Ming East India Company

Ship timber should not be exposed to direct sunlight during the drying process. If the temperature distribution is uneven and the drying speed inside and outside is inconsistent, the uneven expansion and contraction will directly cause the ship timber to crack.

The Fujian ships of the Ming Dynasty were mostly made of softwoods such as camphor and cedar, which are highly flexible. In addition, the Fujian ships of the Ming Dynasty were mostly used as merchant ships and were small in size, so the need for resistance to cannon fire was not great. Therefore, it was okay to expose them to the sun for a while.

Ship owners even prefer a quick-drying, quick-use, and quick-disposal strategy to accelerate the payback period and reduce drying time.

However, military supplies and civilian supplies are two different concepts. For a battle fleet that uses hardwood, indiscriminately exposing logs to the sun would be tantamount to destroying its own foundation.

This is why Shirano is so angry.

After hearing Bai Ye's account, Bai Wencheng was stunned, his jaw dropping and his mouth agape for a long time.

"Second Uncle, I know your original intention was to save money for the clan, but what's being dried here are things that will be used to fight on the battlefield in the future. The money you save now will all become reparations to be paid out at the negotiating table after the defeat."

Bai Wencheng lowered his head in shame.

Just then, Guo Zheng and Zhang Feng finished arranging their work and hurried back to apologize to Bai Ye.

"Master, this was all done by the two of us on our own; it has nothing to do with Master Bai!"

"Master Bai, the old master, has always worked diligently for the growth of the family, without a single selfish thought."

……

Baiye looked at the two of them and sighed deeply:

"These two men have been loyal servants of our household for many years. Even on their deathbeds, they did not betray you. It is truly rare. It is not worth it for such loyal men to die because of your foolishness."

If you don't want these loyal men to die on the battlefield, then please carry out my decision obediently and without further hesitation.

Bai Wencheng nodded in agreement.

Baiye then said:

"In another month, another three thousand teak logs will arrive. You need to mobilize all your manpower to get the drying room repaired first. From now on, the amount of ship timber arriving each year will be at least double that of this year. Just ask me for the money; I will never shortchange you."

Bai Wencheng was stunned with fear:

"Master, how many drying rooms will we need to build with so much timber! Do we really need this much wood to build ships? This amount of timber is probably enough for us to build ships for a hundred years."

"Why do you think I set up the drying plant here? It's because the Ryukyu Islands simply can't provide that many people."

In later generations, the British Royal Navy required more than 2000 oak logs for a standard 74-gun third-class ship and nearly 6000 oak logs for a 100-gun first-class battleship. In other words, Bai Wencheng might only be able to build one or two standard battleships even after a year of hard work.

The above only covers the shipbuilding requirements. If a sailing warship is to be deployed in naval battles, it will also require a large amount of wood for routine maintenance. Generally speaking, a major overhaul will consume the equivalent of 30%-50% of the wood used to build the warship.

Considering that sailing warships typically require 2-3 major overhauls throughout their entire lifespan, the timber currently available in the drying yards is not even enough to sustain a single warship.

The Battle of Trafalgar used a total of 120 million logs to build both fleets. In the age of sail, every ship was a giant wood-crushing machine.

One reason why the Ming Dynasty did not develop a distant-sea navy was that the tall trees in the land had been depleted by thousands of years of farming. There weren't even enough pillars for the Forbidden City palaces, let alone these tall and powerful sailing warships.

The thought of these enormous figures on timber consumption filled Shirano with immense anxiety.

There's never enough boat timber.

"Also, this time we bought pre-processed logs. Next time I'll buy the raw logs directly. Remember, don't cut or chop them, and don't think it's too much trouble. Just leave them here to air dry," Shirono instructed.

"Yes, yes. Second Uncle will certainly comply." Bai Wencheng dared not question Bai Ye's judgment in the slightest at this point, and quickly nodded in agreement.

"Why would the owner buy logs for no reason? All those branches and twigs are so hard to place! Wouldn't it be much easier to trim them off?"

After seeing Bai Ye leave, Zhang Feng couldn't help but start complaining.

"Who knows? Anyway, you saw the situation today. Just obediently follow the boss's orders," Guo Zheng said, still feeling apprehensive.

On the way back, Shirano's heart was not at peace.

Air drying the wood is only the first step; the next step is to classify and process the wood.

For sailing warships, the key keel material is not actually the hardest to find, since tall, straight trees are plentiful in primeval forests.

If all else fails, piecing it together isn't unusable. In this era without torpedoes and mines, no weapon can threaten a ship's keel. Elm wood can also be used as a substitute if necessary.

The same applies to the mast; however, other small parts that require bending are actually harder to find.

The sternpost and bowpost are quite a headache.

The former cannot be spliced ​​and must be made from super long and thick hard oak poles. The latter is naturally curved, and the curve of the raw material must fit the streamline curve of the ship. This requires that wide, hard logs with natural curvature be collected.

The most difficult to obtain is the wing-shaped crossbeam knee timber, which requires the log to have natural forks on both sides and to grow a pair of long arms of more than 3 meters, and to be as naturally symmetrical as possible.

The scarcity and difficulty of this material are almost comparable to finding auspicious omens for the Wanli Emperor.

There are also a large number of ribs and crossbeams, each rib consisting of a base plate and several ribs and top plates with varying curvatures. These materials are also very difficult to find.

Although in principle "a straight piece of wood can be bent into a wheel," and wood can be bent from straight to curved by heating and softening, wood is not metal after all, and heating and softening will seriously damage the hardness and flexibility of the wood.

Therefore, sailing warships made from manually bent timber are prone to problems such as reduced lifespan and frequent cracking.

On the battlefield, a single flimsy plank could pose an unbearable threat to a warship.

This is why Shirayo acquires not only straight, natural timber, but also bent timber that could become small parts for ships.

Separating which timbers from a single log are usable and which are not is no simple task, especially without sufficient talent and experience.

Shirane simply air-dries these natural logs completely in the shade, and then takes them out to process them when needed.

Moreover, from a commercial perspective, Southeast Asian countries at that time had not yet realized the importance of curved timber, so unprocessed logs were even cheaper than processed straight timber.

Shirano, of course, readily accepted the offer.