industrial lord

Chapter 229 The opening of the canal

On the third day of November 1028, the entire city of Wessenburg was almost empty, with few people on the street.

People came to both sides of the Carolina Canal outside the city, either happy or curious, talking about the canal that was about to be filled.

Now that the canal has been dug, piers and stone arches have been built for several bridges on the river, grasses have been planted on the slopes to maintain water and soil, and all the navigation lights in the river have been installed.

Today is the first time that wireless communicators have appeared in the eyes of the world. There is a communicator reporting the situation every kilometer on both sides of the canal.

At the estuary at both ends of the canal stands the largest ship lock of this era, with six 6-meter-wide and 8-meter-long lock chambers arranged side by side.

Frederick was currently in the sand table room of the ship lock office area on the side of Weissenburg City, listening to the wireless communicator to report the situation of various points.

"The situation at Observation Point [-] is normal."

"Oak City Observation Point is in normal condition."

"The situation at the Three Bridges observation point is normal."

"The situation at the west gate observation point is normal."

……

As reports from various observation points came, someone planted flags representing safety and security in the corresponding positions.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, Frederick ordered: "All units pay attention, all units pay attention, start opening the gates!"

Soon there was a huge movement at the gate next to it. Several steam engines drove the winch to rotate, and the iron chain on the winch slowly opened all the gates on the lock.

Frederick walked to the ship lock, stood behind the railing, and quietly watched the rushing water pouring into the river, and he could also see many fish being carried into the canal.

In the distance, the cheers from the onlookers on the shore overwhelmed the rolling waves, and many people sang excitedly.

Footsteps sounded behind him, and Frederick knew who it was without turning his head.

"Foo, how long has it been since I first officially proposed building this canal?" he asked.

Ah Fu replied: "Reporting to the master, it has been five years."

"It's been five years," Frederick said slowly. "Five years ago, I thought about escaping to Constantbul and becoming a scholar. I didn't expect that now I'm preparing to attack Constantbul."

Ah Fu said with relief: "Master has grown up."

The corner of Frederick's mouth twitched. This was the second time Ah Fu said such a thing this month. He said that when Baron Adiken brought Lilu to Wessenburg the day before yesterday.

He didn't stay here long, and left after hearing the river join in the channel and flow into Lake St. Henri.

Lake St. Henry was originally a low-lying area south of the canal. At first, it was worried that the villages there would be flooded because the canal swelled during the flood season. Finally, the Executive Yuan decided that all the tenant farmers in the village here would be relocated to the newly-built Oak City as city residents. .After the people walked, they blocked the surrounding valleys, and dug a few tributaries from the canal to fill the water as a large lake for regulating the water source. Later, it became a fishing holy place for fish from the Rhine and Danube.

It is estimated that it will take four days to fill the water here. In the next few days, there may be some collapses at the water's edge, which is a normal phenomenon.

The guests who participated in the navigation ceremony will arrive in the next two days. The Grand Duke of Mainz and Bain are the first to arrive. Earl Delden and other nobles who have brushed the Kingdom of Danma together on the defense line of the Elbe River are here. At least, Earl Pistor, the Minister of Military Affairs in the capital, and Bell Burke, her grandfather, Earl Shakespeare, also came.

Frederick held a grand reception in the castle to welcome the guests.

Many people at the reception knew Baron Adiken, and while chatting with him, Earl Pistor asked a question: "How long does it take for a cargo ship to travel from here to there?"

Adiken walked along the canal, calculated in his mind, and reported a figure.

Earl Pisto said in surprise, "It's so slow, I thought it could be faster."

Adiken explained: "The boat can't be too fast in the river. It is difficult for it to turn around. If it is too fast, it will lose control."

Count Pistor looked as if he understood, and asked curiously, "What if there are many people rowing the boat desperately?"

At this time, the Grand Duke Byrne was chatting with people nearby, and when he heard it, he turned his head and smiled and said to Count Pisto, "You might as well go and row yourself once."

Count Pistor shook his head and said, "It's not fun to paddle by myself."

Earl Delden and he both belonged to the circle of the capital, so he smiled and said to him: "Then let's just set up a game."

"That's right." Earl Pistor's eyes lit up, "This should be fun."

The game that Earl Delden mentioned was actually a game of gambling. The nobles in Cologne City could gamble on something casually.

Count Pistor was happy to do this, and immediately connected them at the reception, and then found Frederick.

Frederick saw that he spoke excitedly, and many people echoed him, so it was hard for him to refuse.

"Well." Frederick thought of an idea, "If you want to play, then have fun."

"Let's arrange the race on the day of the navigating ceremony, um...the navigating ceremony can be replaced by a boat race, from the east lock to the west lock."

"It's the Harvest Festival that day, and all the boats must be well-dressed!"

Earl Pistor was just looking for fun, and when Frederick said this, he immediately nodded in agreement: "That's not bad, leave it to me, I promise it will be a lively event!"

Frederick complained in his heart, if only you could care so much about military affairs.

He finally agreed with Earl Pistor to deal with the matter, and asked Afu to assist, or to watch and not to make too much noise.

Count Pistor has the ability, he turned a canal navigation ceremony into a combination of rowing and color boat parade.

No matter what you participate in, you have to pay the registration fee. When the time comes, the boat rower will get a bonus, and there will be many billboards hanging on the parade. No one will lose.

At this time, the two sides of the canal were very lively that day, and almost half of the people in Wessen State gathered on the bank of the river waiting to see something new.

The first to rush out after the sound of the horn was a dozen rowing boats, which were modified from small boats in Wessenburg, with the flags of the families they represented on the bows, and the sticks on the sides of the boats were useful. Straw, hay and confetti in the form of animals or flowers.

Followed by the colorful boats of various chambers of commerce, they leisurely followed behind the rowing boats, and finally left behind some rowing boats that rushed too hard at the beginning, making the audience on both sides of the river laugh heartily.

In the end, it was Baron Adiken's boat that won No.1. These men on the sea rowed in the canal as if they were playing for fun. There was no need to fight for it, just keep a good pace.

As the ships participating in the ceremony left, the cargo ships that had been waiting for a long time entered the canal and sailed to their new targets.

After everything returned to calm, Frederick found a random place by the canal, sat on the grass by himself, rested his chin on his hand, and quietly watched the boats coming and going on the canal.

(End of this chapter)