Wen Desi followed Zhang Ji to see the ship. There have been a lot of Western ship models, and Chinese sea ships have also dabbled a little out of interest. One of the things that makes Wen Desi more dissatisfied is that there are far less research on this area in China than in foreign countries, and even the models of ancient Chinese ships are collected abroad. There is very little information to be seen.

There is no dry dock in the shipyard, which is placed directly on the rack. Wen Desi knows that the history of dry docks can be traced back to the Northern Song Dynasty, and this method was used to repair dragon boats during the Xining period, but it seems that not many people used it later, and it is basically an isolated case. If it weren't for Shen Kuo's record, I'm afraid most people wouldn't know that there was such a thing. ”

"How is this ship launched?" He was interested in how to get into the water in ancient times when there were no slipways and no docks.

"Fill the beachhead with thin mud and pull it with a rope."

It's so simple. Wen Desi nodded, the so-called wisdom of the people is infinite, and it is not an empty word.

The ship is almost seventy percent complete, the hull is formed, but the deck is not installed. With his limited knowledge of ancient ships, Mr. Wen could see that this was a so-called "Guangzhou ship". It is a large ship among ancient Chinese sea ships, with a wide hull and a false tail at the stern. The most important feature is that there is a plug plate that is deeper than the keel at the midline surface. This insert plate plays a role in slowing down the swing and drifting, which is a major feature of the Guangzhou ship. In terms of size, it belongs to about 400 material ships, which is the largest ship allowed by the Ming government to be built by the private sector. Although there is no doubt that Chinese shipbuilders are capable of building large ships of 1,000 tons, the ships are too large to operate, and they are of no practical significance.

The length of the ship was about 27 meters long and more than 5 meters wide, and the rough estimate of the lower displacement was 70 tons. This is almost the same as the other 400 material ships in their hands. It can be seen that the 400 material ship already has a certain standard. Wen Desi asked Zhang Ji if he used a ship book for shipbuilding, and Zhang Ji was embarrassed and said with a red face: "There is no ship book."

Wen Deji knew that he was going to keep his jishu secret, and he thought that he would not shock you, and he was afraid that there would be a lot of verbosity in hiding in the future, so he cleared his throat and reported a series of numbers in Cantonese:

"The 400-material battle seat ship is 8 zhang 6 feet 9 inches long, 1 zhang 7 feet wide, and employs 2,487 ,......."

(Note: The ruler here is the Ministry of Labor, which is 0.311 meters.) There is also a municipal ruler, which is 0.283 meters)

Before the words fell, Zhang Ji had already knelt on the ground with an ordinary sound, his face full of panic: "Big ...... Big...... People ......"

Wen Desi said: "Get up, what are you afraid of?!" ”

"Adults know—"

"When you arrive at Bopu and see our large and small iron ships, you will know the profundity of the ingenuity of the world. What a boat book is! Wen Deji thought to himself that this was just the most basic reading book for ancient ship lovers, "The Story of the Southern Ship".

"Yes, yes." Zhang Ji knew that this old man was a big expert, and he heard that there were completely different iron ships to see, so he couldn't help it for a long time, and he became much happier when he introduced the ship.

The ship that was about to be completed was a brig, and the hull was made of cedar, which was different from the information in Wen Desi's memory, and he remembered that the book said that the characteristic of the Canton ship was "iron wood", and the Fubo they captured was also a canton ship, although it did not use iron wood, but also used lychee wood, which is also a hardwood.

In the face of Wen Desi's inquiry, Zhang Ji said that this is completely a matter of cost, the price of iron power wood is high, fir wood is abundant and cheap, and the strength is acceptable. According to him, this was ordered by a maritime merchant in Guangdong, and every time he went to Nanyang to trade, he would buy a new ship, not asking for a good ship, as long as he could arrive safely, and when he got there, he would even sell all the goods on the ship and take another ship back. Therefore, the ship is almost disposable, and the materials can be saved, as long as it is cheap.

"How much silver does such a ship cost?"

"The price is eight hundred taels, and if you use good wood, add two hundred taels."

In this way, the price of a ship is only one thousand taels. It seems that the navy has been a big money burner since ancient times. In the matter of shipbuilding, it is better to introduce private capital.

From the structural point of view of this ship, the whole ship is divided into 13 cabins by 12 bulkheads, and the bulkhead panels are made of large camphor planks with a thickness of more than 10 cm. This is the most advanced Shijie level structure of Chinese guslets: watertight cabins. The junction between the watertight bulkhead and the outer hull plate has beam ribs and is fixed with iron nails. There were two running water holes in the bulkhead and the ribs near the bottom of the ship, which surprised Wen Desi a little - how could this watertight cabin be waterproof if the water hole was opened?

Zhang explained that the water was to facilitate the drainage of the stagnant water in the cabin, and that it was enough to plug it with a special wooden plug when sailing.

The planks are all cedar, the thickness of the bottom plate is more than 20 cm, the gunwald is 15 cm, the width of the board is 8~20 cm, the middle of the boat is the widest, and the end and tail are gradually narrowed. The transverse connection of the ship board adopts the flat connection type, the longitudinal connection uses the plane with the same mouth connection, and the plate joint is filled with twisted material. This is made of hemp silk, tung oil and oyster shell ash mixture, the composition of tung oil is tung oleate glycerides, easy to oxidize, polymerization reaction, the formation of paint film is tough and water-resistant, the calcium carbonate content of oyster shell ash is more than 90%, the lime fired at high temperature is most suitable for blending tung oil, lime itself has strong cohesiveness, lime and tung oil mixing, can promote the polymerization of tung oil, the formation of tung oleate calcium, excellent waterproof. Iron nails are also used between the planks for nailing, and the nail holes are covered with putty twisted material.

The third and seventh bulkheads are provided with a headmast and a mainmast. The mast is a large camphor wood fixed to the bulkhead and hull, with two square holes on it, and the mast clamp post is inserted into the square hole, and then the mast can be fixed through the mast clamp post. A feature of the Chinese sailing ship was that the mast could be rested down and disassembled, and a pivot was set on the mast base and a square hole was left in the bulkhead to rest the mast.

Ballast is pebbles that can be found everywhere on the beach, and Zhang said that it is mainly placed under the third and fourth cabins. The sides are made of dragon ribs, which are used to lay the bilge deck, on which cargo and personnel live.

The rudder is made of hardwood, and although it is a one-off boat, the key parts are unambiguous. The rudder is a primitive balanced rudder that can be lifted and lowered, and there are many holes in the rudder plate, which according to Zhang Jiji, can make the rudder operate with less effort, and it is also a unique design on the Guangzhou ship.

What interests him the most is the many shipbuilding materials piled up in the shed. Especially iron. Chinese ships have been connected with iron nails since the Warring States period, and by the time of the Tang and Song dynasties, they were fully mature, and now he was excited to see these things with his own eyes. There are six or seven kinds of iron nails here: shovel nails, square nails, jujube core nails, climbing nails, flat nails, different forms and different uses. There is also a peculiar ruler-shaped iron member, about 50 cm long, 5 cm wide, and 0.6 cm thick, a section folded into a right angle, and there are four small holes in the ruler. Zhang said that this is a steam nail for connecting the ship's plank, which is used to connect the outer plate to the bulkhead. The method is to pre-open the curium groove on the bulkhead, open the hole in the outer plate, and drive the curium nail from the outside to the inside and place it in the curium groove of the bulkhead. The nails are then fixed to the bulkhead with nails.

Wen Deji walked around the ship, looking at this real Ming ship, and wondered if he could turn this ship into a sail cruiser. But after thinking about it carefully, I feel that this ship is still too small, the deadweight ton of the 400 material ship is only 30~40 tons, and the maximum number of warships is 6~8 cannons, and its transportation volume is too pitiful for the massive raw materials required for industrialization. The speed of the expedition ship is too slow, and it seems that he still has to build the brig he knows and loves the most familiar and favorite brig.

"Lao Zhang," said Wen Desi, "what do you think of the red-haired boat?" ”

"The ships are tall, they have cannons, and they are not afraid of pirates."

"What else?"

"The sail rope is exquisite," Zhang said honestly, "the speed is fast, I have watched the red-haired boat for a long time, probably because the mast is high, the canvas is abundant, and the wind is strong." But the real mystery is still not visible. ”

"Well, I know all of that."

Zhang Ji looked at Wen Desi, and there was a bright light in his eyes. But he knew that craftsmanship was the cost of eating, and this old man was willing to tell him easily, and he couldn't help but dim again.

Wen Desi smiled: "Let me tell you, the Australia we came from, the private school teaches shipbuilding. All these boating skills you know add up to just scratching the surface. If you're interested, someone will teach you in the future. ”

Zhang Ji hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed a few times: "If the master teaches the secret technique, Zhang Ji is grateful, and he will be driven by the master for the rest of his life." ”

"Well, you get up." Wen Deji found a big stone and sat down, opened the notebook in his hand, and inside was a line drawing of a sailboat

"Can you build this ship?"

Zhang looked at the machine for a long time, and this picture was completely different from the picture he saw in the boat book: the proportions were strict, and the lines were clear and accurate, not simply drawing an outline, and the special three views made people feel more intuitively. He secretly smacked his tongue - the art of optical mapping has been eating and drinking for a lifetime, and this group of people is really not an idle person.

He asked a few questions about proportions, and roughly estimated that the ship was about a thousand materials. I have never built such a large ship.

"The small one has never been made this big." Zhang Ji said cautiously, "The little one is willing to try it." ”

The ship chosen by Bundesi was a brig, a fast schooner that was agile and fast, capable of operating with less than 10 people without regard to armament, and could carry 30 passengers in addition to cargo. Ideal for ocean-going adventures and maritime patrols. The famous America, a brig, won the 1851 regatta with only nine sailors including captains. Later, it served as a smuggling ship for the Confederate Army during the Civil War. It has a displacement of 170 tons, a total length of 30 meters and a width of 7 meters. Draught 3 meters. Equipped with two 24-pounder short guns (broadside guns) and one 12-pounder long gun (center swing gun position), if equipped with lighter 6-pounder guns, 6~8 guns can be installed.

Note: About the Guangzhou ship, 400 materials of the information are from the history of Chinese shipbuilding, the concept of the material is currently a variety of sayings, here take the history of Chinese shipbuilding in a material equal to 60kg load.