Guangzong Yaoming

Chapter 405: Shipbuilding! Shipbuilding!

The development of ships also has a clearer trajectory in Europe.

In the Middle Ages, European ships could be roughly divided into Nordic ships represented by Viking ships and Southern European ships represented by longships and roundships.

This situation began to change more than 200 years ago, when the characteristics of ships from northern and southern Europe began to mix, and a new type of ship, the caravel, emerged. Later, it evolved from a one-masted and one-sail ship to a three-masted ship.

But in different places, especially in Portugal and Spain, where sailing was first started, there were two other common types of ships. One was called the caravel, which was usually two-masted and more often used triangular sails. The other was the calais, which was supplemented by human oars. Although it was smaller in size, it shared the same characteristic with the caravel: it was fast.

The Portuguese certainly had caravels, but they basically only went to the Spice Islands. About forty years ago, Portugal built a batch of huge caravels, with a tonnage of nearly a thousand tons. However, most of these ships capsized on the coast of Africa during their voyages. Being too big was not good.

In the end, Portugal suffered a great loss in this incident and also controlled the large ships traveling between Portugal and East India to less than 450 tons.

As for those who reached further places, such as the Portuguese on the southern coast of the Eastern Empire known to the Dutch, they all used caravels of less than 100 tons.

So he could tell at a glance that these Eastern Empire ships had the shadow of caravels, but there were also significant differences.

For example, the Dutch who had been here twice before reported back that Eastern ships did not use triangular sails.

However, its superstructure, which is majestic but slows down its speed due to its weight, is not the design of a caravel.

In any case, the Ming warships were approaching.

The Dutchman counted and found only twelve gun muzzles on the side of the largest ship.

This is not a lot. A Karak battleship of this size can accommodate about thirty guns on one side.

The Netherlands is a "latecomer". At present, the merchant ships and warships they built are a new generation that combines the advantages of caravels and caravels, and are called galleons. The Spanish fleet is said to be invincible because it has a large number of galleons. The reason for the defeat to England was also due to the storm at sea.

The Dutchman looked at the shape of the Eastern warships with more disdain in his heart.

But judging from their structure, these Eastern warships are no match for the European fleets. After all, the most powerful fleets are now fighting in the Atlantic Ocean, because all routes eventually converge at various ports on the European coast.

The Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch fleets that competed with each other in the East were ultimately only secondary forces.

He thought so in his heart, but he just kept silent and let Jalil's men shout and wave flags with the Eastern Empire Navy which was getting closer and closer.

After all, it was just a cargo ship with no firepower, or a courtesy ship. And one of the three small escort ships carrying supplies had already been lost.

The fleet was then led forward by the warships of Guangdong Haiphong Road. To their north, the first stop of the imperial carriage after arriving in Guangzhou was Dongguan County.

In the town of Humen here, there was an official shipyard established during the Yongle period to meet the needs of coastal defense and trade.

The maritime trade company jointly run by Changming and Zongming also followed the example of Zhayanghang and took over the assets of the previous Dongguan Shipyard here, forming a larger shipyard.

At this moment, Liu Xiangjing, the head of this maritime trade company, accompanied by Wang Xun, led the emperor to visit the shipyard here and give an explanation.

"Among the four major types of ships in the Ming Dynasty, the Guang ship is unique because of ironwood..."

The so-called four major ship types of the Ming Dynasty are Fujian ship, Guangdong ship, Zhejiang ship and Suzhou ship.

As Hu Zongxian said in "Chou Hai Tu Bian": Fuzhou ships are "as tall as a building, with a pointed bottom, a wide top, and a raised mouth", "arrows, stones, and cannons are all fired from above", "if they meet a small enemy ship, they will be sunk", "and the enemy will find it difficult to attack from above", "they are truly a sharp weapon for naval warfare", "can sail with favorable winds and tides", "it is inconvenient and cannot be moored close to the shore, and must be ferryed by patrol boats."

Qi Jiguang commented in Jixiao Xinshu that the Fuzhou ships were "as tall as a city, with a draft of 11.2 feet", "the Fuzhou ships were pressed down by the wind, like a car crushing a praying mantis, fighting against the power of the ship rather than human power, so they always win", "they only benefit from the ocean, otherwise they will be stuck in the shallows", "they cannot be driven by human power, but rely entirely on wind" and "they cannot be used without wind".

The most distinctive feature of the Guang ship is that it is made of ironwood, which makes it more sturdy. In the past, the Guang ship was narrow at the bottom and wide at the top, like two wings. It was stable in the Caspian Sea but shaky in the open ocean.

As for the bird boats in Zhejiang and the sand boats in the Suyang area, they also have their own advantages and disadvantages.

But the common feature is that they are all ocean-going.

There was no way around it. Starting in the second year of the Yongle reign, civilian ships were all converted to pointed-bottomed flat-headed ships suitable for inland navigation, which almost wiped out the type of ship suitable for ocean-going. During the Hongzhi reign, Longjiang Shipyard was ordered to build a sealed boat, but it cost a whopping 15,000 taels, and the boat it built was "not suitable for long-distance sailing." This was the impact.

In the early years of the Jiajing reign, the situation began to improve in the confrontation with the Portuguese. When the Japanese pirates rebelled, the shipbuilding industry actually experienced a revival.

For example, the Guangdong ships. Made of ironwood, they are strong and durable. In order to fight against the Japanese pirates, many Guangdong ships built by private shipyards in Guangdong were incorporated into the navy. In the 35th year of Jiajing, more than 180 Guangdong ships were ordered to go north to suppress the Japanese pirates. Later, the Ming Dynasty also set up five large water forts along the coast of Guangdong and built a coastal defense system, which is now becoming the foundation of the Nanyang Fleet.

Thanks to the suppression of Japanese pirates during the Jiajing period and the aid to Korea in the fight against Japanese pirates during the Wanli period, Guangdong ships have been highly valued; coupled with the opening of the port during the Longqing period, Guangdong's shipbuilding industry has seen new developments.

The latest development is personally valued by the emperor, and this time, there is more long-term planning and technical support.

Liu Xiangjing was born in Xiangfen, Shanxi. His Liu family was not among the original top ten families in Shanxi, but could only be considered the second tier on the periphery.

But Liu Xiangjing was very capable and learned quickly.

"I have been ordered to take charge of the Maritime Trade Company. Following the imperial edict, I have been inviting master craftsmen from Yangjiang, Guangdong and other places. I have also tried to learn from others and consult the Institute of Research, hoping to build better long-distance warships and cargo ships." He said to Zhu Changluo beside the dock, "Your Majesty, please take a look. We have previously rebuilt some warships for the coastal defense route. We have conducted countless experiments over the years, and now we have finally decided on a new type of Guangdong ship."

Zhu Changluo nodded and looked around.

What was being built in the dock was indeed a large ship, and its length was not much shorter than Fengzhou.

The first significant difference from the Ming Dynasty ships is the sail system. Most Ming Dynasty ships used hard sails, and each sail was a whole. Although it had its advantages, it was very heavy and difficult to operate. In addition, most of them were square sails. They could use more wind power when the wind was blowing, but they lacked flexibility when the wind was blowing against them.

Today, this sail system has absorbed the design of the square sail, triangular sail and "distributed" multi-sided soft sail of European sailboats, and has also added a pulley and rope operation system. On the other hand, there are changes in the ship type. In order to better break the waves and sail far, the bottom of the ship has been changed to be more solid, and the waterline is wider than the upper part of the hull.

In addition, its biggest peculiarity is naturally the protruding part of the lower half of the bow.

Liu Xiangjing said to Zhu Changluo with great emotion and complicated eyes: "Let's not talk about other things. As for the boat nose that Your Majesty mentioned, I and the master craftsmen are really puzzled. During the test, it was not very obvious for small boats, but the big boat was fast and stable after installing this nose. Now that Your Majesty is here in person, I really want Your Majesty to give me some advice..."

Zhu Changluo's face was full of smiles: "I have tried it, it is really good?"

"Very good!" Liu Xiangjing said with certainty, "Ironwood is strong and heavy. We thought that the sails would not be able to propel the huge ship. But with this material, the ship is heavier, but the sails are not needed. The ship is much more stable."

This was specifically proposed by Zhu Changluo after he visited the Zhayanghang Shipyard in Dagu in the seventh year of Taichang.

The ships built by Dagu Shipyard were mainly used in the shallow Bohai Sea and along the coast, while the ships built along the southeast coast were already needed for ocean voyages.

After spending some time researching various shipping companies in this area, Zhu Changluo discovered a problem: this nose design was indeed not seen in any ship type of this era.

For Zhu Changluo, this thing is very memorable. In his impression, all large ships have such a thing. Although Zhu Changluo is not an expert, he also knows that it must be related to water resistance.

In short, since a round nose is a more mature design for the future, we can always let them give it a try.

So he made this suggestion with his imperial pen, drew a rough blueprint, and left the rest to them for trial production and testing.

At this moment, Liu Xiang asked a question, and Zhu Changluo smiled and said, "On a windless day, a galloping horse will still feel a strong wind. When a boat is sailing in the water, the water will block it, but it has to break through the waves to move forward. The nose of the boat is like using a blunt object to loosen the waves before breaking through them, so that it is easier to break through them. In addition, when the boat is sailing and the waves are hitting it back, the blunt nose of the boat can better block the force of the water hitting it back. If we study the reason in depth, I am afraid that it can be explained by mathematics. In short, it is good to use, and we can continue to experiment and improve it."

"Your Majesty's ingenuity is truly admirable to me." Liu Xiangjing seemed to have suddenly realized something, "It turns out that it is truly mysterious and profound."

"Everything in the world has its own reason." Zhu Changluo looked at him approvingly. "You have done a great job in managing the Haimao Company. It is a great achievement to have learned from many others and created a new ship model in just a few years. If you have any difficulties now, please let me know."

"I dare not take credit for it..." Liu Xiangjing was humble as usual, and then said, "If there is a difficulty, it is the lack of ironwood. I have also seen Western ships, and the wood they use is actually oak. Oak is a kind of wood, and if it is used as a boat, it will sink, and if it is used as a coffin, it will rot quickly. I was very confused at first. After investigating for a long time, I found that the oak they used is indeed more solid. Some people who went to the northern border to do business said that it is more like Mongolian oak..."

The so-called oak tree is the name of the oak tree in the East.

But China has been around for so long that many of the big trees in the north have already been cut down. The oak trees that are really suitable for shipbuilding must be giant trees that have grown to more than a hundred years old in areas with higher latitudes.

Europe is at a higher latitude, and the oak trees found in America are more useful in places further north. In the Ming Dynasty, there were indeed a lot of Mongolian oaks only in the Greater and Lesser Khingan Mountains in the northeast. The oak trees in the south, on the contrary, have relatively loose wood, which is why there is an idiom "Quercus chinensis" to describe mediocre and useless people.

The difficulties raised by Liu Xiangjing were very practical: First, ironwood was mostly used in Guangdong ships, but now ironwood is becoming less and less available. Second, ironwood is very hard, so it needs stronger and better steel to process. Although Guangdong is famous for its Guangdong pots, it will definitely need more support from the court to smelt good steel.

Zhu Changluo admired his pragmatic attitude and asked, "Where else can this ironwood grow?"

Wang Xun immediately said: "The maritime trade industry has already found that ironwood is not only found in Lingnan and Yunnan, but also in Annan, Myanmar, Babai Dadian, and even Malacca. There are more and better ones!"

Zhu Changluo understood a little and muttered to himself: "It seems to be a hardwood unique to tropical climates..."

Although the people nearby heard this, they were not surprised.

The emperor was extremely knowledgeable and he often had his own way of expressing himself.

However, Zhu Changluo immediately laughed again: "It seems that whether it is to stabilize the situation in the northern border or in the future, the benefits have come first. The timber issue is easy to deal with, and there is no need to worry about good steel. I will arrange it later."

The Ming Dynasty's demand for high-quality wood has long been a sharp problem. When he first ascended the throne, there was a shortage of wood for the three major palaces, and now he wants to vigorously develop the shipbuilding industry to cope with the maritime age, and there is also a shortage of wood.

And the Mongolian oak they were talking about, wasn't that the Northeast Forest Farm that Zhu Changluo was familiar with? What about Bald Qiang logging? That had a profound historical background.

At present, the Tatars and the Jurchens can trade the huge oak trees in this bitter cold land as a bulk commodity. The wooden horse market between Daiqing and Daming was for these giant trees at the southern end of the Greater Khingan Range.

One is slow-growing in cold climates and therefore has durable wood, and the other is grown in tropical climates, both of which can be obtained later.

After a tour of the shipyard, Zhu Changluo finally said, "Now that we have the foundation, we will start mass production. Dongguan County will surely be a gathering place for hundreds of craftsmen in the future. Mr. Jie Jing, in the future, the Privy Council's office here will not only manage the Nanyang Fleet, but also a new military industrial park."

The scripture interpreter knew this long ago, so he lowered his head and said, "I understand."

"Wang Zheng, you can arrange for Galileo and Kepler to study this new type of ship and give some suggestions from an academic perspective. Even if I cannot produce any results during my stay in Guangzhou, we must find out where there are areas for improvement. The main issues are related to wind power, water power, and sail control. These topics are very useful."

"I accept the decree."

Zhu Changluo looked expectantly at the surface of the Pearl River Estuary not far away.

China is a vast country with many talented people.

He only needs to not suppress this progress but encourage it, and then the Ming Dynasty will definitely be at the forefront in shipbuilding technology.

With the organizational capabilities of a unified country and driven by military, maritime trade, sea expansion and militia training, the shipbuilding industry also has a sufficient market.

Today, on the distant coast of Europe, Westerners are building ships like dumplings in order to compete for the benefits of the great voyages and spheres of influence. How could the Ming Dynasty fall behind?
Build a ship! Build a ship!

He was very much looking forward to the day when the Ming fleet would return to Jiugang.

(End of this chapter)