After a week in the curing room, it was finally time for the cement boat to be launched and outfitted.

The summoned workers were dumbfounded, and when the prince ordered the hard-earned bathtub to be pushed 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 dug a ramp at the bottom of the cement boat that led to 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 a trivial matter.

Rolling logs, tying ropes to control the speed of the slide, and when everything is ready, the workers pull wrist-thick hemp ropes around the newly laid stakes and draw them in a straight line. With a command, the rope was slowly loosened, and the bottom of the boat slid on the rolling log, making a piercing grinding sound.

Fortunately, everything went well, and Roland saw that the cement boat gradually fell into the river, and 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 amazed to see that the thing, which was heavier than a stone, did not sink to the bottom of the river with a rumble, but floated like a leaf.

"Wrap the rope around the stake a few more times, and tie it tightly!" commanded Roland. The hemp rope tied to the hull of the boat could not be untied, otherwise the cement boat would float south with the river.

Although the nightingale did not show her form, her shock was evident in her incredulous tone: "Why does it float?"

"Uh...... In short, it is on average less dense than water, and it can float on the surface of the water," replied Roland, after a moment's thought, "and it has little to do with whether it is iron or cement. In fact, when you see a sailboat, you should understand that such a big ship is much heavier than a stone. ”

The voice didn't sound again, and he guessed that the other party had fallen into deep thought. Even Anna may not be able to react immediately. Roland smiled and continued to direct the workers on the next step.

The subsequent outfitting is a long time, and when it snows heavily, the work has to be stopped, and only when the snow is light, can you rush to do it for a while. The main content of outfitting is to lay the deck, and the planks with planed hatches are installed on the ship, and the gap between the deck and the bottom of the ship stands many short wooden piles as supports, although it is a bit of a waste of space, but considering the main purpose of the cement ship, it does not matter so much.

This is followed by antiseptic treatment. The carpenters knew exactly what to do, and they first brushed the deck with a pungent smell of oil, and then applied several layers of red paint after it had consolidated. When everything on deck is completed, the outfitting moves to the superstructure installation stage.

The so-called upper part is nothing more than a wooden shed standing between two masts, which is used to store artillery and ammunition. In the event of rain, the crew can also have a place to shelter from the rain. There was also a special platform on the top of the wooden shed that could be used for one person to stand on, apparently for Wendy. As long as she stands on the roof of the shed, she can cover the entire upper and lower parts of the sail within the range of her ability.

The stern rudder was made of molten pig iron, which was a little cumbersome to install, requiring the tiller to be passed from the water through the reserved hole to expose the deck, and then the iron ring was inserted from the deck and the buckle was welded. The buckle is a right-angled triangular iron plate, the long side is welded to the tiller, and the short side can be rotated freely in the slot reserved for the iron ring.

Naturally, the welding was left to Anna, who, after expressing the same shock and bewilderment at the stone bath tub that could float on the water, asked the exact same question as the nightingale.

Roland repeated the answer, and saw Anna crouched aside in thought.

Not...... There is still a long way to go in universal education.

On the other hand, Vanna was hesitant to join the artillery or the muskets.

It all started with that command three days ago.

His Royal Highness decided to bring out the outstanding members of the Militia I and Militia II to form a special team, and Vanna was pleased to hear his name among them. But when Iron Axe asked him if he was going to join the artillery or the muskets, he was confused. The musket he knew that the head of the city was neat against the evil beasts, and the penetrating power was much stronger than that of the crossbow. At present, only the Iron Axe, the Chief Knight, and a few Orions can use such ferocious weapons. Vanna should have joined the musket team without hesitation, but he just asked more, what is artillery?

When he learned that it was a musket that was magnified ten times and a hundred times more powerful than a musket, he was caught in a dilemma.

Obviously, the more powerful weapons he can use, the more he proves that His Royal Highness values him, and joining the artillery team seems to be a better choice than the musket team, but carrying that sharp musket on his back and walking through the streets of the town to attract everyone's attention is a scene he has always dreamed of. Although the artillery is powerful, after being magnified tenfold, it must not be carried away, right?

Until the deadline of the last day, he gritted his teeth and chose artillery. The straw that broke the camel's back was the monthly salary of 5 silver wolves, which was higher than that of the musketeers.

Then the rigorous training began.

A cannon requires five people to operate, and Vanna is assigned to a group of pomelo peels, cat's paws, Nelson, and Rodney. Vanna was appointed chief of gunnery because of his previous position as deputy of the pike.

For more than a month, he had secretly observed the process of operating the musket with an iron axe, and thought that he was already ripe. However, the artillery only changed from the marching state to the state of ready fire, which had to go through a set of tedious operations.

Stopping the horse, pulling out the pin, pulling up the hitch, moving the gun mount, pushing to the firing point, and dropping the support require five people to work together, for example, when the buckle is pulled, the others must immediately push the gun, so that the buckle and the tractor are separated, and the four wheels become two wheels before the support can be dropped. Skillful coordination was necessary during the changeover, otherwise it would be difficult to remove the heavy gun carriage from the tractor.

After the settlement is completed, it is necessary to reload ammunition and prepare for shooting. This part is very similar to the musket, except that to clean the chamber, you need to use two brushes to poke it in turn, and the gunpowder is also packaged and loaded directly into the barrel. The ignition method is ignited by a medicine line, and it seems that it is difficult to exert its power when it rains, Fanner thought.

Fortunately, most of the time, the gun commander only needs to be on the sidelines to instruct others what to do, and it doesn't take much effort.

For the first three days, the four artillery groups selected had only one artillery piece available for training. So under the command of the iron axe, a group of people loaded the gun carriage, unloaded it, prepared it for launch, and then reversed it to load the truck. The two steps went on repeatedly, and Vanna suspected that the barrel might be much cleaner than his own face with the constant cleaning.