Chapter 511 Planning

Three days later, Sambarwood led a lightning strike fleet with a convoy of more than 800 merchant ships and cargo ships to the Cape Romani, where he immediately asked to see Lorlist. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"Your Highness, here is the list of supplies and personnel carried by the convoy. In total, there were 843 large and medium-sized merchant ships and cargo ships. Among them, there were one hundred and three large ocean-going merchant ships carrying more than 100,000 recruits forcibly recruited by the commercial alliance in the southern provinces of the mainland, all of whom were young and strong. There were more than 500 ships carrying food, and most of the rest were various military supplies. By the way, there are also 38 large merchant ships carrying nearly 100,000 barrels of green rattan gum juice...... "Sambarwood reported in detail.

Lorist was stunned, why did the business alliance transport so much green vine glue? These 100,000 barrels are almost the total output of the Romon Empire in a year. Picking up the list of materials handed over by Sambarwood, it was recorded that the Two-Headed Dragon Chamber of Commerce had contracted the production of green vine gum juice from the Romon Empire for one year at a price three percent higher than the market price, and the inventory was also swept away.

Strange, what does the Two-Headed Dragon Chamber of Commerce want so much green vine glue? Lorist only thought for a moment before he understood. Three years of continuous bloody battles have left the Mana Hill Plain in ruins. The Twin Dragons Chamber of Commerce purchased so much green vine gum from the Romon Empire probably for the reconstruction of the Falcan Hill Plain, and perhaps it could also be used to build the defenses and destroyed walls of the fortress cities that had been recovered by the merchant alliance.

A bucket of green rattan gum juice is a hundred catties, and 100,000 barrels is 10 million catties. It was really a pillow that was brought to him when he was sleepy, and Lorist was very happy.

"Very well, I am short of manpower and labor. Lorist was very satisfied and said to Sambawood: "Let the 100,000 conscripts disembark and go ashore to do something for me." Now that they have become captives of our Norton family, they don't have to go to the Plains of Mana Hill to die. Tell them that if they do five years of hard labor, they will be free to send them home. By the way, unload the 100,000 barrels of green rattan gum juice and pile them on the shore. ”

"Uh, Your Highness, aren't we going to transport these 100,000 barrels of green vine glue back to the family territory?" Compared with the 100,000 young captives, Sambarwood valued those supplies more, which may have something to do with his early experience as a pirate, valuing property over human life.

"You come with me. Lorist didn't answer, but walked out of the captain's room with Sambarwood and onto the deck.

"See, I'm going to build a city and build a checkpoint here. This will be the starting point for our Norton family to take control of the Golden Coastline of the Sunshine Sea. Lorist said.

Sambarwood watched for a long time with a pair of bull's eyes open, and it was a wave of waves. Well, he looked in the direction of Lorlist's finger, it was the cliff-topped Romani Cape, could it be that Lorist wanted to build a castle on the cliff?Sambarwood was puzzled......

There was no response, and Lorist turned his head to see the way Sambawood looked, and knew he didn't know where to go. I couldn't help but laugh: "What do you see, I'm going to build a city not on a cliff, but on this reef." ”

Sambarwood realized that Lorist was really pointing to the surface of the sea. But even the reef area can't build a city, this reef area is about ten meters deep, only two or three meters shallow, even if the sea surface is exposed at low tide, there are only some reefs, Lorist unless this reef area is filled, it is impossible to build a city on it.

"This reef area is close to the Golden Sea Road, if we build a city here, our family can control the choke point from the southern sea to the Golden Bay with only a few lightning warships and bronze cannons installed on the city wall, then the lifeline of the commercial alliance's maritime transportation is in our hands. Our family doesn't need to venture to the southern seas, build a city here, echo with the south and north of Shiroas Island, and also give our family fleet a supply base and a foothold in the southern seas......" Lorist had the idea of building a city after receiving Schward's report two days ago, and he had already sent people to survey this reef area in the past two days.

"But Your Highness, this is a big project. Sambarwood swallowed and said, "Now that our family is still at war with the Business Alliance, even if we have enough supplies and 100,000 captive labor, it is not possible to fill this reef area in a short period of time, at least three or four years, is it not worth spending so much manpower and material resources?"

Lorist laughed, "If it takes three to four years to fill in this reef area, it's not worth it, as you say. However, I think we will be able to fill in the reef area in two months and start building the city, and in half a year this will be the base for our Norton family fleet. ”

"What? that can't be!" cried Sambarwood, "Your Highness, how is it possible to fill this reef area in two months, even with those 100,000 young captives to do the labor, it is impossible to work day and night......

"Of course it is possible, because we don't have to fill in the whole reef area at all. Lorist laughed: "Sambawood, do you know that the results of the naval battle three days ago came out. Of the four hundred and seventy-two warships of the Invincible Armada, only one hundred and forty-seven remained. In addition to the 74 large armed warships destroyed by us, the remaining 250 large, medium, and small warships are more or less scarred by our shelling.

These damaged warships could have sailed to the Zangjin Bay if they were repaired temporarily, but then they could only dock on the shore and slowly decay in the wind and rain, and it would be risky and irresponsible for the lives of the crew and sailors to repair these warships and sail again. Perhaps they can hold out for a while in the calm southern seas, but they cannot withstand the ravages of the wind and waves in the high and rough northern seas.

But our Norton family is in the Northlands, and the Northern Seas are the foundation of our North Sea Fleet. Therefore, these battleships that have withstood shelling have become chicken ribs for us, and it is a pity to keep them and abandon them. In that case, I'm ready to put these ships to good use. You think, if you load these warships with rocks and mud and sink around this reef area, you will soon be able to connect them into a.

In the center of this reef area is an oval-shaped lagoon that is more than 10 to 20 meters deep, and with the removal of a few unsightly reefs, this lagoon can become a harbor for our family fleet. So the 100,000 barrels of rattan glue you mentioned in the transport fleet are so useful to us that we don't need to stir them, we just need to dilute them and pour them into the cabins of the ships full of rocks and dirt, and when they solidify, these wrecks will become the cornerstone of the impregnable castle fortress we have built on them. ”

It turned out that Lorist had this idea, waste utilization, using those broken ships loaded with earth and stones to sink in the reef area to form a circle of embankments, and then building a circle of city walls and fortresses on it, and placing bronze cannons to control the golden sea route from the southern sea to the Tibetan Golden Bay, and at the same time, the family's North Sea Fleet had a supply base and foothold in the sunny sea.

Sambawood suddenly realized, and his heart was full of admiration. This is simply out of nowhere, the castle fortress is built in the reef area, and the coastal areas are full of cliffs, which cannot be conquered by land. And at sea, what kind of warship can be used to attack a castle fortress with bronze artillery? As Lorist put it, it is the equivalent of controlling the throat of the sea transportation lines of the commercial alliance, and this knife is hard enough to be inserted.

"Your Highness is wise......" Sambarwood patted his forehead: "I didn't expect such an unthinkable way, after the castle fortress and checkpoint are built here, the annual sea tolls received by our family will become a huge income, and no smuggling ship can escape the taxes and fees collected by our family." Your Highness, can I request that this income be used to expand the family fleet?"

Lorist was stunned: "Sambarwood, I have ordered the Oxhorn Bay Shipyard to build ten more lightning warships, preparing to expand the North Sea Fleet's lightning warships to twenty-four, and at the same time reduce those large armed warships, and redesign and manufacture a new type of large ocean-going armed transport warship with a small number of bronze guns, as a supply transport ship for the lightning warship." But what do you mean by that sea toll?"

Upon hearing that Lorist had ordered the construction of ten new lightning strike warships, and what new type of ocean-going armed transport ships were to be developed, Sambarwood was overjoyed and hurriedly explained: "Your Highness, sea tolls are actually a disguised tax. In the past, the Armada was the maritime supremacy of the Southern Seas, and all family and private ships sailing in the Southern Seas had to pay a fee to the Armada to obtain permission to do business in the coastal countries of the Sunshine Sea and the Golden Coastline, otherwise they would be sunk or confiscated by the Armada in the name of pirates or smuggling ships. As far as I know, the annual fee for a large ocean-going merchant ship is twenty-five goldfords. ”

"Ah, didn't you say that the Chikde Chamber of Commerce is the sea overlord of the southern seas, how can it become an invincible armada?" Lorist asked, the information submitted by Tagger clearly said that the overlord of the southern seas is the Chikde Chamber of Commerce, why Sambawood said differently.

"Your Highness, it would be right to say that the Chikde Chamber of Commerce is the maritime overlord of the southern seas, because the Invincible Armada is a joint-stock system, and the Chikde Chamber of Commerce occupies forty percent of its revenues, and the remaining sixty percent belong to the other six major chambers of commerce in the business alliance. However, after the Vesia Chamber of Commerce was destroyed by our family, his stake in the Armada was swallowed by the Two-Headed Dragon Chamber of Commerce.

On the bright side, the Invincible Armada is the hegemon in the southern seas, and it can do whatever it wants in the southern seas in the name of the commercial alliance, and the countries along the golden coastline can only swallow their anger for fear of the power of the commercial alliance. The Chikde Chamber of Commerce secretly controlled the Invincible Armada, and at the same time monopolized several relatively profitable productions of the countries in the southern part of the continent, and their Chamber of Commerce's maritime merchant fleet and armed fleet were also the largest except for the Invincible Armada.

Even the ports and wharves of some coastal countries fell into the hands of the Chikde Chamber of Commerce, and it can be said that the Chikde Chamber of Commerce has woven a large network of maritime transactions in the coastal countries in the south of the continent. Only those businesses that they did not look down upon would become the profits of the aristocratic fleets and private shipowners of the coastal states. Therefore, it is not wrong to call the Chikde Chamber of Commerce the overlord of the southern seas. Sambawood explained that Armada and the Chickold Chamber of Commerce have always been his focus.

"Oh, I see. Lorist understood that the Armada was called the supremacy of the sea because of the force of the fleet, while the Chicked Chamber of Commerce was called the supremacy of the sea because of its comprehensive strength: "Well, Sambarwood, you just said that after building a castle fortress here, you can collect a huge amount of sea tolls? What if those merchant ships don't come......

"Hehe, Your Highness, don't worry. Sambarwood was amused: "If those merchant ships were circling in the southern seas of the continent, they would not make much profit at all. Only by transporting the products from the southern part of the continent to the Hidden Gold Bay and selling them to the merchants of the city of Moriente could they afford to sell them, because the merchants of the city of Moriente would sell them to the central and northern parts of the city. Then buy special products from the central and northern parts and sell them to the south of the mainland through these merchant ships, and after deducting the costs and expenses, a merchant ship can earn at least 100 gold medals, and it is enough to run once a year. ”

"Well, how do you know so well, could it be that you're doing this kind of business in private?" Lorist looked at Sambarwood suspiciously.

Sambawood Khan came down: "Your Highness, I didn't do any business privately. These were all things that the private owners told me when I went to receive the convoy, and they did me a great favor by stopping the men sent by the Armada to escort them from sinking the ship and destroying the transports, and handed over the convoy to me in its entirety. I asked them what reward they wanted, and they said they wanted to come and see His Highness. ”

Lorist was interested: "What do they want to see me for?"

Sambarwood scratched his head and said a little embarrassedly: "Your Highness, it stands to reason that these merchant ships of private ship owners were requisitioned by the Invincible Armada and the Chikde Chamber of Commerce, and they joined the transport fleet of the Commercial Alliance, and now they have become our prisoners, and they should all belong to our family's captures and trophies." But the owners of the private ships want to come to you for the sake of their merchant ships, and beg you to give them back. Although they did our family a great favor in stopping the shipwreck, this little merit was enough to reward them with a dozen gold merits, and there was no need to return those merchant ships to them......"

"I'm gone," Lorist said, touching his chin, "and agree to their request that they return the ship to them when they have finished delivering their supplies." ”

"But Your Highness, these are more than three hundred large and medium-sized merchant ships and cargo ships, which are worth a lot of money...... Sambarwood was still a little reluctant.

"Give them back. There are more than 800 ships in the convoy, and even if these 300 ships are returned to them, we still have nearly 500 ships left. What we lack now is not boats, but sailors and crews to drive them, and we will not be able to recruit enough trustworthy navigators in the short term. What's more, it's also an opportunity for our family. ”

Lorist pondered, "Isn't it true that our family has been unable to open the trade routes of the coastal countries of the Golden Coast of the Sunshine Sea for a long time?

In the past, the trade routes to the southern seas were monopolized by the Cheeked Chamber of Commerce and the Petersen Chamber of Commerce, which made the goods produced in our family domain a production and procurement point for these two chambers of commerce, and now they have cut off trade contacts.

This time, let these private shipowners deliver the supplies to the island of Hilovas, let them visit the display of our family's goods, and let them buy freely, maybe the goods produced in our family's territory will be sold to the countries in the south of the continent through these private shipowners......"

"Yes, Your Highness, I will do as you command. Sambarwood understood what Lorist meant.

"Well, if Hilovas Island can also become a fulcrum of the Golden Sea Route, then the castle fortress level set up here may really bring a lot of benefits to our family. At the end of the year, I will check that if the amount of money is huge, I can consider expanding the North Fleet into three sub-fleets, twelve mine-striking warships plus twelve new large ocean-going armed transports, and twenty-four new medium-sized and fast-armed warships equipped with artillery, which is enough for you to crisscross the northern and southern seas. Lorist promised.

"Thank you, Your Highness......" Sambarwood was so happy that his mouth cracked to his ears.

But then Lorist said: "Sambawood, your next task is very heavy, first of all, you hand over all the sea stormtroopers to Schward's jurisdiction, and he needs manpower to take care of the 100,000 young prisoners working on the shore." Secondly, you take ten lightning warships to escort the Firebird Legion of the Kingdom of Chigeda and the captive crew sailors of the Invincible Armada, as well as the more than 300 private merchant ships to transport supplies to the island of Shilowas. I have ordered Baron Camorra to go to the island of Hilois to receive these prisoners of war and supplies by means of a letter eagle summons.

The rest of the convoy and the ships of the Armada I will take them to Ametlin Harbor and the Rock Legion to rendezvous with the Guards. And you will return here after sending the captives and supplies to the island of Hilowas, first, to oversee the reclamation of the reef area here, and to control the ocean. The second is to gradually transport these 100,000 young captives to the family domain of the Duke of Kenmath in the province of West Degrad, and from Platinum Beach to the province of Yungshandra, which the family needs to develop this province......"

"But, Your Highness, aren't you still going to attack the Golden Bay and capture the city of Moreent?" Sambawood was anxious, and it sounded like Lorist had excluded the North Sea Fleet.

Sure enough, Lorist shook his head: "The North Sea Fleet is not needed to attack the Zangjin Bay. Look at the warships and convoys of the Armada that we have captured this time, we can use them to enter the Hidden Gold Bay and capture the city of Morent. ”

Well, it is safer to pretend to be an invincible fleet to enter the Zangjin Bay, and the enemy is even more difficult to guard against. If there is a lightning strike, it will startle the enemy, so that the enemy will be vigilant and take strict precautions. Sambarwood quickly figured this out.

"Well, Your Highness, I will definitely complete the task. Sambarwood said dejectedly.

......