Beginning to Board

Seeing that the opposing fleet had slowed down, Sodoma and his ship also began to lower their sails and sail slowly.

As they drew closer to the Iron Birch Territory's fleet, Sodoma and his men were able to clearly see various details on the opposing ships.

Especially the Iron Tower Ship; upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that the ship appears tall because its mainmast is exceptionally high.

The ship's hull appears wide and thick, with rounded lines, resembling a fortress floating on the sea.

Its bow was very high and its stern was also very tall, forming a distinct stepped outline. Looking at the multi-story tower-like structures at the stern, Sodoma understood the origin of the ship's name.

The hull is low in the middle and bulges outward on both sides, which suggests that the designer intended to increase its cargo space, but it also makes it very bulky.

Sodoma and Ambrose discovered that the Iron Tower Ship was very slow, lagging behind the rest of the fleet.

Ambrose stroked his chin and said, "I remember the Viscount gave our shipyard a set of blueprints for reference. The ship design on it looks a lot like this Iron Tower Ship. What was its name again?"

Ambrose suddenly clapped his hands, "I remember now, its name is Clark sailing ship."

Sodoma was curious as to why this kind of ship was called that, and why the shipyard didn't build it since it had the blueprints. He voiced his question directly.

"At that time, the Viscount required our shipyard to prioritize ships that combined speed and durability, and to minimize the efficiency of shipping and the cost of maintaining the ships, in order to increase the profits of maritime transport."

Therefore, our shipyard mainly produces fast ships, and the overall speed of the fleet in our territory is quite high!

Sodoma had an "I see" look on his face. Having lived and fought at sea with his father for many years, he had an excellent understanding of naval warfare.

He agreed with Victor's statement that, contrary to common sense, a ship's speed is very important, even more so than its cargo capacity and defensive capabilities.

The Great Oak Territory Navy now also has a dedicated fleet of fast ships used to hunt down smuggling vessels and pirates from the East Sea Alliance.

"From this perspective, the Iron Birch Territory's fleet is indeed very powerful in terms of size. Their understanding of naval warfare is still somewhat flawed. If they simply prioritize size and numbers, they will suffer a great loss sooner or later!"

"That's absolutely right!"

Ambrose also agreed with Sodoma's answer.

The two then continued their discussion about the other ships in Iron Birch Territory's fleet, which they should train and utilize properly.

Just as the two were discussing the Iron Birch Territory's fleet, the Iron Birch fleet finally approached.

A medium-sized ship approached Sodoma's vessel, and a man poked his head out from the bow. "Excuse me, are you Viscount Golden Sunflower sent to meet us?"

Sodoma quickly replied, "Yes, I was sent by Viscount Victor to meet you. May I ask where your fleet's commander is? I would like to board the ship and pay him a visit!"

The man withdrew his protruding head and called out from afar, "The person in charge of this fleet is Lord Goder. He's on the Iron Tower Ship at the back. You can go directly to him."

After hearing this, Sodoma immediately ordered the ships to continue south, heading directly towards the Iron Tower Ship.

Once they reached the Iron Tower Ship, Sodoma beckoned it down the Iron Tower Ship, and Sodoma grabbed the ladder and climbed up.

As soon as he boarded the ship, he was surrounded by the sailors. They quickly explained, "I am here to guide the fleet on the orders of Viscount Golden Sunflower."

However, the sailors did not immediately lay down their weapons, perhaps out of caution, even though the terms had already been agreed upon.

The ship's First Mate came over and led the way for Sodoma: "Hello, Mr. Sodoma, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Lord Goder has been waiting for a long time!

Sodoma bowed to Gödel, "Greetings, Lord Goder. I will be leading your fleet this time."

"Hello, Sodoma. I know your father, Viscount Sonanda. As expected of him, he has a very high level of skill in raising children."

Gödel patted Sodoma on the shoulder, "The rest is up to you!"

After saying this, Gödel walked out of the cabin, and soon the ship's communications officer began sending flag signals to the entire fleet.

Upon receiving the signal, all the ships in the Iron Birch Territory began to change formation, forming a long, single-line formation.

The first ship followed directly behind the Sodoma ship, and the other ships followed in turn. The whole process was very smooth and took less than half an hour.

This surprised Sodoma, even though the Iron Birch Territory's fleet might not be considered technologically advanced.

However, with this well-trained naval force, even the combined might of all the nobles along the eastern coast would find it difficult to contend with.

To arrange the route, Sodoma also traveled back and forth between the Iron Tower Ship and his ship many times.

Finally, with everything sorted out, the ship of Sodoma was the first to set sail, followed closely by the other ships.

The strange shape of Sodoma's ship and the thick smoke it emitted during its voyage attracted the attention of several Iron Birch Territory naval officers, including Gödel.

They all expressed their questions to Sodoma, but unfortunately Sodoma kept quiet about these questions, only saying that he didn't know anything.

The fleet began to sail slowly, and Sodoma had returned to the ship.

Ambrose looked at Sodoma with curiosity, a gaze that made Sodoma very uncomfortable. "Factory Director Ambrose, we have very important work to do. Why are you staring at me like that?"

"I'm just curious. Our primary goal this time is to test our Power Machine; everything else is secondary."

"Lord Sodoma, it's truly remarkable that you could get the Iron Birch Family's fleet to cooperate so well!"

"This is not my achievement, but rather thanks to the Viscount. The Iron Birch Family was very supportive of the Viscount's trip south, and the person in charge of the fleet also showed great respect to us."

In fact, Sodoma was also very humble. Without his communication with those above and below him, this matter would not have been so easy to sort out.

On the return journey, due to unfavorable winds, the boat could only move forward under its own power.

Although the Iron Birch Family's boats are large, their design concept is more outdated than expected, and there are even oarsmen's positions on board.

However, this also ensures that the ship can still move without relying on sails.

However, the Ambrose shipyard felt a pang of heartache. Such a large fleet required no fewer than ten thousand slave laborers for rowing. It would be great if they were all given to Two Rivers Territory, which would help alleviate the labor shortage Two Rivers Territory.

Next, they slowly led the Iron Birch Territory's fleet back to Sea Song Town. The journey out had taken more than a day, but the return trip took twice as long.

By the time the fleet finally reached the outer sea of Sea Song Town, Sodoma and his crew could already see the lighthouse at the dock.

Sodoma discovered that the ice floes that had been entrenched in the bay had been cleared to create a channel, 20 meters wide enough for three ships to navigate at the same time.

He turned to Ambrose and said, "It seems that Captain Jack and his crew have cleared the sea with the remaining icebreakers."

The fleet was spotted at the port, and soon a ship came from the direction of the dock.

Captain Jack was on the ship. He first met Sodoma, and Sodoma led him to Gödel.

"Mr. Gödel, our dock is ready, but capacity is limited."

We are currently only able to dock in groups of eight, and we are very sorry to have to keep you waiting at sea for a while.

"Mr. Jack, you're too kind. We've cooperated quite a bit when we were sailing south before."

Viscount Alex reminded me before he came, and wished me good luck in cooperating with the Two Rivers Territory. He said this was nothing, and I could handle the arrangements.

Gödel was very polite.

The entire fleet then anchored directly in the open sea, with plans to select eight ships to dock first.

As the flagship, the Iron Tower Ship was the last to dock, so it stopped directly in the open sea.

Sodoma boarded the Iron Tower Ship and waited on the ship with Gödel.

Captain Jack, along with the experimental ship and Ambrose, returned to the Sea Song Town docks first.

Upon returning to port, Ambrose took the test ship directly back to the shipyard's inner harbor. Through this trial voyage, he discovered many issues that needed to be summarized and improved.

Two days later, the entire Sea Song Town dock became increasingly busy, with empty ships constantly entering the port and ships loaded with soldiers and supplies leaving.

At this time, Victor also arrived in Sea Song Town with his men. Vincent was organizing supplies and troops to board the ship at the dock when Victor suddenly arrived.

"My lord, why did you come directly to the docks? It's dirty and chaotic. Why don't you just go back to the Lord's Mansion?"

"Vincent, you go ahead with your work, don't worry I won't interfere."

Vincent gave a wry smile. You're the most conspicuous person on the entire dock. You rode straight onto the dock. Who among these busy Dockworkers and soldiers boarding the ship doesn't know you? If you don't bother them, who will?

Victor quickly noticed the problem. Before Vincent could continue to complain, he led his men away from the dock and ran to a high platform a little further away to observe the situation at the dock.

Victor saw that the entire pier of the Sea Song Town dock was full of ships, and Dockworkers were using the cranes on the pier to move cargo onto the ships.

The sailors on board were also busy, helping with cargo handling and organizing the ship's equipment, such as sails and ropes.

Thousands of soldiers, divided into small squads, were boarding the ship with all their troops' supplies; the scene was chaotic yet orderly.

Many soldiers of Barbarians origin dared not step onto the wooden planks connecting the boats and the pier, and were instead pushed onto the boats by their squad leaders who kicked and cursed them.

Some of the important supplies for the Logistics Department are packed in huge wooden crates. Even with the help of a crane, it takes a lot of people to operate the crane to move these crates.

The Dockworkers were short-handed, so the Logistics Department had to send their own people to hoist the wooden crates onto the ship under the Dockworkers' command.

Victor could tell that the Logistics Department soldiers operating the cranes were not very skilled; he witnessed several dangerous maneuvers.

Fortunately, the Dockworkers in charge intervened in time, preventing serious consequences.

Victor sighed. Transporting so many troops south by ship this time certainly posed a great challenge to the management of the territory.

Even if he didn't have a good solution, there were too many details involved, and ultimately it would fall on the shoulders of everyone doing the specific work, whether it was a high-ranking civil servant like Vincent or a dockworker.

Victor didn't stay at the dock for long. After learning that the troops boarding the ship were the Second Regiment led by Santos, he went straight to Santos.

"Your Excellency, more than half of our corps has boarded the ships, which have now sailed out of the dock and are waiting in the open sea."

Santos is reporting to Victor.

"Have all the military supplies been loaded onto the ship?"

"Everything has been loaded onto the ship. Here is a list of the supplies and the unit numbers of the troops that have already boarded."

Santos handed a document to Victor, Victor then began to examine it.

"Whether the soldiers can adapt after boarding the ship, especially the Barbarians soldiers, many of whom have probably never been on a ship before."

Victor put the document down after reading it and continued questioning Santos.

Santos smiled, perhaps thinking of something; the scar on his face twitched, possibly as he tried to control his expression.

"At first, it was really difficult to get used to, and I made a lot of jokes, but it has been resolved. The anti-seasickness soup prepared by the Medical Department was indeed very effective."

If anyone gets terribly seasick, a bowl of herbal soup will make them sleep all day, and they won't feel seasick anymore afterward!

"In no mood!"

Victor was curious about Santos's statement, but then he thought about Isaac's medication philosophy. Isaac was a surgical genius, but he also knew how to prescribe medicine.

His medication philosophy is that as long as it is effective and treats the symptoms, the taste and side effects are not important.

The medicine he used to concoct to promote wound healing did indeed make the wounds heal incredibly quickly after the patients drank it, but the wounds would itch terribly for several days afterward. If the patients were tied up, they would probably scratch the wounds open again.

As a result, this highly effective medicine has been completely sealed up by the Medical Department. Everyone except Isaac himself, who was very sorry about it, agreed with this decision.

Orlando from the Intelligence Department wanted to use this drug for interrogation, but as soon as he brought it up with Isaac, he was met with a torrent of abuse from Isaac.

Upon realizing this, Victor knew that these medicinal soups must have First Mate, and could only offer his condolences for the soldiers who drank them.

Next, Victor discussed the camp layout after the landing with Santos. Santos's Second Regiment, as the first landing force, was responsible for the defense of the landing camp.

Just as the two were discussing, Vincent arrived.

"Sir, did we disturb you?"

"It's alright, we have plenty of time. Vincent, is there anything I can help you with?"

"It is like this, Your Excellency. I would like to request some assistance. I did not expect the workload to be so heavy these past few days. The dockworkers have been busy for two days, and many of them have not had a proper rest. If this continues, it is easy for an accident to occur."

"No problem, I'll give you a referral and have you transferred directly to Riverside Town. They have plenty of manpower there."