Chapter 275: Prepare My Ass!

"I'm afraid concealment would be difficult," Gongsun Bu said, shaking his head.

Niu Youdao asked, "Why?"

Gongsun Bu replied, "Following your instructions, we kept investigating but found nothing. Since you were certain the other side would transport the horses by sea, our disciples went to experienced old fishermen who frequently put out to sea and questioned them in detail. We asked quite a few old fishermen along the coast. Because the State of Qi forbids the private sale of warhorses beyond its borders, none of them had ever heard of ships specially designed to carry horses."

Niu Youdao said, "If there aren't specialized ships, can't cargo ships do it?"

Gongsun Bu shook his head. "We asked the same thing. According to the experienced old men, ordinary cargo ships can't handle it. It's not that the horses physically won't fit. Most horses are accustomed to land. Once they're aboard a ship and being tossed around at sea, they don't adapt well and can develop all kinds of problems. Cramming them together makes matters worse. They need to be separated individually and tended by experienced horse handlers. If you want to move them in large numbers, the interiors of the cargo ships have to be modified first."

"Our people inspected some suspicious vessels along the coastline, but they didn't find any whose interiors had been refitted. According to what you said, Master Dao, this isn't something a handful of ships could solve. It would require a large number. They couldn't possibly build an entire fleet of new ships specifically for these horses, could they? Building even one large seagoing cargo ship requires specialized shipwrights, and a single vessel can't be finished quickly. Building them in bulk is even less plausible. Besides, we haven't found anything resembling a batch of new ships."

"After our people went over the coastline once, they excluded the stretches where ships couldn't put in. Every area where ships can dock was divided into sectors, with people assigned to patrol them daily. We don't have enough manpower, so if there were only a few ships, perhaps something could slip through without being discovered in time. But with a large number of ships, there ought to be some sign. So as things stand, we still haven't found the kind of situation you described."

"Master Dao, could your information be wrong?"

Niu Youdao fell silent in thought. Shang Chaozong wanted to form a special cavalry force, but Beizhou controlled such a large territory that it would surely need far more warhorses than Shang Chaozong did. Since Shao Pingbo had a channel for obtaining them, he would hardly think small. Given that fellow's ambitions, Niu Youdao estimated he would want at least ten thousand horses.

After considering the matter for a while, he asked, "Gongsun, I haven't dealt with the seagoing ships of the various states. Help me estimate something. How many vessels would it take to carry ten thousand warhorses?"

Gongsun Bu was still thinking when Black Peony interjected, "Master Dao, we independent cultivators used to travel overseas fairly often in search of spirit herbs. We've spent quite a bit of time at sea, so I have some sense of ships."

"Oh?" Niu Youdao turned to her. "Then tell me."

Black Peony said, "For ten thousand horses... it depends on the size of the ships. Small vessels are dangerous for long voyages on the open sea. Conditions at sea can change without warning, and when large waves come, a small ship can easily capsize."

"And horses aren't cargo. You can't pile them on top of one another. Each one needs a certain amount of space. A small ship couldn't carry more than a few, so using small vessels to transport that many warhorses is basically impossible."

Niu Youdao nodded. "Makes sense. How many can a large ship carry?"

Black Peony said, "The largest seagoing ships I've seen should be able to carry around two hundred at a time, but every state probably has only a limited number of ships that large. If someone wanted to move more than ten thousand warhorses, the likeliest choice would be medium-to-large seagoing ships capable of carrying over a hundred each. No state has an enormous number of such vessels, but they aren't especially rare either."

Niu Youdao looked to Gongsun Bu for confirmation.

Gongsun Bu nodded. "Sister Peony is right. That's about how it is. I rarely went to sea in the past. When it comes to this, I may have less experience than she does."

Niu Youdao hesitated. "So they'd need at least a hundred large ships of that sort."

"Yes." Black Peony nodded. "At the very least, a hundred. Carrying this many living animals over a long sea voyage is anything but simple. All kinds of things can happen, and they'd need to prepare thoroughly. Otherwise, by the time they reached their destination, there might not be many horses left alive. If you include all the supplies the horses would consume along the way, it would definitely take more than a hundred ships. I can't imagine they'd keep putting into port to replenish supplies while transporting that many horses."

Niu Youdao frowned. "Would building a hundred or so ships like that really be so difficult? Could they be secretly constructing them somewhere?"

"Impossible!" Black Peony and Gongsun Bu denied it almost in unison.

Niu Youdao looked from one to the other. "Why?"

Black Peony said, "Just as Brother Gongsun said, large ships capable of going to sea aren't something ordinary craftsmen can build. They aren't remotely comparable to fishing boats made by craftsmen around inland lakes. There is no comparison at all. Anyone capable of constructing vessels like these has to be an experienced seagoing shipwright from the coastal regions."

"And compared with cultivators, ordinary people still fear the endless sea to some extent. Aside from merchants willing to take risks for profit, most people prefer land transport. Fishermen living along the coast don't need ships this large, nor could they afford them. Even if they could, a vessel of that size needs ten or twenty crewmen just to operate. How far would a fisherman have to sail before that became worthwhile? If he went too far, the fish would rot before he got them back. If he's only fishing near shore, why would he need a ship that large?"

"Demand is limited. In these troubled times, there aren't many people who need vessels like that, so naturally there aren't many craftsmen capable of building them either. Even if we're talking about only a hundred ships, Master Dao, take any state you like. Even if it mobilized the strength of the entire country for a full year, building a hundred large seagoing ships from scratch would probably still be difficult. Shipbuilding has its own specialized craft. You could drag over a whole crowd of cultivators to help and it still wouldn't matter. This isn't something that gets done well just because your spiritual power is profound."

"Master Dao, I think Brother Gongsun's earlier judgment was right. It's far more likely that they're modifying the interiors of existing ships. Any carpenter can do that kind of work. It saves time and labor and isn't especially complicated. Building this many large ships from scratch would create a huge disturbance even if the work were spread out. There would be no secrecy at all. I don't think the other side would do it that way." Gongsun Bu nodded as well. "That's the logic of it."

Niu Youdao silently inclined his head. He thought their reasoning made sense. He understood some of the principles himself; he simply had no experience with this world's seagoing vessels and had therefore wanted to ask in detail.

Now it appeared his earlier idea of transporting the warhorses by sea had been somewhat naive. He had not expected so many complications. He had assumed finding ships would be easy.

After another moment's thought, he asked, "How many large ships like this do you think the various states have?"

Gongsun Bu said, "That's hard to say. I doubt ordinary cultivators pay much attention to it. But if I remember correctly, the State of Wei should have comparatively many large seagoing ships."

Black Peony agreed. "Geographically, a desert and an almost impassable plateau divide the seven states into two regions. The States of Song, Han, Zhao, and Yan are crowded together on one side, while the States of Jin, Qi, and Wei occupy the other. Among the seven, the first four states are comparatively poor. The latter three are wealthier. The State of Jin is the poorer of those three, but the State of Jin excels at forging weapons and has the strongest military power. Its martial culture is intense, and it's the strongest of all seven states. Unfortunately, its national strength still can't compare with the States of Qi and Wei combined. Those two have always joined forces to hold the State of Jin in check. Individually, neither is a match for the State of Jin."

Niu Youdao almost laughed. He already knew all this and did not need her to explain it. He merely found it amusing how much this woman had changed after spending time in Qingshan Commandery and being exposed to such matters.

He cut her off with a smile. "And what does any of that have to do with Wei owning more ships?"

"Of course it does," Black Peony said. "The State of Qi is wealthy because the other states need its warhorses. Every year they exchange huge amounts of money and supplies for the State of Qi's horses, though the State of Qi still doesn't dare sell them without restriction. Likewise, the State of Jin can't possibly sell so many weapons to other states that it ends up threatening itself. The State of Wei is different. The State of Wei's geography and climate are exceptionally favorable. Grain planted there barely needs tending and can produce three harvests a year."

"Every year, huge quantities of grain from the State of Wei are sold to the other states in exchange for money. If the States of Song, Han, Zhao, and Yan weren't receiving grain from the State of Wei, given conditions inside those four states, I'm afraid they would have collapsed long ago. If the State of Wei simply stopped selling them grain, all four would immediately face disaster. Of course, Wei doesn't dare do that either. If it truly cut off their means of survival, the State of Wei itself would probably be the first to suffer."

"Naturally, although the State of Wei is wealthy, its common people don't live especially well. The ones truly getting rich are the cultivation sects extracting wealth from behind the scenes..."

Niu Youdao blinked as he listened. Why did he feel as though this woman was wandering farther and farther from the point?

"Ahem!" Gongsun Bu finally could not endure the long discourse either. He coughed and interrupted. "Master Dao, what Sister Peony means is that the State of Wei frequently ships grain by sea to the various states, so the State of Wei owns more large seagoing ships of this kind."

"Oh." Niu Youdao looked at him. "Roughly how many?"

Gongsun Bu shook his head. "I've truly never paid attention to that. I don't know."

Black Peony said, "The State of Wei must have at least a thousand or more large ships of this sort. The other states combined might not have as many as the State of Wei alone."

"That said, if Beizhou needs ships, I doubt they'd source them all from the State of Wei. More than a hundred large seagoing ships coming from one place would still draw too much attention."

"So there are enough of them that obtaining the ships shouldn't be difficult. In that case, modification really is the likeliest possibility..." Niu Youdao rubbed his chin and muttered to himself.

Black Peony said, "Master Dao, now that we've talked it through this far, if our own warhorses are going to travel by sea, shouldn't we start preparing the ships as early as possible?"

Niu Youdao was both irritated and amused. "Prepare? How are we supposed to prepare? With this much trouble involved, you're only talking about preparation now. With the manpower we currently have, who knows how long it would take to quietly assemble and refit the ships? Prepare my ass!"

"We don't even know whether we can obtain the warhorses yet. This is partly my fault. I didn't take the matter seriously enough earlier. I made a last-minute decision and miscalculated. The difficulty is far beyond what I imagined."

Black Peony asked, "Then are we going overland? That would probably be even more troublesome. We'd have far more connections to open."

Niu Youdao ignored the question.

He paced back and forth twice with his hands clasped behind his back, thinking, then suddenly waved to Black Peony. "Map!"

Black Peony immediately fetched the map, unfolded it, and hung it on the wall.

Niu Youdao stood before it and spoke ruthlessly. "I refuse to believe a fleet that large can simply turn invisible. Forget everything else for now. I want Beizhou's ships dug out of hiding. If they're afloat, I want to see the ships; if they're sunk, I want to see the wreckage. If I can't get what I want, Beizhou isn't getting it either!"

[End of Chapter 275]