Chapter 183 Overtaking on a Curve (Second update, please subscribe)

Li Chenpu naturally agreed to the teacher's advice, and mathematics is indeed very important, especially in ship design and construction, which requires a lot of calculations. Without mathematics, it is impossible to build a good ship.

After asking the teacher for help with a few math problems, Li Chenpu had just arrived at the campus when a fat man came up to him and asked.

"Hey, Leo, I heard you're getting married."

Glancing at the fat man next to him, Li Chenpu smiled bitterly.

"Fatty Wang, please stop making fun of me. You know your father said that he won't let me go abroad if I don't get married, no matter what the company says."

"Well, getting married and having children is human nature. Besides, if you get married and have children, the company will reward you with a house, so you don't have to live in a dormitory anymore. What a great thing!"

In order to increase the population, Nanhua has tried every possible means, including the introduction of a large number of immigrants and direct rewards. In order to encourage childbirth, a number of tube buildings were specially built to rent out to new families, while most people lived in dormitories. Although the building is only three stories high, the house type is definitely modern - Zhu Xianhai borrowed the design of later residential houses, all of which are small six-bedroom, two-living room suites with an area of ​​more than 140 square meters. Although the design may not be scientific, it is certain that it is definitely large enough for a large family to live in. The standard for tenants is very simple - as long as the wife is pregnant and gives birth, you can sign a long-term lease contract and move into the new home.

In Nanhua, there are countless people who dream of moving into a new home like that. Of course, the prerequisite is to have a wife.

Fatty Wang’s words made Li Chenpu sigh.

"I, I'm angry at myself. What kind of life is our family living now? Not only do my parents have to work, but they also have to worry about my affairs. This is really unfilial..."

"You, you just think too much. You think we are still in Hangzhou. You are not the second young master Li, and I am not the prince. We are the same as others. Even if we had something hidden in our arms, it would not help us here. If we want to live a good life, we still have to rely on knowledge and brains."

Fatty Wang stared at the direction of the bay and said as he looked at the towering masts in the bay.

"I originally wanted to apply to the sailing school next door, although the captain's income is higher."

"Then why didn't you go?"

Li Chenpu looked at him in surprise.

"They said I was in poor health and failed the running test. That's ridiculous. I'm just a little fat. Can I run around the deck all day long on the ship?"

When it comes to this, Fatty Wang couldn't help but complain.

"I went to the docks to see that there were quite a few fat captains and crew members. It's really unreasonable for them to not give me a chance just because I'm a little fat. I tell you, in the future, even if I buy a boat myself, I will be the captain, the captain of a standard boat."

The "standard Huai ships" he mentioned are merchant ships being built in the shipyard. Not only are the keels and other metal parts manufactured according to unified standards, but even the wooden boards of the hull are built according to corresponding unified specifications. According to the company, they are going to build a batch of "standardized immigration ships."

"Okay, you have great ambitions, but by the time you buy a boat, I guess the standard boat will be obsolete by then."

Lee Sum-Pok said, unable to hold back his laughter.

"Who knows? One day you may be sailing a steamship designed by me, like the Great Eastern."

The impact that a giant ship brings to people is unimaginable. Even the most conservative people can feel the power of industry. Under the impact of industrial civilization, their thinking is also changing rapidly.

Fatty Wang uttered "hmm" in an almost unrecognizable voice, and then spoke.

"Maybe. I heard that the shipyard seems to be planning to build a bigger ship. Who knows? The company hired dozens of engineers and hundreds of craftsmen from the British shipyard. It is definitely not to build a standard ship. Otherwise, there would not be such a big fuss."

Fatty Wang actually guessed this correctly.

Even now, the shipyard in the left bay of Nanhua Bay is still under construction. Hundreds of workers are busy there. They dug a deep pit that is 300 meters long and more than 50 meters wide, and then built a dock with stones. This dock should be the largest dock of this era, enough to accommodate the "Great Eastern".

In the factory, there are two stone-based docks about 150 meters long. In the docks, the keel of a slender clipper is being laid. The steel keel and ribs reflect a faint metallic luster in the sun.

While the workers were fixing the planks with bolts, Zhu Xianhai stood in the dock and looked at the clipper ship. Although it currently only had a keel frame and a small amount of hull, it was still possible to see that its size was quite astonishing.

"The hull is 6.55 meters deep, 12.7 meters wide at its widest point, and more than 72 meters long. The keel and ribs of the entire ship are made of steel, and the planks are made of top-quality oak..."

While Liang Mingwei was introducing this "standard immigration ship" with some pride, Zhu Xianhai was silently looking at the ship in front of him. In order to speed up the development of Nanhua's shipbuilding industry, he not only introduced a group of ship engineers from the UK, but also hired a group of skilled shipbuilding workers.

The addition of this group of engineers and shipbuilders advanced Nanhua's shipbuilding industry by 8 years. In the simulator, it was not until 1870 that the first ocean-going merchant ship built by Nanhua, the "Hope", was launched and delivered. It was just an 1,800-ton iron-ribbed wooden-hulled steamship.

But the "standard immigrant ship" being built by the shipyard now has a similar tonnage and structure. Its construction means that Nanhua's shipbuilding industry has made eight years of progress! This is definitely a leap forward. Of course, all this is inseparable from those British and French engineers and craftsmen.

"Akira, although the shipyard is making rapid progress, in the final analysis, it still relies on foreign engineers and craftsmen. For the shipyard, these people are crutches. For now, we can't do without these crutches, but one day we will have to abandon them. So, you have to seize the time and learn from them well, understand?"

Seeing his smug look, Zhu Xianhai took the initiative to pour some cold water on him. Historically, the shipbuilding industry of the Qing Dynasty and Japan was the biggest revelation. The two countries were almost opened by the European and American naval guns. Facing the threat from the sea, the two countries faced the same problem - one was that they could not build ships, and the other was that they had no one to sail.

The two countries also successively established modern shipyards and hired Western engineers to build ships. Compared with Japan, the Qing Dynasty seemed to be making rapid progress. Starting from 1864, it had continuously built Western-style ships and even warships, from wooden hulls and wooden ribs warships to iron-framed wooden hulls warships, and then to iron-ribbed iron-clad warships. What about Japan? It was not until 1878 that it started to build a 1,500-ton iron-ribbed wooden hull cruiser, which was the "Tianlong".

However, when building the "Tenryuu", except for the British designer, all other technical personnel were Japanese. Japan, which seemed to have made little progress, accumulated experience by building merchant ships and completed talent training in more than ten years. Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, their engineers were already able to independently design and build warships. What about the Qing Dynasty?

We have never been able to get rid of foreign employees. The technical level of the shipyard is completely controlled by foreign employees, and the training of local talents is almost zero!

Decades later, when Japan was building battleships of tens of thousands of tons, the Qing Dynasty not only failed to make progress, but regressed - the rapid development of armor, artillery and power technology made them unable to build more technologically advanced and complex warships.

That is why Zhu Xianhai would not tolerate himself making the same mistake. We need to correctly understand the role of crutches and not be complacent just because we can walk a few steps faster with crutches.

The cane is like a drug to some extent. It is always addictive. It even makes people feel that they have been in a certain illusion.

"Learning! The reason why we hired so many foreigners is not just for shipbuilding, but more importantly, to learn from them in the process of shipbuilding. It takes ten or even twenty years to learn and master the skills of shipbuilding, and now is a rare opportunity. Ships all over the world are switching from wooden structures to steel structures. Now is the time for us to overtake them, so we must seize the time and strive to surpass them while learning."

The timing is just right now. The whole world is entering the era of steel ships. As long as we can seize this opportunity and complete the initial technological accumulation, perhaps in a dozen or twenty years, Nanhua will be like Germany a dozen years later. In the Second Industrial Revolution, it will establish a developed shipbuilding industry by relying on the advantages of technological changes.

Every industrial revolution is an opportunity to overtake others. By seizing this opportunity, Nanhua can not only rise rapidly in South America, but also become one of the world's great powers.

After being reminded by his lord, the smug look on Liang Mingwei's face disappeared in an instant.

"My lord, you are right. I have gotten carried away."

Ignoring Liang Mingwei's self-reflection, Zhu Xianhai just nodded slightly. The key to this kind of thing is to remind yourself frequently. He looked around and asked.

"Where's Mr. Routh?"

Philip Roth was a naval engineer employed by the company, and he even participated in the construction of the giant ship "Great Eastern".

He is also one of the most outstanding ship engineers currently employed by the company. His arrival has helped Nanhua solve many technical problems.

"Engineer Routh is at the No. 3 slipway. Didn't you ask him to modify the clipper ship? Modifying a ship may be more complicated than building one. The "Cadesar" originally did not have a steam engine. Now that a steam engine is installed, we have to consider the impact of various aspects, so he has been watching there."

Look, this is the reality. Without foreign engineers, we can’t even modify a steamship ourselves.

Upon hearing this, Zhu Xianhai said.

"Let's go and take a look together."

I have set up a book club: 335260551. Everyone is welcome to join and discuss and deduce the plot together.

(End of this chapter)