Ning Zefeng asked Ding to declare that he would drink. The location was not in the Navy camp, but on the mountain neck of the left clamp of Crab Bay.

The entire mountain top was bare, with large rocks burning, and the wine table was placed on a huge stone slab. The originally hard bluestone was burned to pieces and the color turned black. Sitting here, you can see the entire Navy camp, the surrounding shipyards, ship repair shops, and various supporting workshops clearly. Although it was dark, the entire area was brightly lit, and every workshop here was working day and night. Under the road leading from the outside to Crab Bay, even at night, there were still endless channels. Carriages and ox carts transported various materials and raw materials here and put them into workshops that seemed to be bottomless pits.

"Although Commander Ning has only been in my Daqi for a year, he has already made the navy of my Daqi from nothing to something, from weak to now being able to compete with the Ming Navy at sea, which is really a great contribution!" Ding Xianming exclaimed.

His eyes fell in the huge sea area within the two clamp arms, where four three-masted warships were quietly anchoring on the berth, and around them were surrounded by numerous small warships of various types.

Ning Zefeng smiled and said, "Mr. Ding County is just a sensation. I naturally paid a lot to the extent of the Great Qi Navy to reach its current scale, but it would be untrue to confront the Ming Kingdom. Now on the sea, we are mice, the Ming people are cats, and we are playing a game of cats and mice. Once our warships are found by the Ming army, they will basically be doomed."

"The Ming Dynasty navy is free to travel in our seas. In fact, the number of warships is very small every time. Judging from the battle report, they usually travel in groups of two warships. Now we have four three-masted warships, why not send them out to compete with them?"

"Because I don't dare!" Ning Zefeng smiled and filled Ding's statement with a full of wine.

"I, Commander Guanning, is not a cowardly person." Ding Shengming shook his head.

"Thank you, Commander Ding, for understanding me. Since this year, many people have submitted to me. Fortunately, Your Majesty trusts me and gives me great autonomy." Ning Zefeng said.

"Why don't you dare?"

"The first is the issue of combat effectiveness. Although we have four warships, we have not yet formed the strongest combat effectiveness. Whether it is the weapon equipment on the ship or the quality of the sailors, there is a big gap with the Ming army. And the price of each of our sailors is so high, right? Ding Jung-guard is clear about this?"

Ding Shengming nodded silently. In order to make the Qi Navy have a qualified sailor team as soon as possible, Ning Zefeng adopted the cruel method of raising Gu and training troops. Every time he went to sea, he basically left with a determination to die. Out of ten, it would be good to be able to come back for 20 or 30, and these two or 30 percent became members of the official navy. It is reasonable that Ning Zefeng was reluctant to let go of the mature team due to huge sacrifices.

"The second is the number of warships. If our four warships attack with all their luck, they can completely sink them, but according to my estimate, we are afraid that we will lose one or two warships. The Ming people can afford this loss, but we can't bear it!" Ning Zefeng sighed: "If the Ming people's Baoqing Shipyard and Huludao Shipyard are fully operational to build warships, they can build ten ships a year because their craftsmanship is extremely mature and skilled workers are everywhere.

We, four ships a year, are basically at the top. Before the Second Factory was put into use, we were incomparable to the Ming people at the speed of building ships. The Ming people lost one ship, and in a very short time, they could replenish it, but we were not able to do so. So before forming a fleet of enough to compete with one of the Ming troops or even gaining an advantage, I would not rashly seek the decisive battle of the main warships." Ning Zefeng looked at the warships in the bay with care.

“Is there any other reason?”

"Of course, there is, the third thing is that I am very afraid of Zhou Li, the general of the Ming army navy in our sea now!" Ning Zefeng drank all the wine in his glass in one gulp.

"That one-eyed dragon?"

"That was, I tried my best to pull him into my team, but I didn't succeed." Ning Zefeng said: "The leaders of the four major fleets of the Ming army, Zhou Li, He Ying, Zhou Baozhen, Zhou Yangfan, Zhou Yangfan, and Zhou Yangfan, who are always overseas. I really didn't see the other He Ying and Zhou Baozhen, and I didn't care about my dear brother, but Zhou Li is a strong maritime general. If it were the other two, I might try it. But since it was Zhou Li, I would never look for him at this time, because maybe what I saw was a huge trap. Now the peace agreement between the two countries and the two sides was not easy to invade Crab Bay on a large scale, but seducing me out must be what Zhou Li wanted to do in his dreams."

"So sinister?"

"This person is indeed very sinister." Ning Zefeng smiled and said, "No matter what kind of attractive posture he poses, I will never take risks until I am not strong enough. Because before, even if I had absolute advantages and thought everything was in my hands, a small accident made me lose all my life. I became a pig raised by my dear brother. Hehe, not only was he in power, but he was also able to win a reputation of loving and loyalty. But the fact is, he knew best that doing this was the best way to torture me. Wouldn't it be too cheap to kill me? Hahaha!"

Ding Shengming nodded silently. Over the past year, he had cooperated closely with Ning Zefeng and asked himself that he knew this person quite well. This was a person with great ambitions. The most painful thing for such a person is to be humiliated like this, which made him more painful than killing him.

"But if this is the case, we will be too passive. Commander Ning, our fishermen are afraid to go to sea now. Once they go to sea, they may be arrested by Ming people. There are countless examples of this. Now our fishermen have to go ashore to make a living, but these people, one cannot farm and two, cannot do business, and their lives are really difficult."

"This is the price we must pay for growing up." Ning Zefeng was unmoved. "These fishermen can come to join us in the navy, and they can become good sailors faster."

Ding Shengming smiled bitterly. According to Ning Zefeng's training techniques, I am afraid that these fishermen will really come here. In the process of attacking Ming warships again and again, many of them will become unjust souls at sea.

"Commander Ning, then do we just keep swallowing our anger?"

"Of course not, but with our current strength, the only thing we can do is to work hard to develop our asymmetric confrontation." Ning Zefeng said.

“What is asymmetric confrontation?”

"Just like we used the attacks of small warships again and again. To be honest, the small warships were made of wood that did not meet the requirements. Even if they didn't go to sea, they would fall apart even if they were left at home for a year or two. Their only purpose was to refine troops, and the other was to pose a little threat to the Ming Dynasty navy. Even if these threats were insignificant, in ten times, as long as they succeeded once, we would make a profit." Ning Zefeng smiled.

"Like the last time, we just overturned one of them."

"That's it!" Ning Zefeng smiled. "And the action of our attack on merchant ships on their channel, we forced the Ming army to place a fleet on this route to escort. In fact, it was a victory of this tactic. At least, this fleet could not harass us."

"Asymmetric confrontation?" Ding Wenming murmured thoughtfully.

"To put it bluntly, it is a helpless act when his strength is not as strong as the other party." Ning Zefeng said mockingly. "But he gave him a better name to cover up his shame."

“But didn’t we succeed?”

"It has not helped the change of strength between the two sides at all, it is just to alleviate the situation we are facing."

"This situation will not last long. Now we can build four warships a year, and next year there will be eight. Next year, the second shipyard will also be put into production, and we will also train more shipbuilders. Next year, we will have a real fleet of ships."

"We want to face the Ming army head-on at sea, at least five years." Ning Zefeng did not have Ding's optimism: "Don't forget that the Ming army has five-story giant ships. The Ming army has been in service for two years. They have figured out new tactics. The Daqin has been launched. I think they have begun to build the Dachu. Ding County Magistrate, at sea, the only thing I can promise to His Majesty is that in the future, the sea will not become the back garden of the Ming people. The decisive battle is always on land. Only when Daqi defeats the Ming people on the mainland and wins, can I have the chance to win the final victory at sea."

"We started too late. As long as you can do this, it will be enough to make you appoint you as a prince after our victory in Da Qi." Ding Xianming raised his wine glass: "General Ning, let us cheer for the bright future of Da Qi."

"Working together, unite with the enemy!" Ning Zefeng raised his wine glass and touched Ding Shengming heavily, and both of them drank it all in one go.

The two raised their glasses on the top of the mountain to drink together, and in the bay and on the coast, countless people were working desperately in the workshop. Small warships drove into the bay from here, and then carried the soldiers to the vast sea. In the largest workshop, the keel of the fifth three-masted warship had been installed.
Chapter completed!