At the mouth of Ou River, ten large-sized ships were parked on the shore. The hulls of the ships were gently swaying with the turbulence of the sea water. The sea water slapped the sides of the ships and the rocks on the seaside, making a huge roar that spread several miles away.
Qingshe and Qing Qin saw Lou Chuan for the first time and were extremely shocked.
"No wonder it's called a building boat. It turns out it's really as high as two or three stories." Qing Qin murmured.
Thinking that the Yan State was also a coastal country but did not have such a large ship, Qing Qin sighed in his heart. When the Zhao State obtained these ships, the Yan State would no longer be Zhao State's opponent.
Although he had surrendered to the State of Zhao, Qing Qin still often regarded himself as a native of the State of Yan, and it was difficult to change his mind for a while.
"These are the ten best ships in our country of Yue. We cannot sell the rest to Zhao. We have to keep a few ships as spares." Chang Yang, the person in charge of the country of Yue, pointed at the big ships and said.
Without the shipyard, they no longer had the ability to build large ships. These were the only remaining ships from the Yue-Chu War decades ago.
They kept six ships for emergencies and sold the remaining ten ships to Zhao Guo.
With their current strength, it is useless to keep so many large ships. They might as well exchange some money and weapons to enhance their own strength.
"Thank you so much to the State of Yue. After I go back, I will definitely send you the gold and weapons as soon as possible." Qingshe said, cupping his fists.
Although he didn't understand boats, he could tell from the size that the boats sold to them by Yue were slightly larger than the boats he kept.
"This is Ou Yeshou, a descendant of the master swordsmith Ou Yezi, the head of these shipwrights." Chang Yang pointed at the middle-aged man in front of him and said.
Ou Yeshou is about forty years old, with a medium height and a dark complexion. What is striking is that his palms are extremely wide, like cattail leaf fans, as big as two palms of an ordinary person.
"Ou Yeshou, a grassroots man, has met the general." Ou Yeshou clasped his fists and saluted, and said without humility. He had obviously received a good education.
Qingshe and Qingshe didn't express any concern and returned the favor with their hands.
"This is Yuan Hua, a descendant of my General Yue, who is in charge of these sailors." The General Yue pointed at the young man next to Ou Yeshou and said.
"I've met the general." Yuan Hua saluted.
Unlike others, Yuan Hua took the initiative to go to the State of Zhao. Although he was a descendant of a general of the State of Yue, he was not ranked highly in the State of Yue.
Besides, even the King of Yue is now hiding in Tibet. How useful can he be, just a descendant of a general?
Li Si once said: "The virtuous and unworthy of people are like rats, it depends on where they are!"
Although Yuan Hua did not say the same thing, he understood the same truth.
For more than twenty years, he has deeply felt that the country of Yue is a quagmire that is gradually drying up, and a few fish in the quagmire are still fighting for a few drops of muddy water.
If you stay in the Yue Kingdom, you will never get ahead. It is better to seize this opportunity and follow Qing She to join the Zhao Kingdom.
Not to mention that the strength of the State of Zhao is far greater than that of the State of Yue. When he arrived in the State of Zhao, he was the only one who knew how to fight with water. As long as the State of Zhao formed a naval army, he would definitely be reused. He was definitely not comparable to those who stayed in the State of Yue.
"Not bad, quite strong." Qingshe nodded with satisfaction.
Yuan Hua has obviously practiced martial arts and has internal energy, which is already very good for his age.
Qingshe looked back again, and saw that two hundred shipwrights and five hundred sailors were lined up neatly. There were old and young shipwrights, and all the sailors were strong men.
The State of Yue did not deal with the State of Zhao in this regard. After all, the gold and weapons of the State of Zhao had not been sent yet, and they still held the handle.
"General, when shall we set off?" Chang Yang asked, cupping his hands.
"Take the sea route by boat?" Qingshe said in surprise. He had never gone to sea by boat.
"Of course, otherwise how could we send these ships to Zhao State?" Chang Yang said with a smile. We couldn't carry them on land.
"After I say goodbye to the King of Yue, we will set off tomorrow." Qingshe thought for a moment and said. He also wanted to try what it would be like to go to sea on a boat. After all, he had never experienced it in his life.
…
The next day, Qingshe led ten large ships, two hundred shipwrights, and five hundred crew members to sail into the sea in a mighty manner and sailed towards the direction of Zhao State.
Accompanying him were Chang Yang and ten Yue people, who were sent as envoys to the State of Zhao.
In order to prevent Zhao from defaulting on his debt, he refused to give gold and weapons to Yue after getting the ship. Qing Qin stayed in Yue as a hostage. Only after Zhao sent these things to Yue, Yue would release Qing Qin.
…
After the two elders Guo Zong and Zhuo Su nodded, other businessmen also agreed. Even the leader surrendered, so even if they didn't agree, there was nothing they could do.
Moreover, the conditions offered by the State of Zhao were very generous, and no one resisted at the risk of having their homes confiscated.
However, there are always a few blind people in any era who insist on uniting to fight against Zhao. They dream of becoming rich men like Guo Zong and Zhuo Su, and even contacted Wei businessman Bai Yan and Qi businessman Duanmu Ying.
Then it was sold to Zhao Mu by Bai Yan and Duanmu Ying on the same day. Zhao Mu reported it to Zhao Kuo. The next day, Li Si took people over and ransacked the house.
Then the salt and iron franchise had no obstacles in Zhao State. To be precise, it was the salt and iron coal franchise.
Nowadays, coal has become the third largest industry in Zhao country after iron smelting and salt. This is because it is summer now. If winter comes, the output value may even exceed that of iron smelting and salt.
The merchants of Zhao State relied on Zhao State to continuously sell coal, ironware, and salt to various countries in the Central Plains. Zhao State's ironware was more durable, the salt was whiter, and the coal was cheaper, winning the favor of people from all over the world.
Not only did this group of businessmen not lose money, but they also made more money than before, achieving win-win cooperation.
Of course, some people make money and some people lose money.
Life is not so easy for merchants from other countries, especially merchants from South Korea and Wei. Because tariffs have been canceled between the three countries, Zhao's goods have flooded into the markets of the two countries like a torrent.
Under the leadership of Zhao Mu, all businessmen united with the Zhao Chamber of Commerce as the core, used coal, iron, and salt as weapons, and the shopping mall as the battlefield, dumping at low prices, and quickly occupied the markets of the two countries.
Zhao Mu also took the opportunity to acquire a large number of properties and became the youngest rich man in the world. He was on par with Guo Zong, Zhuo Su, Bai Yan of Wei, and Duanmu of Qi. No one dared to treat him as a puppet anymore.
.
As long as Zhao Mu gives an order, the price of coal in Wei will rise the next day.
Due to the limitation of vision, no one in Wei State discovered such a huge hidden danger. Even if someone felt that something was wrong, no one reminded the King of Wei.
The Three Jin Dynasties are in their honeymoon period. Zhao is helping Wei and South Korea train cavalry, and no one dares to provoke a gap between the Three Kingdoms.
What's more, the State of Zhao also provided the two countries with curved plows and waterwheels. Now that corn and rice have begun to be harvested, it is conservatively estimated that the yield per mu of farmland using curved plows and waterwheels can be increased by at least 20 to 30%.
This is the yield per mu, and the total yield is even more, because the plow can cultivate more land in the same time. In the past, a family of five could cultivate one hundred acres of land, but now they can cultivate two hundred or even three hundred acres.
mu.
Unfortunately, Wei State does not have a large amount of wasteland like Zhao State. Even if all corners are developed, the increase in cultivated land will not exceed 50%.
As for South Korea, even less.
However, the King of Wei and the King of Han were already very satisfied. As far as they knew, the State of Zhao only handed over the plow and waterwheel to them, not to any other country, and only helped them train their cavalry.
This shows that King Zhao treats them as his own people, and the two monarchs are even more grateful.
Moreover, Zhao State is different from Qin State. Since Zhao Kuo ascended the throne, he has not shown any intention to attack Wei State. Both Ye County in the north and Tao County in the east are very friendly with Wei State.
"It would be great if there could be no war forever." King Wei sighed, but he knew this was impossible.