latelenovela Chapter 21 Building a Shipyard
Chapter 21 Building a Shipyard
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With the shipwrights in place, the next step is to build the shipyard and dock.
With money paving the way, the efficiency of the Lingao County government was unprecedented, and the notices for conscripting laborers were posted quickly.
Lingao County has a registered population of nearly 10,000. This time, the conscription of corvée labor required each household to send one person. Excluding the elderly, women, children, those with official titles, and those who paid money to be exempted from the service, the actual number of able-bodied men who came to serve was about 1,000.
Normally, it would take at least a month to gather all these thousand-plus people and get them to the designated location. This time, the county magistrate was very diligent. After consulting with the prefect, he dispatched all his yamen runners to each village and gave the village chiefs a stern warning: if they did not arrive in Bofu within ten days, the grain tax for this year would be increased by three coins as "fire loss".
The term "fire loss" originated during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, originally referring to the loss incurred when silver fragments were melted down and recast into silver ingots. Zhang Juzheng implemented the "Single Whip Law," which mandated that all taxes be levied in silver and submitted to the national treasury. The melting down of the silver collected by the people and recasting it into ingots resulted in "fire loss." The "fire loss" levied during tax collection exceeded the actual loss, and the difference went to the officials. Moreover, the "fire loss" continuously increased: in ordinary prefectures and counties, the fire loss reached two or three qian (a unit of weight), or even four or five qian, per tael (a unit of weight). In remote prefectures and counties with lower tax revenue, the fire loss was several times greater than the regular tax.
The regular taxes in Lingao County are not high, but the fire loss is the biggest burden for each village. The current fire loss quota is three qian per liang, and if we add another three qian, it will be six qian per liang, which will really kill us.
Although it was still questionable whether the prefect and the county magistrate would actually dare to do such a thing—because it could easily incite a popular uprising—no one dared to gamble that the county government wouldn't do it. The best option was to obediently send the people to the designated location. After all, it was already June, the busy farming season was almost over, and the young and strong men performing corvée labor could reduce the family's food consumption. Moreover, the destination wasn't far, it was within the county.
Thanks to the unprecedented efficiency of the county government, more than a thousand able-bodied men arrived in Bofu within ten days and were escorted by yamen runners—all of them living in wooden huts. With Liu Ye's money paving the way, the craftsmen worked day and night, and the construction of the wooden huts proceeded quickly. The entire Bofu became a huge construction site, with felled timber everywhere.
At this time, Liang Xiaoming, the manager of Bofu Shipyard, conducted preliminary surveys for the construction of the shipyard. Upon arriving in Bofu, he was stunned by the massive crowds and impressed by Liang Ye's ambitious scale and high efficiency.
Under his planning, the first phase of the Bov Shipyard project was officially launched, with plans to build five dry docks. The dry docks of this period were incomparable to the modern dry docks of the old days. In reality, they were just a large pit dug on the shore, with three sides connected to the land and one side facing the water. Ships were built in the pit, and after the ships were completed, water was poured into the pit, and the ships floated and sailed away.
Of course, the dock built by Liang Xiaoming was not so rudimentary. The dock he oversaw the construction of was a typical dry dock: its basic components were the dock entrance, the dock chamber, and the dock bow. The dock entrance was used for ships to enter and exit, and it had a simple sluice gate for filling and draining water into and out of the dock; the dock chamber was used to house the ships, and its floor had keel blocks and side blocks to support the ships; the dock bow was the end opposite the dock entrance, and its plan shape was semi-circular. It was connected to the dock chamber, and the stern rudder was installed and repaired here.
When building a ship, the water in the dock is first drained, and the hull is built on the keel. When the completed ship leaves the dock, water is first pumped into the dock until the water levels inside and outside the dock gate are equal. Then the dock gate is opened, and the ship is towed out of the dock.
The most labor-intensive part of building a shipyard is digging the pit, which involves a large amount of earthwork. The most technically demanding part is the keel piers inside the dock, which must be made of hard and sturdy wood to support the huge hull. In addition, since they are often submerged in water, they must also have good corrosion resistance.
Liang Ye entrusted all these matters to Liang Xiaoming.
Encouraged by Liu Ye, Liang Xiaoming devoted himself wholeheartedly to the construction of the shipyard.
During this period, Liang Xiaoming also communicated with experienced shipwrights, because it was necessary to listen to the suggestions of local technicians in order to build better.
Construction of the Bofu Shipyard officially began at the end of June this year, drawing the entire Lingao County into the project. To solve the problem of feeding more than a thousand laborers, Liu Ye waved his silver and began purchasing grain throughout the county.
The Tang family's more than 100 mu of land has not yet yielded any grain, and even when the harvest season arrives, it will not be enough to meet their needs. In addition, with the Wanhualou brothel in Hangzhou, Liu Ye now has to feed more than 2,000 people. He has no grain; he is so poor that all he has left is silver.
Lingao County is not a major grain-producing county. Fortunately, Qiongzhou has no cold winters and the climate is very suitable for rice cultivation all year round. Rice can be harvested three times a year, and there is still a lot of grain stored in various places. The market price of grain is two taels of silver per shi (a unit of dry measure), but Liu Ye directly bought it for three taels, buying up most of the grain stored in Lingao County. The side effect of this was that the price of rice rose, and the people who needed to buy grain all lamented the high price of rice and the hardship of life.
The county magistrate was alarmed. As the local official, he had to pay attention to the sensitive issue of rice prices, which was a matter of people's livelihood. In densely populated inland areas, rising rice prices often triggered riots and even became the fuse for many peasant uprisings.
Liu Ye promised that once the shipyard was completed, the laborers would be sent home and the large-scale grain purchase would cease, and the rise in rice prices would only be temporary. To appease his superiors, he presented one hundred taels of silver in the name of the Lingao government-run Bofu Shipyard.
The county magistrate was very satisfied with Liu Ye's promise and the one hundred taels of silver. As for the silver, it did not go into the official treasury, but into his own pocket.
In mid-June, Lin Machinery returned to Bofu with more than a dozen "Lingao Tuofeng" ships.
The port and dock construction here were carried out simultaneously. Due to the lack of suitable materials, the dock could only use wooden piers, but it still had the basic capacity to moor ships and unload cargo. Although it could not accommodate large-tonnage ships for the time being, it was perfectly capable of accommodating ships with a displacement of tens of tons.
This relocation brought over the entire population and belongings of Tiaolou Village. Half of them were women, children, and the elderly. It was very lively when they disembarked. Adults were shouting, children were making noise, and women were shouting. Pots and pans were everywhere, and occasionally a few chickens and ducks were flying around – no one knew who had brought the hens that were still laying eggs.
Liu Ye was focused on the shipbuilding materials. He called Liang Xiaoming over, and together with Lin Yishan, they inspected this important batch of supplies.
There was a lot of timber, all towed over by ship, including camphor, fir, and pine, totaling over five hundred logs; various hardwoods: Hainan sandalwood, Guangdong lychee wood, and ironwood, also numbering around a hundred logs; and thousands of bamboo logs of varying thicknesses. There were also various materials such as pig iron, tung oil, jute, white jute, palm fiber, and oyster shells.
Liang Xiaoming was satisfied with the supplies. Camphor wood, fir wood, and pine wood could be used to build civilian transport ships; hardwood could be used to build warships, though there wasn't enough, but it would be enough to build small galleons.
However, he added that ironwood is too hard and difficult to process, making it less than ideal for warships. European maritime powers such as Britain generally use oak, which is characterized by its resistance to corrosion and impact and produces less wood chips after being shelled.
He also offered suggestions regarding the construction of the docks. As a planned naval port, it must be sturdy and durable. The docks that have been hastily built are clearly unable to meet the requirements of long-term operation. They look like semi-finished products during the transition period. British naval ports take several years to build and are generally made of stone.
Xia Tiannan also faced a dilemma regarding the construction of the dock. It would take several years to build the port, which he didn't have the time for. Before the port was completed, pirates might attack at any time.
To meet the requirements of both durability and rapid construction, the only solution was cement, but where could cement be found in the 17th century?
After instructing Lin Yishan and the others to settle the people of Tiaolou Village, Liu Ye pulled Liang Xiaoming aside: "Mingzi, I have another arduous task for you. We need cement to build the dock and shipyard, as well as the future iron smelting and arsenal. I don't know how to mix cement, so I can only rely on you."
Liang Xiaoming jumped up: "Do you think I'm omnipotent, able to pull out whatever I need!"
Upon hearing this, Liu Ye also felt it was a bit unreasonable. He scratched his head and said, "We don't need modern, high-quality concrete, just enough to use under the current conditions. Simply put, it needs to be quick to build and stronger and more durable than traditional materials. Can you think of a way, even homemade cement will do."
He nodded and said, "Okay, I'll try it later. We need to build a vertical kiln for burning lime first."
"It looks promising," Liu Ye thought with delight. He said solicitously, "The usual arrangement: you take charge of the technology, and I'll handle everything else. Once the shipyard construction is finished, you can start working on the cement."