Britain's victory over the Netherlands began with the establishment of the East Land Company, which used national power to break the Dutch monopoly on Nordic timber.

Although later generations of British admirers always like to talk about the British government's order to the whole country to plant oak trees for the Royal Navy, saying that only oak trees between 100 and 120 years old and over 20 meters tall can be used to build the best warships.

But in fact, the quality of British oak is only average. The heyday of the Royal Navy's sailing battleships still relied on timber from the Baltic region...but at that time, Norway and Poland were almost bald, and the main supplier became the Russians.

Later, the British established colonies around the world and discovered better woods such as North American red oak and Burmese teak. They then began to import wood from the colonies and still never used oak trees grown in their own country.

The reason is that the noble Royal Navy is very picky and will never use inferior products to build ships...

Of course, they say that those native oaks were prepared by me for the last minute. But I didn't expect that the damn ironclad ship would appear. So in the end, they were prepared for the squirrels...

Our Ming Dynasty is vast and rich in resources. Although the oak trees in the interior of the country are not suitable for use, there are high-quality oak trees in the inner and outer Xing'an Mountains of Nurgandusi and on Sakhalin Island. However, if one hundred-year-old oak tree is cut down, there will be one less, so we must use others' and not our own.

Young Master Zhao was crossing the river by feeling his way, so of course he should learn from others' noble character of putting others before himself.

Currently, 80% of Ezo Island is covered with forests, with countless precious woods, including a large number of suitable century-old oaks. Although Japanese oak has a high water content, it is stronger and less likely to deform. As long as it is aired for a long time, it will be an excellent shipbuilding material.

Moreover, the Ainu people have well-developed muscles and thick hair, and have lived in the forest for hundreds of years, so they must be the best lumberjacks!

"The attack on Ainu Island must be given top priority and must be started as soon as possible." Zhao Hao solemnly instructed his generals, "After the wood is cut, it must be dried in the shade for three years before it can be used. It is said that after the frame is built, it must be left alone for a year to allow the joints to be tighter."

"Yes." The two were not unfamiliar with this, because the Ming Dynasty shipbuilding also had the step of shade drying the wood.

The purpose of this step is to deactivate the cells in the wood. If this step is skipped, the living wood cells will absorb water and split soon after the boat is launched, causing the hull to deform, crack, leak and become scrapped.

Of course, the shipbuilding craftsmen of the Ming Dynasty had already figured out various methods to speed up the dehydration of wood, such as ventilation and drying. However, dried wood is prone to cracking and is not as good as ventilated and shade-dried wood.

"There's nothing on Tamra Island except strong winds." Young Master Zhao pointed to a large piece of wasteland in the distance and said, "When the time comes, we can build a large timber workshop here. We can put the timber cut from Ezo Island here and let the sea breeze blow it. How much water can't dry it? It will definitely not take three years."

"We have to hurry up." After understanding Mr. Zhao's overall plan for Japan, King Jin and the others felt a sense of urgency. "Mr. Zhao, tell us what to do. We have to seize the day!"

"Yes, we really have to seize the day." Young Master Zhao nodded heavily. The two men could not tell that he had no idea how to build a galleon.

It is no exaggeration to regard the shipbuilding industry as the crown of the sixteenth and seventeenth century industries. The galleon and its upgraded sailing battleship are undoubtedly the diamonds on the crown!

To produce a warship as huge as a palace requires countless high-quality woods, countless skilled shipbuilders, superb design and process management, and countless supporting industries. It is definitely not something that can be accomplished overnight by simply catching a few red-haired barbarians from Macau.

During the American Revolutionary War, the slave-owning regime decided to build three 74-gun battleships. It took six years from project approval to launch, and the war was over before the battleships were put into service.

After the war, in order to express their gratitude to their French allies, they decided to give the battleship to the French. However, after the first voyage to France, the French Navy found that the wood of the ship had rotted and could not be repaired, so it was scrapped.

Moreover, the ship was designed incorrectly, with a fragile structure and unable to carry heavy artillery, which was a complete failure. The United States had the guidance of France, which was the world's number one shipbuilding country at the time, but still lacked experience, technology and materials, resulting in the poor quality of the warships it built, which were completely unusable. This shows how difficult it was to build a sailing battleship.

Fortunately, galleons were just taking off in that era, and wooden warships were far from being developed to the level of complexity that would occur more than two hundred years later. The so-called flower of industry was not so out of reach.

"In the future, Zheng Zhilong will be able to imitate the Dutch plywood galleon and dominate the South Seas. I can't be worse than a pirate leader, right?" Young Master Zhao secretly encouraged himself.

Well, I am far from being comparable to 'Nicholas Ikkan Zheng'. He was the most successful leader of the East Asian pirate group in history, surpassing Wang Zhi. Well, he was at the level of Pirate King Roger.

However, I will definitely surpass him and become the new Pirate King!

Uh, it seems that Yiguan hasn’t been born yet…

~~

He didn't want his subordinates to see that he was guilty, so as not to appear too shameless. Young Master Zhao asked Wang Rulong with a smile: "How is it, Brother Wang, do you feel the burden on your shoulders is heavy?"

"That's for sure." Wang Rulong said with a wry smile, "A defense zone of four thousand miles. Even the governors of the three borders are not so generous."

"That's different." Zhao Hao smiled and comforted him, "The governor of Sanbian will defend every inch of land. You only need to defend a few points. And you don't have to be afraid. The Japanese warm current will take you all the way north. You can reach Ainu Island from Shiroyamaura in at most half a month."

"That's good, that's good." Wang Rulong breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What should I do when I come back?"

"On your way back, follow our border. The current along the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan will take you back to Jeju Island." Zhao Hao thought for a moment and said, "It will also take half a month to get there."

"It's so magical." Wang Rulong breathed a sigh of relief.

"It seems that you have thought it over carefully." Jin Ke couldn't help but praise him. He didn't expect that the information collected by the young master was so detailed. He thought that success was not a matter of luck.

"But no matter what, a maritime security brigade cannot take on such a large defense zone." Then he whispered.

"Of course, we have to upgrade." Zhao Hao felt his lips were salty and dry from the sea breeze, so he turned and walked down the ridge.

~~

The three of them found a sheltered place to sit down. Gao Wu took out a silver kettle and poured a glass of water for each of them.

Zhao Hao moistened his throat, asked someone to bring a piece of white paper, and then used a pencil to draw a very abstract map of the Northeast Asian waters on it.

As he painted, he said, "From any perspective, we must maintain a posture of being strong on the outside and light on the inside. Our security team cannot have too strong a presence in the mainland. It is enough as long as they can protect the safety of the company's personnel and assets... If they are too strong, not only will the court be worried, but the group will quickly become a warlord."

"Yes." The two nodded in agreement. The Jiangnan Group has money, food, territory and population. If it is equipped with a strong army, someone will definitely shout the slogan of "seceding Jiangnan".

After learning about Zhao Hao's ambitions, they knew that the young master would never allow such a situation to happen. Their young master's goal was the sea under the stars and the world above the country. How could he allow chaos in the Ming Dynasty?

"So, Jiangnan Security Group is only this big now." Zhao Hao said in a deep voice: "The security team is responsible for protecting the company's property. The war at sea has nothing to do with the security team!"

"Yes!" Seeing that the young master had indeed thought of these questions a long time ago, the two of them brightened up and answered in unison.

"The Coast Guard will be separated from the Security Group and reorganized into the Coast Guard Headquarters directly under the Tamra Garrison." Zhao Hao said in a deep voice: "I plan to personally serve as the commander of the garrison and the police commissioner."

Although Jinke and Wang Rulong didn't know what the commander and the police commissioner meant, they quickly responded with a solemn expression.

"Brother Jin will serve as the deputy commander of the garrison area." Zhao Hao glanced at Jin Ke and smiled, "The construction of the base will be fully entrusted to Brother Jin. In addition, the navigation school will also be moved to Jeonra Island, and Brother Jin will have a heavy burden."

"I am not afraid and will never let you down!" Jin Ke stood up and saluted to the young master.

Wang Rulong was delighted, he thought all these things were his own, but it turned out they belonged to Lao Jin.

"Brother Wang, you will serve as the chief of staff of the garrison area and concurrently as the commander-in-chief of the Coast Guard Corps." Zhao Hao instructed Wang Rulong in a deep voice.

"Yes!" Wang Rulong immediately stood up and gave a standard security team salute.

"Just to let you know first, let's sit down and talk." Zhao Hao waved his hand, motioning for the two to look at his drawing. "My drawing skills are not good, so just make do with it."

In fact, it cannot be described as a bad thing, it is more like a scribble.

But the two of them stared at Master Zhao's work without blinking, as if they were examining a famous painting by a painting saint.

"The Tamra Garrison has five water police stations under its jurisdiction. The first is the Gapado Water Police Station, which is responsible for the protection of Gapado Island and the future Daejeong Port, and patrols and protects our main shipping routes west of Tamra Island." Zhao Hao pointed to the westernmost circle on the map and said:

"The tasks here are very heavy. In fact, I prefer Brother Jin the most, but it's a pity that you are too busy to handle them all."

"..." Jin Ke wanted to say I can do it, but it's almost 200 miles from here to Gapa Island. What the hell can I do...

"I would like to invite Brother Zhu to take the lead, and have him concurrently serve as the deputy police commissioner of the garrison area. What do you two think?" Zhao Hao asked the two.

"Young Master, you are wise, very appropriate!" The two nodded at the same time. Brother Zhu is Zhu Jue. He has been helping and mentoring the two old brothers in Xishan Company. Seeing that his two old brothers are doing well, he can't help himself. The two also want to help him escape from the cage and go to the vast sea and sky to make a leap.

But if Zhao Hao didn't say it, the two would never open their mouths. They had suffered a loss once, so they were especially cautious about such things.

ps. Third update, please give me your monthly vote!