An hour later.

The troop carrier came to an island, Qin Huaidao landed on the island under the leadership of Luo Ying, met with the other thousand people left behind, reviewed the training effect, and encouraged everyone to speak, which was a formal acquaintance.

When he returned to the mountain pass, it was already dusk, and the troop transport ship drove into the trench to replenish fuel, overhaul, and after no abnormal situation was found, Qin Huaidao was completely relieved, and celebrated with everyone that night.

The next day, everyone went back to shipbuilding.

With the first experience, it is much easier to rebuild, not to mention that this kind of troop carrier is a simple cabin shell and steam engine for power, without any other technical difficulties, it is a great thing in this era, and it is impossible to see it in later generations.

The shell of the cabin is poured from the inverted mold, without any finishing, and there is no condition for finishing, one can be poured in a few days, and then there is the internal partition, the installation of masts, sails, etc., rough, simple, but practical.

Before I knew it, another month passed, and the caravan returned from Chang'an, bringing a letter.

The letter was written by Li Xueyan, saying that the imperial court was discussing the issue of collecting taxes on Qinjiazhuang, if it weren't for Qin Huaidao's original intention to ask Li Er for a five-year tax exemption, plus several princes spoke, it would have been levied long ago, and it was also mentioned that some people in the court impeached Qinjiazhuang for using too much labor, resulting in no one planting fertile land, and asked Qinjiazhuang to reduce its staff.

The Tang Dynasty is based on agriculture, farming is the fundamental plan, and it is a great threat to attack Qinjiazhuang with unmanned farming, Qin Huaidao felt that Li Er was ready to do it to himself, but at this time he was a little unwilling to go back, and he finally built a ship, and he must not give up halfway.

The letter was followed by a summary of the business of the house, and then the words of thought.

Qin Huaidao finished reading the long letter, put it away closely, and looked at the shipbuilding site, the workers were preparing new grinding tools, busy in full swing, sharp eyes crossed the crowd, and threw themselves into the sea, where there were six built troop carriers, like six steel monsters sleeping, once awakened, the stone broke the earth.

"Pauling!"

"Here we are." Wei Chi Baolin, who was directing the shipbuilding, rushed up quickly: "What's the matter?" ”

"There are all kinds of signs that Chang'an is afraid that something is going to happen, and we can't wait any longer, so let's prepare to send troops, take Danzhou Road, and find evidence." Qin Huaidao said in a deep voice.

"Chang'an ......"

Yu Chi Baolin was stunned, suddenly thought of something, and said angrily: "I said how calm it was during this time, no one came up to harass, it turned out that they knew that they couldn't fight, and put the battlefield on the court. ”

"The original plan was to build ten, six is a bit less, but time waits for no one, it takes a month to build another four, I can't afford to wait, stop work, let everyone continue to concentrate on refining salt, and making money is equally important, although those workers who help build ships are just starting and don't master the core secrets, but they also know a little bit, and send them to the Qin family secretly, they can't be caught by others, in case of leakage, and it is convenient to build ships in the future." Qin Huaidao admonished.

"Okay, I'll talk to you, Qinjiazhuang is well treated, everyone can understand."

Waiting for Lieutenant Chi Baolin to leave, Qin Huaidao beckoned a few members of the Guardian Team to come over, and advised: "There are a total of six ships, each of you is responsible for one ship, and the team is also serving as the captain, divide the crossbows, bows and arrows, and explosives bags into one point, and all carry them on the ship, and go with me." ”

"Yes!" The five teams were hurrying to say yes.

Qin Huaidao said to Luo Ying beside him: "Each ship will arrange fifty people to cooperate with them, and the rest of the people will take the sea ship left by the pirates last time, and the battle formation will be at the back, let everyone help carry supplies, coal, water and food onto the ship, let's go." ”

Luo Ying agreed and hurried away.

The troop carriers can carry more than 100 people when they are squeezed, but there is not much room to move and affect the battle, 50 people are just right, six troop carriers, each 50 people is 300 people, a total of 2,000 soldiers are trained, and the remaining 1,700 people are just right on the 50 sea ships that have been captured last time to invade the island.

The convoy needed to continue on the trade route, and it was not able to adapt to the bumps of the sea, so it could not be carried.

The disparity in forces is huge, but so what? That's it!

One by one, orders were given, everyone moved, all the people returned to the mountain pass, the fighters carried supplies, and the transport team also came to help, in an orderly manner.

Qin Huaidao came to the shipbuilding site, thought about it or decided to keep, maybe there will be one in the future, even if it falls into the hands of the imperial court, he is not afraid, everything is in vain without a steam engine, only six of the ten steam engines brought by him are used, and the remaining four cannot be left, and it will be a big loss if it falls into the hands of the imperial court, so bring it with you for backup.

By the afternoon, everything was ready.

Everyone boarded the boat, slowly left under the gaze of the common people, and headed straight to the east.

Six troop carriers adopt the three-three-one system formation, two of them are the head, responsible for opening the road, and one is the queen of the palace, Qin Huaidao is responsible for the command on this ship.

The vast sea, no communication, all rely on the flag.

On the deck, Qin Huaidao took his hand

And standing, the body swayed with the waves, but the feet seemed to take root, did not move half a step, and suddenly realized that he had missed one thing, the telescope, the sea is not far away, if the telescope is in hand, you can anticipate the enemy's opportunity, but it's a pity.

The flotilla came to the island, picked up another thousand men and continued on its way.

There are fifty wooden boats there, and they are not going fast, but at night there is a sudden strong wind, and the waves are surging, and they are one meter high, and the troop carriers rise and fall with the waves, and the problem is not big, but the wooden boats look a little dangerous, and they are shaking westward, and the people on board are thrown around, but fortunately, they have been trained for more than half a year, and they have become accustomed to it.

After an hour, the sea was calm.

The dark clouds are gone, the moon is in the sky, and the stars are dotted.

Qin Huaidao is familiar with the climate on the sea, which is not surprising, and quickly asked people to send out a flag and ask about the situation of the guards, everyone has trained a lot, but the sea training is only about the last month, and the ships sent signals, everyone is a little dizzy and vomiting, but the problem is not big.

Seasickness, hard to resist, can only stiffen, just get used to it.

The fleet continued on, moving like ghosts in the moonlight.

The next morning, Qin Huaidao didn't know where he had arrived or how far he was going, and was about to ask the interpreter, when he suddenly heard the sentry on the mast shouting: "Report to the young master, a large number of sea ships have been found ahead." ”

"Sea vessels?"

Qin Huaidao was taken aback, how could there be a large number of sea ships coming, could it be that pirates came to attack again? There is no reason, if you want to sneak attack a long time ago, why wait until now, is it a merchant ship? I couldn't help but look at Yu Chi Baolin and asked, "Baolin, there are large-scale merchant ships in Datang going back and forth to the sea?" ”

"I haven't heard of it, maybe I do, I don't know much about Jiangnan."

"Command, battle formation, ready to fight." Qin Huaidao yelled.

The sentries quickly raised the flag and passed the order to the other troop carriers, and as for the ships in the back, each of them arranged a guard to serve as a flag guard to facilitate communication.

The six troop carriers quickly turned into a one, two, and three formations, widening the distance, like a sharp arrow rushing forward, and the third behind, Qin Huaidao's ship was in the center, responsible for commanding, and the ships on both sides were responsible for protection.

The sea ships behind also quickly became, lined up in two columns, like two war dragons rushing forward, this formation has the advantage that it only needs to be responsible for one side of the enemy, similar to back-to-back battles.

But there is also a disadvantage, each fighting for itself, unable to respond to each other and support.

However, there were six troop carriers in front of the front, tearing open the gap of the other side, and everyone rushed forward.

Invisibly, fifty-six ships rushed forward like a sharp arrow, the arrow was six troop carriers, and the long arrow body was fifty sea ships, and the momentum was like a rainbow.

On the deck, Qin Huaidao raised his eyes and looked into the distance, his blood boiling.

The two sides are getting closer and closer, and everyone's attack formation is different, the sea ships are spreading, vaguely crescent-shaped, like a military formation slowly moving forward, this formation is the pirate's favorite way to attack, once close, can quickly surround one of the ships, bite the target like a shark, and then attack the other, one by one.

Ships are different from war horses and flexible, and they are also different from foot combat, and if the formation is extended, there is no way to encircle them in time and quickly, and it is impossible to concentrate troops to jump ship and fight.

It's a pity that I met Qin Huaidao this time.

Looking at the countless sea ships that were slowly coming, roughly counting, there must be hundreds, and there was a strong murderous aura in the sky above the fleet, not like a caravan, and asked: "Report the observation situation." ”

"Young master, there are countless soldiers on board, unlike merchant ships, and they don't fly pirate flags, and their identities are unknown." The person sitting on the mast in charge of observation replied loudly.

"No pirate flags?"

Qin Huaidao was a little surprised, it was not a pirate, nor a merchant ship, what was it, could it be a Japanese navy? Thinking of this, Qin Huaidao's heart sank, and he shouted: "Order the No. 1 ship and ask about the identity." ”

The No. 1 ship is the one that takes the lead, in order to facilitate the command, each one is numbered, and the one where Qin Huaidao is located is the No. 0 ship.

The observation post shouted: "The signal has been given, and the other party does not respond." ”