Chapter 1440: Chapter 21: Landing (Part 1)
[South Paratu]
[Kingsfort]
In the early morning, at the Kingsfort pier, a fleet occupied all the berths on the jetty.
Since the civil war began, the shipping trade on the Ashen Stream River has gradually declined,
no longer seeing caravans large and small, loaded with the products of the Kingdom of Galloping Horses, from all parts of South Paratu gathered in the city of Kingsfort;
nor seeing rchants from various countries, speaking a multitude of dialects, bringing rare treasures from around the world.
The Kingsfort pier is shrouded in gloom and desolation, and the porters have had to look for other ways.
When the Red and Blue Roses confronted each other across the river, the civil war entered a stage of stalemate, and the shipping on the Ashen Stream River slightly revived.
From ti to ti, one could see a few small boats loaded with wool, tobacco, and pine resin, as if exploring, heading downstream solitarily.
Occasionally, so bold speculators, slling the scent of money, with increasingly rare and thus skyrocketing priced wines, sugar, and spices, docked at the Kingsfort pier.
After all, Paratu People always have extra things to sell and things they cannot produce to buy.
When the United Provinces’ River Navy, flying the Red Rose flag, defeated the Rainbow River Military Governnt’s fleet and completely controlled the Ashen Stream River channel, the Kingsfort pier even ushered in a peak of throughput.
Every Kingsfort rchant doing export trade—whether selling wool, timber, tobacco, tar, or even mushrooms and beeswax—were racing against ti to ship their backlog of goods downstream, willing to take losses to clear inventory.
The trampling among Paratu People allowed the United Provincial firms, without their nesis, to earn a huge profit, making Kingsfort pier bustling once more.
But shrewd observers can all see that this bustle is like the brief resurgence of a dying person.
As inventory is cleared, and the war drags on, landowners across Paratu, along with self-sufficient farrs, dared not plant cash crops anymore, switching to grain for stability, leaving Kingsfort pier completely quiet, never to regain its past glory.
Thus, the arrival of this fleet is particularly precious.
All able-bodied dockworkers were summoned over, including those dockworkers drafted into the city defense camp.
New recruits of the city defense camp, not yet accustod to holding matchlock guns and long spears, returned to their old jobs today.
They worked bare-chested, carrying sack after sack of wheat weighing a hundred pounds out of the ship’s hold.
The sun had just risen; the early morning at Kingsfort was still cold, yet every dockworker was sweating profusely and gasping for breath.
Carrying heavy sacks is more exhausting than carrying matchlock guns and long spears, but if given a choice, dockworkers would rather carry a hundred pounds of grain per sack.
As for the only berth at Kingsfort pier where cranes could be used, it was occupied by a conspicuous large ship.
Unlike other single-level, flat-bottod river sailboats in the port, the large ship under the crane’s long arm has a pointed bow, round body, big belly, three masts piercing the sky, and a double-deck that looks down on the pier proudly.
Three masts, two long and one short, two long carrying square sails, one short carrying a triangular sail.
From under the front mast at the bow, a fore-yard extends, aning it can hang another triangular sail on the bow to sail into the wind.
The two decks have rows of closed portholes at the mont.
On the upper deck, the holes are large and wide apart; these are gunports. On the lower deck, the holes are smaller and narrower; these are oarports.
This ans it can sail with the wind or be paddled when there is no wind.
rchant ships on the Ashen Stream River would not be equipped with so many oars because even slave rowers are too costly, and oar slots take up too much space.
If encountering windless weather, rchant ships can patiently wait for the wind;
Even if facing rapid currents and treacherous shoals, rchant ships are more inclined to use trackers rather than oarsn.
So, undoubtedly, the large ship docked in the center of the pier is a warship.
And it is not a river warship designed for slow navigation in river channels but an offshore warship designed for oceanic waves.
Paratu People on the pier couldn’t help but cast curious glances at this warship.
Seeing a ship that originally sailed in the Inner Sea “large bathtub” at the “small washbasin” port of Kingsfort was indeed rare.
But the fully ard United Provincials around the berth deterred Paratu People from drawing closer.
United Provinces Soldiers guarded this warship vigilantly, not allowing any Paratu People to approach, and even operated the crane themselves for unloading instead of using Paratu dockworkers.
Not only was the berth where this warship docked, in fact, the entire port was sealed off by United Provinces Soldiers who ca ashore with the ship, prohibiting the passage of idle people.
“Lift! Lift! Turn over here! Good! Turn to ! Stop! Stop! Lower! Lower it down!”
A middle-aged officer in artillery uniform rolled up his sleeves, standing by the crane, waving his hat up and down, shouting hoarsely, directing the crane to lift a fully loaded pallet of small barrels from the warship’s cargo hold.
“Lower! Keep lowering! Lower! Good! That’s enough! Slow down! Stop! Stop! Quick, stop—”
Perhaps because the crane at Kingsfort pier had been idle too long and lacked maintenance and lubrication; or maybe because the operator was new here and unfamiliar with the crane’s temperant.
Anyway, the pallet piled with small barrels did not land smoothly but smacked heavily onto the ground, raising a ring of dust.
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