I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 824 Dagu Harbor under the Rising Sun

"Yonggong Type 2 Boring Machine" was written in black paint on the wooden box, and below it were written the net weight in tons, gross weight in tons, length, width and height in meters.

"Boring machine!" Wang Shisong exclaimed in surprise, then turned around and asked, "What is it used for?"

The official from Taifu Temple couldn't help but turned his head and rolled his eyes.

What a surprise!

I don't know what it's for, why are you shouting in surprise!
Hu Yinglin came close to Wang Shisong and whispered, "I'll tell you what it's used for, and then you'll know what kind of treasure it is."

"Yuanrui, please speak."

"This thing can be used to bore gun barrels and cannon bores. The barrels and cannon bores that come out are very smooth, and the lead bullets and cannonballs fired are accurate and far-reaching.

I also heard that highly skilled workers can use it to bore rifling in gun barrels. A rifled gun can knock people down when the gun fires from three hundred meters away.

As for rifled cannons, just ask any artilleryman from the army or navy and you will know how powerful that thing is.

Uncle Zhong, now you understand!"

Wang Shisong was surprised and turned back to look at the wooden box. This time there was real surprise on his face.

The official of the Taifu Temple turned around and looked at Hu Yinglin in surprise, "Sir Hu, I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable."

"You're welcome. I once followed my mentor to the machine factory and shipyard under the Jiangnan Arsenal and Jiangnan Shipbuilding Bureau in Shanghai, and heard the introduction of several workers during the field research."

“Oh, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and Jiangnan Shipbuilding Bureau are both the industrial pillars of Jiangnan, but they are still far behind the three major manufacturing bureaus in Luanzhou and the Beihai Shipbuilding Bureau in Qinhuangdao.

Many of their machine tools and equipment were shipped over from Luanzhou.”

Hu Yinglin didn't say anything, just smiled.

In June, Pan Yinglong, who was appointed as the Minister of Personnel, submitted a memorial proposing an official exchange plan. The Ministry of Personnel selected some "regular" officials to serve as "business development" officials in factories, mines, commerce, transportation and financial enterprises under the Ministry of the Imperial Household.

Some of the "business development" officials of the Organization Bureau of the Shaofu were transferred to serve in the cabinet, six ministries, temples, local provincial governments and counties.

After obtaining the emperor's approval, it was forwarded to the Cabinet, the Ministry of Personnel and the Ministry of the Imperial Household for approval.

Pan Yinglong acted decisively and immediately arranged the first batch of exchange officials totaling 2,500 people.

The Ministry of Personnel will select 1,500 officials, and the Organization Bureau will select 1,000 officials. The exchange will be completed within one month.
When the Taifujian official mentioned the Luanzhou Manufacturing Bureau, he couldn't hide his pride. It was obvious at a glance that he was an official from the Xingye Bureau who had been transferred from the three major manufacturing bureaus in Luanzhou.

Wang Shisong stared at the wooden box for a while, then turned around and asked with some concern: "I feel a little uneasy about shipping this important national treasure to Genzhou."

The officials of the Taifu Temple tried to comfort him, "You are going to the Eastern Expedition to Genzhou to fight, how can you do it without artillery? If there is a problem with the artillery, do you really need to transport it here to be repaired?

How can it be!

It must be repaired in Xiazhou, and the cannons must be cast and manufactured in Xiazhou. This thing can repair the barrel of the gun and has various other uses. It can help you solve many problems.

Don't worry, this model is outdated in Luanzhou. It can only be used to bore gun barrels and large objects, but not gun barrels.

What’s more, we have better machine tools that can process better, with higher precision and larger caliber.”

The official of the Taifu Temple stopped talking in time and laughed, "I almost let it slip. Don't worry, the technology of our Daming is changing with each passing day. The development is so fast that even our industry insiders are amazed, and you are even more incredible.

This type of boring machine was a treasure in the second year of Longqing, and was the apple of everyone's eye. But in the second year of Wanli, it was despised. Now it is even two or three generations behind.

Moreover, no matter how good a machine tool is, it is useless without stable output power.

This boring machine, as well as other machine tools, must be equipped with a Type 2 Assault small steam engine and a Type 3 Black Mountain power transmission box, which are the six wooden boxes over there, in order for the machine tools to work stably.

One outputs powerful power, and the other ensures balanced and continuous power output. Neither is indispensable.

Without these two things, even if the boring machine can bore out flowers, it will be useless and cannot be used. However, only the Jing'an Machinery Factory and the Yongping First Gear Factory under the Yongping Manufacturing Bureau Group can produce these two things in the entire Ming Dynasty. "

That's it!

The most important and crucial core things are still in Luanhe River! If it gets stuck for a while, these national treasures will become useless. What's there to be afraid of?
Hu Yinglin and Wang Shisong, relieved, continued to count.

Because the ship was to set sail in three days, more than half of the cargo had already been loaded onto the ship via a tower crane. The next day, Hu Yinglin and Wang Shisong followed the officials of the Taifu Temple to the port berth.

This is a cargo terminal area and is extremely busy.

More than a dozen armed merchant ships ranging from 600 to 1,000 tons were lined up in a row. Under the command of whistles and flags, more than a dozen cranes turned their long arms and moved their hooks up and down to lift wooden boxes, either wrapped in net bags or bundled together, from the rail-mounted flatbed trucks on the dock, to the entrance of the ship's cabin, and then slowly lowered them.

"That's the Bighead Carp," said a port authority official, pointing to a 750-ton armed merchant ship.

When Hu Yinglin, Wang Shisong and the officials of Taifu Temple heard the name of the ship, they were too speechless to complain.

The official of the Port Authority laughed and said, "The name of the ship is funny, but we can't help it. Your Governor Liang knows the story of naming ships best. He is the one who runs the Navy Bureau."

"Director Liang never told us this, brother, why don't you tell us about it?"

"Okay, let's get on the boat first. Be careful and watch your feet. The plank is narrow and you will fall into the sea if you are not careful." The official from the Port Authority led the three people onto the plank and gave them instructions from the front.

"If you fall into the sea somewhere else, we will go down to rescue you. But that won't work here."

"Brother, what's wrong here?"

The port authority official pointed to the hull of the Bighead Fish, which was swaying gently with the waves, and said, "You see, this ship moves with the waves, and sometimes it rubs against the concrete edge of the berth.

Although there is a haystack in the middle to cushion the impact, if a person were squeezed by it, they would be crushed into a piece of cake when they were fished out.”

Hearing what he said, I watched the boat, pushed by the waves, "gently" move towards the concrete pier of the berth, making a teeth-grinding creaking sound against several haystack mats hanging on the side.

Hu Yinglin and the other two couldn't help but feel their heartbeats quicken and their legs weaken. They hurriedly took a few steps and boarded the ship. When they reached the deck, they leaned against the side of the ship to take a breath, and the official of the Port Authority continued to talk about the allusion of the ship's name.

“In the past, princely sailboats over 500 tons were considered treasures, and their names were chosen with great care.

Later, the two major shipyards of Wusong and Hulugang emerged, and more and more sailboats were built, and they were getting bigger and bigger. No one was interested in the prince's sailboat of 1,000 tons, let alone 500 tons.

In the past, there were only hundreds of ships, but now there are thousands, so naming ships has become a big problem. The Navy Bureau headed by Governor Liang set a rule that has been used to this day.

"What rules?"

“Navy warships are named after battleships, counties, and large rivers, lakes, and famous mountains, while frigates and cruisers are named after counties.

Civilian ships can be named as they please, but they cannot have the same name as warships, which means county names, rivers, lakes, and famous mountains cannot be used. Also, people’s names cannot be used, especially historical celebrities.”

"why?"

Wang Shisong was puzzled. It was a good thing to commemorate them in this way.

"If I use historical celebrities, their descendants will come out and accuse me of disrespecting their ancestors. It's a bunch of bullshit. It's better not to use any of them to save trouble."

Respecting the heaven and following the ancestors is a rule passed down from generation to generation by the elders, and it is also the most important thing for the officials, common people, soldiers and civilians of the Ming Dynasty. If someone really talks about your ancestors and accuses you of being disrespectful, it will be a real trouble.

"Secondly, there are two sets of names for warships and civilian ships. One is the general name, such as this Bighead Fish and the clipper ship Anyang that you will be taking in three days.

The second is the registration number. The battleship starts with the fleet it belongs to, and is then divided according to the level of battleships and frigates. For example, a Class B battleship in the Xuanwu Fleet may have a registration number of Xuanyi No. 29.

The registration number of a civilian vessel is based on the maritime bureau where it is registered. Daming is currently divided into the Gyeonggi Maritime Bureau, the North Sea Maritime Bureau, the East Sea Maritime Bureau and the South Sea Maritime Bureau.

The Bighead Fish was built at the Qinhuangdao Second Shipyard and registered with the Gyeonggi Maritime Safety Administration with the registration number Jibing 1678.

These registration numbers are recorded in the official documents of the ship and are also written below the general name of the ship at the bow and stern. The font is relatively small, so you may not notice it. "

Wang Shisong asked curiously, "Then the clippers we took were Anyang, Yuci, Yuanling, Zhijiang, Huoqiu and Baishui. They are not naval warships. Can they also be named after counties?"

"Clippers are now a rarity in the Ming Dynasty. They run fast and can carry a lot of cargo. The Maritime Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of War and the Right Military Governor's Office agreed to name it after the county."

At this time, the long arm of the crane put a full bag of cargo into the cabin, retracted the lifting ring, and swung it back to the shore.

The port authority official waved his hand and said, "Go, you can enter the cabin now."

The four men went down to the cabin and saw that it was full of sailors, shirtless and sweaty. Under the command of the first and second mates, they used various tools to distribute the cargo in various places.

Wang Shisong looked at them curiously: "Why don't they just pile them together? Why do they have to separate them and tie them up in different places? It's too troublesome."

The port authority official turned around and looked at him. "There's no other way. We have to do this. Loading cargo into a ship is a science."

"Brother, what is the knowledge?"

"The ship floats on the sea. If there are gusts of wind and waves, it will easily capsize if the center of gravity is unstable. Therefore, when loading, the cargo must be evenly distributed according to the weight to keep the center of gravity of the ship balanced.

You can see the gross weight, net weight, and length, width, and height are marked on the outside of the wooden boxes. The first or second mate looks at these markings and then allocates the cargo stacking locations based on their understanding of their ship and cabins.

It is very important. If the cargo is not stacked properly, the center of gravity will be unbalanced, which will cause big trouble at sea. This is the most important thing for cargo ships."

Hu Yinglin and Wang Shisong nodded repeatedly: "There really is knowledge everywhere."

At a berth in the passenger terminal area of ​​the port, Marcelo, Leon, Condorcet and his party boarded the Blue Bird sailboat.

It is a 1,100-ton three-masted, multi-sailed clipper ship, a new ship launched in the fourth year of Wanli. It adopts many new technologies and draws on the advantages of the clipper ship. Its speed is the fastest among all the ships below the clipper ship. It runs the route from Dagu Port to Wusong and directly to Hong Kong Port all year round. It is a regular ship.

Also on the ship were the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, Liu Yingjie, and his entourage.

Liang Menglong came specially to see me off.

The Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi not only governed Guangdong and Guangxi, but also Jinghai and Rinan provinces.

"Mr. Zihe, you go south and I go east. After several years, I don't know when we will meet again. With this glass of wine, I wish you smooth sailing, good health, and everything goes well!"

"Mingquan Lord, I can still see the capital from a distance of only a few thousand miles to the south. You are tens of thousands of miles away from the east. The vast sea of ​​smoke makes it difficult to see your homeland. You must take good care of yourself."

"You are too polite, both you and I have heavy burdens on our shoulders."

"Mr. Mingquan, Guangdong and Guangxi are now at peace. The Yao and Tong people live and work in peace and contentment, and have no worries about food and clothing. They will not cause trouble again. The only areas that are in trouble are the west of Jinghai and some counties in Rinnan.

Those jumping clowns will never amount to anything, and behind them is the heartland of the Ming Dynasty, so there is nothing to be afraid of.

On the contrary, you are alone and have to start from scratch." Liu Yingjie sighed, "I won't say anything more. Come, let me toast you a glass!"

After the farewell, Liu Yingjie stood on the side of the boat and waved goodbye to Liang Menglong.

The Blue Bird slowly left the shore and sailed slowly among the ships that were shuttling back and forth.

Looking at the densely packed masts of ships, and the Gyeonggi region that was getting farther and farther away, Marcelo sighed, "I'm finally going back home. Leon, these past few months have been like a dream, a dream that makes you reluctant to wake up."

Leon stared at the port and the land in the distance, "Yes, it's a beautiful dream that I don't want to wake up from, but for the European countries, it may be a nightmare.

But now I suddenly understand why Sophonia wants to stay."

"What is it?"

“There’s so much hope here.”

The morning sun slowly rises, and its golden light shines on Dagu Harbor and on this land full of hope, turning it into golden, brilliant and dazzling.

(End of this chapter)