Three days passed quickly, and the latest battle report also came from Chengdu Prefecture, saying that the situation was critical, the rebels had reached the city of Hanzhou, and the Chengdu Mansion garrison troops and the elite of the Li family were defending to the death, hoping that the imperial court would send troops into Sichuan to fight as soon as possible.

On the fifth day of the first month of the 16th year of Chongwen of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the New Year is not over, the wharf outside Jinling City, the sails are shadowy, hundreds of big ships are already on standby here, and the wide river surface of the row is full.

More than 10,000 soldiers will be transported by more than 100 large ships, along the Yangtze River waterway all the way to Chongqing, and take the land route through Rongchang, Longchang, Neijiang, Zixian, Ziyang, and Jianzhou to Chengdu Prefecture.

You can also take the waterway in Jianzhou to go straight to Hanzhou, and you don't need to go to Chengdu Mansion, which depends on the situation, or you don't go ashore in Chongqing, but go directly to the waterway again, and finally go ashore in Hezhou, Suining, and Tongchuan Prefecture, blocking the retreat of the rebels.

Lin Qing, the commander of the first division, stood beside Ling Yu, quietly watching the soldiers board the ship, at this moment he was excited in his heart, he was going to the battlefield again, the last time he went to Kaifeng, he did not accompany him, this time he finally let him lead the army as the commander to quell the rebellion, not only has military merits, but also gives his restless soldiers a place to vent their blood.

"Lao Lin, I won't say more, you and I have been one of the longest people in this group, we have a great responsibility for this expedition, how to command the musket troops to fight, you must have learned a lot in peacetime, the last time you didn't follow us to Henan, you have always been regretful, now the opportunity has come, I hope you can behave well, and we must be cautious, we can strategically despise the enemy, but tactically we must pay attention to the enemy." Ling Yu turned his head and smiled at Lin Qingdao.

"The subordinates will not disappoint the Hou Ye, the Hou Ye, you will see it, the subordinates will definitely fight beautifully, and let those rebels know the strength of our Beijing army." Lin Qing said firmly.

"That's fine, let's go, it's almost over, you can ride the flagship with me." Ling Yu smiled and gestured, motioning for Lin Qing to come on the boat with him.

Lin Qing nodded, followed Ling Yu step by step, and the two quickly stepped onto the boat.

After waiting for a while, Li Shu came over and said, "Master Hou, the soldiers have finished boarding the ship, whether to set off, please ask Master Hou for instructions." ”

"Well, pass the order, and the army will start." Ling Yu nodded, and said in high spirits, it was also the first time he had led more than 10,000 troops on an expedition, and his mood was also a little agitated at the moment.

Li Shu left as ordered, and soon, the flagship notified the surrounding big ships with the flag, conveyed Ling Yu's order, and the sailors skillfully operated the sails, and the surrounding big ships surrounded the flagship in the middle and set sail slowly.

These ships are all the naval warships of the Great Zhou, although the water power of the Great Zhou is not good, but it does not mean that there is none, after all, the Great Zhou is vast, from the south to the span is very large, and the sea frontier is also very long, so it is natural to have some strength.

It's just that these water forces in Da Zhou can't be compared with Xiyi, on the day of Trake's departure, Ling Yu took the time to send it off, and saw the huge warship moored at the dock, although the guns on the ship did not push out the cannon window, but Ling Yu could also feel the power of this battleship, so he was even more anxious, but because of the current situation, the development of water power can be said to be unrealistic, even if he trained the sailors, Ling Yu did not have time to do it.

However, now that Zhou Zhengxiong sent him to lead the troops into Sichuan to quell the rebellion, he just happened to use the Yangtze River Water Division, so he could learn about the current water power of the Great Zhou along the way, and when the affairs of Sichuan Province were completed, he could try to train himself.

Ling Yu was thinking here, Zhou Ling and Xin Yue were also looking at the fleet on the river from a place on the shore that Ling Yu couldn't see, they didn't dare to get too close, lest Ling Yu feel distressed when he saw them in tears.

"Sister, the husband is gone, let's go back, presumably the husband will be able to return triumphantly soon." Xinyue wiped her tears and said.

"Well, the husband will definitely be able to return victorious, how can those young people in Shu be enemies with the husband, I only hate that some people are always restless, and the husband is deeply valued by the emperor, causing our husband and wife to get together less and leave more." Zhou Ling hated and hated, of course she also knew some things about the Zhao family, and she also hated the Zhao family at the moment.

After that, the second daughter led the guards out of the dock and returned to the city, now that Ling Yu is not on the expedition, the two of them have to sit at home and take care of the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce, although Ling Yu has always attached little importance to the Chamber of Commerce, but the Chamber of Commerce is an important source of income for the Ling family, Ling Yu has no heart and lungs, they can't do this. Grave

Ling Yu naturally didn't know that his wife and concubine were looking at him from a distance, and he was talking to Ma Qisheng, the leader of the accompanying craftsmen, this Ma Qisheng was also the only one in the workshop whose technical level was second to Wu Yong and Yang Yuan, so he was assigned to Ling Yu by the two as the leader of the accompanying craftsmen, and Jiang Yi personally accompanied him in the psionic workshop, and this time Ling Yu went out with 500 craftsmen and 50 spirit masters, led by the two of them.

"Master Hou, the design drawings you showed us just now are not difficult, but now there are no relevant tools on the ship, I am afraid that it will not be able to produce, please forgive Master Hou." Ma Qisheng raised and looked at Ling Yudao.

"Master Hou, there is no problem with the spirit masters, I can organize them to work at any time." Jiang Yi thought for a while.

"It's okay, I'll just show you first, I also know that I can't make it on the ship now, but it's okay, when we arrive in Anqing Mansion, take a little rest, buy some things we need locally, and I will order a big ship for you, and you can make it on it." Ling Yu said with a smile, of course he knew that he couldn't do it now, but he had just set off, so he was not in a hurry.

What he took out was just the design of the telescope, in fact, there was no difficulty in manufacturing, and it was also used to replace the glass with the glass runes made by Xiao Ling, and it was simpler than glass, because Xiao Ling could use the modified glass runes to make it produce the convex lenses and concave lenses needed by the telescope, and even the polishing was saved, and it was crystal clear.

This was also something that Ling Yu remembered after he set off, he couldn't help but blame himself a little, he didn't think about the telescope two days ago, it was not accurate to say this, but Ling Yu hadn't thought of this thing at all before.

When he set off today, he saw that the ships were using flag language to transmit the news, and he remembered that if there was such a thing as a telescope, wouldn't it be more conducive to the command of the naval division, and it would be equally applicable to land battles.

It would be better if there was a walkie-talkie designed by Xiao Ling before, and the command efficiency would be improved many times, but it was a pity that Xiao Ling didn't have an eyebrow for that thing now, and there must be no chance to make it this time, but Ling Yu was not in a hurry, the current command system was quite mature, and the main job of the water division this time was to transport soldiers of the new army, and there was no combat mission.

Xie Xingping, the commander of the Yangtze River Navy Division, who was standing on the side, listened with great interest, although he couldn't understand the design drawing, but he could understand the utility of the telescope that Ling Yu said, and he was also thinking about the benefits of the telescope to his sailor, his eyes became brighter and brighter, and he said in his heart: "This Lingwu Marquis really deserves his reputation, and any thing he takes out is an artifact that improves the combat effectiveness of the army, I hope he will hurry up and train the water division, I am afraid that there will be more new equipment at that time." ”

After Zhou Zhengxiong agreed to let Ling Yu train the water division, the holy decree was issued to the nearest Yangtze River Navy Commander's Mansion, at first Xie Xingping was very disdainful, he admitted that Ling Yu's training of the new army was very powerful, but he didn't think that Ling Yu knew the water division, and now he saw that Ling Yu's casual things were very beneficial to the water division, and he immediately changed his thinking, knowing that he was underestimating Ling Yu.

Ling Yu glanced at Xie Xingping, naturally knowing that he had figured out the role of the telescope, Ling Yu smiled and said, "Admiral Xie, this thing will naturally give priority to the sailors and soldiers, you don't have to worry." When Ling Yu first saw Xie Xingping, he knew that he had a lot of opinions about the training of the water master himself, but fortunately, he didn't have time to train at that time, and now he specially showed Xie Xingping a hand, so that he knew in his heart that he was powerful.

"Hou Ye is serious, and the last general will thank Hou Ye for his care of the sailors." Xie Xingping said respectfully, at this time, his senses for Ling Yu in his heart had changed, and he no longer thought that Ling Yu was not qualified to train the water master.

"Well, now that I have nothing to do, it's better for Admiral Xie to tell Ben Hou about the situation of the Great Zhou Water Master." Ling Yu glanced at Xie Xingping and said with a smile, he didn't make this request at the beginning, he knew that Xie Xingping was a little dissatisfied in his heart, so at this moment, seeing that Xie Xingping's arrogance was suppressed a little, he asked.

"Yes, Master Hou, my Yangtze River Naval Division's Admiral's Mansion is nominally in charge of the water power of the whole country, but because there is no water power in the north, it can be basically ignored, and it is mainly in charge of the water power in the south of the Yangtze River, but in the same way, in addition to the Yangtze River Naval Division, which is a relatively large water force, there are some water forces in other places such as Songjiang, Ningbo, Taizhou, Fuzhou, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, Guangzhou, etc., but they are very small, and the number of them added up is not as large as the warships of the Yangtze River Naval Division." Xie Xingping is very familiar with the naval division, in fact, he is equivalent to the naval commander of the Great Zhou, although there is no navy yet.

"Well, how many sailor warships and soldiers are there in Da Zhou now?" Ling Yu thought for a moment and continued to ask.

"Back to the Hou Ye, now the Yangtze River Naval Division has 200 such 200-ton river boats, 100 300-ton ships, and more than 50 sea vessels of more than 500 tons, which are concentrated in the Yangtze River Naval Division, and the naval divisions of several prefectures just mentioned are basically only 10-20 200-300-ton boats, mainly to suppress some water bandits, and the Yangtze River Naval Division is to defend the Beijing Division, so the strength is relatively strong, in recent years, the Great Zhou Haijiang has been relatively calm, so the naval division has not received much attention, This time with the Hou Ye expedition to Shu, but only from so many ships selected the performance is still relatively intact, although the others are a lot, but many years of disrepair, dare not go far, as for the sailor soldiers of the Yangtze River Sailor There are about fifty or sixty thousand people, and all other places are 2000-3000, the soldiers of our sailor division are all good, although there are not many people, but all of them are skilled. Xie Xingping replied.

After listening to this, Ling Yu carefully calculated in his heart, it seems that although the problem of the sailor is not very serious, it is definitely not good, the warship is not good, the soldier estimates that there should be no problem in operating the sails, but it takes a long time to train to learn to operate the artillery, after all, there is no such weapon as a gunboat in Dazhou now.

"Well, I have a general understanding, Admiral Xie, the training of the sailor is the will of His Majesty earlier, Ben Hou has been busy with the training of the new army and has no time to retrain the sailor, and I am afraid that I will not have time to do this for a long time, but this time, I will compile some information on the training of the sailor for you, and you will carry out the preliminary training according to the method on the data, as for the sailor warship and equipment, this matter is not in a hurry, this candidate will write to Your Majesty, slowly for you to be better, you have to remember that the sailor is very important to the Great Zhou, The future of the Great Zhou must be at sea, so in the future, after you are trained into the army, you can no longer be called a naval division, but a navy. Ling Yu said.

"Yes, Master Hou, the last general will obey Master Hou's orders." Xie Xingping respectfully bowed his hand, although he hadn't understood it all of a sudden, but he was already eager to try, the navy was naturally better than the sailor, and I heard Ling Yu say that the future of the Great Zhou would be at sea, which meant that in the future, their sailors would become more and more important in the future? This made Xie Xingping's heart burn, and he decided to follow Hou Ye Ling well.