CHAPTER 294: CHAPTER 212: IT SHINES BRIGHTLY_3

If anyone tries to make trouble or resist, Ah Man will handle it—he’s not worried.

Just based on this alone, he’s almost guaranteed to win; the only difference is between a good result and a better one.

......

Harano and Ah Man chatted casually about "parliament" topics along the way, and the carriage soon arrived at the Wanjin Shipyard, located at the southwest corner of New Wanjin.

By then, the area was already under lockdown, with few idle bystanders outside the shipyard. The flags fluttered in the wind: the "Golden Gourd Banner" representing Harano, and the "Deep Blue Gourd Banner" representing the Wanjin Navy, shining together in solemn splendor. Strictly speaking, they should be called "calabash motifs," but Harano always referred to his banner as the "Gourd Banner," and everyone in Wanjin followed his lead, so now they all called the calabash motif a "gourd."

Today was the official launch of the Wanjin Navy’s first prototype "Great Anzai Copper Ship." Okabe Iyayama, the "Chief Engineer," was lost in thought as he stared out toward the sea; only when someone reminded him that Harano had arrived did he hurry over, a hint of nervousness in his demeanor as he said, "Your Highness, this way please."

The ship was finished, but whether it would sink when launched, or whether it would be serviceable, no one could say for sure. Even though he felt there should be no major problems, when it came down to the final moment, he couldn’t help but feel anxious inside.

Harano could understand how he felt; after all, when he was young, he and Meng Ziqi spent a whole winter vacation building a model ship, and when it was time to launch, he was just as nervous. And as it turned out, his nervousness wasn’t unfounded: the moment they set the boat on the river, it sank in less than five minutes, without even firing off the "cannon" or "torpedo" they’d prepared so carefully.

He hoped this launch wouldn’t end up like that one. After all, Okabe Iyayama was at least a carpenter recorded in history; the ship he built ought to be fine.

Actually, Harano was a bit nervous too, but he firmly gripped Okabe Iyayama’s hand, then gave it a reassuring pat and said softly, "Don’t worry, Mr. Okabe. If it doesn’t work this time, we can try again. We’ll succeed eventually."

The pressure on Okabe Iyayama didn’t ease much. After all, Harano treated him as a true national talent; aside from refusing to take him as a household retainer or grant him land, everything else was truly generous. But if this costly copper-clad ship sank the moment it was launched, even if he didn’t commit ritual suicide, at the very least he’d be too ashamed to face anyone.

Still, he was deeply grateful for Harano’s generosity, and nodded lightly: "Thank you, Your Highness."

After a few simple words between them, Okabe Iyayama led Harano to the reviewing stand, where the officers of the Wanjin Navy and Chief Instructor Yu Da were already waiting. Everyone exchanged polite greetings.

After that, Okabe Iyayama went to oversee the launch of the "Great Anzai Copper Ship." These days, it was easy to launch a small boat once it was built; small boats had a shallow draft, and you could just flood the dock and let them float out on their own. But the "Great Anzai Copper Ship" was different. Its draft was deep, and with all that copper cladding, it was much heavier and clumsier—there was no way it could leave under its own power. So even in this age, successfully getting it into the sea was a real challenge.

Okabe Iyayama really had some skill—certainly more than Harano. No one even needed to remind him; from the very start of the ship’s construction he was thinking ahead. He dug a massive drydock, built a gigantic slipway, and only then did he construct the "Great Anzai Copper Ship" on top of it.

Now, he led his sons, apprentices, and laborers to break open the sluice gates, flooding the dock and letting the slipway—made mainly of cork—slowly rise to the surface. The "Great Anzai Copper Ship" lifted with it, began to rock with the waves, but soon stabilized again as the ropes tied to either side were pulled taut.

Okabe Iyayama kept a close eye on the slipway and the ship’s balance, carefully watching how much the platform rose. Seeing it wasn’t quite as expected, he personally led some men into the water to tie on extra logs, so the slipway could float higher.

Once he was satisfied, he ordered a dozen small boats outside the dock to pull together, forcibly dragging the slipway and ship out of the dock, and away from the shore.

They went a long way—so far that Harano could barely make out the details of the ship—before he saw large numbers of people jumping from the small boats into the sea, chopping ropes and dismantling the slipway in a certain order as they floated in the water.

This step took a long time, and as the slipway was gradually dismantled, the "Great Anzai Copper Ship" began to shudder and dropped into the sea, throwing up a spray of white foam. Afterward, she swayed violently, looking as if she might capsize and sink at any moment. But slowly, with the crew’s help, she settled down, rocking gently with the waves.

In the midday sun, upon the waters of Ise Bay, she gleamed golden—and she did not sink.