Yang Ning looked out under his father's cloak, he couldn't figure out if he was awake or in a dream, he had been immersed in darkness, the black rumbling world flying past him, the wind whistling in his ears

He could only see the rotating stars and the squirming shadows of Yanshan against the left sky, and gradually, his consciousness began to blur again, and his father's strong and warm body made him feel extremely safe and comfortable, and his mind was foggy for a while, and he fell asleep again.

When the morning dawned, he awoke and poked his head out of his father's cloak, like a squirrel poking its head out of a tree hollow, his hair unkempt and his eyes full of curiosity.

He saw a large sparkling golden light on the horizon in the distance, which was the shimmering waves of the sea against a round of rising sun that had just emerged from the sea level.

"Father, are we here?" His tone was full of surprise and delight.

"We're here!"

Yang Yuanqing slowed down his horse speed and ran non-stop for two days and two nights, and they finally arrived at their destination, Luhe Military Port.

This is the second time that Yang Yuanqing has arrived at the military port in half a month, the first time he is just to inspect the warships and warehouses and check the combat readiness, and this time, he will ride the wind and waves and sail to the south.

At this time, a personal soldier brought a slightly shorter war horse, Yang Ning jumped off his father's horse, and with the help of his own soldier, turned over his own horse.

"Father, aren't you going to the South? How did you come to the beach? Yang Ning asked puzzled.

Yang Yuanqing smiled but did not answer, and a group of cavalry rushed in the distance, led by two generals. One is Wang Junkuo and the other is Xie Yingdeng, Xie Yingdeng was injured by an arrow in the Sui Tu War, and after two months of recuperation, he has gradually recovered.

There is another person, Zhou Guangyao, the commander of the military port, and the three of them urged him to step forward. He clasped his fists and saluted: "See Your Highness!" ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded and asked, "Have the troops all arrived?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, 40,000 troops have arrived at the military port!"

"Where's the food?"

Yang Yuanqing turned his head and asked Zhou Guangyao again. \/\/\/\/"Is it delivered on board?" ”

"It's already on board."

"Let's go check it out!"

Yang Yuanqing urged the horse to go to the dock, and Yang Ning only reacted at this time, it turned out that they were going to the south by boat. He urged him to step forward and asked Wang Junkuo and Xie Yingdeng in a low voice, "Two uncles, where do we want?" ”

Seeing that the prince of the world was also following, the two couldn't help but look at each other, and they were a little surprised in their hearts, Wang Junkuo bowed down and said with a smile: "The military plane is top secret, don't ask the prince, in short, you won't let the prince down." ”

The two arched their hands and smiled, and rode their horses to follow Yang Yuanqing. Yang Ning had no choice but to whip the war horse and follow.

The sea is still full of large sea ships, like a mountain that stretches for dozens of miles, but compared to the last time. The more than 1,500 sea ships seemed to have been awakened from hibernation, and one after another the big ships showed their vitality, and there were constantly ships slowly sailing towards the dock.

At this time, the wharf was extremely busy, and more than a dozen wooden towers several feet high were erected high next to the wharf, and dozens of soldiers shouted slogans and turned their winch. The long rope turned, and bales of grain were hoisted high and transferred to the large ship moored on the shore.

Also loaded onto the ship were bundles of dismantled heavy siege engines and various armor tents, which had been loaded ten days earlier, and after ten days and ten nights of fighting, most of the supplies had been loaded onto the warship.

In a large open space about a few hundred steps away from the wharf, there are more than 2,000 tents stationed, stretching for more than 20 miles, magnificent, this is the 40,000 Sui troops who secretly came to the military port from Hedong, and by the day before yesterday, the 40,000 troops had all arrived at the Luhe military port.

Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed, just wait for the commander Yang Yuanqing to give an order, and the fleet will leave the port to expedition to the south.

"His Royal Highness the King of Chu!"

Someone shouted not far away, interrupting Yang Yuanqing's train of thought, Yang Yuanqing turned around, only to see two men running towards this side, he couldn't help but smile slightly, it was Zhang Long and Zhang Hu, the brothers who went to recruit shipbuilders for him.

The two rushed forward and knelt down and kowtowed together, "See His Royal Highness the King of Chu!" ”

"Two Kunzhong are exempt, please get up!"

Yang Yuanqing knew that the two brothers were extremely skilled in sailing, and their arrival meant that the craftsmen from the mouth of the river had come, so he asked with great interest: "How many people have come from the shipyard?" ”

"Back to His Royal Highness, more than 3,000 people came, and they were all good at building ships and boats. {.”

Yang Yuanqing nodded, turned back to everyone, and said, "Go to the handsome tent to speak." ”

He said to Zhang Long and Zhang Hu again: "You also come, I have something to ask you." ”

Yang Yuanqing led everyone to the tent......

The tent is located in the easternmost part of the camp, is specially prepared for Yang Yuanqing, the sand table transported from Taiyuan has been spliced together, with a radius of about three zhang, including Guanlong, Hebei Hedong, Central Plains, Jiangnan, Jingxiang and Bashu, almost a world sand table map,

The sand table had not yet been fully arranged at this time, and the marching Sima Wei Yunqi was leading more than a dozen soldiers to plant the small flags of each garrison on the city.

Wei Yunqi is also an old minister of the Sui Dynasty, he is nearly fifty years old this year, and he is appointed as the secretary of Honglu Temple, and this time it was Yang Yuanqing who summoned him by name to serve as the marching Sima.

Yang Yuanqing knew that he was a great talent for marching and fighting, and he was very good at coordinating the relationship between all parties, so it was a pity that he would die in the court.

Wei Yunqi always wanted to say a few words to Yang Yuanqing, but he never had the opportunity, at this time, he saw Yang Yuanqing standing in front of the sand table and pondering, so he stepped forward and whispered: "Your Highness, there are a few words of humility, I don't know whether to say it or not." ”

Yang Yuanqing glanced at him, nodded and smiled: "Say it!" ”

"I think that His Highness's strategy of hiding from the world and crossing the sea is indeed very clever, but why does His Highness want to fight Li Mi in person, after all, there is still a confrontation between the western front and the central line, and His Highness should sit in Luoyang and command on three sides, and let a general serve on the Jiangnan side."

Yang Yuanqing shook his head and sighed, "Why don't I know? I asked Qin Qiong to lead 100,000 troops into the Guannei, and ordered Xu Shiji to lead 50,000 troops into Nanyang. If Jiangnan is unstable, it is very likely that there will be separatist forces again, which will affect the overall situation. ”

Wei Yunqi nodded silently, and said: "Listening to His Highness's tone, it seems that Jiangnan is taken very seriously. ”

"Of course, only by stabilizing the south can we rely on the taxes of the south to support the imperial court. In order to be conducive to the recovery of the people's livelihood in the north, now the north of the Great Sui is full of holes, and the only way to rely on the south to transport money, grain and materials is to do so. in order to overcome the difficulties of the founding of the country. ”

Yang Yuanqing is telling the truth, the reason why the Tang Dynasty was able to quickly recover the economy and realize the rule of Zhenguan in the early years of history. The fundamental reason is that relying on the financial resources of the south and the excavation of the Grand Canal of the Sui Dynasty, money and grain from the south were continuously transported to the north through water transportation.

The prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty in the Middle and Tang Dynasty was also due to the dredging of Cao Yun, so that a large number of materials from the south could be transported to the north, and the materials in Guanzhong and the north were unprecedentedly prosperous.

The two prosperity of the Tang Dynasty and the Anshi Rebellion lasted for more than 100 years, in fact, they all benefited from the transportation of the Grand Canal, and the Song Dynasty was directly built on the bank of the canal.

Wei Yunqi understood what Yang Yuanqing was referring to, and also agreed with Yang Yuanqing's idea of attaching importance to the south, he pondered for a moment and said, "Your Highness." In this way, Bashu is extremely important. ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled slightly, "The ancients said: The world is not chaotic and Shu is chaotic first, the world has been governed and Shu has not been governed, and I naturally understand the importance of Bashu." My heart is as clear as a mirror. ”

Wei Yunqi smiled, "Your Highness understands it, and I won't say much about my humble position." ”

Yang Yuanqing's thinking returned to this voyage, and he had already considered the general strategy, but he needed to confirm some details with the experienced seafarers.

Yang Yuanqing smiled and beckoned to Zhang Long and Zhang Hu's brothers: "Please come over!" ”

The big tent is full of officers above the rank of second general, and the brothers Zhang Long and Zhang Hu have a low status. Hiding in the corner, not daring to say anything, Yang Yuanqing suddenly called them, startled the two of them, and hurriedly stepped forward to salute, "Please command, Your Highness!" ”

"I want to ask you two, how long does it take to sail from here to the mouth of the Yangtze River?"

The two brothers have rich sailing experience, they have traveled this route many times, and they know it well, Zhang Long immediately bowed down and said: "Your Highness, if it is a tailwind, it will be there in ten days, and if it is a headwind, it will take half a month at the earliest." ”

Speaking of the tailwind, Wang Junkuo next to him said: "In the past few days, I have found that it is all south winds, and occasionally there will be north, as if the wind direction is uncertain." ”

This is also a question that Yang Yuanqing wants to understand, he found that the flag foot was floating to the north when he was at the dock just now, and it was obviously a southeast wind, which made him a little worried.

Although the Zhang brothers have no room to speak on military aircraft matters, they are experts in navigation and wind direction, especially Zhang Hu, who has a thorough understanding of the wind direction issue.

He immediately replied: "Your Highness Qiqi, as well as the generals, we feel the south wind here, this is because the Yanshan Mountain Range blocks the north wind from going south, but now it is the north wind on the sea, you can observe it after the third watch at night, and you will find that it has become a north wind, but now is the time when the wind direction is exchanged, it should not be long before the north wind will become weaker and weaker, and the south wind will prevail, and it is like this every year." ”

Zhang Hu's explanation made everyone speechless, no one would run to measure the wind direction at the third watch, Yang Yuanqing frowned and said: "Then how long will the wind direction change?" ”

Zhang Hu thought for a while and said: "According to the usual time, there are about ten days, but this year, the weather is warm early, it is really difficult to say, I estimate that there will be four or five days at most." ”

'It's only been four or five days?' ’

Yang Yuanqing's brows furrowed, today is the twenty-second day of the first month, for him, time is already very tight, he asked Wei Yunqi again, "How is the army's preparation now?" ”

Wei Yunqi understood what Yang Yuanqing meant, and immediately bowed down and replied, "Your Highness, you are completely ready." ”

Yang Yuanqing nodded slowly and said to the generals: "If it is the north wind after the third watch tonight, then we will set off tonight!" ”……

That night, the north wind was blowing, from the two watches, the wind direction changed to the north wind, a group of soldiers were quickly boarding the ship in formation, Yang Yuanqing, wearing a golden helmet, stood on a high place, holding the handle of a knife and watching the army board the ship, Yang Ning stood beside him, and asked with some concern: "Father, is the child also going to war?" ”

Yang Yuanqing stroked his son's head lovingly, shook his head and smiled: "You don't have to participate in the war, you just go to watch this magnificent Pingnan campaign and see how your father swept the south." ”