Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 532 A Small Defeat
"Your Majesty...ahem...the Bohai Sea has already tested the Chu Navy enough. After that, we should guide the fleets of the major families, ahem...to form a group to compete with the Chu Navy. In addition, the shipyard of Qiaojiangying will also need to Increasing investment will not only support each family, but also increase control over the maritime power of each family. They must not be allowed to raise and build ships independently." Guo Jia told Cao Cao.

"Fengxiao, you should rest first. There won't be any large-scale war for the time being. When we really have to fight Han and Chu, we will need your help." Cao Cao quickly pushed Guo Jia back.

It turned out that Guo Jia was ill, and Cao Cao came here to see him today. How could he know that Guo Jia would start talking about official business once he saw Cao Cao?

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, I have this old problem that happens every year... Just get over it, it's nothing serious." Guo Jia said with a pale face.

In history without the White Rabbit Effect, Guo Jia died of illness this year - on Cao Cao's return journey after conquering Wuhuan in the north, Guo Jia, the most important counselor of Cao Wei, died of illness.

But now, not only did Cao Cao not take the initiative to conquer Wuhuan, but the slave-catching teams of major aristocratic families turned Wuhuan upside down, and... the fate of the Han Dynasty and Cao Cao's court separated, although it brought trouble to Cao Wei It's a small trouble, but it also saves Guo Jia from having to bear the pressure of "luck grafting".

Even if Guo Jia had used "the trend of the times" in front of Baitu, from seven aspects, leading Baitu's forces is more likely to be at a disadvantage, while Cao Cao's side is more likely to have an advantage, which also greatly overdraws the life span, but in general, the two After offsetting, Guo Jia's current health is better than the same period in history.

Although I don’t look very good now because I’m ill, it doesn’t look like I’m going to die this year…

When he saw Cao Cao and made suggestions, Guo Jia even seemed to have good energy - a month ago, in mid-May, Chu's navy was sunk by a main ship!
Wei Guoming expressed regret for this on the surface, but secretly he was very excited.

This is the first time in the past two years since the chaos in the Bohai Sea that the Chu Navy has reduced its main ship.

The result of this battle was that the five sea pirates supported by the Chen family, the Xun family, and the Zhong family "ambushed" a group of sea pirates at the entrance and exit of the Bohai Sea and the East China Sea, that is, in the sea area between Donglai and the middle of the Fried Seafood Peninsula. Bo Lingtong!
There was naturally nowhere to hide on the sea, but when Ling Tong discovered that the fleet was surrounded, it was too late.

Initially, the [-]-strong navy led by Ling Tong chased a large sea pirate fleet supported by the Zhong family, but fell into the siege of four other sea pirate fleets...

As a fleet backed by top aristocratic families, several pirates not only have well-equipped ships, but also have developed tactics similar to battle lines - although they use the inconvenient "improved version of the White Bus" as a means of long-range attack , but the principle is the same.

In contrast, the "new" main ship of the Chu Navy is mainly equipped with giant crossbows in terms of long range.

In the end, the combined fleet of pirates, under the tactics of being surrounded by wolves, achieved the result of sinking one main ship and four frigates of the Chu Navy, and capturing three frigates.

Ling Tong had no choice but to lead his army to break through the encirclement and retreat to the vicinity of Donglai Donggang.

Although he encountered the North Sea Fleet on the way and was vaguely hostile to the Chu Navy, after Lu Meng saw the flag clearly, he immediately sent troops to guide them, and there was no further direct conflict with the North Sea Fleet.

They are also main ships. There are no fewer than thirty pirate main ships sunk in the Bohai Sea, and one-third of them are the Huanglong battleships "plagiarized" and improved by Wei.

The pain was also more painful for the major aristocratic families in the Wei State. As a result, the Wei State also switched from cutting leeks at high prices to providing "subsidies" to each family's fleet.

At the beginning, Wei State still made a profit from selling ships, but now... it has to take a small loss to trade to various companies.

For example, the Huanglong Ship is a new type of main ship. Even if it's a first-class family, if it's not financially "trenched" and has a lot of liquidity, it will be painful to buy it, and you may even have to use your land tax as a mortgage.

Warships of other levels are also expensive...

However, the Chu navy's "meddling" in the Bohai Sea caused the pirates' profits to drop significantly, and it was even less effective to directly organize "plate armor mercenaries" to go to the north to cause trouble.

In order to maintain its influence on the sea, Wei State has not only lowered prices all the way, but has even begun to subsidize and provide loans to maintain the influence of "Wei Guoguo" on the Bohai Sea.

It seems that Wei State has lost a bit, but in fact, these pirate fleets, a large amount of income, eventually flowed into Wei State, which indirectly strengthened the national power.

This is exactly what Guo Jia said - in addition to strengthening his control over the Bohai Sea and obtaining considerable profits, it is also because... if we continue to lower the profit margins of various companies supporting the pirates at high prices, I am afraid that they will soon be Some people will boldly start the plan of "privately building warships" again.

This grand strategy of mobilizing the aristocratic families in the north and turning into a pack of wolves was conceived by Guo Jia and Cao Cao at the beginning, but today, Guo Jia has to admit that he is more and more able to see the disadvantages of it...

Is moral shortcomings one aspect, or... is it the essence?

Even if there is the idea of ​​"respecting the king and repelling the barbarians" as the moral basis for plundering the aliens, because this fig leaf is too reluctant, the matter has been criticized a lot by the major families in the Wei State, and some families have even been divided because of this.

On the other hand, probably because of this kind of playing with morality, many aristocratic families... especially the newly established wealthy families, began to become more and more difficult to control.

Guo Jia had never thought before that there would be such crazy people who dared to bet on family inheritance, and this kind of madness was still spreading. More and more wealthy families began to dare to gamble for higher profits. Family legacy.

Therefore, Guo Jia also began to remind Cao Cao that he must pay attention to control in this area!

……

After the battle report of Ling Tong's apology was sent to Jinling, Bai Tu discussed the matter emphatically at court.

Although one main ship was sunk in this battle, from the perspective of losses, the Chu Navy was actually not injured at all.

It’s just that before, I had been beating up the pirates, but now I was surrounded and sunk a main ship. Although it was a result with fewer enemies and more enemies, it also made people feel that the situation in the Bohai Sea had entered the next corner. .

In the court, Chu State even made the "cowardly" decision to order the navy to be more "cautious" in the Bohai Sea. To a certain extent, it was a concession in its control over the Bohai Sea and even the Seafood Peninsula. , which also made the pirates even more excited, and even had more "ideas" about the Chu Navy...

Of course, in order to save face, Chu State would not simply give in, but would also impose further sanctions on the "culprit"!

As the "chief culprit", Liu Zhang paid a heavy price to calm the "anger" of Chu...

(End of this chapter)