Although it was already past the unitary hour, the sky was already very bright, and the fleet quietly headed northwest along the Bianqu. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

In front of Hongxian County, from a distance, the city wall that is not a majestic city looks ancient and secluded, the sentry figure on the corner tower of the city wall is faintly visible, and the sound of the water paddling oars is particularly clear in the quiet evening.

Mei Jing quietly half-crouched in the canopy, looking at the river bank through the gap between the two straw curtains.

The front is about to enter the wharf area outside the county seat of Hongxian County, like the ordinary fleet many times to choose to berth at the wharf in Hongxian County, of course, there are also busy fleets to choose to travel at night, the water flow of the Bianqu is stable, the river is straight, in addition to the public security, the others are also safe.

However, like large fleets, there are special escort teams to guard, and they are not afraid of ordinary water pirates, such as more than 30 fully loaded "grain ships" from Mei Kuang's line, of course, they will not dare to travel at night because of the existence of water bandits.

In the past, people have been arranged to pay commercial taxes, such as this kind of large fleet, the local customs offices basically adopt the tax assessment by ship, and occasionally check one or two ships to inspect the goods, but in the current situation where grain is as expensive as gold, no one will believe who will transport other goods under the guise of grain, it is not cost-effective, and it is unreasonable.

A group of soldiers and tax collectors at the tax collector on the dock were laughing and laughing, while looking at the slowly approaching fleet, a merchant and a character dressed as a bookkeeper were laughing with the officers and tax collectors who led the team, pointing at the fleet from time to time.

"Boss Niu, you have to make a lot of money on this trip, right? Although Xuzhou is also short of grain, it won't be transported so often like you, right? You only took a boat in the last two weeks, and here you are again, there are too many grains transported to Tongqiao, and the price can still rise? Is it cost-effective?"

The officer who led the team was a character who looked like the head of the capital, looking at the stocky man with a smile on his face, and said casually.

"Hehe, Zhang Dutou laughed, earning is also earning a few hard money, everyone only stares at the price when we store grain, thinking that we buy cheaply, but I don't want to think about it, our owner has built more than 30 grain hoards in Shouzhou, how much did it cost?" The price of your grain will drop immediately, and you will have to vomit a few pots of blood if you lose it, so don't think about this kind of business. ”

"Boss Niu, don't mind, we don't mean anything else, there has already been an order from the Jiedu Embassy to welcome the grain ships from the south to our Huaibei, Xuzhou and Sizhou are welcome, even if you make a lot of money, we also welcome it, who let us Huaibei not be beautiful in the past two years?" The tax collector hurriedly explained.

He didn't want anything wrong with the grain ships from the south.

Although the grain price in Xuzhou has not risen as sharply as the Heshuo and Pinglu and Taining armies in the north, it has almost always shown a steady upward trend, and even the grain price in Sizhou has soared all the way, especially after the displaced people in Yizhou in the north began to move south, this trend is even more obvious.

The grain ships from the south have greatly alleviated the soaring grain prices, and at the same time, the continuous grain transportation to the north has also brought rich benefits to the tax customs.

As for what Yao Chengtai and they did with so much grain on the Tongqiao side, it was not Sizhou's business, whether it was sold to Daliang or resold to Bozhou, it was none of the business of Hongxian.

"That is, our owner is now ready to see this opportunity to sell more, after all, it is rare to meet such a year, I heard that the situation in Yanyun Yi Sanzhou is very bad now, food prices are rising three times a day, and Bozhou is also at the bottom of the grain stockpile, I heard that even the porridge shed has stopped. Boss Niu sighed, "Our owner is a philanthropic person, and he would rather make a few less than send this batch of grain, which is also something that he has agreed with Yao Dashuai." ”

"Okay, Boss Niu, don't cry in front of us, we know in our hearts, you earn your money, let's collect taxes according to the rules, everyone is happy." There was a faint hint of nervousness in Zhang Dutou's eyes, but it was difficult to be noticed.

"Of course that's good, that's of course good. Boss Niu arched his hand, "Tongqiao is urgent, and a brother can't accompany me today, and when we return from Tongqiao, we must invite the two of us to have a drink." ”

"It's okay, it's okay, you're busy, Boss Niu. The tax collector had a good attitude, and glanced at the fleet that was slowly approaching, "It is worthy of the old fleet, these ships are doing well, and they are coming one by one, and there is no such mess as in other places." ”

After Boss Niu was stunned for a moment, he quietly glanced at Zhang Dutou beside him and said: "Hey, they are all veterans of boating for many years, if the water potential of this canal is so gentle, if you can't play it, how much grain will not be wasted when you enter the Huaishui River?"

Zhang Dutou glanced at the fleet expressionlessly, and said in a deep voice: "According to the rules, draw two ships to see." ”

"It's okay, just look, just look at it, just draw the front two, the back two, or one in front and one behind?" Boss Niu smiled and said, "It's all the same, it's all the same." ”

"Just the last two, Lao He, you can arrange for your tax people to go up and have a look, my people won't go up, after so many dealings, we can still trust Boss Niu." Zhang Du's head tightened the armor belt around his waist, and he looked casually at the distance of the dock road.

The fleet slowly slowed down, Boss Niu stepped forward to greet the fleet, and soon the fleet continued to slow down, until the last two docked, the two tax collectors of the customs boarded the ship to check, a stick of incense time, after the inspection, Boss Niu said hello to the big guys, and by the way, he also stuffed two strings of copper coins to a few people, leaving the account room, and then boarded the boat and followed the fleet.

Near the wharf, on the upper floor of a two-story building, with the window lattice, several people quietly watched the fleet.

"Although there is no sign of it on the surface, there is no doubt that there is something wrong with this fleet. The armored military general pursed his lips, his eyes still chasing the sail shadow of the fleet, "With such a big business, how can the boss not follow the ship? Wait at Tongqiao? They are not afraid of some problems on the way?"

"Also, the fleet is moving in too order, how to say, and it's a veteran, it doesn't feel like a general grain fleet, and even if it's a little chaotic, it's all like it's deliberately made. Another military general answered: "The waterline of the ships is similar, but it is estimated that they have specially adjusted the balance, and the ships are too quiet between the ships." ”

Hearing what his subordinates said, Yu Mingzhen didn't have any attitude, just quietly clasped his hands together, as if thinking about something, and only after a while did he raise his eyes and ask leisurely: "You said that the Huaiyou Army is hiding and sneaking, what do you want?"

"More than thirty ships, they will definitely have a few ships loaded with food, one for cover, and the other may be used as a supplement for food and grass, so that such a large ship can carry at least two hundred people per ship, and if you count the weapons and armor of the non-commissioned officers, at least one hundred and fifty people, which is at least the strength of two armies. The armored general immediately made a calculation.

"Two armies, so they still want to attack Tongqiao?" Yu Mingzhen showed an intriguing and complicated expression on his face, "It's just a bridge to leave, or do you want to wait to capture Xuzhou in one fell swoop?"

The two generals did not squeak, which is not easy to judge, and with Huaiyou's attitude, their position should be said to be a collaborator, but the coach is here, such an attitude has already explained a lot.

When he learned that a large grain fleet was going to pass through Hongxian, it aroused Yu Mingzhen's interest.

It stands to reason that if you want to sell the grain in Shouzhou at a high price, you should go from Huaiyin to Surabaya, go up to Suyu, and go down to Xuzhou.

He had already issued an order in Xiapi to exempt grain ships from the south from commercial taxes, and the price of grain in Xiapi was far better than that of Tongqiao.

The information he got also showed that the Tongqiao side did not open the grain to the Bozhou side, and the Yuan army on the Bozhou side wanted to buy grain, basically secretly bought it from the Songzhou side, while Songzhou was able to buy grain from the Xuzhou side, but as soon as it changed hands, the price rose by two percent.

As the armored military general said, although the grain price on the Tongqiao side is still high, and it is still rising slowly, its shortage and increase are far lower than that of Xuzhou and Xiapi, because this side is directly facing the displaced people from the north, and the pressure is greater.

The news of Huaiyou businessmen is extremely well-informed, it is impossible not to know these news, but such a huge fleet still goes to Tongqiao, if you change to the first line of Xiapi and Xuzhou, at least you will earn more than 30%, which can not help but make people suspicious.

Therefore, Yu Mingzhen chose to observe at close range, and also asked the army brought by himself to be on emergency standby.

However, he did not make any moves, and did not even think about intercepting the fleet.

Obviously, the Huaiyou Army is not aimed at himself, whether it is against Fu Li or Xuzhou, Yu Mingzhen doesn't care, the current situation is already the time for the tree to fall apart and take care of himself.

Yu Mingzhen also considered whether to fall to Huaiyou, but after thinking about it again, he felt that he still needed to take a look.

Huaiyou's expansion speed is too fast, so fast that people feel that it is top-heavy and the base is too shallow, and if you don't pay attention to it, you can't get up if you plant a somersault.

And although the twilight of Xuzhou is deep, but after all, there are still tens of thousands of troops, if Shi Yu, Shang Yunxi and Yao Chengtai join forces in the face of a critical situation, it is not yet known who will die, and more importantly, what will happen to the Yuan army in the west, which may determine the victory or defeat of Huaiyou's northward advance, so Yu Mingzhen feels that he should take a look.

In addition, Yu Mingzhen is also unwilling to bear the reputation of being the first to fall to Huaiyou, but when things can't be done, it is understandable to turn to Huaiyou.