In fact, Li Xin's idea was not simply to let the soldiers board the ship and become part of the merchant fleet.
Most importantly, the merchant ships were fully armed.
Armed merchant ships become a fleet that, while not an army, possesses combat capabilities comparable to an army!
Only in this way can we secretly defeat the so-called "pirates" and protect the merchant ships.
Since arming is required, it naturally involves more than just soldiers.
Li Xin looked at Zhao Bingzhang and continued, "Our Dongning Manufacturing Bureau's Artillery Bureau is producing and manufacturing artillery, isn't it?"
Each merchant ship was equipped with a dozen or twenty guns.
If we encounter any pirates at sea again, we'll just blast them to smithereens!
"this……"
For a moment, Zhao Bingzhang was stunned.
He never expected that Li Xin would come up with such an idea.
It should be noted that allowing soldiers onto the ship was already quite outrageous.
Now, Li Xin also wants to set up cannons on the merchant ships, something that is not available anywhere else in the Great Gan Kingdom.
Each ship needs to be equipped with one or two dozen of these.
Is this a pirate raid?
In Southeast Asia, it's even possible to destroy a country!
Zhao Bingzhang gasped, staring at Li Xin in shock, speechless for a long time.
Even someone as intelligent as him doesn't have the same courage as Li Xin!
Mr. Zhao,
Turning to Zhao Bingzhang, Li Xin smiled and asked, "What do you think of this idea?"
Actually, this idea wasn't Li Xin's idea either.
Just recently, while searching for information on three-masted sailing warships in smart technology, Li Xin discovered that Western countries operated in this way during the Age of Exploration.
Only by arming merchant ships, making it profitable to sail the seas, and enabling them to defend themselves, can they gradually strengthen their own power and have the ability to colonize and expand!
In the early days, companies like the East India Company were mostly like this!
Only in this way could the magnificent Age of Exploration begin!
Dongning Province is still very weak.
However, if the merchant ships of the trading company could be armed earlier, perhaps we could usher in a great age of exploration in this era!
Of course, that's a story for another time!
After listening to Li Xin's words, Zhao Bingzhang pondered for a while and then said, "Under such circumstances, this approach is acceptable!"
Armoring merchant ships is the business of trading companies!
The merchants defended themselves and annihilated the so-called pirates. Even if the imperial court held them accountable, that was a matter between the merchants and the pirates, and had nothing to do with Dongning!
"Your Highness, that's a good idea!"
Zhao Bingzhang immediately expressed his agreement.
After deciding on the idea of arming merchant ships, Li Xin began to take some concrete measures.
First, the soldiers on each merchant ship can be filled by members of the Prince's Guard.
However, this should not affect the combat effectiveness of the Prince's Palace Guard.
After careful consideration, Li Xin formulated the retirement regulations for the soldiers of the Prince's Guard. The regulations stipulated that all soldiers aged 35 and above must be retired.
Furthermore, regulations were also established regarding the retirement age of officers in various combat units.
These retired officers and soldiers were organized to work in various merchant guilds as sailors and guards, protecting and protecting the guilds.
Alternatively, they could transfer to various district cooperatives to serve as key grassroots officials, maintaining the grassroots organizational strength of the district cooperatives in Dong Ninh province.
Alternatively, they could join militia groups, hunting teams, or other organizations to serve as second-line reserve personnel.
This is the first step!
The second measure was to transfer some of the shipbuilding technology to Qingyu Trading Company and Sunji Trading Company's shipyard.
These merchant firms upgraded and modified their own merchant ships in their own shipyards, adding firing ports to the hull.
The Dongning Manufacturing Bureau's Artillery Department also produced and manufactured artillery, which was then used to equip merchant ships.
In addition, after the Prince's Guard changed their uniforms, the weapons and equipment they left behind, such as crossbows, bows and arrows, broadswords and spears, were also sold to various merchants.
It even included some thunderbolts.
These weapons will also become standard equipment on the armed merchant ships of various trading companies.
Immediately, the Qingyu Trading Company shipyard in Dongning City carried out armed conversions on six merchant ships.
The cannons purchased from the artillery bureau were also installed on the ship's side.
A group of soldiers who had received artillery firing training were also demobilized and resettled in Qingyu Trading Company.
In just a few days, the armed transformation of the merchant ships has been completed.
In the past few days, Li Xin also summoned Hu Xueyong of Qingyu Trading Company and Sun Bin of Sunji Trading Company.
"Xueyong, Sun Bin,"
Looking at the two people in front of him, Li Xin said, "I have summoned you here today to discuss the matter of armed merchant ships."
"Your Highness, please give your orders."
Hu Xueyong cupped his hands in greeting.
Sun Bin, who was standing to the side, remained silent. He knew that Hu Xueyong was the closest person to His Highness.
"During this time,"
Li Xin nodded slightly and said, "Qingyu Trading Company and Sunji Trading Company have lost as many as eight or nine merchant ships in the waters of Qiantang and Lingnan."
These pirates were indeed despicable!
I've also heard that there's a pirate force off the coast of Qiantang, with as many as forty or fifty warships.
"Yes, Your Highness."
Sun Bin of Sun's Trading Company nodded and replied, "Some of these ships are clearly standard naval warships, and are even equipped with crossbows."
Their combat power is astonishing!
However, the name of the pirate Wang Zhi was displayed on the ship.
In their hands, we lost four fully loaded grain ships in one fell swoop.
"Yeah, yeah, that's really awful!"
Li Xin let out a long breath and said, "From now on, this situation will not happen again."
My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
