The evening breeze was blowing on the beach, and Xu Lang took off his coat and put it on Cheng Yiyi. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

"When are you leaving?" Cheng Yiyi asked.

"Just these few days, there is nothing to do in Yulin Bay now, and when Huang Yuansheng finishes dealing with the matter at hand, we will go together." Huang Yuansheng came to Yulin Bay again, not only brought a boatload of supplies, but also brought several craftsmen, and there was a Westerner with yellow hair and blue eyes.

"When will you be back?" Cheng Yiyi continued to ask.

"It's not good to say, it depends on the preparation of the office, I estimate that it will be as little as 3 or 4 months, and as much as half a year."

Cheng Yiyi bit her lip and said for a while: "When you arrive in Qiongzhou, it's not at home, it's just a few of you, come and discuss everything, don't be too tough, take care of yourself." ”

"I know, you take care of yourself, too." Xu Lang stared at the sea quietly, "Yiyi, you are 25 years old this year, you should marry early." You're in demand right now. ”

"What do you mean?" Cheng Yiyi was a little annoyed, "Are you so looking forward to me getting married?" ”

"Yiyi." Xu Lang lowered his head and stared at Cheng Yiyi's eyes, "We didn't say it clearly, but I know what you think, but you don't know what is on my mind." ”

"What's on your mind, haven't you seen it?"

"I've seen my father's business, but," Xu Lang sighed resentfully, "It's because I have seen that incident that I miss my daughter-in-law more now, I don't know what she would do without me." I'm sorry, Yiyi, I can't fit anyone else in my heart. ”

"Do you want to be single for the rest of your life?" Cheng Yiyi asked.

"Maybe not, I may find a Ming Dynasty woman to marry and have children, but I will always have that one person in my heart. Can you accept that when I face you, I have other women in my heart? No, it's not fair, it's not fair to you. ”

"I can't take it." Cheng Yiyi's eyes left two lines of tears, "But don't you feel anything about me, do you have to suppress yourself and vent this pain on me?" ”

"Yiyi." Xu Lang raised his hand to wipe away the tears on Cheng Yiyi's face, "How can the world's etiquette sect be set up for me." I Xu Lang was born a prodigal son, I can abandon all the morals and ethics in the world, but I also have my principles, my bottom line. I regard you as a friend, a sister, a confidante, and because of this, I can't lie to you, I can't lie to you. ”

Cheng Yiyi slowly ripped off Xu Lang's coat: "You are so selfish." You think you're alone, you think you're starting from the beginning, no, you're just selfish, you only think about yourself, but you never know how to think about others. Xu Lang, you hold your principles and bottom line and live well. ”

After Cheng Yiyi finished speaking, she left the beach without looking back. Xu Lang clutched his coat tightly and suddenly cried loudly on the empty beach.

The 14 members of the two committees, Qiu Peng, Shen Daxing and several other team leaders were sitting in the conference room, and a Westerner of medium stature sat opposite them. This is John the Englishman recruited by Huang Yuansheng from Macau. John is in his 30s, and he has been to most of Western Europe, spent a few years in the shipyards of Amsterdam, and heard that there was a mysterious country in the East full of gold and spices, so he sold all his possessions and came to this 17th-century adventurer's paradise. It's a pity that the current Nanyang is still the world of the Portuguese, Spaniards and Dutch, and he, an Englishman, is not treated well at all. After a few years of mixing, not only did he lose all his money, but even eating became a problem. When Huang Yuansheng met him, poor John was eating and drinking on the streets of Macau.

"You said you worked in a shipyard in Amsterdam, do you know how to build ships?" Zhang Guodong asked.

Fan Qiuming translated Zhang Guodong's words, fortunately John is an Englishman, in case it is a Portuguese or Spanish, I am afraid that there will be no one who understands Spanish and Portuguese in the entire crossing group.

"Your Excellency." John stood up and bowed with his right hand to his chest, "I have been in the shipyard in Amsterdam for 3 years, and I have built dozens of ships with my own hands, from armed merchant ships to warships, I can build any type of ship you need for your Excellency, as long as the price is right." ”

"First of all, Mr. John, I thank you for your sincerity, because you spoke directly about the issue of compensation, which is good." Zeng Guangxian did not use Fan Qiuming's translation, but said directly in English, "But I am very dissatisfied with your exaggeration, you have only been in Amsterdam for 3 years, how many ships can Amsterdam build in a year, you have built dozens of them yourself, is it a model?" ”

John was surprised, not only was he surprised by Zeng Guangxian's fluent English, although there were some modern words that John couldn't understand, but he was also surprised at how the young man opposite him could know so much about the shipbuilding industry in Amsterdam, had he ever been to Amsterdam? At the beginning of the seventeenth century, although the shipbuilding industry in Amsterdam was very developed, there were only a few hundred ships launched a year.

"Mr. John." Ignoring John's surprise, Zenghiro-hyun continued to ask, "Do you know how to steer a sailboat, do you understand the combat of a sailboat?" ”

"Of course, your Excellency." A twinkle appeared in John's eyes, and Fan Qiuming translated John's words to the participants in a low voice, "When I came to the Ming Empire, I was the first mate on the ship. And my great grandfather, the Count of Angus, personally took part in the Battle of Gravoline. Thank God that the naval battle defeated the evil Spanish Arada, and my grandfather told me countless times about that thrilling war, God bless England. ”

Shen Daxing secretly asked Qiu Peng: "Do you know what Count Angus is?" ”

Qiu Peng smiled slightly: "Angus is the Earl of Scotland, and he has been dead for a long time, and this guy is bragging again." ”

After Qiu Peng finished speaking, he turned around and took a ship model from behind: "Mr. John, look at this, can it be built?" ”

John's eyes suddenly sparkled with amazement: "MyGod, this is, this is God's handiwork, dear Excellency, can you tell me where you have seen this ship." ”

Qiu Peng showed John a model of the Victory sail battleship that he had brought with him on the Pearl. The British First Rank battleship, launched in 1759, was more than a century later than it is now. At the beginning of the 17th century, the largest warships had a displacement of just over 1,000 tons, while the Victory had a displacement of 3,500 tons and could be armed with 108 cannons.

"Mr. John, tell me first, can you build this warship?"

John knew that he could no longer brag, and the people in front of him seemed to know more than he did: "Your Excellency, only God can complete this masterpiece, and I can't do it." ”

Qiu Peng smiled slightly, took the Victory, and took out another ship model: "What about this?" ”

John didn't dare to make any more guarantees this time, but took the boat in his hand and pondered it carefully. This is a model designed by Qiu Peng by combining the characteristics of sail warships and the advantages of future generations of clipping boats. The sails of this ship are completely soft sail design of Western ships, with not only a spinnaker, but also a wing sail. However, the hull is completely different from that of a sailboat, which requires as much heavy artillery as possible on the sidestring in order to maximize firepower output. The longest and heaviest guns are generally arranged on the lower gun deck, and the caliber weight of the gun deck on the top of the gun deck decreases in turn, the hull is U-shaped, and the bottom is larger than the upper part, and the cross-section is like a jar, so the advantage is that the spacious gun deck at the bottom can be arranged with more guns, and the caliber and weight are reduced layer by layer, and the top deck is the smallest place in the whole ship's area, which is said to be designed to reduce the contact area. However, the disadvantage of this is that the speed is greatly reduced, and the Western warship does not have a watertight compartment, so the sinking resistance is not good, so a large number of ribs can only be used and the thickness of the hull can be increased, and the ribs of the battleship are almost one after another, which provides good protection for the hull.

After comprehensive consideration, Qiu Peng decided to increase the ratio of length to width of the battleship from about 4 to 1 to 6 to 1 of the current Western warships, changed the design of the jar, and adopted the V-shaped ship shape and watertight compartment of modern ships, and wrapped copper below the waterline. The advantage of this is that the speed and agility of the ship are greatly improved, but the disadvantage is that it cannot be equipped with more guns, which needs to be compensated for by the quality and range of the guns. The warship designed by Qiu Peng had a displacement of about 250 tons, was equipped with 12 guns, and had a crew of 140 people, which was slightly smaller than the sixth-class battleships of the later Western Ocean. Shen Daxing and Ye Sun studied the clay mold casting method all day long, but because they did not master the know-how, the artillery they made was either too heavy or the range was not enough, and the only few were basically ordered by the Military Commission to be returned to the furnace, and only one was installed on the newly built fort near the dock as an artillery platoon training sample.

John looked over and over at the model in his hand, the design of the battleship was refreshing to him. Finally, John made up his mind: "Your Excellency, I swear in the name of God that I can try to build this ship of God, but whether it will succeed or not, only God Almighty knows. ”

"Good." Zhang Guodong nodded with satisfaction, "Mr. John, we have decided to officially hire you as a technician of Yulin Bay Shipyard, if you have any requirements, your boss Mr. Qiu Peng will solve it for you, and the cooperation is pleasant." ”