Chapter 720 The Prince of Silver Sand of the West Sea
The best shipbuilding craftsmen in the Shaodian Kingdom are on the western coast. They work in big families even if they are not working for the government. The ones that can be recruited from the private sector are basically at a lower level, but they are also worth a lot of money.ΩBiqu ge
"The smallest shipbuilder costs 20,000 gold coins a year. Adding apprentices, handymen, etc. to a group of people will cost 40,000 to 50,000 gold coins a year. Do we really need to build our own ships?" The old money man felt that this cost was too much.
high.
"It is necessary. The development direction of Juyang City is on the Tongyuan River, and ships are the most important tools. We can only build medium-sized ships here, and our financial resources can still afford it. If we can develop a new type of ship, we can sell one every year.
Earn back your wages and you won't lose money in the long run." Ding Kui has long-term goals.
"It would be great if those craftsmen could build ships. It is not easy to develop new ships." Lao Qiantou did not agree with Ding Kui's point of view.
"I will find a way to do something innovative. Just find experienced craftsmen." Ding Kui wanted to form a shipbuilding team belonging to the Ding family.
Seeing Ding Kui's resolute attitude, Lao Qiantou stopped persuading him and decided to increase his efforts to search for shipbuilders.
Most of the things that happened in Juyang City were under the surveillance of the Intelligence Department. Shaodian secretly selected the ones he thought were important to report to the king, but the king did not care about Juyang City. For Shao Diandan, the matter of his son-in-law Ding Kui was far less important.
The matter of my nephew Shaodian Yong is very important.
Shaodianyong was the eldest son of Shaodianji, and he was only ten years younger than the king's uncle, which meant that Shaodianji was already eighteen years old when he was forced to death by Zisi, and he felt like a mirror in his heart about his father's death.
Shaodiandan knew that his nephew would not have a good impression of him. Out of his promise to his eldest brother, he wanted to save Shaodianyong's life. On Zisi's suggestion, he sent Shaodianyong's family to a remote place.
Yinsha Island is the largest island in Xihaizhou and the largest island in the royal family. The island is rich in silver mines and is a relatively wealthy industry of the royal family. Shao Dianyong was assigned to guard the royal family's industry.
Everyone knows that Shaodian's fighting qi skills are fire-based, and the island is a place where water element molecules are active. Although Silver Sand Island is rich, it is not good for the direct descendants of the royal family who practice fire-based skills, so Shaodianyong was sent here to equalize.
Yu Pei.
Originally, Shaodianyong had been beaten so far away, so Shaodiandan had nothing to worry about, but recent events made the king wary.
It has been nearly half a year since the fleet of the Thousand Island Alliance invaded. The Shaodian Kingdom's navy was retreating steadily at first. The commander of the West Sea gathered all the navy's ships before launching sporadic counterattacks. During this period, half of the Shaodian Kingdom's sea territory fell into
In the hands of the Thousand Islands Alliance.
The Commander-in-Chief Mansion promptly mobilized the naval forces of the four coastal states in the west to respond to the enemy. The Commander-in-Chief of the West Sea finally stopped the invasion of the Thousand Island Alliance. Logically speaking, the king should be able to relax, but there was a piece of military information that aroused Shao Diandan's worries.
Prince Shao Dianyong of Yinsha led a warship from Yinsha Island to raid the flanks of the Thousand Islands Alliance. They fought fiercely for twenty-eight days and nights, and recaptured eighteen large and small islands one after another. This was the most beautiful victory since the Thousand Islands Alliance's invasion, which greatly inspired them.
The morale of the navy was reduced, and Shaodian Yong's reputation in the navy even reached the point where Sima Heng, the commander-in-chief of the Western Sea, was defeated.
Zisi received a notice from the chief chamberlain and went to the palace to pay homage to the king that night.
"There is some military information here, please take a look." Shao Diandan motioned to the chamberlain to hand over the military information documents to Zi Si.
Zisi quickly browsed through the military intelligence documents, with a solemn expression on his face, and asked: "Is Prince Yinsha's attack your will?"
"Of course not." Shao Diandan leaned on his chair and stared at the palace lantern above his head.
"Prince Yinsha risked his life to fight the enemy in order to defend the country. There was nothing blameworthy in the first place. However, it was against the law for him to send troops privately. Moreover, the strength of one island alone was able to defeat the powerful Thousand Island Alliance fleet. This shows that Yinsha Island's
He has put a lot of effort into military construction. I have never heard that Yinsha Island needs such a strong military force." Zisi expressed Shao Diandan's worries.
A steward who guards a silver mine actually has such a strong fleet under his command. He must have been well trained. Others who do such things need to give the king a clear explanation, let alone someone who has a grudge against the king for killing his father.
people.
Shao Diandan said unequivocally: "He has never forgotten what happened back then. If it hadn't been for the invasion of the Thousand Island Alliance, Gu wouldn't have known that Yinsha Island had such power. What would he be thinking about at ordinary times?"
"Why has no news come back from the island for so many years?" Zisi did not answer the king's words.
"To get to the point, the informants arranged by Gu Zai Island are of no use at all. They were either bribed by him or secretly eliminated. I'm afraid that Yinsha Island is now completely under his control." Shao Diandan's face changed.
A haze appears above.
Zisi came up with an idea: "How about asking Prince Yinsha to move to another place?"
"What should I do if he refuses? It's not convenient to touch him now. The foreign troubles of the Thousand Island Alliance have not yet been resolved, and he has put on a good show at the right time. If we deal with him at this time, the world will definitely say that Gu has an attempt to eradicate the weeds. It is not good.
Let’s do it.” Shao Diandan did not want to kill his nephew because of this matter.
"In this case, you can strengthen the defense of Silver Sand Island to avoid counterattack from the Thousand Islands Alliance, and send people to the island to find out the situation." Zi Si tried his best to make another plan.
"That's okay. The Clan's Mansion has spent a lot of money in recent years. If something goes wrong on Yinsha Island, the Clan's Mansion will be even more miserable. Go back and think about how to arrange Prince Yinsha's affairs after the incident in Xihai is over.
." Shaodian Dan has not forgotten that he promised to protect the eldest prince's family.
Zisi had a strange smile on his face after leaving the palace. He and Shaodiandan had different ideas. It was in the long-term interests of the Zi family to completely eliminate Shaodianji's lineage.
The next day, the king summoned Shaodianhuang and Shaodianmi, and the clan government was responsible for handling the affairs of Yinsha Island. Of course, it was Shaodianmi who was responsible for gathering information.
Shao Dianyong will enter the age of forty in another year. He has two sons and a daughter. He is slightly better than his uncle in terms of fertility, but his fighting spirit is still at the level of a shield-breaking knight.
His appearance is a bit like Shaodiandan, but he is more resolute and less handsome than Shaodiandan, and his figure is stronger.
Today, there is an atmosphere of preparation for war on Silver Sand Island. This island is equivalent to the size of two counties and has a population of no less than eight million. The Thousand Island Alliance cannot capture Silver Sand Island unless it concentrates all its forces.
"The output of the silver mine this month has doubled compared to last month, but thirty slaves died of exhaustion in the mine. Should we send more slaves?" A general manager was reporting to Prince Silver Sands.
"Well, send all the prisoners from the Thousand Island Alliance to work as mining slaves. Be careful not to die from exhaustion this time. Capturing them will cost a lot of soldiers' blood. We have to let them dig more mines to repay our soldiers." Shaodian.
Yong's skin is dark, the result of being exposed to the sun and rain for a long time at sea.
"Just now, the second young master came to the slave to ask for the 'Dark Fire Sword' seized from the Thousand Islands Alliance. He said it was a gift you promised to give him when he was promoted to a trainee knight."
"Haha, that's right. Yesterday he came to tell me that he had gathered fighting spirit and was promoted to a trainee knight. When I was happy, I said I would give him a good sword. I didn't expect that she would actually target the 'Dark Fire Sword'. It was him
Mother taught you that, right? Otherwise, how could you have known so quickly that I had handed over the 'Dark Fire Sword' to you for safekeeping.
Okay, you go and bring me the 'Dark Fire Sword' later, and I'll hand it over to him personally. People from the Gu family contributed a lot to this sneak attack on the Thousand Islands Alliance. Gu Qian's mother-in-law's family made great contributions, and I should do the same.
Reward her son. But don’t let the princess know about it yet. I’ll tell her later.” It seems that Shaodianyong’s backyard is not peaceful.
With a bang, a sturdy man strode over, bowed in front of Shao Dianyong, and said, "The commander-in-chief of the West China Sea has sent a messenger to invite the prince to the Zhanlongwan Water Village to participate in the celebration ceremony."
Shao Dianyong stroked the short beard on his chin and said: "Oh, Sima Heng wants to use me to boost the morale of the army, so I will take the opportunity to show my face in the army and tell the messenger that I will definitely attend the meeting on time."
"The general will bring more elites to accompany you to Zhanlong Bay." The sturdy man seemed not to know how to speak.
"Hahaha, your ancient slips are enough to accompany me. At this time, no one in the Western Sea except the people from the Thousand Islands Alliance will do anything against me. If there is Sima Heng, I will not let him go." Shao Dianyong personally gave him the message.
The sturdy man served a cup of tea.
The burly man named Gu Jian drank up the tea in the cup in one gulp, chewing up the tea leaves and swallowing them.
Sima Heng would be grateful to Shao Dianyong for this. Without Prince Yinsha's sneak attack, Shaodian's West Sea Navy would not know where to retreat before it could gain a firm foothold.
In terms of the quantity and quality of warships, the Thousand Islands Alliance is far superior to the Xihai Navy. Although Sima Heng is named the Commander-in-Chief of the Xihai, he can only command the navies of Haishan Prefecture and Xihai Prefecture, and the navies of Linhai Prefecture and Hailin Prefecture in name only.
It is under his jurisdiction, but he has to go through the commander-in-chief's office before he can be mobilized.
In the early stages of the Thousand Island Alliance's invasion, the navies of the four states fought independently, but the commander of the Thousand Island Alliance seized the opportunity to defeat them one by one. When the commander-in-chief reacted, he mobilized the navies of the four states to assemble at Longwan Water Village, Sima Heng's station. Sima Heng showed up with his men.
They were all defeated generals, and the morale of the entire army was extremely low.
Fortunately, Prince Yinsha appeared in time and boosted the morale of the Xihai Navy with a great victory. Sima Heng was able to use the remaining power of Shao Dianyong and his familiarity with the climate of the Xihai to win several key sniper battles, forcing the Thousand Island Alliance to stop
The pace of the invasion.
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One day in early April, Zheng Huan and Ding Kui appeared together on the dock of Juyang City.
Looking at the wharf with forest of masts, Zheng Huan sighed: "Today's wharf is really going to be overcrowded. I didn't expect that a small giant city could attract so many merchant ships. I have studied the history of giant city and finally found out
In a good year, it’s not even half as good as it is now.”
"So the general believes that this city urgently needs to add a dock, which can also add another achievement to the city lord." Ding Kui's position as captain is lower than that of the city lord.