Chapter 110: Layout of the North Weilan Sea (13)

Northern part of White Sturgeon Island.

There is a concave deep-water bay called Fishman Bay.

Although the name hasn't changed, the fishmen have been driven away, and the bay has been turned into a secret port.

Splash~~ splash~~~

A dry dock was flooded with seawater; as the water rose, a 38-meter-long, over-15-meter-wide flat-bottomed barge moored in the dock slowly floated up.

This ship is naturally made of tempered black clay, almost the maximum size that tempered black clay material can withstand.

Beside the shipyard, the person supervising the new ship's construction is a mid-level mage named Beleteer, 28 years old, one of the eight Kao mages left behind from the past.

This mage has little interest in making weapons, but is passionately fond of shipbuilding.

However, he also frankly said that although he likes shipbuilding and has been studying hard recently, he currently does not have strong shipbuilding ability.

In order not to delay the lord's important affairs, he has already written to Master Rukawado, who has returned to Kao, earnestly asking for help in finding a group of shipbuilding mages.

And the master has already replied, saying he is currently searching everywhere for talent.

Regarding this matter, Luosen naturally would not let the master suffer a loss; he directly sent an advance of 1000 ogres' worth of operating funds.

And he stated clearly that for each one found, he would give the master a generous reward.

As for this mage Beleteer, assuming no major mistake, Luosen intends to keep him as the head of the Shipbuilding Department.

After all, passion is the greatest driving force.

Getting back to the point.

Mage Beleteer stood beside Luosen, giving a detailed introduction of the new ship's status.

"Lord, the ship's empty displacement is about 300 tons, full load displacement is 1000 tons, maximum speed is 13 knots, its ability to withstand wind and waves is average, so it is only suitable for near-sea navigation."

"How about the range?"

"Depending on how much clean black stone is loaded, the more loaded, the farther it can go; the farthest should be about 5000 kilometers. Of course, then no cargo can be loaded."

Luosen looked at the ship's cargo hold as large as possible and the power component as small as possible, knowing that it had basically reached its limit.

This ship basically has no technical merit, its power is poor, its appearance is certainly not attractive, and it cannot withstand much wind and wave, but its advantage is that it can still carry a decent load.

Moreover, in absolute speed it is not inferior to sailing cargo ships at all; the key point is that this cargo ship's speed is very stable and unaffected by wind direction.

For now it is sufficient.

Waiting for this 'ugly' square barge to slowly leave the dock, Luosen lightly nodded: "Then according to this model, we will first build a few of them, use them to carry large cargo, and then make gradual improvements based on actual usage."

As for small cargo, we can simply modify existing speedboats to use.

"Yes, lord."

After chatting with Mage Beleteer for a while about ideas for hull structure design, Luosen returned to the nearby dock administration office.

Here it is divided into two parts.

One part belongs to the Trade Department, with the director temporarily held by Luosen in concurrent capacity, consisting of some clerks skilled in maritime trade.

The other part belongs to the Naval Department.

To carry out smuggling smoothly, naval protection is absolutely essential.

In the Naval Department there is a command room, in the middle of which is placed a sea chart of the North Weilan Sea and its coastline.

The so-called North Weilan Sea is the sea area north of Weilan Giant Island, bounded by the Wind Rest Strait.

This sea area has many underwater reefs, and its coastline also lacks economically developed coastal cities.

Conducting overseas trade in this sea area involves great risk, not to mention low profits, thus it has become a barren field for maritime trade.

But precisely because of this, it does not attract the attention of powerful external forces, and internally there are no strong competitors, making it an ideal sea area for smuggling.

The command room is Luosen's destination.

In the command room, some naval department officers sitting or standing saw Luosen approach, all straightened their bodies and saluted, addressing him as 'lord'.

Luosen pressed down with his hand, signaling everyone to continue working.

He also took off a cold-resistant leather glove, received a cup of hot tea served by Ailiya in a round-ear crystal cup, drank a sip, and asked: "How is the drafting of the precise sea chart of the North Weilan Sea going?"

The so-called precise sea chart is the current most advanced concept of sea chart drafting, requiring as high precision as possible and marking all factors that could affect navigation safety within a sea area.

Obviously, this is a necessary treasure for navigation.

Such a treasure is already quite perfected in the currently busy trade seas, but the North Weilan Sea remains a blank.

As Luosen spoke, an officer specially responsible for charting stood straight and reported.

"Lord, so far only one-quarter has been completed, but judging by the current pace, it should be fully completed in about four months."

Luosen nodded: "Four months is still too slow; I will continue to allocate funds and personnel, increase support for the Sea Chart Bureau, and aim to finish within two months."

Currently, the smuggling trade with the Northern Prefecture is the top priority of White Sturgeon Island.

It is not only the island's current sole stable source of supplies, but also part of the strategy of binding interests with the Northern Prefecture.

Only when both sides have enormous shared interests can they advance and retreat together when undertaking major endeavors in the future.

Pausing, Luosen returned the tea cup to Ailiya, then looked at the highest-ranking officer present: "Major Alex, there is another matter you need to pay special attention to."

Alex originally was the deputy commander of the Shield Guard in the Blaze Regiment, but now he no longer carries a shield, nor does he use a sword; he relies entirely on a lightning crossbow.

He is now the supreme commander of the North Sea Fleet.

Being named by the lord, he immediately stood at attention to listen to instructions.

"I've heard that there are not a few pirates in the North Sea. When encountering pirates, don't rush to kill; instead, do your best to try to persuade them to surrender and be incorporated. We are currently in great need of experienced sailors."

The North Sea pirates' predecessors were actually fishermen.

"Why become pirates? Because the Northern Prefecture is poor; when a locality is poor, many lords have no bottom line, they stop being human, greatly increase exploitation of civilians, causing many commoners in the Northern Prefecture to live extremely difficult lives, forcing them to take to the hills as bandits."

Moreover, because the North Sea has no trade, there are hardly any merchant ships to plunder. Thus these pirates are merely so-called pirates in official parlance; essentially they are just a group of fierce fishermen who refuse to submit to the lord's management.

Alex immediately nodded: "Understood, lord."

Luosen continued: "My request is simple: develop all the river mouths flowing north from Weilan into our trade routes; and on the surface of the North Weilan Sea, the only authority that counts is, and can only be, our navy."

Alex was startled: 'My lord, what if the lord of the Northern Prefecture doesn't agree?'

'Just based on their few broken ships? If they disagree, we'll fight until they agree.'

In the popular sea lanes, there are warships of major powers patrolling; with his current small speedboat he certainly can't contend, but in this trade desert, he is currently the strongest naval force.

As for the aftermath, we'll talk after we win. 'Yes, my lord!'

Alex replied loudly.

He is a pure soldier, regardless of political impact; if the lord says to fight, he will fight! Seeing this, Luosen was somewhat worried he might get carried away, and quickly reminded: 'First give a warning; if the warning is ineffective, then open fire. Don't go in and sink the enemy ship right away.'

Thinking about it, he felt uneasy.

After all, these soldiers are all thinking about military merit, and once the ship is out at sea with no one watching, who knows what will happen? He secretly thought: 'We need to form a military police unit to keep these unruly soldiers in line.'

Not only do we need military police now, we will need them even more in the future.

It can maximally prevent soldiers from getting hot-headed and doing foolish things that affect overall strategy.

After staying a while at the harbor command post, Luosen set off back to Crescent Castle.

This time he did not use a carriage, nor the latest coal-burning electric car, because the mountain forest roads were not yet repaired.

But this situation won't last long.

Because there was already a narrow mountain trail as a foundation, plus Beier's development of the disintegration spell's assistance and Luosen's strong support, road construction progressed very quickly.

According to current progress, about two more months will be needed to finish the mountain road connecting Fishman Bay to Crescent River Valley, and the first batch of electric freight cars will be used.

In the future, once the mountain road network is perfected, it will become a network of transport arteries, continuously shipping contraband goods from the Northern Prefecture to every corner of White Sturgeon Island.

Currently, Luosen rides a specially crafted mountain iron golem, which is an upgraded version of the combat golem originally built by Mubahat.

The main changes are the appearance and control system; the internal structure remains basically unchanged, the power source is unchanged, and it uses arcane energy.

Arcane energy is a precious energy; ordinary means cannot produce it, using it is expensive, and each run requires many mages to help recharge it.

Sitting on the somewhat bumpy iron golem, Luosen thought to himself.

'For such complex mountain terrain, the most suitable fast transport would still be a helicopter.'

'Unfortunately, the current power source isn't strong enough, and there are no specialized aircraft design talents.'

'Aircraft are still needed; when funds become ample, I will go back to launch a project, break ground, provide a concept, then gather a batch of talents to build a laboratory deep in the mountains and start secretly.'

'Such aircraft are major weapons of war; naturally they cannot be easily leaked; we must develop them covertly and only bring them out when truly needed.'

'Besides aircraft, Luosen's mind holds various ideas from Earth.'

'Aircraft, rockets, satellites, computers, and so on and so forth.'

'But these ideas all share a common point: they are all products of highly complex systems engineering, products of Earth's technology tree.'

'And Luosen only knows the most basic principles.'

'Obviously, basic principles are far from enough.'

'Everyone knows that fission nuclear bombs are based on chain reactions, but who could build a nuclear bomb with just that knowledge? Since it's a technology tree, it's naturally impossible to have only a canopy without roots.'

'We must invest massive resources, bring in massive talent, and through practice gradually explore, from nothing to something, from simple to complex, lighting up key technologies one by one, before it can grow.'

'Luosen's Earth knowledge can only serve as guidance, to avoid detours as much as possible.'

'Even as guidance, it must be exercised with great caution, because conditions in this other world differ from Earth, making it easy to suffer from maladaptation.'

'Thus, Luosen encountered a problem.'

'Currently, the problem of material scarcity is gradually easing, low-level talent has accumulated some, but high-level talent, even strategic talent capable of bearing great responsibility, is still far too scarce.'

'While pondering, the iron golem had already carried him and a group of guards across about forty kilometers of mountain terrain, entering Crescent River Valley.'

'Luosen did not immediately return to Crescent Castle, but turned instead to the newly built Magic Method Center.'

'The Magic Method Center, as the source of the island's new productivity, first has strict defenses, with a very tight protective network ensuring the island's highest arcane secrets do not leak.'

'Second, it is large.'

'It boasts a full ten thousand mu of land, with twenty Magic Method Laboratories built, but only six are actually in use.'

'The reason is the lack of talent capable of shouldering the burden.'

'Besides the Magic Method Laboratory, the center also has various living-support buildings constructed specially for these research mages.'

'Including residential buildings, restaurants, taverns, walking parks, and even a brothel hidden in the shadows.'

'Anyway, as long as mages enter the Magic Method Center, they can enjoy the island's highest quality of life here, and in some aspects even better than that of Lord Luosen.'

'After entering the Magic Method Center, Luosen had his subordinate mages drive the iron golem to recharge, while he himself went straight to the recruitment building.'

'Seeing what talents are recruited each day and what new arcane ideas are obtained, this has almost become Luosen's daily routine.'

'As lord, he entered the recruitment building through the back door, intending to directly check the recruitment roster.'

'As he was walking down the hallway on the second floor, he suddenly heard noisy sounds from the front courtyard of the building; curious, he went to the window to check the situation.'

'The front courtyard has always been lively, because many mages come in response to summons each day.'

'Most of those who come are young civilian mages; non-official ones make up the vast majority, and occasionally one can see a few official mages.'

'But basically they all come from the Northern Prefecture; southerners are rare.'

'But today it seemed especially noisy.'

'After observing for a while, Luosen found the source of the commotion and was slightly startled.'

'Because the person seeking work turned out to be a four-ring arcane master, and judging from the faint magical fluctuations, he was actually a four-ring peak master.'

'Looking at his attire—dark green vertical-striped robe, pointed wide-brimmed hat, seven-part wide trousers plus tight cotton socks—it is very typical of the Kao mage dress style.'

'This arcane master is about fifty, just turned, with graying hair, tall stature, very sharp features, and a pair of leopard eyes that exude authority without anger.'

'He looks less like an arcane master and more like a charging fierce general.'

'He was not alone; two youths followed behind him.'

'One is younger, about twenty-three or twenty-four, a high-tier mage; the other is older, about twenty-five or twenty-six, and actually also an arcane master.'

'Judging by their appearance, these two youths are likely the sons of the old mage.'

In other words, a family of three arrived, and two of them are Arcane Masters.

Luosen felt a slight shock in his heart: 'My reputation has actually reached the point where it can attract Kao, an Arcane Master?'

I somewhat suspect that Luwakaduo helped recruit them, but the other party never sent a letter to notify him.

Moreover, such a family that obviously possesses an arcane inheritance acts very steadily; relying on Luwakaduo's trifling arcane achievements and reputation, it seems they couldn't even recruit them.

(End of chapter)