The Fourth Lingshi Financial Crisis

Chapter 189 Extortion
Where did the Sea Cliff Fleet go?
This soul torture deeply troubled the two armies who were facing each other far away on the west coast of the outlying island strait.

Not only did the outlying island coalition forces not know the exact location of the Haiya Fleet, even the great lord Huang Xuan beheaded the courier who rushed to report the news on the charge of "false information". Even Tian Beixi, who has always been resourceful, did It is unclear what kind of medicine Han Fulai sells in the gourd.

After all, there is not even a monster in the waters of the outlying islands, so the Sea Cliff Fleet cannot suddenly be sunk by a storm!
If the Sea Cliff Chamber of Commerce's navigation technology has reached this level, it is not worthy of being called the leader of Eastern Ocean trade.

Without knowing the movement of the Haiya Fleet, Tian Beixi, who had the upper hand, did not dare to easily attack the coalition forces on the outlying islands.

So she chose to fight steadily, occupying favorable terrain to consume with the coalition forces on the outlying islands. At the same time, she also took advantage of the opponent's mentality that they did not dare to start a full-scale war, and constantly harassed the opponent's food road. result.

The low morale of the outlying island coalition forces saw that Tian Beixi did not launch a full-scale attack, and it was too late to rejoice, let alone take the initiative to provoke, so the outlying island battlefield fell into a strange state of silence because of the mysterious disappearance of the Haiya fleet.

Naturally, there was a reason why the Sea Cliff Fleet failed to arrive as scheduled.

Because Han Fulai did not lead the Haiya Fleet to support the front at all, but staged a grand armed parade.

Although the outlying islands are often visited by ocean-going merchant ships, there has almost never been such a large-scale collective action of the Sea Cliff Fleet. A wooden sailboat of the ton level, even in the history of earth navigation, can be called a miracle in the field of shipbuilding.

The main ship of the Sea Cliff Fleet is very similar to the giant version of the 16th-century Karak-style ocean-going sailing ship on Earth.

In the history of shipbuilding on the earth, this type of ship is a transitional type from the paddle-type inland sea sailing ship to the modern ocean-going sailing ship.Compared with the later Galen sailboats, the Carrack sailboats can use simpler shipbuilding techniques to make their hulls very large.Just because the center of gravity of the sailboat of this shape is too high, the handling is very inflexible, and it is easy to roll over, so it was quickly eliminated by the later Galen sailboat.

In the world of cultivation in Kyushu, due to the existence of the miraculous self-balancing civilian fairy array, there is little need to consider the stability of the ship when building a ship, and because there is almost no naval battle in the cultivation world, the maneuverability of the ship does not need to be considered at all.

The major sea trade chambers of commerce have only one requirement for shipyards:
Build bigger ships with higher load capacity!

Therefore, this "comprehension version of Karak" sailboat, which can pile up tonnage without thinking, has never been improved since it was basically finalized thousands of years ago. This is also one of the important examples that comprehension spells hinder the development of science and technology in Kyushu.

With the double support of the civilian fairy array and the spiritual wood keel, the length of the merchant ships of the Sea Cliff Fleet generally reaches 19 meters, and the displacement is close to [-] tons. Its size has even surpassed the largest wooden sail battleship on the earth in the [-]th century.

Through the secret conversation with Han Fulai, Yang Lu already knew that this sea cliff fleet was only glamorous on the surface, and the internal management was actually quite chaotic.

However, for the lords of outlying islands, this huge fleet with forty giant ocean-going merchant ships, 10000 "elite" mercenary soldiers, and more than 8000 sailors was already regarded as Kyushu's first-class maritime armed force.

Xu Tong, the lord of Yanbo Island, took the initiative to introduce the Haiya Fleet into the outlying island area. At best, it can be called a plan to drive away tigers and wolves, and at worst, it can be said to be a way to lure wolves into the house.

Under the command of Han Fulai, this huge fleet did not go straight to the front line of the war as Tian Beixi and the outlying island coalition forces expected, but detoured in a very large circle, deliberately passing through the territory of several outlying island lords to show off their might.

Every time he went to a place, Han Fulai sent someone to notify the local lord, saying that the Haiya Fleet was invited by the lord of Yanbo Island, Xu Tong, to defend the outlying islands. Lords, if you have money, please pay for cultivation materials. We are a group of Zhongzhou volunteers who came all the way from Haiya City.

But everyone knows that the military expenses for the outlying island war have already been paid separately by Xu Tong, the representative of the lord of the outlying island, and Du Zhitang of Wuliangjian faction. Han Fulai's behavior is clearly extortion.

Although there are many factions in the outlying islands, when faced with the intervention of external cultivation forces, they often behave very united.Under normal circumstances, the lords of the outlying islands would definitely not pay attention to Han Fulai's forced donation.

However, in order to gather the army to fight against Tian Beixi, the chief executive of the outlying island, Huang Xuan, not only directly recruited a dozen of the largest lords on the outlying island to go with the army, but also recruited young men and levied food from the territories of other small lords, calling on everyone to fight against the invaders together.

Except for a few big lords with remote locations like Xu Tong, most of the outlying island lords' territories have been completely emptied by this outlying island war.

Although the manpower and food in the territories of the major lords had been scoured by the outlying island coalition forces, there was no loss of their valuables and spirit stone coins.

The outlying island allied forces searched for manpower and food, and it could be said that they were resisting Tian Beixi. Even if the local lords were dissatisfied, there was nothing to say. After all, Tian Beixi came to raid his own home, and providing support for the outlying island allied forces could be regarded as saving himself money and avoiding disaster.

But if you talk about looting property, don't say that these lords will not agree, even the cultivation forces standing behind these mortal lords will not agree, even Huang Xuan, the chief executive of the outlying islands, dare not risk the disgrace of the world.

However, what the lords of the outlying islands never expected was that the outlying island coalition forces did not raid their homes, nor did Tian Beixi come to raid their homes. Instead, the Haiya Fleet, under the banner of supporting the outlying islands, ran over to raid their homes first!
Now the territory of the lords of the outlying islands is extremely empty, and it is very difficult to maintain the rule. Apart from scolding Han Fulai for being shameless, they are powerless to refuse the request of the Sea Cliff Fleet.

Although in Yang Lu's view, the mortal mercenaries organized by Haiya City are at most well-trained mobs, and they can't stand on the table at all, but their advantages are all compared with each other.

These Sea Cliff City mercenaries, worth as much as 3000 Yuan Lingshi coins per capita, are considered elite armed forces on outlying islands.

For modern and modern armies, fighting wars means fighting logistics.Although the mercenaries of the Sea Cliff Fleet are seriously underpaid and their salaries are substantially inflated, under the strong logistics support system of the Sea Cliff Chamber of Commerce, they already have the prototype of a modern army;

On the other hand, the private soldiers of the lord of the outlying islands are more like the army of the Middle Ages. As long as a notice is posted, a conscript can be quickly organized, and even a unified weapon and equipment cannot be achieved. It is completely bandit style. The difference in combat power between the two sides is indeed obvious to the naked eye.

Han Fulai only needed to order Haiya's soldiers to line up on the spot, show off his excellent weapons and equipment, and stage an armed parade. Many lords of outlying islands obediently handed in the protection fee without speaking in person.

A few outlying island lords also tried to resist Han Fulai's blackmail, and even directly rejected Han Fulai's request for the fleet to dock at the port. However, Han Fulai ordered the crossbowmen of the Sea Cliff Fleet on the spot to aim at the island palaces of the lords with two rounds of volleys to destroy these The gorgeous palace was bombarded to pieces, so these diehards could only be forced to "those who know the current affairs are the heroes".

According to Yang Lu's observation, the ballistas of the Haiya Fleet are all made of monster bones, and they are far more powerful than the ballistas of ancient Earth. The lord of the outlying islands has been exported.

Unexpectedly, the first victims of these ballistas were not Tian Beixi's army, but the lord of the outlying island who was an allied army.

The voyage from Yanbo Island to the Outlying Island Strait is only a few hundred miles, but the Sea Cliff Fleet actually wasted seven days and stopped at eight ports along the way. It has been held nearly twenty times in a row.

At the end of the meal, Yang Lu even used his precious spiritual energy to dissolve part of the food in his stomach to avoid indigestion.

I don't know how Han Fulai's mortal body can cope with so many dinners in a row. This is simply a natural physique of a civil servant!
Of course, time isn't all wasted these days.

After blackmailing eight lords in a row and bombarding the port palaces of the two lords with ballistas, the Sea Cliff Fleet collected a total of 10,000+ Yuan Lingshi coins as protection fees.

Although this number was not too much, the smile on Han Fulai's face could not be hidden.

Even with his toes, Yang Lu knew that the extortion of the lord of the outlying island was definitely not from the Wuliang Sword Sect. After all, in order to keep the outlying island, the Wuliangjian Sect even spent 3000 million Lingshi coins. How could it be so short of 10,000 +Lingshi coins?
For the Wuliang Sword Sect, defending the outlying islands was the top priority. In order to affect the overall combat deployment of the fleet for two 10,000+ spirit stone coins, this must be Han Fulai's means of repaying his own pocket.

Even if these 10,000+ Lingshi coins are used to make up for the operating expenses of the Sea Cliff Fleet and the loss of ballista ammunition during this period, it may not be enough!
However, Yang Lu is not qualified to criticize Han Fulai's "private use of public equipment". After all, he himself took 2 yuan from Han Fulai as a hush money.

As for Lin Dong, the supervisor of the Wuliang Sword Sect, this guy with his nostrils turned upside down didn't understand Han Fulai's tricks at all.

After all, the lords of outlying islands are not fools, and they all know that Han Fu is most likely to make the claim for the extortion, not to mention that they cannot represent the meaning of the Wuliang Sword Sect, and they may not even represent the Haiya Chamber of Commerce.So everyone's thoughts are also very consistent, privately stuff some money to send this plague god away, and let him quickly fight with Tian Beixi to bring him down.

Although Han Fulai didn't have the ability to wipe out all the lords of the outlying islands, it was no problem to kill one or two lords of the outlying islands out of embarrassment.

It is precisely because these protection fees are paid in private and will not be discussed on the stage at all. When the lords hold banquets in public, everyone assumes a super high political position of "for the sake of the overall situation of the outlying islands".Lin Dong thought until the end that Han Fulai was really raising supplies for the Haiya Fleet!
Lin Dong didn't bother to ask about this kind of mundane affairs, but he saved a lot of hush money for Han Fulai.

According to Han Fulai, he deserved not to be able to earn this money!
Stopping and stopping all the way like this, the voyage that could have been completed in two days was abruptly dragged by Han Fulai for more than seven days.It was not until noon on the eighth day that the Sea Cliff Fleet finally entered the outlying island strait.

On the west bank of the outlying island strait, the Guhong island army commanded by Tian Beixi was already in full swing.

As the battle was approaching, Yang Lu, Han Fulai, and the impatient Lin Dong all came to the watchtower of the flagship of the Haiya Fleet, watching the enemy positions from a distance through the thin sea fog.

Because few cultivators intervene in outlying islands, wars between mortal lords are quite frequent.

The Guhong Island army obviously has very rich experience in ordinary combat, and has already established simple civil fortifications along the coast. Even if Yang Lu is not an expert in cold weapon warfare, he can see that the Guhong Island army is quite prepared for combat. full.

The coast where they camped was surrounded by endless cliffs, and near the cliffs there were hidden reefs that appeared and disappeared in the waves, and there was only a relatively open beach for the army to land on.

Since the ocean-going ship of the Sea Cliff Fleet is seven or eight stories high, in order to avoid the condescending attack of the Sea Cliff Fleet, the Guhong Island Army did not defend the tidal flats, but built fortifications deep behind the tidal flats. Pretending to engage in a land battle with the Sea Cliff Fleet.

As for Tian Beixi who is said to be able to activate the "Heavenly Thunder Demon Art", no one has ever seen a trace.

After knowing the enemy's arrangement, Han Fulai, the commander-in-chief of the Haiya Fleet, couldn't help but sighed deeply: "Master Lin, it seems that we are still a step late, and the army led by Tian Beixi is ready to meet us. !"

Yang Lu really didn't know what to complain about Han Fulai's affectation.

Because the chief culprit of the slow action of the Sea Cliff Fleet is clearly you, a corrupt person who took the opportunity to enrich himself!
As the saying goes, if you don't tell the truth, Yang Lu will naturally not take the initiative to expose Han Fulai's nonsense, but mentions another thing: "Guanshi Han, since the army of Guhong Island is already here After setting up the position, shall we try to bypass this area and find another place to land?"

Han Fulai shook his head and said, "This is already the best landing place nearby! I just sent a sampan to scout the interior of the Outlying Island Strait, only to find that several large ships had been scuttled in the main channel of the Outlying Island Strait. There are merchant ships from Yunzhou, as well as local merchant ships from outlying islands, our fleet cannot be launched at all, and it may take a long time to clear the channel."

Yang Lu wondered: "Tian Beixi blocked the waterway, it should be to force us to fight in the opponent's preset position, but the outlying island coalition forces also sent people to block the waterway, what does this mean?"

Han Fulai couldn't answer this question either.

They didn't know that the outlying island coalition blocked the waterway because Kelaibo wanted to pretend to be trying to use the floating bridge to transport grain to attract Tian Beixi's attention, so as to cover the real supply fleet to transport grain.

And Tian Beixi is not Zhuge Liang who can pinch and count, she didn't just "predict Ke Laibo's prediction" casually, she just didn't pay attention to the outlying island coalition forces at all!
Seeing that the coalition forces on the outlying islands blocked the southern channel, she took advantage of the opportunity to let her merchant ships block the northern channel, forcing the Sea Cliff Fleet to choose her preset location to land at the least cost.

The top leaders of the Outlying Islands Allied Forces were completely terrified by Tian Beixi, and even started to scare themselves. If they hadn't learned that the Haiya Fleet was about to arrive, the Outlying Islands Allied Forces would probably be scared to death by Tian Beixi without a fight!

(End of this chapter)