On the morning of the next day, at the West Hanshui Wharf in Xiangyang City, two large ships stopped beside the riverbank.

The boat is a hired river boat to transport goods, and it takes a day and night to run a trip to Tangzidu, but each ship costs as much as 1,000 yuan. Fifteen hundred stone millet and more than 1,000 stone loads of wheat have been loaded, and the planks of the boat are almost flush with the surface of the river.

(Three thousand stone of millet was sold, and several hundred stone were sold to buy various supplies, and another thousand stone of wheat seeds were exchanged, and only 1,500 stone was left.) ）

Xu Shu and Cui Zhouping brought thirteen rangers, and Deng Tu also brought four sturdy male subordinates, plus more than 20 people in Sanshui Village, for a total of more than 40 people.

Of course, these rangers are not free to help, they are not so idle, even if there is a relationship with Xu Shu, everyone needs to pay a commission of five hundred yuan, after all, people point to this line to eat.

These rangers are all armed with weapons, and their combat power is far stronger than those Yellow Turban Thieves, and with them joining, the security is greatly increased.

However, Zhang Miao was still very cautious, in order to prevent thieves from attacking from the water, through Deng She's relationship, he bought a full twenty pairs of bows and arrows, although most of them were one-stone bows, but there was no problem in dealing with thieves without armor. Most of the teenagers in Sanshui Village have learned archery with Zhang Jin, but they are not proficient in it, and if they want to be superb in archery, they must go through many years of training.

This is also the reason why when Xiangyang was attacked a few days ago, there were no archers among the thieves who attacked. Most of the thieves are homeless, and there are very few who can shoot arrows. At that time, if the thieves had a few pairs of bows and arrows, Sanshui Village would inevitably have suffered a lot of casualties.

Because of Zhang Jin, although Sanshui Village does not have a few pairs of bows, many villagers still know how to shoot bows and arrows, but they are not accurate. The reason why Zhang Miao spent a lot of money to buy so many bows was to make up for the lack of accuracy with a salvo. A large number of feathered arrows are shot, and even if they are not accurate, they can shoot a few. However, this is also quite expensive, twenty pairs of ordinary one-stone bows and forty pots of feather arrows, which costs a full hundred and ten stone millet rice!

In order to prevent thieves' bows and arrows and reduce the casualties of the villagers, Zhang Miao asked people to get more than 40 thick planks to be used as shields. When the time comes, the thief will not succeed even if he has an archer.

In order to prevent the thieves from jumping from the boat to attack, Zhang Miao spent money to buy dozens of bamboo poles several zhang long, one sharpened as a bamboo spear, to resist the attack from the ship.

"With such equipment, there are hundreds of thieves, and it is very difficult to capture the ship." After seeing Zhang Miao's preparation, Xu Shu praised it.

Zhang Miao sighed: "In order to reduce the casualties of the villagers, we can only prepare as well as possible. ”

The grain had already been loaded onto the ship, and other supplies had been brought to the ship one after another. At noon, the two big ships finally set sail and slowly left Xiangyang.

Cui Zhouping was a little seasick and hid in the cabin to rest. Zhang Miao and Xu Shu stood at the bow of the boat, watching the waves and rivers chatting casually.

"Xiangyang and Fancheng stand between the Han River, Xiangyang City is tall and strong and wrapped in city bricks, but Fancheng is a low earth city crumbling. If the enemy attacked from the north, how could the low walls of Yifan City be able to stop it? To defend Xiangyang must guard Fancheng, Liu Biao doesn't even understand such a truth. ”

Xu Shu turned into an angry youth again, pointed to Fancheng in Jiangbei and said.

Zhang Miao smiled and agreed: "What Brother Yuan said is very true, it seems that he has no plans to go north at all, and only wants to enjoy the glory and wealth in Xiangyang." ”

Xu Shu continued: "Xiangyang is backed by Yanshan Mountain and north of Hanshui, and the terrain is dangerous, easy to defend and difficult to attack. Xiangyang is located in the south of the Nanyang Basin, from Xiangyang to the west of the Han River can reach Hanzhong, to the northwest through Wuguan can reach Guanzhong, to the north through Wancheng Luyang can reach Luoyang, to the east through Yexian County to the Central Plains of Xudu. Liu Biao occupies Jingxiang, and he can use Xiangyang as the foundation to conquer the world, but he has been in Xiangyang for more than ten years, and he has no work, which is simply ridiculous. ”

Zhang Miao asked, "If Yuan's brother is Liu Biao, what will he do?" ”

Xu Shu said: "If it were me, I would do my best to go north with Jingxiang's troops, first capture Wanye, and completely control the Nanyang Basin, Nanyang has fertile land and many household registrations, take it as the foundation, or send troops to control Guanzhong, or send troops to the north to occupy Luoyang, so even if Cao Cao is strong, he will not want to gain a firm foothold in the Central Plains." ”

Zhang Miao said: "Is Brother Yuan's strategy to map the Central Plains first?" Why don't you first capture Hanzhong Bashu, then attack Jiangdong, connect the entire south into one, and then map the Central Plains? ”

Xu Shu shook his head and said: "Since ancient times, those who do not want the Central Plains cannot win the world. After all, the Central Plains has the largest population and the most fertile land. As long as the Central Plains is controlled in hand, the corners of the four corners can be passed on. ”

Zhang Miao was silent because he knew that what Xu Shu said was right. During the Three Kingdoms, Shu controlled Bashu, and Sun Quan controlled Jiangdong and half of Jingzhou, but the Sun and Liu families combined could not compete with Cao Wei in terms of strength, because Cao Wei controlled the entire Central Plains.

In the present era, Jiangnan and Huguang are far undeveloped and very wild, while the Central Plains is the most fertile and rich place with the largest population.

Xu Shu talked eloquently, pointing at the country, Zhang Miao casually agreed, but every time he said something, the two could be said to have a very happy conversation.

In the course of talking, the two big ships entered Bishui and became farther and farther away from Xiangfan.

On the other boat, Zhang Jin and Deng Tu sat opposite each other, talking and drinking, Zhang Jin did not mention the affairs between his children again, and Deng Tu did not pretend to be drunk anymore, and they also talked happily.

The boat went up against the water, although it could take advantage of the wind, the speed was still not fast, Zhang Chuang and Zhang Ping looked nervously at the reeds on both sides of the river, for fear of killing countless thieves. Fortunately, there was no danger, and there was never a thief.

At night, the two ships anchored in the middle of the water, and Zhang Miao assigned people to keep vigil. Well, because Xu Shu and the others were found by Zhang Miao, in order to command smoothly, Zhang Jin took the initiative to hand over the command to Zhang Miao.

There was nothing to do all night, and the next day the boat continued to go north, and there were no thieves along the way, and on the morning of the third day, they finally arrived at Tangzidu, and Zhang Yu, the patriarch of Sanshui Village, had been waiting there with the villagers.

More than 20 carts were hired from Tangzidu, plus donkeys and mules brought from Sanshui Village, and more than 100 people escorted more than 2,000 stone of grain, and finally returned to Sanshui Village in the afternoon. The women and children in the village were waiting eagerly, looking at the returning grain team, and shouted happily.

"Sanjiang, if we have such a big movement along the way, if the thieves know about it, will we send people to grab food again?" Xu Shu said to Zhang Miao worriedly.

"Don't worry, we have already found out, just a few days ago, the bandit leader Zhou Cang went east with his men, and he will not return to Huyang in a short time. As for the other small thieves, they are not in our eyes. Zhang Miao hadn't answered yet, and Zhang Yu said with a smile.

"I see, no wonder I didn't encounter thieves along the way." Xu Shu said with a smile.