Volume 6 Chapter 118 - Escorting sea routes
Volume 6 Chapter 118 Escorting sea routes
While there was the construction of the magic production base in the Stasom City to the north, the three naval ports in the southern Candra Empire didn’t remain idle.
After buying five guard ships from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, adding in the three from before, the Candra Empire finally had enough ships to build a fleet with the guard ships.
After many training exercises over the past half a year, this new fleet had a power that far surpassed all other fleets made with traditional ships. There was an agreement in the Candra Empire navy that for all future developments, they would be buying the newest models of the guard ships.
The traditional style of suppressing enemies with large ships and constant flame arrows before going in for close range combat, while using small trebuchets to fire stones at the enemy was already replaced. It was replaced by the new method of fighting that had far surpassed this old method.
To be unparalleled on the seas, the Candra Empire’s navy had to quickly change.
However, there was an important issue blocking the Candra Empire from making this change.
The reason was very simple and direct, it was money.
The budget had been cut year after year and the navy’s budget was terrible compared to the army’s budget.
The three guard ships that they had bought before, it was on money that was forced out by the navy’s financial department, as well as buying on credit for a part of the ships. They gave quite a few conditions to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce for these ships.
Although the navy through working with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce in taking care of the pirates had earned quite a bit, after buying these five guard ships from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they had spent everything they had earned in these past two years.
So the entire navy had reached an agreement. The navy had to change all their ships into these new guard ships, but thinking of the high price of two million gold coins per ship, they couldn’t do a thing.
In order to achieve this goal, not only did they have to incite the emperor in private, the Candra Empire navy had to get closer to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
With the relationship Count Russell who was the new chief of staff had built, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had reached an agreement with the Candra Empire navy. The Candra Empire navy would open up the three ports that were controlled by them.
This meant that these three ports that had only belonged to the Candra Empire navy before would be open to all ships.
Although one had to pay a protection fee to enter this military port, the fee wasn’t high. It was only thirty gold coins for the largest ships and it was something that most merchant ships could accept.
Moreover, after paying these thirty gold coins, not only would they receive the protection of the Candra Empire navy in these three military ports, if they encountered any danger on the southern seas, they could look to the Candra Empire navy for help.
In short, the protection money was definitely worth it for most sea faring merchants.
Of course, if they did encounter any danger on the southern seas, it was related to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce how they would contact the Candra Empire navy for help.
Each ship that paid the thirty gold coin protection fee would get a Magic Communicator provided by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. After getting this Magic Communicator, as long as they were in the range of the communication network, they could call all other Magic Communicators that were in the same network.
In the Candra Empire’s seas, you could send a help signal with the Magic Communicator and this help signal would immediately be sent to the Candra Empire navy. They would then send any nearby naval vessels to come and save them.
If the Candra Empire’s navy couldn’t reach them, the boats that needed help could ask for help from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s island bases nearby.
With the current range of five kilometers for each magic signal tower, the Candra Empire navy advised the ships not to move five kilometers away from the islands with magic signal towers, or the call wouldn’t be sent.
So after the Candra Empire navy announced that these three military ports would be open, the Candra Empire’s marine transport business increased again, reaching several dozen times what it was before. If one looked down, they would find that although the merchants were navigating the endless seas, they were all taking the same route.
All the merchant ships would stay near islands with Frestech Chamber of Commerce bases nearby and definitely wouldn’t go too far.
The most important reason was of course because the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s magic communication network covered this area. With this ability to instantly send messages, they could ask for help as soon as possible if they encountered any danger and they would be able to receive any news as soon as possible.
For these merchants that navigated the seas and might not see a person for ten days to half a month at times, this was simply an earth shattering change.
Other than this, since there were the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s bases, this route had been investigated by them. There wasn’t any hidden danger on this route at all, so it was even smoother for them.
Adding in the fact that in the «Endless Seas Navigation Notice» that was jointly published by the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Candra Empire navy, it said that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had built a harbour on each of these islands that were five kilometers apart.
The transport ships could dock at any time and refill their supplies.
For these merchants that could only rely on the supplies that they had before departing, this was another convenient matter.
Moreover, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would also provide ship repairs and other services at these harbours, which was much safer for these merchants on the endless seas.
Adding in the fact that they could obtain supplies at any time, they could take the room for the supplies to add in more cargo and make each trip worth more.
Even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s services on these bases were expensive, compared to not being able to resupply and encountering danger at any time, it was without a doubt much better compared to before.
Not to mention that going from the Stantine Duchy to the Candra Empire, they could obtain the protection of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s guard fleet and the Candra Empire’s navy, so it was much safer compared to before.
With all these reasons, when the Frestech Chamber of Commerce announced this with the Candra Empire navy, there were countless boats that set sail on the endless seas and began moving back and forth on the route that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had created.
Countless harbours in the Stantine Duchy had all kinds of cargo loaded into ships and they were transported to the Candra Empire through this route.
These goods were not only magic machines, there were also many other normal goods like grains, clothes, plastics, and even pots and pans……
When the merchant ships arrived in the harbours in the southern Candra Empire, part of this cargo would be sold in the area and the local region, while the other part would be sent through the cargo transport station that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and the Candra Empire navy had set up near the harbour to go deeper into the empire.
For the citizens of the Candra Empire, the goods from the Stantine Duchy were very welcome.
Thinking about it, these were clothes that were attractive and finely made, there was only a slight difference from the clothes made from the sewing masters. They only cost a few silver coins and at most one gold coin!
This was simply giving them away!
As for the other things, although most people in the Candra Empire didn’t know what plastic was, the things that were made from them like the wash basins were light and easy to use. It was much more convenient than items made of iron and they only had a tenth of the cost.
Not to mention that the surface was very smooth and felt good to the touch. It wasn’t bumpy like the ones made by blacksmiths that also had sharp points on them.
Then again, there was rusts on those iron items, but there was no need to worry about the plastic items.
If you didn’t want to use plastic items and wanted to use iron items, that wasn’t a problem either.
Because there were also items made of various alloys. They definitely wouldn’t rust and were also light, but it was just a bit more expensive, costing several silver coins more.
All kinds of cargo came from the Stantine Duchy, many of them were things that the Candra Empire citizens were familiar with and many things that they weren’t.
In short, they were easy to use and had a great impact to the lives of the Candra Empire’s citizens.
In just two to three months, the goods from the Stantine Duchy had already left a deep impression on the people of the Candra Empire.
The only exception was the southern province.