In the thatched cottage, Chen Yue leaned over the desk and continued his great work of cartography.
With a ruler in one hand and a sharpened charcoal pen in the other, a picture of a sailboat appeared on the white paper.
Carefully drawing lines with charcoal, Chen Yue was particularly focused and careful.
In the era before erasers, if you made a mistake in drawing, it would be difficult to erase it.
Even if you erased it, it would leave a cloudy mess, which was very ugly.
After marking the last size data on the picture with charcoal, Chen Yue sighed and straightened up, his body covered with sweat.
Fortunately, the technology has not fallen behind, and the drawn graphics are still perfect.
Next, we need to make a sailboat model based on the data on the chart.
The Galenic sailing ship was the main type of ship in Western countries in the seventeenth century.
The Spanish used it to cross the Atlantic Ocean and establish the largest colony in the Americas.
They also sailed around the world across South America and reached the East.
Chen Yue designed a Galen-type four-masted sailing ship with a displacement of about 600 tons and two decks, which could carry more than 60 heavy artillery pieces.
Of course, it is incomparable to the warships and battleships that have appeared in the West with a displacement of thousands of tons and hundreds of cannons, but they are already considered large along the coast of the Ming Dynasty.
At least it is a giant compared to Ming Dynasty's main battleship Fu Chuan.
Since Zheng He's voyages to the Western Seas and the imperial court's ban on the sea, Ming's shipbuilding technology has lagged far behind.
At that time, the treasure ships of Zheng He's fleet were generally large-scale fortune ships with a displacement of more than 2,000 tons and a displacement of more than 1,000 tons.
However, the largest naval warships of the Ming Dynasty now have only 400 tons and a displacement of about 100 tons.
It is precisely because of the backwardness of shipbuilding technology that small countries like the Netherlands and Spain have no way to deal with it and are beaten to the doorstep.
Although the Ming Dynasty also fought many battles with the colonists and won many battles, such as the Battle of Liaoluo Bay, the fleet commanded by Zheng Zhilong defeated the invading Dutch.
But it was the sheer number of ships and troops that besieged several Dutch Galen ships that drove the Dutch back.
It can be seen that at this time, the warships of the Ming Dynasty were already far behind those of the West.
Western warships can carry dozens or even hundreds of cannons, but the Ming army's Fu ships can only carry two cannons, because the structure of the Fu ships simply cannot withstand the tearing force of the artillery fire.
Fortunately, now that he has himself, Ming's warship manufacturing can still catch up.
In another time and space, Chen Yue was passionate about making ship models and designed and made models of sailing battleships with his own hands.
Chen Yue also made ship models of the battleship that was popular in the 18th century.
But even if a sailboat model is made, it is not easy to make it into a real warship.
It requires a lot of skilled shipwrights, too many materials, and a lot of time.
According to Chen Yue's estimate, it would take at least half a year to build this four-masted Galen ship, and if all the materials and materials are available, the cost of materials alone would be more than 10,000 taels of silver, even if labor is not included. .
If you include the sixty-four heavy artillery pieces loaded, the total cost will be at least three to four hundred thousand taels.
And this is just the price for one ship.
With such a huge sum of money, even if the Ming court wanted to equip the navy with such a ship, it would be powerless.
Western countries, such as the Netherlands and England, rely on plunder from overseas, and the entire country can only build dozens of main warships.
The Dutch now entrenched on Dongfan Island only have armed sailing ships carrying a dozen cannons, which are not comparable to the one designed by Chen Yue.
Looking at the sailboat graphics on the drawing, Chen Yue smiled with satisfaction.
"Why does this ship look weird?"
Chen Yan, who was waiting on the side, couldn't help but said.
In the past few years, Chen Yan has followed Chen Yue on expeditions and has seen too many ships, but he has never seen anything like this.
"Is it strange?
Maybe."
Chen Yue glanced at Chen Yan and couldn't help but smile, "Go and call Zhang Chengkai and Liu Neng."
"Yes, sir."
Chen Yan turned around and left.
Although Wu Waner wanted to stay in the thatched cottage to take care of Chen Yue's daily life, but now it was the period of mourning, and it would not be good if word spread about living with his concubine, so Chen Yue asked Wu Waner to go to Zhoushan and ask her to go to Zhoushan Island.
The family was settled first, so now the only person serving Chen Yue is Chen Yan, a big boss.
Fortunately, after these years of military life, Chen Yue had already become accustomed to everything.
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Zhang Chengkai and Liu Neng walked in quickly and bowed to Chen Yue.
After arriving in Hangzhou, the main people followed Qian Fenglin to Zhoushan Island, while a small group of people stayed in Hangzhou and followed Chen Yue's orders.
Zhang Chengkai was from Fujian.
He was originally a maritime merchant.
He was familiar with the coastal areas of Fujian and Zhejiang, so he was left to listen to him.
"Let's see how this ship looks like."
He waved to the two of them to get up.
Chen Yue pointed at the drawings on the desk and smiled.
After hearing this, the two walked to the table and took a closer look.
Unlike Liu Neng, who looked confused, Zhang Chengkai's eyes opened wider and wider.
"Master, is this a Xiyi ship?"
Zhang Chengkai asked with a shocked look on his face.
When he was young, he went to sea with his father to trade.
The ship was robbed by pirates and his father was buried at sea.
He luckily escaped to the shore and moved to Beijing. , and later joined Chen Yue's subordinates.
He has been traveling at sea for several years.
When he was in Japan, Zhang Chengkai saw a Dutch ship and looked very similar to the one on the drawing.
"As expected of someone who has been to the sea, he is indeed knowledgeable.
It is the Xiyi Galen Ship.
When I was in Beijing, I saw the drawings at Tang Ruowang's house.
I copied them several times out of curiosity.
I didn't expect that I could still draw them now. .
"As a soldier, but able to draw pictures of Xiyi ships, Chen Yue had to find an excuse for himself and put the blame on missionary Tang Ruowang.
Tang Ruowang should still be in Beijing, serving as an official in the Manchu and Qing court, but no one came to confirm it.
"I once had a conversation with Tang Ruowang.
He looked down on my Ming ships, which meant that they were far behind Xiyi.
I don't know if that's true."
"It's true.
Xiyi ships have more cannons and are far stronger than Ming ships.
In the past, when my subordinates ran to sea, they had to escape early whenever they encountered Xiyi ships, but they were not as fast as Xiyi ships, so they often couldn't escape.
I can only let them loot me, hoping to save my life," Zhang Chengkai said with a heavy tone.
"Since the Xiyi ships are better than our ships, and now that we have the blueprints, we can try to build the Xiyi warships.
You are a sailor and you should know some shipbuilding techniques.
What do you think?"
Chen Yue asked.
"I have worked as a carpenter on a ship, and I also know a little about shipbuilding.
We can try to do it.
But where do the shipwrights come from, and how do we get the wood and other materials?
Sir, do you plan to build a shipyard?"
It is not easy to establish a shipyard, and Zhang Chengkai alone cannot do it.
Chen Yue shook his head, "I don't have that much time to build a shipyard.
Smuggling is rampant in Zhejiang and Fujian.
The gentry are mostly involved in overseas smuggling.
There must be many private shipyards.
Your task is to find reliable shipyards and let them cooperate with us to build ships
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