Silla Domain/Gyeunghaedong Province, northwestern part of Jeolla Province.

Under the constant begging of the messengers of the princes of various provinces near Chungcheong-do and Sanggyeong-do, and the payment of various thick coins; Yang Zaixing, the fourth soldier and horse envoy and the supervisor of the Quanzhou horse step, finally led his troops out of the city of Quanzhou and rushed towards Gangwon Road.

Although he has always maintained the basic attitude of watching the fire from the mountain and watching it happen; After all, whether it is for those "post-Baekje countries" who are involved in rebellion, or for the other princes who are close to the cutting knife, Huaidong Town is undoubtedly an outsider who needs to be vigilant and guarded against.

However, with these native princes, even if they unite to form large and small alliances and groups, they are not the opponents of the post-Baekje kingdom that is good at mobilizing the low-level poor slave population and showing a sweeping trend, and the situation is becoming increasingly difficult under the loss of the army and the loss of land; I also had to let go of my usual reserved posture and discipline, and I invariably remembered Huaidong Town, the neighbor of the tiger and wolf at the border.

For Huaidong Town, it is also the so-called time passing, and the truce state with the post-Baekje state will no longer exist as the contradictions between Boluo and Huaidong intensify and antagonize; It's not the best time, but there's no other option in the short term.

After two years of operation and operation, Huaidong's agency rule and direct management in Jeolla Province have been much more stable, and the population under direct rule has reached hundreds of thousands, and the number of people who specialize in providing money, food, and labor under the local administration and the governance of the princes is also hundreds of thousands;

Therefore, in addition to the six battalions of Huaidong Gun'er in the four coastal counties of Jeolla Province with the full support of the town, 10,000 soldiers from the local princes led by the six alliances of Jeonju and 4,000 armed servants from all over the country who volunteered to follow their small and medium-sized farms.

Therefore, after converging along the way, before entering the critical mountain town, there was already an orderly and mighty team.

After passing through the low and undulating rocks, the wilderness of Gangwon Province and Wonju County, which was owned by the Gobaekje Kingdom, was completely exposed to them.

And at the distant river crossings that stretched out from the wilderness and the mountains, the civil fortifications and stockades built by the Maitreya army stationed in the area in the past two years were like ugly buildings gnawed by dogs, and they lay in such a haphazard manner on the road ahead.

In the face of the rolling torrent of 20,000 horses, it was not long before these "illegal buildings" blocking the road could not roll up a little dust or create a little obstruction, but they were reduced to ashes in the frightened guards who fled or knelt on the ground and begged for mercy, as well as the fire and dust that quickly evaporated.

Yang Zaixing also further confirmed more information by torturing the captures that had little fighting spirit; The forces now in charge of garrisoning Gangwon Province are mainly composed of the newly emerged post-Baekje court, the two major envoys appointed by Yeongdong and Yeongse, and a number of Gyeongjun troops who defend Wonsan.

And this Lingdong Jiedu envoy is mainly the former subordinate of the Maitreya Army, which is concurrently served by the chief monk Haiqing of the Maitreya Sect, and is divided into seven counties such as Yuanzhou, Hengcheng, Ningyue, Hongchuan, and Pyeongchang; The so-called Lingxi Jiedu envoy is an armed force gathered by those local powerful and large families who have joined the post-Baekje regime, with Cui Yiqian, who was born as a servant of the largest clan in Jiangzhou in the past and is also a captain of the Jiangzhou Defense Military Academy, as the Jiedu envoy, and commands the so-called four western towns including Gucheng, Yangkou, Donghae, and Taibai.

The "Beijing Army" of the capital Yuanshan Mansion is one of the few elite forces with thick backs; It's just that most of them followed the self-proclaimed "King Xuanming" of the country lord Fu Yuguang, Prime Minister Zheng Zhongfu, the capital of the four armies Gong Jian, the left and right generals Song Hongyi and Sun Daoqing, the Beijing army headquarters Hong Ru, the four governors Pei Xuanqing, Shen Chongqian and Park Zhiqian and other civil and military officials, divided their troops into several roads to the north hunt and the east expedition.

At least one of the soldiers and horses belonging to the name of the Later Baekje State and known as the Four Governors of the Five Roads was destroyed by the invasion of Jeolla Province, and the other Maitreya Army was also severely damaged by the Huaidong Army in Xiaoshan City.

Therefore, in terms of morale and mentality against the enemy, these Huaidong athletes are the main backbone, and most of the soldiers of the domain army who have experience in battle formations have natural advantages and advantages.

Especially for the Maitreya Army, who was once used as the object of chopping melons and vegetables under the banner of Wind and Thunder, and taught a hard lesson, the impression of fear brought back with the fish that slipped through the net a few years ago is still fresh over time. ……

Yunzhou, as the southwest end of the salient of Huaidong Town along the banks of the Yellow River,

In the vicinity of Razawa Prefecture in the lower reaches of Onozawa, on the surface of the Gojo River, a long column of boats suddenly came.

The most conspicuous thing is undoubtedly the gray and black smoke that keeps spewing out from the huge paddle wheels that keep flipping and stirring up the rolling water, and the thick pipe diameter on the top.

Under the huge roof, the huge boiler chamber was opened and fed fuel, and the fire that erupted from the burning of coal could be seen from a distance on the shore.

Ruan Wu, the helmsman who was transferred to help by the local car and boat fleet, also looked at the huge guy headed by with some envy;

Unlike most of the vehicles and boats that are normally used to carry cargo passengers, or the smaller cruising boats that have been tested on Onozawa before; The overall construction of the ship has been clearly overhauled, with the shiny metal part taking up almost the majority of the deck;

Moreover, the position of the front and middle compartments of the hull was almost occupied by a huge reciprocating machine and its axles and transmission mechanisms, and the empty grooves in the rear half of the hull were also filled with a large number of piles of coal and stone.

Therefore, the part that is really used for loading and transportation is the large boats connected by thick cables and hung behind by a long drag, which stretches along the river to the end of the water like a long dragon, and there are not dozens of them in the distance.

It is said that pulling this long train of flatbed boats does not require a group of manpower to pull the fiber, nor does it require a lot of animal power to help, just such a new type of vehicle equipped with a large pot and mule machine.

As the roaring machinery on the ship gradually turned off and slowed down, relying on the remaining inertia to slowly approach the trestle on the shore, it was fixed by various hooks and locks on the shore; Then the long flatbed river boats in the back also leaned to the shore one by one under the pull of the near-shore throwing rope

After putting down the plank, the first group to come out under the canopy were the neatly draped Huai army soldiers, who were full of energy and loud complexion, and saw them finishing the formation on the shore in the sound of the trumpet, and then joining the sequence of helping the ships behind to go ashore.

And under the roofs of some of the flatbed boats at the back were well-saddled horses and other large livestock, which were carefully led ashore along the wide aisles by the sound of neighing and shouting.

The last dozen or so flatbed boats to dock were carefully dragged to the shore along with the grain and grass carried by the fleet, along with the loaded military carts, caravans, and vans.

After that, the empty boats were simply cleaned up, and the wounded and sick who were reloaded on the previous return trip and the armor equipment that needed to be repaired, the local fish, rice and wheat and other bulk products, and some ore that had been mined nearby.

Subsequently, Ruan Wucai, who was so busy that he was sweating profusely, vaguely knew that it was said that these soldiers and horses were dispatched from Yizhou, and the ships from Xuzhou were driving all the way day and night.

Just such a full-fledged main battle battalion, with the most basic equipment, carriages, horses, and baggage, it only took about a day and a half before and after arriving here.

Compared with the speed of the march on horseback on the land route, it is even faster than half a day; Moreover, compared to the exhaustion and exhaustion of the march on horseback, they spent most of their time in the rest of the ship.

Some adaptable people have even slept two or three times; Although this transportation is to test the extreme test of the capacity of vehicles and ships, and to load as many people and materials as possible, it is inevitably a little cramped and unable to stretch out hands and feet in the cabin, but compared with the past field training of eating and sleeping, it is still much more relaxed and comfortable.

After all, there are no excessive winds and waves and turbulence in the Caoyun river, and the daily food and other supplies are provided by the large flat boat behind it, and the special ship's room and medical center, tool room, warehouse, etc.; Moreover, there is no need to levy civilian forces along the way to assist, or to make transfers, stops, and camps, and at night you can slow down and continue to march under the guidance of the shore.

Each flatbed boat only needs to arrange a number of people to take turns to be on duty and sentry, along with the bend or rapids of the river, to prevent possible collisions and scraping, squeezing, stranding and other emergencies.

In addition, the hydrographic conditions along the route have been tested several times in short-distance sections, step by step; Therefore, this time, the long-distance defense adjustment through the whole territory in the east-west direction can be said to be relatively well prepared.

So along the way, there were no more accidents except for some stuffiness in the cabin, a few cases of heat stroke and dehydration, and a few unlucky people who accidentally fell into the water while standing on the side of the boat to relieve themselves.

With steam-powered, towed, multi-knot shipping, even the de facto cost of mobilizing troops, as well as the harassment and influence on the places along the way, were greatly reduced.

It's just that this kind of specially modified steam car and ship, which is used to pull and transport, cannot be maintained and exerted in the best state for a long time due to the limitation of mechanical properties and materials; Therefore, after five or six round-trips, it is necessary to return to the place of origin for a round of comprehensive maintenance to ensure the normal use of the next round.

There are still some problems and problems, but anyway,

As long as it can accumulate enough surface transport power, and if this mode is mature; That meant that any river suitable for vehicles and boats would become the rear and supply line of the Huaidong army. As a result, the troops who are out of the country can free up more manpower to ensure and maintain logistics; And in the area along the river, it has played a greater combat effectiveness.