On the black water ocean, the sea and the sky are the same.

But the blue of the sky is a transparent blue; The blue of the sea is a deep blue. Whether it's the blue of the sky or the blue of the sea, it's so intoxicating.

Sail hunting, masts like forests, a huge fleet of ships fluttering the sun and moon flags, in a swallow-shaped formation, is heading north along the black water ocean.

This is the joint fleet of Jiangnan Group to carry out the fourth sea voyage, which is composed of 80 400 sand ships owned by Jiangnan Shipping Company and 20 escort ships owned by Jiangnan Security Company.

From the time of the execution of the second sea transport, the number of ships in the fleet doubled.

This is due to the Jiangnan Group's recruitment of tens of thousands of people from the Yellow Flood Area in Jiangbei to work in Jiangnan. A large number of laborers were allocated to Chongming Island, completely liberating the manpower of the Shachuan Gang, not only the Jiangnan Shipyard could be fully operational, but also the 3,000 sailors could go to sea.

On the other hand, Longjiangbao Shipyard and Suzhou Shipyard have successively received good news, and the first batch of 40 thousand ships ordered by Jiangnan Group can be delivered.

Eighty ships of a thousand materials, to say the least, require six thousand sailors to operate. This made Zhao Gongzi happy and anxious, and he ordered Chen Huaixiu and Jin Ke to step up the training of new sailors and sailors...... Oh no, Coast Guard.

The so-called 'South Ship and North Horse', the people in the south of the Yangtze River are the most complete in the number of people who operate boats and play in the water, and once the trainee sailor becomes a regular, he can obtain the official establishment of the shipping company, and his income is several times that of ordinary people, so he naturally does not worry about recruiting manpower.

In fact, more than 3,000 people from the Light Sand Boat Gang enthusiastically signed up. In addition, another 3,000 people were recruited from Shanghai, Taicang and other places. The original plan was to enter the Maritime Academy for systematic education.

But Jinke hasn't put up the shelves of the academy yet, and Childe is in such a hurry, obviously he can't train it step by step. He, Chen Huaixiu and others combined, can only use the old to bring the new and catch the ducks on the shelves.

So the three thousand sailors, each with two apprentices, and the captain of the ship was no exception, began a high-intensity drill that lasted for several months...... Fortunately, Cao Jiang Yushi is Uncle Wu, otherwise he would have to report them for recruiting a navy and plotting against him.

~~

In order to allow the old sailors to teach each other, Jinke specially stipulated that within five years after the apprentices became regulars, one-third of their salary would go to the master, which was called 'cultivating silver'.

In the eyes of later generations, this seems to be very unfair to the apprentices. But in this era of 'church apprentices starving to death masters', no matter what kind of craftsmanship is not easily passed on. After the apprenticeship apprenticeship, he had to let the master call for several years. After learning the craft, you have to work for the master for three years before you can become a teacher.

Therefore, in the eyes of the contemporaries, Jinke's 'cultivating silver' system is actually very friendly to apprentices. But it can also mobilize the enthusiasm of the old sailors, so that they are willing to help the apprentices and pass the crew exam as soon as possible. Rather than deliberately hiding them, they are only called as free labor.

However, most of those old sailors are clumsy and clumsy, and they can't do what they do, and it is far better to rely on words than to teach by example. The best way for them to take their apprentices is to get on the ship and do it, and make a few more trips back and forth on the sea route, showing that real skills are better than anything else.

Normally, each 400-grain sand ship can hold up to 1,300 stone of grain. But then the ship will become very cumbersome and difficult to handle, and with so many two knives on board, it is easy to get into an accident. It is also not conducive to the preparation of sailors to practice their skills.

In order to facilitate the exercise, with the approval of Zhao Gongzi, each boat was only loaded with three hundred grains, that is, a fraction of the full load.

Therefore, this trip between Chongming and Tianjin is not so much about transporting grain as it is about training......

~~

Eighty sand boats of Jiangnan Shipping are practicing, and twenty escort ships of Jiangnan Security are also practicing.

The last time they were on the sea, they had only ten escort ships, and they were all converted from old ships of the Sand Boat Gang.

But at the end of April, a letter came from Fujian saying that the 10 medium-sized blacktail boats ordered had been built. Wang Rulong was happy, and personally took people to the underground shipyard in Quanzhou to bring it back. This is just a sequence that has just been incorporated into the Coast Guard, and I haven't even had time to brush the gunwale, so I can't wait to go to sea for the first training.

Obviously, this blacktail boat is definitely not covered. Otherwise, Wang Rulong, who has always taken the route of arrogance and tyranny, would not have personally gone south to pick up the boat as if he was greeting his relatives.

This kind of boat originated in Dongguan, Guangdong, and was also called 'black-tailed boat' or 'black-tailed boat' because of its black hull and stern. Its hull is made of sturdy and durable iron pear wood, so the hull is as hard as iron, 'it is unbreakable to the touch, and it is indestructible to the fire, even the cannonballs fired by the Franco's plane, and even the Portuguese warships that are rampaging the coast of the South China Sea are very afraid of it.

The size and shape of the ship is similar to that of the Fukufu, but the Fufufu is made of Matsusugi, and if it collides with the Fufu in the sea, the Fukubune will be crushed. Moreover, the durability of the ship is also good, usually the life of the ship has ten years, but the life of the ship can be as long as 50 years, so although the price is expensive - one can top the price of five ships, it is still widely sought after by the military, maritime merchants and even the Japanese robbers.

To this day, the Wuwei ship is still the main warship of the sea lords of Fujian and Guangdong. Usually the way to measure the strength of their fleet is to see how many blacktail ships there are.

Of course, the flagships of Lin Daoqian and Zeng Yiyi are both large-sized black-tailed ships of two or three thousand materials, which are far from being comparable to medium-sized black-tailed ships like the Coast Guard.

However, in the northern seas, where there is no lord of the sea, this kind of medium-sized blacktail ship with a length of ten zhang, a width of three zhang, and a thickness of 7 inches can already go sideways.

~~

The price of such a black-tailed ship is more than eight hundred taels of silver.

Zhao Gongzi's original intention was to buy a few underground ship yards in Fujian and Guangdong, so as to ensure a stable source of black ships. However, when Tang Baolu went to the coast of Fujian and Guangdong to inquire, he learned that these shipyards all had orders from sea owners, and they had long been pinched by the sea owners.

Not only is the road to buying a boat yard completely impassable, but under normal circumstances, even a blacktail boat cannot be bought.

Fortunately, Zhao Gongzi has the ability to make money, and I will add money - when he offered a sky-high price of 2,000 taels per ship, those ship yards magically had production capacity, and it only took three months for the first batch of ships to be delivered. It can be seen that private enterprises are more efficient than state-owned enterprises.

Of course, that kind of large-sized Wanhu black-tailed boat is still the forbidden territory of the sea lords. If the shipyard owners dared to sell to outsiders, the whole family would die.

However, the shipyard owners still warmly recommended their joint venture, the underground gun factory in Foshan, to the big financier.

Don't look down on these civilian gun factories, the quality of the bird guns they create is far better than that produced by the Household Weapons Bureau, and the artillery cast is even more powerful to support the powerful firepower of the sea lords. Even the Portuguese in Ho Kyong O would place orders with them to buy some iron cannons that were not produced by the Bugarao Cannon Foundry to supplement their firepower.

Although the quality of these iron cannons is almost meaningless than that of Portuguese copper cannons, they are not cheap and sufficient. Paul Tang knew that his son-in-law suffered from a severe phobia of insufficient firepower. He almost bought all the guns and cannons in Foshan Fort. He also asked the shipyard to drive the ship to Guangdong and completed the installation of artillery.

Therefore, the ten Wuwei ships that Wang Rulong drove back were each equipped with four 'Dafa Gong' falcon cannons, eight snake cannons, and sixteen large Franc machines!

In addition, the franc machines on all grain ships have also changed from two to eight...... This thing is made in Quanzhou, but the range is too close, it is a large shotgun, so it can only be used in close combat.

You must know that the blessed ships of the Daming Sailors are equipped with one Dafa tribute and six Franc machines for each ship. It's not enough for a fraction of Zhao Hao's black-tailed boat.

And the North Korean naval division is still using the general's cannon more than a hundred years ago. As for the firepower of the Japanese naval army, it is even inferior to North Korea......

Therefore, in terms of firepower alone, the coast guard already has an overwhelming advantage in the waters north of Daming.

~~

Under the leadership of the flagship, twenty escort ships rode the wind and waves in a goose-shaped formation, sheltering the grain convoy sailing in a zigzag behind them.

Jin Ke and Wang Rulong stood side by side in the stern of the flagship, looking at the security guards who were sweating and practicing on the deck, and both of them had endless emotions.

"Back then, we were under the command of the marshal, and there were only six warships, and none of them were black-tailed ships." Wang Rulong touched his red beard and grinned incredibly: "I didn't expect to leave the barracks and be able to command more and stronger warships." ”

"We are not battleships." Jin Ke frowned and reminded the open-mouthed old king: "We are cargo ships equipped with the necessary weapons. It's just because of the heavy responsibility and the intolerance of mistakes that I brought a little more self-defense weapons. ”

According to the rules, if a ship goes to sea, the government can give each ship four numbered firearms, and each time they can give three catties of gunpowder. On the other side of Yuegang, ships going to the ocean are also allowed to carry artillery, and 'they are allowed to carry gun emplacements for ocean-going ships that sell foreign ships, and each ship is allowed to carry no more than two cannons, no more than 30 pieces of gunpowder, and its firearms, bows and arrows, waist knives, etc. are also allowed to be carried'.

"Are you defending yourself? It is enough to destroy the North Korean sailors. "Wang Rulong felt that Jinke was too cautious." On this damn ocean, where there is no royal law, how can you be so careful? ”

"Childe hasn't gotten the right to ship the sea yet, strictly speaking, we're complicit." Jin Ke sighed and said: "Even if we get the right to ship in the future, if the people of the imperial court see so many guns on our ship, they will also feel uneasy." ”

"What are you afraid of, before we arrive at the port, we will receive the cannon in the cabin." Wang Rulong said with a smile.

"Not only the cannon, but also the mouth should be tightly closed, don't let the people below brag indiscriminately and cause trouble for the son after they go ashore." Jin Ke sighed and said, "Caoyun Group is happy to participate in our one." ”

"Hey, okay, okay." Wang Rulong finally nodded helplessly and said, "I promise to lead by example." In the future, the same caliber up and down, blacktail boats? Dafaitong? Snake cannon? None of them exist. We're just a small sampan with clear water, and we use three-eyed guns and small knives, and this is all done, right? ”

"Not so exaggerated." Jinke was amused. "Anyway, bear with it first, and when Childe has a firm foothold on the sea, there is something for you to brag about."