The dock is about a kilometer downstream from the ship entrance and exit of Chenhe Port, and today there are three or four hundred people here, and a platoon of Maoluan is responsible for guarding the work. When Yang Xi arrived, the second master and they were already waiting.

In the middle of the river, I saw three large ships 60 meters long, parked there, each with two floors, and a cargo hold and power room below the deck. There is a helm station in the bow, which is also designed by Yang Xi.

One boat has had its brackets removed, and the other two are in shelves made of dense trees.

As soon as Yang Xi came, he jumped off the horse, threw away the hemp rope and rushed to the boat, but the second master stopped Yang Xi.

"Childe! This ship has never sailed, don't risk your life, or wait for me to wait for the test, there is no problem Childe will get on the ship again! ”

Yang Xi smiled: "It's a trivial matter, I have confidence in my own design, and I also have confidence in your project, go, go with me!" ”

The second master had no choice but to follow Yang Xi and board the deck, where the captain who had already been selected by Yang Xi had arrived at the helm, and as for the thirty-two ships, they were already waiting below the deck.

This captain is one of the seven people brought by Dong Cai, Yang Xi specially selected it, called eight catties, it is said that the weight was eight catties when he was born, and the eight catties at this time are considered light and pitiful, Yang Xi doesn't know how he survived.

Yang Xi shouted: "Set sail!" ”

As Yang Xi's voice fell, Bajin pulled a rope next to the rudder three times, the rope was tied to the wooden bar, and the other end was down to the power room. ”

As the creaking sound began, the propeller at the bottom of the stern began to turn.

Amid the exclamations of the workers on the shore, the big ship left the dock.

"Oh! It's a miracle, Childe is really a god who came down to earth and designed a giant ship that doesn't need to rock a boat or sail! ”

"Hmph, you later don't know, in addition to brewing Chenhe wine, making Chenhe paper, and making Chenhe glass, Gongzi has a more terrifying nickname!" Someone started to show off.

"Nickname?"

"You don't know this, haha, Childe's reputation in the underworld in Exian County is extremely loud, and he is called a jade-faced killing god!"

"Jade-faced killing gods?"

"I also know this, Childe is said to have fought fifty opponents alone at night two years ago, and he killed twenty in a row, and the rest were all broken!"

"Tear!"

"I still know one thing, even the battalion commander of our guard battalion, Battalion Commander Cai, the armed forces are all taught by Gongzi, Camp Commander Cai's Muay Thai boxing method is said to be invincible in close quarters now, how powerful do you say Gongzi has to be!"

Looking at this big ship that is gradually moving away, all the boatmen are talking, this is the power of the rumors, and now Yang Xi has become a god in the Chenhe factory.

At this time, Yang Xi, standing on the deck, was indeed in high spirits.

"Please also ask Childe to give this ship a name!" The second master said.

"Let's call it Chenhe No. 1!" Yang Xi had already thought about it.

He made a slight visual observation, and the speed of the ship, which was now going upstream, had reached about twenty knots. At this time, the ship was less than ten knots at most, which was twice as fast.

People at this time, designing ships, where do they know what water resistance, air resistance, dynamics are too far away for them. Their boats, with their bows too wide, simply did not meet the requirements for high-speed sailing, and the steering was not sensitive enough. The bow of Chenhe No. 1 is V-shaped, and the propeller is a shut-off slurry to reduce noise and improve propulsion, which is recognized by later generations.

Yang Xi went down to the cabin and took a look, it is estimated that it is not a big problem to install dozens of tons, the first-floor room, in addition to the main hall is relatively large, there are small rooms in the back, and there is no problem with stationing hundreds of people.

Twenty or thirty people can also be stationed on the top floor, but it is mainly used to store food and water, and the restaurant is also on the top floor.

Bajin, as the captain of this ship, was a little trembling with excitement. How could he have thought that he was young, a fisherman, and one day would be the captain of this kind of ship, managing more than ten crew members, and thirty-two people, which can be regarded as a person.

After sailing for half an hour, Chenhe No. 1 returned to the dock, and after making an exciting speech, Yang Xi drove the ship back to Chenhe Port and anchored in the harbor.

If there is a boat, there must be escort personnel, and Yang Xi transferred all 51 people in the second row to the ship as the guard of Chenhe No. 1.

The guard battalion has swimming because of one of the training programs, so there is naturally no problem getting on the boat, which is also one less trouble.

Wei Gua, the platoon commander of the second platoon, officially became the captain of the Chenhe No. 1, and since then, the Chenhe No. 1 has been released.

Yang Xi made a rough calculation, the three boats, just more than 200 people, spent 1,200 taels of silver in six months, and other material expenses, these three boats cost 2,000 taels of silver. A boat sells for a thousand taels less, but it certainly won't sell.

There is one business that can be done, and that is renting.

The owner of a boat, calculated according to 100 people, has a salary of 30 yuan a day, which is 3,000 yuan, three taels of silver, and if the boat is not used, it is three taels gone.

After all, dozens of tons of goods can be transported a day, and it is cost-effective to go back and forth in two days to Qichun and Yicheng on the other side.

Even if it is farther away, dozens of tons of goods, thousands of taels of silver, a trip to earn twice as much, if a round trip in ten days, the ship fare is only sixty taels, even if it is a month, it is only one hundred and eighty taels, and the profit is very high.

At present, the farthest downstream is to Chaisang (now Jiujiang, Jiangxi), less than 200 kilometers, half a day's journey, plus unloading and loading, two days a round trip.

The fleets of the Luo family and the Hu family, because they are all small boats, go as far as Chaisang and go up to Jingling. However, in addition to being slow, the boat also has a disadvantage that there are a lot of people, but not many goods. Although the two families made a lot of money, the throughput was not large, which made it urgent to solve the problem of transportation.

Planning to get here, Yang Xi has already thought of a specific operation method, first ask Luo Lan and Hu Zhao, the head of the Hu family, and his son Hu Zhuo to get on the ship, and then look at the goods. When they have a plan in mind, they will naturally contact more merchants and families along the Yangtze River.

After ten days and a half months, Chenhe No. 2 and Chenhe No. 3 will come out, and these two can set sail directly.

Chenhe No. 1, but he wants to use it himself, and Dong Cai is already so excited that he doesn't want it.

Roland and Hu Zhao Hu Zhuo got on the boat and visited the power cabin, they were already a little speechless, Yang Xi gave them too many surprises.

There is no way, Yang Xi's products are not only unique, but also twice as low as the price on the market. Now the spindle has been reduced to the purchase price of three yuan, and the purchase price used to be six yuan. As for glass products and Chenhe wine, there is no such thing on the market, there is no way to compare, it is a luxury. The price of paper is also twice as low as that on the market, and they can still make double the money. The three families have joined forces, and now they almost monopolize several counties from Chaisang to Jingling. Borrowing the merchants of these counties, radiating to the interior, I don't know where to expand.

But this boat, Yang Xi declared, if it is not sold, it will not be sold for any amount of money, but if the Hu family can sell another piece of land to the Chenhe factory, it can be rented.

Hu Zhuo didn't think much about it, but Hu Zhao hesitated.

Land is the foundation of the Hu family, even if it is not good land, it is also an industry. However, Yang Xi is also right, there is money and food, but he is worried about not being able to buy land, and now the price of land is clearly marked.

In the end, at the same price last time, I bought a piece of land from the Hu family, which directly doubled the current Chenhe Port, and directly connected to the seven townships in the east of Exian County, many of which are fertile land.

After buying the land, Yang Xi directly doubled the size of the dock, and used all the newly donated labor for shipbuilding, and the number of shipwrights directly increased to more than 400, striving to reach eight large ships before the end of this year.

Of course, the ship came out, and the guards could not be less. In the existing guard battalion establishment, Yang Xi transferred two squads to fill in the fighters, stepped up training, and immediately took up his post as soon as Chenhe No. 2 and Chenhe No. 3 entered the water.

Three days later, the Chenhe merchant group led by Dong Cai made their first voyage, and the target was Chaisang.

Chenhe No. 1 stayed in Chaisang for three days, and all the goods were emptied and replaced with grain, salt, iron, etc., and as for the silver taels, naturally there was an increase.

On the fourth day of return, there was already a message from the flying pigeons on the ship, and this trip was a big victory.

The people along the coast, many of whom saw the No. 1 Chenhe River, were shocked by the gods. Later generations have historical records: Chenhe Shenzhou, without sails, without oars, shuttles through the river, and its speed is like a flying swallow.

From Chaisang to Exian, 200 kilometers, it only takes four hours, which at that time, it was really - simply.

Yang Xi stipulated that Chenhe No. 1 should not go down to Chaisang at the farthest, because once Chaisang passes, if something goes wrong and is robbed by the salt gang, it will be beyond the reach of the whip. Yang Xi doesn't want to have a little loss, and now he can't afford to lose.

On the day of Chenhe No. 1's return, Hu Zhao Luolan and others were received at Chenhe Port to celebrate the feat of Chenhe Port. Then I listened to Yang Xi say that tomorrow, Chenhe No. 2 will be launched for sea trial, Chenhe No. 1 will be escorted, and all merchants of Chenhe Port and Exian County will be invited to experience the ship for free for one day.

During the period, there will be Li Qi, the county magistrate of Exian County, Hu Kan, the county magistrate, Huang Can, the county lieutenant, and more than a dozen patriarchs of the Exian family. This news suddenly exploded in Exian County.

On August 25, Chenhe Port was very lively, and the nearby peasants who heard the news, almost all the families in Exian County, had people gathered in Chenhe Port, and as far as the eye could see, there were three or four thousand people.

Yang Xi and his entourage also arrived early.

Yang Huan, the director of the investment promotion department, Yang Sai, the director of the key customer reception department, and Guantian, the director of Chenhe Glass, are responsible for dispatching Chenhe Port

More than 500 people in the dockyard were responsible for maintaining order.

Suddenly, smoke and dust flew up from behind, but it was the county magistrate Li Qi, the county Cheng Hu Kan and the county lieutenant Huang Can, who came with dozens of county soldiers on horseback. Yang Xi led everyone and hurried to greet them.

The county magistrate Li Qi was also smiling, and when he saw the grand occasion of this incident, he couldn't help but admire Yang Xi's publicity.

Just kidding, when Yang Xi agreed to come to watch the ceremony a few days ago, he had already stepped up publicity, and the spy battalion had three dogs, widely distributed manpower, and carried out a lot of publicity in various restaurants and markets in the county seat of Exian County.

Huang Ping, the head of the Huang family, was a little lacking in interest, after all, he had sent someone to trouble Yang Xi that day, although it was resolved now, but he was worried that once Yang Xi became bigger, he would not be able to squeeze out the Huang family because of this.

But now it seems that Yang Xi's attitude towards him has no intention of holding grudges, and the treatment of reception is no less than that of Hu Zhao, the head of the Hu family.

At this time, after everyone greeted each other, they focused on the Chenhe No. 2, which had been launched.