Chapter 176

After dismissing the Military Officer, Su Fan came to the shipyard. Looking at the busy craftsmen and apprentices inside, Su Fan was very satisfied. Within the scope of his control, especially around his camp, many workshops had been built. Although many were manual labor workshops, relying on the assembly-line style, the speed and efficiency of producing various materials were much higher than in other places.

Especially his emphasis on craftsmen; here, it was much more active than in other regions, especially compared to the government.

The people at the bottom didn't have numb expressions either; each one was full of passion because they knew that the more they worked, the more they received.

As for ships and the like, Su Fan knew nothing about them. Even though he had transmigrated twice—in *Smiling Proud Wanderer* and *Datang*—he had warships under his command, yet he still didn't understand the principles of shipbuilding.

After all, if he needed warships, he just had to send people to build them. He didn't know how, but as long as someone else did, he would manage those who knew how to build ships.

It was the same in this world; he provided the appearance of the ships he had seen in later generations, and as for how to build them specifically or whether they could be built, that depended on these craftsmen.

Fortunately, in the Divine Han era, the Mohist school was much more formidable than the Mohist school in history. Although suppressed by the Confucian school, it hadn't completely vanished.

Craftsmen, some great craftsmen, still possessed many Mohist inheritances.

Old Bai was a great master. Of course, he himself didn't cultivate; he was purely a Mohist craftsman.

However, in the field of Mohist craftsmanship, even those Mohist craftsmen at the mid-to-late stages of Soul Nourishing couldn't compare to him.

Su Fan invited this person to the shipyard as the chief engineer, and his status was very high.

The former was also very grateful to Su Fan. He was a Mohist disciple by background, and he couldn't change the current situation of the Mohist school, but ever since he was invited to Donghai Commandery by Su Fan and saw everything here, he immediately fell in love with this place.

Despite being at the advanced age of sixty, he still worked on the front lines every day.

When Su Fan found him, the former was still instructing some apprentices on how to embed rivets, and even demonstrated it himself.

Fortunately, after several months of Su Fan's care, his health was quite good, and he had now begun to cultivate the Soul Dao. He was much older, but with the resources provided by Su Fan, he would likely be able to cultivate some results.

Not to mention reaching Soul Refining, even cultivating to the mid-stage of Soul Nourishing to increase his energy would be a good thing.

"Old Bai, how is the research on the new-style ship going?"

After the former finished his instructions, Su Fan stepped forward and said with a laugh.

"Young Master, you've come."

Old Bai didn't call Su Fan "Qu Shuai," nor did he call him "Lord," but like Gao Hu and the others, he called Su Fan "Young Master." The meaning was also very clear: he had joined the Gao family and become a retainer of the Gao family.

"The new-style ship is almost designed; in a few days, we can start construction. This time, the hull will be larger than before. According to the units of measurement you gave, Young Master, it will be over five hundred tons."

"Over five hundred tons! Not bad."

Su Fan was pleasantly surprised upon hearing this. This number was almost equivalent to the "thousand-liao" large ships of the Ming Dynasty on Earth.

The peak treasure ships of the Ming Dynasty were about "five thousand liao" in size, 60 meters long and 13 meters wide, capable of carrying hundreds of soldiers.

Of course, in a super-martial world, such a ship was not really that large; in rivers, there were many warships larger than five hundred tons.

However, Su Fan was quite satisfied. This was only the second generation, right?

His shipyard had just begun. When there were more craftsmen, he could research and build larger warships in the future, and even the appearance of the invincible aircraft carriers of later generations was not impossible.

In a fantasy world, everything is possible.

"Thank you for your hard work, Old Bai."

Su Fan was sincerely grateful. The shipyard could be said to have been built by Old Bai single-handedly. He only provided logistics, while Old Bai was responsible for everything else, which was quite exhausting and took a toll on his heart and blood.

"Haha! This old man should thank you, Young Master, for your constant support." Old Bai's face was full of joy because here, he saw the opportunity for the Mohist school to flourish.

As an orthodox Mohist disciple, he was naturally willing to see everything here, especially since the rule of the Young Master was far better than that of the government.

The common people at the bottom who relied on the Young Master—not to mention how good their quality of life was, at the very least, they could eat their fill and survive. This was a very happy thing.

In the past, he had traveled to many places, and once natural disasters struck, countless people could only die miserably.

Under the Young Master here, it was impossible to starve or freeze to death.

"Old Bai, is the manpower here still enough?"

"If it's not enough, I will send another batch of nimble ones over, but they will still need you, Old Bai, to have people responsible for teaching them."

"That's really possible? That's wonderful!"

Upon hearing this, Old Bai's face was even more joyful: "Young Master, just send people over; even at night, we will teach them craftsmanship."

"Young Master, as long as you can send more people, we will definitely accelerate the research on the third-generation ship."

Those who could be sent over were at least literate and had learned a little arithmetic, which was very important—at least much stronger than many old farmers who couldn't even count.

Craftsmen didn't just need to know how to work; they also needed a certain amount of knowledge, especially arithmetic, which was a must-have foundation.

Old Bai naturally didn't like those blockheads, but those who were nimble and knew arithmetic were a different story. If they came to him, he would definitely treat them like treasures.

Not just here; wherever there was arithmetic, every workshop needed it.

"Hehe! I will try my best to send some over."

Su Fan looked at Old Bai with some helplessness. The other party was playing tricks on him, but he wasn't angry.

Talent is hard to come by, and literate people who know arithmetic are even rarer. Even among the powerful clans, they are considered useful talent.

Over the past six months, Su Fan had also worked very hard to cultivate them, but because of the scarcity of teachers, there were only a few hundred.

This was thanks to Zhang Jiao's Taiping Dao, which had some Daoist masters; these people were all literate and educated.

Otherwise, how could they spread the scriptures of the Taiping Dao?

But it was still not enough; after all, they were not Su Fan's direct subordinates. Many times, they had their own business, which was cultivation.

These Daoist masters could cultivate; they were the Soul Nourishing methods of the basic Soul Dao passed down by Zhang Jiao, and they also had the "Life-Saving Talisman Water" magic.

They could also be considered technical talent.

In fact, in Su Fan's view, if Zhang Jiao had developed low-key, with these Daoist masters as the core, researching productivity and improving the combat power of his army, he might have had a great chance to overthrow the Divine Han Dynasty in the future.

Unfortunately, he treated these Daoist masters as thugs.

A group of Daoist masters could indeed cast spells, which was not weak, but in large-scale battles, how could they be as powerful as great generals? Commanding large battles had always been the business of the military school.

The Daoist arts and Mohist craftsmanship were both high-quality talent that could improve technology and productivity. If used well, that was the best use for enhancing one's own strength.

Just like here with Su Fan, he had already begun to cultivate Soul Dao sorcerers and Mohist technicians for the sake of improving various productivity.

Grain and military industry were the greatest guarantees for logistics. As long as there was an advantage in these two areas, it would be difficult to suffer any defeat.

Even if defeated for a moment, they would eventually recover quickly, and then come back again. Sooner or later, they would drag the enemy to death alive.