Chapter 493: Dumplings Under the Battleship

There was only a fiery sun on the blue sky, and a layer of golden scales rippled on the infinite sea.

"Goodbye everyone!"

Facing Claire, Xiao Ming also waved goodbye. Maybe he will not come to Ryukyu for a long time. After all, the strategy for him here is only a small part. In the next few years, Ryukyu will only exist to provide some raw materials for Qingzhou.

After all, the population of Ryukyu Island is too small.

The battleship continued to go northward under the blowing of the sea breeze, and gradually the city of Relanzha shrank into a vague skyline.

Lu Fei said at this time, "Your Highness, is Ryukyu ours now?"

"It goes without saying that our troops are all stationed on Ryukyu Island, but Your Highness, is it too little to leave 4,000 troops here? All 24 field guns are left on the island." Luo Xin was a little reluctant. .

Xiao Ming shook his head. He understood that many generals, like the two of them, didn't understand why they invested so much for a deserted island. He said, "I don't understand what I've told you now, but later you will understand that Ryukyu is in the ocean. An important position in trade, this is a warship that will never sink!"

Yue Yun nodded lightly. He understood the value of Ryukyu better than Lu Fei and Luo Xin. After all, he had led the fleet south and understood the importance of Ryukyu.

Seven days later, Xiao Ming and the others, who were wandering at sea, finally returned to Dengzhou. This expedition was the first overseas battle for the soldiers of the Great Yu Kingdom led by Xiao Ming. Although they took back their own territory, But the significance of this move will surely be remembered in the annals of history.

After all, this is the first time that Da Yu has extended its tentacles overseas.

When it was properly anchored in the military port, Xiao Ming said to Yue Yun: "The cruising of the warships cannot be stopped. From now on, you must completely control the maritime trade route and not allow Japanese pirates to attack the merchant ships on the route."

"Yes, Your Highness, but what if we discover the merchant ships of the Kings of Chu and Wei? Do we have to escort them?" Yue Yun asked.

Xiao Ming glared at Yue Yun, "Are you stupid? This king spent so much money to build the Qingzhou Navy, and the soldiers sacrificed their blood in order to capture the Ryukyu Islands. Are they ultimately serving them? Tell those merchant ships that if they want to conduct maritime trade, they will Go to Qingzhou to get the approval document, otherwise they will go back to where they came from, and if they dare not, they can use force to deter them."

Yue Yun looked embarrassed, and he said, "His Royal Highness scolded it right. We grabbed this route from the Dutch. It should be ours now, and the profits generated by the route should also be ours."

"It's almost the same." Xiao Ming nodded.

After disembarking the battleship, Xiao Ming and his party did not immediately go to Dengzhou City, but went to the shipyard in the military port to ask Zhang Liang about the construction of the battleship.

At this time, twelve third-class sail battleships were being built on the beach of the military port, and six of them basically had their prototypes. On the beach, they saw Zhang Liang.

"Your Highness."

Seeing Xiao Ming and his party coming, Zhang Liang immediately put down his work and came over.

"Not bad, when will these six battleships be delivered?" Xiao Ming said with a smile, he is currently in short supply of battleships, and the current fifteen battleships simply cannot meet the current usage requirements.

Moreover, in the battle of Ryukyu, he had a complete showdown with the Japanese country, and there will only be more and more battles at sea, and the coastline of the Great Yu Kingdom is long, even in order to escort, a large number of warships must be commissioned.

"If nothing else happens, these six warships will be launched in three months, and there are also eight warships in the other two shipyards, which means that a total of fourteen warships will be launched by then. "Zhang Liang was triumphant.

Because of Xiao Ming's trade with the King of Chu and the imperial court, there are many craftsmen with superb shipbuilding skills in the Dengzhou shipbuilding workshop, and these people have greatly accelerated the speed of shipbuilding.

The three shipyards also increased the number of ships launched in the same batch.

"Fourteen ships, um, at least this year should be enough." Xiao Ming looked at Yue Yun, "Do you have so many crew members to operate the fourteen ships?"

Yue Yun was suddenly in trouble. He said, "His Royal Highness, the speed of this battleship launching is too fast. It can keep up with the speed of our training. It's really difficult for three months."

Xiao Ming frowned. This incident was within his expectations. According to Claire, the crew of their merchant ships can be turned into seamen of warships at any time. Over the years, they have virtually accumulated a navy team.

The Qingzhou navy developed too late, and if such a prudent walk continues, he will not be able to keep up. He said: "You can't just recruit sailors in Dengzhou. After all, there are also limited fishing villages in Dengzhou. You can try to attract other places with generous treatment. Many fishermen came to settle in Dengzhou, and pirates along the coast were rampant. These pirates were born crew members, and some crew members could be absorbed from them when they were captured.”

"His Royal Highness, this is a good way. There are many pirates detained in the Dengzhou prison. Many of these pirates are homeless and forced to join the pirates. I will pick them later." Yue Yun said.

Zhang Liang heard the words, but his face became even more proud. In the past, Yue Yun urged them to speed up, but now it was finally his turn to lack manpower.

After inspecting the military port shipyard, Xiao Ming led Zhang Liang to the second and third shipyards located at the north gate of Dengzhou. Now these shipyards are under his control.

In the past, he was only running a small Qingzhou Shipyard, which was nothing compared to now, because he was living a very comfortable and satisfying life now.

The second and third shipyards are not far from the military port. This is also for unified scheduling. Like Zhang Liang said, there are four warships that are about to be completed in both shipyards.

After inspecting the shipyard, Xiao Mingcai, Lu Fei and others headed for Dengzhou City. On the way, they could see the Qingzhou Chamber of Commerce's carriages transporting salt from time to time, and even some carriages transported dried sea fish. The state's main profitable cargo.

In Dengzhou City, Xiao Ming met Yang Chengye. He originally wanted to go back to Qingzhou directly, but thinking of the importance of maritime trade, he decided to tell him and remind him to pay attention to the construction of the business hall and foreign affairs office.

"The most important thing is the construction of the port. In the future, Dengzhou Port will become the port with the largest throughput. From now on, you will build a large number of warehouses near the port to store goods." Xiao Ming ordered: "And you will also need to produce wooden boxes. When the time comes, you can sell these wooden boxes to merchants, rent warehouses to sea merchants, and you need to pay for berthing at the port, but this port alone is enough to make Dengzhou rich."