Regarding his father's reminder, Wu Yijiu just smiled faintly: "My lord, don't you hope that Zhao Sanlang can ascend the throne and become the emperor?" This eldest sister is the queen. ”

His expression suddenly became serious, but his tone was still steady, "For us, the Great Song Dynasty is still too big, and the population is too large to swallow in one bite!" Don't look at Hebei and Hedong fighting well, the momentum is like a bamboo, but our strength is about to run out.

The scale of this dispatch is too large, and there are more than 700,000 soldiers and generals who have entered the military alone! With the addition of the people, there are more than 1.2 million. That's one tenth of the population going straight to war.

This is all Ding Zhuang! With a loss of 1.2 million Ding Zhuang, agriculture and animal husbandry will definitely reduce production, but the question is just how much?

Industry and commerce are in trouble now, too! Although there was a middleman in the East China Sea, the market of the Song Dynasty still lost more than half, the goods could not be sold, and the money could not be made!

The South Seas and the southeast coast have become a pot of porridge again! Our merchant ships must be escorted by warships in a group before they can pass safely. Even if you can get by, it's a lot harder to do business!

Moreover, the maritime merchants and sailors in the southeast of the Song Dynasty were also stronger than imagined. The Navy's Nanyang Fleet is exhausted and has already asked the Navy for help several times. The main force of the Beiyang Fleet was also used for landing operations on the East East Road, and the forces that could be drawn were limited.

But the most important thing to take lightly is the digestion of the occupied areas! The Military Machinery Department of the Metropolitan Government estimates that hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses may need to be invested to ensure the smooth implementation of the Qingtian enclosure!

Therefore, we can't let the army spend all its energy on fighting the Song army. ”

Wu Yijiu is a legal expert, not a military expert. So he looks at the problem from a different angle than Wu Yiyong.

Wu Yiyong focuses on "beating down", while Wu Yijiu pays more attention to "digesting".

For Wu Yijiu, the construction of large tracts of land on Hebei, Hedong and Jingdong East Roads is only half the battle.

Thoroughly implement the republican system of the Great Zhou is the other half of success!

And if you want to thoroughly implement the system of the Great Zhou, you will inevitably offend the powerful gentry in Hedong, Hebei, and Jingdong East Road.

So the IRA must save its strength to fight them!

The spring in Haizhou Bay is the most beautiful, the sea breeze is light, the waves are gentle, and Yuntai Mountain looms in the fog, like a fairyland on earth.

The port wharf is full of cargo stacks, and all kinds of merchant ships are moored everywhere on the sea. There are all kinds of styles. The merchant ships of the Zhou Kingdom with towering masts and white soft sails, the big food sailing ships from the Western Ocean, and the hard sail sand boats of the Great Song Dynasty come and go, and they are extremely busy.

The docks of the Jingdong Shipyard, which repairs ships and ships, line up in a corner of the port area, and near it are patches of timber yards and iron factories with tall chimneys.

The shipbuilding industry in the north and south of the Great Song Dynasty has also made great progress in recent years! Among them, it is divided into Jingdong Shipbuilding in the north and Quanzhou Shipbuilding in the south.

The former could use oak from the territory of the Zhou State as a raw material to produce warships. The latter uses teak wood from ganpu and zhenla as raw materials, and can also produce large and medium-sized warships.

At this time, the dock of Jingdong Shipyard was busy, and construction was being started at the same time, building more than a dozen large galleys and sand ships, which have a flat bottom, can be driven by hard sails and long oars at the same time, and have a one-layer artillery deck, which is the main ship of the East China Sea Naval Division.

Don't underestimate the combat effectiveness of such a medium-sized ship that can only operate in shallow water. Although they cannot enter the open sea to engage the "Beiyang" class galleons, they are very useful weapons in the shallow waters near Haizhou Bay.

Haizhou Bay and the nearby Huaidong coast have the so-called rolling waves, that is, undercurrents, and ships with round bottoms and pointed bottoms can easily capsize when encountering such waves. Flat-bottomed sand boats can be used to and fro.

Therefore, the large sailing ships of the Zhou State were extremely careful when entering and leaving Haizhou Bay, and they did not dare to sail along the coast of Huaidong. It is common to take long detours into deep water voyages.

In addition, the flat-bottomed sand boat is also a kind of boat that can be used on the sea and river. Not only can you operate in Haizhou Bay and Huaidong offshore, but you can also sail directly into the Yangtze River.

Their stiff sail and oar drive mode are also very suitable for moving on the river.

Therefore, the naval fleet of the East China Sea can enter the river through the Huaidong Sea Road at any time and become the Yangtze River naval division!

Standing on the Wanghai Pavilion of the Donghai County Palace, located on the edge of Haizhou Bay, Zhao Kai, the king of Donghai County, was looking at a galleys and sand boats on the sea near the relatively empty military port, conducting target training.

This is a kind of "Donghai" class sand boat, which is not too big, only 5,000 materials, and uses oak as the main material, which is very strong. In addition, the oak used in shipbuilding is purchased years in advance and then dried before being used. The result is a boat that can last for decades if it is carefully maintained.

Therefore, a "Donghai" class in good condition is definitely a valuable asset for the East China Sea State.

Their value lies not only in the wood, but also in their combat power. Although this 5,000-pound warship is not large, it is also equipped with 8 3,000-pound bronze cannons, and the bow is also equipped with a ramming angle.

Not only shelling, but also ramming. There were also many sailors on board, with a full 250 sailors. The hand-to-hand combat of the jumping gang is also very powerful!

In the shallow waters and the Yangtze River, it is definitely a hegemon-level existence.

In the past few years, the East China Sea State has been working hard to expand the scale of its "East China Sea" class warships. At present, 24 such warships have been equipped with the East China Sea National Naval Division, and another 16 have been rebuilt.

In other words, in the near future, the East China Sea Kingdom will have a naval division consisting of 40 "East Sea" class warships and 10,000 sailors.

For a small vassal state with only one small piece of land, this powerful force is a bit excessive.

However, it was not Zhao Kai's will to form a powerful naval division of the East China Sea Kingdom, but the former East China Sea Xiangwu Haowen was carrying out the will of the Great Song Dynasty, and the Great Song Dynasty always believed that the Zhou State would invade the East China Sea Kingdom from the sea, so it spared no effort to expand the naval division of the East China Sea Kingdom.

In Ji Yi's view, the "East China Sea" class can not only defend Haizhou Bay, but also enter the Yangtze River when necessary and act as the main ship of the Yangtze River Naval Division

At the same time, he also gave way to the Sailor School in Jingdongshang City to train a large number of naval officers who could not only fight naval battles, but also "river warfare" for the naval division of the East China Sea.

In other words, Ji Yi had long expected that the Great Song Dynasty would be defeated in the future Song and Zhou wars and lose half of the northern country.

At that time, a sailor who can operate in the Yangtze River will be needed to defend half of the southern part of the country.

And the time to defend the "Southern Song Dynasty" seems to be coming soon

At least, in the eyes of Wu Meiniang, the beloved concubine of the King of the East China Sea, this day is approaching.

Therefore, after the turmoil in Kaifeng Mansion, Wu Meiniang became quite active, frequently meeting with the wealthy merchants of Jingdong Shang City and the generals of the East China Sea Navy, making a wish to them to be crowned officials, and winning them over to support Zhao Kai!

And this kind of almost reckless behavior actually attracted a large number of supporters for Zhao Kai.

Just two days ago, the 48 wealthy merchants of Jingdong Shang City and the main generals of the East China Sea National Naval Division, including all 24 shipheads, jointly wrote a letter of allegiance to Zhao Kai.

In addition, the major universities and colleges in the East China Sea Kingdom, including Yuntai School Palace on Yuzhou Island, Gezhi University, Jingdong University, Jingdong Metallurgical Institute and Da Song Sailor School, have also submitted letters of allegiance to Zhao Kai.

A country in the East China Sea, now it is basically mastered by Zhao Kai, Zhao Kai didn't do anything, and the bad things are all Wu Meiniang in Zhang Luo. In other words, the real allegiance is likely to be Wu Meiniang.

"King!" Wu Meiniang's soft, and unquestionable majestic voice rang in Zhao Kai's ears, "I just received an express delivery from the clipper, and the Great Zhou government refused to negotiate with the imperial court. ”

"What?" Zhao Kai was stunned, "How is it possible?" Could it be that Zhou Guo wants to swallow the whole Song Dynasty in one bite? ”

He was not as afraid of Zhou Guo as Zhao Huan. Because the southeast maritime merchant forces behind him are more powerful than the scholars who support Zhao Huan.

In the confrontation at sea, the Great Song Dynasty did not lose too ugly, and none of the nine major commercial markets along the coast fell! Zhou's navy did not even have the strength to attack any of the merchant markets.

Although there were not many regular Song troops stationed in the nine major merchant markets, they all had their own regimental training troops, ranging from 5,000 to 7,800.

Moreover, each has a small fleet of naval warships, and the councils of each merchant city can also mobilize a large number of merchant ships to help in the war.

Even if the sailors of the Song Dynasty did not participate in the war, it was very difficult for the Zhou navy to defeat any commercial market with at least a few warships and one or two thousand marines.

As for Zhao Kai's East China Sea State, the defense force is even stronger. There are currently 10,000 sailors in service! The army has a new army general who is fully manned, not belonging to the Great Song Dynasty, but to the generals of the East China Sea Kingdom.

So Zhao Kai's side is not afraid of Zhou Guo attacking from the sea at all!

In addition, his wife Wu Meiniang also gave him a clever plan to go south and build a country on the side of his pillow.

The specific method is to collect supporters of the East China Sea Kingdom, and everyone will get on the boat together, go to the Huaidong coast into the Yangtze River, and go straight to Jiangning Mansion.

After taking control of Jiangning Mansion, representatives of more than a dozen commercial markets in the southeast were invited to Ningbo, and together they discussed the state of the country, formulated a constitution, and elected Zhao Kai as the new emperor of the Great Song Dynasty

"Great King," Wu Meiniang couldn't hide the excitement in her words, "The Great Zhou Republic thinks that your eldest brother is a rebel and not the legitimate monarch of the Great Song Dynasty, so it will not negotiate with him."

Your chance, your chance, my lord, must be grasped! ”

"Opportunity?" Zhao Kai glanced at his beloved concubine, "Even if my eldest brother is not legal, the official family is also my father, what chance do I have?" ”

Wu Meiniang smiled: "If the Emperor Taishang is restored in Xiangyang, aren't you the natural prince?" Be the prince first, and then be the emperor, isn't this southern dynasty the world? ”