The Qing army's strength on the Qiantang River came from half of the Zhejiang naval division that had surrendered a few months earlier, but after several attacks by Zhang Mingzhen, less than 60% of the ships remained.

Zhu Linmiao was not too worried about this water division. What he paid the most attention to was the huge fleet that Zheng Zhilong brought to Shandong, which had defeated the Helan people in Liuluo Bay.

Although Zheng Zhilong was burned by Zheng Chenggong and Zhang Guoxuan when he fled Fujing, and lost some of his warships, his main ships basically had to escape.

At present, the warship in Zheng Zhilong's hands still retains more than sixty percent of its combat effectiveness at its peak. Fortunately, this fleet is still stationed in the port of Shandong, and it will not affect the battle situation on the Qiantang River for the time being, but Zhu Linmiao knows very well that sooner or later there will be a decisive battle between the Daming Navy Division and it.

When Zhu Linmiao's carriage and horse arrived in Yongbeili, it was already the hour.

He had thought that the craftsmen of the shipyard should have rested a long time ago, but he was still far away and saw that the shipyard was brightly lit, and there were loud shouts from time to time.

Guan Xiangyun, the head of the Department of Works, who was in charge of the shipyard's affairs, was already waiting outside the gate, and when he saw the car stop, he hurriedly brought his attachés forward to kneel and salute, "The lower officials pay a visit to His Royal Highness the Auxiliary King." ”

Zhu Linmian dragged a few people to get up, and then pointed to the shipyard and wondered: "It's about the main matter, why don't you let the craftsmen rest so late?" ”

Guan Xiangyun hurriedly said: "Your Highness is clear, the lower officials dare not stop the craftsmen from working." He glanced at the torch-fringed slipway, "Your Highness allows the craftsmen to practice a merit-based wage system, and the more they work, the more they will get more silver." So all the shipwrights threw themselves on the slipway except for eating and sleeping, and almost all of them had to work for seven or eight hours a day. ”

Zhu Linmiao frowned when she heard this: "How can you do it for seven or eight hours a day?" This craftsman ......"

He wanted to say that "the bodies of the craftsmen will not be able to bear it", but as soon as he said the first half of the sentence, several shipwrights and foremen accompanying him, that is, the elders of the nearby villages, immediately bowed down to his side when they heard this, and one of them said anxiously: "Your Highness, you said at the beginning, you will be paid if you continue to work after work." You—Can't you go back......"

He dared to think that the auxiliary king was distressed about wages and wanted to stop the performance-based wage system.

Zhu Linmiao laughed when she heard this, and hurriedly said, "I'm just worried that everyone's body can't bear it." Seeing the resolute expressions on the faces of several clan elders, he had to order Guan Xiangyun, "In the future, everyone will have an extra night snack every day, and the shipyard will pay for it." By the way, there are many meats in the food on weekdays, these craftsmen are the treasures of the Ming Dynasty. ”

Guan Xiangyun hurriedly said: "The lower official obeys the order." ”

The group continued to walk towards the interior of the shipyard, and Zhu Linmiao looked around, this shipyard was completely different from a few months ago.

At the foot of the road are several flat roads paved with concrete, connecting more than a dozen sheds. The sheds are almost all newly built, with uniform white lacquer columns, extremely tall and spacious, with guards standing guard outside the door and the sound of hammers and saws inside. Others held small flags and torches at the fork in the road to direct the vehicles carrying timber to avoid each other.

The whole shipyard is no longer a small workshop in the countryside, and has a faint taste of a modern factory.

After walking for a while, Zhu Linmiao raised his eyes and saw that a huge warship on the nearest slipway had been basically completed. Some craftsmen are dismantling the surrounding wooden frames, while dozens of others are hanging in mid-air with ropes to paint.

The warship was six or seven zhang long, nearly one and a half zhang high, and it was like a huge beast of prey.

On each side of the hull there are eleven square gun muzzles, and the masts on the deck are several feet high pointing into the night sky, indicating that its firepower and speed are excellent.

Zhu Linmiao had a wooden model exactly like this ship in his previous life, and he never thought that he would actually build it one day.

He was very familiar with the ship, which was modeled after a five-class light cruiser designed by the British at the end of the seventeenth century, about 300 tons. However, when drawing the drawings, he incorporated a lot of eighteenth-century technology into the design of the hull mechanism and gun emplacement, and the overall performance was much stronger than that of its motherboard.

Although this ship is only 300 tons, its combat effectiveness is by no means the same as that of the Junk ship-shaped warship commonly used by the Ming Dynasty.

Take the main warships of the Daming Navy Division before, for example, although its displacement was more than 500 tons, it could only carry one or two 12-pound heavy guns, supplemented by four 6-9-pound side guns, a total of no more than six cannons.

It was the Daxi ship that Zheng Zhilong had ordered the Luzon craftsmen to improve, and at most it could carry an additional 12-pounder gun and two or three 6-pounder guns, and the side panels of the ship were slightly thickened, which was not a big improvement.

The Galen warship in front of Zhu Linmiao had a special gun deck and an open-air deck, which could carry 22 guns and sail at a speed of about 12 knots.

And because of the low position of the gun deck, the guns mounted inside have little effect on the stability of the hull when firing, so although the hull is much smaller than that of the big ship, it can be equipped with an eighteen-pounder gun! At the same time there were four twelve-pounder guns.

That is to say, but looking at the cannon firepower, this warship is basically comparable to three large ships of more than 500 tons. However, in the actual naval battle, the three large ships were constrained by communication and coordination, and the firepower density should be even worse.

In terms of speed, it is difficult for a large ship with a hard sail to reach a speed of five knots even if it is downwind, and a fuku ship is a little slower.

The Galen warship, on the other hand, was able to reach speeds of more than seven knots at full sail. In naval battles, whoever is fast will be able to seize the upper hand position, thus gaining a great advantage in battle.

This is also the reason why Zhu Linmiao was confident that he would defeat the Qing fleet with the inferior number of warships of the Ming Naval Division.

"Your Highness, this ship has been basically completed, and it can be launched as soon as the paint is dry." Guan Xiangyun pointed to the slipway in the distance, but the torch light was not enough, but he couldn't see it clearly, "It's the largest warship, according to the Luzon boatman, it will be completed in three or five days." ”

"The biggest? You mean the five-hundred-ton ship? ”

According to Zhu Linmiao's request, all the warships of the Ming Dynasty have been changed to "displacement" to describe the size, and the units have also been uniformly measured in "tons".

Guan Xiangyun was already familiar with this, and immediately nodded: "Back to Your Highness, it is the five-hundred-ton warship. ”

Zhu Linmiao couldn't help but be surprised when she heard this: "It only took four months to build? How can it be so fast? ”

It has only been four months since the Yongbeili shipyard began operation, and even if the shipwrights keep working overtime, the speed is too frightening.

Guan Xiangyun looked a little proud and said: "Back to His Highness, it actually only took three and a half months.

"The craftsmen worked hard day and night. Second, the patent method set up by His Royal Highness was gradually accepted by craftsmen, and many useful techniques were reported to the Patent Division, which greatly improved the speed of shipbuilding. ”

(End of chapter) ()

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