"No matter how cold the winter is, it will pass." In the small garden next to the Yingdu Post House, Aristotle IV comforted the Babaka in front of him in this way, but the comfort was useless, half of the weapons and armor had been transferred to Seleucus by the Chuni, and the loss was extremely huge. "I will continue to negotiate with the Chuni people on this matter until they give a satisfactory answer to this matter."

"My lord, spring has come, and the Chuni people say that there are no extra merchant ships to send us to Yandi and Xiangzhou Harbor..."

It was already the spring of the following year, and according to the itinerary, the caravan would cross the steppe and return to the banks of the Syr Darya River in summer and autumn. However, more than 20,000 sets of armor weighed more than 400 tons and needed to be transported by nearly 6,000 horses or more than 400 four-wheeled carriages. At this time, the boats and carriages of the Chu State were transporting grain to the Zhao State, and there was no time to transport these goods to the north. The result of the delay in the journey is likely to be that the caravan will walk on the snow-covered steppes, without forage, the horses will starve to death, and the goods will be plundered by the nomadic barbarians.

"I'll talk to the Chuni people about this immediately." Aristotle IV had a stiff scalp, and from last autumn he had become the most unpopular person in Yingdu, accused of being untrustworthy and taking the liberty of telling the Seleucid envoys about the deal.

"Right now." After he finished speaking, he saw that he was still looking at him, and couldn't help but say angrily, and then, under the gaze of Lubajia, he hurried out of the post house garden, took his servants and rode to the Chu Palace in a carriage.

Xiong Jing was not in the palace at this time, but in the palace in the north of the city. In the huge shed, a 'huge iron rib' appeared in front of his eyes, which was of course not a real huge iron rib, which was a ship rib wound with rolled iron armor.

The guide rails required for the boring machine and the rolls required for the rolling mill are both high-precision components of the machine. As we all know, the accuracy of the industrial machine determines the accuracy of the industrial machine, and the accuracy of the industrial machine determines the accuracy of the products it produces. The accuracy is declining one by one, so how to manufacture and upgrade the industrial machine tool? Is it to upgrade with an industrial mother machine?

Of course not. The manufacturing and upgrading of industrial machine tools can only rely on people, and rely on the best craftsmen to manufacture and upgrade with the help of the latest tools.

There is no shortage of excellent craftsmen in Yufu, but there is a lack of proper tools and people who understand machine tools. The three-meter-long guide rail of the boring machine can be scraped out little by little by a craftsman, just as the taps were made in the first place. The roll is different, because the most accurate measuring tool in the entire Chu country is the vernier caliper, but the vernier caliper cannot measure whether the roll is straight.

If there are no rolls of sufficient width, there is no thin iron plate of sufficient width, and hand forging is one way, and wrapping the narrow iron plate of the rolling mill around the wooden ribs is another.

Looking at the 'Ju Iron Rib' in front of him, Xiong Jing, who had never seen such a thing, asked, "Compared to the unwrapped Ju Iron Ribs......

"Compared with the ribs that are not wrapped in iron, the force of carrying pressure is doubled." Gong Yin Dao told him that it was precisely because of the results that he would invite Xiong Jing to come to build a mansion to take a look. Then he handed over a piece of information, which was a comparative test report of winding and not wrapping iron.

"The same can be said for keels." Gong Jian saw that Gong Yin Dao only said ribs, and hurriedly added the keel.

"What's the keel test?" Speaking with information has always been Xiong Jing's request, and when he saw him ask Gong Yin Dao, he immediately said, "It's on the next page." ”

Xiong Jing turned to the next page, and sure enough, he saw the tensile and folding test content of the keel.

The power of steel is unquestionable. Even an iron hull is 25 percent smaller than a wooden hull of the same size, which means that the storage capacity is increased by at least 25 percent, and the ship's heavy cargo capacity is increased by 35 percent, and finally the ship's operating costs are reduced by 25 percent.

Unfortunately, due to the limitations of machining technology, although Chu had enough steel, it could not enjoy the benefits of steel shipbuilding, and could only bear its shortcomings, such as rust, pollution, and compass deformation. And because it is a winding iron sheet, the construction cost will rise.

"Yes." The thickness of the iron sheet determines the tensile and bending resistance of the keel and ribs of the ship, and there is no problem with the test figures.

Hearing Xiong Jing say yes, Gong Yin Dao and others were overjoyed for a while, and Gong Yi Jian said: "In addition to the keel and ribs wrapped in iron, the iron nails and iron screws of the beams and columns, boat boards, and screws are also doubled, in order to be the strongest." ”

"So the draft will also increase greatly?" Xiong Jing thought about the draft of the clipper, but this question was not necessary, even if the load of the clipper was only a hundred tons, it was enough. In practice, it is difficult for the cargo to exceed a hundred tons, except for the transportation of huge iron armor.

The minister thought that ...... draft was indeed a problem, but Gong Yi was interrupted by Xiong Jing when he tried to explain.

"The draft is not a big deal." Xiong Jing said again, his words made Gong Yi Jian breathe a sigh of relief. "When will it be built?"

"It can be built this year, and it will be launched in August next year." This is the practice of shipbuilding.

"It's too late." Xiong Jing objected. "Made this year, launched this year."

In an emergency, six months is enough time from cutting down a big tree to launching a sailboat. Of course, it is better to have six years, and the more normal time is three years. However, at Xiong Jing's request, the construction period of the sea boat is one year from the laying of the keel, and the drying of the timber is at least seven years.

Gong Yin Dao, who was already accustomed to a one-year construction period, asked, "Why is it so urgent?" ”

"Yes." The profits of trade were declining, and Seleucus was glad that he had more than 20,000 sets of armor out of thin air. But the joy always passes, and after a few contacts, the nature of the Seleucid middlemen becomes clearer and clearer. The state of Chu had to open up new shipping routes into the Eastern Mediterranean, where goods were finally sold.

"Alto has built a city in Sinhala last year." Xiong Jing talked about last year. "Wu Gou Chang went to the Red Sea last year, and has arrived at the port of Aruba in Nabataean, and the pigeon news the day before yesterday said that the silk silk sold by Seleucid merchants to other countries has not been greatly reduced."

Last year, after learning of Zhao's great victory over the Qin people, 35 gluttonous ships went west to Seleucus to transport horses. The fleet carried very little goods, except for a small amount of silk and spices, the others were mostly Chu paper and pig iron, and then more than 20,000 sets of armor needed in exchange for more than 3,000 horses. The more than 20,000 armor sets that punished Bactria had to be handed over to Seleucus after the entire deal was completed.

The three Glutton-class ships were loaded with these goods, and the remaining 32 Glutton-class ships were mostly loaded with cement and tendons for city construction, and even a few ships were loaded with sand and stones. In addition to Sinhala, the north and south exits of the Strait of Malacca were also fortified to control the strait.

Supply points to support overseas trade are being rolled out, and in addition to supporting new shipping lanes, another role is to protect existing shipping lanes. With the nature of Seleucid middlemen, there will be a conflict with the Chu State one day, so whether it is exploring the Eastern Mediterranean shipping lane, building trade supply points, or launching a sixth-level frigate with twenty-four guns, these must be completed as soon as possible.

"The gunboat will also be built this year and launched this year." Xiong Jing added.

The Glutton-class is completely similar to the gunboat, and the public said: "Can you use the Glutton-class sea boat ......?"

The keel of the gunboat was more dense, and Gong Zhijian wanted to 'change' a gunboat by increasing the ribs of the ship.

"No." Xiong Jing vetoed his proposal. "The gunboat, like the Suzaku class, must be wound around the ribs of the keel with huge iron in order to be the strongest. There is no need to worry about the dryness of the boat, the keel of the gunboat is facing the capital pillar, and it has been dry for more than ten years. ”

"Yui." Gong Yin Dao Gong Jian glanced at each other, and both of them felt a hint of crisis from Xiong Jing's words. Gong Yin Dao asked, "Dare to ask the king, will the Chu State fight with overseas countries?" ”

"Or war." Xiong Jing is not very sure to answer this question. The situation in overseas countries is changing, and after the death of Emperor Ashoka last fall, the court is locked in a struggle for the throne. The ruling crown prince Nemati was killed, Ashoka's grandson Dasharasa was put on the throne, and the southern states were crumbling.

This is the case in South Asia, where Seleucus, who has been defeated several times, is still in the period of recuperation from licking its wounds - from the dove news that Xiong Jing learned that because of the loss of the third Syrian war, the Palestinian region and the Syrian coast, all the way to the seaport of Antioch, the capital of Seleucia, were controlled by the Egyptians. This meant that goods disembarking from the Nabataean-controlled port of Aruba in the northeastern part of the Red Sea had to pass through Egyptian Palestine before they could be transported into the Mediterranean.

To the south of the Eastern Mediterranean was the Ptolemaic confrontation with Seleucus, and to the north was the Macedonian Antigonus dynasty. But like Macedonia a hundred years earlier, the Antigonus dynasty had failed to conquer all of Greece, and it had to face two enemies, the Aetolian League and the Achaean League. It was also necessary to face Seleucus in the southwest, but fortunately, Antiochus Aeeras, the younger brother of Seleucus II, rebelled and occupied the Anatolian region, relieving the pressure from the west.

To the west of the Eastern Mediterranean was naturally an increasingly powerful Rome, which had finally come to an end ten years earlier in the twenty-three-year-long First Punic War, when Rome defeated Carthage and gained supremacy in the Mediterranean. This information touched Xiong Jing very much, he was in the same era as Hannibal, the Second Punic War had not yet begun, and the later known Battle of Cannae did not take place.

"The Great King......" Gong Yin Dao reminded Xiong Jing who was a little distracted, 'or war' is a very uncertain statement.

"There are many countries in Xizhou, and if you want to sell goods and armor to Xizhou, you must have gunboats to escort you." Xiong Jing said with certainty. The Mediterranean Sea is divided by Sicily and divided into two battlefields, Rome and Carthage to the west; To the east were the Greek peninsula of Antigonus, Aetoria, and Achaia, as well as Seleucus, which was poised to conquer, and Ptolemaic Egypt, which had a powerful navy.

Either way, gunboats should be deployed in the Mediterranean to protect trade. Of course, choose friends to establish a supply station. Without this, such a long trade line simply cannot be maintained. Thinking of this, Xiong Jing had to say: "Within three years, at least ten gunboats will be built, each with 24 guns, and a total of 240 guns will need to be built. ”