Chapter 693: Armed Merchant Ship

Although Qin State tried his best to persuade Yan State to take the initiative to retreat in exchange for strategic initiative. But Yan Guo is very likely to fail. Because King Yan was not willing to spit out the place he occupied. And look at it in Qin. The significance of occupying a place does not lie in the expansion of the territory, but in the main resources of the place. This approach of the State of Yan is obviously undesirable, because the area occupied by the State of Yan does not have decent resources. There is no industry that can provide any economic support for the country. On the contrary, Yan State invested a lot of troops in combat.

This kind of war that does not count as combat costs is undesirable. But this kind of war was really fought. The world has such incomprehensible things happening. And Shang Wen didn't think much about it. All he has to do now is make a statement. Qin and Chu will announce an unconditional ceasefire agreement.

"Qin, after a battle of blood and fire with Chu, the two sides finally regained the path of peace. The war is Qin and Chu." Shang Wen paused intentionally.

"I don't want to see the result. Qin and Chu two countries still hope for peace. Only peace can allow frequent exchanges between our two countries. Our two countries can eliminate misunderstandings and deepen mutual understanding. Peace is in line with the interests of our two countries. Things." Shang Wen said in a statement. This explanation has clearly stated that Qin and Chu can no longer fight.

One is a country with large demand for raw materials, and the other is a large country with a large amount of cheap raw materials. If the contradictions between the two countries intensify, it will not be good for everyone. Both countries must compromise before the factories can be started. Commercial activities continue. The country can get taxes. This is economic demand.

Just when Shang Wen made a statement. More and more Chu State merchant ships began to head towards Qin State Jiangbei Port. But then another problem annoyed Chu's navy. That is "Water Pirates."

In order to completely eradicate the flood. It is indeed time to eradicate the floods. Because in the agreement, the Chu State must ensure the safety and smooth flow of the waterways and prevent it from attacking Qin’s ships. Therefore, it is necessary to completely eliminate the floods and combat water pirates.

In order to achieve a complete eradication of floods. The noble ministers of the Chu State proposed that Xiang Yan be the commander-in-chief of the Yangtze River. The term commander-in-chief is still learned from Qin Guo. In order to catch up with the fashion, but also to buckle Xiang Yan a big hat. Therefore, they gave Xiang Yan such a big hat. Xiang Yan knew better than anyone what these nobles thought. For their own benefit, they can do everything.

To comfort Chu Jun. They even spared no expense to purchase arms for the Chu army. This is the hush fee. Nowadays, water thief has become a stumbling block for them to make a fortune, and they naturally want to wipe them out.

But Xiang Yan knew better than anyone that water pirates did not happen on a whim. But there are very profound background reasons. Chu State was full of refugees for a while. why. It was these nobles who wantonly annexed land, while forcing other merchants to monopolize. The nobles are rich. But these Chu people were about to be forced to death.

Elimination is not easy said than done. Xiang Yan looked at the map and said nothing for a long time. It is wrong to take strong measures.

And in the southern shipyard of Qin State, with the emergence of welding technology. Especially the emergence of some small and medium power plants. Qin's shipyard can produce some small and medium-sized iron ships with a load of about 10,000 shi. The shapes of these ships still have the appearance of the original ships, but they have made greater progress in materials. This is the use of steel. The use of steel can make ships bigger and bigger. The wooden boat cannot continue to study because of its material problems.

The first batch of ships produced by Qin's shipyard were not military ships, but civilian cargo ships, which also had a flat bottom structure. This structure means that only freshwater rivers can be used for navigation, and ocean navigation cannot be carried out on the ocean. Moreover, there is no watertight cabin at this time, and the material of the propeller is still steel. This material is very easy to wear.

Although this kind of ship still has various flaws, it is after all the first fully-steel ship in the Qin State, and the speedboat ordered by the military is under intense construction, and it is estimated that it will take more than three months to launch.

The Qin Navy was unable to provide **** missions, and the Chu State water piracy problem was still unresolved. At this time, Chu State ships transported a large amount of raw materials to make big money. The Qin merchants cannot wait, they also need to actively develop the Yangtze River water transport trade. Qin's money can't let the people of Chu make it in vain.

As a result, some ship owners have armed merchant ship qualification certificates in their hands to install weapons for their cargo ships. They generally install some machine guns, rifles, pistols and other light weapons. In order to prevent being attacked at night, they also installed searchlights for their ships. In this way, Qin's first batch of armed merchant ships was born.

As for the sailor issue, Qin State recruited a large number of local fishermen to act as sailors nearby, as long as they had undergone simple training. Or simply board the ship without any training.

The Qin Navy suggested that merchant ships and Chu merchant ships should go out of the river together. And required all its ships to be unified into a large fleet to go out of the river. However, the progress of the ship's weapons installation and renovation project is different. Plus the arrival time of the goods is also different. In order to seize business opportunities, these armed merchant ships set off as soon as they are full of cargo, and there is no time to organize a merchant fleet.

A warning to Qin's navy. They don't even look at it. I don't care about it.

"Woo woo woo." It was installed on a merchant ship with a steam engine capable of providing 500 power. Their speed is much faster than those wooden Chu State merchant ships. They believe that they will soon be able to reach the Chu State Wharf and exchange for what they want.

Qin's merchant ships set off with hope, but this voyage is obviously more risky. Because of the serious lack of preparation in the Chu State, even the communication aspect is fundamental.

Is there a telegraph line in Chu country? This is the most basic situation of direct communication between the two countries. Qin State did not re-send an ambassador. In this way, there would be no Qin official in the State of Chu to be responsible for Qin's interests. And most importantly, Chu State.

The domestic port equipment of Chu State simply cannot keep up with the pace of Qin State's development. Moreover, although Qin State's armed merchant ships have weapons, the ports at anchor cannot provide fuel, food, and water supplies at all. Especially the safety of the berthing port. Merchant ships of Chu State were grouped out of the river on a large scale. And Qin's ships are all going out of the river one after another. The result of such a small-scale trip is that it is easy to be targeted. In this way, it is easy to be targeted by Chu State Water Pirates. Then it was looted. The Qin State Navy was worried about this happening and suggested that it organize a formation to go to sea.

The owner of the armed merchant ship of the Qin State saw that the NPC made a special profit. At the same time, he is very superstitious about the weapon power of armed merchant ships. They believe that their weapons are for those water thieves who are only equipped with daggers, halberds, and halberds. Very enough. And it is sweeping it.

But Qin's armed merchant ship seemed to have forgotten a little. That is, thieves never proceed according to normal thinking. They are also good at being out of sight, ambushing, and sapping. Especially these water pirates who only have cold weapons, they know very well that they can only attack those small merchant ships. The big ones need to unite to start. If it is a large merchant fleet. They have no chance to start at all.

The merchant fleets of the nobles were usually armed with special ships and escorts with naval vessels. Most importantly, the small merchant ships also tended to follow the large merchant ships of the nobles. As a result, the life of Chu State Water Pirates became more and more difficult to live. At this time, the appearance of Qin's armed merchant ships was undoubtedly a delicious meal delivered to the door.

The Qin Armed Merchant Ship knew nothing about this, and the military did not give a detailed reference opinion or something. At this point, the armed merchant ships of the State of Qin went out of the river in this way.

Shang Wen didn't care about the armed merchant ships not being able to get out of the river, because he also couldn't understand the situation in the south in detail. Because based on the current situation, he is already busy enough.

What he was busy was how to cut military expenditures without affecting the national military strength of Qin. At the same time, we must take care of those military industrial enterprises, and then invest the freed funds into public utilities, which will greatly promote the rapid development of Qin's economy in the future.

The domestic attitude towards cutting military spending and investing the freed funds into public utilities is not uniform.

Opponents believe that this may reduce Qin's military power on a large scale. This caused the Qin State to be unable to effectively contend with the Six Nations. To know. The six countries have organized several anti-Qin alliances. Although Qin now has Zhao, South Korea, and Yan in the diplomatic alliance. But if an accident happens suddenly. Can Qin's national defense be mobilized overnight? This worry does exist. And it is well-founded.

Those who support it believe that Qin’s economy is not only the credit of military industrial enterprises, but also the credit of other factories in Qin. Moreover, commercial taxes are already the most important source of income for the Qin State. If a large amount of taxes are invested in public utilities, especially in infrastructure construction, railways, highways, large-scale water conservancy facilities, and power grids after high-voltage power lines are installed. These can greatly promote the rapid development of Qin's economy. After the rapid economic development of the Qin State, a large number of taxes will be generated. As long as there is money, Qin's national defense can be replaced with a large number of advanced weapons overnight. And these weapons were not available in Qin before. For example, a large number of tracked armored fighting vehicles needed in the newly emerging theory of armored fighting vehicle maneuvering operations. As long as they have money, Qin can produce them overnight and equip them for troops.

Both explanations make sense. But everyone has shortcomings and advantages. This degree needs to be grasped by Shang Wen himself.