Chapter 461 Thinking of a Solution
"Sister! Let's go!" Xiaotao and Atang were two cute little girls wearing scarlet dresses and twin buns.
Urge Su Ying to get on the carriage and go to visit the sea market.
"You guys go, sister has something to do!" Su Ying pinched the little faces of her two sisters.
"Where are you going, sister? Let's go too!" Xiao Tao saw her sister wearing an official robe.
"Be good, Xiaotao. Sister has something important to do and can't take you with her!" Su Ying coaxed her sister.
"But my sister is not here, it's not fun!" Xiao Tao was disappointed and pouted.
My sister is very knowledgeable and knows a lot. With her around, it’s fun wherever we go.
"It's okay, let's go together!" Lu Zhaoshi saw that the little girl was so aggrieved that she was about to cry.
"Sir, you can't spoil her!" Su Ying held her forehead weakly.
"We can't trust others, but I trust your Su family!" Lu Zhaoshi got on the horse.
Su Ying got on the horse, pulled her two sisters up, and Atang controlled the horse.
Escorted by a team of personal guards, he ran towards somewhere outside the south of the city.
"Let's go!" Mrs. Lu Cui took the old lady, Mrs. Du, Mrs. Wei, Yang Chunhua, and the old man Yang and his wife shopping.
The two sisters-in-law of the Yang family, Xie Qingyun, Su Lu and others followed with their children not far away, and several police officers accompanied them all the way.
After driving along the coast for twenty or thirty miles, we found a shipyard in a natural harbor.
A checkpoint was set up a few miles away to stop any outsiders.
Walking inside, you will find that this place is a world of its own, with thousands of shipbuilding craftsmen, a garrison, craftsmen, and the families of the garrison.
Supplies were delivered regularly by large ships, and family members set up small stalls, doing sewing, laundry, making snacks, writing letters, and running restaurants and wine shops.
Quite lively, mini town.
"Sir!" The defending general hurried out to greet him.
"Yeah!" Lu Zhaoshi nodded, threw the reins to the general, and walked straight into the shipyard with Su Ying.
The shipyard is right on the seashore, and several ships of various types are taking shape, surrounded by scaffolding.
The craftsmen were very busy hammering, processing wood, and installing.
It was already mid-to-late October, and these craftsmen were wearing thin clothes, some of them working in sea water.
When the craftsmen saw the purple official robe, they knew that the governor had arrived. They looked at him silently and continued with their work.
"Where is Lord Fu?" Lu Zhaoshi looked into the crowd. They were all wearing brown clothes and short shirts, but there was no green official robe.
"Sir!" The person in front of him turned around. Who else could it be but Fu Zhong?
"What are you wearing?" Lu Zhaoshi was startled. "I can't even find you in the crowd!"
"You've been at sea all day, and your official robes are soaked!" Fu Zhong put his hands on his hips and behaved much more rudely.
It's not like before, when he sat there coldly, saying nothing, acting mysterious and spooky, which was quite intimidating.
Fu Zhong is now much stronger and tanned. Wearing this brown clothes, he looks like a middle-aged fisherman.
"Master Xiao Su, nice to meet you again!" Fu Zhong showed his big white teeth and smiled kindly.
"Nice to meet you again, Lord Fu!" Su Ying really didn't expect to see Fu Zhong here.
Wasn't it said that he would be promoted to the Supervisor of the Imperial Household and the Supervisor of the Inter-county Market, and then the Supervisor of the Territorial Sea Market?
Su Ying thought she would see him in Quanzhou Port, but unexpectedly, he became a shipbuilder here!
"I have brought the person here, just ask whatever you want!" said Lu Zhaoshi.
"Thank you!" Fu Zhong bowed to Lu Zhaoshi.
Then he said to Su Ying, "Master Su, please follow me!"
Arriving on the ship, Fu Zhong took Su Ying on a tour, "This is our newly built warship, the Sea Falcon ship!"
This warship was built to imitate seabirds. The Wujing Zongyao records:
The sea falcon has a low bow and a high tail, and is larger in the front and smaller in the back. Floating boards are placed on both sides of the ship, shaped like falcon wings, to support the ship. Even if the wind and waves are high, it will not tilt.
The six main types of warships in the Tang Dynasty navy were: tower ships, bunker ships, battleships, galleys, yachts and sea gulls.
At that time, the transshipment ships on the Grand Canal could carry 1,000 dan of cargo, and ocean-going ships were generally 20 zhang long, carrying 600 to 700 people, and had a draft of about 2,000 dan.
The sails are used as power and the sun, moon and stars are used as direction.
When we arrived in front of the tower ship, we saw a five-story building, over a hundred feet high, with six paddles.
Xiaotao and Atang tilted their heads to look at the huge creature and exclaimed in surprise.
"This is the largest ship, which can accommodate 800 people! What do you think?" Fu Zhong introduced proudly.
These are his own hard work, just like a woman's ten months of pregnancy, Fu Zhong treats them as his own children.
"Master Fu is awesome!" Su Ying praised sincerely.
In the absence of riveting and welding technology or ship nails, the ancients relied entirely on mortise and tenon technology to piece together wooden boards piece by piece to build such a huge ship.
I have to admire the wisdom of our ancestors!
Even though she had seen modern aircraft carriers, ocean liners, etc. on TV, Su Ying was still shocked by this tall ship.
"Haha, thank you, thank you!" Fu Zhong said modestly, but his face showed an unconcealable arrogance.
Then he said worriedly, "There is a problem at present, and the craftsmen have tried various methods but have not been able to completely solve it."
"These old craftsmen can't solve it? Then why did Lord Fu ask me to do it? I don't know anything about shipbuilding! Especially the professional technology!" Su Ying said with a smile.
"Isn't it said that three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang? You have a lot of ideas, so please help me think about them!" It was the first time that Fu Zhong met Su Ying and said that he didn't understand something.
"Go ahead and tell me, I may not be able to say anything useful!" Su Ying was already here, so it was hard to refuse.
"The ship is leaking! Do you have any solution?" Fu Zhong didn't beat around the bush.
"The ship is leaking?" Su Ying's head was buzzing. What's the point of building a ship if it's leaking?
Looking at Lu Zhaoshi and Fu Zhong, Su Ying laughed dryly. It seemed that they were of the same kind. Others were skilled and brave, but these two were real tigers!
"Master Xiao Su, please think of a solution quickly!" Lu Zhaoshi said anxiously.
"Hasn't shipbuilding been around since ancient times? There should be relevant texts. Besides, isn't this the craftsman's family business? There should be secrets passed down from generation to generation, right?
It's impossible that so many people can't come up with an effective solution!" Su Ying scratched her head.
The shipbuilding technology of the Sui and Tang dynasties was modern and advanced, so it was impossible that the problem could not be solved.
"I've tried every possible way, but these small boats are not leaking. However, the tower ship is still leaking and the problem cannot be eradicated." Fu Zhong scratched his head in frustration.
"What methods did you use?" Su Ying asked.
"Add oil felt cloth to the bottom of the cabin, caulking the seams, is there anything else you can do?" Fu Zhong looked at Su Ying.
"If this problem isn't solved, seagoing vessels will be stuck at a draft of 2,000 dan, and we won't be able to build any larger ones!"
The key to caulking is "two limes and one hemp". Mix lime and tung oil into putty, apply a layer of putty between the gaps in the planks, and then stuff hemp into the gaps.
When no more hemp can be stuffed in, apply a layer of putty and caulk the seam to complete the process.
After caulking is completed, tung oil is applied several times inside and outside the hull to allow the oil to penetrate into the wood.
Then apply anti-rust oil to prevent the hull from rusting and being eaten by insects due to long-term immersion.
Su Ying then scratched her head. The ships of the Song Dynasty were even bigger than those of the Tang Dynasty and the treasure ships that Zheng He used to sail to the West during the Ming Dynasty! How did they solve the problem of leakage in such large ships?
"Wait a minute!" Speaking of Zheng He's treasure ship, something flashed through Su Ying's mind, but she couldn't grasp it.
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