Since Huang Chongde hugged Wang Yuan's thigh, his career has been booming.

He harvested cotton in Shandong, sold cotton cloth in Hebei, and worked as a salt merchant in the south, and now he has become one of the shareholders of Hangzhou's top ten dental stores. His son worshiped under Wang Yuan, and also married the daughter of the Xu family of Jiangyin, and successfully dyed the cotton cloth trade of Zhili.

From Hebei to Liangzhejiang, Huang Chongde's business is all over the place!

This goods gathered a group of Jianghuai businessmen to buy a piece of land on the outskirts of Renhe County and build a three-story luxury building. He wanted to ask Wang Yuan to move in, use the building as a temporary governor's palace, and after Wang Yuan left Zhejiang, it could also be changed into a "Jianghuai Guild Hall".

Where Governor Wang used to work, who ate the bear's heart and the leopard dared to mess around?

At that time, the "Jianghuai Guild Hall" will become a special existence, that is, the officials of the three divisions of Zhejiang will have to give a few thin noodles.

"I understand your kindness," Wang Yuan neither debunked nor cooperated, only smiled and reminded, "Don't make bad ideas in the future." ”

Huang Chongde smiled embarrassedly: "If you are false, you are really honest." ”

Huang Xu and Xu Qin stood beside them obediently after meeting their teacher.

This Xu Qin, the eldest daughter of the widow Yang, originally wanted to be dedicated to Wang Yuan as a concubine, and was married to his student by Wang Yuan. The two got married a few days ago, and obeyed Wang Yuan's call, the dowry and dowry were small, and the wedding was not large, and they came to visit the teacher after visiting the church in Huizhou.

"How's Jingguang's homework?" Wang Yuan asked.

Huang Xu said to his disciple: "I have mastered mathematics, I am studying physics, and the four books and five classics have not been left behind." Disciple...... I plan to return to my hometown to take the boys' exam the year after tomorrow, and maybe I can take a student exam. ”

Wang Yuan nodded and said: "With your talent, if you hadn't gone to the capital to apprentice, you would have been a talent show a long time ago." If you want to pursue a career path, being a teacher is not a hindrance, but remember not to put down physics. ”

Huang Xu said, "Disciple, remember. ”

In the main hall of the Land Temple, there is still the widow Yang and her three sons.

The eldest son, Xu Zhi, is not a material for the imperial examination, has been enrolled in the Industrial and Commercial College, and is currently in love with Fang Lingxi and Ouchi Yoshitaka.

The second son Xu Qia, that is, Xu Xiake's grandfather, now has a reputation for showing talent. The youngest son, Xu Zhan, is also smart and clever, and it is estimated that there will be no problem with the candidates after two years.

After Wang Yuan finished talking to the Huang family, the widow Yang knelt down and said, "Please take Qia'er and Zhan'er as apprentices!" ”

Wang Yuan, his business partner in Jiangnan, must be taken care of, and he promised: "I can accept the disciples, but I don't have time to teach them the scriptures." Your Xu family has abundant financial resources, and there is no shortage of silver, please sir. In this way, when they pass the exam, they will go to the capital to find me, and then I will personally invite them to hire a teacher. ”

"Mr. Xie, great grace!" That's what Yang wants.

Once the two sons worship Wang Yuan as their teacher, no one will covet the Xu family's property, and the orphans and widows of the Xu family will be able to walk sideways in Jiangyin.

Xu Qia and Xu Zhan served tea on the spot and apprenticed, and respectively presented an ancient inkstone and a brush as a gift, and Wang Yuan also gave them a meeting gift in return.

After doing all this, the rest of the people retreated, leaving only Huang Chongde in the main hall.

"Is anyone looking?" Wang Yuan asked.

Huang Chongde replied: "After spending a lot of money to hire people to search for more than half a year, I finally found a 90-year-old master who had participated in the construction of the sealed boat. In addition, I also found more than a dozen veteran sailors, all of whom are over 50 years old. ”

"Very good, credit to you." Wang Yuan was very happy.

Huang Chongde said: "If you do things for the sake of the public, you don't dare to take credit." ”

Wang Yuan asked, "Where are they now?" ”

Huang Chongde said: "They all stay in the inn in Hangzhou, live in the upper room of Tianzihao, and provide good wine and food, and dare not slack off." ”

The construction materials of various ship types in the Ming Dynasty are very well kept, and even the drawings of Zheng He's treasure ship that are 57 meters long are available.

However, there is a shortage of senior shipbuilders, and the treasure shipyard has not built treasure ships since the Xuande period, and the shipwrights involved in the manufacture of treasure ships have long since died. During the Jingtai period, a large number of official shipyards were abolished, and no larger sea ships were built except for the feudal boats used to canonize overseas feudal states.

A large number of shipbuilders fled, a large number of shipbuilders changed jobs, China's shipbuilding technology is still there, but the talent who is proficient in these technologies is withering day by day.

Huang Chongde was entrusted by Wang Yuan to spend a lot of money to find more than half a year, please find a master who has built a sealed boat, it is pure luck. The old master is already over 90 years old, and if he delays looking for it a year or two, he will only be able to find his grave.

"How many old shipwrights are there?" Wang Yuan asked.

Huang Chongde said: "There are seventeen in total. ”

Wang Yuan immediately summoned Zhang Mu, a servant of the governor's palace, and instructed: "Prepare seventeen sedan chairs, not limited to luxury and beauty, just to sit comfortably, and the sedan chair driver must also be able to serve people." Prepare seventeen more sets of brocade robes, which should be warm and comfortable. I'll use these things tomorrow morning, and I'll give you enough silver, can you get them ready tonight?" ”

"If you can't prepare it, you won't have the shame to see the governor again." Zhang Mu patted his chest and said.

Zhang Mu used to be a local gangster in Hangzhou, but because of his reliable work and relatively regular methods, he was quickly promoted by Wang Yuan and became the head of the soap officials in the Governor's Mansion.

It's quite easy to make, if you don't make mistakes all the time, when Wang Yuan steps down as governor, he will consider bringing Zhang Mu back to the capital to listen to it.

In the early morning of the next day, when Wang Yuan got up, Zhang Mu had already sent the things to the Governor's Palace.

Wang Yuan forgot to say that he wanted boots, Zhang Mu was thoughtful, and took it upon himself to get seventeen pairs of new shoes, and by the way, he got seventeen big hats. And took the initiative to find Huang Chongde and went to the inn to measure the size of the seventeen old shipmasters, I don't know what means he used, anyway, he prepared everything overnight, and the clothes and shoes roughly fit.

Early in the morning, I saw Governor Wang riding into the city, followed by seventeen large sedan chairs.

Along the way, people watched, and some even followed all the way, wondering what the governor was doing.

The seventeen old shipmasters had already received the notice, got up early and waited at the door of the inn, and immediately knelt down collectively when they saw Wang Yuan coming.

Wang Yuan turned over and dismounted, personally helped the ninety-year-old shipmaster up, and bowed to them: "I want to build a treasure ship, please help the elders!" ”

"Don't dare to be!" The old shipwrecks returned the salute one after another.

Seventeen sedan chairs were lined up, and seventeen soldiers held out brocade robes and shoes and hats.

Wang Yuan said: "Please change into new clothes and take a sedan chair to the shipyard. ”

The youngest of the 17 is in his fifties. In the case of the withering of the shipbuilding industry, they had a very difficult life, and they were called around all the year round, and even served as ordinary carpenters.

Now there are big officials who invite them to build ships, and they are waiting to be picked up in Hangzhou all the way, not to mention, the governor also makes a big salute in public, and gets a sedan chair and brocade clothes. This treatment instantly brought tears to the eyes of the masters, and they couldn't wait to dedicate a handful of old bones to Governor Wang.

After a short time, the seventeen masters all changed into brocade robes, put on new hats and shoes, and stood at the door of the inn in high spirits.

"Elders, please get on the sedan chair!" Wang Yuan bowed and said.

The onlookers were in an uproar, only to hear that Governor Wang was arrogant and domineering, how could they have seen Governor Wang so humble and courteous?

The old shipwreaks were grateful and proud, smiling with their mouths full of wind and trembling and sitting in the sedan chair.

Not to the end, Wang Yuan personally rode a horse to open the way and led these masters to the shipyard.

As early as the Yongle period, the number of shipyards in Zhejiang ranked first in the country, but few large ships were built. At that time, almost all of the coastal guards in Zhejiang had their own shipyards, but unfortunately they were completely dismantled during the Jingtai period.

The shipyard built by Wang Yuan is located near the Qianhu Institute in Haining.

Thanks to the thousand households who were beheaded by Wang Yuan, although the shipyard here has been abolished, the dockyard has been used normally for simple repairs to smuggling ships.

"Humble position, see the king's general system!" Man Zheng led his soldiers to greet him.

After Wang Yuan's recommendation and the official approval of the imperial court, Man Zheng has been promoted two levels in a row, serving as the commander of the right guard of Hangzhou, and overstepping the rank to serve as the general army of Zhejiang's reserve war, directly in charge of the Qiantang Water Division, and also made an exception to be responsible for the training of the Qiantang Water Division.

As for the position of Haining Qianhu, he was promoted by the deputy Qianhu under Man Zheng.

The Qiantang Water Division is one of the two most elite water divisions in Zhejiang. When Man Zheng took over, there were only two or three hundred sailors left, and the other soldiers all stayed on the books. And there were not even medium-sized warships, they were all small ships, no wonder they were beaten by hundreds of Japanese tributary missions in history and could not find the north.

Wang Yuan nodded and said, "Get up, these are the old ship masters I invited, and you must give more preferential treatment." ”

Man Zheng said with a smile: "The lowly position will serve them as their own parents." ”

The old shipwreaks had all fallen off the sedan chair, and Wang Yuan said, "Elders, let's go and visit the shipyard together." ”

Soon, the teachers were disappointed. The broken dock here, not to mention building Zheng He's treasure ship, is enough to build a 400-material battle ship.

Ninety-year-old Chen Baochang had a bad look in his eyes, stared at the dock for a long time, and asked, "Is this building a bird boat?" ”

Wang Yuan explained: "For small bird boats, the boatmen are not experienced enough, so they build some small bird boats to practice. ”

History often mentions "lucky boats", which are a specialty of Fujian. There is also a kind of "bird boat" in Zhejiang, also known as "Zhejiang ship", which once served in Zheng He's fleet, about ten zhang long, equivalent to two-thirds of the length of the treasure ship.

However, in the Zhengde period, the information on bird boats was well preserved, but the master who could build bird boats could not be found.

It was not until Longqing switched on and off that the "bird boat" data was turned out for study, and it was reappeared on the battlefield at sea. According to the "Records of Soldiers", the "bird boat" in the Longqing period was equipped with eight 2,000-pound guns, 20 thousand-pound guns, dozens of small artillery, and 60 guns.

During the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty, the "bird boat" came out with an upgraded version, which was close to the length of Zheng He's treasure ship, but unfortunately gradually disappeared after recovering Taiwan.

Zhang Yue was thrown by Wang Yuan to Nanguan, Zhejiang Province to collect taxes, where the main tax was not silver, but all kinds of wood! After receiving the goods, part of it was transported to build a boat, and a department was transported to Zhengde to repair the leopard house.

Wang Yuan was very bold, and privately detained a large pile of timber suitable for building sea ships.

It's a pity that the shipbuilders he recruited from the government have no experience in building large ships, so they can only let them build small bird boats to practice first. It is said to be a small bird boat, but it is also a full 400 materials, which is already equivalent to the most powerful battle ship of the Daming Naval Division at present.

And Zheng He's treasure ship, more than 4,000 materials!

Wang Yuan asked: "Old man, I have prepared all kinds of ship type drawings, can you build Zheng He's treasure ship?" ”

Chen Baochang said with a smile: "Your Excellency Governor, the treasure ship is actually a sealed boat, that is, it is not old, and the shipyards in Nanzhili and Fujian can be built with a little more effort." ”

"The treasure ship is the sealing boat?" Wang Yuan was very surprised.

The sealing boat, a large ship used to canonize overseas feudal states, has always been able to be built in the Ming Dynasty. It's just that that thing is rarely used, and the number is extremely rare, basically one is built over decades, and every time you build a ship, you have to rethink and study it.

Chen Baochang said: "Zheng He's treasure boat is a sealed boat, but it is larger than an ordinary sealed boat. ”

"I see," Wang Yuan said, "I have all of you." ”

Chen Baochang said: "When I was young, I participated in the construction of a sealed boat, as long as I can get the drawings, I will definitely build Zheng He's treasure ship!" ”

Wang Yuan thought for a while: "The treasure ship is too big, just build one, and the others can build bird ships." ”

Chen Baochang said: "We will live up to the trust!" ”