Controlling Sea Power Is Controlling Wealth!
Lu Guangyi was relieved that Zhang Xun had left.
Cheng Yaojin, who was in a hurry and spent three days to travel from Chang 'an to Yuezhou, wanted to curse.
" This kid actually ran away?!"
Cheng Yaojin gritted his teeth. He hated Zhang Xun to the extreme.
"Changshu County? Is it near Yangzhou City?"
Cheng Chumo looked at the map and asked with a frown.
"September 27th? Why this day?" Cheng Yaojin stroked his chin and said," Let's not worry about that for now. Let's go to Yangzhou immediately and ask Governor Cui Liang to immediately mobilize the soldiers of the five prefectures and set up an ambush in Changshu County. Once the Empress and the Princess come back, kill them immediately!"! This group of pirates is actually so audacious. When this old man catches them, I'll definitely execute them by a thousand cuts and burn their bones to ashes!”
Cheng Yaojin said fiercely.
...
Just as Cheng Yaojin was about to burn Zhang Xun's bones and scatter his ashes…
Zhang Xun, on the other hand, led his fleet down the river leisurely. In just a day, they had traveled a thousand miles. After exiting the mouth of the Yangtze River and heading south for about a hundred miles, they arrived at Surging East Island, which was later known as the Zhou Mountain Archipelago.
Zhang Xun led his fleet to land on the east side of Surging East Island.
At this moment, Surging East Island belonged to Dun County. There were not many people on the island. There were only a few small villages, and occasionally fishermen who went out to sea to fish would pass by.
On the same day, the county magistrate received the official document that Zhang Xun had sent in the name of 'Flowing Ball Viceroy' and 'Goguryeo Conquest General', with the official seal of' Flowing Ball Viceroy'.
Use Surging East Island as a base for the conquest of Goguryeo?
How could this be? It was against the rules!
The old county magistrate immediately slammed the table and stood up.
However, he wasn't that big of a deal. At this time, Jiangnan's population was still quite small, and the county magistrate of Lin County didn't have the capital or military strength to compete with the 'Great General Conquering Goguryeon'.
Therefore, the old county magistrate secretly made up his mind that he would definitely take a good look at him during the debriefing!
Since the old county magistrate did not dare to interfere, Surging East Island naturally became Zhang Xun's territory.
This was also the reason why Zhang Xun tricked Li Shimin into giving him an official identity in the Tang Dynasty.
If a group of pirates had occupied Surging East Island, the old county magistrate would not dare to take it lightly. Even if he did not have any soldiers, he would have to report it to the higher authorities. Then, there would be endless trouble.
However, if it was the "Flowing Ball Viceroy" who occupied Surging East Island, then the nature would be different. It would be considered a "conflict within the system", and the old county magistrate could only go to court…However, Chang 'an was so far away. Even if they won the lawsuit, it would not be worth it.
Just like that, a group of pirates, with the title of 'Governor Liuqiu,' occupied a small island in the Great Tang.
Zhang Xun jumped off the boat and landed on the ground.
All kinds of supplies were transported down from the dozens of galleys in an orderly manner.
Other than these supplies, there was also a pile of wood.
This was directly dragged from the shipyard at Wentang Gorge to Surging East.
Zhang Xun knew that the Tang army was probably building warships now, and the Yangtze River waterway would not be under his control soon.
Therefore, he needed a better ship.
Zhang Xun now had 1,300 oarsmen and 600 soldiers under his command. He had also captured 1,000 Yuezhou navy soldiers in the battle at Dongting Lake. He had also captured 100 craftsmen and 300 craftsmen's family members from the Wentang Gorge Shipyard.
More than a thousand captives of Yuezhou's navy were scattered among the oarsmen. Some of the more loyal oarsmen were promoted to become soldiers.
Back at Dongting Lake, Zhang Xun had organized his fleet according to their size.
And now, he had decided to reorganize the young men under his command. Furthermore, the captives were initially very resistant to the idea and there was a risk of mutiny. However, now that they were on the island, in a sealed area, and with Zhang Xun's current identity as a traitor, the resistance of the Yuezhou soldiers was much lessened.
Zhang Xun divided the troops into the Combat Barracks and the Pulverizer Barracks. They were all organized according to the five, hundred, and battalion levels. They were trained according to the training regulations he had personally written.
The craftsmen of the Wentang Gorge Shipyard were originally very resistant to being directly kidnapped by Zhang Xun.
But now, Zhang Xun was still a Viceroy, so these craftsmen were appointed.
Soon, after arranging the ranks of the troops, Zhang Xun immediately gathered all the young men on Surging East Island to build a temporary port and camp.
In the next few months, Surging East would be his base camp.
"Uncle Luo, did the craftsmen of the Wentang Gorge Shipyard cause any trouble?”
Zhang Xun and Luo Zhengsheng were still in the cabin. In front of them was a model of a sailboat.
The wood they brought back this time was enough to build twenty large ships.
Moreover, there were many times more manpower than before, so the matter of shipbuilding was put on the agenda.
The ship that Zhang Xun wanted to build was a fast ship.
A ketch.
This model was personally made by Zhang Xun. Every structure on it was extremely exquisite.
Luo Zhengsheng only needed to disassemble the model a few times. After understanding the mechanism, he could follow the model and scale it up.
The structure of this double-masted ship wasn't complicated. It was even simpler than the Mengchong and Five-tooth ships used by the Tang Dynasty.
The ship had a long, pointy bottom, with a water-tight compartment and a semi-balanced rudder. Once it was manufactured, it would be the most advanced long-distance sailing ship that was more than a thousand years ahead of this era.
Moreover, the sailboat used a Chinese streamlined sail, which was easier to use than a square sail. It was more efficient and faster!
In the case of a downwind, the speed could even reach more than eight knots!
If there were more than a dozen cannons on both sides of the ship, they would only need a dozen of such ships to control the sea power of the entire East Asia!!
To Zhang Xun, controlling the sea power was equivalent to controlling wealth!
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