prosperous age

"Good Loan, you've finally arrived."

Outside Nanjing, Xu Bangrui, the contemporary Duke of Wei, led the officials left behind in Nanjing to the dock to welcome Wei Guangde.

As soon as he disembarked, Xu Bangrui took the lead and went to greet him, calling out.

"Brother, how have you been all these years? And how is everything at home?"

Wei Guangde also hurried over and greeted each other.

"Good, it's certainly good here in Nanjing."

"When I learned you had gone to Jiangnan, I wanted to go with Zhang Jiayin to find you, but I couldn't leave because of my duty to defend Nanjing."

The two were naturally close; one was the brother-in-law and the other the sister-in-law. Over the years, Xu Bangrui had Wei Guangde, his brother-in-law, in Nanjing, and Wei Guangde was in charge of the cabinet in the capital. Civil officials in the city had to treat him with great respect.

"By the way, didn't we say that we were going to Hangzhou to see Songjiang Prefecture before heading back? Why did we suddenly change our route here?"

Xu Jianglan and Nanjing frequently corresponded, so Wei Guangde's whereabouts were not a secret to the Duke of Wei's mansion.

I hadn't planned to come to Nanjing, but I didn't expect to suddenly receive news a few days ago that Wei Guangde was coming to Nanjing.

When the news arrived, the entire city of Nanjing was in an uproar, fearing that something had happened that had angered the imperial court.

After a quick self-check, no mistakes were found.

Later, news came from the Duke of Wei's mansion that Grand Secretary Wei had not come to Nanjing to demand an explanation, but had other business to attend to and had just stopped by to take a look. Only then did things calm down.

However, the young men from various families in Nanjing who enjoyed cockfighting, dog racing, and ostentatious displays of wealth were confined to their residences for the past two days, for fear that any disturbances they might cause would reach Wei Guangde's ears.

For those without connections in the capital, any issues can be resolved within the city.

But if people in the capital find out, even if it's not reported, it will still cause trouble when they go back and talk about it over tea.

During the Ming Dynasty, officials from Beijing mainly chose to disembark at Longjiang Pass Wharf when arriving in Nanjing.

During the Ming Dynasty, Nanjing had a well-developed water transport system, with multiple wharves located at the confluence of the Qinhuai River and the Yangtze River, but the Longjiang Wharf was the largest.

Longjiang Pass Wharf is located on the banks of the Qinhuai River next to the Confucius Temple in Nanjing. It was an important waterway hub in the Ming Dynasty. It was an important wharf for Zheng He's fleet and a major landing point for officials traveling south.

After all, this place is right next to Nanjing, and it is very convenient to disembark and enter the city. Along the way, the cultural atmosphere is thriving and the commerce is bustling, allowing you to quickly experience the unique atmosphere of Nanjing.

The dock where Wei Guangde disembarked was Longjiang Pass Dock, and not far away was the Daming Longjiang Shipyard.

Well, the treasure ships of Zheng He's fleet were built here.

Although more than a century has passed, today Wei Guangde looks out over the Longjiang Shipyard, where workers are bustling about among the boats, creating a lively scene.

Xu Bangrui had just finished introducing the Nanjing officials who had accompanied him out of the city to welcome him when he noticed that Wei Guangde's gaze was not looking into the distance. He immediately asked, "Is Shandai here for the shipyard?"

The construction schedule there is very tight right now, and they are busy with many ship orders.

If Shan Dai has any ships to build, just tell me. The shipyard manager has a long-standing relationship with our government, and I can probably get him to skip the queue.

"hehe."

Wei Guangde chuckled lightly and said, "This time, the shipyard is definitely a must-see."

By the way, is that imitation foreign sailing ship at the Longjiang Shipyard finished? How did the sea trials go? Does my brother know anything about it?

"The barbarian sailing ship, oh, I know, that ship was built at the beginning of the year, but after going out a few times, the crew couldn't get the sails right and had to pull it back to the dock with great effort."

In my opinion, our Ming Dynasty's sails are perfectly fine; there's no need to learn from those foreigners.

Xu Bangrui immediately chimed in, offering his own insights.

"Did the shipyard staff say this, or did you figure it out yourself?"

Wei Guangde asked in a low voice.

"I figured it out myself."

After that ship was built, I went aboard to see it. Apart from the lower cargo hold being a bit more spacious, I couldn't see any difference between it and our ships. The only difference was that the sails looked long and flowing, without any hardwood frame. I was genuinely worried that a strong wind would tear the sails.

Xu Bangrui began to speak.

“Brother, as I mentioned in my previous letter, my main purpose in coming to Nanjing this time is to visit the shipyard and the Ordnance Bureau, which is responsible for firearms manufacturing, and to see how they manufacture firearms.”

Wei Guangde spoke up.

"There's no rush. I'll treat you to a welcome dinner tonight, and I'll go with you to the shipyard tomorrow. I'll also accompany you to the ordnance bureau later."

Xu Bangrui began to speak.

"Then, shall we go into the city first?"

Wei Guangde laughed.

"Alright, let's go into the city. You're revisiting this place now; it's been almost twenty years since you last came to Nanjing, hasn't it?"

Holding Wei Guangde's hand, Xu Bangrui spoke as they walked.

During the Longqing era, Wei Guangde returned to Jiangxi and passed through Nanjing, but he left without entering the city.

The last time he entered Nanjing was at the end of the Jiajing reign, which happened to coincide with the Zhenwu Camp mutiny, and he was involved in suppressing the rebellion.

The welcoming banquet that evening was attended by all the nobles and dignitaries of Nanjing, from the garrison eunuch Wang Jing to the vice ministers of the six ministries. It was truly rare in history for a grand secretary to come to Nanjing.

At the banquet, amidst the clinking of glasses and lively conversation, regardless of whether they were familiar with each other, everyone spoke flattering words, praising the emperor's wisdom and the cabinet's fairness in handling all matters, big and small, for the country.

Okay, although before that, many people here may have secretly been cursing the cabinet ministers in a terrible way.

After all, the cabinet's actions over the years have genuinely harmed the interests of many people.

However, those who managed to get here were all experts at playing along, so they naturally didn't show any timidity, and thus the guests and hosts parted ways in high spirits.

The next day, Wei Guangde didn't get up until the sun was high in the sky.

After getting ready, Xu Bangrui also came over after receiving the news and talked about his schedule for the day.

"Why don't we rest for two days? Anyway, the capital hasn't been pressuring us."

After taking his seat, Xu Bangrui began to speak.

Wei Guangde lived in a separate courtyard next to the Duke of Wei's mansion. This was part of Xu Jianglan's dowry given to her years ago, so that the Wei family would have a place to get off their sedan chairs when they came to Nanjing.

"Brother, there are some things I need to deal with as soon as possible before I can feel at ease."

If it's convenient today, let's go check out the Longjiang Shipyard first.

Wei Guangde spoke up.

"Why are you working so hard? This journey is exhausting and you won't feel good."

Xu Bangrui simply shook his head and did not refuse again. He arranged for a carriage to be prepared and went to the shipyard with Wei Guangde.

Longjiang Shipyard was an official shipbuilding institution established in the early Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty in the northwest corner of the capital city of Yingtian. It was directly managed by the Ministry of Works.

The shipyard has a department to oversee shipbuilding affairs, and it also has six specialized workshops and material storage areas. The craftsmen are mainly from more than 400 households in the riverside and coastal areas of Zhejiang and Jiangxi.

Its shipbuilding capabilities covered two major categories: warships and transport ships. The types of warships it built included six levels such as 400-liao warships and 200-liao warships. "Liao" was a unit of weight for ships in the Ming Dynasty, with each liao being approximately 100 jin.

Don't think that the 400-ton and 200-ton ships are small; they are only 20 tons. This was just the production plan from a few years ago.

To put it bluntly, after the Ming Dynasty stopped its voyages to the Western Ocean, the shipyards no longer had plans to build large ships. They mainly produced patrol boats and cargo ships, so it was impossible to continue building larger ships. In previous years, the largest ships they built were the patrol boats needed by the coastal garrisons.

As for the large Fujian-style ships built by smugglers, they were all built in shipyards in Zhejiang.

Of course, the fact that Longjiang Shipyard doesn't build large ships doesn't mean they can't build them; it just means they don't have a plan, and they don't even know who to give them to.

Therefore, in the later stages of the war against Japanese pirates, the shipyards in Zhejiang and Longjiang of the Ming Dynasty began to rebuild large seagoing vessels for the war against Japanese pirates at sea, and naturally they regained their craftsmanship.

In any case, this shipyard built the treasure ships used by Zheng He during his voyages to the Western Ocean during the Yongle period, becoming a representative shipyard of the golden age of ancient Chinese shipbuilding. Those records are still preserved in the shipyard.

If there were enough timber and the imperial order, the Longjiang Shipyard could build the treasure ship with a little effort.

When the cavalry arrived at the shipyard gate, the director of Longjiang Shipyard, who had been informed in advance, personally came out to greet them.

Wei Guangde was quite interested in the shipyard and spoke with the supervisor, focusing on inquiring about the shipyard's current construction capabilities.

"There are six large docks, all left over from when the treasure ships were built. There are thirteen other slipways, which are now filled with ships under construction."

Previously, all the ships were built for the navy. Last year, the ministry issued a document to allocate eight slipways for the construction of civilian transport ships. Currently, there are five double-decker warships under construction in the factory.

The shipyard supervisor knew everything about the shipyard and introduced it to Wei Guangde with great familiarity.

Afterwards, under the guidance of the shipyard supervisor, Wei Guangde and his group first visited the six specialized departments under the shipyard, which were actually workshops.

The sail factory was responsible for making sails, the joinery specialized in making precision wooden structures, the paint shop was responsible for ship painting and anti-corrosion treatment, and the ironworks was responsible for forging metal components.

In addition, there is a cable workshop responsible for cable manufacturing, while the cable workshop specializes in anchor chain production.

These are all things used in shipbuilding. The ship's hull is built by the construction team, and then materials are extracted from six specialized units and loaded onto the ship. Only then is a ship complete and ready for delivery.

In addition, there were also material storage shops, responsible for the storage of materials. Shipbuilding timber was precious, and a centurion sent by the Nanjing Garrison was in charge of its management.

Wei Guangde glanced at the slipway. Of the eight civilian boats under construction, two should be cargo boats, which he was familiar with.

In previous years, I saw many such boats on the canal during my trips to the south and north.

The other six were all large Fujian-style ships, clearly ordered by maritime merchants.

As for the five gunboats currently under construction, they are most likely orders from the East China Sea Fleet. The South China Sea Fleet already has a considerable number of warships, and it is unlikely that it will continue to make large-scale purchases in the short term.

There are also six huge mud pits, hundreds of meters long and wide, lined up along the river. According to the shipyard manager, the treasure ships were built and launched here.

"Once the ship is built, remove the mud from that side, and the treasure ship will slide into the river along the wooden tracks."

The shipyard director should have carefully reviewed the treasure ship construction outline and know how such a large ship was built.

"Can it be manufactured now?"

Wei Guangde asked.

"It will take some effort. The craftsmen are readily available, but the timber is scarce. As for the slipway, it's simple; we can clean it up and lay the wooden tracks again."

He replied.

Clearly, the Ming Dynasty is currently facing a shortage of materials. It's not that the treasure ships cannot be built, but rather that the timber is difficult to gather.

"The timber from Dongfan Island isn't good either?"

Wei Guangde asked casually.

"It's a bit short, but it can barely be used to build a medium-sized treasure ship."

He replied.

Moving to the warehouse, Wei Guangde saw dozens of cannons cast by the Nanjing Arsenal, which were prepared to be loaded onto the warships on the slipway.

Cannons were all cast by the Ministry of Works' Ordnance Bureau. The Inner Court's Armory Bureau mainly produced muskets and crossbows, and also managed the gunpowder bureau to manufacture gunpowder.

"Let's go take a look at the replica of the foreign ships."

Wei Guangde's main purpose in coming here was to see the foreign ships. He had already inspected the entire shipyard, and all that was left was the foreign ship on the dock.

Soon, they boarded the foreign ship, and even went down into the cabin to take a closer look before coming back up.

"The way the barbarians build ships is different from ours. They have high requirements for the keel and frame, which are the main body of the ship, unlike us where the frame bears the load."

However, the biggest advantage of the foreign ships was the spacious cargo hold that we just saw when we went down, where many cannons could be placed.

I heard that the large warships built by the barbarians had three or four cannon decks. The bottom deck was probably for heavy cannons and the top decks for light cannons, in order to keep the ship stable.

We are building a ship with two gun decks, which the barbarians seem to call galleons, saying that they are the best ships in their country.

However, I heard that their country's warships are of a different kind, called something like the Clark sailing ships.

Wei Guangde was unfamiliar with European ship types, so he listened attentively to the shipyard's introductions.

After everyone finished speaking, Wei Guangde asked, "I previously ordered the navy to search for sailors who had served on foreign ships. Are there any at the shipyard now? I heard that you didn't know how to handle the sails when you went on your trial voyage."

“Some people have come, but they don’t know how to operate the sails either. They are all following the orders of the barbarians and are still figuring it out. It’s much more complicated than operating our hard sails.”

The supervisor answered Wei Guangde's question directly: it wasn't that there was no one, but that they genuinely didn't understand. They had been following orders to transport grain on the barbarian ships, but now that there was no barbarian in charge, they didn't know what to do.

"Don't be afraid of making mistakes, try boldly."

When it came to matters of expertise, Wei Guangde didn't want to say too much. "By the way, if it were built like a barbarian ship, and the sails were replaced with the stiff sails that sailors were familiar with, would that be possible to switch between them?"

Recalling what Xu Bangrui had said yesterday, Wei Guangde blurted out the question.

"It should be possible, but the location should be changed."

I'd heard old craftsmen mention things like how different forces require adjustments.

After thinking for a moment, Tiju replied.

Shipbuilding was something that all the craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty were familiar with, so even though it was their first time building a ship from the blueprints, they were still able to see many intricacies and easily discovered the differences between the two types of sailing ships from the East and the West.

"Clear a slipway as soon as possible, build a barbarian ship, and operate it in the manner of using the hard sails of the Ming Dynasty."

Wei Guangde had heard Yu Dayou say that European sailing ships were very complicated to operate, unlike the simple sailing ships of the Ming Dynasty, which were easy for people to learn quickly.

However, European sails are indeed flexible and can adapt to various monsoons, which means they are more efficient.

With the vessels remaining stationary, European vessels have an advantage in speed and turning ability when facing different wind directions.

Although Yu Dayou didn't know how to operate foreign ships, he had at least seen how to do it, and by watching foreign ships maneuver their sails, he could understand a lot of things.

However, modifying the hard sails of the Ming Dynasty would be difficult and would require extensive testing.

"I will speak with the Ministry of Works about this, and you should start construction as soon as possible."

Knowing the differences between Eastern and Western sails, Wei Guangde realized that even if all the Ming Dynasty's naval warships were replaced with foreign ships, it would be difficult to recruit enough sailors, and a transition period would be needed.

Perhaps we could even establish a naval academy to train sailors and research sailing ships.

An idea popped into Wei Guangde's mind.

After all, navigation is a technical skill and requires a certain level of expertise.

Military academies can be established within the South China Sea Navy, which is quite feasible. (End of Chapter)