The mouth of the Ossella River.

A steam-ironclad battleship descended the river into the blue sea. Many forts were built at the mouth of the river, where soldiers along the banks used to prevent fish demons from going upstream.

Even in January 1836, the situation remained unchanged, with many armoured wooden sailing warships plying the estuary.

The steam-ironclad ship on which Philip Sauron rode was named the Kliman, derived from the surname of a famous general from the time of Carlos I.

The Kliman is the newest Blue Whale-class ironclad ship with a displacement of 2,000 tons and 80 guns. It has just been delivered to the Navy for less than three months and is used by the Navy as the flagship of the fleet.

Nominally, His Royal Highness Philip was an envoy to the south to inspect the state of war readiness.

As soon as the Kliman entered the sea, the three Shark-class naval warships that had been waiting for a long time raised their flags to salute the prince, and they would accompany the prince south as frigates.

To his surprise, there were quite a few ships on the sea, all of them steam ironclads, but it seemed that not all of them were built in Genoa.

Torres, the court count who accompanied him, explained: "Most of the power equipment of these ships came from the property of the Count of Genoa, but since the second half of last year his peers have begun to copy them, ignoring Kang's patent. ”

"Did the Earl of Rocky Hill get into a lawsuit with them?" asked Philip curiously.

"You know, it's a wartime policy, and everything can be done that is conducive to fighting aggression and restoring people's livelihoods. Torres said, "The shipbuilders said that the High Court ruled that Kang's patent was invalid. ”

"Is the Earl of Mount Loki so indifferent?" asked Philip.

"What can he do? Defending patent rights and interests itself is a matter of money and energy, so he simply let go of the sale of key equipment and swept the market at the lowest price, and those counterfeiters can only make a small fuss, and they cannot compete with him in terms of technology or cost. In fact, the Earl of Rocky Hill still has a monopoly on this huge market. "Count Torres," don't hide it from Your Highness, the Torres family has also made a lot of money from it. ”

Philip was not dissatisfied with Count Torres's confession, and nodded:

"It is a good thing to popularize the steam ironclad after all, because then the supplies from the south can be continuously transported to the Holy City, which is very beneficial to our war effort. ”

"I admire Your Highness's foresight. Torres patted the horse.

"It looks like these ships are equipped with artillery?" asked Philip, as if to answer himself, "yes, they can apply for an armed license for maritime transport." ”

"Your Highness, this is nature. Although the navy has won victories one after another, no one dares to guarantee that there will be no fish demons in the coastal waters. However, please rest assured, Your Highness, we must be very safe on this trip south, and the total of 200 guns of the four warships is not a good thing. Count Torres said.

The Criman and its three frigates sailed along the coastline, and the new warships were not so good that they rode the wind and waves, fast and steady, which made Philip lament the progress of science.

On this trip south, Philip was on a secret mission, and even the Count of Torres was kept in the dark.

A prince who does not want to be an emperor is not a good prince, and Carlos II gave him a spark, and once this spark fell into his heart, it ignited a raging fire.

He remembered his first encounter with Sean, who was just a retired military officer, but now he had grown into a pivotal figure in the South. Although it is not to the point of changing the situation, as long as it can be encircled, it will definitely be beneficial to the rule of the Sauron family in the south.

Philip was not optimistic about the emperor's vision, but the thought of his sister made Philip feel ashamed and uneasy.

As a descendant of the Sauron family, you should have the consciousness of sacrificing your personal happiness for the sake of your family. Philip tried to convince himself with this reason.

The sea was windy, and the captain asked Prince Philip to return to the cabin. The captain's surname was Herman, and he was Philip's cousin, but this Herman was a side branch of the Herman family, otherwise he would not have become a naval officer, and the son of this foreign family either entered politics or served in the well-paid Guard.

"Your Highness, please stay in your room at night and don't come out. Captain Herman said.

"Are the fish demons active at night?" asked Philip.

"Now in the offshore waters, the fish demon no longer dares to approach our warship during the day, but it is difficult to say at night. But don't worry, they can't help us. Captain Herman said.

Sure enough, in the middle of the night, Philip was woken up by the sound of rumbling cannons. There were sailors running back and forth overhead.

The sound of the cannon was intermittent until dawn, and no one knew that several fish demons were killed last night, and in the dark night, the sailors and gunners fired indiscriminately, and maybe not a single fish demon was killed.

But there were traces of fire on the deck.

"That's all the fish demon has to do. Captain Herman didn't feel ashamed, "The design of this ironclad ship is like an iron bucket that floats in the water, and there are no flammable sails, as long as the sailors are careful not to expose it, the fish demon can't do anything at all." As for melee, the Fish Demon is no match at all. ”

Although Philip felt that this was a bit unreliable, he was still cautious not to express his opinion, and praised the efforts of the officers and men of the navy in order to boost morale.

The next few days were uneventful, and even the weather was beautiful. It seems that in the war with the fish demon, humanity has achieved gratifying results.

The Kleman's first port of call was Pumao Harbor. This is the most important home port of the Navy, and Marshal Moko has his headquarters here, commanding the overall operation at sea.

Philip didn't want to see Marshal Moko if he could.

The marshal's most important duty now was to ask for money, and every day he wrote an urgent letter to the Military Command and the Prime Minister.

If he follows his appetite, the empire will go bankrupt just by building ships.

But it has to be admitted that the Empire's investment in the navy paid off, as can be seen from the number of numerous steam-ironclad cargo ships docked at the port of Pumao. Most of these cargo ships are Genoese cargo ships, and if it weren't for the fact that the fish demons were almost wiped out in the coastal waters, these cargo ships would have dared to run for transportation, which is of course the credit of the navy.

In order to raise funds, Marshal Moko came up with the idea of having the Navy provide escort services for merchant ships, and required all merchant ships to pay insurance premiums to the Navy's insurance company, otherwise they would not provide such services.

This one-of-a-kind service has made the Navy a lot of money.

Sure enough, as soon as he saw the prince, Marshal Moko cried poor and stretched out his hand to ask for money.

Philip said: "Honorable Marshal, you have found a way to make money, so don't embarrass me." One of the purposes of my journey south, at the behest of His Majesty, is to raise funds, and I pledge that at least one-third of the funds will be allocated to the Navy. ”

"Your Highness, then you should go to Genoa, where many rich people gather. "Do you know how to make the Genoese pay for it?"

"How?" asked Philip.

"Just get that guy named Connelly done. Marshal Moko said.