Start Being a Vassal King Today - Chapter 272

[Chapter 272 Dry Dock]

Palace.

Ma Jin left, and Zhao Xu returned to the study from the living room.

Taking a piece of paper, he drew the important mountains and rivers of Jinzhou with the memory in his mind.

Naturally, this picture is not comparable to the rough picture Ma Jin brought.

What he relies on is the contemporary map in his head.

The geographic detail is better and more precise.

Most importantly, this is a scaled map.

As long as the general holds the map, measures it with a ruler, and calculates it, he can know how far his location is from the location he wants to reach.

Zhao Xu stopped painting until it was completely dark.

Then he asked Feng’er to find someone to copy it.

After the troops are sent to Jinzhou, these maps will be handed over to the generals to facilitate their marching operations.

the next day.

Zhao Xu got up early, and went to Pingcheng with the recruited craftsmen, apprentices and handymen as planned.

More than a day’s journey.

The mighty team arrived at Pingcheng.

Chen Shou had already known in advance that King Yan was coming, and had been waiting in Pingcheng.

“My king has sent you so many men, your ship commander should do me a favor and launch the warship as soon as possible.” Zhao Xu said to Chen Shou at the gate of the ship’s office.

Chen Shou’s face was full of smiles, and he looked at the black and white craftsmen as if he had eaten honey.

He led Zhao Xu to sit down in the naval department, and he personally brought Zhao Xu a cup of tea.

He has always been upright by nature, serving tea in person can be said to be truly grateful to King Yan from the bottom of his heart.

First of all, the ships in Jinghai County were destroyed, and King Yan did not blame him.

Now, he has provided him with so much convenience.

This made him deeply feel what King Yan expected of him.

Even when he was in Ningjin Dusi, his superiors never treated him like this.

“Your Highness, this is for sure.” Chen Shou’s eyes were full of determination.

Then he said: “If it wasn’t for the accident last time, His Royal Highness will be able to give the warship in the second half of this year. This time, in order to avoid the accident of the last time, the lower official specially arranged bright and dark sentries near the shipyard, as well as cavalry. Daily patrol.”

“Well, that’s right.” Zhao Xu nodded.

Obviously, Chen Shou has a long memory after suffering a loss.

It was also the first time for Zhao Xu to come here since the ship division was established.

He asked Chen Shou to introduce the officials of the Naval Department.

Find out how the Ship Division works on a daily basis.

Knowing that the officials performed their duties, some were in charge of purchasing wood, some were in charge of the craftsmen’s living and eating, and some were in charge of the payment of silver taels, and he was slightly satisfied.

From this point, it can be seen that Chen Shou has the experience of supervising warship building.

He also asked about the preparations for shipbuilding, and Zhao Xu handed over the craftsmen he had brought to the officials of the Ship Department.

Order Chen Shou to take him to the shipbuilding workshop by the canal.

“Your Highness, in order to keep quiet and avoid being noticed, I deliberately chose this waterway with severed heads, and pulled several ropes on the river to prevent other boats from entering.” Chen Shou said, pointing to the river in front of him.

Zhao Xu nodded.

Starting from Pingcheng City, they stopped ten miles away from the pier.

Here, a very wide river terminates here.

“It is rumored that the canal was going to be dug from here back then, but after the fall of the Wu Dynasty, this work stopped.” Chen Shou continued.

After the canal enters Pingcheng, it presents an L shape.

Pingcheng Wharf is at the corner, and the shipbuilding workshop is on the short side.

So the channel is still as wide as the canal.

But here it is truncated.

Therefore, there is basically no boat traffic on this river.

Now Chen Shou tied ropes on the river again, and put up signs to prohibit ships from entering.

It will be more secluded here from now on.

“How deep is the water here?” Zhao Xu remembered an important question.

Due to the large size of the battleship, the draft is also quite deep.

If it is too shallow, the boat will run aground.

“The lower officials have measured it, and it’s about 12 meters, which is enough.” Chen Shou said.

After unifying the weights and measures of the War Division, he also sent the weights and measures to the Ship Division.

Ships are required to follow the new weights and measures thereafter.

Therefore, the rice in Chen Shou’s mouth is the contemporary standard rice.

After a pause, he continued: “As for the shallower place, the officials are sending people to dig and clean up the mud.”

Zhao Xu has no objection to this depth.

A deep-water port does not mean how deep the water is. According to contemporary standards, waters with a depth of 15 meters can be used as deep-water ports.

This is because large container ships have a draft of fourteen meters.

Naturally, there are no giant container ships here in Dasong.

Even the tonnage of the warships built is not large, so twelve meters is enough.

And many contemporary deep-water ports also have twelve meters.

“Not bad.” Zhao Xu showed a satisfied look.

Looking at the busy craftsmen on the river beach.

He remembered that there was one more important thing to do on this trip.

Although Chen Shou has the experience of supervising warship building, his way of building ships is still very primitive.

It is built directly on the river beach.

This way of building a small boat is okay, but he thinks it is a bit troublesome to build a battleship.

If one is not careful, the warship under construction may fall over.

And because the height of the battleship is very high, it is also troublesome to send the wood up later.

“In addition to giving you a gift, this king will teach you a good thing this time.” Zhao Xu smiled.

Chen Shou smiled when he heard this.

He had long heard that His Royal Highness King Yan had many unique ideas.

Does His Royal Highness King Yan know how to build ships?

So he said: “I still hope Your Highness will advise me.”

Zhao Xu simply squatted down on the river beach, picked up a branch and started to draw.

“This thing is called a dry dock. To put it simply, it is to dig a pit slightly larger than a battleship, and pour some square piers at the bottom of the pit. These square piers are called keel piers. When building a warship, you can fix the keel on it…” Zhao Xu explained while drawing.

Because Chen Shou still doesn’t know what cement and concrete are.

He explained it again, telling him that the pier was made of concrete.

“Three sides of the dock are connected to the land, and one side is facing the water. When building a warship, scaffolding can be built around it, making it easier for craftsmen to go up and down the construction.” Zhao Xu continued.

Scaffolding in modern times is a frame made of steel pipes tied vertically and horizontally. When the building is tall and out of reach, workers can climb through the frame.

Scaffolding in dry dock is a truth.

But he can’t make steel pipes, but he can use wood instead.

“Scaffolding.” Chen Shou learned another new word.

At the same time, the battleship is at the bottom of the pit, so it is much more convenient to transport materials, just hang the materials directly from the ground.

Hearing this, Chen Shou’s eyes lit up.

This hoisting wood is indeed a waste of manpower.

The dry dock mentioned by King Yan is equivalent to building a ship in a pit, so it is much easier to throw materials down than up.

“After the battleship is built, open the water gate on the side facing the water, and the river water will pour into the pit, and the battleship will float up and go out from the dock.” Zhao Xu finally said.

Hearing this, Chen Shou seemed to have obtained a priceless treasure.

He said to an official: “Immediately fetch a pen and paper, copy down what His Highness drew, and write down every word His Highness said, that’s great, this dry dock shipbuilding is really getting twice the result with half the effort.”

(End of this chapter)