Chizhou and Jiangzhou are 400 miles away from each other by waterway, according to the conventional day and night, after leaving Chizhou, it takes about four days to see Jiangzhou City on the south bank of the river.

When the World Bank ship, especially when the side headwind, the hull deviation is difficult to control, and it is difficult to have strong winds, which makes it quite dangerous to sail at night even in large rivers with relatively open water. Besides, the boatmen can't bear the hard work of day and night.

When the stars and moon were in the sky, they could only vaguely discern the riverbanks on both sides, Han Qian released three Kong Ming lanterns and lifted them into the air, signaling to Guo Nu'er that this side would change the itinerary to increase the speed of the boat, but he hung up the sails and sailed against the wind and water all the way.

Ji Fu, who was full of opinions about Han Qian before, was full of praise this night, but he didn't expect that there would be such a great wonder if he installed simple water decks on both sides of the boat and inserted them into the water.

Overcoming the drawbacks of the hull being sidewinded, in addition to increasing the speed by three or four percent, the route has also become more stable, and the shipwright has also saved a lot of hard work.

Han Qian asked Fan Xicheng, Zhao Kuo and other soldiers to also learn to control the sails and rudders, and take turns with the shipwrights. If they don't rest and continue to swim upstream, they should be able to see the city of Jiangzhou when it gets dark.

However, Han Qian did not let Ji Fu and the others continue to sail westward, and discussed with his father Han Daoxun to make the ship sail to a sandbar in the center of the river.

The sandbar is not large, only miles deep.

Of course, it is early summer, and the spring water is swollen, and a large number of low silt areas on the sandbar are flooded by the river, and many trees can be seen flooded by the muddy river water.

The boat sailed into a miscellaneous forest on a sandbar along a river stream, lowered the sail of the lofty goal, and could not see a boat hidden in Shazhou from both sides.

After the boat stopped, Han Qian tied his robe, leather armor, and saber tightly with oilcloth, and put them on a simple floating raft made of ox brisket, and prepared to say goodbye to his father and them, and crossed the river alone, swimming to the south bank to meet Zhao Wuji.

The river is windy and rough, and the river surface four or five miles wide is extremely physically demanding, and not just anyone can cross it; Han Qian's water nature can only be said to be average, otherwise it would be used as a simple floating talisman; Zhao Kuo wanted to bring someone to escort him to the south bank.

Han Qian glanced at Zhao Kuo and said, "If the Anning Palace wants to be unfavorable to my father, it will drive the Jiang bandits from the river, and there must be no less people on the boat." ”

Han Qian didn't trust Zhao Kuo enough, who was always a little mysterious, and didn't want him to have the opportunity to see with his own eyes the operation of the Secret Cao Zuo Division that he had single-handedly formed.

Besides, even if we do not consider the deployment of troops and horses sent by Li Mingting, the river to the west of Chizhou is seriously plagued by banditry, which seriously hinders the development of commerce and trade. Father, they are hiding here, and there is still a possibility that they will encounter scattered bandits on the river, and Han Qian can't reduce the already limited escort force on the ship.

Seeing that everyone was really relieved, he went alone to meet Guo Nu'er, and Han Qian finally took Ji Xiyao, the son of Ji Fu, who had excellent water ability and was rough in fists, to escort him, and sneaked to the south bank together to prevent accidents.

Han Qian now found that the older generation, whether it was a civil servant, a military general, a domestic soldier, a servant, or even a craftsman, was a little rigid in their brains, and they were very cautious, far less ambitious than the younger generation, and dared to adapt to new things.

Ji Fu was undoubtedly a master craftsman, but he was asked by Han Qian to negotiate the construction of fast sailing ships, on the surface he was respectful, and he didn't dare to disobey him at all, but he didn't take him seriously in his heart, in comparison, although Ji Xiyao didn't say much, Han Qian could see that he was really interested.

To build a new ship, Ji Fu needs to use it, but Han Qian will use people like Nian Xiyao.

…………

…………

On the other side of Wangjiang County, Shuzhou, it is the westernmost part of Chizhou in Zhide County, in addition to the river stretching, the beach where the water and grass are long, the territory is more undulating, there is an ancient road from the low hills and mountains, although it is in disrepair, but there are also a lot of business travelers passing by, Han Qian and Ji Xiyao walked to a small market town and stopped, found a rather simple tea shed and walked in and sat down.

It wasn't until the afternoon that Han Qian saw Lin Zongjing passing in front of the teashed with a green-skinned mule and a sickly-looking newcomer Tiancheng.

Infected with water cup blight, even in the control of the epidemic, the vast majority of patients, as long as it is not in the advanced stage, will not be fatal, but no matter how slow the onset is, it will have more or less impact on the body, and at the same time, there is no specific drug to completely cure, and it is difficult to avoid the slow aggravation of the disease in the end.

When the secret Cao Zuo Division's military room recruits new scouts, he still avoids picking infected people as much as possible, but Tian Cheng is an exception.

Tiancheng was originally a native of Xiangzhou, and his ancestors were quite wealthy, with thousands of acres of good land. In the past few decades of war, Xiangzhou has been completely disabled, and is now the buffer zone of Liangchu's western boundary, and the mountains and forests are full of rogues and bandits. Tian Cheng could not return to his hometown, since he was a child, he followed his father and brother to Jianghuai, and also practiced boxing and footing, reading and literacy with his father and brother, and then joined the Xuanshe Festival envoy Zhou Zhong, and other fathers and brothers had served in the Xuanshu army as Du Yu Hou, Deputy Du Yu Hou and other middle and senior generals, Tian Cheng was not famous, mainly led his own soldiers by his father and brother's side.

After Zhou Zhong was defeated by Emperor Tianyou, Tian Cheng's father and brother were killed, Tian Cheng was unwilling to be loyal to Da Chu, and his family of more than a dozen people were exiled to the rivers and lakes.

After being assigned to the cantonment barracks, Tian Cheng's mother died of illness a few years ago, and the infection of the others was largely controlled.

Han Qian was easily reluctant to recruit infected people into the secret Cao Zuo Division, but there were really not too many people who could have Tian Cheng's resume among the hungry people, and Han Qian could not be picky.

Such a character, as long as there is a remnant on the side of the Dragon Bird Army, he will be recruited into the secret Cao Zuosi.

Tian Cheng, who is in his early thirties, has a sallow face, and he is very thin, he doesn't need to pretend, riding a green-skinned mule, looking sick, passers-by look at him and Lin Zongjing, and subconsciously think that they are father and son who went to the town to seek medical treatment, and avoid them from afar.

After Lin Zongjing and Tian Cheng walked over for a while, Han Qian took out four coins and put them on the corner of the table, and took Ji Xiyao to the market town.

Tian Cheng was guarding the courtyard wall with another newly recruited scout from Zuo Si, and when he saw Han Qian walking in, he hurriedly came over and saluted, "I've seen my lord." ”

Han Qian looked at Tian Cheng and another newly recruited scout, and wondered if it wasn't for the fact that he decisively ordered the four people to be hacked to death a few days ago, a character like Tian Cheng would not be so easily obedient, and asked:

"Apart from Zong Jing, who else came over in advance?"

"Young master, we're here too," Guo Nu'er, Zhao Wuji, and Lin Zongjing walked out of it and said happily, "Young master, your boat is running so fast, we waited for a while on the river beach east of Zhide County in the early morning, and we didn't see you passing by, young master, before we realized that we still underestimated your ability, young master." ”

"Early in the morning, we went to Jiangxinzhou in the west of Zhide County, and I waited for you in the tea shed for a long time," Han Qian didn't expect Zhao Wuji and Lin Jinghai to misestimate their boat speed, so that they waited for a long time in the east of Zhide County, he walked into the house, three groups of people and horses crowded and sat against the wall, he motioned to everyone not to get up and salute, looking at the furnishings in the house, although they were simple and old, but not dusty, this was obviously not a ruined hermitage, and asked, "What about the owner of this nunnery?" ”

"We came in masked, tied up the three old nuns inside and locked them in the firewood room, and thought we were robbing, and one of the old nuns peed a crotch of his pants, and he was angry with his nose, and then he was snubbing the Buddha." Lin Zongjing said with a smile.

Han Qian smiled, and seeing that they were all handled properly, he didn't ask any more questions, and sent someone to the courtyard, staring at the movement outside, and Changtian Cheng came in to discuss the next step of deployment.

"The enemy thinks that the adult's ship can only travel 100 miles at the fastest in a night, so after they lose the whereabouts of the ship that the adult is on, they may search from the mouth of Qiuxia Creek to the river beach in the east, or they may mistakenly think that the adult and the old man abandoned the boat and landed somewhere east of the mouth of Qiuxia Creek, and went to Xuzhou by land."

Lin Zongjing took a tree branch and simply drew a topographic map from Chizhou City to Zhide County on the dirt floor, and suggested,

"We should also sneak to the east of the mouth of Qiuxia Creek, as long as we can see through the secrets of the other party and catch them, it will be much easier to act."

Han Qian bowed slightly.

Lin Zongjing was still an arrogant soldier a year ago, and now he can directly and specifically and meticulously plan of action, if not the most reasonable, it is not simple.

From Chizhou City to Zhide County, located on the south bank of the Yangtze River, all counties along the Yangtze River have galloping roads and endless business travel, but Guo Nuer and they are not locals, so they must hide themselves and not show their flaws, so they can't stay casually along the way, and they can't ask around aimlessly.

Under so many restrictions, it is quite difficult for Guo Nuer and them to see through the other party's secret secrets.

The manpower that Han Qian can call on is limited, but no matter how powerful Zhao Mingting and the staff department are, they dare not publicize the plot of the Anning Palace to the world, and the secret room sent by them must be a descendant they can absolutely trust, and they do not dare to disturb the place.

The terrain of the river beach along the Yangtze River is complex, and many places are unobstructed, and the other party wants to hide their whereabouts, and they can't directly follow the river beach all the way to follow their boat westward, but more to pick a few fixed points along the way to see if their boat has passed.

In this case, if their ship can sail far out of the other party's estimated range overnight, the other party will mistakenly think that their ship is still downstream and has not come up; After waiting for a long time, the other party's secret room and spies may lose patience and take the initiative to search downstream.

Lin Zongjing seized this opportunity to find the whereabouts of several secret rooms of the other party and arrest them.

"Who could have a better proposal?" Han Qian didn't rush to ask Guo Nu'er and Zhao Wuji's opinions, but looked at the newly recruited scouts in Chaotian City.

He ruthlessly ordered the slack-picking scouts to be killed before, in order to establish absolute authority, Zuo Si hurriedly prepared, and there was no room for the slightest slackness, but it was not for these newly recruited scouts that he carefully selected to shut up.