The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 249 Navy Ships
The water wheels in Longjiangzhou were turning one by one, and the workshops for sawing wood boards and timber planks gradually started to operate.

Rows of huge sheds were also built outside the workshop, and the neatly stacked wooden blocks and planks inside were increasing in number, like rows of square wooden houses, with no end in sight.

Although more than 20 docks had not been built at this time, we could start discussing the issue of shipbuilding.

How many ships should the navy be equipped with, how many ships of each type should be equipped, how many naval officers and soldiers should be recruited, and what weapons and equipment should be provided to the naval officers and soldiers, all these need to be discussed carefully.

At about 4 p.m. that afternoon, as the sun was setting, hundreds of navy centipede boats sailed downstream into the Longjiang River and soon arrived at the dock on the east side of Longjiang Island.

The craftsmen on the shore gathered towards the dock quickly, carrying shoulder poles, holding ropes, and pushing flatbed carts, as if they had received an order.

As soon as the navy warships docked, tens of thousands of craftsmen lined up and rushed onto the ships, lifting huge logs with shoulder poles and ropes and loading them onto the flatbed carts.

Logs several meters long are placed on a flatbed truck in the front and back, and logs more than ten meters long are placed on three flatbed trucks in the front, middle and back. Once the logs are full, they are quickly pushed to the water truck.

These craftsmen didn't need anyone to direct them. They were all very motivated and unloaded the goods very quickly.

They now receive two taels of silver and two stone of grain per month, and their work clothes are all issued uniformly, so they don't have to pay for them at all.

This day is so promising that they are naturally full of energy.

Deng Zilong couldn't help but feel secretly happy when he saw their posture.

His Majesty is really willing to spend money. The enthusiasm of the craftsmen has been stimulated, and the number of navy ships will definitely increase rapidly.

At this moment, a rider suddenly came and rode straight towards him.

It turned out that Wanli heard that he had returned and asked him to go to the general's tent to discuss matters.

Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong hurriedly mounted the imperial guards' warhorse and galloped towards the central camp.

At this moment, Wanli had summoned Yu Zigao, the Peng brothers, and a group of craftsmen and foremen to the general's tent where maps were specially displayed.

However, what was placed on the large table in the middle was not a map, but various ship drawings.

After Deng Zilong came in, he immediately waved and said, "Yunqing, come quickly, let's see what kind of naval vessels we can build this year."

Hasn't this been discussed before?
Upon hearing this, Deng Zilong bowed and walked quickly to the large table.

Wanli immediately said solemnly, "Yunqing, I just heard Kemai say that every Fuchuan and treasure ship must be equipped with a certain number of fast boats, right?"

Deng Zilong nodded repeatedly upon hearing this and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, if the Fu Ships and Treasure Ships participate in naval battles, it would be best if they were accompanied by a certain number of fast boats."

Wanli asked again: "How much do you think is appropriate?"

How do you say this?

Deng Zilong thought about it, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, if possible, a 1,000-ton Fu ship should be equipped with 20 400-ton octopus ships or 10 800-ton centipede ships. A 2,000-ton ship should be equipped with 40 octopus ships and 20 centipede ships, and so on."

If this continues, a treasure ship of 5,000 tons would have to be equipped with 100 octopus ships or 50 centipede ships!
Wanli was puzzled and asked, "Why are there so many clippers?"

Deng Zilong explained in detail: "The speedboats are usually used to prevent the enemy from approaching to set fire or board the ship to seize it. If this is the only protection, then there is no need to allocate too many.

However, if there is no wind or the wind direction is wrong, if you want to use these giant ships to participate in the battle, you have to rely on fast ships to pull them over. It will take twenty octopus ships or ten centipede ships to pull the thousand-ton Fu ships. "

Oh, so it was to pull the giant ship to participate in the war.

Will this situation happen?
Of course there is. The wind doesn't blow in the direction you want it to. It's not certain whether there is wind or not. Even the emperor cannot control the wind.

If we can't participate in the war without giant ships, the navy's combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced, because only giant ships can be equipped with cannons.

He did not plan to equip the clipper with cannons, because the clipper could only be equipped with cannons weighing about a hundred pounds, and the shells might not be able to penetrate the several-inch-thick ship planks.

Moreover, the space on the clipper is small and can't accommodate many cannons.

Wanli thought about it, then nodded slowly and said, "Well, then equip each giant ship with a fast boat.

We've dug twenty-four dredging ponds, all built to the largest specifications. Each batch can produce fifteen thousand-ton Fuzhou ships. Twenty-four makes three hundred and sixty ships, and seven hundred and twenty ships a year. That means we'll have to build over fourteen thousand eight-claw ships, or seven thousand two hundred centipede ships. This is definitely not feasible. We'll need to build massive ships of two, three, and even five thousand tons, equipped with even larger guns. Even a thousand-ton Fuzhou ship wouldn't be enough.

Yunqing, how many thousand-ton ships do you think are appropriate to build?"

You don't want to build too many thousand-ton ships?
I feel that if we can have a huge fleet of 720 thousand-ton ships, we will be invincible.

Deng Zilong thought for a moment, then asked, "Danyang, how many thousand-ton ships do you think you can build in the second half of this year?"

This one.

Peng Zungu pondered upon hearing this, "We only have one set of molds for a thousand-ton Fuzhou ship. When the planks are finalized, we can only stack them up to ten layers at most. In other words, if we start work now, we can build ten Fuzhou ships in one batch.

The mold processing is also very time-consuming. Even if we have a lot of people now, we can only complete ten sets of molds in the remaining month of the first half of the year. By this calculation, we can only build a hundred thousand-ton Fu ships this year at most."

Mold?

Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but ask curiously, "Danyang, does shipbuilding also require molds?"

You haven't seen the shipbuilding process.

Upon hearing this, Peng Zungu explained in detail: “Yes, Your Majesty, shipbuilding also requires molds.

Because the wooden boards of the hull are not flat, but curved, and the wooden boards of the hull are at least several inches thick. It is not possible to rivet the boards together, as they will break.

We can only soften the wood in hot oil beforehand, then press it onto the mold with stones or something to create the desired shape, and then tie it to the mold to air dry and set it in shape."

Oh, this is similar to making a bow tire.

To make a bow, you can't just find a tough branch and tie the bowstring to it. The bow frame also needs to be pressed into a mold to shape it.

He had seen this before.

Wanli nodded slightly upon hearing this and said, "Well, it seems we still need to consider the mold supply issue. Wouldn't the molds for the Octopus Ship and Centipede Ship be easier to make?"

Peng Zungu nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the hull structures of the Octopus Ship and Centipede Ship are not as complex as the Thousand-ton Ship, and the planks they use are not as thick as the Thousand-ton Ship. The molds needed are not many, and they are not very large. They are much easier to make than the molds for the Thousand-ton Ship."

Upon hearing this, Wanli asked again, "Old Yang, building a 1,000-ton or 2,000-ton Fuzhou ship requires experience, right? It's not something that just any craftsman can do, right?"

Of course.

Old Yang nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, craftsmen who have never built a thousand-ton Fu ship can only help at the beginning. Those with quick minds may learn after building a batch. If their brains are not so good, who knows how many batches they will have to build before they can build one."

Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Well, we may not necessarily fight naval battles in the next few years. Most of the ships we need are fast ships. We don't need to build too many thousand-ton Fu ships. It will be enough to build about a hundred ships a year.

Therefore, it is enough to have five sets of molds for the thousand-ton Fu ship. Don't waste time making more molds. You can make more molds for the Octopus Ship and Centipede Ship, because we still have to build giant ships of more than two thousand tons later.

By the way, Old Yang, can we make a batch of octopus boats and centipede boats in three months? How many octopus boats and centipede boats can be placed in a pond?"

Old Yang nodded repeatedly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, the planks for the Octopus Boat and Centipede Boat are easy to shape and can be made quickly. We should have no problem making a batch in three months.

This centipede boat is long and narrow, not much shorter than a thousand-ton boat. A single pond can only hold fifteen of them, while an octopus boat can hold thirty."

Wanli thought about it carefully and said decisively: "Then we will build ten thousand-ton ships this year. You can pick some clever craftsmen to follow and learn from them. Next year we can reach an annual output of 100 ships.

In addition, the octopus boats will be built in ten manholes, with a batch of 300 boats. The centipede boats will be built in thirteen manholes, with a batch of 130 boats. Yunqing, please calculate how many naval officers and soldiers will be needed next year."

How many naval officers and soldiers are needed?
Deng Zilong estimated: "An octopus ship needs about ten people to operate it, and ten more to fight it, which means twenty people. The standard configuration of a centipede ship is forty people, and the best configuration of a thousand-ton blessing ship is one hundred soldiers each.

By this calculation, with over a thousand octopus ships, over seven hundred centipede ships, and over a hundred thousand-ton ships, we would need at least fifty thousand naval officers and men, and now we only have ten thousand."

Fifty thousand is not a lot, and it is nothing compared to the number of the Beijing Army and the border troops.

(End of this chapter)