"Storm Queen?" Roland hesitated for a moment, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "To be honest, I don't like this title very much, Liuba is such a gentle and good woman, she is simply a model of a good wife and mother, and she has no resemblance to the moody 'Storm Queen', this title is quite suitable for a little pepper like you." ”

Victoria jumped up in anger and tried to hammer him, complaining that her sister was too well disguised and blinded Roland's superficial eyes.

Lyubov smiled and looked at his mischievous sister without speaking, but quietly put his arms around Roland and leaned a little closer to his shoulders.

Roland told the coachman to stop in front of the Geert Palace, got out of the car and paid a tip and waited in front of the door. The carriage behind came to a halt, and the old man Matvey got out of the car and looked around, his eyes slightly dazed.

"Guys, please." Roland greeted everyone warmly.

"Where is Your Highness the Prince taking us?" Matvi asked Lyubov in wonder.

The hostess shrugged her shoulders and spread her hands, her smile revealing helplessness: "I don't know, just follow him anyway." With that, she lifted the hem of her skirt and followed Roland up the stairs.

Matvey looked at Her Majesty's tall and graceful back, which contrasted with Roland's tall and straight figure, quite a bit of a warm feeling of a woman singing with a husband.

Lyubov initially thought that Roland was trying to lead the guests on a tour of the parliamentary halls of the North Sea Federation, but it was not until Roland turned into a secluded corner on the second floor that he realized his purpose.

"You're going to apply for a patent again?" Lyubov remembered that when Roland first arrived in Baiou Harbor two years ago, he asked her to come to the patent office with him to register a patent for his "letter of credit." ”

"That's right, but it's not my patent." Roland patted the thick paper bag clipped under his armpit, "Mr. Matway's technology in improving the magic locomotive is very advanced, here is a small part of the technical information about the steam engine, I plan to apply for a patent in Baigull Harbor." ”

Lyubov nodded knowingly, and turned to look at Matvey.

"His Royal Highness Roland has long told me about applying for a patent, I thought it was in Krasburg, but it turned out to be in Port Baigull." Matvey replied thoughtfully.

"Do you only patent the Magic Crystal Steam Engine?" Leonid hurried to catch up with Roland, "My father invented a new technology when he was improving locomotives and there was much more to it. ”

"I know this, but I don't think it's appropriate to apply for a patent for the time being for those new technologies......," Roland hesitated for a moment and decided to tell the truth, "Applying for a patent for the related technology of the steam engine is because we have to hand over the design drawings of the steam engine to the turbine factory and ask others to produce it on our behalf, and the locomotive factory we founded ourselves is only responsible for the production of non-power parts, so that we can save a lot of money and time, and we can use the mass production of new magic locomotives as soon as possible to meet the needs of railway transportation." ”

Roland points to the end. Leonid, of course, was not stupid and immediately woke up to his intentions. There is a risk of leaking technical secrets by handing over the design drawings to the turbine factory and hiring someone to do the work on behalf of the company, and although applying for a patent cannot completely avoid leaking secrets, it can at least add an insurance. As for those parts produced in their own factories, with a little care of secrecy, there is less urgent need to apply for patents. In this way, even if the technology of the steam engine is leaked, the other party cannot obtain the locomotive, and other core technologies of the locomotive are difficult to imitate.

The Magic Steam Engine Factories in the Far East were mainly concentrated in the North Bay, and most of these factories built steamship engines, which could be modified to produce steam engines for locomotives.

Hiring someone to do OEM is only a stopgap measure, and Roland's next plan is to acquire the foundry directly, so that it can obtain a complete locomotive industry chain as soon as possible. Of course, the reality is not to play a game, and to buy a large turbine factory requires raising large sums of money and conducting protracted negotiations, you can only take it slowly, and rushing too much will only backfire.

"Your Highness Roland, since you plan to purchase the Magic Crystal Steam Engine for locomotives in Baiou Harbor, why don't you simply set up the locomotive factory in Baiou Harbor, so as to save the need to send the steam engine to Koras Island by ship to assemble it." Jonathan, who has never had the opportunity to communicate deeply with Roland, asked.

That's a good question, why not just set up the locomotive factory in Hakull Harbor and on Koras Island?

"There are two main reasons." Roland calmly explained to Jonathan, but also to Lyubov and others, who had the same doubts.

First of all, according to the agreement signed between the lord of Kolas Island, that is, Roland himself, and the North Sea Federation, setting up a factory on Kolas Island can be granted tax deductions.

"The production of locomotives must be purchased in the Beihai Federation near the United States, and there is a big difference in tax reduction."

Secondly, there was no railway between the North Bay and Colasburg, and the assembled locomotives had to be transported to Krasbourg by the rolling Lucia Mountains, which was undoubtedly the least expensive mode of transport for transporting such heavy cargo as locomotives.

"There are two water transport routes from the North Bay to Krasbourg, one of which is via an inland river. The Veres River originates in the Lucia Mountains and its main stream divides into two branches, one flowing north from the North Bay into the Meteorite Ocean, and the other south across the Great Plain of the Far East and flowing south into the Coral Sea from the Golden Horn in the Parnia region. Theoretically, ships could sail down the Veres River and bypass the Kitland Plateau to the south to the White Hart River near Fort Atonement. However, this is only theoretically the best route. In reality, the tonnage of ships that can carry locomotives must not be low, the middle and lower reaches of the Veres River are relatively open, and 10,000-ton cargo ships can pass, but the upstream river is narrow and obstructed by many reefs, and only in the short period of abundant water can pass large-tonnage cargo ships. ”

Roland plans to carry out a complete dredging and widening of the Veres River, after the completion of this project, the locomotive ships can go straight down the river, but this project is not completed in a short time, not to mention in the high latitudes of the north, even the widened river will be impassable due to winter freeze, and only by taking the sea transportation line can we ensure that it is navigable in all seasons.

"Freighters leave the North Bay from the Bagel Strait to the east, enter the Meteorite Ocean, and then follow the coastline south, and after a month-long voyage into the Coral Sea."

The Coral Sea is sandwiched between two peninsulas, the Parnia Peninsula to the north and the Bologni Peninsula to the south. The arc of coastline between the two peninsulas did not belong to the kingdom of Kolas, but Roland had good relations with the royal family of Parnia, and through the care of the Vlad family, the ships were allowed to disembark in the port of the Golden Horn and receive the most favorable tariff treatment, and after paying the customs clearance, they could go up the lower estuary of the Veres River to Krasburg.