Zhou Rui then pointed to the military map and said to Zhou Xiaorong: "If Zhenwei Jiedu Mansion really dares to gather the descendants of the troops to counterattack Jingsheng City, maybe our Zhou family can take this place, and here, take the opportunity to take it!" ”

Zhou Xiaorong couldn't help frowning when he saw that Zhou Rui was referring to the two cities closest to Jingsheng City, Huitong City and Yiguang City.

Huitong City and Yiguang City are about 180 kilometers away from Jingsheng City, and the three cities are arranged in the shape of "Pin", and Huitong City and Yiguang City are about 200 kilometers apart.

Compared with Jingsheng City, Huitong City and Yiguang City are relatively large cities, with a population of about 300,000 and nearly 400,000 people in surrounding villages and towns.

Yiguang City has a population of 350,000, and the population of surrounding villages and towns must also be 400,000.

At present, Huitong City is actually in the hands of two families, namely the Huitong Wang family and the Huitong Li family.

Yiguang City is also in the hands of two families, namely the Yiguang Sun family and the Yiguang Zhang family.

Each of these four families controls a unit of the Zhenwei Army, either an infantry division or a mixed brigade.

"The young general, the Wang family and the Li family in Huitongcheng, the Sun family and the Zhang family in Yiguang City, are not soft persimmons.

Moreover, Huitong City and Yiguang City are both located in the plains, and there is almost no danger to defend, even if our Zhou family can conquer these two cities, they may not be able to defend them. ”

Zhou Rui didn't care about Zhou Xiaorong's concerns, "Second uncle, with the current strength of our Zhou family, sooner or later we have to take steps to expand."

Only the stronger our Zhou family is, the more we can suppress those forces that are hostile to our Zhou family, including those beast countries.

On the side of Fengwu Town, our Zhou family is not suitable for any big moves for the time being, but on the side of Zhenwei Town, our Zhou family does not need to have any scruples, and we can't let it go if we have the opportunity!

As for whether you can take Huitong City and Yiguang City? Can you withstand the counterattack of the Zhenwei army?

If we don't try, how will we know? ”

Although most of the Zhou family's several army units are mainly recruits, their weapons and equipment are absolutely world-class, and after a new round of expansion, the total strength has exceeded 120,000, which is also where Zhou Rui's confidence lies.

Zhou Xiaorong hesitated for a moment and said, "I still think that it is prudent to attack Huitong City and Yiguang City. ”

"Hehe, second uncle, don't worry, although I have the intention of capturing Huitong City and Yiguang City, but the premise is that the descendants of Zhenwei Jiedu Mansion will counterattack Jingsheng City, and they will be hit hard by my Zhou family's troops, otherwise I don't dare to attack the idea of Huitong City and Yiguang City."

Zhou Xiaorong pondered for a while and said: "If we can really hit the descendants of Zhenwei Jiedu Mansion, it will also be a good opportunity for our Zhou family to take the opportunity to expand their territory."

However, I am worried that at that time, the other families in Zhenwei Town who control the military power will not watch from the sidelines, but it will turn into a big war between our Zhou family and the entire Zhenwei Town. ”

Zhou Rui did not continue to discuss this topic with Zhou Xiaorong, after all, it was still a matter of attacking Huitong City and Yiguang City.

"Second uncle, how are the technicians and workers of those shipyards settled?"

Zhou Rui commissioned the shipyard technicians and workers recruited by the rebels, and finally arrived in Ganyang City by ship.

To Zhou Rui's surprise, the rebels sent more than 100 shipyard technicians and more than 1,200 shipyard ordinary workers to Zhou Rui at once.

And these technicians and workers are all from the same large shipyard of the Wild Bull Empire, and even participated in the construction of the latest all-main gun battleship of the Wild Bull Empire Navy.

Because the newly appointed Minister of the Navy of the Wild Bull Empire believes that the navy of the Wild Bull Empire, facing the navies of the other five major beast countries, should use torpedoes as a magic weapon to defeat the enemy.

After all, among the six major beast countries, the industrial and technological strength of the Wild Bull Empire is the weakest, and the large warships built by the shipbuilding industry of the Wild Bull Empire are not small compared to the large warships built by the other five major beast countries, and there is a big gap in performance in all aspects.

Instead of spending huge sums on battleships with full main guns, more destroyers and small torpedo boats should be built.

As long as the Wild Bull Empire has enough destroyers and small torpedo boats, it will pose a huge threat to the other five major beast nations.

Therefore, after the naval minister of the Barbarian Bull Empire came to power, he decided to implement the "Swarm Fish Plan" formulated by him, and ordered the cancellation of all the construction plans of all main gun battleships, including the 7 Punisher-class full main gun battleships under construction.

And this decision made the three shipyards of the Manniu Empire, which mainly built large warships, have to start laying off employees, and these more than 100 technicians and more than 1,200 ordinary workers are the human employees who were laid off in one of the large shipyards.

Zhou Xiaorong nodded, "The technicians and workers of those shipyards, as well as their families, are basically settled.

However, our order for shipbuilding equipment from Shuonan Town was rejected by Shuonan Jiedu Mansion.

There is no news from the Liang Yan Empire, and I estimate that it will be difficult to order shipbuilding equipment from the Liang Yan Empire.

However, the merchant of the Silver Wolf Empire has agreed to sell the ship repair factory in Ganyang Mingang, but the price is a little high, and three 6,000-ton simple docks will cost 2 million silver coins when they open their mouths. ”

Zhou Rui said indifferently: "Anyway, we already have four 30,000-ton floating docks, and it doesn't matter if we can't purchase shipbuilding equipment for the time being."

The ship repair factory in Ganyang Mingang will see if it can lower the price again, and if it can't be suppressed, it will also be bought for 2 million silver coins.

With these three 6,000-ton docks, it is possible to maintain at least a few warships of the coastal defense fleet with a small displacement. ”

The four 30,000-ton floating docks in the lottery system have all been extracted by Zhou Rui and secretly placed in the port of Crescent Island.

At present, the coastal defense fleet has 6 battleships with full main guns, 8 battlecruisers, 13 all-steel battleships, 6 ironclad battleships, and 10 large armored cruisers, with a total capacity of 43 warships.

In addition, the coastal defense fleet has a full load displacement of 3 ironclad battleships and 4 large armored cruisers, although they do not reach 10,000 tons, but they both exceed 6,000 tons.

With so many large warships, it is necessary to carry out regular maintenance, especially to remove marine microorganisms from the bottom of the warship, if these marine microorganisms accumulate too much, it will seriously affect the speed of the warship.

If these marine microorganisms are not cleaned up for a long time, they will also corrode the bottom of the ship and shorten the service life of the warship.

And even if the ship repair plant in Ganyang Mingang was purchased, these 50 warships would not be able to enter the 6,000-ton dock for maintenance.

Therefore, Zhou Ruicai extracted the four 30,000-ton floating docks, so that at least the large warships of the coastal defense fleet could take turns to maintain them.

Anyway, even the battleships and battlecruisers with all the main guns were extracted by Zhou Rui, and the debts were not pressing, so Zhou Rui didn't think about whether the four 30,000-ton floating docks that suddenly appeared would attract the attention of the beast countries.

In the sixth formation of the coastal defense fleet, there are three ironclad battleships with a full load displacement of more than 6,000 tons, in addition to the ironclad battleship of the General and the ironclad battleship of the Mengjiang, the last one is the flagship of Liu Ergou - the Golden Ingot Treasure.

As for such a cheesy ship name, of course, it was Liu Ergou.

Liu Ergou also had 1 old armored cruiser and 4 offshore gunboats under his command, and because the ships were in good condition, they were also temporarily incorporated into the sixth formation of the coastal defense fleet.

The three iron-ribbed and wooden-hulled warships and fifteen armed merchant ships brought by Liu Ergou were dismantled and transformed into transport ships.

Zhou Xiaorong said: "Then I will personally go and talk to the merchant of the Silver Wolf Empire again, and try to push the price down." ”

Zhou Rui then said with a smile: "Cheng Xianhou of the rebel army said that he wanted to introduce me to a fox merchant who has a lot of energy in the Barbarian Bull Empire, maybe this fox merchant can help our Zhou family solve the problem of shipbuilding equipment." ”

Zhou Xiaorong frowned and said, "But in terms of machinery and equipment, the Barbarian Bull Empire, like other beast countries, has always imposed an embargo on human countries. ”

"That's why Cheng Xianhou said that the fox merchant has a lot of energy in the Barbarian Bull Empire."