For Fabio's request, Zheng Sen was silent, so that Zheng Zhilong frowned. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info Fabio didn't know that it was a bit out of proportion for him to make this request. Although he has been in the Far East for several years, he has spent most of his time in Taiwan during these years. If Taiwan is to be put on the mainland, it can definitely be regarded as a bad etiquette now. Most of these people were illiterate at the bottom of society, and they didn't know much about the rules of etiquette and music. And in the thousands of miles of escape, most of the original family or something also ran away. Later, when he came to Taiwan, when he was assigned to various immigration points, Zheng Sen deliberately asked people to break up the surnames, clans, and places of origin of these people, and did not allow people of the same race, surname, and place of origin to live together. In this way, the original patriarchal system and family power naturally have little impact in Taiwan. The influence of the etiquette and rules attached to it is naturally much smaller, and Taiwan's economic model is no longer a self-sufficient feudal economic model, but a commercial plantation and factory, even if those immigrants marry wives, they will generally let their wives participate in production and labor, so as to earn back the money spent on marrying (selling wives) as soon as possible. So in Taiwan, there are very few women who hide at home and don't go out.

As for the big families, the big families on Taiwan Island today are the Zheng family, but the family's daughter, Li Xiangjun, also often comes out for activities. After she followed Zheng Sen, in terms of conditions, Zheng Sen could definitely come to a golden house to hide Jiaojiao and hide her. It's just that Zheng Sen crossed over from the China of later generations where "women can hold up half the sky", and he is not a believer, so naturally there will be no strange idea that women are about equal to female animals, and they should be packed in canned boxes and isolated from the air. After crossing over, although he learned a lot of "feudal thoughts" and understood a lot of feudal etiquette, as a traverser, when Zheng Sen looked at these things, he had a kind of critical vision from above, and naturally he would not be affected too much. In addition, Li Xiangjun herself was used to running around before, and Zheng Sen had no intention of restraining her, but let her come out to do things in line with the principle of "making the best use of things". Nature is not self-restrictive. Fabio had met Li Xiangjun many times, and he naturally felt that it was common for women to appear in public in China. But I don't know that on the mainland, women from rich families don't go out of the door, and they don't step out of the second door.

But Zheng Zhilong is different, Zheng Zhilong really doesn't pay much attention to rules or anything, at least, when he was still a Haikou or a maritime businessman, he didn't talk about this. But now, his identity has changed, he is already an official, and his son is still a widow, and he is about to marry the family of scholars, so he will naturally be affected by those "big families". Unlike Zheng Sen, who is a traverser, he can't look down on or even despise and ignore the popular "feudal etiquette" at that time like Zheng Sen. Even for these, he is still in a state of looking up. In such a state, it is unacceptable for him to let his son's daughter-in-law (even if it is just a side room) show his head.

Because he knew Zheng Zhilong's thoughts, Zheng Sen even asked Li Xiangjun to suspend his work. Of course, if Zheng Zhilong can really stay in Taiwan for a long time and be responsible for presiding over Taiwan's work (in fact, it will definitely become a hand for him), then Zheng Zhilong's wrong idea that it will lead to a serious waste of labor must be corrected, but this is not in a hurry.

"It's up to your wife to do this." Zheng Sen said, "She has always been doing it before. And your factory used to perform very well. That being the case, don't change these programs lightly. ”

Zheng Zhilong also nodded and said, "Ah Sen is reasonable. Since everything was good before, don't change it casually. ”

Fabio vaguely felt that Zheng Zhilong seemed to be a little unhappy, although he didn't know why, but he knew that it was best not to dwell on such a thing, so he also nodded in agreement. He then took Zheng Zhilong on a tour of other dockyards, showing him warships under construction, as well as some whaling and merchant ships under construction......

The next day, Zheng Zhilong and Zheng Sen went to Lawrence's shipyard to inspect again.

The basic design of Lawrence's shipyard is actually similar to Fabio's, of course, according to Lawrence, because Fabio shamelessly copied his own ideas. Of course, neither of them is talking nonsense, they are just each other.

However, in terms of the design of the coal carrier, Lawrence's design is very different from Fabio.

"Marshal, Major General. Look at this coal carrier of mine. Indeed, I admit that with the same amount of timber, it has a lower cargo capacity than Fabio's design. But Fabio's kind of ship was almost useless except for that particular route. I don't know how he bragged about his boat to the two of you - hell, he'd be embarrassed to say it was a ship. If the maximum speed of his boat can exceed 4 knots, I will dare to sell my soul to the devil!" Yes, maximum speed! Marshal, Major General, you are experts, and you all know that it is not so easy to run at maximum speed. The maximum speed is 4 knots, and the average speed is only 3 knots in the sky. And once he encounters wind and waves, his boat can neither be avoided nor carried. If you leave that cove, you will be dead. This is a complete waste of sailors' lives! Look at my boat again! It features a full schooner design and a model that has been proven on vessels such as the Endeavour, capable of reaching a top speed of 10 knots. Yes, this is the maximum speed, the average speed will not be so fast, but six to seven knots is no problem. That way, his boat can run once, and my boat can run back and forth! And my boat can be used elsewhere. ”

Zheng Sen looked at the new ship that was already being painted and said, "But Mr. Lawrence, your ship has four huge masts, and these four masts alone are not cheap." And this ship of yours is almost longer than the Endeavour, and the keel of such a ship is not cheap. Although in fact your offer has exceeded the upper limit of the price given by the Metallurgical Division, I still wonder when I see this boat of yours, how can you reduce the cost to such a point without cutting corners? ”

"Yes, Major General, the cost of buying a ship is a nerve-wracking problem." Lawrence argued, "The people in the Metallurgical Division should have taken into account the overall cost of using the ship, not a one-time purchase of the ship." In order to reduce costs, there must also be problems with the service life of a ship like Fabio's. All things considered, his ship may not be cheaper than mine. In addition, Major General, I have adopted some new technology, which has reduced the cost of those masts and keels a lot. Unlike the Endeavour, the mast and keel on this ship are made of spliced together timber and are much cheaper. Of course, I didn't invent this, shipbuilders did it a long time ago. It's just that to do a good job of splicing masts and keels, it costs a lot of labor, and the result is also an increase in costs. However, I simplified some of these processes, and instead of relying entirely on the mutual engagement of the woods, I used wrought iron hoops on the outside to provide some inward restraint. In this way, on the premise of ensuring the strength, the manufacturing difficulty is greatly reduced. As far as I know, because of the progress in smelting technology, although the price of metal in the market has not dropped much, in fact, the cost of producing wrought iron by ourselves has dropped a lot. So although more materials are used, in fact, the cost of the mast has dropped a lot, and the keel is actually the same. ”

Zheng Sen nodded and said, "What you said is a bit interesting. However, the boat was still a little slimmer, which affected its load. I've just calculated that your ship will cost five times as much money as Fabio's when carrying the same weight of coal. Even taking into account the fact that your ship is faster, can run more times in the same amount of time, and the possible longevity advantage, Fabio is still cheaper in terms of transporting coal. ”

"But I also have the advantage of flexibility in the use of my boat." Lawrence said, "Major General, you can mobilize my ship at any time if you need it urgently, but Fabio's ship—does anyone dare to sail it to the normal sea?" So I hope that the Grand Marshal and the Rear Admiral will give more consideration to these advantages of my ship. ”

Of course, neither Zheng Sen nor Zheng Zhilong will make a final decision before the real sea trial. Soon Zheng Zhilong ended his inspection of Lawrence's shipyard......

……

"Lawrence is such a smart guy." On the carriage back to his residence, Zheng Sen sighed.

"His ship is well designed, but it's more expensive." Zheng Zhilong also said.

"Daddy, in fact, I guess Lawrence designed the ship like this, but I'm afraid it has other intentions." Zheng Sen said with a smile.

"What's the point, you say, come and hear it?" Zheng Zhilong asked.

"Daddy, Lawrence was the first to invent the drying chamber and the first to put it into use, so he has the most good wood in stock. As a result, he received more orders for warships than Fabiot. And the construction of warships takes longer, and of course, the construction of warships is more profitable. As a result, the number of docks that his shipyard could free up for the manufacture of coal carriers was limited. He couldn't afford to buy and sell coal ships. He just took this opportunity to reduce the profits of Fabio's kind of ships, and by the way, prepared in advance for the ocean-going merchant ships that we might need in the future. ”