Chapter 20: A Two-Masted Sailing Ship Blending Chinese, Western, Ancient, and Modern (Part 1)

The result of the assessment was that fifteen or sixteen men with shipbuilding skills, including the clan leader, would remain in Bopu as shipyard workers. They moved into the newly built Baitu Village with their families. These shipyard workers were not allowed to live together as a large clan. Wu De rejected their request to live in a cluster: all adult married men had to register their own separate households.

Wu De further refined the regulations: each household could have a maximum of three generations. The first two generations were each allowed one married couple. If a member of the third generation married, they had to establish a new household. Married brothers were forbidden from remaining in the same household.

The separated small households were then mixed into the various standard residential buildings, with each building allowing a maximum of two families from the same original clan.

The remaining members of the Lin clan were all relocated to Bopu, scattered in the same manner throughout the residential area of the Bairen Commune, and used as basic laborers. In this way, the Lin family, one of the two ruling families of Baitu Village, was completely dismantled. The clan leader, Lin Xianming, lost his former prestige and now had to go to work at the shipyard—every household owed the transmigrator group sixty taels of silver for their new homes. In truth, many of the Lin clan members could afford this sum, but no one dared to show their wealth, fearing it would be confiscated by the short-hair thieves.

While the older members of the Lin clan, having witnessed the tyranny of the government, were subservient to the powerful transmigrator group in Lingao, the younger generation, who had grown up in the lawless zone of Baitu Village, had strong objections. This was especially true for those from the main lineage, who had been part of the village’s upper class since childhood and were bitter about their loss of prestige. What they found most unacceptable was that those from the minor, lower-status branches of the clan had become shipyard workers simply because they worked harder and were more skilled.

Lin Gonglao was naturally not among the workers. However, since he was not yet married, he could remain in his father’s household, but his status was now that of a “commune member” who had to work as a manual laborer for work points every day.

The workers received a monthly salary and had a high income; the commune members were just day laborers, doing the most arduous and tiring jobs. He couldn’t stand this alone.

A cousin who usually hung out with him spoke up, “Big Brother, say something! What is Great Uncle thinking? Is our Lin family just going to fall apart like this?!”

“What else can we do?” said a dejected-looking fellow squatting on the ground. “They’re just too powerful—”

Lin Gonglao’s brother, Lin Gongxun, kicked him hard. “You disgrace to the Lin family! You coward! I doubt you’re even a Lin! How could you say such a thing?”

“But—” the one who was kicked seemed to be a pushover and didn’t dare to fight back, merely muttering, “we can’t beat them, can we?”

“Bullshit! They just have better weapons, a few matchlocks. In a brawl, I could take on seven or eight of those B-listers myself!” the kicker said belligerently, sneaking a glance at the sentry in the distance. The crowd, seemingly not satisfied, saw that the surrounding sentries and “short-hair” cadres weren’t interfering, and their cursing grew more heated.

“That’s right, Big Brother and Second Brother are skilled fighters.”

“Winning with firearms doesn’t make you a hero!”

“Without firearms, one-on-one, we’d beat them senseless!”

“One-on-one? I’d feel like I was bullying them. I wouldn’t say more, but I could take on three.”

“Look at how shabby they are. Their clothes don’t even cover their asses.”

“All the heroes of our Lin family have guts!”

“The Lin family has no place for a coward like you! You must be a bastard!”

…

It started as whispers, but grew louder. The crowd’s anger seemed to be vented on this unlucky fellow, who was showered with profanities and blows. He quickly scrambled away, “getting lost.”

Just then, one of Lin Gonglao’s nephews, Lin Guangding, squeezed through the crowd and whispered, “Uncle Gonglao, tell everyone to stop cursing. The walls have ears.”

This was meant well, but Lin Gonglao cursed back, “You’re a loser too! A spineless coward. The ‘Aozai’ are just overseas barbarians. I’ll curse them to their faces; they won’t understand.” He then shouted seven or eight curses in the Minnan dialect at a “true short-hair” in the distance. As expected, the person looked at him without any reaction. The surrounding Lin family youths cheered.

“Yeah! Brother Gonglao is awesome!”

“The Aozai are all losers! They don’t dare to say a thing.”

“The Aozai wouldn’t dare to offend our Lin family. They rely on Great Grand-uncle for shipbuilding!”

Lin Guangding tried to persuade him again, “Well, Uncle Gonglao, some of the laborers working for them are from our area—”

“Hmph, what’s there to fear from a few traitors?” Lin Gonglao suddenly felt powerful, fearless. “I could crush them with one finger.”

As he was boasting, Lin Xianming hurried over and hissed, “Are you trying to get us all killed? What nonsense are you spouting?” He glanced around cautiously. “Do you want our Lin family to be completely wiped out?”

Lin Gonglao was clearly not convinced and was about to raise his voice again.

“Don’t say another word. All of you, disperse and go home!” He then dragged his son to a deserted spot.

“In the future, say less of this baseless boasting!” Lin Xianming whispered. “This group of short-hair thieves is not to be trifled with.”

“Dad, they’ll be destroyed by the local sea lords sooner or later. Even if the sea lords can’t destroy them, if we send someone to report them to the authorities, the imperial court will suppress them. Once the army arrives—”

He received a sharp rap on the head. “The imperial court? What the hell does the imperial court have to do with us? If it weren’t for the imperial court, we’d still be living peacefully in Fujian, tending to our ancestral graves!” Lin Xianming’s tone softened. “The short-hairs are not so bad. They give us houses to live in, pay us wages, and don’t make us work for free. We’re just common folk. Whoever the emperor is, we still have to pay taxes. As long as we have food, clothing, and shelter, that’s enough. Don’t you dare cause trouble for me!”

Seeing his son had finally fallen silent, Lin Xianming said, “How old are you? You don’t know the immensity of heaven and earth! Is the government any good? Just you go and work honestly for me. When the time comes, I’ll find a way to get you into the shipyard as a worker. The short-hairs still think highly of your father.”

Lin Gonglao grumbled a few words. His thoughts were different from his father’s. Lin Xianming only wanted to lead his clan to live peacefully in these chaotic times. Lin Gonglao, however, still had a young man’s thirst for power, fondly remembering the days when the Lin family were the local tyrants of Baitu, and he, as the village chief’s son, could order people around.

In contrast, the reaction from the Lu family was much smaller. For one, they had fewer people, and Lu Youtian was a very pragmatic man. He didn’t question the transmigrators’ policies at all and immediately had his clansmen register as separate households. Even his unmarried son, Lu Shouyong, registered a separate household. His request was simple: to keep his son, an apprentice blacksmith, by his side to continue teaching him the trade. He had seen what happened to the Lin family—all the unskilled Lin youths were classified as basic laborers. It seemed that without a skill, one would definitely suffer under the short-hairs.

Since all the men of the Lu family were blacksmiths, after their skills assessment, they were divided into two groups. Most were sent to Bairen City to become workers at the machine factory, while a few remained in Bopu as ironworkers for the shipyard. Because of Lu Youtian’s pragmatism and the relatively small number of Lu family members, none of their youths were relegated to earning work points as basic laborers. Those whose skills were not good enough to be workers joined the apprentice teams, assigned to the shipyard and the machine factory to learn to become fitters and metallurgists of the new era.

Lu Youtian stayed in Bopu and became the foreman of the shipyard’s ironworking shop. Shipbuilding required a large number of iron parts. Because Wen Desi still hadn’t figured out all the specific techniques of European shipbuilding, he continued to use many Chinese techniques and methods in the construction.

Before the New Year, Wen Desi and several mechanical engineering professionals had drawn up complete line plans and structural drawings for the ship. Although rough, they at least provided a basis for construction.

Shortly after the first day of the New Year, the shipyard laid the keel under Wen Desi’s guidance. The keel was placed on keel blocks in the dry dock. The stem and sternpost were fitted to the ends of the keel. This was a very heavy task, completed only with the help of the construction company’s steam crane. It was then that Wen Desi realized he hadn’t installed any lifting equipment in the dock and had to hastily build several makeshift gin poles.

Then, the floor timbers were placed transversely on the keel, and the keelson was laid along the keel on top of the floor timbers. The keelson, floor timbers, and keel were bolted together. The floor timbers were straight, except at the ends where the wood began to curve upwards. The futtocks were joined to the floor timbers. These were the curved or arched timbers that formed the curved sides of the sailing ship. Bending the timber to the required angle without compromising its strength cost Wu Kuangming a great deal of brainpower. Fortunately, the availability of a boiler made this process quick and effective.

All the ribs were installed very tightly, and in the middle of the ship and near the masts, they were double-layered—these areas would be subjected to immense strain. Heavy, thick clamps were arranged horizontally on the inside of the ribs to support the ends of the deck beams. The mast holes were reinforced with strong sandalwood partners, inserted vertically between the deck beams and bolted in place to support the mast, while the base of the mast rested on the keelson. This frame was further secured with vertical and horizontal timbers around the great beams.

During construction, scaffolding was erected around the hull for the shipwrights’ convenience. The hull planking was bolted to the ribs. To prevent leaks, a large amount of kapok was used as caulking filler—this natural fiber is nearly waterproof and very buoyant. All seams were sealed in the Chinese style, with a mixture of tung oil, hemp fibers, and oyster shell ash. The inner and outer hulls were also coated with a layer of wood tar.

The internal structure of the ship followed the design of a Chinese vessel, with watertight compartments installed. Since the ship was not built as a warship and was not intended to be heavily armed, a full-length lower deck was unnecessary.