By the middle of the year, the monthly gross income of Yang Shaowen's boat reached nearly 70 yuan, and the monthly gross income of Yang Yuhua's boat also reached more than 30 yuan. Yang Shaowen estimated that the potential of each ship has been exhausted. When the ship's daily schedule is certain, it is difficult to significantly improve the performance. The potential is exhausted, which means that the business model of Yang Shaowen's experiment has been finalized and mature, and he needs to focus on expanding the scale of the fleet. He went to Baoshan Wood Workshop in the county seat to check the progress of the ship. The manufacturing of several ships has basically been completed, and Yang Shaowen has prepared the operating funds for the fleet. As long as he recruits enough manpower, it will be put into operation immediately. During this period, Yang Shaowen considered that the business was quite optimistic and made some adjustments to the orders of Baoshan Wood Workshop. In terms of number, five more ships have been added, and the size of the ships has also increased a lot. When fully loaded, a strong boatman is needed to hold them up. Because the ship type has changed, it needs to be redesigned, which has delayed the construction period a lot. Otherwise, with the capabilities of Baoshan Carpentry Workshop, an order for a dozen ships would not take several months to complete. Baoshan Carpentry Workshop has a small manpower. There are only about a dozen carpenters, each with one or two apprentices. Among the wood workshops and iron workshops in the entire county, it is not the largest. However, although there are not many people, the dozen or so masters are all middle-aged people in their forties, with superb skills and rich experience. It is precisely because of these valuable masters that Baoshanfang's turnover is the highest among all ironwood workshops in the county. Otherwise, the old owner of Baoshan Woodworking Workshop would not be able to take the position of president of Wujin County Ironwood Guild. The candidate for the guild president needs to be a highly respected person, and he also needs to be the leader in his business among his peers, otherwise it will be difficult to convince the public. Because he has to constantly supervise the progress of shipbuilding, Yang Shaowen has been to Baoshan Wood Workshop several times. The person who received him was Yuan Huiqing's younger brother Yuan Yicheng, who is currently in charge of Baoshanfang. Yuan Yicheng was nearly thirty years old, not good at words, and a man obsessed with craftsmanship. Yang Shaowen could often see him hanging out with the masters in the workshop to study craftsmanship. In Yang Shaowen's view, he is more like a company's chief engineer than a factory director. However, this aspect is quite similar to Yang Shaowen. In modern times, Yang Shaowen is also a technology geek in his late thirties, the same type of person as Yuan Yicheng. Birds of a feather flock together. Since they are all the same kind of people, it is easy to chat together. Yuan Yicheng often asked people to bring some translated Western engineering books from Shanghai, especially on machinery. The main business of their carpentry workshop is to make hand tools for workshops in the county. Under the influence of the west wind spreading eastward, Yuan Yicheng felt more and more that it would be increasingly difficult for pure wooden machines to achieve anything in the future, and they must take the road of combining iron and wood. It becomes very necessary to study machinery, especially Western mechanical knowledge. However, it is quite difficult for Yuan Yicheng to read some of the Western books that have been translated. These translated books are all the results of the Westernization Movement. It's just that in the entire Manchu Qing Dynasty, there are very few people who understand Western languages. People who understand Western languages ??and have a certain engineering background cherish animals even more. Therefore, the quality of these translated engineering books is inevitably uneven. Yuan Yicheng often looked at the clouds and fog, feeling dizzy and confused but unable to grasp the point. Fortunately, with the help of Yang Shaowen, all this has become much easier. Yang Shaowen understands English and has an engineering mindset. Although he is not a mechanical major, these are not big problems. Many of the terms in these translated mechanical books are simple transliterations of foreign languages. Yang Shaowen converted them into English, and he could roughly understand what they meant. This will be of great help to Yuan Yicheng. These books are expensive, and if it weren't for Yang Shaowen's help, they would really be a waste. Yang Shaowen himself also gained something. He deeply felt that the textile tools in the hands of the villagers were backward, and he was very willing to improve the textile tools. Although these Western mechanical books are simple, they very well supplemented his lack of basic knowledge in mechanical majors. This will be of great benefit to him in developing textile machinery in the future. Because of this relationship, Yang Shaowen and Yuan Yicheng have a close friendship. Even if Yang Shaowen increased the size of the ship, Yuan Yicheng still sold the ship at the original price. This is not because of his "cheap mother-in-law" Yuan Huiqing's face, but because of his friendship with Yang Shaowen. It was already noon when he came out of Baoshan Carpentry Workshop, and it was approaching meal time. Yang Shaowen chose a well-decorated restaurant at the east gate of the county for dinner. Before, Yang Shaowen could only buy a few sesame seed cakes for one meal. But now, with so little money in my pocket, there is no need to be so frugal. He comes from a modern society with extremely abundant materials, and has always had a very relaxed standard for food and clothing. Since making money from business, Yang Shaowen's family's living expenses have been quite "extravagant". Even the families of ordinary landlords cannot have as much food and fish as him. Restaurants and teahouses are well-informed places. Especially in a place like Wujin County where waterways converge, all kinds of rumors, court secrets, grievances and grievances between big houses, or business news from the north to the south can all be found in the mouths of business travelers and diners traveling from south to north. Yang ShaowenyeAs a trader, it is necessary for him to listen to more news. "Hey, I can't believe it, I can't believe it. Our great Qing Dynasty can't even defeat a Japanese Japanese." "It's shameful, it's really shameful! The land route was defeated, the navy was completely destroyed, and it was a complete defeat!" As soon as he entered the restaurant, Yang Shao Wen heard the heated discussion and excitement inside. After thinking about it for a moment, he realized that they were talking about the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894 between the Manchus and the Japanese invaders. During this period of time, he was focused on collecting homespun cloth in the countryside, and had forgotten about this "important national event". Come to think of it, news of the defeat in the Sino-Japanese War also reached small counties like Wujin. Most of the diners in the restaurant are businessmen from other places, and these are the people who talk the most. "After the Qing government put down the Taiping and bandit rebellion, it thought it was slowly recovering. Now, North Korea is lost, Liaodong is lost, and the navy is gone. Who would have thought? Even when fighting Westerners, they were not defeated like this. "It's miserable." "I think this Qing Dynasty is really about to die. It can't beat the Westerners, but it even bullies the Japanese." Seeing the diners here getting more and more disobedient, the waiter of the restaurant quickly stopped him, he pointed out. Pointing to the wooden sign in the hall: "Dear guests, don't talk about state affairs, don't talk about state affairs!" "Having said that, although the diners still cursed at the defeat of the Sino-Japanese War, they still restrained their remarks about the Qing government's excessive rebellion. Obviously, although the Qing court lost its prestige externally, it still had some deterrent effect on the common people internally. Everyone started to sigh more and more. "Have you heard? The treaty signed between Li Zhongtang and the Japanese requires compensation of twenty million taels of silver!" Number of. "Hey, these compensations must not fall on ordinary people like us in the end!" "It's all because of the useless soldiers. Especially the Beiyang Navy, which spent so much money to build it, and they still boast about it. Why is Yadong number one, but it turns out to be a bunch of silver gun wax pole heads, all useless trash!" "Bang!" There was a loud noise. In a remote corner to the east, a man with a full beard and disheveled hair shook the cup in his hand, stood up suddenly, and shouted angrily at the diner who had just spoken: "Who do you think is a waste, and who is a silver gun wax head? " "Why are you so excited!" The diner felt a little guilty when he saw his fierce look: "I'm talking about those losers in the Navy. They won the battle and they are not allowed to curse?" "Damn it? ! I am from the Beiyang Navy. Do you have the guts to curse me a few more times? "