On the third day of August in the first year of Kaiqing, Wang Donglu, who was a little short and fat, rode a Mongolian horse into Huangpi County. The streets of the city were filled with only Mongolian soldiers and horses, and the houses in the city were closed. Based on Wang Donglu's experience, it won't be long before the Mongol army will organize their way into the house and arrest people. These captured people would be assigned to the armies to be used as coolies and the like.

Thinking of the tragic situation at that time, Wang Donglu sighed. His round face showed some frustration as he drove his mount forward. I didn't go far before I saw a notice posted on the street, Wang Donglu couldn't read, and he was not interested in words. At this time, I thought the paper was very good-looking, so I got off the horse and prepared to tear it off to take a look. Before he could do anything, he heard someone behind him shouting. When I turned my head to look, I saw several Han people hurrying over from behind, they carefully removed the notice, and hurried away.

'Cut' at the backs of those Han people, Wang Donglu continued to get on his horse and move forward. As the bodyguard of Kublai Khan, the younger brother of the Mongol Great Khan Meng Ge, Wang Donglu somewhat looked down on those Han Chinese. It's just that he only dares to look down on 'some'.

As a native of Dali, Wang Donglu was captured six years ago along with Duan Yu, the king of Dali, and sent to the Golden Horde of the Mongolian Great Khan in Mobei. Dali Guo Duan Yu was named the governor of Yunnan and returned to Dali again. Wang Donglu was left in the desert, first assigned to the Great Khan Mengke's subordinates, and later to the Great Khan's younger brother Kublai Khan. Such a background does not have any sense of superiority over those Han Chinese who submitted to the Mongols.

After a walk around Huangpi City, Wang Donglu rode back to Kublai Khan's tent and returned to Kublai Khan. After the southern expedition, Kublai Khan often sent his guards to inspect the occupied territories. The purpose was not to prevent the Mongol army from arresting people, but to prevent the Mongol army from killing indiscriminately. The Confucian scholars around Kublai Khan strongly urged Kublai Khan that the Mongols were too fond of killing, so the Song people had to fight to the death for themselves. If the Mongols had stopped killing and not harassing the people, the Song Dynasty would not have met with fierce resistance.

Although there will be killings after the order to ban killings is issued, Wang Donglu has always been determined to prevent killings wherever they are coming. As a captured Dali man, Wang Donglu himself saw the Mongols killing people in a playful manner, and he instinctively disgusted them in his heart. Then Wang Donglu was appreciated by Kublai Khan, and was promoted from a lowly retinue to a close guard.

As soon as I arrived next to the big tent, I heard Kublai Khan in the big tent laugh happily: "This matter is unprecedented, may it be as he said!" ”

After entering the big tent, Wang Donglu saw the Han people standing in front of Kublai Khan with their hands down, and Kublai Khan held the notice in his hand with joy on his face. Wang Donglu was illiterate and did not read notices. He saluted Kublai Khan according to Mongolian etiquette and reported what he had seen during his rounds.

Kublai Khan was originally happy, and when he heard that there was no such thing as slaughtering the city in Huangpi City, he nodded with satisfaction and let Wang Donglu go down. After Wang Donglu went out, there was a relaxed expression on his round face, and with this relaxed mood after completing a difficult errand, he returned to his guard class. This inspection of Huangpi City, which had just been taken by the Mongol army, was a temporary errand, and as a guard, he had to eat and sleep quickly. At night, Wang Donglu had to continue to be on duty.

In Fuzhou, which is still thousands of miles away from Huangpi, Zhao Jiaren received an order from the Lin'an Imperial Court. opened it and looked at it, and sure enough, it ordered Zhao Jiaren to listen to the order in front of Jia Rudao's tent. At this time, Jia Rudao was the ambassador of Xuanfu in western Beijing, Hunan, northern and Sichuan, and was regarded as the commander-in-chief of the Southern Song Dynasty's war against Mongolia. If you go a little further, Jia Rudao can open the mansion. However, he did not get this appointment, and it can be seen that this Jia Xianggong did not have the common trust of all factions in the court.

No matter what he thought in his heart, Zhao Jiaren said to the messenger who delivered the message: "There are some militia groups in Fuzhou who are willing to go into battle to kill the enemy and serve the imperial court. I still need to take them with me at this time, and I can't go with the ambassador. ”

The messenger laughed a few times, and it seemed that he was not convinced. Coming from Lin'an, the envoy knew very well that the situation was very bad at this time. It is human nature for Zhao Jiaren to want to shirk it. At this time, it was difficult to say, so the envoy first listened to Zhao Jiaren's arrangement and went to the official post station to rest.

As soon as the envoy got up the next day, someone sent him a letter, and the signature on the envelope was Zhao Jiaren. When I opened it, I saw that the letter said that in order to rush to lead the troops to set off, Zhao Jiaren had already gone to sea to contact the militia group in Fuzhou. Therefore, please ask the envoy to return to Lin'an by himself, and Zhao Jiaren will go directly to Yangzhou, where Jia Yidao is located, according to the agreement.

After reading the letter, the messenger slapped the letter on the bed with an angry palm. The court knew that Zhao Jiaren was young, and the envoy didn't expect this little rabbit cub to be so treacherous. When he said that he was contacting the militia group, he ran outside, did he contact the militia in one day, or did it take three months to contact the militia?

But with this letter, Zhao Jiaren can also say that he has already responded. But he left the messenger here. The clenched fist clicked loudly, and the messenger felt that he had been greatly insulted. When this matter is over, you must settle accounts with Zhao Jiaren. The messenger made a vow in his heart.

Zhao Jiaren did not leave Fuzhou at this time, and it took time for him to mobilize his troops. The reason why he did this was just because he didn't want the messenger to see his strength. A total of 1,500 subordinates had to be mobilized to the north, and it would take time to send these people on the ship, and it would take at least half a year to get out of the country, and arrangements would also need to be made in the old nest in Fuzhou.

didn't dare to show up in Fuzhou, so Zhao Jiaren arranged it in Mawei. Three days later, ten battleships loaded with a large number of men and supplies headed north. When he arrived in Huating County, Xie Wuhuan, who had almost lost a circle, pointed to the boats on the beach and said to Zhao Jiaren: "Mention it, I've done my best." ”

"Thank you!" Zhao Jiaren said sincerely, "In the next few months, everyone will go to Yangzhou to rest for a while. Double monthly salary is paid on time. ”

"Why don't you let us go back?" Xie Wuhuan asked in surprise. Although Yangzhou is good, it is not as good as its hometown Fuzhou. Especially now, Xie Wuhuan and others have been out for a few months.

"If our casualties are too great, you need to continue to build ships. Fuzhou is too far away to let you go back. Zhao Jiaren did not shy away from his words.

Xie Wuhuan has known Zhao Jiaren for so long, and knows that Zhao Jiaren has to have an attitude of doing things with results. Hearing him say it so frankly, he couldn't help but want to refute such an unlucky remark, "These ships ...... These ships ......, and it is important to mention that these ships will never be defeated. In the end, Xie Wuhuan didn't dare to guarantee any victory. Is this a war, or a war on inland waters. Both are unfamiliar areas for Xie Wuhuan.

After seven or eight days of training, on August 20, Zhao Jiaren began to head north with the fleet. They entered the mouth of the Yangtze River from the sea. The ships were divided into two categories, one was forty small boats with two-pound guns. The other category consisted of six brigs with a total of eight three-pound guns. All are flat-bottomed boats suitable for inland river navigation.

Xie Wuhuan was on a schooner, and when he looked down condescendingly, he saw that the sailors in the boat were soaked by the waves. On the small boat at the front, the first oarsman was Zhao Jiaren. Dragon boats use drums to adjust the rhythm of the oars, and in addition to drums, there are also high-pitched whistles on the boat fleet. With Zhao Jiaren leading the team, everyone showed the strength of dragon boating, and even if their whole bodies were wet, they did not relax at all.

The boats in Fuzhou are all sea vessels, and building inland river vessels is not Xie Wuhuan's forte. Or rather, he had no experience with it. Seeing that the small boat fleet finally sailed into the relatively stable Yangtze River, Xie Wuhuan breathed a long sigh of relief.

The brigs are ideal for inland waterway navigation, with large fleets following the smaller boats and sailing into the Yangtze River with only the power of the wind. It was approaching evening at this time, and the huge fiery red sun could already be seen directly. I saw that the river was golden red, and the boats that were going up the river were dyed the same color.

The sailors on the boat trangled the oars neatly, and the slender ships seemed to be beautiful swans, spreading their wings and flying on the water, rowing a beautiful golden-red trajectory behind the boat.

'The desert is lonely, and the sun sets on the long river'. Xie Wuhuan, who had also taken some courses in Zhao Jiaren's school, suddenly remembered such a poem. In the past, when he read poetry, he felt that it was a matter of literati, and there was always a sense of estrangement. At this time, he felt that only such verses could describe the beauty in front of him.

For a while, Xie Wuhuan was immersed in the beautiful scenery on the river and immersed in poetry and painting. He had completely forgotten the reality of the people in the beautiful scenery who were rushing to the battlefield with all their might.