Volume 1: The Rise of Elanhill Chapter 0087 Trade Road
"Sir, do you think this trip is worth it?" Standing on the tattered deck, a sailor squinted his eyes under the scorching sun, stood next to a shirtless man, and complained weakly.
"It's not worth it. This is our mission, so we have to complete it." The shirtless man grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth.
The ship under their feet was originally a sailing warship made by the Alante Empire, equipped with two large crossbows, and had a very good speed. After it was built, it served in the coastal forces of the Alante Empire Navy, responsible for patrolling and vigilance.
Later, due to disrepair, the two crossbows on it were damaged, and the ship lost its combat capability. In addition, due to the aging of the hull, the speed also decreased a lot, so it was left to the Ferry City in the north and became the "battleship" of the Ferry City Navy.
Later, because the navy of Ferry City did not have any decent combat missions, and the ship had a decent speed, it was often sent out as a fishing boat to catch some marine life - it became the flagship of the Ferry Navy and also an armed fishing boat.
What is even more sad is that Ailan Hill invaded the ferry and developed it into a large port. Now it can produce more advanced fishing boats and have trade products such as sea salt, so the navy's several broken ships have become idle.
Because there was no need to prepare for any naval battle in a short period of time, and there were 20 backward but still powerful artillery pieces on the turret outside the port to provide cover, the demand for naval warships became very low. Therefore, a reality that made the naval officers and soldiers laugh and cry was placed before them: they became the most useless people.
At the current Ailan Hill Ferry City, the new fishing boats are faster than the navy's shabby warships. During the most painful days, the navy docked at the port had to watch more than a dozen new fishing boats leave the port every day during drills. It was a very sour feeling.
Finally, with the crazy idea of recycling waste, Navy Commander-in-Chief Lawrs personally led three old naval warships out to sea, heading south to look for rubber, a resource that Ireland Hill urgently needed.
They were gone for two months, even losing a warship on the way, but finally found rubber on an island in the south. The Dosen Empire defenders on the island were very generous when they saw the gold coins and flags that Lawrence brought with him, and sold three ships of rubber to Lawrence.
Although a ship sank on the way, they still brought back two full ships of natural rubber. Even from the loss and the gold coins spent, the natural rubber obtained this time was definitely a sky-high price, but Lawrence still felt that they had accomplished an amazing feat.
After all, they had to avoid the interception of the Alante Empire's navy, overcome bad weather and unfavorable sea conditions. It was a great thing that they could return to the ferry alive.
"Look! Starboard! The royal flag of Elanhill!" A sailor leaned on the broken railing on the side of the ship and pointed at the sea in the distance and shouted loudly. His words attracted the attention of many sailors, and everyone leaned on this side of the ship and looked in the direction of his finger.
There, on a huge sailboat pulling a fishing net, the black golden eagle flag was fluttering in the sea breeze. It might be a new boat of a completely new design, because it was obviously larger than the older generation of fishing boats.
"Raise the signal flag and greet our compatriots!" Lawrence held the steering wheel with one hand, a relieved smile on his face. They had gone through so many hardships along the way, and today they finally saw their compatriots.
A red flag and a blue flag were raised together. Because they had been drifting on the sea for too long, the two triangular flags were a little dirty and a little worn. But they were still raised to the top of the flagpole and fluttered in the wind.
Soon, two flags were raised on the opposite ship, with a blue flag on top and a yellow flag on the bottom. Just like the red and blue flags represent friendship, the blue and yellow flags represent welcome.
The officers and men of the navy cheered ecstatically, and faint cheers came from another old warship behind them. Five hours later, the two old warships of Ailan Hill finally saw the artillery position of Ferry City and the gun positions covered by canvas.
"Finally, I'm home!" After turning the steering wheel to adjust his course, Lawrence let out a long sigh and happily hummed a war song on the sea:
“This is a nice sailing boat made of wood.
As light as a seagull cutting through the waves.
Hoist the sails! My sailboat!
What a pleasure it is to be a sailor on this ship!
Fight against the strong wind and the rough waves.
Hoist the sails, wooden boat.
If you move forward courageously, there will be no obstacles.
Then we’ll just keep driving.
Drive all the way to the end of the sea."
His singing voice floated on the sea, and the sailors around him hummed along . They missed their hometown so much, and missed the ferry city that they had not seen for more than two months.
All the sailors followed the tune and sang the familiar melody. They docked at the new straight pier in the harbor to the familiar melody:
“I’m leaving my lover Margot behind for a few months to go sailing.
Hoist the sails, my sailboat.
I miss home so much! I miss it so much!
The further away from the light of that bright beacon.
Fight against the strong wind and the rough waves.
Raise the sail, you old wooden boat.
On the stormy sea.
Drive all the way to the end of the sea.
Some say there are treasures everywhere.
Hoist the sails! My sailboat!
The seabed is full of gold.”
"General Lawrence! Welcome back! Did you have a smooth journey?" The officer who had been waiting at the dock held his sword as he watched the bearded Lawrence jump off the deck, then stepped forward, stood at attention and saluted.
"We lost dozens of sailors and soldiers, and a ship sank, but other than that, it was pretty smooth." Lawrence returned the salute and said, "We found the route and got a lot of rubber."
"Rubber? This is the raw material everyone is waiting for." Hearing the word rubber, the officer no longer cared about his comrades who died on the way. He immediately said, "You should come and see this. This was started before you left, but it was not on such a large scale at that time."
On the other side of the dock is a huge freight train station, where there is also a train maintenance workshop and extended rails for passing trains. There are even two cranes that can lift heavy cargo at the train station, which is simply a miniaturized container freight station.
"The fish caught by fishing boats and the goods obtained from future maritime transport and trade will all pass through here and be sent inland. His Majesty Chris said that the era of the ocean has arrived, and the navy is no longer dispensable." The officer pointed to the freight station and said to Lawrence.
"Yes, they belong to our navy. Just those two broken ships? Haha." Lawrence laughed at himself, feeling that all the changes in front of him seemed to make his only two remaining broken ships look even more shabby.
In fact, it was indeed too shabby. Their navy could only rely on boarding battles and hand-to-hand combat with the opponents, and they didn't even have a modern cannon. Although the coastal defense forces were also under the command of Lawrence's navy, he still cared more about those two sad old ships.
"Sir, it's not those two broken ships anymore!" The officer pointed to the dedicated dock at the other end and said to Lawrence, "After you left, the navy launched three brand new warships and trained a group of sailors."
"New warships?" Upon hearing this, Lawrence's eyes lit up. He pushed aside the port officer in front of him and walked quickly towards the dock. Then his sight gradually bypassed a giant cargo ship and saw three new ships with streamlined and beautiful appearances blocked by the cargo ship.
The appearance of these three new ships is much larger than the old naval warships. What is even more exciting is that each of these ships has huge sails and numerous masts, and you can tell at a glance that they are extremely fast.
"With a tailwind, they can reach an ultra-fast speed of 30 kilometers per hour." The officer following Lawrence introduced these new warships with a strong sense of pride on his face: "Brand-new hull design, 2 guns in front, 2 guns in the back, 8 guns on each side, a total of 20 75mm long-barreled breech-loading guns, with sufficient ammunition - these three ships can sink an entire fleet!"
"It's so beautiful! I really want to drive these warships out right away! This time I won't take a long detour, I won't hide from Alante's naval warships, I'll just kill my way through!" Lawrence said loudly and generously: "It will definitely be much faster than before."
"And you will be able to transport more than before." The port officer pointed to the huge cargo ship that had just blocked their view and said, "Wait two days, and two more cargo ships like this will be launched. His Majesty's order is to use all of them to transport rubber!"
"Are you still taking the gold south?" Lawrence, who was already impatient, turned around and looked at the port officer and asked, "I think we can just rob it this time."
"No, this time we will only take some gold. We will take the remaining space with porcelain, silk, soap and various products. In short, we will take whatever is popular to Dothan." The officer replied with a smile: "Then we will only take back the rubber belts."
"If they dare to raise the price again." Looking at the opened gun ports on the new warships and the dark gun muzzles sticking out of the ports, Lawrence showed an expectant expression.
"Then we can save money, right?" The port officer smiled when he heard Lawrence say that.
