Chapter 705 Shipbuilding and Knife Casting

Su Chen personally trained theoretical knowledge such as sailors and helmsmen. If he practiced it, it would definitely not work. Not to mention helm and rowing, he would be a little dizzy even when riding the boat.

Because the wooden boats of this era are very shaking even if they are very large on the sea surface, Su Chen has been a little seasick these days.

Therefore, he only provides charts and compass to tell some principles of monsoons, such as summer monsoons and winter monsoons, why they come from different places, because one is the subtropical monsoon and the other is the influence of Siberian cold current.

These words, such as the navy captains and helmsman, have been listening to them for the first time.

However, Su Chen was not in a hurry to draw a map of the world, nor did he tell them that the earth was round and the moon revolved around the earth, because the moon's gravity caused tides and monsoon changes, etc.

It's too complicated, and I'm worried that these people won't understand it, and there's no need to do this step, which will make people feel incredible and extravagant.

And I am worried that once these maps flow out to the West, the Western Regions, etc. in advance, it is likely to accelerate the development of Europe in the Middle Ages.

Su Chen felt that after the Central Plains stabilized, we would gradually promote business development, balance the relationship between feudal society and capital society, and only by little reform can we always lead the world.

These developments of national destiny are not something Su Chen needs to consider for the time being. As long as he does not spread many advanced ideas and theories too early, he must be in his hands and use them little by little in the future.

"How much does the big ship we have currently load?"

"The general Hui, there is currently the largest ship, which is fifteen zhang long, three zhang deep, three zhang wide, and can carry four thousand materials."

When Su Chen heard this, he calculated in his mind that the unit of measurement for the load on ships in this era was equal to one stone, which was equivalent to 120 kilograms today. This large nautical ship can carry four thousand materials, that is, the load is 240 tons, which is also very large. However, there were even larger ships in the Song Dynasty, including thousands of tons.

According to records, during the reign of Huizong of the Northern Song Dynasty, the Song court ordered the dock to build two giant ships, one named "Dingxinli She Huaiyuan Kang Ji Shenzhou" and the other named "Zongli Sui Shenzhou".

The load capacity of these two giant ships is at least 6,000 materials. It is converted into today's unit of measurement, with a load of 360 tons and a displacement of more than 1,000 tons. No wonder the Song people described the shock of the two Shenzhous as "as towering as mountains, floating waves, with their heads on the heads of brocade sails and steeds, and surrendering to the dragons and dragons".

Su Chen asked: "How many big ships are there?"

A captain named Zhang Xiao replied: "There are twelve such large ships, and most of the others are slightly smaller ships."

In ancient times, ships were divided into three levels. The largest one was called "ship", the middle one was called "ship", and the third one was called "shell". The large ship had three sails and even twelve sails, and the sails were all made of bamboo as horizontal frames and woven into a mat.

One large ship can carry one thousand people, with six hundred sailors and four hundred soldiers inside, and three small boats attached to it.

Each boat has four floors, with many public and private rooms for customers. All the toilet secret rooms are well-equipped.

"How big is that boat?"

"It can carry two thousand materials!" Zhang Xiao replied.

"Oh, that's half smaller." Su Chen nodded and understood.

Su Chen asked again: "How many boats are there?"

"About thirty or forty ships!"

Su Chen hesitated for a moment and felt that these ships were warships, and they should not be too many for them to sail and trade. In the future, the Maritime Bureau would need to remake the ships themselves and develop more merchant ships.

"Okay, I'll tell you a few generals for now that you can lend us more ships and use them. When you do business with Liao Kingdom, sell those porcelain, liquor, soap, etc., you will get a lot of profits. Then the rebels will receive a lot of subsidies, which will benefit everyone."

After Su Chen said these words, he asked these naval lieutenants and helmsman to go back to digest first, and at the same time studied the chart route to prepare for going to sea in half a month.

After sending these navy members away, Su Chen received a report from Jing Hong, saying that the weapons workshop on the hillside had officially opened the furnace to cast weapons today, and asked Su Chen to go over and inspect.

This is an arsenal advocated by Su Chen. He chose an iron ore fifty miles away, and directly opened a weapon workshop here to cast weapons to improve the quality of weapons.

"Okay, I'll go over and take a look now."

Su Chen is now doing everything himself and has to see it himself.

At present, Su Chen is responsible for the secret spy department, maritime department, internal warehouse management, commercial system, weapons and equipment.

Because of these things, military generals such as Lu Chaoqun didn't know so many of them. They have occupied the island as kings over the years, and lived like pirates. Many of the materials are purchased and snatched, and there is no perfect operating mechanism on the island.

Therefore, this restoration organization came to land. Apart from fighting and fighting, it was not proficient in governing civil affairs, building a commercial system, taxation, and handling of the people. These require names and ministers.

Su Chen did this for the time being. Although he was not experienced enough, fortunately, Zhangzhou and Quanzhou were not in large territory, so he wanted to use it to practice.

Moreover, he has more than a thousand more vision than the people of this era, so he can naturally make accurate judgments in the general direction.

Half an hour later, Su Chen rode a horse and took Jing Hong and the guards to a mountain 50 miles outside the city of Tsutong.

There is iron ore here, and local materials are used to build an arsenal. It is very convenient, with mountains and rivers, and it is also convenient to obtain water.

Su Chen asked: "How many people are stationed here to protect the armoured workshop?"

"About five hundred people." Jing Hong replied.

Su Chen looked at it and felt that the facilities were simple and had not been completely built with a wall. He was just a wooden fence for the time being. He said seriously: "Send someone to build a high wall with bricks and stones to build a fortress and strictly protect it. I want to set up a Shenji battalion, which is specifically responsible for the construction of new weapons and the development of firearms. These are military secrets and cannot be spread out."

Jing Hong clasped his fists and said, "I understand, I will make arrangements for it."

Between the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty, a new type of war was formed. Due to the invention and use of gunpowder, hot weapons appeared on the stage of history, which was a major feature of wars in the middle and late Song Dynasty.

At this time, due to the lack of horses in the Central Plains, the cavalry's combat power was quite limited, mainly in infantry battles, city offensive and defensive battles and water battles.

On short-handed weapons, there are complex forms, including whips, sticks, hammers, etc., and they are used with long swords and spears during wartime to crack the enemy's armor.

Su Chen entered the weapon yard and saw the long sword that had just been made, which changed slightly from the Tang sword. The blade body was slightly curved, the head was wider, the spine was thin, and the shape was with a handguard, which was strong and powerful.

After observing the casting process, he found that the sword casters had used proficient steel clamping technology to improve the hardness of the knife, but it was not a real steelmaking technology.

Moreover, with the current sword shape, Su Chen thinks that it is not as useful as the Qi family sword.

In the Ming Dynasty, the casting knife was undergoing major changes due to the invasion of Japanese pirates. When the Ming Dynasty army fought against Japanese pirates, the weapons in their hands were often broken by the excellent Japanese pirates, and the casualties were extremely serious. Soon after, the Ming Dynasty's military industry developed a thick-back machete to resist. Although it was no longer easy to break, once the front chopping frame was cut, the blade was often rolled up and could not even hurt the enemy. Moreover, the weapon was heavy, which was far less flexible than the Japanese rift.

Therefore, General Qi Jiguang found someone to design the Qi family sword, which combined the characteristics of Tang sword and Japanese sword, and the overall strength was very good, which was very suitable for fighting on the battlefield.

Su Chen felt that if most of the infantry use the new Qi family sword, which is of excellent quality, then two sets of sword techniques are taught to allow the Shen Ce Army to practice day and night, the combat effectiveness will definitely cause the Wu Yue Army and the Song Army to suffer a great loss.
Chapter completed!