Chapter 443: Fat Sheep

"Latest website: 'Twenty-eight thousand men. Originally we had one hundred and eighty warships, this time we gave one hundred to the Northern Di, and scraped together three hundred for the Northern Di...'" Vice General Li said.

Then he realized he had let something slip and immediately covered his mouth.

Zhao Xu sneered, "You don't need to hide anything; I already know all about the plan between you and the Northern Di."

In order to conceal his identity, he did not refer to himself as 'this Prince'.

Upon hearing this, Vice General Li's head immediately slumped down.

Zhou Yi was slightly surprised and said, "Your Highness, the strength of this Gaoli Navy is truly not to be underestimated."

Zhao Xu nodded; ever since Gaoli defected to the Northern Di.

It had lived a comfortable life in a corner for nearly a hundred years, naturally accumulating substantial capital.

Otherwise, they would not dare to bully the Great Song so brazenly.

"Do you know the current household registration count of Gaoli?" Zhao Xu asked next.

By asking this, he just wanted to understand how fat this fat sheep really was.

Vice General Li was a favored minister by the side of the King of Gaoli, otherwise he would not have been sent to supervise the pearl harvesting.

After all, this was a lucrative position, with opportunities to embezzle a large amount of pearls.

Zhao Xu's question was something he had heard Gaoli officials mention before.

So he said, "About, about three million households."

Hearing this, Zhao Xu had a plan in mind.

If one calculated at least three people per household, Gaoli had at least ten million people.

This was without counting the unregistered households; in reality, Gaoli's population was estimated to be around ten million.

According to the knowledge in his mind, in the modern era, the population of this Gaoli region only reached this number in the nineteenth century, that is, in 1800, while the Dongying region opposite Gaoli had nearly thirty million people.

Historically, population growth increases as time goes on.

Therefore, this roughly matched his deduction.

This world was likely in the early nineteenth century.

As for the population of the Great Song, he had also learned about it during this time.

Having tallied the data from twenty-one provinces, he discovered that the Great Song people were divided by the Jiujiang, with more in the south and fewer in the north, and the population was estimated to be around one hundred and thirty million, similar to the end of the Ming Dynasty.

Whereas in the modern era, the population was around three hundred million.

Clearly, this was not normal.

The reason for this might be, firstly, that the oppression by the powerful clans and Rich Clans caused the common people to live in hardship, leading to slow natural population growth.

Another important reason was that the two drought-resistant crops, the Potato and the Sweet Potato, did not seem to have been introduced to the Great Song.

The food supply could not support a larger population.

Even if they had been introduced, they might currently only be planted in a small part of the south.

After all, the spread of the potato in the modern era took three hundred years during the Ming and Qing dynasties to finally become widespread.

The Great Song had been closed off to the world for so many years, which would undoubtedly slow down this spread.

Coupled with the fact that powerful clans would only hide the treasures they obtained, this spread was even slower.

It was no wonder that the Great Song's population growth had problems in this regard.

"Take him away." Zhao Xu waved his hand; he had asked everything he wanted to ask.

However, this did remind him of a problem.

Even if he had his own fleet, he should bring the two crops, the Potato and the Sweet Potato, to the North Four Commanderies.

In this way, the food problem in the North Four Commanderies would be greatly alleviated, and it could support a larger population.

The North Territory was arid and cold, and these two crops were naturally adapted to drought and cold.

Zhou Yi waved his hand, ordering the soldiers to drag Vice General Li away.

He would never be able to return to Gaoli again.

In the future, he might appear in some mine in the North Four Commanderies.

After destroying six Gaoli warships, Zhao Xu ordered Zhou Yi to capture the fleeing Gaoli fishermen.

The next step was the real priority: annihilating Wulanba's Troop Transport Ship.

Letting these Gaoli fishermen escape back would also alert the enemy.

After a day and a night of sailing.

The warships rendezvoused with the remaining twelve warships outside Ancheng Port on the second morning.

Looking at this small-scale fleet, a smile appeared at the corner of Zhao Xu's mouth.

In the early nineteenth century of the modern era, the maritime hegemon, England, possessed over four hundred warships.

Although his twelve warships were too few compared to that.

But the Shipbuilding Department's construction was still ongoing.

Although he could not compete with the world's maritime hegemon in the short term.

But after a few years of shipbuilding, he could at least first seize maritime hegemony in the East Asian region.

After all, judging from modern experience, the modern Western powers had limited numbers of warships deployed to this region during the colonial period.

"Your Highness, the Northern Di's Tower Ship has left the Pier."

Just as Zhao Xu was admiring his own warships, Zhou Yi reported to him.

Nodding, Zhao Xu looked toward the northern Ancheng Port.

This key battle surrounding Yanzhou was about to begin.

"Follow them, and launch the attack when they are about to land in Liaojun," Zhao Xu said.

He did not yet know where the Northern Di would choose to land.

The reason for choosing to launch the attack along the coast of Yanzhou was to capture as many Northern Di soldiers as possible.

For him, coming from the modern era, the importance of labor was ingrained in his bones.

Using these captives for the heaviest manual labor would both lighten the burden on the North Four Commanderies and save the Government Office expenses; why not do it?

"Yes, Your Highness." Zhou Yi had been in a state of excitement from yesterday until now.

Upon receiving the order, he went off happily to discuss with the generals how to destroy the Northern Di Troop Transport Ships with the greatest speed when the time came.

Another day and night passed.

They tracked the Northern Di Troop Transport Ships until they reached the waters near Leting in Liaojun.

Throughout the entire journey, the Northern Di fleet did not discover them at all.

"Your Highness, they seem to be planning to land at Leting," Zhou Yi said. "This is truly a coincidence."

Zhao Xu smiled, "This is not a coincidence; the route from Leting to Yanguan is the shortest."

It was precisely because he considered this point that he transferred Bai Shang to Leting.

He had not expected that Wulanba would also choose this place.

This Wulanba's thinking was likely the same as his own.

"No need to hide anymore, attack!" Zhao Xu said.

The Northern Di fleet was still about thirty li away from the Leting beach.

By the time they arrived, they would likely have just reached the beach.

Launching an attack at this moment meant the Northern Di would not yet have had time to land.

With their ships destroyed, they would have no choice but to jump into the sea.

At that time, having discarded their helmets and armor, they would undoubtedly become Bai Shang's captives.

"Advance at full speed," Zhou Yi shouted.

They had been hiding out of the Northern Di's line of sight the entire time.

Upon receiving Zhou Yi's order, the crew immediately hoisted four sails.

Under the blowing sea breeze, the Sailing Warship headed toward the coast at full speed.

At this moment, Wulanba was completely unaware that a fleet was rapidly approaching him.

Right now, he was standing on the deck of a Tower Ship, imagining how he would sweep across the entire Yanzhou after capturing Yanguan.

And subsequently, how he would move south from Yanzhou to conquer the entire Great Song.

Thinking further that once the Northern Di destroyed the Great Song and he ascended to the position of Khan in the future, he would have countless wealth and Beauties to enjoy, the desire burning in his eyes became even more intense.

"Yan Wang, I am coming. This time I will tear you into ten thousand pieces and use your skull to pave my future path as Khan," Wulanba laughed loudly.