I'm really not the carpenter emperor

After the successive deaths of Zhu Di and Zheng He, the voyages to the West were suspended, and the demand for seagoing ships dropped sharply.

Therefore, the businesses of Longjiang Treasure Ship and Changle Sea Ship gradually shrank, and their position as the center of the shipbuilding industry was replaced by Huai'an Qingjiangdu Shipyard, which specialized in building inland water tank ships.

Looking at it now, Qingjiang Governor Shipyard, Tianqi's record of building nearly a thousand shallow sea warships a month in three years is already shocking.

But who would have thought that the two major shipyards of Longjiang and Changle in the Yongle Year would create a miracle of building nearly [-] warships in three months!

Shipbuilding needed a lot of wood back then, and the shipyards should have used local materials. For example, during the Hongwu period, food and salaries in Liaodong were still shipped by sea. Except for some ships built by Nanjing Longjiang Shipyard, most seagoing ships were built in Hubei and Sichuan, where the wood is mainly produced.

During the Yongle period, the planning of the shipyard for water ships was abandoned, but Wuhu and Yizhen, the important ports of the Yangtze River, which were "four meetings of merchants and the intersection of hundreds of trees", were chosen instead of Qingjiang, which is far away from the source of raw materials. Why is this?

It turns out that in the early years of Yongle, the food and salaries collected by the people in the south of the Yangtze River were first sent to Changying warehouse in Huai'an through the canal, and then transferred to the north by the "cao army".

Huai'an is located at the confluence of the Grand Canal and the Huaihe River, bordering the Yangtze River in the south and the sea in the east. It is "the key to the Jianghuai River and the throat of the Caoqu Canal", which was crucial to the national food security of the Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, the site selection of Zhu Di's shipyard had a higher level of strategic considerations, and the distance of timber procurement became a secondary factor.

Of course, Huai'an's central position in the water transport and shipbuilding industry was not established at the beginning.

During the Yongle period, the imperial court built Qingjiang, Changle, and Longjiang three shipyards in Huai'an and Linqing, a canal city in Shandong, respectively.

At that time, Qingjiang Shipyard was responsible for the manufacture of inland water tank ships in Nanjing, Huguang, Jiangsu and Zhejiang and other southern regions, while Changle and Longjiang Shipyards were responsible for the manufacture of ocean-going ships for sea transportation and large sea-going ships for Zheng He's fleet.

Later, after nearly a hundred years of ups and downs, with the termination of the voyage to the West, the management of Changle and Longjiang became increasingly loose, and the quality of shipbuilding was uneven. There were even absurd incidents of manufacturers dismantling old ships in the middle of the process, or selling ships and fleeing with money.

Until the third year of Jiajing, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce reported to the court that it was decided to abolish the two major shipyards of Changle and Longjiang, and completely merge the remaining [-] sub-factories under them into Qingjiang Shipyard. The three major factories in Du and Zhili are side by side.

This is the origin of the large-scale Qingjiang Governor Shipyard today.

It was also after the Jiajing Dynasty that the Ming Dynasty completely abandoned the construction of ocean-going ships. All warships were selected from inland river tankers, and the strength of the navy began to stagnate.

Qingjiang Governor Shipyard has become the only state-owned water transport shipyard. Although other local shipyards are still under local management, their repairs and construction are subject to the supervision and guidance of Qingjiang Governor Shipyard.

In the early years of the Apocalypse, Zhu Youxiao trusted the eunuch party headed by Wei Zhongxian, and replaced the Donglin parties who could only talk on paper with cruel officials.

As the largest and only state-owned water transport shipyard in the country, Qingjiang Du Shipyard is naturally valued by the Eunuch Party.

As early as the second year of Tianqi, Wei Zhongxian sent his confidant eunuchs to Qingjiang to serve as admirals, and the Dongchang factory servants also worked in the branches of the Qingjiang Governor Shipyard.

After the eunuch party intervened, the water transportation system became more and more perfect and stable.

In the spring of the ninth year of the Apocalypse, the Ministry of Industry made a report, and rated naval warships from all over the country. The total number of ships was more than 12, and the Cao army was about [-].

Among them, inland river tank ships are the most common. Only the Denglai Navy has an established ocean-going fleet, which is about [-] three-masted gunboats built in Denglai Shipyard.

These more than 1 warships constitute the entire naval power of the Ming Dynasty, and there are more than [-] ships supervised by the Qingjiang Shipyard, which is close to [-]% of the total!

According to Wei Zhongxian's report, during the six years from the third year of Tianqi to the ninth year of Tianqi, due to the supervision of the Dongchang, the quality of warships at Qingjiangdu Shipyard has improved significantly, and the number of ships actually built each year is generally stable, with an average of about [-] ships per year.

This is the full strength of Daming's navigation industry now.

Chapter 945 Don't Go Back When You Come

After the signing of the Five-Nation Alliance, a large number of Catholic missionaries from Spain, the Netherlands, Poland, and the Holy Roman Empire, as well as Westerners with rich knowledge, came to Daming.

Among them, there are many technicians with advanced navigation concepts, and Claude is one of them.

40 years ago, the Spanish Empire's Armada was defeated by the British using Galenic warships at sea, and since then it has lost its global maritime supremacy.

Before the British had time to taste the sweetness of defeating Big Brother, they encountered another strong opponent, the newly-emerged Fleet of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

The Anglo-Dutch war is still going on today, but even the Dutch, who are known as the coachmen of the sea, cannot stop the British Royal Fleet, which is known as the strongest navy of the century.

Although sailing battleships have not really appeared yet, many Western countries have been keenly aware of the shortcomings of Galen warships that are used for both military and commercial purposes in the age of sailing.

Now, the vast majority of Western countries in the world are actively seeking to transform Galen warships, and Britain is the pioneer of this transformation.

It is amazing that Claude is not any of the above four countries that signed an alliance with Ming Dynasty, he is from the so-called British Empire.

Zhu Youxiao seemed to have never had any enmity with Britain, and he solemnly received this famous warship designer of the British Empire in the Hall of Mental Cultivation.

"I don't know what the King of England asked you to come for?" Zhu Youxiao sat on a chair and motioned to the little eunuch beside him to bring him a cup of tea.

In the second Ming-Dutch naval battle, Ming won a complete victory and defeated the main Dutch fleet. Not only did it impress the whole world, it even won quite a few colonies in the subsequent contract.

The Netherlands was defeated by the Denglai Navy in the first battle.

They are currently in fierce competition with the British Empire. Although they have the ability to organize a fleet to seek revenge, after discussions with the Inter-Provincial Parliament, they feel that this is completely unnecessary.

After the second Ming-Dutch naval battle, the United Provinces of the Netherlands gave up their original idea of ​​turning Ming into an overseas colony, and instead began to actively establish diplomatic relations.

At least, in Zhu Youxiao's view, the Dutch have been actively developing trade over the years and giving away money and people.

What's more, the Dutch spare no effort in fulfilling the content of the contract. It is not as painful as farting to sign a treaty like the British brother country.

If you don't hit the smiling person with your hand, Zhu Youxiao is naturally happy to have an ally.

Since Daming took control of Manila, coffee has also begun to flow into the country, but quite a few wealthy families are not used to drinking it.

Of course, Zhu Youxiao, who liked to drink coffee quite a lot in his previous life, now drinks it very comfortably.

Although Zhu Youxiao, who was used to drinking low-quality coffee at first, felt that the taste was not right, he quickly got used to it, and now high-quality coffee has become a must-have in the palace.

So when Claude saw a cup of coffee placed on the table by the eunuch, and even served in a Western-style coffee cup, it was obvious how surprised he was.

"Don't be surprised, Mr. Claude, my emperor is very open-minded, and has always had a strong resistance to accepting new things."

On the side, Tang Ruowang, who was wearing the military uniform, squinted his eyes and smiled.

Claude nodded, he hesitated for a long time, and finally chose the coffee he was familiar with.

He took a sip, and felt such a familiar taste in this foreign country, which really made him feel much more at ease, and then said:

"I came from Britain, and with the sincerity of establishing diplomatic relations with your country with my Highness, my country is willing to withdraw all fleets on the southeast coast from now on and start trade with your country."

Zhu Youxiao put one hand on his chin, and now he is only interested in the identity of the person in front of him.

In fact, before Claude came to Daming, Zhu Youxiao had already received information from the Qiaoshifu, whose intelligence system was becoming more and more perfect.

This Claude is said to be an experienced shipbuilder in the Royal Navy, and what Zhu Youxiao has to do now is to verify the authenticity of this news.

After all, not all news from overseas is completely accurate, even for the Koshifu.

"What do you do in your country, you have always been just a messenger?" After Zhu Youxiao asked, Tang Ruowang frowned and translated it intact.

Claude immediately felt insulted, but due to the status of the emperor, he had to maintain basic respect, so he said angrily:

"No, I'm one of the chief designers of the Royal Navy!"

"Before I came, my king gave me the mission of refitting the Galen warship. I am not a messenger. This time I come here to represent the sincerity of my Great Britain!"

Zhu Youxiao was just asking casually, but he didn't expect the yellow hair to be so excited.

At the moment, he also waved his hand and said with an embarrassed smile: "Ahahaha, yes, yes, you have a special status, so I can't let you go back."

Hearing this, Tang Ruowang immediately widened his eyes and glanced here.

Tang Ruowang has been in Daming for many years, so he naturally learned the spirit of ghosts in the officialdom, of course he didn't translate the latter sentence, otherwise he might scare Claude away.

"I don't know what your majesty means?" Claude looked at the smiling Emperor Ming, always feeling that the other party was not a good person.

"Your country needs to know that Great Britain and the Netherlands are enemies, and the strength of our Royal Navy is far stronger than that of the Netherlands."

"If you want to establish diplomatic relations with Great Britain, you need to sever ties with the Netherlands...otherwise..."

Claude was still talking to himself, but Zhu Youxiao didn't listen at all, and said suddenly: "Tell me about you, it's okay to fight, it lasts for ten or twenty years, what is this for?"

"Learn from Zhen, learn from Ming Dynasty, and convince others with virtue, you know?"

"We are a kingdom of heaven, we will not learn from Osman's idiots, who want to conquer others by force when we have nothing to do, we must use love to influence..."

After translating to this point, Tang Ruowang couldn't continue speaking, and coughed a few times.

Zhu Youxiao naturally understood that what Lao Tang was saying was that it was almost done. Who didn't know what Ming did after Jianzhou was destroyed.

After speaking, Zhu Youxiao seemed to be unable to pretend, so he quickly picked up the teacup and took a sip, then sat down and touched his nose, pretending to be calm.

Claude was dumbfounded when he heard these words, and said impatiently: "I don't know what His Majesty is trying to express by saying this to me. Is he trying to persuade me to make peace with the Netherlands?"

Zhu Youxiao shook his head and said:

"You can understand it that way. Anyway, from now on, you can't go back. You can either stay in Daming to build ships for Daming, or die and go back."

After speaking, Zhu Youxiao glanced at Tang Ruowang.

The meaning is obvious, please translate it according to the original words.

The kings that Tang Ruowang saw in the west, even the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire, were often constrained by the Holy See and nobles, and few of them were so overbearing.

Although he felt that it was a very shameless act to detain the envoys sent by others, he still felt very happy in his heart.

He really liked this Eastern Emperor more and more.

9Chapter 16 Joint Shipyard for Ocean-going Ships

It turned out that Claude was imprisoned in Beijing, but Zhu Youxiao checked him very well.

The house he lives in can be regarded as a small villa with three entrances and three exits. There is a large courtyard outside the house, and there is an old pagoda tree in the courtyard.

Generally, the courtiers of the Ming Dynasty who encountered this situation, except for those who surrendered, either chose to be killed by crashing, or went on a hunger strike.

Because the Chinese have a strong sense of family and country, especially in the era when the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor is prevalent, living comfortably in other people's territory is equivalent to surrendering to the enemy.

And surrendering to the enemy, passing it back will shame the entire family and even punish them.

In contrast, Claude, a foreign devil with blue eyes and yellow hair and a nose that can insert green onions, looks much calmer.

On the day he was imprisoned here, he was still screaming angrily, but according to the report of the East Factory worker, he slept like a dead pig at night.

The next day, he even ate up all the delicacies brought in from Dongchang.

The angry yelling didn't seem to affect his appetite or sleepiness.

It wasn't until Zhu Youxiao sent him two beautiful female slaves from the Aixinjueluo family captured in Hetuala that the guy stopped shouting.

That night, there was a blushing and heartbeating gasp in the house.

Claude's performance made Zhu Youxiao feel that he was too nervous?So Xu Xianchun was asked to withdraw [-]% of the brocade guards that were originally used to monitor and guard him.

The next day, Tang Ruowang, who was a lobbyist, came outside the courtyard, and the captain of Jin Yiwei, who was guarding outside, immediately opened the gate and watched him walk in.

As soon as Tang Ruowang walked into the house, he saw Claude with one in his left arm and one in his right, sleeping very soundly, as if he was not in a foreign country at all.

Tang Ruowang woke up the two female slaves in Jianzhou one by one, waited for them to leave, and then slapped Claude awake, and the crisp sound immediately spread throughout the room.

Claude was tired for half the night last night, and now he was swimming in his sleep, when he was suddenly woken up, he was naturally extremely dissatisfied, before he fully opened his eyes, he roared directly:

"Who dares to disturb my sweet dreams!?"

Seeing that it was Tang Ruowang, he closed his mouth, but his face was still grim.

"Priest, what are you doing here?"

"Come and chat with you." Tang Ruowang sat down beside him without any gentlemanly demeanor, and said with a grin:

"How about it, the girls in Jianzhou have a good taste, right?"

Claude was taken aback. Is this person in front of him really a missionary who came out of Rome?

But when it came to the subject of men, he still quickly said: "Jianzhou? I don't know where it is, but women are indeed strong enough."

"Haha, do you want more?" Tang Ruowang glanced down at him.

Only then did Claude notice it, and quickly covered it with his clothes, and immediately said, "Why, can you get more women there?"

"Yes, you can also get the status and honor that you can't get in Britain." Tang Ruowang just got to the point, he stood up and said:

"The Ming Empire is the overlord of the East, and will soon become the overlord of the whole world."

"Now the emperor is vigorously developing the seafaring industry. Don't waste your talent in modifying Galen warships in Britain. Come to Ming Dynasty! Come to Ming Dynasty to display your talent!"

"Perhaps, the world's first sailing battleship was built by you, Al Claude, as the chief designer."

Hearing this, Claude was actually a little helpless.

For him, he is just a shipbuilder, he only knows how to build ships, and what he wants to do most is to use his talents. As for who to build for, he doesn't care about that.

Claude simply agreed to the proposal. In fact, he has nothing to do now except agree.

Zhu Youxiao would not put him back at all, and Claude also understood this.

Hearing that Claude agreed to work for Daming very simply, Zhu Youxiao was very happy, and Dang even rewarded him with a high-ranking official position.

Zhu Youxiao has always been interested in rebuilding the two major shipyards of Changle and Longjiang in the Yongle Dynasty. Now Ming Dynasty already has the manufacturing method of Galen warships, but Zhu Youxiao is not pursuing this.