Spoils of War (5K)

The hatch opened, and Beianqi skipped in. Zijin calmly finished the brown sugar water in her cup, and Su Ming threw the washed dates into the pot and put the lid on.

"It's so hot today!" She placed a piece of paper on the table, took out a chilled juice from the refrigerator, poured herself a glass, and then gulped it down in one go.

"Phew!" She let out a long breath, then poured herself another glass, carried it to the table, and sat down.

"Shall we decide what to do with the spoils?" Beianqi asked the two.

Su Ming dried his hands and sat down at the table. "Okay!"

The girl waved the paper in her hand excitedly, "The statistics are in! We defeated a total of 21 pirate ships, of which 4 sustained minor damage, 12 sustained serious damage, 3 sank, and 2 were on the verge of sinking!"

"We don't have the capacity to handle so many." Su Ming quickly realized the problem.

The White Triangle was severely lacking in manpower; capturing prisoners and seizing spoils was something that zombies and skeletons alone could not do.

"So my suggestion is to auction off the disposal rights!" Beianqi was not surprised at all and directly stated her prepared plan. She handed the paper to Su Ming, Zijin leaned over to look at it together.

The paper was titled "Statistics of Loot from the Battle of Wheat Awn Sea," followed by the tonnage, configuration, and number of pirates of the eighteen unsinkable warships, and then the prices, ranging from several thousand to tens of thousands of gold coins.

Each ship has two prices, one low and one high.

"The first is the starting price, and the second is the buy-it-now price," Beianqi explained. "If you agree, I'll send the message to all factions in the fleet. The auction will last half an hour, and the highest bidder wins. Or, if you think it's suitable, you can directly bid the buy-it-now price."

"[You're too close, Zijin.]" Su Ming reminded her, Zijin practically draping her hair over Su Ming's shoulder.

The girl tossed her hair to one side and leaned closer to look. Beianqi watched the two of them, a slight smirk playing on her lips.

After reading it, Su Ming handed the paper to Zijin.

"I think this plan is good," Su Ming said, expressing his support.

Zijin slightly revised a few quotes, then handed the paper back to the mechanic girl, saying, "Well then, Beianqi, thank you for your hard work!"

****

As the White Triangle towed the pirate ship back, all the sailors of the fleet crowded onto the deck, cheering and jumping for joy. Many ships fired red, yellow, blue, green, and orange signal flares to celebrate the victory at sea.

The white bone ship politely responded with a series of red and green signal flares, expressing its gratitude.

The auction went smoothly, and all the rights to collect the spoils were sold. The White Triangle, towed back undamaged, sold for the highest price, a full 40,000 gold coins.

The ship and its cargo are worth over 60,000 gold coins. Although this is at sea and requires some additional investment to realize the value, it's still a pretty good return for the buyer.

Ships and cargo were auctioned off, and captured pirates were taken in and escorted by the buyers of each ship. The bounty was split 50/50 between the ship and the White Triangle.

As for those who died, their bodies were salvaged and brought over intact. One cabin of the White Triangle was filled with them, so Zijin withdrew the notice to acquire the sailors' bodies.

"Too much of this won't do," Su Ming thought to himself. Low Rank undead can't be used for too long, while High Rank ones are too costly. Preserving their bodies is also troublesome; they're everywhere after a battle, but easily run out when needed.

He has once again discovered a major weakness of the undead class.

After declining all invitations to banquets, the three of them had dinner and then began a post-battle technical debriefing in their workshop, analyzing the problems encountered during the battle.

"The most serious mistake was mine." Beianqi stood up, bowed, and apologized. "I didn't consider the penetration advantage of large-caliber shells, and the propellant charge was too high!"

With a 203mm projectile traveling at 2.3 times the speed of sound, and lacking actual test on target ships, Beianqi made an error that exceeded the limits of her imagination.

"That's enough to convey the meaning," Su Ming gestured for her to sit down. "Your response was very timely."

After discovering the problem, Beianqi tried to attack the pirate ship at an angle to increase the penetration depth along the firing path and reduce the probability of over-penetration.

"Two shells did penetrate enemy ships today, exploding only after landing at sea; otherwise, the kill count would have been two more," said Beianqi. "Tomorrow, I will reduce the amount of propellant in the propellant cartridges."

"No need to reduce them," Su Ming said. "We can modify some close-range artillery shells."

Su Ming drew a diagram for Beianqi to see, "By using a disintegration technique to weaken the strength of the rectifier part that touches the fuse and the front of the projectile, it will quickly disintegrate after impact and lose its streamlined shape."

The mechanic raised an eyebrow. "That's a great idea!"

Su Ming suddenly remembered another type of shell, so he drew another diagram. "We should also add a type of shrapnel shell."

Increase its lethality against personnel.

"What you drew looks a bit like a grapeshot." Beianqi didn't understand. "A grapeshot doesn't mean anything to us, does it?"

2

Given the power of the MK 71 Gun, attacking the personnel is less effective than directly destroying the ship. The loss of personnel does not necessarily mean the destruction of the ship, but the destruction of the ship will definitely result in the loss of personnel.

"It's not for naval warfare, it's for attacking land," Su Ming explained to Beianqi.

"You're not still thinking of bombarding the Central Ocean Archipelago, are you?" Beianqi asked in surprise.

"No, it's just better to be prepared," Su Ming sighed. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if we encountered any kind of enemy or any kind of battle again."

Zijin snorted in protest.

"I'll send you the detailed drawings later. Let's continue the review first."

"Okay. The response speed of the high-explosive impact fuse is a bit slow; the projectile velocity is too high," Beianqi continued. "But this can only be addressed in the next batch of products."

Su Ming also pointed out the problem he discovered. "The laser rangefinder is blocked at multiple angles, and the foredeck needs to be cleared."

"The smoke from the artillery fire makes it impossible for me to stay on top of the bridge," Zijin said. "That's actually tolerable, but the shockwaves and sonic booms from the firing are unbearable."

Su Ming then understood why she had been crouching on the mast lookout tower today. Because he was worried about the excessive electromagnetic radiation, he had kept the radar off most of the time.

Not only that, the area atop the bridge is amplified by a magic array, placing it within the strongest defensive range of the White Bone Fortress. Magic and modern artillery, it seems, still need some fine-tuning.

The three of them noted down the questions one by one, and then the debriefing meeting ended.

Su Ming printed out the blueprints for the cluster munition and continued the discussion with Beianqi. He then placed a new order for MK71 artillery shells.

300 standard high-explosive rounds, along with matching propellant and loading tubes, plus 2,000 small warheads.

Beianqi accepted the order and gave an estimated delivery time of "twenty days."

"Try to hurry."

****

In the following days, the Golden Barrel stopped interfering with the details of the White Triangle's escort mission.

The convoy adopted a more compact formation with greater confidence, and some slower ships even had themselves towed by faster ships with cables.

This further increased the overall speed of the fleet.

On the sixth day of their escort mission, the massive merchant fleet finally arrived at the Central Ocean Archipelago. The convoy split into two parts.

The main force continued onward to the ports of the Western Continent, while a smaller portion stopped at the Central Ocean Archipelago for rest and replenishment, and to deal with the spoils of war and captured pirates.

With this, the escort mission of the White Triangle came to an end.

Zijin tried to contact the Federation, but no one answered. This happened several times in a row.

She found it strange, so she contacted the old elf Xiwo and learned the whole story.

Most of these pirates were connected to the merchant guilds. They used information provided by these guilds to find targets, then sold the looted goods to the guilds at low prices as payment and used the loot to purchase supplies. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement. Some pirates were even more directly funded and controlled by the merchant guilds.

When news arrived that a large number of pirates had been captured, along with their ships, the high-ranking members of the merchant guild involved nearly fainted on the spot. Generally, even the unluckiest pirates would only suffer losses and gain nothing. Especially such a large-scale pirate operation...

There is absolutely no possibility of failure.

No one expected that the White Triangle would be nothing but easy prey.

These problematic high-ranking members of the merchant guild originally intended to use the time lag in information transmission to abscond with the funds. However, the White Triangle auctioned off the pirate ship immediately, and the pirates were dispersed to be housed on merchant ships. The merchant guild members quickly discovered traces and evidence, and purged the spies within the guild, which led to the exposure of these dark aspects that very night, triggering a massive tsunami in the Central Ocean Waters.

The Federation was thus paralyzed.

"So, our payment is off?" Su Ming asked with a displeased expression.

"Fortunately, they're mostly small, low-level business associations," Zijin said. "Xiwo said this unrest probably won't last long."

****

The old elf's judgment was correct; that very night, the White Triangle received a proactive reply from the Federation.

With the strong intervention of powerful forces, the matter was initially suppressed. The Federation was reorganized into the Central Ocean Commerce Union, striving towards the goal of building a community of shared order.

Zijin was quite pleased with the result. She congratulated the Commerce Union and mentioned that the White Triangle had been repaired.

Return to the Sea Monster quest.

After the liaison officer handed over the White Triangle communication, the decision-makers were already numb.

When they first received the report that the White Triangle needed to withdraw from the mission and rest, they understood perfectly. After all, having fought against the Saint Rank powerhouse Yexiya, any damage to the ship or its crew was reasonable.

Or rather, the fact that they managed to defeat the enemy and survive is already unreasonable enough! Some people even harbored ulterior motives and were itching to do something.

But unexpectedly, in just one week, the White Triangle made a strong comeback, engaging in combat—no, that can't be called combat. This ship, whose combat power was already beyond the border, captured twenty-one pirate ships in just two hours, like fishing!

The decision-making group offered a polite greeting to Belladonna and the ancestors of the Bone King, then abandoned their futile struggle. Ever since the Battle of Cui'an Sea Cliff, the atmosphere at White Bone Fortress had been anything but normal. The fact that Ailisha physically weak and extremely difficult to heal from her injuries seemed to have been distorted by fate. Her new nickname, "White Bone Siren," had become infamous, and pirates throughout the region were frantically moving away, treating any white ship with the dread of a bird startled by a bowstring.

In short, the Federation, which had just recovered from the chaos, did not dare to be negligent in the slightest. They immediately expressed their sincere welcome and delivered supplies and gifts overnight.

Free of charge.

A large amount of cash was urgently allocated. At dawn, an armed escort ship set off, carrying the mission payment that the Federation had originally intended to delay indefinitely, and headed at full speed for the White Triangle.

"I told you MK71 is a great cure for procrastination, right?" Su Ming ate watermelon contentedly. "How are late fees calculated again?"

"Generally, the standard interest rate is 1% per day," Beianqi replied. "However, usually the one who owes the money is the one in control; no one will actually ask for it back."

"This is clearly not a normal situation." Su Ming roughly calculated that, after deducting the seven-day payment deadline stipulated in the contract, the late payment fee was currently quite low. This dissatisfied him greatly. "That escort ship can't catch up with us, right? Should we linger a little longer? A full month is considered a serious overdue payment, and there are penalties, right?"

Zijin was reviewing the action agreement signed with the Federation. "It doesn't specify any concrete measures, only that the party defaulting will bear the relevant losses. The right of interpretation still belongs to them."

"But it doesn't matter," the scholar continued. "We'll point our cannons at the Central Ocean Archipelago, and we'll surely find out by asking."

"That's right," Su Ming laughed, "That way the late payment fee can be increased by at least a few zeros."

2

The White Triangle is now a force even more powerful than the sea monster. Those who deal with them have become extremely particular about integrity and expect the same from them. The Federation is now kicking itself for the contract, which was originally intended to have numerous loopholes.

"So you're too lazy to do business, all you want to do is rob!" Beianqi exclaimed in surprise. "If you worked harder to wipe out the pirates and escort them back and forth, you could make a lot of money!"

"Is there still any business available for escorting ships here?" Su Ming asked her.

After a moment's thought, Beianqi realized that the local market had collapsed. The pirates were now desperate to escape, and it was estimated that wherever the White Triangle went, the area would be immediately cleared out – a classic case of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

If anyone still dares to use old-fashioned artillery to fight against the MK71 heavy artillery, eliminating them would be a contribution to human evolution.

"Alright, Ailisha and I were just joking," Su Ming said with a smile.

Just as Beianqi breathed a sigh of relief, she heard Su Ming continue, "We don't need to waste time, let's just open fire and seize it."

The girl was speechless, while Su Ming and Zijin burst out laughing together.

"Stop teasing her." The scholar covered her mouth to stop laughing and turned to Beianqi. "I have some other things to discuss with Su Ming. Could you please leave for a moment?"

Beianqi went off to modify the MK71's shells, fuming.

****

Only Su Ming and Zijin remained in the workroom.

"Let's accept these gold coins as usual," the scholar suddenly said seriously.

Su Ming found it strange. Although their previous conversation had been joking, given Zijin's fearless and trouble-making nature, how could she possibly let the Federation off so easily?

"Are you still feeling unwell?" he asked.

The scholar rolled her eyes at her. "I'm serious. We just need to give the Federation a nudge within the rules. This time, we have to be good."

Realizing the scholar had something to say, Su Ming sat up straight. "Please enlighten me."

The scholar took out a handful of gold coins, of varying sizes, each engraved with a number representing its face value. Because they were infused with a fixed proportion of magic crystals and engraved with a magic array, the otherworldly gold coins had a very high value density. The coin representing one was only the size of a thin fingernail.

"What we need is not gold," the scholar said, "But rather, through it, to mobilize the productive forces of countless corners of the world."

Provide us with the materials we need.

Su Ming was no stranger to the essence of commodities and money. "Money is merely a representation of value, and traders are the link in the exchange."

"Not traders, but a system," Zijin corrected. "The process of studying different planes is not something that can be accomplished overnight; some materials even require an annual production capacity for this world."

"Such a large dosage?" Su Ming was surprised.

"Do you think Plane Transfer Magic Array are as easy as cabbages?" Zijin sighed. "This is a cost that even Saint Rank Galio would find difficult to bear. In short, we can't be excluded from the trade system, otherwise it will cause a lot of trouble later."

"In other words, we can't afford to strain our relationship with the Chamber of Commerce." Su Ming sighed. "I understand. You mean that if you're going to do something bad, you have to wear a disguise and not get caught, right?"

"You're a promising young man!" Zijin covered her mouth and chuckled.

"But what I really want to emphasize is that we also cannot destroy it." The scholar composed himself and continued, "The scale of trade in this world is not even a fraction of that of your Earth. The power structure is unstable, and those with ulterior motives are as numerous as hairs on a cow. The intercontinental trade chain has an astonishing function, yet it is extremely fragile."

Su Ming realized that, coming from a world with highly developed commerce, he was once again experiencing a cognitive misalignment regarding this other world.

"On the contrary, we should take the initiative to maintain order?"

"Yes," the scholar nodded. "When you reach a certain level, you'll find that what limits your access to resources isn't money itself. The losses from breaking the rules outweigh the gains."

To be honest, this was a bit difficult for Su Ming. He had always been in a social class where how much he could buy depended on how much money he had in his pocket.

"Therefore, I do not recommend that you do that," the scholar stated bluntly.

Su Ming sighed, "You figured it out after all."

After completing MK71, he did indeed plan to accumulate funds through plunder. He just didn't expect that the one stopping him would be Miss Belladonna— someone who, by all accounts, should have been the one adding fuel to the fire.

"I was thinking of retaliating against those countries and forces that have been besieging us," Su Ming said regretfully.

"You hold grudges quite a bit," Zijin, slightly surprised. "It's alright. If we don't interfere in maritime trade, we can easily find other ways to cover it up. Besides, we're not ignoring Central Ocean. We're players in that business too; we can monopolize shipping routes and profit from certain types of goods just as easily."

Rewriting the rules is also a way of "respecting the rules." In Su Ming's world, capital repeatedly uses this approach.

Ensure all actions are legal and compliant.

In comparison, looting is truly the most primitive method.