Raising chickens and pigs and digging for wild vegetables, the county magistrate's promotion wa

Chapter 788 Crash it! Crash it!

Commanding a fleet of sailing ships, however exhilarating, can never compare to commanding an ironclad fleet, especially the world's first ironclad fleet.

While the former can certainly destroy countless countries, the latter can also gain the special bonus of being remembered in history while destroying countless countries.

As for the possibility of a nation being destroyed also leaving a mark on history?

Let's call it a day.

The First Emperor destroyed the six kingdoms, but all he got in return was the phrase "The six kings are gone, and the world is one".

The first champion, Huo Qubing, beheaded 2,028 enemies, including the prime minister and the head of the household. He also killed the Xiongnu chieftain's grandfather, Xingji Ruohou Chan, and captured his uncle, Luogubi. In the end, he only achieved the "Fenglangjuxu" (a high-ranking official title).

The third, or rather the second in the true sense, Marquis Dou Xian ventured three thousand miles into the vast desert, inflicting a great defeat on the Northern Xiongnu at Mount Jiluo, reaching the northern part of the Hequ River, killing more than 13,000 people and capturing countless prisoners. He also left behind only the four characters "Yanran" inscribed on a stone.

And then there were those ruthless people from the Tang Dynasty.

There were a lot of ruthless people who could defeat ten thousand enemies with a hundred riders and settle the Tianshan Mountains with three arrows, and there were also ruthless people who could single-handedly borrow troops to destroy a country. However, these ruthless people did not manage to occupy a few lines in the history books.

After all, the historians were all civil officials. Those bastards were only concerned with glossing over victories to prevent military generals from becoming arrogant, while they would write extensively about defeats, as if they wanted to use the microscope of Dengzhou Medical College to find fault with them.

Therefore, if he wanted to occupy a few more lines in the history books, and not just leave behind the name of the loyal and valiant Duke Yu Tonghai, he had to find another way.

Yu Tongyuan stared intently at Yang Shaofeng and asked, "Can the Prince Consort really build a steam-powered ironclad ship without sails?"

Yang Shaofeng chuckled dryly and said, "Of course I didn't lie to the Marquis of Nan'an. However..."

Yu Tongyuan's heart tightened. Yang Shaofeng spread his hands and said, "I know what it is, but I don't know why it is. I know about ironclad warships, but I don't know how to build them. In the end, we still have to rely on the craftsmen to find a solution."

After a slight pause, Yang Shaofeng continued, "Moreover, as Marquis Nan'an just said, the amount of iron needed to build iron ships is countless. To gather all the required iron, we can only..."

Yu Tongyuan stared intently at Yang Shaofeng and pressed, "What can we do? Catch more short, ugly men to start mining?"

Zhu Biao responded without hesitation: "Arrest! Arrest as many as you can!"

Yang Shaofeng smiled and said, "Even if there were enough short and ugly mines, our Great Ming Dynasty doesn't have that many iron mines that can be mined in the open, and the quality of the iron ore is also very average."

"but……"

“There is a large island in southwestern Luzon with many high-quality iron ore deposits.”

Zhu Biao suddenly frowned and said, "The Book of Han, Geography section, records: 'There is a vast, deep sea where ships never stop sailing. The islands that are seen are beautiful, with lush vegetation, and the vegetation is gradually harvested and brought to the market.' Could the large island that my brother-in-law mentioned be the same large island that the Rinan Commandery explored during the Han Dynasty?"

Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback.

The Book of Han?

Australia?

How are these two completely unrelated words connected?

Or rather, how much have Ma Zi, his son, and his grandson with their rural-style aesthetics destroyed? How many records have they erased?

It makes no sense that the Book of Han, Geography section, already mentions that continent, yet the Ming Dynasty has no record of it whatsoever.

Otherwise, it could be that Zheng He slacked off during his voyages to the Western Ocean?

While mentally ranting, Yang Shaofeng said to Zhu Biao, "It's that big island."

"Although it is called a large island, it is actually a continent, and its area is not much smaller than that of the Ming Dynasty mainland."

"The iron ore on that big island is especially valuable."

Yu Tongyuan's eyes lit up, and he exclaimed, "Your Highness! As the saying goes, if you don't take what Heaven has given you, you will suffer the consequences."

“If we hadn’t known about that large island before, it wouldn’t have mattered. But now that we know, and it’s even recorded in the ‘Geography Records’ of the Han Dynasty, it means that the large island was originally part of the Han and Tang territories. If we can’t reclaim it…”

At this point, Yu Tongyuan glanced at the fleet that had already set sail, then turned to Yang Shaofeng and said, "Your Highness, the Dengzhou Shipyard still needs to build a few more treasure ships, and we should also build a few more large ships specifically for transporting people and goods."

Yu Tongyuan immediately started calculating on his fingers.

"Since that large island is about the same size as our Ming Dynasty mainland, there might be people on it, or even several countries."

"If there were multiple countries, it would be easier to deal with them. We could take some, attack others, occupy a port first, mine the mines, and then gradually encroach on the remaining countries."

"If it's just one country, then it's more troublesome. At the very least, we'll have to subdue them first."

"Yes, in any case, we need a fleet capable of destroying a country, and we also need to prepare more ammunition."

"There are more ships that transport people and goods, especially cargo ships. You can't dig up ore and iron but not be able to transport it back."

"If that were really the case, wouldn't the historians responsible for recording history be laughing their heads off?"

"We'll need a few more people who know how to prospect for iron ore."

At this point, Yu Tongyuan suddenly raised his head and looked at Zhu Biao, saying, "Your Highness, I request that a naval base be established in Rinan County, and that a strong force be separated from the Dengzhou Navy to form the South China Sea Fleet stationed in Rinan County."

Zhu Biao shook his head and said, "Champa is probably already preparing a naval base. At the latest, it will be within the next few months."

Looking at Zhu Biao and Yu Tongyuan, who were discussing earnestly, Yang Shaofeng couldn't help but say with a dark face, "Your Highness, Marquis of Nan'an, our Dengzhou Navy is already small in size, and you want to set aside another South China Sea Fleet?"

Zhu Biao raised his voice confidently and said, "We must separate the South China Sea Fleet, otherwise, even if the Dengzhou Navy is made of iron, how many nails can it hammer?"

"Let's put everything else aside and talk about the conquest of Japan. After we take down those short, ugly guys, we'll have to bring back Japan's gold and silver mines, right?"

"If too many ships are allocated to transporting gold and silver, the number of ships that can transport iron ore back to the Ming Dynasty from the big island will naturally decrease."

"Speaking of Japan..."

Zhu Biao suddenly stroked his chin, subtly winked at Yang Shaofeng, and whispered, "Brother-in-law, where's your royal command flag?"

Yang Shaofeng was slightly taken aback, pondering Zhu Biao's intentions, when Yu Tongyuan suddenly frowned and pointed to a small black dot on the distant sea, saying, "Your Highness, Your Highness, it looks like a ship is coming from there."

Zhu Biao said "Oh," took the rudimentary telescope from Yu Tongyuan, and after observing carefully, suddenly exclaimed, "Looks like a short, ugly boat?"

Short and stocky?

Yang Shaofeng immediately perked up and shouted, "Ram it! Ram it! This is a perfect test of the treasure ship's ramming capabilities!"

As Yang Shaofeng finished speaking, Zhu Biao and Yu Tongyuan stared at him dumbfounded.

Using a large ship of five thousand liters to ram a small sampan?