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Chapter 288 Preparation for opening the sea
During the meal, Hong Tao made specific arrangements for his future work.Ever since he was exposed during the rebellion, the orphan in the Europa Temple could no longer hide it, so he simply didn't hide it and made it a routine.

There is no need to make any changes in other aspects, only the selection of recruitment targets must be changed.In the past, only boys were admitted, not because there were no girls, but because they were afraid of attracting more criticism and giving false impressions.

It's all clear now, so don't be afraid of anything, just accept the right girl when you meet her.A separate corner was set up in the palace as their dormitory. Other than that, they ate, drank, studied and trained just like boys. The Supervisor of Ceremonies dispatched the nuns from the palace to manage them.

The other thing is where to go after graduation. At present, Jinyiwei, the Navy and various workshops are very happy to accept orphans from here. There is still a big gap in the number, so there is no need to worry about not being able to send them out.

However, Hong Tao believes that the coverage is still a bit narrow. We cannot just focus on the military and factories, but also need to take into account all states and counties.If we don't make arrangements as soon as possible, we will be walking on one leg in the future. We will have a large number of officers and technicians, but there will be no qualified team of grassroots officials.

As for what excuses should be used and what methods should be used to send these newly grown children to local government offices for early internship without attracting outside attention as much as possible, that is what Wang An should think about. As the emperor, he only needs to think about it. Put forward general directions and requirements without having to do everything personally.

The last stop of this inspection was, not surprisingly, the Haihe Shipyard.It has been more than two years since this place was built, but Hong Tao has never been here once. No matter what the purpose is, he has to take the opportunity to come and have a look.

The shipyard is not far from the Haihe Machinery Factory. If the weather is good, you can vaguely see the waterwheel of the shipyard while standing by the Haihe River.But the shipyard is much larger than the machinery plant. Not counting the living quarters for the craftsmen, it is more than ten times larger. The three huge stone dry docks alone are larger than the yard of the machinery plant.

"Thanks to Xu Langzhong and Wang Langzhong for their great help, if I had allowed the ministers to build it independently, I am afraid it would not have been completed for another ten years."

Facing the emperor who suddenly appeared without saying hello, Yuan Keli did not show much surprise or fear.After performing the courtesy of a king and a minister, he immediately transformed into a tour guide, leading the emperor around the shipyard, explaining each facility in detail, and at the same time, he did not forget to praise Xu Guangqi and Wang Zheng.

Hong Tao's inspection of the shipyard was not to check the progress of the shipbuilding. From the drawings to the process flow, he provided it himself, as long as it was strictly implemented.Although the craftsmen have been working here for four or five years, they are only just apprentices when it comes to building large ships, and they are not qualified to be master craftsmen, let alone innovation and design.

In addition, the large logs used in shipbuilding need to be soaked in water for at least one or two years before they can be used. The nearest log production area, Liaodong Town, has been abandoned. The current construction capacity of Haihe Shipyard is extremely limited. No matter how hard it works, it can only produce 3 logs a year. Three-masted battleships and no more than five two-masted auxiliary ships were launched.

If we want to increase production capacity, we need to obtain wood as soon as possible and train more skilled craftsmen.This work is currently being carried out. Yuan Keli has reached a private agreement with the North Korean minister to exchange stamped steel plate armor for pine and fir aniseed materials, and use wooden rafts along the Yalu River to place them all the way to the sea.

The construction of ocean-going sail warships has very high requirements for wood. In addition to the material, it also has moisture content.Freshly harvested wood usually needs to be soaked in water for one or two years, during which time it is left to dry on the shore for several months before it can be used as hull material.

But this is just the beginning. To build a qualified ocean-going naval warship, the construction period will normally be three to five years. It is not because the process is complicated or because the craftsmen's skills are unqualified, but because the wood is further dried and shaped.

The keel is lowered and left to dry for half a month; the ribs are installed and left to dry for another half month; the ship planking is completed and left to dry for half a month; the mast is installed and left to dry for another half month.The processed wood is allowed to withstand the sun, wind and rain for a period of time to further shape it, so that the resulting hull will be more stable and easily resistant to deformation.

At present, all the warships and auxiliary ships of the Navy are essentially temporary fast food. In addition to the poor quality of the wood, the workmanship is also not up to standard. The service life is basically only about 5 years, and they are not yet capable of ocean voyages.Construction of the real main battleship of the navy will not begin until the teak aniseed from Southeast Asia arrives.It is expected that the first batch will be launched in two years, and by then this batch of fast food warships will have come to an end.

However, ships built with pine and fir have a relatively short lifespan and are average in sturdiness. They are sufficient for ordinary merchant ships, but are not very suitable for naval warships.

The main structure of European sailing battleships in the Middle Ages usually used oak, with a small amount of elm mixed in, and only pine and fir for masts and decks. If properly maintained, they can be used for decades.

But oak is widely distributed in Europe, but it is very rare in Asia. Even though oak and oak in the north belong to the same genus, their properties are different, and it is difficult to find sufficient quantities of aniseed.

But God is fair, and if Europe is given oak that is suitable for building ocean-going ships, it will not owe Asia too much, so teak has become as suitable a shipbuilding material as oak.

However, God cannot be completely fair. The main origin of teak is not in Northeast Asia, but in Southeast Asia, especially Myanmar, Thailand, and Malaysia. It takes a lot of effort to get them.

At this time, the Falangji people became the best partners and handed over the foreign trade rights of Snow Candy to them. In exchange, they received not only Southeast Asian rice, but also locally produced teak wood aniseed.

They will be transported bit by bit from Guangzhou to Songjiang by naval ships. As soon as the second shipyard is completed, teak aniseed that has been soaked for more than two years will be available, and the shipbuilding speed will be doubled.

Some people may want to ask, there are also large timber output suitable for shipbuilding in the areas controlled by the Ming Dynasty, such as Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan, especially the areas in Yunnan close to Myanmar. If it is not possible, the goods can be exchanged with the snow area, why go around like this? The big circle asked Folangji people to help with the purchase.

Indeed, there are many century-old trees in the above-mentioned areas, and there are also many precious woods. However, there are two problems that cannot be solved at present, so we can only first turn to Southeast Asia.

The first is the transportation cost. If you want to transport large timber that is tens of meters long and weighs dozens of tons by land from the plateau to the coastal areas, the manpower and material resources consumed can drag down the finances of the states and counties along the way. It is not cost-effective.

The second is the control over the imperial court. At present, the emperor can only say that he has saved the situation. He and the civil servant group are fighting each other for offense and defense, but it has not yet reached the level of completely crushing them and making them surrender.If the civil servants did not cooperate and acted in a counter-intuitive manner, by the time the lumber was shipped from the southwest, the Industrial Revolution in Europe would have been almost complete.

To find such a large amount of wood, in addition to building large palaces, it is also possible to build ships.There has never been a consensus on the issue of establishing a maritime ban, which means that the civil service group did not agree.

They couldn't stop the emperor from building a navy in the name of suppressing bandits, but if he wanted to build sea ships on a large scale, it would inevitably lead to another fierce life-and-death confrontation. It was not necessary yet.

(End of this chapter)