…
There are too many ships.
Steele leaned against the porthole of the poop, looking at the fleet of ships coming and going on the Chishui River.
Since entering the Western Region, the river has suddenly become busy, and most of the boats are strange stone boats without sails. According to the captain's introduction, they call this a paddle steamer, relying on steam power to move forward, and its speed is not affected by the wind direction. It was much faster than a sailboat while sailing, often dragging a trail of black smoke to the front - as to how the steam propelled the large wooden wheels on either side of the hull, no one could say for sure.
But one thing is certain, this is all made by Neverwinter.
Steele estimated in his heart that a paddle steamer could be seen almost every half an hour. If all of them were carrying goods, the amount of materials absorbed by Neverwinter would undoubtedly be an astonishing value. She learned this from the merchants—the bigger the city, the higher the ability to digest materials. As long as you stay on its official road for two days, you can roughly judge how prosperous the city is and how many business opportunities there are. If you are good at communication, you can even analyze the commodities that are most in demand in the city.
Obviously, this Chishui River is the most important traffic artery in the Western Region.
And the busyness of the river also meant that the propaganda she saw in the capital was probably not the boasting of His Majesty Roland.
In a short period of time, the Western Territory was integrated into a new city, and the permanent population and commercial trade have surpassed the original capital, but such an extraordinary heir to the throne has a notorious reputation of being ignorant and paranoid... Thinking of these rumors, Steele became more and more curious about Roland Wimbledon himself.
"Miss Conrad, are you watching the boat again?" The door of the room was pushed open, and a handsome brown-haired man came in, "Would you like to go out and breathe, it's boring to stay here all the time? "
"No, it's fine here," Steele straightened up and nodded at him, "Thank you for your hospitality."
"Where," he laughed, "it's my luck to be with a beautiful lady like you."
Similar flattery Steele heard too much, but she still responded with a cheerful expression, "If you didn't lend a helping hand, I'm afraid I'd have to huddle with those goods and refugees."
"Of course I can't just sit back and watch this happen," the man sat down across from her. "No gem dealer would want to let jewelry get dusty."
He is the owner of the Eternal Spring, Victor, a gem merchant from the capital. After the original ship was burnt, Steele quickly picked the brig from a group of ships heading west. It is not a passenger ship and does not accept employment, but belongs to Victor's personal car, but for the Pearl of the North, as long as the owner is male, all this is not a problem.
She played herself as a noble lady from the Northland who went to the West to find her lost relatives. In a few words, Victor felt pity and invited her to board the Yongchun. Compared with ordinary small sailboats and cargo ships, Yongchun has a comfortable poop cabin, which is spacious and bright, and does not have the rotten wood smell left by running around the water all the time. Even the master prepared two servants for her, not even a single golden dragon.
Of course, the only price is that Victor will come to the door from time to time to show his generosity and concern, but this has long been accustomed to Steele, who is very handy in the aristocratic social circle. If the other person is good enough, she also enjoys the feeling of being driven to control the other person.
"Although these boats can move without wind, they are too simple," Victor poured himself a cup of black tea, "I once boarded a paddle steamer and observed it carefully, it was not only noisy, but also very trembling. …good for hauling cargo, but not a good option for long journeys.”
"Of course it won't be as comfortable as the Eternal Spring," Steele chuckled, "but why do I feel like they appeared overnight? There used to be no such ships in the West, right?"
"You're right, they just popped up overnight," Victor curled his lips, "I used to run Longsong Fortress a lot, and there are such weird things, it's only been a winter, and they're all over the place. already."
Twenty or thirty paddle steamers were built in one winter? Steele couldn't help being surprised. As the heir to the Kant family, she naturally knew what it meant. Precisely because a large city needs to digest a large amount of materials, its expansion is also limited by the transportation capacity of materials, and such fast-producing non-sailboats are obviously an excellent tool for expanding transportation capacity—if the energy source continues to divert food and commodities from all over the kingdom. When it arrives in the Western Region, the expansion speed of Neverwinter City may be far beyond people's imagination!
As for the noise and tremors? That's not worth mentioning at all.
"By the way, Miss Conrad, don't care about those unbeautiful stone ships. I have some more interesting things here, which may help you pass your boring time." Victor called the maid beside her, in her ear After whispering a few words, the latter nodded, turned and left the room.
"What is it?"
"Anything that matches your beauty," he said proudly, "is what I do."
The maid soon returned to the poop, and brought a rather exquisite book, which Victor spread out in front of Steele, "I wonder which one do you like?"
On the parchment paper, many bright spar patterns are beautifully drawn. The brushwork is delicate, the color is bright, and even the transparent luster jumps on the paper. Obviously, the artist who drew the atlas is very good at this.
"This is... a gem?"
"To be precise, it is the rough gemstone." Victor explained carefully, "When I bought them, I set the price according to the standard in the catalogue. Compared with the carved and polished jewelry, the rough stone also has a different flavor... If you are right If you are interested in what kind of rough stone, please tell me. Of course, if you prefer the finished product, I can also ask a jeweler to make it into an ornament for you after returning to the capital."
With nothing new, Steele flipped through the picture book and handed it back to him, "Thanks, no need."
Victor took the book in surprise, "Aren't you interested in these?"
"My relatives don't know the whereabouts yet. I really have no intention to choose these luxurious gifts. Please forgive me." Steele whispered. If he responds here, he will also be entangled by him after arriving in Neverwinter City, which is not conducive to his next actions. While most women would be fascinated by these glittering contraptions, she would rather admire the steam engine that propelled the paddle steamer, which had real value than the jewels that were only passed down among the nobility.
…
Shortly after Victor left, a series of long sounds suddenly came from the direction of the bow, one after another, thick and deep... As if a huge fleet was leaving the port.
Steele looked sideways and saw that the light brown pier line was slowly unfolding in front of her.