Chai Yue closed her eyes fearfully, not daring to look.
Fang Er was also trembling. He hadn't hesitated when inoculating himself in Huangliang Town.
However, with the needle tip pointed at Chai Yue, he found himself unable to push it in. Reading.
He glanced at Xiao Qing beside him, "Qing'er, why don't you do it?"
As soon as he said this, Xiao Qing shook her head like a rattle drum, "Young Master, how dare Xiao Qing prick Madam!"
Uh! If even Xiao Qing said so, there was no hope for anyone else. He had to do it himself.
Gritting his teeth, he controlled his trembling hand and sharply pricked Chai Yue's arm with the needle.
Ah~! Chai Yue cried out, caught off guard by the prick, then she remembered what they were doing and her face flushed again.
After pulling out the needle, a bead of blood seeped out. Fang Er finally relaxed and rubbed the cowpox pus on the needle onto the puncture wound.
"There, be careful not to catch a cold these few days." After speaking, he didn't forget to ask, "Does it still hurt?"
Chai Yue shook her head, "It's alright, just a little sore."
After Chai Yue adjusted her clothes, Xiao Qing leaned over.
"Young Master, let me."
Fang Er followed the same procedure, inoculating Xiao Qing with cowpox, then he looked at the others.
"Which of you will go first?"
Xiao Huan, Xiao Mi, Chen Xuelian, and Xing'er looked at each other, then finally turned their gazes to Chai Yue.
Seeing this, Chai Yue chuckled and walked over, taking the needle from Fang Er's hand. "My dear husband, let Yue'er do it for them. It's not difficult anyway."
Uh. Alright.
Fang Er nodded, then thought of something. "You four, let two people not get inoculated for now. Otherwise, if you all fall ill, there will be no one to take care of you."
"I'll go to the shipyard to take a look."
With that, he went out, rode the big motorcycle, and headed straight for the shipyard.
Still a hundred meters from the shipyard, Li Shun, who heard the motorcycle, put down his work and came to wait outside the shipyard.
Parking the vehicle at the shipyard entrance, he asked Li Shun, "How is the Wuya warship?"
Li Shun bowed to Fang Er and said, "Reporting to Marquis, the hull has been built and tested in water. We are now hoisting the cannons."
After speaking, he led Fang Er into the shipyard.
The first thing Fang Er saw upon entering the shipyard was the massive hull docked inside.
A fifty-meter-long hull would be considered a small boat in later generations.
But in this era, it was undoubtedly a giant.
Craftsmen were busy at work. A cannon was being lifted by pulleys and, under the operation of the craftsmen, was being moved onto the deck.
Li Shun pointed to the ladder leaning against the ship, "Marquis, you can board the deck from there."
Fang Er nodded, walked over, and climbed the ladder to the deck.
At this time, several cannons had already been installed on the ship, both on the left and right sides.
These were manufactured by Zhao Gang and his team according to the blueprints Fang Er had provided.
The prototype was a Krupp 75mm mountain gun.
Fang Er had extended the barrel to one point five meters. The one-meter square base was secured to the pre-reserved gun positions with steel bolts.
The gun positions were connected to the keel, which could effectively absorb the recoil from the cannons.
The entire large ship had a total of 24 gun positions on the deck, 11 on each side, and 2 at the bow.
The steam engine room was placed at the stern, with a large propeller hanging at the back.
A huge ramming prow had also been added to the bow for close combat.
Looking at the Wuya warship before him, Fang Er nodded with satisfaction.
Li Shun said from the side, "Marquis, as per tradition, such a large ship requires a name."
Fang Er asked in surprise, "There's such a custom?"
Li Shun nodded.
Uh!
Naming things is something I'm really not good at!
After thinking for a long time, Fang Er said, "Since that's the case, let the three large ships be named Dingyuan, Zhenyuan, and Zhiyuan respectively!" kanδん
Recalling the three ironclad warships sunk by the Japanese army in the First Sino-Japanese War, Fang Er decided on these three names.
"Let these three names wash away their shame in this era!"
Li Shun naturally did not understand the deeper meaning but had no right to comment. He nodded and made a note.
The thousand-jin cannons were being hoisted smoothly with the help of pulley systems, one after another being installed in their designated positions.
Thinking of the three large ships, carrying countless Tang soldiers on an expedition to a certain "pleasant" place, Fang Er's blood began to boil.
After a subsequent tour of various parts of the ship, Fang Er departed.
As he left, he instructed Li Shun to notify him for the official launch after all the large ships were completed.
Fang Er then rode his motorcycle to the imperial palace.
Fang Er could not handle mining, silver extraction, or refining, so he had previously sent word of his needs.
Outside the Chengtian Gate, two imperial guards were chatting when they saw the motorcycle. One of them opened the palace gate, and the other came to greet Fang Er.
"This humble one pays his respects to the Marquis of Liaodong!"
This was the benefactor who generously paid with money. Each visit yielded more than his ten days' salary.
Moreover, he was a favored official in the Emperor's eyes. It would be foolish not to curry favor.
Indeed, Fang Er stopped his vehicle, placing one hand on the handlebars, and the other hand took out a piece of silver and tossed it over.
"Take good care of the vehicle."
The imperial guard happily accepted the silver and came to take the motorcycle.
"Marquis, please rest assured. This humble one will definitely take good care of the vehicle."
Fang Er's expression turned dark!
What was he saying!
The imperial guard suddenly realized his words were a bit inappropriate and quickly explained.
"Heh heh, Marquis, please don't be offended. This humble one's tongue is clumsy. What I meant was, please go into the palace, and leave the vehicle to this humble one."
Fang Er smiled and pointed at him, "If there's a next time, be careful, or this Marquis will whip you!"
With that, he walked towards the palace gate.
The imperial guard was still shouting from behind, "Marquis, rest assured, there definitely won't be a next time."