It had been half a month since the information was delivered to Qin Huaidao.
Flying Eagle's letter also has to be transferred at one stop, and it is impossible to fly directly from Linyi to Hanwang City.
Qin Huaidao had expected to capture the entire south, but he was still very excited to see it come true. It meant opening up territory. However, pirates were indeed a problem. There were many islands in the southern sea, and pirates were rampant. They could land and plunder at any time.
The solution to the problem is endless.
But naval warfare is not land warfare. It requires sea ships and a navy, and it also requires familiarity with sea areas, reefs, climate, etc. All of them are indispensable, otherwise going to sea will mean death.
Cheng Chumo lacked all these and could not go to sea to fight.
Qin Huaidao sat alone in his study and meditated for a whole morning, and finally decided not to fight for now, but to focus on defense, and wait until Li Tai was dealt with. He quickly called Li Jingren, wrote a creed, and stamped his private seal.
There is only one line in the creed - to set up defenses along the coast, to warn of smoke and fire, not to go to sea, to open up wasteland to grow food.
More words will require more paper, and it will be inconvenient for the flying eagle to carry it.
Qin Huaidao believed that Cheng Chumo knew what to do after seeing the creed, and signaled Li Jingren to send it out quickly.
Afterwards, Qin Huaidao returned to the workshop.
During this period of time, Qin Huaidao mostly stayed in the workshop to guide the craftsmen in making Xiuchun knives, developing gunpowder to make grenades, explosive packs, etc., in preparation for the next war.
However, the appearance of pirates made Qin Huaidao realize that it was time to prepare for a rainy day. He asked people to free up a separate house and arrange for a team of guards to guard it. He took his own tools and began to hand-build steam engines. In the past, several steam engines were made into iron-clad ships.
, it must be broken after such a long time, right?
Without ironclad ships, no wonder Yuchi and Baolin lost the naval battle.
Having previous experience in building a steam engine in Qinjiazhuang, it was obviously much faster to rebuild it. After more than ten days, a simple steam engine was completed. After testing, the results were so-so and the power was barely usable. After that, Qin Huaidao began to build a simple lathe.
A steam engine is used as power, and the bearing drives the gear to rotate. The gear is connected to the head of the lathe. The head is used to fix the object to be processed. When the object rotates and is cut with a turning tool, various circles, ovals, and cones can be processed.
, round holes and other objects.
For example, cannon shell casings cannot be processed well without a lathe.
When he was still in Qinjiazhuang, Qin Huaidao built a simple lathe by hand. It was shipped here during the last big move, but it was bumpy and damaged along the way and needed to be repaired. Repairing it is much easier than redoing it.
More than ten days later, a simple lathe was built and connected to the steam engine. Qin Huaidao smiled while looking at the rumbling front of the car. Although he was not satisfied, it was barely usable. He hired several loyal and reliable craftsmen to teach the lathe technology, but he couldn't.
From now on, you’ll be processing cannonballs by yourself every day, right?
Everything is being prepared in an orderly manner.
…
Almost at the same time.
Jeju Island is facing a disaster.
On the hillside to the east, Yuchi Baolin looked at the dark sea and the slow-moving ships, feeling extremely heavy. Although he went to Goguryeo some time ago to recruit 3,000 people, he did not have time to train, and the combat effectiveness was not yet available. There were less than 2,000 veterans around him.
,how to spell?
"There are at least 30,000 pirates. The coastline here is long. Once they separate and land, there is no way to stop them." Yu Chigong said in a low voice, looking at the pirates who suddenly appeared in front of him with equally worried eyes.
After thinking for a moment, Yu Chigong looked around cautiously and lowered his voice and said, "If it doesn't work out, you take your family and leave first. I will stay here to give an explanation to the King of Han."
"It's me who wants to stay. I am the commander of this army appointed by the King of Han. You are not. There is no point in staying." Yuchi Baolin said in a low voice.
"You kid..." Yu Chigong was so angry that he was speechless.
As an elder, you naturally hope that your children will live and the family will be passed down. If they die, there will be nothing.
But I have to admit that anyone can withdraw from this army, but not Yuchi Baolin.
After thinking for a moment, Yu Chigong said helplessly: "Then let's fight to the death!"
"Report——"
A man rushed over, clasped his fists and said: "General Cavalry, there are thousands of ships appearing in the west. They look like pirates, but they should be from the Tang Dynasty."
"Tang Ren? Are you sure?" Yuchi Baolin's face changed drastically.
"There are all kinds of flags. I know the characters written on them, such as Cui, Yu, Luo, etc. The characters for Japanese pirates are different. The other pirates we encountered didn't even have flags. They just drew a skull, or just put a skull."
On the mast, and coming from the west, they must be from the Tang Dynasty."
After hearing the explanation, Yuchi Baolin looked at Yuchi Gong.
Yuchi Gong's face also changed greatly, and he said in a deep voice: "Is it because the imperial court is pretending to be pirates and wants to kill us?"
"asshole!"
Yuchi Baolin said angrily: "There are islands along the coast of our country. There is no one else except the imperial court. Even if the imperial army is not fake, it is the imperial court that asks the families from the coastal states to take action and pretend to be pirates. Thousands of ships must have tens of thousands of people."
This is a conspiracy."
"The noble family takes action, joins forces with the Japanese country, and attacks from both sides?" Yuchi Gong reacted.
Yuchi Baolin nodded heavily, furious.
There are only ten or twenty thousand Japanese from the east, plus more than ten thousand from the west. Although there are five thousand of them, but three thousand new soldiers, there is no chance of winning this battle.
"Retreat, keep the green hills and don't worry about running out of firewood." Yu Chigong said in a low voice.
Yuchi Baolin looked at the people around him with a solemn expression, and was very unwilling to do so. He followed the King of Han to sweep away the Japanese country, but now he was leading the army independently but was losing consecutive battles. How could this happen?
"If you don't retreat, be prepared to fight to the death and don't hesitate." Yu Chigong reminded.
"Dad?" Yuchi Baolin hesitated to speak.
Yuchi Gong had been fighting all his life. How could he not know what he wanted to say? He interrupted: "A man's actions are worthy of heaven and earth. No one trusts him. If he dies, his ears will be dead. Then let's fight vigorously. He deserves the trust of the King of Han. I will go down."
Can you give Brother Qin Qiong an explanation?"
"Dad, I'm sorry!"
"Bullshit, it has nothing to do with you. I'm coming. All the old brothers are gone. It's boring for me to stay alone in this world. It's time to go down and meet them. You guard the east and leave the west to me." Yuchi Gongsha made a decisive decision.
, made a quick decision and hurried away with a group of people.
"Bao Qi!"
"Here you go, brother, what's the matter?" Yuchi Baoqi came over quickly.
Yuchi Baolin looked around, lowered his voice and said, "If things are absolutely right, take mother and the others and withdraw. Do you know where the last armored ship is hidden?"
"Brother, me?" Yuchi Baoqi became anxious upon hearing this.
"Listen to brother, our Yuchi family cannot cut off its roots and go west to find the King of Han. We will take revenge in the future."
"Brother, you go, I'll stay."
"You're talking nonsense. I'm the commander of an army. I can't leave. Go and command the battle." Yuchi Baolin cursed in a low voice. He looked at the ship getting closer and closer. The horse in his hand shook, buzzed and trembled, and shouted loudly.