Father can be an enemy to the country

That night, Zhu Zhen left the palace.

Then he took the prince's warrant, opened the Jinchuan Gate, and came to the Longjiang Bao Shipyard.

He slept for half the night in the Tiju Yamen of the shipyard. At midnight, his eldest cousin woke him up.

After breakfast, Zhu Zhen got dressed and, surrounded by guards, arrived at the dock outside the shipyard.

At this time, it was not yet the fourth watch, the sky and the earth were pitch dark, but the lights on the dock were brightly lit, and the ten newly commissioned warships of the municipal fleet were ready to go.

Yu Tongyuan and Liao Dingguo led the generals to wait on the dock for a long time. The mid-autumn river breeze was already quite chilly, but their hearts were burning.

The soldiers had been looking forward to it day and night, and finally this day came...

~~

Before, they received a letter from the pirates, demanding that a huge ransom be paid within a month, otherwise they would kill one person a day.

But one month was obviously too tight. Excluding the time spent on the road, there was no time to maintain and repair the ten warships at the Bao Shipyard and put them into sea trials, let alone cast the cannons, install them, and train and run them in.

But this is not a problem for His Royal Highness the King of Chu. His Highness is well-organized.

Zhu Zhen asked Mr. Luo to write a reply to the pirates. Not only did he express his willingness to pay the ransom, but he also offered to pay double the ransom as long as they did not abuse the captured crew members and ensured that they all returned safely. !

The main thing is a sense of pride. Anyway, there is a group of wealthy people behind bars who pay for it...

At the same time, Zhu Zhen suggested that five million copper coins was too heavy, and an ox cart would have to pull at least seven hundred carts, so he suggested paying in gold instead.

I don’t know what the pirates’ reaction was when they received the letter. Anyway, Yu Tongyuan and Liao Dingguo’s gang were shocked first. They have been in the army for half their lives, and they feel that they have already seen through the things in the army. They say a coach should love his soldiers as much as his sons, but who really takes the lives of his men seriously?

Everyone was so moved that they secretly said that they had no choice but to take refuge with a child. Unexpectedly, the blessings of their father and brother's spirits in heaven would allow them to encounter the Ming Lord. Then he secretly made up his mind, no matter whether the rescue was successful or not, he would follow His Highness for the rest of his life.

A month later, they received a reply from the pirate, and the pirate was indeed very happy. Even his tone became much more humble because of His Highness's generosity.

They said that as soon as they received the letter, they stopped the "forced labor" of all their crew members and treated the sick and injured, but the bodies of the dozens who had died before could only be returned.

In addition, the pirates deeply agreed with His Highness's proposal to replace copper with gold, and apologized for their lack of knowledge. Therefore, the original one-month period was canceled and changed to two months later, near the Flower and Bird Island in the north of Hangzhou Bay.

Zhu Zhen wrote back and agreed.

After going back and forth, I gained an extra month. Everyone worked day and night, hurriedly and slowly, and finally completed all preparations for the expedition before the Mid-Autumn Festival.

~~

"Your Highness!" Yu Tongyuan and others saluted neatly to the prince riding the bull.

Zhu Zhen supported the bull's back and jumped off the Lamborghini.

With a bang, His Highness King Chu forgot that he was wearing heavy armor. He was not paying attention and almost knocked one of his subordinates.

Fortunately, my eldest cousin had quick eyesight and quick hands, and supported His Highness, so he didn't make a fool of himself.

Zhu Zhen straightened the golden swallow-winged helmet on his head, coughed and asked, "Are you all ready?"

"Report to Your Highness, everything is ready!" Yu Tongyuan pretended not to notice His Highness's mistake and said loudly with his head raised.

"Okay, let's go." Zhu Zhen said calmly, then held the seven-star sword on his waist and walked towards the gangway.

"Your Highness, you don't need to go." Yu Tongyuan hurriedly followed and persuaded: "Guns have no eyesight, and naval battles are more dangerous than infantry battles! How can your Highness, who has a body of thousands of gold, put himself in danger?!"

"How many cannons did the pirates have in total?" Zhu Zhen actually had an ideological struggle as to whether he should go into battle himself.

With his original personality, safety must come first. But perhaps due to the subtle influence of his brothers, he began to feel that he could no longer stay back. You have to go into battle when it's time to go into battle, otherwise how can you gain the allegiance of the soldiers?

In addition, there was another reason that scared people to death that he had to be on board. But because it would scare people to death, I can’t say it for now.

"They really don't have many cannons, but they have to be prepared just in case." Yu Tongyuan urged.

"If anything happens, I might choke to death if I drink water." Zhu Zhen said angrily: "I'm afraid of this or that, so I'll just wipe my neck."

"But the battlefield...it is indeed very dangerous." Yu Tongyuan said helplessly.

"Nan'an Marquis, listen." Zhu Zhen stood still and said sternly: "This king is not trying to be a hero, but because I came up with the new tactics. And they have never been used before. If I don't get on the ship, the soldiers will We will definitely be muttering in our hearts, whether this strategy can work, King Chu is not just talking about it on paper, right?"

"..." Yu Tongyuan was speechless because His Highness did the talking.

Time was too tight. They only practiced for ten days in total. They only practiced formations and never fired a single cannon on the ship...

Because first, they had to keep it secret, and second, they couldn't get enough shells and gunpowder in a hurry, so they could only save it for use on the battlefield. Therefore, the gunners relied on physical gestures, simulation training, and silent cannon fire.

Therefore, up and down, there was inevitably a lack of confidence. If it were not for the purpose of rescuing their comrades, the soldiers might even refuse to leave.

"So this time I must get on the ship. Only when the soldiers know that I am here will they have confidence. And confidence is the key to winning any war!" After Zhu Zhen finished speaking, he walked up the gangway without looking back.

"Your Highness..." The hesitant voice of Marquis Nan'an came from behind.

"What's wrong?!" Zhu Zhen was completely impatient.

"We are on the wrong ship. That's the flagship ship." Yu Tongyuan caught up with him and whispered.

"Uh..." Lao Liu blushed and coughed: "I will get on this boat first and pay a visit to the brothers. Do you have any objections?"

"No, no." Yu Tongyuan quickly shook his head and said, "I will accompany His Highness on the inspection."

~~

The soldiers were all surprised by His Highness's arrival.

I was even more happy when I heard that King Chu was going on the expedition with them. The doubts in my heart were instantly thrown away, and the morale increased visibly.

The soldiers' understanding was very simple. The life of the dignified prince was much more valuable than theirs. The sum of their crew members was not as valuable as His Highness alone.

Therefore, His Highness dares to board the ship, which shows that he has absolute confidence in his new method of warfare, rather than acting on a whim and on paper. This will naturally make everyone feel more at ease.

After all, Zhu Zhen inspected the source of his confidence - the bronze cannons he had spent huge sums of money to install.

In order to maintain confidentiality and protect the expensive cannons, the carpenters at the Bao Shipyard also built a sleeve for each cannon. At this time, each artillery piece was lying quietly in the wooden box, and no one could guess what was inside.

After looking at the lonely Zhu Zhen, he communicated with the gunner again. Because there were too many artillery pieces and not enough gunners, it was impossible to configure a gun crew for each artillery piece as he had expected. Instead, a gun crew is responsible for the left and right artillery.

"Fortunately, there are only a few times when two cannons fire at the same time." Liao Dingguo said sarcastically: "If that happens, just ask the sailors to come over and help carry the shells."

"Good guy." Zhu Zhen said in his heart after hearing this, this old Liao is really a born capitalist. Then he smiled at the gunners and said: "If he goes home to be a landlord, you must not go to his house to carry work, otherwise you will die from exhaustion."

"Your Majesty said it, we took note of it." The gunners laughed.

Amid the chatter and laughter, ten warships unloaded anchors and set sail one after another, heading east along the rolling Yangtze River in the slightly bright morning light.