After the cement boat was placed in the curing room for a week, it was finally time for outfitting.
The workers who were called in were dumbfounded. When the prince ordered to push the tub, which he had finally made, into the water, everyone wondered if they had heard it wrong.
However, Roland's order was indeed so.
He had the shed temporarily dismantled and removed, and then a slope was dug at the bottom of the cement boat, leading directly into the river. This part must be done with extra care, because the tensile and seismic resistance of cement products is extremely poor, and a few cracks are still a trivial matter.
On the log, tie the rope to control the speed of the slide. When everything is ready, the workers will wrap the hemp rope with the thick wrist around the newly laid stake and pull it into a straight line. With a single command, the rope was slowly loosened, and the bottom of the boat slid on the log, making a harsh rubbing sound.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly. Roland saw that the cement boat gradually fell into the river. The draft of the whole boat was about half a meter deep, and the wall of the boat was still about one meter above the water. The workers were surprised to see that this thing, which was heavier than a stone, did not sink into the bottom of the river with a cooing sound, but floated on the water like a leaf.
"Hurry up and wrap the rope around the stake a few more times, and then tie it tightly!" Roland commanded. The hemp rope tied to the hull could not be untied, otherwise the cement boat would float southward with the river.
Although Nightingale didn't show her body, her unbelievable tone revealed her shock: "Why does it float?"
"Uh... Simply put, its average density is lower than that of water, so it can float on the water," Roland replied after thinking for a while, "It has nothing to do with whether it is iron or cement. In fact, you should see a sailboat when you see it. Understand, such a big boat is much heavier than a stone."
The voice did not sound again, and he guessed that the other party had fallen into hard thinking. Even Anna might not be able to react immediately. Roland smiled and continued to direct the workers to the next step.
The follow-up outfitting is a long period of time. When it snows heavily, the work has to be stopped. Only when the snow situation is small, can we rush for time to do it for a while. The main content of outfitting is to lay the deck. Pieces of planks are installed on the ship. There are many short wooden piles standing in the gap between the deck and the bottom of the ship. Although it is a bit of a waste of space, considering the cement ship’s The main purpose is not so much.
Next is anti-corrosion treatment. The carpenters knew exactly what to do at this point. They first painted the deck with a layer of oil with a pungent smell, and after it solidified, they repeated several layers of red paint. After everything was done on the deck level, the outfitting entered the superstructure installation phase.
The so-called upper part is nothing but a wooden shed standing between two masts to store artillery and ammunition. In the event of rain, the crew can also have a place to shelter from the rain. A platform for one person to stand on the top of the wooden shed was specially installed, which was obviously prepared for Wendy. As long as she stands on the roof, the range of her ability can cover the sails up and down.
The rudder at the stern is made of pig iron, which is a little troublesome to install. It is necessary to pass the tiller from the underwater through the reserved hole to expose the deck, and then insert the iron ring from the deck and weld the buckle. The buckle is a right-angled triangular iron plate, the long side is welded to the tiller, and the short side can rotate freely in the groove reserved by the iron ring.
The welding work was naturally left to Anna. After expressing her shock and confusion at the stone bathtub that could float on water, she asked the exact same question as Nightingale.
Roland repeated the answer, and saw Anna squatting aside and thinking.
Well... universal education is a long way to go.
*****************
Fanner, on the other hand, is hesitant to join the Artillery or the Musket.
Everything has to start with the order three days ago.
His Royal Highness decided to transfer the outstanding members of Militia Team 1 and Militia Team 2 to form a special team, and Vanner was very happy to hear his name on the list. But when Iron Axe asked him whether to join the Artillery or the Musket, he was lost. He knew that the musket was simply agile against the evil beast, and its penetrating power was much stronger than that of a hand crossbow. Currently only the Iron Axe, the Chief Knight, and a few hunters can wield such ferocious weapons. Fanner should have joined the gun team without hesitation, but he just asked, what is a gun
When he learned that it was a tenfold magnified musket, and its power was a hundred times stronger than that of a musket, he was caught in a dilemma.
Obviously, the more powerful weapons you can use, the more you prove that His Royal Highness values him. Joining the artillery team seems to be a better choice than the musket team. This is the scene he has always dreamed of. Although the artillery is powerful, after being magnified ten times, it must not be carried away, right
Until the deadline for the last day, he gritted his teeth and chose artillery. The last straw that overwhelmed the camel was the monthly salary of 5 silver wolves higher than the musketeer.
Then the rigorous training began.
A cannon requires five people to operate, and Vanna is divided into a group of Yupi, Cat's Claw, Nelson and Rodney. Vanner was appointed as the gunner because he had served as the deputy of the Pikes.
Compared with a musket, this thing is more than ten times more troublesome to serve! For more than a month, he secretly observed the process of the iron axe operating the musket, and he thought that he had already mastered it. However, it is necessary to go through a set of cumbersome operations to convert the artillery light from the traveling state to the ready-to-fire state.
Stop the horse, pull out the pin, pull up the hook, move the gun mount, push it to the shooting point, and drop the support. These procedures require five people to work together. For example, when the hook is pulled, the others must immediately push the gun to make the hook It is separated from the tractor, and the four wheels become two wheels before it can fall to support. There must be good coordination during the conversion, otherwise the heavy gun mounts will be difficult to remove from the tractor.
After the landing is completed, the ammunition is loaded and ready to shoot. This part is very similar to a musket, except that to clean the barrel, two brushes are needed to be inserted in turn, and the gunpowder is also packaged and can be directly loaded into the barrel. The ignition method is ignited by drug wire, and it seems that it is difficult to exert its power when it is raining, Fanner thought.
Fortunately, most of the time the gunner only needs to tell others what to do, and it doesn't take too much effort.
For the first three days, the four artillery groups selected had only one gun to train. So under the command of Iron Axe, a group of people loaded the gun mount into the car, unloaded it, prepared to fire, and then went back to load the car. These two steps were repeated, and Fanner suspected that the gun barrel might be much cleaner than his own face under the continuous cleaning.