Chapter 282: The Voyage
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Running between Bowen Academy and the royal residence every day, Xiao Ming quickly ushered in another new year.
By the fifth day of the first lunar month, the administrative offices of Qingzhou had resumed normal operations.
The common people could continue enjoying the New Year festivities until the fifteenth, but Xiao Ming couldn’t afford such luxury. He always reminded himself: “Be alert even in peaceful times.”
He had spent a whole month teaching ocean navigation, especially how to determine position at sea. During that time, he also covered how to measure sailing speed.
Now that the theory lessons were complete, Xiao Ming decided it was time for Yue Yun and his crew to practice at sea.
“Your Highness, all the cannons are now loaded on the ships. Our job at the Military Workshop is finally done,” Chen Qi said with a deep breath of relief as he watched the last cannon hoisted aboard at the Xiaoqing River shipyard.
Even during the New Year, the Military Workshop had not stopped working. Craftsmen labored day and night to finish all 150 naval cannons.
From the time Xiao Ming had left for Cangzhou, it had taken three months to complete them—fifty per month on average.
Similar to the cannons used to defend the city walls, these naval guns were 32-pounders. Of the ammunition loaded, 60% were solid cannonballs, and 40% were grapeshot.
According to Xiao Ming, grapeshot was specifically designed for naval warfare—ideal for smashing into enemy ships.