my wonderful zoo

Chapter 63 Shipyard

The continuous dispatches made Chenjiazhuang's ships nervous.

On March [-], the shipyard in the private harbor.

This shipyard can currently only build small and medium-sized fishing boats, cargo ships, and warships (Fuchuan) of about [-] koku. If you want to build large warships, in addition to the lack of available craftsmen, there is also a severe shortage of wood, which can build thousands of koku. The huge trees on the warship are still drying in the shade.

To speed up the drying of wood in the shade, Chen Xun tried drying and building a greenhouse, but the effect was very poor. Many cracks appeared on the surface and inside of the wood that was quickly dried in the shade, making it unusable.

Later generations heard about using steam to accelerate the drying process of wood, but they have never been researched. Most of the wood can only be left to dry naturally.In order to prevent the wood from getting wet, Chen Xun also built a tent for them with a retractable roof. When the sun shines, the roof can be rolled up and when it rains, the roof can be lowered.

The shipbuilding workshop was also included in this "partial relocation". When Chen Xun came here, various packing activities were in full swing in the workshop. It was drizzling in the sky, but it did not affect everyone's enthusiasm.
At a glance, there are craftsmen wearing raincoats (raingear, divided into bamboo hats, tops, and skirts) everywhere.

Chen Xun was holding an umbrella alone, which made him look very special. He was quickly recognized by the steward of the shipyard.

"Mr. Lang is here for inspection today?" The shipyard manager's surname is Zuo Mingxi, a relatively rare surname.

"Let me see if you need anything here." Chen Xun planned to say a few polite words first.

"Short! Everything is lacking!" Zuo Xi, a veteran who knows how to climb the ladder, started to speak loudly: "There is a shortage of shipwrights, a shortage of carpenters, a shortage of long-term workers, a shortage of wood, and there are not enough shipyards."

Chen Xun sighed inwardly, it seems that he shouldn't be courteous to these old fritters.

"Send half of the people to Daliuqiu, and there will be even more shortages here." Zuo Xi said as if the shipbuilding workshop could not be maintained.

"I will send you some prisoners later. You can train them carefully and pick some smart ones to train them in shipbuilding skills." Chen Xun did Tai Chi: "There is a shortage of people everywhere in the village. I can't go out and snatch them away for you." , can only be cultivated by ourselves.”

"And the ones I cultivated by myself are not easy to use."

"Okay, it would be nice to have more people." Zuo Xi did not expect Chen Xun to fully meet his request.

"I came here this time to let you expand the scale of shipbuilding and dig more docks. There will be more and more places to use ships in Chenjiazhuang, so we can't just rely on buying." Chen Xun put forward the main purpose of his visit this time.

However, because Zuo Xi had been crying about poverty just now, Chen Xun himself felt a little unsure when it came to this request.

"I'm trying my best. A large amount of wood will be usable in two or three months, and I have already figured out the method you mentioned earlier to speed up the drying of wood with steam. As long as there are enough people, the shipbuilding capacity can be raised soon."

Unexpectedly, Zuo Xi gave Chen Xun a positive answer, which surprised Chen Xun.

"Well done, today's news is the only news that makes me happy these days." Chen Xun praised.

"Since Mr. Lang is happy, let's give the shipyard more funds. You gave me so many shipbuilding ideas before, but I can't do anything without money." Zuo Xi climbed up the pole again.

The ideas mentioned by Zuo Xi were some of the research directions proposed by Chen Xun based on his weak understanding of the future wooden warships. Most of them were right and wrong concepts, and there were also some rough ship shape drawings. At most, they could be regarded as a shipbuilding project. Possible directions for technological development are of little help for specific shipbuilding technologies. "How is the research on iron ships I told you about?" Chen Xun asked.

"There is no problem with the theory. We tried to make some small boats out of iron sheets, and they actually floated on the water, and the load capacity was smaller than those without wood." Zuo Xi replied: "But there are many problems. The first is the scale-up of manufacturing. , the sealing between the iron plates has become the biggest problem.”

"Come with me." Zuo Xi took Chen Xun to a small shipyard, which was a laboratory for some shipbuilders with fantastic ideas to test their ideas.

Some of Chen Xun’s ideas will also be tested here.

"Unlike wood, iron plates can be sealed with tung oil, etc., and the volume of dry wooden boards will increase when exposed to water, and they also have a certain degree of sealing. The effect of sealing gaps in iron plates with tung oil and other materials is very poor. It cannot achieve complete sealing. There is no way to talk about the enlargement of the iron ship."

"Have you ever tried riveting?" Chen Xun asked.

Before welding technology matured, riveting technology was used in shipbuilding and aircraft building, so the appearance of early ships and aircraft would look very "shoddy."

"I tried it. If you choose a rivet with a softer material, the riveting is really good at the beginning, but after a long time, the rivet will deform by itself, and the tight seam will leak water."

"If you choose rivets made of harder material, you have to hit them hard when fixing them, but you won't be able to achieve a good tight joint."

"Now we are trying to find a suitable material or a construction method suitable for rivet work to solve these problems." Zuo Xi introduced: "It is still the same problem as before, everything is lacking, especially the lack of qualified craftsmen. , the progress is very slow.”

Chen Xun understands that materials science will always be the biggest constraint on the development of science and technology, not to mention that in a small organization like Chenjiazhuang, if you want to make progress in materials science, you can only rely on time.

"Then try it slowly. Wooden boats are enough for now. Iron boats can only be regarded as technical reserves. Don't worry."

"Actually, in addition to technical problems, the shortage of iron materials is also a big problem. Otherwise, we can completely cover the outside of the wooden ship with a layer of rear iron sheet, which can also greatly increase the defensive power of our warships." Zuo Xi said.

"Wait a minute. When our overseas iron mines start mining, there will naturally be no shortage of iron." Chen Xun could only say wait again.

The main reason for the slow development of all projects is the lack of people.

It's not that Chen Xun has never tried to quickly expand the scale of influence before, but because of the problem of "people's hearts", as long as the influence expands too fast, it will inevitably suffer backlash.

Only those who spend time cultivating can guarantee a certain degree of loyalty, and only if the proportion of people loyal to Chen Xun within the power is not less than a certain level, can the power be guaranteed to be controlled by Chen Xun.

Therefore, the number of talents loyal to Chen Xun determines how many low-level long-term workers, craftsmen, and soldiers are controlled by Chen Xun, and also determines the upper limit of the power of Chenjiazhuang.

When the scale of the school increases and more and more students graduate from the school, Chen Xun can safely expand the scale of Chenjiazhuang's influence.

"That's all it can do, but don't worry, I can increase the shipbuilding capacity of the shipyard to thirty ships per year at most in half a year." Zuo Xi promised, patting his chest.

(End of this chapter)