Liu Pei interjected and said, "I know this." The soft sail requires a lot of sailors to work together, so they need a lot of people on board. ”

Hou Jie nodded and said, "That's true." In terms of warships, the Chinese ships were slightly inferior. Let's talk about merchant ships and transport ships, and the advantages of Chinese design for this type of ship are reflected! First of all, Chinese ships use hard sails, which require fewer sailors. The extra space can be loaded with more water and cargo. And the anti-sinking performance is very good, which is conducive to the transportation of bulk goods. I'm talking about ocean-going vessels. As for the offshore vessels, they also have their own advantages. If you want to know more, I can introduce you to some articles to read. ”

Liu Pei waved his hand and said, "Then forget it, I can't read it!" But according to what you say, if China also entered the development of the Great Voyage during the Great Voyage, then the best way is to use the Western style of warships and the Chinese style of transport ships? ”

Hou Jie said: "This still can't be generalized! To know. The most used ships in the Age of Discovery were not simply warships and transports. There is almost no real need for pure warships and transports. Because at that time, the most people who ran on the sea were armed merchant ships, that is, ships that could fight wars and transport goods. Like you say, it's too extreme. Moreover, during the Age of Discovery, the most popular thing for navies and pirates of various countries to do was to attack transport ships and merchant ships. If you use all Chinese-style merchant ships, you can certainly transport a lot more things and increase a lot of profits. But their speed is so slow that they can't escape in the event of an encounter! So, it's not about what ships you want, but objectively what ships you need. ”

Liu Pei nodded in understanding and said, "It seems that this is the only way." I'll go back and continue to use Western-style boats for the bigwigs. You first help me make the models and drawings of all the Western-style warships and transports. I'll give you a fee of 50,000 yuan for this part, and the cost of drawings and models will be calculated separately. However, Professor Hou, your design can't stop, you have to consider the two ship design ideas comprehensively, and help me design a new ship, which must be a series. The cost is yours. ”

Hou Jie said: "That's fine. Drawings of sailboats like these, I have them on my computer. And there are some boats, which I have optimized at my leisure. I'll take care of the rest. Then you can make the model. But which Western country's ships would you like to follow as a template? ”

Liu Pei thought for a while and said, "I tend to be British. After all, it used to be an empire on which the sun never sets, and their ships must have some advantages. ”

Hou Jie shook his head and said: "In war, ships are an important factor, but not the main factor!" Talent is! You just hand over the latest ships to a group of armies that have no will to turn to war, and they will still lose! In this way, I used British ships as the main body, supplemented by ships from other countries, and tried to produce a series of ship drawings and models. However, this part of the cost is not low. The point is that making models is very cumbersome, I can't do it alone, and I have to hire a lot of helpers. ”

Liu Pei said: "It doesn't matter how many people you invite or how much you spend. This part of the cost is mine. Just hope you can finish it soon. ”

Hou Jie said with a smile: "Of course I will finish it as soon as possible." There aren't many opportunities to make extra money so easily. Then they talked a lot about naval vessels, which was an eye-opener for Liu Pei. I pay a lot of attention to the materials alone.

In fact, in ancient times, as in today, the materials used to build warships in various maritime powers were generally better than the timber used in ordinary civilian merchant ships and fishing boats. The merchant ships of the Age of Sail and Discovery were generally made of local materials by the people. There are fir wood, pine wood, oak wood. The best of these is oak. In the beginning, most of the ancient European sail warships were made of oak.

Sometimes in order to save oak, elm is also used under the waterline. At that time, there were no rainforests in all of Europe, so after the Europeans sailed to Africa and Asia, they discovered a better marine material than oak, which was teak. Teak is almost a wood born specifically for nautical purposes. Teak wood is dense and lighter than water. In the case of sun, rain, dry and wet changes, it does not warp or crack; Strong water and fire resistance; It can resist termites and sea insects in different sea areas, and is extremely resistant to rot. Good drying performance, good adhesive, paint, waxing performance. The reason for this characteristic is that teak naturally contains silicon.

Until now, many minesweepers in Western countries have shells made entirely of teak; The dock compartment of the French Mistral amphibious ship, the interior deck is also still "decorated" with teak, which is used to prevent collisions and corrosion. It can be seen that teak is of great significance to navigation. The old teak used on the sea ship is a treasure in the furniture world.

So the main materials for the production of ancient European sail warships, except for oak. This is followed by Cuban mahogany and Asian teak. Oak and teak also have a good advantage of making battleships, that is, there are fewer wood chips. In the event of a war with an enemy or pirate, the less debris the solid shells hit the ship's wood, the better. Too much debris is easy to injure, which is equal to the effect of the explosion later.

Ocean-going sailing vessels made of cedar or elm actually last up to 5 to 7 years. At that time, I was able to make a trip from Europe to Asia. Two or three trips will make a super profit. It is no longer possible to run any longer, because the cork hull is at risk of being corroded by seawater and marine life and sinking through leaky water. However, naval warships made of teak and mahogany can be used for 30 to 50 years, which is basically the same as the life of today's steel warships!

After hearing this, Liu Pei secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Luckily, the timber is available here in China. In the northeast of China, oak trees grow in abundance. As for teak, there are as many as there in Southeast Asia. It's just that it's difficult to transport. But don't worry, when the time comes, just catch more little black monkeys from Southeast Asia as slaves and go to logging specifically!

After Professor Hou's detailed introduction, Liu Pei was really eye-opening! He realized that he had taken things for granted in the Navy. If you go according to your own plan, I'm afraid you will only come up with a navy that is not like four! When the mistake is discovered and corrected at that time, I am afraid that the lives of a large number of naval soldiers will be sacrificed, which will make Liu Pei's plan completely fail!

No wonder everyone says 10 years of the Army, 100 years of the Navy! All the technologies in this are accumulated from generation to generation, and they really don't come out of the head! If it weren't for Liu Pei's support from modern society, he would have dreamed of a fool if he wanted to build a navy in the last years of the Ming Dynasty!

So Liu Pei thought again and again and said, "Professor Hou, thank you for telling me this today!" Otherwise, I'm afraid I'll make a big joke. I have a suggestion, I don't know if you can take it. ”

Hou Jie said: "Say it. I try to think about it. ”

Liu Pei said seriously: "I want to entrust you to do a more systematic project. On the one hand, when it comes to the design and construction of ships, you need to systematically help me organize all the tricks and points to pay attention to. If necessary, we will make a model. The other is to help me collect and sort out the rules of battle in naval battles of sail warships. The same is compiled. In order to reach the level of allowing a group of people who know nothing to be trained, a group of qualified sailors can be trained according to the manual. Of course, I can pay for this work, and the time will have to be fast. ”

Hou Jie thought carefully for a while and said, "I can accept this job, but there is one thing I must make clear to Mr. Liu. The Age of Discovery is too far away, and there is a lot of information that has not been handed down at that time. There are also a lot of materials that are only a few words. I can only guarantee that most of the things that have been sorted out for you are correct, but there are definitely omissions. As for the training materials for naval personnel, it is simple, and many foreign museums and libraries have ready-made materials, but it takes time to translate and sort them out. ”

Liu Pei was relieved when he heard that there was no problem with the most important thing, and said, "No problem." Then over to you! Today we initialed an agreement, and I will transfer you a deposit of 300,000 yuan. After you have calculated the relevant expenses, we will formally sign the contract and make the payment. What do you think? ”

Hou Jie made a move: "Deal!" ”

Liu Pei shook his hand vigorously and said meaningfully: "My navy depends on you!" ”