As early as 551 AD, when Hou Jing's rebel army failed to attack Jiangling and fled, Li Tai took advantage of the situation to take over Xiakou and other Jiangbei and Jindu, and exchanged grain and supplies for many prisoners of war from the Jiangling generals.
Afterwards, Li Tai ordered Li Quji and others to select some of the prisoners of war as craftsmen, and go to Danjiangkou to dig land to build a lake and build a dock. Two full years have passed, and the dock at Danjiangkou has been built on a large scale.
Danjiangkou is the port formed by Danshui flowing into Hanshui. It is located in the upper reaches of Hanshui. To the north is the remaining range of Daheng Mountain in the Qinling Mountains, and to the south is Wudang Mountain, which belongs to the eastern range of Daba Mountain. Between these two mountains
There is a valley and hilly area between the systems, forming a quite extensive wetland and lake, among which the Danjiangkou Dockyard is located.
As early as when Li Tai was still serving as the governor of Jingzhou, he arranged for Linghu Yanbao to build ships in Xingzhou. However, due to the lack of accumulation of technology and craftsmen at that time, he could only complete the construction and repair of some inland river cargo ships. As for warships,
Then there are some limitations.
Nowadays, Li Quji serves as the Sima of Xingzhou and is also in charge of the management of the Danjiangkou Dockyard. As for the specific production management of the dock, Zhou Shaoyuan, the water cao of the general management office, is responsible for joining the army.
Zhou Shaoyuan is in his forties, a short and fat middle-aged man. He is also from Nanliang. He once served as Prime Minister of Taizhou in Nanliang. Later, he was forced to become a thief by Hou Jing's rebel army and was captured by Jiangling.
After the army defeated and captured him, he moved to the Jingzhou Governor's Mansion.
The Taizhou Department of Nanliang was the Capital Water Department of the Northern Dynasty, and its chief officer was called Taizhou Qing, which was the capital envoy that Li Tai served in the Taiwan government a few years ago. He was in charge of shipping, shipping, embankment repairs and other matters. Taizhou Cheng
He was an official subordinate to Taizhou Qing and also a technical official in charge of boat construction in Nanliang.
In addition to Zhou Shaoyuan, who once served as the Prime Minister of Nanliang, there were also many other professional talents who were selected from the prisoners. They no longer shouldered heavy physical labor, but were responsible for technical guidance and production management.
Building ships, especially ships that can be used in water battles, is not just as simple as cutting wood and releasing it. It is a highly comprehensive and professional production category.
Although Li Quji was the chief officer of the dock, he actually had no experience in shipbuilding. The dock was built from scratch and produced various ships. Officials from Nanliang such as Zhou Shaoyuan were the main ones.
person in charge.
Therefore, when leading Li Tai to visit the dock, Li Quji also took Zhou Shaoyuan and others with him to prepare for questions. Such as the use of manpower and material resources and the overall management of various troubles, he, as the chief officer, could answer the Lang Master's questions.
But when it comes to some more professional questions, Zhou Shaoyuan and others need to come forward to answer them.
Zhou Shaoyuan and others followed behind, looking up at General Li's demeanor from the corner of their eyes from time to time, but they did not dare to look at it with their eyes. It was not just because of the huge disparity in status between them, but also because of General Li's illustrious reputation in Nanliang.
.
Although they, Hou Jing's rebellious army, did not go to war with the Jingzhou Army of the Western Wei Dynasty, out of fear of Hou Jing and his men, they also respected General Li more and more. After all, they once chased Hou Jing and fled like a bereaved dog.
Murong Shaozong was defeated at the hands of General Li and drowned to death.
Therefore, in the hearts of these captives of the rebellion, General Li is a being who is two levels higher than Hou Jing, the devil in the world. He is so wise and powerful that he can penetrate people's hearts. It is precisely for this reason that when these prisoners learned that they were classified as Li
After being under the general's command, they did not dare to cause trouble secretly and were very calm and obedient.
When Li Tai asked about the building process and construction period of the ship, Zhou Shaoyuan was called forward to answer the question. He quickly stepped forward respectfully, lowered his head and replied seriously: "For the information, General, the shipyard is currently building a large number of building ships."
To build a ship, starting from the preparation of materials, it will take ten months..."
"so long?"
After hearing this, Li Tai frowned and said, he didn't expect these large ships to be produced into the water as frequently as dumplings. However, it takes nearly a year to build one, which is really inefficient. At this rate,
When will he have an invincible fleet that can roam the rivers?
"No, fast, of course it can be fast. What the official said is yes, but it includes...general, please forgive me..."
When Zhou Shaoyuan heard General Li's displeasure, he suddenly became more nervous and worried, and his tone became trembling. He wiped the sweat from his forehead while trying to explain clearly. However, the more nervous he became, the more incoherent he became.
Li Tai saw that he was so nervous, so he raised his hand and patted his shoulder and said with a smile: "You don't have to be so nervous when you join the army, just talk carefully. Although I am not here to observe, I have learned from Li Sima's report
It is known from the documents in the mansion that Zhou joined the army and that you and others were dedicated and diligent in their work.
The servants in the government have always had clear punishments and rewards, and there will be no discrimination based on life experience or past experience. You and other people have followed the rules against their will, and you no longer believed it in the past. Now that you have dedicated your talents to me, I will definitely protect them and treat them well.
scholar!"
As he spoke, he no longer just stared at Zhou Shaoyuan, but also looked around at the southern officials present, smiling and comforting them.
"The general actually knows his servant's name..."
Although Zhou Shaoyuan and others were appointed as subordinate officials of the General Manager's Mansion, they were directly activated during the construction of the dock. They had not yet gone to the General Manager's Mansion to meet General Li. When they heard Li Tai's words, they couldn't help but be excited and thanked him repeatedly.
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After their emotions calmed down a little, Zhou Shaoyuan and others introduced the process of building a boat to Li Tai in detail.
The most time-consuming part of the ship building process is the preparation of materials. Although there are abundant timber and large materials in the nearby Qinling Mountains, which can be obtained locally, these timber cannot be cut and used immediately.
After the wood is cut down, it needs to be processed in various processes. Some need to be sun-dried, some need to be smoked and dried, and some need to be steamed and other treatments after the moisture is released.
In short, the more materials are used in key parts of the ship, the more processes are required to process them. For example, important parts such as the keel and rudder of the ship require more precision and complexity. After all, there are still some flaws.
, it is possible to destroy a huge ship full of sergeants, and it may even affect the outcome of a war!
After the materials are properly processed, although the assembly and polishing processes of various parts of the ship itself are also very technically demanding, as long as there are a sufficient number of skilled craftsmen, the construction period can be shortened appropriately. Gluing, riveting, and painting
, oil immersion and other processes also have their own technical standards.
If the various processes of material preparation are deducted, then even a large-scale building ship will only take more than half a year at most. As for other smaller ships, the time will be even shorter.
"Nowadays, what is being built in the shipyard is mainly divided into large-scale ships, Mengchong fighting ships, and light boats. Six large-scale ships have been built. When the floods in the coming spring are abundant, they can enter the water for trial sea trials, and then they can
Loading charging angles, iron curtains, shooting poles and other items..."
After hearing Li Quji introduce the achievements made in the dock, and adding Zhou Shaoyuan and others' supplements on the side, Li Tai was quite satisfied with this.
Although this business has been in operation for more than two years, one year was spent on renovating the terrain to facilitate the construction of the shipyard and preparing materials at the same time. It is not bad to have such a finished product, and it finally lived up to the massive amount of work in the past two years.
Invest.
In water warfare, the big ship is the undisputed king, and a large number of water warfare tactics are based on this arrangement. Therefore, the big ship also represents the strength of a naval force.
The Mengchong battleship is the main ship in water warfare. It usually carries a crew of between a hundred and ten. Of course, there are some special circumstances. Basically, a battleship of this kind carries a relatively complete combat unit.
Moreover, the ship itself is also an offensive weapon. It can launch impacts, ramming, etc. on the water. It is a highly mobile water warfare force, more similar to the cavalry in land combat.
The sailboat is mainly used for reconnaissance, harassment, messaging, transporting troops, etc. Its combat effectiveness in actual battles is relatively limited, mainly because it is light and high-speed and plays a supporting role in battle. In order to make the sailboat
The canoe is more agile and can be made of lightweight materials such as bamboo. Of course, its defensive performance is also very weak. After a water battle, the attrition rate is very high.
In today's shipyard, six large-scale large-scale ships can be directly delivered for use after undergoing final trial repairs and installation of offensive and defensive equipment.
Each large ship can also be allocated five to ten Mengchong battleships, as well as a larger number of sailboats. When they are all launched and armed next year, a naval force with considerable combat effectiveness will soon be formed.
Li Tai inspected here and took a serious course on water warfare tactics. He felt that he had benefited a lot and no longer knew anything about water warfare as before.
With this naval force, even if they cannot immediately win the battle with the Jiangling Navy on the Jianghan Waterway, their confidence in the defense of Xiakou and other ports will be greatly increased.
In a happy mood, Li Tai also rewarded the officials who had been busy here for a long time, and received a wave of thanks and praise.