Chapter 487: Changing with each passing day
They patrolled eastward around Weinan and arrived at the Puzhen Shipyard at the end of the month.

At present, the focus here is still on researching and improving ship types.

The forest farms set up in the upper reaches of various rivers will harvest the high-quality timber needed for shipbuilding, which is why there is a relatively considerable timber output this year.

However, it still needs to be dried in the shade, and reliable quality transport ships will not be produced until next summer at the earliest.

Inside the shipyard, Chen Yang led the black bear to inspect various places. Chen Yang kept walking and even picked up some miscellaneous tools along the way while leading the way, for fear that these debris would affect the black bear's mood.

Chen Yang is now married to a widow with children.

This was someone Chen Yang had found himself. The widow had a strong personality and was also reasonable.

He is happy about it, and others should not interfere.

Leading the black bear up to the wooden building and standing on the watchtower, Chen Yang pointed to the wooden sheds and described the wood stored inside and the quantity of wood.

Black Bear listened carefully and warned, "The trees are dry in the shade and are so densely packed together, so you must be careful to prevent fires. I will send three more 100-household units here to guard the periphery. You must keep a close eye on the people in the shipyard, especially the fire sources."

"Yes, I will supervise strictly."

Chen Yang pointed to the largest dock and said, "Your Majesty, that is the Sanya warship. It will be able to sail to Chencang next spring when the Jingshui and Weishui rivers rise. According to your Majesty's plan, the hull is wider and there are waterproof compartments on both sides. The iron chain has not been delivered yet. Iron is needed everywhere in Hancheng. Commander Xuan said that the iron chain will be delivered when the ship is built, so as not to delay your important matters."

Black Bear looked at the dock and turned back to say, "Xuanliang is teasing you. I will write to urge him. The boat must be strong, and two-thirds of the bottom cabin can be sealed. This is not a warship. Its purpose is to dredge the silt, and there is no need to consider the crew's living conditions. When this ship is built, you can listen to the opinions of the shipwrights when you build the second one. You should record all the good opinions, and the shogunate will reward them with official titles in the future."

"Yes, in that case, when the boat is built and sailing to the Wei River, the boatmen should go with it. If there are any improvements that need to be made, they will be able to see them at a glance."

Chen Yang proposed his opinion and said, "Xuan Duwei and Zhang Sima suggested that I learn shipbuilding. I have barely learned the texture of wood, but I am still not familiar with shipbuilding skills. Among the shipbuilders here are old shipbuilders from Jingxiang, who have superb skills."

"It would be good for you to learn more skills. It would be great to do woodcraft as a hobby to pass the time when you are free."

Black Bear couldn't help but smile: "At least doing wood craft at home won't lead to false accusations."

Chen Yang thought it made sense, and then asked, "Your Majesty, the surrounding counties are nominating athletes. Can a shipyard like mine also participate in the competition?"

"It's possible in other Qianhu Suo, but not here."

Black Bear continued to look around the shipyard: "You don't have many young people here, and the number of people is small, so it's better for you to concentrate on shipbuilding. If you insist on competing, I will give you a chance to be selected from thousands of people next year after the shipyard expands in size."

Chen Yang was not discouraged: "What about swimming? Most of the people here are from Jingxiang, and there are many brave men who can swim."

"Then you will be given three places, no more."

Seeing Chen Yang's joy, Black Bear immediately warned him, "I didn't want to hold a swimming competition at first because I was worried about causing drownings when selecting athletes from various places. But this is related to the future construction of the navy. As the saying goes, those who drown are often good at swimming, so don't put pressure on the people below."

"Yes, I understand."

Chen Yang quickly agreed. Seeing this, Black Bear was unsure how much this guy had listened to.

After all, this is the first official competition. After accumulating experience, we can formulate more detailed management rules next year.

For example, in horse riding and swimming, if one falls, one will become disabled, and in the latter, in addition to drowning, choking on water can cause pneumonia and death from fever.

But the plan to build a tower ship navy cannot be stopped. It does not matter how sophisticated it is. What is necessary is to have a reliable navy that can operate warships.

In this way, if a naval battle breaks out in the future, these people can lead the officers and soldiers on the ship to control the ship and fight.

As for the command and maneuver of warships, under good visibility conditions, the area within a radius of twenty-five miles with himself as the center point is within his range of command and delicate operations.

Therefore, we do not need to cultivate the coordination ability of the navy's military officers. We only need to reasonably deploy the ship's forces and urge the crew to fight in an orderly manner.

The navy unit relies most on cooperation, so the military officers are particularly united.

There is no need for me to compromise or make concessions for the sake of combat effectiveness for the time being, and I should not deliberately cultivate and support the military officers to stick together.

Afterwards, after having a home-cooked meal at Chen Yang’s residence, Black Bear headed north to Hancheng.

This is the last stop, and then we will return to Ganquan to hold this year's chrysanthemum banquet.

After the banquet, a competition was held in Chang'an City.

There are only two things happening during the year, except that before winter comes, people have to migrate from Ganquan to Shanglinyuan to spend the winter.

The shogunate moved to Shanglinyuan in winter, and could intimidate Jing and Yi states at close range. Whoever dared to move first would be beaten to death. After killing one party, they would attack the other.

Such a gesture must be made in order to effectively deter the neutral majority.

By the end of August, the temperature of the Jing River was no longer suitable for water dungeon operation.

However, Liu Ba had already been damaged by the soaking. In the hands of a group of Taoists who focused on improving medical skills, Liu Ba's appearance and shape had been greatly changed.

Now all of Liu Ba's hair has been plucked out, and his younger brother, who had lost consciousness due to long-term soaking in water, has also turned into pieces of meat after repeated experiments.

Towards evening, two Taoist priests wearing sleeveless leather armor and Taoist robes carried Liu Ba back to the dormitory.

Lying on the heated kang, Liu Ba reached out to touch his teeth in a daze. Both lower molars had been chiseled out.

What frightened him even more was that blood gushed out when his teeth were chiseled, but the other party simply cut a thumb-sized piece of peach flesh, mashed it into a pulp, and fed it to him, which stopped the bleeding immediately.

Just like during castration, the Taiping Dao has now mastered advanced castration technology that allows for quick castration without being fatal and rapid recovery from labor.

Liu Ba was not aware that the Taiping Dao had already begun planning a large-scale castration.

At this moment, his mind had already been overwhelmed by fear, and his cognition was destroyed by Taozi's miraculous healing power.

As for the minor castration, he could still bear it. Before coming to Guanzhong, he had already made plans for the worst.

But the current experience is more terrifying than death, and death has even become a luxury.

He finally understood that the ferocity and fearlessness of Gan Ning's troops were all due to this peach.

This is also the reason why the shogunate's elite troops were able to defeat the larger enemy with a smaller one in other battlefields and became stronger as the battle went on.

The shogunate's soldiers were not afraid of getting injured at all. New recruits became veterans after a few battles, and those with a little talent for command and combat would immediately stand out.

The shogunate's military officers suffered almost no casualties on the battlefield, which was truly terrifying.

How could the Jianghuai court be able to be hostile to them?
Before this, he had also heard that Guanzhong intended to enfeoff gods and assign them to counties, towns and villages. The gods of mountains and rivers would also be replaced with the souls of martyrs who died in battles of the shogunate.

I thought it was a trick to fool the people and bluff the officials to die, but now it seems that the parties outside Guanzhong are the grasshoppers after the autumn.

If they don't unite, once Guanzhong's vitality has accumulated, they will inevitably bare their fangs and demonstrate their brutal side again.

What happened to the well-dressed people in Taiyuan and Hedong counties is by no means an isolated case.

As Liu Ba pondered, he gradually became exhausted and fell into a coma.

Hearing his loud snoring, several Taoists pushed the door open, one of them holding an incense burner in his hand.

The leader saw that the incense was one third less, so he said, "Taking the fairy peach will not increase your resistance to the drug. Remember this and reduce it to half tomorrow."

"Yes."

The apprentice held a scroll of bamboo slips in one hand and a pen in the other, and began to write on it.

The leading Taoist priest heard Liu Ba's snoring, so he approached and pointed at Liu Ba's mouth. Immediately, an apprentice climbed onto the kang, squatted on one side, grabbed Liu Ba's jaw, and pried his mouth open.

At this time, the snoring stopped. The leader took a casual glance and saw a trace of blood on the tooth socket. He said, "If you eat the peach in pieces, the effect of the medicine will decrease. Tomorrow, we will try to cut off the hanging flesh in his throat to see if it can cure the snoring. If it does not affect his speech, we will also record it in the book and wait for the Lord to review it."

After thinking for a while, he said, "Let's go to Xixiang and rent two female slaves to take care of me. I want to see the effect of castration. If there are any residues, we will remove them all."

During the Pre-Qin and Han dynasties, eunuchs were castrated by simply cutting off their tubes.

Anyway, he had no reason to sympathize or feel sorry for Liu Ba. Once a man like Liu Ba gained power or advantage, he would laugh at the fact that tens of thousands of Yellow Turban soldiers and their families were drowned or executed.

The two sides are not on the same page at all. They are mortal enemies in terms of ideology and it is difficult for them to coexist.

The repeated experiments during this period made his last bit of respect for the great scholars and celebrities disappear.

He then led several Taoists to evacuate, closed the door, and signaled the other Taoists to leave first.

He hid behind the door and listened for a long time. When he saw Liu Ba's snoring started again and there was no change from before, he left with peace of mind.

(End of this chapter)