The Blinore River winds its way through bare fields from north to south, and the white sails of the Golden Sheep slanted sideways against the bitter northwest wind, pushing the ship's side into two endless white waves in the dark green water.

On the bow deck, Sylvia wore a sky-blue dress and looked side by side with Victor on the banks of the Brinor. The cold wind of the season of water wrapped in a misty cold mist, blowing beside her, surrounded by nostalgia, as if a pair of invisible hands grabbed a coat of wind and fog and draped it over her body.

With her fluttering skirt and her infinitely beautiful body curves, Sylvia glanced at Victor with disgust, her pure blue eyes looking at the riverbank.

There, the six-legged dragon roared low, and a team of dragon knights accompanied the ship, the streamers on their spears flying in the wind, and the dark purple scales collided with each other, making a sonorous sound.

"The strength and speed of the Swift Dragons crush the mid-tier Bronze Horsemen, and they are so large that they are difficult to kill with a single sword. The junior knights were pursued by the Dragoons, and their chances of victory were slim. Sylvia retracted her gaze, frowned, and sighed, "Swift dragons are good at swimming, but they pose no threat to the Golden Fleece in the water, and will only be shot one by one by a strong bow and crossbow...... In the absence of the Transcendent Knight, the Bronze Knights may not be as effective in water battles as Captain Hansen...... He was the best captain the Augustian family could find, but he wasn't the best captain in the Borui Kingdom. ”

"My dear, do you think that the fleet we have cultivated in ten years can really compete with the Borui people on Lake Fez?"

"So it is necessary to introduce new technologies to close the gap between the two sides in the field of ships. Victor looked back at the helmsman's position, where the first mate Hansen was teaching the rookie sailors of Cambis how to steer. The two Royal Highnesses August, accustomed to occupying the helmsman's position, were in the captain's quarters, studying the paddlewheel drawings he had provided with the Marquis of Golon.

Sylvia pursed her crystal clear red lips slightly, and said in a coquettish voice: "The royal family has begun to accumulate experience in building ships and cultivating naval soldiers, and the descendants have nothing yet. You have worked so hard to design the paddle wheel system to provide the royal family first, which is really unwilling. ”

Victor put his arms around Sylvia's soft and elastic waist, lowered his head and pecked her on the lips, pointed to the water, and smiled: "Who let them have Lake Basel and Blinor? ”

Sylvia pursed her lips and smiled, and said softly, "My love, I really wish you had a hand." ”

Facing Sylvia's pure and deep blue eyes, Victor touched his nose, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Actually, about the ship, I only provide an immature idea, and the August family is responsible for perfecting, implementing and applying it, and they will pay huge manpower, material and financial resources for it. Speaking of which, we have taken advantage of it...... In the end, they will definitely keep a hand, and what we have to do is to build on them and try to go further. ”

A paddle steamer is a ship in which runners are installed on both sides or at the tail of the ship, and it is called a paddle steamer because the wheels are partially exposed on the water. Paddlewheel thrusters can operate continuously, going further than paddle propulsion tools. Of course, its disadvantages are also very obvious, bulky, complex structure and easy to damage, easy to collide when docking, when encountering wind and waves, the side drive wheels are partially exposed to the water, affecting the stability of navigation, and so on.

Therefore, paddle steamers are widely used in inland lakes and inland waterways with less wind and waves, and it evolved from the ancient Chinese steamers. In the 17th century, the French scholar Denis Papin first proposed the use of a steam engine to drive the flanking wheel ship to sail, and in 1707, he built a flank driving ship in Kassel and experimented it in Fuerda. However, the ship was not machine-driven, it was still driven by human power. However, Papin's idea had a very important significance.

In 1807, the American Robert Fulton made a breakthrough when his wooden paddle steamer "Clermonton" used the steam engine invented by Watt, becoming the world's first commercial steamship to be successfully operated on earth.

There is no coal and oil in the other world, the cost of making charcoal is too high, the heating efficiency is too low, and the development of steam engine ships is not a thought. Victor's paddle steamer must be driven by manpower, but fortunately, the humans in this world are much stronger than the humans in the earth world, and there are various secret ways to improve strength and physical fitness, and there is no problem with a well-trained sailor driving a paddle steamer.

Whether a human-powered paddle steamer is faster than a galley remains to be seen, and Victor is sure that it is not as agile as a galley. However, if this ship power technology from the earth world can be realized here, it will be very suitable for the strategic needs of the naval fleet of the Kingdom of Gombis to dominate the inland lakes and rivers.

Paddleing may seem simple, but it's not easy to play tricks. Experienced oarsmen are familiar with their ships and the hydrological conditions, and they work with sailors and helmsmen to make them move forward, backwards, and turn around quickly. In this regard, the naval force that Cambis is still preparing is too far behind the Borui fleet, and if Cambis continues to use Borui ship technology to develop surface power, let alone ten years, even if it is 50 years, 100 years, it will not want to compete with the Borui fleet.

No one can swear sovereignty over the Jinshui River, because no one can afford to build a castle on the water. Lake Fes on the Jinshui River is, of course, an unowned, lawless place. In the era when the Bronze Horseman was the mainstream, the transcendent knights would not attack each other unless they had to, which would harm the fundamental interests of the entire knight class. The Bronze Horseman is really not as intimidating as an experienced old captain on the water. The gap between Cambys's naval fleet and Borui's fleet is like a baby and a strong man, and Captain Borui can beat Combys's fleet with his hands tied.

Assuming that the Rand Empire can only build a port after ten years, the first twenty years, the warships of the Kingdom of Gombis have an absolute advantage in numbers, but the army of the Kingdom of Borui is stationed in the Dusk Forest, and they can continuously transport the shipbuilding wood produced by the Dusk Forest to the port of Lake Fez. As freeman sailors, the Borui Navy runs rampant in Lake Fes, often playing the role of water thieves and lake pirates, while fighting a war of words on the ground with the Kingdom of Gombis, while seizing control of Lake Fes non-stop. Cambis's water and military skills are not as good as people, except for spitting, I'm afraid I can only stare dryly.

The only way to do this is to introduce new technologies and avoid competition in the traditional field of ships. Paddlewheel sail-driven warship technology provides this possibility.

First of all, the sailors of the paddle steamer only had to step on the wheels, no skill was required, and anyone could step on the wheels in the cabin. Moreover, the power output of the waist and legs is definitely greater and more durable than the chest muscles of the arms, and the paddle wheel drive can run continuously is an advantage that the paddle drive does not have. Continuous operation meant that paddle steamers could sail against the current in the inland waterways with no wind or light winds, and once the oarsmen of the galleys were exhausted and could not paddle, the ship was washed back by the river.

Secondly, Victor really put a lot of effort into designing the paddle wheel drive system, and he made full use of the lever principle and gear structure to maximize the output efficiency of the paddle wheel rotation and slap water, and reduce the physical consumption of sailors. A traditional galley requires 60 oarsmen, and it is not impossible to run continuously. Paddle sailing vessels require 40 wheel-steppers to continuously drive the ship forward, backward or turned, and the speed of the ship may still be dominant.

In fact, Victor's shipbuilding knowledge mainly comes from the content of the alchemy human will, and he himself is not sure how effective the paddlewheel drive system of the earth world is. Silvia was confident in her lover's wisdom and considered the ship propulsion system he designed to be invaluable. Giving such valuable technology to the kiteburg, Sylvia felt regretful and helpless at the same time.

Shipbuilding is a complex science, and paddle steamers are not as simple as adding one or two large wheels to a sailboat. The ship is a large system, composed of many subsystems, and suddenly changing its driving subsystem will affect the whole body, and it requires a lot of manpower, material resources, financial resources, and the most precious time to continuously test and correct, and finally get the finished product of the paddle steamer.

It is also not easy to skillfully control a ship, and large warships have captains, co-workers, boatswains, navigators, lookouts, sailors, oarsmen, who must be familiar with every part of the ship, be competent for every job, trust each other, and cooperate tacitly. A good team of sailors can give life to a ship. In a sense, these people are more powerful than the Bronze Horseman on the water.

Whether it's building a ship or training a team of sailors, it takes time, as well as the venue.

The centaur hills do not have these objective conditions, and the alchemy tower is useless.

There are 21 ship building schemes on the Will side of the Alchemy Human, of which 4 ships can travel on water, and the rest rely on the Alchemy Circle as the driving force. Loading the forging skill alchemy humans can build ships, but they can't drive ships, what is the use of Victor building ships according to the drawings?

What's more, the Silvermoon River in the Centaur Hills is a shallow river, and large ships cannot navigate, and the Rose Harbor has not yet been completed, so Victor and Sylvia must find another way out if they want to cultivate a naval army in the Centaur Hills.

In the entire Kingdom of Gambis, only the Auguste family's Barcel Lake Carlil Fish Port and the Joshua family's Waterdeep City have the conditions to build ships and train troops. In fact, the Senate of Cambys has passed an important resolution, August, York, Joshua, Wellington, Nimes and Chebman, the six major families, to concentrate their efforts on building a naval army on Lake Basel, accumulating shipbuilding experience, training sailors, practicing the coordination of ships on the surface of the water, and jointly seeking water supremacy in Lake Fez.

In order for Victor to prove his vision for a paddle steamer, he had to share paddle drive technology with August.

From another point of view, Victor just came up with an idea, and the specific implementation depends on the Auguste family, and with the results, the great lords of Cambis are involved in the sharing of technology. Augustus is the one who suffers the most, but who makes them the royal family of Cambys?

For the Kingdom of Gombis, the most pressing issue now is to exchange time for strategic space, if they pull each other back in big decisions, then Don't ask for Lake Fes at all!

Of course, Sylvia didn't know that Victor was indeed hiding a hand.

Alchemy humans have mature bearing technology.

The importance of bearings to mechanical rotational motion goes without saying. According to the cultural relics left over from the era of the Chosen One, the scholars of the silver and white tower invented the wooden ball bearing, but due to the limitation of processing accuracy and material service life, the wooden ball bearing could not be popularized and promoted, and could only be used in the form of toys and crafts as a technical reserve to be developed.

Alchemical auxiliaries use crystal glaze to fire crystal beads of the same size, and then infiltrate them to create standard silver bearings. By applying the silver bearings to the vehicles and ships, Victor is sure that the operating efficiency of the carriage and paddle steamer will be qualitatively improved!

In addition, the Seyin flat-bottomed sea ship made by the alchemy auxiliaries has a stable structure, is not afraid of the wind and waves of the sea, and can enter the shallow waters of the coastline, drive away the coastal fishmen, and rush to land.

With these skills, Victor's fleet will be invincible and unmatched.

This is the technological monopoly brought about by the materials science of the Alchemy Empire!

The sound of high-top leather boots trampling on the planks could be heard on the deck, and Victor knew that it was Roland who came without looking back, with the unique rhythm of his footsteps.

The splendid eldest princess walked up to Victor and Sylvia, took out her crystal binoculars, and pretended to look straight in front of the Golden Sheep.

"Fourteen days, have you decided on the type of ship I offered?" asked Victor with an elegant smile.

Roland's emerald eyes squinted at Victor, snorted contemptuously from his straight nose, knocked his monoculars in the palm of his hand, nodded and said:

"It's settled, you have provided four paddle steamer building schemes, and we are ready to build them all. In addition, I decided to include the paddle sailboat in the trial construction program. ”

Victor's eyes widened instantly, and he asked in disbelief: "Your Royal Highness, I must remind you that the test shipbuilding may not be successful at one time......"

"I know. ”

Roland's calm expression made Victor feel bad, he thought about it, and said tentatively: "If it fails, it has to be reformed again, and if it can't be transformed, it has to be rebuilt...... I'll let you choose a trial plan, and you will not count all of them, and add a flat-bottomed paddle steamer...... How much shipbuilding timber is wasted?"

"yes, so I'm asking for half of the trial shipbuilding timber, canvas skin, iron nails, thin steel bottoms, oh yes, and special fish-man viscose. Roland snapped his slender and round jade fingers and shook his head and said.

Victor gasped, shook his head like a rattle, and said continuously, "No, no...... Oh, I mean, just choose a solution first, there's no need to make so many trials at once...... Well, paddle wheel flat-bottomed sailboats are useless, and they can't go retrograde in the river of blood. ”

"It's not built yet, how do you know it can't be done?" Roland thrust his little waist, narrowed his big beautiful eyes, and his expression was playful and dangerous, like a kitten ready to hunt mice.

"The shipbuilding solutions you provide are all paddle steamers under 700 tons, so you can't ....... them."

"I agreed. ”

Sylvia nodded in agreement and said flatly.

Victor could only smile and nod bitterly, and his heart twitched. The wood used for shipbuilding is very exquisite, and the hundred-year-old mahogany of the dark forest is compact and does not rot when exposed to water, which is a very good raw material. But it must go through soaking, drying, plate making and other processes, which lasts five years before it can be used as a shipbuilding material. The price of rosewood in the Dark Forest has now increased by 6 times, and Randall collar buys more than 20,000 gold soles a year. Money aside, the key is that the timber is made in five years, and Victor spent a lot of money to purchase mahogany, hoping to reserve more qualified shipbuilding materials to prepare for the construction of the fleet. Roland asked him to take out the shipbuilding timber and participate in the research and development of the paddle steamer, and he would rather pay for it than use the family's reserves.

If you want to waste it, you can waste it, what are you pulling me for?

Victor muttered in his heart, and said with a cold face: "The trial production of paddle steamers is the overall situation of the kingdom, and it can't just be paid by the royal family, but also by other big families!"

"Hmph! I'm waiting for you...... This is the will of His Highness Randall, and it has nothing to do with my brother. ”

Roland raised his graceful chin, wrinkled his little nose proudly, and then said with a disgusted face: "The front is the dock of Pinghu Town, and in half a day, you will be able to see that old immortal guy." ”

"Victor, you're messing with that old immortal, and I'm hating you more and more. Roland turned back to the cabin, and as he was about to descend the stairs, he turned his head and dropped a word, and pedaled, kicked, and disappeared into the deck.

Victor shrugged his shoulders disapprovingly, rubbed his chin, and turned to Sylvia with a low smile, "They seem to be aware of my intentions." ”

The cold wind on the bow of the ship and the breeze beside her stopped, and Sylvia gracefully brushed her hair behind her ears, and said with a smile: "Golon, Williams, and Roland don't know how to build ships, and they studied the shipbuilding plan you provided along the way, not to figure out the changes behind the deduction plan. ”

Victor and the Grand Lord of Gombis share the technical idea of paddle wheel drive, which is out of the overall situation of the Kingdom of Gombis. There is also a small game within the big picture, the development strategy of Lake Fez, the Bloodriver Exploration Strategy, the frog jump tactics, and the paddle steamer trial plan can also be considered a decoy against the Wizard of Tofven.

"We're not afraid he's not going to take the bait right now. ”

The corners of Victor's mouth pursed into a confident smile, his dark golden eyes stared at the endless river, and his sharp gaze pierced the misty cold fog, and the wharf of Longbridge Town was already in sight.