The feast ended the night, and for Galileo's student Viviani, the Chinese emperor, thousands of miles away, was willing to help and persuade Portugal to "threaten" the Inquisition with the right to protect the Church, and his teacher would surely not die.

Because the so-called "right to protect the church" is actually a series of privileges granted to Portugal and Spain by the Holy See. These two countries were the first to make great geographical discoveries, and the Holy See gave them considerable power in order to better proselytize to non-Catholics in the "New World", in other words, to better expand the interests of the Holy See.

For example, all missionaries who came to the East had to register in Portugal and board Portuguese ships; Bishops in the region must be recommended to the Holy See by the Portuguese Crown, and must be represented by the Portuguese Crown in matters involving missionary matters. As long as the King of Portugal, Ken Bailileo, the Holy See, taking into account the vital interests in the East, could not fail to agree.

However, the main purpose of Polo and Viviani's visit was to establish diplomatic relations with the Ming Dynasty, a formal topic that Zhu Youzhen did not mention at the banquet, and the two envoys couldn't help but be a little apprehensive, wondering if the Chinese emperor thought Genoa and Venice were too small and weak?

In the early morning of the next day, Zhu Youzhen invited the two envoys early, but instead of formal negotiations, they visited the Shanhaiguan customs city and shipyard. In addition to these two people, several concubines, Princess Anna, Huang Degong and others also went together.

After boarding the castle, Anna was fine, the two envoys had never seen such a magnificent and majestic building, and they were amazed all the way. Zhu Youzhen led them to observe the cavalry training of Man Gui and He Kegang, tens of thousands of cavalry rode horses and galloped under the city, the sound of horses' hooves was like thunder, although Polo and Viviani were forced to calm down, their hearts were shocked. Europeans still remember the "Yellow Peril" when the Mongol army swept through Eastern Europe, and the Ming Dynasty replaced the Mongol Yuan, isn't it more powerful? I heard that this is only a small part of the million officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty!

Immediately afterwards, everyone visited the shipyard. The shipyard was opened just last year, but it is quite large, with eight docks that can build or repair eight ships at the same time. At present, there are more than 3,000 workers, including experienced shipwrights transferred from Macao, Dengzhou and other places, and most of the rest are newly recruited.

New warships are now being built in four docks, which are now about to be launched. All four battleships were imitation Portuguese battleships, but had a smaller displacement. Like Princess Anna, the flagship of the North Sea Fleet, with a displacement of eight hundred tons; The Dingyuan is slightly smaller and has a displacement of 500 tons, but the displacement of these four warships is only 120 tons, which is equivalent to the appearance of 5 or 600 materials for a traditional Fu ship. Zhu Youzhen named the 500-ton battleship the "Dingyuan class," while the 120-ton battleship was named the "Weihai class."

In fact, with the existing technology of the shipyard, it is possible to build far-class warships. Whether it's a naval battle or a long voyage, the bigger the ship, the better. However, after discussing with Zheng Sen and other naval officers, as well as shipbuilders, Zhu Youzhen still decided to build the Weihai-class battleship first, which was for the following reasons.

First, the Daming Navy has just been established, and the main combat mission at this stage is definitely coastal defense. Although the displacement of 120 tons of the Weihai class is smaller, it can also meet the needs.

Second, small warships are built faster. It only takes three months to build a Weihai-class battleship in the dock, and it only takes more than a month to outfit it before it can enter service. It will take a year to build a long-range warship in the dock alone. If it is to build a 1,500-ton warship like the main battleship of the Spanish Armada, it is not impossible to build, but it will take at least four years from the preparation of materials to the delivery of the service. As for the differences in labor and material consumption, it will not be elaborated.

Third, the situation is urgent. Now that the North Sea Fleet has just been established, the scale is too small, let alone fighting against strong maritime enemies such as Spain and the Netherlands, and even pirate forces like Zheng Zhilong are not as good. In addition, there was a shortage not only of warships, but also of sailors. It takes time to train a qualified naval soldier, and building more small warships can enable new recruits to engage in actual combat training earlier and form combat effectiveness as soon as possible.

Now the first batch of four Weihai-class warships built by the Shanhaiguan Shipyard has entered service, and now the second batch is being built. Although the hull of the ship is small, there are hundreds of workers working in each dock in a tense and orderly manner, and the sound of tinkling is endless. For Europeans such as Anna, Polo, Viviani, etc., ships of this size were certainly not uncommon, but there were absolutely no such large number of workers in any European country. It can be seen that most of these workers are still novices. Once they all grow into skilled old shipwrights, China's shipbuilding capacity is simply unimaginable!

In the other four docks, civilian ships are being renovated. Since Zhu Youzhen ascended the throne, although the imperial court has not officially issued an order, the control of civilian ships has been significantly loosened, and the number of private fishing boats and merchant ships has gradually increased. However, these ships are generally smaller in tonnage, and all of them are traditional Fu ship styles, and the biggest disadvantage is that they only have a cross sail and no sylonsail, and can only sail downwind and not against the wind.

According to Zhu Youjian's will, Shanhaiguan Shipyard installed longitudinal sails for private ships free of charge, and the shipowner only needed to register the ship's information. Who wants to miss this kind of good thing, so civilian ships from all over the country have come to refit, and there are even those in Zhejiang and Fujian. Because there were too many civilian ships, they had to queue up outside the Shanhaiguan port. Such a spectacular scene also amazed the two envoys.

In the end, Zhu Youzhen led everyone to board the Dingyuan battleship, which had been waiting here for a long time, and Qi Xianzong and Li Yunhao, who had returned from the edict, greeted the holy driver on the ship. After everyone boarded the ship, the Dingyuan lifted anchor and sailed into the Bohai Sea, on the one hand, to let the queen Rui'er, Bao Yulian, Zhu Cunqi, Chen Yuanyuan and others who had never been on a sea boat enjoy the charming scenery of the sea; On the other hand, the Dingyuan had to undergo live-fire training and be inspected by the emperor.

The Dingyuan was originally remodeled from an old Portuguese merchant ship, and all the shipboard guns were dismantled and used for the defense of Beijing. Today's Dingyuan has been renovated, and the bow main gun, stern auxiliary gun and 48 side guns have all been re-outfitted.

The battleship sailed into the sea north of Shanhaiguan at a speed of ten knots, which was no longer under the actual control of the Ming Dynasty. With Lee Yun-ho's order, the main and secondary guns on the Dingyuan and the twenty-four broadside guns on the coastal side launched a salvo. In the earth-shattering sound of artillery, the target area on the shore was bombarded with holes. Everyone exclaimed in unison, and Huang Degong patted his thigh excitedly and laughed: "If this Dingyuan is under my command, I will drive it to Ningyuan, no, drive it to the Liao River!" If you don't blow up the dog tartars, it's not over! ”