Chapter 182 Technical Reserves
At the Keelung shipyard, one end of a wooden slipway leads directly to the sea. It has been polished smooth and recently coated with grease to ensure the massive vessel on shore can smoothly slide into the water.
“Your Highness, I think the name you chose is too hasty. Is it really enough to simply add the word 'big' before Garen to name this brand-new ship? This is a disregard for my hard work…”
Seaman stroked the sturdy hull with his hand, looking up at the high gunwales while angrily complaining to Qin Mo. Qin Mo named his masterpiece of the past six months... a large galleon. According to his classification, a two-masted galleon is a light galleon, a three-masted galleon is a medium galleon, and this four-masted behemoth... is a large galleon.
"Then what do you think it should be called? Garen-class?" Qin Mo was gazing at the massive ship with a displacement of nearly a thousand tons, lost in thought, and had no interest in paying attention to Ximan's complaints.
“It should be…it should be called Seaman…Garen…” The green elf’s face suddenly turned red, which, combined with his green hair, was quite pleasing.
"Okay, let's call it Ximanlun!"
Qin Mo didn't care what the ship was called. As a pragmatist, he didn't care what it was called, as long as it was sturdy, easy to use, and could sail the ocean.
The biggest advantage of galleons is that for the same displacement, the hull weight is half that of galleons. The same amount of shipbuilding materials can be used to build larger ships, and the lower center of gravity results in better seaworthiness. This is where their ultimate value is revealed when they are in the face of storms.
"Kai...you will perform the bottle-throwing ceremony today!"
Qin Mo and a group of high-ranking officials walked up to the wooden platform at the bow of the ship. Qin Mo then gestured for Kaihime to go up and throw the bottle of fine wine hanging on the pole onto the bow. Kaihime bowed her head in agreement, first solemnly bowing to all four directions, and then smashing the bottle hard against the bow.
When ships encounter storms at sea, crew members would stuff their wills into bottles, jars, or other floating objects to create messages in bottles.
If the ship sinks, loved ones may find their own wishes on the shore. The meaning of the "bottle-throwing ceremony" is to smash the drifting bottle and never resort to such a desperate means.
The wine bottle shattered, and the rich aroma of wine filled the air. A large galleon, with its four main masts standing alone, slowly slid down the slipway into the water, creating ripples. The main body of the large ship had been built, but the sails, rigging, weapons, and cannons would be installed after it was launched, a process commonly known as "mounting."
"Your Highness, please advise which merchant caravan this ship should be assigned to!" Uncle Lin suppressed his excitement and asked Qin Mo in a low voice.
"It's a northern caravan! We can't hide it from them anyway, so let them see it. They won't be able to figure it out even if we leave it out, haha!"
The galleons of the Dayuan were unique and eye-catching in the Daxia maritime trade circle. Many merchants had tried to imitate them, but their imitations were all poor imitations and not as good as Chinese hard-sail sailing ships. In addition, without skilled sailors who could operate soft sails, everyone gave up and stopped trying.
After the three-masted sailing ship came out, some discerning people saw the advantages of the galleon and tried to get shipbuilders from high-ranking officials to make a replica, but they failed because of the strict guarding of Lin Bo and others.
Now that the four-masted galleon has appeared, it is estimated that all maritime merchants are restless. This huge sailing ship, capable of carrying more than five hundred crew members, is already a force to be reckoned with at sea. If it were to transform into a pirate ship, it would make all its opponents despair.
"Syman, the 18-pound cannon has been successfully prototyped. When will your large frigate be launched?"
"Your Highness, although Siman is a noble elf, he still needs to live. I haven't received a single copper coin in wages yet..." Siman muttered as he held up a finger and waved it vigorously in front of Qin Mo's eyes.
"The next ship will be yours. I will inform Uncle Lin."
Qin Mo had no choice but to give in to Ximan. Under the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism, even Ximan, who once didn't know what wages were, had fallen for it and was even threatening the boss by shirking his work.
“Your Highness, you are a very generous man. Please forgive my rudeness. I simply need a ship to fulfill my promise.”
"Simman, sending a ship is fine, but the technology must not be given away. For example, the blueprints and key technologies for the new type of frigate must not be leaked."
"Your Highness, rest assured, our Elven shipbuilding skills are the best in the world, and we naturally know the importance of secrecy. However, Your Highness, why are you in such a hurry to develop new warships? Our current light frigates should be unmatched!"
Qin Mo made a gesture you wouldn't understand, then said something that left Ximan completely baffled: "Equip one generation, research and develop another, and validate the last. With enough technological reserves, we will always be invincible."
Having never experienced fierce business competition, Ximan will never understand what technological reserves are. The world-renowned giants that Qin Mo is familiar with have used this tactic to kill countless emerging companies.
When a company invests all its resources to finally develop a leading technology and is ready to monetize it, it is devastatingly discovered that the bullies blocking its path have come up with newer technologies that are just slightly more advanced than its own. As a result, all of the company's investment goes down the drain, and it eventually goes bankrupt due to debt collection from banks.
The most obvious example is the great Soviet regime, which was lured down a path of no return by a cunning and treacherous American, who tricked it into putting all its strength into building muscle, when in fact the American had already started playing Iron Man. In the end, the Soviet regime could only desperately chase after the American and died from exhaustion.
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