After resting in Huangxian for three days, after the barter was completed, Shi Xun and Shi Jun said goodbye to Shi Yi and Shi Zhi, and returned to the ship. As we continued to set sail, we saw more than a dozen smaller ships following the fleet.

It turned out that those were all local to Donglai, or maritime merchants passing through Donglai, and I heard that some official fleets wanted to bypass the Jiaodong Peninsula and go south to the sea and Xu Erzhou, waiting specifically at the port to find an opportunity to follow. In those days, the sea was quite peaceful, and there were not too many pirates -- although the maritime merchants often tore their faces to fill one or two bandits when they seized the opportunity—but after all, they had more protection when they went together. To put it mildly, if you encounter a strong wind and waves, your own boat capsizes and sinks, and the official ship can continue to float, then you will have a chance to salvage yourself.

Seeing it from a distance on the deck, Shi Xun couldn't help but sneer slightly, and immediately ordered Liu Xu, saying that if you have an opportunity, you will detain all these ships for me and transfer them to official use. Although these merchant ships are small in shape and quality, they can't fight, after all, they can help fill the façade, and if they really sail to the coast of Wuhui, who can see the difference between warships and merchant ships in these years? Who can tell if there are troops on board?

Your own fleet is full of twenty "giant" boats, and it is invincible in today's East Asia, and the problem is that no one will come together to fight you at sea, it is simply a dragon-slaying skill, and it is useless. The main purpose of this expedition is to intimidate Sun Quan, and if there are so many boats, there will be more intimidation power - who told you to wait for the generals to come up? Is it so easy to take advantage of the official's advantage?

Without saying anything all the way, he bypassed the peninsula in a few days and sailed to the territory of Buqi County, where Xun checked the rough nautical chart and asked about the terrain near Liu Xu. Liu Xu said. There is a great bay in front of it. If there is a storm, you can go into the bay to avoid it. It's Xun who suddenly saved, am I not Jiaozhou Bay? He immediately ordered Shi Jun, saying that you can help me write it down, this place can be a good port, and there will be a source of wealth, and I will report to my uncle when I have the opportunity.

When passing through the junction of Dengzhou and Haizhou, the fleet encountered heavy rain and strong winds. Fortunately, Wei followed this sea route three or five times, and there were even more sailors under his command, who walked more than ten times, and immediately commanded the fleet to approach the nearby island to take refuge - that is, Lingshan Island in later generations, which was not yet famous at this time.

After the wind and waves subsided, it continued southward. Lang Evil County, Lang Evil Country, near the sea, has a small harbor where it can be temporarily anchored, and the fleet rests here for two days to replenish fresh water. Shi Xun had also taken a boat in his previous life, and he was not too unwell, but these staff officers under him - Zhuge Liang, Guo Huai and others - were dizzy and depressed before they got on the ship. Then he vomited and couldn't stop vomiting, and it took him a few days to barely recover. Now it has been through storms and waves. Seeing that several young people had sallow faces, they lost weight all over the place. Although Shi Xun wanted to rush to Guangling with Chen Deng to plan the war against Eastern Wu, he couldn't sit back and watch them be sick and weak - if he wanted to run this trip and exhaust Guo Boji and Zhuge Kongming to death, that would be a great tragedy for the ages!

Therefore, he rested for two more days in Langxie, and the next stop was Yuzhou Mountain, that is, Lianyungang in later generations, which was half-sunk in the land and was still just an island in those years, and then the next stop was Yandu, and he rested for two or three days each, and when he entered the territory of Guangling, it was already November. This voyage to the sea, even if the coast is crosswind and downstream, it took a full month.

During this period, the news was closed, and I didn't know what the war was going on in Jing and Yangzhou. It was Xunxin who said that if I arrived in Guangling, Cao Cao's side had already burned Chibi, the wolf bèi fled back to the Central Plains, and Sun Quan also transferred the main force to Wuhui, it would be funny......

At this time, Guangling County was roughly equivalent to the Jiangbei region of Jiangsu Province in later times, but the area was much smaller - because the coastline of later generations stretched more than 100 kilometers to the east, all of which were washed out by the Huai River, the Yangtze River and their tributaries for 2,000 years. Nowadays, the coastline is shrinking, and the coastal area is mostly tidal flats, and the reef is dense, and there is no harbor in the first place. In recent years, because he advocated maritime trade, he also sent ships to open up trade routes to Guangling many times during his tenure in Youzhou, so a small port was newly opened on the big island on the north side of the Yangtze River estuary.

The west end of the island happens to be the course of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal in the later generations, and the east end is the seat of Rudong County, Nantong City.

If it weren't for this small port, Shi Xun would really not dare to carry out this long-range attack, because then the base must be set up in Yandu County, Haizhou. Just kidding, from the salt to Wuhui, the sea journey of five or six hundred miles, coming and going and harassing and fighting, at least have to float on the sea for half a month in a row, just the navigation technology and water storage technology of these years, it is simply risking the lives of himself and the sailors to hit the big luck!

Besides, after Xun landed at the port, he immediately ordered the guards to recruit the inhabitants of the island to help expand the port—he intended to use this as the main base of the fleet, which was not enough for the present scale. He had planned to take a small boat upriver to the mouth of the Yangtze River, land at Tanglin Pavilion, and go to Guangling to meet Chen Deng, and at the same time discuss trade and material supplies. But unexpectedly, before he left, Guangling Taishou Xu Xuan took the initiative to find the island.

This Xu Xuanzi Baojian is also a legendary figure in history. His ancestral home of Haixi County, the former Guangling County, which is now part of Sheyang County, once took refuge in Jiangdong, but returned to his hometown because he refused Sun Ce's conquest, and assisted Chen Deng in quelling the civil unrest in Haixi. Later, the imperial court divided Xuzhou into Hai and Xu Erzhou, and Chen Yuanlong served as the assassin of Haizhou, that is, recommended Xu Baojian to serve as the Taishou of Guangling.

Speaking of which, Xu Xuan and Chen Jiao are also Chen Deng's left and right hands, but these two hands are not very harmonious, and everyone looks at who is not pleasing to the eye, and sees Tian'er "fighting left and right". Therefore, Chen Deng still left Chen Jiao in the state capital, but recommended Xu Xuan as Taishou, which also meant separating the two old enemies.

Xu Xuan only took one subordinate official and three sergeants, and arrived in a small boat, and said to Shixun that the prime minister's official letter asking us to cooperate with you has already arrived, and I have been waiting for a long time. It was Xun who knew only then that Cao Cao had approved the construction of his Haidao army......

So when asked about the war situation in the south, Xu Xuan told him eloquently that since Sun Quan and Zhou Yu brazenly sent troops to fight against the imperial court in September, the war has been endless, and the Cao family has not been able to advance an inch. In Guangling, Sun Quan led the army to cross the river from the west of the river, Chen Deng hurriedly took Chen Jiao to resist, the two sides confronted each other from afar, and fought several small battles on the river, each with a victory or defeat. Chen Deng did not have many warships in his hands, so he basically took a defensive position, and Sun Quan wanted to cross the river and attack. However, the number of ships dispatched at any one time was also limited. There was no way to break through Chen Deng's defenses. Xu Xuan relayed Chen Deng's judgment. said that Sun Quan's subordinates should not only have so many river boats, it is estimated that the main force has already moved westward and followed Zhou Yu to aid Jiangxia.

But knowing that Sun Quan was just feint to contain him, Chen Yuanlong didn't dare to deal with it impatiently, and it was estimated that he wouldn't be able to come back in a short time, so he asked Xu Xuan to apologize to Shixun on his behalf. Xu Xuan said that since I am the Taishou of Guangling, then all the applications of the Jun garrison in the territory will be raised by Xuan. But worry-free.

said that he introduced the subordinate official he brought to Shixun, surnamed Shao Mingyi Ziyuan, a person from Ben Boling, and Shi Yu Guangling is the history of Peng. Xu Xuan said that if the envoy needed anything, he would directly order Shao Yi to do it.

In addition, in Jiujiang, the sailors of Dongwu drove into Chaohu Lake in a fake way and threatened Hefei, but they did not dare to really go ashore. Tai Shi Ci sent Wei Yan to get back the material blockade, and they took the initiative to retreat without waiting for Lu Su to wave his army to block the mouth. Immediately, Lu Zijing returned to Peng Li. went to block the way back to the east of Zhou Yu's water division, and did not engage in the battle for the time being.

As for the main battlefield in Jingzhou. Cao Cao sent a number of troops and horses from the Central Plains to the south, and the troops gradually approached 200,000, and Chen's troops were east of the Han River and threatened Xiangyang. But Liu Biao was like a turtle with a shrunken head, just strictly guarding the Hanshui defense line, and had no intention of fighting back. Occasionally, Cao Cao secretly went to fight Jiangxia again, but still lost his troops. According to Xu Xuan's estimates, the final battle is estimated to start in December or even the first month of the following year.

It's Xun Xin who said, isn't this the season of burning Chibi again?

However, for the war in the West, he was nearly thousands of miles away, and after all, he could not exert any influence on the situation, and the only thing he could do was to carry out a harassment war against the coast of Wuhui and force Sun Quan to withdraw his troops and return to defense. So after sending Xu Xuan away, Shi Xun honestly and unceremoniously instructed Shao Yi three things:

First, he recruited thousands of people from the mainland to help expand the port - Yesun didn't remember the small Rudong County, but he remembered that it was a little westward in later generations, and now it may still be sunk in the sea, so there should be a Rugao County, so the name of the island and the name of the port are Rugao. Second, the fleet of Youzhou, including the merchant ships of Dengzhou that were carried on the way, will sail to Tanglin Pavilion one after another, unload the goods they carry, and load the materials needed to expand and maintain the port, hoping that Shao Yi will do his best to deploy them.

Third, Shi Xun asked Guangling to send hundreds of sailors or native soldiers from Shanshui to supplement and exchange. Fourth, he sorted out the hydrological situation along the coast of Wu and Huiji counties, as well as the distribution of forces on the shore, which had been reconnoitred over the years, and handed them over to himself -- he sent Shi Jun to assist Shao Yi in handling this matter.

He knew that the coastline of Xu and Haizhou was very different from that of later generations, but the coastline of Yangzhou did not change much, and the only thing to worry about was that the coastal islands were densely packed, and if there was no clear chart, there was a risk of hitting the rocks. Fortunately, although the merchant ships in Youzhou only arrived at Rugao at most, there were a few merchant ships in Dengzhou that had gone south to Wuhui, and immediately summoned all the shipowners and asked them to hurry up to present the sea map.

These shipowners originally only planned to follow the official ships to the sea and Xu Erzhou to trade, but they didn't expect a storm and waves, forcing the big guys to take refuge on Lingshan Island in the later generations, and when the wind and waves stopped and the anchor was not yet lifted, they were grabbed by the Youzhou soldiers and shouted: "The boats and ships of yours are now all requisitioned by the officials, and those who dare not obey will be killed!" "Thus fell into the clutches of Shihoon. Therefore, they were full of resentment against Shixun, and discussed in tandem that when they could return to Dengzhou, they would have to file a complaint with the imperial court through Guò Assassin Shi.

The status of the merchants themselves is low, not to mention the imperial court, even the Taishou and the assassin history, they may not really be able to see it, but the businessmen who have a huge sea ship must have the support of the official family or the local big family behind them, and if those people hold a group, the momentum will never be small. If a merchant with a few or more than a dozen carriages on land encounters an official requisition, he can only consider himself unlucky, and he does not dare to appeal or sue in the slightest.

It was Xun who summoned these ship owners to come over, and when he saw their faces, his heart was naturally clear. He knew that the nautical chart was a secret treasure of merchants, and he would not show it to others--if only I knew how to take a certain route, wouldn't I monopolize the trade of materials along the route? Shall others be allowed to get a piece of the pie? Hmph, he said in his heart that if you can't surrender today, don't mention the trick you will sue me in the future, and even the nautical chart will definitely not be able to ask for it! (To be continued......)

PS: A friend of the ishmael_cn who asked to appear on Weibo: Your Shao Yi Shao Ziyuan is here, and the visual inspection is indeed as you wish, and he will not receive a bento.