In May of the Song calendar in the first year of Kaiqing, Fujian entered the rainy season. For several years, Zhao Jiaren's fleet would transport mosquito coils and other commodities to Quanzhou in April of the Song calendar, before the start of the rainy season, and this time sent five warships to Quanzhou.

When the fleet returned, it was moored at the tail of the horse, when the sky was low and gray clouds were lower, and when you looked up, the top of the high mast seemed to cut through the clouds. From a distance, more than a dozen huge sheds have been erected on the construction site of the Mawei Shipyard. The pillars of each shed are built using the principles of mechanics and made of three moso bamboos. The pillars are erected with bamboo beams, and ropes are used to effectively taut the beams. Layers of bamboo mats are fixed to the beams to prevent rain from wetting the boats under construction below.

Five large ships captured from the Mongol navy have been completely dismantled and turned into new ships. According to the arrangement of Xie Wuhuan, the director of the shipyard, by next year, that is, the second year of Kaiqing, Zhao Jiaren will be able to have a fleet of 24 ships. This will be the fleet that will crisscross the Fujian Road and even the Guangnan East Road. Xie Wuhuan assured that such a fleet was invincible.

Zhao Jiaren knew that although Xie Wuhuan was sincere, he wanted to take a good rest in the rainy season. You can't blame him for being lazy, Xie Wuhuan hasn't rested much since he joined Zhao Jiaren's team. If it weren't for the fact that this arrangement was really tense, Zhao Jiaren would be happy to let everyone take a long vacation.

Not long after the fleet docked, Xie Wuhuan, the director of the shipyard, held an umbrella and followed a stone path leading to the pier to pick up the ship. When a ship comes back, it needs to be repaired to keep it in the best possible condition.

When he arrived at the shore, Xie Wuhuan swept his eyes over the fleet, then pointed to the more than two dozen small boats in the fleet, and asked Zhao Jiaren suspiciously, "What are these?" ”

"These are the boats I bought." Zhao Jiaren replied with a smile.

"Can this rag be called a ship?" Xie Wuhuan expressed his opinion very unceremoniously.

Zhao Jiaren was not angry, when he bought these boats, he paid the price of buying tattered, and it is not unusual for these boats to be called tattered. At this time, the sky was overcast, and the wood of the old ship had been used for a long time, and the exterior was black. In such a gloomy environment, it looks even more useless.

"Director Xie, after these boats are dismantled, how long do you think they can be used to make the river boats I gave you drawings? Two years in the head office, right? Zhao Jiaren asked Xie Wuhuan.

"Two years? If you can find a place to dry the wood before building a ship, you can use it in five years, not to mention two years! Xie Wuhuan replied calmly.

This judgment is similar to what Zhao Jiaren knows from other sources, no matter how bad these old timbers are for ships sailing on the sea, they cannot be called bad for ships that only sail in the river.

After expressing his judgment on the wood, Xie Wuhuan asked Zhao Jiaren puzzled, "Mention, what's the use of building so many river boats in the Min River." ”

"These boats are not used on the Min River." Zhao Jiaren just replied and stopped discussing this topic. It's already May, and there's no room for delay. He said to Xie Wuhuan: "Tell all the people in the shipyard that everyone will work hard from today onwards." From now until New Year's Day next year, I will give you double pay! ”

"Double Salary ......" Xie Wuhuan immediately showed a happy expression, but after thinking for a while, Xie Wuhuan's expression became suspicious. He asked tentatively, "Mention it, how much work are you going to let everyone do?" ”

"It's not about how much work you do, it's about traveling far away. Double salary, most of which are rewards for business trips. Regardless of whether Xie Wuhuan can understand it or not, Zhao Jiaren directly explained in the 21st century. In this matter, Zhao Jiaren does not think there is any room for discussion.

From the fifth day of the fifth month of May, the Dragon Boat Festival. The flotilla, with old ships as its core, began to move north. The old ships are not only the 20 bought ships, but also the old ships in Zhao Jiaren's hands. Each ship was loaded with a lot of equipment and headed for Huating County, Jiaxing Prefecture, its destination. On rainy days, no ship is willing to sail, and if there is no lighthouse to guide him, Zhao Jiaren is not willing to go to sea. Fortunately, the light of the lighthouse could be seen along the way, and the warm yellow points of light in the distance made the sailors feel very reassured. Although the conditions on the ship were simple, everyone was not depressed because of this. Playing guitar, playing harmonica. The people who listened to the performance had sweet rice dumplings in their mouths and were happy to eat them. There was even a graduation trip in the dimly lit cabin.

After arriving in Huating County, it was Zhao Jiaxin who came to greet him. He was dressed in a cloak and a hat, and he looked like a master of the world. Zhao Jiaxin has done his homework and rented a suitable land on the coast from the county magistrate for one year. didn't have time to talk nonsense, so Zhao Jiaxin led Zhao Jiaren to see the boundary he had already ordered someone to nail down. Twine ropes were tied to the wooden poles, and the boundaries of the land were circled one after another. There was nothing more to say, so everyone brought down the bamboo and other materials from the boat, and began to build the boat shed based on the experience accumulated in Mawei.

The work was extremely hard, carrying and building in the rainwater. On the third day of work, Xie Wuhuan collapsed under a large shed that was built, and said weakly to Zhao Jiaren, who was also tired: "Mention it, how about tripling this month's salary?" ”

Zhao Jiaren didn't expect the work to be so hard, he nodded, and said with the same weakness: "I agree." ”

At dinner, the change was told to the people who were working, and the news that should have inspired a strong positive force seemed completely useless to the people. Everyone just looked up and answered, and then buried their heads in eating and drinking, and everyone looked forward to going to sleep after eating.

Maybe he was too tired, Zhao Jiaren wanted to sleep but couldn't sleep, and so did his eldest brother Zhao Jiaxin. Zhao Jiaxin, who was facing the sky on his back, suddenly asked, "Third brother, why didn't you come to repair this shed earlier." If it had been repaired earlier, everyone would not have suffered this sin. ”

"I ......" Zhao Jiaren wanted to explain, he was worried about being discovered. But I can't say anything, this kind of truth is Zhao Jiaren's truth. After experiencing heavy labor, Zhao Jiaren himself felt that there were some mistakes at that time. According to Zhao Jiaren's experience, when the fatigue is gone, when he encounters problems, he will probably feel that it would be good if he hadn't built a shed in advance at that time.

Fortunately, the eldest brother also asked later, and it didn't take long for Zhao Jiaren to hear the eldest brother snoring slightly.

It seems that the eldest brother has fallen asleep. This was Zhao Jiaren's last thought before falling into a deep sleep.

In the 21st century, there are two kinds of water in wood, one is the water contained in wood after being soaked in hydropower. This moisture content accounts for up to 20% of the weight of the wood. The moisture in the cells of freshly cut wood accounts for 60% of the moisture of the wood. The wood cells on the old boats bought by Zhao Jiaren have long since dried out, and the wood obtained from dismantling these boats is put on a bamboo shelf, which can even gradually reduce the moisture on a super humid rainy day.

After more than ten days of hard work, leaving people to guard the shed and wood, Zhao Jiaren took the rest of the personnel to Qingyuan Mansion to repair. Everyone slept in the residence of Qingyuan Mansion for a few days and gradually regained their strength. During the meal, the sailor who had been to Yangzhou with Zhao Jiaren asked hesitantly: "Mention it, it's okay anyway." Can we go to Yangzhou to play. ”

After finishing speaking, he was afraid that Zhao Jiaren would not agree, so he hurriedly added: "I said before that I would take us to Yangzhou." ”

"Why not?" Zhao Jiaren said with a smile. Traveling is a great way to take a break, and if you can release stress, it's good for your work.

After finishing speaking, Zhao Jiaren said to Zhao Yong beside him, "Zhao Yong, let's go together." ”

"......" Zhao Yong didn't answer immediately, paused for a moment, and Zhao Yong asked, "Third son, let's go to Gusu together." ”

"Go to Gusu?" Zhao Jiaren felt that this suggestion was inexplicable, and he asked puzzledly: "What to do in Gusu?" ”

"This ...... We took a boat together in Gusu. Zhao Yong's voice was unusually shy.

Zhao Jiaren searched hard for his memory, and he suddenly remembered that he had indeed been on a boat with Zhao Yong. Then Zhao Jiaren looked Zhao Yong up and down, "I didn't expect that you are still a ...... You haven't forgotten the number one on the ship. It's been six years. ”

When he went to Gusu with Zhao Jiaren, Zhao Yong was only 20 years old. In a blink of an eye, he was 26 years old, but he was not married yet. Although marriage was generally late in the Song Dynasty, 26 years old also belonged to the age of late marriage. Zhao Jiaren originally thought that Zhao Yong wanted to make more money and marry a girl with an identity family. Looking at this meaning now, Zhao Yong turned out to be like he belonged. And Zhao Jiaren has long forgotten what the top card on the painting boat looks like.

Hearing the convener mention the top card, Zhao Yong immediately shook his head, "It's not that young lady, it's not her." It's a girl in a green coat. She said her name was Wan'er. ”

"Oh! Oh! Oh! After Zhao Yong said this, Zhao Jiaren immediately remembered. There was indeed a girl who looked sixteen or seventeen years old at the time, and she was a Tsing Yi on the painting boat. The little girl had also been to Master Zhou Xing's blacksmith shop, and she was quite calm at the critical moment of the fryer. For the top brand or anything, Zhao Jiaren has no impression. For such a cheerful and capable woman, Zhao Jiaren found that he still had some impressions.

At this time, Zhao Jiaren greatly recognized Zhao Yong's taste. Zhao Jiaren didn't have any thoughts about that girl, but he had a very high opinion of that girl. He nodded again and again, "That little lady is indeed good. ”

Seeing that Zhao Jiaren also had an impression of 'Wan'er', Zhao Yong hurriedly said: "There are two squad leaders here, and with them leading the team, there shouldn't be any trouble." Third son, let's take this opportunity to go to Gusu together. ”

"But ......" Zhao Jiaren wanted to say, and he might not be able to find anyone if he went. For the man who goes to the painting boat, no matter how delicate the 'delicious', it will be boring to eat for a long time. In order to maintain their attractiveness to the men around them, the girls on the painting boat often have to change places.

However, looking at Zhao Yong's expression, Zhao Jiaren couldn't bear to refuse. When the rainy season is over, Zhao Jiaren will enter a busy stage. At that time, he didn't have time to pay attention to the affairs of 'Wan'er', and Zhao Yong had to stay by Zhao Jiaren's side to do things.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jiaren sighed: "I'll go to Gusu with you." ”