"How much have we lost?"
"Two sank, and three were severely burned," Hai Rui answered honestly. "Most of the sailors who fell into the water were rescued. There are 29 killed or missing."
Trebuchets are not ineffective. They are certainly effective offensive weapons in naval battles. Which is more powerful, rockets or trebuchets? It's hard to say; it depends on a certain amount of luck.
"We captured over eighty of the enemy, two slightly damaged sailing ships, and thirteen relatively intact trebuchets."
That's not bad. Ma Yue nodded. With this kind of damage ratio, at least the rockets would be able to compete with the trebuchets at sea. Ma Yue's biggest worry was that even with the rockets, they would still be powerless to fight back. That would be the most frustrating thing.
Ma Yue didn't understand the so-called large-scale naval battles. He had only seen some battle examples in history books. He really didn't know whether they were effective or not.
With the actual combat experience of Hai Rui's squadron, Ma Yue felt a little more at ease.
"Hai Rui, your luck... is really good!" Ma Yue didn't know what to say. You said Hai Rui was not good, but look, he came back victorious soon. In such a vast ocean, he just happened to run into the enemy's attacking fleet?
Flint's fleet also went out, so why didn't we encounter them?
It is called Sea Area No. 1, but Sea Area No. 1 is very large. There were no telescopes in that era.
Ma Yue had nothing to say about a hardworking and dedicated general like Hai Rui.
"Third Priest, the navy has won a victory. Please help arrange the celebration and reward and condolences to the naval squadron..."
"Good!" The Third Priest was also nervous. He was well aware of the importance of the sea route. Regardless, Hai Rui's fleet had won the battle, and the tension in Haifan City had eased considerably.
The catapult was handed over to the deputy director of the tool manufacturing detachment, "Ban". Whether it could be imitated was crucial.
Ma Yue was somewhat disappointed. The captured enemy supplies contained fish oil, but not the oil he desired. If only it were oil, which would be cheap. How great would that be?
Not all oil needs to be extracted from oil wells. In ancient my country's Song Dynasty, the most famous Yanchuan liquefied oil was oil that naturally flowed out of the ground.
However, at that time, Shen Kuo, who discovered petroleum, did not use it for war, but used petroleum smoke to make ink for writing.
Oil is produced near water, mixed with sand, gravel and spring water, and slowly flows out.
The cost of making ink from petroleum smoke is much lower than that from pine wood, and the quality of the ink is also quite good. Why can't it be popularized? It's because the natural oil produced by this method is too rare, and it is impossible to popularize it nationwide.
If there is no such thing, then there is no such thing. I can’t be so lucky as to find naturally flowing petroleum liquid.
Fish oil, we still have to keep buying it, is it a war resource?
The enemy can find Sea Area No. 1, so obviously the route is no longer a secret.
Fortunately, Hai Rui intercepted it. If the enemy had attacked the White Mist Division, it would have been really troublesome. The White Mist Division can boil salt and build ships, which is actually very important.
The deputy squad leader reported that the trebuchets of the era were shockingly crude and would be easy to imitate. If we can't build one even with a ready-made model, the tool manufacturing detachment will be useless.
Deputy Director Ban said that the Hai tribe has the advantage of making copper and can imitate a better catapult.
Okay, it’s good enough that it can be made. As for whether it can be better, Ma Yue doesn’t have much hope.
Deputy Director Ban took two trebuchets out to sea. Wouldn't it be more convenient for Qiu Haicheng to build the trebuchets nearby? The bronze components are the most critical.
Ma Yue then interrogated some enemy prisoners, but he couldn't understand what they were saying. He asked the Third Priest, but he also frowned. Hai Rui and Shuichong also didn't understand.
That's not right. I don't understand the enemy's dialect. So how did they interrogate the captured Sea Tribe naval prisoners? The enemy clearly appeared in Sea Area No. 1...
Oh, it might be because the captives led the way. It seems that they can track the prisoners out to sea even though they don’t speak the language.
Rockets versus trebuchets, a naval battle based entirely on luck. What about flint? Wait.
Hai Rui's fleet has been replenished with new ships and sailors and set out again. Sea Area No. 1 must be blocked as much as possible. Since Hai Rui is lucky, you should go patrol the sea.
Ma Yue really hates naval battles. They're so exhausting, and if they keep going like this, their fish oil reserves are almost gone. He hopes the white trade fleet returns and can replenish some fish oil.
"Who? Who's here?"
"Niutou and Mamian are the two leaders of the Niupi tribe. They came with thousands of followers and said they wanted to join our Hai tribe." Shuichong said.
Interesting! Ma Yue certainly knew where the Niupi Tribe had gone. They'd joined the Sun Tribe. Did the Niupi Tribe flee when fighting broke out in Sun City? So, you joined the Sea Tribe? What's going on? Are you trying to make a comeback by borrowing chickens and eggs?
To be honest, Ma Yue is not very interested in recruiting people now. There are already enough people in the Hai Tribe. There are more than 20,000 people in Haifan City alone (including the north and south branches).
What were so many people for? Haifan City only maintained a population of 15,000, with the remainder gradually being split between the North and South divisions. These divisions now consisted of more than just regular and deputy soldiers. They also included both young and old soldiers, bringing the total population of each division to roughly 3,000.
Farming and grazing require manpower. Now the agriculture and animal husbandry in the northern and southern divisions are very developed. How can we not expand the manpower?
However, Ma Yue's cultivation was limited, and 30,000 people was already the limit. If there were more, the power of faith would not be able to accommodate them. Therefore, apart from the population born in the Hai tribe itself, Ma Yue was very cautious about recruiting new people.
There are many tribes, big and small, in this area that want to join the powerful Haifan City, but Haifan City refuses to accept them.
Ma Yue needed new ideas. There were too many grasslands in this area suitable for farming and grazing. The area that Haifan City could occupy was too small, and there were still restrictions on large tracts of fertile land.
"Taxes?"
"Yes, this area has a pleasant climate and good weather... Isn't that what we did back in the Seven Hundred Cities?"
"It's okay if you don't want to pay taxes, just stay away from us. The places further north and south are also very large."
Ma Yue, the three priests, and Shuichong were discussing the establishment of a protected area with the northern and southern divisions as the boundaries. If you want to accept the protection of the Sea Tribe, you must pay taxes.
"One percent?"
"That's too little. Twenty percent is fine."
A rough consensus was reached internally, and what remained was for the three priests and Shuichong to talk to the Niupi tribe.
Ma Yue needed a prosperous region; relying solely on the Sea Tribe's limited population wouldn't be enough. If more people came to this warm region to farm and graze, wouldn't the harvests of all tribes, large and small, increase? Don't be afraid of others becoming wealthy; when everyone is prosperous, there's more capital for trade, right?
"Twenty percent, twenty percent." Ox-Head and Horse-Faced agreed readily, not even considering the unprotected areas further south and north. For a tribe to survive, it had to either become strong or rely on the strong.
You want independence, who are you going to go to if you get beaten? This area is not a peaceful area. The Thunder God Tribe and the Qingfeng Tribe are still fighting fiercely in the core area.
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