6. The maiden voyage of the Auspicious Ship (Part 2)
Speaking of which, Feili really admires these research madmen in the Magic Goddess Church: there is no dock, no gantry crane, no professional craftsmen, and there is not even a factory except a barren beach. They are actually ambitious to build a 10,000-ton high-tech battleship in the beach shipyard!
Feili didn't know if he was crazy or the world was crazy. In short, he was so angry that he was so angry that he was tender on the outside and tender on the inside. Should he praise these guys for being a newborn calf and not afraid of tigers? Or should he say that they are ignorant and fearless?
Although the Korean shipyard in another world sold the ships with no trace of factory equipment and only a beach, they at least built the factory after getting the money.
What about these construction teams in Arctic Port? No matter how you look at it, they all regard the construction of warships as building blocks or a fortification temple without foundation... The genius and the madman are indeed only a line away. These guys are really stupid and have no limits!
Although Feili wanted to cut off this whimsical project immediately, the church's charlatans had leaked the magnificent "Sky Temple Plan" and also sent believers to donate and sponsor it. Although basically no dime was raised, the news was everywhere from the colonies to the local area, and I don't know how many people were waiting to see jokes. Even the goddess, who was afraid of the world, came to the ground to take a kick, possessed her and went to the construction site for inspection, and praised Feili's imagination and creativity... This greatly enhanced the enthusiasm of the research madmen's work, but also pushed the poor Feili to a dilemma--even the great gods talked about it. Do you, the voter who advocated first, dare to slap yourself in the mouth?
At this moment, he deeply realized the true meaning of praise and killing.
In desperation, Feili had to hire a shipbuilding engineer and rent equipment. After working with the madmen who seemed genius in the Magic Goddess Church for three months, he finally put together a strange ship that seemed heroic but was actually terrible. In order to bless the ship not to become the number one joke of Tianzi, Feili named the ship Xiangrui, hoping that it could destroy others like a real auspiciousness, but make itself live auspiciousness.
The normal displacement of the Xiangrui is about 12,000 tons, and the basic structure is iron-brown shell, but the parts below the waterline are all nailed with thin metal plates. A huge Mistera Holy Emblem is also painted to make it look like it is all metal when it flys. The weapons are two magically driven double turrets, equipped with four eight-inch cannons, and there are also 60 old-style guns of various types from 1 pound to 12 pounds. This firepower seems weak compared to the huge hull, but it makes enough space for freight and religion. Of course, most of the space is wasted for various incredible reasons.
The biggest advantage of Xiangrui is its nearly infinite endurance: there is no need to store fresh water, because with the magic energy provided by the Miser energy core, the faucet can be inserted directly into the water element plane; there is no need to store fuel. Because the power, heating and lighting of the entire ship are all maintained by infinite magic energy; it is not affected by wind direction and currents, because it is not a sailboat; it is not blocked by reefs, shallows, or even land, because it can fly... Basically, as long as you bring enough food, there is nothing to worry about---of course, this is just a theoretical statement.
Just as Feili was in a state of turmoil to ensure that this giant ship was successfully completed, Zena, Ludwig and others also shouted at the shipbuilding plan and complained.
Originally, through the slave trade business with the Elf Kingdom and the sales channels of the Wu Winter City Chamber of Commerce, their small group had already achieved good initial profits. After the slave trade business ended due to the exhaustion of goods, they used the autonomy of the Arctic Port Church to smuggle between the colonies and the local area, which could almost be called a daily gain.
The official and business family have always been the most profitable. With a port that they completely control, Zena and others can use the Arctic Port as a transit station to allow merchant ships to bluntly bypass customs agencies controlled by the central government and transport goods into the colonial market. Ludwig also used his authority as the speaker of the two states to facilitate the circulation of smuggled goods in the inland, and on the other hand, he also acted as a supplier.
They used the crops and raw materials produced in the colonies to exchange magical items and luxury goods transported from the local area. In addition, the geographical advantage of Arctic Port is located at the terminal of the northern route. During the past few months of armistice, colonies, local and even foreign merchant ships came here for transit and barter, and also paid a large amount of protection fees. The Arctic Port authorities took advantage of temporary institutional defects and stuffed an elephant into the colonial market from the needle of Arctic Port, and in a short time it built a pretty decent guard force. At the same time, they gathered a large amount of local wealth.
However, these big guys were so angry that after hearing other people's deceptions, the giant ship seemed like a terrifying gold-swallowing beast, and they opened their mouths. More than half of their hard work in a few months turned into bubbles. Just a magic drive system would consume hundreds of pounds of silver and baskets of gems. It was all thanks to Fili's desperate stinginess and cutting corners. The church leader of the Arctic Port did not end up in a miserable ending of "banking for the sake of sacred faith."
When Xiangrui finally swayed into the sea with the cheers of the research madmen, the expected construction funds had exceeded three times. This time, the trial voyage that many people had high expectations made Feili, a beginner in navigation, accumulate a lot of bitterness:
"What an epoch-making milestone, the invincible battleship soaring in the blue sky! This is clearly a broken smuggling ship decided by several super-brained leaders, and then a group of non-professionals designed by imagination and finally fiddled in the beach shipyard... The bottom of the ship is leaking, the rudder is crooked, the turret is made of paper, the superstructure is nailed by thin wooden boards, and the rats are disasters before they can be launched. As for the personnel... the magician is not good at shipbuilding and sailing, and the charlatan is also not good at shipbuilding and sailing, and the charlatan that the magician believes in is even more... despair, despairing about this world where laymen lead insiders!"
Although there are various defects, the high speed of the Xiangrui is still quite commendable. It takes about a month to take an ordinary sailing boat from Arctic Port to Wudongcheng, the empire's mainland. The Xiangrui, which is full of hidden dangers, took only eight days to complete the voyage after seeping water all the way and being seriously overloaded.
Just as Feili and others unloaded the seriously overloaded private goods and held a grand fee-based exhibition for Xiangrui, and then planned to travel a few more round trips to earn back the cost of building the ship, a new disaster came.
The Arctic Port Church has led the blatant smuggling activities in the past few months. Although it has turned a broken empty city into a prosperous place where merchants gather in a short period of time and gave the Magic Goddess Church an absolutely reliable foothold in the New World, it is actually based on digging the corners of the imperial customs. Just as the Arctic Port business is booming. After counting the money and cramping, the income of other ports in the colony has dropped sharply. The market is barely able to pass due to internal trade activation, but there are almost no signs of post-war recovery on the customs account book.
The Naserel Empire has experienced more than a year of war and is already in a state of treasury. Now it is time to look for money to fill holes everywhere. Customs taxes are the largest income of the central government. How can others allow others to move this piece of cheese? Even though the powerful church of Magic Goddess secretly helped, this method of making money was really indecent, and all walks of life were excited about it. After reluctantly delaying it several times, the major autonomous regions followed suit and proposed to intercept local customs income. The Ministry of Finance even threatened to strike. In this way, the parliament finally passed the sanctions case against Arctic Port. From October 1, 199, the customs will send people to Arctic Port to collect tariffs and fines, and the person who came was a devout believer of the god of justice Tyr! Now, it is impossible to even bribe him.
After receiving internal news in Wudong City, Feili was shocked after receiving internal information in advance. He quickly collected some intimidated goods from the colonies in Wudong City, and then hurriedly set sail back, hoping to make the last pot of gold. Unexpectedly, it rained all night long, and as soon as he went out of the sea, he encountered a large group of icebergs. Dejin, the lord who had been working with him, also found out about this information and hurriedly came to cope with the debt... So Feili's head became even more painful.
"Oh my God, where can I go to find money!"
Feili murmured in a low voice. She walked to the gate of the engine room and wanted to see the operation of the Miser Energy Nuclear. As a result, he just opened a small gap in the door, a hot wind filled with the fragrance of the brewery came to her face, which made Feili, who was mentally prepared, smothered the spot.
The next moment, an angry voice echoed in the engine room for a long time.
"Winnie----! What are you doing, a drunkard, lying next to the Mither's nuclear power? And, what's the matter with so many barrels of soju? Where did you get it?"
"Aoaoao...aoaoao..."
"Oh, when did this stupid bear come in... Oh my God! My poor Fiery Wine, this is a scarce piece of goods that can earn twenty gold coins per barrel. Even if you peel it, you can't afford to pay..."
"Owo!! You actually put private goods in the engine compartment!! Or flammable spirits... Do you want Mither to explode in the fire so much?"
"Oh? It turns out that the captain is here too. Don't worry, I have always been very sensible in doing things. In case of an accident, I, the captain, will be the first to finish my life.
"...You are already a great arcane, why do you still want money and live like this?"
"Hehe, there's no way. The red light district in Wudong City is so exciting. The beauties that have been released in recent years are so dazzling. So... the expenses are naturally a little bigger. There's no place to reimburse. I have to think of a solution myself..."
"Red Light District... Alas, you lich really don't have the conscious awareness of being dead!"
After a few preachings, Feili returned to her cabin dejectedly and continued to frown at the deficit. No matter how smart the magic was, it could not solve the financial embarrassment.
However, a huge unexpected fortune was not far from him.
Of course, wealth always comes with risks. If you want to have more wealth, you have to take greater risks. Either auspiciousness loses competition or auspiciousness lost by competition.
Chapter completed!