allonlinenovel Chapter 787 Iron ore is prone to harboring bacteria
Chapter 787 Iron ore is prone to harboring bacteria
Liu Bowen continued, "That port can serve as a transshipment point for maritime goods, just like Dengzhou Port and Quanzhou Port. It can be used by merchants or other ships to dock and resupply, and it can even gradually develop into a trading post like Dengzhou."
Emperor Zhu frowned slightly and asked, "The border market?"
Liu Bowen stroked his beard and said, "Although Champa's port is in the South China Sea, it seems to have a more advantageous location than Dengzhou."
"But Champa is too far from the Ming Dynasty, and even further from Dengzhou."
"Without a well-connected land route, relying solely on its geographical advantages, Champa Port can only absorb many merchant ships from the South China Sea and has no impact on the Ming Dynasty at all."
At this point, Liu Bowen stood up again, walked to the huge map hanging in the Qianqing Palace, and gestured with his hand, saying, "I have read some ancient books, among which the 'Records of Foreign Countries during the Wu Dynasty' records that Zhu Ying, the Xuanhua official of Eastern Wu, and Kang Tai, the Zhonglang, once inspected the South China Sea and reached places such as Luzon."
"In the fifth year of the Hongwu reign, the Kingdom of Luzon sent envoys to the court."
"If we establish patrol stations and naval bases in Champa and Luzon, we can firmly control the South China Sea."
"Then, using the Luzon naval base as a springboard, we will explore southward to find the giant island with countless high-quality iron ore that the prince consort spoke of."
iron ore?
Emperor Zhu and Li Shanchang immediately perked up.
What is the Ming Dynasty lacking now?
It's damn short of iron ore!
Oh, that's not right either.
The Ming Dynasty is currently lacking iron ore, copper ore, silver ore, gold ore, and even damn coal ore.
Water pumps, steam engines, railways—there are just so many places that need steel. If only there were a giant island with countless high-quality iron ore deposits…
A ruthless glint appeared on Liu Bowen's face: "If Luzon is obedient and knows what's good for them, then so be it. But if they don't, the South China Sea is turbulent and rife with bandits... what if the group encounters misfortune?"
What if someone were to destroy Luzon?
Or perhaps the Ming envoy was killed by the King of Luzon, and Emperor Zhu was no longer interested in right and wrong, which would also be reasonable, right?
Emperor Zhu glanced directly at Liu Bowen.
Old Liu is great in every way, except that his brain sometimes doesn't work very well.
Couldn't he just think about what Luzon is?
They were vassals of the Ming Dynasty!
The King of Luzon is our retainer.
Does the mighty Emperor of the Ming Dynasty need the consent of one of his ministers to establish a patrol office in Luzon?
Laugh to death.
If he dares to object, he is defying the imperial decree.
This crime alone is enough to kill his entire family, including the King of Luzon.
Why waste any more people? Just send Yu Tongyuan to destroy the country.
Emperor Zhu clicked his tongue and said, "Then let's set up patrol offices in Champa and Luzon first, and let Ada Azhe give an explanation to the relatives of Zhang Ruhou and Lin Fu."
"As for those bastards... let them be for now. We'll have Xia Yu send them a message later, telling them to find that giant island first."
At this point, Emperor Zhu muttered to himself, "I wonder how well Yu Tongyuan's navy is training."
……
What does a treasure ship over forty feet long mean?
In later generations, a building with about thirty stories would only be thirty-three zhang tall.
Even after boarding the treasure ship under Yu Tongyuan's guidance, Yang Shaofeng and Zhu Biao remained in a dazed state.
"The entire treasure ship has eight decks."
"The bottom layer is ballast, and the weight of the ballast alone is one million kilograms."
"The two layers above the ballast stone are cargo holds, about 26 zhang long, 12 zhang wide, and 7 chi high, used to load goods and food."
"Up above are the gun emplacements and living quarters. There are twenty cannons on each side of the ship, and the open space in the middle is for the soldiers to live in, which can accommodate about eight hundred people."
"Further up is the deck, which is divided into two parts: the bow is the forecourt, where more than a hundred sailors live, and the stern is the wheelhouse."
"The shipyard has four floors. The first floor is where the helmsman and medical officer live. The second floor is the official hall. The third floor is the shrine. The fourth floor is used for command, observation, and communication."
As Yu Tongyuan led Zhu Biao and Yang Shaofeng to the helm at the stern, he explained the entire treasure ship to Zhu Biao.
Zhu Biao looked left and right, and couldn't help but sigh, "What you learn from books is never enough. If such a huge warship encountered an ordinary small boat, it could easily run it over and destroy the ship and kill everyone on board."
Yu Tongyuan responded and laughed, "If it were an ordinary small boat, let alone running it over, even just getting close would be enough to destroy the ship and kill its crew."
Seeing Zhu Biao and Yu Tongyuan's expressions, Yang Shaofeng felt extremely displeased.
So, are you two very proud now that you have the treasure ship?
And Yu Tongyuan, you already have a treasure ship, why don't you go to Japan to train your troops?
Yang Shaofeng glanced at Zhu Biao, then turned to look at Yu Tongyuan and said, "Governor Yu is right. The waves stirred up by the treasure ship are enough to capsize an ordinary small boat."
Yu Tongyuan stroked his beard and smiled, but Zhu Biao's heart tightened.
Yang Shaofeng chuckled dryly and continued, "But I have a question—if we encounter a small boat, that's one thing, but what if we encounter an iron ship that's similar to a treasure ship?"
Yu Tongyuan was slightly taken aback, then shook his head. "An iron ship? Putting aside whether such a large iron ship would sink to the bottom of the sea, even if it didn't sink, wouldn't it rust?"
Yang Shaofeng chuckled and retorted, "Hasn't Governor Yu ever seen an iron basin floating on water?"
"Water has buoyancy. As long as the area of force is large enough, even the heaviest iron ship will not sink."
"Putting everything else aside, just look at this treasure ship beneath our feet. If we don't consider the issue of whether it rusts or not, we could cover its hull with iron armor, and it still wouldn't sink."
Yu Tongyuan was stunned again, then stared blankly at Zhu Biao.
Zhu Biao was equally bewildered.
That seems to be the logic.
However, how many kilograms of iron would be needed to build a ship, especially a giant ship over forty feet long?
Let alone that small iron mine in Ningyang County, even all the iron mines in the entire Shandong Provincial Administration Commission combined might not be enough.
So where do you find so much iron ore?
Just as Zhu Biao was pondering this in his mind, Yu Tongyuan frowned and said, "What the Prince Consort said is correct, but building such an iron ship would require an unknown amount of iron."
"Leaving aside where to get so much iron, how to bond the iron pieces together would probably be a big problem, wouldn't it?"
"If iron could be formed in one go... where in the world could you find such a large iron smelting workshop?"
"Even with such a large workshop, there's no need to worry about gluing. But how big of a sail would such a large iron ship need? And how many sailors would it require?"
Yang Shaofeng pointed to the outermost sentry ship of the entire fleet and said, "If we can't build a big one, let's try building a small one first."
"As for the sailors..."
Yang Shaofeng smiled again and said, "Once the steam engine is developed, the sailors' situation will actually be easier to handle."
Yu Tongyuan's heart burned with excitement as he stared intently at Yang Shaofeng and asked, "Is the Prince Consort lying to me?"