บท 74: The Shipbuilding Program

"What? What do you mean we can't afford it?" Roland sat in the office, looking at the request documents to recruit more administrators and purchase sailing ships.

Barov cleared his throat and answered, "No, Your Highness, we can't. The price of a two-mast sailing ship is between 80 to 120 gold royals, but that's just the cost of shipbuilding. The price may be higher with crew costs. The total price is estimated at over 200 gold royals."

"Didn't I say that we don't need sailors or helmsmen? We also don't need a captain. We just need a ship," Roland said, hammering on the table. With Wendy onboard, he would not need so many people to operate the sailing ship. Most of the inland river boats sailed straight. It was as easy to operate as raising and lowering a flag. So the oarsmen and sailors were redundant, and any helmsman could handle that. Anyway, with the vector of wind, did he have to worry that the boat would not go forward?