Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 342: Offense is always the best defense
When the "imperial edict" arrived, Xia Lin received it happily, and then naturally arranged a reception for the eunuch who delivered the edict.

Soon, Princess Li learned the news. She hurried to the government office and asked Xia Lin, "It's only been a few days, and you're going to quell the bandits?"

Xia Lin sat there with a frown on his face: "It is said in the Art of War that offense is the best defense. I will insert a steel knife directly into his abdomen to see if he still has any taboos."

"You want to seize Zhenhai?"

"How can you say it's seizure? It's only natural to defend the country's sea borders."

Xia Lin stood up after he finished speaking and said, "I will be leaving early tomorrow morning, but this time the trip won't be long. I will just go over there and settle things, and the others will stay there to train the troops."

Princess Pingyang didn't say much. In fact, she had roughly understood Xia Lin's method. If Duke Dingguo really wanted to find a breakthrough in him, then he probably wanted to make Duke Dingguo's heart blossom.

This move can be described as an open conspiracy against an open conspiracy. If you don't allow me to suppress the bandits, you will be in the same nest with the bandits. If you let me suppress the bandits, you will not be able to sue me.

That plate of Nine-Turn Large Intestine spans a thousand years, and its gold content is still increasing.

Early in the morning of the second day, the camp was ready to set out, but this time Xia Lin used a completely new marching method. Everyone took a large ship to Dantukou first and then went all the way down. The time and material costs were greatly reduced, and the large ships for sea transportation were much more comfortable than traveling by land, and the soldiers were also very satisfied.

Five thousand people, not too many, not too few, but Xia Lin still sighed that the prince was really inexperienced. It didn't take five thousand people to suppress the bandits. Two thousand would be enough. But since he said five thousand, then five thousand. If there were more people, it would be easier to get things done.

The general leading the team this time is not Xia Lin, but one of General Yingmian's deputy, a young man trained by him. Although very young, he is quite promising. This time Xia Lin plans to ask him to be mainly responsible for the operations in Zhenhai.

When the army gathered at the dock, Princess Li also went there. This was the first time she saw the military assembly in Fuliang. After seeing it, she was left with only fear and trepidation.

As someone who has been in the military camp for nearly ten years, she can tell at a glance whether a team has combat effectiveness. Whether the morale, drill, physique or military quality of Fuliang's soldiers are the best she has ever seen, even stronger than the soldiers brought by her Li family. More importantly, these are not the most elite armored cavalry but ordinary infantry.

These people are all from good families, with firm eyes, strong physique, and they obey orders and respond promptly. As a general, Princess Pingyang would really drool when she saw these soldiers.

But she also knew that these soldiers were fed with silver. The military pay in Fuliang was the highest in the country, and the food was also top-notch. People said that Xia Lin was training his soldiers by the method of raising death squads. The princess didn't believe it at first, but now it seems that she really believes it.

If she could become the leader of this army, she would even have the confidence to fight against an enemy force that is ten times her size. This morale is terrifying...

A long fleet of boats carrying thousands of people and baggage began to slowly sail in a row on the river.

Xia Lin was currently bidding farewell to the little princess and Tang Baoer. As for the others... this occasion was not appropriate. After all, the situation was such that there was no other way.

"I will be back in about three months this time, don't worry."

After Xia Lin finished speaking, he put on the general's helmet and boarded the last largest ship. He stood on the side of the ship and looked down. Seeing Princess Pingyang in the crowd, he waved from a distance, and Pingyang also waved back at him. At this moment, Pingyang suddenly felt a sense of loss for sending her husband to the battlefield...

It's a pity that her body doesn't allow it, otherwise she would definitely ask Xia Lin to let her go over and take a look. Although women are generally not allowed in the military camp, she is different because she is a serious general.

The big ship moved slowly until it disappeared on the river. Xia Lin stood on the side of the ship with his hands behind his back, feeling the spring breeze and not feeling any pressure at all.

Come to think of it, what kind of pressure can there be in a crushing situation? Among these five thousand people, there are less than three thousand soldiers, and the remaining two thousand are all kinds of craftsmen, even cooks.

Because that is the sea. They don't realize the importance of the ocean at all now, but they will realize it soon, and then it will be difficult to take back that place.

The ship also carried 1,500 shells, nearly 50,000 bullets, 15 cannons, and 1,800 guns. It was hard to find a testing ground for new weapons, and the test subjects were pirates.

He wanted to see how powerful the Pirate King was and whether he could withstand the little cannon.

"General, please take a rest. We still have seven days to go on the road."

Xia Lin waved his hand, took out a monocular telescope and looked into the distance: "Haha... take a look at this new thing." The young general took the telescope and imitated Xia Lin's look, and immediately exclaimed: "So clear?"

"For you." Xia Lin patted his shoulder. "This is the first set. It's a luxurious telescope made entirely of silver by their craftsmen. It's not suitable for me to hold. Since you are going to lead the army to fight, this is my gift to you. I wish you a successful start."

"Thank you, Lord Xia!" The young general's surname was Jiang. He was from a peasant family but was extremely talented. It was just that he was unlucky and did not pass the imperial examination. If it were not for the talent discovery mechanism of Fuliang, he might have been able to open a private school in the countryside to teach children to read and write in his life.

But now, he has become a young general who is being trained as a priority, and Xia Lin is the person they all look up to. Now that his idol has given him such a valuable gift, he was so excited that he almost cried.

"I will definitely live up to the general's high expectations!"

Xia Lin patted his shoulder and said, "You grew up under my care, so don't make me lose face in front of others."

After saying that, he went back to the cabin to rest. It must be said that although he and Lao Zhang always do some ridiculous and stupid things when they are together, he is still very good at acting cool in front of other people.

The fleet slowly sailed down the river. The people along the way had never seen such a huge fleet before. It attracted countless eyes along the way. The flag with the word "Xia" flying on the bow was definitely the coolest appearance of the surname Xia so far.

New technology is different. After unlocking new things, the hull is bigger, the sailing is smoother, and the structure is stronger. Although it is not yet qualified to be a real sea ship, the sea ships they commonly see on the seashore now can only be called small sampans compared to this one, not to mention the six fifty-meter giant ships anchored in Poyang Lake waiting for docking. To people of this era, those are mountains, moving mountains!
There is a cannon on it, a heavy cannon! So far, Fuliang has produced the most powerful heavy cannon with the best caliber and range. A single salvo can cover an entire county!

Let’s put it this way, what is a dimensionality reduction attack? The current level of gunboat is a dimensionality reduction attack on the current level of towns.

The city walls were useless, and two cannons smashed them to pieces. Although the overall force was still concentrated on the land, as long as there were these cannons, there would be no problem in self-protection.

You can knock pieces off along the coast.

Although there are only six ships, that's because we don't have money these days. Things will get better slowly in the future. Xia Lin plans to replicate the Ming treasure ship. After all, the current ship is long and wide enough but the height is still far from enough, and it looks very thin. After accumulating enough technology, he will ask Tian En to scare the West.

When they sailed to Jiujiang Shipyard, everyone boarded a larger warship. Its size was really... Emperor Hongbao's dragon boat was just a baby-sized one in front of it.

Now, this thing is definitely at the strategic deterrent level, and Xia Lin went there this time just to give them a little fear of the giant, so that they would be honest and not have any evil thoughts on him. If they dared to mess up so that he couldn't farm, then he would drag all these BYDs to farm.

Six huge ships set sail, blocking out the sun from the perspective of the shore. The red cloth on the deck was lifted, revealing the shiny guns. Even the soldiers standing guard nearby raised their heads and chests unconsciously.

"Silver." Xia Lin patted the side of the boat and said distressedly, "It's all silver!"

The soldier accompanying him just smiled but did not say anything. Xia Lin stood there for a while, then felt that the wind on the river was a little strong, so he turned around and went back to the cabin.

This time he began to draw a sea route map bit by bit. After all, this was the closest he had been to sea power in all these years. The opportunity was fleeting. If he didn't seize it, his descendants would hate him.

They painted for a while, brushed for a while, and the young lady danced. Then they took a nap and woke up to work for a while, then brushed again and the young lady twisted her hips. The days on the boat passed quickly, and in just a few cycles they reached the ocean.

Although they do not yet have full ocean-going capabilities, when these ships appear at the estuary, the foreign merchant ships along the way are stunned. The waves stirred up by the passing of these giant ships alone make them sway. If they get a little closer, it feels like a mountain is moving away in front of them.

The common people may feel happy and safe when seeing this kind of thing, but in the eyes of foreigners, there is only fear. They don't even know what method to use to fight against this monster. The majesty of the superior country is undoubtedly demonstrated at this moment.

"Hey!" Xia Lin came to the deck and pointed at a Persian merchant caravan in front of him. "Send flags, blow whistles on our ships, and tell the fleet in front to move aside. Don't let them run you over by accident."

The whistles from the six ships resounded through the sky, like the roar of an angry sea monster. The captain of the Persian fleet looked back and was so scared that he almost fainted. All the ships turned the rudder to the left to make way for Xia Lin's fleet, and then watched them quietly pass by.

At this moment, the soldiers on the big ship looked down at the people on the small boats below with disdain in their eyes.

(End of this chapter)