Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 333 Let them see the truth of the Empire

"You want to damage my ship? You want to damage the Black Pearl!?"

On the dock, Jeremiah, with a ferocious expression, spread his arms wide, blocking the Black Pearl like a mother hen protecting her chicks.

Opposite him were several engineers from the Fire Moths.

Ken was at the very front, holding a stack of blueprints in his hand.

"Please calm down, Captain. We're just asking for your opinion."

"Impossible! You can only touch my ship by stepping over my dead body!"

One of the researchers working on the Fire Moth tried to persuade them: "This is a free modification, and Castells will cover all the costs of the modification."

"I refuse! The Black Pearl is everything to me, and you can forget about putting those two ugly wheels on her!"

"But this can increase sailing speed."

"That won't do! Don't think I don't know!" Jeremiah sneered. "Even with the addition of outer wheels and steam power, your ship will still only reach a speed of less than 10 knots. The Black Pearl is faster with the wind!"

"And have you considered that the Black Pearl has a wooden frame? Simply stuffing a steel steam engine in like that will damage it!"

“Don’t worry, Mr. Jeremiah,” Ken quickly reassured him, “we’ll also replace your lower deck with metal one.”

"A metal lower deck?" Jeremiah frowned, then glared at him. "That won't do! I absolutely will not add wheels to the sides!"

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, there are no wheels,” Ken said, somewhat flustered, as he pulled out a blueprint. “We plan to use a propeller as the power source.”

“No wheels? How will the boat move? You little guy, you must be lying to me.” Jeremiah glared at Ken, but then his gaze couldn’t help but fall on the blueprint in Ken’s hand.

There was a three-view drawing of a propeller, along with its specific dimensions and parameters.

Jeremiah glanced at the blueprints. He was a bit far away and couldn't see some of the finer parameters clearly, so he snorted and snatched them away.

"Hmph, this installation location... underwater? Then it's certainly not visible from the outside."

But after staring at the propeller for a long time, he still scratched his head, somewhat confused: "What exactly is this thing used for?"

Propeller-like structures have actually existed before, such as windmill blades used in mills. If Zoe, the miller's daughter, were here, she would be able to see the principle at a glance. Unfortunately, Jeremiah was a pirate and had never seen a windmill before.

"Hmm, this can provide power simply by rotating. There are a few prototypes in the shipyard, would you like to take a look?"

“Alright. Wait!” Jeremiah’s eyes flashed with wariness again. “Don’t even think about secretly altering my ship while I’m away!”

He pointed to the Black Pearl, then to his eyes: "I'm keeping an eye on you. If she has anything extra or missing, I'll... I'll..."

He hesitated for a moment. Usually, Jeremiah would brandish his scimitar and musket at this point as a threat, but his scimitar was now in Alexei's hands, and the musket...
Most of the Moths Who Chase Fire also hold positions in the Guardians of the Church. He looked up at the bolt-action rifle on the person opposite him, then touched the musket at his waist, and silently withdrew his hand.

Compared to the rifles on the other side, this rudimentary musket was like two small water pipes.

But how could a seasoned pirate, who had been around for many years, be easily dealt with? Jeremiah sneered:
"I'll expose what you've done to the newspapers and have Nini write a scathing report about you!" Hiss.
The members of the Fire-Chasing Moths all took a step back, their eyes darting away.

“Mr. Jeremiah, don’t worry, it’s not that bad. Come with me to the shipyard first.” Ken coaxed Jeremiah aside with a push and pull, and the two of them headed toward the shipyard.

Only then did the researchers breathe a sigh of relief; Nini's intimidating power was simply too strong.

They had no choice. Although they successfully built a propeller by following the lord's ideas, they soon discovered, to their embarrassment, that they had no more ships to modify.

Building ships with steel is a complex engineering project, and no force in the world has ever attempted it before, especially since the engineers of the Fire Moths don't know much about ships.

Although the addition of Ken and Jeremiah accelerated the project considerably, it still couldn't be completed in a short period of time.

The banshees did find several half-built ships in Gem Bay, but Castells was in dire need of ships, so they converted them all into ocean liners for use. Except for the one that went to Blood Harbor, the remaining ships have been transporting various goods between Castells and Gem Bay.

The development of Gem Bay has already begun and is currently Castells' most important project, even taking precedence over Blood Harbor.

Although Blood Harbor is a gathering place for various forces and is Castel's first stop in his expansion onto the continent, it is ultimately just a port.

Gem Bay has several such ports.

Therefore, although Hughes valued Blood Harbor, he did not neglect the development of Gem Bay. For example, there is now a ship that travels between Castells and various mines in Gem Bay.

Gem Bay, also known as the Martha Islands, covers a vast area. Although many secrets are still hidden within, Hughes first sent people to develop the mines based on the nautical charts they found.

Ores and various raw materials are the foundation of industry. Hughes knows very well that everything Castel has is built on industry. His most important task now is to continue to develop and advance technology. As long as he is strong and advanced enough, it doesn't matter what conspiracies and tricks the surrounding forces plan.

Take the prince for example. He used every means to quell the rebellion in Bloodharbor, which was indeed very impressive. But what if Hughes had led the Guardians of the Church over there?

Machine guns were set up at the entrance of the military camp.

The cultists surrounded them and set up machine guns.

The rest can be resolved simply by pulling the trigger.

Only when you're not strong enough do you need all sorts of tricks and techniques; once you have enough overwhelming firepower, you can just crush them.

However, if Hughes's fiefdom had been Bloodharbor, there probably wouldn't have been any rebellion at all. The Church of the Mother Goddess would probably all be working for him. As for that Mother Goddess priestess Mira, she might be hanging on the church roof in place of Chloe now.

Hughes watched the foreign ships slowly entering the harbor from his office, his eyes flickering.

Connor and Galahad have arrived.

These were Castel's first guests.

Whether the prince is friend or foe is still uncertain, but that doesn't stop Castel from doing business with him.

If he's a friend, then let's have free trade; if he's an enemy, then let Bloodharbor experience the truth of the Empire.

(End of this chapter)