The cold air mass in the north became weak after crossing the Otter Mountains, and it was constantly engaged in a tug-of-war with the warm air mass generated from the ocean over Genoa. This made the winter of 1832 in Genoa much colder than in previous years.
Sean, who returned to the town of Vichy, accompanied by Mayor Pierre Jr., expressed condolences to the relatives of the missing fishermen, and then came to a warehouse on the dock.
The Xia merchant and his men were imprisoned here. The guards are still the military, but the people responsible for management are the people brought by Dai Li.
At this time, even more worrying news came. The naval base on Sanado Island fell into the hands of the fish demon. The navy's years of lax armaments allowed the fish demon to succeed in one blow.
The fish monster besieged this isolated island. The life and death of one hundred thousand people on the island was uncertain, and the food reserves they relied on for survival were up to seven days, and they all relied on merchant ships for transportation. The results were predictable.
The confessions of the Xia people can also be matched with this. They rescued several residents who escaped from San Nato Island in the San Naduo Sea, and then encountered the fish monsters chasing them. The lucky ones they rescued can also prove it.
They didn't lie.
The fish demon was not targeting the Genalians. After figuring out the facts, Dai Li immediately released the Xia people. Now this matter is a headache for the big shots in the Holy City.
Deli Le's smooth sailing.
But the Xia people were obviously frightened. Some sailors were acclimatized on the shore and fell ill several times. They were unable to leave Vichy Town in a short time.
Now they were penniless. Seeing that they had saved the Europeans, Sean instructed Mayor Pierre Jr. to allow them to temporarily live in the town and provide some funding until they could leave.
The stranded Xia Guo cargo ship on the beach still stayed in place.
At noon that day, Sean stood on the beach and watched the armored ship Genovese approaching the stranded Xia Guo cargo ship.
Taking advantage of the high tide, they wanted to tow the cargo ship to a nearby dock.
Once such a round-bottomed cargo ship runs aground, the protruding keel will cause it to tilt, and the hull will inevitably be damaged under the influence of its own weight.
The owner of this ship is surnamed Long. In fact, not only the Xia people have the surname Long, but also the Europeans have the surname Long. Most of the European people’s short-sounding surnames are related to the culture passed down from the Xia country. That year, the first Xia people came
When I arrived in Europe, many Europeans did not have surnames, and the nobles did not have the habit of bathing.
This involves legends from long ago.
According to Sean's guess, this must be the result of human spaceships escaping from the earth. These space refugees or the descendants of space immigrants had their civilization interrupted for some reason, and had to start from scratch, blending with each other, and they were specious.
The murals of Sawyer Church record many legends from ancient times, including fishmen, werewolves, blood warriors, bloodthirsty people, and even more bizarre intelligent creatures. Perhaps only failed genetic technology can create these intelligent creatures.
.
Maybe it's not a failure, but a creation specially created by the last group of pioneers to cope with survival on a strange planet.
But Sean had no evidence, which is why he encouraged a professor of theology at the University of Poitou to go on a global expedition.
Calculating the time, the professor has been away for a year and a half. Now his ocean-going expedition fleet is unknown where it is, and may never come back. Especially now that the fish monsters are rampant, it is even more worrying.
.Of course, for now, probably only Sean, the instigator, still remembers him.
In religious legends, fish monsters or fish-men are described as evil creatures, but in many voyagers' notes, they are described as mysterious and timid creatures who never take the initiative to come into contact with humans.
But now the fish demon is actively attacking humans. This is a big event. The direct consequence is that the ocean trade and offshore transportation of the European Roman Empire are disrupted. This consequence has a chain reaction: tariffs are sharply reduced, goods are overstocked and a large number of factories reduce production, and then
Causing massive unemployment.
The Reyan was emitting black smoke. Although it was small in size, it was powerful and successfully dragged the stranded merchant ship to deep water, which attracted cheers from the onlookers.
"It's really powerful!" Mr. Long spoke in Europa with a standard Holy City accent, "I heard that this is the invention of the Viscount?"
"No, this is the work of engineers." Sean said, "Isn't it?"
Mr. Long said: "It is indeed a masterpiece. It doesn't even use sails. If my ship was made of iron like this, I wouldn't be so embarrassed at all. I dare say that in the future, the sea will be full of iron things like this that use steam engines."
"Your judgment is good, but it doesn't work now. We are still trying to make a big one suitable for ocean voyages." Sean smiled, "If you want to order it, I'm afraid you have to wait a few years."
A realistic operation is to retain the sails while using the steam engine as auxiliary power, and the hull is still a wooden structure. If it is a battleship, the best it can do is to install armor to resist artillery attacks. This can only be called armor.
ships, not ironclads.
I want to get it right in one step and use all-metal shipbuilding to overcome the various shortcomings of sailing wooden boats - wooden sailing boats not only need to be repaired after an ocean voyage, but also have a lifespan of up to ten years if they are well maintained. They are also squeezed by huge waves.
Wooden materials can deform and often cause the hull to fall apart, causing horrific accidents.
However, the all-metal armored ship is not only expensive, but also faces many technical difficulties. This is why the Genoese is relatively compact.
Kang's Shipyard is a bottomless pit. Before it can build a real ironclad ship, it needs to find an opportunity that can bring in some income. Perhaps slightly enlarging the Genoese is also a good choice.
"It's a pity." Mr. Long said, "Your country is already at the forefront, while our country has just started using steam engines. We are already far behind."
This Xia businessman has been wandering around Vichy Town these days. He has discovered many good things here, such as tea. He is very fascinated and envious of the cultural aspects derived from the tea drinking of the people in Vichy Town.
He felt that tea as a drink was more suitable for his compatriots to drink, especially after he recognized the word "square". This word was first discovered by Xia Guo scholars.
As a businessman, he planned to introduce tea and tea culture to the Xia Kingdom, and thought it would be extremely profitable, so he wanted to have a good relationship with the owner here.
Of course Sean would not refuse. Although tea is still in short supply, thanks to the efforts of the council, tea culture has become popular across the country, but the price has fallen off a cliff. If it can be exported, this is obviously a good way to make money.
This businessman claimed to be from a big family in Xia State and was very influential in Xia State, but whether what he said was true or false, Sean didn't care. He promised to give him a preferential price first, as long as he could afford it.
Get money.
Mr. Long was trapped. Even if Sean helped him repair the cargo ship and lent him enough food and fresh water for free, he did not dare to return to the sea immediately. Along the entire coastline of Europa, foreign countries were trapped like him.
There are many businessmen.
The fish monsters have tasted human blood and become more aggressive. Even fishermen operating in the offshore waters have been reported to be attacked from time to time.
Coastal areas have invariably been on high alert, and marine activities have almost stopped.
The Xia Kingdom was obviously also severely affected. It was later learned that they had sent ten warships to contact the Europa Empire. It was not until the end of May of the following year that one warship successfully arrived at the coast of Europa, which shows the dangers at sea.
The old Admiral Yunus has been dismissed. Here I have to mention the status of the Imperial Navy in the military - the Navy still does not have a marshal.
It can be seen from this that the Europa Empire has vast sea territories and prosperous overseas trade, but it does not have the corresponding naval power.
Of course, the only one that can compete with Europa on the sea is the Xia Kingdom, which is about the same size. However, the Xia Kingdom is not an aggressive country. Although a naval battle broke out between the two countries and ended with the Xia Kingdom's victory, the two countries
The business is carried out as usual.
The empire's long-term pressure is on land, on the northern border, in its defense against the Kingdom of Les, and in repeated battles with the Kingdom of Assyria, which makes military expenditures heavily biased towards the army.
Therefore, the new Admiral Richard Moko found that he could not assemble a complete fleet.
He had to commandeer a merchant ship and slightly modify it to facilitate the installation of artillery, but some people thought it would be better to install a giant crossbow - just for this reason, the big shots in the Holy City discussed it for half a month.
In the end, the giant crossbow faction had the upper hand, because giant crossbows were cheaper than artillery, and were relatively simple to use, flexible in combat, and easy to modify merchant ships. Using artillery to deal with fish demons and sharks at sea was not efficient.
Of course, considering the empire's finances, it is logical to choose the former as the main battle weapon. Since the invention of gunpowder weapons, the form of naval warfare has returned to the traditional form. This cannot be said to be an irony.
On December 5, 1832, Admiral Moko led a fleet of 300 warships to sweep the sea south from the mouth of the Osela River.
At first, his fleet fought smoothly and was not inferior to the shark army. However, in the island reef area not far from its destination, Sanado Island, the fish monster took advantage of the darkness to launch an attack.
At this time, the fleet stayed here to avoid the huge waves. The fish demon pierced the fleet's warships. The panicked fleet either ran aground on the rocks or collided with each other. The sailors who fell into the water either drowned or were fed to the sharks.
Admiral Moko's fleet was originally pieced together and could not withstand the attack of the fish demon, so he had to order the ships to evacuate to Port Mao despite strong winds and waves.
A few days later, General Moko, who had escaped, found that most of his men had been lost.
It was already the end of 1832, and Sean unexpectedly received a letter personally written by Admiral Moko on the last day of the year.
This admiral, who has nothing to do with Sean, is scheduled to visit Kangshi Shipyard in early February next year to examine the feasibility of new shipbuilding for combat.
This is a rare opportunity for Sean and his shipyard, so his Spring Festival has once again been ruined.