When Edmond Dantès returned to Tianjin with the Spanish galleon renamed Zheng He, he stood on the bow of the ship and observed the waterway, and found that there seemed to be a lot more buildings on both sides of the Haihe River than when he left Tianjin three or four months ago.

The main stream of the Haihe River from the mouth of the Sancha River below the Jingang Bridge to the mouth of the Dagu River is the main stream of the Haihe River, which is 76 kilometers long and nearly 200 meters wide. Because the river body moved back, similar to sheep intestines, it is also called Gu River, and it is named after Gu Duo (the land is faced with water on three sides, and its protruding part is called Gu, which is equivalent to the convex bank in the river meander). The Haihe River is known as the 72 Gu, and these Gu land are suitable places for the construction of river ports.

Since the water volume of the five major tributaries of the Haihe River is concentrated in the main stream of the Haihe River at this time, the main stream of the Haihe River, which is usually about 200 meters wide, can often expand to 4 or 500 meters when it floods during the flood season.

In order to alleviate the flood disaster in the main stream of the Haihe River, last year, in addition to building and reinforcing dams on both sides of the main stream of the Haihe River and building reservoirs to store water in the upper reaches of the river, the headquarters of the Haihe River Control Project also maintained and newly excavated the water volume of the Sinusi River, the Jiemaying River, the Xingji River, the Machang River, the Qinglongwan River, and the Basket Port River.

After this rectification, although there is no effect to be seen, the shipping efficiency of the Haihe River has been greatly increased. Now ships under 300 tons can sail directly from the mouth of Dagu to the mouth of the Sancha River under the King Kong Bridge, although the stone arch bridge built in the Southern Song Dynasty looks a little broken, but it still bears the important task of communicating the people on both sides of the Haihe River.

However, with the opening of Tianjin Port, the transportation of goods on both sides of the Haihe River has become more and more frequent. The King Kong Bridge is too far away from the new business district southeast of the Tianjin Acropolis, and it is also a little narrower, so it is necessary to build a new bridge to the east of the Tianjin Acropolis, which has become the hottest topic among the gentry and common people in Tianjin.

However, for the imperial court, there are only two most important wharves on the Haihe River, one is the military wharf at the mouth of Dagu, and the other is the Zizhulin wharf opposite the Dazhigu in the southeast of the Tianjin Acropolis.

Needless to say, the military wharf at the mouth of Dagu is close to the river and the sea, and even the largest ships can be berthed. And Zizhulin Wharf here, because of the vast water surface, can also berth sailing ships of less than 1,000 tons.

Originally named the "San Juan", now known as the "Zheng He", the Spanish galleon can sail directly to the new pier of Zizhulin without hindrance. On the other side of the river, Dazhigu is the old fishing boat wharf in Tianjin.

Located on the west bank of the Haihe River in Majiakou, Zizhulin was originally a small village inhabited by a few families. Because it is far from the Acropolis, there are not many people living in the area. There are no buildings in the vicinity except for reeds, ditches, and fields.

Therefore, the inner government purchased thousands of acres of land near the river, and planned 6 docking piers along the river near the Zizhu Forest, which are about 1,500 meters long, and between the new wharf and the Acropolis, is the new business district planned by the Tianjin Municipal Hall.

Before Edmond Dantès sailed to sea, the new pier was only completed in one place, while the rest of the river was still filling in the low-lying areas of the river with stones and stakes. But when he returned, two new piers were already in use, and four others were already in shape.

With only two new wharves put into use, the bustle of the Zizhulin wharf area has overwhelmed the old wharf area on the other side. The efficiency of this construction made the Dutch, who were accustomed to the construction of the Republic, admire it.

In his view, Chinese officials were significantly more efficient at driving people to build large projects than in Amsterdam, which relied entirely on merchant construction teams. After all, the former needs to consider the return on any project, so it will not be built with a complete plan.

The Chinese, on the other hand, started construction after the entire dock area was planned, and they did not need to look ahead like those businessmen, stopping from time to time to raise funds, or reducing the scale of construction due to lack of funds.

The Republic's approach to the construction of public works is more flexible and the use of funds is more efficient. However, there is also a lack of planning, which leads to more duplicate construction and interruption of construction, and on the whole, the construction cost has not been reduced much.

Although the Chinese government-led public works construction method has some problems of waste and too advanced, if proper planning and decision-making can be carried out, it can not only greatly reduce construction costs, but also greatly improve construction efficiency.

Of course, in Edmond Dantès's view, the Republic and China have their own advantages and disadvantages in the construction of public works, but they are far ahead of other countries in the East and West.

After Edmond Dantès disembarked at Pier 1 of the Purple Bamboo Forest, he waited for the Governor of the Inner Government at the dock to make a simple handover. In addition to carrying a team of geological prospectors to Dongjiang Town, he also went north to the Whale Sea with the fleet under the command of the Donghai Patrol Prefecture to conquer and investigate the northern part of Sakhalin Island and the estuary of the Heilongjiang River.

Of course, his main task was to carry two classes of naval non-commissioned officers to sea for sea trials. Let them be familiar with what sea navigation is, and in addition, it is to run in the relationship between the non-commissioned officers and students of the navy, the officers and men of the Ming Army's naval divisions, and the old sailors retained by galleons, so that they can become familiar with them as soon as possible, so as to form the combat effectiveness of their own ships.

This "Zheng He", with a load of more than 500 tons, is a typical Spanish galleon, with a length-to-width ratio of 4:1 and a graceful arc. But after being sent to Tianjin, the craftsmen of the Tianjin shipyard, in addition to carrying out an overhaul of the ship in order to fully measure the ship's proportions, also made changes to the ship in the style of British ships.

With Chongzhen's personal approval, the towering bow building in front of the sailboat was demolished, and the stern building, which originally had a two-story structure, was also demolished by one floor. Of the ship's 24 guns, eight of them were replaced with undercaliber guns. After these changes, the ship naturally became somewhat unrecognizable.

Edmond Dantès was originally very opposed to such blind modifications, after all, the Chinese were not familiar with the risks of ocean navigation, while Spanish galleons have existed for hundreds of years and have a wealth of successful sailing experience. What's more, the current naval battle is still dominated by gang-hopping tactics, although the British Navy led by Drake used artillery to destroy the Spanish Invincible Armada, but it did not change the basic way of naval warfare in European countries.

The Dutch admirals still used the ancient gang-jumping tactics to fight against the Spanish fleet, the British fleet, and the pirate fleet, and won many victories, firmly controlling the open seas of the Republic, which was one of the reasons why the Spaniards were never able to recover the Low Countries.

As a Dutchman, Edmond Dantès was a supporter of the melee melee faction now revered by the Dutch Navy. The so-called melee melee faction advocates choosing a favorable moment at any time during the battle, allowing the commander of the detachment or the commander of the warship to lead the ships to leave the formation, giving full play to the subjective initiative of the subordinates, and winning the naval battle by concentrating on attacking some of the enemy's warships.

The melee faction believed that their own ships should get as close as possible to the enemy ships, and after using the cannon fodder of 2-3 ships to attack the local single ship at close range, and destroy the morale of the enemy ships, they immediately launched a gang jump operation to completely capture the enemy ships.

The tactics of melee advocated by Edmond Dantès are contrary to Zhu Youzhen's long-standing assertion that the battle formation must be maintained from beginning to end in naval battles. But Zhu Youzhen did not immediately veto this method, after all, his understanding of naval warfare only exists in history and books, while Edmond Dantès is the real actual combat commander who grew up from naval warfare.

After several communications with Edmond Dantès, as well as several discussions with members of the General Staff. Zhu Youzhen finally understood why the Dutch now admired melee tactics so much as the current sea coachman.

First, the current artillery power and range are insufficient, and the formation tactics will waste the firing of most of your own artillery. And the power of the artillery is insufficient, so that the attack with artillery alone cannot make the enemy ship ineffective. Only after a few rounds of artillery strikes, hand-to-hand combat can completely eliminate a ship's ability to resist.

The second is the relationship involving the spoils of war. The navy is an expensive service, and the meager amount of money paid by the state alone cannot retain the experienced captains and sailors, after all, the merchant ships are much more paid than the navy. Only the possibility of obtaining spoils of war in the midst of war made these captains and sailors happy to be driven by the state.

Even without counting the cargo on board, a ship alone is worth at least tens of thousands of guilders. Therefore, instead of sinking a ship, it is better to reward the captured ship to the meritorious one, so that the officers and men of the navy will be happy to participate in the war.

What's more, ocean voyages are now an adventure, and even experienced European navigators often die from various natural disasters and diseases that occur during ocean voyages. If the captain and sailor did not have the courage to face death directly, then the Ming would not have been able to breed a true ocean-going navigator.

Edmond Dantès's reasoning finally convinced Zhu Youzhen half of it, and the other half because he understood that with the change of time and the rise of artillery production technology, melee melee tactics were bound to die. The tactics of piracy will inevitably give way to the tactics of formations with sufficient logistical supplies.

But before that, it is better to let the cadets of the Navy understand the European understanding of naval warfare. Although Zhu Youzhen made some concessions in teaching melee tactics, he still insisted on taking the road of regularization in terms of the development goals of the navy.

For example, for the renovation of the "San Juan", Zhu Youzhen supported the rectification plan, resolutely removed the bow building used to support deck warfare on the Spanish sailing ship, and reduced the height of the stern building.

Although this was frustrating for Edmond Dantès at first, after this voyage, he finally realized the benefits of such a modification. The yacht now looks a little lower, but it shows more speed and more consistent seaworthiness when sailing.

If it weren't for the fact that the cadets and Chinese sailors were not accustomed to soft sails, Edmond Dantès believed that a direct voyage from Tianjin to Nagasaki, Japan, could be compressed into 12-14 days. 7 or 8 days from Nagasaki to Vladivostok is enough. If it's a tailwind, the time can be shortened.