The next day,
Jiang Hao led his men to the shipyard. When they reached the small bay by the sea, several large ships came into view, anchored on the water. The Tower Ships, already enormous, looked like infants beside the Treasure Ships.
He then looked at the Spanish Galleons moored nearby. Their streamlined hulls and three main masts were all fitted with triangular sails, exactly like the Spanish galleons he remembered.
"My lord, everything is ready. We are about to conduct a trial voyage. Please board the ship," Cao Can said as he came to invite Jiang Hao.
Jiang Hao boarded one of the Treasure Ships. Standing on its broad deck gave him the feeling of boarding an aircraft carrier. It was simply too vast, and the solid feel beneath his feet was incomparably reassuring. This was technology more than a thousand years ahead of its time. Zheng He had been able to reach Africa precisely because of ships like these.
And with these ships, Jiang Hao could fulfill his own ambitions as well.
In the blink of an eye, half a month passed.
Han Zhong and Lu Xin each arrived with a thousand Great Qin soldiers. Jiang Hao now had four thousand troops under his command.
The large ships were ready as well. This fleet was even larger than the last: two Treasure Ships, ten Spanish Galleons, and thirty Tower Ships.
In truth, transporting four thousand soldiers did not require so many ships. A single Treasure Ship could carry twenty-seven or twenty-eight hundred men, along with sufficient supplies, horses, and more. A Spanish Galleon could carry five hundred combat soldiers and enough supplies, while a Tower Ship could carry one hundred and fifty men with sufficient supplies.
Those figures did not even include the sailors. Once Jiang Hao's fleet