bookrebus Chapter 296
Chapter 296
"Every profession has its specialty. You can't expect a naval officer who commands ships to pilot an airplane, and likewise, an army soldier without proper training can't handle the sea.Even without an enemy attack, the ocean's storms and waves alone can overwhelm them."
An airplane? After more than half a year, the Yu family father and son heard this word again, though they still didn't quite understand what it specifically referred to. Judging from the name, it must be something that flies in the sky?
"But training a strong navy with sailors who know their way around water isn’t easy," he continued.
Most soldiers from the north are landlubbers. Even those who know how to swim aren’t necessarily fearless when facing the vast ocean.
Yue Fuguang didn’t understand these matters either but couldn’t help asking, "Grandfather, why doesn’t the court recruit new soldiers from fishermen along the coast?
If the military pay is sufficient, wouldn’t it be easy to enlist good young men who are familiar with the water?"
Currently, the treasury of Dayan, including the emperor’s private funds, is far from lacking silver.
Once the Sima family is dealt with, Emperor Mingxi will become even wealthier.
Yu Zhongchun’s eyes lit up with excitement, exclaiming, "Yes, Father, Fuguang’s idea is excellent! I’ve heard that although the south is prosperous, wealth is concentrated among officials and merchants. Ordinary people living by the sea or lakes have it harder than those inland.
As for the northern fishermen, their lives are even tougher."
So, if the military pay is generous, it’s truly possible to recruit a group of hardy lads who spend their days working with water.
Yu Chongshan thought this made sense. Whether it would succeed or not, only trying would tell. He nodded and said, "Alright, I’ll draft a memorial to submit later and see how His Majesty decides."
With this matter settled, Yue Fuguang brought up another point. She said, "I’ve heard from my friend, a maritime merchant, that overseas wealth far exceeds our imagination.
Grandfather, Father, uncles—have you ever considered building a few ships of our own for the Yu family?"
Once the big ships are built, Emperor Mingxi will surely promote maritime trade vigorously. Knowing that the outside world is so prosperous, there’s no reason to leave that wealth untapped.
This pie is too big; the royal family won’t and can’t eat it all alone without leaving some crumbs for others.
She believed many court officials would want a share, so the Yu family should prepare early. Most importantly, she wanted to go to sea herself—not just ride on someone else’s ship.
"So, Fuguang means our family should follow the trend and develop maritime trade?"
Yu Chongshan’s eyes brightened for a moment, but then hesitation crept in. "Our family has never been involved in this kind of business before.
We don’t have the personnel for it. If we recruit now—"
Yue Fuguang knew his concerns and smiled, "Grandfather, you forgot I have a friend who’s a maritime merchant! Let him help us train a few skilled hands, and problem solved."
[Master, are you really going to train sailors for the Yu family? Be honest, is it because you want to go out to sea yourself?]
"This isn’t difficult at all. When the time comes, we can just send over two puppet experts who know navigation, right? Just admit it—you want to go out and have some fun!"
The system was caught perfectly by Yue Fuguang, answering without hesitation, [Little Zhu obviously wants to go out and play.
If we’re going to sail, we definitely need to properly train these people.
Not to mention everything else—routes, monsoons, tides, and preparing supplies for the voyage. Who knows these better than us?]
“So, remember to pick two people to be ready. Even if the Yu family doesn’t set sail, we’ll prepare ourselves just in case Dayan ends up following the old path!”
Father and son of the Yu family both smiled inwardly. It turned out the child just wanted to go out and play. The sea was perilous, and knowing they couldn’t persuade her otherwise, they could only do their best to ensure her safety.
With that, Yu Chongshan made the decision, “Alright. Since Floating Light has this plan, then your grandfather will send someone to the south to check things out. It’d be best if we could buy a ready-made sea vessel and modify it ourselves—that way it’ll be faster.”
[Master, I also have a large sea ship here. When it’s time to set sail, we’ll take our own ship.]
“But does it have the storm-warding formation carved on it?”
“Not only warding off storms, but fire as well. It’s a pity the spiritual energy here is insufficient. Otherwise, it could even fly into the sky—making it even faster!”
A ship flying into the sky? What a magnificent sight that would be!
The father and son exchanged a sigh of regret. Why was it that Dayan lacked that kind of spiritual energy?
Still, the storm-warding formation Floating Light mentioned sounded like a great asset. If Floating Light set sail on such a ship, they would feel much more at ease.
“It’s a pity my divine power hasn’t fully recovered yet, or I’d carve the same formation onto other ships as well.”
Yu family father and son exchanged a look and understood. They had to find a way to have His Majesty promote Floating Light’s reputation again. What they originally planned to do after the bountiful harvest of high-yield breeds had to be started ahead of schedule.
It wasn’t enough for Floating Light to become famous just within Dayan; their merchant fleet had to venture farther.
Whether it would be profitable or not was secondary—what mattered most was spreading Floating Light’s name.
While the Yu family was busy both assembling their merchant fleet and sending trusted managers south to buy ships, after several rounds of disputes, the proposal to expand the new navy finally ended with Emperor Mingxi’s victory.
Following that, the emperor issued an edict to recruit naval troops along the coastal regions, and even those from inland who knew how to handle water were welcome to sign up.
Surprisingly, many able-bodied men from the civilian population signed up. Well, who could blame them? The court was offering generous pay!
Good food, high military salary—what’s not to like about joining the army?
When Yue Floating Light visited the Right Martial Guard’s new camp again, she heard that the navy had already recruited over two thousand men.
“Young Master, here is the roster of soldiers for your review.”
Wei Shouyi handed a roster over to Yue Floating Light.
“Little Zhu, are there any spies among these people?”
The moment Yue Floating Light asked, the dozen or so civil and military officers standing behind her all felt a chill in their hearts.
Cai Xian, Wei Shouyi, and the others exchanged glances. After thorough screening, they had identified eight suspicious individuals.
At this moment, they were even more anxious to find out if any had slipped through the cracks.
[Master, there are still five more. Hu Wei on page two, Tang Xiaoshan on page eight, Lin Daqing on page eleven, Guan Tang on page twenty-five, and Li Pi on page forty-seven.
These people are all infiltrators from other factions.]
Hearing those names, Wei Shouyi’s grip tightened until his knuckles cracked.
Because both His Majesty and the Young Master valued this new army of ten thousand men, Wei Shouyi was especially attentive. While he couldn’t claim to know every soldier, his frequent inspections of the camp meant he was familiar with many.
And these five stood out in every way—he actually knew all of them.
Moreover, he had already accepted that these five were definitely among the Young Master’s quota of five thousand.
And now you tell him that the sand they had been searching for so long was nearly all given away in one fell swoop to the Young Master.
If those people cause trouble at the Three-Way Crossing, I, Wei Shouyi, will bear the blame with my life!
Yue Fuguang memorized the faces of these few and then turned to the assembled officials behind her. "Gentlemen, how about accompanying me to the training grounds?"
Originally, she had come just to select a few people and didn’t need such a large entourage, but since they heard that Wei Shouyi was throwing a pig slaughter feast today—both to celebrate and to apologize—they were all eager for a taste of the meat and found every excuse to tag along.
If Emperor Mingxi hadn’t been tied up with urgent matters and unable to attend, he would have surely come to join the festivities as well.