The city of Tianjin, at present, does not have a salt field and a transport wharf, which is responsible for transporting the grain from the south to the north from here through the North Canal to the central capital, that is, the area of Beijing in later generations, which was one of the national capitals during the Jin period, and was still an important town in the north after being occupied by the Mongols. The town is good, Hong Tao likes the town, especially the town near the sea, the river, and the river. Destroying an important town is more effective than burning ten small ports, and the waterways here extend in all directions, and boats can always go up to the vicinity of Zhongdu. If this place is harmed, the Mongolian high-level will definitely not sit idly by, how did they know that Hongtao's sea ships could not pass in the North Canal?

However, it is much more difficult to scourge the Caoyun wharf and warehouse than to attack the Lion's Mouth and Jinzhou, not to say how powerful the Mongol army is here, but this Caoyun wharf is still forty or fifty kilometers away from the coastline, and it needs to be traced upstreams along the Haihe River. This thing is a little vague, although the current Haihe River is much wider and deeper than that of later generations, it is still a river, not to mention that the Jinhe can't get in, and it's not very convenient for the Jiao Shark-class battleship to enter, and it's not always time to turn around. Once the enemy knows in advance, wait for the battleship to enter, block the river behind him, and don't come back at all.

To go or not to go? That's a big problem!

Hong Tao wants to go, but he doesn't want to take too much risk, what should he do? So he neutralized it, and he still wanted to go, but he didn't go, so he let Mercy lead three Jiao Shark-class warships and two Salmon-class cargo ships up the river, find the Caoyun wharf, and return after burning. Specifically where is this Caoyun terminal? Just ask the local fishermen who were captured by the Langya Marines. It is said that it is a hundred miles away. That's about 50 kilometers.

"Mark my words! Go, go! Don't delay for a quarter of an hour, don't be greedy, you won't be able to chew it out. I asked the marines of Langya to cover you along the river, and when there were many enemies, they immediately turned around and retreated while firing with artillery; There are fewer enemies coming, so first lead them closer and then solve them with naval artillery. Whenever you want to go for more. Just think about Weng Ya, when people are gone, all gains are nonsense......" Before leaving, Hong Tao called mercy to his flagship, and made another admonition, before he reluctantly watched him happily jump on the dinghy and return to his own battleship. Young, the newborn calf is not afraid of tigers, even if he is sensible, he is still a child, and he is excited when he hears that the leader is leading the team.

"Sir. Why don't you let my father's cavalry go with you? "Mercy has become the commander of the fleet, albeit temporarily. Also the commander. This made Swann very greedy, he was more than merciful, and he was only mixed with a temporary captain, and he was unwilling.

"There is a dense network of waters, and there are river flats and swamps everywhere, and your father's heavy cavalry went, and without the enemy to fight, they played themselves to death. Don't get tired of me here, go to your father and ask if he has thought of the suggestion I made! "Children are going to grow up after all, no matter how worried they are, life and death are life and wealth. Looking at the distant sail shadow of mercy on them, Hong Tao retracted his mind and began to think about what advantage he could take advantage of. After these days of fighting, he felt more and more that the Mamluks were easy to use, and it was better to take them for himself, so that he could use them for nothing without paying!!

It's a pity that Hong Tao's thief didn't succeed this time, and Swan's father was only willing to serve Hong Tao as king, but he was not willing to let the Mamluks completely merge into the Jinhewan system. His reason is simple, the Mamluks cannot obey the rules of Golden River! Although they are not a nation, they have a history of nearly 100 years, and they have always lived and fought in this way, and the profession of being mercenaries has become a kind of culture for them. What kind of pie like fighting for their ideals, they don't like that taste at all, on the contrary, they are more than happy to fight for payment and then live the life they think is comfortable.

"Alas...... It's really unreasonable, okay, if you don't add it, don't add it. Hong Tao doesn't want to force Swan's father to join Jinhewan, that doesn't make any sense, for his core team, Hong Tao hopes that they all agree with their own philosophy, the twisted melon is not sweet, everyone is awkward together, why bother to get together.

But it's not without gain, Swan's father is not stupid, since Hong Tao has made this request, it is definitely inappropriate for him not to pay a price. Helping Jinhewan train the army is his reward to Hong Tao, he can help Jinhewan train a part of the cavalry, and the combat ability is definitely not as strong as the Mamluks, but it is also much better than the marines. Hong Tao actually didn't want his subordinates to be all those killing machines, it was not bad to be able to improve the combat level of some marines, it didn't matter if he couldn't beat the Mongolian cavalry, he could bully and bully the armies of other countries.

Waiting and the unknown are always the most annoying, and since Mercy has taken the fleet away, Hong Tao has begun to grind on the deck of the Golden River. Ten hours passed, and there was no movement; Twenty hours have passed, and there is still no movement! Thirty hours had passed, and it was still quiet in the mouth of the Haihe River.

According to Hong Tao's calculations, the Jiaosha-class battleship took advantage of the strong north wind to go all the way west along the Haihe River, even if it was against the current, the speed would not be too slow, there were always three or four knots per hour, and the distance of more than 50 kilometers was more than ten hours. On the return trip, it was downstream, faster, and with a few hours of shelling and arson, thirty hours should be about the same. But the compassionate fleet has not returned yet, Hong Tao is a little unable to sit still, he regrets a little that he let a child be the commander of the fleet to take risks, whether he is in trouble or not, he has to go and see.

"Raise the sails, B No. 1 will be the pilot boat, and enter the Haihe River!" The salmon-class cargo ship has a relatively small draft, and Hong Tao plans to use it as a pilot ship, taking the Jinhe up the Haihe River to meet the merciful attack fleet.

In fact, the condition of the channel in the Haihe River is still good, as long as you don't rush to get close to the two banks, the water depth and width in the middle of the river are enough, but it is a big problem for a big ship like the Jinhe to turn around. Although Hong Tao was anxious, he was not in a hurry to the extent of losing his mind, and as soon as he led the fleet into the mouth of the Haihe River for half a mile, he no longer continued to advance, but directed the crew to begin to practice the technique of how to turn around in the narrow channel.

How do you make a U-turn? The traditional way is definitely not successful, the river width is not enough to make the Jinhe rely on the sail to make a U-turn, that is to say, the turning radius is not enough. However, Hong Tao has a principled and feasible method to try, if it succeeds, and then enter the river channel in the future, the warships in Jinhe Bay will have an additional ability to save their lives. What's the solution? It's actually very simple, it is to use the power of iron anchors and water currents.

The aft anchor was lowered first, and then the sails were hoisted, allowing the crosswind and the force of the countercurrent to add up to blow the hull backwards. When the anchor chain is straightened and the iron anchor is completely grasped to the bottom of the river, the movement of the stern is blocked, and the bow can continue to move, so the head is naturally turned over. This experiment wasted more than an hour, but the effect was good, and the Jinhe turned its head twice on the spot as it wished. The side effect was the loss of an iron anchor, presumably stuck on a boulder at the bottom of the river, and it could no longer be pulled up. Compared with the safety of a giant ship, losing an iron anchor is nothing, even if you make a U-turn and lose one, you can afford to lose it, there is a spare one on the ship, just cut the anchor chain and replace it with a new anchor.

"Sir, our ship is back!" After finishing the new invention, the three ships continued to swim upstream, and after walking less than two kilometers, the lookout suddenly made a new discovery, which was passed down in the language of the flag.

"How far is it?" Hong Tao was not overjoyed when he heard the news, his thief's eyes came again, and various possibilities instantly appeared in his mind. For example, if their ship is captured by the enemy, the enemy uses their ship to go down the river to find themselves, and if they get close, they collide with it, and then use the broadside battle to solve themselves.

This situation can't be said to be impossible, Hong Tao doesn't think that there are many people in the world who can resist the threat of death, if you add a sin that can't live and die, Hong Tao thinks that there is not even a single person. If you are caught by the enemy, don't wait for the execution, you will confess immediately, at most you will find an opportunity to commit suicide. In the face of torture to extract confessions, he would rather die than give in, his bones hurt when he thought about it, let alone endure it.

"About eight kilometers! It's still hard to see, but there's a forest in the middle! Soon, Compassion asked the lookout what he was seeing.

"Turn around! Load on both sides and get ready for battle! Hong Tao did not hesitate at all, and immediately ordered his three ships to enter escape mode. Once the other party is really a battleship controlled by the enemy, it is not difficult to shoot at his own ship or something, and the gunners are also human beings, so they can't be asked to die rather than give in, so let's think about the way out. As long as they can go back alive, their revenge will be avenged sooner or later.

"Sir, there is only one B-2...... It issued a flag that said...... Overloaded ......" The Golden River had just lost half of its head, and the hull was still lying across the waterway, and Mercy reported the latest situation again.

"Overloaded? What is compassion doing? Did he go and rob the Mongols of their grain! This bear kid, like his father, wants money and doesn't want to die! Continue to make a U-turn and prepare for shelling! "Hong Tao really wanted to catch Mercy and poured five buckets of water in a row! When you leave, you say it's good, set fire and run, what is the result? Or disobeyed the order, even the cargo ship was overloaded, what is there to load? Don't ask, it must be grain, grain!

Hong Tao guessed correctly, the cargo ship was indeed full of sacks, full of shelled millet and wheat, and the waterline was so pressed that it was invisible. The boats in Jinhewan are very material, even if they are overloaded, they can drive as usual, as long as they don't catch up with the strong wind and waves, they can continue to drive, and they are getting more and more stable, and the center of gravity is low. After asking the captain of the cargo ship, Hong Tao was relieved, mercy they were not in danger, the Mongol army guarding the grain warehouse was scattered in a round of shelling, and now he is forcing the prisoners to load grain on the dock, and it is estimated that he will be able to follow soon. (To be continued.) )

PS: PS: It's the New Year, as a storyteller, there is only one red envelope that can be sent, which is to tell a little more! This chapter is my New Year's greetings to everyone, from the Chinese New Year's Eve to the seventh day of the new year, every day at noon on time...... There are also those overseas book friends, I wish you good health and smooth work in our own New Year, and we can toss them hard outside...... Turn your thoughts into motivation!!