After that, another day or two passed, but there was still no news from the Zongfu about "Yuanyang Kingdom's request to recover Bolangsha". This undoubtedly meant that Zhao Hongrun's non-violent threat had an effect.
After weighing the pros and cons, Yuanyang King Zhao Wenkai made the choice as Zhao Hongrun expected, and finally chose to acquiesce.
It can be seen that Yuanyang King Zhao Wenkai is also a relatively rational king. Although he is angry or unwilling, he still chooses a situation that is beneficial to him. This makes Zhao Hongrun keep this distant uncle in his heart.
.
After all, it is not easy to make such a rational choice.
For example, two people were walking on the road together and picked up a hundred-dollar bill. However, one of them asked for ninety-nine yuan, but only gave one yuan to the other person. Then the "other person" would not be willing to accept it.
Will he choose to accept this unfair distribution method, or will he simply break up and hand over the banknote to the police?
From a rational point of view, even if it is only "one dollar", it is a profit in vain, which is beneficial to "the other person", but in fact, I believe that the vast majority of people will not be able to gain anything due to their unbalanced mind.
The profitable one.
However, Yuanyang King Zhao Wenkai suppressed his reluctance when he was threatened and rationally chose the option of mutual benefit. This made Zhao Hongrun realize that this distant uncle was probably not a kind person.
generation.
Compared with his eldest son Zhao Chengxiu, perhaps this is a typical example of the so-called tiger father and dog son.
"When starting construction in Bolangsha, don't neglect the prevention of Yuanyang."
Zhao Hongrun warned Cheng Lin, the official of the Metallurgical and Manufacturing Bureau who was responsible for the construction of Bolangsha River Port.
He could guess with his knees that Zhao Chengxiu, the Crown Prince of Yuanyang, who thought he had taken advantage but ended up causing huge losses to Yuanyang, would not be willing to face this matter and would most likely end up in Bolangsha River.
Something was deliberately done during the construction of the port.
But having said that, before the other party caused any trouble, Zhao Hongrun could only tell Cheng Lin to be careful.
In mid-May, after receiving silence from the Zongfu and the Yuanyang King clan, the Metallurgical Bureau and the Ministry of Industry cooperated to start this potentially long-term project in Bolangsha.
They first set a fire in the reeds in Bolangsha to burn all the reeds in the swamp. Immediately, they used these plant ashes and the sand in Bolangsha to make the swamp as much as possible.
It has to condense.
After that, there is the long and expensive project of piling. This is undoubtedly the most difficult part of the process of building a river port on this land.
at this time,
The furnace of the Smelting Bureau outside the city has been completed. Lang Guan Xunxin obtained a large amount of unsalable copper mines from the warehouse under the Ministry of Husbandry. It is said that this batch of copper mines was originally used by the Ministry of Husbandry to mint more coins.
The prepared inventory. But now, after negotiation with the Smelting Bureau, these copper ores were transported to the Smelting Bureau's furnace outside the city and were smelted into copper pillars that need to be surrounded by adults.
During the smelting process, the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau learned from the copper smelting technology of Chu State. After all, Bolangsha is a humid place. Pure copper is easily oxidized in a humid environment. In order to maximize the durability of these copper pillars,
Longer life. At least for more than a hundred years, Zhao Hongrun could not leave the problem of preventing oxidation and corrosion of copper pillars to the craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau.
It has to be said that in the context of contemporary craftsmanship, it is very difficult to delay or even prevent the oxidation of copper in a humid environment.
However, in comparison, the problem of how to build copper pillars of corresponding length is more difficult.
You must know that the bottom of the swamp in Bolangsha is not flat. Some places are deep and some are shallow. Therefore, it becomes extremely difficult to smelt copper pillars.
Even in the end, they could not come up with the best solution to this problem. The craftsmen of the Smelting Bureau had no choice but to learn from Chu's copper welding process and use top welding for those copper pillars that had sunk deeply and were not high enough.
The limitations of the technological level of the great era forced the Smelting Bureau to adopt this stupidest method.
But no matter what, the Bolangsha project is finally on the right track.
At this time, Zhao Hongrun took Wang Fu and other officials and craftsmen from the Smelting Bureau to Xiangfu Port, which is located on the south side of Daliang.
Xiangfu Port is also an important port in Zhao Hongrun's blueprint. The only difference between it and Bolangsha is that it faces different waters.
If the water area of Bolangsha River Port is mainly the big river (Yellow River), then Xiangfu Port faces the water area of Yingshui River.
While Bolangsha was under construction, the Metallurgical Bureau and the Ministry of Industry also expanded Xiangfu Port.
Yes, Xiangfu Port was originally the only important river port near Daliang. At the beginning, almost all the materials provided by the Ministry of Revenue to support Yanling were loaded onto ships at this river port and then transported to Yanling.
According to visual inspection, Xiangfu Port has a total of four docks, which can accommodate eight ships to berth or transport supplies at the same time. It is not small in terms of scale, but even so, Zhao Hongrun is still not satisfied with its scale.
After all, the ships that parked here in the past were all ships with a length of no more than five or six feet (one zhang is about two meters). This is the transport ship commonly used by the warehouse department in charge of transportation under the Ministry of Revenue, and
After seeing the large transport ships of the Chu State that were more than ten feet long, the small boats of the Wei State that were five or six feet long had long been eliminated in Zhao Hongrun's mind.
"Your Highness, please take a look."
Wang Fu, the Bureau Chief of the Smelting Bureau, took Zhao Hongrun to a shipyard in Xiangfu Port.
I saw that the dock dock was blocked at this time, and many craftsmen from the Smelting Bureau were building a transport ship that was more than ten feet long.
I saw this large ship. The design style was obviously different from that of the ships of the Wei State. If nothing else, this should be a transport ship modeled after the warships of the Chu State. After all, Zhao Hongrun originally carried the warships captured from Chen County.
When the grain and grass were returned to Xiong Tuo, Lord of Yangcheng, two ships were specially detained.
As for the purpose, it is self-evident when looking at the transport ship that is imitated from the warships of the Chu Kingdom.
"Have you understood thoroughly? Chu's shipbuilding technology?"
Looking at the transport ship in front of him that had its keel base built and cabin planks being laid, Zhao Hongrun asked Wang Fudao beside him.
Wang Fu hesitated for a moment and said in a low voice: "We have made drawings based on the actual objects of the two ships. It seems quite clear at first glance, but in fact, we have not yet figured out the parts of some ships.
Why did the Chu people design it like that..."
As he spoke, he took out a large stack of drawings of Chu ships from his arms.
Zhao Hongrun took a general drawing and took a look at it, only to see that what was drawn on the drawing was no longer a square-head ship in the original sense.
The so-called square-headed ship is a ship design commonly used in the Wei state today. The first and two ends of the ship are square, and from a bird's eye view, it looks like a rectangle.
However, Chu's ships have abandoned the square-headed boat design. In order to reduce the resistance of the water when sailing, the bow position of Chu's ships has gradually evolved towards a narrow position. It has to be said that this kind of ship has begun to take on the general features that Zhao Hongrun remembered.
The prototype of a ship.
For another example, the Chu people have designed a sail that can use ropes to adjust the angle, and the sail has also added a foresail and a tail sail based on the old single-mast single sail, so that this kind of ship can adjust its direction with the help of wind.
The mobility is greatly enhanced.
It is no exaggeration to say that if Wei's ships were to fight Chu's ships on the spacious water now, the chances of total destruction would be much greater than the chance of victory by chance. No matter how many archers there were, they would not be able to save the warships.
The gap in strength caused by falling behind.
"Forget about the copper smelting technology, but the shipbuilding technology has been left too far behind by Chu..."
Sighing slightly, Zhao Hongrun handed the blueprint in his hand back to Wang Fu, and said in a somewhat emotional tone: "For the time being, let's imitate Chu's warships... The Chu people's design is not wrong, they shortened the
The purpose of increasing the distance between the bows and making the hull appear curved is to reduce the resistance from the water when sailing... As for the front sail, it is to quickly turn the ship around..."
Wang Fu looked at His Highness Prince Su in surprise. Why did the people of Chu design ships like this? The entire Smelting Bureau had been thinking hard for a while but could not come to a conclusion. However, His Highness Prince Su in front of him seemed to have never come to a conclusion.
It was as if the rationale was clear from the beginning, and the benefits of such an improved ship could be seen at a glance.
"Is it true that people...are born with knowledge?"
Wang Fu blinked in confusion, and then said cautiously: "Then... build the ship according to this drawing?"
"…Hmm."
Zhao Hongrun nodded.
To be honest, he could actually draw a ship design that was more suitable for navigation than the Chu ships, but he gave up in the end.
After all, the improvement of technology requires continuous and step-by-step accumulation of experience. No matter whether it is success or failure, it is useful. The most taboo is to overthrow the achievements and aim too high.
For example, now his Smelting and Manufacturing Bureau cannot even understand the more advanced Chu warships and cannot understand the reason for the improved design. Zhao Hongrun suddenly threw the design drawings of the armored ship to the Smelting and Manufacturing Bureau. This can
What role does it play?
There is no seamless welding, and there is no iron plate manufacturing process. Even if the metallurgy and manufacturing bureau holds back its efforts and desperately builds it, it will probably be just a concept ship that cannot be launched into the water and will sink as soon as it is in the water.
For this kind of thing, the most important thing is for the Metallurgical Bureau to fully understand the craftsmanship. Zhao Hongrun can at most serve as a guide.
After all, he is not very clear about this aspect and cannot explain it to them systematically. Rather than giving them a wrong concept, it is better to let them accumulate valuable experience. After all, the most critical factor in the change of things still depends on quantity.
.
"Just imitate the ships of the Chu State... After completion, deliver them to Cangbu, and give them a cost price for the time being."
"..." Wang Fu looked up at Zhao Hongrun in shock, thinking to himself, isn't this a benefit to Cangbe in vain?
As if he had read Wang Fu's thoughts, Zhao Hongrun reminded him with a smile: "Don't forget the original intention, whether it is building a river port or building a ship, our original intention is not to make money..."
After hearing this, Wang Fu suddenly woke up and nodded in relief.
Indeed, the purpose of their Smelting Bureau's construction of river ports and shipbuilding is only to improve the transportation capacity of ore and other raw materials to Daliang.