Black Iron’s Glory

Chapter 28—Sailing

The old Sunny single-sail small fishing boat also has a name for the ship, called the swordfish, meaning to fly like an arrow, as smart as a fish in the water. It’s just that this small fishing boat is too much in Whitestag town. No one will remember the names of these small fishing boats. When the town public office registered the private property tax of the residents, it was also recorded by the old Sunny family, a small sail boat.

There are three cabins under the deck of the fishing boat, and the cover is to be opened when going down. The front two cabins are large and small, and there is a single wooden bed in the large one. This is for the crew to take turns to rest during night fishing on the water. Small cabins are used for storage, such as putting some charcoal firewood bowls and buckets, sometimes you can cook rice directly on the water…

The last cabin is a live tank and the largest of the three cabins. The function of this cabin is to store water and raise fish. There is a trap in the bottom compartment. When you open it, you can put the lake into the cabin. As long as the caught fish are stocked in this cabin, even if the fishing time lasts for two days and three nights, the fish in the cabin will not die. Go back. Still able to stay alive and fresh.

The Beringa Lake is large and is said to be a hundred miles long and a dozen or so wide. One connects the sea and one connects the Kmida swamp. Correctly speaking, the Beringa Lake should be the intersection of the freshwater river and the sea. It is only a shallow and wide land, and it has become a deep-water strait lake facing the sea.

So the lake in Beringa Lake is also very strange. The third of the water near the Kmida Swamp is fresh water. One third of the waterway connecting the sea is sea water, and one third of the white water in the middle of Whitestag town has A little bit turbid, it tastes salty.

It is also this unique geographical environment, and the catch produced by Beringa Lake is unique, even if it is made into dry goods. For example, the long-tailed swordfish of Beringa Lake, most of the dried fish is sent to the king's tribute to the Stellin royal family. No way, the long-tailed sword fish can't live for three hours, and it can only be made into dried fish.

"Sail up! The swordfish is about to depart! ”Eriksson shouted loudly on the wheel of the rudder.

Welikro untied the cable from the pier's pillar, and Claude pulled the rope on the mast pulley and raised the number of repaired sails. Borkal took the boat to the stone wall of a little pier, and the small fishing boat swayed away from the pier and slowly drifted into the lake.

Borkal stood at the bow of the boat, and the middle finger that stretched out his right hand slid down on his tongue. He squeezed a little into the air. After a while, he turned to Eriksson and shouted: "No wind, no sail!"

"It’s okay to get up first, and there will be wind from the shore."Eriksson pointed to Claude and Welikro: "You two are not lazy, hurry up and put the paddles up and hurry up, so it's all in the middle of the night…"

Claude couldn't help but had to put the wooden paddles on the deck on the side of the ship and start rowing with Welikro.

After spending a few minutes, and a hundred meters away from the shore, I felt the breeze on the lake. Eriksson said: "Yes, adjust the sails, pay attention to the wind, you don't have to draw."

Together with Welikro, the two wooden oars were taken back and placed under the ship's side. Claude sat down on the deck and squatted and complained: "It's so tired…"

"You are lacking exercise. If you look at Welikro, he will be fine."Eriksson replied.

Borkal fixed the sails on the deck with the rope in the wind direction and then asked: "How long does it take us to reach the scheduled landing point at our current speed?"

Eriksson looked at the wind of the sails: "It may take two to three hours. The wind is not big, the sails are not fully loaded, and the speed of the ship cannot be so fast…"

"Why do we have to go to the opposite side of the stone stern post on the waterway, and directly across the Bailinga Lake from here is not the foot of the Egret continent?" You can go anywhere on the shore, and if you have a fast speed, you don't need an hour. ”Borkal complained.

Eriksson shook his head with a smile: "Boa, you are not a fisherman, nor a sailor. Everyone who has lived on the Beringa Lake knows that the shores between the foothills of Egret and the shores of the Beringa Lake are basically The mud can not be docked. Watching are full of water plants and shrubs, but when people step on it will at least get stuck in half body, there is no way to move.

So the distance from here across the lake is short, but we can't go ashore, and finally have to spend more time along the lakeshore to the landing point opposite the stone post, because there is only rock and hard ground, there is a small In the river, our boat can sail in and park there. ”

Claude turned to Welikro: "Welikro, did you go to Egret with your father when you were on holiday at the end of the year? Is this the route?"

Welikro snorted and replied: "We didn't take the boat and we didn't take this route. Because it was winter and the weather was cold, the junction of the Beringa Lake and the Kmida Marsh was frozen and the ice was thick. My father took me with a horse-drawn sleigh and walked directly from the ice to the foot of Egret. At that time, the muddy land on the shore of the lake was covered with snow and ice. It was very hard, and we could go anywhere from the mountain. ”

It is also said that at the end of May, the spring blossoms, the waters and grasses on the shore of the lake are flourishing, and the scenery of the winter is different. It is not so convenient to go ashore, and it can only land on the rocky lakeshore opposite the stone sentry post.

It’s just too boring to stay on the deck of this small fishing boat for two or three hours. Eriksson is at the helm. He gave an idea. He just took two throwing rods when he moved the online boat. This time Let's try the fishing boat to go fishing during the voyage to see who can catch the fish.

This is not the fishing boat moored for fishing. It is more difficult to fish in the voyage. Borkal and Welikro are happily holding the throwing rod to the stern, standing behind Eriksson and starting a fishing competition, while boasting who has a high level of fishing. In the evening, you can eat a grilled fish meal.

Claude was too lazy to get up, and he was sitting on the deck on the side of the ship, looking at the blue sky and white clouds, the golden sunlight on his body, only to feel warm. In the distance, the water is shining, the fishing boat sails a little bit, and the lake is surrounded by microwaves, and the breeze is like a beautiful landscape.

It was only a few moments when the noise of Borkal and Welikro broke the leisure time that Claude felt comfortable. These two idiots somehow wrapped the two fishing rods together and were blaming each other.

Eriksson said helplessly: "Claude, you come to help me at the helm, I will help the two guys to solve the fishing line."

Speaking of the work on the boat, no one in the partners has Eriksson's ingenuity. He is born to eat rice. Claude has heard more than once that the sailors and the old crew on the dock praised Eriksson, thinking that although he was only sixteen years old, he was comparable to a skilled sailor who had worked at sea for five or six years. The Otulani family was succeeded.

Perhaps the sailors and the old crew are looking to praise Eriksson on the face of Captain Altroni, but if they are not able to bear it, others would like to boast and boast. No, Borkal and Welikro have been arguing for a long time. The fish line that can't be solved with great strength is separated in Eriksson's hands in a few minutes. After checking the hooks and pendants, Eriksson gives them two people. A boat side, so as not to argue again.

"I think I can fix the rudder. Anyway, the lake is so big, it only opens in one direction. There is no need to always look at it."Claude said.

Eriksson stood next to Claude and smiled: "No, the water goes up, the most important thing is to steer, not just the direction, but to avoid the collision of the two ships or the reef. Although we are now in Bailingjia Lake, there are no reefs here, but there are many fishing boats here. It is best to have a distance of 100 meters between the two ships so as not to affect the fishing operations of the other side. In addition, sometimes there are a lot of underwater undercurrents in the lake. Some fishing boats will put down the block in the undercurrent of the underwater, and come over to see if there is any harvest, so we should pay attention to avoid the floating wood bucket floating on the water. It is the responsibility of the helm. ”

Claude nodded. "It turned out to be like this. I didn't expect so much attention at the helm. I always thought it would be right."

"Oh, I don't feel trouble when I get used to it."Eriksson stretched out his finger and tried the wind in the air: "You are holding the rudder first. I am going to adjust the sail. Now the wind is getting bigger and the speed can be increased."

Two people took turns rudder, Claude by the way to Eriksson to ask some boat experience, time flies very quickly, and did not make people bored. Instead, Borkal and Welikro screamed for two hours, and even the small fish did not catch it. Instead, they used a small bucket of red worm bait brought by Eriksson.

Far away, I saw a broken stone castle on the shore of the lake in the distance. The stone whistle was coming. It is said that hundreds of years ago, pirates smashed and often landed on the coast to capture the fishing villages facing the sea, burning and looting, no evil, and Whitestag town naturally could not escape the looting by pirates.

Later, Whitestag town organized a militia and built such a stone fortress at the entrance to the waterway. At the beginning, it was used for warning. When the pirate's vessel entered the waterway, it fired a warning of the wolf smoke to remind the residents of Whitestag to avoid it in time. Therefore, this stone fortress was called the Stone Sentinel. This name has been used ever since.

Later, people found that the pirate ships lost their flexibility and initiative after entering the narrow waterway. So they set up a trap, hit an ambush in a pirate ship, and used a pirate ship that was thrown into the rock and rocket to make a great victory.

Since then, the Stone Sentinel has become a barracks. When Sterling IX fired the first shot of the Revival kingdom in Whitestag town, a musket battalion under the Whitestag town's baron was stationed at the Stone Sentinel, just they The rescue came too late, Sterling IX had attacked Whitestag town, and the landed baron became a prisoner.

Then the musket battalion accepted the solicitation of Sterling IX, and changed from a local garrison to the first officially prepared combat battalion under Sterling IX. That is, since then, the stone squadron has no military stationed in the barracks until Sterling IX was enthroned and officially issued a document to abandon the barracks.

"Let me come."Eriksson took over the steering wheel and finally he needed to come to the helm.

"Is it visible, across the waterway, across the stone post, there is a recess there, there is a small river channel inside, we follow the recess into the small river, and the boat stops there at night."Eriksson looked at Claude with one hand and a rudder.

Claude thought for a moment and said, "I don't think the entrance to the small river is too big. Let's put the block there. So when we come back the day after tomorrow, we can see if there is any catch, maybe there will be an unexpected surprise. ”

Eriksson stunned and nodded. "Yes, that's it."