Wei Shuo once again tempted the proprietor of He, he knew that although a small shipyard like the He family was flexible in form, because of the competition from medium and large shipyards, the slightest carelessness could lead to a loss. Now that there is an opportunity to ensure harvest in drought and flood, he believes that the proprietor He will not refuse.

Sure enough, as soon as Wei Shuo's long-term agreement came out, proprietor He was immediately moved. If you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are, a small shipyard like the He family can only receive some bulk orders on weekdays, and there are few customers who have long-term cooperation, and such customers will only find large and medium-sized shipyards.

"Proprietor He, how did you build sea ships in the past?"

"It's not easy to build a ship, it's a very cumbersome process. It is necessary to consider both the wood and the reinforcement method. All components or parts that are subjected to strong pressure must be made of hard camphor wood or nanmu. In order to improve the strength of the ship, the wall of the ship and the shell plate, and between the partition plate and the partition plate, must be connected with rivets, so that the bulkhead and the hull are connected as a whole. ”

"At the same time, the seawater is more corrosive, in order to prevent the iron nails used from being corroded, all the nail heads must be sealed with tung putty after smashing. It is precisely because of the need to take into account all aspects in the construction process that the construction period of sea vessels is generally a little longer than that of river boats. ”

The proprietor He is worthy of being an old shipmaster, and he is familiar with the details of shipbuilding, which is like a treasure, which makes Wei Shuo and Cao Hong admire. Subsequently, Wei Shuo, accompanied by He Dongzhuo, carefully visited the He family shipyard, and from time to time He Dongzhu answered questions for Wei Shuo.

"Proprietor He, I am quite optimistic about He's shipyard, if you have no objections, we can sign an agreement after we have determined the order price. I don't know what the price of your boat is? ”

"Don't hide it from the owner, the boats from our private shipyard are generally cheaper than those from the official shipyard, you can go out and inquire about when our old He family has made black money. Like a medium-sized sea ship of 1,000 materials, it costs about 700,000 yuan, and after removing the labor and timber money, I also earn some hard money. ”

Wei Shuo secretly calculated that 700,000 yuan for a thousand-material sea ship is really not expensive. Originally, according to his estimates, he couldn't get it without 800,000 yuan, but he didn't expect it to be so cheap, it seems that this proprietor He really didn't make a random offer.

"Well, this price is really not expensive, okay, I'm very satisfied, we can sign the agreement later, do you think we are signing for three years? Or sign for five years? ”

"That is, we are not like the shipyards of the government, and the prices are too high. It is said that the cost of a large building ship of 5,000 materials is 10 million yuan, and I estimate that such a medium-sized sea ship ordered by Wei Dongjia will cost more than 1 million yuan. If Wei Dongjia is not buying a large ship of more than 3,000 materials, it is best to order it from a private shipyard, which is not only kind in price, but also thoughtful in service. ”

"Thank you for your guidance, as soon as this agreement is signed, we will be partners in the future, and in the next few years, the big ships with more than 1,000 materials built by Hejia Shipyard will be purchased by our Laoshan Trading Company."

Subsequently, proprietor He and Wei Shuo signed a five-year cooperation agreement, and both parties were happy as soon as the agreement was signed. The He family has found a long-term meal ticket, and Wei Shuo has a stable boat provider that will play a role that cannot be underestimated until his shipyard is formed.

After leaving the shipyard of the He family, Wei Shuo and Cao Hong, accompanied by their guides, visited and browsed all over the territory of Houguan again. It is worthy of being the largest shipbuilding base in the Wei and Jin dynasties, and small shipyards like the He family can be seen everywhere, and there are also shipyards that are much larger than the He family.

Seeing that Wei Shuo and Cao Hong were dazzled, Wei Shuo excitedly exclaimed: "It's worth it, it's worth it, it's worth it!" ”

It's really worth it, if he hadn't come to Jiangdong in person, he really wouldn't have been able to appreciate how prosperous Jiangdong's shipbuilding industry was. According to Wei Shuo's rough estimates, there are tens of thousands of craftsmen engaged in shipbuilding here, and if other miscellaneous people are added, there are at least 100,000 or more people in the entire Houguan territory who rely on shipbuilding to make a living.

"Jifu, do you think we can recruit some shipwrights to our Xuzhou?" Looking at those skilled boat masters, Wei Shuo was greedy. The local boatmasters in Xuzhou can't compare to the ones here, and the boatmasters here are all skills that have been accumulated and passed down through generations.

Cao Hong smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid it's not easy, if it's a peaceful era, it's okay to say." But if there is chaos today, who doesn't know that there is trouble in the north, ordinary people really dare not abandon the comfortable life here and go to the war-torn north with us. ”

Wei Shuo's face darkened and said: "Well, it seems that Wei Mou has not thought it through, and our shipyard is still far away!" ”

Seeing the look of disappointment on Wei Shuo's face, Cao Hong thought for a while and suggested: "Owner, why don't we offer higher wages to the shipmasters to attract everyone?" ”

At this time, the guide who had been following behind interjected, only to see him smile and say: "Wei Dongjia, this Xiao Langjun is right, increase the salary, maybe you can really recruit some shipwrights to go to Xuzhou." In fact, don't look at the shipyards everywhere in Houguan County, but not every boatmaster and shipwright can live a good life. ”

"There are even fewer shipwrews like He Dongjia who have their own shipyards, and most of them do not live very well, especially the shipwrights of the government-run shipyards, who are treated very little and have little personal freedom. If anyone can save them from fire and water, hehe......"

Wei Shuo was overjoyed when he heard this, he glanced at the guide with some playfulness, and said: "Guide, you are quite familiar with the situation of the marquis, why don't you do this, you can help us do something, and I will give you a thousand dollars for every time I come here in the future, how about it?" ”

"A thousand dollars for a shipmaster?" The guide was shocked by Wei Shuo's generosity, if he really fooled a dozen of them, wouldn't it be 10,000 yuan, this is the price of one stone of rice.

"What? You don't want to? ”

"No, no, no, that's not what the small one means, I'm willing to do it." The guide nodded hurriedly and took Wei Shuo's employment, and then the guide took the money given by Wei Shuo and left happily.

Looking at the back of the guide leaving, Cao Hong asked, "My lord, is it appropriate for us to pay such a big price to recruit some boatmen?" ”

Wei Shuo glanced at Cao Hong and secretly sighed: "It seems that it is too difficult to change a person's inherent values!" For the first time, he explained to Cao Hong the importance of craftsmen, but every time Cao Hong couldn't help but feel contempt for the craftsmen.

"How is it not suitable? The shipyards on Laoshan have not been able to play their due role, and the biggest factor is the lack of skilled shipbuilders. You can recruit some veteran shipwrights for a little money, is there anything more cost-effective in the world? ”

In the next few days, Wei Shuo's main job was to go in and out of the shipyards of the Houguan to negotiate the purchase of boats. Except for the ten thousand-material sea ships, the rest are more than three thousand sea-going ships. If it weren't for the lack of anger in his own shipyard, Wei Shuo really didn't want to spread this order.

Although the money was spent like water, Wei Shuo believed that as long as the first batch of ships arrived in Xuzhou, the maritime trading fleet under the command of the Laoshan Trading Company would be initially formed, and his long-planned plan to sell horses in Liaodong could be implemented.

After all, Wei Shuo came from modern times, and he knew very well what kind of huge profits were contained in maritime trade, and once the fleet was formed in the future, it would not only be able to run Liaodong, but also Jiangdong, Goguryeo, Samhan, Wadao, and Nanhai Zhudao. Even the Roman Empire, Wei Shuo wanted to send someone to take a look.

While Wei Shuo was busy ordering boats, the hired local guide was not idle, and he relied on his familiarity, shuttling day and night to the homes of various shipmasters, lobbying them. At first, everyone didn't believe him, and many of the shipmasters thought he was a liar, until the guide took the certificate issued to him by Wei Shuo, and the shipwrights were suspicious.

In the end, the guide's mouth was worn out, and he persuaded a poor shipmaster to follow him to see Wei Shuo, and only after the shipmaster came back with the settling-in money given by Wei Shuo did he attract the attention of the other shipmasters. Someone came forward to say something, dispelling the concerns of many people, and also making some other shipwreaks from poor families move their minds.

In the following period, Wei Shuo recruited a total of twenty-three shipmasters, of which five were skilled, and the rest were also technical backbones in various shipyards. Wei Shuo believes that once these people join the Laoshan Shipyard, they will definitely be able to accelerate the development of the Laoshan Shipyard.