Global colonization began with Ming Dynasty pirates.

After Lin Hao and the others climbed the small hill, they found that it was indeed as Lin De had said. The hill was less than twenty feet high, and compared with the surrounding mountains, it was considered a low-lying area. Moreover, the side facing the stronghold was even higher, which meant that only about ten feet of the hill actually needed to be leveled.

The group stood on the hillside and looked around. Then Lin Hao asked Lin De, "What are your specific plans?"

Linde pointed to the slopes on both sides and said, "I plan to dig down about ten feet here, flatten the entire hillside, and turn it into a valley that can be traversed by horse-drawn carriages."

Lin Hao slowly shook his head after hearing this: "It's too troublesome. Although this mountain isn't very high, it would still require a lot of manpower and resources to level it. Moreover, this mountain is thirty zhang high, and if you dig down ten zhang, both sides will still be slopes. How about this, we can just dig a tunnel on both sides, which would be much less strenuous. I don't think the soil here is from a place with hard rocks."

Linde was taken aback upon hearing this. He had never considered digging a tunnel before. After a moment of contemplation, he slowly said, "A tunnel? I've never thought of that before, but do we have the right manpower? Won't it cause problems if we start digging rashly?"

People in this era rarely see tunnels. Since they don't usually see them, they naturally can't imagine them. However, Lin Hao used to drive through tunnels all the time in his previous life, so when he saw this mountain, his first thought was to dig a tunnel.

This place, though called a mountain, is actually a valley between two mountains, just still higher than the surrounding ones. Leveling it off would be an enormous undertaking. And since the valley itself isn't very wide, a tunnel of about 100-200 meters would be sufficient. Fortunately, the Four Seas Gang has the talent for this.

"Uncle De, don't forget where we're from. A while ago, a group of fellow villagers from Yiwu came here. They work in mines all year round, and digging tunnels here is much easier than digging mine shafts. I'll go to their place another day and find some people with experience in this area for you, Uncle De."

This was something Lin De had never considered. But upon hearing what Lin Hao said, Lin De immediately realized that compared to the rocky mining areas, digging tunnels on these small hills was a piece of cake.

After descending the earthen slope, the group walked only a few hundred meters forward to a bustling construction site. Here, countless workers were working diligently, and the outline of a vast village was beginning to take shape before the three of them.

The entire village is long and narrow, stretching north and south along the valley. At its southernmost point, it is close to the sea, where a new pier is also under construction.

At that time, the dock where the shipyard is located will be used to dock warships and new ships belonging to the Four Seas Gang, while the dock will mainly be used to dock merchant ships to transport daily necessities and commercial goods, thus completing the separation of the military port and the civilian port.

This village is very large, six times the size of the original Dongluo Island village. In Lin Hao's plan, it should normally accommodate five or six thousand people, and if squeezed in, 10,000 people wouldn't be a problem.

After inspecting the new village on Nangantang Island, Lin Hao and the others returned to the old village. By this time, Lin Chengzong had also recovered.

"Father, why don't you rest here for the day? Uncle San and I will go back first," Lin Hao suggested, noticing the other man's pale face.

"No need." Lin Chengzong quickly waved his hand, then hurriedly explained, "I was careless before, so I wasn't prepared and made a fool of myself, but now I'm prepared and I definitely won't get seasick again."

"Okay, whatever makes you happy." Lin Hao shrugged helplessly.

The three then boarded the ship again and directed it slowly toward Dongluo Island. They had come with the wind, but were returning against it. The sailors on board were astonished to find that this new sailboat moved incredibly smoothly against the wind. A traditional small boat would have been forced to zigzag at a snail's pace in such winds, but this sailboat was truly magical; with just a slight adjustment of the sail, the entire vessel moved effortlessly against the wind, and at a considerable speed.

Once the sailors had fully mastered the technique of sailing against the wind and the ship's speed was becoming more and more stable, Lin Hao once again ordered the ship's speed to be measured.

Soon, the measurement results came out. Even against the wind, the ship's speed reached 6 knots. Moreover, Lin Hao felt that the ship was far from reaching its limit. Once the sailors became more proficient, it wouldn't be impossible for it to go even faster.

An hour and a half later, the three single-masted sailing ships successfully arrived in the bay of Dongluo Island.

After Lin Hao and the others disembarked, the shipyard's craftsmen towed the ships back to the dock and then carefully inspected the three ships to see if the structure was still normal and if there were any undetected leaks.

However, the result was the same: the hull was intact, with no signs of leaks. Normally, after a ship is launched, the hull undergoes a significant change in stress, and some previously hidden problems will be exposed; this process usually takes several days. If, after several days, the hull remains normal, it means the entire vessel has passed quality standards and is ready for delivery.

Therefore, even though the test to Nangantang Island was completed today, it does not mean that the three ships are normal. More tests will be conducted next, including the most important test of loading the artillery.

Two days later, Guo Kai came to report again: "Young Master Qi, after three days of sea trials, these three ships still have no problems. The overall structure is very stable. We can proceed with the artillery testing now."

Lin Hao nodded and said, "Okay, let's start with the small cannons, then gradually increase the size to the 6-pounder and 12-pounder cannons, and finally fire the 6-pounder and 12-pounder cannons together to see how much strain it puts on the ship."

Subsequently, the crew carried the cannons onto the deck and conducted firing tests directly on the deck. After a series of measurements, they found that even firing a 12-pound cannon had little impact on the overall structure of the ship, which can be said to be very sturdy.

After some consideration, Lin Hao finally decided to mount four 6-pound cannons on each side of the three ships and one 12-pound cannon on the bow, for a total of nine Hongyi cannons.

On the stern deck at the very back, there are two 360-degree rotating turrets on each side, equipped with Lin Hao's favorite Franco cannons as shotguns for spraying the deck in close combat.

This force configuration, coupled with its excellent flexibility, is sufficient to deal with ordinary merchant ships.

Although Lin Hao also wanted to mount 12-pounder guns on the broadside, that would make the entire ship too cramped, and prolonged salvo firing could risk breaking the ship apart. Moreover, based on test results, the recoil from four 12-pounder guns firing simultaneously was still too great for such a small boat. Therefore, the final configuration was four 6-pounder guns on the broadside.

"There's one more thing," Lin Hao called out to Guo Kai, who was turning to leave. "When I was piloting this ship, I felt that its potential hadn't been fully realized. Our original sail design was a bit too conservative. The triangular sail at the bow and the sails on the mast could be made a bit bigger. Get a few new ones up in the next few days, and then test them to see how they perform."

Guo Kai nodded quickly and replied, "Yes, Young Master, I'll take care of it right away."

Lin Hao shook his head upon hearing this: "No, let someone else handle this. You and I will confirm it first, and then we'll proceed with the construction of larger ships at the new shipyard."