Wei and Wu signed an agreement, and the two sides maintained stability for two years.
In order to quickly wipe out the Central Plains and prevent Jingguo from interfering, Wu State purchased 30,000 war horses as early as after signing the contract. In addition to Wu State's original land, 50,000 cavalry were formed and trained in Xuzhou.
AD 210.
The four countries have maintained a rare period of peace for two years. Each country is gathering strength to develop and prepare for the coming war. Wei State has also breathed a sigh of relief in the past two years. Its national strength has been greatly improved by the hard work of Xun Yu and others. After recovering, Xun Yu had become sick due to overwork. At the age of forty-seven, his temples were all white and he frequently coughed up blood.
The research and development of Yasukuni's sea-going ships and firearms is nearing completion.
With Huang Yueying's help, after three years, the flintlock gun was finally developed in her skillful hands. After test firing, the effect exceeded Zhang Xiu's expectations, and the effective range of the steel ball reached a hundred paces. After the research and development was successful, Zhang Xiu allocated five million taels of silver with a wave of his hand to mass-produce flintlock muskets and establish a musket battalion of 5,000 people.
At the same time, the development of cannons was also very successful.
Zhang Fu worked hard and based on some later experience provided by Zhang Xiu, finally created an artillery with a range of a thousand steps. The artillery was based on the smoothbore cannon of later generations. It was extremely powerful. After the cannonball exploded a thousand steps away, it was three meters away. There is absolutely no life inside.
Of course, due to the immature technology of the cannon, the entire body of the cannon is very large. Although it does not easily weigh several thousand kilograms, it still weighs seven or eight hundred kilograms. Fortunately, Dajing has built pipelines early, which makes the cannon useful. After After careful consideration, Zhang Xiu ordered fifty cannons to be made and named them: Yang Weijing Cannon.
In July this year, Zhang Xiu, who had been thinking about the ship day and night, finally received the news.
According to the letters from Zhuge Liang, Wu Song and others, the ship has been built and Zhang Xiu is waiting for the launch of the sea trial.
Hearing the news, Zhang Xiu suddenly became excited. The ship he had been longing for finally came to fruition. He immediately took Zhang Biao and rushed to Youzhou. The journey took more than a month and he arrived in more than half a month. Bohai Sea.
Since the establishment of a military base here, martial law has been imposed within a radius of fifty miles.
It was to prevent spies from Wei and Wu from inquiring into the secrets inside, especially Wu. After all, the primary target of sea ships was Wu near the coastline. If tens of thousands of people suddenly appeared from the coastline, it would be a miracle. Soldiers descended from the sky, catching the state of Wu by surprise.
After entering the heavily guarded naval base and walking for more than ten miles, I saw a huge thing standing on the coast like a small island from a distance. It was a bit far away and I could only see its outline, but it was This outline has already excited Zhang Xiu.
This is a thing that Dajing spent more than 50 million taels of silver to build. It can be said that this thing was completely piled up with silver. Fortunately, these more than 50 million taels of silver were not wasted. After Zhuge Liang, Wu Song, With the concerted efforts of Zhao Shuang, Huang Xin and others, the sea ship was finally successfully built.
But whether it is truly successful still needs to be verified in the water.
"The Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Zhuge Liang, and the Chief Designer of the Navy, Wu Song, go to see the Emperor! Go to the Crown Prince!" Upon learning that Zhang Xiu and the Crown Prince had arrived, Zhuge Liang led the navy to greet them.
"Kong Ming! Ping Zhang!"
Zhang Xiu's face lit up with joy and he personally helped them up. "Thank you for your hard work, dear sirs. When I learned that the ship was successfully built, I was so happy that I couldn't wait to come over to witness my first victory in Dajing." A sea ship is launched into the sea.”
The construction of the sea-going ship was successful, and Zhuge Liang, Wu Song and others took great credit, and they were very happy.
Zhuge Liang said: "The emperor has given us your full support, and naturally I dare not live up to the emperor's high expectations! The ship has been assembled and is just waiting to be put into the water for trial sea trials. Please give me the emperor's order."
Zhang Xiu said: "I want to board the ship myself."
Wu Song hurriedly stopped: "Your Majesty, the completion of the construction of the sea ship does not mean success. Your Majesty has a body of thousands of gold. If there is a slight difference, even if Chichen and others die, we will not be able to bear it. Please wait until the trial sea trial is successful before boarding the ship."
Zhuge Liang was also anxious: "Your Majesty, the dragon's body is the most important thing, so you can't put yourself in danger."
Zhang Xiu smiled calmly: "What? Are you not confident in your works? Your lack of confidence is your fault, but I trust you very much. Don't worry, the sky won't fall."
Wu Song and Zhuge Liang looked at each other.
Naturally, they have the confidence to conduct a trial voyage, which shows that the two of them still have great confidence in the sea ship. What they are afraid of is not ten thousand, but what if.
Zhang Xiu persisted, but the two could not stop him. Zhuge Liang said: "In that case, I am willing to board the ship with the emperor and go to sea with the ship to trial the sea."
Zhang Xiu laughed: "Okay, let's board the ship!"
Everyone rode towards the ship. As the distance got closer, the entire appearance of the ship was revealed in the eyes of Zhang Xiu and others. Seeing such a huge thing, Zhang Xiu asked: "Kong Ming, what is the size of this ship?"
Zhuge Liang smiled and said: "Your Majesty, this ship is fifty-six feet long, nineteen feet wide, seven feet high, and has an estimated draft of two feet. It is an unprecedented large ship."
Zhang Biao looked at the entire ship carefully.
The architectural form of the entire ship is a building ship. It is tall and large in the front. There are rudder openings like city walls on the left and right sides. The outer layer is all wrapped in iron sheets. The upper and lower layers of the sea-going ship are divided into five layers, and there is a deck in the middle of the main deck. The room forms a midship building with bulwarks. There is a three-story stern building at the stern and a two-story bow section. There is a mighty tiger head relief on the front of the bow, which is very majestic and spectacular.
Everyone watched and nodded.
Zhuge Liang and Wu Song gave a detailed explanation to Zhang Xiu and others about the ship. They boarded the ship and stood on the first deck, looking into the distance and having a panoramic view of dozens of miles around.
Zhang Xiu stood at the bow of the ship, facing the wind. He suddenly felt the majesty and heroism, and asked Zhuge Liang next to him: "Have you thought of a name for this ship?"
Zhuge Liang said: "Please give me a name from the emperor."
Zhang Xiu nodded, looked at the rough sea water in the distance, thought for a moment, and said: "This is my first sea ship in Dajing, and it is also my first step in starting a sea voyage in Dajing, so I named it after the place." , let’s call it Chang’an Ship! Let’s call the entire fleet Chang’an Fleet.”
"Chang'an ship!"
Everyone read it silently.
Zhang Xiu said: "In the future, after Dajing unified the world, any sea-going ships built would be named after the place. For example, after the conquest of Wu, the sea-going ships built would be called Jianye ships."
Only then did everyone understand the purpose of Zhang Xiu’s naming.
After everything was ready for the sea trial, Zhang Xiu stood at the front and loudly ordered: "Pass my decree, Chang'an ship! Launch the sea trial!"
Loud shouts rang out from below: "According to the emperor's decree, the Chang'an ship is launched into the water for trial sea trials!"
