Eighty-Seven Trade Routes

"Sir, you said that our trip is so hard, is it really worth it?" Standing on the tattered deck, a sailor squinted against the scorching sun, and stood beside a shirtless man, powerless. complained.

"It's not worth it, this is our mission, so we have to complete this mission." The shirtless man grinned, revealing a mouth of white teeth.

The ship under their feet was originally a sailing battleship made by the Arlantean Empire. It was equipped with two large ballistas, and the speed was quite good. After completion, it served in the coastal troops of the Arrant Imperial Navy, responsible for patrolling and vigilance.

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

Later, because the navy of Ferry City did not have any decent combat missions, and the speed of this ship was acceptable, it was often sent out as a fishing boat to catch some sea objects - it became the flagship of the Ferry City Navy, and it also became a ship. armed fishing boat.

Even more sad, Ireland Hill took the ferry and developed it into a large port. Now more advanced fishing boats can be produced here, and there are trade products such as sea salt, so the few broken ships of the navy have become idle.

Because there is no need to prepare for any naval battle in a short period of time, there are 20 artillery pieces that are backward but still powerful on the fort outside the port as cover, so the naval demand for warships has become very low. The reality is in front of them: they become the most useless people.

In the current Ailan Hill Ferry City, the new fishing boats are faster than the tattered warships of the Navy. In the most painful days, the navies docked in the port watched a dozen new-style fishing boats leave the port every day when they went out for exercise. The taste was really sour and refreshing.

Finally, with the crazy idea of ​​​​using waste, the commander-in-chief of the Navy, Lawens, personally led three old naval warships to the sea and went south to find the resource rubber that Alan Hill was in short supply.

They have been walking for two months, and even lost a battleship halfway, and finally found the rubber on the island to the south - the Dothan Empire defenders on the island saw the gold coins that Laurens was carrying and hanging. The flag was very generous afterwards, selling three whole boats of rubber to Laurens.

Although a ship sank on the way, they still brought back two whole ships of natural rubber. Even in terms of the gold coins lost and spent, the natural rubber they got this time was absolutely sky-high, but Laurens still felt that they had accomplished an amazing feat.

After all, he had to avoid the naval interception of the Arlantean Empire along the way, and he had to overcome bad weather and unfavorable sea conditions. It was a very great thing for them to be able to return to the ferry alive.

"Look! Starboard! The king's flag of Ailan Hill!" A sailor was lying on the broken railing on the side of the ship, pointing to the sea in the distance and shouting loudly. His words aroused the ideas of many sailors, and everyone lay on the side of the wear and looked in the direction of his fingers.

There, on a huge sailboat pulling a fishing net, the black golden eagle king flag is fluttering along the sea breeze. It was probably a new boat with a completely new design, as it was significantly larger than the older generation of fishing boats.

"Raise the signal flag and greet your compatriots!" Laurens held the steering wheel with one hand, with a smile of unpacking on his face. This journey has been difficult and dangerous, and today they finally saw their compatriots.

A red flag was hoisted with a blue flag, both triangular flags a little dirty and shabby because they had been at sea for too long. However, they were still raised to the top of the flagpole and fluttered in the wind.

Soon, two flags were raised on the opposite ship, the blue flag was on top and the yellow flag was on the bottom. Like the red and blue flags representing friendship, the blue-yellow flags represented welcome.

The officers and soldiers of the navy gave a selfless cheer, and there were faint cheers from another old warship behind them. Five hours later, the two old battleships of Ireland Hill finally saw the battery of Ferry City, and saw the battery covered by canvas.

"Finally, go home!" Turning the steering wheel to adjust his course, Laurens let out a long sigh and happily hummed a battle song at sea:

"This good sailboat of wood,

Light as seagulls chopping waves.

Sail up! my sailboat!

What a joy to be a sailor on this boat!

Fight against the wind, fight against the waves.

Hoist up, wooden boat.

If you go forward without hindrance,

Then we'll keep going,

Drive all the way to the end of the sea. "

His singing floated on the sea, and the sailors around him also hummed. They missed their hometown so much, and the ferry city they hadn't seen for more than two months.

All the sailors sang the familiar melody to the tune, and in the familiar melody they came to the new straight pier in the harbor:

"I'm leaving my lover, Margot, on a voyage for a few months.

Hoist, my sailboat

I really miss home! I was panicking!

The farther away from the light on that bright beacon.

Fight against the wind, fight against the waves

Shengfanluo, you wrecked log ship.

on the stormy sea,

Drive all the way to the end of the sea.

Some say there are treasures everywhere.

Sail up! my sailboat!

The seabed is full of gold. "

"General Laurens! Welcome back! Is the journey going well?" The officer who had been waiting on the pier pressed his sword and watched Laurence jump off the board with a stubble face, stepped forward and asked in a salute.

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

"Rubber? This is the raw material that everyone is waiting for." Hearing the word "rubber", the officer could no longer care about those comrades who died on the way, and he immediately said: "You should come and see this, It was built before you left, but it wasn't on such a massive scale at the time."

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

"The sea fish caught by fishing boats, as well as the goods from the future sea transportation trade, must pass 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 available. No." The officer pointed to the cargo terminal and said to Laurens.

"Yeah, it belongs to our navy. Just those two broken ships? Hehe." Laurence laughed like a self-deprecating smile, feeling that all the changes in front of him seemed to make his two remaining broken ships look even more shabby. .

In fact, it's really too shabby. Their navy can only rely on side-to-side battles and hand-to-hand combat with opponents, and they don't even have a modern cannon-although the coastal defense force is also assigned to the commander of the navy of Laurens, but he still cares more about it. Those two poignant wrecks.

"Sir, it's no longer the two broken ships!" The officer pointed to the dedicated pier at the other end of the distance, and said to Laurens: "After you left, the navy launched three brand-new warships, and also trained one. A batch of sailors."

"New battleship?" Hearing this Laurence's eyes lit up, he pushed aside the port officer in front of him, walked quickly to the pier, and then his sight gradually bypassed a giant cargo ship , I saw three new ships with beautiful appearance, which were blocked by the cargo ship.

The appearance of these three new ships is much larger than that of the old naval warships. What is even more exciting is that each of these ships has huge sails and numerous masts. quick.

"You can run a super fast speed of 30 kilometers per hour in the downwind state." The officers behind Laurens introduced these new warships with a strong sense of pride on their faces: "The new hull design , 2 front and 2 rear, 8 on each side of the ship, a total of 20 75mm long barrel breech guns, sufficient ammunition - these three ships can sink a 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 those naval warships in Arlant, just kill them all the way!" Much faster than before.”

"And you will also transport more than before." The port officer pointed to the huge cargo ship that blocked their sight just now and said: "After waiting for two days, two more such cargo ships have been launched. Your Majesty The order is to use it all for transporting rubber!"

"And bring gold to the south?" Laurens, who was already impatient, turned his head and asked the port officer, "I think we can go directly to grab it this time."

"No, this time we only bring some gold, and for the rest of the cabin, we will bring china, silk, soap and various products. In short, whatever sells well, we will go to Dothan with a full load." The officer smiled. Reply: "Then we only take the rubber and bring it back."

"If they dare to sit on the ground and raise the price again." Looking at the opened gun windows on the new warships, and the dark gun muzzles sticking out of the gun windows, Laurens showed an expectant expression.

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