By the time summer came, Margaery's river fleet arrived in the border town.

Roland specially received the businesswoman at the docks, and checked the goods she had brought.

The most important thing was the saltpeter of the whole three ships, and now the gunpowder in the border town was basically exhausted, and even the shooting practice of the First Army had stopped. Although the revolver has begun to equip troops on a small scale, it has only stopped at practicing reloading, reloading, gun maintenance, and reloading ammunition. Now with this batch of saltpeter, it is finally possible to resume live-fire training.

In addition to saltpeter, she brought two loadloads of ingots, mainly iron and copper, and some alum ore, as agreed, which would take two or three days to unload.

Roland also placed the two steam engines in a conspicuous position in the yard, and as is customary, draped in red cloth and tied with large red flowers, for Margaery's acceptance. In fact, Westside Industries stumbled for nearly a month to piece together a steam engine, which was still based on hundreds of scrapped parts, so Roland had to let Anna out and rework the defective parts that were not too far off, so that the second steam engine could catch up with the scheduled delivery time.

To Roland's surprise, Margaery did not come alone this time, she also brought the merchant group of the royal capital.

After the delivery of the goods, Margaery and her party followed Roland back to the castle and enjoyed a sumptuous lunch in the living room.

"Your Highness, this is Hogg, my old friend, and one of the most important mining merchants in the royal capital. Margaery introduced them one by one, "This is Gamor, who belongs to the same caravan as Marlan in the Bay of the Moon, and is mainly engaged in cross-sea trade between the Grey Fort and the fjord. They were very interested in the steam engine. I've known them for many years, and I'm too embarrassed to sell them at a higher price, so I'll introduce them to you. ”

"Greetings, Your Highness," said Hogg, with his big belly and a shiny face, "and Margaery said that this machine can replace human labor, pump water and transport ore from the mines quickly, and it is so powerful that it doesn't have to rest all day?"

"Of course," Roland took a sip of wine, at first he couldn't get used to the sour taste, but now he got used to it, "but in order for it to carry ore, it has to be equipped with a track system." After lunch, I can take you to the North Slope Mine. ”

"Your Highness, I am very curious about the purpose of the steam engine you described, and whether it can really be installed on a sailing ship to propel a ship instead of a sail?" said Marlan, "what if it is a three- to four-masted ship like a sea ship? ”

"Steam engines, like horses, have a lot of power and some have little power, depending on the model they were built on. Of course, machines with a large output are naturally more expensive. And one is not enough, you can also go on two or four. Roland replied with a smile.

Putting a steam engine on board, even the most primitive paddle steamer, is a complex system of power, transmission, and handling, and no other place in the Grey Keep has the technical power to modify it, except for Frontier Town. And the cost of rebuilding such a ship will inevitably be significantly greater than the steam engine itself.

"In that case, the Moonmoon Bay Caravan also wants to order this machine from you. Gamore picked up a freshly hatched bun and stuffed it into his mouth, his eyes squinted at the fragrant gravy.

Sure enough, things are gathered by like, people are divided by groups, friends of big dogs are still big dogs, and they don't even look at the actual effect, so they directly place an order, as if they don't put thousands of golden dragons in their eyes at all.

Roland shook his head, "It's a pity that the border town is short of manpower, and the steam engine is very complicated to manufacture, so I'm afraid it will be difficult to make additional machines until Margaery's order is completed." ”

"I can give you men, Your Highness," Garmor patted his chest, "whether it's a carpenter, a blacksmith, or even a shipwright, I have quite a few in my port, and I don't have to pay for it!"

"And then let them learn how to make it for you?" Hogg interjected.

"No! of course not!" he said, glaring, "how dare I play such a trick in front of His Royal Highness the Prince." Ten years, Your Highness," he opened his palms, "I am willing to let them work for you for ten years, and the salary will be paid by me." There was only one requirement, and that the steam engines they built were to be sold to the Caravans in Moonmoon Bay first. ”

This is an interesting proposition, Roland thought, similar to the technology partnership of later generations, who only provides the technology and earns a large share of it - of course, the other party can also get the steam engine as soon as possible, and in ten years he will also get a group of technicians, and the wages of the workers in these ten years will be equivalent to the cost of technology purchases.

"Don't rush into the decision, we can talk about these details after we have seen the actual thing," Roland pressed down on his hand, "and I don't only have a steam engine here that is worth buying, there are some things that you will be interested in as well, such as this one." He snapped his fingers, and the guards beside him took out a large pile of things from the wooden box at his feet, and laid them out on the table one by one.

"These are all new commodities in Frontiertown, and all of them are of high quality and fair price, such as this simplest mug," said Roland, pointing to the brightly colored mug on the table, "light, beautiful, and not as fragile as a crystal cup." The pattern on it can be customized, and it does not get wet, making it extremely easy to clean. ”

"No water?" said Margaery, picking up a cup and looking at it carefully.

"You can try it with wine," quipped the prince, "and when you have drunk it, you can pretend to be drunk and throw it on the ground, and break it to me." ”

"This workmanship, tsk, is indeed incomparably fine...... I'm afraid you can't guarantee this quality in every cup, right?" Pot-bellied Hogg had already filled himself with wine and drank it in one gulp, "Hey, it's actually dry inside." ”

Of course, it was dry, it was essentially an ordinary wooden cup, but it was covered with a layer of Zoroa's paintings, and the patterns on it were all of her own design. "It does not conflict with the crystal cup, and it is more suitable for appearing in the boudoirs of the ladies than formal court banquets. "As far as I know, they have never had much resistance to things that are bright in color and beautiful in appearance. ”

"I think so," Margaery nodded with interest, "and you do seem to have a lot of experience. ”

"Ahem," the prince coughed twice, "look at this again, the overall cuirass, which is completely uniform in thickness, has two pieces in the front and back, both of which are made of wrought iron. Compared to the knight's plate armor, it can be worn by one person, and there is no gap when closed, which is suitable for caravan guards who do not have a follower. The most important thing is that it is cheaper than plate armor......"

......

After introducing all the goods, the merchants couldn't help but turn their heads and ears. Roland simply left them some time to discuss freely, got up and left the hall, and went to the garden corridor to let off steam.

"Your Highness, I haven't seen you for a month, and you have a lot of novelties here. Margaery followed.

"Don't you have to exchange opinions with them?"

"No, I don't need to listen to other people's ideas for what I like, whether it's a product or a person. She smiled and shook her head, "The caravan will probably stay here for three or four days, can you ...... Let me see the lightning again?"

"She didn't recognize you, but at least she didn't show any dislike last time, so I guess it's fine. ”

"Thank you!" said Margaery, gratefully.

"Hands-on," Roland smiled, "by the way, since you've been here for so long, why don't you come and see a play? ”

"You've built all the theaters in a month?" she was amazed.

"Of course not. It's an open-air show, right in the square in the middle of town, and I think it's definitely going to be different. ”

"Then it would be better to be respectful, Your Highness. Margaery stroked her chest and bowed her head. (To be continued.) )