Chapter 2309 - 2049: Falling into a Money Pit

Let’s not talk about Taishi Ci’s speechless reaction, nor about Lul Jun’s saliva spraying everywhere. The main point is that Lul Jun is so excited about explaining these things to Taishi Ci for one reason: money!

Taishi Ci couldn’t quite grasp the power of a crossbow bolt traveling at five kilometers per second, but from his experience, with such high speed, he wasn’t sure if it could explode the ship upon impact, but it was certainly enough to pierce through the ship.

"Are you sure it has such power?" Taishi Ci asked incredulously, eyeing Lul Jun. If built, this thing would essentially become an unsinkable fortress, sufficient to teach the entire Kushan fleet a lesson with a single shot.

"Absolutely," Lul Jun said, beating his chest. "This is something Master Craftsman Zheng and Master Craftsman Ma and I researched together. It’s definitely not a joke." Although there was no finished product yet, he was convinced it had such power. Even if the power ended up being slightly less, at least it was built rather than remaining on paper. Unfortunately, the lack of money was the issue.

"So, what’s the cost? I’ll take two," Taishi Ci was intrigued by Lul Jun’s pitch, though given the exorbitant price of the Lul Family warships, Taishi Ci thought it’d be wise to start with two to see how they perform. Despite Lul Jun’s glorious boasting, Taishi Ci felt something was lacking due to the might of it.

"Two!" Lul Jun’s voice jumped eight octaves, with excitement and ecstasy mixed in. After waiting so long, finally, a wealthy individual came forward to fund the purchase of the genuine Seventh Generation Ships.

"Ziyi is truly magnanimous, so magnanimous indeed." Lul Jun said excitedly. "I’m telling you, with just two genuine Seventh Generation Ships, your marines would be unbeatable. A shot from a heavy crossbow cannon is enough to obliterate anything visible. Even an Inner Qi Manifestation would be shattered to pieces."

"Alright, let’s talk money first," Taishi Ci said helplessly. "Additionally, do you have any warships of the Xingba Vessel class we currently use? Give me five to start."

Being well acquainted with Lul Jun, Taishi Ci understood the things Lul Jun spoke of might have already been validated but certainly hadn’t been built. So, if he wanted them, he needed to pay first, with an estimated year before availability. Therefore, even though swayed by Lul Jun, Taishi Ci felt he needed to purchase several Xingba Vessels first to expand the naval fleet.

Given Taishi Ci’s current wealth, he wasn’t worried about construction difficulties. Hence, he calmly indicated he wanted both, intending to get the official Seventh Generation Ships sooner or later, urging for quick construction since their marines were waiting.

Upon hearing this, Lul Jun rejoiced. A tycoon finally showed up. Prior support for the Lul Family’s Seventh Generation Ship construction plan was absent, causing suspension of this endeavor. Not to mention the full version of the steel-armored Seventh Generation Ships, even the severely stripped-down version of the Xingba Vessel had halted production.

According to Chen Xi, the Seventh Generation Ships were too costly. It was better to integrate the Seventh and Sixth Generation Ship features to produce ships with Seventh Generation advantages while maintaining affordability like those of the Sixth Generation. Ultimately, the Seventh Generation Ships were postponed as they were simply too expensive.

Currently, the Lul Family had no Seventh Generation Ships. Building them resulted in zero buyers, despite the initial design costing ten billion coins, nearly forcing the entire Lul family to eat dirt. Later, each ship sold for just one billion coins, allegedly requiring the sale of approximately thirty ships to break even.

The Patriarch Lul almost physically reprimanded Lul Jun at that time. This foolish son had him comparing other families’ prodigal sons’ ways of squandering wealth to his own. The Patriarch Lul remarked, "You call that prodigality? Our Lul Family produced one who squandered the family foundation within just a year!"

From the outset, the Seventh Generation Ship design involved pure steel construction. Seeing their golden basins afloat, Lul Jun planned to build an iron ship.

Thus, striving for perfection, Lul Jun relentlessly modified, refined, and mobilized all high-quality craftsmen’s intellect, gathered numerous mathematicians and model experts, and even hired nearly ten grand craftsmen to create life-size models.

Taking a simple approach, the original 300 millimeters of armor became 3 millimeters after scaling to life-size level, and structural elements of the ship’s shell and some sealed compartments produced by scaling turned steel thickness to just three or four centimeters, finishing life-size scaling with only a few millimeters left. Without grand craftsmen, creation was impossible.

The 30-kilogram life-size model of the Seventh Generation Ship was, essentially, a hand-crafted model produced by grand craftsmen at the expense of Lul Jun’s money. Due to continuous verification, modifications, refinement, disassembly, and assembly during production, approximately six billion coins were spent.

This cycle of refinement, improvement, and measurement resulted in a warehouse of blueprints piled up in the Lul Family. In Lul Jun’s view, the full version of the Seventh Generation Ship was absolutely deserving of the Divine Artifact title.

Spending six billion coins constructing a model was unavoidable—after all, technology advances incrementally. Six billion coins were simply the price to prove the proposal’s accuracy through building a life-size model. Lul Jun felt it already worthwhile, since it just cost six billion coins.

Later, realizing the construction costs skyrocketed, Lul Jun reluctantly explored making the price more accessible. Subsequently, another two billion coins were spent creating a heavily stripped-down iron birchwood version model. Yet this remained exorbitantly costly. Finally, he resorted to drastically reducing various specifications, resulting in the Xingba Vessel’s creation...

Overall, having spent nine billion coins to construct two models, Lul Jun anticipated the emergence of supporters willing to finance the manufacturing of original steel Seventh Generation Ships.

Oh, by the way, we spent thirty million to buy new technology from Zheng Hun and Ma Jun. After all, such a powerful battleship couldn’t be justified without a godly weapon system, so the super heavy crossbow machine was designed.

Of course, we’re out of money now, and with Patriarch Lul keeping a close watch, it’s impossible to make one for a test. As for the model, there’s no way to create a model; it’s too large, mainly to improve the conversion of mechanical energy. The actual attack system is very simple.

In short, the super heavy crossbow machine, which can shoot crossbow bolts at a speed of five kilometers per second with a maximum weight of ten kilograms, is actually just a hypothetical concept that hasn’t been built yet. However, Lul Jun firmly believes in the integrity of himself, Ma Jun, and Zheng Hun, that this thing will definitely work.

"Ah, Ziyi, we don’t have the seventh generation ship ready yet. Why don’t you give me the money first, and I can start building it right away? You can come to pick up the ship early next year." Lul Jun decided to try to get some money first; without funds, nothing is possible.

"You don’t have a ready seventh generation ship?" Taishi Ci asked.

"This thing is too expensive, one ship costs one hundred million coins. Normally, no one buys it, so even if we build it, it would just occupy space in the dock. We don’t dare to build one without an order; it ties up too much liquidity," Lul Jun said helplessly, feeling short of money.

"Oh, I see. Then build five ships first, and prepare some materials. We’ll definitely need more in the future. Let’s order ten ships," Taishi Ci said with financial boldness, "Give me two full versions too. How much should I pay you upfront?"

"Let’s start with thirty billion coins," Lul Jun roughly calculated. Although thirty billion coins can’t even create the shell of a full version seventh generation ship, since the cost of thirty thousand tons of premium steel that can be nurtured to the extreme level is five hundred billion coins alone, and that’s just the material cost...

Leaving out everything else, building such a ship requires the whole country to calm down and reflect, but calling it a divine artifact is really not excessive.

"Thirty billion?" Taishi Ci’s voice involuntarily raised by a few degrees. After a while, he also realized that this price shouldn’t have much padding, and seeing Lul Jun still with that attitude of buy if you want, leave if you don’t, Taishi Ci hesitated several times but decided to pay, as he happens to have money recently.

"Bring it in!" Taishi Ci waved a hand, instructing people to bring in the gold and silver, then left the matter for Mi Fang to handle.

"This fifteen billion, we’ll cover with gold and silver first, and the remaining fifteen billion we’ll pay with various materials needed for shipbuilding," Mi Fang opened the box, blindingly dazzling with gold and silver, before ordering people to cover it up and speaking.

"That works too; actually, you can transfer the gold and silver directly to us, and you can also pay with materials. It’s beneficial for both of us. The seventh generation ship is not as simple as you think," Lul Jun said, looking at the massive amount of gold and silver, feeling the seventh generation ship is one step closer to reality. Indeed, the marines have money, and with this pace, another dozen times should suffice to build it.

Taishi Ci didn’t insert an opinion on this matter, just quietly listened as Mi Fang and Lul Jun discussed a rough framework. As for the remaining details, people skilled in this area from the Lul Family and the Mi Family would have to come and discuss in depth.

This matter was thus settled. Though Taishi Ci completely didn’t realize the sheer magnitude of the pit he fell into, looking at the current hypothetical data, he was extremely excited. He deeply felt that once such a large ship is built, they’d be invincible at sea.

"By the way, Ziyi, are you going to return to Ye City afterward?" Lul Jun asked.

"Yes, I need to report back in Ye City, and I’ve not seen my old mother at home for a long while," Taishi Ci nodded.

"Then, could you let my younger brother accompany you?" Lul Jun said, referring to his younger brother who was just a year younger than Lul Xun.

"Why not, you can come with me. Is there something happening in Ye City?" Taishi Ci agreed naturally, then asked curiously.

"Not really, it’s the wedding banquet being organized by General Zhang, General Zhao, Administrator Lub, Minister Official Fa. Only my father, my brother, and I can attend from my family, but both my father and I have matters to attend, so I plan to send my brother," Lul Jun replied with a smile, aware of Taishi Ci’s situation.

Originally, the Lul Family planned for Lul Jun to go, but since such a large order came this time, Lul Jun felt it’s best to continue pursuing his dream. So, attending the wedding can be left to his brother instead, allowing him to experience the world and check on his son’s current state.