It's the end of March, and summer is getting closer.

The breeze of late spring is more and more fragrant, and the fragrance of flowers in early March is missing, but it adds a bit of warmth.

On the Bianhe River, some people come and some people go. When meeting relatives and friends, hugging and crying; When separated from his family, he shed tears and said goodbye. On the dock where the official ship docked, this scene can be seen every day. This is no surprise.

Han Gang also came to give it away. Su Mian is leaving, he has been in Beijing for half a month, and he has been on pilgrimage twice, which shows that the Son of Heaven attaches great importance to the situation in the south. And under Su Song's lead, after a hurried meeting in the palace for a while, Han Gang also met Su Mian twice, sat down together to drink and chat, and contact feelings.

With this friendship cultivated at the wine table, the relationship between the two sides became closer. After Su Mian asked Zhao Ji for a batch of weapons, Han Gang gave him a favor and promised to put the list of Yongzhou at the front of the shipment of the weapons supervisor - the Son of Heaven nodded, and the Privy Council has also approved, as long as the weapons on the list are produced, there is no need to send them to the warehouse to delay time, just hand over a few official documents and go through the process, and you can directly send this batch of weapons out of Lu along the Bianhe River.

Han Gang, this can be regarded as a favor from the water, and it is beneficial but not costly. That is, because the weapons that have already belonged to the Sanya, it takes more procedures in the system to transfer them to the local states and counties, and because the magic weapons such as the divine arm bow are always in short supply, he has to win favors. But it was enough to make Su Mu grateful for three points, and it also gave Su Song enough face.

When Su Mian set off to return to Guangxi, Su Song asked Han Gang to come with him to see him off.

In the spring breeze in March, the banks of the Bianshui will not be 'cold and poignant', nor will it be 'the West Building under the wind and rain'. But with Su Mian and Su Song's open-mindedness, it is inevitable to be emotional when they are separated, and say, 'This love is unreasonable, when will this be met?' Both of them are old, and time is short, and it may be a long way to see each other again.

After the children of the Su Song family sent their uncle. Su Mian brought his grandchildren to Beijing to see the world, and they came forward one by one to bid farewell to Su Song and Han Gang.

Although Han Gang is young, his reputation is so great that Su Song is incomparable. Facing Su Song, Su Mian's two grandsons were respectful, but in front of Han Gang, they had a little more admiration. The two children who grew up in Guangxi, although they are not as eloquent as the children of the capital, are better than the simplicity, which is quite good for Han Gang, and they also gave them a few words of encouragement. Although the age difference between the two sides is not far apart, from the perspective of outsiders, there is no discord at all.

In addition, there is Su Mian's granddaughter, who has not yet grown up to the age where she needs to avoid outsiders, and she also came over together to say goodbye to Su Song and Han Gang in a soft voice. The little girl is well-behaved and polite, and she looks pleasing. Seeing Su Song directly take out a small gold medal from his sleeve to make a salute, he knew that he loved this niece very much.

Han Gang also brought a tribute to the courtesy, but they had already been sent to Su Mian's official ship, and now his sleeves were empty.

"It's a shame." Han Gang didn't mind spreading his hands, and said half-jokingly: "That's it, what does the little lady want, golden candy, confectionery, or clay figurines and statues, I'll send someone to buy them." ”

The little girl raised her head and opened a pair of big black and white eyes: "Don't want these Qi Niang." The big daddy frowned for days, and Qi Niang just wanted the big daddy to laugh. ”

Han Gang was startled by a six or seven-year-old girl, turned his head to look at Su Mian, and saw that his face was also surprised. Shaking his head, he suddenly laughed, such a well-behaved and smart little girl is indeed rare, whether it is taught or not, it is rare to be able to speak fluently.

"It's not difficult to give this gift, don't worry about it anymore in the Imperial City. The weapons for Yongzhou have been loaded and sent out this morning, otherwise Han Gang would not have the face to send them off. The boat goes through the Bianhe River into the Yangtze River, and then turns to the Lingqu from Xiangshui, and maybe it will arrive in Yongzhou one step earlier than the imperial city. ”

When Su Mian heard this, he was immediately overjoyed. This incident has been in my heart for half a month. Although Han Gang swears, he can't see the real thing, how can he put his mind at ease?

"Qi Niang, thank you for giving people." The little girl pretended to be an adult, and blessed Han Gang, and when she raised her head, she was embarrassed to hide behind Su Mian.

"A rare filial child." Han Gang boasted to Su Xuan, "My daughter will live in another two or three years, and I can be half as well-behaved as Qiniang, and I can rest assured." ”

This girl from the Su family is indeed very good, and Han Gang likes it too. If it weren't for the fact that his son was only three years old, he might have to settle a relationship with Su Xuan.

He touched his granddaughter's head and asked the nurse to take her to the boat first. Su Mian came to Han Gang and saluted solemnly: "Thank you Yukun." ”

"Don't dare to be! Just for the country, how dare you thank the imperial city. After Han Gang returned the salute, he couldn't help but sigh, "But there are only five hundred Divine Arm Bows among them, and after a few battles, they are almost scrapped." ”

Heavy crossbow maintenance is not easy. Its strength is often more than three stones, and hundreds of catties of strength are hidden in the crossbow body, of course, it is difficult to ensure the service life. Especially on the battlefield, if you shoot dozens of arrows in a short period of time, there will always be a batch of heavy crossbows that will be scrapped. Unlike the warbow, its service life is far superior.

However, there is an advantage of the Divine Arm Bow, which is that the tendons and horns are used less. 'Take the squirt as the body, the sandalwood as the bow, the iron as the head of the spear, the copper as the horse's face and teeth, and the hemp rope and silk as the string. 'The body of the crossbow is made of mulberry wood, and the arm of the crossbow is sandalwood, and it will not damage the crossbow too much when it encounters water. It's like an ordinary bow and crossbow, and when it comes to the humid south, the part of it that uses ox tendon and horn will soon lose its elasticity due to water absorption.

"It would be nice to have five hundred Divine Arm Bows, and there were still a hundred in the city. There are 600 gods with bows to defend the city, and for ten days and half a month, Yongzhou City will never be lost, and Guizhou will be able to send troops to support at that time. ”

Han Gang's face was a little heavy, and Su Mian's tone seemed to be sure that the war was inevitable: "Do the Jiaozhi people really dare to attack?" ”

Han Gang, who is not familiar with history, naturally does not know whether the Jiaozhi people violated the boundary at this time. But he can be sure that Guangxi and Guangdong have not been lost to Jiaozhi in the Northern Song Dynasty, at least not in his memory. Either the battle was not fought at all, or it was fought, but it was only a small war.

"This matter can only be taken as a precaution, and no one can say that Jiaozhi will definitely send troops. However, Liu Jingluo forbade the Han people to interact with Jiaozhi, which was tantamount to pushing all the Nong tribes on the border to the Jiaozhi side. With the support of the Nong tribe, it is an additional 20,000 or 30,000 troops. I don't know when, Jiaozhi will do it. Su Xuan's cloudy eyes narrowed, and he sighed: "Didn't you tell Yukun a few days ago?" The Guangxi army has been eroded, and the actual number of soldiers is less than one-third of the military register. To the south of Yongzhou, only a few stockades can still resist it, where are the soldiers in the rest of the states and counties to defend? ”

The army in the south of the Great Song Dynasty can basically be regarded as a joke, which is the consensus of the people of the world. Otherwise, Nong Zhigao rebelled back then, and Di Qing would not have led the Western Army to Kunlun Pass. And Su Mian recruited local soldiers in Guangdong at that time, which was a big loss at the hands of Nong Zhigao's barbarians.

However, if a small southern country really dares to violate the borders of the Great Song Dynasty, it will also kill itself. Now is not the time of Taizong, because the war in the north is still unending, so he let Jiaozhi go. Now if Jiaozhi dares to send an excuse to do it, the Son of Heaven will definitely laugh at it, and Han Gang also supports it 100%: "Jiaozhi was originally an old county of the Han and Tang Dynasties, but now it has become a foreign domain." If Jiaozhi really dares to offend China, it will be time for the Great Song Dynasty to restore the old frontier of the previous dynasty! ”

Han Gang's young man was sharp, Su Mian and Su Song were not surprised at all when they heard it, they just looked at each other and smiled, and said in unison: "If the friend dares to go against the sky, he should be punished by sending troops!" ”

The ship's boss came over at this time to urge, "Imperial City, the time is almost up, and it won't be too late to reach Yongqiu." ”

There are many taboos in boating, especially taboo in time.

Su Song also often boats on the rivers and lakes, and naturally knows the rules of the Tao. sighed softly and said goodbye to Su Song and Han Gang. He has been in Lingnan for many years, and he has no relatives or friends in Beijing except Su Song. On this trip to Beijing, there can be one more Han Gang, but it is extremely rare. Although Han Gang did not write a poem to express his parting feelings, he still worked with Su Song to break off a willow branch by the river according to the custom and gave it to Su Mian.

After taking the willow branches, farewell to Su Song and Han Gang, Su Mian walked on the gangplank, boarded the ship and set sail, and did not look back. An official ship of six or seven hundred materials gradually went south with the current.

Being in the Huan Sea, it is common for people to send themselves and others away, and seeing Su Mian's boat go away, the emotion in Han Gang's heart was quickly put away. However, he did not immediately get on the horse and return to Beijing, but walked slowly by the river with Su Song.

Turning his face sideways, looking at the gurgling water in the Bianhe River, Su Song said: "I also have a plan for the newly restructured water turbine in my heart, and the pattern has been drawn. ”

"Thank you, Bachelor!" Han Gang bowed his head and thanked him.

Su Song has done a great favor, if he is an ordinary scholar, who would be willing to do the work of a craftsman? Han Gang heard that during this time, someone was sarcastically sarcastic behind his back that Su Song was greedy for him Han Yukun posted a reward in the weapons prison. Han Gang scoffed at these words, but no matter what, they were disgusting enough, and I believe they also reached Su Song's ears. But Su Song did not waver at all.

"But I'm going to Ying Tianfu in two days to take office. If it can't be done, you can only let Yukun find another way. ”

"Han Gang is already overjoyed to have the help of the bachelor, how dare he get another inch?" Han Gang said with a smile: "What's more, with the guidance of the bachelor, this matter will definitely be successful." ”