Xiao Chen's "proposal" to Luo Ling was not made public, but many people noticed that they had a pair of matching rings on their fingers. People who knew each other congratulated them, and others also paid attention to them secretly. Most people knew that Xiao Chen and Luo Ling were a couple, so it was reasonable for them to get engaged now.
What they didn't know was that in the Earth world, Xiao Chen and Luo Ling went to a jewelry store together and ordered a pair of rings that were exactly the same as the ones here. The other two also contacted their parents and prepared to meet them.
However, amid the intense preparations for sailing, such "little things" were quickly settled.
Soon, the day of departure arrived.
That morning, the dock next to the shipyard was crowded with people. Sailors were carrying the last of the fresh ingredients onto the ship, and soldiers were lining up in front of a viewing platform. Xiao Chen was standing on the viewing platform, preparing to hold a ceremony for the fleet's departure.
Xiao Chen took advantage of the break before the ceremony to look at the two warships again under the morning light. Although the two warships were the result of everyone's joint efforts, he spent more effort than others. He couldn't even remember how many times he had made models of the two ships. He only remembered that they were originally two wooden sailing ships, which changed little by little and finally became what they are now.
The Houyi and Xingtian were moored in the temporary port set up at the shipyard, looking very eye-catching, like the scene reflected in a mirror.
They both have silver-white hulls that are unique in the world. Unlike the sailing battleships in that world that only have copper skins wrapped to the waterline, these two ships use magic alloys to wrap the entire hull and upper deck. Even the superstructures and masts on the deck have silver-white metal frames to increase their strength. What's more exaggerated is that if you look closely, you will find that these metals are covered with fine magic runes, connecting the entire ship into a continuously operating magic circle.
The original displacement of Holy Sword and Holy Shield was about 1,200 tons. After the modification, Houyi and Xingtian had a displacement of 2,500 tons due to their metal shells and additional equipment.
The Holy Sword and the Holy Shield originally had two decks. Before the renovation, their main fighting methods were shooting crossbows and hand-to-hand combat. After the renovation, the deck where the crossbows were originally placed was dismantled and two new artillery decks were added.
It's not that Xiao Chen and his team didn't want to build a closed turret, but they didn't have the time and technical reserves to do so. So they could only adopt the most typical artillery layout of a sailing battleship.
On the two gun decks, two rows of 180mm pneumatic guns were installed on both sides of the hull. Counting the pneumatic guns on the bow and stern decks, the total number of guns reached 40, although there were many fewer guns than the first-class sailing battleships of the same tonnage in Earth history. However, the pneumatic guns contained high-energy explosive shells, which were far from being comparable to the solid shells of the smoothbore guns of the sailing battleships, not to mention the magic crossbows on the original Holy Sword.
If it is used to deal with ships like the southern city-states or the sea tribes, such firepower is completely redundant. However, considering that there are many unknown enemies in this world, such as legendary sea monsters or powerful people with extraordinary strength, it is not surprising to configure firepower in this way.
Besides, the Tower of China does not have any experienced naval gunners. All gunners are selected from the Guard Army. Their live-fire shooting performance in the exercise is very poor, so in real combat, they need to use quantity to make up for quality. In this world, the shells can be stored in storage props, so there is not much load-bearing problem, so this number of gun positions was designed.
Now all the gun ports are closed. Houyi and Xingtian look quiet and graceful, but they will show their ferocious faces in battle.
However, these are not the most distinctive features of these two ships. The core secret of these two ships' courage to cross the turbulent sea is that there is a white cone in the middle of their second deck. That thing is more than one person tall, shiny enough to reflect a person, flawless, and no traces of splicing can be seen. It is connected to the magic circle that runs through the entire warship. It is a space stabilizer made by He Xiaoxi's time shuttle. He Xiaoxi split her artifact into two and placed them on the two ships. At the cost of destroying the artifact, she gave the two ships the ability to sail in extremely harsh environments.
There are many novelties on this ship that other ships do not have, such as the Star Track House from the Star Tower, which can navigate day and night according to the stars, such as the crystal power room that can be used as a power supplement, which can produce steam through crystal energy to drive the ship's propeller, such as the cold storage full of ice arrays, so that fresh ingredients can be preserved for a long time, such as the warehouse equipped with a space compression array, which can carry eight times the cargo in the same volume. There is also a teleportation room with a large teleportation array, which can not only allow the crews on the two ships to support each other, but also connect with the city on the mainland when the distance is close enough and the space is stable.
Xiao Chen was also secretly comparing these two ships with the modern ships in his original world. Although they used different methods, they still restored a considerable number of the functions of modern ships.
The sailors delivered the last batch of supplies onto the ship and transported them into the ice storage, and then came to the viewing stand to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
Xiao Chen looked at the more than 1,000 people below, including sailors, navy soldiers, marines, professionals, and masters of magic and martial arts. He said, "Everyone, you are all warriors carefully selected by our China Tower.
Most of you have been fighting in the Tower of China for several years, and have proven your loyalty and bravery in various fields. Some of you have only joined us for less than a month, but you have also gone through layers of screening and testing to be able to stand here.
Since we are about to board the same ship, we are compatriots and brothers in the same boat. I want to tell you our destination, let you know how important your mission is, and how important your future actions will be to mankind and to the world. "
Although some people present vaguely knew the purpose of this trip, no one knew the details of the actual operation. At this time, hearing Xiao Chen's words, many people showed excitement.
Xiao Chen said loudly: "I say you are warriors because you are about to embark on an extremely difficult and glorious road.
We are going to the Pearl Islands to look for the ghost ship, we are going to cross the Raging Sea to the Western Continent, and we are going to the Sea of Ice and Snow to look for the Soul Forging Tower. "
Every time Xiao Chen mentioned a place, the people below would unconsciously exclaim in amazement, but they were just exclamations, and no one showed any fear or hesitation.
“We must gather every bit of strength we can to provide mankind with a glimmer of opportunity and possibility to defeat the gods of nature.
And I, Xiao Chen, will walk in front of you. No matter we face failure or victory, I will continue to lead you forward!"
Xiao Chen took a breath and shouted, "Long live the Tower of China! Long live humanity!"
A huge wave of voices rang out from the audience: "Long live the Tower of China! Long live humanity!" (To be continued)