"Really?" asked Xu Chen.

The drawing depicts a ship of a strange shape, like a room on an ordinary ship, with round holes on the top of the walls on both sides of the room, and rowing oars sticking out from the lower places, with a thick beam at the front of the ship, wooden baffles on the front and back sides, and a sail in the center of the ship.

This is a simplified version of the turtle boat drawn by Xu Chen based on the turtle boat made by Yi Sunsin, a general of the Korean naval army in later generations, based on his memory.

You must know that Yi Sunsin's turtle boat was 35 meters long, 12 meters wide, and 5 meters high.

Xu Chen didn't dare to build such a big guy, otherwise after making it, he would go from East Lake through the Fuhe River to Ganshui and then enter Poyang Lake, and if he went on such a tour, Xu Chen would be dead.

The boat marked on the drawings is also ten meters long, five meters wide, and two meters high. Just this, Xu Chen is still worried that he can't make old Liutou.

This old Liu Tou used to be a fisherman fishing on the East Lake, and after learning a few carpentry jobs, he began to rebuild his own fishing boat.

Xu Chen went to see the fishing boat that Lao Liu Tou had renovated, and found that it was not only longer and wider than other people's boats, but also very sturdy, and very sensitive when turning. According to Lao Liu Tou, he was all for the sake of keeping up with the speed of the fish when casting nets to catch fish, and the boat was built so big to be able to load more fish, all for his two dolls.

This is also the reason why Xu Chen found Lao Liu Tou in the first place, he has skills, is willing to use his brain, and the most important thing is to pay attention to feelings, or to be easy to control.

He thought that this ship could be regarded as a relatively advanced warship in a few hundred years, and he was really afraid that Old Liu Tou would not be able to build it. In fact, in the place where the Ganshui of Yuzhang County flows into Poyang Lake, there is the largest shipyard in the Tang Dynasty, Hongzhou Shipyard. Hongzhou shipyard was founded in the Sui Dynasty, with the expansion of the maritime Silk Road, more and more coastal merchants began to overcome the fear of the sea, a ship full of goods sailed to distant countries, in exchange for a shipload of jewelry and spices, the huge profits of maritime trade slowly appeared, so that the status of Hongzhou shipyard became more and more important, the shipyard every time a good ship, the businessmen who had been waiting for a long time would flock to it.

This kind of government-run shipyard is definitely not something that Xu Chen can touch now, otherwise he would not find a half-baked old Liu Tou to build ships.

According to the drawings of the childe, the old slave thought that the boat could be divided into two parts, and the bottom hull could be built in the same way as an ordinary fishing boat, as for the upper part, it is not four wooden walls, which is equivalent to making the cabin of the fishing boat a little bigger, at most a little stronger. Old Liu Tou is also an old man on the water, and he can naturally see at a glance that this ship is by no means an ordinary fishing boat or a merchant ship, but a war ship! He didn't show any shocked expression, since he had decided to sell his life to Xu Chen, he couldn't help himself half-heartedly, on the contrary, in order to gain Xu Chen's trust, Old Liu Tou began to use his brain to think about how to build this boat more conveniently.

In addition, the old slave thought that he could set some hidden buckles at the interface between the wooden wall and the hull, so that the wall could be put down at ordinary times, and it would be easy and quick to install it when it was needed. ”

"Not bad!" Xu Chen really felt that he had picked up a treasure now, this old Liu Tou's brain was really fast enough, he just wanted to bring it up, he just glanced at the drawings and thought of it.

As long as you are smart enough and willing to put your heart into learning, what else can't you do?" Xu Chen said in his heart.

"Also, I will make the sail in the middle of it move, so that it can be raised when it moves, and lowered when it is not moving. In addition, I want you to cover the wooden walls and this pillar with iron sheets and paint them black. ”

After listening to what Xu Chen said, Lao Liu Tou became more and more sure that this was a warship, and it still looked like a very powerful warship.

"In addition, can you set the walls on both sides in such a way that they can move left and right?" Xu Chen put forward his own opinion again.

"This ...... The old slave thought that it was better to divide the whole wall into several pieces of the same size, so that not only could it be built much faster, but also a movable wall could be set up every other piece, and the rest would be fixed, which was the same as the sliding door in the restaurant. Old Liu Tou thought for a while and said.

"Very good! That's it! Lao Liu, it's so condescending to be a carpenter!" Xu Chen said happily.

"It's already a great blessing for the old slave to be able to do something for the son!" said the old man smiled shyly.

"Haha, by the way, it's not too good to build a small trebuchet out of bamboo behind these movable walls, just throw a small clay pot with water farther than a person. As he spoke, Xu Chen handed over the drawings of the simplified trebuchet again.

"Okay, Childe. It's just that the cost of building a ship like this is a lot of money!" said Lao Liu Tou with some hesitation.

"Damn! I forgot about it. "A few days ago, he had already instructed the shopkeeper Wang to take all the remaining money in the account to buy medicine for body training, and now he really has no money. This money is really unspent!

"In this way, let's not build a new ship, let's go to the dock to find a few large fishing boats, and use them as hulls for modification, the key is that the iron sheet must be covered, and the money earned from selling furniture will be used on it!"

"If that's the case, we'll barely have enough cash. It's just that in this way, I'm afraid this ship won't be very strong!" Old Liu Tou was a little worried, after all, for warships, if the hull of the ship was not strong enough, it was very dangerous.

"It's okay, you can use it once or twice!" Xu Chen said helplessly.

After Lao Liu received the order, he went to get busy.

Xu Chen came to the front yard and happened to see Chai Qi leading a group of teenagers to take off their essence and jump into the vat in front of them. The teenagers were scarred, it was caused by the teenagers letting others beat them with sticks, the wounds were still bleeding, and as soon as they came into contact with the potion in the vat, they immediately screamed, and some of them were stronger, gritting their teeth and not saying a word.

Since a few days ago, Chai Qi began this practice that Xu Chen had explained, and every day at this hour, there would be this kind of ghost crying wolf howling sound in the small courtyard, so that the nearby neighbors thought that something was going on in this house, and they visited one after another, Xu Chen had to go out and reply one by one, and then send these kind neighbors away. The neighbors knew that it was just teenagers exercising, and after a few words of advice to pay attention to their bodies, they left one after another. Gradually, the neighbors began to get used to the howls of these teenagers.

Looking at the hideous faces of the teenagers, Xu Chen was worried for a while, Xu Chen also tried this method of physical training, although the skin trauma on his body would scab over that night after taking a medicinal bath, and it would be fine the next day. But the pain of the stick hitting the body, and the cruelty of adding new injuries to old wounds, still made Xu Chen a little discouraged.

Later, it was really not good to show cowardice in front of everyone, and I didn't want to spoil the atmosphere of leading by example, so I had to say that my physique was not good, so I changed it to once every five days. Thinking that he would have to do this again in a few days, Xu Chen shook his head and couldn't bear to leave.

Three days later, Lao Liu Tou came to inform Xu Chen, saying that the ship had been refitted.

On the same day, Xu Chen led the teenagers to East Lake......

This is a small island in the middle of the East Lake, the island was originally just a sandbar, and gradually the sandbar became larger, and an island was formed, which is actually less than a mile in circumference.

The island is surrounded by thick reed circles, and the place where Lao Liu Tou converted his boat is on this small island, and few people usually come to the island, except for the fishermen who return late and will spend the night in the thatched huts built on the island, the rest of the time the island is quiet.

Lao Liu Tou chose the location on the other side away from the thatched hut island to reduce the chance of being found as much as possible, and the few helpers accompanying him were also old people in the carpenter's workshop.

The island is a paradise for migratory birds in the summer, and birds that are rarely seen in later generations are everywhere. The arrival of Xu Chen and the others obviously disturbed their comfortable life, and when they were still far away, the birds flapped their wings and flew away.

"This is a good place to hide, Lao Liu, you chose a good place!" Xu Chen praised.

"The son has a good reputation, and the old slave only remembered it when he came here. ”

"Alright, let's get out of the boat!"

So, under the command of Lao Liu Tou, three simplified turtle boats sailed into the sight of the teenagers.

The teenagers were all taken out by Xu Chen today, and even those who collected taxes in the fish market were called back, and the teenagers knew that the eldest brother had something important to do.

It's just that I didn't expect it to be a warship! That's right, the strange-shaped ship teenagers in front of them judged that this was a warship at a glance, although they had never seen a real warship, but Xu Chen also mentioned it when he gave them a lecture.

Looking at those dark black walls with a metallic sheen and thick pillars, the teenagers suddenly felt a rush of blood.

Xu Chen, who saw this, was a little relieved, his indoctrination these days still had some effect, and he finally taught this group of young orphans to have some warrior flavor.

"You used to tell me that you would become a general and go to war. Today, I'm going to take you to experience the taste of the battlefield in advance. You must know that in the future, our battlefield will not only be on land, but also on the vast ocean! Even water warfare will be more important than land warfare! Then start your first step towards the sea from today!" Xu Chen stood on a high ground to mobilize these people, and it was not the first time he had done this kind of thing, and he slowly felt something.

"You must not think that if you know how to swim or play in the water, you will be able to get on the boat and fight in the water! I tell you, it's far from it! You are still only making a fuss in the small East Lake and the Fuhe River, and when you reach the Yangtze River and enter the vast and boundless sea, you will realize how small you are!"

"From today on, I will treat each of you equally, if you have the ability, you can do it well, and if you can't do it, you can go down, it's as simple as that!"

"Okay, let's start training, the first thing is how to row, as well as the sail lift and steering. ”

After finishing speaking, Xu Chen divided everyone into three groups, one group operated a boat, all of them were brothers who had eaten and exercised together, and there was no sense of strangeness.

……

Don't look at Xu Chen, it's easy to say, and when it comes to the specific operation, you will find that there are many difficulties. First of all, Xu Chen's command problem, although Xu Chen has read a lot of books, and also talked about some ancient and modern water warfare essentials, but when he really commanded, he found that it was not easy to be handy.

Secondly, there is the problem of the cooperation of all the teenagers, although they have all experienced the practice of the Mandarin Duck Formation, and most of the people on the boat are companions who were together when they practiced the formation, but the difference between water and land battles is too big after all. Although they are all teenagers in the water town, they have not rowed less than a boat, but so many oars paddling together requires a high degree of cooperation from the paddlers, and they must be kept at the same frequency.

Seeing a few boats spinning on the shore, Xu Chen shook his head helplessly, it seems that there is still a considerable distance from his days of crisscrossing the seas!