The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 770 Come with me to sea to slay the bandits and rescue my compatriots! (Seeking double monthly votes)
Upon hearing "modify the warships," the eyes of all the clan elders, naval strategists, helmsmen, and master craftsmen present lit up. Here they come again!
Decades ago, our ancestor Shen Yuegong received a dream from our progenitor, in which he learned a remarkable skill in handicrafts. He crafted dragon-bone waterwheels, mountain climbing equipment, and modified seagoing vessels—

These are all skills passed down from generation to generation!
These craftsmen toil away on their own for decades, but it's not as good as a piece of immortal knowledge passed down in a dream!
"What secret techniques and methods did our ancestors pass down to us?"

The leading craftsman stepped forward, his two rough, cracked hands trembling, his voice shaking:
"What kind of ship are you building? How are they built?! Can I bring my children and grandchildren to learn? No wages, no rewards, just meals! Anyone who doesn't learn well, I'll personally punish them!"

“You can learn anything,” Shen Le smiled. In his previous memory, he only taught the Shen family the method of building 400 ships, well, the method of building Ming Dynasty warships.

He left the blueprints, guided them through the construction several times, and once he was certain they could build it themselves, he abruptly moved on to other tasks. After all, getting the entire family on track required a great deal of work.

To weave brocade, one must create flower towers, preserve the flower tower designs and schematic diagrams, and train craftsmen and embroiderers.
Making porcelain requires building kilns, training kiln builders, and training workers in every step, including washing clay, shaping, preparing glazes, and controlling the temperature.
Salt production is even more remarkable. Not only must the methods of constructing salt fields be recorded, but also the methods of making slight adjustments for different seasons and climates must be recorded, as well as ancestral precepts must be recorded.

The family's official rank could not exceed the county level, and they could only own 500 mu of salt fields. The salt produced could only be used for the family's internal consumption and was absolutely forbidden to be sold outside the family—not even salted fish.
If a family member's official rank reaches the prefecture level, they can own thousands of acres of salt fields, and the salt produced can be sold as salted fish within the county.

The family's official rank reached the state level—well, given the situation during the Wei and Jin dynasties, where "the upper ranks had no poor families and the lower ranks had no aristocratic families," the possibility of obtaining a state-level official position within a few decades was not very high...

Shen Le spent ten years teaching his family's shipwrights how to build a few simple types of ships. These included the Juexi salvage boat, the square-bowed, flat-bottomed, shallow-draft sand barge, and the 400-ton Ming Dynasty warship.

Knowing what to do but not why is enough; if you can create it, that's fine, but if you want to improve it, that's probably not possible.

I'd be grateful if I didn't forget...

Now, Shen Le was feeling rather depressed. He walked around the dock, looking at each ship one by one, and the more he looked, the more depressed he became:
Why did I slack off back then?
Why did I only choose the sand barge?
Yes, sand barges do have irreplaceable advantages. They are wide, large, flat, and shallow, so they can sit on the beach and not be afraid of running aground. They can also navigate in rivers and lakes, and can sail smoothly from the ocean to the river without having to change boats.

However, its speed is rather slow! And it's not very maneuverable! It can't withstand large waves either! It's fine heading north, but heading south is rather unfortunate…

Yes, for speed and agility, the family does have more suitable ships, such as the Juexi solo salvage vessel, known as the "Red Hare of the Sea." The problem is, solo salvage vessels are small, not very effective in combat, and not very durable...

What I need now is a warship that is fast, can withstand wind and waves, is agile, adaptable to the deep sea, and has enough tonnage to carry weapons, so that it can take on the task!
The Green-browed Boat!

Why didn't I teach them how to build green-browed boats back then!

Oh, I remember now. These craftsmen have already exhausted all their efforts learning three ship types. If they were to learn the Greenbrow Ship, they simply wouldn't be able to...
After all, Green Eyebrows is a pointed-bottom boat, which is a different concept from a flat-bottom boat!

These illiterate or barely literate craftsmen relied entirely on oral instruction and personal teaching. They didn't have much of a mathematical foundation, so they couldn't learn it all!

Alas, there's no time to build one now. Shen Le carefully selected the sand barge from among a 400-ton Ming Dynasty warship, now only a wreck, two sand barges under repair in the dock, and three Juexi salvage vessels.
"Hmm, let's modify this for now. — Let me see how you've done..."

He climbed up and down, inspected it once, and was somewhat satisfied. The family's craftsmen had quite solid shipbuilding skills, especially in constructing the watertight compartments very well.

It was only thanks to the watertight compartments that the wrecked Ming Dynasty warships were able to ride the tide all the way to the shore...

"But this boat doesn't hold up well in big waves, especially the cross waves; it's hard for it to withstand them," the old boatman lamented, expressing his frustration.
"Moreover, they are particularly prone to seasickness, especially newcomers to the ship for the first time. They won't feel better until they've vomited seven or eight times. Right now..."

Currently, a large number of the family's core sailors and warriors have died in battle, and many more are missing. Recruiting new recruits will present a significant challenge in terms of adaptability.

Even children living in the Jiangnan region, who grow up climbing up and down rivers and playing in lakes, experience a completely different world from rivers and lakes to the ocean. Being able to utilize only 70%, or even 50%, of one's fighting ability is like fighting with one hand tied...

"Hmm, let me think about it, don't rush."

Shen Le jumped off the ship's side and circled the dry dock again, nodding and shaking his head intermittently. After a while, he clapped his hands and began drawing rapidly:
“Come on, go and cut a few planks according to this blueprint… They need to be thick and sturdy. As for the length, well, let’s make them one-third the width of the boat first, in long strips, with a curve at the bottom like this…”

Two young carpenters, holding the blueprints, looked somewhat doubtful and disbelieving, but under their father's fierce glare, they dashed off. Shen Le then gave the master carpenter his orders:
"Make two holes on either side of the ship's side, enough to pass through a sturdy wooden bar—or an iron bar. Use the iron bar to thread one end of the plank through the hole and hang it on the side of the ship. Tie the other end of the plank with a rope."

"Wherever a wave comes from, loosen the rope on that side and lower the plank into the water at an angle. If there are no waves horizontally, or the waves are small, pull the plank back up..."

The device drawn by Shen Le is the famous waterspout. It is a unique anti-drift device for ancient Chinese wooden sailing ships, which is hung on both sides of the hull and raised or lowered by cables.

When a ship is sailing in a crosswind or headwind, sailors lower the leeward side of the spruce into the water, using the lateral drag it generates to prevent the ship from drifting and to improve its stability.

With the spruce, sand barges can even sail in gale force 7, and are no longer afraid of being capsized by crosswinds!

He quickly sketched out the plank doors on both sides of the ship, the lifting ropes and pulley systems used to raise and lower the waders, and the ram's horn or mooring bollards used to secure the ropes once the waders were lowered to the required depth.

The master craftsman held the blueprints, looking them over from top to bottom. His rough, calloused hands repeatedly traced the blueprints in the air, as if caressing those non-existent devices.
Several old boatmen also gathered around, one hand raised as if to steer, the other hand retracting, pushing out, retracting again, and pushing out again, repeatedly.

The body swayed forward and backward, rocking back and forth and from side to side, as if it had become one with the boat, constantly swaying with the wind and waves...

Shen Le waited patiently for a while, watching them ponder the objects and the boats, then simply dragged over a stack of papers and continued writing and drawing.
One overall drawing, several component drawings, all labeled with instructions on how to manufacture them. After thinking for a moment, I quickly tore them apart and started drawing a new one…
"I understand! I understand!"

A shout rang out. Shen Le's hand trembled, the pen tip veered, and a thick, crooked stroke fell onto the paper, ruining the entire structure. He looked up, somewhat annoyed, and saw an old boatman gesticulating wildly, spittle flying from his mouth:

"That's right! That's exactly it! Adding a plank here will stop the sideways waves and make the boat rock less! How come I didn't think of that! How come I never thought of that before!!!"

I don't know why you didn't think of that... Anyway, if there hadn't been a historical precedent, I definitely wouldn't have thought of it either; I really don't understand fluid mechanics.

Shen Le smiled and nodded at them, then suddenly his face hardened and he raised his voice: "If you understand, then get to work! — Also, quickly send me another group of carpenters, and the weapons on the ship need to be added!"

"Sanlang, what are you drawing?"

The clan elder leaned over. Shen Le slapped several completed drawings on his shoulder and continued sketching.

The clan elder held the few sheets of paper, glanced at them, and his eyes widened in surprise.

The drawing on the paper depicted a massive crossbow with a complex and unprecedented structure!
"This is... a giant crossbow?!"

The elder's voice trembled with disbelief. Although he had never seen the actual object, his ancestors had described its general appearance through oral tradition, and it bore a striking resemblance to the drawing!

That was the last glory of the Han Dynasty... The Han army roamed across the grasslands, with crossbows clashing and arrows raining down. Three thousand infantrymen were enough to make tens of thousands of Xiongnu cavalry unable to raise their heads!

“Yes, a giant crossbow, or you could call it a bed crossbow.” Shen Le didn’t even look up, his pen moving swiftly.

"Time is tight, there's no time to make the most complex one. This model uses a winch to wind the bow and launch a three-foot-long giant arrow, which can pierce through the planks of an ordinary ship within three hundred paces!"

As he spoke, he unfolded the drawings one by one:

"See that? Base, boom, winch, slide rail, trigger... Let's get started!"
Find a carpenter for the base, and make the bow arms with tough hardwoods such as elm or mulberry to save time on glue drying.
The blacksmith's shop is working at full speed to get the winch and trigger parts ready! —Does Master Shen Yue still have the measuring tape? Have them align it with the dimensions on the drawing; I absolutely forbid any errors in the measurements!

Modular production, rapid assembly, or assembly line technology that existed as early as the Qin Dynasty.

The complex ballista was disassembled into several relatively independent core components, which were then manufactured in parallel by different groups of craftsmen before being assembled.

With limited time and heavy workload, we have no choice but to break them down and work on them separately, making the most of our limited manpower and time...

Once the order was given, the entire family's resources were quickly mobilized.

The open space next to the dock was brightly lit, and the sounds of hammering, sawing, and the workers' chants never stopped throughout the night.

The carpenters, holding the brand-new blueprints, were all beaming with excitement. Even the younger craftsmen who tried to slack off were met with kicks and punches from the old man.
"Are you crazy! This is a divine instruction; even a little bit of it will be enough to last you a lifetime. If you're going to slack off now, you might as well just get rid of that lazybones!"

The base of the ballista, the bow arm, the sash, and the mechanism for fixing the sash are all shaped piece by piece in the hands of the carpenter.
In the blacksmith's shop, the furnace roared, and amidst the clanging sounds, one crucial metal component after another was forged.

Shen Le moved among them, constantly inspecting, providing guidance, answering questions, and conducting hands-on tests.

Soon, planks, tendons, and parts were gradually completed by different craftsmen, and then transported to the side of the ship, where they were installed under the personal supervision of the old boatmen and master craftsmen.

In just two days, two flat-bottomed sand barges, originally used primarily for transportation, were transformed with menacing weaponry. Ballistae protruding from both sides demonstrated the ships' formidable offensive capabilities.

The newly installed sprue increased the stability of the vessel and also significantly improved firing accuracy.

On the Juexi lone fishing boat, the ballistae hidden in the cabin, covered by tarpaulins, and the oil canisters attached to the crossbow bolts, further enhanced its formidable attack power.

Looking into Shen Le's eyes, the entire fleet's demeanor had changed drastically, transforming from docile packhorses into sea beasts eager to devour people!

In addition to modifying the ship, Shen Le also gathered all the veteran navigators and helmsmen familiar with the sea conditions and spread out a hand-drawn map of the Zhoushan Islands.

“The battle took place here,” he said, his finger moving slowly across the map.
"Based on the wind direction and tides, an unmanned ship that drifts here in a day could only have come from this circle. After the cargo ship was hijacked, the pirates, dragging the captured vessel, couldn't possibly sail against the wind for too long..."

He pondered, his gaze sweeping over the islands scattered across the map:

"They need shelter from the wind, they need supplies, especially... fresh water. Gentlemen, based on the wind direction these past few days, where are they most likely to go? Which of these islands has the most fresh water and the best harbor?"

"Hua Niao Shan!" the veteran naval officers exclaimed almost in unison.
"There's a bay over there, narrow at the mouth and wide at the belly, excellent shelter from the wind, with freshwater streams flowing down from the mountains! But there's not much freshwater, not enough to support many people or cultivate the land..."

Therefore, the Shen family did not consider this island when developing the outer sea islands. However, it was enough for pirates to temporarily land here!

What will the wind direction be like in the next few days? And what about the tides?

"The wind blows from the land to the sea! The pirates dare not go far; sailing against the wind would be disastrous if they didn't make it back! The eighteenth, nineteenth... it's the high tide!"
"If Zhang Manfan travels from here and times the tide correctly, he can reach his destination in a day and a night by taking advantage of the current!"

"it is good!"

Shen Le pointed heavily at the location of Flower and Bird Mountain, drawing a circle:

"Then this is it! They will most likely rest and sell their stolen goods here! -- Gentlemen, sixty years ago, my ancestor Shen Yuechu served as the chief thief officer. He modified ships, set out with the tide, and wiped out the pirates, achieving great merit in one fell swoop!"
Now, at the same time of year, with the same tides, and with the same effort to quell the pirates, it is all thanks to the blessings of our ancestors! Gentlemen, follow me out to sea to slay the pirates and rescue our compatriots!

(End of this chapter)