Not long after, Zhang Xiaowu held a family banquet, and under the witness of everyone, he agreed to marry Xiao Kai. People kept coming to congratulate him, and Xiao Kai was knocked to the ground.
A few days later, Wang Jing and Zhao Fu teamed up to find Zhang Xiaowu and propose marriage to him. Zhang Xiaowu was confused. He only had a two-year-old daughter, An An. How could he have other daughters? Wang Jing explained that it turned out that they wanted to marry him.
It was none other than the two daughters of the late General Zu Gongmao, Zu Hui'er and Zu Xing'er.
Because Zu Gongmao was murdered by his tribe, the ancestral family was eradicated by Zhang Xiaowu. Zhang Xiaowu also took Zu Gongmao's wife, daughter and family to Youzhou City for protection. Although Zu Gongmao had many concubines, no one gave him
Give birth to a boy and a half girl, still only
They have two daughters, Hui'er and Xing'er. When Zhang Xiaowu rescued them, they were only eight or nine years old. Now they are in their prime years of seventeen. The eighteen-year-old girl is becoming more and more graceful, and she is very popular among the people in Youzhou City.
A lot of young people are following him.
Zhang Xiaowu didn't want to directly make the decision for others, so he discussed it with the Wu family. The Wu family was a woman, and now the ancestral family relied on Zhang Xiaowu's protection, and Hui'er and Xing'er also recognized Zhang Xiaowu as their uncle. Naturally, this uncle could
Making the decision for them, Zhang Xiaowu said to Wang Jing and Zhao Fu
I am also very satisfied. In addition to Wang Jing's status as the only son of the leader of the Sky Fire Sect, this young man is smart and down-to-earth, and is a man of great talent. Zhao Fu is even more clever, eccentric and witty. Now Zhao Fu is worshiping Wu.
If you become a student under Song Men, you will definitely have a bright future.
So Zhang Xiaowu made the decision for them, accepted their betrothal gifts, and held a wedding banquet on a certain date.
After a month of preparation, Wang Jing and Zhao Fu actually got married on the same day. They held the wedding together. Since their parents died, their teacher Zhang Xiaowu served as their wedding hall.
Youzhou City was once again bustling with activity. Zhang Xiaowu also drank a little too much and drank some more hangover soup when he returned home. At this time, he received a report from Yi Sheng that the ship was finished.
Zhang Xiaowu suddenly woke up and laughed: "But it's a five-pole sea-going ship?"
Yi Sheng said: "Yes, it was the Haiphong Battalion that supervised the construction and gathered all the craftsmen in the north to build the Hailong. The Haiphong Battalion reported that it was basically completed, but it will take some time before it can be launched into the water."
According to Zhang Xiaowu's standards, the size of this sea-going ship is twenty meters long and seven meters wide, which is enough to sail across the sea. Zhang Xiaowu was overjoyed and planned to go there immediately, but it was getting late, so he could only rush to the beach tomorrow to see this Central Plains ship.
The largest ship ever built under his supervision has never appeared in history.
"Hahaha, it's so good, it's so good, let's go take a look tomorrow."
It is now October, and the weather is a bit cold. Zhang Xiaowu specially put on some extra clothes and rushed to Canghai County, where sea-going ships are cast. The dock where sea-going ships are cast is Lujia Town, Canghai County, which is also the location of the Haiphong Camp. Although the Haiphong Camp is
promoted to navy
, but the external name is still called the Coast Defense Battalion. Jin Sheng, the commander of the Coast Defense Battalion, first asked Zhang Xiaowu to review the army. Zhang Xiaowu was very pleased to see the Coast Defense Battalion with hundreds of warships and strong troops, but at the same time he also felt that the warships of the Coast Defense Battalion were too small.
Some.
Jin Sheng said: "Now the ships in the coastal defense camp are more than three times larger than in the past. In the past, there were only 100-stone ships. Now there are five 500-stone ships and two thousand-stone ships. We are not rich now."
Well, otherwise, according to the way it has been before, our coastal defense battalion won’t even be able to catch up with the pirates—even if we catch up, we won’t be able to defeat them.”
The Holy Han Dynasty stipulated that 500-stone ships were not allowed to go to sea. This resulted in the largest ship in the entire coastal area being the 300-stone ship used by the government to transport grain, and one of these ships was damaged and one of them was missing. With Zhang Xiaowu's strong support,
In recent years, craftsmen have even built five-hundred-stone ships and one-thousand-stone ships. It was precisely because of their shipbuilding experience that the craftsmen dared to mention Zhang Xiaowu's construction of the three-thousand-stone Hailong. However, they did not know whether it was successful or not, and it had not yet been launched.
After Zhang Xiaowu inspected the coastal defense camp, he went to the dock to see the 3,000-stone ship. When he walked into the col where the dock was located, a behemoth stood in front of everyone, and everyone was shocked. Zhang Xiaowu visually measured the height of the Hailong to be eight meters.
Looking from below, it looks like a city.
"This...is this the Hailong?" Zhang Xiaowu had only seen the drawings roughly, but when he actually saw the ship, he was still shocked. Although this ship was much smaller than the treasure ship that Zheng He sailed to the West, it was
In the eyes of today's people, it is still a giant. It is said that Zheng Hebao is 150 meters long, 62 meters wide, has nine masts and twelve sails. According to the load capacity of the Holy Han, it can carry 40,000 stones. And the Hailong
It is only twenty meters long, seven meters wide, and has a load of three thousand shi. Compared with Zheng He's treasure ship, it is not even as good as other people's supply ships. It is said that the supply ship of Zheng He's fleet weighed 8,000 shi.
Of course, the Holy Han Dynasty implemented a sea ban for three hundred years. Now it is unrealistic to suddenly become a shipbuilding power. Zhang Xiaowu did not want to eat a fat man in one bite. He just wanted to build a ship and go to Fusang to find the goddess fruit tree. As for this
Zhang Xiaowu thought that a three thousand stone ship was enough.
Yinggui, the shipyard superintendent, immediately introduced everything about the ship to Zhang Xiaowu, including its various sizes and weights, as well as its personnel and operations. The Hailong was the first ship that the northern shipbuilders carefully designed for three months and took one year to build.
A generation of sea-going ships with more than three thousand stone, but when building this ship, they were inspired and had already begun to design five-thousand-stone sea-going ships and eight-thousand-stone sea-going ships.
"Generalissimo, give me three years, and I will build you an eight-thousand-stone ship. That is the ship that can truly sail freely on the sea." Yinggui said excitedly. As a shipwright, Yinggui has spent most of his life
He never expected that he would be recruited by the Grand Marshal of the World's Armed Forces and be responsible for manufacturing sea-going ships and become the superintendent of the coastal defense camp. From an ordinary craftsman to a full-ranking imperial official, Yinggui decided to dedicate his life to the shipbuilding industry.
.
Zhang Xiaowu nodded to express encouragement, and then said with a smile: "Master Ying, do you know how big the Fusang people's tribute ships are?"
Yinggui affirmed: "The Fusang people's sea-going ships are four hundred stones. I have seen them and even ridden them. The skill of the Fusang people in sailing ships is far superior to that of the Central Plains people like us. I have to say that these Fusang people are born with natural talent."
Sailors." Zhang Xiaowu was surprised. Could it be that the little Fusang people are better at driving ships than the Shenghan people? Yinggui said that Fusang is a country composed of thousands of islands, so that almost all Fusang people are good swimmers and can drive ships.
Sailors, on the other hand, the Holy Han Empire has banned the sea for many years, and the people are cautious even when going to sea to fish. Where can we train sailors? Under the circumstances, the Han people are naturally not as good at sailing as the Fuso people.
"Even today's coastal defense camp still employs many Fuso sailors." Jin Sheng also said at the side.
Zhang Xiaowu shook his head. It seemed that the maritime ban was really harmful to people. Not only the shipbuilding skills were lost, but also the talent for sailing ships was lost.
