Chongzhen's domineering

Chapter 165 The Transmission of the Court to Restore Liao: Taiji's Detour (Part 2)

When Sun Chuanting launched the war to recover Liaodong, the capital was peaceful, and no one in the court or the public expected that Liaodong would suddenly break out at this time.

Zhu Jue didn't say anything. These days he's been going to the shipyard every day, seemingly very busy.

At this time, the hulls of the twenty giant ships assembled during the ice age had already been launched, the sealing tests had been completed, and any problems had been repaired. Thousands of craftsmen were busy assembling boilers, steam engines, water turbines, decks, and cabins on the hulls.

Such a giant ship would not have a single deck, but two.

One deck below, one deck above.

Below the deck were the boilers, steam engines, and water turbines connected by a shaft, while the cabins above the deck could be used as gun emplacements or cargo holds.

Zhu Jue had no intention of turning these twenty giant ships into gunboats, because there was not enough time and they did not have suitable cannons to mount them.

He simply ordered people to build it into a cargo ship, which made assembly much easier; the deck could simply be made into an empty cargo hold.

Around 9 a.m. that day, after he had finished reviewing the memorials, he rode straight to the shipyard with Zheng Zhilong, Wang Chengen, and others.

He didn't even go to see the giant ships being assembled; instead, he went straight to the dock where Wang Zheng was busy.

Right now, Wang Zheng is examining a small, round piece, about an inch in size, from all angles.

In front of him was a bowl of these small black round pieces, and next to it were rolls of rubber strips.

Can this thing really achieve a complete seal?

He had never tried it before and really didn't know.

Seeing this, Zhu Jue walked over and asked with great interest, "Well, Liangfu, are you ready?"

I don't have much to prepare. Shipyards have plenty of planks and timber, and rivets are also plentiful.

Wang Zheng nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, everything is ready."

Zhu Jue immediately waved his hand without hesitation and said, "Then let's get started."

Wang Zheng waved his hand with a strange expression and said, "Start assembling."

Dozens of craftsmen immediately carried about ten thick wooden planks, each about a foot wide and three feet long, and placed them side by side on a frame about half a person's height. Then they stuffed the slightly stiff triangular rubber strips into the middle of the planks.

They had never used this thing before, and all they knew was that it was basically something with one convex side facing down and the two flat sides facing up, which you just had to insert straight into the gap between the wooden boards.

Seeing that they had inserted all the rubber sealing strips, Zhu Jue raised his hand and gestured, "First, clamp them together in pairs, is that alright?"

That's no problem at all. Shipyards have plenty of clamps; they can clamp as tightly as you want.

Wang Zheng waved his hand, and the craftsmen immediately brought out clamps and clamped the wooden boards together in pairs.

Zhu Jue carefully examined the deformed and bulging sealing strip below, and nodded slightly, saying, "Hmm, that's fine. Lay a wooden strip in the middle, clamp it in place, and attach the rivets. Remember to add these small round pieces to both ends of the rivets."

The craftsmen were skilled at this task. They quickly carried over a one-inch-thick wooden board, laid it in the middle of the three-inch-thick wooden board, pressed down the rubber sealing strip, clamped the two ends with clamps, and then took out a special hand drill and drilled down row by row.

Next, a circular sealing ring was attached to the rivet, which was then passed through the pre-drilled hole from bottom to top. After that, a rubber sealing ring was placed on top, and then a special tool was used to pull it hard until the rivet head deformed the rubber sealing ring before stopping.

Zhu Jue nodded approvingly when he saw the neat and beautiful rows of rivets, then waved his hand and said, "Just assemble them like this, you can do the rest yourselves."

This is much simpler than applying paint.

Before long, the craftsmen had pieced together the ten three-inch-thick base plates into one piece. Next came the hull, bow, and stern.

They used only two-inch thick wooden boards and angled wooden strips, which were directly spliced ​​onto the baseboard.

When pieced together like this, it forms an ark, resembling a rectangular box, except that the sides, bow, and stern are slightly angled.

Finally, they added a wooden beam every half zhang (approximately 3.3 meters) as a keel to reinforce it, and the small ark was completed.

This isn't actually a boat; they just put it together to test the sealing performance of the rubber.

Seeing that the small ark was finished, Wang Zheng immediately waved his hand and said, "Push it into the water and try it out."

This was even simpler. The craftsmen took a row of logs and placed them between the frame and the waterway, then pushed together, and the small ark was quickly pushed into the waterway.

Seeing this, Wang Zheng actually took a step onto the small ark, squatted down, and stared at the bottom of the boat for a closer look.

He examined it closely for a while, then looked up with a look of delight and said, "Your Majesty, it really doesn't leak, not a drop at all."

Hmm, this method seems to work.

Zhu Jue nodded with a look of satisfaction and said, "I have taught you the method of sealing with rubber. As for how to use rubber to seal the giant ship, you can figure it out yourself."

This rubber sealing method is fantastic, so much better than plastic sealant. With plastic sealant, you have to wait for it to dry after applying it, but with rubber sealant, you just need to make the sealing strip beforehand and then assemble it directly, without having to wait at all.

Upon hearing this, Wang Zheng nodded excitedly and immediately squatted down to ponder it.

At this moment, Lü Zhi strode in, cupped his hands and bowed, saying, "This servant greets Your Majesty."

Is something wrong?
Zhu Jue couldn't help but ask, "How's Liaodong? Has Haizhou Garrison been captured?"

Lu Zhi nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty, Haizhou City has been captured, and Lord Sun has mobilized infantry and able-bodied men to build the Xiaohai River defense line."

Lord Sun sent me back this time, firstly to report the good news to His Majesty, and secondly to purchase some daily necessities to send over. Another forty to fifty thousand households of soldiers and civilians enslaved by the Jurchens have been rescued in that large area.

Great.

That's at least three to four million acres!

Sun Chuanting has reclaimed tens of millions of acres of farmland. With just a little fertilizer, the black soil of Liaodong can yield more than two shi per acre.

This 10 million mu of land can produce more than 20 million shi of grain a year. In addition, there are several million mu of farmland along the Shanhaiguan-Dalinghe line. Liaodong Town can produce 30 to 40 million shi of grain a year. Even if the number of soldiers and civilians in Liaodong Town reaches 3 million, there is no need to transport grain there.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Jue nodded excitedly and said, "Yes, no problem. Go to the weaving factory and get 500,000 bolts of cotton cloth, then go to the porcelain factory and get 5,000 dan of porcelain. Ruoyu, give him a receipt for 50,000 taels of silver. Buy all the living supplies and send them to Boya."

He was incredibly excited.

Huang Taiji was now in a terrible headache.

Sun Chuanting's decisive move severed most of their connections with Gaizhou Guard, Fuzhou Guard, and Jinzhou Guard.

If he wanted to send people to guard these three garrison cities, he would have to detour through Dingliao Right Guard, a journey of hundreds or even thousands of miles!

The key is that the route passes through areas frequently raided by that scoundrel Mao Wenlong. Moreover, Gaizhouwei, Fuzhouwei, and Jinzhouwei are mainly mountainous areas that don't produce much grain. If he sends too many troops there, then grain will have to be transported there. Once Mao Wenlong receives the news, won't he seize their grain carts?
In other words, if he sends too many people over, there is a constant risk of running out of food.

The problem is, if he doesn't send a large number of troops over there, then Gaizhou Guard, Fuzhou Guard, and Jinzhou Guard simply cannot hold their ground.

After much deliberation, he could only order his men to quickly detour through Dingliao Right Guard to deliver a secret edict, informing the garrison troops of Gaizhou Guard, Fuzhou Guard, and Jinzhou Guard that if the Ming army attacked, they should abandon the garrison cities and flee to Dingliao Right Guard and Zhenjiang Fort!
(End of this chapter)