On the outskirts of Nanjing, Longjiang Bao Shipyard.
This is a large shipyard located on the Yangtze River covering an area of about a thousand acres. In the shipyard, facing the direction of the Yangtze River, there are seven shipyards lined up. Each shipyard is about a hundred feet long and a dozen feet wide.
, with a depth of two feet, and all of them are made of fine loess as slope protection. Such a dock can build large ships with thousands of materials. According to the ship standards of later generations, it is equivalent to a ship with a displacement of one or two thousand tons.
In the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Longjiang Bao Shipyard was the most prosperous shipyard in the entire Ming Dynasty. The huge ship that Zheng He took on his voyages to the West came from this shipyard. As the Ming Dynasty gradually closed its borders and shipping declined, Longjiang Bao Shipyard
It has also gradually lost its past glory. The ordering of a few ships every year is simply not enough to support the hundreds of craftsmen households in the shipyard. Many craftsmen have to open up wasteland and farm their own land, or do some crafts, small businesses and the like to earn a living.
A little money to make ends meet.
At this time, Su Hao and Li Zhi, dressed in businessman attire, were standing at the entrance of the shipyard, inquiring about news about the shipyard from the vendors selling snacks on the official road outside the door.
"Brother, let me ask, is this the Longjiang Bao Shipyard?" Su Hao asked the vendor, arching his hand.
The hawker quickly returned the greeting and said: "This is exactly where you are. Are you here to see someone?"
"That's right." Su Hao said, "May I ask what your surname is?"
The hawker waved his hand and said: "Well, I am a craftsman, so what's wrong with me? My surname is Cai, and I have a nickname named Guozhu. I work second-hand in the family, so everyone calls me Cai Laoer, and I am also a guest officer.
That’s how you call the villain.”
"Haha, it turns out to be Brother Cai." Su Hao smiled slightly. He was a little interested in this outspoken hawker, "Brother Cai just said that he was a craftsman. Could it be that you are the shipbuilder in this treasure ship?"
"Isn't it? Our whole family is an oar maker. When I was fighting Master Yongle, my grandfather's grandfather's grandfather... was the best oar maker in this shipyard. The treasure ship that Master Sanbao took to the West, the oar on the ship was
My grandfather's grandfather's grandfather... made it with his own hands." The vendor named Cai Guozhu took the trouble to tell Su Hao his family tree.
"Is there such a thing?" Su Hao said. Hearing that Cai Guozhu was quite talkative, he simply picked up the two ponymen nearby and handed one to Li Zhi. The other one sat by himself and said to Cai Guozhu: "Brother Cai, here are the four
A tea egg, cut some braised pork, and sift a pot of rice wine. Our gentleman and I want to hear you tell us how your grandfather's grandfather built this giant oar for the treasure ship."
"Okay, sir, please wait. Food and wine will be served to you soon." Cai Guozhu was overjoyed. He didn't expect that two customers would come out of a casual chat. He conjured up a small table from nowhere and placed it for Su
In front of Hao and Li Zhi, he quickly brought the side dishes, rice wine, bowls and chopsticks that Su Hao asked for, placed them on the table, and then sat at the table. While watching Su Hao and Li Zhi eat,
He talked about the glorious past of his ancestors' shipbuilding.
Su Hao and Li Zhi listened to Cai Guozhu's story with smiles, looking for the information they needed from his confusing words. Before leaving the capital for Nanjing, Su Hao also went to the Ministry of Industry to learn about the situation of Longjiang Bao Shipyard.
However, the information that the cold files of the Ministry of Industry can provide is very limited. For example, regarding the description of the shipbuilding capabilities of the shipyard, the knowledge of the officials of the Ministry of Industry is only limited to the establishment of the shipyard during the Yongle period. It is equivalent to saying that they only know the theoretical shipyard.
What kind of capabilities it has and what the actual situation is, no one can say clearly.
Listening to Cai Guozhu's introduction, the situation is completely different. According to Cai Guozhu, there are 400 craftsmen's households in the shipyard, all of which are divided according to the establishment of the Yongle period. Each household has specific skills, including carpenters, shuttle craftsmen, oars craftsmen, and cable craftsmen.
, blacksmiths, cablesmiths, carpenters, brownsmiths, tent makers, etc. In the early days, a craftsman's family consisted of several craftsmen including the father and his adult son. Over the years, as the children of the craftsman's family continued to grow,
, and continued to divide families. On average, one craftsman family can be divided into five or six families, with as many as a dozen craftsmen.
As the number of craftsmen increased, the shipbuilding business decreased, which made the craftsmen's lives increasingly difficult. Many of them fled privately and left their hometowns. However, most of the craftsmen still stayed in the shipyards and languished.
Struggling to survive, because Ming Dynasty law stipulates that if a craftsman is caught fleeing, he will be sentenced to severe punishment.
"You said there is no work left in the shipyard, so how do everyone live?" Su Hao asked strangely. If 400 households did not have daily business, they would have to pay for the northwest wind, right?
Cai Guozhu said: "Grow your own crops. Besides, every craftsman in our shipyard has ancestral craftsmanship. Rich families in Nanjing will come to our craftsmen if they want to build a house or buy furniture."
We can make a little money by doing this. I'm not just bragging, the craftsmanship of our shipyard craftsmen is a hundred times better than those sleazy craftsmen outside."
When Cai Guozhu said this, his eyes shone with pride. Even though he was just a laid-off worker from a large state-owned factory that was on the verge of bankruptcy, his arrogance was real.
"So, counting from Master Yongle's time, two hundred years have passed and the craftsmanship of the craftsmen has not been lost?" Su Hao asked.
Cai Guozhu stared and said: "How dare you throw it away! The craftsmanship of our craftsmen, that is, the people who eat, can we throw it away casually? We, the children in the shipyard, started apprenticeships at the age of seven. The government no longer builds ships, so we can find them casually
You can cut off the branches of a tree and use it as a boat and oar to practice your craftsmanship. Please take a look, you two, the horse and the small table you are sitting on are all made by me. Even if the things are small, the craftsmanship is not mentioned."
Su Hao then began to notice the extraordinary nature of the horse he was sitting on. As Cai Guozhu said, although it was only a small horse, its workmanship was very exquisite, and every detail showed the skills of an excellent craftsman.
"This is great!" Su Hao turned to look at Li Zhi and found that Li Zhi also had a slight smile on his face.
Before leaving Beijing, Su Hao and Li Zhi were really worried that the Ming Dynasty's technology for building large sea-going ships had been abandoned for many years and would be difficult to recover. Sea-going ships, unlike those used on rivers, must be able to withstand strong waves at sea and the erosion of sea water.
. Longjiang Bao Shipyard has always had experience in building sea-going ships, but it has not built a ship for so many years. The craftsmen of the Yongle period have long since passed away. Su Hao is really not sure whether their descendants can still master these shipbuilding techniques.
Judging from Cai Guozhu's story, the craftsmen have not given up on inheriting technology because of the depression of the shipyard. They are like a group of ascetics, holding on to a piece of pure land under the most difficult conditions, allowing their ancestors' craftsmanship to be preserved from generation to generation.
Go down and pass on the fire.
"Sir, if I'm not mistaken, you want to find a shipbuilder, right?" After Cai Guozhu told the story of the shipyard, he put away his confident expression and asked timidly to Su Hao and Li Zhi.
Su Hao asked: "How did you tell?"
Cai Guozhu said: "You two are people of high status. If you can spend half a day sitting in the villain's stall and listen to the villain talk about ancient times, you are obviously interested in our shipyard. Our shipyard does not produce gold, and it does not produce anything."
Yin, if you don't want to build ships, why would you come to our shipyard?"
Su Hao smiled and said: "Then, second brother Cai, do you usually have many people coming to the shipyard to build ships?"
Cai Guozhu said: "This is a layman's question. We are a government-run shipyard and we do not accept private ships. Those merchants find a small shipyard by themselves and then hire craftsmen from our shipyard to build the ships. I
Didn't I say that when it comes to craftsmanship, the craftsmen in our shipyard are the best in the world."
Li Zhi interjected: "Brother Cai, your craftsmen go out to do private work, why don't you raise them?"
The promotion Li Zhi mentioned was the highest official in the shipyard. Due to the important status of Longjiang Bao Shipyard, in the early years of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court set up a promotion department here. A promotion officer from the fifth rank was stationed in charge of the shipyard.
various affairs. Although the business of the shipyard has almost ceased in recent years, the lifting department has not been abolished, and there are still people who hold the position of lifting.
However, in the early Ming Dynasty, Tiji was a good job at Longjiang Shipyard. He received hundreds of thousands of taels of shipbuilding funds every year, and even if he missed a little bit between his fingers, he could still make a lot of money. Until now, Tiji
It's just a hard job. In the Ministry of Works, officials who are not good at flattering people and not knowing how to behave have always been sent to places like this for promotion, which is equivalent to exile.
When Cai Guozhu heard Li Zhi's question, he lowered his voice slightly and said: "Old sir, be careful what you say and be careful about being overheard. I tell you, if you want to ask our craftsmen to help build the ship, you have to go and see them first.
Let's raise the lord. If he doesn't allow it, the craftsmen won't dare to go out casually, otherwise it will be a matter of losing their heads."
"So, how can you, Lord Tiju, agree to let the craftsmen help us build the ship?" Su Hao asked. Since Cai Guozhu mistakenly thought that they were looking for someone to do private work, he simply pretended to do it.
Cai Guozhu smiled mysteriously and said: "How can we villains dare to speculate on this matter of raising an adult? From the perspective of villains, there must be such a meaning..." At this point, he did it with his hands.
He looked like he was rubbing treasure money, which meant that he needed to bribe Ti Ti. Both Su Hao and Li Zhi knew this well.
"Okay, thank you Brother Cai for your advice." Su Hao stood up and threw a piece of silver on the table to pay for the meal.
Cai Guozhu picked up the silver and said with a sullen face: "Sir, the food and wine you two used for this are 60 coins in total. Your silver is too big, and I can't find it for this villain."
"No need to look for it." Su Hao said, "Brother Cai just told us so many things about the shipyard, and also gave us some advice on how to go to see Tiji. The extra money can be regarded as a small thank you.
"
"Oh, the guest gave me too much, little man...little man..." Cai Guozhu didn't know what to say. He couldn't earn so much money even if he set up a stall for four or five days, but the guest in front of him casually
I gave it to him as a thank you gift. He murmured for a long time before saying, "Thank you so much, sir. If the guest has made an agreement with Tiju and wants to hire craftsmen in the factory, he can come to see me.
The villain can introduce you to the craftsman with the best craftsmanship. If you need an oar craftsman, the villain’s whole family can go there, and I guarantee that the guest will be satisfied.”
"It will cause trouble to Brother Cai." Su Hao said, "We are going to look for Tiju now. Does Brother Cai know where Tiju is now?"
"Tiji lives in Tijisi and doesn't go out easily. I'll take you there." Cai Guozhu said positively.