My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 239 Dallion Shipyard

When Zhuge Jin heard that Mi Zhu's Liaodong trade had not yet involved selling ships and horses, but was always selling celadon and steel, he could not help but give him a warning.

It seems that Mi Zhu still hasn't understood the profound meaning of his previous arrangements.

Fortunately, this trade has only been going on for two rounds and more than three months, so it is not too late to make adjustments later.

After listening to Zhuge Jin's in-depth analysis, Mi Zhu seemed to have opened up a new perspective, and couldn't help but think about it carefully:

"Selling ships to Gongsun Du is actually to facilitate his expansion into the Daifang area and fight against the Three Hans? But if this is the case, won't Gongsun Du's power become even stronger? By then, he will dominate the eastern sea, covering thousands of miles. When the Central Plains is unified, it will be extremely difficult to take over."

Zhuge Jin patted Mi Zhu's shoulder calmly and said earnestly, "Zi Zhong is overthinking. You have to think like this: when we were in Yuzhang and the six counties in the south of Danyang, it took a lot of effort to subdue the Shanyue people and use them for our own benefit.

I was able to easily subdue them, thanks to my ability to climb mountains as if walking on flat ground, and my magic of turning iron into copper, which tempted the Shanyue people, so that we could all get rich and solve the people's livelihood problems together. But in the future, can we still persuade the barbarians of Daifang and the Three Kingdoms of Korea in the same way?
The mineral deposits in the Three Kingdoms of Korea are scarce, and the products are all owned by the Central Plains. It is difficult to expect to attract the local barbarians to return by developing people's livelihood. At this time, we should learn from the method of Brother Zishan in Fujian:

The Shanyue people in central Fujian also had no special products, and the government could not offer any bait in terms of livelihood, but they were willing to submit to the Han Dynasty and obey the king's rule from then on. Why? Wasn't it because Sun Ce had slaughtered people all the way and pursued Wang Lang for food?

When Sun Ce and Wang Lang were fighting back and forth, each of them tried to win over the Shanyue. By the time we went to clean up the mess, the Shanyue people had all been tied to the chariots of both Sun and Wang. There were very few wild barbarians left, and they had all become accustomed barbarians.

The people of the Three Han are the same. If the Han court attacks them directly, they have not suffered enough at the beginning and are used to being independent, so they would rather die than surrender. But let Gongsun Du lead the way and clean up the troublemakers in the Three Han. When we go to pacify Gongsun Du in the future, we don’t have to worry about the problem of raw and cooked barbarians. Gongsun Du has already helped us become cooked barbarians.”

Mi Zhu thought about this line of thought quietly for a long time, and then he suddenly understood.

This kind of situation does happen frequently in the business world: the first and second players in a market repeatedly take over the market share, and finally the third player is wiped out. Mi Zhu has been in business for many years, so he can understand this simple truth.

However, for the sake of safety, he still put forward some suggestions on the detailed implementation level:

"If the purpose is to induce Gongsun Du to conquer the barbarians, selling the ships is indeed a brilliant move. As far as I know, east of Liaodong, it is indeed extremely difficult to march deep into the peninsula by land, with the snow-capped mountains and the Permian River as the boundary.

If there were seagoing ships, they could go south along the coast and save themselves the trouble of getting supplies. But I think that when Gongsun Du went south to the Three Kingdoms of Korea, he only needed seagoing ships suitable for coastal sailing, not good ships that could sail across the sea.

The ships we are using now can sail directly from Shandong to Liaodong. If this type of ship is leaked, won't Gongsun Du be able to take the initiative to go south to trade with us in the future, or even trade with other coastal princes except Yuan Shao? How can we monopolize their benefits?

Can you make an improved model that is more suitable for sailing along the east coast of Liaodong Peninsula but not conducive to crossing the sea directly, and sell it specifically to Gongsun Du?"

Mi Zhu suddenly thought of these words during this mutually inspiring brainstorming. As soon as he said them, he felt that they were a bit rash and wanted to take them back.

My requirements are too high! Brother Zhuge can build a new keel sea ship, which has much higher sailing speed and seaworthiness than the original old ship. How can I be picky?

So Mi Zhu quickly changed his words: "Zi Yu, don't mind me, I just said that casually..."

Zhuge Jin was inspired by the other party, and raised his hand to signal Mi Zhu to stop arguing and let him think quietly: "No need, this is a very good argument, let me think about it."

Logically speaking, Mi Zhu's suggestion is very good.

In the future, when countries sell arms, even if they decide to release a certain technological product, they will make some final adjustments to make it a scaled-down "foreign trade version."

For Gongsun Du, the ability to sail across the strait between the Liaodong Peninsula and the Shandong Peninsula is indeed not what he needs. He is only worthy of using a ship that is fast, stable, and powerful enough to sail close to the coast of the Korean Peninsula. Other redundant performance should be deleted.

However, it would not be cost-effective to go to great lengths to replace the entire chassis or hull design of the ship just for a foreign trade version of Gongsun Du.

The process is long and requires a lot of thought, and the craftsmen and the shipyard's production equipment also need to be re-adjusted.

Zhuge Jin naturally thought that the reduction in the size of foreign trade versions of weapons in later generations was mainly due to the reduction in ancillary equipment, while the chassis was often left unchanged. This was the most mature experience in cost reduction. Since Zhuge Jin knew this, there was no reason for him not to use it.

"So, is there any way to not change the 'chassis' of the sea-going vessel, but only change the superstructure and facilities, to make a foreign trade version for Gongsun Du that is super strong along the coast but cannot cross the sea?" Zhuge Jin followed this line of thought and thought about it for a long time.

Mi Zhu knew Zhuge Jin quite well, and he knew that whenever he saw Zhuge Jin waving his folding fan at a constant speed without making any other movements, not even moving his eyes, he must not disturb him.

Mr. Zhuge is confined in his mind again to think up a big move. When he has thought enough and lets out a long roar with his knees hugged, he will come out.

As expected, Zhuge Jin ignored the cold weather in February of the lunar calendar and gently fanned himself for who knows how long, then suddenly snapped his fan shut:
"We have a solution. We don't need to change the hull of the keel boat. The underwater structure will remain the same, but we will widen the upper cabin. Take the common keel boat with a width of 20 feet as an example. We will widen the upper cabin to 30 feet! Expand the left and right sides by 5 feet each!

In this way, the underwater part is as narrow as a new keel boat, but as wide as an old warship above water, which makes it easier to place crossbows on both sides, and also gives more space for archers and rowers to stand side by side. In combat, the archers are outside and the rowers are inside, without affecting each other. Wouldn't the combat power be doubled? "

Mi Zhu was completely confused. He knew a lot about sailing, but even as a maritime merchant, he didn't understand how the ship operated as described by Zhuge Jin.

"The rowers and archers are placed side by side? The archers are outside and the rowers are inside? How can you row the boat then? Your oars have to extend out of the portholes. If the oar windows are occupied by the crossbow shooting holes, how can you row the boat?" The question raised by Mi Zhu is also the question that everyone who understands navigation in this era will inevitably ask.

At that time, neither the warships of the Han Dynasty nor the warships of the Western Rome could achieve "rowers and archers working at the same time on the same deck", because both of them would occupy the space on the side and would definitely interfere with each other.

In the same window, the oars have to be extended to paddle, so the archers cannot aim and shoot arrows.

Therefore, no matter it was a tower ship or a fighting ship, the deck where archers shot was on a higher level than the rowers' deck, or they simply shot arrows from behind the parapet on the roof.

However, facing Mi Zhu's question, Zhuge Jin smiled. This was the question he was waiting for.

"It's very simple. Didn't I specially widen the ship's superstructure by five feet on both sides? Therefore, the oar opening no longer needs to be opened to the side of the ship, but directly downwards! From the part of the upper cabin that is wider than the side of the waterline, dig a hole downwards, and the oars can be directly extended downwards into the water for paddling!
There is another benefit to this. In traditional warships, the most vulnerable to casualties during crossbow shooting are the rowers. Because the rowing windows must ensure the range of motion of the oars, they cannot be covered with porthole covers, and enemy arrows are most likely to be shot in through the rowing windows.

If you have to cover the oar window to fight, the price is that the boat will lose most of its power and can only sail with the thrust of the sail. When the oar window is opened downward, the enemy's arrows cannot be shot from the water into the cabin, and the rowers will not be injured or killed.

How much of an advantage would a warship with a high speed and no way to shoot its oarsmen in a decisive battle have over the old warship? Would Gongsun Du not be tempted? After my transformation, I actually buried a hidden danger, that is, because the upper cabin of this new ship is wider than the waterline, it is top-heavy and has an unstable center of gravity.

Therefore, in terms of seaworthiness, or navigation stability, it is far inferior to the new keel boat with the same width from top to bottom. Even compared with the old-fashioned sand boat without a keel, it has no stability advantage, but only a faster speed.

What I want to give Gongsun Du is a warship that is fast, has strong defense against fire, but cannot cross the sea and can only stay close to the sea."

Zhuge Jin explained his idea in one go. Mi Zhu was also stunned after listening to the analysis of advantages and disadvantages. He did not expect that Zi Yu could come up with such a fantastic but seemingly possible improvement plan in such a short time.

Moreover, the cost is acceptable. The chassis and hull design have not been changed, only the superstructure has been changed.

Little did he know that Zhuge Jin was also following inertial thinking, and he came to this conclusion by sorting out and reversely deducing the models of warships applicable to the vicinity of the Korean Peninsula that had been seen in later generations.

The plan conceived by Zhuge Jin was actually similar to the "plank-roofed boat" used by the later Goryeo/Joseon Kingdom from the Song Dynasty in the Central Plains to the early Ming Dynasty.

The biggest feature of the North Korean plank boat is that it is top-heavy and has poor seaworthiness and stability, but its defense is absolutely strong. Its iconic structural feature is that the superstructure is wider than the bottom of the boat, and the small boat carries the big building. Then, the extra width of the superstructure is used to extend over the side of the boat, and the rowing window is creatively opened downwards, which absolutely protects the rowers.

As for the specific shape and structure of the plank ship, Zhuge Jin had seen them in the Korean movies "The Battle of Myeongryang" and "The Battle of Noryang" before he traveled through time. The props were basically restored, so Zhuge Jin could roughly describe its characteristics based on his impression.

In the Battle of Myeongnyang, Yi Sun-sin did not use turtle ships, but relied on 12 plank-roofed ships to defeat 300 Japanese pirate warships. He relied on the structural defense of the warships to make the sailors immune to the Japanese "iron cannons". (Later, turtle ships were used in the Battle of Noryang, and the Ming army participated in the battle. The Battle of Myeongnyang was just a small naval battle the year before, and only plank-roofed ships were used)
Zhuge Jin simply took the ship type that the Koreans had summarized in history, which sacrificed seaworthiness but enhanced defense, and sold it to Gongsun Du eight hundred years in advance, allowing Gongsun Du to "learn the advanced technology of the foreigners in order to defeat them". Isn't that wonderful?

……

It took Mi Zhu a long time to finally understand Zhuge Jin's thinking, but he soon discovered another problem.

"But... since this ship has extremely poor seaworthiness and cannot cross the sea, and is easily top-heavy and capsizes, how can we build it in Guangling County and sail it to Liaodong to sell it? Will it be dangerous on the way there? Or can we only load ballast cargo on the lower deck and leave the upper deck empty? Can we only load light cargo?"

Zhuge Jin thought for a moment and said, "What you said is also a solution. From now on, if we build a plank house in Guangling and ship it to Liaodong, we can only load steel and celadon ballast in the narrow lower hull. Tea can no longer be loaded on the upper deck, and we can only load light goods lighter than silk, satin and linen.

There is another way, which is..."

When Zhuge Jin thought of this, he suddenly realized that he had to confirm the situation, so he called his attendant and asked him to find Taishi Ci and get another map.

Taishi Ci was waiting outside and soon came in. Zhuge Jin pointed at the map he had just received and asked:
"Ziyi, when you went to explore the shipping route last year, you passed through Dashi County on the other side of Mouping, at the tip of the Liaodong Peninsula. How was Gongsun Du's rule there?"

Taishi Ci did not even think about it and answered immediately: "Gongsun Du has not yet arrived in Dashi to establish his rule. This place is isolated on a peninsula, deep in the sea. To get there by land from the hinterland of Liaodong, one must cross the mountains on the peninsula. There are only fishing villages and a few pirates in the area, living in seclusion."

The Dashi County mentioned by Zhuge Jin is the area of Dalian and Lushun in later times. Since ancient times, the terrain of peninsulas is mostly composed of mountainous areas, otherwise it would not be possible to extend into the sea to form a peninsula, so the land at the tip of the peninsula is often easy to reach by sea, but very painful by land.

Gongsun Du had not established a navy before, so he certainly would not come to a remote place like Dashi where he had to cross many mountains. The benefits of ruling the place could not keep up with the costs of ruling.

Zhuge Jin was very satisfied with this answer: "Since Gongsun Du doesn't like it, then we will send people to occupy it, and then recruit refugees, fishermen and pirates in Dashi County to build a shipyard.

From now on, all defective ships sold to Gongsun Du will be built at the Dashi Shipyard. Guangling Shipyard will only build ships for our own use. Anyway, celadon and other in-demand goods can still sustain Liaodong trade for a year or so. When those goods are almost saturated, we will start selling ships to Gongsun Du to fight the Dongyi people next year. There is no need to rush. "

Zhuge Jin casually drew a circle on the map, and from then on the two major shipbuilding centers of the Han Dynasty were formed: the shipyard at the mouth of the Yangtze River in Guangling County was the largest sea ship base in the Han Dynasty, and was later renamed "Jiangnan Shipyard".

Dasi County in Liaodong was the second largest sea shipping base, which was later renamed "Dalyan Shipyard".

Taishi Ci was about to join the military campaign against Sun Ce, so he didn't need to lead the way. Let Mi Zhu complete the preliminary preparations by himself with his business power.

(End of this chapter)