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After listening to Charles's explanation, Xia Nan was relieved, since it does not have a big impact on production capacity, it depends on its value. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 He asked Lin Weiye: "So, how valuable is the existence of such a small boat?" ”

Lin Weiye hesitated: "If according to the standards of the next century, a 500-ton warship cannot become the main force at all, at most it is a sixth-class ship." Now it's because our opponents are too weak that it's our choice. In the future, whether it is against the Dutch and Spaniards, or Zheng Zhilong, more and larger warships will be needed. And this kind of small boat, in the face of the Dutch gunboats and Zheng Zhilong's ship-to-sea tactics, according to my understanding, has no advantage at all. ”

William became excited, because Lin Weiye's opinion was enough to influence Xia Nan's decision: "But my sailors need more training instead of staying on the ship all day and scrubbing the deck. In the future, we will have to face a powerful pirate gang, not the semi-fisherman small pirates of the past, we need to be stronger, don't we? ”

Xia Nan soothed: "I understand what you mean, don't be impatient." ”

He asked Lin Weiye: "William's idea of training the team is correct, after all, in addition to a small group of pirates, we have also fought in the fleet of the official army, and our experience in actual combat and navigation is limited - and our future opponents, whether it is Liu Xiang or Zheng Zhilong, or even the Dutch, are all experienced pirates for many years -- since the experience is not as good as people, then rely on training to make up for it, and the stupid bird can fly first." Can you think of a way to design a ship type that meets the needs of training without occupying the Wuyi-class battleship, and it is best to have some firepower, so as not to waste production capacity and materials. ”

Lin Weiye pondered for a long time, clapped his palms and said, "You can consider the old lock boat!" In this way, it can meet the needs of training, and it can also have a certain combat capability, forming a high and low match with the Wuyi-class warships. ”

"The old lock boat?" All three asked at the same time.

"Yes, it's the old lock boat!"

When it comes to the design of the ship, Lin Weiye became excited: "To achieve the purpose of training sailors and avoid becoming a pure training ship, you can choose this type of ship of the Portuguese, with a displacement of between 2oo-3oo tons, because it uses Chinese sails and Western-style hulls, and it is relatively simple to build." The most important thing is that in addition to its certain attack capabilities, it can also be used as a patrol or anti-smuggling ship with its excellent offshore seaworthiness! ”

"Western-style hull, Chinese-style sails? Anti-smuggling boats? "Charles and William didn't quite understand.

"Yes. After the Portuguese came to China, although the Chinese hard sail is laborious to raise the sail, but the sail is quickly retracted by relying on the weight of the sail, and at the same time the crosswind efficiency is high, and it has an advantage over the soft sail in the complex offshore waters, so the Chinese hard sail and the Western-style hull are combined, and this kind of ship is exhibited - the English name is lorcha, and the Cantonese people also call it the slag fishing ship - the construction and maintenance are relatively simple, and it is very good for offshore patrols, and even inland rivers can be used. Until the Qing Dynasty, the old lock ship was still the main type of anti-smuggling ship. ”

"Qing Dynasty? Which country is it? Charles asked, confused.

Lin Weiye realized that he had missed his mouth, and said vaguely: "Maybe I remembered it wrong, it may be another name, I'm not sure." ”

Xia Nan hid the past: "This is not important, what matters is the boat." Just now you mentioned the combination of Chinese and Western, what are the advantages and disadvantages of this ship? ”

"It has good offshore seaworthiness, simple construction, easy maintenance, is faster than ordinary Canton ships or Fuchu ships, and requires much fewer sailors than Western-style ships of the same tonnage. As for the disadvantages, due to the use of hard sails, the sails cannot be made very large, so the ship cannot be built larger, the ocean-going navigation ability is weak, and the warship is not up to standard, so it can only be used as an armed patrol ship or transport ship in the near sea. ”

Xia Nan is quite satisfied: the simplicity of construction and maintenance means lower costs; Taking into account the advantages of Chinese and Western ship types, the advantages of Guangzhou ships and Fu ships in the face of ordinary pirates are still obvious; As for the role of incompetent battleship, this is not a problem, there are the larger and stronger Wuyi class and the upcoming Yongle class, and even the planned Hongwu class. In this way, it can not only meet William's needs for training ships, but also serve as patrol ships, wouldn't it be the best of both worlds?

He asked Charles in a good mood: "Mr. Charles, what do you think?" ”

Charles nodded: "Sounds good." ”

"So, William, what is your opinion?"

William also agreed to this scheme: "Well, I think this kind of ship will meet my needs. I also have a request, that when such a ship is built, I will appoint one of my men as the cadet captain of the new ship. ”

"No problem, has your first trainee captain been decided?"

"Yes, his name is very long, I call him Murong."

"Murong Dragon City?" Xia Nan and Lin Weiye looked at each other.

"Yes." William didn't notice the strangeness of the two, "You asked him to be my first mate, and I observed him for a while: although he was young, he had a lot of sailing experience and a natural leadership temperament. Although he missed our naval officer training course, he was a quick learner and much better than the pirate-turned-sailors. ”

Can you not have rich sailing experience, but people are maritime merchants who run Japan, Xia Nan muttered in his heart.

After sending William and Charles away, Lin Weiye asked, "Why did William have that expression when he mentioned Murong Longcheng?" Are you still suspicious of him? ”

Xia Nan shook his head: "Although I suspect that he has reservations and did not hand over all his bottoms, but there is no doubt about employing people, since he was allowed to enter the Qiongzhou camp, I will not be suspicious and wary." If, as William said, an outstanding talent needed by the Navy, I earned it. ”

Two months later, Murong Longcheng stood on the bow of the "Bo Fu" and looked at the vast sea with high spirits. The ship under his feet is the latest old lock ship launched by Bofu Shipyard, which was named Wuxiang-class patrol ship by Xia Nan, and the ship was named "Bofu".

Wu Xiang is the name of the famous general Yu Da Chiefn in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, although Yu Da Chief's name in later generations is not loud enough, but at that time he was a general with Qi Jiguang, known as "Yu Long Qi Hu".

Chief Yu learned literature and martial arts when he was young, and had a reputation for showing talents, and then abandoned literature and martial arts, inherited the position of his father in a hundred households, and lived in Jiajing, Longqing, and Wanli dynasties. He once repelled the invasion of Mongolia on the border of Shanxi, defeated the invasion of Fan Ziyi of Annan in Guangxi, quelled the rebellion on Hainan Island alone, and crisscrossed all parts of the southeast, from Fujian to Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and then Liangguang, repeatedly broke the Japanese bandits, and after hundreds of battles, the prestige of the "Yu Army" at that time was not under the "Qi Army". It's just that because of his upright personality and decency, he never pandered to the powerful and flattered his boss, which led to a bumpy career, and he was demoted four times, and even arrested and imprisoned, and his reputation is far inferior to Qi Jiguang, who is smooth and flexible.