Chapter 1047, The Trading Team

Translator: Silavin

 

Su Bai led Yu Ying and the others into the great ship’s cabin, which proved to be remarkably spacious.

 

The partitioning within the entire cabin was clearly defined, with rooms as the primary feature.

 

Being a great ship, its principal purpose was naturally the transport of people and cargo, and so there were many rooms, with correspondingly narrower passageways.

 

“Shaman, there are so many rooms in here. It looks like each room can hold a lot of people.” Yu Ying was the first to push open a cabin door and found two bunk beds placed inside, each a double-level arrangement.

 

Naturally, with only two bunks, the passageway was already rather narrow, with no space for anything else to be placed inside.

 

“Of course. This great ship is primarily built for trade, so the rooms are naturally intended for housing people and storing cargo. You are welcome to look at the other rooms.” Su Bai said.

 

He had drawn the blueprints for the great ship himself, so of course he knew the internal layout of the cabin perfectly well.

 

“All right.” Yu Ying cheerfully pushed open the other cabin doors, discovering that some rooms contained no beds at all and were comparatively quite open.

 

There were twelve rooms in total within the fifty-metre great ship, half of them intended for accommodating people and the other half for storing cargo.

 

Working from that figure was straightforward enough. With each room housing four people, the ship could carry just over twenty passengers.

 

Of course, that was a relatively comfortable capacity. In practice, a room could hold eight people, with two to a bunk, which would bring the total to fifty passengers per ship.

 

Although this ship was of considerable size, its primary purpose was trade, and so the number of people it could carry was not especially large.

 

“The space for storing cargo is enormous. It feels even larger than the rooms for people,” Yu Ying remarked.

 

Beyond the cargo storage and passenger rooms, there was also a communal kitchen and lavatory.

 

“Come, let us go back outside.” Su Bai said, taking Yu Ying by the hand and heading out.

 

The internal layout of the cabin held little of further interest, the rooms being the main feature throughout.

 

Outside the cabin was considerably more open. Both the fore-deck and the aft-deck were generously wide, so when people were not in their rooms, everyone could move about freely on deck.

 

Food prepared in the kitchen could also all be brought out onto the deck to eat.

 

“Shaman, I feel as though the ship is moving?” Yu Ying exclaimed with delight, sensing the vessel begin to shift.

 

Though the Tribe had twenty-metre ships, Yu Ying had never experienced one before.

 

What was more, a fifty-metre ship was entirely different from a twenty-metre one. The sheer scale was incomparably greater.

 

“The great ship is conducting a trial run over a stretch of the river. There is nothing to worry about. It is perfectly safe.” Long explained at once.

 

An assistant was operating the compass on deck, and the rudder at the stern adjusted its direction in response, meaning the ship could be controlled.

 

“Shaman, why does the great ship move on its own? I did not see anyone using an oar.” Yu Ying asked in her soft, gentle voice.

 

“Do you see the sail? The ship’s forward movement is entirely due to that sail. It is wind power that drives the ship ahead.” He offered a brief explanation.

 

Yu Ying looked up at the sail and saw that what had previously stood straight was now beginning to billow inward, a clear sign that wind was blowing into it.

 

She hurried to the stern and watched the ripples across the water’s surface, confirming that the ship was indeed advancing at a steady, even pace. She looked up at the sail once more, and everything became clear in an instant.

 

“So that is how it works. Amazing. How can the Shaman be so brilliant?” Yu Ying was utterly astonished.

 

Even if she had tried to work it out for herself, it was something she could never have arrived at. This was wisdom of a different order entirely.

 

Not that the people of the Tribe were foolish. They were not foolish in the slightest, but they simply had no way of arriving at this kind of knowledge on their own.

 

“Read more, and you will come to know many things. Learn a little more as time goes on, and you will understand it all. In truth, these are perfectly ordinary phenomena. All it takes is a bit more careful observation of daily life.” Su Bai smiled quietly. In reality, all of this knowledge had sprung from inspirations drawn from everyday life.

 

The aeroplanes of his former world, for instance, had been inspired by the flight of birds, and ships were in essence inspired by fish and the like.

 

“Yes. I will be even more diligent.” Yu Ying said with a serious and earnest nod.

 

*Splash…*

 

The great ship sailed on steadily across the river’s surface, gradually drifting out of sight of the Flame Dragon Tribe.

 

“Shaman, we can no longer see the Tribe. It feels like we moved so quickly,” Yu Ying remarked.

 

She turned back from the stern and could make out nothing. There was only a long, broad river stretching away behind them.

 

“The ship’s speed is also high. This means that from now on, we can reach other Tribes by ship as well.”

 

Su Bai clasped his hands behind his back and continued, “In that case, our trade with other Tribes can now be properly developed.”

 

“That is wonderful!” Yu Ying swished her pink fox tail without stopping.

 

“Long, how long does it take to build a ship like this?” Su Bai asked.

 

He was planning to commission an entire fleet, but before that, he first needed to know the construction timeline for a great ship.

 

“Before, it took two to three months because we were still researching and making trial-and-error adjustments.”

 

Long lowered his head, counted on his fingers, then looked up. “To build a new great ship from scratch now, I believe one month would be enough.”

 

His expression at that moment was entirely serious. With diligent, consistent work every day, one month was a reasonable estimate.

 

“Alright. Take your assistants and continue building more. By the time the snow season ends, I need a fleet, a fleet of five great ships. Can it be done?” Su Bai asked.

 

Long immediately began calculating the time remaining before the snow season, as well as how long the snow season itself would last.

 

He looked up abruptly and gave a firm nod, his voice animated with excitement. “Yes, Shaman. Five great ships will absolutely be ready for you by the end of the snow season.”

 

Long ran through the figures and found that there was more than enough time. If things went smoothly, there would even be time to spare.

 

“Also, two of the ships should be built entirely for carrying people, while the remaining three should be built entirely for carrying cargo, with only a single room left for the crew who man and operate the ship.”

 

Su Bai thought it through carefully and added, “Only then will it be a complete fleet. The purpose is to transport our Tribe’s goods outward. Can it be done?”

 

There was no need for new blueprints. He would simply ask him to work from first principles and adapt accordingly. In the end, it was only a matter of altering the internal layout of the cabin.

 

Long considered the internal layout of the cabin carefully and began assessing whether it was feasible.

 

After thinking it over at length, he looked up and replied, “There should be no problem. I shall do my best to see it through.”

 

“As before, come to me with anything you do not understand,” Su Bai instructed.

 

“Yes, Shaman!” Long replied, his voice full of barely contained excitement.

 

His emotions had yet to settle, and for good reason. The great ship he had built was already sailing on the river.

 

And now a new mission awaited him. It would have been strange not to feel the thrill of it.