He left the sewing room amidst the shocked gazes of the women.
By the time he reached the dormitory area, Li Shun was already waiting at the entrance.
"Marquis, I've brought all the shipwrights I found."
"A total of twelve men, along with their families, forty-six souls in all."
Fang Er nodded.
"Go and call them all over."
Li Shun acknowledged with a "Yes, Marquis," and then turned to fetch the men.
Before long, he returned with twelve burly men.
"Marquis, everyone is here."
The men cupped their fists towards Fang Er.
"We pay our respects to the Marquis."
Fang Er surveyed them and then asked,
"We have the complete blueprints for a Wuyadajian. Can you build it?"
Before they could answer, Li Shun slapped his chest and guaranteed,
"Marquis, there will be no problem!"
"However, with just myself and them, we don't have enough manpower."
Fang Er pointed in the direction of Fang Family Village.
"The village has over a thousand households. You can select as many people as you need."
"Materials are not an issue. From the shipyard to the launching of the ship, how long will it take?"
Li Shun did not answer directly.
Instead, he walked over to the craftsmen and discussed with them for a while before returning and saying,
"Marquis, even with sufficient manpower, it will take half a year."
Fang Er was taken aback. "So slow?"
"Why does it take so long?"
Li Shun replied helplessly,
"It's mainly the keel. This is a warship for sailing at sea. If the keel is not good, it's prone to problems when encountering storms."
"And that's just assuming we can buy one. If we can't buy a keel and have to make one ourselves, it's impossible to finish in less than a year."
Fang Er thought for a moment and said,
"Follow me."
With that, he turned and walked outside.
Li Shun followed with the twelve shipwrights.
They exited the dormitory.
Fang Er unclipped a walkie-talkie from his waist.
"Dong Three, Dong Three, this is Dong One. Respond if you hear me. Over!"
In the Fang residence, Huang Sheng, who was dozing in the gatehouse, heard Fang Er's voice from the walkie-talkie.
He quickly picked it up and replied,
"Dong One, Dong One, this is Dong Three. Please instruct. Over!"
"Dong Three, Dong Three, go to Xiao Huan and open the warehouse. Send the Wuyadajian blueprints to the carpentry workshop. Over!"
"Dong One, Dong One, Dong Three received. I'll go now. Over!"
Li Shun stared dumbfounded as Fang Er pressed a black object to his mouth and issued orders.
What was even more bizarre was that the black object could actually reply.
He stared blankly at the black object, not daring to ask, and followed Fang Er.
When they reached the carpentry workshop,
Fang Er looked at them and said,
"Build a scaled-down model ship for me to see."
"You prepare the materials first. The blueprints will be sent over later."
Li Shun nodded.
He led the shipwrights to select the lumber.
Less than an hour later, a pickup truck stopped outside the carpentry workshop.
The blueprints were quite numerous, and the pickup truck couldn't carry them all in one go, so the armored vehicle that had just returned to pick up people followed.
The Yan Yun cavalry carried the blueprints in boxes.
Li Shun and an older shipwright began to examine the blueprints.
Since it was a small sample, the dimensions on the blueprints needed to be scaled down.
But as they did so, a problem arose!
The units on the blueprints were all in *zhang*, *chi*, and *fen*!
The smallest *fen*, when converted to centimeters, was still over three centimeters.
There was no precision to speak of.
When Fang Er had previously reviewed the blueprints, he had only designed and modified a small portion of the structure, and the impact was not significant.
With his craftsmanship, he could compensate for it.
However, Li Shun and the others could not.
It wasn't the issue of the units themselves.
The carpentry workshop had been using rulers handcrafted by Fang Er since its establishment, precise to millimeters.
The problem lay in the data conversion. One could imagine the six three-foot square boxes.
The amount of work to convert all the data on the blueprints inside was enormous!
This way was not feasible. Let alone making a small model,
It would probably take ten to half a month just to calculate the data.
"Have the Yan Yun cavalry drive to the school and bring Ma Tongyuan and the others over."
"At worst, the school can take a few days off."
Half an hour later, Ma Tongyuan and Zhang Zhimin alighted from the pickup truck.
To Fang Er's surprise,
Li Chengqian and his two brothers also came along.
Seeing Fang Er's surprised expression, Ma Tongyuan explained,
"Marquis, the Crown Prince and the two princes also wished to help. I couldn't refuse them, so I brought them along."
"As for my other friends, they are in the printing workshop compiling the dictionary."
Fang Er chuckled.
Two nine-year-old children and one eight-year-old child actively volunteered to do such tedious work.
After sending Huang Sheng to the printing workshop to fetch the others,
He began to assign tasks.
Ever since Fang Er's last lecture, the students' enthusiasm for learning had increased even more.
Especially Li Tai and Li Ke.
Both of these individuals were exceptionally intelligent.
They could already proficiently use addition and subtraction.
Simple multiplication and division were also not a problem.
Now, when converting data, they simply converted the units to centimeters and then divided them proportionally.
Although the workload was considerable, it was easy.
The thirteen shipwrights, including Li Shun, had the task not only of calculating data but also of physically constructing.
Therefore, they were only assigned one box of blueprints.
Ma Tongyuan and the other seven teachers were assigned five boxes.
Li Chengqian and his three brothers were only assigned one box.
Several tables were pushed together.
Freshly printed paper from the printing workshop was used.
The carpentry workshop still had pencils made with wood fragrance.
This provided a good environment for calculation.
Twenty-four pencils scribbled and drew on paper simultaneously.
The rustling sound was incessant.
Even with the help of Ma Tongyuan and Li Chengqian, such a large amount of data could not be completed in a single day.
After asking Li Shun to have the ship model made and to notify him through Zhao Gang, Fang Er left the carpentry workshop.
He told Huang Sheng to drive straight to the Wei River.
The location of the shipyard is very important.
Logically, places like Dalian, Dandong, Yantai, and Yangzhou in later generations would be the most suitable.
However, the journey is too far.
While the transfer of artisans is not difficult, once they arrive, all equipment would need to be reinstalled.
Such a long journey would inevitably damage the equipment.
Fang Er's plan was to build the shipyard and docks directly on the banks of the Wei River.
Once the ships were built, they would sail through the Wei River at Tongguan into the Yellow River, then transfer to the Grand Canal at Luoyang.
From there, it would be easy. Upon reaching the Grand Canal, one could travel south to the Yangtze River and north to the Hai River.
He had Huang Sheng drive them along the cement road, through the city via Chunming Gate, to the banks of the Wei River north of Chang'an.
The pickup truck drove along the riverbank of the Wei River, searching for a suitable location to build the shipyard.
As for whose land was chosen, did that matter?
At worst, he could have Li Shimin handle it.