At dawn the next day, several dragon boats quietly approached the mouth of the Yangtze River, taking advantage of the early tide to approach Chongming Town. Zhao Hao looked at the sandbar in front of him with a telescope and only frowned, this was not only a little different from what he had seen and known in his previous life, but it was very big, completely subverting the concept of Chongming Island in his mind. Of course, he did not mean that there were no high-rise buildings on the island, such as ships shuttling in and out, but that it was too small.

"Are you sure this is Chongming Town?" Zhao Yu didn't believe his eyes and asked Zhao Mengjin beside him.

Modern people know that Chongming Island is the third largest island in China after Taiwan Island and Hainan Island, and he still has no chance to see Taiwan Island in this world, but Hainan Island has lived on it for nearly ten years, it can be said that almost every county and township he has traveled through, although the place names and natural forms are different from modern times, but most of them are still consistent with modern times.

Zhao Yu knew that the Yangtze River Delta and Chongming Island were formed by the impact of sediment carried by the Yangtze River for thousands of years, but the Chongming in front of him not only did not have modern weather, but also the area was not much smaller, and it was divided into two disconnected sandbanks and the surrounding sand bags that were flooded by the tide. No matter how much he tried to use his imagination, it was difficult to connect with the Chongming Island in his impression, so he wondered if he had come to the wrong place.

"Your Majesty, that's right, this is Chongming Town, and my subordinates used to be in charge of Taizhou, which is close to the north bank of the river, and I don't know how many times I have been back and forth, how can I admit my mistake!" Zhao Mengjin looked out again and confirmed again. But he was very puzzled by the strange behavior of the little emperor, these two sandbanks have been here for I don't know how many years, how can they actually suspect that such two small islands are coming.

"Oh, how is it so different from what I imagined?" Zhao Hao touched his chin and muttered.

"Guo Lin, you are familiar with the geography of Jiangdong, and you are familiar with Your Majesty!" Zhao Mengjin saw that the little emperor was still full of doubts, and turned to the person behind him.

"Wailang Guo Lin, a member of the Privy Council, greets Your Majesty!" When the man heard the summons, he hurriedly stepped forward to salute the little emperor.

"Excuse me, tell me about it!" Zhao Yu raised his hand to excuse him, and at the same time looked this person up and down, only to see that he was about forty years old, medium height, wearing a cyan cardigan, wearing a Dongpo scarf, a white face with Chinese characters, three locks of beard under the chin, a standard dog-headed master's appearance, and the staff wailang is also a six-grade petty official.

"Your Majesty must have read the chronicles of the previous dynasty to have this misunderstanding." Guo Lin saluted again and said, "In the Tang Dynasty, Jiangkoumen was still in the area of Yangzhou and Runzhou, according to historical records, there were two sand islands in Koumen at that time, called Dongsha and Xisha, the area was very small, about 20 miles. Some people moved to the island from Danyang, Jurong and other places, and took fishing as their business, and the Tang Shenlong set up Chongming Town in Xisha at the beginning of the year. ”

"Well, I didn't expect that in five or six hundred years, Chongming Island has moved down a hundred miles, which is really a vicissitudes of life!" Zhao Yu nodded and wanted to cover up and said, he didn't expect that Jiangkou used to be in the Yangzhou area, and hundreds of years of river erosion actually created a thousand miles of land, it seems that ancient and modern things really can't be generalized, otherwise it will really be wrong.

"yes!" Guo Lin also sighed with emotion and continued, "After the Tang Dynasty, Chongming Island continued to move down the river, rising up and collapsing, and Dongsha and Xisha were gradually washed up, and finally collapsed and washed away. The old goes to the new, to our dynasty has grown a new sandbar in the northwest of Xisha, the people of the former two sands also migrated with the sandbar, Dacheng village, because of the surname of Yao and Liu, so the name Yao Liu Sha, it extends from northwest to southeast and borders Dongsha, and the two islands gradually become unified under the westward expansion of Dongsha. ”

More than 70 years later, in the first year of the founding of the Yasukuni Kingdom, a large sandbar emerged in the middle of the river, which was 50 miles northwest of Yao Liusha. Because it is formed by the merger of three small sandbanks, it is called Sansha, which is the current location, and then I will be promoted to Chongming Prefecture by Yao Liusha's Tianci salt farm. ”

"Well, I see!" Zhao Yu nodded, picked up the telescope and looked southeast, it should be the location of modern Shanghai, but at this time, there was no trace of prosperity at all, and even the name did not appear.

"Your Majesty, ahead is the Taicang estuary!" The flotilla passed Sansha, and Zhao Mengjin pointed to the southwest road.

"The enemy Chongming naval army was annihilated, Liujiagang was burned, and there is no sign of recovery now!" Chongming Island is already close at hand, but there is no enemy naval warship patrolling, but it is a scene of post-war decline. Liujiagang on the south bank is dark, like the scene after the fire falls, it seems that it has been burned clean by Dong Yicheng's fire, and it will take a lot of effort to reopen.

"Your Majesty, now is the time when the autumn grain is in storage and ready to be transported north, the port warehouse is burned, if the enemy can't resume shipping, I'm afraid that there will be a famine in the Yanjing area, in order not to starve, they will definitely fight with us!" Zhao Mengjin looked at the situation and said.

"I have also received reports that Shaoxing and Suzhou are under the control of our army, and the enemy is wantonly collecting from the grain-producing areas around Changzhou and Changshu, and wants to rush to transport the capital through the canal. If they are allowed to succeed, it will cause a food shortage in the south of the Yangtze River, so it is better to fight this battle early! Zhao Yu's face was solemn.

He knew that the Yuan court used the sea to transport grain twice a year, spring and autumn, and in order to ensure that 3.5 million stone rice grain entered Beijing throughout the year, the average total volume of one shipment should reach more than 1.5 million stone, and even if the 1,000 stone cao ships were used, nearly 2,000 ships would be used, and if the stability of this area could not be guaranteed, it would be difficult for the enemy army to safely transport grain to the north.

"Your Majesty, the current enemy army does not know the strength of our army, and its Haidao Wanhu Mansion has only lost one thousand households, and they still have the ability to choose another wharf to load grain to the north. But we stuck the gate of the Yangtze River estuary, and they had nothing to do. Therefore, as long as Chongming Island is occupied, the enemy will definitely come to fight. Liu Zhu said.

"Zhu Qing is only afraid that he can carry it better than us, he is regarded as a traitor by our dynasty and knows that he will die, if he can't send food to Dadu on time, it is also a capital crime, and if he can defeat us, there is still a glimmer of life. In addition, I heard that Zhang Xuan's thief took advantage of his position to buy a lot of merchant ships, engaged in maritime trade business, and made a fortune. Zhao Yu smiled evilly.

"Your Majesty is right, as long as we capture Chongming, they will realize that our army is going up the river, and then his last chance will be gone!" Zhao Mengjin rubbed his hands and said, he knew that His Majesty always went to war and wanted to reap some benefits, this Zhang Xuan was probably the fat sheep, and it was indispensable to take it down to his own reward.

"Okay, let's occupy Chongming first, if it still doesn't fight, let's cut off its connection with Jiankang from Taihu Lake along the canal north, and take them with sacrificial knives!" Zhao Yu knew that he couldn't wait for a long time, and if he didn't fall into the trap, he would attack it up and down to annihilate it in Jiangyin first, and then concentrate the land and water armies to fight Jiankang.

"Your Majesty has arrived at the mouth of the river!" Liu Zhu reminded at this time.

"Enter the Taicang River and go to Dong Yicheng to ask for a meal!" Zhao Hao smiled at everyone. The people on this ship were the first to follow his cronies, and as long as there were 3,000 rabbles in his hands, he dared to follow him to fight Guangzhou, and he was more courageous than the gourd, lest the lord who was not chaotic in the world would advise him if he was not in a little danger than others, and now he was even more fearless, and promised to find Dong Yicheng's bad luck in unison......

Five dragon boats sailed into the Taicang River and sailed against the water towards Taihu Lake. Speaking of these people, they are really reckless, you must know that although the Yidu Army stationed in Pingjiang was completely annihilated, but the subordinate prefectures and counties such as Kunshan, Changshu, and Wujiang have not been recovered, if it is discovered that the emperor of the 'remnant Song Dynasty' and the senior generals of the Eastern Theater are all on these ships, it is estimated that they will also concentrate all the forces that can be mobilized to fight a battle, and they will earn even if they die.

Fortunately, the renovated dragon boat has omitted the extremely windy dragon head on the bow, and Zhao Yu thought that that thing did not have much meaning in actual combat except for bluffing, and the effect of emitting smoke and stealth was not satisfactory. And the dragon boat without the dragon head didn't look so abrupt, and if the cannon door was closed, people with a discerning eye really couldn't see that it was a warship, so they didn't attract the attention of others when they walked on the river.

Zhao Yu inspected the Taicang waterway from the bow of the ship, there are paddy fields on both sides, although the harvest has been completed, there is still residual water in it, which is not conducive to the deployment of the army. The water is quite wide, and it should be able to sail large boats when the tide is rising, and it has no effect on the dragon boats at the bottom of the U-boat. With the help of the tide and the full paddling of the sailors, the warship flew through Kunshan and went straight to Suzhou.

"Guo Lin, how many waterways do these Taihu Lake drain into the East China Sea?" Suzhou was in sight in front of him, Zhao Yu asked.

"Your Majesty, according to legend, more than 4,000 years ago, Xia Yu was ordered by Emperor Shun to control the floods in Taihu Lake, and dug three main waterways, the Dongjiang River, the Loujiang River, and the Songjiang River, which communicated the channel between Taihu Lake and the sea, and dredged the flood water into the sea. That is, Sima Qian's "Historical Records" contains: Yu governs the water in Wu, and leads to three rivers and five lakes. The water surface of Taihu Lake is extremely vast, 200 miles from east to west, 120 miles from north to south, and it is 36,000 hectares wide at the beginning. Guo Lin replied.

"Well, how many rivers are feasible to fill in Taihu Lake?" Zhao Yu nodded and asked again.

"Your Majesty, there are mainly five waters, which flow into the canal through Jiangyin to the lake; The water of the canal enters the lake from Changzhou, passes through the Lihe River in the west, flows into the Yangxian River and then enters the Taihu Lake; The water of the Yangtze River flows into Wuhu Lake, and can also enter Taihu Lake through Yangxian River; In addition, the water of Taihu Lake can reach Huzhou through Dongtiaoxi and flow into Qiantang to Hangzhou. Guo Lin thought for a moment and replied.

"Well, yes, it seems that the situation in Jiangdong is all in your heart!" Zhao Yu listened and sketched with a pen on the map.

"Your Majesty praises it, the humble position is only confined to one place, but Your Majesty has the world in mind!" Guo Lin listened and hurriedly said.

"Hehe, you are really good at talking, much better than that kid of Jiang Chaozong!" Zhao Yu smiled and waved his hand to salute him, "But your words also made me pause, reward!" ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Guo Lin saluted again.

"Your Majesty has a good plan?" Zhao Mengjin leaned over to the command platform and asked.

"Hehe, Taihu Lake is beautiful, let's talk about it after swimming in the lake!" Zhao Hao smiled but didn't answer, then turned to Guo Lin and asked, "Director Guo, what is delicious in Taihu Lake?" ”

"Your Majesty, this Taihu Lake delicacy should be the first to recommend 'Sanbai'!" Guo Lin listened to it and said without thinking.

"But whitebait, whitefish, and shrimp?" Zhao Yu sat up straight and asked rhetorically.

"Yes, yes, it turns out that His Majesty also knows!" Guo Lin said with some surprise.

"I just heard about it, but I didn't have a chance to taste it!" Zhao Hao licked his lips and said. In his previous life, he went to Wuxi to apply for a job and wanted to taste the famous Sanbai, but when he looked at the price and touched his wallet, he was still reluctant, but he didn't expect to wait until this life to eat.

"In addition, the crabs in the lake taste very fresh, and there are all kinds of lake fresh, if you want to eat them all, it will take some time!" Guo Lin introduced again.

"Okay, we've eaten seafood for so many years, let's try the lake today!" Zhao Mengjin said.

"Suzhou is ahead, we have to let Zheng Yi find a good cook for us, don't spoil good things!" At this time, Liu Zhu interjected.

At noon, the fleet arrived in Suzhou, and Zheng Yi, commander of the 1st Marine Brigade, hurriedly came to the wharf to meet him, and he could see that there were only five boats accompanying him, among which not only the little emperor, but also a high-ranking officer in the army, could not help but be surprised. He couldn't be provoked by others, so he unified the army and the navy, and his younger brother Zheng Yong scolded him. In order to prevent leakage, Zhao Yu only told him not to make a noise, and he was about to go to Taihu Lake after eating in the camp, but Zheng Yi did not dare to be careless, and sent two warships to personally escort a battalion of soldiers.

The fleet set sail again from the canal for two hours and then turned into the Wujiang River, and it didn't take long for the fleet to finally sail into Taihu Lake. At this time, it was dusk, the sunset reflected in the lake with blood red, and Zhao Yu was greeted by a sentinel boat in addition to the vast lake, and the ship was only a moment before a sentinel boat came up, and after the two sides reported in flags, they sent a notice to inform Dong Yicheng, and a ship led them to the anchorage of the First Fleet.

Turning the headland formed by probing into the lake, there are two small islands in the eyes, Zhao Yu looked at the map and picked up the telescope to look northwest, the east and west islands confronted, there is a bridge between the west island and the north shore of Taihu Lake, and the lake should not be deep. After the fleet passed around the west island, a large gap appeared between the two islands, which was several miles wide, and the boat obviously felt stagnant, and slowed down, and he immediately understood that it was from here that the water from the east of the lake flowed in, and the boat was naturally blocked from going upstream, but it was also the throat from the west of the lake into the center of the lake.

Zhao Yu looked at the west island again, the area here is larger than the east island, and a water village was built in the west of the island, which was full of ships, and it was estimated that most of them were grain ships seized by Dong Yicheng in Liujiagang, all of which were hidden in the village. Judging from the location chosen by the water village, it is also good, which can prevent the enemy from using the water to burn the fire boat from the east of the island, but so many ships are moored in one place is also a hidden danger, if it is really on fire, so much food will be in vain......