Chapter 345: Steel Ships

The contact with the US Army’s chief commander of Shrimp B1 Island went very smoothly. Zhang Lisheng put away the communication device and let out a long sigh of relief. With a pleasant mood, he spent two weeks worth of relaxed days.

On the appointed day he had agreed with Cole, he put on a thick denim suit and walked out of the big bark house in the morning, planning to wait for the steel steamships by the beach.

Outside the house, the jungle that originally separated the ocean from them had been completely cut down and turned into building materials for the construction of the new dwellings of Tudenan, allowing the pleasant sea breeze to blow directly towards Zhang Lisheng’s face.

Watching the beach, the docks and fishing grounds that had been turned into ruins on the coastline had mostly been restored. However, the new fishing boats had not yet been built.

However, the wind had been very good these days. The boats that sailed from Tudenan’s motherland only needed one day for it to course the island on the sea. When they arrived at the new dwelling, all fishery production had already begun.

Looking at the bumper harvest of the catch and the thriving scene, the young man’s mood became light and pleasant. Being shone upon by the rising sun, he gently stepped on the reefs and walked towards the construction of Tudenan’s largest port so far as a faint smile appeared on his face.

The port that was built with the help of a good bay, had already begun to take shape. The reefs of tens of thousands of square meters along the narrow coastline were shoveled using iron drum-like hammers and shovels by the Lohlos until it was as flat as a mirror.

More than ten crescent-shaped moorings that could accommodate large ships hundreds of meters long had been built and had been filled with seawater already.

When the hundreds of craftsmen and thousands of indigenous women saw the tribal Raider walking towards them, they kneeled on the ground one after another. Even the craftsmen’s partners, Lohlos, who were busy with work, kneeled on their knees as well.

“Aruba.” Zhang Lisheng swept a glance over the heads buried in the ground, and finally settled on the head of the one and only talented young chief craftsman who had four feathers on his head in Tudenan. “How many berths of the giant wood harbors can be used now?”

“We’ve built 14 berths, Raider.”

“It’s finally enough!” Zhang Lisheng nodded with satisfaction. “The outlanders would soon send the steel ships over so you must copy them diligently in the future. Remember, forging steel ships is completely different from forging a wooden ship!”

“Yes, Raider!” Aruba answered respectfully but a conceited expression could be seen on his face. “Don’t worry! Now that we have the volcanic furnace, no matter how huge the superior ironware is, I can definitely build it!”

When Zhang Lisheng heard the two words ‘volcanic furnace’, he could not help but show an admirable expression on his face. “Aruba, you’re indeed a true genius. You can even think of casting using magma. Looks like my reminder has been superfluous.”

“No, Raider! The volcanic furnace comes from your greatness! If it wasn’t for your support and the risk of destroying this new dwelling by digging the volcano dangerously that you’ve taken, the furnace wouldn’t have been born at all. The King of the Sierras has ruled this volcano for hundreds of thousands of years but the Kamando has never used the magma to make a piece of iron before.”

Zhang Lisheng smiled noncommittally and did not say anything more. He merely waved his hand at Aruba and motioned for him to continue to lead the craftsmen to work. Then, the young man, on the other hand, stared at the direction of the island’s human gathering place and fell into contemplation.

Time slowly passed as the sun drew a graceful arc in the sky and emitted a radiance that was becoming more and more brilliant. Finally, at noon, Zhang Lisheng’s patience had finally become fruitful. After a series of loud whistling sounds, two rows of bean-sized steamships in the distance slowly sailed towards Tudenan’s dwelling.

“Come, Aruba. Tell me what you think about the steel ships of the outlanders.” When Zhang Lisheng saw the steel steamships appearing in the sea, he heaved a long sigh of relief. Clenching his fists inadvertently, he shouted loudly.

Aruba, who was working with his head lowered and was not disturbed by the whistle of the ship, hurriedly came over when he heard the tribal Raider’s call. Hastily walking up to the young man, he looked at the direction where the young man was staring at and with a glance, he saw the twelve steel ships that was as big as the eyeless fish in the underground.

After calculating the distance, a shocked expression crept upon his face. “Raider, those iron ships are much bigger than I thought. I think the big ship will probably have a length of more than 600 steps and the small ship has more than 400 steps. To think that the steam energy produced by boiling water can actually propel such a giant to sail on the sea. This is too… too…”

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“Stop ‘too’-ing anymore, Aruba,” Zhang Lisheng said with a smile. “After you take apart a steam engine, you’ll soon realize that this is not worth making a fuss. Oh yeah, I’ll remind you again. Later, when we see the outlanders, don’t show a particularly respectful expression to me. Don’t call me Raider as well.”

“Yes, Guardian Lisheng!” Aruba was stunned for a while and changed his way of addressing awkwardly. This was where Zhang Lisheng was being careful. Even though the language between the US Army and Tudenan was fundamentally different, he did not want to make any careless mistakes in the details as well.

More than ten minutes later, the steamships got close to Tudenan’s new dwelling and parked in the half-completed giant wooden harbor under the guidance of the native wooden boat.

The steamships were all steered by active naval sergeants from the US Army. Due to the simplicity of the ship, and the short journey, there was only one temporary captain, one first mate, as well as the two temporary coal-fillers in the steam room, making up a total of four people.

After the ship stopped, the US Army members on the ships were obviously shocked by the magnificent port built by the natives. Almost half of them had their mouths agape when they disembarked. When they saw the strong, huge Lohlos and the ugly fierce-looking native warriors riding on the long-haired spider monsters that were three to four meters tall densely around them, colors drained from their faces right away.

“Officers, please forgive the rudeness of these indigenous people. They’re actually not malicious.” Upon seeing the awkward expression on the US soldiers, Zhang Lisheng secretly laughed and strode up to them. “Those animals that look like orangutans are called Lohlos. They look dangerous but in fact, they’re a very docile and omnivorous mammalian animal. Of course, they can be classified as primates, or Haplorhini… Oh, sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet, I am…”

“I believe you must be Mr. Zhang Lisheng. A square-faced lieutenant colonel who had the highest ranking among all of the 48 US soldiers extended his hand to the young man. “I’m Mendith Kanny, first mate of the destroyer ‘Black Squid’ of the US army’s fleet stationed on Shrimp B1 Island. I’m ordered by General Cole to deliver these 12 steamships to your hand.”

“Nice to meet you, Lieutenant Colonel, please allow me to make a correction. These ships are not for me but for those natives instead…” Zhang Lisheng smiled and pointed to those Tudenan craftsmen, who had already eagerly gone up to the steamships according to his earlier instructions, and said, “They look short, weird and ugly but they’re actually very nice people. It’s just that they kind of lack patience a little.”

“Oh sh*t! How can they go up like that? it’s not so easy to sail a ship on the sea. If something goes wrong…” Kanny, who only realized that the ship’s deck was already full of the natives after being pointed out by the young man, exclaimed in surprise.

“It doesn’t matter Lieutenant Colonel. There are already ‘rudders’ on the wooden boats of these natives so they won’t act indiscreetly. All of you are distinguished guests now so there’s no need to be so tense. Let us go enjoy a foreign world’s sumptuous meal and then go have a volcanic hot spring bath first. When afternoon comes…”

“They have rudders on their fishing boats?” Kanny’s expression became visibly relaxed. “This means that we don’t have to teach them how to sail. In that case, we have completed our task according to General Cole’s order so we must return to the gathering place as soon as possible. That’s right, Mr. Zhang, Sir General hopes that you can go back with us too.”

“No lunch first?” Zhang Lisheng said with a spread of his hands.

“I’m afraid not.”

“Well, I’m okay but it’d be a regret for you. Even though Tudenan’s food is rough, it kinda has a distinctive flavor.” When Zhang Lisheng saw Kanny’s unchanging expression, he shrugged and deliberately turned his head to shout in stuttering Hellfire language to the distant, “Bring up the 49 most docile giant millispiders and gather 100 warriors.”

“Yes, Guardian Lisheng!” The dispatch warriors, who had long been enjoined, used a respectful but not an overdone voice. After a short while, he led 100 elite warriors riding on their partners and 49 giant spiders that were being pulled by natives specialized in breeding giant millispiders to walk up to Zhang Lisheng and the group of US soldiers.

When the US people saw the giant millispiders, their faces became tense once again. The young man, on the other hand, looked at Kanny and said nonchalantly, “Lieutenant Colonel, if we ride these big spiders, we can return to the gathering place in the shortest time possible and the journey will not be bumpy. These warriors will escort us back and this is the tribute and gratitude of the Tudenan’s leader to you for sending the steel ships…”

“Mr. Zhang, please express our sincere gratitude to T-Tudenan’s leader and thank him for his kindness but when we came, we were escorted by a submarine so we can use the submarine to go back, which is faster and more convenient. ”

“Go back by a submarine?” Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a while before flashing a smile. “It seems like General Cole has already arranged everything. Alright, in that case, I’ll follow your arrangement, Lieutenant Colonel. ”

Then he turned his head and waved his hand at the natives before spouting some gibberish. Afterwards, he turned around to face Kanny again and shrugged. “Let’s go, Lieutenant Colonel. Where shall we get on the submarine?”

“It’s hard for me to make judgement as well. After receiving our signal, the submarine will emerge at a suitable place closest to us,” Kannie replied and took out a mobile phone-like instrument from his pocket and pressed a few keys.

“That sounds very convenient. It’s said that everywhere here is a natural harbor in this coastline… Oh, what I was saying? isn’t that thing emerging there a submarine?” Zhang Lisheng said and strode quickly to a huge submarine emerging on the sea surface.

Looking at his disappearing back, nobody in Tudenan’s new dwelling kneeled. However, as though hundreds of thousands of these natives suddenly felt that the sun had become too glaring in unison, they lowered their heads until Zhang Lisheng and the group of US people entered the submarine and disappeared into the sea.