Chapter 393 New Ship Sewage

The temporary shipyard by the Chishui River was full of people.

Everyone knows that a strange kind of ship is being built in this wooden shed. Its shell is like a huge bathtub, made of gray cement-and once that kind of thing solidifies, it is no different from a stone. Except for a splash in the water, not even a shadow can be seen.

The craftsmen who came to work here gave it an appropriate name: bathtub boat.

Today is the day the first two prototypes are launched.

The onlookers were roughly divided into two categories. One was the residents who had just joined Border Town. They were quite curious about the news, or they couldn't believe it. fishermen and sailors. The other category is the local residents. They have long been accustomed to the miracles created by His Highness, and they have heard about the previous "Small Town". They gathered here despite the light snow, just to meet the prince they admire. Your Highness.

Kakusim is the former.

When His Highness posted this news and the new recruitment order on the bulletin board in the square, he said that he would come here to have a look no matter what. Vader had no choice but to ask for a leave of absence from Lord Carter to accompany him - he was not familiar with the place here, and with the heavy snow, he was really worried that the other party would go to the place where the crowds gathered alone. If Shen was pushed and fell, it would be an irreparable injury to the old man.

"You underestimate me, kid." The old man waved his hand, signaling that he doesn't have to follow him. "I have also experienced big winds and waves. Although I am old, my body is not much worse than you."

"Yes, yes," Vader said disapprovingly, "Anyway, I've already asked for leave, and it's too late for you to say anything. I just don't quite understand why you have to watch this thing go into the water? Isn't it just a boat?"

"But you said it was made of gray stone," Kakusim shook his head, "A stone the size of a bathtub can float on water these days?"

I blame myself for talking too much, Vader thought to himself, and when we were chatting with him, I somehow ended up talking about the announcement in the square, "Maybe His Highness is just exaggerating, a wooden boat is probably made of some kind of cement, right? "

"That's even more impossible," the old man insisted. "Think about it, when was this wooden shed built?"

"It seems to be... more than a month ago."

"That's right, before you were recruited as a policeman, when we moved into the inner city of the town, there was still a vacant lot!" His beard trembled, "It took a month to build the shed, doesn't it mean that Your Highness It only took half a month to build the first ship?"

"Uh, what's wrong?" Vader asked puzzled.

"Of course not!" Kakusim yelled, "In the name of the god of the sea! I have never seen a ship that can be built in only half a month, and it has nothing to do with size—as long as it is a sailing ship, just processing Ribs will take more than a month, and it needs to wait until the wood is completely air-dried before bending with steam. This process is extremely troublesome and cannot be completed in a short period of time.”

Vader asked in surprise, "Why are you... so familiar with shipbuilding?"

"I used to be a captain, my child," the old man spit out, "When I was young, I used to carry a large amount of cargo through Seawind County and Port of Clearwater, and also visited the Kingdom of Dawn and the Fjord Islands. Later Because of some things... it came to this point."

"You've never told me this before." His eyes widened.

"You never asked, kid." Kakusim shrugged.

"Okay," Vader shifted his gaze to the shipyard, "so what you are really curious about is the technology that His Highness can build a sailboat in half a month."

"There is no captain who would not be curious," he stroked his beard. "If His Highness is not lying, do you know what it means? In just a year or two, he can make all the rivers in Graycastle run on his ship." fleet."

Vader's heart moved, "Are you planning to..."

The old man smiled, "I can't keep eating your porridge for free."

"Of course your highness won't lie," someone beside him said suddenly, "and that's not a sailboat."

Vader turned his head, and the speaker was a young man with an accent that sounded like a local resident of the West Territory, "Isn't it a sailboat?"

"That's right, it can sail without sails, and it's faster than any sailboat." The other party said proudly, "Have you ever seen a steam engine with white mist in a mine? It can easily drag a basket of ore The kind that goes out of the mine, these cement boats are powered by it, according to His Highness, they are all steam boats!"

"Can you sail without sails?" Kakusim questioned, "Boy, what are you talking about? If a ship has no sails, it can only be rowed by oars. This speed cannot be compared to other ships. Sailing boats. Besides, they haven't launched yet, and you haven't even seen them, so how do you know they can move?"

"Of course I've seen it before," the young man grinned. "You are new foreigners. It's normal if you don't know. In the summer, I once rebuilt a steamboat for a caravan across the strait. But that The boats are still made of wood, not as durable as these stone boats."

Vader wanted to say something, but the other party's eyes suddenly lit up, pointing to the direction of the shipyard, "Look there, His Royal Highness is out!"

There was a cheer from the crowd, and all raised their hands in salute to their lord.

Prince Roland boarded the temporary wooden platform next to the shipyard, said a few words of congratulations, and then announced the launch of the new ship.

Amid the melodious slogans, the workers dismantled the side of the wooden shed facing the Chishui River, and a 40-meter-long gray boat slid down the embankment along the snow and plunged into the icy water.

Vader raised his heart. He almost thought that this thing would sink directly to the bottom of the water, but he didn't expect that after the rest of the thing entered the water, the bow of the boat tilted up again, and a big bunch of water splashed up.

The crowd burst into enthusiastic applause again.

"My God, it really floated," Kakusim was stunned for a moment, "But, is it really made of stone?"

Vader also had the same question—the surface of the tub boat looked too smooth, like a finely polished granite slab, but there were no traces of patchwork all over it, and the entire hull was one piece. The undecked cabin was too shallow for sleeping, and the bottom was too flat to hold a mast, and it was, as they say, a bathtub.

But no matter what, His Highness did build the boat in half a month.

He looked at Kakusim, and found that the other party's eyes were shining with enthusiasm.

"I want to apply for the position of captain," said the old man.

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