On the third day of autumn, the Margaery Chamber of Commerce arrived at the pier of Border Town as scheduled.
This time, the caravan returned to its former size. Ten sailboats lined up in a straight line and steadily docked at the side of the pier.
"Your Royal Highness, we meet again," Gammon, the merchant from Crescent Moon Bay, bowed and said, "I heard from Lady Margaery that the first steamship has been modified?"
"Indeed," Roland laughed, "But in order to ensure the quality of the goods, it still needs to undergo a trial voyage for three or four days in order to test the reliability of the power system."
"It's really something to look forward to," Marlan clapped his hands, "The fleet also needs a few days to unload the cargo, so we can wait here. May I ask Your Royal Highness, during the trial voyage, can I board the steamship for a tour? "
"Of course, after all, it is a brand new ship, completely different from the previous sailboats. I still have to show you how to operate it. But according to the plan, this is all tomorrow's content. " Roland made a gesture to follow me, "The most important thing now is to relax your tired body. You haven't eaten lunch yet, right? I have already prepared a sumptuous banquet in the castle's living room. "
"Every time I come here, I always enjoy a good meal," Margaery covered her mouth and laughed, "I'm really hungry now, those wheat cakes and jerky are as hard as stones, it's hard to swallow."
In this era, there was no reliable preservation technology, so most of the dry food was really dry and hard, which made Roland think of canned food. After the development of light industry, the production of a variety of delicious and convenient canned food would definitely be the best choice for long-distance travel and sailing merchants.
…
When the banquet was over, Hogg patted his belly with a satisfied face, "This bowl of mushroom soup almost made me swallow my tongue, it was as if I tasted seafood, stewed chicken, and pork bones at the same time, your court chef is really superb."
"I prefer the dessert after the meal, it's called ice cream … right?" Margaery said, "I guess it should be made from milk and honey, and then frozen into ice crystals with saltpeter."
"We also need to add some butter and egg white, otherwise, it wouldn't be so soft," Roland added, "I wonder how much saltpeter we have this time?"
"There is still only one ship," the female merchant shook her head, "The Alchemist Association is still wantonly purchasing saltpeter, and the former Prime Minister even sent out patrols to assist them in plundering the goods from the saltpeter field. A group of people with the title of sage are no different from robbers. This ship of saltpeter was shipped from Redwater City. "
"So this month's goods are mostly Washing Stones?"
"That's right," Hogg drained the glass of white wine in one gulp and refilled it for himself, "Although the quantity might be a little too much, you personally told me last time to get as much as possible, and I've kept that in mind. In addition to the washing stones, there were also good quality iron ingots and lead ingots. There are few towns that want them these days, except yours, 'he sighed.' The mining business is getting worse. '
This is the effect of the civil war, Roland thought, the purchasing power of all places is gradually declining, if it continues for another two or three years, food prices will basically rise, and people will starve to death everywhere.
"By the way, what happened in the Western Territory recently?" Margaery suddenly asked.
"What happened?"
"On the way to the town, the fleet encountered a lot of … well," she paused for a moment, as if she was considering her words, "a lot of floating corpses. They were dressed in rags and were floating on both sides of the river. In addition to the corpses, there were some broken planks and ropes on the water, as if a ship had hit a reef and sunk. But there are no reefs in the river, so I thought … "
"Humph, that was Timothy's fleet that invaded the Western Territory," Roland pretended to be indignant, and briefly described the battle a week ago, "They have already received the punishment they deserve."
In order to avoid blocking the channel and spreading the disease, after cleaning up the battlefield, he transferred Anna and Lily from the town, one was responsible for burning the damaged ships, the other was responsible for purifying the river. And the floating corpses that Margaery saw, should have been the dead that had already drifted along the river before the end of the battle.
"So that's how it is," the businesswoman said with a smile. "It seems that Timothy has hit a wall on both sides."
"Both sides?"
"There is also Garcia from the Port of Clearwater, the latest news I got is that the unknown looters that attacked the Eastern Territory city before were Garcia's subordinates. After the Black Sail Fleet looted Seawindshire and Valencia, they didn't return to the port, but instead went all the way north along the coastline, no one knows where they finally went. "
"North …" Roland was surprised, "Did she leave Graycastle?"
"At present, it seems like so, Timothy's troops came to the Port of Clearwater, it is now an empty city." Margaery stated, "Because there were a lot of Rats among the people he brought, this matter is not a secret in the Black Street. In any case, now the only thorn in his side is you, and in the future, the invasion of the Western Territory may become more frequent. "
"If you also want to leave Graycastle, Crescent Moon Bay will always welcome you," Marlan opened her mouth.
"That's right," Gammon patted his chest, "The island there is enough to fit ten Border Towns, we are willing to provide it to you and your people free of charge."
But you have to hand over the technology of the steam engine and paddle steamer, right? Roland rolled his eyes in his heart, even if he couldn't stay in Graycastle, the first person he would choose to go to should be Tilly Wimbledon. But on the surface, he just smiled, "Is that so, if such a day really comes, I will consider it."
"By the way," he then looked at Margaery, "I have successfully made two of the reconnaissance balloons you ordered last time."
"So fast?" The latter was pleasantly surprised, "Can you take me to see them?"
"Of course, come with me," Roland got up and said.
…
In the expanded backyard of the castle, a fully inflated hydrogen balloon was placed.
Its air sac was in the shape of a water droplet, wide at the top and narrow at the bottom, with a diameter of five meters at the top. It was completely made according to the size of the experimental product, and could carry an adult man into the air. The air sac and the rope were painted with sky camouflage, and when paired with the observer's camouflage clothes, it could minimize recognition.
"It seems to be different from the balloon we rode last time?" Margaery carefully looked at the new product.
"That's because it doesn't require a witch to use it," Roland cleared his throat and began to explain to everyone how to use the balloon. "The end of the balloon has a movable valve, which can be filled with and released gas. It's precisely because of this alchemy gas that it can fly. The method of inflating is very simple, just connect the matching hose to the gas tank, and then unscrew the valves at both ends. "After that, he demonstrated the operation process of deflating and inflating in front of everyone.
"How many bottles of gas does it take to fill a reconnaissance balloon?" Margaery quickly caught the key point.
"Five or six bottles …" This question made Roland slightly embarrassed, "At most, it will not exceed seven bottles." The main reason was that the concentration of dilute sulfuric acid used to generate hydrogen in the bottle was difficult to control, and distilling the sulfuric acid to 98% and then diluting it with water was too much of a waste of valuable laboratory manpower, so they had to make do with it.
"This kind of alchemy gas is very expensive, right?"
"Indeed. It is difficult to store, and full of danger … I mean, in the case of careless operation, "Roland coughed twice," so the gas tank can only be stored for one year, and it cannot be knocked, disassembled or burned, otherwise it may lead to unpredictable serious consequences. " He paused, "Although the price is a little expensive, but rest assured, when you first buy the reconnaissance balloon, the first batch of gas tanks will be provided by Border Town for free, and you can also get an extra sky camouflage reconnaissance suit."
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