Late Ming Dynasty: The Counterattack Begins with Sea Pirates

Chi Honghai skipped the translator and spoke to the group in his Dutch.

"Since the site and timber are not fully prepared, we will put shipbuilding on hold for the next few days."

"Your current task is to impart your relevant experience to all those who are preparing to participate in the shipbuilding project, which will speed up our project progress."

After hearing that they would be sharing their relevant experience, the Dutch technicians were somewhat unmoved.

That's normal. Although they're here for cooperative aid, if they were to teach you all their best skills, wouldn't that be like teaching a disciple only to have the master starve?

Chi Honghai knew that he couldn't extract key information from these people just by talking.

He clapped his hands, and his men carried two heavy boxes to the crowd.

Upon opening it, one finds it filled with gleaming silver, its sheen incredibly alluring even without sunlight.

"You all come to the East to make money and get rich. I understand the hard work and difficulties of the craftsmen. Here, your salary will be doubled. As long as you are willing to work hard, you will naturally receive corresponding rewards."

"But please rest assured, I am also a businessman, a very honest businessman. I can guarantee that once my people have learned the skills, you can still be employed here with the same salary! Those who perform well can be specially hired as professional instructors!"

Money makes the world go round. Even a red-haired devil is still a devil. He traveled thousands of miles to the East just to make money.

Double the salary, and a mountain of cash right in front of you—if you won't do it, I still want to get rich, so I will!

Led by a few individuals, the group quickly accepted this generous treatment.

Chi Honghai is very dedicated to teaching and has ordered the construction of several teaching rooms as soon as possible. Since there is not enough space, they simply conduct the classes outdoors and set up a simple shed when the sun is strong.

For a time, shipbuilders, blacksmiths, sailmakers, and even rope makers were taught in separate classes.

Apart from a portion of the staff who remained involved in construction, the remaining 200 people were divided into 130 shipbuilders, 30 blacksmiths, 20 sailmakers, and 20 rope makers for instruction.

In addition, many young women have also participated in sail-making and rope-making courses.

After learning that the manufacture of ropes required crops such as jute and hibiscus, Chi Honghai, based on the natural environment of Hong Kong Island, sent people to have some women work with the people who originally farmed the land on the mountain to reclaim wasteland and use it to grow a certain amount of jute and hibiscus.

As a result, problems such as technical personnel, teaching and instruction, jute, ropes, pig iron, and ironware are being solved step by step, and efforts are being made to achieve independent production.

However, the most crucial and vital material for building the battlefield is something that Chi Honghai is currently unable to solve.

To build a fine warship, one must have the finest wood, and the most suitable wood for warships is oak for the hull and pine for the mast.

Unfortunately, both types of wood can only grow in the north; they are not only not found on Hong Kong Island, but it is also impossible to cultivate them there.

For Chi Honghai, the North was a place he could only dream of but never reach.

The only solution to the current situation is to buy.

Faced with this situation, Chi Honghai understood that achieving high sales volume was unlikely.

Putting aside the manpower and time required for shipbuilding, the quantity of materials was also insufficient. After all, having money doesn't guarantee the availability of goods; oak and pine were materials that the Dutch had to transport from afar to Zeelandia.

Therefore, his shipbuilding philosophy shifted from prioritizing quantity to prioritizing quality.

While waiting for Liu Qingjiang to return, Chi Honghai not only arranged the teaching courses, but also chose a very good location for the ship's construction.

This place is very familiar to both my past self and my present self.

That's the beach a little to the left of the strait between the north and south banks of Hong Kong Island.

Without needing to test it, Chi Honghai knew the advantages of this place.

The area is wide and the water is deep enough to provide shelter from the wind and waves. Most importantly, it is naturally formed and requires no artificial development.

He led a group of people to plan the area and gave the soon-to-be-built port a new name: "Dinghai Port".

However, Dinghai Port is currently just a mudflat.

It wasn't until two ships, laden with cargo, slowly sailed in from the east that this mudflat began to change.

Seeing Liu Qingjiang return with two boatloads of timber, Chi Honghai waited for him on the shore to disembark, patting his arm repeatedly to affirm his achievement.

When the timber was unloaded from the ship, Chi Honghai repeatedly emphasized that they should handle the timber with care, and that not a single piece should be damaged!

Although no one understood why the master would travel so far and spend so much money to buy this wood, and why he regarded it as so precious, and it didn't seem to be the legendary golden nanmu wood, they still had to do as the master said.

The oak and pine that had just been transported were mostly logs. Although the Dutch knew what the timber was going to be used for, they did not give it directly to Chi Honghai after it had been processed and dehydrated.

However, this was enough for Chi Honghai. Something was better than nothing. Processing and dehydration was a technical job. Although it was slow, the process involved shipbuilding experience!

The timber arriving at the port must be used immediately; there's no time to rest.

Because building a port and ships requires a considerable amount of time, manpower, and materials, some materials and equipment are being prepared as timber and hemp rope are being transported back.

Therefore, Chi Hung-hai first had the Dutch technicians demonstrate their wood dehydration technology to everyone, and took this opportunity to teach them while demonstrating.

Dehydration is divided into two methods: natural dehydration and artificial drying.

For the sake of teaching experience and current experience requirements, both operations are carried out simultaneously.

The first step is natural dehydration.

Dutch technicians led everyone to the riverside slope, where the high, dry terrain allowed the river breeze to pass smoothly through the timber piles.

Throughout the process, the Dutch instructor repeatedly emphasized one sentence: "Place a stone block underneath, one foot above the ground, to prevent moisture from the ground from seeping into the wood."

Then they began stacking the timber, separating each log with flattened strips to create even gaps.

To ensure trainees can better grasp the experience, the process involves hands-on operation with instructors providing guidance.

"Hey! The wind needs to reach the back of every log, not crowd them! Mold will spread like a plague!"

The following days were a long period of natural air drying.

Every day, apprentices had to follow Dutch instructors to record wind direction and humidity, judge the dryness of wood by tapping and listening to the sound, and use iron spikes to pierce cracks to explore the interior.

During the rainy season, Dutch instructors would have people cover the canvases before the rain arrived, and uncover them on sunny days to let them be exposed to the wind and sun.

According to the Dutch instructors, the timber will be ready for shipbuilding in two years.

However, for Chi Honghai, it was understandable, but simply too slow!