Chapter 138: Salt Field and Shipyard (II)

The shipyard was located at the northeast corner of Taijiang, facing Luermen across the sea from the tip of Beixianwei Island — the most remote corner of Taijiang.

Whether it was the replica ancient wooden ships of later generations, racing sailboats, or steel-hulled fishing boats, none of the Transmigrators had ever built one. There was no way around it — the population base was still too small: Chief Executive Dong would send over a few to a dozen or so newcomers at irregular intervals each month, sometimes none at all, so as of March 1628, the Chongzhen First Year, the Transmigrators' total number was only 170.

The one and only person among them whose previous work had even the slightest connection to shipbuilding had been installing pipelines on oil tankers in a hundred-thousand-ton dry dock... He was doing quite well in the Kiln District now and shook his head at the mere mention of shipbuilding — not interested.

Well, money can't buy willingness, and the most important thing in work is interest, so in the second round of online recruitment, Qiao Zhengtai, the person with "the most theoretical research" on wooden sailing ships, was elected.

Through keyboard battles against the rabble, Qiao Zhengtai, a former technician at a mountain bike factory, successfully demonstrated to everyone his knowledge of the age of sailing warships. On a local network without a search engine, most people were exposed in their true colors, and Qiao Zhengtai, who could produce the specifications of any 17th-century sailing warship at will, thus became the Shipyard Director.

After Qiao Zhengtai took up his post, since the shipyard attracted a relatively high level of attention, the mobilization of various resources was still quite convenient.

First, people: now that the biggest loudmouth had been chosen, the lesser loudmouths no longer needed to argue. Five or six Transmigrators who had always been fond of sailing warships came together to take shelter at the shipyard.

All laborers currently subordinate to the Transmigrators, regardless of ethnicity or profession, as long as they had ever had any involvement with shipbuilding, were reassigned to the shipyard. Among them, one Dutch carpenter was key: Old Kohler.

Old Kohler was a prisoner from the Trading Post Battle. At the time, only he and one other carpenter were assigned to work in the woodworking shed in the Kiln District; all the other prisoners were sent to till the earth. Later, all the surviving prisoners followed Pauw Nuyts back to Batavia, but Old Kohler and the other Dutch carpenter, being relatively important, were secretly detained by the Transmigrators.

In fact, Old Kohler did not want to leave this place either.

Old Kohler was not Dutch. He had a head of light blond hair and a rugged face. Born into a cook's family in the Bavarian countryside, Old Kohler was now full of wrinkles, yet he was only 34 years old. Of course, in this era, being 34 and full of wrinkles was standard for anyone below the middle class, regardless of nationality.

Old Kohler had seen far too many inconceivable things in the Kiln District: all-powerful machines, measuring tools precise to the millimeter, finished products without the slightest variation, and fifty people who had suffered fatal injuries (in his eyes) yet came back to work after some days.

... The other Dutch prisoners believed this place was hell, but Old Kohler, a craftsman of the 17th century, firmly believed this place was heaven.

Being able to repair square-rigged ships at sea meant he certainly had real skill. After Old Kohler was assigned to the woodworking shed, he quickly rose to become Squad Leader, cursing out Apprentices every day in his halting, half-baked Chinese — this was exactly how he had learned the trade back in the day.

One day, when Old Kohler finally figured out that the mysterious force powering the table saw came from that strange machine called a "Generator," he calmly made a request to the Timber Yard Director: naturalization.

"I am already old, so old that I might die of illness on the next voyage and be thrown into the sea. Therefore, I hereby solemnly request to join your kingdom. I know that only in this way will I have the chance to learn that mysterious knowledge."

Timber Yard Director Ceng Rong, after hearing Old Kohler's request, didn't know whether to laugh or cry — whether there even was an Emperor was still up in the air, and only heaven knew when the Immigration Bureau would ever be established.

So at the time, Ceng Rong could only make a promise to his yellow-haired general: Your qualifications are good; with some effort, you'll certainly earn the title of Engineer in the future. Hmm, once the Immigration Bureau is established, you'll be the first one I apply for. For now, you'll temporarily hold a Green Card, considered a White-Skin with a yellow heart, and you can study while working... However, the price of learning this knowledge is that from this day forward, you are forbidden from contacting your compatriots... Can you uphold this?

With a solemn expression, Old Kohler swore an oath on the spot in the name of God, vowing that though his body was in Cao's camp, his heart was in Cao's... Then Ceng Rong went to the newly opened Intelligence Bureau to register Old Kohler, and after that, Old Kohler, Green Card in hand, had officially come over to the light.

Now summoned to the shipyard by a single transfer order, Old Kohler was still as formidable as ever — the other Dutch carpenter had died of illness a few days earlier, so Old Kohler was now the sole survivor.

Qiao Zhengtai naturally valued Old Kohler quite highly: no matter how much detailed ship data the Transmigrators possessed, in the end, theory had to be integrated with practice, starting from a single hull plank and a single iron nail, gradually accumulating experience, learning, and improving. And Old Kohler, who had once worked as a shipwright for ten years in the port of Amsterdam, the most prosperous in the 17th-century world, was undoubtedly a core figure in the early stage of the Taijiang Shipyard.

Apart from Old Kohler, among the remaining Ming shipworkers, there were no master craftsmen, only a few journeymen — no one capable of single-handedly undertaking the construction of a Chinese-style Sand Ship. Fortunately, the shipyard was only just established, and there would be plenty of time in the future to search for craftsmen and train newcomers.

The most important project at present was the dock. Next would come one or two small dry docks. As for shipbuilding, sampans were the only choice. Sampans that two or three people could operate didn't even need a dry dock — you could just start building them right on the beach... Set a goal: build thirty to fifty of them first to practice.

Qiao Zhengtai's methodical planning drove the Navy Faction crazy — they were itching to sail out on a Battleship for a spin. This self-appointed group of shipyard supervisors had been coming around to loiter whenever they had free time lately, pointing and gesturing tirelessly. The poser clique, led by Mu Longcheng, also frequently sought to discuss with Qiao Zhengtai the necessity of an 80-gun Battleship...

The Transmigrators' shipyard began to incubate under these very circumstances: on the slippery tidal flats, most people were digging sand to build the dock, while a small number, under the roar of a yellow-haired man, were clumsily erecting scaffolding for new sampans...

Watching the chaotic scene before him, Qiao Zhengtai couldn't help but shake his head — a long road ahead with a heavy burden. Even though he had prepared n number of grand ship types suitable for the Crossing Faction, now looking at these shipworkers who couldn't even set up scaffolding smoothly... The gap between reality and dreams was this vast, truly disheartening.

All in all, the several Construction Sites newly opened near Dayuan at present involved nothing but civil engineering — digging mud, digging earth, digging sand, nothing technically demanding.

What was truly technically demanding was the newly imported Electric Furnace in the Kiln District.

As the headline project kicking off 1628, the electric furnace system, just for its preliminary Equipment and parts, had already consumed the entire Import Quota of five boxes for February. After that, they inadvertently had to add another box of consumables...

Although steelmaking was the all-important, boss-level project that overrode everything else, such a high import quota was a decision the Great Office had to make while steeling themselves. This made the electric furnace system, without a doubt, the project with the highest import volume in the Transmigrators' history, which undoubtedly caused heart-wrenching pain for certain people who had been waiting for quotas all along.