"Manager Wang, how long will it take for these two ships to be completely completed and undergo sea trials?"
Zhu Cixiang asked, looking at the roughly outline of the giant ship in front of him that had been built in various shapes.
Because only after these two ships have been put into sea trials can they be mass-built on a large scale. Although the shipyard has already built a smaller one for testing, no one is sure whether there will be problems after the hull is enlarged, so
It would be too risky to rush into mass construction without building one first to test the waters.
After all, this era is no different than the previous one. Many data can be analyzed and calculated in advance. He also agreed to build a model ship first.
But now that I have seen this giant ship, I can’t wait. What’s more, the Ming Navy really needs these two large ships now.
"Your Majesty, at most two sea ships will be launched in one month, and the required cannons have already been cast. So if everything goes well, mass construction can start in two months, and the required wood has already been prepared.
.”
The steward quickly replied, obviously understanding what Zhu Cihong meant.
"Well, once the test is correct, we will immediately go all out to build it. We will build fifty ships each first, and strive to complete and launch them before the end of this year. Is it possible?"
Zhu Cixi nodded and then waved his hand.
When the stewards heard that one hundred ships were to be built at once, they were all shocked by His Majesty's courage, and at the same time a little excited.
Finally, the steward of the shipyard pondered for a moment and then replied: "Your Majesty, if we work hard, we should be able to complete it, but the construction schedule of other ships may be affected."
"It doesn't matter. In the future, the main focus of the shipyard will still be on building warships for the navy, followed by merchant ships for maritime trade. If there is spare capacity, it is not wrong to pick up some small boats for inland water transportation."
Zhu Cixi nodded and then said.
In the past few years, Longjiang Shipyard, in addition to building some small and medium-sized ships for the Nanjing Navy, has also received a large number of orders from merchants, with drafts ranging from dozens to hundreds of tons. It simply accepts everyone who comes, as long as there is an order
Just make it.
And because the shipyard has already formed a large scale, it is not only cheap but fast in cycle time, resulting in an endless stream of orders from merchants in the south of the Yangtze River. Almost all of the hundreds of large and small ships being built today are for merchants.
As for the battleships of the Nanjing Navy, since these two giants were built, they have stopped building other battleships.
"What kind of ship is this? It looks quite big. Why does it look so weird?"
Zhu Cixiang walked along the shore for a while, then looked at several large ships being built on several slipways, and asked in surprise.
Because these ships are larger than other ships, with a length of at least ten feet and a width of three to four feet. They are several stories high and have flat and wide bottoms. They don't look like ships at all, but more like a ship.
House floating on the sea.
"Your Majesty, these are the flower boats ordered by Mrs. Chen." The steward replied carefully.
"I see, I wonder why it looks a little weird."
Zhu Cixiang was stunned and didn't say anything.
In fact, he didn't know that the largest customer of Longjiang Shipyard was Chen Yuanyuan. In the past three years, he had ordered more than 300 flower ships in total.
Although the materials used in these flower boats do not need to be too particular, because they need to be decorated very luxuriously, the price of each boat ranges from 3,000 to 5,000 taels, which almost supports most of the craftsmen of Longjiang Shipyard.
It can be said that Fengyuesi has now become the largest service industry in the Ming Dynasty. The number of people it directly supports and indirectly supports probably exceeds one million. Although the economic effect it produces is not as good as the silk industry, it is also the first in Jiangnan and even the entire Ming Dynasty.
Two pillar industries.
Although the brothel industry in the Ming Dynasty also prospered in the past, most of the money was made by nobles and powerful people. After these people made money, they would bury it underground, and the economic effect produced was not great.
But now after Chen Yuanyuan's integration, the wages and income of the prostitutes, maids, madams, waiters, and security guards in the brothel have doubled, and the money earned by Fengyue Division has also been used by Chen Yuanyuan to continuously expand and create more flowers.
The economic effect produced by ships is far beyond what it could be compared to before.
After only staying at the Longjiang Shipyard for three days and giving some advice, Zhu Cixi crossed the river to Yanshan County in Yangzhou Prefecture to inspect the salt industry.
He didn't know much about shipbuilding, so he didn't interfere too much. He just talked about standardization and the concept of modular production was instilled in the managers, allowing them to unify the craftsmen's rulers and experiment with modular production first.
That is to say, the entire ship is first broken down into countless parts and components, processed in the workshop, and then assembled uniformly on the slipway. In this way, both the speed and cost of shipbuilding will be greatly reduced and saved.
Moreover, materials can be selectively used according to the parts of the hull. Good materials can be used for key parts, and ordinary wood can be used for the superstructure, which can greatly reduce costs.
To this end, Zhu Cixi also explained the principles of pulleys and gantry cranes to the supervisors in detail and asked them to try them out to facilitate the lifting of larger spare parts in the future.
In fact, with the current technology of Ming Dynasty and the skills of carpenters, modular construction can be achieved. After all, the mortise and tenon technology itself requires splicing. When some carpenters build tables, chairs and benches, they use modular construction. They first make all the accessories and then proceed.
Splicing.
It's just that compared to the entire ship, there are too many accessories and it's too complicated, which cannot be completed by carpenters who can't read a word.
Because a ship must be dismantled with thousands of large and small wooden parts. How to splice them together, the order before and after, and the size of each wooden part all require rigorous calculations.
Therefore, Zhu Cixiang decided to recruit a group of candidates who were good at arithmetic to come to the shipyard after the imperial examination this year to be responsible for professional work such as decomposition calculations and even the design of new ship types.
Only in this way can the shipbuilding industry be developed more scientifically. Otherwise, those carpenters who cannot read a word and those managers who only know how to manage people will probably only be able to build ships based on their experience.
In the future, the shipyard will be divided into three parts. The design, finalization, decomposition and other work of the ship will all be taken care of by researchers who are good at arithmetic.
After they have determined the size of each accessory for each boat type, the carpenters will build it according to the size and shape of the accessory, and then assemble it according to the steps.
The steward is only responsible for logistical work, such as the daily life of the craftsmen, the procurement of wood and other materials, etc.
Each of the three parties performing their respective duties and working together through division of labor can definitely greatly improve the efficiency and development vitality of the shipyard.
The advantage of this is that you can usually build more wooden parts and store them. If needed, you can quickly assemble a boat within ten days and a half, and launch it into the water within a month.
It can even be done in the future. Although each boat model is different, many accessories can be designed to be the same, so that they can be used universally.
Of course, if you want to do this, you have to test the level of the scientific researchers, but Zhu Cixiang believes that as long as you are good at mathematics and can calm down, it is only a matter of time before you can do this.
