One Piece of Song Dynasty

A month and a half later, news came from the shipyard that the new ship was about to be completed and launched.

After getting the news, Li Xin rushed to the dock and found Ruan Xiaoqi, who was training sailors: "General Xiaoqi, our new ship is built. Let's go to the shipyard with a certain person to take a look at the new ship."

Ruan Xiaoqi ran to Li Xin and clasped his fists and said, "My lord, has the new ship been built?"

Li Xin nodded and said: "It's built, let's go and have a look together."

Ruan Xiaoqi replied: "Okay, my lord, wait a moment and allow me to clean up."

Ruan Xiaoqi went back and changed his clothes, then went to the shipyard with Li Xin. When they entered the shipyard, they saw a three-masted ship about fifty meters long standing quietly in the shipyard.

When Old Man Liu saw Li Xin and Ruan Xiaoqi entering the shipyard, he stepped forward and said, "The master and the Seventh General are here."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Well, let's take a look at the new boat. Is this boat ready for launch?"

Old man Liu replied: "Well, it's all done. Originally, the little old man wanted to wait until the ship was launched before testing and determining the combination of sails. However, the Confucian scholar named Jiang An sent by the master to study said that it would be too troublesome, so he asked The little old man made a few more ship models to test various sail combinations, which saved time and effort. As soon as the little old man thought it was feasible, he did it. The owner now sees this vertical and horizontal ship. The arrangement of the sail is the result of our experiments, and with the participation of Confucian scholars, we have also made the kind of canvas the master mentioned, which is made of a mixture of cotton and linen."

Li Xin asked: "Have you measured the ship's speed during the model test?"

Old Man Liu nodded and said: "We have compared it. No matter it is downwind or headwind, the ship model with the sails arranged like this can run the furthest in one stick of incense. However, during the test, we found that this kind of canvas is not as good as our previous ship." To make a sail easy to operate, it requires many sailors."

Li Xin said: "Well, no matter who comes up with such useful ideas in the future, I will be rewarded. Uncle Liu, you are good at accepting advice, so I will also be rewarded. This is ten taels of silver, which can be regarded as your reward this time. Uncle Liu You go and call Jiang An." After saying that, Li Xin gave Old Man Liu ten taels of silver.

Old man Liu cupped his fists and said, "Thank you for the reward, I will go find Jiang An right now."

After a while, Old Man Liu came over with a young Confucian scholar: "Please tell me, the little old man has brought Jiang An."

Li Xin said: "Jiang An, you did a good job in the shipyard this time."

Jiang An cupped his fists and said, "Thank you so much for the compliment. I thought of it when I saw my ship model when I went downstairs."

Li Xin asked: "Are there any other improvements to the new ship?"

Jiang An replied: "We installed several sets of fixed pulleys for the convenience of maneuvering the sail."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Okay, I will give you a reward of ten taels of silver this time." After saying that, Li Xin took out ten taels of silver.

Qin An refused and said: "My master personally taught me the peerless knowledge, which is already a great kindness to me. How dare I accept any more rewards from my master? Please take it back."

Li Xin waved his hand: "Take it, I am a person who knows clearly about rewards and punishments. If you have merit, you should be rewarded, and if you make mistakes, you must be punished."

When Li Xin said this, Jiang An took the silver and said, "Go down and thank the master for the reward."

Li Xin asked: "How many Confucian scholars are studying in the shipyard now?"

Jiang An replied: "I have gathered ten Confucian scholars who are interested in shipbuilding to study in the shipyard."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Then you must study hard."

Jiang An clasped his fists and said, "Yes, we will not let the master down."

Li Xin turned to Old Man Liu and said, "Uncle Liu, build a weaving workshop next to the shipyard specifically for weaving this kind of canvas. Recruit women from the city to do this, and give them the canvas weaved every month." The wages will be paid according to the quantity, one hundred cents for each canvas, and this workshop will be under your control, Uncle Liu."

Old Man Liu nodded and said: "Okay, Master, I understand."

Li Xin said to Jiang An again: "Let the sailors come over starting from tomorrow. You can teach them how to read and how to sail at the same time. You don't need to worry about the matters in the elementary school and the barracks and leave them to other Confucian students."

Jiang An nodded and said: "Yes, Master, I understand."

Li Xin asked Old Man Liu again: "Uncle Liu, is it possible that the new ship will be launched today?"

Old man Liu nodded and said: "I can go into the water, and I originally planned to go into the water today."

Li Xin said: "Okay, let's start."

Li Xin and Ruan Xiaoqi waited for a while before the dock door was opened. The lake water outside the dock door instantly rushed in and poured into the dry dock. Under the buoyancy of the lake water, the new boat began to float slowly from the dock and quickly stabilized. Craftsmen were busy on both sides of the dock, arranging ropes, fixing the new ship in the dock, and adjusting the trimming of the ship.

This day is destined to leave a mark in the history books. Li Xin became more and more excited when he saw that the new ship he had "designed" by himself was about to be launched. Although it was a month later than the original plan, Li Xin did not blame the ship. Craftsmen, after all, building this kind of ship is a new challenge for them. They have never been exposed to such a ship type. Although Li Xin provided them with a beautifully crafted ship model, they began to expand it in proportion. During construction, many problems were encountered.

For example, since it was the first time to build such a ship, the shipwrights were not familiar with many structural parts of this type of ship, and the construction sequence was also different from that of their previous common ships. During the construction period, there were also poor plans, resulting in The construction sequence was chaotic and had to be dismantled and reworked, which also delayed a lot of time.

In short, the shipwrights encountered a lot of troubles when building this new ship. However, although the Chinese craftsmen were not very literate and had little education, their intelligence and talents must not be ignored. Once these craftsmen encountered a problem, they did not just stick to the old rules, they also used their brains. With the efforts of everyone, they finally solved each technical problem using various methods.

More than ten days ago, the construction of the main body of the ship was basically completed. However, the completion of the hull does not mean that the ship can be launched into the water. After the main body of the ship is completed, a lot of correction work needs to be done. In addition, the upper and lower connections of the entire ship must be repaired. The seam position is sealed, which is the caulking process.

For things like caulking, it’s hard for shipwrights. The Han Dynasty has a long history of shipbuilding and has long solved the problem of hull sealing. It only uses very simple raw materials, such as plant ash, grease, hemp rope ends, lime, etc. , you can seal the seams on the hull firmly.

After the caulking of the hull is completed, the conditions are basically ready for launching. However, considering that the ship will be immersed in sea water and the hull needs to be anti-corrosion treated, the ship still needs to be painted.

In this way, this light Galen ship is completely built and has the ability to launch into the water for trial sea trials.