Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 129: Zhoushan Giant Port, Ming Dynasty Treasure Ship [Seeking further order]

As the video continued, Zhoushan Port, a super project in later generations, brought more shock to Zhu Yuanzhang, Zhu Biao, Zhu Ying and others.

From this they learned that there were more than 1,400 islands in the Zhoushan Archipelago, which was important data that had not been mastered by the imperial courts of all dynasties!
The port in the video just now was built on the island and has many docks that can accommodate many large ships.

They thought this was all that Zhoushan Port had, but when the camera soon zoomed out, they realized that there were as many as nineteen similar port areas!
Some of them are connected by long cross-sea highway bridges, which include the entire Zhoushan Archipelago, and together they constitute a truly natural, wind-proof, silt-free and ice-free deep-water seaport - Zhoushan Port!
Then, the camera zooms out to encompass the entire China, highlighting the importance of the Zhoushan Islands and its seaport.

It is located in the northeast of Zhejiang, at the confluence of the Yangtze River, Qiantang River and Yong River into the sea. It is a key hub with its back to the Yangtze River Delta and facing the East China Sea!

When playing to the second half of the video.

River-sea transport, sea-rail transport, pipeline transport, these are later-generation transportation concepts.

The four-hundred-meter-long giant ship, the dozens-meter-high bridge crane, the computer-controlled loading and unloading, and the self-driving unmanned transport vehicles traveling on the dock shocked the Zhu family.

The busy yet smooth and efficient cooperation between people, people and machines, and machines and machines amazed even people who were well versed in practical matters like Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao.

Before I knew it, the video came to an end.

“But this collaboration is not over yet.”

"When we look at Zhejiang, this super port will join the ports of Jiaxing, Taizhou, Wenzhou and other cities to form the busiest coastline of this economically developed province."

"When we look across China, this super port will work together with all the seaports in the country's 14 coastal provinces to complete the world's largest ocean transportation!"

"And when we look around the world, it is these ports, large and small, that help humanity complete 90% of global cargo trade through countless shipping routes!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened and he even moved closer.

The camera in the video zooms out again and again.

First, Zhejiang, then the whole of China, and then the world, presenting many seaports such as Zhoushan and ocean routes from a celestial perspective.

This not only made him instantly understand the importance of Zhoushan Port, but also made him understand how important ocean transportation is to the country in the future Age of Discovery.

At this moment, he embarked on the great voyage, making the Ming Dynasty's determination to embark on the road to dominate the ocean even more firm and difficult to shake!
When the video ended with the Zhoushan harbor, which was still brightly lit and functioning under the night sky, Lao Zhu slowly came back to his senses.

The first question he asked was a common sense question for later generations.

"This video keeps mentioning a massive ship weighing tens of thousands of tons. What does this ton mean?"

Liu Kuan said, "Ton is a unit of weight. One ton is one thousand kilograms, which is about two thousand kilograms of water today."

"As for the tonnage of a giant ship, it refers to its displacement, much like how we use weight to describe the size of a ship today."

One ton is about two thousand kilograms?
Doesn't that mean the 40-ton ship in the video just now has a displacement of million jin?!
Zhu Ying, Zhu Tan and the others calculated silently in their hearts and were even more shocked.

Old Zhu's expression didn't change much as he continued to ask, "Then do you know approximately how much displacement one piece of material on a Ming ship is equivalent to?"

Because Liu Kuan often reads novels with Ming Dynasty history as the background, he actually remembers this data.

However, his answer was quite cautious.

"Your Majesty, weights and measures have changed over the dynasties, and so have the materials used to describe the size of ships. If I remember correctly, a ship of 100 tons would have a displacement of around 500 tons."

One hundred materials equal only five hundred tons?

Zhu Yuanzhang and others were surprised, and silently converted it in their minds.

Zhu Tan, renowned for his intelligence among the other princes and the best math student over the past month, figured out the answer instantly and exclaimed, "Eighty thousand materials! That giant ship actually has eighty thousand materials!"

80,000 ingredients?!

Although Zhu Yuanzhang was mentally prepared, he was still shocked when he heard this number.

During the Battle of Poyang Lake, the warships of Chen Youliang's side were much taller and larger than those of the Ming army, and the largest of them weighed more than a thousand tons.

At that time he thought it was the largest ship in the world.

But if Chen Youliang's thousand-ton tower ship was placed next to the eighty-thousand-ton giant ship of later generations, it would probably look like a toy, right?
After everyone came to their senses, Zhu Ying, who had always had some grudges against Liu Kuan, could not help but excitedly said, "Father, if our Ming Dynasty could build such a giant steel ship, your son and I would no longer have to worry about the ship being destroyed and people dying when we go to overseas to establish our fiefdoms!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Liu Kuan and asked, "How many years do you think it will take for the Ming Dynasty to build a giant ship like the one in the video, given its current state of development? Even if we only build the shell, it will be fine."

Zhu Yuanzhang had thought about this when he watched the video. Although he felt that there was little hope, when he heard Zhu Ying mention it, he couldn't help but ask.

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, the larger the ship, the harder it is to build. Especially when it reaches a certain size, the difficulty of manufacturing will increase tenfold or even a hundredfold."

"Therefore, even if the Ming Dynasty's shipbuilding industry develops rapidly in the future, it will probably take another four or five hundred years to build a giant steel ship like the one in the video."

Four or five hundred years later?
Zhu Ying stared, somewhat unwilling to believe it.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not have any doubts, but just sighed in disappointment.

Liu Kuan was worried that the Zhu family's ambition to explore the seas would be dampened, so he added, "In fact, in the history of the Ming Dynasty, the shipbuilding industry was ahead of all other countries in the world in the following decades."

"Let's take the Western Ocean as an example. The largest type of ship was called a treasure ship. Later rumors said it weighed 10,000 tons, while others said it weighed 8,000 tons. But what is certain is that it weighed at least 5,000 tons."

"Even after the voyages to the West ended, the Ming Dynasty's daily visits to neighboring vassal states still carried a massive 3,000 to 4,000 tons of goods!"

"If the Ming Dynasty starts to vigorously develop the shipbuilding industry from now on, within ten years, I can't say that it will be able to build 10,000-ton sea-going ships, but it will definitely be able to build 5,000-ton sea-going ships."

Five thousand materials?
Zhu Ying thought about it.

I feel that although it is not as big as the 80,000-ton steel giant ship in the video, it is almost ten times the size of the current Ming Dynasty patrol navy warships, and should be able to carry quite a few people.

This made Zhu Ying smile uncontrollably. Zhu Yuanzhang was also quite satisfied with Liu Kuan's "prophecy".

Then, he remembered the magnificent and stunning Zhoushan harbor in the video and couldn't help asking, "Liu Kuan, if the Ming Dynasty trains its navy, would it be a good idea to use Zhoushan as its main naval base?"

"It should be good, right?" Liu Kuan said uncertainly, "I am not familiar with military affairs, so it is difficult for me to make a judgment based on the current situation of the Ming Dynasty."

"However, I can share some relevant historical events to serve as a reference for Your Majesty's decision."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded first, then suddenly asked: "What time is it now?"

Liu Kuan checked his tablet and saw that it was only a little after 4 p.m., so he said, "Your Majesty, it's past the middle of the afternoon, but not yet the evening hour."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked again: "You are going to prepare a few pieces of music later, right?"

"Exactly."

"Then let's go to the side hall to talk first. In the main hall, have someone set up the tables and chairs and serve the dishes. That way, when we finish our conversation, we can come back and enjoy the New Year's Eve dinner while listening to music."

Liu Kuan thought that Lao Zhu’s idea was good, so he gave the tablet computer to Zhu Huilan for safekeeping.

He followed Old Zhu to the side hall.

Liu Kuan originally thought that it would be a secret talk, but Zhu Yuanzhang waved his hand and called all the princes and grandchildren over the age of five.

There was no heater in the side hall and few people were there. Poor Zhu Xiongying, Zhu Yunwen, Zhu Zhi and other young and weak children shivered in the cold air as soon as they entered.

Zhu Biao was observant and noticed this scene. He immediately ordered someone to arrange a few heaters.

Old Zhu ignored all this and after sitting down, he signaled Liu Kuan to start speaking.

Liu Kuan cleared his throat and said, "Historically, when China first established its navy, it divided the navy into several divisions based on the sea area, such as the Bohai Navy, the East China Sea Navy, and the Nanyang Navy."

"As for naval bases, most of them are actually places where coastal navies were established throughout history."

"In the north, the main areas are Dengzhou and Laizhou in Shandong, Haijin (Tianjin), and Jinzhou and Changshan Island in Liaodong."

"In the southeast, there are Chongming Island, the coast of Songjiang Prefecture, Hangzhou Bay, the Zhoushan Islands, and the coasts of Taizhou and Wenzhou."

"As for suitable places along the coast of Fujian and Guangdong, I'm sure Your Majesty knows all about them, so I won't elaborate further."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly at first, then frowned and said, "You seem to be talking about coastal naval forces. What if we want to control the ocean from afar?"

Liu Kuan smiled and said, "If the Ming Dynasty wants to control the oceans, the best places to locate in the north are naturally the islands around Korea and Japan. We can even build seaports along their coasts."

"In the east, we need to control the Ryukyu Islands and the Tohoku Islands. As for the south, the coast of Annan, Luzon Island, and Malacca are all important maritime locations."

After saying this, Liu Kuan saw that except for a few people like Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao who had seen the relevant maps, most of the princes looked confused, obviously not knowing where Luzon and Malacca were.

This made him realize that the affairs of Southeast Asia were still a bit far away from the current Ming Dynasty.

It would be better to take this opportunity to tell Lao Zhu something more recent and easier to change.

He then said, "Your Majesty, there is another important reason why I chose to play the video of Zhoushan Port today."

"You say." Zhu Yuanzhang was a little curious.

Liu Kuan said, "As far as I know, historically, the Ming Dynasty moved Changguowei to the mainland a few years later and relocated many islanders to the mainland, eventually implementing a complete maritime ban, which was equivalent to abandoning the Zhoushan Islands."

"Thus, the Zhoushan Islands were gradually occupied by pirates and Japanese pirates. This led to the huge Japanese threat that I had mentioned at the beginning, which threatened several provinces along the southeastern coast of the Ming Dynasty, more than a hundred years later."

"Although there are some records in later generations about the reasons why Your Majesty abandoned the Zhoushan Islands, most of them are sketchy and difficult to verify. Your Majesty, could you speculate on the reasons?"

After hearing this, both Old Zhu and Zhu Biao frowned.

Zhu Yuanzhang then pondered and said, "Abandoning the Zhoushan Islands after a few years? This matter may be related to the remnants of Fang Guozhen's army and Tang He."

Liu Kuan showed curiosity and said, "Your Majesty, please enlighten me."

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said, "Well, after listening to you talk about so many things in the future, let's talk about the present."

"When we crossed the river and went to Jiqing, we occupied the right side of the Huai River and the right side of the Jiang River. Zhang Shicheng occupied the left side of the Huai River and the left side of the Jiang River, but Fang Guozhen occupied eastern Zhejiang."

"After we destroyed Chen Youliang, we sent Xu Da, Tang He and others to sweep south of the Yangtze River. The first one we destroyed was Zhang Shicheng, and the second was Guo Zhen's tribe in eastern Zhejiang."

"Fang Guozhen originally made his living as a salt merchant on the seas. He was able to seize the opportunity and establish his own regime in eastern Zhejiang. He was quite a hero at the time."

"Although he later surrendered to me, some of his remaining troops refused to submit and fled to the sea, where they joined forces with the remaining troops of Zhang Shicheng and became pirates."

"At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the people of Zhoushan Islands colluded with pirates to fight against the Yuan court. Even in the Ming Dynasty, they did not change their habits and secretly colluded with the pirates."

"Not only did they repeatedly rebel and attack cities, but in one incident, the islanders killed two of Tang He's commanders."

"Later, a group of pirates even attempted to go up the river and attack the capital, but they were defeated by our Ming navy near Chongming Island."

　First update.

　　I'm late.

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(End of this chapter)