Chapter 147 If we don’t have a ship, the enemy will build one for us
At this moment, Hilco's mood can be said to be filled with emotion.
He used to only think about achieving Zaun's independence, as if everything would be fine as long as Zaun achieved independence.
But Levi pointed out many problems to him, and not only pointed out the problems, but also provided solutions.
Zaun's independence and its development path after independence were thus clearly presented step by step.
This feeling...
It was just like Liu Bei meeting Zhuge Liang and listening to Mr. Wolong explaining the "Longzhong Strategy" - the chaotic situation in the world suddenly seemed to become clear!
"No wonder Goddess Janna chose him to be the Chosen One and let him lead the struggle."
In Hilco's eyes, Levi had become a genius strategic master.
So he continued to humbly ask Levi for advice: "Zuan does need a navy."
"But building a navy from scratch, and a navy that can rival the Noxian Empire...I'm afraid it's not that easy, right?"
As the saying goes, "It takes ten years to build an army, and a hundred years to build a navy." Can a navy be built just by saying it?
Zaun's shipbuilding industry is indeed developed. It is backed by mountains and has mineral resources, and it has no shortage of shipbuilding technology and raw materials.
But even if we ignore the huge cost of shipbuilding and the training of naval professionals, and let Zaun use its full capacity to start building ships like crazy...
It would take at least ten years to catch up with the Noxian Imperial Navy.
Ten years later, if the Windleader and Zaun were still alive, the Goddess Janna would have followers all over the world and her power would be invincible.
At this time, having a "nuclear bomb" is enough, what are warships for?
If you think about it this way, isn't it a sheer waste of money to have a navy?
"Your concerns are justified. If the navy construction takes too long and cannot be used at a critical moment, then its strategic significance will be almost non-existent."
"But..." Levi paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Who says we can't build a fleet that can rival the Noxian Navy in a short period of time?"
"Since we don't have enough time to build a ship ourselves, we can change our thinking and let the enemy build a ship for us!"
"You mean... rob?" Hilco was confused.
Whose ship is Levi going to rob in order to build an invincible fleet that can rival Noxus?
"Let me ask you this: Is there any fleet in Runeterra that can rival the powerful navy of Noxus?"
As he spoke, Levi slowly opened a large map of Runeterra.
He first pointed to the Noxus Empire in the north and said, "The world's number one navy right now is Noxus."
"Who is the second-best navy in the world?"
The answer may be unexpected.
The world's second-best navy does not belong to any one country, but...
"The Pirate King of Bilgewater, Gangplank's Grand Fleet."
Yes, the second most powerful naval fleet in Runeterra is a group of pirates.
Planck's pirate group has been roaming the seas for many years and has never been defeated.
Not only was he not afraid of the Noxian Imperial Navy, he even took the initiative to cause trouble for the Noxian Navy.
As a result, not only did the Imperial Navy fail to defeat these pirates, but Gangplank also snatched the "Leviathan" from them - the flagship of the Imperial Commander Swain and the pride of the Noxian Imperial Navy.
The flagship of a country's navy was actually stolen by pirates.
And Noxus was unable to do anything about Gangplank afterwards, and couldn't even retaliate.
This is enough to prove the power of the Bilgewater pirates.
"But is it really because Gangplank is too strong?"
"No, it's actually because the Noxian Empire's navy is too weak."
The reason why the Noxian Empire’s navy ranks first in the world is not because of how strong they are.
It’s because in the field of navy, they have no competitors at all in Runeterra.
Just look at the four main enemies of Noxus today.
Freljord in the north, a bunch of shirtless tribal primitives, has a shitty navy.
Ionia in the east is not even a country, so naturally it has no navy.
The Kingdom of Demacia to the west is a typical agricultural land power and has no motivation to build a navy.
As for the Shurima natives in the south...
The last time Shurima had a navy was probably 3,000 years ago, before the fall of the Shurima Empire.
So Noxus has no enemies at sea at all.
Without enemies, there will naturally be no funding.
Without funding, the Noxian Navy would naturally be the "second-class people" in the Imperial military system.
The army masters have countless funds to squander every year. Today they expand a legion of rune swordsmen, and tomorrow they expand a company of battle mages. Over time, they will naturally become very fat.
The naval idiots can only save that pitiful amount of funds and build a few new ships symbolically every year.
So when the Gangplank Pirates attacked the Imperial Navy and successfully seized the flagship, this shocking news spread back to Noxus and the Immortal Fortress...
The first reactions of Emperor Darkwill and the high-ranking nobles were:
"Did you lose the battle on purpose and come back to defraud the funds?"
The naval generals cried and said no, saying that Planck was too large in number and too arrogant, and they had to send an invincible fleet to destroy him.
Then the nobles counted on their fingers:
First, let's calculate the losses caused to the Empire by the Gangplank Pirates' annual robberies;
Then, let's take into account the navy funds needed to capture Bilgewater Harbor and eliminate the pirates...
If you calculate carefully, the huge amount of money needed to expand the navy is enough for Planck to rob for decades.
Instead of spending a lot of money to suppress bandits, it is better to ignore Planck as a fly and think out of sight, out of mind.
"It is precisely because the Noxian Empire has no enemies at sea that the Noxian Navy's military construction strategy has always been - just enough is enough."
"So, Hilco, we don't need to overestimate our opponents." Levi smiled and said, "We need to take them seriously tactically. But strategically, we can completely despise them."
"The Noxian Navy is not that strong."
"As long as we can successfully recruit Gangplank's pirate group, we will have a chance to catch up with Noxus in a short time."
Levi's tone was very optimistic.
But this sounded like a fantasy to Hilco: "Indeed, as long as we can recruit the pirate fleet controlled by Gangplank, we will be able to compete with the Noxus Empire in a short time."
"But the question is... Will Planck let us recruit him?"
The Noxian Empire can't do anything about the Pirate King of Bilgewater, so can the Leader just recruit him?
"Yes." Levi said, "Because I successfully found the expert who can deal with Planck."
"Besides, I have sent someone to invite her over."
…
Piltover, offshore.
A huge warship named Siren was slowly entering Pirt Bay.
"It's really prosperous here." The dark-skinned first mate was standing at the bow, joking with his captain: "Every time I come to Piltover, I want to grab a piece of it."
"Hey." The captain is a beauty.
She frowned slightly and reminded with dignity: "Let everyone behave themselves, Raven."
"This time we are here to do business, not to 'do business'."
"Don't be too careless. Something went wrong here."
Her voice is very soft, just like her appearance, which makes people feel happy when they hear it.
Even the wide-brimmed tricorn hat couldn't hide her bright red hair, which cascaded down over her fair and delicate cheeks and spread over her generously exposed smooth collarbone.
Such a beautiful girl usually doesn't appear on pirate ships.
If she showed up, she would definitely be the target of ridicule and harassment by the rough men, and even attract countless greedy and evil looks.
But this girl is the captain of this pirate ship.
No one dared to disrespect her.
She just gave a casual order, asking everyone to behave themselves, and these wild sailors stopped joking.
Because she is the famous pirate in Bilgewater, [Bounty Hunter Miss Fortune], also known as:
"Captain Sarah!"
