Chapter 87： Trade road

"My lord, you said our trip was so hard. Is it really worth it?" Standing on the shabby deck, a sailor squinted against the scorching sun and stood beside a naked man, feeble. Complained.

"It's not worth it, this is our task, so we must complete this task." The **** man grinned, revealing his white teeth.

The ship at their feet was originally a sailing warship made by the Arrant Empire, equipped with two large ballistas, and its speed was quite good. After its completion, it will serve in the offshore unit of the Arrant Imperial Navy, responsible for patrol and security.

Later, due to disrepair for a long time, the two ballistas on it were damaged, and the ship lost its ability to fight. In addition, because of the aging hull, the speed was also reduced a lot, so it was thrown to Ferry City in the north. It became the "battleship" of the Ferry City Navy.

Later, because the navy of Ferry City didn't have any decent combat missions, and the speed of this ship was good, it was often sent out as a fishing boat to catch some sea things. It became the flagship of the ferry navy and also became an armed ship. Fishing boat.

What is even more sad is that Ailan Hill broke into the ferry and developed it into a large port. Nowadays, more advanced fishing boats can be produced here, and there are trade products such as sea salt, so the navy's several broken ships have become idle.

Because there is no need to prepare for naval battles in a short time, there are 20 guns on the turrets outside the port that are still powerful although they are behind, so the demand for naval warships has become very low and low, so it is a thing that makes the navy soldiers laugh and cry. The reality is before them: they have become the most useless people.

In the current Ailan Hill Ferry City, the new fishing boats are faster than the navy's broken warships. During the most painful days, the navy docked in the harbor watched more than a dozen new-style fishing boats leave the harbor every day when they went out for exercise. It was so sour and refreshing.

Finally, in line with the crazy idea of ​​waste utilization, the Navy Commander-in-Chief Lawnes personally led three old naval warships to sea, and went south to find the resource rubber that Ailan Hill desperately needed.

They walked for two months, and even lost a battleship halfway, and finally found the rubber island on the south island. The defenders of the Dothan Empire saw the gold coins carried by Lawnes and the flag hanging. After that, he was very generous and sold three ships of rubber to Lawnes.

Although a boat sank halfway, they still brought back two whole boats of natural rubber. Even in terms of the gold coins lost and spent, the natural rubber that they got this time was definitely a sky-high price, but Lawnes still felt that they had accomplished an amazing feat.

After all, it is necessary to avoid the Arrant Empire’s naval interception on this road, and to overcome the bad weather and unfavorable sea conditions. It is already a very great thing that they can return to the ferry alive.

"Look! Starboard! The king flag of Ellenhill!" A sailor lay on the broken railing on the side of the ship, pointing to the sea in the distance and shouting loudly. His words aroused the idea of ​​many sailors, and everyone was lying on the side where they were wearing, looking in the direction of his fingers.

There, on a huge sailing boat pulling a fishing net, the black golden eagle king flag is waving along the sea breeze. It may be a new boat with a brand new design, because it is significantly larger than the old fishing boats.

"Raise the signal flag and greet my compatriots!" Lawnes leaned on the steering wheel with one hand, and his face was filled with unburdened smile. There were many dangers along the way, and today they finally saw their compatriots.

A red flag and a blue flag were raised together. Because of the long drifting at sea, the two triangular flags were a bit dirty and a bit worn. But they were still raised to the top of the flagpole, hunting and fluttering in the wind.

Soon, two flags were raised on the opposite ship. The blue flag was on the top and the yellow flag was on the bottom. Just like the red and blue semaphore for friendship, the blue and yellow semaphore represents welcome.

The officers and soldiers of the navy uttered selfless cheers, and a faint cheer came from another old warship behind them. Five hours later, the two old battleships of Ailan Hill finally saw the fort of Ferry City, and the gun stand covered by canvas.

"Finally, I'm home!" Turning the steering wheel to adjust his course, Lawnes let out a sigh of relief, humming a battle song on the sea happily:

"This good sailboat made of wood,

Light as a seagull cutting the waves.

Raise the sail! My sailing boat!

What a pleasure to be a sailor on this boat!

Fight the squalls, fight the evil waves.

Raise the sail, the wooden boat.

If you go forward unstoppable,

Then we keep driving,

Drive until the end of the sea. "

His singing was floating on the sea, and the sailors around him also hummed. They missed their hometown so much and missed the Ferry City that they hadn't seen for more than two months.

All the sailors followed the tune and sang a familiar melody. In the familiar melody they leaned on the new straight pier in the harbor:

"I want to leave my lover Margot for a few months on a voyage.

Raise the sail, my sailboat

I really miss home! Feeling panicked!

The farther away from the light on the bright beacon.

Fighting the squalls, fighting the evil waves

Sail Luo, you broken wooden ship.

On the stormy sea,

Drive all the way to the end of the sea.

Some people say there are treasures everywhere.

Raise the sail! My sailing boat!

There is gold everywhere on the bottom of the sea. "

"General Lawnes! Welcome back! Is the journey going well?" The officer who had been waiting on the dock pressed his sword and watched Lawnes, who had a stubble face, jumped off the ship board, and stepped forward and saluted.

"We lost dozens of sailors and soldiers, and one ship sank. Other than that, it went smoothly." Lawnes returned a military salute and said, "We found the route and got a lot of rubber. "

"Rubber? This is the raw material that everyone is waiting for." Hearing the word rubber, the officer no longer cared about the comrades who sacrificed on the way. He immediately said: "You should come and take a look at this. This was built before you left, but it was not yet on such a large scale."

On the other side of the wharf, there is a huge freight train station, where there is also a train repair shop, and extended rails for the wrong train. At the train station, there are even two cranes that can lift heavy goods, which is simply a miniaturized container freight station.

"Marine fish caught by fishing boats, as well as goods from future maritime transportation and trade, will pass through here and be sent to the inland. His Majesty Chris said that the era of the sea has come, and the navy is no longer a thing. Nothing." The officer pointed to the cargo terminal and said to Lawnes.

"Yes, it belongs to our navy. Just those two broken ships? Haha." Lawnes laughed at himself, feeling that all the changes in front of him seemed to make his only two broken ships look even more shabby. Up.

In fact, it is really too shabby. Their navy can only rely on side-to-side battles to fight against their opponents. They don’t even have a modern artillery. Although the coastal defense forces are also placed under the navy command of Lawnes, he still cares more about those two. A bitterly broken ship.

"My lord, it's not the two broken ships anymore!" The officer pointed to the dedicated dock at the other end of the distance, and said to Lawnes: "After you left, the Navy launched three brand new warships and trained one. Ship sailors."

"New battleship?" Hearing that Lawnes's eyes lit up, he pushed aside the port officer in front of him, walked quickly towards the pier, and then gradually turned away from a giant cargo ship. , I saw three new ships with beautiful and streamlined shapes hidden by the cargo ships.

The appearance of these three new ships is much larger than that of the old naval warship ships. What is even more exciting is that each of these ships has huge sails and numerous masts, and you can see the extreme speed at a glance. fast.

"You can run at a super fast speed of 30 kilometers per hour in a tailwind." The officer following Lawnes introduced these new warships, with a strong sense of pride on his face: "New hull design , The first 2 doors and the second doors, 8 on each side of the ship, a total of 20 75mm long-barreled breech guns, with sufficient ammunition, these three ships can sink a fleet!"

"It's so beautiful! I really want to drive these battleships out right away! This time I won't take a long route, and I won't avoid the naval battleships of Arrant, just kill it all the way!" Lawnes said boldly and loudly, "I definitely can. Much faster than before."

"And you will ship more than before." The port officer pointed to the huge cargo ship that blocked their sight just now and said: "Waiting for two days, two more such cargo ships are launched. Your Majesty. The order is that all are used to transport rubber!"

"Bring the gold to the south?" Lawnes, who was already a little impatient, looked back at the port officer and asked: "I think we can just grab it this time."

"No, this time we only bring part of the gold. For the rest of the space, we have to bring porcelain, silk, soap and various products. In short, we will go to Dothan with whatever is popular." The officer smiled. He replied: "Then, we only take the rubber back."

"If they dare to sit down and raise the price." Looking at the opened gun windows on the new warships, and the dark artillery muzzles protruding from the gun windows, Lawnes showed an expression of expectation.

"Then we can save money, don't we?" Hearing Lawnes say so, the port officer also smiled.