Chapter 64: Breaking through

When the caravan set out this time, there was almost no increase or decrease in personnel, because there were some people who left and some new people who joined in, and people felt that the people who followed the kiln gang would be safer. Such a big caravan is very troublesome to manage, but with previous experience, everyone is very dedicated, and Zhang Zhimu didn't bother much, Zhang Zhimu still sat in a car with Yang Yulin, although the car was a little bumpy, but fortunately, Lu Chengxiang and others were still very careful, and the bottom of the car was very comfortable, Zhang Zhimu was tired, this time he didn't care if Yang Yulin was not there, he was sleeping with his head covered. This time, there were basically no hotels on the road, and they were all camping. Although the road is not very easy to walk, some places even take the plank road, but fortunately, everyone is an old Jianghu, basically there is no major event. Occasionally, I saw someone probing their brains, but everyone didn't pay attention to them, and no one dared to use their brains. In this way, after three days of walking in the morning, the caravan walked out of the canyon area in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. At the mouth of the last gorge, Zhang Zhimu estimated that this may be the location of the Xiaolangdi Reservoir Dam in the previous life, and the scene when he visited the Xiaolangdi Dam is vivid, but the scenery at that time is completely different from now, if he didn't know that the current location is the location of the Xiaolangdi Dam, he must not be able to judge that this is the place he came to in the first place.

After this gorge, there is a relatively large wharf, which can be said to be a gathering of thousands of ships. Li Jing and Lu Chengxiang, who were at the front station, had a lot of effort to find an inn that could arrange Zhang Zhimu and their personnel, horses, and goods. Zhang Zhimu said: "Stay first and see the situation." ”

The next day, Zhang Zhimu asked everyone to go out to understand the situation, and the innkeeper didn't say anything for a long time. Zhang Zhimu and Chen Yufeng led Yang Yulin to watch the scenery on the pier. The owners of the hired carriage came over, and Lu Chengxiang also followed. The proprietor said: "Zhang Dongjia, we have transported your horse stalls, and you will get on the ship next, if you are not using the car, we will leave." Zhang Zhimu said: "You also have a day off, and it is not too late for us to have a good drink in the evening." The few people said: "If Zhang Dongjia doesn't use the car, we will leave now, and we will thank the owner for his kindness." To tell the owner, as soon as we arrived, many merchants trapped here were very happy when they heard that the trade route was open. I heard that our convoy was going back, so I came to book a car early this morning. We don't dare to agree without the consent of Zhang Dongjia, no, they are all waiting for a reply at the inn. Zhang Zhimu said: "It's good to have business, then I won't delay everyone, along the way, we have shared weal and sorrow, life and death together, I didn't expect to break up so soon." Yes, there is no banquet in the world that will not be dispersed, and if there is a chance, we will work together. Mr. Lu paid for the car according to the original agreement, plus 10%. Lu Chengxiang said to the owners: "Don't hurry up and thank you." Several people were very moved, and after thanking them, they left with Lu Chengxiang.

Chen Yufeng said: "Zhimu, look at the fact that there are so many ships parked here, it means that the waterway is not passable." Zhang Zhimu smiled and said: "We are here to pass the road, you see that there are still ships coming and going." Listen to what everyone has to say in the evening. ”

At that time, the Yellow River was different from the previous life, the Yellow River had a total of 21 tail swing diversions, the Yellow River at this time, after Kaifeng, divided into two main tributaries, one is to the northeast, the same path as the previous life, the other road to the southeast, through Xuzhou into the Huai River into the sea. The Huai River was connected to the canal. The southeast road is the main stream of the Yellow River. This mainstream is exactly the route that Zhang Zhimu's fleet will take. However, this route must pass through the Kaifeng section. Zhang Zhimu knew that according to the history of the Ming Dynasty, Li Zicheng had already begun to besiege Kaifeng in February. Then this section of the Yellow River will inevitably be blocked by Li Zicheng. How to get past is key.

Everyone came back in the evening and summarized what they had learned. Some boatmen who came from downstream said that the Ming army and the army of King Chuang faced off across the bank in the Kaifeng River section, and the Ming army was beaten back several times to reinforce Kaifeng. The passing ships are basically unblocked, they are all fighting for the hearts and minds of the people, and no one will mess around at this time. However, the ships are all passing under the muzzle, which is still very scary. But there is one thing, the two sides are very close to the grain, the Ming army is not allowed to transport, and the army will buy it when it encounters a grain ship, but you will not have nothing to earn it.

Zhang Zhimu knew that Henan, under the occupation of Li Zicheng, had a severe drought year after year, and there was a severe shortage of food. This is Li Zicheng's three enclosures of Kaifeng, with 30,000 elite soldiers and 400,000 ordinary troops, and eating is the top priority. Elite soldiers can eat three meals a day, while those ordinary armies, in fact, are made up of displaced people, and can only eat two meals a day. So when they see food, they will never let it go. When choosing between life and death, it is more important to live than to win the trust of the people. When Li Zicheng saw this good horse, it was even less likely that he could easily let it go.

Zhang Zhimu said: "No matter what, we must hold our fate in our own hands." Be prepared to rush over. Tomorrow we will start hiring a boat and strive to set off the morning after tomorrow, even if it is the Longtan Tiger's Den, we will also break through. But this time we are going to prepare five armed ships, and let's discuss how to distribute weapons and personnel. "The result of the discussion was that each of the five ships had two musketeers, two crossbows, and ten archers. Liu Yun and Li Wei's front and rear ships were each equipped with a bed crossbow. Zhang Zhimu's command ship was equipped with five muskets, and the fifteen dart masters led by Chen Yufeng followed the command ship, and Li Jing was also on the command ship. His task is mainly to be in charge of the cash box. Liu Yun, Li Weiliu, and Cheng Huang were each responsible for one armed ship and the other two armed ships, and Zhang Zhimu proposed two candidates, one who had been trained in Yaogang and the other who was Meng Si'er. Everyone has no opinions. Now the people who have been trained in the kiln are all core team members, and each of them holds a certain position. They are also very proud because they came out of the kiln. When Zhang Zhimu called Meng Si and told him that he wanted him to be in charge of an armed ship, Meng Si'er didn't dare to believe it. Zhang Zhimu said: "Meng Si'er, I recommended you, because I believe that you will be able to listen to the command and do the things you explain well." You've got to fight for me. Meng Si'er excitedly expressed her determination to smear her liver and brain. Zhang Zhimu knows that people like Meng Si'er, give them that opportunity, they still have a certain ability, because people who can do many bad things have good psychological quality first, as long as they are well guided, they may be a talent. Early the next morning, the other caravans were notified of the departure dates, and the ships were hired and loaded here. The busiest is Lu Qi, and the horse fence that is inspected by boat by boat is not strong. The armed ship, which had no shields, was made with the help of carpenters. It wasn't until the evening that it was finally done. The horses were driven to the boat overnight, and everyone stayed on the boat at night.

Looking at everyone's busy figure, Zhang Zhimu has some feelings, it seems that we Chinese still do not have the tradition of grinding foreign workers, but after the Japanese devils came, China had the word "grinding foreign workers", and there was this vice. Damn little devil, I'll destroy you first when I'm done building the navy.

In the morning, when the ship was about to be lifted at anchor, everyone held hands on the pier and said goodbye to each other, taking care of each other. Because there are so many people, the ships on the road can only be separated directly, and I don't know what year and month it will be when I say goodbye, which is really difficult. When everyone got on the boat, Zhang Zhimu on the pier waved to the boats and finally boarded the boat.

Along the way, according to Zhang Zhimu's instructions, the boats controlled the speed of the ship and went downstream. From time to time, you can see oncoming ships. In some sections, the boat heading upstream still has to be pulled by a slender man. Looking at those struggling slender men one by one skinny, some are naked, Zhang Zhimu is thinking, the life of the Chinese is too difficult, people in this era is too worthless, you have to give a little respect, this person can't wait to sell his life to you.

All the way downstream, a few days without incident. Lu Chengxiang saw that Zhang Zhimu was fine, so he came over with the account book and said, "Mr. Zhang, do you want to take a look at the accounts." Zhang Zhimu took the account book and looked at it, Lu Chengxiang was really serious about doing things, and he remembered every account clearly, but this was a running account. Zhang Zhimu said: "Mr. Lu, sit down, I just want to talk to you about the accounts." When Lu Chengxiang heard this, he thought to himself that I could just show my expertise in this area. So he said happily: "Okay, I just have time, ask Mr. Zhang for help." Zhang Zhimu didn't care what he thought, and said, "Mr. Lu, your accounts are very detailed, very clear and careful. But I think we will use a new method of bookkeeping in the future. That is, the commodity account is completely classified according to the category of goods. Each variety keeps a page of account, and the column of the account has purchase, sale and inventory, and the item has the quantity and unit price amount. The cash account and inventory account should be established separately, and it should be cleared on a daily basis and settled monthly. Zhang Zhimu saw that Lu Chengxiang was a little confused, so he said: "Of course, if you can't do this according to your current bookkeeping method, you will have to follow the method I taught you in the future." Learn to write with a fountain pen dipped in water, so that the writing is small and clear. It is also necessary to switch to Arabic numerals for bookkeeping. Don't feel troublesome, after learning it, it is very convenient. I'm going to teach you to write with a pen and do the math with this Arabic number. Originally, Lu Chengxiang was good at calculation, but as a result, in the morning, Lu Chengxiang was already able to write with a pen, and he could also use Arabic numerals to do basic calculations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Zhang Zhimu said in a timely manner: "Mr. Lu didn't expect you to learn so quickly, I thought it would take a few days to teach you." In this way, I will design an account book for you, and you will use this method to keep accounts in the future, and the order of writing must be from top to bottom, from left to right. So that our hands can't erase the handwriting we just wrote. Zhang Zhimu designed the ledger according to the style of the ledger he learned when he was engaged in financial software in his previous life. Then tell him which account is how to keep the account and how to carry it forward, and that account and that account are reconciled, and so on. Finally, Zhang Zhimu said, I want to read your report every month, and drew a few reports, telling him what needs to be filled in each column of the report. Although Lu Chengxiang didn't keep accounts like this, it was still no problem to understand Zhang Zhimu's bookkeeping methods. After listening, Lu Chengxiang's mind was a little confused, not because of the accounts, but because he couldn't understand that this one was not in business, but how could he come up with such a clever bookkeeping method. I have been in business for so many years, and I thought that my level was good, but compared with other people's bookkeeping methods, it is too bad. This one always knows everything, and he doesn't let people live. Lu Chengxiang accepted Zhang Zhimu's bookkeeping method and was the first to start teaching his son and nephew. Li Mao and others also joined in the fun to learn new bookkeeping methods from Lu Chengxiang.

On this morning, when the boat was about to reach the Kaifeng section, Zhang Zhimu controlled the speed of the boat and went slowly.

Suddenly, there were bursts of artillery in front of him, and Zhang Zhimu knew that the battlefield had arrived. The order was placed at anchor to stop the ship. I asked a ship that had just come from downstream, and the other party said, don't go, the Ming Navy and King Chuang's army fought, and we were almost swept into the battlefield. Zhang Zhimuxin said how could it be so coincidental that we caught up. Is it a blessing or a curse? At this time, Li Mao came over and said, "Zhimu, this may be a good opportunity, and when they both lose, they may not be able to take care of us." As soon as they stopped fighting, we rushed over, and before they could react, we passed. Chen Yufeng said: "Li Mao is right, as soon as they stop, we will wait for a while." As soon as they slackened, we rushed over, but we were ready to fight. Zhang Zhimu said: "Your analysis is correct. Let Liu Yun from the head boat come over and tell him about our plan. Let him hear the sound of our drums and speed up the stream, and after Kaifeng, we will go down the river to the southeast. Some ships may be heading northeast. ”

Come and listen to Zhang Zhimu's thoughts, Liu Yun said yes, I will listen to your orders.