Four months later, on the beach by the sea in Donglai, Qingzhou, on the coastline that stretches for more than 30 miles, there is a scene in full swing. In the sea, dozens of ships with hulls as high as more than 10 meters and a length of 60 or 70 meters are erected on the hulls of five-toothed warships as high as three or four floors, with six or seven sails hanging, chopping waves in the sea three or four miles offshore.

And on the beach, dozens of five-tooth warships were still nervously building on tall platforms more than a few miles apart. Tens of thousands of boatmen, shirtless and wearing only a pair of calf-nose trousers, were busy sweating, some ships had just had the shape of a keel, some ships had already begun to build watertight cabins, some ships were installing masts on the hulls that had already been formed, and some ships that had already completed most of the progress had begun to build the kind of three- or four-story tall ship buildings on the decks of the ships that were basically completed, and wrapped the bottom and hull with copper skin.

Wang Shichong was dressed in a five-grade light red official robe, wearing a black gauze, walking back and forth on the beach, and accompanying him was the Laizhou Thorn History where Donglai was located, Shangshu Yu Wenkai of the former Ministry of Industry, and He Chou and the third brother Wang Shiwei.

Yu Wenkai is about fifty years old, with a thin body, sharp beak and monkey cheeks, a white beard, a high nose and deep eyes, and he doesn't look like a person from the Central Plains. This gentleman is known as the first skillful hand in the world, and he is good at large-scale construction projects, the construction of Daxing City, and the construction of Renshou Palace, all of which are from the hands of Yu Wenkai.

But this craftsman was an out-and-out greed, and his hands were smaller than ever, and every time he had a large project, he would be greedy. Even after pacifying Nan Chen last time. Yu Wenkai, who stayed in Jiankang, did not forget to partner with Zhongwen, who was the head of Jiankang at the time, to resell military rations. As a result, it caused chaos in the south of the Yangtze River, and he was also held accountable afterwards, dismissed from office, and pushed to the end.

It's just that Yu Wenkai is not only greedy, but also willing to spend money, and after enduring it at home for two years, he keeps going to the door and running again. He knew that Gao Xi, who was honest and upright, would not eat his own set, so he caught up with Yang Su, Wang Shichong also became an informant from it, and lent Yu Wenkai a million dollars to let him go to the Yueguo Mansion to run for office, and finally the hard work paid off, Yang Su happened to receive the big project of Renshou Palace, and his subordinates lacked top construction talents, so Yu Wenkai took the opportunity to become the chief engineer of the project, and the salted fish turned over.

That time, Yu Wenkai learned a lesson and didn't dare to fish more. only made a small profit of about 100,000 yuan, and it was all used to honor Yang Su. The project was completed on time with quality and quantity, and the construction of Renshou Palace made Yang Jian also very satisfied, and he was not only rewarded by Yang Su, but also regained Yu Wenkai by the way, because he did not want to leave the impression of a big construction project in the world, so this time Yu Wenkai did not return to the old post of the Ministry of Industry or the old post of the eunuch, but was sent to Qingzhou as the Laizhou Thorn History.

It's just that the fourth-grade Laizhou Thorn Shi is two levels higher than Wang Shichong, but because Wang Shichong has a special mission, he is the quality director of the warship of Goguryeo on this sea route, and he is the supervisor of the construction of the ship and the transfer of ships, which is half a Qincha, because Yu Wenkai does not dare to slack off, and he is well-informed He knows that Wang Shichong is a rising star in the capital over the years, and he has won the weight of Gao Xi and Yang Su, the two important ministers.

Therefore, in the past few months, Yu Wenkai has done his best to Wang Shichong before and after the saddle, and all needs are delivered on time, and Wang Shichong is still a little unaccustomed to it at first, when he built the Xiaoyao Building of Bliss Villa, he still begged Yu Wenkai, and the one million also charged the construction fee, but now Wang Shichong's official position is not too high, but he is already a celebrity in Beijing, and even important ministers like Yu Wenkai have to start stammering themselves.

This time Wang Shichong brought the third brother Wang Shiwei out, the south of the fold of the eldest brother Wang Huashi, is Wang Shichong's life pain, since then he will never let the third brother follow his birth and death, only let him stay in his hometown as a county lieutenant, these years as the business is getting bigger and bigger, he simply let Wang Shiwei resign, specifically in the Jiangnan area to take care of his own tea farm, after all, the fertilizer does not flow into the field of outsiders, now the two brothers are still not separated, including the eldest brother's orphans and widows, are living in the old house in Xinfeng County, brothers work together, its profits are broken, It is Wang He's last words before his death, and this kind of family affection is also what Wang Shichong cherishes most in his life.

As a result, Wang Shiwei recruited more than 1,000 experienced old shipwrights from Minyue and Sanwu regions in the third month, and came directly to Donglai by boat from the sea, and also brought a hundred flat-bottomed sand boats, which can carry four or five hundred people, although they cannot fight, but there is no problem as a carrier.

In this way, coupled with the more than 1,000 fishing boats and merchant ships requisitioned by Wang Shichong in the Laizhou area for a while, to maintain the 100,000-strong army crossing the sea, plus the military supplies for half a year, the problem is not big, but these old ships are more than six or seven years old, and some small fishing boats have been used for more than 20 years.

Therefore, the expedition of the army mainly relied on these newly built warships, which, according to Wang Shichong's vision, were used to carry soldiers, while military supplies were maintained by flat-bottomed sand boats and fishing boats.

Today is the sixth day of the fifth month, and it is only about 20 days before the 27th of May agreed when the most empress set out on the expedition, but Wang Shichong looked at the progress of this project and was full of confidence, and by 167 May at the latest, he should be able to complete the construction of all the warships.

Wang Shiwei rarely sees this kind of hot shipbuilding scene, and has never seen how large sea ships are made, everything is so new to him, he has followed Wang Shichong everywhere these days, and if he doesn't understand, he can ask He Chou, the shipbuilding director around him, at any time.

He Chou is a middle-aged man about forty years old, the most distinctive thing is that his eyes are dark blue, the same as Wang Shichong, he also has curly hair, but the color is dark brown, his skin is fair, his eyebrows are golden, and he looks more like a Caucasian in later generations, which is probably related to his father's marriage to a Wave orchid, fortunately, Wang Shichong and Yu Wenkai do not look like pure-blooded Han people, the eldest brother does not laugh at the second brother, so that several people are naturally close.

Wang Shiwei pointed to a ship under construction in the distance and asked, "He Shaofu (He Chou's current official position is Shaofuqing), why do you want to build small rooms on the bottom of these ships?" Isn't it easy to sink when you load cargo on the bottom of the ship? ”

He Chou smiled slightly: "These are not cargo holds, but watertight cabins, these cabins are not loaded with things, the reason why they are separated from each other is to prevent water leakage, so that the ship will not sink quickly, as long as the cabin that enters the water is closed, and the other cabins can remain watertight, the ship can still be saved, and now we build this kind of five-tooth big ship, unless it is more than five watertight cabins leaking at the same time, otherwise it cannot be sunk." ”

Wang Shiwei let out an "oh", and Yu Wenkai on the side stared at a big ship that was about to be completed with copper skin wrapped in copper at the bottom, and frowned: "He Shaofu, but if there is too much hardware on this ship, won't it sink?" Wood can float on water, but copper and iron sink when it comes into water. ”

He Shou shook his head: "The copper skin is to prevent the erosion of the seawater, if this ship is made of pure wood, when it goes to the ocean, due to the wind and waves, the rivets of the nails and the glue used for bonding are easy to fall off, and it will fall apart at that time, and there are reefs near the bottom of the sea, in case the wood touches, it will leak, only a layer of copper skin with a thickness of more than an inch, and there is generally no need to worry about sinking." ”

Wang Shichong stared at a warship that was already building a three-story building, and asked, "Why does this ship have six masts around it?" It doesn't look like it's used to hang sails. (To be continued......)