Chapter 3 Chapter Three The Increasing Size and Diversification of Boats and Vessels

After entering the slave society, the development of production and the evolution of classes required that the newly born wooden boats rapidly develop into large-scale ships with stability and large loading area.The monohull ship could not meet the needs for a while, so the "Fang" came into being. "Fang" is a single boat that combines two ships into one. In ancient times, it was also called "fang", "Fang", "Ark", "square boat" or "Fang boat". The boats connected together are called "Lianfang".The advantage of the boat is to increase the width of the ship, improve the stability and loading capacity of the ship.

The exact record of Fang is in the slave society, but its actual production time must be much earlier than the slave society. The boat is made according to the principle of the raft.The raft has the advantages of good stability and large loading area.When two boats join together, they become one larger boat. "Fang, and a boat." (Xu Shen's "Shuowen Jiezi").The boat is already there, how can it be merged?That is, how to connect the two ships together?At first, the sides of the two ships were connected with leather thongs, vines, ropes, etc.Jin Guopu's annotation "Erya · Shishui" contains "compared with boats on water, and adding boards on top", which is a further connection method.Adding boards is not simply placing a wooden board on two boats. This is not a boat, but a non-navigable pontoon bridge built with boats.Fang is the combination of two ships. "Adding boards on top" is to use hard materials such as wooden boards to connect rods or beams to span the two ships, and then firmly fix them to form a whole with the two ships.The method of fixing was at first tied, and later evolved into nailing together with wooden nails and bamboo nails (iron nails after the Spring and Autumn Period). A certain distance was also kept between the two ships, instead of the side of the ship being close to the side of the ship. Together.Boats connected by "adding boards on top" have appeared in the slave society.Later, ships consisting of two hulls appeared.

Compared with monohulls, boats have many advantages.Since the boat has two hulls, after connecting the two ships with "adding boards", a "bridge" appeared in the middle of the two ships.The overall width of the boat has increased a lot compared to the original monohull.The wider the hull, the better the stability of the boat.The displacement of the boat is also increased compared to the monohull.The boat can carry heavy objects that cannot be carried by the original monohull, and it is also convenient to stack cargo and carry people on the widened deck.If necessary, the boat can also be decomposed into a monohull to adapt to narrow rivers or increase driving speed.It can be said that Fang is the ancestor of modern catamaran passenger and cargo ships.

The appearance of the boat is an innovation in the shipbuilding industry.Because of its stable driving and large loading area, it is conducive to the development of productivity.And because luxurious houses can also be built on it, the boat is often used as a special boat for the nobles when they travel.How many monohulls are connected as boats has also become a symbol for slave owners and nobles to show off their status.When King Wen of Zhou got married, he "welcome Wei in person, built a boat for Liang, and showed his glory" ().It illustrates the luxurious pomp of King Wen of Zhou.Not only did he go to the Weishui River to greet his relatives, but he also connected many boats to form a bridge on the Weishui River to show his majesty.In order to ensure the interests of Zhou Tianzi and the vassal states, the Zhou Dynasty had extremely strict hierarchy.There are also strict grade regulations for the enjoyment of boats. "The Son of Heaven builds a boat, the princes defend the boat, the doctor's ark, the Shite boat, and the common people ride on the twig" (Guo Pu's annotation "Erya · Shishui") The emperor travels by "building a boat", which is made up of multiple boats side by side; The "weizhou" of the princes is formed by four parallel boats; the "ark" is formed by the doctor's two parallel boats; The bamboo raft is gone.And what about the shipbuilders?They are only forced to do hard labor such as paddling and pulling.Later boats became an important means of water transportation in the Qin and Han Dynasties, and were often used in the Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Due to the development of the shipbuilding industry and the prosperity of shipping, King Wu of Zhou also specially appointed officials who specialize in the management of boats, called "Zhou Mu" or "Cang Si" (sisi), and established a boat inspection system. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, great powers competed for hegemony, and wars were frequent. In order to gather troops, transport rations, goods, and carry out diplomatic and trade activities to distant places, the shipbuilding and navigation industries developed rapidly.The Wu and Yue countries on the southeast coast both set up "ship palaces" as shipbuilding workshops.The types of ships have increased, and the number has increased.Merchant ships and warships have been separated.Warships are developed from civilian ships, but warships must have both defensive and offensive capabilities. The structure, performance, and equipment of ships are more demanding than civilian ships.Therefore, the level of warships indicates the level of shipbuilding capabilities, economic strength and overall production technology of each vassal state.There are also different types of warships, each performing its own duties.Such as big wing, middle wing, small wing, sudden rise, building boat, bridge boat, Ge boat and other different types.Among them, the large, medium and small three wings are the main warships in the Wu Guoshui Army.According to literature records: "The big wings are ten feet long and one foot five feet two inches wide. A boat can carry twenty-six soldiers, fifty oarsmen, three sailors, and twelve spearmen and spearmen. People, two commanders, a total of ninety-three people. The ship carried thirty-two crossbows, three thousand three hundred arrows, and thirty-two pairs of helmets and armor. The middle wings were nine feet six feet long and one foot three feet five wide. inch. The winglets are nine feet long and one foot two feet wide.” Oarsmen account for more than half of the total number of people on board.When fighting, the oars are fast and the boat can advance and retreat freely. It is a fast attack warship.Because it travels as fast as flying wings, this kind of warship is called "wing".According to the book of war, the big wing can carry 93 people, and its carrying capacity is about 200 stones (according to two stones per person). "艅艎" means "Yuhuang", which is a large warship on which princes and princes ride.It can be used as a command flagship in wartime.The pattern painted on the prow of Yuhuang ship has excellent sailing performance.With these warships, Wu defeated Chu and Yue in Hanshui and Taihu Lake successively.Later, when King Goujian of Yue tried his best to destroy Wu, the number of warships of Yue State also grew to as many as 300.

From the bronze wares of the Warring States period, we can also understand the level of the shipbuilding industry at that time. Unearthed in 1935 from the Warring States Tomb in Shanbiao Town, Jixian County, Henan Province, the "Bronze Mirror with Land and Water Attack Patterns" has two warships attacking each other in the pattern.The warship on the bronze mirror has only one deck, which is divided into upper and lower floors.The paddlers in the lower ranks paddle vigorously, while the soldiers in the upper ranks beat drums and shoot arrows, which shows the situation of water warfare.

---

Notes: