One Piece of Song Dynasty

At this time, there were no ships in the outer sea of ​​Xinghan Island except for a few preset sentry ships operating on the distant sea. Through this operation, Li Xin and the shipwrights on the ship felt that the ship was still controllable. It's quite good. The response of the hull to the rudder is better than expected. The operation of the ship is sensitive, basically in line with Li Xin's original idea.

As the shipwright performed some operations on the sails, the ship gained more wind power, and the ship's speed began to increase.

Li Xin stood on the stern of the ship, paying attention to the various operating conditions of the ship, and constantly ordered various adjustments. The ship gradually entered deeper waters. Under his command, the ship began to make some simple operations. As the speed of the ship increased, the elegant hull cut through the blue water on the sea, leaving a white wave trail on the stern of the ship.

Old Man Liu asked: "Master, our ship's speed has exceeded that of the ships that came with us. Are we still speeding up?"

Li Xin looked back at the track left by the stern of the ship and the several accompanying ships following the side of the new ship. It could be seen that the speed of the new ship had begun to surpass theirs.

So far, the sailing of the new ship has been relatively stable, and the sails have not caught enough wind, which shows that the ship still has great potential to increase its speed. So Li Xin nodded with satisfaction and said: "Ignore them, let them follow." That’s it, keep accelerating westward, I want to see how fast this boat can go!”

After receiving the order, the shipwrights continued to adjust the sails. The soft sails began to take in enough wind, and the ship immediately began to accelerate again and rushed forward.

The day's trial voyage ended when it got dark. Li Xin took the ship back to the Xinghancheng Shipyard Pier. The shipwrights who stayed at the shipyard had been waiting here for a long time. As soon as they saw the ship returned intact, they all rushed to the shore. meet.

The sampan once again towed the new ship to the dock, and handed it over to the shipwrights on shore to slowly tow the ship back to the dock. After a day of testing, the shipwrights did not dare to be careless. After the new ship came to a stop, they carefully inspected the ship from beginning to end to see if there were any problems with the hull structure and whether there was any water leakage.

Even if such a situation occurs, it is normal. After a ship enters the water from the dry dock, the stress on the hull changes drastically. Some problems that were not discovered before will become apparent after launching and testing the water. Therefore, according to this era As a general rule, after a new ship is launched and delivered, it must first test the water in the shipyard area for a few days to thoroughly inspect the hull. At the same time, the various sails, rudders, winches and other items on the ship must be inspected to ensure that there are no problems. It will be delivered to the shipper who ordered the ship.

After getting off the boat, Li Xin asked Ruan Xiaoqi: "General Seven, how are you feeling today?"

Ruan Xiaoqi still said: "Lord, this ship is much faster than our previous ship."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Well, it is much faster than the previous ship, but don't forget that our new ship has not loaded anything today, so it is basically empty. If we add those twenty big guys and one If a hundred gunners are loaded onto the ship, we don’t know how fast it can run.”

Ruan Xiaoqi laughed and said: "I really haven't thought about this so-and-so family."

Li Xin said: "The twenty cannons have been cast. Tomorrow you will send people to move them onto the ship. Firing at sea is different from firing on the ground. There are also ships that can't be hit and those that are moving. The goals are also different, so you have to let the gunners train well. The sails of this ship are not so easy to control. Tomorrow you have to select some of the best sailors to learn how to sail."

Ruan Xiaoqi cupped his fists and said: "Yes, Lord, a certain family has an order."

Li Xin nodded and said: "When the gunners are training, you can put a few small sampans on the sea for them to shoot. Those things are not valuable, so you can prepare more for training."

Ruan Xiaoqi replied: "Okay, Lord, I understand."

After instructing Ruan Xiaoqi, Li Xin said to Old Man Liu: "Uncle Liu, give each shipwright in the shipyard a reward of twenty taels of silver. Each of them has contributed to building a new ship this time. If there is no problem with the new ship tomorrow, we will build another ten." Nine ships."

Old man Liu replied: "Yes, my lord, I understand. I have thanked my lord on behalf of all the shipwrights."

Li Xin continued: "Another type of ship must also be manufactured quickly, and the steering wheel mechanism that a certain person told you before must also be manufactured quickly."

Old Man Liu cupped his fists and said, "Don't worry, Master, we will make them as soon as possible."

Li Xin nodded and said: "Well, I am waiting for your good news. I will leave beforehand."

Li Xin said goodbye to Ruan Xiaoqi and went to the steel workshop with Old Man Liu. Nineteen ships would need cannons, six-pound cannons, and -pound cannons, enough steel. Been working in the workshop for a while.

Li Xin found the workshop manager, Old Man Zhang, and said, "Uncle Zhang, you have to cast more of those two kinds of cannons, of each type."

Old man Zhang was surprised: "Why are there so many?"

Li Xin said: "A certain person just came from the shipyard. The new ship has been built. A certain person gave the shipyard an order to build nineteen new ships. Each ship needs guns for twenty guns, and the other two are needed." Shimen has other uses, what's the problem with Uncle Zhang?"

Old man Zhang replied: "Master, I don't know if these four hundred cannons are urgent or not. Our steel workshop does not have enough manpower."

Li Xin thought for a while and said: "It is estimated that it will take a year and a half to complete the construction of these nineteen ships. It is enough that Uncle Zhang can complete the casting of these cannons within a year and a half, but the other twenty are more urgent." "Uncle Zhang, let's cast these twenty doors first. The manpower will definitely increase in the future. If the space is not big enough, the workshop can be expanded."

Old man Zhang cupped his fists and said, "Okay, Master, I understand. I promise to complete the twenty cannons within half a month."

After leaving the steel workshop, Li Xin went back to his hometown to rest. Li Xin planned to give the extra twenty cannons to Ruan Xiaowu, and asked Ruan Xiaowu to pick out five ships to serve as escort ships for the transport fleet. The ship fired four cannons. Although nothing happened to the transport fleet in the past six months, it would inevitably happen in the future. It would be bad if the transport fleet was followed and discovered that Xinghan City was discovered. It was better to take precautions in advance.

After a day of inspection the next day, Old Man Liu told Li Xin: "Thank you, sir, we have checked this new boat inside and out. Except for a few seams in the boat that are somewhat leaky, the rest of the boat is leaking." They are all solid and no problems were found."

Li Xin nodded and said: "That's good. Also during yesterday's sea trial, I found that the shipwright was a little awkward when operating the rudder. There were some jams at a few points, and it was a little laborious to turn the rudder stock. Please find a way to fix this. Problem solved."