Release that Witch

74. Chapter 74 Shipbuilding Industry

    “What, can’t afford?”Roland sat in the office, and the instrument that required the expansion of the executive and the purchase of the sailboat was placed on his desk.

    Barov cleared his throat. “His Royal Highness, it is.” The price of a two-masted sailing ship is between 80 and 120 gold royals, but this is only the cost of shipbuilding. Counting the people on board is not the case, the total price is estimated to be more than 200 gold royal. ”

    “I didn’t say it, don’t need a sailor or a helmsman? The captain does not need to use it, I only need a boat. ”Roland asked at the table. With Wendy, he didn’t use so many people to operate the sailboat. Most of the riverboats are straight sails. Just like the lifting flags, the paddlers and sailors are superfluous. The helmsman pulls the individual and tries to try it will be alright. Anyway, with vector wind, I am afraid that the ship will not go forward?

    “His Highness, there is no such sale, at least not in Willow Town.”Barov explained carefully. “You may not know much about this industry. Generally speaking, the owner of the vessel is the captain. It may be a businessman or a noble. The former recruits people by hand and travels between the big town docks, merchants or goods. In the latter case, an agent captain will usually be recruited to follow the ship for himself. Employees are not paid monthly, but are paid once a year or three. ”

    “Overwhelming, the ship and the people are tied together. If you intend to buy a boat from the captain, instead of the man he hired, then he is equivalent to losing his salary. Eighty gold royal money, even for big noble, is not a free number. At the beginning of the month, it was traded with Willow Town’s raw gems. Now City Hall has a total of 315 gold royal balances. If you spend more than half of it to buy a boat, your militia team will not be paid the next month. ”The Assistant Minister finished the breath and raised the cup and drank the ale.

    “The vast majority of the time you said…”

    “Yes,” he nodded. “There are two scenarios where there will be empty ships for sale. First, the merchants urgently need cash and sell their property. At this time he will dismiss all the crew and then sell the ship as quickly as possible. The second is to replace the new ship, this is a good understanding. But I have to say that both scenarios are very rare. ”

    “Wait,” Roland frowned. “You said you bought a new ship…Where did the ships come from? ”

    “Port of Clear Water, Sea Wind Region, North Point of the Corner. Only the port city has a dock, and only they can build a ship. ”

    It turned out that “I can’t find such a sale in Willow Town”. Roland was silent for a moment. It was too far to buy a ship in the harbour city, and he did not hire a crew. Who would help him drive the boat back? “In this case, I will consider it again. ”

    After the Assistant Minister retired, the prince fell into meditation.

    In his strategic plan, shipping is an irreplaceable part. Without fast and convenient boat transportation, he could not complete the bag with cannon. Stronghold Duke’s troops are usually recruiting farmers, Knight and mercenary, and the speed of marching is bound to be less than that, but it is slower. As Carter puts it, a purely muddy pit can make a cannon difficult – the land traffic in this era is not a tarmac road, not even a stone slab road. However, there are more people who have gone, and there is a way to make a living. It’s okay on a sunny day, and it’s muddy when it rains.

    In the end, still have to build on your own?

    Roland spread the paper and recorded the specifications he needed.

    First of all, this is a ship that can transport one or two cannons, plus about 30 people. The ship can be propelled without power. Second, the ship is driven in the river, requiring smooth and reliable, not easy to sink, and shallow draft. Third, to be easy to operate, militia can get started quickly after a short training period.

    Combine these points and see that there is only one answer…Flat barge.

    Before the Roland crossing, the draughts were extremely shallow, and the vessels with very low center of gravity were everywhere, almost all over the river. In the past, those ships that were filled with river sand or stones and the ship’s side was almost flat with the water surface were flat-bottomed barges. As long as there was a tugboat, several barges could be pulled like a train.

    After the ship type is determined, the next key point is to choose which material to build.

    Roland wrote three options on paper: wood, iron, and cement.

    Using wood as a ship is the earliest lighting technology tree for human beings. From wooden rafts to sail battleships, from rivers to oceans, wooden boats can be described as enduring. Unfortunately, Roland doesn’t know how to use a log to spell a punt, and there are no craftsmen under him. If you rely on a few carpenters to harden, it is likely to be a large seesaw, or the kind that may fall apart at any time.

    In the case of iron ship, the structure is similar to that of building a house. The vertical and horizontal staggered main and secondary beams form the keel and are covered with iron. If the welding is done by Anna, the overall rigidity is guaranteed. However, this practice will consume a lot of iron ore reserves, which is not a last resort. These iron ore are obviously more suitable for the production of Steam engine and barrel.

    Then the cement ship is the last option – the wall has been built, the raw materials are still there, and Anna can get enough cement powder if it is calcined once or twice. The construction process is also much easier than the iron ship. Just use a wooden formwork to shape the shape, arrange the iron bars to be used as reinforcement, and then fill in the cement. Even in the old rural areas, several cement boats can be built to fish. Compared with the iron ship, it needs regular rust removal and painting. It does not even need maintenance after it is built. It can be said to be cheap and durable. Even if you haven’t learned how to build a large ocean ship, and build a river bridge with a low technical content, shouldn’t it be a problem?

    Holding a try mentality, Roland picked up the quill and quickly sketched the barge.

……

    The Scarlet Water River has a walled shed.

    In order to facilitate the launching, Roland will make the shipbuilding site as close as possible to the river bank.

    The shed can shelter snow from the shelter, and two pots of charcoal fire are burned in the room to avoid the effect of low temperature on the cement hardening effect.

    The wooden formworked by the carpenter has spelled out the basic contour of the hull – the bow is rounded, reducing the forward resistance and the tail is square to increase the load area. The ship is about twenty-four feet (8 meters) wide and has an aspect ratio of 3:1. It is a fat man compared to the slender figure of a conventional ship of 8:1. There are double eyes in the middle. The mast is inserted into the bottom of the ship and connected to the iron beam that runs through the ship’s midline. A stern is also set up at the stern to reserve the rudder. In other places, there are criss-crossing iron bars.

    It doesn’t matter that there is no wire for lashing. All the intersections of iron bars are firmly welded by Anna and form a steel net all over the bottom of the ship.

    When the “template” and “rebar” were ready, Roland ordered the workers to start the pouring operation.

    The mixed cement is poured into the formwork by a basin, the flat bottom is in the middle, and the circumference is about one meter high, which is used as the side wall of the ship. At first glance, it looks like a big bath with a unique shape.

    All the people involved in the construction, including Anna, did not think that this eccentric thing made with the same material and the wall was actually a ship.