After nearly half a year, construction of the port and docks had been preliminarily completed. The shipyard established by Yanhuang Hall had launched a steel vessel one hundred meters long and twelve meters wide for sea trials. After three consecutive months of sailing tests, no problems had arisen with the ship.
The vessel used steam power supplemented by sails. Based on relevant techniques provided by veteran shipbuilders who had once worked in shipyards, Yanhuang Hall's research center had recreated the technology and installed it on this large ship as its source of propulsion.
Yet after only two trial voyages, the people at the research center were already deeply dissatisfied with its speed. Its average speed was only fifteen knots. Even when the sails were raised with favorable currents or strong winds, its speed could only reach twenty-three knots. At such a slow pace, it would take nineteen and a half days to travel the entire canal. Time was everything in trade—at this speed, what business could they possibly do?
Driven by their dissatisfaction, the research center began in-depth research with the determination to improve the ship's propulsion. They organized one group specifically to research power systems, aiming to develop a new type of steam engine, while another group researched hull materials that were stronger and less dense, hoping to create better materials.
Over the past half year, the canal had also become filled with an astonishing number of river fish of all kinds. Aside from fishing with rods, some people had begun weaving fishing nets and casting them at the mouths of tributaries or lakes connected to the canal to catch fish. In the current environment with six times the spiritual energy, fish and similar creatures grew extremely quickly. Even if they used extermination nets, the number of fish in