Chapter 284

The tree shadows on the water surface were swaying, and occasionally a few river otters passed by.

The great beaver slapped the stone curtain floor with its flat tail, rhythmically directing the river otters to brush tung oil on the ships.

After brushing the tung oil, the color of the entire warship model became deep and lustrous, and its appearance greatly improved.

After a month and a half, the beaver family, with the help of the river otter family, was about to finish the project!

At the same time, Liang Qu was handing over another ship model at Liu Quanfu's house.

"The toad actually has a tribe under it!"

The news the fat catfish had just brought him was truly unexpected.

He had thought the toad was a lone frog, but he didn't expect there to be a large group of little frogs underneath!

"The keel and ship planks are made of oak, most of the interior decoration is pine, and the deck is peach wood. Ninety percent of the entire ship is made of these three types of wood, and some beech wood was also used. The total is fifty-four taels, the ledger is here."

Liu Quanfu turned the indigo book to a certain page and handed it out, pulling Liang Qu's thoughts back to reality.

Liang Qu closed the ledger with his backhand and smiled: "No need to look, I trust Uncle Fu's work."

The Great Shun did not have Arabic numerals, only complex characters, which made his head ache; it was only a difference of a few taels anyway.

"This..."

Liang Qu's status was becoming increasingly prominent, and such trust made Liu Quanfu deeply moved.

Liang Qu didn't look at the ledger, walked around the ship model, observed it carefully, and was very satisfied.

Sending two at once, of course, they couldn't be the same style. When he asked for the blueprints, he had asked Liu Quanfu to make a distinction.

As a result, the warship built by the beaver was in the style of a Canton ship, and Liu Quanfu's was in the style of a sand ship; the two were very different.

The sand ship model in front of him had an overall length of thirteen meters, larger than the previous tower ship, but the cost of the wood used was cheaper than the last time.

Liang Qu remembered the last time it was sixty-seven taels, and this time it was fifty-four taels. It wasn't that Liu Quanfu cut corners or deliberately used poor wood; it was mainly because the tower ship's design was unique.

Among many ships, the tower ship's structure was the most complex, with five floors of high towers above the deck, each floor scaled down proportionally, consuming countless wooden planks and materials.

In contrast, whether it was a Fu ship, a Canton ship, or a sand ship, none had such complex deck structures.

"I was in a hurry to go out and didn't bring much small silver. Let's make it a round one hundred. Uncle Fu, you don't need to give change." Liang Qu took out the silver notes and ingots.

"How can that be? I've already earned enough from you..."

"Uncle Fu, no need to decline. You know what my status is now. As long as the goods are good, a few taels here or there is no big deal. However, I do have one other request."

"Please speak."

Liu Quanfu was already embarrassed and wished Liang Qu had other requests, so he immediately pricked up his ears.

Liang Qu said: "For future ships, Uncle Fu, can you make them in a detachable, assembly-style?"

Things like six-sided locks were small toys after all and couldn't be taken seriously.

Most people, after playing with them a few times and experiencing the novelty, found them meaningless and left them in a corner to gather dust. Sending them to the toad often made it unhappy.

Liang Qu wanted to get it right in one step and get assembly ship models.

But such troublesome things naturally had to be handed over to others, otherwise, it would be putting the cart before the horse and wasting energy in vain.

After having money, the importance of money would drop linearly, replaced by energy. Abundant energy could be spent on meaningful things, which was far more important than money.

Liang Qu held over four thousand taels of silver and could be called a wealthy person.

Liu Quanfu frowned: "Detachable, assembly?"

As a carpenter, he could understand Liang Qu's meaning. Who hadn't played with tangrams? But what kind of assembly would meet the requirements?

Just opening holes in the ship planks and making mortise and tenon joints, leaving everything else untouched, or combining multiple ship planks into one component and then assembling them?

"Components, I suppose. For example, can this ship be taken apart into more than twenty parts?"

Liang Qu felt that assembling one wooden plank at a time would be too difficult for the toad.

"I have to try first."

Liu Quanfu didn't dare to agree immediately. As a senior old carpenter, he understood the difficulty involved too well.

If things are small, you just use your brain; if things are big, you have to see if the materials are up to it.

Even the scaled-down ship was about ten meters long, not the kind of palm-sized small boat.

If you want to use mortise and tenon joints to lock it directly, the interface must be opened very large and deep, otherwise, it would be extremely fragile, couldn't lock, and the joints would easily break.

If you use legendary precious wood...

The price would be too high.

"It's okay, try it and see. If it can't be done, doing it the current way is fine."

Liang Qu didn't care. He was responsible for making suggestions, and Liu Quanfu was responsible for practice. Whether it succeeded or not was another matter.

Assembly models can be palm-sized or half a person's size, but scaling up to ten meters, whether it can be implemented is indeed a question mark.

"Same as last time, come over tonight to get it. Uncle Fu, just leave the door for me."

"Done, I guarantee no one will know."

Liu Quanfu carefully tucked away the silver notes.

Returned home.

The beaver and the river otter cooperated with each other, working in full swing.

Liang Qu was about to call the patriarch of the river otter family over to discuss the matter of becoming his crew, when a message from the fat catfish suddenly came through the spiritual link in his sea of consciousness.

"The old toad wants to come over?"

What's the situation?

The fat catfish began to recount its encounters and experiences.

Liang Qu's eyebrows jumped.

After a while.

"Let it come over."

Deep water area.

In front of the dark current passage.

The old toad skeptically stretched out a webbed foot and truly felt a powerful suction force.

"Passing through the passage, can one travel between shallow water and deep water?"

The fat catfish nodded.

The old toad was very shocked, not expecting that such a dangerous place was hidden beside the Great King.

The fat catfish patted its belly, letting the old toad rest assured.

Indicating that it had already opened a stronghold on the opposite side, representing the frog clan, and successfully occupied part of the human territory!

The old toad was skeptical. After thinking for a long time, it still decided to go over and take a look for itself.

It tentatively believed the fat catfish's identity; after all, this strange thing looked very similar to the frog clan in their childhood, perhaps it really was some special variety.

Toad Boss was also curious. It was the first time it heard of a stronghold, but unfortunately, the Great Demon couldn't go ashore, and the dark current passage couldn't pass it either.

Only the old toad was small enough to meet the requirements.

And so...

"Oh my, my old waist!"

With a spin, the old toad fell flat on its face.

The fat catfish, which had landed steadily, laughed on the side, making the old toad so angry that it cursed, calling it an ignorant and rude fellow, and saying it didn't respect an old toad of over a hundred years old, and so on.

The fat catfish floated up with its belly up, indicating that if it listened any longer, it would die.

The old toad barely stopped, putting its hands behind its back to act like an expert.

"Lead me to the frog clan stronghold quickly!"

After some wandering.

The old toad passed through the underground river, revealed its narrow pupils under a lotus flower, and carefully looked around.

The large pond was sparkling, and under the scorching sun, the water temperature was much warmer than in the deep water area.

The old giant clam bathing in the sunlight, the beaver busy brushing oil, the river otter carrying wood...

Various aquatic beasts lived in harmony, safe and sound, looking like a paradise for aquatic beasts!

The old toad opened its mouth wide, its heart receiving an incomparable impact.

Really!

It really is an aquatic tribe stronghold!

And it's a courtyard!

The toad's rise was too short; there were no palaces in the Great Marsh, no magnificent buildings, only a small rock wall cave.

How could the old toad not want to own a frog clan palace? This scene was something it had only fantasized about in books, and it was the first time it had encountered it in reality!

The frog clan had established a stronghold in human territory!

The frog clan also had its own courtyard!

The old toad felt a pang of sorrow, and all sorts of past events emerged one by one.

At this moment, it thought of the former king, the tadpoles, and the beautiful, plump frog lady at the village entrance, and couldn't help but sigh up to the sky.

"This old subject, can die without regret!"

Just as the old toad was pretending to stroke its beard and feeling deeply moved, the fat catfish poked its back with its long whiskers.

When the old toad turned around, it immediately gestured.

The old toad was stunned: "You want supplies?"

The fat catfish nodded vigorously.

The human race is greedy by nature; if we don't give some benefits, the frog clan's stronghold won't be able to be maintained!