Chapter 467: Mid-stream strike

Half a decade ago, Liu Xia took the "Privateer Order" in his arms, and left the noon road with more than 100 experienced robbers dressed in white clothes and disguised as merchants. They traveled west along the prosperous Zhou Road and spent ten days arriving at Thornjin. This is the new territory of the Zhao family, which is about to be built into a river crossing with a city, and even a dock for upstream and downstream ships to moor.

Here, Liu Xiazhi saw the boat that would be delivered in the next few months.

This is the middle wing of the ship that can accommodate 60 people, named "Yousu", which was originally a boat used by Zhao Luo, a doctor from Wenxian County, to play the big river. Zhao Wuxian spent a lot of words, was willing to share some benefits, and promised to send him a new ship within this year, so Zhao Luo sent all his "fleet" with a twist.

Although it is called a fleet, it is actually only this middle wing, plus two winglets that can accommodate thirty people, and a few boats and flat boats around the side, more than ten boats, not even a third of the river.

For example, this middle wing, far from the boat of Yanagishitazumi in Onozawa, is brand new, smells of lacquer and resin, has two layers of hull, and is ornately decorated on the outside, but it is extremely useless in the eyes of the thief, and it is as girly as the name, and it is used as a live target for archery and ignition for the enemy.

And I don't know who designed it, the hull is not slender enough to be suitable for combat, it is simply a large bathtub that is difficult to move, if it is stormy, he does not want to stay on this ship. But then again, there are very few water battles in the middle and upper reaches of the big river, and the number of warships is not only incomparable with the lower reaches of the great river in the coastal areas of Qi and Chu and Wu, but also inferior to Onozawa, so it would be good if the willow plantar could be useful. There's nothing to complain about.

After all, Zhao Wuxian asked him to hand over the affairs of the noon road to Yu Xi, and he said it when he came to Dahe. There are not many ships and manpower that can be provided, and to what extent can the shipping lanes be blocked. It's all about stealing yourself.

The boat official sent by Wendi looked incredulous: "The big river is six or seven hundred miles away from Jianjin to Gaotang, and the river is also ten to thirty miles wide. ”

The thieves' subordinates were also suspicious, and they were familiar with the endless Daze. Instead of this long river, the hydrology, depth, wind speed, and speed of the river and the current must be known to the local fishermen.

Liu Xiajiao was silent for a moment and said: "Indeed, there are no big wings, no surprises, not even a ship, it may be difficult for others to change, but we can do it." Back then, I was able to dominate Onozawa with a boat, and I also crossed the river to the west. Who is Heguang? A reed! Onozawa's dragon has entered the river, and it is also the overlord of the water, so why be afraid!? ”

The words inspired the men who were carrying their heads to loot on the lake and river to scream, and it only took one afternoon for the willow plantar to swoop. The personnel of each ship were assigned, and the black skull flag drawn by Zhao Wuxian himself was hung on the middle wing "Yousu" as the flagship. Although Liu Xia couldn't understand the meaning of this terrifying flag. But I felt that it was quite in line with what I wanted to do.

Loot and bring death and destruction to those who dare to resist!

Then. He also made a plan for the next few days: "What we want to block is the waterway from Tanyuan to Yiyi, and we will conduct a trial voyage tomorrow." Naigong hasn't been to the big river for a long time, and the hydrology is unfamiliar. ”

It is probably because the armament of the northern countries on the big rivers is too scarce, and the first trial voyage is not thrilling or dangerous. When they passed through Tanyuan, they met five or six small boats under the flag of Qi, and the merchants were clever, and when they saw the warships flying the skull flag, they fled separately, and finally they were captured one by one by the group of thieves who were accustomed to robbing on the water, and the merchants were loaded into the cabin with the goods, and the boats joined the fleet and became trophies.

"A small dagger victory, an aperitif before the big war, helps us to let go of our bellies and clean up our meals." Tasting the wine transported by those ships, the thief was quite satisfied with the first battle.

So from mid-March, the Onozawa group of thieves began their career as river thieves, and it also became a topic of conversation among the merchants of Qi on the river.

All merchant ships heading to Qi will be intercepted, if they are willing to turn the bow of the ship, it is fine, if not, immediately a burst of bows and arrows will be fired, and the river thieves in all kinds of clothes will jump over with a roar, receive all the goods, and then return to Jianjin to unload.

At first, the Qi people thought it was just a sporadic petty thief, and they didn't pay much attention to it, until a chase took place right under their noses, and they realized the seriousness of the problem.

……

It was one day in late March, and on his fourth cruise to the river, Liu Xiajiao found a new prey again, it was a big guy, a boat with a deep draft, this is a merchant ship belonging to the Chen family! is going down the river, planning to go to Gaotang.

Like a pack of hunting wolves, the flotilla that had been lined up scattered into a formation of geese, and began to speed up to outflank the past.

The merchants who begged for a living on the river were clever ghosts, and by this time, the owner of the cargo ship probably realized the danger of the warships that were biting him behind him. He immediately changed course to the east and rushed towards Yiyi, perhaps hoping to hide in a dock controlled by the Qi or escape pursuit along the east bank of the river.

However, his merchant ships were laden with goods, and the willows were supported by the east wind. "Yusu" and a small wing cut off the prey's course, while swift walkers and agile light boats flanked her behind. It would be sunset, and more than a dozen ships were racing in the middle of the stream, centipede-like oars rising and falling, shattering the brass water.

The hunter and the prey were getting closer, even if they were only a dozen paces away, and even though the deep persuasion of the willow plantar was extremely clear, the owner of the ship did not slow down, and shot arrows sporadically.

This made Liu Xia extremely curious, what kind of cargo was on it, and the owner of the ship regarded them as more important than his life.

The tall middle wing was just a salvo of twenty arrows, and it dumbed the insignificant resistance. At this time, Liu Xiazu commanded the two wings to move closer to the prey, sandwiching it in the middle, and the group of thieves bit the short sword and boarded the side to fight, ending the chase.

On the way back, the boat had been taken by the thieves, and one of Liu Xia's cronies turned into the lower warehouse to take a look, and when he came out again, he was holding a bronze cast into a rectangular block, and he was very excited.

"It's gold! Two drums of gold! ”

More than two drums of bronze. That's 1,000 pounds! It is enough to cast five medium-sized tripods and arm a thousand soldiers. This is probably purchased from Chu Wu and then transferred to Zheng Guo, and then from Zheng Guo down the river. In the past, the river was mostly safe, except for the officially authorized willow plant, there were really few river pirates who dared to rob in broad daylight.

Liu Xia's feet touched the heavy bronze and smiled, this hard work was not in vain. Zhao Wuxian said in the "Privateer Order" that the goods obtained were sold to the Zhao officials of Jianjin in three times, thirty percent to Xilu, and one percent to Wen County, which provided the ships. As for the remaining thirty percent, it is the property of Liu Xiajiao, and it is not asked how to deal with it.

"After dividing these dollars, find a way to transport them back to Yuncheng, in the future, there will be no copper in Xilu and no salt in Xilu, so I will take it from the Qi people!"

He also said: "According to the weekly rites, in this month when the yang energy is diverging, it is not allowed to accept goods. The Son of Heaven wanted to be virtuous and benevolent, and ordered the officials in charge to open the granary. free distribution to the poor and helpless, relief to the lack of money and less food; Open the treasury, take out the cloth hidden in it, and give it to the world. This so-called loss is more than enough to make up for the shortage. Qi is rich and called the sea, but Xilu has been poor for a hundred years, and we have lost the wealth of Qi people to make up for Xilu's difficulties. Just in heaven! ”

The thief is eloquent, and the violent and sinful raids are actually explained by him.

In a word. Qi and Chen, who also have very little copper and tin in China, suffered heavy losses this time.

The Qi State guards at the head of Yiyi City witnessed all this, and a small wing docked on the shore even planned to go over to support. But looking at the skillful water warfare of the river pirates who hung the skull flag, they still gave up.

A silk letter was quickly sent to Gaotang and sent to Linzi to inform the incident. By the end of March, the successive looting incidents on the Great River spread all over the banks of the Great River, shocking the Qi State, and even the Great River Channel was in danger while Wudao, Jishui, and Pushui were still being cut off.

Qi Guo, who claimed to be the overlord of the northern water, suddenly felt a hot pain on his face, and realized that this was probably the handiwork of the Zhao family again.

Under the anger of the Marquis of Qi, Qi Qing Chen Qi, who was distressed by the thousand catties of bronze, ordered the ships of the Chen family to be recruited along the river. In the end, a medium-sized fleet was formed, with one large wing, three middle wings, five small wings, and more than 20 ships, ships, raiders, and light boats. At the beginning of April, they rode the southwest wind, rowed their oars, and sailed upriver from Gaotang, ready to sweep away the hateful black skull flag and return the great river to a clear day!

……

Because of the lag of the news, when Liu Xia's feet stirred up the wind and rain on the big river, Zhao Wuxian didn't know much about that side, and could only believe in the ability of the big thief, and the boat provided by Wen County could be stronger.

With the delivery of salt by the Wei family, Wu Guohuaishang, Ju Guozhu, and even some well-informed merchants in the Central Plains, the lack of salt in Taoqiu and Xilu was alleviated.

Linghu Bo was instigated by Wei Ju to come to Xilu to visit Wuxian, and at the same time he had the heart of snooping, but Zhao Wuxian didn't have time to receive him, he was very busy, he was so busy that he was so busy that he vomited three meals and three times.

Spring ploughing has long been over, before the beginning of summer, all localities will enter the season of green and yellow, the grain of the first year has been eaten, and the grain of summer has not yet been harvested.

According to the custom, the doctor should be virtuous and benevolent, and order the storekeeper to open the granary and distribute it to the poor and helpless free of charge, and to help those who lack money and little food. Because last year was another half a year of fierce fighting, and the Zhao army was stationed, and it was the escape of Dayozawa that became a household Qi people, so this year's food in Xilu was quite tight, and Zigong could only rely on Zigong to buy grain in Taoqiu to supplement it.

After all this, the iron official from Taoqiu came to report again, saying that the output of the iron workshop was slowly getting higher, but it had not yet reached the level that Zhao Wuxian hoped for, and the smelting and casting of iron farm tools should also be put on the agenda to prepare for the harvest of winter wheat in the beginning of summer. Porcelain should be fired quickly, and the paper should be innovated, and strive to make Siludo a fist product that can be sold at a profit.

Therefore, Zhao Wuxian didn't want to be verbose with Linghu Bo, so he asked Gong Xichi, who was good at receiving people and things, to accompany him throughout the whole process and accompany him everywhere, but the key porcelain kilns, paper mills, iron workshops, barracks and other places were not to be entered.

As for himself, he intends to make time to deal with two things that have been delayed for a long time, one is the case of Yi Bian Que privately assigning the eldest disciple Ziyang to Qi and being detained, and the other is the opening of a Mongolian school in Xilu! (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you to the book friend Brother Feilong, the summer day in the breeze and coolness, the boy walks 31, the end of the day, the lonely sail encounter, the operation is too troublesome, waiting for you to eat the egg reward! Thank you for your commuter passes!

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