In April, Beiping County is in the middle of spring, the warbler flies and the grass grows, the green is full, and the dense forests cover this vast and fertile field, and the forest edge, the wet water is like a wide jade belt, winding and circling, flowing to the distant sea.

On both sides of the water, abandoned villages are gradually coming to life, with smoke curling and busy farmers looming in the abandoned farmland.

On the official road beside the water, a group of hundreds of cavalry galloped up, and the fierce sound of horses' hooves broke the quiet morning, and the peasants in the distance put down their hoes one after another, looking curiously at the galloping cavalry.

After several days and nights, Yang Yuanqing came to this sparsely populated land again, he was at the forefront of the cavalry, and galloped south under the escort of the five hundred cavalry.

At noon the next day, the cavalry gradually arrived at the mouth of the Lishui River, where the shipyard was located, and this time the area around the shipyard was clearly alive compared to the desolation they had seen last time.

Many peasants who moved south set up their homes near the shipyard, and three or four villages appeared in the wilderness, and the population gathered together, gradually forming a town called Miguchi Town, surrounded by large areas of farmland.

Although the town is still relatively modest, several shops have appeared, selling some daily necessities, and the reopening of the shipyard has brought business opportunities to many people.

About two miles from the town, there is a long wall, the gate has been renovated, the original iron gate is gone, and it has become a tower-like gate, with soldiers patrolling it, and there are several soldiers standing at the gate, and no anomalies are allowed to enter.

On both sides of the gate, there are farmers selling vegetables, all kinds of vegetables, fresh eggs, chickens and ducks, as well as fish caught from the wet water in the morning, and all kinds of game, more than 100 housewives and elderly people are carrying baskets to buy vegetables, and the gate is bustling and very lively.

Several soldiers noticed the arrival of a large group of cavalry in the distance, and hurriedly drove the peasants selling vegetables to the side, making way for a way, and in a moment the cavalry team galloped in.

Because there were many children running at the gate, Yang Yuanqing slowed down the speed of the horse, he looked at the lively spontaneous abundance on both sides, there was no annoyance in his eyes, on the contrary, this kind of excitement and vitality made people have hope for the future in their hearts.

The army stationed in the shipyard is about 1,000 people, and the general is an Eagle Yang Lang general, surnamed Yu, he listened to the soldiers' report, His Royal Highness the King of Chu arrived, and he was so frightened that he hurriedly rushed out, knelt down on one knee and gave a military salute, "Humble Yu Zhenwu, see the chief manager!" ”

"General Yu is exempt!"

Yu Zhenwu stood up, he saw that there were really too many people selling vegetables on both sides, blocking the road into a narrow one, he was a little worried in his heart, and hurriedly said: "Humble duty immediately drive them away." ”

Yang Yuanqing swayed, "That's not necessary, you can build some greenhouses outside and let them sell vegetables in the greenhouses, which not only maintains order, but also facilitates the shipbuilders, instead of rudely driving them away." ”

"The lowly duty understood, and immediately arranged for the soldiers to build a shed."

Yang Yuanqing turned over and dismounted, and walked into the shipyard, and Zhao Guangcai, the director in charge of the shipyard, also greeted him, bowed and saluted, "See His Royal Highness the King of Chu!" ”

Zhao Guangcai is about 30 years old, born in the Fengzhou imperial examination, was originally a cancao military member in Luo Shixin's army, and was recommended by Luo Shixin to be the director of the shipyard, and he was responsible for various affairs of the shipyard.

Yang Yuanqing smiled and nodded, "Zhao Zhicheng, I received a report from you, so I rushed to inspect the progress of the ship's construction." ”

Zhao Guangcai wrote a report ten days ago, but he didn't expect that in just ten days, the King of Chu came, which made him a little nervous, and he also knew that the King of Chu attached great importance to the shipyard.

"I am willing to report in detail to His Royal Highness the King of Chu."

Yang Yuanqing nodded, walked into the shipyard, and saw hundreds of sea ships moored on the water surface of the estuary and coast from a distance.

Yang Yuanqing later learned that there were more than 400 warships moored in the shipyard at the mouth of the river, half of which were unfinished ships, and the other half were ships that had participated in the battle of Goryeo.

In the distance, rows of houses were built in a wilderness by the river, the river was crowded with women washing clothes, groups of children were running and playing by the river, and in the distance there were boatwrights busy with the figures of boatmen.

"How many shipwrights are there now?" Yang Yuanqing asked.

Zhao Guangcai hurriedly replied: "Back to the general manager, there are a total of 1,900 shipwrights, more than 2,000 craftsmen, together with women, children and the elderly, nearly 6,000 people, basically from the three counties of Donglai, Beihai and Gaomi. ”

"Six thousand."

Yang Yuanqing frowned slightly, he didn't expect so many people to come, "Then you need to send officials." ”

"It is necessary to send officials, and it is recommended to build a city and a county, and with the support of a shipbuilding station, the county will soon flourish."

Yang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, this is indeed necessary, he will consider it, at this time, when the two brothers Zhang Long and Zhang Hu heard that the King of Chu had arrived, they immediately rushed over, knelt down and kowtowed, "Xiaomin Zhang Long and Zhang Hu see His Royal Highness the King of Chu!" ……

The brothers Zhang Long and Zhang Hu won a huge reward for recruiting shipwrights, and the two of them were very popular and had considerable management skills, and at present 2,000 shipwrights are under the control of their brothers.

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly, "The two of you are exempt, Zhao Zhicheng's report praised the cooperation of the two, thank you for your hard work." ”

"That's what small people should do."

The two brothers are both grateful and ashamed of Zhao Guangcai, in fact, they don't cooperate very well, at the beginning they had a big quarrel with Zhao Guangcai because of the housing conflict, and then they slowly cooperated tacitly.

The group walked towards the mouth of the river, and Zhao Guangcai whispered on the side: "His Royal Highness the King of Qichu, one hundred and fourteen ships have been completed now, I don't know when the navy will be established?" ”

The establishment of the navy has always been something that Yang Yuanqing is considering, but now there is no suitable general, the best navy of the Sui Dynasty will be the protector of Xiao Milling now, and he is old, but his sons have inherited their father's business and are quite capable of leading the navy, he has already sent someone to contact, and there should be results soon.

Yang Yuanqing sighed and said: "The navy doesn't need to be in a hurry for the time being, you have people here who are good at driving boats." ”

"There are many people, and the Zhang brothers are masters of boating and have very rich experience."

Yang Yuanqing looked back at the Zhang brothers behind him, and said with a smile: "Wait a while, I want to go to sea by boat, and I want to ask you two brothers to drive the boat." ”

"I am willing to sail for Your Highness!"

The group got on one of the largest warships, which was a huge transport ship, four feet high and fifteen clips long, which could transport 800 soldiers, and this warship was also the flagship of the Hu'er attack on Goryeo in those years, and it has now been repaired.

There are several shipwrights on the big ship who are busy painting the ship with tung oil, the ship has three floors, the bilge can also carry grain and livestock, the sails, cables, and iron anchors have been equipped, and they can go to sea at any time, Yang Yuanqing walked out of the side of the ship, the sea breeze blew in his face, and a group of seagulls chirped on the water, which made people feel refreshed.

"Boss, do you want to go out to sea for a walk?" Ying Yanglang put Yu Zhenwu aside and suggested with a smile.

Yang Yuanqing looked at the boundless ocean in the distance, and he also had the courage to have an impulse to break the wind and waves.

"Alright! Take a walk around the sea! ”

The big ship immediately got busy, Zhao Guangcai went to the shipwright to find more than 100 excellent sailors, Yu Zhenwu led more than 100 soldiers with high water quality on board, Zhang Long personally took the helm, the sails were hung, and the cables were untied.

With a shout: "Set sail!" ”

The big boat staggered away from the shore, and in a short time sailed out of the estuary and into the blue sea, where there was a slight wind and waves, and the big boat undulated and cleaved the waves, and flocks of seagulls circled in the stern.

Yu Zhenwu said at noon on the side: "Chief, this is the Bohai Sea, go straight to the south, and you can reach Donglai County in about four days, Hejian County in the west, a large peninsula hundreds of miles away in the east, and Bixu City in the south. ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, Bi Hao City was later Dalian, and now the entire east of Liaoshui is the land of Goguryeo, he looked back to the north, and the north is Liaodong Bay.

"How far is it from here to Pyongyang?" Yang Yuanqing asked with a deep groan.

"It will take about ten days to walk, to the east through the Bohai Sea, and then seven or eight days to reach the mouth of the Pyongyang River."

Yu Zhenwu was a little excited in his heart, could it be that the general manager restarted the shipyard to attack Goryeo? But he didn't dare to ask, Yang Yuanqing stared at the east with his hands behind his back, and fell into a long contemplation.

……

……

Huaiyuan Town, Yan County, which was once the logistics center of Yang Guangdong's expedition to Goryeo, built hundreds of warehouses to store large quantities of grain and ordnance, and over time, these huge warehouses have long been abandoned, and the warehouses are empty and overgrown with weeds.

At its peak, there were millions of people and troops in this area, but now there are only more than 100 families, making a living by farming and merchants.

In the past few days, Huaiyuan Town has been lively again, an army of more than 1,000 people drove to the side of Huaiyuan Town, this is Gao Kaidao's army, Gao Kaidao personally led a thousand guards to Huaiyuan Town, and the envoy of Goryeo talks.

Due to the great victory of the Sui army in Hebei, Gao Kaidao, who had seized Liaodong, was deeply afraid, and he knew that it would be his turn next, and in order to protect himself, Gao Kaidao finally chose to surrender to Goryeo.

In the camp, Gao Kaidao was worried, he received a report that Luo Shixin, the general of the Sui army, led an army of 50,000 troops outside Linyu Pass, and it was obvious that they were about to launch an attack on Liaodong.

Although Goryeo has promised to support him, this is only verbal support, which is far from enough, what he wants is Goryeo's substantial support for him, and he wants to send troops to help him.

But Gao Kaidao also knew that the Goryeo people were wolves, and once their army entered Liaodong, they would not leave, Gao Kaidao was a little hesitant, but as the situation became more and more tense, he resolutely decided to lead the Goryeo army into Liaodong to help him fight against the Sui army.

……