In addition to collecting shipbuilding drawings and skilled craftsmen from the government-run shipyards, Guo Zhiyuan also asked Zhang Cheng to acquire several private shipyards at any cost, but don't underestimate these private shipyards, because of the decline of the government-run shipyards, a large number of craftsmen who fled from the government-run shipyards have gone to the private shipyards to re-operate the old business, not only the technology has been passed down from generation to generation, but also with the prosperity of coastal folk maritime trade, these private shipyards also pay attention to the exchange of shipbuilding technology with the West, learn from each other's strengths, and the technology is becoming more and more sophisticated.

For example, in the thirteenth year of Jiajing (1534), the "building a sealed boat" incident fully illustrates the strength of the private shipyard, when the Ming Dynasty's official shipyard due to internal corruption, serious technological decline, even the Ming Dynasty canonized the Ryukyu "sealed boat" is also unable to undertake the construction, this is a major event related to the national prestige of the Ming Dynasty, if it is spread out, it will be laughable and generous, the official in charge of this matter at that time had no choice but to find a private shipyard to pick up this "cauldron", originally held the idea of a dead horse as a live horse doctor, but I didn't expect this private shipyard to really put it" The "sealed boat" has been built! This giant "sealing boat" with a length of 15 zhang, a width of 1 zhang and a depth of 1 zhang and 3 feet drove to the Ryukyus, causing tens of thousands of onlookers, greatly increasing the prestige of the Ming Dynasty, and truly fulfilling the truth of the master in the people!

In addition, Guo Zhiyuan asked Xu Xinsu to secretly acquire the Daxi people's naval gun drawings for him, and the matter of netting Daxi craftsmen, retired sailors, and gunners has also made progress, Xu Xinsu is worthy of being a sociable master, although the drawings were not obtained, but Guo Zhiyuan has recruited more than 200 Western skilled craftsmen and retired sailors and gunners, compared with the Chinese, the concept of the Western country in this era is weaker, they do not hesitate to risk their lives to go to sea is nothing more than to make money, as long as they give them money, they don't care who hires them.

Among these Westerners there is also a retired officer, British, named Francis, according to his own words he has become a captain in the British Navy, independently commanded a British battleship, was expelled from the army because of alcoholism, after retiring from the army, this guy was hired by a British businessman as a captain, ran to Xiamen, this guy did not change, drunk and fought with people on the streets of Xiamen, one person fought a dozen, but did not fall behind, and finally the government dispatched dozens of officials to subdue him and put him in a prison cell.

At this time, the government was not as weak as the later Manchu government, although Francis was a foreigner, but he still had to be punished for wounding people, and the British merchant who hired him was very dissatisfied with this arrogant and troublesome guy, so he was naturally unwilling to pay a fine for him, so he left him in a cell and drove away by himself. Xu Xinsu had a relationship in the government, and when he heard about it, he spent some money to bail Francis out, and Francis, who had just lost his job and had no way out, could only accept Xu Xinsu's solicitation and followed him to Dongfu.

Francis is indeed an unpleasant guy, arrogant and fond of poisonous tongues, as soon as he arrived in Dongfan, he made a lot of nonsense, pointing to the dozen or so Dongfan modified armed warships parked on the dock and laughing: "This is also called a warship?" I used to command the British Empire warship, one capable of capsizing a hundred such ships! ……”

Not only the people on Dongfan's side, but even the Daxi craftsmen, sailors, and gunners recruited with Francis didn't treat him very well, thinking that this guy didn't see him with any ability except for his big mouth, but Guo Zhiyuan didn't see it that way, he knew that people with a character like Francis were often temperamental and capable.

There is still a way to deal with this arrogant and unruly guy Guo Zhiyuan, he directly handed over Francis to Fazheng, of course Fazheng will not get used to Francis's stinky temper, if he is disobedient, he will be beaten, Francis has always boasted of his strength, but in front of Fazheng, it is completely not enough to see, he is beaten by Fazheng every day and his nose is blue and his face is swollen, this guy is still not convinced, saying I can't beat you, let's drink the bar, Fazheng can drink wine as water, of course he won't coax, the result goes without saying, he drank Francis directly under the table, I was drunk for a day and a night before I woke up.

Now Francis can't get up with a stinky fart, fighting and drinking are his two major hobbies, all of which are compared to Fazheng, so naturally he can't be arrogant, and when he sees Fazheng, he lowers his eyebrows and pleases his eyes, and he is very honest.

Francis does have some real skills, his arrival has raised the level of Dongfan's naval combat skills and tactics to a higher level, and this guy is also a generalist, and he is also very talented in artillery control, under his training, Dongfan's artillery man's control proficiency and artillery accuracy have been significantly improved.

Moreover, Francis also provided Guo Zhiyuan with the British's latest outboard gun "porthole" design, and it was with this new design that the British defeated the Spanish fleet, which was known as invincible at sea. Prior to this, although the Western countries had popularized the use of artillery in naval warfare, they still only used artillery bombardment as an auxiliary means of attack, and in the end, it was necessary to let soldiers board the enemy ship through broadside combat, and through hand-to-hand combat, until the enemy ship was completely captured, the final victory was achieved.

The British discovered the shortcomings of this primitive naval combat tactic, and were the first to set up "portholes" on the warship, so that the guns could shoot from the lower deck of the ship, and at the same time, the weight of the guns could be evenly distributed under the center of gravity of the ship, so that the ship could also move smoothly during the shelling, and more importantly, this could greatly extend the duration of the shelling phase, and the victory of the battle could be locked without the need for broadside battles!

It can be said that the broadside guns have completely changed the tactics of naval warfare, in the past, naval battles had to be equipped with a large number of soldiers on the ship to ensure that they had a numerical advantage in the broadside battle, and at the same time, special attention was paid to the design of the "ramming angle" when designing the warship, so that they could gain an advantage by ramming the enemy ship, while the British broadside gun tactics greatly saved space and manpower, and showed more flexibility in naval warfare, and at the same time allowed them to use more resources on the firepower configuration of the warship.

As a traverser, Guo Zhiyuan of course knew the advanced nature of the British's broadside gun tactics, and the British relied on this tactic to replace the Spaniards as the new maritime hegemon, but it was one thing to know and another thing to practice, and Guo Zhiyuan could not apply the broadside gun tactics to the Eastern Fan fleet, and the arrival of Francis just solved this problem.

Francis also put forward a genius idea, he proposed that some key elements of the sea ship can be replaced by cast iron components, so that the battleship can be more solid, even if it is hit by a cannonball, it will not be sunk immediately, his idea was naturally ridiculed by the craftsmen, even a three-year-old child knows that wood is lighter than water to float on the water, and the iron shipbuilding ship will not sink?