Free Web NovelChapter 1207: Chapter 1135: Veen Dam
As Kuvasz shouted loudly, many passengers on the boat gathered around, marveling at the distant majestic dam.
Holding onto the wooden railing of the flute-shaped barge, Moroka immediately saw the greyish dam.
This was completely different from the earthen dam he saw in Orange County at the beginning of the year.
The earthen dam in Orange County was yellowish with a bit of grey, like a giant plugging the river with a lump of yellow clay.
The dam before him in South Mangde County, however, was like a giant gray rock lying across the river.
Its walls were so tight there wasn’t a single gap, large stones were seamlessly bonded with whitening mud.
The fierce wind from the mountain blew through, and Moroka couldn’t hear the sound of falling soil particles.
Looking up again, this dam is about 15 meters high and nearly 200 meters long, and carriages can even run on top of the embankment.
Under the starlight, the massive water flow surged, the enormous roar hitting people’s eardrums, making one’s head buzz.
Compared to the earthen dam in Falan County’s sub-county, there are no mills on this higher embankment but rather water wheel-like grooves.
Next to the grooves are red-roofed small houses lined up, with a rotating shaft protruding, connecting to rows of blades.
The water flows through the grooves down the embankment, causing the blades to spin continuously under the pressure of the water, while the houses emit the loud sound of winding up.
"What is that?" Moroka pressed down on his hat, preventing it from being blown away by the wind stirred up by the water flow.
Looking up at the dam, even though he had seen it countless times before, Palak still couldn’t help but show a proud smile.
"That’s the Veen Dam on the Tai Bo River, and on the dam is the winding machine."
"Why is it called the Veen Dam?" Kuvasz asked curiously.
Having done his homework recently, Moroka immediately answered: "To commemorate the hero Veen from the Thousand River Valley War."
Palak looked around, lowering his voice: "There’s also a saying that the Saint’s Grandson wanted to please Princess Jia Li... cough cough hmm."
Seeing someone approaching, Palak immediately stopped gossiping.
Just then, the captain’s voice rang out: "Please leave the ship’s side, we’re about to turn, be careful not to fall overboard."
Upon hearing this, everyone stepped on the creaking deck and returned to the cabin.
The ship immediately turned, heading towards another branch.
The Veen Dam itself wasn’t designed with locks, it naturally had two channels.
These channels were not as wide, high in water level, or as voluminous as the Tai Bo River itself, but they were much calmer.
Thus, professors from the Holy Machinery Court Pope University, including Senius, along with hydraulic engineers, transformed the two branches into a lock system.
The two lock channels each stood on sides, one ascending and one descending.
This boat often travels between South Mangde County and the Holy Alliance, filled with woolen threads on the way to the Holy Alliance, and packed with various sundries on the way to South Mangde County.
Clothes, clocks, slime juice, tools, medicine, fresh spices...
They used to transport peat and mortar, but since Hot Spring Castle built its peat mining sites and mortar workshops, they became self-sufficient.
Holding onto a mast, Kuvasz did not follow the crowd back to the cabin, but instead looked up at the sky.
The sky above became increasingly narrow, transforming from a broad canopy into a funnel-shaped sky.
On both sides, the hills exposed blue-green ridges, intertwined with water foam and waves bursting forth.
In the half-night scene among the mountains, occasionally, wooden houses could be seen, with only sparse lights flickering.
Like scattered fireflies in the night, they accurately marked the locations of houses on the mountain.
Even without glass windows, lanterns would hang at the doorways of these houses.
These wooden houses were resting places for the loggers in the mountains; one could never predict who might need to go out at night.
The ship suddenly slowed down, and the sailor at the bow suddenly shrieked, "Dock and wait for the lock."
Kuvasz immediately grasped the wooden railing of the ship’s side, looking ahead at a river channel wall standing in the central river course.
Unlike the previous dam, the scale and height of this lock were much smaller.
It’s called a river channel wall, not a small embankment, because it has city gates.
Looking further upward, the tiered river channel wall extends upwards like steps, reaching the top of the dam.
Seven or eight sailors climbed ashore on floating rafts, grabbing the ropes thrown over from the ship’s side.
Then came the haulers; they wrapped the tow rope around their arms, tightening it at the leather patches on their shoulders.
In the next moment, they walked towards the lock gates, bearing ropes, and the ship followed, moving slowly.
Upon entering the lock gates, after roughly a quarter of an hour, the sound of a winch sounded upstream.
The wooden gates of the lock slowly opened inward, revealing the spacious lock chamber inside.
The captain shouted "Enter the lock," and the ship slid slowly into the lock chamber with the flow of water.
Its distance from the stone walls on both sides was less than two meters, making Kuvasz feel that he could touch the rough wall if he extended half his body.
As soon as the ship stopped, the downstream wooden gates closed with a clatter.
Then, circular holes on both sides of the lock chamber suddenly sprayed water, causing the water level to slowly rise.
Kuvasz stared at the water level line along the stone walls, and within the blink of an eye, the water level was level with the upstream lock.
Another winch sounded, the upstream gates opened, and the ship continued to advance.
Repeatedly for another three or five times, the cargo ship smoothly sailed into the upstream of the Tai Bo River.
After advancing a bit further, it docked at a port under a highland, where Palak, Grosien, and others could see Hot Spring Castle in the night.
However, Hot Spring Castle was shrouded in darkness, with only sparse and scattered lights marking its direction.
Upon reaching the port below Hot Spring Castle, Palak, Moroka, Kuvasz, and Palak’s three or five young workers disembarked with large and small bags.
After winding out of the dock, several carriages were already waiting at the street corner.
Seeing Palak and others, three people jumped out of the carriage, striding toward the group.
"Palak!"
"Brother Grosien!"
After giving each other hugs, Palak began to introduce his distant nephew and new manager.
Of course, Palak also gave a brief introduction about these four people.
Compared to Kuvasz’s confusion, Moroka felt both envious and timid.
These three looked friendly, yet they were all big shots.
Grosien, needless to say, is a fishery tycoon in the Holy Alliance, with fishing grounds and fish processing workshops across Poison Witch Lake in the Thousand River Valley and various lakes in Black Snake Bay.
He even had partners in Pearl Harbor, Frontier Area, and Southern Norn.
Although it may not be apparent now, he’s already on his way to becoming a fishing industry tycoon.
Who would have thought that ten years ago, he was just a poor farmer in Red Leaf Village?
The other two were dwarfs.
They were a pair of business partner brothers, the elder named Gulga and the younger named Gargo.
This pair of brothers were reformist dwarfs; they were among the first to fire their boss and followed Harbin to Hot Spring Castle.
Their background couldn’t be lower, both were low-level dwarf apprentices.
This was due to their distant kinship and dislike of making things according to dwarf blueprints.
However, now they are the owners of Brother Good Copper Products Company in Hot Spring Castle.
This company emerged due to the Holy Alliance’s demand for brass water pipes, copper pots, and other civilian copperware.
Later they actively expanded their business to include products like tinplate, tinware, and iron kitchenware.
In Hot Spring Castle’s numerous enterprises, they are definitely among the top five, even vying for top three.
The downstream processing industry within the Holy Alliance, especially in the civilian sector, is not interfered with by the Sacred Products Bureau, nor do they allow the sacred production system to engage.
After all, the aim of the Sacred Products Bureau is production and stability, not profit maximization like Grosien and others pursue.
Moroka looked around at the four people chatting; a decade ago, they were at the very bottom.
Now, they’re all well-fed and, if not middle-class, they’ve certainly become trusted citizen entrepreneurs.
Such a scene hadn’t been seen in Falan since the end of the Hundred Years’ War!
