Chapter 251 Iron Warship and Rocket

When a person does something, he naturally hopes to gain recognition from others.

Old Nie has a stubborn temper and never has a good face towards anyone, and what such a person says is naturally more credible.

Ever since the two-tooth hoe was made, Lao Nie was willing to take the initiative to lower the price for Chen Gu. Chen Gu knew that this man was a decent person, because developing the cobblestone land would benefit the people of Jiangjin County, which was why Lao Nie was willing to lower the price for Chen Gu.

Although the evaluation was just "very good", Chen Gu still felt very happy.

A group of people came to the shipbuilding workshop.

There are people pulling the big saw to split the wood, people pushing the planer to make the boards smooth, people using the chisel to hollow them out, and there are painters marking the lines. The whole workshop is in an orderly and busy state.

Even when Chen Gu and others came in, they didn't seem to disturb anyone. Some people even continued to work without being affected at all. At most, they just looked up and glanced at Chen Gu and others, and then continued to work.

"Very good!" Chen Gu smiled and said, "You can tell at a glance that this is a place where real work is done. This is how a workshop should be. Master Nie can be the inspector of the Ministry of Works."

Old Nie smiled and shook his head, saying, "It's enough to be a shipyard manager. Forget about being an official."

"That's a bit of a pity, but everyone has their own aspirations, so I won't force it!" Chen Gu said with a smile.

The crowd continued to move forward and came to a large open shed where the keel of the ship was being assembled.

A large ship is like the torso of a living organism. First, it needs a keel like a spine, then the ribs are assembled on the keel, and then the wooden boards are assembled and laid on the ribs, and the shape of the ship is formed.

After that, the inside is divided into different cabins. This can prevent the ship from being greatly affected and can continue sailing if one of the cabins leaks. Dividing the cabins can also make it more convenient to lay the deck on it.

The third workshop was laying the hull of a large ship, and the fourth workshop was laying the deck. This shipyard was actually building three large ships at the same time.

It was the first time that Chen Gu realized that the mast with the sails was actually fixed on the keel, and then various supports were added inside the cabin. After another support was added on the deck, it was considered completely stable.

After visiting the workshop, everyone returned to the office to drink tea. Chen Gu thought for a moment and said, "The current warships simply cannot withstand the bombardment of cannons. Master Nie, have you ever thought about adding a layer of armor to the exterior of the ship, or simply building a ship out of steel?"

"It's no problem to add a layer of armor, but the ship will be too heavy, the carrying capacity will be greatly reduced, and the sailing speed will also be much lower." Old Nie frowned and thought for a while, then said: "As for building a ship purely with steel, let alone how much it will cost, I'm afraid it will be a problem whether it can sail."

"There will definitely be no problem with sailing. Can't a copper basin float on the water? And it seems that the draft is not much higher than that of a wooden basin, right?
As for the carrying capacity, warships do not need a large carrying capacity. Sailing speed is indeed a problem. However, the bow of a steel warship can be made into a right angle, instead of having a curved round head like a wooden ship.

The right-angled bow made like a knife can not only cut through the water faster, but may also be able to cut the enemy's wooden boat in half!
It just so happens that Master Nie is an excellent blacksmith, so why don’t we try making two small boats first. We can first make a small iron boat as big as a copper basin, and then make an iron boat that can carry two or three people and a small cannon.

If you enlarge it little by little, one day it will be enlarged into a large iron ship that can be loaded with thousand-pound cannons.

I heard that foreign warships can sail across the four seas, but the Qing court has closed its doors to the outside world and has long lost the glory it had during the Ming Dynasty." Chen Gu laughed.

Old Nie thought about it carefully, nodded and said with a smile: "Then let's give it a try. As for whether it will succeed or not, I dare not give you a guarantee now, and you have to give enough silver. If you want to build a steel warship, I'm afraid it will cost a lot." "Haha, silver is easy to talk about. As long as Master Nie is willing to try, there is as much silver as you want. If the steel warship is successfully manufactured, Master Nie will surely be famous for generations.

In the future, when our Chinese navy goes to battle all over the world, we will definitely be grateful for Master Nie's achievements!" Chen Gu clapped his hands and smiled.

As for whether the power is sufficient or not, and whether the materials are sufficient or not, let’s not worry about them for now.

After all, steel warships are the mainstream in the future, so let's make them first and just treat it as a way to accumulate technological reserves.

Chen Gu left only after having lunch with Master Nie at the shipyard.

The next day, Chen Gu went to Fobao. Before leaving, he told Wei Yang to support Lao Nie's research on steel warships and to report directly to him if he needed anything.

After leaving the county, Chen Gu headed west. When he passed by his former mountain stronghold, Chen Gu hesitated for a moment, but ultimately did not go up to take a look. It was better not to experience the feeling that things had changed and people had changed.

After passing Baisha is Tanghe, which is only more than 20 miles away from Fobao. It can be reached in more than half an hour by riding a fast horse.

Lebao opened a road to the Buddhist treasure. Although there were ups and downs along the way, after a lot of blasting and rest, the journey into the Buddhist treasure became much smoother.

After entering the Buddhist temple, Chen Ju first went to the martyrs' tomb to pay tribute.

Wu Hua not only prepared a lot of wine and meat as sacrifices, but also brought a lot of firecrackers and fireworks.

This guy actually used high explosives to make firecrackers and fireworks, which were particularly large and made a deafening sound.

Seeing Chen Jue's unfriendly look, Wu Hua quickly explained: "The firecrackers and fireworks made from high explosives are selling very well. During the Chinese New Year last year, these two items earned Fobao more than 100,000 taels of silver!"

"It's amazing, but aren't you afraid that the Qing court will dismantle it and take out the explosives?" asked Chen Gu.

"Of course I'm not afraid. These hundred-shot firecrackers cost one or two taels of silver. The retail price will be at least half as much. If they are shipped out of Sichuan, it will be even more expensive. The explosives used are only three taels. If the Qing court is willing to spend ten or eight taels of silver to buy a pound of our explosives, then why not sell it to them?" Wu Hua said with a smile.

That's true. If the Qing court had purchased gunpowder in this way, the war would have needless to be fought. Purchasing gunpowder would have bankrupted them.

Chen Gu looked at the fist-sized fireworks and asked with a strange expression, "How high and far can this thing fly?"

"I really don't know the altitude. As for the distance, the farthest it flew was five miles, and it was shot upwards." Wu Hua said with a smile.

"Then add more explosives in the front. It doesn't matter if the distance is close, as long as it can kill people. Send a batch to the front line and let them try to see if it works well. Then improve any deficiencies!" said Chen Gu.

(End of this chapter)