Aztec Eternals

"Sir! The construction method is a kind of shipbuilding model, the shape and rules of shipbuilding. Each type of ship has a fixed method, and also has a formula for inheriting the method... Uh... you don't understand? How should I say, every ship type has its own formula? A type of ship, it has a fixed shape, but not a fixed size. Therefore, when shipwrights memorize the French model, they do not memorize the specific length and width, but the proportion of the parts, which is how many percent is higher... "

"Ah! My lord, please forgive me for being clumsy. I still can't explain clearly. Let's just talk about a sea-covering ship! ... The construction method of this kind of sea-going ship was passed down to us by the Ming Dynasty. I and a few ships Together with the craftsmen, I participated in the construction of this ship, and also learned the French craftsmanship..."

"You ask how to build it specifically? Well, let's put it this way, before building a ship, you must first have a measuring ruler! All construction methods have a ruler! Ruler!... Use the length of this ruler and the familiar French methods The formula, that is, the proportion to other parts, determines the specifications and materials used everywhere on the ship...and this ruler is the keel of the entire ship!"

The sun is shining brightly, ships are sailing on the ocean, surrounded by vast water and sky, and the faint island chain is in the north. Shipwright Jin Shanshu knelt on the ground and bowed respectfully. Then, he stood up and carefully explained the gestures. It’s just that the language between the two parties is not smooth, and more reliance on gestures and movements is required.

Looking at the kind-faced priest who nodded repeatedly, Jin Shanshu's voice gradually became louder and his gestures became more vigorous. As long as he talks about shipbuilding, which he has been engaged in for twenty years, his usually timid appearance will disappear. But at this moment, looking at the confident look in his eyes and his slightly puffed out chest, it was as if he had become a completely different person.

"Witness the Lord God! Look at my steps! Count my steps!... One, two, three... Fifteen!... From the bow to the stern, there are exactly fifteen steps! Fifteen steps are the keel of this ship. This is The ship’s ruler!”

"A keel of fifteen steps?...A ruler for shipbuilding?..."

Mickey the Knowledgeable blinked his eyes, his face thoughtful. The "steps" used by these Xihai tribes are actually the same as His Majesty's divine measure, which is about one step with each foot, about one meter and three meters. The fifteen-step keel is about 20 meters long, which is actually basically the same length as a long ship.

It is worth mentioning that the "material" used in East Asia's shipbuilding calculations is a clear unit of volume. The drainage volume of each hundred materials is about 30-40 tons. This 200-material ocean-covering ship has a load capacity of approximately 70-80 tons.

"Sir! According to the construction method of ocean-covering ships, the keel is a ruler, and then the three masts are determined. The middle main mast should be slightly shorter than the keel length. Take eight out of ten, which is twelve steps long (15.6 meters). And the bow The mast is two of the three main masts, that is, eight steps long (10.4 meters), tilted forward. As for the stern mast, it is half of the middle main mast, six steps long (7.8 meters), tilted back..."

"Well, you asked why the foremast is forward and the mizzen mast is aft... It should be to tilt the sail more diagonally, use the wind to adjust the sail, and cooperate with the main mast?... You see, Pu Sailmaker is also nodding, that's it! …”

Having said this, the shipwright Jin Shanshu looked at the somewhat confused knowledgeable Mickey, thought for a while, and then stretched out the palm of his right hand. Then, he clasped his thumb and ring finger, raised the other three fingers, and showed them to everyone. Seeing this scene, Monk Soldier Watanabe's heart twitched, and he felt that the severed finger on his left hand that had been sacrificed was aching again.

"Sir, look! The index finger is the foremast, the middle finger is the mainmast, and the little finger is the mizzenmast! The length and angle of their straightening and tilting are roughly how this mast should be built... Why do you ask? Back then The master taught us this, and let us remember it this way!..."

"God bless you!... After determining the three masts, use the mast to determine the width of the sail. The width of the three sails must not be longer than one-third of the height of the middle mast, that is, they are all within four steps (5.2 meters) ) below, the height is the same as the mast...Why do you ask? Because the three sails together cannot be longer than the keel! All the sails on this boat are longitudinal sails. When the front and rear sails are turning, they cannot touch each other and affect each other. …”

"As for the maximum width of the hull, it is one of the three lengths of the keel, that is, five steps (6.5 meters). There is also a saying about the shape of the bottom of the ship, which is called 'the top is flat like a cross, and the bottom is sideways like a blade. Cut open the water with a knife, sail through the waves, this is how you come quickly!'…"

Shipwright Jin Shanshu gestured with the blade of a knife and talked about the "V-shaped bottom" that was mature in the Song Dynasty among Chinese sailboats. As a result of designing the hull in this way, it not only sails extremely fast, but also has natural reinforcement on the bottom of the ship to resist wind and waves at sea. Of course, such a deep "V" bottom also makes the ship's draft very deep.

"The height of the hull, below the deck, is one of four times the length of the keel. In this case, it is...well, three and a half steps and half as high (5 meters), and the draft is usually around two steps (2.6 meters)..."

"What? Below the deck, the height of the ship is nearly four steps? That's half as high as a long ship... Wouldn't it be able to carry more than 100,000 kilograms?..."

After understanding what the boatman said, Mickey the Knowledgeable looked surprised. He looked at this ship, which was made of very ordinary materials but extremely advanced in design, with expectation and yearning on his face.

The design of this kind of sea-going ship, the height of the hull is actually a quarter of the length of the hull. It is indeed much larger than the flat and long galley ships of the Kingdom, and can hold a lot more. And it sails very fast with the help of wind power, requires fewer crew members, and requires less water... Compared with the long sail ship, this is a faster and more suitable sea ship for offshore sailing! …

"Sir! This is a shelter boat made of more than 200 materials. It can hold a little more than two cubic meters... Although the bottom of the boat is three and a half steps and a half more, the cabins underneath are watertight compartments. Each section is separated by one section. , what can be installed is actually a little less, only about three steps..."

"Ah? Jin Shipbuilder, what did you just say? The cabin is divided into pieces, piece by piece? Sealed, with a wooden grid? ...What's the use of that?"

"Uh!...Sir, that's a watertight compartment! It's a wooden lattice partition to prevent water leakage! When the ship crashes, if it's too late to repair it, you just need to seal the compartment..."

Shipwright Jin Shanshu spent a while trying to figure it out, but he couldn't explain clearly because he didn't understand the language well. He thought about it carefully, pointed to the bamboo poles that reinforced the sail, and explained vividly.

"Sir, look at this bamboo, bamboo!... Do you know the inside of bamboo? Bamboo is divided into sections, and there are diaphragms between the poles inside, dividing the bamboo into many sections of hollow bamboo tubes... The cabin of this sea ship The design is also the same, just like bamboo laid horizontally, with each section separated!…”

"O God! Bamboo cabins? Are they divided into sections to prevent water leakage? Yes, yes! Each section is separated. Even if there is a leak, you only need to plug that section... How clever! Your tribal priests can actually think of this How to build a ship!…”

"Ah? Sir? Shipbuilding is a humble job for craftsmen. The two teams of gentlemen will not care about it, nor will they participate... They only inspect the built boats. If they do not do well, they will kill the craftsmen with canes..."

In this era, it is said that the design of watertight compartments was learned by the ancestors from the observation of bamboo, and it was also a "unique secret technique" that only appeared in Chinese-style sea ships. It can greatly improve the safety of maritime navigation and contains the unique wisdom of our ancestors!

In the history of navigation, the three most outstanding contributions of Chinese-style seagoing ships to the world navigation industry are "Chinese-style longitudinal sails", "watertight compartments", and "stern rudders". In addition to these three unique achievements, the "deep V" tapered seabird ship shape chosen by other ancient seafaring peoples has been proven for thousands of years to be the most suitable hull design for navigation.

In fact, at the end of the fifteenth century, Chinese maritime technology was at the top of the world, and then slowly declined.

When European navigators arrived in Asia at the beginning of the 16th century, they were quickly surprised to discover the design advantages of East Asian sea ships. They quickly learned and assimilated these designs into the new sailing ships of the late sixteenth century, just as they learned from the Arabs' triangle sails...

"Sir! The construction method of building a ship is the same as that of building a house! When building a house, the length of the horizontal arch of the bracket is used as the ruler. When building a ship, the length of the keel is used as the ruler..."

"The hull is made of four walls, the cabin is the room, and the hull is tilted like a diagonal beam... The mast is a vertical beam, and the sail is a tile, covering the sky on the top of the ship... The bow deck is the front door, the stern deck is the sleeping room, and the stern rudder is Pheasant canopy... Oh, and finally, the water-covered board is used as a canopy, and the anti-sway fins are used as the corners of the house. It is not afraid of wind and waves and is not afraid of shaking..."

"Witness the Lord God! These building methods for building ships and houses are imprinted in my mind. I have memorized these proportions on the ship for many years and will never forget them. As long as there are enough aniseed materials, , the shape of this ocean-covering ship can be built according to the same model, let alone 200 materials, 400 materials, 800 materials, 1,600 materials... That can also be made!..."

"Ah! Gold Shipwright, what are you talking about? Can you build a bigger ship? A ship much bigger than this?..."

Hearing this, Mickey the Knowledgeable looked startled, and then showed excitement. In his opinion, this ocean-covering ship, which was similar to the kingdom's longship, was already an extremely outstanding ship. But what the gold shipwright meant was that this was just a small sea ship, and the other party was completely sure that he could build it bigger and wider...

"Sir! I have seen three of your longships along the way! They are all made of such long, thick, and hard fir wood, and the entire keel is made of them. In the end, they are only fifteen steps long. Long sails and long ships!…”

"This is really, really, a waste of natural resources, a waste of good things!... If I were to build it with the same wood, it would be a big ship of at least thirty steps!..."

"O Lord God! Gold Shipwright, are you really sure that you can build a longer, wider, and taller ship? The kingdom has enough manpower and enough wood, but it has never been able to build a larger long ship... "

Mikey, the knowledgeable man, looked seriously into the eyes of shipwright Jin Shanshu. He saw the confidence of the master craftsmen and the uneasiness of the lowly craftsmen. This was a very special mixture. He had never seen such complex emotions among the master craftsmen of the kingdom.

"Witness the Lord God! Gold Shipwright, are you really sure you can build a bigger ship? As long as you can really build it, I can convince the kingdom's southern shipbuilders to mobilize manpower and material resources to support your shipbuilding! And you only need to Build a new and larger sea-going ship, or even just build this ocean-covering ship of the same size but sailing extremely fast..."

"According to the kingdom's reward rules, you can be promoted to master craftsman and automatically become a member of the priests of Shenqi! And your status is at least equal to the military nobles, and it is even very likely that you will be jointly signed by the director of Shenqi and the chief minister. Promoted to a hereditary noble of the kingdom!…”

"Ah! If you build a sea ship, you can be promoted to... two classes of nobles?... Ah! My lord! My lord!... You, such a noble lord, actually trust me so much that you are willing to let me build a big ship... Kneel down, my lord!" I’m kowtowing to you!…”

Upon hearing Mickey's promise, shipwright Jin Shanshu took a deep breath, knelt down on the deck, and kowtowed several times. Then, he raised his head from his knees, his face flushed, and he showed the excitement of long-awaited and eager to try. The look on his face as he looked at the "Grand Master of the Two Classes" was as if he had finally met the Bodhisattva who he had worshiped all his life! In fact, this is probably the most talkative gentleman he has ever seen in his life...

"Sir! You are the reborn parent of this little one!...You guide the little one on his bright path. I will do everything I want to do in this life, and I will listen to you!..."

Shipwright Jin Shanshu kowtowed repeatedly and spoke a series of words that the knowledgeable Mickey could not understand. The face of translator Watanabe also showed unconcealable envy. After a while, Jin Shanshu finally opened his mouth, mustered up a lifetime of courage, and spoke out what he had been longing for for many years. This idea of ​​building a big ship has been lingering in his heart since he boarded the Fengzhou Dafu Ship in Shangguo, making him dream about it...

"Sir! God is my witness! I personally participated in the construction of this ocean-covering ship made of more than 200 materials. The keel is fifteen steps long, but it is made of three birches ten steps high. And the tallest main mast is , only used birch wood fifteen steps high... And I see that the keels of the longships are cut from giant fir trees that are more than twenty steps high and one or two steps in diameter!..."

"Ancestor! There is such a big wood that is hundreds of thousands of years old to make the keel! This kind of expensive material alone can even be used in a large seal that is forty paces long and fifteen paces wide, with a total of five thousand materials. On the boat!..."

"Blessed by Bodhisattva! Of course, the great sealing boat in the upper country is extremely difficult to build. Without a clear and inherited construction method, it is indeed impossible to build it... But the next best thing, sir! We can definitely follow the construction method of the ocean-covering ship. Build a big ship with one or two thousand materials!"

"God bless you! With such good wood, let alone a 15-step-long, 200-foot-long ocean shelter... we can directly build a 30-step-long keel, a ten-step-wide deck, and a seven- or eight-step-deep hull... length and width , high, just follow the construction method of this ocean boat, and it will become twice as big... There is no problem at all for that large ocean boat with 1,600 materials!..."