More than 20 warships appeared on the river is the patrol sentry ship of the Poyang water thief Lin Shihong, as Zhou Meng said, the disbandment of the Great Sui Naval Division, the Yangtze River water defense is relaxed, Lin Shihong has long been not satisfied with the sphere of influence in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, he has extended his power to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River by virtue of his absolute superiority of hundreds of warships.

It's just that because of the face of the Jiangnan Society, their patrol posts are bounded by Jiangning County, and they don't go to the east of Jiangning, and they don't go to the hinterland of Jiangnan.

Today, the patrol ship was led by Lin Shihong's fellow villager and sworn brother Cao Shiqi, who happened to meet the Qingzhou fleet that had come to Liyang County to carry pig iron and copper ingots.

Lin Shihong is no longer a water thief in Poyang, he has occupied Yuzhang County, self-proclaimed general, with more than 50,000 soldiers, more than 400 warships of all kinds, Cao Shi Qi is the second person, in charge of the water army, usually Cao Shi Qi will not come out, but today he happened to lead the army to inspect the Yangtze River.

The master is about thirty years old, bronzed, not tall, but he looks extremely strong, he looked at the nine huge transoceanic boats in the distance in shock, the caucus beggar of course knows what kind of ship this is, last year he found two abandoned transoceanic boats in Jiangyang County, he was overjoyed.

However, the big ship belongs to Jiangyang County, and no matter how dilapidated it is, it is also two official ships, so he entrusted Shen Jian to buy back and repair these two transoceanic boats for him, but when the ship was just repaired, Zhang Xuan killed it horizontally and took away these two rare big ships, and the master beggar and Lin Shihong were sad for this for more than a month, they knew the value of the two transverse boats, and the master beggar secretly blamed himself for this.

And now, not only two transoceanic boats, but nine transoceanic boats, the master begged in shock, and his eyes showed an irrepressible greed.

"The second king, the other party seems to have an army!"

The blazing heat in the eyes of one of his subordinates was frightened. Be careful to remind.

The drill beggar's gaze fell on two large boats across the river, which were densely packed with soldiers, and he roughly estimated that there were about a thousand or so people, and he only had four hundred, damn it. I knew to bring more troops!

However, he also knew in his heart that these nine transoceanic boats must be Zhang Xuan's fleet, but when they came over, why didn't Jiang Nan inform him?

'They will definitely come back!' The drill begged for a while.

Although he couldn't defeat the Sui army and couldn't grab the boat, the master still didn't want to lose face, so he said viciously to the soldiers around him: "We are small boats, even if we don't fight, we can burn them, but unfortunately Lao Tzu is reluctant." Walk! Eat them next time. ”

In a roar, more than 20 sentinel boats turned around and headed west, gradually disappearing into the clear fog on the river, but the master beggar was also attracted by the nine transoceanic boats, they didn't notice that the boats were transporting pig iron, otherwise the Huang family would not be able to eat and walk around, pig iron is also a strategic material that Lin Shihong desperately needs.

Looking at the thief fleet in the distance, the **** Chang breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't actually afraid of this water thief, but once the fight started. Their identities that sneaked into the Yangtze River can't be hidden, and the Huang family will also be implicated.

In the evening, the nine large ships finished loading crude iron and copper ingots, and slowly turned around and sailed eastward

The second heavy snowfall came shortly after the New Year, covering the land of Beihai County once again in a world of snow and ice, in a thick layer of snow. More than 100 cavalrymen escorted a wide carriage along the official road.

It's freezing outside, but it's warm inside the carriage, this is Zhang Xuan and Fang Xuanling going to the new barracks to inspect, Zhang Xuan didn't want to take the carriage, if it wasn't to talk to Fang Xuanling. He preferred to ride a horse, but Fang Xuanling's body was slightly weak, and he couldn't withstand the biting ice and snow, so he couldn't ride a horse.

Zhang Xuan went to inspect the training of recruits, while Fang Xuanling went to inspect military logistics, the two had the same goal, but their responsibilities were different.

"It's snowy! This summer is another good harvest, why does God favor us Qingzhou so much? Fang Xuanling took a sip of tea and sighed slightly.

Zhang Xuan smiled, "In previous years, there was only one heavy snowfall, but this year there were two in a row, which is relatively rare." ”

Fang Xuanling took a sip of tea, and said with a slight sigh: "Have you heard about it?" Since last autumn, the seven counties of the Central Plains have not had a drop of rain for three months, and the riverbeds have dried up everywhere. ”

Zhang Xuan frowned, "In this way, this year will be a catastrophe year in the Central Plains." ”

"That's for sure, but luckily we have a lot of vetch, which is enough to cope with the influx of hungry people."

Fang Xuanling was thinking about the problem of starvation at this time, but Zhang Xuan looked out the window, thinking a lot, the thirteenth year of the great cause has finally come, this will be a year of earth-shaking Great Sui, and Great Sui will also completely fall into the dust of history in this year, the root of the Great Sui's demise has already been planted, but if you must find an introduction, I am afraid that it is this year's Central Plains drought, thousands of miles of red land, starvation all over the wilderness, as soon as Zhang Xutuo dies, Wagang is about to change, how far can Wagang go without Li Mi?

With one more Li Jiancheng's Taiyuan army, how far can Li Yuan go?

With one more of his Zhang Xuan's Great Sui, in which direction should history turn?

"Did the handsome read Li Qingming's pigeon letter?"

Fang Xuanling didn't notice Zhang Xuanling's distraction, so he cut the topic to the point again, this Fang Xuanling, his brain does not rest all day long, thinking about this, worrying about that, in the words of later generations, he is a workaholic, of course, Zhang Xuanling can't imagine what Fang Xuanling will look like when he talks about Fenghua Xueyue.

However, speaking of Li Qingming's pigeon letter, Zhang Xuan remembered another letter sent by ****, they encountered the prying eyes of Lin Shihong's army, but the other party was not prepared, so they were in danger this time, if there is a next time, I am afraid they will not be so lucky.

"What do you think?"

Zhang Xuan smiled and asked, "Can we accept the conditions of the Jiangnan Society?" ”

Fang Xuanling thought for a while and said: "I think the conditions of the Mingguang Armor are acceptable, we already have five thousand pairs of Mingguang Armor, but it is only a little older, only a thousand war horses, this condition seems too expensive." ”

Zhang Xuan laughed, "Brother, what Jiangnan will want is a thousand war horses!" Where can't Mingguang armor be obtained? ”

Fang Xuanling smiled dumbly, "Dashuai is right, what Jiangnan will want should be war horses, I'm afraid we won't give it if you want more, but as long as there are 1,000 war horses, you feel like you're in a panic, so add 5,000 pairs of Mingguang armor as an add-on, which is worthy of being a businessman." ”

Jang Xuan pondered for a moment and asked, "How are those stallions doing now?" ”

Fang Xuanling smiled slightly: "Those stallions can be described as brave, and more than a thousand horses are pregnant."

Speaking of this, Fang Xuanling suddenly woke up, "Dashuai wants to agree to the request of the Jiangnan Society?" ”

"Actually, I'm really reluctant, but 200,000 stone grain and 100,000 pieces of cloth are not a small amount, don't be a pity, if you want to fight for the world, sufficient food and materials are fundamental." This is the first time that Jang Hyun has not hidden his ambitions.

Fang Xuanling has known that Zhang Xuanling is in the world since the moment he defected to Zhang Xuan, but everyone didn't say it, today Zhang Xuan said it, Fang Xuanling didn't feel strange, he just glanced at Zhang Xuan meaningfully, and said with a smile: "Dashuai wants to exchange?" ”

"Swap just swap! It's just that I'm not very worried about Lin Shihong. ”

"Don't worry, Dashuai, I'll arrange it at this time to ensure that nothing goes wrong."

Zhang Xuan didn't speak again, he completely trusted Fang Xuanling's ability, Zhang Xuan's eyes turned to the snow-covered field again, the thirteenth year of the great cause has arrived

Although Zhang Xuan's report to Yang Guang requesting more troops to suppress the bandits was like a stone in the sea, it did not affect the recruitment of new soldiers by the Qingzhou Army, and the recruits eventually recruited 55,000 people, bringing the total strength of the Qingzhou Army to nearly 90,000.

The equipment is also very sophisticated, the battlefield capture plus the compensation of Goguryeo, more than half of the soldiers are equipped with Mingguang armor, and there is also a powerful naval army, his army is already extremely elite in the Great Sui, and the equipment is second only to Yang Guang's Xiaoguo army, but if you talk about actual combat experience, the Xiaoguo army is far behind.

However, the consumption of 90,000 people is also very huge, 50,000 stone of grain will be consumed in a month, if a war is launched, the food consumption will be huge, and the six counties of Qingzhou alone cannot support the supply of 90,000 troops, which is the fundamental reason why Zhang Xuan must expand externally, even if he gets a large amount of food from various channels, if there is no stable source, he will eventually sit on the mountain.

In fact, this is also the main reason why the bandits in various parts of the Sui Dynasty could not become a climate, the stalls were too large, the army was often tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands, and there was no production, where can a small piece of land be raised, and if it can't be raised, it can only be robbed, resulting in serious damage to the productive forces, a huge drop in grain production, and the rapid demise of the population, forming a vicious circle, and finally declining without food.

Zhang Xuan knew this very well, so the number of his army must be proportional to the territory under his control, because he already had 600,000 stone grain in his hands, enough to supply 100,000 troops for a year, so he dared to expand the army.

At this time, the carriage slowly stopped, and only heard Wei Chigong's voice coming, "The last general, Wei Chigong, see the marshal!" ”

It turned out that it was already to the boot barracks. (To be continued.) )