Suburbs of Nanjing, Longjiang Bao Shipyard.

This is a large shipyard located on the Yangtze River, covering an area of about 1,000 acres. In the shipyard, facing the direction of the Yangtze River, seven docks are lined up, each dock is about 100 zhang long, about 100 zhang wide, and the depth reaches 2 zhang, all of which are made of fine loess as slope protection. Such a dock can build a large ship of several thousand materials, which is equivalent to a ship with a displacement of one or two thousand tons according to the standards of ships of later generations.

In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Longjiang Bao Shipyard was the most prosperous shipyard in the entire Ming Dynasty. The huge ship that Zheng He took when he went to the West came from this shipyard. With the gradual closure of the Ming Dynasty and the withering of shipping, Longjiang Bao Shipyard has gradually lost its former glory. The order of a few ships a year is simply not enough to feed the hundreds of artisan families in the shipyard. Many craftsmen had to cultivate their own land, or do some handicrafts, small trades, etc., to earn a little money to make ends meet.

At this time, Su Hao and Li Zhen, dressed as businessmen, were standing at the gate of the shipyard, asking the vendors who were selling snacks on the official road outside the door about the news of the shipyard.

"This big brother, let me ask, is this Longjiang Bao Shipyard?" Su Hao arched his hand to the vendor and asked.

The peddler hurriedly returned the salute and said, "It's here, but the guest officer is here to find someone?" ”

"Sort of." Su Hao said, "Dare to ask the eldest brother's surname?" ”

The peddler waved his hand and said, "Alas, I am a craftsman, what is expensive or not." My surname is Cai, and there is a ** named Guozhu, who is the second in the family, so everyone calls me Cai Laoer, and the guest officer also calls the villain like this. ”

"Hehe, it turned out to be Second Brother Cai." Su Hao smiled slightly, and became a little interested in this outspoken hawker, "Second Brother Cai said that he was a craftsman just now, could it be that you are the shipbuilder in this treasure ship?" ”

"Isn't it, our whole family is a lugsmith. Hit Yongle Ye, my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather...... He is the best lugsmith in this shipyard. The treasure boat that the three treasures sat on in the West, the oar on the boat, is the grandfather of my grandfather's grandfather...... Handmade. The peddler named Cai Guozhu took the trouble to tell Su Hao about his family tree.

"Is there such a thing?" Su Hao said, listening to Cai Guozhu is quite talkative, he asked for the surname to bring over the two ponies on the side, handed one to Li Zhen, and the other sat by himself, and said to Cai Guozhu: "Second brother Cai, bring four tea eggs, cut some braised meat, sift a pot of rice wine, my husband and I want to hear you talk about how your grandfather's grandfather's grandfather's grandfather built this treasure ship giant oar." ”

"Okay, guest officer, you wait, I'll serve you drinks and food right away." Cai Guozhu was overjoyed, he didn't expect that he could chat with two customers casually. Out of nowhere, he conjured up a small table, put it in front of Su Hao and Li Zhen, and quickly brought over the side dishes, rice wine, dishes and chopsticks that Su Hao wanted, put them on the table, and then sat at the table himself, while watching Su Hao and Li Zhen eat, while talking about the glorious past of his ancestors' shipbuilding.

Su Hao and Li Zhen listened to Cai Guozhu's story with a smile and groaning, looking for the information they needed from his upside-down words. Before coming to Nanjing from the capital, Su Hao had also gone to the Ministry of Industry to learn about the situation of Longjiang Bao Shipyard, but the information that the cold archives of the Ministry of Industry could provide was very limited. For example, in the description of the shipyard's shipbuilding capacity, the knowledge of the officials of the Ministry of Industry is still only limited to the establishment of the shipyard during the Yongle period, which is equivalent to saying that they only know what kind of capacity the shipyard has in theory, but what the actual situation is, no one can say.

Listening to Cai Guozhu's introduction, the situation is completely different. According to Cai Guozhu, there are 400 artisan households in the shipyard, all of which are divided according to the establishment of the Yongle period, and each household has a specific skill, including carpenters, shuttles, lugmasons, rope makers, blacksmiths, cable makers, mawtonians, palm masons, tent makers, and so on. In the earliest days, a craftsman family was a father and an adult son and other craftsmen, and over the years, as the children of the craftsman family continued to grow up and continue to divide the family, a craftsman household has been able to divide an average of five or six households, as many as a dozen craftsmen.

The number of craftsmen has increased, but the shipbuilding business has decreased, which has made the lives of craftsmen more and more difficult, and many people have fled their homes without permission. However, most of the craftsmen still stayed in the shipyard and struggled to survive, because the Ming law stipulated that once the artisan was caught, he was sentenced to a heavy sentence.

"You said that there is no work left in the shipyard, so how do you get by?" Su Hao asked strangely, 400 households, if there is no regular business, I'm afraid that even drinking the northwest wind will have to be supplied with tickets, right?

Cai Guozhu said: "Grow your own crops." Besides, every craftsman in our shipyard has ancestral craftsmanship. Wealthy families in Nanjing, who want to build a house or make some furniture, will come to our craftsmen here, and we can make a little money. It's not to blow with the two, the craftsmanship of our shipyard craftsmen is more than a hundred times stronger than those craftsmen outside. ”

When Cai Guozhu said this, his eyes flashed with pride. Don't look at him as just a laid-off worker in a large state-owned factory on the verge of bankruptcy, that arrogance is real.

"So, counting from the Yongle Lord's meeting, two hundred years have passed, and the craftsmanship of the craftsmen has not been lost?" Su Hao asked.

Cai Guozhu glared and said, "How dare you lose it!" The craftsmanship of our craftsmen, that is, the guy who eats, can he just throw it away? The children in our shipyard began their apprenticeship at the age of seven, and the government no longer built ships, so we could just find a tree and cut down the roots and branches, and we could use it as a boat to practice our craft. Please take a look, the Mazha you sit on, this small table, are all made by myself, don't look at the small things, the craftsmanship is not said. ”

Su Hao began to notice the extraordinary Mazha he was sitting on, as Cai Guozhu said, although it was only a small Maza, its workmanship was very exquisite, and every detail showed the skills of a fine craftsman.

"That's great!" Su Hao turned his head to look at Li Zhen and found that Li Zhen also had a shallow smile on his face.

Before leaving Beijing, Su Hao and Li Zhen were really worried that the technology of building large sea ships in the Ming Dynasty had been abandoned for many years, and it would be difficult to recover for a while. Unlike ships used on water in rivers, seagoing vessels must be able to withstand the high winds and waves at sea, as well as the erosion of seawater. Longjiang Bao Shipyard has always had experience in building sea ships, but it has not built ships for so many years, and the craftsmen in the Yongle period have long been ancient, whether their descendants can still master these shipbuilding techniques, Su Hao really has no bottom in his heart.

Judging from Cai Guozhu's account, the craftsmen did not give up the inheritance of technology because of the depression of the shipyard. They are like a group of ascetics, under the most difficult conditions, holding on to a piece of pure land, so that the craftsmanship of their ancestors can be preserved from generation to generation.

"Guest officer, if the villain guessed correctly, you want to find someone to build a ship, right?" After Cai Guozhu finished telling the story of the shipyard, he put away the confident look just now, and asked Su Hao and Li Zhen timidly.

Su Hao asked rhetorically, "How do you see it?" ”

Cai Guozhu said: "The two of you are both people with status, and you can spend half a day sitting in the villain's stall listening to the villain's talk about the ancients, which is obviously interested in our shipyard." Our shipyard does not produce gold or silver, so if you don't want to build a ship, what can you do in our shipyard? ”

Su Hao smiled: "Then may I ask Second Brother Cai, are there many people who usually come to the shipyard to build ships?" ”

Cai Guozhu said: "The guest officer is a layman, we are a government-run shipyard, a private ship, we do not accept it." Those merchants found a small shipyard by themselves, and then hired craftsmen from our shipyard to build ships. Didn't I say, when it comes to craftsmanship, the craftsmen in our shipyard are the number one in the sky. ”

Li Zhen interjected: "Brother Cai, your artisan household goes out to do private work, don't you care?" ”

Li Zhen said that he was the highest officer of the shipyard. Due to the important position of Longjiang Bao Shipyard, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court set up a lifting department here, and stationed a person from Wupin to be responsible for the affairs of the shipyard. Although the shipyard's business has almost completely ceased in recent years, the lifting department has not been abolished, and the position of lifting is still held.

However, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the promotion of Longjiang Shipyard was a beautiful difference, and hundreds of thousands of taels of shipbuilding funds were handed over every year, and a little leakage between the fingers could also make a lot of money. Up to now, lifting is a chore, in the Ministry of Industry, it has always been those officials who are not good at patting horses and can't be people to be sent to this kind of place as a lift, which is equivalent to exile.

Cai Guozhu heard Li Zhen's question, lowered his voice slightly, and said, "Old gentleman, be cautious, be careful to be heard." I told you that if you want to come and ask our craftsmen to help you build the ship, you must first meet our master Tiju. He didn't allow it, the craftsman didn't dare to go out casually, or it would be a matter of losing his head. ”

"So, how did you agree to let the craftsmen help us build a ship?" Su Hao asked, since Cai Guozhu mistakenly thought that they were looking for someone to do private work, he also asked for his surname and pretended to be.

Cai Guozhu smiled mysteriously and said, "How dare we villains speculate on this matter of lifting adults. In the villain's opinion, there must be such a meaning......" Speaking of this, he made a gesture of rubbing the treasure money with his hands, which means that he needs to pay a bribe to Ti, Su Hao and Li Zhen are well aware of this.

"Okay, thank you Second Brother Cai for your advice." Su Hao stood up and threw a piece of broken silver on the table to replenish the food.

Cai Guozhu picked up the silver and said with a sad face: "Guest officer, the wine and food used by the two of you are a total of 60 Wen, and your silver is too big, and the villain can't find it." ”

"No need to look for it." Su Hao said, "Just now, Second Brother Cai told us so much about the shipyard, and also mentioned how we should go to meet Tiju, and the extra silver is even a little thanks." ”

"Oops, the guest officer gave too much, villain...... The villain ...... "Cai Guozhu doesn't know what to say, he can't make so much money by setting up a stall for four or five days, but the guest officer in front of him casually gave it to him as a thank you gift." He was silent for a long time before he said: "Thank you to the guest officer, if the guest officer tells Tiju that he wants to invite craftsmen in the factory, you can come to the villain, and the villain can introduce you to the craftsmen with the best craftsmanship." If you need a lugman, the villain's whole family can go to ensure that the guest officer is satisfied. ”

"It's going to trouble Second Brother Cai." Su Hao said, "We're going to go and lift now, does Second Brother Cai know where the lift is now?" ”

"Tiju lives in the Tiju Division, and he won't go out easily, so I'll take you there." Cai Guozhu said positively. (To be continued.) )