Munitions Empire

Chapter 185: 182 New Ship New Classroom

Brunas, the open sea.

Atop the mast of a sailboat, a young sailor squinted his eyes, watching the billowing black smoke on the sea's surface.

He did not know what it was, just that it was also moving forward, and at a speed much faster than their ship.

Because the black smoke was advancing in the direction of their sailboat, and the source of the black smoke was moving rapidly forward, much faster than the sailboat he was on.

The Flying Fish sailboat was an infamous swift vessel around here, designed to outpace pirates with its speed, ensuring the safety of the cargo.

Therefore, this cargo sailboat was renowned for its speed, nearing 30 kilometers per hour! But in front of that tumbling black smoke, the speed of this sailboat seemed somewhat insignificant.

Recently, among sailors, a legend had been circulating that near the port of Brunas, a monster had been seen. Its speed surpassed the fastest warship, and no one had ever seen the true face of that monster.

It was said that any sailboats that had seen the monster were sunk by it, and the sailors were eaten. So, that black-smoke-emitting monster always appeared and disappeared mysteriously, causing much concern among many.

The official authorities at the port of Brunas were even alarmed, dispatching two armed merchant ships to patrol the sea where the monster appeared, warning approaching merchant vessels to leave quickly.

But because the ocean was so vast, there were always passing merchant ships that slipped through, seeing the billowing smoke on the ocean surface but unable to catch up with the owner of the black smoke.

The sailors who could navigate the oceans had more or less an adventurous spirit. Many times, they really wanted to see this mysterious, never-before-seen "monster."

And at this very moment, the sailors on the monster, or rather the sailors aboard the Great Tang Group's first steam-powered ironclad warship, were operating the most powerful warship in the world, cutting through the churning waves.

Their warship was sailing on the ocean, with two chimneys emitting pitch-black smoke. Seagulls circled the bow, and the wooden deck reflected a warm glow under the sunlight.

A slave sailor from the Poplar Kingdom, who had regained his status as a civilian, wiped the sweat from his forehead, looking out towards the distant sea's surface.

Life on this ship was truly blissful. They had warm water to drink, plenty of vegetables, and even combat was much more relaxed and leisurely than on other warships.

After all, naval battles were still divided into boarding actions and cannon duels. And whether it was boarding or firing cannons, the Great Tang Group's steam-powered ironclads clearly crushed the entire era's existence.

First of all, in cannon combat, these warships featured entirely enclosed gun turrets, with all gun positions safely under the protection of steel plates, obviously much safer than those wooden hulls.

Soldiers fighting in this environment naturally became more composed; they could focus more on aiming and firing, rather than observing their surroundings.

And in boarding combat, if a wooden sailboat ever got close to an ironclad, it would face the furious strafing of twin Maxim heavy machine guns...

An enemy sailor who could withstand such firepower and board for combat would probably have to be a T800-level terrifying existence.

This man, who had regained his civilian status, now knew there were so many beautiful scenes in this world, and there were so many advanced and bizarre things.

In short, this was a huge modern warship, as well as a modern school, and every sailor aboard was also a high-tech talent with limitless potential for the future.

Compared to their contemporaries, they indeed were high-tech talents. They had seen optical sights, experienced semi-automatic loading machines, and been exposed to the most advanced stargazing instruments and equipment.

They had also witnessed what a ventilation system was like on their own warship, learned what a telegraph was, and what constituted communication and automatic weapons.

With their grasp of modern naval warfare, each one of them was many times more experienced than their peers, an experience sufficient to make them the favored children of the era.

Inside the bridge, a sailor looked at the pressure gauge in front of him and reported loudly to the captain standing by his side, "The power system is all normal!"

"The steam engine is stable!" Another sailor yelled from the other side.

They had been continuously testing the limits of the warship and discovered, after their cautious experiments, that relative to their meager perception, the warship could practically be described as limitless.

It was like someone who had used a feature phone all their life suddenly switching to a Huawei P30; to them, this phone was simply the ultimate next-generation device, requiring a lot of time to figure out all its features.

Before seeing this warship, if someone had told them it was possible to communicate with distant land across the boundless sea, they would have laughed and mocked the person for being insane.

From inside a pipe communicator, came the voice of a sailor Petty Officer from the lower deck reporting, "The hull structure is all normal! No abnormal noises!"

Looking at the warship speeding at full throttle, the first officer also said to his captain, "Slight waves over the bow, no problem! It won't affect the main guns firing!"

The captain nodded slightly. Today's sea conditions were very good, so his warship was without any problems—these days, his warship had undergone a series of tests, proving its superiority.

At this moment, more uplifting news came through the communication pipes from the lower deck in a calm yet exciting tone, "The electrical system is normal!"

And in the telegraph room behind the bridge, a telegraph officer took off his headset and shouted, "Telegraph communication... clear!"

Everyone became excited. The third test had been entirely successful, and what they needed to do now was to send this good news back to Brunas.

The war was over, and the Shireck Consortium could not restore its system within the Leite Kingdom in such a short time—the time was on the side of the Great Tang Group.

The vessels sent to scout Black Dragon Island were likely returning. If they too brought back good news, then the plan to migrate to Black Dragon Island and secure the island would begin to be implemented.

Everything was progressing in a favorable direction, everything was unfolding just as Tang Mo had planned.

"Change course! Prepare to return to port!" The captain stood at his command post, full of pride as he gave the order to return, "Send a telegraph to the boss, tell him! Our sea trials were extremely successful!"

--------

Thank you, Emperor, for the reward! I'm very grateful for Your Majesty's support all this time.