Cursed Mountains and Seas

Chapter 290 Altar of Mountains and Rivers, Five-Colored Soil (Seeking Votes)

Wang Cheng possessed only one beneficiary version of the Heavenly Craft Treasure Ship, and there was no way to replicate it in large quantities.

The ordinary treasure ships obtained from Zheng He's treasure maps are already outdated. If you want to dominate the seas, the most economical and practical solution with the current level of technology is still sailing warships!
Since the time of the old father, Wufengqi has spent huge sums of money to purchase Dutch warships and recruit a large number of carpenters and master craftsmen to imitate them.

Due to the lack of blueprints and shipwrights, reverse engineering has been progressing slowly and has yet to produce a finished product.

Things only took a turn for the better after the naval battle with Baron Carlos.

Of the more than thirty sailing warships in the Frankish fleet, five or six were sunk, and the rest were all captured by the Eastern Sea Kingdom.

Now, we have assembled a sailing fleet of up to sixty ships, and we are fully entitled to boast: Dominating the East China Sea!

Perhaps not as powerful as the Kingdom of the Netherlands at its peak, which possessed 1.5 merchant ships, accounting for one-third of the world's total shipping fleet.

But just considering the warships alone, they are already impressive enough.

In particular, several carpenters who were on board the third-class battleship, which represented the pinnacle of the East Frankish Empire's craftsmanship, were also captured.

This will fill the last gap in the reverse engineering process, which was just one step away from completion.

On the fifth-class cruiser that had already been successfully launched, Zhao Liangcai, a sixth-rank official in charge of managing the shipyard and known as the "Master Craftsman," enthusiastically introduced it to Wang Cheng and his group:

"Your Highness, although our Jiufan Island does not have the century-old oak of the Western Continent, nor the teak, the king of timber in the South Seas, it is full of other kinds of timber in the deep mountains and forests."

Our research team has come up with alternative solutions for shipbuilding materials.

The local reserves of cedar and cypress are the most abundant. Cedar is the most suitable for masts, just like the original warships. Cypress contains natural oils and has excellent corrosion resistance. It is mainly used for hull plates, internal structures and decks.
Red pine and black pine are tough and strong, and contain resin, which has a certain degree of anti-corrosion ability, making them suitable for use in parts that require high strength, such as keel and ribs.

The island of Kowloon also has some native oak trees, such as the cypress, whose wood is hard, wear-resistant, and durable, making it suitable for use in ribs and ship hulls to withstand gunfire.

The quality of these timbers combined was not much worse than that of the oak warships of the Westerners.

Moreover, our carpenters are far superior to Western shipwrights in their handling of wood and their mortise and tenon joints, who rely on nails and rods for fixing things up everywhere.

Zhao Liangcai's face was full of pride as he spoke.

If the raw materials are of lower quality, the carpenter's skills become especially crucial. They will carbonize the wood, charring the surface to form a carbonized layer, which enhances its water resistance.

Applying tung oil can double the lifespan of a warship!
The only minor issue is that tung oil is a specialty of Dazhao, and it is only found in China. It is a strictly controlled strategic material and a sought-after commodity for smuggling.

Fortunately, with Wang Cheng, a third-rank commander of Zhenhai Guard, around, these are all minor matters, and there is no need to worry about the shipbuilding industry being suddenly cut off.

The entourage did not understand these things; they only knew that their Donghai Kingdom had acquired another powerful weapon.

It is no exaggeration to say that a sailing warship capable of carrying dozens or even hundreds of cannons weighing two or three tons and traveling hundreds of kilometers a day is the most dazzling jewel in the crown of modern industrial technology!

Having independent construction capabilities meant that they no longer had a technological gap with the top powers at sea.

The war potential of the East Sea Kingdom immediately jumped to a higher level.

Wang Cheng stroked the rudder of the first domestically built sailing warship:

“While it is possible to use secondary alternative materials to build cruisers of the third tier or lower, oak and teak are still indispensable for building the main battleships that will determine the fate of a nation in the future.”

This provides yet another compelling reason to secure a foothold in Southeast Asia as soon as possible.

At this moment, Zhao Liangcai, the chief craftsman, stepped forward again to ask for instructions:

"Your Highness, to commemorate this first self-built sailing warship, we would like to follow Western tradition and name the ship after you or the Princess."

When the report was previously submitted to the royal palace, the princess said that the issue would be considered once a first-class ship was built.

We thought it made sense, so all the craftsmen racked their brains and came up with three names: Yukikaze, Danyang, and Kagerou. Why don't you choose one of them to name this warship?

"Wow! You guys are really naming geniuses, even more talented than me at it."

Wang Cheng raised an eyebrow and glanced at the ship with his money-grubbing eyes, discovering that it was imbued with a strong sense of prayer.

The name "first domestically built sailing warship" carries great weight, embodying the hopes of countless shipwrights and Tanka people for years; its birth has been longed for far too long. Seeing Zhao Liangcai's expectant gaze, Wang Cheng hesitated for a moment, then finally chose a compromise name:

"Let's call it Danyang."

As if bestowed with a noble title, a profound prayer condensed and took shape on it, staining the ship with a touch of pale gold, transforming this warship into a treasure of the entire prefecture, a talismanic object.

As expected, he immediately gained an ability called "Auspicious Blessing".

This warship will most likely not be sunk in the future.

Wang Cheng made up his mind that from now on, this ship would only be allowed to fight alone, and no one of his own people would be allowed to team up with it.

"By the way, how's the development of the combat module for the Heavenly Craft Treasure Ship going?"

After disembarking from the Danyang sailing warship, Wang Cheng asked Zhao Liangcai about another important matter.

The Mirage Cloud Dragon Ship is still missing three major components:

First, the Ship God's Blessing System [Golden Jade Shrine] allows you to invite the ship god to reside there, maximizing the ship god's power and ensuring safe navigation.

Its most important function is to allow ship spirits to reside there, serving as the core for them to control the entire ship.

Secondly, the combat system, such as [Five Thunder God Cannon], [Ten Thousand Dragons Emerging from the Water], [Divine Fire Golden Crow], etc., is different for each ship.

Third, the [Universal Soil] used to activate the effects of national treasures is also the most core technology. It is used to adapt to and activate different national treasures to form exclusive supernatural powers.

"Your Highness, the simplest [Ten Thousand Dragons Emerging from the Water] only requires Gui Water essence, which can be extracted by Bai Shuilang and pearl divers. By accumulating it slowly, the finished product can be created soon."

Once the ship spirits are in place, automated mass production can be achieved, which is not difficult.

We've been focusing our efforts on [Putianwang Soil], and now we only need the raw materials to try making it.

However, we need high-quality five-colored soil, especially soil from the 'Altar of Mountains, Rivers, and Grain' where the emperor offered sacrifices to Heaven. We have no way to obtain it.”

"The Emperor's Altar of Mountains and Rivers? You really think too highly of me."

Wang Cheng glared at him irritably.

The altar of mountains, rivers, and land where the emperor offered sacrifices to Heaven needed to be covered with soil of five colors: blue, red, white, black, and yellow, to represent the five directions of land: east, west, south, north, and center, which also meant the entire territory of the country.

Yellow represents the Yellow Emperor in the center, assisted by the earth god holding a rope; cyan symbolizes Taihao in the east, where the power of the wood god of spring is in his hands.

Red symbolizes the Southern Emperor Yan, to whom the fire god of summer is under his command; white represents the Western Shao Hao, to whom the metal god of autumn is responsible; and black symbolizes the Northern Emperor Zhuanxu, to whom the water god of winter is under his command.

Throughout history, emperors collected soil samples from all over China, from the east, west, south, north, and central regions, and used these five-colored soil samples as offerings to their ancestors to pray for the prosperity of the nation, favorable weather, and abundant harvests.

Only such soil can draw upon the "spirit of the land and rivers" from the heavens above, possessing the supreme spirit that all land under heaven belongs to the king.

This treasure can only be found in the land of China, and its quality greatly affects the effectiveness of [Universal Soil].

"Everyone knows that the sacrificial soil on the Altar of Mountains and Rivers is the finest quality, and it has been used continuously for thousands of years through the dynasties."

Sending us directly into the imperial city to dig up dirt would be suicide.

The most reliable way is to travel all over the country and dig for it yourself in the place of origin, but it will probably take a long time and the results will be far less than those other methods.

"Afterwards, I can ask Old Lu if the imperial court still has any stock of the five-colored soil that has been excavated from the five prefectures over the years. I wonder if there's any potential in secretly smuggling some out?"

The next few days passed peacefully.

Time flies, and soon it's the Ghost Festival on the fifteenth of the seventh lunar month.

It was also the day that Wang Cheng and Yan Yunxiao prepared to plant corn on the barren mountain first, in order to ambush the evil spirit [Five-Colored Rat Demon] in Minzhou.

(End of this chapter)