Feng An sent someone to notify him yesterday, so the steward of the dock had already led everyone to wait at the door. When he saw Feng An and his party coming, he quickly saluted.
Feng Ang waved his hand and said, "You don't need to be polite."
Lu Shichun, the steward of the dock, stepped forward, bowed and asked, "I wonder what the Duke's orders are when he comes this time?"
Lu Shichun felt very uneasy. This dock had been built for more than ten years, but Feng An had never been there.
In addition, many shipbuilding craftsmen have been mobilized in the past few days, and he still doesn't know what's going on.
Feng An pointed at Lin Xuan and said: "This is the Marquis of Jingyang County. From today on, this dock, including the craftsmen inside, will belong to the Marquis of Jingyang County."
Lu Shichun was stunned. He never expected that the shipyard would change its owner.
Soon, Lu Shichun came back to his senses, and he quickly saluted Lin Xuan respectfully and said, "I have met the Marquis of Jingyang County, this little man, Lu Shichun."
Feng An pointed at Lu Shichun and said to Lin Xuan: "He has been managing this dock for nearly ten years and has always managed it well. Of course, you can decide for yourself whether you want to change people after you take over."
Lu Shichun looked at Lin Xuan with some anxiety. If Lin Xuan wanted to replace him, he would have no choice but to leave.
Although the Feng family will accommodate him, he will definitely not be able to be a manager by then if he is a carrot and a pit.
"Since he is doing a good job, let him continue to manage." Lin Xuan said.
The people at the shipyard were all arranged by Feng Ang, so it wouldn't make much sense to change to another manager.
As long as Lu Shichun didn't resort to any tricks, it would be fine if the ship was built for him.
"Don't worry, Lord Marquis, I will manage the dock well." Lu Shichun quickly expressed his loyalty.
"I feel a little unwell, so I'll go back first," Feng Ang said.
"Then I won't send the old prince off."
After watching Feng Ang leave, Lin Xuan looked at Lu Shichun and said: "Call the people with the best shipbuilding skills in the dockyard. I have something to say."
"Master Marquis, go in and sit down for a while. I'll order someone to invite someone," Lu Shichun said.
Lin Xuan nodded and followed Lu Shichun into the dock.
Not long after, a dozen craftsmen were invited over.
The youngest of these people are over fifty, and the oldest are over seventy years old.
"I've met Manager Lu."
Lu Shichun introduced: "This is the Marquis of Jingyang County. The Duke has given this dock to the Marquis."
"I've met Lord Marquis!" Everyone saluted quickly.
Lin Xuanxu helped him: "You don't have to be polite, I have a blueprint. Please help me see if it can be made and how much time it will take."
Lin Xuan took out the drawings, spread them out on the table, and asked the craftsmen to come forward and take a look.
Those craftsmen didn't pay much attention to it. They have studied shipbuilding all their lives. I dare not say that no one can compare with it. However, they are also among the top people in building sea-going ships. There is no such thing as a sea-going ship that they have never built.
But when they saw the blueprints of Zheng He's treasure ship, they discovered that they had never built one.
Not only that, many parts of this ship are different from the ships they usually build.
Although Zhang Zhongjian knows some about boats, compared with these people, he can only be regarded as an amateur.
He just felt that Zheng He's treasure ship was very big and could dominate the sea if built. However, he could not see how advanced the craftsmanship and technology contained in Zheng He's treasure ship was.
"Wonderful, the rudder can be changed to lift, so that the depth of the rudder blade into the water can be adjusted as needed." An old man exclaimed.
The ship's navigation on the sea mainly depends on the rudder to control the direction. The rudder of the Zheng He treasure ship is liftable, and the depth of the rudder blades in the water can be adjusted as needed. When the ship sails in deep water and encounters strong winds, waves or turbulence, the rudder blades must be moved up and down.
The lower edge is lowered below the bottom of the ship so that the rudder is not affected; when sailing in shallow water or anchoring, the rudder can be raised to a high position to prevent grounding and damage to the rudder blades.
"Not only that, the rudder has been modified to make it lighter and more flexible to operate."
"You only noticed the rudder and didn't look at the cabin? This drawing divides the cabin into more than a dozen cabins, and the cabins are tightly separated by bulkheads. During ocean voyages, even if one or two cabins are damaged and flooded
, the water will not flow to other cabin areas. Therefore, from the overall perspective of the ship, it still maintains considerable buoyancy and will not sink. This design is simply ingenious."
"Furthermore, the ship's plates have also been thickened, which greatly enhances the structural strength and collision resistance of the hull. Other ships are just like paper in front of it."
More than a dozen people looked at the drawings, completely forgetting Lin Xuan's existence, and began to discuss the drawings.
"Everyone, I just want to know if this boat can be built."
Lin Xuan had to interrupt their discussion, otherwise he wouldn't know when they were going to discuss it.
Being disturbed, the craftsmen turned their heads in displeasure and glared at Lin Xuan.
"How dare you be rude to the Marquis?" Lu Shichun scolded.
Only then did everyone come back to their senses and hurriedly said: "I was just in a trance and bumped into the Marquis. Please forgive me."
Lin Xuan didn't care at all, these people were just happy to see Xun Xin, waved their hands and said: "I don't understand what you are talking about, I just want to know if this ship can be built, and how long will it take to build one?
"
An old man pondered for a while and said: "Back to Lord Marquis, this drawing is very detailed, so there will be no problems in building it. However, this ship has been modified in many places. This is the first time we have seen it, so we need to think about it carefully.
If the entire shipyard is involved, it will take about six to eight months."
Lin Xuan frowned slightly. Even though there were only more than 500 craftsmen in the shipyard, there were definitely more than just these people building the ship.
The transportation of lumber and other chores together require nearly 2,000 people.
It's just that those people can only be regarded as part-time workers and are not counted as craftsmen.
He originally thought that he would be able to build three or five ships when he went to sea in the autumn.
Soon Lin Xuan's brows widened. Just one ship. One ship of such a giant is enough.
"You take this drawing back to study, and when it's ready, start building the ship." Lin Xuan said.
Those craftsmen's hearts flew to the drawings, and they went down with the drawings happily after hearing this.
Lin Xuan said to Lu Shichun: "I don't want the drawings of this ship to be exposed, do you understand?"
He never revealed the blueprints of Zheng He's treasure ship. After all, the people at the dock were sent to him by Feng An. Who knows if Feng An arranged spies here.
Lingnan was Feng Ang's territory. Even if he didn't arrange anyone, he only needed to use some tricks to get the blueprints.
Zheng He's treasure ship was too big and could only travel in the sea. The inland rivers and lakes were too narrow and shallow for Zheng He's treasure ship.
Lin Xuan was not afraid at all that Feng Ang would obtain the blueprints and pose a threat to Datang.
In history, no matter how powerful the naval forces were, the princes could only settle for a while. Who has ever seen anyone who relied on the naval forces to unify the world?
He said these were actually a test of Lu Shichun to see if Lu Shichun was a usable person.
Lin Xuan did not suspect that Lu Shichun was a traitor arranged by Feng An. After all, Lu Shichun was the steward of the dock, and Lin Xuan would probably replace him after taking over. As long as Feng An was not stupid, it would be impossible for Lu Shichun to be a spy.
He couldn't stay in Lingnan for a long time. Whatever happened here had to be decided by the manager himself. If Lu Shichun didn't have that ability, he would definitely have to replace him.
Lu Shichun felt nervous and said quickly: "Don't worry, Lord Marquis, I will definitely not let the drawings be exposed."
Lin Xuan was noncommittal and said: "Let's calculate how much it costs to build a ship in the next two days. I'll have the money delivered in a few days."