In a warehouse by the sea, over a hundred shipwrights were working at full speed on ship models—two at once: a Treasure Ship and a Triangular Sail Ship.
Why did building ship models require so many people?
Did they really think these were the sort of ship models one could hold in one's hands and play with? No. The models these craftsmen were building were scaled down tenfold according to the dimensions Jiang Hao had provided, yet they were complete ships in every respect.
The Treasure Ship was over 120 meters long, so this model was twelve meters long. The Triangular Sail Ship was over sixty meters long, so its model was over six meters long. Every component had been reduced in exact proportion.
Once completed, these ship models could genuinely be launched into the water. They would then undergo sea trials and all manner of analysis.
These craftsmen were highly skilled and worked very quickly. The frames were completed on the first day, the hulls two days later, and after three days, the basic shapes had taken form. As for the other components aboard, such as the most important ropes and sails, the craftsmen here lacked none of them and had long since prepared them.
In just five days, through the efforts of more than a hundred craftsmen, the two model ships were completed.
The sea was calm that day. The craftsmen pushed the model ships out of the dock, and they rushed into the ocean through the water channel. Jiang Hao, Lu Zhou, Cao Can, and more than a dozen master craftsmen boarded the ships for their first trial voyage.
Jiang Hao did not know much about sailing, so he merely watched quietly as the sailors worked. The sails rose, swelling in the sea breeze, and the Treasure