In the port area outside Tianjin, Zhou Zhong was inspecting the shipyard under construction in front of him, behind him, in addition to some local officials in Tianjin, there was also a very conspicuous guy, I saw that this person was wearing the Ming Dynasty's seven-grade official uniform, but it was a European with a yellow beard and green eyes, this person was the first batch of shipbuilding masters introduced by Zhou Chong.

Chirawa was originally a shipbuilder in a shipyard under the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, but later after Zhou Zhong became the governor of the four seas, the governor's palace also set up some shipyards, mainly to build and develop some warships, because of the lack of technical force, so Zhou Zhong transferred Chirawa, the shipbuilding master, to the governor's palace, and also officially awarded an official position of ship superintendent, at that time it was still a petty official from the eight products, but it has already made Chirawa very excited about this, and even learned the habits of the Han people to set up a banquet, I celebrated with friends and family for many days.

This time Zhou Chong entered Beijing, originally did not bring Chirawa into the capital, but because the port of Tianjin is under construction, with a port, there is naturally a shipyard, after all, Liaodong and North Korea are lush forests, can provide a lot of excellent timber, plus Tianjin is very close to Beijing, so naturally can not only rely on the shipyard in the south to provide ships, so in this case, the port of Tianjin deliberately set aside an area for the construction of a large-scale Tianjin shipyard, according to the original estimate, if the construction of this construction plant is completed, then the ships needed for the northern sea will no longer have to be purchased from the shipyards in the south.

However, shipyards are easy to build, but after the shipyards are built, they must be able to build satisfactory ships, which requires some famous shipbuilders to sit in person, and with the guidance of these shipbuilders, the whole shipyard will not lag behind the shipbuilders in the south in terms of technology.

It was also under these circumstances that Chilava, as the best shipbuilder in the Governor's Office of the Four Seas, was transferred to Tianjin to take up an official position, and the name of the position was still the ship superintendent. However, this time his official position has been listed as a Beijing official, and he has been promoted to the seventh grade, which can be regarded as a commendation for Chilava's conscientious work over the years.

"Your Highness, please see, the Tianjin shipyard in front of you has been largely completed. There are a total of eight large docks, as long as the craftsmen of the shipyard are in place, they can build eight Valen-class warships at the same time, and some small merchant ships can be repaired at the same time, which is enough to meet the needs of Tianjin Port. Chirava pointed to the shipyard in front of him and explained to Zhou Zhong with an excited expression.

He was very satisfied with his current life, originally he only planned to stay here in Daming for ten years, and then return to Europe with a boatload of porcelain that Zhou Zhong had promised to give him, but he didn't expect that he would be able to become an official of Daming, and the grade was not low. So now Chirava has long thrown his plan to return to Europe outside the clouds, not to mention that he has become accustomed to the life here in Daming, and likes the wine, food and exquisite silk here, and then thinking back to the stinky Europe, Chirava has no intention of going back.

However, there is an ancient saying in the Central Plains called "every family has a scripture that is difficult to read". Although Chirava does not believe in Buddhism and does not need to chant sutras, he also has his own troubles, such as his baby daughter Sira, who still refuses to marry, although their European girls marry late, but they are now living in Daming. As the saying goes, Sila is now twenty years old but still refuses to get married, which has become a problem for Chilava's heart.

Zhou Zhong listened to Chilava's introduction, and his face couldn't help but show an expression of appreciation, the first batch of craftsmen he introduced from the Portuguese made great contributions to the industrial construction of the Ming Dynasty, not to mention anything else. Just Chilava, the shipbuilding master, has made the shipbuilding industry of the Ming Dynasty rise several steps, and it is Chilawa's help, so Zhou Zhong can build a warship that is better than the Portuguese warship, and it can be said that the victory of the Ming Navy at sea is now. Half of it goes to Chilawa.

"Chilava, you are the king's old subordinate, I can naturally rest assured that you can do it, if you encounter any difficulties in the future, the local officials in Tianjin can't solve them, then come directly to the king, and the king will definitely do his best to help you!" Zhou Zhong nodded with a smile and said, his words were not for Chilava, but for those Tianjin officials behind him, after all, if Chirawa wants to preside over the operation of the shipyard, he must need the support of local officials, and now he points out that he is Chilava's backer, even if others want to embarrass him, he has to weigh whether he is enough?

Chilawa now not only speaks Chinese very well, but also has not been in vain in the officialdom in recent years, so he can naturally hear that Zhou Zhong is supporting himself at this time, which makes him also refreshed, standing beside Zhou Chong with a smile and nodding yes, and those local officials in Tianjin are also surprised, I didn't expect that there is a big backer like King Zhao standing behind this Portuguese, fortunately, I didn't offend the other party much before, otherwise it would be difficult to do it in the future.

After visiting the shipyard, it was already noon, and today was Zhou Chong's first day to inspect Tianjin, so the local officials had prepared a reception banquet for Zhou Chong, speaking of which this kind of officialdom has been eating and drinking for a long time, even in later generations, it has been customary, so although Zhou Chong is not used to it, but he is powerless to change, he can only ask those officials to be as frugal as possible, and must not be too luxurious.

In fact, the key to this reception banquet is not what to eat, but the exchanges between officials at the banquet, such as the prince of a country like Zhou Chong, and he is deeply respected by His Majesty the Emperor, so these officials are naturally desperate at the banquet.

However, at the end of the banquet, Zhou Zhong suddenly received a news, which shocked his spirits, and he clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, Nanyang has sent another batch of Portuguese craftsmen, these craftsmen were all obtained from the newly occupied Goa, and now they are all shipped to Tianjin, these craftsmen are all selected shipbuilding craftsmen, and this time they will also be arranged to work in the shipyard, presumably with these people, the shipyard's shipbuilding capacity will also be able to go to a higher level!" ”

Hearing that the imperial court actually transported a group of Portuguese craftsmen from Nanyang for the shipyard in Tianjin, which surprised all the officials, they did not care about those craftsmen, but from this matter it can be seen that the imperial court attaches great importance to the Tianjin shipyard, which makes the officials here understand the position of the shipyard in the heart of the imperial court, and at the same time let these officials firmly remember that they must fully cooperate with the shipyard in the future, otherwise if something happens to the shipyard, they are afraid that they will be held accountable by the imperial court.

For those Portuguese craftsmen, the officials in Tianjin were still very curious, especially they knew that Chilawa was also a Portuguese, so they all wanted to see what the hometown of the shipbuilder was like. It's just that what they don't know is that Chirava has always considered himself a Roman, although he lives in Portugal, but he does not identify with his Portuguese identity, plus he has been oppressed by the Portuguese governor of India before, so Chilawa has long not considered himself a Portuguese, but insists that he has been a Ming man from beginning to end.

It is precisely because of this that Chilawa heard that Zhou Zhong had shipped another batch of Portuguese craftsmen, and these craftsmen were still transported from occupied Goa, which made Chirawa not only not have any sadness, but was also very happy, because his shipbuilding skills came from Europe after all, and when cooperating with the shipbuilders of the Ming Dynasty, he would always feel a little uncomfortable, and now with such a group of Portuguese craftsmen, he must be able to better exert his talents.

When Zhou Zhong brought a group of Ming officials to the port again, the last time a large number of Portuguese came to Tianjin, or the Portuguese delegation led by da Gama entered Beijing to meet His Majesty the Emperor, but it has only been a few years, the Portuguese in India have been occupied by the Ming Dynasty, and so many Portuguese craftsmen have been captured, although the treatment of these craftsmen is higher than that of ordinary prisoners of war, but it is much lower than the craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty.

Originally, for these Portuguese craftsmen, they only needed to send a small official to take over, but Chilava, as their European countrymen, needed these people to work hard in the future, so he felt that he needed to show some enthusiasm, so he decided to greet them in person, Zhou Zhong was purely out of his own utilitarianism, wanting to see the results of the navy he had created, and as for those officials in Tianjin, it was purely out of curiosity.

The Portuguese craftsmen who were transported to Tianjin this time were specially selected, first of all, a large shipyard of the Portuguese in Goa, this shipyard was not mainly for shipbuilding, but for the maintenance of those Portuguese warships and merchant ships, the entire shipyard had three or four hundred craftsmen, all of whom were packed and put on the ship, and some people in Goa who had shipbuilding experience or knew how to build ships, all of them had to be sent to Daming, plus the families of these people, and the final Portuguese sent to Tianjin reached more than 2,000 people.

These Portuguese experienced an unforgettable period of labor reform in the plantations of Goa, and under the whip of the native overseers, these people quickly learned to obey, especially for the orders of the Ming officials, no one dared to question them, so after they were selected and loaded on the ship, they all behaved very meekly.

However, the treatment of these shipbuilders who were transported to Daming is also good, at least much stronger than the sale of those African black slaves in later generations, although there is no separate cabin, but men and women live separately, and seven or eight people are crammed into a small single room, they can completely stretch their bodies to sleep, although the daily diet is rationed, but at least half full, which is one of the reasons why these craftsmen did not resist along the way.