Full of interest, Feng Chou walked around the streets near the docks before returning to the Patrick.
On the Patrick, the manager of a trading company called Exxon Company was taking inventory of the goods with a few employees. Second Officer Colbert was accompanying them.
Seeing Feng Chou return, Colbert hurriedly reported, "Captain, the value of the goods we brought this time is much higher than before. The companies we worked with before might not be able to handle it, so I found the famous Exxon Company. They are the most powerful trading company in Stormwind City."
Feng Chou nodded and handed him a small book, saying, "This is the purchase list. Follow the list and purchase the goods for the return trip."
Colbert took the book and put it in his jacket pocket.
At this time, the manager of Exxon Company came over and took off his black hat. He extended his hand to Feng Chou and said, "I am Brady Hall, the senior manager of Exxon Company.
Nice to meet you, Captain. "
Feng Chou reached out and shook his hand, saying, "This is also my honor. I hope that the goods I brought will satisfy you."
Mr. Hall nodded reservedly and said, "For now, it is not bad. I hope we can work together happily."
Feng Chou took the opportunity to point at the smog above the docks and said, "The smog in Stormwind City is thicker than the last time I was here."
He then pointed at the small freight train and the smoking crane on the docks and said, "Is it because of these guys?
I remember the last time I was here, there were not so many of these things. "
Hall nodded. "I think you are right. The operation of the steam engine cannot be separated from the black stone, and the burning of the black stone will produce an unpleasant black smoke. From my experience, the smog in Stormwind City must be related to this black smoke. In my memory, ten years ago, before the steam engine was popular in Stormwind City, there was no such thick smog."
Feng Chou shrugged. "I don't understand. Why would you use such dirty things?"
Holl glanced at Feng Chou and asked, "Mister Captain, are you from Alvindale?"
Feng Chou nodded in confusion. "Yes, of course. Do you still need to ask?"
Hall said, "Then it may be difficult for you to understand why we use this cumbersome, noisy, and dangerous steam engine since we have magic energy devices.
That's because we don't have that many mages. In Sutton, the price of a magic crane is three times that of Alvindale. We also need to hire an intermediate mage for long-term maintenance. In Sutton, the salary of a mage is three times that of Alvindale, and it's hard to hire one. "
"To you, using magic energy devices is cheap and convenient, but to us Suttons, magic energy devices are simply expensive luxuries."
"That's why we had no choice but to introduce the steam engine. Although it's cumbersome, noisy, and dangerous, it's the same as the magical devices. It has a powerful and tireless power."
Feng Chou shrugged noncommittally and asked, "I heard that this thing was invented by the goblins?"
Holl said, "That's right. Twenty years ago, the great Hydegaard issued an oracle. His Majesty the Emperor sent a large caravan to the Southern Continent to visit the Goblin Kingdom and invited a large number of goblin engineers."
"In the beginning, I was like you. I couldn't believe that the filthy goblins could create such a great machine. But now, the people of Stormwind City are used to goblins wearing ceremonial robes, wearing top hats, and holding staffs. They're completely different creatures from their cousins in the wild."
"The Goblin Kingdom even set up an embassy in Stormwind City. The goblin merchants set up a mechanical company that produces steam engines in Stormwind City. It's said that the great Hydegaard has approved the goblin God of Engineering to preach in the Sutton Empire. Isn't that funny?
Who would believe in a goblin? "
"There's news that the great Hydegaard used his preaching rights in exchange for more new technology from the God of Engineering. After the God of Engineering's cathedral in Stormwind City is built, the goblins will help us build a shipyard that can make real iron-hulled ships, as well as a new weapon factory. When that time comes, the ships that sail on the Star River will no longer be wooden hulled ships, but real iron-hulled ships."
Mr. Holl was obviously a very talkative person. He was also very knowledgeable. As long as Feng Chou started talking about something, he could talk non-stop. This allowed Feng Chou to quickly gain a general understanding of the Sutton Empire.
The Sutton Empire's magic power was rather lacking. In Orvendell, there were magic academies in every city, but in Sutton, there were only a few super large cities like Stormwind City. The other large cities only had magic academies, and the smaller cities didn't even have magic academies. This wasn't because the Sutton Empire didn't value the cultivation of magicians, but because they didn't have that many magicians as teachers.
However, in terms of technology, the Sutton Empire was once again ahead of Orvendell. Not only did they import the steam engine production technology from the goblins, they also imported large-scale iron-making technology that didn't rely on magic, as well as train and railway technology. Sutton Empire even had two railways with a total length of more than three thousand kilometers, respectively connecting the south and north of Stormwind City with two undeveloped shipping cities.
From all these signs and the knowledge about the gods that he obtained from the broken arcane tower, Qiankun Pagoda even deduced that Hydegaard was very likely to absorb the main god of the goblins, the "God of Engineering", into his own divine system.
Otherwise, it couldn't explain why the goblins were transferring technology to the Sutton Empire on such a large scale.
The goblins were a very unique race. They were thin and weak, with an average height of only 1.4 meters. Their talent as warriors was much lower than that of normal humans. They were very smart, and their intelligence was much higher than that of humans. However, the sad thing was that their spiritual power was very weak, with only two-thirds of that of humans. This made it very difficult for them to become magicians. Even if they did become magicians, their casting power, speed, level, and many other aspects were inferior to that of human magicians.
These flaws forced the goblins to develop alchemy. However, as the level of the goblin alchemists was relatively low, they were unable to develop powerful magical creations such as magical statues and constructs. Thus, their alchemy had no choice but to lean towards using magic as a supplement and using other techniques as the main focus. For example, firearms, or using low-level alchemy to produce steam engines, or goblin zeppelins … The early goblin zeppelins were extremely crude. Magic was only used to heat the air and drive the impeller.
The goblins called their alchemy engineering.
During the Arcane Empire, the goblin civilization was almost cut off. After migrating to the Southern Continent and developing it with great difficulty, a thousand years later, goblin engineering finally bore fruit. The invention of steam engines, iron-hulled ships, rifled cannons, revolvers, and other weapons and tools allowed the goblins to finally walk out of the haze of extinction …