The construction of the bridge has been going smoothly, and the training of the captains and friars has indeed been smooth sailing, but the issuance of maritime trade permits has stalled, and only one has been issued throughout December.

Tang Yaozu is the palace envoy of the Manifestation Palace, and although he has always been very difficult in the deployment of overseas fine work, he has always gained something. At the third joint meeting of the institutions in Beijing held before the end of the year, he explained to the public:

"According to the news that came back, at the island owners' meeting convened by Lingao Island, one of the island owners responded to his call, and the number we got was thirty-two islands, but some people said that it was forty-four. As you know, it is very difficult to distinguish between overseas forces, and some island owners have a lot of islands, such as Wutong Daoren, the main island is on Lingao Island, but there are eight island owners who surrender to him. Another example is the people who listen to the wind road, everyone is more familiar with it, and the Fallen Leaf Island is actually composed of three islands......"

"The Wutong Dao people formed a fleet, and the owners of each island brought their ships into the group, and they proposed to block the sea routes of the entire East China Sea. At present, the latest progress has extended the patrol waters to the first line of Deciduous Island. ”

Li Dayin asked, "Fallen Leaf Island has also joined them?"

Tang Yaozu said: "We haven't received any news about this yet, we only know that the people of Tingfeng Dao have always been at odds with the Wutong Dao people, but after the Lingao Island Conference, in the face of the rapidly expanding forces of Lingao Island, it is difficult to say whether he still has the courage to confront the Wutong Dao people." ”

Lu Yuanyuan was puzzled and said: "Lingao Island is doing this, isn't it self-isolation from the Daomen? They don't want to go ashore to sell seafood? We don't sell them food and clothes, what do they wear, what do they eat?"

Tang Yaozu explained to her: "Lingao Island can buy rice from the South China Sea, and it is said that the peninsula over there is extremely rich in products......

"Peninsula?"

"It is the south of the 100,000 mountains in the south of Yunnan...... Let's not talk about this place, in fact, what we are most worried about is that they forcibly go ashore to rob, which will cause chaos in the place, and the losses will be very heavy. ”

Lu Xixing said: "Did they send someone ashore to convey their request to the Daomen?"

Tang Yaozu said: "Very likely, we are also waiting." ”

Lu Xixing said: "If they make a request, I hope to delay as much time as possible, our anti-smuggling fleet has not yet taken shape, and the ships that can fight have just been put on the slipway." It is better to be able to delay it for more than half a year. ”

Li Dayin said: "This is not a solution, it is too passive, not to mention that Lingao Island will not wait for us to build a ship." ”

Lu Xixing said: "It's really not good, let's start the beheading plan?"

Everyone's eyes turned to Zhao Ran in unison, waiting for him to make a statement.

Zhao Ran thought for a moment and said, "Let's put aside the new maritime order we talked about before, let's just talk about beheading." As far as I know, there are at least two Great Demon Shapeshifters on the side of Lingao Island, and there is also a Great Demon Spirit Fox Ancestor who is demonizing the Hell Sea. We don't know what the strength of the Spirit Fox Ancestor is, but there are at least three great demons in different transformation states that we know. What is the relationship between these big demons and the Wutong Dao people, have we figured it out?"

Tang Yaozu shook his head, and Zhao Ran nodded: "The storm on the sea is treacherous, the location is unknown, if you are in distress this time, the Daomen will not be able to support you." Since we don't know the relationship between these shape-shifting demons and the Wutong Dao people, we must consider it leniently, such a decapitation force, how many Merge Dao Dao Cultivators, how many Void Refining? For such a decapitation, will there be the possibility of losing Merge Dao or Void Refining? After the decapitation is successful, what should we do in the face of the next Wutong Dao person?"

Speaking of this, Zhao Ran made a decision: "I'm not against the beheading plan, this plan needs two conditions, first, we need to have a fleet that can control the sea, and after the beheading, we can firmly hold the results of the battle in the palm of our hands; second, we need to have extremely accurate information to ensure that there will be no major accidental casualties." ”

After Zhao Ran finished speaking, everyone was silent, and after a while, Li Dayin said: "Then let's put together a fleet first, well, the fleet, and use it for emergencies." The pirates' ships are actually just merchant ships, and they are just equipped with defensive equipment. They can, and so can we, requisition ships from the merchants now, and first gather eight or ten of them, and go to sea to deter them, and perhaps try to drag our ships to sea. ”

Everyone agrees with this method, and Zhao Ran agrees with it. The situation changes quickly, and if you want to wait until the new ship is launched, perhaps the coast has become a sieve for the dew.

A merchant ship of 500 materials is about 5 or 6,000 taels of silver, although it is a second-hand old ship, but if you want to get a ship in a hurry, you can only buy it at the price of a new ship, and the owner may not be willing to sell it.

Coupled with some auxiliary ships of two or three hundred materials, and even fast sentry ships of about one hundred materials, the budget for the purchase of ships is 80,000 taels, and this silver is paid by Zhao Ran from Ji Mingguan's account.

There is no way, so far, Zhao Ran and the others have tried their best to control this matter within the scope of "anti-smuggling" - although they feel that they are about to lose control, so the silver has to be paid by Ji Mingguan.

As for the battle weapon on the ship, Lu Xixing has already said on behalf of Lei Xiao Pavilion that it will be equipped by Lei Xiao Pavilion.

Zhao Ran glanced at everyone present, Li Dayin had already raised his hand high: "I'll be in charge of buying ships, on the ground in Beijing, I am still more familiar with it, which one has been a maritime businessman, which one has a ship, I have a rough spectrum in my heart, and I promise to put together the fleet for you before February next year." Rest assured, the accounts will not give you mess around, it will be clear!"

Everyone laughed, and Zhao Ran said with a smile: "Lao Li is one of the principals of the captain's training class, and you are also the founder of the anti-smuggling fleet when the anti-smuggling fleet is built in the future." I must know better than all of us here about what ships can go to sea to fight, and I can rest assured that this matter will be left to you. ”

After speaking, he turned to Lu Xixing again: "The crossbow heavy artillery, fire dragon cannon, water dragon cannon, etc., which are needed on the ship, please ask Senior Brother Lu to work hard." ”

Lu Xixing immediately agreed: "Don't worry, I will immediately apply for Lei Xiao Pavilion for allocation." ”

After pondering for a moment, Zhao Ran said again: "Of course, if the situation is really urgent, or if the Wutong Daoist really does something that is indignant to the people and gods, if the news is confirmed, we will not give up the possibility of implementing the beheading plan, which will require the efforts of the Daoists of the Manifestation Palace." ”

Tang Yaozu nodded: "This is what we should do." ”

"In addition, please also pay attention to Senior Brother Wei, Lingao Island will definitely send someone ashore to inquire about our movements, such spies, if they can catch one or two, it will be of great help for us to understand their arrangement." ”

After the joint coordination meeting, the New Year of Longqing arrived on New Year's Day, and Zhao Ran was in a nervous mood while participating in various affairs such as the Zhengdan Dynasty Meeting, presiding over the Wenchang Guanzhai Jiao Festival, and participating in condolences and visits. He hadn't experienced such a mood for a long time, and the last time he was so nervous was before the Red Plains Defensive War.

On the fourteenth day of the first lunar month, Zhao Ranzheng and Rong Niang were enjoying the snow in the spring breeze and the moon, so they listened to the steward's announcement: "There was a monk from the East China Sea who asked to see him, and he said that his surname was Yang and his name was advanced. ”