"

"Wasn’t that because you were going too fast? You bragged so much about the structure and materials being the best of the time, saying even the Lul Family’s Fifth-Generation Warship was inferior. At least they have sealed cabins and isolation layers, but your ship is trash!" Yuan Shu, equally unconvinced, pointed at Gongsun Gong and cursed.

"Get lost, I shouldn’t have let you on our Gongsun Family’s ship!" Gongsun Gong shouted, "If it weren’t for you wildly steering the rudder, would we have hit the reef? Would the ship have capsized? After the sealed cabin was broken, we didn’t have time to drain the water and the ship capsized. It’s all your fault!"

"Weren’t you also wildly shouting excitedly back then?" Yuan Shu replied to Gongsun Gong defiantly, "Besides, even if it hit a reef, it shouldn’t have sunk so quickly."

"I meant for you not to mess around near the reefs and undercurrents!" Gongsun Gong said angrily, "You almost blew up the port side entirely. How am I supposed to save it?"

"So what do we do now?" Yuan Shu pointed at Gongsun Gong, questioning, the ship sank, and naturally all the gifts were gone, "Gongsun Family’s ship sank, and my ship’s gifts fell into the sea. Is Gongsun Family compensating for the gifts or not?"

"Compensate your sister! Get lost, letting you, Yuan Gonglu, aboard our Gongsun Family’s ship, our Gongsun Family has had bad luck for generations. From today onwards, the Gongsun Family doesn’t accept anyone with the surname Yuan on board!" Gongsun Gong shouted angrily at Yuan Shu.

Gongsun Gong’s original plan was to travel by ship from Liaodong to Donglai, then go by land to Ye City.

Alongside advertising the strength of the Gongsun Family’s shipbuilding technique, he specifically brought out the latest large ship from the dockyard as his vehicle, announcing in an extremely high-profile manner that he was taking it, offering free rides to anyone who wished to accompany him.

Yuan Shu had also received an invitation to the parade at that time, naturally bringing Jii Ling along. Originally, it was supposed to be by land, but along the way, he heard Gongsun Gong’s high-profile declaration.

Yuan Shu, with his inherent foolish nature, swiftly changed plans upon hearing of the free ride on the large ship.

Gongsun Gong recognized Yuan Shu, a big shot among the aristocratic families’ coordination committee, so when Yuan Shu requested to board, Gongsun Gong simply couldn’t refuse, seeing this as a great opportunity to strengthen relations.

A big ship carried dozens of accompanying aristocratic family members, and then set off, with Yuan Shu, experiencing his first ride on a large sea ship, getting overly excited and fidgeting everywhere, even attempting to steer.

Given his status, nobody dared to stop him, and everyone felt he wouldn’t cause trouble, but eventually, reality showed they had been overly optimistic, as Yuan Shu ended up crashing the big ship into a reef and capsizing it.

After everyone was thrown into the sea, seeing Jii Ling flying around with Yuan Shu while the others were clinging onto planks, they suddenly realized Yuan Shu had never really been "on the same ship" as them.

The moment the ship struck the reef and capsized, the most devastated person was Gongsun Gong, who had offered free rides to showcase the supremacy of their Gongsun Family’s ships.

In previous years, intense skirmishes with the Huns left no time for warship upgrades, and rumors claimed they had been surpassed by the Lul Family in shipbuilding technology. Gongsun Gong, of course, didn’t believe it, but belief aside, others did, and explaining it became necessary.

Simply put, this grand showing was aimed at inspiring confidence, proving their ships hadn’t been eclipsed by the Lul Family as rumors suggested, and their Gongsun Family still possessed the world’s premier shipbuilding technology.

Now, the situation left Gongsun Gong crushed — their premier large ship struck a reef, took on water, and capsized — this was the ship used by the newly appointed head of the Gongsun Family, and it had such poor quality!

Potential buyers of ships certainly won’t care about what happened aboard; they’d only know that even the custom ship of Gongsun Family’s head Gongsun Gong ended up like this. Would they dare to buy?

With today’s episode, future merchants needing ships will undoubtedly regard Gongsun Family’s shipbuilding technique with contempt. Today’s misadventure was basically ruining their reputation!

So now Gongsun Gong practically wishes he could devour Yuan Shu, with their Gongsun Family shipyard’s reputation now in tatters.

"Hulai, go to the Money Exchange and draw a bank draft for ten thousand coins, then rent a carriage from the Zhen Family carriage company. We’ll head to Ye City." Soaked, Yuan Shu went to an inn, took a bath, changed clothes, and then sent Jii Ling to handle errands.

By the time Yuan Shu had changed his attire and come out, Jii Ling already had the carriage prepared and waiting at the door.

"The Gongsun Family’s ship quality is truly awful. Hit a reef and it sank, genuinely too terrible. Look at the Lul Family’s big ships; even the quality of the sealed cabin on Gongsun Family’s lousy ship is dreadful," With Yuan Shu relentlessly complaining, Jii Ling drove a decent carriage silently.

After all, this carriage was merely something hired from the carriage company, so naturally, it wouldn’t be of top quality, but since Yuan Shu wasn’t too particular, he casually laid a blanket inside and sat down.

"Lord, are we just going over like this?" Jii Ling asked with some hesitation.

"Although the gift has sunk into the sea, our sincerity hasn’t," Yuan Shu laughed heartily. "Besides, I have no choice. Whose fault is it that the Gongsun Family’s ship is so lousy? They should really compensate us." Gongsun Gong expressed that Yuan Gonglu should get lost.

While Yuan Shu was complaining about the Gongsun Family’s almost Sixth-Generation Ship, Gongsun Gong and Liangg Mao were staring, dumbfounded, at the Xingba Vessel anchored at the east dock of Donglai. Even Gongsun Gong, who had always thought the Lul Family was exaggerating, had to acknowledge the massive disparity in shipbuilding technology.

"Bofang, although Yuan Gonglu is a scoundrel, the Lul Family’s shipbuilding technology is truly terrifying," Gongsun Gong said, swallowing hard while looking at the massive Xingba Vessel. Compared to this ship, the Lul Family’s boasts were not exaggerated but rather conservative.

"I feel the same way. Can we build something like this?" Liangg Mao asked wistfully, looking up at the ship’s hull. The ship exuded pure power.

"Maybe in five or six years," Gongsun Gong replied, knowing how long it would take to develop such a large ship without external help, fully understand the technology, and perfect it.

"Is there any other way?" Liangg Mao took a deep breath, looking at Gongsun Gong. Though he asked, his eyes already conveyed a clear intention.

"If we can directly acquire the technology and craftsmen, it might take just over a year or two. This is already the Seventh-Generation Warship concept my father lef us," Gongsun Gong mused, "Try to see if we can purchase it from the Lul Family."

"Do we have money?" Liangg Mao asked.

"If we don’t have money, we can borrow it. This is something in high demand. If the officials don’t want it, merchants will. The new measurement systems likely put its displacement above six thousand tons, with a carrying capacity of around four thousand tons," Gongsun Gong said solemnly.

"Bofang, you don’t understand the shipbuilding industry and its value. Sea transport is highly valuable with enormous capacity. If we have enough of these large ships, it can significantly stabilize regional prices, and a single ship’s cargo can flood a region’s market," Gongsun Gong said with longing.

"Never mind. Go talk with the Lul Family. Even if we abandon the military market and only build commercial ships, it’s worth it," Gongsun Gong resolved decisively, realizing his own small boats were nothing compared to the Lul Family’s warships.

On another front, Lul Jun was already on his way, carrying a business plan with detailed survey data to show people. Even he was somewhat tempted by the attractive figures in the survey report.

If Lul Jun didn’t realize himself that the core of the so-called navigation plan was to raise funds for the Seventh-Generation Ship, he might have been swayed. The data looked incredibly enticing.

Meanwhile, Yuan Shu was slowly making his way towards Ye City. Ahead of him was a flashy carriage, accompanied by fifty armored soldiers on horseback.

"Hulai, overtake it!" Upon seeing the emblem on the carriage, Yuan Shu guessed whose it was and decisively ordered Jii Ling to overtake.

Jii Ling rushed forward, then veered to stop right in front of the other carriage. If the other driver hadn’t been moving slowly and skillfully, they would have certainly collided.

Even so, the sudden move caused the other carriage’s escort to draw their swords, pointing them at Yuan Shu’s visibly ordinary, trashy carriage.

Yuan Shu slowly placed his hand on the carriage door, leaned out, and stood atop it. "Liu Jiyu, aren’t you surprised? Come out and see."

Liu Zhang emerged from his carriage with a dour expression, looking at the proudly swaggering Yuan Shu, standing arrogantly atop his own carriage. Casually shaking his hand, the elite armored soldiers from Yizhou quickly formed ranks, sitting on their horses like sculptures.

Liu Zhang never really liked Yuan Shu, but after the Chang’an court meeting, he gained a bit of favor for Yuan Shu. At least Yuan Shu dared to act and take responsibility, unlike some who couldn’t face the heat.

However, this slight favor wasn’t enough to make Liu Zhang accept Yuan Shu’s intervention in his carriage journey, especially since Liu Zhang, as a member of the Imperial Family, valued dignity and grace, while Yuan Shu’s carriage looked like it was thrown together haphazardly.

"Yuan Gonglu, what business do you have stopping my carriage?" Liu Zhang said, shaking his dark-colored robe.

"I just happened to run into you and wanted to say hello," Yuan Shu said, whistling with a mischievous grin, resembling a rogue flirting with a young lady.

"Well, now that we’ve said hello, isn’t it time to make way?" Liu Zhang asked, watching Yuan Shu with an unyielding gaze.

"I heard you’re building roads," Yuan Shu said, dropping his playful demeanor and looking directly at Liu Zhang.