Typhoons in the summer have occurred one after another, making it impossible to attack not only by sea, but also by land. Li Buqi did not stay in Guangzhou City all the time, but made rounds from everywhere, urging officials from all over the country to organize the people to work to build fields and repair water conservancy.

Although the Jiaozhi people retreated, Li Buqi did not stop buying the heads and captives of the Jiaozhi people from the Dongman, and these people also tasted the sweetness of this trade, and now began to organize groups to enter Guangyuan Prefecture, which was controlled by the Jiaozhi people, to capture the Jiaozhi people. Therefore, the prisoners of Jiaozhi were still being sent in a steady stream, and Li Buqi's order to the various places where the prisoners were used was to feed the prisoners, but they must not be allowed to work less.

The cochin captives were engaged in the heaviest and most dangerous labor, such as digging rivers, breaking stones, building docks and bridges and aqueducts, and the heavy physical labor combined with the hot and humid weather caused daily deaths. By September, less than 20,000 of the more than 30,000 Cochin captives had been taken in the summer, and this was still under the condition that the captives were constantly replenished.

Li Buqi found that the number of prisoners was insufficient when he transferred prisoners, so he had to go to Jiaozhi to catch some to replenish. However, Li did not plan to go over from Guangyuan Prefecture, which was full of mountains. No matter what age it is, it is not easy to fight a bloody way out of these mountains, so it is still necessary to go by sea. In October, Li Buqi sent off the huge expeditionary fleet at the newly built Humen deep-water wharf.

This fleet included not only 3,000 marines and 3,000 Quang Nam "militiamen," but also 5,000 prisoners. The purpose of bringing so many prisoners to Cochin was to build a castle on Cat Ba Island to facilitate a long-term station, and to form an anti-guest posture against Cochin.

However, this time Li Buqi did not go to sea with the fleet, because the fleet was also familiar with this sea route, and what to do was explained clearly, and he had to let the officers at all levels do it themselves, so as to cultivate qualified seeds for the future Great Song Navy.

In addition, it is important that he has to supervise the casting of artillery in the Guangzhou Metropolitan Academy.

The Great Song Dynasty has always looked closely at military weapons, and all battle array weapons are not at ease to be made outside the Beijing Division. But why was the Guangzhou Metropolitan Institute able to make artillery? This is also thanks to the civil servants.

After Li Buqi formed the "militia", he made a mistake and asked the imperial court to allow the manufacture of fire guns in the capital of Guangzhou. He said that my men are all conscripted civilians, and they don't have time to train, and if you let them shoot arrows and throw javelins, it will be difficult, and only weapons like firecrackers will be used with a little training.

This is a reasonable request, at least it will not be considered an attempt to rebel. So after months of arguing, the imperial court finally agreed to make a firearm in Guangzhou. There are two reasons for agreeing, one is that some maritime merchants have long started to use firearms; Second, civil officials believe that although the power of the firearm is not small, the range is short, the loading is cumbersome, and the power is not as strong as that of a strong crossbow.

Since receiving the permission, the Guangzhou Metropolitan Institute has cast 200 guns, and now Li Buqi is ready to make full use of the loopholes in the imperial court order to cast some bronze cannons - the artillery is just a big gun, and the court order does not limit the caliber of the gun.

The weather turned cooler, but it was not only Li Buqi who was full of longing for war in his heart. On a huge building ship on the sea east of the Xingshan Army of the Liao State, Ye Luyi first squinted his eyes and looked around against the sea breeze, and saw the giant ship running with its tail and its sails, and couldn't help but be proud, and turned around and asked a man with a height of eight feet, a purple face, and a bearded face: "Qi deployment, do you see that this lineup is still impressive?" ”

Qi Deyu, who was appointed by the Liao State to deploy the naval army, habitually touched his beard and said: "Congratulations to the king of the county, this fleet is much more neat than a month ago. ”

Yelu Yixian ignored Qi Deyu's compliment, but asked, "What do you think about going south with this fleet now?" ”

Qi Deyu shook his head as always: "King of the county, the lower officials can only say no." ”

Yeluyi didn't think it was wrong, and said with a smile: "I asked you once a month, and you said no." What is the reason for this time? ”

Qi Deyu said calmly: "The king of the county only needs to order the fleet to turn back to the port. Don't say it, the king will know my reasons. ”

Although Yelu Yixian was suspicious, he still ordered the fleet to turn, and immediately the order was passed on, and the flag was hung on the flagship, and the whole fleet began to turn slowly. Although the steering action was not fast, there was still some confusion in the fleet due to the unskilled sailors.

Yeluyi, as a general, was keenly aware of this, so he pointed to the two ships that almost collided and asked, "That's why you said?" ”

Qi Deyu said: "The king of the county is really wise. Now, our Great Liao Naval Division can maneuver with pirates at sea with a small fleet, but if a large fleet travels, there is no guarantee that there will be a safe arrival at the destination because there are not so many competent sailors. The king of the county saw that the wind and the sun were beautiful today, and the waves were not prosperous, and the fleet almost had an accident if it turned a little corner, and if it was to reach the border of the southern dynasty and Hebei, it would take hundreds of miles of sea routes, and if it encountered wind and waves, there would be great trouble if there was chaos. Moreover, there will be a large number of troop carriers and ships transporting horses and grain in the fleet, and even if they are separated, they will also fail the march. ”

Ye Luyi nodded first and said, "Okay, this king will appoint you to be a sailor, just to see that you are cautious." However, if you can't march into the Southern Dynasty as soon as possible, just raising so many ships, such a large sailor can't spend money and food. To tell you the truth, His Majesty once again asked when he would be able to march south. ”

When Qi Deyu heard this, the Liao Emperor urged him once a month, and it seemed that it might not be possible to delay the southern invasion of the Liao State for a year to spend the Liao State's money and grain. However, if the Liao invaded the south this year, it would be easier to fight because the sailors were still very unfamiliar with ships and sea conditions. It's not a loss for him either.

So he pretended to think deeply before saying, "If we want to raise troops this year, we will have to wait at least another month." Now the wind direction is not too stable, and when the north wind rises and sails south as fast as a galloping horse, the wind and water are smooth, or you can safely reach the south and Hebei. ”

Seeing that Qi Deyu was reluctant, Yeluyi frowned and thought for a while and said, "It seems that this year's march is indeed a bit hasty. In this way, the king replied to His Majesty that he should not be in a hurry, and it would not be too late to enter the army next year. Alas, it was said at the beginning that this ship could not be controlled by these men on horseback in a few days, but some people were so happy that they insisted on giving up the strengths of the Great Khitan and using this shortcoming. But now that so many ships have been built, there is no way to lose the battle again. ”

Then he changed his tone and said, "This naval fleet has made such rapid progress thanks to you. Now the whole court knows what you are capable of. You must train these sailors well, and when the time comes, your majesty will definitely reward them. ”

Qi Deyu hurriedly thanked Yeluyi for his kindness in promoting cultivation first. More than a month later, Tao Lin, who was training his naval forces on Shamen Island, received information from within the Liao State that the Liao State's invasion of the Song Dynasty by sea might be postponed until next year.

Li Buqi looked at Tao Lin's secret letter and just smiled slightly, and then put the letter on the candle flame and burned it. It is better for Liao to raise sailors for half a year and a year, and a navy that only consumes but cannot create economic benefits will become a huge burden for Liao and a lifeline for Liao.

It was precisely seeing this that Li Buqi wanted to let his navy take action. The first fleet from Cat Ba Island had already been rotated, and they reported that they had landed more than a dozen times on the undefended coast of the Cochins and plundered thousands of young and strong people in Cochin, and with these captives, the stone and cement walls of Weiyuan Village on Cat Ba Island had been half completed. The Jiaozhi people also sensed that the situation was wrong, and once gathered hundreds of small boats to try to smuggle onto the island at night, but they were discovered by patrolling warships, which attracted the sailors to go out to encircle and suppress them. Except for those who were captured, these Cochin people did not even touch the edge of Cat Ba Island.

After defeating the amateur sailors of Jiaozhi, Gao Qi personally led a fleet of clippers into the Baiteng River, taking advantage of the northwest wind to travel twenty kilometers upwards to fire ballistas and crossbow arrows at the Jiaozhi people visible along the coast. It seems that the Great Song Dynasty Sailor did cause huge psychological pressure on the Jiaozhi people, and when they first entered Layue, the envoys of the Jiaozhi people to sue for peace appeared in Yongzhou.