"I'm a little unclear..." In a small ship repair yard in Penglai Town, Shao Shude asked, pointing to a sea ship traveling between Bohai Country and Dengzhou.
"Your Highness, please speak." Ma Wanpeng, who was transferred from Lingzhou, asked respectfully.
His shipbuilding skills are actually very average, and he has never been exposed to sea-going ships. He only knows how to build inland river ships. But the technology of inland river ships is not called technology when compared to sea-going ships.
Therefore, he is now just a novice with a certain foundation, but because he was born in Kansai, he was promoted by Shao Shude to the Ministry of Works as the director of the Water Department, from the ninth rank.
The official position is not high, but after waiting for so many years, Ma Wanpeng finally made it from being a craftsman to becoming an official in the Ministry of Industry.
The so-called Ministry of Water is actually a subordinate department of the Ministry of Industry.
The Ministry of Industry has a total of four departments and agencies under its jurisdiction, namely the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Tuntian, the Ministry of Yu, and the Ministry of Water.
The Ministry of Engineering is the "main business" and is in charge of the civil engineering works of the city. To put it bluntly, it manages engineering projects such as the city and roads.
Since the name was the same as the Ministry of Works, Shao Shude wanted to change its name to Engineering Department by taking one word each from "work service" and "program".
It is worth mentioning that the Ministry of Industry is not responsible for cultivating craftsmen, improving technology, or manufacturing weapons. Those are the responsibilities of the Shaofu. The so-called Ministry of Industry in the country is actually the Ministry of Construction.
One advantage of this "Ministry of Construction" is that, except for the ministers and ministers, who need to be a Jinshi, other officials are free. Those who graduate from the Imperial College can become officials, and even those with no background can become officials. It is a place where technocrats gather.
It is actually quite normal for Ma Wanpeng to be the head of the Water Department, and the area he is responsible for is the "boat" area in charge of the Water Department.
The main responsibility of the Ministry of Water is still water conservancy project construction. Strictly speaking, it can actually be merged into the Ministry of Industry, which is the Engineering Department that Shao Shude wants to rename. Cities, roads, and water conservancy projects are all engineering construction. In ancient society, there was no need to be like
The division of labor is as detailed as in modern times. Under an engineering department, members of the team, principals, etc. can each be responsible for a certain amount of business. Anyway, when it comes to actual construction, it is the local prefectures and counties that provide personnel.
As for the area that Ma Wanpeng is responsible for, Shao Shude is more concerned about it and plans to set up a separate Shipyard Division. If Ma Wanpeng makes achievements, the shipyard division's top doctors and Yuanwailang will be stable.
"Why is the deck of this ship in the middle?" Shao Shude asked.
The ship he was talking about was actually a Silla merchant ship, but its structure was similar to that of a Tang ship. The tall ship building was built in the middle and was very symmetrical.
"This has always been the case." Ma Wanpeng replied.
"Why not build the building at the stern of the ship?" Shao Shude wondered: "In this way, the stern of the ship will be heavier, the bow of the ship will be lighter, and it will sail faster."
"I'm afraid it will be unstable?" Ma Wanpeng was somewhat resistant to this bold design.
"After the cabin is filled with cargo, how can it become unstable?" Shao Shude asked.
Ma Wanpeng thought thoughtfully. He had never heard of this design method. Even if it existed, it would definitely not be popular. Is it really feasible to deliberately make the ship lighter in front and heavier in the rear?
Theoretically, this can indeed increase the speed, but - no one has done this before, maybe, but he has never seen it.
Shao Shude was also very troubled when he saw his appearance.
Last time, he asked a painter to draw a ship that he thought could sail in the deep sea, but the result was completely different and no one could understand it, so he gave up.
Now he only puts forward ideas and requirements, whether it is a Chinese-style ship or a Western-style ship, as long as his requirements are met.
The first is to build the ship building at the stern.
The poop is built with three floors, two floors above the deck and one below the deck. Shao Shude is not sure about the specific functions of these three floors. Anyway, he has only seen the appearance when playing games and has no in-depth understanding.
In general impression, the second floor of the poop has a wide view and is where the navigator and captain stay when working. If it is a battleship, the officers will also take command here during combat.
The first floor of the poop is where officers and senior sailors live. The environment is relatively better, and the captain's cabin is also here.
The floor below the poop deck is where middle and lower-level sailors live, seemingly sleeping in hammocks.
There should be a forecastle at the bow of the ship, which is much smaller than the stern building. It is mainly used to store food, medicine, tools and other supplies.
Of course, he had also heard of the famous clipper sailboat.
This kind of sailboat has canceled the forecastle, further reducing the weight of the bow, which is called a "hollow bow". The bow is designed to be long and sharp, and has excellent wave-cutting performance. It is very different from traditional Chinese and Western-style sailboats. Therefore,
The sailing speed of the "Grand Republic" is extremely fast. The displacement of the sailing ship "Grand Republic" is as high as 3,400 tons, but it only takes thirteen days to cross the Atlantic, which is amazing.
However, the technology required for this kind of ship is too high, and Shao Shude does not understand it. It is the product of the development of Western natural science to a certain extent. Mechanics, engineering, materials science, astronomy, navigation, etc. must have a certain level.
,not that simple.
"Secondly, abandon the flat-bottomed boats and build pointed-bottomed boats." Shao Shude said.
Pointed and flat are relative. Flat-bottomed boats are not absolutely flat, and pointed-bottomed boats are not absolutely pointed. They just have different curvatures. There were also pointed-bottomed boats in ancient China, but they were not sharp enough. The whole was smooth, a kind of blunt round, and Arabian
, Europe is even more sharp.
When you want to play offshore, you don’t need a sharp-bottomed boat. When you need to go on a long voyage, it is best to use a sharp-bottomed boat. Whether it is offshore or deep sea, with the same tonnage, a sharp-bottomed boat is safer and faster than a flat-bottomed boat.
quick.
"The third item is to use a horizontal sail and a soft sail. The canvas is sewn with linen and the mast is as I said before." Shao Shude said again.
Traditional Chinese sailboats have shorter masts and only one hard sail. Western-style sailboats have higher masts and three soft sails. The sail and cable systems are very complex and require high training for the crew. The complex sail and cable systems also bring
In addition to the convenience of maneuverability, it can sail against the wind, is maneuverable and flexible, and can sail faster, etc.
"Don't take the third point lightly. Let me ask you, how to sail against the wind?" Shao Shude asked.
"Just lower the sail and float with the current," Ma Wanpeng replied.
"What if there's a headwind and a current? How to sail?"
"This..." Ma Wanpeng was a little surprised: "You can't sail against the wind and current, right?"
"But a soft sailing boat will do." Shao Shude said firmly.
The principle is actually very simple. Force can be decomposed into component forces in different directions. A ship sailing in a zigzag pattern on the sea can sometimes offset the impact of reverse ocean currents. Traditional Chinese sailboats cannot do this.
Ma Wanpeng stopped talking.
"You first try to build a ship according to my requirements. I don't care what happens, but it must meet the above requirements." Shao Shude said.
He knew that the requirements he made completely subverted the mainstream design concept of traditional Chinese sailboats. And there would definitely be problems during the construction process, and maybe the ship would be destroyed and people would die. But he planned to push it forward with his personal will.
Using Chinese shipbuilding methods to build Western-style ships and slowly improving them to enhance shipbuilding technology is like advancing the construction of multiple disciplines through the construction of Luoyang City.
Engineering projects are the best means to promote technological progress at this time, bar none.
You must allow failure. Only when you fail can you improve and improve. Fortunately, it is just a ship, and you can afford to fail a few times.
"That's it." Shao Shude stood up from his chair and said without any doubt.
****
After explaining the matter of building the test ship, Shao Shude planned to leave Dengzhou.
This trip to the east was originally intended to appease the motley army, lay the foundation for maritime trade, and build new ships. Now that all three things have been basically completed, the rest is to advance steadily and wait for the results.
On the third day of August, Shao Shude left Penglai County and headed west.
At this time, news was received from the two battlefields in the north and south.
Yang Yue on the northern front actually captured Yuzhou City.
This news was a bit unexpected. Shao Shude looked at it carefully and almost laughed to tears.
Yuzhou City is not big. It contains a thousand state soldiers, two thousand Yi Ding soldiers and two thousand Tibetan and Han regiments, a total of five thousand defenders. Logically speaking, it is not easy to fight. Yang Yue is not Lu Huaizhong, so he is not suitable for storming a strong city.
Not much interest.
But who would have thought that God played a joke on everyone. It was just a tentative attack, and the city wall of Lisuo Lingqiu County in Yuzhou actually collapsed...
If Li Keyong fails to fix internal affairs, the consequences will surely appear.
The city wall suddenly collapsed, and the defenders on the top of the city were smashed to pieces. The sergeants who were rotating in the city were also stunned, their morale plummeted, and they were directly attacked by the flying dragon army whose morale skyrocketed and they fled in all directions.
When Wang Chuzhi, who was stationed in the Tiancheng Army, heard the news, he greased his feet and ran away with 6,000 soldiers and horses. When they reached Xinzhou, they were blocked by Li Cunxiao, so they stopped.
Actually, it doesn't matter whether we can capture Yuzhou City or not. In the past month, the Tibetan tribes in Yun and Wei states have been basically wiped out and countless people have been captured.
However, defeating it is not without its benefits. At least it will give the Jin army one less stronghold. Otherwise, they can stock up on grain, grass, equipment, and soldiers in Yuzhou City. They can use this as a base to attack, and the combat radius will be greatly increased.
After Weizhou was captured, the army divided into two groups, attacking Feihu County along the way, but were blocked by the enemy in the mountains, and attacking Xingtang along the way, but were defeated by Li Cunxiao. Upon hearing this, Yang Yue ordered all the troops to detour and attack Xin, Yi, and Guisan.
Prefecture, do not engage in head-to-head combat with Li Cunxiao and Wang Chuzhi. But he himself continued to urge the attack on Yunzhou to see if God would favor him and cause the city wall of Yunzhou to collapse.
This was the situation on the northern front battlefield. On the southern front, the Qizhou Campaign was gradually deepening, and Yang Xingmi also mobilized a large number of troops and horses to reinforce the front line. However, there were continuous heavy rains in July, rivers overflowed, and diseases abounded in the army, so both sides suspended the offensive.
After Zhisongben, Ding Hui led his troops to withdraw to Huang and Hubei prefectures.
I heard that morale is not very high, and even if the sergeants are sick, they dare not say that they are sick for fear of being locked up.
Zhe Zongben was a little annoyed and took it out directly on Du Hong.
On July 28, he invited Du Hong to a banquet in the army, then put him under house arrest and sent him to Luoyang to "serve as an official". At the same time, the purge against Ezhou was immediately launched, and Du Hong's personal soldiers and generals
, all the confidants were arrested, and all the officials at all levels were arranged to be members of the Zhe family.
The movements are simple and rough, and the appearance of eating is not very good-looking. It is indeed the painting style of Guanbei wealthy family.
You asked Shao Shude what his attitude was towards this? Of course he severely reprimanded him. But he also acquiesced in Zhe Zongben's move.
It was originally his promise to give Ezhou to Zhe to appease him, but Zhe Zongben acted crudely, and there was nothing serious in nature.
Shao Shude chose to forgive his father-in-law, and at the same time sent an envoy to appease Du Hong, gave him a mansion in Anyefang, and sent people to Ezhou to pick up Du Hong's family and his property.
From now on, Du Hong could safely serve as an official in Luoyang and set an example for the vassal to enter the court.
It is impossible not to have negative impacts. For example, will Zhao Kuangning of Xiangyang panic? Will Zhuge Zhongfang of Xingyuan Prefecture be alienated? Will the Zhao family of Xuzhou have any ideas? And so on.
But it’s hard to have both sides of things in this world, so we can only take one step at a time.
