I Have A Martial Dao World

The Zhenhai Fleet's warships were mostly purchased from Jiade, with only simple maintenance capabilities of their own.

After the naval battle with Izumo which left them with severe damages, only a few gunboats are currently seaworthy, while all others have lost their combat capabilities within the port.

Yet, the conquest of Goryeo places sea power as the utmost priority!

The two countries are separated by the sea, making it extremely convenient to transport troops and supplies through both sea and land; more so as Goryeo is a peninsula, controlling the sea equates to holding the initiative in the war.

Therefore, it is urgent to reorganize the navy!

However, the matter involves too much and cannot be resolved by simply issuing an imperial decree and allocating funds.

Li Pei was already worried, and now her own master had added fuel to the fire.

Yu Yanmei arrived gracefully, carrying three swords with her.

The Longquan Sword and Tai'a were at her waist, while the Lake Sword was on her back.

"Master, why are you carrying three swords? It looks odd."

"Fran insists on following me; I had no choice but to bring them along," explained Yu Yanmei with a helpless expression, then she stated her purpose,

"Deng Boxiang from the Zhenhai Fleet asked me to speak on their behalf for the reconstruction of the fleet. See what you can do, help if you can."

Yu Yanmei had fought alongside these naval officers and knew of their valor; she wanted to help them in her heart.

Li Pei nodded and said, "I also wish to rebuild the navy, but there are many difficulties... Let's discuss it with a few ministers first. If it doesn't work, we'll ask Lu Yao for help."

~~~~~~~~~

Li Pei immediately summoned several high officials for discussion.

After her ascension, she had used the Imperial Palace merely as an office and rarely resided there.

Thus, following Lu Yao's suggestion, she placed the Six Ministries and most other government agencies inside the Imperial City, allotting palaces as office spaces.

The departments were close to each other, allowing for timely communication and a substantial increase in efficiency.

At the moment, it took less than a quarter of an hour for Zhang Jin to lead several high officials over.

The one leading was the Prime Minister, Zhang Wenda, followed by Yan Jingming, the Minister of Revenue.

The Minister of Works looked fairly young and was none other than Zuo Xiaowei.

Having a Great Grandmaster for a father yet only reaching marrow-cleansing at over 30 showed his lack of interest in the Martial Path.

He was keen on engineering and construction, so he went along with his heart's desires and took up the position of Minister of Works.

After bowing respectfully, the three of them reviewed the memorial concerning the Zhenhai Fleet presented by Li Pei.

"Admiral Ding Xianda has once again lamented to Us that his flagship is stranded at sea, and the entire fleet only has a few sampans that can go to sea. What do My ministers think?"

Zhang Wenda contemplated briefly before speaking first,

"Sometime ago, the Zhenhai Fleet attempted to repair the Dingyuan Ship themselves, but due to unknown damages during the repairs, it got stranded before even leaving the port.

The importance of sea defenses is well known; in my view, we might as well take the opportunity of the Goryeo campaign to reorganize the fleet."

Yan Jingming was the second to speak, "This old official has no objections, and will certainly do his utmost to cooperate."

Next should have been Zuo Xiaowei's turn to speak, but he furrowed his brows and pondered for a long while before saying,

"The Zhenhai Fleet's warships are severely damaged; the costs of repairs and building new ones are much the same.

Moreover, having been through the ordeal of a world war, shipbuilding, especially battleships, has undergone significant advancements.

The Zhenhai Fleet's previous ships are somewhat outdated, and even if we restore them with great effort, they won't be of much use..."

Everyone's brows were furrowed; indeed, the most effortless solution would be to purchase new ones.

But the original partner, Jiade, was preoccupied with its own affairs; the Great Yi Dynasty did not acknowledge the unequal treaties signed by the Shun Dynasty and faced opposition from the powers, so it was also impossible to purchase battleships.

The matter was suddenly at an impasse.

Seeing the difficulty surpassing her expectations, Li Pei simply said, "Let's set this aside for now; I will find a way."

The three ministers below knew their sovereign would inevitably have to seek help from the True Lord back home.

Zuo Xiaowei spoke more closely to Lu Yao's family and now addressed the emperor directly, "As the campaign approaches, please think of a solution quickly."

At this moment, everyone was somewhat curious: The True Lord had a Cave Heaven Minor World with abundant resources, but did he have any battleships?

If there really were large battleships... that would mean there were oceans in the minor world!

~~~~~~~~~~~~
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Jing Yi Garden.

It was now the fourth day after Lu Yao had made his breakthrough, and he had already stabilized his realm.

He went with the Liao Family Sisters to the training ground to test the strength of his body with various firearms, starting with large-caliber weapons, skipping small-caliber firearms altogether!

Liao Qe hoisted a terrifying weapon with a two-meter barrel and six gunpipes, the 200 kg weight slight in her hands.

Aiming at her beloved, she called out in a delicate voice, "I'm going to fire~"

Lu Yao beckoned, "Come on~"

As he readied himself, Liao Qe pulled the trigger.

Among the deafening noise akin to a jackhammer drilling through a wall, six gunpipes rotated and spewed out half-meter-long flames. The 20mm caliber cannonballs erupted like a storm.

Facing firepower that could easily tear through armored vehicles, Lu Yao's thoughts shifted, and his entire body was enveloped in surging True Qi.

This peculiar life energy instantly fortified every cell, making their toughness and tear resistance reach an unimaginable level, surpassing Kevlar!

At this moment, the composition of proteins in Lu Yao's body was somewhat similar to a miraculous material—spider silk!

This seemingly insignificant substance produced by these little creatures had a strength that is 5-10 times that of steel!

Of course, Lu Yao wasn't yet at this level, but he was sufficient to withstand the attack of the Fire God Cannon!

Each cannonball shattered upon impact against his body, sparking a dense shower of sparks and scattering high-temperature metal shards.

The places where Lu Yao was hit only showed some fine cracks, and occasionally a well-angled shot would penetrate the skin, but it would be either caught or deflected by his muscles.

After a round of shooting, the gunfire ceased.

Having endured 30 cannonballs, Lu Yao only suffered some minor superficial injuries, which were visibly healing at a rapid pace.

The Liao Family Sisters hurried over, touching the naturally robust body of the man and exclaimed in admiration,

"Worthy of the Flesh Realm! To think you're fine after taking those shots!"

Lu Yao smiled and made a judgement,

"I'm not yet completely immune to the damage of the Fire God Cannon, but handling a hundred or so shots should be no problem. I do need to find sturdier clothes, though, to prevent becoming undressed in the midst of battle."

The higher the realm, the greater the intensity of battle, and one wouldn't have the energy to care about clothing.

Liao Qe teased him cheerfully, "Your body looks pretty good right now, just leave it bare~"

As she spoke, she touched her beloved's well-shaped pectoral muscles, and Lu Yao also reciprocated, causing the girl to giggle.

Just then, another voice came—"That won't do; who knows how many temptresses it will lure!"

It turned out that Li Pei and Yu Yanmei had returned, wanting to discuss the issue of the "lack of ships" with Lu Yao.

"What's up, is there a problem?"

"Yes, there's a tricky issue."

Li Pei said somewhat embarrassedly, "The Zhenhai Fleet needs battleships. With battleships, we can control the sea. Do you have a solution, husband?"

This was no small problem. However, Lu Yao's eyes lit up—a "Iowa-class battleship" was still in the Space-Time Bubble.

He had casually stolen it from Star Alliance Country when he passed by Hawaii.

That thing required at least a few hundred people to operate and hadn't had a chance to be used yet. Now, it finally had its moment!

"This is an easy matter! Peipei, contact the Zhenhai Fleet and have them send... 3000 people to wait at Jinmen Port."

Li Pei's face lit up with joy, grabbing Lu Yao's hand, "You really have a way, husband?"

Lu Yao laughed, "This is called being at the right place at the right time. Opportunities always favor the prepared!"