The beginning of August is the end of summer and the beginning of autumn in Taiyuan, the autumn tiger is the last to exert its might, just cooled for a few days, as if adding chopping wood under the stove, it is hot again, but the heat at this time is not like the sultry heat of June and July, but a kind of dry heat, standing in the sun, as if to be melted by the hot sun, but once back to the shade of the eaves, it is immediately cooled down.

In the blink of an eye, it had been a month since Guo Song returned from the grassland, but the exchange of slaves and the transportation of materials were still proceeding in an orderly manner.

On this morning, Guo Song came to the shipbuilding workshop located on the bank of the Fenshui River, Taiyuan Shipyard was established the year before last, it was actually formed by the relocation and merger of Lingwu Shipyard and Lanzhou Shipyard, and was managed by the Shipbuilding Department under the Ministry of Industry, which was only established in October last year, responsible for the purchase, repair, construction and daily maintenance of ships.

The order of the Ship Administration is called Wang Zhihe, he is the former county commander of Chenliu County, last year and Wei Lun together with the Jianghuai Salt and Iron Division of 1,000 tankers sent to Hedong and was dismissed, under the recommendation of the Yang family, Guo Song appointed him as the newly established Ship Department Order, Zheng Wupinguan.

Today is the completion of the first 3,000-stone warship of Taiyuan Shipyard, and of course Guo Song will come to inspect.

The shipbuilding workshop covers an area of about 50 hectares, there are more than a dozen huge warehouses, there are three docks, there are more than 3,000 craftsmen, basically from the displaced people in Yongqiu boatmasons, Yongqiu is the Sui Dynasty to build dragon boats boats, there are many shipbuilders in the county who have become homeless, and finally they are all collected to the shipbuilding workshop.

At present, the Hedong civilian ships are basically sufficient, and for more than two years, the shipyard has been building military ships, mainly small military ships of 500 stone and sentinel ships of 100 stones, and has also built two thousand stone warships, and today is the first big ship of 3,000 stones.

Wang Zhihe accompanied Guo Song to the shipyard, and the chief steward came out to greet the two, and the chief steward Guo Song still remembered that he was the chief steward of the Lanzhou shipyard.

"Are you the Grand Steward of Kim?"

Jin Yao was surprised and delighted, but he didn't expect His Royal Highness King Jin to remember him.

"It's a lowly position."

Guo Song smiled again: "I still remember you said that the main reason why you can't build a ship is that there is no suitable wood, and now the wood should be enough!" ”

"It's enough, the timber sent from Mobei this time is very good, and it is a good material for building a big ship."

Guo Song was stunned, "Are you saying that the timber in Mobei is suitable for shipbuilding?" ”

"Of course it is, thanks to the king's order, otherwise this batch of wood would have been missed."

This time, thousands of large logs were transported back from Mobei, which were originally intended to be used to build a palace, but the construction has not started, and the wood was piled up in the royal city and became the trophy of the Tang army.

Guo Song originally planned to use it to make trebuchets, stone cannons, etc., or to make building beams, but he did not think of using it for shipbuilding.

He was immediately interested, and immediately said, "Let's take a look!" ”

The people came to a huge warehouse, and the storehouse steward pushed open the door and let them in, and the warehouse was like a palace, and it was filled with hundreds of huge logs, each of which was more than five feet, and it required two people to hug each other, and it was extremely stout.

Wang Zhihe said with a smile: "I still wore out these hundreds of sticks, so they gave it to me, and I heard that there is wood in the back, and His Royal Highness has to allocate some of it to us." ”

Guo Song patted the huge wood and asked with a smile: "Steward Jin, this is just pine wood, what's so good?" ”

"Your Royal Highness doesn't know, there is a difference between pine, the pine tree that has grown for more than ten or twenty years, although it looks tall, but the wood is relatively loose, this kind of pine has grown for at least two hundred years, used to build palaces, the wood is very fine, and it has been dried for more than ten years, it is difficult for water to penetrate into the interior, it is the best wood for shipbuilding, I have built a ship for a lifetime, such a good wood, I have only seen it three times."

"How about this wood for military use?" Guo Song asked with a smile again.

Steward Jin glanced at Wang Zhihe next to him pleadingly, and begged Wang Zhihe to say a few words for himself.

Wang Zhihe was a little embarrassed, this kind of thing was very offensive, he didn't know whether to say it or not, but since he was the order of the shipping department, he should strive for the interests of the department.

Wang Zhihe bowed down and said: "To tell the truth, this kind of wood used for military purposes is tantamount to killing chickens with a cattle slaughtering knife!" ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"Your Highness also knows that the main thing in the military is iron, and wood is nothing more than bows, crossbows, shields, spear shafts, or large trebuchets and stone cannons, and so on."

"Go on!" Guo Song said lightly.

Wang Zhihe continued again: "The bow body and spear shaft are very demanding, it is definitely not suitable, the shield is lightweight, and now it is made of rattan soaked in oil, as for the crossbow body, trebuchet and stone cannon, they have no requirements for wood, wood is just an auxiliary material for them, it is a kind of support, not the main material, any wood can be applied, and with this century-old wood to build trebuchet, it is really a tyrannical thing, but it is different for shipbuilding, with this solid and fine old wood shipbuilding, you can go to sea, the significance is not trivial." ”

"I don't have a problem, it doesn't matter if I give it all to you, I'm afraid the military won't agree!" Guo Song said helplessly.

Grand Steward Jin suddenly became anxious, "Your Highness, we are also building a military ship for the army!" ”

"That's right!"

Guo Song smiled and said, "That's it! I will give you all the old timber obtained in Mobei, and then I will let the Hui Nu Khan exchange the big trees for slaves, they must cut down new trees, and these new timbers will be given to the Ordnance Department, you don't have to fight with them anymore. ”

The chief steward of Jin was overjoyed, and said repeatedly: "Never fight!" Never fight! ”

Guo Song waved his hand, "Then we have to make it clear, the ship you build must be able to go to sea, this is what you said!" ”

"There is no problem with the lowly guarantee."

"Good! Let's go see the new ship. ”

Guo Song waved his hand and walked towards the warehouse, Wang Zhihe was a little anxious, and hurriedly pulled the chief steward Jin aside and said in a low voice: "Can you go to sea?" ”

"Don't worry! Our ships of more than 1,000 stones can go to sea, and more than 3,000 stones can go to sea, and there will be no problem. ”

.........

The 3,000-stone ship is moored on the shore, and dozens of craftsmen are still brushing the last coat of tung oil.

The whole big ship is about 20 zhang long, four zhang high, the lines are smooth, the momentum is majestic, and the front bow is engraved with a huge dragon head, which is hideous and rough.

But the biggest feature of this ship is that it has wheels, two flipping wooden wheels on each side, its power comes from human pedaling, it is a car ship, the biggest feature of the car and boat is that it sails against the wind, turns around flexibly, and is very suitable for water battles on the river and the lake.

"Your Highness, give your opinion!" Wang Zhihe said with a smile.

Guo Song smiled and said: "There is no actual ship, and the opinion is really difficult to mention, so let's do it!" I make a suggestion, if you think it is reasonable, you can adopt it, and if it is unreasonable, you can give up, and do not force it! ”

"Your Highness, please speak!"

Guo Song pointed to a huge shelf on the shore in the distance and said, "Is this big ship built there?" ”

"Exactly!"

"How do you get into the water after the construction is complete?"

The chief steward of Jin scratched his head and said: "After it is built, put sleepers underneath, and then drag it down the river with a rope, all of which are made like this." ”

"If it's a big ship of 5,000 stones, what if it's repaired?" Guo Song asked again.

"If it's simple maintenance, you can brush tung oil directly in the water, but if it's a bit troublesome to change the bottom plate, you have to drag it ashore, which is very laborious, it takes hundreds of cows, and it's easy to damage."

"My advice to you is to dig a big pond by the river, and cover it all with bluestone slabs, so that you can let water in, but you can also drain it out. Usually it is a dry pool, you build a boat in the pool, and when the ship is built, pull the cofferdam, after the water comes in, the ship floats up, directly into the water, and the same is true for repairing the ship, when the tide is high, the ship comes first, and when the tide is low, the water will naturally drain out, plug the cofferdam, and repair the ship in the pool. ”

Steward Jin's eyes lit up, this is a good way, why didn't he think of it?

What Guo Song introduced was the dock, which was invented in the Song Dynasty, and now there is no such thing.

"How's that going to work?"

Steward Jin slapped his thigh heavily, "It's wonderful, the boat is in a big pool, and you don't have to worry about the water washing the boat away when the tide is high, you don't have to work so hard, the water will drain itself at low tide, why didn't we think of it earlier, we didn't expect it......"

Steward Jin was so excited that he was a little incoherent, "Let's discuss it tonight, and we'll do it tomorrow!" ”

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[Today is Mother's Day, and Lao Gao wants to take his elderly parents out for a walk, so today and tomorrow are morning and evening, I hope you understand! ] 】