In fact, as soon as the Portuguese came to China, they immediately realized the superiority of Chinese hard sails. The Chinese sailing ship that was captured with the Duke of Goa and the Oriental Beauty was made by them, and the Cantonese called it Lao Zha Boat. Its Portuguese word 'lorcha' means Western-style Chinese three-masted sailing ship.

With traditional Chinese sail rigs and streamlined Western-style hulls, Laozha ships are faster than Chinese-style sailboats, require fewer manpower than Western-style sailing boats, and are easier to build and maintain. In another time and space, the red-haired ghosts of Asia have been used for hundreds of years, and the Qing Dynasty has also been using them. The Yarrow that sparked the Second Opium War was a Lorcha.

Later, the warships built by the Americans for the Qing Dynasty also used the hull and Chinese sails of the Galen ship, which shows that there is no problem with this combination.

The only disadvantage of a Chinese sail is that it provides less power than a Western sail when it is windy, so the latter is more suitable for ocean voyages with the help of trade winds. However, when sailing along China's coast and in the South Seas, where wind and currents are complex and variable, the former is clearly advantageous.

And for a sea-like fortress-like sail battleship, it doesn't matter what the speed is, endurance is the most important thing.

But how can this kind of thing be done by imagination? You have to build it honestly, and you will find out by trying.

So Zhao Hao agreed to build three half-size test ships. The No. 1 ship is strictly and completely imitated, and people use whatever materials they use, and how they build it.

On the basis of the original ship type, the second ship changed the sail gear to a Chinese sail.

The No. 3 ship was transformed in accordance with Yang Fan's whimsical ideas, and adopted a combination of Chinese and Western sails on the sails, installing both Western sails and Chinese sails. And try to add watertight cabins to the Western-style hull on the basis of retaining the double-deck all-through deck......

In order to save time, Zhao Hao decided to build three ships at the same time. Although ordinary wood is used, the other consumables and labor required for each ship are not much different. Yang Fan calculated on the spot that the three boats cost almost 60,000 taels of silver. With all the artillery, 100,000 taels can't be stopped.

This is not counting the costs of preliminary research and development, preparation, and supporting......

In such a comparison, the cost of 800 taels of thousands of sea ships is like giving it for nothing.

Such a terrifying upfront cost will definitely not be supported by Jiangnan Shipyard alone. Therefore, the board of directors of the group decided to adopt the method of entrusting construction and full appropriation, and the group will be the father of Party A.

The urgent need for new warships made Zhao Hao spend money regardless of the cost, just to speed up the progress as much as possible!

Anyway, Zhao Gongzi is backed by Jiangnan Bank, and he spends the deposits of large Jiangnan households. As long as it can be solved with money, it is not a problem.

But there are also problems that money can't solve......

"It's too much work to build three new ships at the same time. To be delivered by the end of the year, at least two thousand skilled shipwrights, two thousand apprentices and petty workers will need to be added. The sloppiness in charge of coordinating production can't help but make some mistakes: "Unless the rest of the ships are stopped, there will be no way to get so many people." But Royal Shipping is still in urgent need of Daifuku ships......"

"Don't stop, there's a way." Zhao Hao waved his hand and said: "The private shipbuilding industry in Gaochun County, Tianfu is very developed, and the group has negotiated with Gao Kaisi to recruit at least 1,500 shipwrights to support you in the form of labor dispatch." In addition, he also asked Tang Baolu to send people to the coastal areas of Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian and Guangdong to recruit shipwrights with a lot of money, and he should be able to recruit another 1,000, right? ”

After a pause, he said again: "As for the apprentices, try to recruit them from Chongming County." In the future, we will build ships, keep building ships, and reserve more talents for the future! ”

"Yes." Sloppy understands, in short, it is right to find ways to expand the team of boatmen.

~~

On the return trip, the boat entered Wusongkou, and the river surface was obviously different.

Originally, the water flow in Wusongkou was as slow as a mirror, and even because of the persecution of the Yangtze River, there would be a backflow...... The boat can be carried upstream by the current for a long time without sailing.

As a result, there is nowhere to vent the water from Taihu Lake, so it can only overflow the river and flow to the low-lying Pudong area.

During the flood season, most of Pudong will be submerged. If there is another typhoon that causes seawater to backflow, the whole of Pudong will become a Zeguo.

When the water recedes during the dry season, it will become a swampy muddy field again. Otherwise, the large area of Pudong with such a superior location would not be almost uninhabited.

But it's all over again!

Because at this moment, the Huangpu Capture Project presided over by Haigong has been completed. With the help of the platform of Jiangnan Group, he mobilized the two governments of Susong to get closer

300,000 people, from the second half of last year to the end of March this year. It took less than 100 days to complete the construction of a dam and a sluice port in Henglujing, so as to force the upstream water to turn north and take Huangpu instead, so that the ancient Dongjiang River could once again play the role of discharging floods from Taihu Lake.

As well as dredging the lower reaches of the Wusong River, the 80-mile section from Jiading County to Shanghai County, and constricting the 30 zhang river channel to 15 zhang, so as to 'beam the water and attack the sand' to prevent the sediment carried by the Wusong River from silting down before entering the Huangpu River.

In addition, he also accepted Zhao Hao's suggestion to excavate the Taipu River, which connects the East Taihu Lake and the Huangpu River.

In this way, together with the Wujiang and Kunshan last year, the Dianpu River from Dianshan to Huangpu was added. Today, almost three-quarters of the lake's water flows from the Huangpu River into the Yangtze River.

The flow of Wusongkou has increased by at least three or four times, and the huge amount of water is bound by the long cement embankment on the hundred-zhang wide river surface, and the Haohao soup is very spectacular!

The so-called March into the river, the clear water is dying, and the mud is gone!

The flood channel of Taihu Lake is finally unblocked! Huangpu has finally become the Huangpu River in Zhao Hao's memory, which gave birth to the prosperity of Shanghai County and even the Yangtze River Delta!

In this regard, Lu Yan, vice chairman and general manager of Shangkaisi, who was called to come to the meeting, had the deepest and deepest feelings.

"It's a big deal! From then on, the floods in Wuzhong will not cause sick farmers, and the people of Jiangnan will have to live and work in peace and contentment! Lu Yan said with tears in his eyes: "Haigong and Zhao Gongzi have great favors in Jiangnan, and they are even more kind to Shanghai County!" ”

"Alas, just thank Haigong, don't thank me." Zhao Hao waved his hand and said with a faint smile: "I am in business, everything is for the interests of the group." ”

"In the future, the group's propaganda caliber will also be counted as Haigong's one." As he spoke, he looked at the boundless hot land of Pudong and said, "We have already won the best prize, and we can't be greedy for fame anymore." ”

'Shall you not seek fame and cause real evil?' Lu Yan suddenly burst out of his heart with such a sentence, of course he would not say it.

He followed Zhao Hao's gaze and looked at the large blue-green wasteland east of the Huangpu River.

A few years ago, Jiangnan Group built a 200-mile sea pond in Pudong. Years later, Hai Rui built a high embankment for Huangpu, completely blocking the invasion of Pudong by the water of the river and the sea, and turning the former mud pond into the largest and last uncultivated virgin land in the south of the Yangtze River!

The entire Pudong has a total of 1.2 million acres of land, and it is constantly expanding to the sea every year...... The sediment brought by the Yangtze River is not only reshaping Chongming Island opposite, but also continuing to increase the area of Pudong - Jiangnan Group only used a mere 1 million taels of silver, and it was all in the bag. At that time, the people who sold them land, as well as the people of Shanghai County, laughed at them for being stupid.

Who knew that in the past two years, Jiangnan Group has magically revitalized Pudong with a sea pond and a river embankment!

Now these lands are worth 20 million taels of silver, to say the least, right? Zhao Gongzi's original investment has increased by at least 20 times.

Investing in Pudong has added a lot of legends to Zhao Gongzi's turning stones into gold.

And those who laughed at him for being stupid at the beginning now want to cry without tears.

There are also many people who are not convinced and want to make a fuss to see if they can make Jiangnan Group give back a little bit.

But Zhang Yi, the magistrate of Shanghai, as well as the Lu family and other local gentry and prominent families, have already boarded the ship of the Jiangnan Group, how can they turn the sky upside down?

This is the reason why Zhao Gongzi, even if he mainly focuses on making the cake bigger, he also attaches great importance to letting the local government and the squire get enough benefits. In the Ming Dynasty, without the full support of the government and the squires, the signed contract could be torn up at any time, and the locals had a hundred ways to make the outsiders unable to do anything.

On the contrary, with the support of the government and the squire, things can be advanced...... Even if Zhao Gongzi has the ability to reach the sky, he can't leave these people alone.

Fortunately, with more and more counties joining the consortium of Jiangnan Group, the power of the group has also expanded sharply, and it can in turn suppress the officials and squires of each county and firmly grasp the initiative.

This wave, in fact, is not original to Zhao Gongzi, but the Japanese agricultural cooperatives of another time and space, which are really successful.

However, the Japanese Agricultural Cooperatives later changed from a dragon slayer boy to an evil dragon, and became the biggest conservative who hindered Japan's agriculture and even social development. I wonder if Jiangnan Group can avoid repeating the mistakes of the past?

~~

The Science slowly went upriver and anchored at the intersection of the Wusong River and the Huangpu River.

Zhao Hao and Lu Yan took a small boat and came to an impact beach on the east bank of the Pujiang River. The Huangpu River, which came from here, bends nearly 90 degrees here, so it has long been a prominent place. Looking from the west of the Pujiang River, this beach is like a huge golden-horned beast, sticking out its head and opening its mouth to drink water in the river.

And because of this, Hanlin scholar Lu Shen was buried here, and the people of Shanghai called it Lujiazui. And the entire Lujiazui was originally the Lu family's industry.

Lu Yan is Lu Shen's heir...... Lu Shensheng's four sons all died, so he passed his nephew to his knees. Now Lu Yan, as the head of the Lu family and the head of the Wang clan in Shanghai, speaks much better than the county master.

In order to acquire Lujiazui, Zhao Hao really put a lot of effort into him. not only exchanged 10% of the shares of Shangkaisi, but also made him the second-in-command of Shangkaisi, which made it easy to eat Lujiazui.

As for why Zhao Gongzi is so persistent, of course, it is to build the Oriental Pearl Tower...... Fog.

Of course, it is because this is the gateway to Pudong, the natural center of Shanghai. If Jiangnan Group doesn't eat here, and vigorously develops Pudong in the future, won't it make a wedding dress for others in vain?

Zhao Gongzi stood on the embankment of Lujiazui and only heard him say to Lu Yan: "I am going to build a new city here, and then build it into a world economic center that is more prosperous than Suzhou, how about you as the chief builder?" ”

"Pudong New Town?" Lu Shen was heartbroken, it was difficult for a big dog like him to be moved by money. What can make them excited is to do a great career that will leave a name in history.

"But I'm not going to build a wall, so I won't call it a city. You see, how about calling Pudong New Area? But Zhao Hao laughed.

ps. I really wrote it seriously today, but this kind of plot just can't be written quickly. The chapter owed can only be seen tomorrow. If you don't write this book, let's all write about a happy life......