"My lord, nearly one-third of the 2,000 ships built by our sailors in Goryeo have seen water seepage, and it has only been more than a year since they were launched. According to the unanimous opinion of the refinishers, these ships may only last for five years at most, and they will be at risk of the new wood absorbing too much water and the hull falling apart. Zhou Daozhong cried with a sad face and reported the bad news.

Unexpectedly, instead of being angry, Li Zhongyi said with a smile: "Brother Zhongping, I didn't plan to use it for five years." ”

"Ah...... This ......" Zhou Daozhong was taken aback, and then rejoiced, as long as it was not his responsibility, it would be easy to do.

"How could I not know that the new wood cut from the mountains would obviously not be able to be used for a long time if it was not dried in the sun, and the bottom of the ship would definitely seep water?" Li Zhongyi curled the corners of his mouth and smiled slightly, "Fang is down today, although the sailors of the Southern Tang Dynasty are very powerful, most of them are flat-bottomed boats, and they can only drive in inland rivers. We don't point to these newly built ships to fight any naval battles, as long as they can help me transport troops and food in a short period of time, and go north or south, I will be very satisfied. ”

"Brother Zhongping, our army was able to travel back and forth between Yuguan and Kaijing quickly and at low cost, and the sailors made great contributions." Li Zhongyi dispelled Zhou Daozhong's doubts in a decisive way, "In the future, when your men are all sea ships, hehe, not only can you transport troops, but you can also go to sea to trade." ”

Seeing that Zhou Daozhong was still a little sullen, Li Zhongyi simply walked to his side, raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "To tell you the truth, as early as when I built these ships, I knew that they would only last about three years at most." However, three years is enough to dry the freshly cut wood. When the newly built big ship comes out, it will last at least thirty years. By that time, you'll have more than a few hundred wrecked ships at your disposal. ”

It's actually shabby enough, the so-called 2,000-material ship has a load of only 100 tons. I think that at the beginning, when Zheng He went to the South Seas, the carrying capacity of a big treasure ship killed the so-called big ship that Li Zhongyi had at hand in minutes.

Rice, always eat one bite at a time. As the saying goes, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, and Li Zhongyi is not in a hurry at all.

In the mountains of Goryeo, there are all kinds of wood suitable for shipbuilding, such as cedar, pine, cypress, teak, elm, red wood, camphor wood, nanmu, catalpa, catalpa, oak wood, etc., which can be said to be inexhaustible.

In today's East Asia, there are two most powerful forces on the water, one is the Southern Tang Dynasty and the other is Wu Yue.

Wu Yue's Qian family is just a dog guarding the house, without the slightest enterprising, and the fifth-generation version of Zhang Shicheng is alive and waiting for death.

On the front line of the Yangtze River, the Southern Tang Naval Division in the hands of Lin Renzhao was indeed the biggest obstacle to the southward unification of the army in the future. However, since Chai Rong had already taken the fourteen states of Jianghuai, the Southern Tang Naval Division was the largest barrier in the Southern Tang Dynasty, and there was absolutely no possibility of crossing the sea to attack Li Zhongyi.

Li Zhongyi pinched his fingers and calculated, since there was no external threat from the sea, even if the big ship built had the drawbacks of not being able to be used for a long time, it could still be used for emergency response.

The same tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, crossing the Yalu River by land, and then going to Yuguan, not only took as long as two months, but also consumed grain, horse feed and other materials on the road is absolutely astronomical.

In any case, transporting troops, horses, and supplies by sea is at least five times cheaper, not to mention unpredictable hurricanes or tsunamis, and the transportation speed is at least five times faster.

More importantly, it is true that the use of the water division can go north to Yuguan, but once the situation changes, the entire Li Jiajun can also take advantage of the situation to go south to Dengzhou and go directly to Kaifeng City against the Yellow River.

Today's Zhou Daozhong, and Li Zhongyi are already broken bones and tendons, which can be described as both loss and prosperity.

In Fangjin's Great Zhou Dynasty, there was no feudal town that attached more importance to the role of sailors than Li Zhongyi, and no one understood the importance of shipping better than him.

Putting a bulky thunderbolt cannon (return cannon) onto the deck of a large ship and throwing boulders or cocktails was a new tactic for sailors that Li Zhongyi had figured out.

Zhou Daozhong is now an old sailor, before the thunderbolt was on the ship, the sailor's long-range attack weapon, in addition to the slap stick, was the divine arm crossbow.

The problem is that the lever is too large, and it is not only time-consuming and laborious to operate, but it can only be fired once in a quarter of an hour, and it is impossible to take an effective attack on the enemy ship.

In contrast, a light thunderbolt can fire boulders at a distance of more than 300 steps, that is, more than 100 meters. If, using a thunderbolt to fire a cocktail, the firing range can reach a terrifying 700 steps, that is, more than 300 meters.

For naval warfare, the attack distance of more than 300 meters is obviously enough, Li Zhongyi is very relieved, and Zhou Daozhong will not be worried.

What made Zhou Daozhong faintly worried was that among the middle and lower-level officers of the water division, seventy percent of them were descendants of the Li family army who were born in the martial arts hall.

However, Li Zhongyi obviously did not want to forcibly seize the control of the naval division, and most of the officers and soldiers of the naval division who were replaced were transferred to the security army in Kaijing. The old division of the water division, which was restructured into the public security army, was allocated 100-300 acres of high-grade paddy fields near Kaijing in accordance with Li Zhongyi's promise in advance.

These paddy fields were the private property of the old tribesmen in Zhou Dao, and were cultivated by the captive Goryeo slaves, who were exempt from taxes and forced labor, and could be passed on to their children and grandchildren to inherit them tax-free.

Li Zhongyi has always been a hyperrealist, believing in the logic of interest exchange, and while gradually reining in the command of the water division, he not only gave a way out, but also rewarded the land.

If these people are still not satisfied, then they can only be sorry, and everyone will talk with knives.

Zhou Daozhong is an understanding person, and he doesn't have much ambition, although he is a little unhappy in his heart, seeing that Li Zhongyi is handling it evenly, and his old subordinates are evenly interested, he pinched his nose and admitted it.

Li Zhongyi's favorite point in Zhou Dao is that he is interesting and content, and people who know current affairs will mix well no matter where they are.

In terms of official position, Zhou Daozhong is already the commander of tens of thousands of sailors, except for Yang Lie, his status is equivalent to Liu Heyang, Liao Shanhe and others, and he can be regarded as a very popular minister in the Li family military system.

In terms of money, according to Li Zhongyi's most conservative estimate in private, Zhou Daozhong's family has at least two million yuan.

Zhou Daozhong, who has money and real power, is a wise person, as long as he is not forced by Li Zhongyi, he will never make a ghost name of jumping over the wall in a hurry.

"Brother Zhongping, the elite of the army is exhausted, and the defense of Kaijing will be handed over to you." Li Zhongyi said with a spring breeze on his face, "I believe that in three years and five years, we will be able to return to Kaifeng City." ”

Zhou Daozhong understood Li Zhongyi's implicit hints, and couldn't help but feel hot in his heart, when he left Kaifeng, he was just an abandoned son of the imperial court.

One day, if he can return to his hometown, who would dare to look down on him, the lost dog of the year?