Chapter 346: On the Eve of the Water Battle

The King of Wei blinked: "How does it fly?"

The others also looked at each other in dismay.

Oh, King of Wei.

This question of yours...

Your subordinate truly does not know!

Since ancient times, everyone has wanted to fly, and everyone has known how one might fly.

But you ask us how to fly...

We truly do not know!

"King of Wei! King of Wei!"

"Coming, coming!"

At this moment, another subordinate ran over, drenched in sweat.

"Do you know how to fly now?"

The King of Wei asked him.

That person had a tearful face and handed over a piece of paper.

"A price list?"

The King of Wei took a glance.

Yinzhou Chamber of Commerce price list?

And then...

"Do you want to soar in the sky? Do you want to be a bird-man? Do you want to overlook the vast Longyan? Come, Yinzhou Chamber of Commerce, helping you realize your dreams!"

"Yinzhou Glider!"

"Taking you to soar through the sky!"

"Beggar Version: five hundred Yinzhou Coin!"

"Standard Version: seven hundred Yinzhou Coin!"

"Mid-range Version: one thousand Yinzhou Coin!"

"High-end Version: one thousand five hundred Yinzhou Coin!"

"Top-tier Version: two thousand Yinzhou Coin!"

"Supreme Version: three thousand Yinzhou Coin!"

"Imperial Version: five thousand Yinzhou Coin!"

"Pfft..."

The King of Wei spat out a mouthful of tea again.

Who could tell him what kind of nonsense this was? Five thousand Yinzhou Coin, calculated by the current rate where one Yinzhou Coin equals seven taels of gold, that is three thousand five hundred taels of gold; how much silver would that be?

Luxury goods!

These are definitely luxury goods!

The King of Wei's face darkened; this Prefect Liu, at such a young age, is so greedy for wealth! How is he supposed to handle this?

This glider, should he buy it or not?

Buy it!

Where would he find that much money? Empty out his family fortune?

Don't buy it?

What if other Feudatory Kings buy it? If one day they learn from this Qin Zhangfeng and fly over Qingzhou City, wouldn't he just be done for?

Are there any cheap ones?

Not a chance!

They must have applied for a patent!

Thinking of this, the King of Wei roared: "Buy, buy, buy! For Mandarin... for Mandarin, buy one thousand Standard Versions first!"

"Yes!"

They seemed to have already heard the King of Wei's heart bleeding.

All the Feudatory Kings of Longyan were actually roaring and cursing.

They were all cursing this Prefect Liu, truly worthy of being a merchant's son! Treacherous beyond compare!

This glider, it seems the cost is no more than a few hundred taels of silver.

Yet, in his Yinzhou Chamber of Commerce, it can be sold for over a hundred thousand taels!

Isn't it terrifying?

A bloodsucker!

A beast!

But, cursing aside, while they admired the ingenious idea of this glider, they still had to buy it.

As for pirated versions...

They had tried.

However, they lacked the most important material in the glider, which could only be produced in Yintan City: Refined Steel! Therefore, even if they wanted to make knock-offs, they could not do it.

So.

There is no Method.

They must buy it! If others buy it and we don't, can that be justified? Nowadays, who isn't guarding against others?

And so.

Orders from all corners of the Longyan Dynasty, from every direction and every corner of the land, flew one by one toward Yintan City.

"We're rich, we're rich!"

In Yintan City, Hu Xi'er was jumping for joy.

Qingyang Shuo chuckled: "This can truly earn a huge sum. Now, Yintan City has completely turned from deficit to profit. The expenses for the Grand Canal can also be completely wiped out."

Zheng Yue Ru also smiled happily.

The consumption of the Grand Canal was truly too great.

Now Liu Zheng had completely become the hands-off manager of Yintan City, and only the Chief Manager Zheng Yue Ru knew how truly difficult it was to be the head of the house. Over these past few months, the Grand Canal had been like a giant gold-devouring beast, forcing Yintan City to work overtime night after night, but even so, a deficit had still appeared.

Zheng Yue Ru was quite a capable hand at business, but she had still been forced to borrow from Peter to pay Paul.

Until today...

With orders for these Gliders flying in like snowflakes, and Yinzhou Coin, along with real gold and silver, being hauled into Yintan City cart by cart, she finally truly breathed a sigh of relief.

Based on these Glider orders alone, Yintan City would not have to worry about income for a year!

"Young Master, will this pricing be too high?"

At this moment.

Liu Zheng, Jiang Xuan, and the Liangzhou Army led by Xie Zhen were still advancing along the Waterway. After hearing that Shuzhou had been breached, Xie Zhen was truly impressed with his sworn brother to the point of prostration.

They flew in!

This Liangzhou Army could actually fly!

Taking Shuzhou within two hours—if this wasn't a divine soldier descending from heaven, what was?

With good news arriving from that side, the Yinzhou fleet here also picked up speed.

At this time, Xie Zhen truly set his mind at ease; at the very least, there was no need to worry about this unit becoming an isolated force.

Hearing Jiang Xuan's words, Liu Zheng chuckled: "Expensive? Do you think it's expensive?"

Don't make me laugh!

How much did an airplane cost in his past life?

How much did a fighter jet cost?

They would easily cost hundreds of millions or over a billion. He had realized their dream of flying, and the Top-tier Version was only a little over a hundred thousand taels of silver; was that expensive?

He knew that there would certainly be no shortage of people buying this Top-tier Version.

The more expensive it was, the more they would buy it!

In every era, there are people with such consumption habits.

Among those children of the royal and imperial families, who would be reluctant to buy one?

Let alone fighter jets.

Just look at wingsuit flying in later generations; among those who dare to play wingsuit flying, who doesn't have a net worth in the hundreds of millions? Just for that equipment, if you don't have one or two million, can you even play it?

Therefore.

What did his ten or twenty thousand taels of silver count for?

If you have the ability, don't buy it!

If you don't buy it, you'll have to wait to be beaten!

Liu Zheng now understood why the United States of later generations was so rich—arms dealers, the world's largest arms dealers! And Liu Zheng was now the country's largest arms dealer; of course, his goal was also to be the world's largest!

As long as these were settled, why worry about money?

Naturally, it would roll in continuously.

"Young Master, we are only one day away from Yongan Port."

Just then, Xiao Qi at his side reminded him.

"Oh?"

Liu Zheng's eyes lit up.

This military operation by Qin Zhangfeng was very smooth, and he had successfully besieged Wei to rescue Zhao, attracting the 150,000-strong army of the Southern Barbarians to Shuzhou. In fact, this situation was exactly what Liu Zheng wanted!

At this time.

This Sichuan-Shu War Plan could be considered to have reached its second step.

What was the second step?

The main force of the Southern Barbarians would abandon Jiangzhou to reinforce Shuzhou.

In this gap, Qin Zhangfeng would take Shuzhou, and once Shuzhou achieved military control, he could quietly await Xie Zhen's return. In such a situation, did they really think those other Prefects in Sichuan-Shu would still watch from the sidelines?

Absolutely not!

Of the three Crown Princes of Sichuan-Shu, one, Xie Yang, had already been removed.

Currently, only Xie Zhen and the Second Crown Prince Xie Chen remained.

Therefore, the next step was the third step of Liu Zheng's Sichuan-Shu War Plan! He wanted to win a great victory! If he completely took down Xie Chen, who was currently cowering in Yong'an.

What would those Prefects do?

You could think about it with your toes; they would instantly shout in support of Xie Zhen returning to Shu to inherit the throne—they might not be willing to provide help in a snowstorm, but who wouldn't be willing to add flowers to the brocade?

In this way, the Southern Barbarians currently wandering everywhere in Sichuan-Shu would soon be surrounded and wiped out by the armies sent out by these Prefects!

Therefore.

Liu Zheng had to win; these 150,000 Southern Barbarian troops wouldn't even be able to get close to Shuzhou, nor would they be able to return to Jiangzhou, and they would perish completely in the mountains of Chuan Shu.

"Good!"

At this moment, Liu Zheng was also full of confidence as he summoned the group of generals to come around the sand table.

……

"Shuzhou, just lost like that?"

At this moment.

Inside Yongan City.

This second Crown Prince of Chuan Shu was so furious he was jumping with rage: "Is this Xie Yang such a good-for-nothing? What is to be done? What is to be done?"

Now in Shu, quite a few people were already voicing support for Xie Zhen to return to Shuzhou and ascend the throne, which made Xie Chen feel a bit panicked.

His Military Advisor chuckled at his side: "Your Highness, there is no need to rush. We are not Xie Yang; he killed his father and murdered his brother, which is intolerable by Heavenly Principle. But Your Highness is merely holding Yongan and has not participated in that act which enrages both man and god."

Xie Chen was stunned: "What does the teacher mean?"

The Military Advisor stroked his beard and chuckled: "Therefore, we can advance to attack and retreat to defend. Besides, this Prefect Liu may not necessarily be able to defeat the Jingchu Navy."

Xie Chen nodded as well.

That's right.

He had not participated in the seizing of power and usurpation; the Prefects and commoners in Chuan Shu did not hold such deep hatred for him.

He was only in Yongan, after all...

Can't I visit my uncle's house?

"What if they lose?"

He asked hurriedly.

The Military Advisor said: "If Prefect Liu wins, Your Highness can welcome the eldest Crown Prince into Yongan. At most, we offend the Jingchu side, but what of it?"

"If Prefect Liu is defeated..." He

He gave a sinister laugh, a flash of killing intent in his eyes: "Neither Prefect Liu nor Xie Zhen can be left alive!"

"Good!"

Xie Chen was very happy.

In this way.

Of the three Crown Princes left behind by his father the King, only he would remain, so what was there to choose? Surely he would be the King of Shu! Only at this moment did he begin to feel grateful in his heart toward that good-for-nothing Xie Yang. Indeed, the nail that sticks out gets hammered down... By hiding here in Yongan, perhaps he could even be the one to laugh last!

At this moment.

Yongan Port was already facing a formidable enemy.

Ancient naval battles were mostly River Warfare.

What is River Warfare?

Leading an army deep into enemy territory to confront the enemy across a river, with the army intending to cross the river to capture the Empire's cities—this is River Warfare. Rivers, as the name implies, are rivers and streams, as well as mountains.

As it happens, Yongan was originally located in Chuan Shu, later seized by King Xiang of Jingzhou.

The Geography here was very well-suited for River Warfare.

Because ancient Zhongguo was different from Europe, the main stage for the fighting and living of ancient Zhongguo people was the East Asian continent, with inland rivers as the primary focus and offshore navigation as secondary. Therefore, in ancient Zhongguo, land warfare remained the mainstream. Naval warfare was in a subordinate position and was also entirely concentrated in the south. It was usually a war between two sides for control of the Yangtze River basin.

According to textual research, when the Zhou people conquered the Shang, they already utilized a "boat force." The Tang dynasty's *Classified Anthology of Literary Works* cites the *Six Secret Teachings*: "When King Wu conquered the Yin, he first set out on the river; Lü Shang was the rear general, and they crossed the river with forty-seven ships."

Permanent navies appeared during the Spring and Autumn period. According to the Song dynasty's *Comprehensive Examination of Literature* and the Spring and Autumn period's *Zuo Zhuan*, "The use of a boat force began with King Kang (of Chu)," and "The Viscount of Chu used a boat force to attack Wu," while the Han dynasty's *Annals of Wu and Yue* also recorded dozens of naval battles between Wu and Chu.

At that time, the three states of Wu, Chu, and Qi were all "naval" powers. Wu even launched a maritime surprise attack against Qi. King Fuchai of Wu, on one hand, allied with the three vassal states of Lu, Zhu, and Tan to attack Qi by land, and on the other hand, sent the Grand Master Xu Cheng to lead the boat force "from the sea into Qi." Qi also dispatched a boat force to intercept, and a great naval battle broke out between the two sides, with Wu ultimately being defeated.

Therefore.

At this time, the naval confrontation between the two sides was a method of naval warfare where one's own ship's side was brought close to the enemy's ship's side, and soldiers jumped over to engage in combat.

This was called a Boarding Battle.

The Boarding Battle was an international standard tactic, used until the seventeenth century.

Next.

The key point comes.

When Boarding Battle was still the mainstream in this era, what was the thing that tested people the most?

Was it combat power?

No!

It was Swimming ability!

And the reason Xie Chen, as well as King Xiang, were full of confidence was that as long as they were soldiers of the Jingchu Navy, most were like "White Streaks in the Waves," with superb Swimming ability!

Under such circumstances, how could the landlubber Liangzhou Army possibly win?

……

Therefore.

At this moment, the group of generals on Liu Zheng's side were discussing the same thing.

Don't look at the fact that Liu Zheng brought one hundred thousand Liangzhou Army troops.

But it is likely that among these one hundred thousand people... those who could swim would definitely not exceed fifty thousand! This was even after Xiao Qi's training, forcing the naval troops to learn Swimming. But despite this, there were not a few among them who were originally land troops. Moreover, even if they learned Swimming, could they run wild in the rivers of Chuan Shu?

No.

This was clearly not enough.

Thus, they also began to get a headache.