Shen Tingyang did not answer Chongzhen's question immediately, he sorted out his thoughts in his mind before replying to Chongzhen: "According to His Majesty's proposal to calculate the volume and tonnage of ships by displacement, the minister seriously discussed with the director of Tianjin Shipyard when he went to Beijing this time, and I think it is feasible.

Subtracting the displacement of a ship when it is empty in a fully loaded cargo state is much more reasonable than measuring the bow of a ship in the past. It is also convenient for customs officers to measure and collect ship taxes.

As for His Majesty's question about the level of ship tax, it is difficult for the minister to determine for a while, but he can take the example of the freight ships of the north and the south. A ton of white grain is transported from Shanghai to Tianjin, which costs about 364 yuan in freight, which is about 26 taels per ton. On the return trip, carry other goods, at least 14 taels/ton, Shanghai to Tianjin a year round trip, about 3-4 times.

That is, the annual output value of each tonnage is 12 taels -16 taels, and now the cost of a sand ship is about 3 taels per tonnage, and the service life will not be less than 10 years. Together with the crew's salaries and other consumables inputs, it is about 37 taels per tonnage.

In this way, it can be roughly estimated that the owner can earn 8-12 taels per tonnage. Because the minister thinks that it is best not to exceed 2 taels per ton per year. However, if it is a ship engaged in overseas trade, then it is difficult to calculate the profit of a single trafficking, and the minister does not dare to judge it easily. ”

Zhu Youzhen thought about it and said: "According to you, the current ship tax amount for ships used for foreign trade is about not bad, but the ships used for transportation between domestic ports are a bit high, right?" ”

"Your Majesty." Shen Tingyang immediately complimented the emperor, but did not directly admit the emperor's statement.

Looking at Shen Tingyang's cautious appearance, Zhu Youzhen couldn't help but feel a little funny. However, he also knew that Shen Tingyang's own family was engaged in overseas trade, and if he said too much on this issue, as long as his words spread, no matter how good or bad, he would become a handle for attack.

Zhu Youzhen smiled and didn't ask any further. As soon as he changed the topic, he asked about the current situation of the Longjiang Shipyard. At this point, Shen Tingyang knew everything about the emperor, and he said everything.

Unlike Tianjin Shipyard, which built a new shipyard on a tidal flat, Longjiang Shipyard itself is the former site of Damingbao Shipyard, although it has been abandoned for a long time, but it is better than Tianjin Shipyard to explore from scratch. The six large docks alone saved Shen Tingyang a lot of effort, and the factories on the old site of the Bao Shipyard only need to be rebuilt according to the drawings, and there is no need to worry about re-layout.

Coupled with the Shen family's original shipwrights and shipbuilding material acquisition channels, Longjiang Shipyard has recovered its former prosperity in just one year.

Whether it is a Guangzhou ship, a sand ship or a Fu ship, one has been trial-built in Longjiang Shipyard, and it looks like the effect is not bad. Therefore, Shen Tingyang plans to try to build a plywood ship that imitates the plywood used by Europeans this year, and the displacement is also designed to be more than 550 tons.

At this time, the Tianjin shipyard was only ready to challenge the construction of ships of more than 100 tons. In contrast, the two are clearly distancing.

However, Shen Tingyang was not proud of this, and after visiting the Tianjin Shipyard, he felt that the Longjiang Shipyard was now a little outdated.

Compared with the Longjiang Shipyard, most of the personnel in the Tianjin Shipyard had no experience in building ships, except for a few Portuguese and Fujian shipwrights.

However, it was precisely because they had little experience in shipbuilding that they carried out the emperor's requirements quite thoroughly. According to the emperor's opinion, the shipyard did not make all the factories that supplied materials its own subsidiary factories.

With the exception of a few factories that could only be used for shipbuilding, the other factories were scattered, and the shipyards simply placed orders with these factories and then inspected the goods delivered. Once these factories have made the shipyard orders, they can produce goods for themselves or others.

For example, a factory that makes iron nails, as long as it can fulfill the shipyard's orders, he can sell his own iron nails, wires, screws and other iron parts to the outside world.

The same is true for lumber mills, hemp rope mills, sail sewing mills, and so on. As a result, what appears to be a huge Tianjin shipyard base actually has only a small percentage of the staff and space.

Moreover, the various factories arranged along the Haihe River and on both sides of the leading canal have adopted water and wind power as power on a large scale, so that whether it is forging ironware or processing wood, it is more convenient and labor-saving than that of Longjiang Shipyard.

In the Longjiang Shipyard, the various factories that provide raw materials are always very idle, after all, these workers have nothing to do after completing the number of materials assigned by the shipyard. Obviously, it is impossible for ordinary workers who are not familiar with the technical work of assembling ships to do it.

Although it seemed to be a waste of manpower, Shen Tingyang once thought that this situation was normal. After all, if you want to improve the efficiency of shipbuilding, you can't let the shipwright process every piece of raw material by himself. What's more, although some manpower is wasted now, the quality of Longjiang Shipyard is much better than that of Qingjiang Shipyard, because everything is managed by special personnel.

However, after looking at the Tianjin shipyard, he suddenly realized that he still had some frogs at the bottom of the well. Although the ships built by Tianjin Shipyard are not as good as Longjiang Shipyard, there is basically no idler in Tianjin Shipyard, and everyone is busy, which is the real thing that must be specialized.

And because these factories near Tianjin Shipyard have their own business to do, the price of the orders entrusted by the shipyard can be greatly reduced, and finally when it comes to the cost of the finished ship, it is nearly one-third lower than the construction cost per tonnage of Longjiang Shipyard, which really makes Shen Tingyang a little embarrassed.

Especially when he heard that most of the layout and planning of the entire shipyard came from Chongzhen's suggestion, he was even more shocked. Although he has a high level of self-esteem, he is often praised by his predecessors as a talent for economic development. But in the face of the Tianjin shipyard base planned by the emperor, he had to nod his head and be convinced.

However, in Chongzhen's view, Shen Tingyang, who can single-handedly restore Longjiang Shipyard to such an appearance, is already a rare talent in the Ming Dynasty. Although he doesn't know what industrialization is, and he doesn't know what industrial planning and layout is, he is already moving in this direction.

After listening to Shen Tingyang's report, Zhu Youzhen finally had a basic concept of Longjiang Shipyard. He did not intervene much in the layout of the entire shipyard, but just hoped that Shen Tingyang would clean up the other four docks as soon as possible.

Then he went on to say to Shen Tingyang: "Whether it is Longjiang Shipyard or Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, it is obvious that a large supply of high-quality iron is needed. Now you rely on Fujian and Guangdong iron materials, obviously not a long-term solution, and with the growth of production, whether the iron materials of Fujian and Guangdong can meet the demand is also a problem.

Therefore, in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, it is better to build an iron-smelting plant to supply the needs of shipyards and manufacturing bureaus. Not to mention the others, the iron nails and anchor chains used in the shipyard alone are not a small amount. ”

Shen Tingyang thought for a while and said: "There is a place called Ma'anshan on the Yangtze River, which is more than 100 miles away from Nanjing, and there is an iron mine there. ”

"Ma On Shan?" Zhu Youzhen repeated, and immediately remembered Ma'anshan Iron Mine. Listening to Shen Tingyang's description, it is estimated that the phosphorus content is either higher or the sulfur content is higher.

"You might as well go back to the south this time, and bring two experts from the Mentougou Iron Works down. Let them study it and see if they can find a smelting method to remove impurities. In any case, the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau and the Longjiang Shipyard must have their own iron factories in order to ensure the supply of raw materials and control costs. ”

Shen Tingyang hurriedly got up and saluted Chongzhen and said, "Remember, I will try to run the iron factory as soon as I go back this time." ”

After Zhu Youzhen waved him to sit down, he continued: "In addition, I have one more thing for you to do, after the southern port begins to trade, there will inevitably be more merchant ships from outside the coast in the future.

As there are many merchant ships, the number of bandits who go to the sea to do illegal things will inevitably increase. The merchant ship entered within 3 miles of the coast of my Daming, even if it entered the land of my Daming.

Since it is the land of my Ming Dynasty, the imperial court naturally has to manage the security of the coastal area. Fujian has Zheng Zhilong, Guangdong has Liu Xiang, but Zhejiang and Shanghai can't also be handed over to them to manage, right?

Therefore, I hope that you will build a fleet at the mouth of the Yangtze River to protect the maritime security of the Yangtze River estuary and the waters of Zhejiang. By the way, it is also necessary to monitor the southern seas so that there will be no bad situation in which the officers and men of the naval division go to the sea to become pirates. ”

Although the emperor was talking about pirates, Shen Tingyang's heart couldn't help but move, he obviously didn't think that the target of this fleet was just pirates, after all, the pirates on the southeast coast had now been subordinated to the imperial court.

However, the establishment of a fleet to defend the mouth of the Yangtze River is exactly what he wants, his home is on Chongming Sand, and the existence of such a fleet obviously ensures the safety of his own family, so Shen Tingyang agreed without hesitation.

Zhu Youzhen immediately asked Wang Chengen to take out two pictures and hang them on the wall, and then asked Shen Tingyang to come over to help him consult.

He pointed to the drawings and explained to Shen Tingyang: "These are two sketches designed by several shipwrights from the Tianjin shipyard after seeing the British ships, combined with some advantages of the captured Spanish galleons and the Ming ships.

The specific design drawings will continue to be deepened. However, I will simply tell you about the main tasks of these two ships after they are completed, so that you can give your opinion.

The requirements for this smaller ship were: a displacement of between 100 and 500 tons, a twin masted single-deck gun deck, 35 guns, and a crew of between 80 and 200 people.

The main tasks of these vessels are to combat piracy with little armed force, to detect smuggling activities in the near sea, and to be used as communication ships in wartime.

The larger ships on this map were required to have a displacement of between 600 and 800 tons, three masted soft sails, a double-decked gun, and 50 guns, including 16 18-pound guns and 4 24-pound guns, with a capacity of 240-300 men.

The main task of such ships is, as the main warship of naval operations, to fight against enemy armed ships, besiege enemy ports, and control sea lanes. Therefore, I also specifically requested that such ships should be able to continue sailing for 3 months after going to sea. ”