Compared to the magnificent Duke of Goa, with its portholes and painted railings, corners and towers painted in bright colors, and edges inlaid with gleaming brass.

The Oriental Beauty was like an ugly duckling, painted black all over, with only the bow ram covered with brass. There were no extra decorations, and it looked like it was not taken seriously.

Zhao Hao was not surprised by this. The promotion of new equipment always encountered strong resistance from conservative forces. This was true for both the matchlock and the flintlock, and the muzzle-loader and the breech-loader. Not to mention that each caravel cost a huge amount of money and the stock was huge.

Neither Spain nor Portugal had the courage to order the retirement of the caravels. In fact, the galleons survived until all the galleons sank and were scrapped before they were completely replaced.

In the Anglo-Spanish naval battle nineteen years later, both the Spanish Armada and the British pirate fleet were a mixture of every type of ship known in Europe, involving a dazzling number of models, even including the Galleon, which was a hundred years out of date.

Did the Europeans not know the advantages of galleons? Obviously not - in the famous Battle of Preveza thirty years ago, a Venetian galleon resisted the siege of more than a dozen Ottoman galleys without any damage, forcing the Turks to use their own squadron flagship as a suicide ship to destroy this giant sea fort.

But the glorious history is both a treasure and a burden. Whether from a practical or conceptual point of view, it is destined that the upgrading of European warships is very slow.

Zhao Hao had no baggage, but a clear understanding of the development of the navy. He firmly identified the galleon. In the next few decades, it would be the main ship of the Coast Guard Fleet!

He brought his senior police officers to carefully inspect the galleon from inside to outside and from top to bottom. In order to better understand the ship, he also found a Chinese interpreter and a Portuguese shipwright on the ship as guides.

It was normal to have a shipbuilder on board, because ships were isolated and helpless on the vast sea, so the ability to survive independently was very important. Especially in Asia, most ports where large sailing ships docked had no ability to repair Western sailing ships, so each large sailing ship was equipped with a considerable number of skilled craftsmen, including carpenters, painters, sailmakers and coopers. Without these people to repair and patch things up, a storm might leave the warship stranded at the dock.

According to the Zhangzhou interpreter named Shi Xiang, there were a total of 12 carpenters, eight painters and sail makers on the two large sailing ships, and nine coopers who could work part-time as carpenters.

When he heard that there were eight sailmakers and spare sails on board, Master Zhao was overjoyed. He was worrying about how to get these two big guys back to Jeonra Island. So he quickly asked Xiang Xuehai to gather the craftsmen on board and urge them to repair the remaining masts and put up the sails.

Wang Rulong and others were very curious, why do they have so many coopers on board? Shi Xiang told them that coopers are one of the most important crew members on board, because they are responsible for managing the barrels for storing food and drinks. If the cooper is a lazy bug or a drunkard and the barrel leaks, it means that more crew members will not be able to return home.

As for this Portuguese shipwright, Shi Xiang introduced that he was the chief carpenter on the Oriental Beauty and his name was Blanco.

"Oh, so you know a lot about this ship?" Mr. Zhao asked with an arrogant look.

"No one knows the Oriental Beauty better than me." Blanco, who was in his forties and had gray hair, had the arrogance and cuteness of a craftsman on his face. He couldn't stand Zhao Hao's questioning, so he answered loudly through Shi Xiang's mouth: "Because I am her father!"

"What the hell?" The generals looked at each other.

"Blanco said that he participated in the entire process of building this ship." Shi Xiang explained hurriedly.

"I personally untied the first section of the keel of this ship," Blanco said excitedly. "We spent two years building it bit by bit at the Alfama Shipyard in Lisbon. I was worried about this lovely little girl going out on her first voyage, so I took the initiative to serve as her chief carpenter to take care of her health at any time!"

Wang Rulong and others felt a chill down their spine when they heard this, and couldn't help but glance at Zhao Shizhen standing beside them, thinking that this disgusting person was just as disgusting as his eldest nephew.

Sure enough, Zhao Shizhen was moved and looked at the old carpenter from Europe with an eye as if he had met a fellow carpenter.

But Mr. Zhao's attention was drawn to the information in Blanco's words. "Are you saying that this Oriental Beauty was not built in the shipyard in Goa?"

"Of course!" The old carpenter from Lisbon said proudly, "Galleons are the newest type of ship in Europe. Only a few shipyards in Lisbon, Seville, London and Amsterdam can manufacture them!"

To prove his words, he led everyone to the brass nameplate under the mainmast, pointed to the place of origin and number on it and said, "Alfama Royal Shipyard, Lisbon, Galleon Vlll! See clearly, this is an authentic royal product, not a substandard product made in a colonial shipyard!"

"I think it's just average." Young Master Zhao said disdainfully, "Otherwise why was he exiled to East Asia, thousands of miles away?"

"This is to test its reliability. It was specially sent to Asia for a trial voyage, you know?" The honest carpenter was fooled but didn't realize it. "This is the eighth galleon built by the Alfama Shipyard. The technology is fully mature, so it will sail to the border of the empire to serve. Use low-intensity actual combat to prove that it is capable of replacing those large and useless carracks!"

"But I think that ship is much more magnificent than this one." Young Master Zhao still said with disbelief: "It is obvious that your people value that ship more."

"That's because the stupid Far Eastern officers have stone heads and are blind," Blanco said dejectedly, "They can't see the changes in Europe and still think that the caravel is invincible."

"Really?" Mr. Zhao's police officers, who were just as bad as him, joined in provoking the old carpenter and said, "Officers are the ones who use warships, so they should have more say, right?"

"That's not necessarily true. Let me tell you what the strengths of this galleon are, and then you can make your own judgment!" In order to prove the excellence of the galleon, the old carpenter worked hard to explain every proud part of the ship, inside and out.

Zhao Hao and his senior police officers also listened very carefully, and some even took out small notebooks to record. Especially the captains with high rankings such as Haierdi and Rongsheng, they were all eager to drive the first new warship in the garrison area.

What they were most interested in was the multi-layered full-length decks on the ship, which could house hundreds of guns on one ship. The tonnage of each ship was similar, but it was equivalent to five thousand-ton Dafu ships.

Another is the tall, fully rigged Western sail, which uses multiple horizontal sails, laying the foundation for the superior performance of Western ships. Because a large number of dense diagonal cables can strengthen the mast strength, thereby achieving a higher mast height. Because the wind is stronger at high altitudes than on the sea surface, Western sailing ships with higher masts are affected by strong winds and can achieve greater speeds.

Although Wang Rulong and his companions were all arrogant, when they saw that the remaining mast on the Galen ship was twice as high as the sail of the big ship, they had to admit that it was impossible for a Chinese sailing ship to reach the speed of a Western sailing ship. Because if the Ming Dynasty's sails were hung on such a high mast, the mast would be broken in a strong wind.

And in naval battles, speed means initiative!

"Change, change, must change!" The generals gritted their teeth secretly, thinking that they must change all the sails to Western style.

This is a problem of the Chinese. When they see others are better than themselves, they feel that they are worthless and want to learn everything from others.

Fortunately, Mr. Zhao is not as self-deprecating as Wang Rulong and the others. In his shipbuilding plan, Chinese sails occupy a very important position!

Especially after the naval battle last night, he was more determined to think that if the Portuguese ship had used Chinese sails, the outcome would probably be different. Because Chinese sails are supported by stringers, and can still sail in the wind even if they are riddled with holes, unlike Western sails, which are so fragile that they will lose their steam if they have a hole.

In a decisive battle with the Western Fleet, this difference could determine the outcome. After all, in a naval battle at the main fleet level, a slow ship is not a big deal, but being unable to move is.

Young Master Zhao even found a way to fight against the Western powers in the future - relying on the fact that his own sails are indestructible, he would specifically attack the sails of the red-haired devils!

~~

The Chinese sail is a great invention. It is extremely durable and can withstand winds from all directions. It can sail with or without wind. In addition, sailors do not need to climb up the tall mast, but only need to stand on the deck to operate, so it is much safer.

As for the problem of insufficient wind power, we should look at it from two perspectives. Why can't Chinese sailboats get more wind power? Because the mast is too short. Why is the mast too short? Because the sail is integrated from top to bottom without any gaps, and the wind-absorbing performance is too good, so if the mast is too high, it can't withstand it.

Zheng He's fleet solved this problem by increasing the number of masts. However, the Ming Dynasty stipulated that civilian ships could not have more than five masts. Mr. Zhao's Dafu ship already had five masts. If more masts were added, it would be difficult to explain to all parties.

However, Zhao Hao thought that he could refer to the solution of later generations - as long as the support frame of the sail does not surround the mast, but only rises and falls in the slideway in front of the mast, the reinforcement of multiple inclined cables can be achieved. In this way, the mast will not break naturally because of the numerous inclined cables bearing the load.

In fact, this idea was already reflected in the Guangzhou Ships. Of course, the real complete solution was the new warships with Western hulls and Chinese hard sails built by the Americans for the Governor of Fujian after the Opium War.

There is also a very practical difficulty in using Western sails, that is, the manufacture of Western sails is a very complex technology. Not to mention the complex full rigging and sail cable system, it is questionable whether the Ming shipwrights can imitate it.

So Mr. Zhao decided to try both types of sails in the test ship model, and use whichever one he could figure out when the time came.