The naval army is a branch of the military that Zhang Xuan tried to develop when he founded the Qingzhou Army, and its importance even exceeded that of the cavalry.

For example, in the Battle of Goguryeo, Zhang Xuan used thousands of large ships, including nine transoceanic boats, to transport the army's grain and grass, and finally only requisitioned 30,000 boatmen and 50,000 wharf porters, which was very different from the Sui Emperor Yang Guang's conscription of millions of people to participate in the Goguryeo Campaign.

It is precisely because Zhang Xuan used the power of the whole country to develop the navy that the Sui army's naval division was able to stand alone in the world and block the river at a critical moment, so as to achieve major strategic goals.

At this time, a 5,000-strong naval division of the Sui army was slowly moving along the Yangtze River, this naval division had 100 warships, including 20 supply ships and 80 warships, and the general commander of this army was Zhu Kuan, Zhu Kuan was one of the four King Kongs under Chen Ling, Chen Ling was awarded the title of Shangshu of the Ministry of Rites after returning to the Sui Dynasty, and his 30,000 troops were handed over to Zhang Xuan.

Chen Ling specially recommended to Zhang Xuan two former Great Sui sailor talents, one is the naval general Zhu Kuan, and the other is the navigator He Man, these two people led the army to Ryukyu in the early years of the great cause, and both have very rich experience in naval combat and voyages.

Zhu Kuan was about forty-six or seven years old, after sailing to the Ryukyus, he was snubbed by Yang Guang, the son of heaven, no longer reused, depressed for more than ten years, has been following Chen Ling's side, and Zhang Xuan's reuse of him made him rejuvenated, it is this kind of gratitude that makes Zhu Kuan more conscientious.

In the past two years, Du Fuwei has obtained five or six hundred small boats from various channels, and more than 300 cargo ships have been snatched from the Jiangdu cargo company alone, and these ships have given Du Fuwei a strong transportation capacity.

When he realized that danger was coming, Du Fuwei hid these ships in various places, as well as grain, and he secretly built fourteen granaries in various parts of the Jianghuai River.

"General, will it be hidden in the former Huang family's warehouse!" A lieutenant reminded in a whisper.

The soldier, who had taken part in the operation to carry pig iron from the Huang family, remembered the hidden warehouse vividly.

Zhu Kuan has been in Jiangdu for several years, he is very clear about the relationship between the Huang family and the imperial court, **** was transferred to Jiangdu to serve as the Taishou of Jiangdu County, managing all counties in Jiangdu County except Jiangdu City, if he rashly searched the Huang family, it would inevitably offend ****, but Zhu Kuan did suspect that the ships and grain in Huangjia Harbor were Du Fuwei's stock.

Zhu Kuan hesitated for a while, after all, he was already in his forties, he had been an official in the stable empire for a long time, and he suddenly transformed into a general in the era of war, and he was not suitable for a while.

Many times, he is still accustomed to the old thinking, accustomed to the sophistication of people in the officialdom, the Huang family is the leader of the Jianghuai Shi clan, and offending the Huang family is equivalent to offending the Jianghuai Shi clan.

At this moment, a soldier shouted: "General, look ahead!" ”

I saw a fleet coming in front of me, consisting of forty or fifty warships, and the big ship headed by was a huge transoceanic boat, Zhu Kuan was overjoyed, at present, there was only one transoceanic boat on the Yangtze River, that was the ship of King Qi, and he hurriedly shouted: "The fleet slows down!" ”

Both fleets slowed down, the warships docked on the transoceanic boats, and Zhu Kuan got on the big ships.

Zhang Xuan was on the big ship of Hengyangzhou at this time, he came from Lujiang County, ready to return to Jiangdu, but he didn't expect to meet the fleet led by Zhu Kuan on the road, at this time, Zhu Kuan followed his own soldiers and stepped forward, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "See the marshal!" ”

"General Zhu is exempt!"

Zhang Xuan smiled and asked, "The general is searching in the Yangtze River, can he gain anything?" ”

Zhu Kuan was a little ashamed and said: "I only caught two small-scale Du Fuwei fleets, more than 20 ships, tens of thousands of catties of pig iron, and nothing else." ”

"The old general has searched more than 200 ships and found seven granaries, and the harvest is very great, and General Zhu has to work harder."

"I'm in a hurry, it's just"

"Just what?"

Zhang Xuan heard his hesitation and said with a smile: "If you have anything to say, just say it directly!" ”

"When I passed by the Huang family's warehouse just now, I found that there were a lot of ships hidden in it, and I was a little suspicious of these ships, but"

"I'm just afraid of offending the Huang family, right?"

Zhu Kuan nodded, "Exactly!" ”

Zhang Xuan was about to say that he could send someone to Huang's house to say something first, but after a turn of thought, he understood what Zhu Kuan meant, and said with a smile: "General Zhu wants me to come forward, right?" ”

"I don't dare."

Zhang Xuan nodded, "I can understand your difficulties, okay, if I go with you, just say it's my order, you just let it go!" ”

"Thank you, Dashuai!"

Zhu Kuan immediately returned to his main ship, ordered the fleet to turn around, and led Zhang Xuan's fleet to sail in the direction of Liyang County.

In a small river bay in Liyang County, the river bay is called Fish Hook Bay, named because it looks like a fish hook, and this is a secret warehouse hidden by the Huang family on the bank of the Yangtze River.

At the beginning, the Huang family transported one million catties of pig iron and 300,000 nearly blister copper to Zhang Xuan of Beihai County from here, and that batch of pig iron and copper ingots played a very key role in the expansion of the Qingzhou Army, and it was for this reason that Zhang Xuan had a special preferential treatment for the Huang family.

However, preferential treatment is preferential treatment, and official affairs must be carried out routinely, as long as the Huang family can prove that the ships in those harbors belong to the Huang family, then Zhang Xuan will not embarrass the Huang family.

Nearly 100 large ships blocked the exit of the harbor, and 2,000 Sui soldiers went ashore first, and quickly surrounded two rows of huge white stone houses at the foot of the mountain, which were the warehouses of the Huang family, and compared with the year before, there was an extra row of large warehouses.

Dozens of guards guarding the warehouse were caught off guard and looked very panicked, and they wanted to retreat to the warehouse, but were intercepted by Sui soldiers.

At this time, Zhu Kuan led a very small fleet into the inlet, and in the inlet with a radius of about 1,000 acres, there were hundreds of ships moored horizontally, most of them cargo ships of about 300 stones.

At this time, a steward came up by boat and shouted: "This is the Huang family's private land, please quit immediately!" ”

Zhu Kuan unhurriedly took out an arrow and raised it high towards the other party, "I came to search on the order of the King of Qi, and you can't stop it." ”

"This is the Huang family's warehouse, not a place for Ah San and Ah Si, King Qi will not allow you to come and search the Huang family's warehouse, please exit immediately!" The deacons are still tough.

Zhu Kuan was a little annoyed, and said angrily: "We are just acting on orders, if you have an opinion, go to King Qi, he is outside." ”

When the deacon heard that King Qi was outside, his face couldn't help but change slightly, and his arrogance immediately reined in, Zhu Kuan ignored him anymore and waved his hand, "Search for me!" ”

The dozens of small boats behind him immediately sailed in all directions, and the deacon was on the other side, looking very nervous, Zhu Kuan glanced at him, and became even more suspicious in his heart, there must be something wrong here.

At this time, a soldier in the distance shouted: "General, come and have a look." ”

Zhu Kuan immediately ordered the soldiers to row over, and the soldiers pointed to the side of a three-hundred-stone cargo ship and said, "General, please look here!" ”

Zhu Kuan stepped forward to take a closer look, only to see that there was old handwriting on it, although the handwriting was very mottled, but it was still clear and legible, and I saw that it was four words 'Baijie Boat Line'.

Zhu Kuan's face changed suddenly, he had been in Jiangdu for a long time, and knew that Baijie Ship Company was the largest ship in Jiangdu, but more than a month ago he suffered huge losses, more than 100 ships full of goods were snatched away by Du Fuwei, and there were two other large ships that suffered losses together, and this ship was very likely to be one of the cargo ships that were robbed.

At this time, another soldier next to him kept shouting: "General, there is also handwriting here!" ”

"General, there are also here!"

Zhu Kuan found five cargo ships in a row, with not only the handwriting of 'Baijie Commercial Company', but also the handwriting of 'Nanyun Shipping Company', Zhu Kuan no longer suspected that this must be the batch of ships that were stolen by Du Fuwei.

As soon as he turned around, he saw that the deacon's boat had docked just now, and the deacon and several of his subordinates were running wildly, and Zhu Kuan shouted: "Stop him!" ”

A group of Sui soldiers patrolling the warehouse came running from the spurs, threw the deacon and several of his men to the ground, and tied them up with ropes.

Zhu Kuan also went ashore, and at this time, the general who was in charge of searching the warehouse rushed forward to report: "General Qiyu, the warehouse is all grain, about 50,000 stones, and the guards guarding the grain have already admitted that they are not the Huang family." ”

"And who are they?"

"They won't say it!"

Zhu Kuan sneered, turned around and came to the deacon, the deacon's hands were tied behind his back, his feet were trapped, and he sat on the ground dejectedly.

Zhu Kuan walked up to him and said coldly: "Do you still dare to say that you are the steward of the Huang family?" ”

(To be continued.) )