As soon as the king arrived, the barbarians scattered as birds and beasts. Before the smoke of gunpowder in the bay had cleared, the city remembered the cheers of the soldiers and merchants. The war was reversed like this, and it was unimaginable, including Ou Zhe. But this is not good news for the mercenaries on the cargo ship Gluttony in the rear. The price given by the employers was not high, and the lowest level was only a pitiful half a stone millet per day, but fortunately, food, weapons, and armor were provided by the big merchants, and in wartime, the victorious side had additional rewards and booty.

Most of the people who have gone to sea are Yue people, and Zhuyue all rely on sea communication, and Chu people rarely go to sea. But very few of the Yue people have read books, not to mention that after the annexation of the Yue Kingdom, the Zhou Division was commanded by the Chu people, and Ou Zhe was only after the Yue Kingdom surrendered to the generals. No one dared to speak outright, although they knew each other very well. The red man saluted and said loudly: "Respectfully accept the order!" ”

"How many ships do I still have in the Chu Kingdom that can fight?" While Xiong Jing asked, the five temple people were moving again. They ran from side to side, rocking the ship constantly. The men below the deck were a little panicked, and the left and right Shi and Temple people behind Gong Yijian and Xiong Jing began to get seasick, but Xiong Jing was still standing steadily, and these people could only hold on.

"Tell the truth, I will not cure your sins." Xiong Jing added that he was worried that Red was lying.

The "minister......" red is also a child of the Gong family. His ancestor is Xiong Zhi, the second son of Xiong Qu, who calls himself 'I am a barbarian'.

After Xiong Qu's death that year, the eldest son died early, Xiong Zhi ascended the throne, and the third son Xiong Yan refused to accept the coup d'état and seized the throne. In fact, the so-called coup d'état was just a battle between the people who supported Xiong Zhi and the people who supported Xiong Yan, and it was even very likely that it was just a duel between the two in front of the people of the Gongguo, and they used each other's life and death to decide who was the king of Chu - there were many tribal customs in the early Chu State, so that Xiang Yu was still used to using such a 'single duel' method to decide the overlord of the world.

The strong are respected, and all the people of the victorious clan will be surrendered, and the defeated will not be killed. After Xiong Zhi's death, his descendants were still alive, but they did not dare to take Xiong anymore, but took their father's character red as their name to show their submission to the new king.

The ancestors had such a history, and the red man was extremely cautious, so cautious that he was a little introverted. After Xiong Jing finished speaking, he still hesitated for a while before he said: "Tell the king: Although there are more than 1,500 warships, this is the number of 80 years ago. Eighty years ago, the ships of the current division were all built a few years ago, and there are more than a thousand of them, but the warships decay very quickly, so far only 509 remain, but less than half of them are combated, of which there are 121 large wings, 150 middle wings, and 238 small wings. ”

"Only five hundred and nine?" Although Xiong Jing was mentally prepared, he was still surprised. "Why? What kind of wood was the warship made? ”

"Tell the king, most of the warships are made of pines and cypresses." The red man replied a little strangely, he felt that the king was good at shipbuilding, so he could naturally recognize the kind of wood used on the ship. Who thinks that Xiong Jing is just a scholar, and the ships he has built are only models, but he knows that those timbers can build ships, and those timbers can't, but he doesn't know much wood.

"Made of pines and cypresses?" Xiong Jing knew something in his heart. Pine is not really suitable for shipbuilding, it is only suitable for masts, and the trunks of the trees used to make masts are very straight and towering like clouds. Unlike oak, which is more than 150 years old, the trunk used for shipbuilding is only a short six meters, so Western-style sailing ships are made of oak for the hull and pine for the mast.

Cypress is also not suitable for shipbuilding, and cypress is a cork like pine. Hardwoods are needed for shipbuilding, but hardwoods are difficult to machine. According to the report of Gong Yin Dao, in the territory of Chu State, there are many oak wood (Nanmu), yellow oak wood (Huangqi), and camphor wood for hundreds of years and thousands of years, which are all excellent shipbuilding materials, but because they are hardwood, it is difficult to cut down and difficult to process with bronze tools. Now ships do not have masts, and the construction of ships with pines and cypresses is certainly not used as masts, and with the current shipbuilding technology, it is no wonder that the ships are not durable.

"In the future, it's best not to build ships with pines and cypresses," thinking that a large wing will cost thirty gold, and although the size of the medium-wing small wing ship is small, it will also cost one or twenty gold, Xiong Jing couldn't help but say. "In addition, each ship must establish a registry, paint and maintain it every year, and the ship's officials are responsible for it."

"Respectfully obey the order!" Red said yes loudly, and so did the others.

The boat was still rocking, and by this time several temple people who were running back and forth had stopped. This was to test the initial stability of the ship, and Xiong Jing remembered the Swede's Vasa, and the poor ship capsized on its maiden voyage. Of course, the schooner is very stable, it has only one deck on it, and then there is a drum and a rudder, and there is no other excess weight, so the initial stability of such a ship is excellent.

"In May, I went to Daliang to fight with the Qin people, how to arrange the battleship?" Xiong Jing asked about the current situation.

"Tell the king: There are forty-three new ships, and it is reasonable to mobilize another fifty-four ships to enter Wei and fight with the Qin people." Red Rock Road. "However, the Qin people have always been untrustworthy, and our army boat division must not be moved lightly, and the ministers think that they think it is ......."

"Why do you think so?" Xiong Jing understood his concerns. A small half of the Chu Guozhou division was in Dongtingjun, and most of the rest were stationed in Xiayi and Ezhou. Especially in Ezhou, where copper mines are involved, a lot of iron ore for iron smelting also comes from here.

"Tell the king: The minister thinks that only the boat master of Dongting Jun can be adjusted, and the boat master of Xiayi and Ezhou cannot be adjusted." Red Mo said loudly.

"Dare to ask the king, can you agree with the Qin people that the two countries will make an appointment to fight somewhere in Dongtingjun and Xiayi." Lu Zhuo said loudly.

"Then the Qin army was defeated, which made my Nanjun Chu people even more thoughtful?" Xiong Jing asked rhetorically, and Lu Zhuo was immediately speechless. There is a price for the good alliance between Chu and Qin, and the price is that the Chu State recognizes Nanjun as owned by the Qin State. Whether it is Dongtingjun or Xiayi, it is good that the Chu army is defeated, and the Chu people of Nanjun will definitely be restless if they win, looking forward to the Chu division recovering the old Ying.

Speaking of Nanjun Xiong Jing's brows, he asked Hongji again: "As far as you can see, can forty-three new-style warships defeat the hundred warships of the Qin people?" ”

"Huh?!" Hongji was shocked, "King, the enemy is twice as good as me, and the minister is afraid of accidents." ”

"Great King, the minister thinks that forty-three new boats can defeat the Qin people." Ou Zhe said loudly, and the person also took two steps forward.

"What if you win?" Xiong Jing asked.

"Tell the king, forty-three large wings can fill the waterway, and our army can hit the Qin warships against the water. After the collision, our army retreats, and if it collides again at the right time, it will inevitably win a great victory. "The new warship has ramming angles and is fast, and Ou Zhe thinks that there is no need for hand-to-hand combat at all.

"Tell the king, the minister thinks otherwise." Hongmu hurriedly said: "The topmost wood pulp of the new wing extends out more than two sides and three feet, and the two ships are separated by seven feet. The Qin army is in the upper reaches, our army must not stop, it must paddle, the big wing of the Qin army must come along the gap between the two boats, and it is difficult for our army to collide. ”

"Tell the king, General Red only said that the first line, if the second line of our army's wings is arranged in the gap of seven feet ahead, it will definitely be able to hit it." Ou Zhe is stationed in Dongting County, and Hongzhu is stationed in Xiayi and Ezhou, although the two have personal relations, when it comes to the war, they have always refused to give in: "The minister is willing to ask for his life, and use this forty-three big wings to break the Qin division." ”

"King, there is no need for land warfare in water warfare, and if you don't see a place for fierce battles, how can you talk about victory or defeat in battle?" After Hongzhu finished speaking, he also said, "The minister asked the king to allow ten new-style wings to be transferred to Dongting County and Xiayi, and the Qin people's abnormal movements were shown to the new-style wings, so that they knew that we also had new-style wings in the two places, and then transferred sixty-seven ships from Dongting and Ezhou to Daliang to fight with the Qin army." That's the safest thing to do. ”

"This method is indeed safe, but thirty-four new-style warships go to Daliang......" Xiong Jing couldn't help but nod, the red method seems to be safer, the Qin people really want to take the opportunity to make trouble, five new-style warships should be able to scare away, but there are fewer new-style shipbuilding to Daliang.

"Tell the king: the new ship is like a huge iron, the old ship is like a defeat, and our army has a great chance of winning this battle." Honglu explained: "Ranchen thinks: Wei is the dog of Qin, and it is necessary to beware of Wei people in the battle of Daliang. ”

In the weather of March, the worries casually mentioned by the general of the boat division, Hongji, made Xiong Jing forget for a moment that he was in the bright spring light. Judging from the news received in recent days, the internal political situation of Qin is changing again, and the relationship between Zhao and Qin is also improving at an alarming rate.

It may be the reason why Zhao offered a huge iron technique to Qin - when Mi Xuan issued a warning from Chen County, the iron smelting craftsmen of Chu State had already arrived in Handan, but this was not without countermeasures, and various possibilities had been considered before building the government - or it could be some other reason, one of which worries Xiong Jing the most is the changes he has brought to history.

All the countries in the world, except for the monarch of Qi who ignores mundane things and seems to be in Taoyuan, the monarchs of other countries are all like ghosts. The state of Chu is rising, and all countries can feel it, although this rise is harmless and peaceful. A large amount of gold and silver from various countries is flowing to the Chu State. The nations compete for power, and gold and silver are actually very cheap things. 'Jin Yiliang was born in the territory, and Su Shishi died abroad. Su Shishi was born in China, and Jin Yiliang died abroad. If the country is good and the gold is in the territory, the gold millet will die twice, the warehouse will be empty, and the country will be weak. If the country is good and the millet is born in the territory, then the golden millet is born twice, the warehouse is two solid, and the country is strong. ’

According to the Legalist Shang Yingzhi, the monarch should be happy outside the Jinsheng realm (country), because the Jinsheng territory is equal to the territory of the Susheng. What the state of Chu is doing now is the way of 'weak country', selling materials and taking back money, which is an act that Legalists are extremely opposed. However, the military technology of the Chu State is opening up the distance with other countries, which is the most taboo of the Legalists, or the Qin State, and the things sold are either strange and ingenious, or industrial products that can be produced continuously.

It is reported that Zhao Qin will make an alliance next month, is it possible for Qin to point the finger at Chu again? This is a question that Xiong Jing has been thinking about in the past few days, and it is also a question that the important ministers of Chu State are thinking about. Today's alliance is good, tomorrow's attack, with Qin's consistent lack of faith, this is really a normal thing.