At 100 years old, he joined the army in place of his granddaughter, and became a national war god.

Longjiang Wharf at noon.

The river was calm and still.

Su Mu stood at the bow of the ship, his white hair fluttering slightly in the river breeze, his gaze fixed on the direction of Longjiang Shipyard.

Behind the dock, a huge black warship stood quietly in the shipyard.

Even from hundreds of steps away, you can feel its imposing size, which seems out of place with everything around it.

Xiao Yunchuan was the first to shout it out, his voice filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"Master, look, is that the Dragon-Soaring Warship?"

"This is huge! I've never seen a ship this big!"

He stood on the ship's side, leaning slightly forward, as if he couldn't wait to jump onto the dock and see for himself.

Su Mu also stared at the warship; the Dragon Warship he had built was much larger than he had imagined.

The lines of the hull narrow upwards from the keel and then widen outwards, with the edge of the deck rising far above the dock railings, like a city wall embedded in the land.

When Xiao Jingyu saw the Youlong warship, he was also extremely shocked.

He spent several years in the East China Sea and saw many warships.

Old-fashioned warships, merchant ships, fishing boats...

But none of them could compare to the Dragon Warship before them.

"Old Su, this ship looks like a city wall floating on the water."

Finally, Xiao Jingyu couldn't help but speak up, sighing.

"If those Eastern Barbarian warships wanted to ram through such a hull, they probably wouldn't even be able to break the hull."

Su Mu smiled and nodded, his eyes narrowing into slits: "This is exactly the effect I wanted."

"Let's go up and take a look."

As the official ship docked, Su Mu was the first to step onto the pier.

Wang Ben and Lu Yuan, the director of Longjiang Shipyard, had been waiting at the dock for a long time.

They saw Su Mu's figure in the distance and quickly walked towards him.

At this moment, Wang Ben's robes were still covered with sawdust and mortar, and his sleeves were rolled up to his forearms, revealing several old marks on his wrists from being scratched by splinters.

When he walked up to Su Mu, his eyes were filled with excitement, and he quickly cupped his hands in greeting:

"Elder Su, Your Highness, you've arrived!"

"Twenty days, a full twenty days."

"My colleagues and I worked in shifts to finish the first Youlong warship, and it's finally done."

Su Mu nodded, looking at the filthy Wang Ben, and praised, "Lord Wang, you've worked hard. You've completed the mission exceptionally well."

"Come on, take this old man up to see what you and your brothers have accomplished."

"Okay, this way please..." Wang Ben stepped aside to lead the way, walking at the front.

After passing through the platform at the end of the walkway and turning into the inner side of the dock, the full view of the Youlong warship was finally revealed to everyone.

Every line of the ship's hull, from the keel to the gunwale, is so long that it is difficult to see it all at a glance, and all the surrounding reference points seem cramped in its presence.

The group climbed the gangway onto the deck.

The deck was wider than I had imagined, covered with thick wooden planks that felt solid and stable underfoot.

The sheet metal panels on both sides of the ship's hull were not fully lowered, but under the sunlight, one could already see how flat they were when retracted. The gap between the edge of the panel and the hull was so fine that it was almost too narrow to fit a finger. This tightness was achieved only after repeated adjustments.

On the outer side of the ship, below the bow, the iron ram protrudes outward from the waterline, forming a triangular shape with a slightly upturned tip.

Wang Ben walked to the bow of the ship, stopped, pointed to the horn, and introduced it: "Old Su, this horn is made of cast iron, with a thick layer of wrought iron on the outside."

"The ends narrow into a triangular shape, with all the ridges aligned with the ship's central axis."

"I have calculated that if the ram were to strike a wooden hull at normal speed, the ram could easily tear through the planks, causing the enemy ship to take on water rapidly."

"If the boat is fast enough, it can penetrate two layers of hull in one go."

He paused, giving himself some leeway in his judgment.

"Of course, its effectiveness in actual combat still needs to be verified, but I have confidence in this horn."

"The stern deck was raised one level to form an independent platform, on which a catapult was fixed, with the spring and base mounted on a raised base slightly above the deck."

Wang Ben became more and more excited as he explained.

He bent down and patted the edge of the base, his gaze following the direction of the angle of attack.

"The base of the catapult was raised by half a foot, increasing its range by about one hundred paces."

"When I was a supervisor, I made similar reforms several times, and the results were better than expected."

Then, Wang Ben pointed to the area below the bow of the ship.

There, the arms of two massive iron-cast crossbows were nearly twice as wide as those of ordinary crossbows.

The crossbow arm is made by pressing multiple layers of hardwood and iron strips alternately, gluing them together with fish glue, and then fixing them in place with iron hoops.

The arrowheads are barbed, allowing them to be driven into the hull of enemy ships and difficult to remove.

"By the way, Mr. Su, I have already reserved the spot you asked me to reserve."

"We'll install it when the time comes."

That was specially arranged by Su Mu beforehand, reserved specifically for mounting cannons on the ship's hull.

However, the gunpowder, shells, and gun carriages were still under construction and could not be installed immediately.

"Okay, let's install it after those things are ready."

With that, Su Mu turned to Wang Ben and asked, "Lord Wang, would you mind going into the water and giving it a try?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Ben excitedly replied, "Elder Su, we're just waiting for your command."

"Alright, let's launch it immediately and let this old man see the power of the Dragon Warship upon its launch." In fact, Su Mu was also very impatient.

Wang turned and nodded to Lu Yuan.

Lu Yuan immediately led several craftsmen to the winches on both sides of the dock. The craftsmen lined up on both sides and began to loosen the ropes securing the ship.

Some people were stuffing greased skids under the bow of the boat, while others were slowly loosening the tow rope attached to the stern...

The creaking sound of the winch echoed through the dock as ropes were untied one after another from the mooring bollards.

The massive hull of the Youlong warship began to slide downwards.

As the boat slowly moved down the slide towards the water, the moment its hull touched the surface, it created a wide wave that spread outwards, crashing against the walls on both sides of the dock before bobbing back and intertwining with the subsequent surge of water to form a huge white spray.

After entering the water, the ship sank slightly, but quickly floated back to a stable waterline.

At this moment, the Youlong warship, resting on the water, resembled a massive sea monster that had just been awakened.

Instantly!

Cheers erupted from the craftsmen on the dock.

"Very good."

"The first Youlong warship has been successfully launched."

"It's so amazing."

"Yes, this Dragon Warship is truly unprecedented."

"I never imagined that we would be involved in such a great project."

"I am so fortunate."

The craftsmen shouted with tears in their eyes.

Wang Ben and Lu Yuan exchanged a glance and then smiled at each other.

They all knew very well that from this day forward, they would be making a significant mark on the history of Daqian Shipbuilding.

Su Mu stood on the dock, watching the ship slowly adjusting its posture on the water, his heart filled with excitement.

Standing beside him, Xiao Jingyu clenched his fists in excitement and exclaimed, "The Great Qian Dragon Warship is unprecedented!"

He then turned to Su Mu and continued, "Elder Su, the launch of this ship means we are one step closer to the Eastern Yi."

"Once all ten ships are launched, it will be time for us to set foot in the East China Sea and head to the Eastern Barbarians."

Su Mu nodded and smiled, "Yes, we need to speed things up and train our naval forces."

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from the direction of the plank road.

You Zhongyi strode through the crowd, his clothes covered in dust from his journey, and his forehead beaded with sweat.

He walked straight through the path that the craftsmen had spontaneously cleared for him, stood before Su Mu, and hurriedly reported:

"Old Su, a message has been sent by carrier pigeon from Zhenhai Pass: the Dongyi navy has appeared in the East China Sea region."

"More than twenty warships, with an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 naval troops, are moving toward Zhenhai Pass."

"General Xu asked Elder Su for instructions on how to respond."

The noise on the dock is fading away.

Su Mu turned around and looked at the Youlong warship that had just entered the water.

He smiled and replied, "You've come at the perfect time!"

"This is a good opportunity for me to test the combat capabilities of our Youlong warships."