On the flagship of the temporary detachment of the Han River, the Sea Shark-class battleship named Kokang, the first mate looked at the more and more enemy merchant ships slowly gathering behind him under the interception of his own fleet, and touched his pipe with some irritation.

He is an old smoker, and after being accustomed to smoking unadulterated tobacco leaves, he is not very accustomed to the cigarettes sold in China, so he usually asks his family to send him tobacco leaves, cut them himself, and smoke them with a pipe.

However, he immediately reacted again, and what he was now on was not a fast crab, but a Sea Shark-class steam-powered warship.

Because this Sea Shark-class battleship has several coal bunkers and stores a large amount of high-quality coal, for safety reasons, smoking is strictly prohibited on this ship, except for a specific smoking room.

Turning his head to look at the smoking room, which was smoky, almost as if it was on fire, the first mate shook his head helplessly.

The officers and soldiers in each cabin took turns to come up to smoke according to the prescribed time, and now it happened that some of the soldiers in the engine room came up to rest.

He was too embarrassed to compete for a limited number of smoking spots with these soldiers who had worked all year round in the bilge to burn coal and could only occasionally come up to breathe.

Reluctantly, he put the pipe and match back.

However, he has served in the front-line combat units all the year round, and he is still quite addicted to smoking, and he is itchy and uncomfortable for a while, so he has to take out a tobacco leaf and chew it, which can be regarded as a slight relief from fatigue.

At this moment, a naval officer walked over and greeted him familiarly.

"First mate, it's not time to eat yet, what are you going to eat?"

"Lao Huang, you're up too! Alas, I was a little worried, so chewing two tobacco leaves relieved my fatigue. ”

"I'll wipe it, hurry up and spit it out, my first comrade, are you Biao, can you chew tobacco at will, do you know how many harmful substances are in it, don't you die?"

Lao Huang was in a hurry, and when he came up, he was about to take out the tobacco leaves from the first mate's mouth.

The first mate waved his hand, "Don't don't, I'm not good." Don't worry, I'm an old smoker, and I used to chew a lot, and I know how heavy it is. ”

Lao Huang was relieved to see that the first mate had no adverse reactions. But when he said that he knew the severity, he was furious again, "You know a fart." ”

After looking left and right as he spoke, he leaned into the first mate and whispered, "Last time, I went to the Military Intelligence Bureau for training, and in their laboratory, I saw an experiment they were doing.

Those guys just extracted something from the tobacco leaves and injected it into the body of the experiment, causing an extremely terrifying effect.

This stuff is extremely addictive, extremely difficult to quit, and can also cause great harm to internal organs and blood while reducing appetite.

You don't know, when I left, the test subject, like crazy, turned into a ghost, extremely terrifying. ”

After that, he moved away from the first mate a little, and then patted the other party's shoulder and comforted, "You can have a snack, brother." ”

"Phew, Bah······" The first mate was horrified when he heard it, and hurriedly spit out the tobacco leaves in his mouth, and said with palpitations, "Is it really such an exaggeration? ”

Lao Huang glanced at the first mate again: "Otherwise, why do you think the king would desperately reduce this financial resource and find a way to reduce the number of smokers?" As he spoke, he handed over a handkerchief.

The first mate took the handkerchief and wiped the stains on the corner of his mouth, "It's still your intelligence department that is powerful, and you can always get first-hand information." ”

Lao Huang glanced at a sailor walking not far away, lowered his voice and said, "I'm just telling you, don't tell others, although the secrecy level of this experiment is not high, but, after all, it is a matter of the intelligence department, and it is inconvenient to spread it." ”

The first mate also glanced around, and at the same time promised, "Don't worry, what is the relationship between the two of us, I can betray you." ”

Lao Huang smiled, "I just told you this because I was relieved of you." As he spoke, he consciously changed the subject, "What bothered you just now?" It's worth your discomfort. ”

The first mate took a breath of moist air and said in distress again, "I'm just worried that there are too many of these merchant ships we have detained, and I am afraid that something will go wrong in the middle and cause adverse consequences."

When I made the plan, I didn't expect that there would be so many merchant ships on this river.

Intelligence, it doesn't mean that the trade routes between the Korean Kingdom and the Houjin side are blocked, and commerce is withering, but now, in just a short period of time, we have detained at least 30 merchant ships. Can this also be called commercial withering? ”

When Lao Huang heard this, he was also helpless, and explained, "Alas, it is indeed right to say that commerce in these two countries is withering.

On the Houjin side, since Nurhachi's time, he has been a hanging look, and has never paid attention to domestic commerce.

On the side of the Korean Kingdom, there were many warlords in various places, and land transportation was simply rotten to the extreme, and commerce naturally could not flourish. ”

The first mate pointed to the dozens of merchant ships escorted behind the battleship and asked, "So, what's going on?" ”

Lao Huang shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands out, "Smuggling." ”

The first mate almost didn't hold back his breath: "Smuggling? "You tease me?" ”

"Who has the time to tease you, these are smugglers on a commercial route that has emerged in the last two years."

The first mate said with an exaggerated expression of a demon, "The Korean Peninsula, the Japanese Kingdom, the Ming Yellow Sea, the entire sea area has been blocked by us.

The power of the Korean Kingdom and Houjin on the Korean Peninsula, they are not even self-sufficient, what can they smuggle?

Also, who are they smuggling to? Who can come and receive the goods from under the noses of our kingdom's navy and the defenders of Ganghwa Island? Are you impatient? ”

Lao Huang stared at the first mate with a strange expression, squeezed his eyes and said, "What goods can they have, don't you know?" Didn't you take your recent politics lesson? ”

"Recent political lessons? What was said? I had something at home, so I didn't go on leave. ”

"It's about how to shear sheep from neighboring countries and supplement our economy. It discusses in detail several new economic strategies that China is now experimenting with. ”

The first mate casually asked, "What does this have to do with the smuggling of enemy countries?" Then he was suddenly stunned, looked at Lao Huang dumbfounded, and asked, "All of this was done by our own people?" ”

Lao Huang nodded slightly.

The first mate said happily, "I'm rubbing, I'm still worried that there are not enough people to guard more and more merchant ships, so what are you waiting for, just let these people go, what the effort!" ”

Lao Huang pressed the anxious first mate, "Why are you in a hurry, I haven't finished talking yet." ”

The first mate stopped his movements and tilted his head, motioning for the other party to continue.