After a while, a group of people came running in the distance, led by an old man, followed by two sturdy men.

The guide came to Wei Shuo and pointed to the person who came and introduced: "The one in front is the proprietor of the shipyard, Old Man He, who is also a famous shipbuilding technician in the vicinity, and the two men in the back are the sons of Old Man He.

"Oh? Is it? Wei Shuo's eyes flashed, what the shipyard in Laoshan lacked the most was technician talents, and it would be great if he could recruit a few skilled technicians here to go to Laoshan.

"I don't know if the distinguished guest is coming, the old man has missed the welcome, and he is rude!" He Dongzhu apologized to Wei Shuo again and again.

Wei Shuo smiled slightly: "The proprietor He is polite, in Weishuo, Xiaqingzhou, he is the president of Laoshan Trading Company, and wants to buy a few sea ships to go back, I don't know if there are sea boats for sale in this He family's shipyard?" ”

"Sea vessels?" Proprietor He frowned a little embarrassed when he heard this: "Actually, don't look at the small scale of my He family's shipyard, a few years ago I could still produce a thousand seagoing ships here, but recently, the government has only purchased ships that run on the rivers, which has caused the price of seagoing ships to plummet." A small shipyard like ours can only cut down the docks that produce seagoing boats. ”

Wei Shuo nodded and understood the other party's actions very well, and if it were him, he would make the same decision. The small boat workshop is not large, the funds are not abundant, and the impact of the policy is the most obvious.

"Proprietor He, what kind of boats do you produce in this shipyard?"

When the proprietor He heard this, he was excited, and he pointed to the docks distributed along the river and introduced, "If you want to talk about this, then I have a lot of ships built by the He family's shipyard, in addition to not being able to build large building ships, Mengchong and other warships, commercial ships such as passenger boats and cao boats can be built." ”

"However, my shipyard mainly builds flat-bottomed sand boats, which are suitable for inland rivers or offshore travel, and can also be converted into small Mengchong warships. In addition to being sold to ordinary merchants as a transport merchant ship, it can also be sold to the government as a war ship, and the sales are very good, and there are many orders! ”

"Just a few days ago, a local businessman bought three medium-sized flat-bottomed sand boats from me, with a load of about 1,000 materials and 2,000 stones of rice.

Wei Shuo was speechless when he heard this, thinking that the load of the largest ship he saw in Xuzhou was only 1,000 stones, but the ship of 2,000 stones was a medium-sized ship in Jiangdong, and he really couldn't imagine what a scene it was when Jiangdong's shipbuilding industry was at its peak in Soochow!

"Let's not talk about anything else in Jiangdong, only shipbuilding is definitely the best in the world, in fact, not only the Jin people came here to buy ships, but also the barbarian businessmen from overseas who bought ships here. For those overseas barbarians, our ships not only carry a large capacity, but also have strong stability and speed, which is very safe and reliable. ”

"Oh? Do you still have overseas merchants here to buy ships? Wei Shuo heard the words and hurriedly asked.

"Yes, why not? That, like the people of Linyi, Funan, and what is it called...... Yes, Tang Ming people, since the lord of Wu Sun Quan sent Guangzhou to assassinate Shi Lu Dai to occupy Jiaozhou, has been sent to the South China Sea countries many times, after the prestige of Wu State, Funan (now Cambodia), Linyi (now South Vietnam), Tang Ming (now Thailand) kings, have sent envoys to pay tribute. Later, the maritime trade between Wu and these countries has not been interrupted, and until now there are merchants coming and going. ”

"When I was a child, I heard from the elders that during the Wu Huangwu period, there were also large ships from Persia and Daqin who came to Jiangdong to trade. At that time, there was a great Qin merchant named Qin, who arrived in Jiaozhi by sea boat, and was sent by Jiaozhi Taishou Wu Miao to Jianye to visit Sun Quan, the lord of Wu, and later the lord of Wu also sent a messenger Liu Xian to escort the envoy back. ”

"Really...... Really, fake? Wei Shuo couldn't believe that this was true, and the countries called Great Qin in ancient China generally referred to ancient Rome or the Near East. He couldn't believe that when he was in the Three Kingdoms, Huaxia would be able to travel to and from Rome by sea.

"Dongjia, this thing is true, according to the "Foreign Biography of Wu Shi" written by Wu Ren Kangtai, it is recorded, 'From Cana to the state, by sea boat, Zhang Qifan, the wind is more than a month, it is into Qin, and the Great Qin State is also.' It can be seen that there were indeed sea ships coming and going between Jiangdong and Daqin at that time. Before He Dongzhu said anything, Cao Hong next to him opened his mouth to confirm that the matter was true.

"Look, what am I talking about, how dare I deceive you?" After speaking, the proprietor looked like he knew this for a long time.

"Proprietor He, can I visit your shipyard?"

"Yes! What can't be done? Let's go, I'll accompany Wei Dong's family for a while. Saying that, proprietor He took the lead and walked to the dock, followed by Wei Shuo and the others.

As soon as he entered the shipyard, Wei Shuo saw that there were piles of wood all around, he turned his head and smiled at the proprietor He: "Proprietor He, I didn't expect you to have a good business here, and you have saved so much timber." ”

"Hehe, this is all for everyone's face, these timbers are all to meet the orders received before, and there are still ten ships ranging from 200 to 500 materials waiting to be delivered." The proprietor of He was full of joy, which shows how prosperous the business of the He family's shipyard has been recently.

"Proprietor He, how long will it take you to build a ship here?"

"It depends on what kind of ship is built, and now there are about ten old shipwrights, fifty ordinary craftsmen, and two or three hundred miscellaneous workers in my shipyard. If you want to build a small ship with less than 800 materials, it can be completed in more than a month at most, and no more than two months at most. ”

"Medium-sized ships of more than 1,000 materials take a long time, and they can't be built in March or May. The main reason is that I am short of manpower here, like those big shipyards, the sand boats that build 3,000 materials can be completed in three months at most. If you want to catch up with the urgent needs of the imperial court, if the shipyard rushes to work day and night, the big ship of 5,000 materials can be built in less than half a year. ”

"There are nearly 300 people in your shipyard, and it's just a small shipyard, shouldn't there be thousands of people in those big shipyards?"

Proprietor He was obviously very familiar with the local shipyard, and said without thinking: "Hehe, of course, there are more than 2,000 craftsmen in the largest shipyard of Houguan today. We can build hundreds of ships of all kinds every year, which is much better than ours here. ”

"Master He, if I want to order a three-thousand-material ship-sized ship from you, how long will it take for your He family's shipyard to be completed."

Hearing Wei Shuo's question, proprietor He was a little nervous for a while, he understood that this was Wei Shuo's strength in the examination school He family's shipyard, whether he could get the order or not, it depended on this experience. He pondered for a while and replied, "At least half a year." ”

"Half a year? It's a bit long. Wei Shuo was a little disappointed, but considering the strength of the He family's shipyard, knowing that the proprietor He didn't lie and fool him, it can be seen that he is a sincere person.

Seeing that the big master Gu Wei Shuo frowned, Lord He's heart suddenly rose to his throat, but he couldn't make up nonsense and deceive people. The strength of the He family's shipyard is there, even if you can be deceived for a while, you can't be deceived for a lifetime. As long as Wei Shuo leaves the shipyard, he can know the truth and fiction as soon as he asks around.

"However, although the He family shipyard cannot undertake more than 3,000 sea ships, it is still possible to take some small and medium-sized sea boats, but I don't know if the proprietor He is willing to give up river boats to build sea boats?"

Looking at the tangled proprietor He, Wei Shuo was not surprised at all, the Jin Dynasty was far less important to maritime trade than Eastern Wu, which also caused river boats to be far more popular than sea ships. Nowadays, the merchants who come to Jiangdong to buy sea ships, except for the big businessmen who are still running the north-south trade, most of them are barbarian merchants from the South China Sea.

"I told you the truth, there is a trading company under his command, specializing in overseas trade, not only with Liaodong, but also with Goguryeo and Sanhan, and I plan to go to the South China Sea in the future. This requires a large number of sea vessels, and if the proprietor He is willing to rebuild the sea vessels, he can sign a long-term cooperation agreement with He Jia Shipyard. ”

"Long-term cooperation agreements? How long is it? When he heard that he could sign a long-term cooperation agreement, he was immediately moved. If a small workshop like Hejia Chuanfang can sign a long-term agreement, it will mean that there will be no worries about food in the next few years, and it will be completely drought and flood to ensure income.

"Three years to start, five years is not limited, depending on the results of the negotiation between the two sides. Cooperating with our Laoshan trading company, although I dare not guarantee that He Dongzhu will make any windfall, it can make He Jiachuan no longer worry about survival in the future. ”