Kai Fu Han

Chapter 48 Repairing and Buying a Ship

On October [-]th, after noon, Butler Xu and three carpenters came to Liu's warehouse, found Liu Xinqi, and informed Liu Xinqi that the free heating bed proposed by Liu Xinqi had been settled, and Liu Xinqi could start taking it in November. The three carpenters who came were introduced to Liu Xinqi by Luo Cheng. Their skills were very good, and they were enough to decorate the heated Kangs of those officials. However, they were also very expensive, each requiring six guan of wages per month.

After thanking Butler Xu, Liu Xinqi took three carpenters to find Liu Lisheng and arranged for him to visit the official's home in Dengzhou Prefecture starting today to confirm the matter of the Kang. From now on, Liu Xinqi would no longer be involved in this matter.

In the late afternoon (15:[-]), Liu Xinqi took Liu Zhimu and Zhao Liang, and was led by Butler Xu to find Dengzhou Navy Qianhu Gaoyuan. The conversation with Gao Yuan went smoothly without any disturbance.

Under Gao Yuan's suggestion, Liu Xinqi hired a hundred officers and soldiers from the navy who were skilled at work under Gao Yuan. Each of them was given [-] yuan a day, which was much more expensive than those who used Liujiabao, but there was nothing he could do about it. .

After agreeing to hire people, Gao Yuan rented Liu Xinqi a dry dock that could repair two thousand stone ships for five days and [-] taels of silver. This was basically a free price for the sake of Luo Chengxian County Lieutenant.But if Liu Xinqi doesn't rent it, their navy's dock will remain idle, and they will still make money.

……

On November [-], Liu Xinqi came to Luofu again and followed Luo Cheng to the Dengzhou Navy Station.

"This is a fighting ship, with parapets on board, and good defense; this is a walking boat, light and fast, suitable for pursuit; this is a sea falcon, with a high bow, and can sail smoothly in rough waves; this is Mengchong, with maneuverability Strong, suitable for raids..." Gao Yuan took Liu Xinqi to see the navy's warships and introduced them to several people one by one.

"Are these all within the 'battle damage'?" Liu Xinqi couldn't help but ask after listening to Gao Yuan's introduction that these were warships.

"They are within the 'battle damage', but they are also within the subsequent 'new build' quota, so these cannot be sold to you. But having said that, there is no point in selling them to you. These ships are suitable for combat, not suitable for If you buy the cargo, can you still go and fight the Jurchens by yourself?" Gao Yuan said.

It is really possible, Liu Xinqi said silently in his heart.

"Master Zhizhou told me that the only sand ships that can be sold to you are sand ships. After you buy them, you can slightly modify them and use them to carry cargo." Gao Yuan said.

"Thank you, Mr. Zhizhou. Liujiabao is short of all ships now, so I will be very satisfied if I can buy a sand ship." Liu Xinqi replied. The current situation must not be in chaos yet, so it is not appropriate for Liu Xinqi to directly buy warships. It would be too eye-catching.

The sand ships of the Dengzhou Navy are all old, and the ones that were "damaged" this time were the old ships. Even if these ships are put on the market, they will not be very expensive.After counting the "discount" promised by Luo Cheng last time, Liu Xinqi bought two sand ships worth about 200 shi for 500 taels each, and one sand ship worth [-] shi for [-] taels.

I only bought three boats, not more. If I bought more, firstly, the cost was too high, and secondly, Liujiabao did not have enough manpower to drive them.

Gao Yuan took Liu Xinqi to pick up the boat. Liu Zhimu and Zhao Liang went on the boat to check carefully. Zhao Liang went into the water many times to check, while Liu Xinqi chatted with Gao Yuan and Luo Cheng on the shore.

It took more than an hour to select the best among the poor, and selected three sand ships with the best condition. The bottoms of these three ships had varying degrees of attachments. After chatting with Gao Yuan for a while, he asked him to borrow a two thousand stone dock for free. Five days of use allowed Liu Xinqi to perform simple maintenance and repairs on the three ships.After choosing the boat, he came to Qianhu Mansion again and handed over 900 taels of silver directly to Gao Yuan. Then he arranged for Zhao Liang to go back to the Liu family warehouse to find someone to sail the boat to the agreed dock for maintenance and repairs.

Liu Xinqi took Liu Zhimu to invite Luo Cheng, Gao Yuan and four of Gao Yuan's [-] households and two townsfolk to a restaurant in Penglai County to treat them to dinner as a way of thanking Gao Yuan for his support last time and for his hospitality this time.

The meal lasted for more than an hour, and the host and the guest had a great time. Except for Liu Xinqi, who was a little distressed after spending another 30 taels of silver, everything else went smoothly. Everyone got to know each other well, and they all called themselves brothers after drinking. I think we should meet again in the future. Can say hello.

In the next three days, Liu Xinqi took 60 people from Zhaojiacun who were willing to board the ship, 40 people from Liujiabao named Liu Qingzhuang, 20 other former refugees who were willing to board the ship, and 19 Jurchens who were captured, for a total of 130 people. Take turns using the three purchased boats to familiarize yourself with the boat and train the crew.

These three ships were all given ship names. The two thousand stone sand ship was named "Penglai", and the other two thousand stone sand ships were named "Wendeng" and "Huangxian" respectively.Liu Xinqi decided that in addition to the first ship in Liujiabao being named "Chaoyang", all future ships of more than [-] stone would be named after Guo County with "Fu, Zhou, Jun", which is the name of the county where the state capital is located. , collectively referred to as "Fu Guo level".Those less than [-] stones are named after the general county name and are collectively referred to as "county level".As for smaller boats, they are only numbered.

In the past three days, Liu Xinqi took the time to buy four smaller speedboats in the port market. They had no sails and could only be powered by oars. The boats were very small. Two of them could only carry ten people, and the other two could only carry [-] people. It can carry four or five people.The ten-person boat will be tied behind the Hope and Horai with ropes in the future, and is usually towed by the larger ship.The other two five-person boats, one each on the Wendeng and Huangxian, were stored directly on the deck.

These small boats were purchased to facilitate the transfer of personnel between large ships, communication, and search and rescue of people who fell into the water.At present, no one in Liujiabao knows semaphore. For the time being, drums can only be used for some of the simplest communications, such as advance, retreat, attack, retreat, pursuit, etc. Complex communications can only be transmitted by small boats.

After realizing the communication problems between ships, Liu Xinqi has arranged for his tribe to learn semaphore from the Dengzhou Navy, but it will take some time.

After three days of practice, Liu Xinqi selected three captains among these people. The captain of the Penglai, Zhao Liang, turned out to be the son of the village chief of Zhaojiacun. His boating ability was considered to be among the best in Zhaojiacun, and he had sufficient prestige.

The captain of the Wendeng, Zhao Shui, is 34 years old. He is considered to be the best sailor under the age of 40 in the original Zhaojiacun. He is not very old and is worthy of Liujiabao's training.

Ye Chuan, the captain of the Huangxian, is 31 years old. He grew up in a seaside fishing village before fleeing. His boating ability is slightly inferior to that of Zhao Shui, but he is very smart and learns things quickly. He is the first of all to memorize the meanings of different drum sounds. information man.Moreover, Liu Xinqi considered that the captains of the three ships could not all be former Zhaojiacun villagers, so he chose him.

Regarding the personnel arrangements for this trip to Laizhou, in addition to the 130 nine people, enough sailors will be recruited at Penglai Port before departure to ensure that all four ships can operate normally.

Liu Xinqi also assigned the soldier team to Li Cang, who was in charge of the Chaoyang. The other five people in his team followed him and stayed on the Chaoyang.Liu Xinang led a team of six soldiers on the Wendeng, Liu Xingang led a team of six soldiers on the Huangxian, and Liu Xinqi led Liu Xinbao's team of four soldiers on the Penglai.

Everything is almost ready, and we can set off once the ship is fully maintained and repaired. In the past few days, the tribesmen have put on their cotton-padded jackets one after another, and time no longer allows them to wait any longer.

(End of this chapter)