Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

On the open ground on both sides of the dock, the old man and most of the important people of the Four Seas Gang were present.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of all the craftsmen and laborers at the shipyard, the three single-masted schooners were completed half a month ahead of schedule.

As it turns out, money truly is the primary driving force for humanity. Almost everyone at the shipyard, like Guo Kai, sported the same dark circles under their eyes. And before this, several craftsmen had already collapsed from exhaustion, making it impossible for them to attend today.

However, the results are also encouraging. The three 200-ton single-masted schooners were officially delivered in less than two months and are just waiting to be launched for testing.

Meanwhile, the shipyard's craftsmen were busily working in the dock. They were conducting final tests before launching and adjusting the entire vessel's balance using ballast.

"This ship is really beautiful! It looks much better than the other ships. This ship must be quite fast, right?" Although the old man didn't know much about ships, he could still sense that this ship was powerful.

To prevent corrosion of the hulls by marine organisms and bacteria such as shipworms and barnacles, a dense protective layer of lime mixed with tung oil was applied to the bottom of all three new sailing ships. This relatively tough protective film can isolate the hull from seawater erosion and slow down the rate of wood decay. At the same time, the alkaline environment created by the lime and water can effectively inhibit the growth of marine organisms such as shipworms and barnacles.

With its pure white sails, the entire vessel exudes a clean and tidy white hull from top to bottom. Combined with its slender and graceful shape, the whole ship looks exceptionally beautiful.

"Grandpa is truly an expert; he spotted the most important characteristic of this ship compared to others at a glance. That's right, the biggest feature of these three ships is speed! No Ming Dynasty ship can escape its pursuit. It will be a crucial cornerstone for the rise of our Lin family." Lin Hao was equally delighted. In reality, drawing something is one thing, but actually bringing it to life is quite another. Looking at these three ships, Lin Hao felt a surge of pride; these were his own ships. They were also one of the most important tools he would use to leverage this era.

At this moment, Lin Hao reached out and nudged Lin Chengfeng, who was staring intently at the new ship, and asked, "Third Uncle, what do you think of this ship? Does it live up to the promise I made to you? How do these three ships compare to those three Fujian ships?"

"Haha, Hao'er never disappoints. This ship... this ship looks quite ordinary, but we'll have to go out to sea and try it out to find out for sure." Lin Chengfeng stared intently at the three ships, his fondness for them growing stronger.

"But Hao, why is this ship using the same soft sails as the foreigners? Will our sailors be able to handle them?" Lin Chengfeng asked, scratching his head as he looked at the sails being hoisted on the ship.

Upon hearing this, Hao smiled and reassured him, "Uncle, don't worry. Although these are soft sails, they are fore-and-aft sails. They are just as easy to operate as the hard sails on our Fujian ships. Moreover, the underlying principles are similar, so I believe the sailors will be able to operate them skillfully after a little practice."

"I remember you also made some kind of fan-shaped sail before, saying it would help ships sail better against the wind. Then you put it on the ship that Second Brother and the others were sailing south, right? Why doesn't this ship use those sails?" Lin Chengfeng quickly got into the swing of things, and his questions came one after another, getting straight to the heart of the matter.

"What my third uncle said makes sense. On smaller boats, the fan-shaped sail is actually more convenient than this soft sail. But even the fan-shaped sail is much heavier than the soft sail. This situation severely limits our ability to build larger boats, so I chose the soft sail from the beginning to train enough sailors familiar with it, so that when we build larger boats in the future, we can seamlessly switch over without having to train additional sailors."

As we know from the laminar flow effect, the higher the altitude, the greater the wind speed. Large sailing ships, in order to obtain sufficient thrust, must continuously raise their masts to capture the wind power at higher altitudes.

The fan-shaped sail combines the advantages of both Chinese rigid sails and triangular sails, while also mitigating the excessive weight of rigid sails. However, compared to Western soft sails, its weight still exceeds the standard. This may not be a problem for small and medium-sized vessels, but for large ships with tall masts, this weight seriously affects the ship's balance and puts enormous pressure on the mast.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Lin Hao made the following decision: All warships would continue to use the mature and reliable Western-style soft sails, proven by later generations. On all existing Chinese ships, Lin Hao decided to remove the square, rigid bamboo sails and replace them with fan-shaped sails.

While the Lin family members were talking, preparations were finally completed inside the houseboat.

As the dock slowly filled with seawater, the entire ship began to float on the water.

Subsequently, the shipwrights and their crew continuously inspected the ship to check for any leaks.

If a new ship is launched, it is prone to leaks if any part is not handled properly, especially if there are structurally weak areas, which may even crack on the spot.

After half an hour of careful inspection, the shipwright finally reported to Lin Hao that all the boats had been inspected and there were no leaks.

It's clear the shipwrights put a lot of care into these three ships. All the work was done beautifully, which is why things went so smoothly today.

"Chief and Young Master, all the ships have been inspected and no leaks have been found. All other checks are normal. Shall we move the ships out of the dock?" Guo Kai reported loudly to the Lin family members.

The old man glanced at the man's prominent panda eyes, then chuckled and said, "Master Guo, you've worked hard. Tomorrow, take the craftsmen to the accounting office to collect your reward money."

"Thank you, Chief. I am willing to go through fire and water for the sect without hesitation," Guo Kai said excitedly, patting his chest. The disciples and craftsmen behind him cheered and jumped up. They had been working day and night for so long, all for this, and now that they heard these words, a huge weight had been lifted from their hearts.

"Alright, let's get on the boat. Grandpa, you watch from below. Uncle and I will go up and try out these boats." After saying that, Lin Hao was about to lead his third uncle onto the boat.

Unexpectedly, Lin Chengzong, who had been silent all along, suddenly said, "Wait a minute, how can we test the ships without me? There are three ships here, let's each take one."

"Father, what are you doing on the ship? You can stay here with Grandpa." Lin Hao was immediately at a loss. Unlike Lin Hao and Lin Chengfeng, Lin Chengzong didn't spend every day at sea. His understanding of ships was quite limited, and naturally, he didn't know how to operate one.

"Cough cough, that won't do. I've never tried a test ship before, especially a new type of vessel. I'm going to have my fill of it today." Lin Chengzong held Lin Hao's hand tightly.

"Grandpa, look!" Lin Hao asked the old man helplessly. He couldn't refuse his father, but if the old man spoke up, his father wouldn't dare to talk back.

"Hehe, I'll be fine here. If Chengzong wants to go, then let him go. Perhaps Hao'er lacks confidence in his ship?" The old man stroked his beard and chuckled.

"Please rest assured, Chief, we have thoroughly inspected these three ships inside and out. I guarantee with my life that there will be absolutely no problems." Seeing this, Guo Kai quickly assured him.

"Since that's the case, let's go have some fun. It's a rare occasion to be happy, so let's enjoy ourselves," the old man said with a smile.

Since the old man had spoken, Lin Hao felt embarrassed to refuse, and the three of them boarded a ship respectively.