Installing cannons

Leonard brought twenty A4 Shipbreaker Cannons back from Norwington Estate, along with an IOU for 3,000 gold coins.

Last time, Young Master Rowan had helped himself to a large haul of ore from the Norwington Family's Merchants' Guild for free. Afterward, Lord Aldrius had specifically instructed the family's Merchants' Guild not to let Rowan take anything without paying. Even if he had no gold, he had to write an IOU.

Hmph. My own father, all right. Rowan snorted as he looked at the IOU Leonard handed him, grumbling inwardly.

Yesterday, Rowan had sent Byron and Ellen out on a small cargo boat to look for traces of the pirates. One was an Assassination Rogue, the other a Retribution Paladin, making them a formidable team.

Rowan felt quite confident sending them to search for the pirates. Byron and Ellen were class holders, after all. Even if ordinary pirates discovered them, they could hardly be certain of taking them down, especially at sea.

Unless the pirates could overturn their little boat with one shot, then land several more cannon shots directly on them.

Otherwise, a few dozen pirates posing any threat to Byron and Ellen was simply out of the question.

To Rowan's surprise, Jaina had not come today.

Lately, going even a day without seeing Jaina had left Rowan feeling restless all over. Perhaps that was what first love felt like.

But when Rowan saw the first steam-powered warship being fitted with shipbreaker cannons, he temporarily forgot all about romance.

After all, warships and cannons were a man's true romance.

Following behind Young Master Rowan, Leonard could not help remembering something Byron had once said: "The young master really is a fucking genius."

Leonard searched his mind for a long while and decided that "genius" really was the only word that could describe Young Master Rowan now.

In less than half a month, including the journey from Morris Town to the Norwington Family's estate to purchase cannons, Young Master Rowan had actually gotten a ship out to sea.

If that were all, Leonard would have been perfectly happy to watch Young Master Rowan cheerfully installing cannons. But the pirate attack weighed like a stone on his heart.

Young Master Rowan actually intended to use this single warship against a pirate fleet of three small warships.

The thought alone gave Leonard a headache.

Norwington Estate was a week's journey from Morris Town, while reaching Boralus by sea took two full days. Young Master Rowan had already nearly finished installing the cannons. As soon as Byron and Ellen returned with the pirates' location, the warship would set sail.

There was no time left. Even if Leonard wanted to stop Young Master Rowan now, he had no grounds to do so. After all, Young Master Rowan was the one in charge here.

As a Warrior who had fought in the Second War, Leonard also longed to take revenge on those damned pirates.

In the inland sea, less than ten nautical miles from Morris Town, the pirates had plundered a vessel and slaughtered more than twenty crewmen and sailors! Calling such conduct criminal hardly did it justice. They were nothing but beasts with no parents, and they had to be hanged, then thrown into the sea to feed the fish!

"Young Master Rowan, you don't actually need to come on this voyage. Byron and I are more than capable of carrying out the plan," Leonard said confidently, thumping his chest.

Rowan stretched his shoulders and scratched his head. "Actually, I was thinking the same thing."

Leonard let out a long breath, his face breaking into a smile. "I'm glad you see it that way, young master. As a commander, your most important duty is to oversee the bigger picture."

Rowan nodded thoughtfully. He entered the gun deck and stroked one of the new shipbreaker cannons, saying slowly, "When I was little, I attended a demonstration. I didn't know any better back then, so I went down to the gun deck by myself and tried firing a broadside cannon. Its recoil sent me flying."

Rowan pointed to the back of his head and continued, "I hit my head right here. You know what happened over the next eight years-I became a muddleheaded fool. This time, I just want to properly fulfill that childhood wish and shatter the nightmare that's haunted me all this time."

As he reached the emotional part, Rowan casually dabbed at the corners of his eyes with his sleeve, though there were hardly any tears.

Rowan said all this simply to make Leonard board the ship willingly.

All Rowan wanted was to stand on deck during a naval battle and shout, "Open fire at once!"

Then blow every last pirate warship sky-high.

Looking at Young Master Rowan leaning against the wall and shaking his head, Leonard steadied himself and said with difficulty, "Then let's board, young master. Leonard will protect you with his life."

"There's no need to go that far. The pirates only have small warships, with six cannons on their gun decks. And those are A3 Cannons, at least a whole grade below ours in power. Our warship now has thirty-six cannons installed. Whether it's firepower, speed, or displacement, we completely outclass their ships." Rowan had made thorough comparisons. Without absolute confidence, he would never have volunteered to go aboard.

If something really went wrong and it all ended in disaster, the loss would be far too great.

Leonard's main concern was not the enemy's fighting strength, but whether their warship could still travel at high speed with thirty-six cannons installed. After all, a ship's speed was also extremely important in naval combat.

Most cannons on sailing warships were concentrated along the two sides, so maneuvering the ship out of the enemy's firing range was also crucial.

"Won't thirty-six cannons be a bit too many? I'm worried they'll affect our speed and put us at a disadvantage before the battle even begins," Leonard said uneasily.

In fact, Rowan had already considered Leonard's concern. Each cannon did indeed weigh several hundred jin, so dozens of them added up to more than ten tons.

But the steam engine's power neatly eliminated those problems.

"It's fine. The steam engine has enough power."

Of course, that was not all Rowan had considered. He had also thought about the ship's performance in actual combat.

Warships in the Kingdom of Kul Tiras had very simple internal layouts. Everything below the second deck was one continuous space. If water flooded in, the entire warship would be inundated.

To improve the ship's ability to withstand damage, Rowan had decisively borrowed the valuable experience of the Chinese people from his previous life: Watertight Compartment Technology.

Rowan had reworked a great many planks and redundant structures, then installed more than a dozen bulkheads, dividing the second deck into over a dozen small compartments.

That way, even if a cannonball punched through the deck, only one small compartment would flood. It would not be fatal to the warship as a whole.

Also, although the warship had no need for sails, he still had the workers install them. After all, in the age of sailing warships, sails were another target that could draw enemy fire.

Just as Rowan was talking with Leonard, a voice sounded in his mind.

Ding! Shock points from Admiral Daelin Proudmoore +100.

What's going on? Just handing me emotion points for free, huh?