??In the northwest of Nanjing at the mouth of the Qinhuai River, there is a stone camp next to the Yangtze River, which is the famous Longjiang Bao Shipyard.
It has the longest history in the Ming Dynasty and is by far the largest and most glorious shipbuilding yard in the world.
Its scope reaches the city in the east, Qinhuai in the west, and the left guard barracks in the south. It is one mile wide from east to west and more than two miles long from north to south. It is about the same size as an ordinary county town.
One hundred and seventy years ago, most of the ships used by Zheng He, the eunuch of the Three Treasures, on his seven voyages to the Western Ocean were transported through the locks of this shipyard, slowly sailing into the Yangtze River and heading towards the vast ocean.
Zhao Hao came to this shipyard with a pilgrim mentality. If the weather hadn't allowed, he would have even come wearing a straw hat and underpants.
Although he was mentally prepared, when he climbed up to the Shuiguan Tower and looked at the mottled stone walls, the incomplete watchtower, and the ponds overgrown with pampas reeds and fluttering white reeds, he still couldn't help but have a feeling of " The romance is all over, I sigh.
¡°I can¡¯t imagine how Zheng He¡¯s treasure ship, which was made of five thousand materials, was built here.¡± Zhao Hao patted the city bricks that were about to fall apart and sighed with great regret:
"Looking back, we can only look at the records of the shipyard's lifting department to reflect on the style of the year."
"I'm afraid my nephew will be disappointed." Wu Shilai, who was accompanying him on the tour, said with an apologetic smile: "I know you like big ships. Last time, I had people go through the archives and couldn't find a word about the treasure ship. , it was all burned to pieces by Liu Daxia and his gang back then."
"Fuck Liu Daxia!" Hearing this, Mr. Zhao rarely cursed and cursed for a long time before he stopped.
Uncle Wu was stunned for a moment. He thought Zhao Hao was a civilized and good boy.
Not far away, Zhi Ji, the shipyard that received the visitors, and Commander Cao Jiang, who accompanied the visitors, were even more stunned. I thought to myself, what kind of background does this young man have that he dares to be so presumptuous in front of the hot-tempered Zhong Cheng?
Aren¡¯t you afraid that Zhong Cheng will go crazy?
Mr. Zhao was tired of scolding, so he took the water cup handed by Xiwa to moisten his throat, and then said with anger still lingering: "In the future, I will definitely restore a big treasure ship, and then name it 'Liu Daxia, the Eternal Sinner'!"
"Uh" Uncle Wu thought to himself, what kind of hatred is this? He couldn't help but smile bitterly and said: "This is difficult. It's hard to say whether there is such a big treasure ship. Isn't a treasure ship with five thousand materials too exaggerated?"
¡°No, there is¡¡± Ti Ji, a shipyard not far away, protested silently.
"No, there is!" But the irritable young man's tone suddenly became higher.
"My dear nephew, why are you so sure?" Wu Shilai asked strangely.
"Becauseso, scientific truth" Mr. Zhao frowned. He couldn't tell Uncle Wu that he came up with it based on archaeological discoveries.
Thinking that his own history had been castrated by his own people, Mr. Zhao became angry again. He pointed at the shipyard and said, "I saw that you were very excited just now. Do you know something?"
"No, no, I don't know anything." Na Tiju shrank his neck and waved his hands quickly: "Xiaoguan thinks that it is very difficult to build a sea-going ship with a thousand materials, and he feels ashamed of his ancestors. "
"This shipyard is indeed in a state of decline." Uncle Wu, who was wearing a third-grade official robe, nodded and said gloomily:
"But it's not their fault. This treasure shipyard mainly builds ocean-going ships. Since it stopped sailing to the Western Ocean, why does the court still need such big and useless ships? They have all gone to build cannons!"
"Building a canal does not require such a large pond, such good materials, and such good craftsmanship." Na Tiju answered angrily:
"But it would be easy for us to build canal ships. Unfortunately, the Cao Yuan Yamen only asks Qingjiang Shipyard to build canal ships. Only when they can't finish the work, they will leak a little bit from their fingers to us. Count on their scraps. , our craftsmen are so afraid that they will all starve to death.¡±
"Don't be so weird here. If you don't like Jiang Yamen, just say so!" Wu Shilai pulled his face, glared at him and said: "Qingjiang Shipyard is in Huai'an, and Caodu Yamen is also in Huai'an. How can you compete with them? The shipyard Let¡¯s move there too!¡±
"That's not what I mean." Na Tiji was so frightened that he quickly knelt down and shrank: "The villain is just jealous of the Qingjiang Factory. I don't dare to do it anymore."
"Get out of the way." Wu Shilai snorted, and he quickly rolled away smoothly as if he was receiving an amnesty.
Zhao Hao took a deep look at the lift, and walked down the stairs of Shuiguan side by side with Wu Shilai:
"Isn't it so plump to fuck Jiang Yamen? Why did you lose weight from starvation?"
"My dear nephew, this means that I can stand and talk without pain in my back." Wu Shilai rolled his eyes at him and said:
"The three general soldiers below me,With 20,000 troops on land and water, who doesn¡¯t want to eat? Isn't it enough to support more than 2,000 craftsmen in his shipyard? Jiang Fang doesn't need big ships. Do you know that I will lose money by raising them? "
Zhao Hao heard that there were more than two thousand craftsmen. He swallowed hard and almost blurted out, "You don't want me, I want it."
Fortunately, the remaining reason defeated greed. This is the treasure shipyard of the imperial court. All promotions are made by those with the official title of eighth grade, and the craftsmen are all registered as craftsmen by the Ministry of Industry. If you dig out a batch on a small scale, you can still operate it, but if you do it all at once, will you rebel?
??~~
The two of them walked a long way along the grassy causeway and saw craftsmen building several 400-material sand boats there.
A sand boat made of 400 materials is already a giant in the inland river, but in this huge pond, it is like a small fishing boat, and the tallest mast does not exceed the depth of the pond.
Zhao Hao looked down at the 'small' boat at his feet and sighed deeply: "It's such a waste to kill a chicken with a bull's knife."
"It's better for me to turn a blind eye." Wu Shilai said calmly: "Our Yangtze River Navy cannot use such a big ship."
??The implication is that it is a private job secretly contracted by the shipyard. Two thousand craftsmen cannot really live by drinking the northwest wind, can they?
"In that case, how about helping me build some boats?" Mr. Zhao said with a smile.
"What's the difficulty? How many? How big? What model?" Wu Shilai asked with a smile.
"Four hundred items, one thousand materials, and sand boats are enough." Zhao Hao replied calmly.
"How many, how many?" Wu Shilai was so shocked that he almost fell into the pond.
"Four hundred." Zhao Hao repeated.
"Xian, Xian nephew, aren't you just trying to entertain me?" Wu Shilai asked, dumbfounded.
"I don't dare." Zhao Hao said softly, "I'm serious."
"Then the problem is even bigger!" Wu Shilai was not happy, but pulled him aside and said anxiously: "Did you know that a ship with a thousand materials can only be driven on the Yangtze River, not the canal?"
"I don't plan to go to the canal either." Zhao Hao was still unhurried, as if the irritable young man just now was someone else.
"I want to go to sea."
ps. Chapter 3, please vote for me! I¡¯ll write another update (Remember this website¡¯s website address: www.hlnovel.com