Chapter 375 The First Phase of the Western Expedition Ends

After Gao Yuan released this fleet from the system space, the second surprise arrived.

There were actually people on the ships; they weren't empty. A full twenty thousand soldiers were aboard, which meant they immediately possessed combat capability.

Otherwise, transferring men from the other two fleets would not only waste a lot of time on the journey,

but it would also take a significant amount of time for the soldiers to familiarize themselves with the new ships.

Calculated this way, it would have taken at least a year or two to become combat-ready.

This massive fleet suddenly sailing into the waters of Guangzhou Bay startled the patrolling naval soldiers.

You see, with both major fleets currently away on expeditions, there were fewer than twenty newly launched Treasure Ships in the entire Guangzhou sea area.

In terms of both ship size and fleet scale, this fleet was clearly a force to be reckoned with.

Upon seeing this, the patrolling soldiers immediately fired warning flares to notify the port to set up defenses at once.

However, when the fleet broke through the morning mist and fully entered the view of these patrol boats, they were dumbfounded.

The soldier on the lookout tower shouted down as if he had seen something bizarre.

“Old Wang, Old Wang! You've got good eyes, come quick and see if my eyes are playing tricks on me...”

The soldier named Old Wang quickly climbed the lookout tower, and upon taking a closer look, his face was also filled with disbelief.

He rubbed his eyes and nudged his companion with his elbow.

“Are these Great Qian warships? But I've never seen them before!”

Soon, these massive Clipper Ships approached the patrol boats and pulled up directly alongside the lead vessel.

Then, a burly man standing at the bow bowed toward them and said:

“I am Deng Zilong, Commander-in-Chief of the Great Qian Guangzhou Fleet. Having completed my mission, I have come specifically to report back to His Highness Prince of Tang.”

The Brigade Commander of the patrol team didn't dare let this fleet into the port at will and hurriedly sent someone back for instructions.

About two hours later, the messenger boat returned.

Gao Yuan had known for a while that the fleet would arrive today, and since he happened to be coming to deliver new blueprints, he was at the port at that moment.

Upon hearing that the fleet had arrived, he immediately ordered for Deng Zilong and the fleet to be allowed into the port.

Gao Yuan would never have heard of a general like Deng Zilong if it weren't for the system's introduction.

However, after reading his introduction, Gao Yuan admired him quite a bit.

Although his abilities and record weren't particularly outstanding—the system only gave him a B- rating—he was a national hero who had sacrificed his life on the battlefield fighting against the Wokou.

Besides, Gao Yuan could no longer summon generals, so getting Deng Zilong was essentially a free bonus.

After seeing the Clipper Ships slowly sail into the port, the shipyard manager and the shipwrights were immediately excited.

The manager walked up to Gao Yuan's side with an excited expression.

“Your Highness, with this kind of new ship, why bother building Treasure Ships? Since the shipyard is idle lately, we might as well just start researching the new ships.”

Gao Yuan waved his hand.

“Keep some of the old production lines. We can continue building Treasure Ships, but remove the gun ports and convert them into merchant ships to sell to the traders.”

For years, the shipyard had been producing warships at full capacity, so there was essentially no profit.

This couldn't be a long-term solution; furthermore, because the ships were outdated, the trade convoys' efficiency was also very low.

Now that he had Clipper Ships, Gao Yuan planned to gradually phase out the Treasure Ships and sell them to the merchants.

Especially the six hundred heavy Treasure Ships from the two fleets; with a bit of modification, they could definitely be sold for a good price.

Gao Yuan had said this himself at noon, and by evening, someone from Chu Weiguo's residence came to visit.

The purpose was naturally simple: to reserve the first batch of modified Treasure Ships.

Chu Weiguo held a unique status—one daughter and one niece were both Princess Consorts, and he held authority over the Maritime Trade Office.

So, even though he didn't lack money, those merchants still sent him gifts box by box.

This inevitably made Chu Weiguo a bit nervous. Although Prince of Tang was his son-in-law, and the Emperor was sisters with his daughter and niece.

But he was a man of the world and understood the principle that the imperial family could be heartless.

Receiving gifts so blatantly, he feared both displeasing the Emperor and his son-in-law, as well as affecting his daughter and niece.

To his surprise, before he could even decide whether to submit a memorial to confess his guilt, Gao Yuan sent someone with a message.

Accept any money or wealth offered with peace of mind, and then divide the money into three parts:

One part goes to the state treasury for shipyard expansion, one part to the Inner Treasury for Yang Xin and Chu Yue, and Chu Weiguo keeps one part for himself.

Gao Yuan still remembered that Chu Weiguo and his wife, Nie Hongxia, had given up tens of billions in family assets to come here.

So, taking this opportunity, he was also compensating his father-in-law.

With Gao Yuan's order, Chu Weiguo felt much more at ease collecting the money.

As for the sale of the Treasure Ships, Gao Yuan also gave Chu Weiguo full authority.

A heavy Treasure Ship cost about twenty thousand guan to build, with modification costs around one thousand guan.

Gao Yuan gave Chu Weiguo a base price of twenty-five thousand guan; for any amount above that, Chu Weiguo could take a ten percent commission.

With a clear plan, Chu Weiguo immediately demonstrated his capabilities as a leader of a large trading company.

In just two months, before the modifications to the Treasure Ships had even begun, Chu Weiguo had already signed orders for over four hundred ships and collected over four hundred thousand guan in deposits.

With these deposits, the funds for the shipyard expansion and the Treasure Ship modifications were all secured.

As Clipper Ships gradually began to be launched from the shipyard, starting from July in the 24th year of Great Qian, Treasure Ships were slowly being replaced and brought back for modification.

These heavy Treasure Ships with excellent cargo capacity were converted into merchant ships after their cannons and ballistae were removed.

Relying on these high-performance Treasure Ships, Great Qian's merchant convoys traveled further and further, bringing back more and more products.

A large volume of products manufactured in Great Qian was sold everywhere, bringing back massive wealth to Great Qian.

Heavy Treasure Ships were retired from combat service, and light Treasure Ships also gradually withdrew from the navy.

Gao Yuan ordered all these light Treasure Ships to be gathered together to form an inland river fleet.

This was in preparation for future offensives to the north by crossing the Yangtze River, the Huai River, and the Yellow River.

Throughout the 24th year of Great Qian, Gao Yuan was busy with naval affairs.

It was also in this year that the two legions concluded their campaigns and stopped to consolidate their gains.

After capturing Dunhuang, the Anxi Army Corps was ordered to halt its advance and begin stabilizing the defense lines and clearing out remnants of the enemy.

In particular, the qiang people tribes within the territory were to be broken up and resettled in the interior according to Gao Yuan's orders.

Anyone who did not comply with the arrangements would be physically eliminated on the spot; Gao Yuan would not be soft-hearted toward these repeatedly rebellious alien races.

These qiang people had indeed attempted to resist Gao Yuan's policies.

The result was the iron hooves and steel blades of the Qian Army; in just half a year, tens of thousands of young and able-bodied qiang people were killed.

Their wives, children, and the elderly were either distributed among the Qian Army soldiers or sold as slaves to build roads and dig mines.

After this, the last shreds of illusion held by those qiang people tribal leaders were completely shattered.

They could only grit their teeth and express support for Gao Yuan's policies, then honestly migrate inland and be broken up for resettlement.

Although the qiang people were numerous, once broken up, only about a dozen households were settled in each county.

In an era of undeveloped transportation and communication, this essentially cut off their opportunities to conspire with one another.

Without being able to gather, these foreigners lost the ability to assemble and cause trouble.

As time passed and they grew accustomed to the good life of farming and weaving, of being well-fed and warmly clothed, the qiang people would no longer miss their homeland of swirling sand.

Meanwhile, a large number of Han commoners migrated west into the originally desolate Western Liang region.

Enjoying the preferential policies provided by Gao Yuan and relying on the excellent qualities of the Han people—hard work and endurance—they began to take root in the Northwest.

In just a few generations, the sandstorms in the Northwest grew less frequent, oases became more numerous, and eventually, food self-sufficiency was basically achieved.