Zhang Xuan has always remembered the horizontal ocean boat that Wu Yingqin told him, and after returning to Jiangdu, he immediately sent people to find this kind of horizontal ocean boat, and Wu Yingqin once told him that there were two such horizontal boats in Jiangdu.

At this time, he had already received an eagle letter from Wei Yunqi, which clearly told him that the four transoceanic boats in the Beiping County Shipyard had indeed been dismantled, and some materials, including the keel, were currently in the Shouguang County warehouse, but without drawings or sample references, the shipwrights could not rebuild this large sea ship.

Finding those two transoceanic boats has become Zhang Xuan's top priority!

On this morning, Zhang Xuan was inspecting the training of 6,000 sailors in the barracks, although the imperial court was stingy with his official position, and the reward for his extermination of Meng Haigong was not large, but the title was upgraded by one level, but the Ministry of War approved his application for expanding the army, and allowed him to increase the number of troops by another 10,000 in order to facilitate the two-sided battle, so that his army quota reached 30,000, which was the same as the number of Yang Yichen's army.

The expansion of the army was more exciting for Zhang Xuan than his promotion, in fact, his army had quietly increased by 10,000 people, first, in Xiapi County, 5,000 strong men were selected from prisoners of war to join the army, and secondly, 5,000 Jianghuai sailors were recruited in the name of recruiting water ghosts.

These 5,000 sailors are all newly recruited, plus the 1,000 sailors under Qi Liang, a total of 6,000 sailors, although the water is very good, but the soldiers' combat ability is not good, and they need at least a few months of intensive training.

Training the army has always been Wei Chigong's forte, and he can train a rabble into elite soldiers in just two months.

On the training ground, Wei Chigong's thunderous roar was heard from a distance, "You soft bones, can't you stand in an hour?" It is common for two armies to fight and kill for days and nights, where will you get the physical strength then? Otherwise, you will become a ghost under someone else's knife and stand up straight for me. Stand for three hours today! ”

Standing on the high platform, looking at the six thousand soldiers standing straight, he couldn't help but think of the first time he trained soldiers, and a knowing smile appeared on his face.

At this time, Qi Liang, the partial general of the navy, hurriedly stepped forward and bowed, "See the boss for his humble position!" ”

After the expansion of the army. Zhang Xuan is ready to divide the 6,000 naval army into three armies, which are commanded by three partial generals, and Qi Liang is the partial general of the first army of the naval army, but the partial generals of the other two armies have not yet been decided.

"General Qi is exempt!"

Zhang Xuan smiled and nodded, he pointed at the soldiers on the training ground with his horsewhip, and asked, "What does General Qi think of this kind of training?" ”

Qi Liang praised from the bottom of his heart: "I admire General Wei Chi's training methods so much!" ”

"Why do you sigh so much?"

"Back to the boss, more than 1,000 people under the original command of the humble post are also in the training team, they are all water thieves who are mixed in the river, and they are all debauched. But in the hands of General Wei Chi, in just five days, it was as if they had been reborn, and they had completely changed, and the banditry on their bodies had disappeared, and they had become resolute and self-disciplined, and I didn't know them anymore. ”

Zhang Xuan laughed, "That's true, it's in the hands of General Wei Chi." Even ghosts can become humans. ”

At this time, Zhang Xuan remembered something again. Qi Liang said: "I have something I want to ask General Qi." ”

"Boss, please say, you know everything about your humble duties!"

Zhang Xuan pondered and asked, "Has General Qi heard of Hengyangzhou?" ”

Qi Liang immediately nodded and said: "I know that there are two kinds of transoceanic boats, one is another name for the Wuya warship, and the other is a transport sea boat, which can transport 20,000 stone materials to the sea, which kind of coach is referring to?" ”

"I'm talking about a cargo ship!"

"I saw it once in Jiangning at the beginning of the year. The two huge cargo ships moored on the wharf were very spectacular, and Du Fuwei was very moved, but when he heard that they belonged to the government, he could only look at the boats and sigh. ”

Jao Hyun heard that the big ship was in Jiangning. His heart moved, could it be that these two big ships were taken to Jiangnan by Chen Ling?

At this moment, Li Qingming, who rode Cao to join the army, hurriedly walked over, bowed down and saluted Zhang Xuan, "Subordinates see the envoy!" ”

Because Zhang Xuan had many generals, everyone gradually changed the name Zhang Xuan to the commander, and at the same time, he was the Jianghuai envoy, so some civil officials were also used to calling him the envoy.

Zhang Xuan sent Li Qingming to investigate the matter of Hengyangzhou, and he hurriedly asked, "Have you found the whereabouts of the two ships?" ”

"My subordinates inquired in many ways and got a lot of clues, at the beginning of the year, the two ships transported grain to Danyang County to prepare for the war, and then their whereabouts were unknown."

'Whereabouts unknown? ’

Zhang Xuan didn't frown, "Didn't you follow General Chen to the south?" ”

Qi Liang next to him interjected and said: "Boss, those two transoceanic boats can't sail on the Jiangnan River, and they will definitely not follow General Chen to the south!" ”

Li Qingming also hurriedly said: "General Qi is right, it is true that he did not follow General Chen to the south, and these two ships have disappeared in the record book of the official government. ”

At this time, Wei Chigong sent someone to find Qi Liang, and Qi Liang hurriedly saluted and hurriedly went.

Waiting for Qi Liang to walk away, Zhang Xuan said coldly: "Say it!" Where the hell are those two ships? ”

Li Qingming lowered his voice and said: "The subordinates found Wang Taishou, he said that the ship belonged to Jiangyang County, and the subordinates found the Han County Order of Jiangyang County, he also said that he did not know, and later the subordinates found the Jin master book, and the Jin master book quietly told me that the two ships were in Yanling County, but they had been sold to the Jiangnan Society." ”

"What!"

Zhang Xuan was immediately furious, "The important weapon of the country was sold to the Jiangnan Association without authorization, who has the courage to do so?" ”

Li Qingming smiled bitterly and said: "The envoy thinks that they are important weapons of the country, but in the eyes of the local government, they are just two big ships, no different from ordinary ships, and the records are also mixed with ordinary ships, as for the imperial court, they will not take them to heart." ”

Zhang Xuan couldn't say a word for a long time, he remembered the four big ships that disappeared in the Beiping County Shipyard, and no one took them to heart at all, I am afraid that Li Qingming is telling the truth.

But in any case, he would never allow these two ships to be sold to the Jiangnan Society, and he immediately decided: "Go to Yanling County immediately!" ”

Thirty warships cleaved the waves and headed for Yanling County on the other side of the Yangtze River, and Zhang Xuan stood at the bow of the ship, staring at the other side of the Yangtze River with a stern gaze.

As an extraordinary person, you must have an extraordinary human vision, when the Jiangdu government abandoned the two transoceanic ships, when the Great Sui Imperial Court did not take the transoceanic boat seriously at all, Zhang Xuan regarded the transoceanic boat as an important weapon of the country from an extraordinary human eye.

Of the only eight remaining transoceanic boats in the Great Sui, four were dismantled, two were in Luoyang, and they were most likely incorporated into Yang Guang's southern patrol fleet, and two were in the Jiangdu area, just under Zhang Xuan's nose, how could Zhang Xuan let them go.

Yanling County, also known as Jingkou, is today's Zhenjiang, is the starting point of the Jiangnan Canal, the Jiangnan Canal starts from Yanling County, has been leading to Qiantang County of Yuhang County, and Tongji Canal is connected as a whole, becoming a part of the Grand Canal of the Great Sui through the north and south.

Yanling County from the Three Kingdoms era is the famous port on the Yangtze River, Liu Bei Zhaoqin is on the Beigu Mountain on the riverside, the mountain still has a colorful building, 'where to look at Shenzhou, full of scenery Beigu Building. ’

But Zhang Xuan didn't have the heart to look at the old scene of Ganlu Temple, all his thoughts were on the two transoceanic boats, when the warship gradually approached the dock of Yanling County, suddenly there were lookouts on the mast shouted: "Boss, I have seen it, just in the easternmost place!" ”

Zhang Xuan hurriedly stood on the high platform, he also saw two huge figures among the countless ships on the riverside, and they were moored at the easternmost part of the dock, Zhang Xuan's heart was in ecstasy, the warships were not taken away, they were still at the dock.

The warship fleet immediately turned around and sailed to the easternmost side, but the warship gradually approached the two big ships, and everyone exclaimed, the thousand-stone warship seemed so small in front of these two giants, Zhang Xuan was also very shocked, although he had seen the same huge Yang Guang dragon boat, but these two transoceanic boats seemed to be larger than Yang Guang's dragon boat, about thirty zhang long, more than ten zhang high, equivalent to 1,500 tons of ships in later generations.

However, Zhang Xuan had some doubts in his heart, since these two big ships could not sail in the Jiangnan River, what would Jiangnan buy them for?

At this time, there are more than 100 craftsmen on the big ship are busy cleaning the cabin, Jiangnan will buy these two big ships for nearly two months, has been staying on the Yanling Port dock to repair, to re-brush the big ship with tung oil, replace the rusty nails, replace the rotten ship board, busy for two whole months, so the big ship has not sailed away.

The Sui warships quickly surrounded the two large ships, and hundreds of soldiers rushed onto the big ships and ordered all the craftsmen on board to disembark, and the craftsmen were so frightened that they ran to the shore.

Zhang Xuan boarded a transoceanic boat near the shore surrounded by dozens of personal soldiers, although it was not as magnificent as Yang Guang's dragon boat, but it was more magnificent, with a wide deck, a towering mast, and a huge iron anchor, everything seemed so thick and strong.

At this time, a steward with a panicked face was brought up, he knelt down and saluted, and said tremblingly: "Your Excellency, this ship has been bought by the Jiangdu Fuguo Commercial Bank, and there is a transfer deed from the government. ”

"Nonsense!"

Zhang Xuan's face sank, and he reprimanded angrily: "This is the warship of the Sui army, who dares to sell it!" ”

The steward was so frightened that he kowtowed repeatedly, "The villain is true, this ship was indeed purchased from the government, and the villain still has the transfer deed of the government." ”

He took out a contract from his arms and presented it, Zhang Xuan sneered, tore the contract to shreds casually, threw the pieces of hemp paper into the river, and said coldly: "I don't care what contract you have, from now on, these two big ships will return to the army!" (To be continued.) )