Song Gexing

Chapter 186
In August of the fourth year of Jiayou's reign, Zhao Fang, who had just ascended the throne for more than a month, once again received good news. Zhang Dun wrote in Mingzhou that the trial of the new warship was successful.

Zhao Fang was overjoyed. Liu Jisun had collected the shipbuilding technology from Fujian and asked the Ministry of Industry to be responsible for the construction, and Zhang Dun in Mingzhou was responsible for the trial voyage.

I finally received good news today. Five warships worth [-] pieces were launched at the same time, and they all returned from a month-long sea voyage.

Zhang Dun excitedly gave him detailed information. The captain was 600 feet long, the width was [-] feet [-] feet, the cabin depth was [-] feet [-] feet. It could carry [-] soldiers and [-] to [-] other support personnel.

Although it is not as good as the Zheng He treasure ship that he knows, it has grown by leaps and bounds, and many people will question the data of the treasure ship in later generations. After all, it violates the technology of the times.

The largest Chinese-style wooden ship that can be clearly recognized in history is twenty feet long. It was also from the Ming Dynasty, but it was an official ship sent to Ryukyu in the late Ming Dynasty.

And this ship has clear records, not just in Chinese history books.There are also records in Ryukyu because it is difficult for such a large ship to enter the dock.

Ancient Chinese sea-going ships used hard sails, which were completely different from Western soft sails. It should be said that Western sailing ships were better at using wind power.

Therefore, when the ship entered the port, there was no wind on the sea and could not dock. Ryukyu sent hundreds of small boats to pull the large ship into the port.

Such an interesting incident was naturally recorded in the official history of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The size of the ship described was the same as that recorded in Ming history, indicating that the data on this ship was not adulterated.

But Zheng He's treasure ship is recorded to be twice as big as this ship. This is the main reason for later generations' doubts. A ship of 44 feet cannot enter the port. The largest size of the treasure ship is [-] feet, so how can it be relied on? Shore, are we going to have thousands of people in small boats to pull the treasure ship?

Of course, the record of this ship also slapped the Western view in the face. Later generations questioned that China could not have a [-]-ton wooden ship because the maximum Western-style wooden sailboat could only stop at [-] tons.

Zheng He's treasure ship was about [-] to [-] tons, and was sprayed all over. There was no evidence to refute them, but the appearance of this ship directly slapped them in the face.

This sea-going ship, which is half the size recorded in the official history of the two countries, is at least [-] tons based on its size and draft. Even if it is shameless to reduce it, it can be conservatively estimated to be [-] to [-] tons.

This is much larger than the largest Western-style sailing ship of 200 tons, and it is more than [-] years earlier.

It is not surprising that Zhao Fang was able to build a ship of [-] feet through Fujian folk craftsmen, because the ships of the Song Dynasty could have reached more than [-] feet.

In other words, the Chinese built a [-]-ton sea-going ship in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the West did not build it until the [-]th century.

Song history records that in the sixth year of Xuanhe in the Northern Song Dynasty, Xu Jing went to Korea as an envoy. The captain was more than ten feet long, three feet deep and two and a half feet wide.

"Meng Liang Lu" written by people in the Song Dynasty also clarified that the Northern Song Dynasty ships sailed in the South China Sea, with ships ranging from five thousand large to hundreds of small.

Although this is a record for merchant ships, the fact that merchant ships at sea can be built so large shows that the craftsmanship of warships will never be worse than this.

Because the Song Dynasty was the only dynasty that could not help but engage in business, shipbuilding technology should be common to both officials and merchants.

Now that larger ships have appeared, without Zhao Fang to deal with them, the official shipbuilding technology of the Northern Song Dynasty has almost reached this standard.

With Zhao Fang, of course, the sea-going ship will be larger and stronger, and can better utilize the wind power, because Zhao Fang chose a combination of soft sails and hard sails.Why not cancel the hard sail? That's because although the hard sail is not as good as the soft sail in utilizing wind power, it has higher safety performance when the wind is too strong.

The most difficult thing at sea is not the direction, but the unpredictable weather. In ancient times, there were no weather satellites, so predicting the weather relied entirely on the experience of sailors.

When the wind is strong, soft sails cannot be furled if you are not careful, causing the ship to be destroyed and people killed. However, hard sails are much easier to furlough and the technical requirements are not so high.

"Declaration to Zhang Dun: The five warships are named Jiayou class warships, and the five warships are named after Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, Zhiyuan, Jingyuan, and Jiyuan."

That's right, Zhao Fang used the tragic battleship name of the Beiyang Navy. He wanted to rectify the names of those national heroes, and he used the battleship with this name to give the little devils a hard blow.

As for the Jiayou class, it commemorates this year's reign. Although he has succeeded to the throne, the reign has not changed. The new reign will be implemented next year.

This is a normal change. In history, when new emperors succeed to the throne, some will continue to use the reign name of the previous emperor until the end of this year. Their father has not changed it even after they died, so naturally he will not change it.

Moreover, using Jiayou as the warship level was also a sign of filial piety to his father. After receiving the news, Zhao Zhen's smile turned crooked.

"The Privy Council is reorganizing the navy, with each Jiayou-class warship as the main one, each equipped with two [-]-material warships as auxiliary, ten each of the [-]-material warships, and fifty each of the [-]-material warships, forming five The navy is established, and the personnel are selected from the coastal imperial army and the Xiang army."

Naturally, having a big ship cannot be achieved overnight. The most important thing is to organize and form a formed fleet. Of course, this matter was actually being prepared a few years ago, but now we can start forming and training.

After receiving the order, the Privy Council immediately ordered Fujian Road, Guangnan East Road and Guangnan South Road to count all the warships built in the past few years and recruit them into the navy as needed.

Immediately, the ministers came to Chongzheng Hall to find Zhao Fang to discuss the issue of naval establishment.

"Your Majesty wants to form five navies. How do you plan to arrange the garrison locations?"

The establishment of the navy was approved by the government a few years ago, so there will naturally be no doubts about this aspect, but where it will be stationed is debatable.

Zhao Fang was well prepared and said without hesitation: "One branch will be stationed in Qingdao, one branch will be stationed in Shanghai, one branch will be stationed in Mingzhou, one branch will be stationed in Quanzhou, and the last branch will be stationed on Guangnan East Road. Panyu County will be promoted to Guangzhou Prefecture, and Shanghai will be promoted to Guangzhou Prefecture." Huating Prefecture and Jimo Prefecture are Qingdao Prefectures."

Three prefectures were promoted at one time, which was unprecedented. In the Song Dynasty, prefectures were basically the unit, and prefectures were rarely called prefectures. Only large states could be called prefectures.

Mingzhou and Quanzhou were originally the capitals. This is related to the importance of these two places. It was these two places that were the largest maritime trading ports in the Northern Song Dynasty.

Quanzhou Prefecture opened trade with Southeast Asia and Europe, and Myeongju Prefecture opened trade with Goryeo, Tamna, Japan, and Ryukyu.

Tamna was Jeju Island in later generations. At this time, it was not the territory of Goryeo. It was a small country. It was not until a hundred years later during the Gojong era of Goryeo and the Song Huizong era that Tamna was annexed and named Jeju County.

Han Qi hesitated and asked: "It is feasible to upgrade Jimo to a prefecture, but why is it called Qingdao Prefecture? The place I remembered only built a port, a wharf and a supporting storage base, and there was no market integration. It is still under the jurisdiction of Jimo. Now that it is called Qingdao, is it suspected of overshadowing the guest and usurping the host?"

(End of this chapter)