As soon as it was light, Kakusim came to the docks. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Unlike usual, the dock was filled with a silent crowd of people with backpacks and spears on their backs, like a dense forest standing in the wind and snow. Despite the large number of people, the scene was very orderly, and the soldiers boarded the paddle steamer one by one, and this posture alone made him feel speechless.

Kakusim couldn't help but swallow.

This is the warrior of His Royal Highness.

It was incredible, the old man thought, when he was young, he had traveled most of the Grey Castle, from Seabreeze County to Blue Water Harbor, and had led merchant fleets to the fjord islands, where he had witnessed the ironclad knights who flaunted their might, and the fierce barbarians who could fight wild beasts with their bare hands. Those people were undoubtedly extremely powerful warriors to him, but he didn't expect that now in front of a group of ordinary people, he felt this strength again, and it was even stronger than before.

That's right, these people are ordinary people...... Kakusim has been in the border town for almost four months, and his understanding of the town has deepened. He knew that the members of the First Army were mostly selected from the local indigenous people, most of whom were adults when they joined the army, and their previous occupations were varied, such as miners, hunters, kiln workers and masons, but there were no warriors. In other words, they simply did not have the experience of combat training from an early age.

However, in just a few months, these people already have the momentum not inferior to that of any knights, what kind of magic did His Royal Highness the Prince perform?

"You...... Are you really going?" came Veder's deliberately low voice behind him, and he could hear that he was also infected by this silent team.

"Why else would I apply for the captainship?" Kakusim took a deep breath.

"But they're going to war. ”

"They are all in the service of His Highness," said the old man without looking back, "and so am I." ”

The voice behind was silent for a moment, "Don't die outside." ”

He didn't answer again, but waved his hand.

......

In the snow, Kakusim boarded paddle steamer number six, and according to tradition, the captain could name his ship, and although the eccentric steamer belonged to His Royal Highness the Prince, he was told that he had this power.

It's just that the old man has not made up his mind for a long time.

It was the first time he had taken on the captaincy of the ship more than a decade after his farewell from sailing, and he hoped he could come up with a memorable name.

"Boss, you're here!" Walking into the bow compartment, his deputy immediately greeted him, "Now that the boiler is warming up, I promise it will be up and running soon." ”

The young man's name was Barracuda, and he was from the south and had been fishing for several years. In other fleets, he might not even be able to be a sailor, but here he is no different, everyone is a novice.

"Are all the crew here?"

"It's been there a long time ago, you're the last," the other man squeezed his eyes.

"If you don't know how to respect a captain, I'll gladly let you wipe the deck all day. ”

"No, dear Mr. Captain," the lad straightened up, "of course I understand!"

"That's what it sounds like," Kakusim said, rubbing his beard, "tell the boiler room to make the fire a little hotter, but don't close the damn steam valve, I don't want to hit the ass of the ship in front of me again!"

"Okay, got it. Before he could finish his sentence, the barracuda was revealed again, and he winked at the old man, and then flew out of the cockpit.

"You bastard," Kakusim shook his head with a smile. The solemn atmosphere brought by the First Army was diluted a lot, and it was as if he had returned to the days of galloping on the seas. Walking to the steering wheel, the old man gently rubbed the wooden wheel handle and began to calm down to review the operation process of the paddle steamer.

His Highness's invention of the stone ship was very different from the sailing ship, it had no mast and no cabins below deck, but only two rooms in the bow and middle of the hull, the front one was called the wheelhouse, and the two large windows could clearly see the route, and in the middle was the boiler room, where the power of the ship came from.

The rear and aft of the wheelhouse were bare decks, and during training they would often take some miners along the Chishui River west to dig up some coal at the edge of the Hidden Forest - this thing was more resistant to burning than firewood, and it was a common source of heating in Seabreeze County. And now, a windshield was drawn up all around the deck, and a shed was erected overhead, apparently for the soldiers on board.

Although he had never been exposed to this new gadget before, Kakusim soon discovered in training that it was not difficult to get it moving, and it was even much easier than sailing. The fact that the canvas does not need to be adjusted to the direction and force of the wind saves a lot of manpower and time - any villager can burn the boiler vigorously, but it is impossible to master the pole and sail in less than half a year. As soon as the chimney spews white gas, close the valve and the ship will go.

At this moment, a dull whistle came from the front, breaking the early morning silence of the border town.

This is the signal to start.

"Boss, the water in the stove is boiling!" said Barracuda, scurrying back into the cab.

"Pull the bell, tell Bigfoot and Grizzly to close, speed, go forward!" Kakusim commanded solemnly.

"Yes, go forward!" the barracuda tugged at a slender wire from the wall, and along this thread, the corresponding bell in the boiler room would tremble to convey the captain's command.

The hull of the ship shook violently, and the wooden wheels on both sides slowly turned.

Kakusim gripped the steering wheel and looked straight ahead—when Vader asked that question, he didn't say what he really thought, or that serving the lord was only a small part of the answer.

He just liked the position of captain more than that.

Whether it's a sailboat or a steam paddle steamer, Kakusim feels a heartfelt joy when he holds the steering wheel and waves on the water.

That's the life he wants.

"Pull the sail...... No, keep refueling!" The old man turned his rudder to the right and shouted, "Hurry up, boys, we're leaving!"

"As long as you can send me to the border town, the Silt family will be rewarded heavily...... How about five, nay, ten golden dragons," asked the butler, who was barricaded at the door of a small cabin by the river, to the boatman. His left foot was stuck in the crack of the door, lest the other party simply close the shabby door panel and shut himself out.

"Big, big...... It's not that I don't want to send you, but I really can't," the boatman stammered, "You, you see, my boat has a bare bottom, and there is not even a shed to keep the snow out, and it's fine to cross the river normally, but you said that you want to go to the border town, and that's a few days of work! Not to mention whether I can get there with a penny, it's freezing and snowy at night, where do we sleep! You want to say that sleeping on the boat, you can't freeze into two popsicles all night?"

"Are there any other boatmen around here who can go to the Frontier Town?" asked the butler reluctantly.

"No, no," the other party waved his hand repeatedly, "we are just small boats, and only in the fortress can there be a galleon that can spend the night, so you better go there and find it." ”

If you can enter the Changge Fortress, why bother to come to the suburban docks to find these boatmen who make a living from fishing and ferrying?

The butler stepped on the snow on the ground fiercely, since the four families began to attack the fortress, all the city gates have been closed, and it took him half a day to bypass the fortress to come here, but unfortunately it is still in vain to find it now.

Seeing that the sky is about to get dark, how can we complete the task assigned by the master?

The butler looked at the Chishui River with a bitter face, but soon he froze in place.

Oh my God, what's that?

He rubbed his eyes, and was sure that he was right—a very large fleet of ships was coming in his direction, different from any other sailboat he had ever seen, and in the snow the flotilla rumbled along the river, and except for the first oddly shaped sailboat, the rest of the ships, which had no sails, were sailing against the wind, and the bow of the ship cut the water in two as if it were cleaving the waves.

The flag of the lead ship fluttered in the wind, and the embroidered tower spear family crest was vivid, and the steward couldn't help but hold his breath, this is the fleet of His Highness Roland Wimbleton! )