Chapter 154: The Grand s.h.i.+p (1)
The Princess was acquainted with Officer Wu Heng and also treated him well. They’ve collaborated with each other a couple of times in the past so Tong Lin was familiar with this man.
Tong Lin had no time to leisurely chat so he cut straight to the chase.
“Wu Heng, I am here on the Princess’ orders! The Princess said to use a thousand people to pull the rope, and told me to come ahead to find you. Can you give us an explanation?”
Wu Heng was slightly confused, “Didn’t we agree to wait until winter?”
Zhou Tong Lin was even more bewildered, “Why do we need to wait until winter?”
Wu Heng looked him up and down and smiled, “Originally, the Princess planned to present the Grand s.h.i.+p to the emperor in the winter…”
Speaking of this, Wu Heng couldn’t help but frown. He wasn’t aware of the storms and hards.h.i.+ps the princess has been through recently. As someone with the lowly status as a boat’s captain, he couldn’t intervene in the s.h.i.+p’s affairs and could only helplessly worry.
“Grand s.h.i.+p?”
Zhou Qi repeated, “What kind of boat deserves the name of Grand s.h.i.+p?” He seemed to have an epiphany as he said, “That s.h.i.+p must be very big. The s.h.i.+p the Princess mentioned must be this one then! Quickly take me there to see!”
Wu Heng couldn’t react in time, “Where is the Princess trying to go with the boat?”
As he spoke, he hurriedly put on his clothes.
Zhou Qi exasperatedly sighed, “Of course it’s to the capital!” He turned around to look at him doubtfully, “Since it’s a large s.h.i.+p, how many people can fit on it?”
‘As long as 300 people can fit on it, then it’ll be fine,’ Zhou Qi calculated. Other than the important people, there also needed to be a few guards to protect them. The others could take smaller boats.
Wu Heng muddle-headedly asked as he followed him out, “Didn’t you say that everyone has to return to the capital? Including the soldiers, there are only around 2,000 people right?”
“What only 2,000 people?”
At this time, Wu Heng returned to his senses. He tidied up his clothes and proudly stated, “If it’s only 2,000 people, then one s.h.i.+p would be enough!”
This line caused Zhou Qi to lurch, unable to return to his senses for a good while.
One s.h.i.+p? Two thousand people? Is this Wu Heng lying to me?!
When Wu Heng finally saw that s.h.i.+p that was so huge it couldn’t be any more astounding, his whole person was frozen in shock.
As if possessed, he reached out a hand like he wanted to touch the s.h.i.+p, but because they were separated by a lake, he could only sigh.
“This is the Princess’ s.h.i.+p?” Zhou Qi quickly refuted himself, “How could that be possible? The Princess only used half a year to fix the ca.n.a.l, it’s impossible for her to build such a s.h.i.+p in such a short time! Is there anything that she can’t do?”
Even though he’d already seen it many times, Wu Heng still heaved a sigh in amazement just like Zhou Qi…
“If this was based on the Yiw.a.n.g method of s.h.i.+pbuilding, this s.h.i.+p would be impossible to make. However, the Princess suggested a method that improved not only the safety of the s.h.i.+p but also its balance and holding capacity. Furthermore, the workload is only ⅔ the amount of the Yiw.a.n.g method.
“How is this possible? The Princess… how was she able to do this?!”
“Watertight compartment!”
Wu Heng pointed to the hull and smiled, “This s.h.i.+p can hold over 2,000 people because it can not only hold people on board, but also has cabins underneath!”
The watertight compartment, explained simply, is just dividing the original one by one. This way, not only does buoyancy increase, but also greatly increases safety. For example… even if one or two cabins have a leak and water flows in, the boat would not sink.
After hearing the explanation, Zhou Qi praised, “Amazing! Simply amazing! If this method is used on the navy, then no one else would be able to compete!”