There was a soft click, and a chess piece landed lightly on the chessboard. A chess game, or Go, is killing to the point where it is difficult to solve.

Playing chess was Wu Haogu and his son, Wu Yijiu, the current chief patriarch of the Great Zhou Republic.

Wu Haogu now admires his precious son who is studying law. A great war involving millions of people is in full swing, and as usual it should be a basket of all kinds of troubles, all of which will trouble him, the head of state, to make up his mind. But Wu Yijiu is not very busy, and he can still find time to be a filial son, play chess, drink, and ride a horse with his father.

Moreover, the war at the front, the production at the rear, the financing of military spending, the production of weapons, the transfer of logistics materials, and overseas business...... Oh, while fighting a civil war with the Song Dynasty, Da Zhou's overseas expansion business did not stop.

The south was home to various chartered trade chambers and vassal states of the Song dynasty as well as various indigenous barbarian struggles.

In the north is the grand opening of the Great Xi Khanate of the Heavenly Maiden Khan!

Needless to say, the East is entangled with the Great Zhou Republic and the Bohai State, Japan, and various forces in Japan - the core of Japan's business is one, doing everything possible to expand the production and export of gold, silver, and copper!

In addition, there has been an increase in fighting at sea since this spring. The battle on the sea was not provoked by the navy of the Great Zhou Republic and the sailors of the Great Song Empire, but by the maritime merchants of the Zhou and Song dynasties.

By the way, the maritime merchants of both countries are not very good people. Good people don't go to sea, only ruthless villains go to sea to make a fortune.

Moreover, the Republic of Da Zhou has engaged in the Raushzi Chartered Trade Chamber of Commerce again! These chambers of commerce were also given great privileges (concessions), allowing them to hire troops, purchase all kinds of firearms, and also allow them to purchase sail battleships retired from the Great Zhou Navy to form their own fleet.

The first to provoke a maritime conflict was the combined fleet of the Java Chartered Traders Chamber of Commerce and the Golden State Chartered Traders on the side of the Great Zhou Republic.

They directly raided and occupied Xingzhou Island, the ruling center of the Great Song Dynasty in the South Seas, and failed to capture the fortress on the island, but ransacked the Xingzhou Commercial Market!

This action ignited the fire of war on the Nanyang side at once - how could the maritime merchants of the Song Dynasty who were able to establish a trading station in Xingzhou be good people with good rules? They also have battleship artillery!

The Song Dynasty maritime merchant group led by the Ji Family Chamber of Commerce immediately launched a retaliation.

But they did not have the ability to capture the ports and fortresses controlled by the Zhou Concession Chamber of Commerce. Therefore, in the Sriwijaya Strait, Java Island, the coast of Champa, the coast of Jiaozhi and the coastal areas of the Great Song Dynasty, a comprehensive "privateer operation" was launched against the Great Zhou merchant regiment flying the Wanfu flag.

The navy of the Great Zhou Republic later joined the battle, sending a fleet to Zhongshan Island (Ryukyu Islands) under the jurisdiction of Andong Province to escort Zhou merchant ships traveling to and from Zhongshan.

At the same time, marines were dispatched to attack the strongholds of Song merchants on the islands off the coast of Taiwan and Mingzhou.

Subsequently, the sailors and maritime warships of the Great Song Dynasty also launched a counterattack.

Although their warships are a generation behind the Great Zhou Navy, at present there are only hard-sail gunboats similar to the "Truth" class, and there are no soft-sail battleships such as the "Beiyang" class. But they also have their own advantages!

One is to occupy a long coastline, and it is stuck on the Great Zhou, the only way to pass through the South Sea route!

After the outbreak of the Song and Zhou naval wars, the merchant fleet of the Great Zhou Republic could only take the route "Tianjin - Lushun - Goryeo - Japan - Zhongshan (Ryukyu Islands) - Annam Province - An Hui (the later Da Nang, currently ruled by the Cham Concession Chamber of Commerce) - the old port".

Not only was it inconvenient, but it also missed the trade points on the southeast coast of the Song Dynasty and was in a very advantageous situation.

Second, it has the support of nine major coastal commercial cities, including Guazhou City (Yangzhou), Dantu City (Runzhou), Shanghai City (Xiuzhou), Renhe City (Hangzhou), Dinghai City (Mingzhou), Jiantong City (Quanzhou), Houguan City (Fuzhou), Panyu City (Guangzhou), and Haikang City (Leizhou).

These nine major commercial cities are all autonomous commercial cities, and they are the product of a large loan of 10,000 yuan led by the traitorous minister Ji Yi!

The power of the nine autonomous merchant cities was dominated by maritime merchants, although most of the nine major merchant markets were established on the basis of the silk and porcelain industries. But it was the maritime merchants who really had a lot of liquidity and could lend it to the imperial court.

So the bulk of the 10,000 big loan was given by them. According to the rules formulated by Ji Yi before his death, the right to speak (seats in the council) of the merchant market was linked to the number of public bonds purchased for the Great Song War.

Therefore, except for "Liguo City", "Wujiang City" and "Huiji City", which are not close to the sea, all coastal port markets are controlled by maritime merchants.

Therefore, after the outbreak of the Song and Zhou naval battles, the nine major commercial markets along the coast all sided with the great Song maritime merchants and sailors. As a result, the Great Song Dynasty Maritime Merchant Warships and Naval Warships had sufficient logistics and personnel supply, and could organize more warships and mercenary teams.

In contrast, the Zhou State had a small number of maritime merchants (a small population, fewer port cities), and a navy that was not huge. So we fell into a situation of being outnumbered.

Of course, the quantity of Zhou is small, but the quality is very high.

Not only did the navy have a large number of battleships of the "Beiyang" class and the "Truth" class, but even the maritime merchants also had many armed merchant ships similar to the "Truth" class - this was because the maritime merchants of the Zhou State often took the Japanese route, and there was no coastal route to go to Japan, and they had to cross the sea.

Moreover, after leaving Japan, the ships of the Great Zhou Maritime Merchants often took the "fast route" of "Zhongshan Island - Anhui Port - Palembang" in order to reach the old port before the end of the southbound "trade wind".

So that they can go north with a full load when the south wind blows up this year!

Therefore, the "Shunfeng" class armed merchant ship, which evolved from the hull of the truth class and soft sails, became the favorite ship type of the Great Zhou maritime merchants.

The fast sailing fleet composed of the "Beiyang" class and the "Shunfeng" class certainly did not fear the hard sail and galley fleet of the Song Dynasty in the open sea.

However, once you enter the offshore where the hydrological conditions are complex and the wind direction is relatively changeable. The hard sailing and sand boat types have certain advantages. It is possible to rely on the number and favorable hydrological conditions to maneuver around the clipper ship of the Zhou country.

So the conflict in the sea of the South-East and the South Sea shows no signs of one-sidedness.

At the same time, the maritime forces of the Great Song Dynasty and the Great Zhou Dynasty invariably ignored the existence of the East China Sea State.

Haizhou Bay and its adjacent waters have now become a special "peace zone". The naval divisions and navies of the Song and Zhou dynasties will not enter this "sea of peace". And the armed merchant ships of both sides, after entering the vicinity of Haizhou Bay, will no longer attack each other.

Therefore, the trade between the Song and Zhou dynasties could still be carried out through the small vassal state of the "East China Sea Kingdom".

In short, the Great Zhou Republic is now engaged in an unprecedented "three-dimensional" war, and the vastness of the battlefield and the complexity of the situation are unprecedented.

And Wu Yijiu, who is only 25 years old, can cope with it easily, and has spare time to accompany Wu Haogu, a good father, and his ability to do things seems to be out of the blue.

Wu Yijiu's ability to handle official affairs is good, and his ability to play chess is even more clever, even if he let Wu Haogu have two "three stars", he still won this game.

Wu Haogu dropped the sunspot in his hand and smiled bitterly: "I lost another game, I'm really old, my brain is turning slowly, and I can't compare to you." It seems that the next patriarch can also be left unelected, and let it go. ”

Wu Yijiu smiled faintly: "My lord, you are the treasure of our senate, without you, I don't know how many people will come out to compete with the child for the position of the head of state!" ”

Wu Haogu smiled: "I've become a magic weapon?" His expression was faint, and he seemed to turn his attention to the chessboard again, "Has the eldest brother's military report been discussed at the ruling government meeting today?" What do you think of the peace talks? ”

Wu Yijiu smiled: "My lord, my Great Zhou Republic attaches the most importance to the name of righteousness, and I will not negotiate peace with the rebellious ministers and rebels......"

Wu Haogu smiled bitterly: "San Lang, what kind of heart do you have?" Is it impossible to see the harmony between fathers, sons, brothers, and beauty? Now that Zhao Huan has snatched the throne, he will not hand it over if he dies! ”

In fact, Wu Haogu already knew the results of today's ruling government meeting to discuss the Song and Zhou peace talks-to his surprise, Wu Yijiu actually questioned Zhao Huan's "legitimacy".

He thinks that Zhao Huan is a rebel who came to power by inciting military rebellion and coup d'état! He was not the legitimate king of the Great Song Dynasty, so he was not qualified to propose peace on behalf of the Great Song Dynasty.

And those who are qualified to negotiate peace with the Great Zhou are currently only Zhao Ji, the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty!

What a sinister move! Kill three birds with one stone!

Zhao Huan himself is of course one of the birds - the Great Zhou Republic does not recognize his throne, which means that the Zhou State may support Zhao Ji's restoration!

Zhao Kai of the East China Sea Kingdom is undoubtedly the second bird - if Zhao Ji's throne can be restored, Zhao Huan, as a rebel minister, will of course not be able to be the crown prince again. The prince should naturally do it to Zhao Kai, the king of the East China Sea!

The third bird is Wu Yiyong - Wu Yiyong's goal is always Kaifeng Mansion, and he does not have enough strength to break through Kaifeng Mansion City. So I can only find a way to force Zhao Huan away. And to force Zhao Huan away, the premise is that Zhao Huan's throne will not be threatened.

Now that the state of Zhou does not recognize the legitimacy of his throne, then Zhao Huan will not dare to leave Kaifeng Mansion, the capital of the Great Song Dynasty.

As soon as he leaves, the Great Zhou Republic may invite Zhao Kai or Zhao Ji into Kaifeng Mansion to be the emperor.

At that time, the Great Song Dynasty will have one country and two lords, and whoever owns Kaifeng Mansion will undoubtedly be the more legitimate emperor.

Wu Yijiu smiled: "If Zhao Huan really hands over the throne, I'm afraid he will have to die." If he doesn't want to die, he has to keep the throne. And if you want to keep the throne, you have to get our support. ”

Wu Haogu shook his head slowly: "I'm afraid the current Great Song Dynasty is not something that Zhao Huan can decide in one word...... If you push him like this, I'm afraid you'll drive him to his death. He is going to die, and it is time for Zhao Kai to be the emperor.

Zhao Kai is the king of the East China Sea and the husband of the beautiful girl! Maybe it's harder than his brother! ”

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