In the past two years, the Hexi Army built a large number of warehouses in Jincheng County, hoarding grain, grass and military funds.

Hexi itself does not have ships, although it can build ships itself, but Hexi will have to wait for at least two or three years to build ships on a large scale, and the distant water will not be able to quench the thirst of the near, and finding a way to use the existing ships has become a top priority.

After the Hexi Army recovered Shuofang, it obtained more than 140 cargo ships of more than 1,000 stones from Fengzhou, including 60 cargo ships of 2,000 stones and 87 cargo ships of 1,000 stones.

But one hundred and forty-seven ships was still not enough, and the Hexi army needed to get more ships.

There are nearly 200 cargo ships moored at the wharf of the Yellow River in Lanzhou, all of which are 2,000 stone ships, which come from Hedong and transport 150,000 pieces of cloth and silk to Hexi in exchange for 3,000 war horses.

At this time, nearly 200 large ships have been temporarily seized by the Lanzhou government, waiting for Cangcao to join the army Zhang Chen from Zhangye.

On a large ship on the dock, the owner Jiang Quan was sitting on the deck basking in the sun bored, and the fleet steward sat beside him and whispered: "I found out last night that they were not monitored at night, and we can leave at night." ”

Jiang Chuandong glanced at the steward and said, "If it weren't for the ship, I could leave now, I didn't care about us, but what about the ship?" Where can the ship escape at night? Longyou, Hexi, and Shuofang are their territory, and they want us to escape, and then find an excuse to confiscate the boats. ”

"This ..... What can I do? ”

Jiang shipowner sighed, "I now finally understand what is called 'the husband is not guilty, he is guilty', the Yuan family keeps saying that it is to rent our boat, but so far, I have not paid a penny, this trip I have lost nearly a thousand dollars, I am worried that the fleet will be forcibly requisitioned by the government when it returns to Hedong, now there are five hundred cargo ships in the entire Hedong, we occupy forty percent, and the other sixty percent is still in Li Huaiguang's place, the Yuan family will definitely fight the idea of the fleet, and on the charge of fornicating with the enemy country, they will kill me, and then the fleet will be confiscated." ”

"The proprietor means that we can't go back?"

"I don't know, look at what the Hexi government palace means [pencil]!"

At this time, someone shouted: "The proprietor, Liu County's order is here!" ”

Jiang Chuandong hurriedly stood up, only to see the county commander Liu Ying hurriedly coming with an official, Jiang Chuandong hurriedly walked off the boat, bowed down and saluted: "Xiaomin Jiang Quan see the county order!" ”

"Shipowner Jiang doesn't have to be polite, I'll introduce you."

Liu Ying smiled and introduced the official next to him and said, "This is Cangcao Zhang from our Hexi Jiedu Mansion who joined the army, and all our money, grain and materials are under his control." ”

Jiang Chuandong hurriedly saluted, Zhang Chen smiled and said, "Where is Jiang Chuandong from?" ”

"A native of Anyi County, Lower Puzhou."

"No wonder the accent is a little familiar, I'm from Wenxi County, Jiangzhou."

Jiang Chuandong was pleasantly surprised: "My wife is from Wenxi County, and she is the same villager as Zhang Shenjun!" ”

"It's rare! I met a fellow villager in Hexi. ”

Zhang Zhen smiled again: "I came to see Jiang Dongzhu's ship. ”

"Zhang joins the army, please feel free to look at it."

Jiang shipowner was a little nervous in his heart, he didn't understand what this high-ranking official in Hexi meant by looking at the boats?

He accompanied Zhang Chen on the big ship and introduced: "This is the head ship, there are 3,000 stones, generally for storing food and supplies, there are many iron rings on the hull, which are used to tie the rope and control the speed and direction of the fleet, and the head boat is also responsible." ”

Zhang Yanzai carefully inspected more than a dozen ships, these ships were well maintained, seventy percent new, he asked with a smile: "Jiang Dongzhu's family has always been engaged in shipping?" ”

"No, I was originally a grain merchant and needed ships to transport grain, three years ago, the owner of the transport ship that had always been related died, and his son wanted to sell these ships piecemeal, I was afraid that I would not be able to find a ship to transport grain, so I bought the entire fleet, a total of 198 grain ships."

Zhang Chen nodded, "I'll make it clear, we also urgently need ships now, there are two plans, one is that we rent the fleet of the proprietor Jiang, and the other plan, we buy the fleet, and the proprietor Jiang can choose either." ”

"This ....."

Ship Master Jiang lowered his head and thought for a moment and said, "If you send me to sell, how much can you pay?" ”

Zhang Chen smiled slightly, "Based on the original price that Captain Jiang bought the boat at the beginning, plus two percent, this price should be good!" ”

Jiang shipowner blushed and said: "Don't hide that Zhang joined the army, the son of the old shipowner was eager to ask for money to pay off his gambling debts, and he didn't understand the market, I bought the fleet at a very low price, and it only cost 40,000 yuan, and this fleet is worth at least 100,000 yuan." ”

Zhang Zhen laughed and said: "It seems that the owner of the ship Jiang has taken a big advantage, but with all due respect, in the era of war, it is very risky for a private person to own such a fleet, and the son of the former proprietor may not be really stupid, I believe that the owner of Jiang understands what I mean." ”

Ship owner Jiang was a little helpless, the other party was much more shrewd than he imagined, and saw the risk very thoroughly, he lowered his head and pondered for a moment and said: "I only maintained these two hundred ships three months ago, re-brushed the tung oil three times, and repaired the rotten places, it cost 5,000 yuan, and there are 30 crew members with a five-year contract, I don't want much, the price is 60,000 yuan, can Zhang join the army accept it?" ”

Zhang Zhen thought about it, and then said happily: "Then a word is a certainty, 60,000!" ”

The owner of the Jiang ship hurriedly said: "Part of it is for cash, and part of it is for land, is it okay?" ”

"I don't know where the land owner Jiang wants?"

"The land east of the river can be in Taiyuan Mansion or south of Taiyuan Mansion."

Zhang Chen smiled slightly: "Then half and half!" First give 30,000 yuan, we will give the old money, and the other half will give a mansion of 20 acres and a manor of 50 acres in Taiyuan City, and we will make a contract! ”

Ship Master Jiang was overjoyed and nodded again and again, "I completely agree!" ”

.........

Three days later, Zhang Chen personally led a fleet of more than 340 ships to Suizhou, which was full of food and armor supplies, and nearly 2,000 soldiers accompanied by boat to protect the safety of the fleet.

At the same time, the 30,000 Hexi army also began to assemble, in order to prevent leakage of news and cover people's eyes, Guo Song ordered the whole army to carry out a cavalry drill, and he led the 30,000 army to leave the barracks silently at night and march east.

........

30,000 Youzhou troops were also assembled, commanded by Zhu Tao personally, starting from Jixian County, this evening, the army camped in Yi County, a marching tent, Zhu Tao was discussing with several generals the strategy of seizing Taiyuan Mansion.

Zhu Tao is also very obese, two years younger than his brother Zhu Zhu, he actually took away his brother Zhu Zhu's foundation, causing the two brothers to turn against each other for many years.

However, Zhu Zhu had no children under his knees, so he made Zhu Tao's second son Zhu Sui as the son, and the two brothers were completely reconciled, and they began to plan to establish the Zhu Empire.

Three years ago, when Zhu Zhu was preparing to launch a mutiny, Zhu Tao acted synchronously, trying to open up the connection between the two, and launched the Hedong Campaign, but encountered the famous general Li Sheng, Zhu Tao was defeated in successive battles, lost his troops, and fled back to Youzhou in embarrassment.

At this time, there were no more famous generals in Hedong, and Zhu Tao also recovered his vitality, and once again launched the Hedong Campaign, and it was imminent to seize Taiyuan Mansion.

"Everyone, according to the intelligence of the scout spies, the strength of Taiyuan City is not much, only 15,000 people, and the remaining 30,000 people are distributed in the south, Jingcheng direction and Flying Fox direction, of which there are 16,000 soldiers near Guangjing Pass, accounting for almost half, in addition, their soldiers are divided into first and second class, the first-class soldiers are the 20,000 people who were originally recruited, the military is rich, the training level is extremely high, the armor of the Tang Army is used, the quality of the armor is very good, this is the elite of the Yuan Army."

After a pause, the corners of Zhu Tao's mouth showed a trace of contempt, and he continued: "The 30,000 troops recruited last year belong to second-class soldiers, and the armor is obviously poor, generally based on leather armor, the iron quality of the weapons is also relatively poor, the training is insufficient, the officers want to make money, the soldiers have almost no soldiers, they just want to eat military food and make a living, these 30,000 troops are very weak in combat effectiveness, and our 5,000 troops can defeat them." ”

A senior general said: "If the prince wants to go to the Flying Fox Mountain, but not the Jing Mountain, is it related to the combat effectiveness of the enemy soldiers?" ”

Zhu Tao smiled and nodded, "My scout spies have received accurate information, the three thousand enemy troops guarding the Flying Fox were in trouble a few months ago because they didn't have enough to eat, and their morale was low, and the main general Mao Jinan has been bought by me with three thousand yuan,"

Everyone suddenly realized, so that's the case, isn't the Flying Fox's defense useless?