White Sheep Town is quite prosperous now; after all, a town with over 100,000 permanent residents can certainly be considered quite sizable in Westeros.
Moreover, White Sheep Town also has dragonflame wine, dragon porcelain, exquisite jewelry made with new techniques, the highest standard glass products, and textile crafts, as well as various specialty seasonings—all of which are goods that attract a lot of people. Therefore, White Sheep Town's development has naturally been rapid.
Especially after the Hightower Family of Oldtown fell, Holy Flame Island's reputation spread far and wide. Not only do most Westeros nobles regularly send merchant caravans for trade, but the number of merchant ships arriving from the various Free Trade Cities has also increased.
Even when the Long Night and Winter descended, Holy Flame Island's trade not only did not decline but became even busier. Because of the kindness shown to Oldtown last time, the Holy Flame Island fleet was the first Westeros fleet to procure basic supplies like grain at fair prices.
Other families, and even the royal fleet, had to pay almost double the price for the grain they bought. And after the news of Westeros falling into the Long Night and Winter reached Essos in the East, the grain merchants of the Free Trade Cities hoarded goods and began to raise prices.
Listening to Mederick's clear and organized report on the situation of Holy Flame Island over the past three months and the state of affairs on the Western Continent, Daenerys surprisingly found the fourteen-year-old boy before her to be so captivating.
"Hmm, it seems he can be groomed to be my Prime Minister!"
To properly accommodate the continuous stream of merchant ships, the Holy Flame Island dock has been expanded again and again. Now, the dock's jetties are large enough to berth thousands of large three-masted sailing ships.
And with Daenerys's guiding principles, the old shipwrights who were brought back from Braavos finally successfully built the first shipyard in the bay between Holy Flame Island and Dragonstone.
Because of the lightweight and tough Dragonstone material, and with the help of dragons, the Holy Flame Island shipyard is no smaller than Braavos's, and it also has two five-story fortress towers guarding both sides of the shipyard.
Each fortress is garrisoned by one hundred warriors, and dozens of the most advanced giant crossbows are also placed on them. Even the world's most advanced three-masted sailing ships could easily be shot to pieces by these giant crossbows.
Currently, the shipyard can produce three-masted sailing ships of good quality. However, in terms of efficiency, it's a bit lacking. Braavos can build one ship a day, while the Holy Flame Island shipyard can only barely build one a month.
However, Daenerys's original intention in building the shipyard was to construct the most advanced large warships and vessels in this world, based on her vague concepts from her previous life.
Based on a vague memory, she gave them blueprints for three types of famous ships from her previous world's history.
One is the zheng he treasure ship, which Daenerys named the Nine-Masted Dragon Ship.
It is 148 meters long and 60 meters wide, with four decks. The ship has nine masts that can hoist twelve sails, and its anchor weighs several thousand jin. Sailing ships move on the sea mainly by using sails to harness wind power and by sailors rowing.
(The largest ships in the Game of Thrones world are only three-masted sailing ships about forty to fifty meters long.)
The zheng he treasure ship adopted unique designs for both important aspects of the propulsion system. Firstly, unlike the segmented soft sails used by European sailing ships at the time, the zheng he treasure ship used a rigid sail structure with battens on the sailcloth.
Although this type of sail is heavier and difficult to raise, it has extremely high wind efficiency, which increases the ship's speed. Furthermore, the masts do not have fixed yards, adapting to sudden changes in sea weather, allowing for flexible tacking and turning, and effectively utilizing wind from multiple directions.
Unlike oars, the zheng he treasure ship had long sculls on both sides and at the stern. These long sculls penetrated deep into the water, were operated by multiple people, and their semi-rotating motion underwater was similar to today's propellers, offering higher propulsion efficiency.
It could maintain a considerable speed even in the absence of wind, and the sculls had a small wetted area outside the ship, making it suitable for navigating in narrow harbors and crowded waters.
The zheng he treasure ship adopted a hull shape that was pointed at the bottom, wide at the top, high at the bow, and high at the stern. This hull shape offered high stability control in rough seas, and at that time, earth and stone ballast were placed in the ship's bottom hold, making its stability arguably unparalleled at the time.
To further improve stability, the zheng he treasure ship also used bilge keels and side-mounted leeboards. These boards, facing the ship's sides, could further reduce the amplitude of the hull's side-to-side rocking.
Research has found that the zheng he treasure ship also varied its main dimension ratio design according to different ship types and navigation areas, balancing both speed and stability. Generally, transport ships emphasized stability more, while military ships emphasized speed.
Another unique design of the zheng he treasure ship's hull structure at the time was the presence of multiple transverse bulkheads. Wooden planks divided the ship's interior into different compartments, which were sealed from each other.
This not only strengthened the ship's structure but also provided watertight compartments for anti-sinking purposes. This design also facilitated categorized cargo loading. For example, tea, silk, and tribute treasures from various countries could be stored separately.
This type of Dragon Ship is not only currently the strongest in the world in terms of combat power, but it is also the safest for long-distance trade, and as a royal ship, it is also very prestigious. Crucially, its deck is as large as a football field, allowing several dragons to land simultaneously.
However, the cost is estimated to be several million gold dragons per ship, and with current shipbuilding technology, it would take at least three years to build.
Of course, the biggest advantage of the Dragon Ship is that its size can be adjusted, ranging from ten meters to one hundred and fifty meters. This ship type, it is believed, can lay the foundation for the Targaryen's future naval dominance.
So Daenerys had them start on a small scale, and then gradually upgrade as the technology matured. Now, there is hope that a three-deck Dragon Ship of forty to fifty meters in size can be built.
The second type is the giant turtle ship.
In 1591 AD, General Yi Sun-sin, the naval commander of Jeolla Left Province in Joseon, led soldiers and craftsmen to build it. The turtle ship was 35 meters long, 11.8 meters wide, and 5.2 meters high. The ship had 10 oars on each side, and the mast could be raised or lowered.
The turtle ship had over 70 holes for bows, crossbows, and firing tubes, and the cabin had 26 compartments including living quarters and warehouses. The iron armor was covered with dense blades and awls, and its mouth spewed a mist-like toxic gas of burning sulfur and saltpeter, causing enemies to panic. The turtle ship's structure was light, simple, and sturdy, with high speed and powerful firepower. At that time, four of them destroyed ninety Japanese warships.
This type of ship costs a million gold dragons. Daenerys only needs to build five of them to serve as escort ships. Aside from fighting dragons, it is almost invincible.
This ship is best used in conjunction with Wildfire, poisons, and other substances. Samwell has already invited alchemists from King's Landing and they are already researching how to safely install Wildfire on the ship.
The third type is the Nemi Ship, the pinnacle of Roman shipbuilding. It was called a gift to the gods. It used ball bearings for power assistance, facilitating the movement of weapons and large items.
Palaces could be built on this ship, with extensive use of pistons and pipes. It could perform seawater desalination and allow for the use of bathrooms on board. And it was even rumored to be able to dive.
She could perfectly serve as a mobile palace. The cost starts at three million gold dragons, with no upper limit, depending on the level of luxury inside. Only one of this type of ship needs to be built. However, this will naturally only be undertaken when Daenerys has the appropriate status.
For now, she has only given them the blueprints, allowing them to familiarize themselves with various technologies and concepts that do not exist in this world.
When Daenerys gave the blueprints and concepts to those shipwrights, they were overjoyed as if they had found a treasure. This indeed inspired many new ideas of their own.
The three-masted sailing ships they have built in these past few months are already far ahead of the shipbuilding technology in this world.
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