"Really?" Lin Heshui smiled reservedly, he was very happy to use this opportunity to pave the way for his next recruitment: "These ships are used to transport supplies to the capital thousands of miles away and the Liaodong front line farther away, and it may be an exaggeration to build a pontoon bridge from Guangzhou to Manila, but it is definitely no problem to build a pontoon bridge from here to Jingshi." Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"It's unimaginable!" Taylor shook his head and sighed, "I can't imagine such a rich monarch in this world!" ”

"That's the canal over there!" At this time, the boat was only one or two miles away from Guazhou, Lin Heshui pointed to the canal and said with a smile: "Along the canal is Yangzhou City, and the Lord Xu I am talking about is in the city." ”

Taylor nodded a little dazedly, and as the boat entered the canal, the water slowed down and narrowed a lot. He could clearly see the nearby hills, mulberry forests, fruit groves, bamboo groves, tea plantations, orchards, fertile fields overgrown with rice, and lush and fragrant green meadows, on which a dozen cows were leisurely feeding, filling the nearby space with melancholy mooing and the air filled with intoxicating aromas. Such a wonderful sunny land, stretching from the mouth of the canal to Yangzhou City, from time to time passing ships are piled with all kinds of goods, a passing boat comes from the melodious sound of music. All the richness and beauty of nature are concentrated in a small corner of this world. It was as if God and man had made a statement: they had deliberately put all the most beautiful and alluring things in the world in this little corner of prosperity poured by the glorious sun and lovingly blown by the gentle wind. Taylor closed his eyes in intoxication, and sighed after half a sound: "Lord Lin, isn't that Lord Xu the illegitimate son of His Majesty the Emperor?" Otherwise, why would he give this beautiful land to his rule? ”

Lin Heshui was taken aback by Taylor's imaginative answer, he subconsciously looked left and right, and was relieved to confirm that the boatman hadn't noticed Taylor's nonsense, and hurriedly lowered his voice and said, "Don't you want to live?" This kind of nonsense can also be said? I'm going to lose my head! ”

"Yes, yes, I won't say it!" Taylor was also startled when he saw that Lin Heshui's face was so frightened that he hurriedly said that he would never talk nonsense. Lin Heshui breathed a sigh of relief, and said a few more words of advice before he did it. However, due to the cultural differences between the East and the West, he did not notice that Taylor's answer was "I won't say it" instead of "I said it wrong", for Western European society that had just come out of the Middle Ages, it was a semi-public matter for nobles to have illegitimate children, although these illegitimate children usually did not have the right to inherit their father's title and domain, but it was a matter of course to receive considerable compensation, and it was not uncommon for them to become famous priests, commanders and even historians as illegitimate children, and there were many examples of literary scholars. Therefore, in Taylor's opinion, it is normal to speculate that there is some kind of special intimacy between this Lord Xu, who has obtained such a rich territory, and His Majesty the Great Emperor. And Lin Heshui's fierce reaction seemed to him to be a powerful proof that his guess was correct (if he guessed wrong, why was this Lord Lin so excited?). After all, in Western European society, some semi-open secrets cannot be said casually, especially if you are just a civilian, you must be cautious in your words and deeds, so as not to get trouble out of your mouth.

Lin Heshui was frightened by Taylor, and his mind to recruit was also a lot lighter. When the boat docked, the two rushed to the Yamen of Bingbei Road, and Lin Heshui took out the seal letter and asked to see him. After a while, someone led it to the back hall, Lin Heshui asked Taylor to wait outside, and after a while, he saw Xu Hecheng come in, and when he saw it, Lin Heshui couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Mr. Lin, why did you come to Yangzhou?" ”

"I came at the behest of my lord!" Lin Heshui took out Liu Cheng's letter and the half of the jade pendant from his arms and presented it, Xu Hecheng took the jade pendant, read the letter again, and his face changed greatly: "It turns out that you are the one who came to pick up the four hundred Russian soldiers?" ”

"Not bad!" Lin Heshui nodded: "My lord, let me take these four hundred people, as well as the necessary baggage and artillery, and take the sea route to attack the Dongyu from behind!" ”

"By sea?" Xu Hecheng was slightly stunned, he didn't know that Acton had set up camp on the shore of Xingkai Lake, but he instinctively felt that it didn't play a role behind the four hundred people who went to Dongyu along the sea route, but Liu Cheng's attack had been invincible over the years, which had left an extremely deep impression on his mind, and the questioning words retracted back into his mouth. Besides, in his opinion, these 400 Russian soldiers are completely a trouble in his hands, and the sooner he leaves, the sooner he will save the trouble. It's just that this Mr. Lin is capable, and it is a pity to do this nine-life business: "Mr. Lin, do you want to think about it again, the sea is very stormy, and you don't know the situation in Dongyu, so you go so rashly, I'm afraid it's quite unwise, right?" ”

Lin Heshui heard the deep concern in Xu Hecheng's tone, and he was also quite moved in his heart, but he also knew that he didn't know how to read and didn't practice martial arts, if he wanted to have a place under Liu Cheng, he had to take risks, and what he didn't want to do and didn't dare to do. Although Liu Cheng's plan seems quite dangerous, he has a captain like Taylor who is familiar with navigation, and second, Acton has already made a forward stop at Xingkai Lake, and has a foothold, as long as he does not hit the reef or encounters a storm, the ship is destroyed and people die, and the worst case can be returned by sea.

"Don't worry, my lord, I'm fully prepared!" Lin Heshui told Xu Hecheng about Taylor and Acton in detail, Xu Hecheng's face looked a little better when he heard it, and said with a smile: "Since you already have a plan, I won't persuade you." If there's anything else you need me to help with, please speak up! ”

"Thank you, sir!" Lin Heshui was overjoyed when he heard this, he first said the two hundred quintals of raw silk promised to Taylor, Xu Hecheng said with a smile: "This is easy to say, it just so happened that Mr. Cheng Er collected a lot of raw silk at the price of rice last year, and there was a lot of it in the warehouse, if that Taylor can come back, it will not hurt to allocate two hundred quintals to him!" ”

"Thank you, my lord, the second one is to ask for five hundred stone salt!"

Xu Hecheng said strangely: "Why do you want so much salt?" ”

"It was the idea of that Taylor, who had hunted whales and gone to Ezo to hunt seals, and according to him the northern seas were fat, but they were prone to spoilage. If you bring more salt, you can pickle it for a rainy day, and salt is better than silver when interacting with the local barbarians! ”

"Well, then I'll ask the Lianghuai Salt Road Yamen for some, just say it's military supplies!" Xu Hecheng said with a smile: "The thieves are very sharp, presumably he doesn't dare to refuse!" Mr. Lin, what else do you want, I'll tell you at once. ”

"On the cannon and gunner ships, but the gunpowder and armor are still a little insufficient, if you can, it would be good to give me two more boats, four hundred materials will do, preferably sand boats, so that the inland rivers at sea can run. There are also guides, preferably those who are fluent in the local language. ”

"Well, I will transfer gunpowder and armor to you from the arsenal, as for the ship, I don't have it here for a while, so I will send my own soldiers to the dock with you to see, and if you like it, you will nail it!" As for the guide who knows the local language, I really don't have a guide here, only find a few Mongolian soldiers for you, there should be people over there who can speak Mongolian, what do you think? ”

"Thank you, sir!"

Perhaps in order to get the troublesome Cossacks out of his territory as soon as possible, Xu Hecheng's efficiency was astonishingly high, and four days later in the morning, Lin Heshui's small fleet set out again, the number of ships increased from four to six, and the cabins were also filled with soldiers, food, gunpowder, salt, and other necessary supplies, and sailed out of the mouth of the Yangtze River in the rising sun, and then turned northeast.

Mongolia, Zalut Department, Yuanbao Mountain.

The wind swept the grassland, bringing up a wave of grass, sweeping across the boundless grassland, like the sea.

Gui was on his horse, he had not slept for a day and a night, little by little, napping, followed by his servant horse, his armor, weapons and supplies were placed on it, the heavy weight weighed down the three-year-old yellow mare with his head down, and from time to time nibbled on the grass on both sides, it was already the end of April The grass was tender and juicy, and it was the time when the horses liked it.

Suddenly, a few drops of rain fell on Gui's head, and the cold feeling woke him up. He raised his head and found that the sky was already full of dark clouds, although it was daytime, it was the same as dusk, and he knew that the weather on the grassland changed quickly, and it was obviously still a sunny day, and it was not uncommon for it to turn into a torrential rain in a blink of an eye. He looked around and found that there was a mound not far in front of him, which was quite conspicuous, so he shouted to his own soldiers beside him: "Pass the order to go down and camp at the foot of the mound to avoid the rain!" ”

With the high-pitched sound of the command, hundreds of horsemen quickened their pace, and hurried to the hillock, and in a short time they arrived at the foot of the hill, fortunately there was a small wood, and everyone hurriedly beat their horses into the forest, and wrapped the felt blanket around their bodies to keep out the rain, and after about half an hour, the rain stopped. Ah Gui wanted to order his subordinates to make a fire, but found that he couldn't find a dry branch that could make a fire, so he had to continue walking, but he didn't want it to rain again, so everyone had to wrap the felt blanket around their bodies and move forward in the rain. Just walking and stopping, the sound of the wind on the grassland was heard in my ears, like the cry of ghosts and gods, and the sunlight was cast from time to time through the cracks in the dark clouds, sometimes bright and sometimes dark, just like the dark fire of hell described in Buddhist scriptures. Everyone rode on horses, and the grass waves under their feet danced with the wind, as if everyone was walking on the sea, and they could fall into the boundless waves at any time. All the knights were frightened, wrapped their felt tightly around their bodies, tied the tails of the horses in front of them with ropes, and whispered Buddhist names for their lives.

After walking like this for three or four hours, Ah Gui ordered everyone to dismount and rest, and everyone leaned on their mounts tightly, relying on the body temperature of the war horses to keep warm, and gnawed on the dried meat with the rain, so they were so confused and trembling for a night. It was not until late at night that the vast majority fell asleep in excessive exhaustion and fear. Until the light of dawn tore through the fog, and the morning dew soaked the hair of the people. When someone wakes up from the dew and opens their eyes, they find that the clouds have cleared and the golden sunlight is projected from the sky, making it impossible to open their eyes. Everyone opened their eyes one after another, and suddenly someone shouted: "River, river!" ”

I saw a small river flowing silently not far away, the grassland in the distance was vast, and a mountain rose on the horizon, and a rainbow crossed the mountain, like a ribbon. Ah Gui turned his head and called the guide and asked, "Where does this river flow?" ”

The guide looked at the surrounding terrain, thought for a while, and replied in a very affirmative tone: "This is a tributary of the Noni River, and if you go down the river, you will reach the Noni River!" ”

Hearing the guide's answer, the riders behind Ah Gui let out cheers, it turned out that this Noni River was another name for the Nenjiang River, and the core area of the nomadic herding of the Horqin Department was in the Nenjiang River. The guide is the Zalut Department, the department under the leadership of the Nezi Khan after taking refuge in Liu Cheng, familiar with the terrain of the adjacent Horqin Department they have become Liu Cheng's favorable help, since the beginning of spring, Liu Chengcheng took the Horqin Department of horses without fat, and in the mating season, the opportunity to migrate, sent elite soldiers to invade, quite a success. The Horqin tribe was forced to retreat and shrink to the Nenjiang region in the heart of its hinterland to avoid Liu Cheng's intrusion. And this time, Ah Gui led a thousand cavalry to attack from a long distance, just to catch the Horqin Department by surprise.

Knowing that he was about to reach the goal, Ah Gui became more cautious, and he ordered the whole army to go out day and night, and send more scouts. After about three more days, the scouts of the front team captured a herdsman from the Horqin tribe, and after torture, they learned that the Durhan banner of Horqin was seven or eight miles ahead.

Ah Gui immediately ordered the whole army to dismount and rest, prepare weapons, and feed the horses with good food. As there were no accompanying slaves, the soldiers helped each other in the armor of the ship, tied the horn bows, prepared the gunpowder and arquebuses of the birds, wrapped the horse's hooves in cowhide to reduce the sound of the march, and tied white cloth to their right arms in order to distinguish friend from foe in the night battle, and set out after dark.

The moonlight was like water, shining on the grassland, Ah Gui divided his subordinates into four roads and walked side by side, about three watches, you could see the camp of the Darhan Banner in front, it was dark under the moonlight, and the stars flashed the bonfires for the night. Gui sent scouts to set fire to the enemy's camp, and then ordered his subordinates: "As soon as you see the fire, start attacking!" ”

I don't know how long it took, but a choking puff of smoke wafted over. Ah Gui jumped on the war horse, picked up the horn and blew it three times, and then shouted loudly: "It's already on fire, kill it!" The long-awaited soldiers jumped on their horses, grabbed their spears and knives, and drove their horses to the fire.

The camp of the Darhan tribe was already in flames, and the cavalry on the left and right flanks had rushed into the camp, throwing torches at the tents and haystacks and slashing the men who had escaped from the tents. The initial panic of the night attack quickly passed, and the Durhans began to fight back with all their might. When the Chinese army led by Ah Gui rushed to the camp, five or six hundred Darhan troops rushed over. The dozen or so horsemen in front could see it clearly, shouting loudly while releasing arrows, and those behind also released guns and arrows. Ah Gui shot two arrows, but the chaotic army didn't see if it had been shot, so he put his bow into Hulu, drew his sword, and prepared to fight. Suddenly, I felt a sound on my pocket, as if I had been hit by something, and when I touched it, I found that there was a deep dent on it, presumably an arrow shot from the opposite side, and I hurriedly closed the iron mask. (To be continued.) )