Fleet Sets Sail
Holding the note approved by Victor, Vincent immediately went to Riverside Town and transferred a group of people over.
With the lord's endorsement, Bob couldn't say anything. Fortunately, the factory's orders had been mostly completed during this period, and the workers' workload had decreased significantly, so some of them could be sent to Sea Song Town to help.
In the end Vincent borrowed 1,500 people from Riverside Town in one go, which is roughly the same number of Dockworkers that Sea Song Town already has.
With the arrival of these workers, they can rotate with the existing workers, allowing the Dockworkers in Sea Song Town, who were already in a critical state, to finally get a rest.
Victor and Captain Jack boarded a ship directly. Most of the compartments in the ship's cabin had been knocked down, leaving only wooden pillars.
Victor looked around the entire cabin with curiosity. The cabin was covered with straw, and every few meters there was a leather net bag that looked like a hammock hanging from the cabin ceiling.
Captain Jack pointed to the leather net in front of him and said, "Your Excellency, this is the modification we made for transporting horses in our territory."
As you know, warhorses are very sensitive animals. Once stressed, it is difficult to calm them down, even if they are blindfolded.
Previously, when we transported warhorses by boat, the ships encountered waves that caused them to bounce and fall, resulting in the horses being injured and frightened, causing stress and resulting in the loss of many warhorses.
Later, our fleet continued to experiment, constantly adjusting and planning methods for large-scale transport of warhorses.
Now we have finally succeeded. By securing the warhorse's belly with this leather net, the horse will not fall over even in strong winds and waves or when the ship tilts.
We had already verified this when our fleet sailed south to sell horses, and we can now guarantee that the vast majority of the horses will not have any problems.
Besides, as you know, sir, we have a secret weapon.
Captain Jack said smugly.
Victor nodded cooperatively. "I know, that tranquilizer Isaac made."
Isaac often makes some medications for surgical procedures, whether it's the wound-healing medication mentioned earlier, or other medications.
In the beginning, Isaac's Medical Department used rosemary-based medicines as anesthetics.
However, this drug is very expensive, and the amount used in each surgery is large, resulting in high medical costs.
Victor suggested improving the existing anesthetic formula to reduce its cost.
Isaac then began collecting local herbs from the grasslands, attempting to modify the anesthetic formula.
Later, with the help of Little Paru, they found a plant called Drunken Horse Grass, which is the core herb. If a horse accidentally eats this plant, it will cause the horse to fall into a coma.
After Isaac produced the new drug, he immediately experimented on prisoners.
However, the drug was unexpectedly potent. Of the five prisoners used in the experiment, three fell into a deep sleep and died. The other two remained unconscious for five or six days and could not be woken up. They survived on milk.
Isaac continued to improve the drug, but it was just too potent. No matter how much he reduced the dosage, it was no use. Anyone would fall into a coma for more than two days.
The formula for this medicine should have been sealed away or handed over to the Intelligence Department.
However, business manager Rabik and warhorse farm manager Luoza discovered the drug's usefulness. They fed the reduced dose of the drug directly to the horses intended for sale in the south, which prevented the horses from falling into a coma, but kept them in a dazed state.
Horses in this state can be moved by human traction, and will eat and drink when fed, but they cannot execute complex commands.
It can generally last for 5 to 10 days at a time, and you only need to adjust the dosage of the medicine.
With this medicine, combined with specially designed cabins and leather nets, the success rate of transporting horses by sea was greatly improved.
"It's just that this batch of warhorses might not be able to reproduce easily in the future," Captain Jack sighed.
"It's nothing. After all, these warhorses are basically not intended to be used as stallions. Most of the males have been gelded."
Victor didn't care much. To prevent warhorses from going into heat, stallions had to be castrated, and mares had to be fed special plants and herbs during their estrus period.
"Can this batch of ships transport all our Cavalry units?"
"My lord, you can rest assured. We have modified fifteen ships, each capable of transporting two squadrons of warhorses and their riders, which is more than enough."
Victor received a satisfactory answer and took his leave, returning to the dock.
The number of people at the dock is increasing. The cargo ships from the previous phase are basically full, and this new fleet is only carrying people.
Victor did not linger at the dock for long; he went straight back to his villa in Sea Song Town.
Now, the Government Affairs Office of the Two Rivers Territory sends a batch of documents here every day for Victor to review and analyze.
Victor returned to the annex every day to examine these documents.
Victor flipped through the documents and found that many of them concerned this year's plans. The Old Baron Wembley, considering that Victor was about to leave, had specially sent some long-term work and plans here, asking Victor to make a decision or give a general outline.
After Victor finished annotating the documents, it was already past seven in the afternoon. He put down his pen, left the study, and went to the dining room to have dinner.
When he arrived at the restaurant, he found an unexpected person.
"Veronica, what brings you here?"
Victor was quite surprised to see Veronica resting on the table.
"Victor, you're finally done!"
Veronica was startled awake by Victor's words and got up to find that Victor had already walked up to her.
Victor reached out and hugged Veronica. "Why are you here? Didn't we agree to come on the day we set off?"
"I miss you so much, and besides, my work is finished now, and Octavia is here, she can handle it all herself."
I arrived around 4 a. m., but I saw you were working on documents in your study, so I didn't want to disturb you.
Veronica's face was covered with a large red mark from sleeping on the table, and Victor stroked it tenderly.
You haven't eaten yet, have you?
Next time, don't wait for me, or you can just call me directly.
Veronica readily agreed.
"Okay, I'll do as you say."
For the next few days, Veronica stayed in Sea Song Town, planning to stay until Victor left.
On April 2, after seven days, Victor's expeditionary force and all supplies had been loaded onto the ship, and the Iron Tower Ship finally docked at the pier.
However, Victor did not board the Iron Tower Ship; instead, Marvin led his regimental headquarters and the First Detachment aboard the giant ship.
Victor was going to board the Wavebreaker, the ship that served as the base of Sodoma.
On this day, Victor's family and various officials from the territory's administrative system came to Sea Song Town to see off their lord and the army that had devoted all of the territory's resources to the cause.
Before boarding the ship, Victor said to everyone, "I hope you will guard the Two Rivers Territory well. I will bring back good news of victory. There is still more work to be done in the future, so please do not slack off."
All the leading officials bowed to the lord, indicating that they would obey his orders.
After saying goodbye to his family and Veronica, Victor boarded the ship.
Victor stood on the ship's railing, watching his family wave goodbye until he could no longer see them.
He said to Sodoma, who was standing to the side waiting, "Full speed ahead!"
Sodoma turned and shouted, "Full speed ahead!"
Soon the flag bearers at the stern and bow also signaled for full speed ahead, and the entire fleet began to lower the sails and head south at full speed.