On the Blackwater Ocean, the sea and the sky are one color.
But the blue of the sky is a transparent blue; the blue of the sea is a deep blue. No matter the blue of the sky or the blue of the sea, they are both so fascinating.
With sails fluttering and masts forming a forest, a huge fleet with the sun and moon flags flying is forming a flying swallow formation, sailing downstream on the Black Water Ocean.
This is the joint fleet of Jiangnan Group carrying out the fourth sea transport, consisting of eighty 400-ton sand ships belonging to Jiangnan Shipping Company and twenty escort ships belonging to Jiangnan Security Company.
Starting with the second voyage, the number of ships in the fleet doubled.
This was thanks to the Jiangnan Group recruiting tens of thousands of laborers from the Yellow River flood area in the north of the Yangtze River to work in Jiangnan. A large number of laborers were assigned to Chongming Island, completely freeing up the manpower of the Sand Ship Gang. Not only could the Jiangnan Shipyard start work at full capacity, but the three thousand sailors could also go out to sea.
On the other hand, good news came one after another from Longjiang Baochuan Factory and Suzhou Shipyard. The first batch of 40 1,000-ton seagoing vessels ordered by Jiangnan Group were ready for delivery.
Eighty thousand-ton ships would require at least six thousand sailors to operate. This made Master Zhao very happy but also very anxious. He ordered Chen Huaixiu and Jin Ke to speed up the training of new sailors and marines... Oh no, maritime security.
As the saying goes "there are ships in the south and horses in the north", the people in the south of the Yangtze River have no shortage of people who can sail and play in the water. Moreover, once a trainee sailor is converted to a regular employee, he or she can be formally employed by a shipping company. The income is several times that of ordinary people, so there is naturally no worry about recruiting people.
In fact, more than 3,000 children of the Guangsha Ship Gang signed up enthusiastically. Another 3,000 people were recruited from Shanghai, Taicang and other places. The total of 6,000 reserve sailors were originally planned to enter the Navigation Academy for systematic education.
But Jin Ke hadn't set up the academy yet, and the young master was pushing so hard that it was obviously impossible to train them step by step. He and Chen Huaixiu and others decided that they could only use the old to guide the new and rush them into training.
So three thousand sailors, each with two apprentices, and the captain was no exception, began high-intensity training that lasted for several months... Fortunately, the Jiang Censor was Uncle Wu, otherwise he would have reported them for recruiting navy troops and plotting against their will.
~~
In order to allow the old sailors to teach their masters everything they know, Jinke specially stipulated that within five years after the apprentices were converted to regular employees, one third of their salary would belong to the master, which was euphemistically called "training silver".
This seems to be very unfair to the apprentices in the eyes of later generations. But in this era of "teaching the apprentice to starve the master to death", no matter what kind of skills, they will not be easily passed on. After the apprentice becomes a disciple, he has to work for the master for free for many years. After learning the skills, he still has to work for the master for free for three years before he can become a master.
Therefore, in the eyes of people at that time, Jinke's "training silver" system was actually very friendly to apprentices. It could mobilize the enthusiasm of old sailors and make them willing to help apprentices pass the crew examination as soon as possible, instead of deliberately hiding them and just using them as free labor.
However, most of the old sailors are good at doing things but not at talking. It is far better to teach by example than by words. The best way to let them take apprentices is to practice on the ship and run a few more trips back and forth on the sea route. It is better to show the real skills than anything else.
Normally, each 400-ton sand ship could carry a maximum of 1,300 dan of grain. But that would make the ship extremely heavy and difficult to operate. With so many idiots on board, accidents could easily occur. It would also not be conducive to the training of the sailors.
In order to facilitate training, with the approval of Master Zhao, each ship was only loaded with 300 tons of grain, which was a fraction of the full load.
Therefore, the fleets traveling between Chongming and Tianjin were more like training than transporting food...
~~
The eighty sand ships of Jiangnan Shipping were in training, and the twenty escort ships of Jiangnan Security were also in training.
The last time they shipped by sea, they only had ten escort ships, and all of them were converted from old ships of the Sand Ship Gang.
But at the end of April, a letter came from Fujian saying that the ten medium-sized Wuwei boats ordered were completed. Wang Rulong was so happy that he personally led people to the underground shipyard in Quanzhou to pick them up. They had just been incorporated into the Coast Guard and had not even had time to paint their hull numbers, but they could not wait to go out to sea for their first training.
Obviously, this Wuwei ship was definitely not made up. Otherwise, Wang Rulong, who always acted like an arrogant and domineering president, would not have personally gone south to pick up the ship as if he was welcoming a bride.
This type of boat originated in Dongguan, Guangdong. Because its hull and stern were painted black, it was also called "black tail boat" or "black boat". Its hull was made of durable ironwood, so it was as hard as iron, "everything touched would break, everything hit would break", and it could even withstand the cannonballs fired by the Portuguese. Even the Portuguese warships that were rampant along the coast of the South China Sea were very afraid of it.
The size and shape of Wuwei ship are similar to Fuchuan ship, but Fuchuan ship is made of pine and fir. If it collides with Wuchuan ship in the sea, Fuchuan ship will be smashed. Wuwei ship is also durable. Usually Fuchuan ship has a service life of only ten years, but Wuwei ship can last up to fifty years. Therefore, although it is expensive - one ship can be worth five Fuchuan ships, it is still widely sought after by government troops, sea merchants and even Japanese pirates.
To this day, the Wuwei Ship is still the main battleship of the Fujian and Guangdong sea lords. The usual way to measure the strength of their fleet is to see how many Wuwei Ships they have.
Of course, the flagships of Lin Daoquan and Zeng Yiben are all large-sized Wuwei ships of two to three thousand tons, which are far from comparable to the medium-sized Wuwei ships of the Coast Guard.
However, in the northern waters where there is no sea lord, this medium-sized black-tailed ship with a length of ten feet, a width of thirty feet, and a hull thickness of seven inches can already sail sideways.
~~
The price of a bare boat like this one is more than eight hundred taels of silver.
Mr. Zhao's original intention was to acquire several underground shipyards in Fujian and Guangdong to ensure a stable source of black boats. However, when Tang Baolu went to the coastal areas of Fujian and Guangdong to inquire, he found out that these shipyards had orders from the big sea owners and had long been in the hands of the big sea owners.
Not only is it completely impossible to buy a boatyard, but under normal circumstances, you can't even buy a Wuwei boat.
Fortunately, Mr. Zhao has the ability to make money, so I just add money. When he offered a sky-high price of two thousand taels per ship, those shipyards miraculously had production capacity, and it only took three months for the first batch of ships to be delivered. It can be seen that private enterprises are more efficient than state-owned enterprises.
Of course, the large-sized Wuwei boats with a capacity of 10,000 hu were still the exclusive property of the sea masters. If the shipyard owners dared to sell them to outsiders, their entire family would be killed.
However, the shipyard owners still enthusiastically recommended their joint venture, the underground gun factory in Foshan, to Tang Baolu, the big money sponsor.
Don't look down on these civilian gun factories. The quality of the bird guns they made was far better than those produced by the Ministry of Revenue's Weaponry Bureau, and the cannons they cast supported the powerful firepower of the sea lords. Even the Portuguese in Macau would place orders with them to buy some iron cannons that were not produced by the Bugalao Cannon Foundry to supplement their firepower.
Although the quality of these iron cannons was not as good as the Portuguese copper cannons, they were cheap and in large quantities. Don Paul knew that his son suffered from a serious fear of insufficient firepower. He bought almost all the guns and cannons that could be bought in Foshan Fort. He also asked the shipyard to sail the ship to Guangdong to complete the installation of the cannons.
Therefore, the ten Wuwei ships that Wang Rulong brought back were each equipped with four "Dafa Gong" falcon cannons, eight snake cannons, and sixteen large Portuguese cannons!
In addition, the number of Portuguese cannons on all grain transport ships increased from two to eight... This thing is made in Quanzhou, but its range is too short. It is just a large shotgun, so it can only be used in close combat.
You know, the Ming navy's Fuzhou ships were equipped with only one Dafa Gong and six Portuguese guns per ship, which was not even a fraction of Zhao Hao's Wuwei ships.
The Korean navy is still using the Dajiangjun cannon that was more than a hundred years old. As for the firepower of the Japanese navy, it is even inferior to that of the Korean navy...
Therefore, in terms of firepower alone, the Coast Guard already has an overwhelming advantage in the waters north of the Ming Dynasty.
~~
Led by the flagship, twenty escort ships sailed in a goose-shaped formation, braving the wind and waves, protecting the grain transport fleet sailing in a V-shaped formation behind them.
Jin Ke and Wang Rulong stood side by side on the stern of the flagship, looking at the security team members who were sweating while training on the deck, and both of them felt endless emotion.
"Back then, we had only six warships under the command of the Marshal, and not even one of them was a black-tailed ship." Wang Rulong stroked his red beard and grinned incredulously, "I didn't expect that after leaving the military camp, I would be able to command more and stronger warships."
"We are not a warship." Jin Ke frowned and reminded the outspoken Old Wang, "We are a cargo ship equipped with necessary weapons. It's just because we have a heavy responsibility and can't afford to make mistakes that we brought a little more self-defense weapons."
According to the rules, if a ship goes out to sea, the government can give each ship four numbered firearms and three catties of gunpowder each time. Yuegang also allows ocean-going ships to carry cannons, "ocean-going ships that trade with foreigners are allowed to carry guns, but each ship may not carry more than two guns and gunpowder may not exceed 30 hu. They are also allowed to carry firearms, bows and arrows, swords, etc."
"Are you defending yourself? Destroying the Korean navy is enough." Wang Rulong thought Jin Ke was too cautious. "In the middle of the ocean, where there is no law, why should we be so cautious?"
"Sir, we haven't obtained the shipping rights yet. Strictly speaking, this is tantamount to treason." Jin Ke sighed and said, "Even if we get the shipping rights in the future, if the people in the court see that we have so many guns and cannons on the ship, they will still feel uneasy."
"What are you afraid of? We will put the guns in the cabin before we arrive at the port." Wang Rulong said with a smile.
"Not only the guns, but also the mouths must be tightly shut, so that the subordinates will not brag nonsense after landing and cause trouble for the young master." Jin Ke sighed and said, "The Caoyun Group is very happy to participate in our cooperation."
"Well, okay, okay." Wang Rulong finally nodded helplessly and said, "I promise to lead by example. In the future, we will have a unified caliber. Wuwei Ship? Dafa Gong? Snake Cannon? None of them exist. We are just a small sampan, using three-barreled guns and small knives. Is that right?"
"It's not that exaggerated." Jin Ke was amused. "Anyway, just bear with it for now. When you have established yourself on the sea, you will have something to brag about."