Qian Song

Chapter 173 Triumph (Ask for a monthly pass!)
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Li Cun led his army to the south this time, mainly for the purpose of destroying the Li Dynasty and Champa, killing chickens and monkeys, pacifying the south, and establishing a safe maritime trade route.

Now, as long as the Angkor Dynasty passed, Dingnan Port, Annan Port, Qiongzhou Port, Guangzhou Port, Quanzhou Port, Liuqiu Port, Wenzhou Port, Mingzhou Port, Hangzhou Port, Xiuzhou Port, and Jiangyin Port are all the same in the world. It is a good port with complete facilities and everything that one expects to find.

The point is that there are no pirates in Li Cun's territory.

It can be said that Li Cun's territory has the best business environment in the world.

Moreover, because Li Cun divided the long coastline into short distances one after another, every other day's voyage, he could reach the next port.

This not only greatly enhanced the safety and convenience of maritime trade in Li Cun's territory, but also provided a safe and convenient guarantee for the Huben Army's own sea transportation.

In addition to strengthening the construction of the port, Li Cun is also vigorously developing his own sea-going ships.

In fact, Li Cun has already started his own treasure ship building plan.

This plan had already been implemented as early as when Li Cun first got Liuqiu.

——Half of the first batch of people Li Cun sent to Liuqiu were actually prepared for the purpose of building treasure ships.

It's just that before building a ship, you need to build a shipyard first.

In addition, the wood needed for boat building needs to be air-dried.

——The key to successful shipbuilding is to select fully dry wood that has been stored for several years and the moisture content has dropped below 20.00%. The ideal situation is to use dry wood to slowly build a ship, and let the frame and shell of the ship dry naturally. Wood usually It is cut down and stored in winter to keep it dry, and this kind of water is usually not necessarily dry in two or three years, and if the local environment is relatively humid and the temperature is not high, it will take more time, so For one thing, it may take three to six years to build a ship.

However, there are no absolutes, and in a hurry, a ship can actually be built in six months.

——In this case, only wood that is not dry enough or has a slightly lower dry quality can be used to build ships.

However, ships made of undried wood may rot in a few years, and the strength of the wood joints will gradually decrease. The frame and wood of the ship will loosen, and finally sink in water.

In addition, Li Cun provided craftsmen with a drying technique.

This method requires temperature control and very high skills and experience in all aspects, otherwise it will be very easy to crack, and once the wood is cracked, it will not be possible to make a watertight cabin.

So it is best to dry in the shade.

If there is time, Li Cun definitely hopes for the best.

But how could Li Cun have the time to wait three to six years before letting the ship go to sea?
Therefore, Li Cun asked Tian Zhuang, the general manager of the treasure ship building, to dry a large amount of shipbuilding materials in the shade, while sacrificing some of the materials to use wood that was not dry enough or of a slightly lower quality to build a batch of treasure ships first, and then replace them with good quality treasure ships.

As for this batch of treasure ships that will be eliminated in the future, you can try to find someone to take advantage of and sell them.

After two years of construction, the first batch of one hundred treasure ships have all been launched and are ready for use.

Among the one hundred treasure ships, the largest one is 44 feet long and [-] feet wide, and, unlike other treasure ships, this treasure ship has a pointed bottom-the other treasure ships are all flat-bottomed sand ships.

The sharp-bottomed ship has more underwater parts. Take this treasure ship with a sharp-bottomed bottom as an example. Its draft can reach seven meters, so it can use the underwater area to stabilize the hull, so the sharp-bottomed ship is more suitable for driving at sea. Bringing, installing and distributing goods is much more troublesome than punts.

The large flat-bottomed boats can still sail in the ocean, but the flat-bottomed boats have a shallow draft. Taking the flat-bottomed treasure boats launched together with this sharp-bottomed treasure ship as an example, their draft is only four to five meters.

For safety's sake, these flat-bottomed treasure ships are best sailed on the ocean when the weather is calm.

It is worth mentioning that there is a saying that the treasure ships used by Zheng He on his voyages were flat-bottomed.

Li Yuanzhen, a veteran marine ship worker who worked in the Dada Shipping Company of Zhang Jian, an industrialist in the late Qing Dynasty, once said that there was a kind of flat-bottomed wooden boat about the width of a treasure ship that was specially used for launching into the sea. ".

Compared with sharp-bottomed boats, large flat-bottomed boats have many advantages—it is relatively simple in workmanship, can hold more cargo, and has a shallow draft, can walk in deep and shallow waters, has low resistance on the sea, and can travel at a fast speed. Face the wind.

These characteristics are very consistent with the natural conditions for building treasure ships in Nanjing.

The main reason for Li Cun to build flat-bottomed treasure ships was to save trouble, be fast, and transport large volumes.

Another one is that Li Cun's ports are densely packed. Basically, if there is no delay, you can travel from one port to the next in one day. You can try to choose good weather for sailing. In bad weather, it is better to enter the port to avoid the wind. .

——That's how Li Cun came when he went south.

When the [-] treasure ships arrived at Dingnan Port, the envoys from Khmer, Dali, Queen's Kingdom, Bagan, Fallapati, Java, Sanfoqi, Siam and other countries had not yet left.

——It was Li Cun who left them on purpose, and let them see Li Cun's treasure ship, to frighten them, lest their country make trouble for Li Cun on impulse.

Based on this purpose, when the treasure ship came, Li Cun took a group of envoys to Dingnan Port, pretending that he had prepared some return gifts for them and asked them to go to the port with him to pick them up, and then they could leave.

When the envoys from various countries saw a hundred treasure ships approaching from afar, they were all shocked beyond measure, as if people who have never seen an aircraft carrier in later generations suddenly saw an aircraft carrier, and they saw it all at once. One hundred aircraft carriers.

The son of Suryavarman II couldn't help talking non-stop.

Liu Xuan quickly translated to Li Cun: "The governor, the Khmer prince said that there is such a big ship in the world, it's incredible..."

And this shock reached its limit when the treasure ship came to the port.

——When a person stands under the treasure ship that looks like a hill, he really realizes what is the shock from the bottom of his heart.

Soon, Tian Zhuang got off the sharp-bottomed treasure ship.

Immediately after disembarking, Tian Zhuang brought a group of generals from the East China Sea Navy who were driving the treasure ship to Li Cun.

The Tian family that Tian Zhuang belongs to is not actually a real aristocratic family, it can only be regarded as a wealthy family.

To put it bluntly, the Tian family is a wealthy merchant who has built ships for generations, not a noble family.

In Tian Zhuang's generation, the Tian family's shipbuilding technology can almost be said to be the best in the world.

Among them, Tian Zhuang has the highest shipbuilding technology. In the words of other shipyard managers and craftsmen, Tian Zhuang is a shipbuilding genius. When he was about 30 years old, his shipbuilding skills were beyond the reach of others. .

However, Tian Zhuang has never been proud of his shipbuilding skills, and he doesn't even like money.

——Probably influenced by the level of scholars, farmers, businessmen, Tian Zhuang likes to be an official. To describe it in two words, Tian Zhuang is an "official fan".

But Tian Zhuang was assigned by his father to learn shipbuilding technology in the shipyard since he was a child, and he has been dealing with shipbuilding all his life. He never had the opportunity to study the Four Books and Five Classics, let alone go to the imperial school and take the imperial examination.

Later, Tian Zhuang transferred his dream to Tian Maang and his brothers, hoping that one of them would become an official.

Who would have thought that Tian Zhuang finally sent Tian Meng and the others to study in the Taixue, but because the Tian family had no official background and connections, none of them could fill the official position.

Just when Tian Zhuang thought that there might not be an official in the Tian family, Li Cun was born.

This made Tian Zhuang see the opportunity for the Tian family to become an official.

Therefore, Tian Zhuang robbed his only daughter Tian Jing and sent him to Li Cun's harem, hoping that Li Cun would take Tian Jing's face and give Tian Maang and his brothers some official positions.

However, what Tian Zhuang never expected was that in the end Li Cun made him a high official because of his shipbuilding skills, which he didn't like.

All of this made Tian Zhuang feel like a dream.

After Tian Zhuang reacted, he decisively led the Tian family to vote for Li Cun, and personally helped Li Cundu build the warship.

At that time, all the shipyards in Li Cun's territory, whether official or private, were building warships for Li Cun.

Tian Zhuang has to go to many places every day to check the progress and quality of the warship, and often travels at night.

But Tian Zhuang didn't feel tired at all.

With Tian Zhuang's efforts, Li Cun obtained hundreds of warships, many of which were five-tooth warships restored by Tian Zhuang according to ancient books.

In addition, the gang boats, horse boats, and seat boats seized by Li Cun at that time.

Li Cun got thousands of large ships and countless small ones.

This made it easy for the Huben navy to overwhelm the long-abandoned Song navy, and helped Li Cun gain enough time for development.

Tian Zhuang's gamble and Tian Zhuang's hard work have been rewarded as they should.

Although Li Cun did not restructure the system in Jianyuan, he has appointed Tian Zhuang as the minister of the Ministry of Industry, so that Tian Zhuang can be one of the six ministers along with Qian Zai, He Shi and others.

Qian Zai came from the Qian family, the first family in Zhejiang and Zhejiang, and his ancestors were emperors. He Zhizhang, the ancestor of He Shi, was called "Four Scholars in Wuzhong" together with Zhang Ruoxu, Zhang Xu, and Bao Rong; He is also known as the "Ten Friends of Xianzong" with Chen Ziang, Lu Zangyong, Song Zhiwen, Wang Shi, Bi Gou, Li Bai, Meng Haoran, Wang Wei, and Sima Chengzhen.

Being able to stand shoulder to shoulder with the heads of the Qian family and the He family made Tian Zhuang very grateful to Li Cun, and then tried his best to build a ship for Li Cun.

Let's put it this way, if you ask who has visited Liuqiu the most times in the past two years, absolutely no one can compare with Tian Zhuang, and Tian Zhuang sometimes stays in Liuqiu for three to five months.

If Li Cun hadn't asked Tian Zhuang to build a super-large shipyard in Qiongzhou, Tian Zhuang might have been rooted in Liuqiu to build treasure ships for Li Cun.

Undoubtedly, Tian Zhuang is the greatest contributor to the creation of the treasure ship.

Seeing that Tian Zhuang was no longer obese two years ago, but became much leaner, Li Cun knew that Tian Zhuang must have suffered a lot in the past two years.

Li Cun didn't say anything superfluous, he just introduced Tian Zhuang to the envoys of various countries and said: "This is Tian Zhuang, my important minister."

Hearing Li Cun use the word "heavy minister" to evaluate him, Tian Zhuang's bones suddenly felt a little lighter.

The envoys from all over the world dared not to buy Li Cun's account, and they saluted Tian Zhuang one after another.

Tian Zhuang hurriedly returned the gifts one by one.

After Tian Zhuang had met the envoys from various countries, Li Cun asked, "Would you like to visit my treasure ship?"

How could the envoys of various countries be unwilling, and they expressed their honor one after another.

Seeing this, Tian Zhuang hurriedly led Li Cun and a group of envoys onto the leading sharp-bottomed treasure ship.

As soon as they arrived on the treasure ship, all the envoys from various countries exclaimed, thinking that this was a palace on the sea, and they were all amazed by the shipbuilding technology of the Huben Army.

The envoys of the Three Buddhas Qi Kingdom couldn't help asking: "My God, how did you build such a big boat?"

Tian Zhuang looked at Li Cun.

Li Cun nodded.

Tian Zhuang then replied: "Our country has a long history of shipbuilding. As far back as the Han Dynasty more than 1000 years ago, our country's shipbuilding technology was already the best in the world. Up to now, it is not difficult for our country to build such a treasure ship. .”

At this time, the largest ships that the Dashi, Tianzhu, and Western countries could build were less than one-fifth of this treasure ship, and the displacement was even less than a hundred times.

Undoubtedly, China's shipbuilding technology leads the world.

Therefore, the envoys of various countries believed in Tian Zhuang's words, and they were even more in awe of Li Cun.

The envoy of the Queen's Kingdom asked: "How can such a large ship be used to determine the direction at sea?"

Tian Zhuang glanced at Li Cun again.

Li Cun nodded.

Then Tian Zhuang replied: "There are two treasures on our treasure ship, the floating compass and the star map across the ocean."

After a pause, Tian Zhuang explained in detail: "The floating compass is the application of the compass on the ship. It cooperates with the azimuth wheel to determine the direction and direction; The board measures the height of the stars at the location, and then calculates the geographic latitude of the location, so as to determine the specific course of the ship."

Tian Zhuang said proudly: "With these two treasures, thousands of miles of ocean are like walking on flat land."

The envoys of various countries were fascinated by it.

Then, someone asked if they could meet this second treasure?

But it was rejected by Li Cun.

At this time, a big fish swam in the distance.

When Li Cun saw it, it turned out to be a huge great white shark.

Li Cun said with a smile: "This fish's fin is extremely delicious, who will shoot it with me?"

At this time, a general came out suddenly and said: "I am willing to give it a try."

Li Cun didn't need to look to know that the speaker was Sheng Zheng, the commander of the East China Sea Navy.

This Sheng Zheng is also one of Li Cun's cheap uncles - his sister Sheng Xia is the Sheng family who competed with Yan Zhengu for the bed.

Unlike Li Cunbie's brother-in-law, Sheng Zheng did not take the route of a literati, but the rare route of a general.

What is even more rare is that Sheng Zheng has been familiar with military books and strategies since he was a child, and he has a special research on the tactics and training of naval forces.

At the beginning, when Li Cun defeated the Song army in the water battle, Sheng Zheng was the commander in chief.

Later, Li Cun felt that his navy was not enough, so he planned to train a [-] navy. It was Sheng Zheng who helped Li Cun select suitable sources of troops, and then trained them bit by bit.

It can be said that Sheng Zheng owed Li Cuneng such a powerful naval force.

What's rare is that Sheng Zheng is a low-key, calm and unassuming person, and he never forms a clique. He wholeheartedly helps Li Cun lead the East China Sea Navy well.

Now, Sheng Zheng has become Li Cun's well-deserved number one navy general, in charge of more than half of Li Cun's navy.

Seeing that Sheng Zheng, who never likes to be in the limelight, rushed to stand up this time, Li Cun guessed that Sheng Zheng was afraid that others would ask for his life indiscriminately. If he missed the shot, it would easily ruin Li Cun's affairs, so he took the initiative to stand up.

Li Cun never doubted Sheng Zheng's ability - otherwise Li Cun would not have given his largest navy to Sheng Zheng's management.

So, seeing Sheng Zheng take the initiative to stand up, Li Cun uttered two words: "Go."

Sheng Zheng came to a bed crossbow at the side of the boat.

Seeing how Sheng Zheng aimed, Sheng Zheng pulled the trigger.

After the sound of "咻", the huge great white shark three hundred steps away turned over in response.

All the envoys from various countries were dumbfounded!

——They were not only shocked by the power and range of the bed crossbow, but also shocked by Sheng Zheng's arrow skills!
And Sheng Zheng bowed to Li Cunyi and said, "It's a good thing that I didn't disgrace my life."

Li Cun nodded, indicating that Sheng Zheng was on the list, and then said to the envoys of various countries: "Today I will treat you to a shark fin feast."

Without Li Cun's instructions, someone lowered the boat to drag the giant great white shark back.

Seeing that the crossbow shot through the great white shark, which was almost seven meters long, the envoys from various countries were all even more shocked.

At this time, someone brought up a large number of glass products and soap, and then Liu Xuan and other translators introduced these glass products and soap to the envoys of various countries, saying that this was the return gift from the governor.

Amidst the amazement of the envoys from various countries, Li Cun, accompanied by ministers of civil and military affairs such as Chen Kuutong, Wu Lin, Tian Zhuang, and Sheng Zheng, went to his own lounge in the cabin.

After sitting in his chair, Li Cun announced: "The matter in the south is over, and we are ready to return triumphant."

……

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(End of this chapter)