Chapter 394 The Seeds of the Navy

...

Amid the high voices of the people, Roland watched with satisfaction as the second cement boat slid into the water.

These two cement ships seem to be simple in structure, but they have actually made great progress compared to the original Township.

For the first time, a dense steel skeleton has been added to its interior, and the quality of the cement has also been improved a lot. The overall strength is several times higher than that of the Small Town.

Moreover, in order to speed up the construction, Roland reserved slots and interfaces for installing the steam engine, transmission mechanism, and paddle wheel when designing the hull. At that time, as long as the corresponding fixing pins are welded on these metal parts, they can be spliced ​​quickly. Installs like glued models.

At the same time, the formwork has also changed from improvised masonry to an iron mold, which not only ensures the compactness of the poured concrete, improves its waterproof performance, but also makes each ship basically the same to avoid deviations when installing the power system. In order to obtain a complete formwork shape, he scrapped at least seven or eight experimental vehicles—fortunately, cement is no longer a scarce product. From grinding stones to mixing them into the kiln, human labor was replaced by steam engines. There are industrial projects that can be mass-produced without relying on witch powers.

With sufficient materials, reliable formwork and skilled workers, only the hardening speed of the cement remains to restrict the output of the hull. However, with the accelerated response capability of the white paper, the cement ship that originally needs to be placed for a month or two can be launched in only one day. In other words, as long as Roland is willing, this shipyard can completely launch a white board ship in two or three days.

If the speed of steam engine manufacturing and crew training can keep up, he can have a huge transport fleet in a short period of time, filling the entire Chishui River with his own cement boats, and the legendary dumpling is nothing more than that .

This is the charm of industry.

Now that the hull is complete, the next job is to install the power components. These mechanical equipment are basically the same as the modified ships of the Crescent Bay Chamber of Commerce. The craftsmen have already had practical experience, so he is not worried about it.

"I don't understand, why do you tell the people about this?" Nightingale asked.

"To promote national power." Roland smiled slightly.

"ah?"

"I mean, to witness the earth-shaking changes in the town." He rubbed his chin and said, "Before you saw the Small Town, you probably wouldn't have expected that a stone boat could float on water. The same is true of the leaders , After realizing the impossible, their sense of identity with the town will become higher and higher-this kind of mentality improvement is all-round, and it may even evolve into that there is nothing they cannot do.”

"No... I don't really understand." Nightingale's voice was a little puzzled.

"Just understand it as a means of propaganda." Roland laughed. In this era, the nobles and the people celebrate together only when celebrations or important events happen, but both of these are basically related to the nobles. If it is not for the free distribution of porridge and water, the participation of the people is not high. The cement boats, on the other hand, are the result of the collective efforts of hundreds of workers who are themselves part of the festival.

In addition, as a member of the territory, after seeing the miracles continuously produced by the territory, the self-confidence and sense of identity will gradually increase. This is the so-called "big country mentality" in later generations. Positive mentality changes.

...

A week later, Roland received more than 20 townspeople who applied for the post of captain in the castle hall.

When Barov reported the number of people at the beginning, he was still very surprised. He didn't expect that there were so many "high-end talents" among the refugees accommodated in the town. He didn't laugh until he checked the detailed report-there were many skilled people in this batch of applicants. Fishermen on rafts and small fishing boats, and even ferrymen for a living. In a sense, they are indeed considered to have the "captain" experience.

Among all the applicants, only three had experience in operating inland sloops, and one of them claimed to have served as the commander of a merchant fleet and had lived at sea for a long time.

Roland thought about it, and finally decided to recruit all the twenty people.

Because steamships and sailing boats belong to completely different systems and operate completely differently, even experienced old captains may not be able to quickly get started with steam paddle steamers. In addition, I don't know anything about sailing, so instead of directing them blindly, it's better to let them learn by themselves.

Since we are starting from scratch, we must have the determination and courage to explore.

"I have read all the experiences you have declared." Roland swept across the group of people kneeling on one knee in the hall, "I called you here today to let you know that you have passed the preliminary examination and are honorably the number one in Border Town. A batch of trainee captains. Stand up."

"Yes...Your Highness," everyone stood up cautiously, looked at each other a few times, and seemed quite confused by the word "internship captain".

The prince took the initiative to explain: "The internship means that it is not a formal position. Before you actually board the ship, you only have half of the salary on the notice, which is ten silver wolves per month. The first two months are the learning period. You will get familiar with the new The performance, operation method and operation process of the ship. The third month is a trial run, which is used to test your mastering ability. Only after passing the qualification can you be promoted to the official captain, and the salary will be paid in full. Those who do not want to accept it can leave now. "

No one in the team moved. After a while, an old man suddenly said, "Your Highness, who will teach us, and who will examine the qualifications for promotion?"

Roland glanced at the other party with great interest. He should be the fleet commander who claimed to be experienced, and he seemed to be called Kakusim. If I remember correctly, he is also a relative of the policeman who performed well in an assassination case more than two months ago. It can be heard from the old man's tone that he doesn't think anyone can teach him how to sail a boat—in fact, there really isn't one.

"The teachers are yourselves." The prince nodded.

These words caused a commotion in the crowd.

"Your Highness, what... does this mean?" Kakusim asked puzzled.

"How much do you know about steam engines?" Roland asked back. Unsurprisingly, no one could answer, "The steamship is such a ship in a new sense. Past experience doesn't help much, so you can only explore and summarize by yourself. Of course, I will also send a steamship." The craftsmen in the factory will help you get familiar with the machines." He paused, "The inspection method is very simple, if you can bring a group of sailors to make the ship move and complete a transportation task, you are considered qualified."

Although the rhetoric of "10-year army, 100-year navy" is suspected of exaggeration, it also shows that the formation of a navy is not easy. If this group of personnel can master the operation methods of steamships proficiently, they will surely be able to train a large number of suitable crew members for the western region in the future. When building a steam-powered shallow-water gunboat, it can be used directly by pulling it over.

He wondered what kind of navy would end up being formed when civilian crews and artillery were combined?

.(To be continued.)