Han Gang was very interested in this quli, mainly because of his origin.

It's not that there is any friendship with fellow villagers, the reason why Han Gang has been going on for so many years, but because of Banqiao Town, Jiaoxi, Mizhou.

Jiaoxi Banqiao is the place where the city division was newly established. Its location is roughly the Jiaozhou Bay of later generations.

Since the beginning of the country, there have been merchants who sailed to and fro here. In the eighth year of Xining, Yuan Jiang sent an edict to Goryeo, and after the Great Song Dynasty had formal diplomatic exchanges with Goryeo, Jiaoxi Banqiao became more and more prosperous, and finally the imperial court decided to set up a city department here.

Nowadays, the Jiaoxi Banqiao Port under the jurisdiction of the Mizhou City Shipping Division directly faces hundreds of thousands of maritime merchants, and even the merchants of Goryeo and Dongying, relying on the extraction and purchase of sea ships, and in the past two years, the Mizhou City Shipping Division can hand over a net income of 50,000 or 60,000 yuan, accounting for one-tenth of the total income of the major cities in the north and south. These Northland specialties are more valuable than money.

Judging from the income of the imperial court, Banqiao Port is now the largest port in the north, far exceeding the two ports of Dengzhou and Laizhou, which are located in the north of the Jiaodong Peninsula and have not yet declined.

These two ports were originally the main commercial ports facing Liao, Goryeo and Japanese merchants. However, during the period of endless war with the Liao State at the beginning of the country, because it was possible that the Liao people would be infiltrated from here, they were ordered to prohibit foreign trade.

In Han Gang's eyes, this was an extremely stupid decision. The result of the blockade did not change the situation of smoke and meticulous work everywhere on the border of Hebei, but directly led to the decay of the two ports.

Now, a hundred years later, although the ban has been abolished for a long time, and the trade with the Liao people is no longer a forbidden area for the imperial court, the two commercial ports that have been greatly damaged have been replaced by the Banqiao Port of Jiaoxi in the south of the Jiaodong Peninsula - the connection with Goryeo Japan cannot compete with Mizhou Jiaoxi, and the trade with the Liao State cannot compete with the land route.

But it's not very important. In later generations, Jiaozhou Bay's status in shipping was supposed to surpass that of Denglai and Denglai, but now it is just on the right path. In Han Gang's eyes, as long as the maritime trade can be more prosperous, it is enough, and he doesn't care too much about where it is. Whether it is Denglai or Jiaoxi, the sea trade can be prosperous anywhere.

The importance of the ocean needs no more attention. The impetus brought about by the Age of Discovery enabled Western civilization to completely emerge from the darkness of the Middle Ages.

It's just that the top empire of the Great Song Dynasty in this era can be self-sufficient in everything, and the desire for foreign conquest is very small, but there is still a lot of room for development in coastal sea transportation along the coast. Nowadays, the near-shipping capacity from the two states to Fujian and Zhejiang is rising sharply every year, which can be clearly seen from the report sent back by SF Express from Jiaozhou.

According to Han Gang heard from Wang Anshi, at the beginning of the reform, how to increase the income of the imperial court was discussed, and the commercial tax of the city shipping department was also regarded as an important issue. If Qian and Liu steal according to Zhejiang and Guangzhou, those who are rich on the inside and resist China on the outside will also be punished by the cage merchants. ’

What's more, for the Great Song Emperor and the imperial court, they would not mind having a strong navy. Not to mention that it can easily suppress Goryeo, Japan, or Nanyang, even the Liao State will also be pinned down by its forces in Tokyo Province and Nanjing Province due to its geographical location.

The road from Shanhaiguan to Jinzhou passes along the coast of the Bohai Sea. If you don't go from the western Liaoning corridor, if the Nanjing Road of the Liao State wants to connect with the Tokyo Road, you must detour to the Zhongjing Road on the north side of Yanshan, and you have to walk an extra one or two thousand miles. As for the Xijing Mansion in Nanjing on the Sanggan River, Qianshi's ships could carry a large army directly to the city.

Controlling the Bohai Sea was to occupy a strategic commanding height, so that the Liao people had to strengthen the garrison on both sides and fall into a disadvantage at the strategic level.

Although it is winter, the Bohai Sea is inevitably frozen, and when the Liao people are strong, the Bohai Sea army cannot play. But if you really want to set up the Bohai Division, the purpose is to attack, not defend. With a strategic offensive that directly approached the Liaoyang Mansion in Tokyo and the Xijin Mansion in Nanjing, it was necessary to curb the agitation of the Liao people.

Just imagine, even if the cavalry of the Liao State can break through the three passes of the Hebei front line in a certain winter, but in the spring and summer of the following year, the soldiers of the Song army will be able to counterattack Liaoyang or Xijin. The official army of the Great Song Dynasty was no longer a one-sided defense, but a counterattack that could penetrate deep into the enemy's territory and attack the key points of the Liao people.

If the Bohai Sea Division can be formed at the same time as the construction of the Hebei track, the offensive and defensive momentum between the Great Song and the Liao people will be completely reversed.

Even if there is no need to fight, the difference between offensive and defensive forces is as high as several times. Once the Great Song Dynasty can suppress the Liao people with an aggressive posture in turn, with the national strength of the Liao State, it will not be able to support it for too long.

Of course, now the main force of the naval army is placed in Dengzhou, which is tantamount to challenging the nerves of the Liao people, if the Liao people on the border make a threatening gesture, Yelu Yixin will send an envoy to question, and a friendly country in the court may be surprised at any time and make things clear.

But if the main force of the naval division is temporarily stationed in Jiaoxi Banqiao, south of the Jiaodong Peninsula, there is nothing to worry about. Even if the Liao people knew that it was aimed at talking, it was not good. Han Gang was sure that Zhao Ji would never refuse an opportunity to oppress the Liao, as long as he could find the right person to poke the entire proposal up.

Although Han Gang has not yet been promoted to the ranks of the rulers, he has already begun to look at the world, and now he is just laying out first and leaving a few idle people, but once the right time is reached, there will be surprising results when it is launched.

Walking into the box slowly, except for the nurse and maid standing in the corner, only Yan Suxin cast a questioning look. Wang Yi, Yun Niang and the three children all looked intently at the more than ten horses galloping on the track in front of them, and they didn't care about Han Gang who walked in.

Amid the cheers of tens of millions of people in the stands, the charcoal residue paved the solid track, and the twelve racehorses participating in the race galloped wildly. Like a lightning speed, the distance of 100 paces passed in an instant.

Before the start of the race, the horses enter the stall early. When the horn sounds, the fence in front of the stall opens and the horses run out of the fence.

The first race of the day was all new horses and none of them were famous. It is far less than the red Qinghu and Glimpse during this time - this is the name of the horse that imitates the Son of Heaven, and it is said to have the bloodline of the Dawan Pegasus. But the incessant noise in the stands turned into a wave of sound into the wings, but people did not feel the obscurity of these racehorses.

Han Gang walked to the railing, did not sit down, and stood and looked at the railing. I saw one of the tall and divine horses of Hexi, taking the lead, leaving the other horses far behind, and it looked like a momentum of winning the championship in one fell swoop.

Took out a clairvoyant mirror from his cuff - this was given to him by He Ju, and he would return it after he left, and he would never bring it into the city - Han Gang used the clairvoyant mirror to look at the one that was running at the front of the field, and the red thirteen on the uniform was very conspicuous.

"Fei Li Huang is a winner!" Wang Yi finally raised his head, and there was a flush on his cheeks from excitement.

"No, he's going to lose." Han Gang shook his head and retorted.

"Why do you say that?" Wang Yi and Yan Suxin asked in unison.

Han Yunniang stared at the game outside, not paying attention to the conversation in the box at all, and Wang Yi and Yan Suxin were confused, now the schedule is more than halfway, but No. 13 Feili Huang is still ranked first.

"It's a six-mile race, three weeks around the field, and if you run too fast at the beginning, you will slow down later." Han Gang chuckled and explained, "The rider of No. 11 Feili Huang is a newcomer, and he leads the way as soon as he comes up. The three and eight horses, no worse than the eleventh, were now mixed in with the crowd, but they were definitely ready to save their strength for the second half of the race. ”

As if to cooperate with Han Gang's words, the thirteenth Feili Huang, who was far ahead a moment ago, was already running slower and slower at this time, and the gap between the seven or eight horse bodies had also narrowed by half in the blink of an eye.

Wang Yi and Yan Suxin looked stunned, only to hear Han Gang continue to say: "Those who fought hard from the beginning were stupid. A game can only be won if you have a reasonable distribution of physical strength. If you win today's game, you will qualify for the next level of competition. But if you think that this is the reason, and just run forward, you will definitely be eliminated. ”

All the horses that take part in this race belong to the D class and can only participate in the so-called cushion races. However, horse racing adopts a point system, and as the horse racing results improve step by step, more and more points can be obtained, and you can upgrade step by step. The higher the rank, the more prize money there is. Class A racehorses, as long as they participate, are the last to be the last to win a large amount of prize money. Of course, if the results are consistently bad, they will be relegated, and no owner will be happy to take the last prize all the time.

"Official, how do you know this?" Wang Yi had never seen Han Gang have any interest in betting on horses, how could he seem so familiar with the disadvantages of betting.

"It's just a matter of learning and selling." Han Gang explained: "You must know that the dealer will not lose in the casino. ”

"Banker?" Wang Yiran immediately asked, "Could it be that this horse race has been ranked in advance?" ”

"It's not about manipulating the game, but who has the strength and who doesn't, as long as you get the information, it's not difficult to predict before the game. Those who have this ability are not only members of the head office. Han Gang sat down and smiled at his wife and concubine, "Do you want to make a bet, in today's first game, there will not be a few people who win the pair of buying No. 13." ”