Chapter 31: Navy and Fleet

News of the killing of the intruding pirates in the port of Salzo spread quickly, as evidenced by the corpses hanging from the wooden pylons of the port. In particular, the sight of Knight Eric Bernard patrolling with his soldiers strengthened the confidence of the great merchants in the safety of the port.

Such a powerful port immediately became the fleet's first choice for anchoring. Coupled with the development of several berths, there is no longer any fear of not being able to dock. The coming and going of the merchants stimulated consumption, and the taxes levied naturally increased.

Christine spent her days accompanying the two elven mages to the construction site of the Mage's Tower to observe the building process, and her evenings studying magic. Whenever she encountered something she didn't understand, she asked Master Adret for help, and her progress was even faster than if she had studied at the Mage's Guild.

With the addition of 200 pirate slaves as new workers, the construction of the Mage's Tower and the expansion of Porto Salvo both accelerated greatly.

For the lord, the necessary stones and wood can be mined by the serfs at no cost. Iron tools, nails and other consumables can also be produced in his own territory at very low cost, so it can be said that the expansion of Porto Salvo is basically free.

Stewart Castle, the drawing room.

Christine sits on the main seat, opposite her are several robed scholars, led by a tenth order bishop of the Church of the God of Knowledge.

'Bishop Deandre Patton, I leave the construction to you.

'Baron Stewart, we have studied your drawings and they are perfect. You can be sure of the construction.

Christine raised her hand and the butler, Victor, immediately sent for a bag of gold coins.

Thank you, Baron Stewart,' Bishop Deandre Patton said, accepting it happily.

On the mainland, knowledge was monopolised by the Church, the mages and the nobility. Commoners were proud just to know their own names. The God of Knowledge, as the name suggests, is a true god with a priesthood of knowledge, writing, literature, poetry, etc. Most of those who believe in him are scholars.

And for things like architectural planning, it is inevitable that you have to find professional scholars. Bishop Deandre Patton is a scholar in the Church of the God of Knowledge, who is good at planning and building cities.

Yes, how could Christine possibly satisfy the need to expand Porto Salvo into a city? By building the Mage Tower here, she wanted to turn the port into a city.

As a crossover and a mage with extensive knowledge, she had no problem coming up with a city plan, but she didn't have the time to implement it, so she invited the Bishop of the Church of the God of Knowledge.

Christine offered to allow the construction of a great temple to the God of Knowledge in the port city and to preach the word of the God. For Bishop Deandre Paton, the opportunity to spread the faith of the God was too good to pass up, and presiding over the building of a city would allow him to gain a deeper understanding of Knowledge and be more easily promoted.

So an agreement was reached between the two parties.

Of course, building a city is not something that can be done overnight, and Christian is in no hurry. So the harbour area and the adjacent city were built first, based on a comprehensive plan, and the rest will be built slowly.

After saying goodbye to Bishop Deandre Patton, butler Victor introduced the head of the domain's Chamber of Commerce, Harland Koey.

'My respects, Baron.

'Good day, Harland.

'Baron, the goods seized from the pirates have all been sold, and they were all in demand, bringing you 5,300 gold coins.

Christine nodded to show she understood.

'Because you asked the Navy to select the people first, the Merchant Guild has only recruited more than 50 sailors, and many of them are novices who need practice.

I'm in no hurry. Just keep recruiting as long as there is a shortage of manpower.'

Thank you for your understanding.

Although Baron Stewart had a good port, he did not attach much importance to developing maritime trade. He only collected taxes to provide services for the seafarers. The fifty soldiers in the barracks at Porto Salvo were technically the navy, although they only had two brigantines.

Now that Christine wants to turn this place into a future city, the navy is naturally on the agenda. As well as recruiting more than 50 new soldiers, she appointed Jerome, the security officer who had done a good job of dealing with the pirate attacks, as head of the navy, and then gave the navy all 11 captured brigantines.

The reason for not handing over the three-masted sailing ships was that the navy was not yet capable of naval combat. Apart from increased training, the navy could only patrol the waters around the port to prevent smuggling. The big ships were better left to the Chamber of Commerce to make money. Besides, a navy only had specialised warships, and Christine didn't think much of these civilian vessels.

So the five three-masted sailing ships were given to the Chamber of Commerce. However, a three-mast sailing ship needed about 30 people to man it, and the sailors recruited by the Chamber of Commerce could only operate two ships for the time being, so they could only be trained for the time being.

Christian stressed again: 'Harland, you must take care of the business at sea, but you mustn't neglect the business on land.

Harland immediately replied respectfully, "Your Excellency, please be assured that the Chamber of Commerce has organised several caravans to sell ironware to the surrounding nobles, and we have also resold some of the best-selling goods from the sea merchants.

Christian nodded in agreement and said, "The Chamber of Commerce will be renamed the Tulip Chamber of Commerce in the future. If you perform well, I will consider appointing you squire.

Thank you, my lord, I will work hard! Harland was so excited that he hastily knelt down to pay his respects.

Originally, the Chamber of Commerce had only existed to sell some special products for the Baron's domain, and there were only a dozen people in all, so it was not taken seriously. Harland Koey was the second son of a nobleman, and because he was educated and good at arithmetic, Baron Stewart hired him to run the place.

After Christian took over, he vigorously developed trade and the Chamber of Commerce continued to expand, which meant that Harland Koie also rose in importance.

But the dream of everyone on this continent is to become a noble, to serve God in the church and to become a professional. Nobility, in particular, is the ultimate dream of everyone, as it allows them to pass on their titles to their wives and children.

However, the fact that no one can be ennobled without military achievement holds most people back. Although the requirements have been relaxed somewhat, it is still not something that commoners can hope for. Being a squire is therefore a lifelong ambition for the vast majority of commoners.

Squires are not considered formal nobility. They were once used to bestow titles on knightly servants who had performed meritorious deeds, and later nobles used them to reward those close to them who had served them for generations, such as butlers and territorial officials.

The title of squire meant that a manor could be granted as a fief, providing a livelihood for the family and the basis for the family's prosperity and growth. Most importantly, being given the title meant that they could have a family name. Yes, ordinary people only had first names, not surnames, and those with surnames were people of status.

Although Harald Koy was the second son of a nobleman and therefore had a family name, he was no different from ordinary free men. Now that he had received the lord's promise, how could he not do his best to repay it?