On the occasion of the trial voyage of the "Lin Zhengjun" to anchor on Daheng Island, Lin Jian invited Chen Mingzhe, Liu Wenzhong, Zuo Guangrong and others to board the "Lin Zhengjun" to visit.

Compared with the previous bed crossbows placed on the exposed deck, the "Lin Zhengjun" has a special crossbow compartment in the bow and stern, each with eight giant crossbows capable of firing four or five hundred paces, and there are closed shooting holes on the side side, so that the armor can be deployed on the deck of the crossbow cabin to strengthen the attack density of enemy ships.

The Giant Crossbow can shoot giant iron arrows the size of spears into the depths of the city bricks, and the destructive power is quite terrifying. With blunt-tipped arrows, it is possible to smash even two or three inches thick planks and inflict direct damage on not so strong enemy ships.

At present, the "Lin Zhengjun" is only an armed merchant ship, with more than 200 armored soldiers and more than 40 sailors, crew members and other miscellaneous servants.

Compared with the force of the escort ship, the "Lin Zhengjun" is more remarkable in its speed.

This sailboat, which Lin Lian personally participated in finalizing and supervising, saved one-quarter to one-fifth of the time compared with the existing fast sailing ships in Jinghai Camp, whether it was downwind or upwind, and a hundred miles of travel.

This makes the "Lin Zhengjun" very convenient as an armed merchant ship, even if it encounters pirates and hostile forces at sea, it can quickly get rid of the pursuit, and there is almost no possibility of intercepting enemy ships at sea.

With a carrying capacity of nearly 20,000 stones, it is the dazzling place of "Lin Zhengjun".

If the money and materials allocated to the Yongjia army in northern Zhejiang were to be transported by the most common brigs in the world, it would be enough to assemble a huge transport fleet of 150 to 200 ships.

If such a huge transport fleet went to Yongjia Mansion through the waters off the Changguo Islands, it would be impossible for the Zhedong Navy Division to avoid the battle!

And these materials, transported by the "Lin Zhengjun", only need to go back and forth three times.

Not to mention the excellent performance of the "Lin Zhengjun", only the transport fleet composed of the Lin Zhengjun and several fast escort warships quickly passed through the waters off the Changguo Islands, and the target was much smaller than a huge fleet composed of more than 100 cargo ships and escort warships, and the possibility of interception by the eastern Zhejiang naval division was quite low.

In order to support the Yongjia Army and Jishan Island, and to strengthen the intensity of the confrontation with the Lujia Navy in the East China Sea, Lin Jian decided to temporarily reorganize the "Lin Zhengjun" into the Jinghai No. 1 Water Battalion as an armed transport ship for the unified command and dispatch of the Shengsi defense line.

It is one thing to use Lin Zhengjun to import a large amount of materials to southern Zhejiang; By assigning the Lin Zhengjun to the No. 1 Water Battalion in Jinghai, even if the southern raiding fleet could not obtain sufficient supplies through raiding and plundering the eastern Fujian coast, it would be able to stay outside the Dahengdao base for a month or even longer -- this would give the southern raiding captain time to ambush merchant ships in the Zhejiang-Fujian region in the waters off eastern Fujian and southern Zhejiang, thus providing convenience.

Liu Wenzhong was worried about how to transport the money and materials to Yueqing at first, and he was quite relieved to visit the "Lin Zhengjun" with Lin Bin.

In Chen Mingzhe's view, Huaidong is opening his sharp fangs.

Chen Mingzhe felt this, and it was precisely Huaidong who expected the price of Jiangdong rice to surge two months ago. At that time, others only laughed at it and did not pay attention to it, but just two months later, as expected by Huaidong people, the price of rice in Jiangdong surged by more than 30%.

"Luo Xiancheng led the Changle thief army into Qichun, which caused great damage to agriculture in the southern area of Jinghu Lake, one of which was also; Second, Qi Chun cut off the mouth of the two Hunan and eastern Sichuan rice grains to the east; Third, between Luzhou and Qichun, a large number of people fled east to avoid thieves – all three of which have exacerbated the food pressure in Jiangdong County," Lin said, "Taking the second point as the most, there is still no detailed data at this time to let people know how much rice and grain flowed from the two lakes and eastern Sichuan to Jiangdong ...... each year in the past."

"Huaidong also has no exact number?" Chen Mingzhe asked, he served as the imperial history of northern Zhejiang, the four prefectures under the jurisdiction of northern Zhejiang, Jiangning Mansion and Weiyang Mansion are precisely the three areas with the most serious food shortage in Jiangdong, he regretted that he did not resolutely store grain in Pingjiang Mansion and Huaidong, and it was time-consuming and laborious to change the mulberry and grow grain, and it was delayed for two months, that is, it dragged on for a season, and I don't know if I could convince others.

Lin Jian shook his head and said, "The merchant ships carrying grain to the east don't need to go to Huaidong to report, how can there be a definite number?" I can only roughly estimate that the total amount of rice and grain in the two lakes and eastern Sichuan is between 3 million and 5 million stones, which is about 6,700,000 Ding Zhuang's annual rations - Shi Lin Mengde, the director of the Huaidong Army, has already gone to Jiangning on my behalf, maybe the Jiangning Household Department has more accurate data......"

Chen Mingzhe has no expectations for the Jiangning Household Department, in this regard, he can say with certainty that no yamen has done a better job than Huaidong, but it is ridiculous that many people still ridiculed Lin Jian as a swineherd who can only raise pigs.

Compared with the initial youth and frivolity, Chen Mingzhe has concentrated on studying the art of helping the people in the world in recent years, and he has become more pragmatic, and even deliberately studied Huaidong political affairs.

Compared with the nearly 10 million Dingkou in Jiangdong County, the shortage of three or five million stones does not seem to be large, but this is only one factor.

The war in Henan and Huaisi was still going on, and although Haozhou, Shouzhou, Xuzhou, and other places were recovered, Dingkou was displaced, and almost all the animal power that was almost indispensable for grain cultivation was lost.

The three provinces of Jiahang Lake are the traditional land of fish and rice, but they are at the forefront of the confrontation with luxury families. Due to the existence of the extravagant Zhedong Water Division, almost the entire Qianjiang River is under the control of the south bank. The soldiers and horses of the luxury family in eastern Zhejiang often sneaked into the hinterland of the three provinces of Jiahang Lake through warships and branch rivers on the north bank of the Qianjiang River to harass them, causing great damage to the cultivation of grain fields in the three provinces of Jiahang Lake, and the grain output was less than six or seven percent of what it used to be - this gap was quite terrifying.

Luo Xiancheng led his troops to the south and forced into the western part of Jiangdong County, which involved the southwest region of Luzhou Prefecture in a military disaster and had a great destructive effect on agricultural production. At the same time, the armies of Jiangdong County were expanding their troops, increasing the consumption of rice and grain, and at the same time, reducing the number of local cultivators.

Pingjiang Mansion and Danyang Mansion were originally short of food, and they were greatly attacked by the Donghai Kou in the past two years, and they have not fully recovered their vitality.

Almost at the same time, only the grain output of the two prefectures and 11 counties in Huaidong was in a high-speed growth. However, the two prefectures and eleven counties of Huaidong themselves accommodate too many Huaisi refugees, and the rice and grain that can be exported are also limited - compared with the 15 prefectures and 139 counties under the actual jurisdiction of Jiangdong County at this time, the two prefectures and eleven counties of Huaidong are only corner lands.

It was still November, and the price of rice had risen by 30 percent shortly after the autumn grain was harvested and put on the market. If the situation is not alleviated, the grain pressure will be even greater when the harvest is not in place after the year, and at least next spring, Jiangdong will not be able to escape the grain shortage.

Of course, the most urgent and effective means at present is for the Huaidong Naval Division to enter the Qianjiang River, as long as the Huaidong Naval Division competes for control of the Qianjiang River, it will have an immediate effect on the stability of the three prefectures of Jiahang Lake and the restoration of grain farming.

Chen Mingzhe mentioned this matter in northern Zhejiang, but he was ostracized and hostile in northern Zhejiang.

Obviously, the Huaidong Military Division included the East China Sea territory into the scope of its jurisdiction, and strictly prohibited all merchant ships south of Changshan Island from going to sea, which had already made the people in northern Zhejiang quite unhappy, so how could they be willing to let Huaidong's tentacles reach out to the Qianjiang River system?

Lin Jian is not without ears and eyes in the system of the envoy in northern Zhejiang, and he also knows a little about Chen Mingzhe's words and deeds in the military division of northern Zhejiang.

Dong Yuan and his own territory are quite thoughtful, how can he take the initiative to invite the Huaidong Water Division to enter the Qianjiang River?

Of course, in the future, if the Huaidong Naval Division wants to enter the Qianjiang River to fight against the Zhedong Naval Division, there is no need to consult Dong Yuan.

If Dong Yuan doesn't have the power of the navy in his hands, then he has no right to speak - any problem is always very realistic.

**************

On 12 November, the "Lin Zhengjun" returned to Daheng Island from Chongzhou with supplies. The money and materials transported to Yongjia were first allocated from Chongzhou, and Chongzhou and Pingjiang Prefecture settled in the future, which is the most effective means to avoid ripping and improve efficiency.

On the night of the 14th, the "Lin Zhengjun" secretly sailed out of the base on Daheng Island and, escorted by several warships, transported Liu Wenzhong, Zuo Guangying, and others, as well as Huaidong's military group supporting Jishan Island, to the south.

Lin Jian entrusted all the affairs of the southern route to Fu Qinghe and others, and he returned to Chongzhou the next day.

Huaidong maintained a suppressive and strong position against the Zhejiang-Fujian rebels in the East China Sea, but it could not reverse the deterioration of the situation in the Central Plains as a whole. On the 15th, he rushed to Chongzhou at the same time with Lin Lian, and Zhang Gou, Chen Enze and other generals of the Military Intelligence Department also returned to Chongzhou with Lin Lian.

Lin Lian couldn't get out of his body, Lin Mengde, as the head of the military department, was promoted from a white body to a six-rank civil official, and it was a natural move to represent Lin Lian to Jiangning.

On the 15th, Lin Mengde also returned to Chongzhou from Jiangning at the same time, and the news he brought back was not optimistic.

"Tao Chun hastily led more than 10,000 Changhuai troops back to defend Luzhou, and prepared for Luo Xiancheng to lead Changle bandits to advance along the east of the river, but in a hurry, he couldn't organize any offensive against Qichun," Lin Mengde told Lin Jian and the people of Chongzhou the latest news brought back from Jiangning, "Dongting Hukou marched eastward and assembled in Qichun, and the two bandits colluded to cross the river, but Jiangning did not advocate that Jiangning Water Camp take the initiative to fight, and was more concerned about guarding Quarry Rock, preventing Changle bandits and Dongting Hukou from invading Jiangning along the east of the river...... Jiangning saw that Huaidong's attack on the luxury family on the eastern front was indeed effective, and Yongjia Mansion restored the two cities of Yongjia and Yueqing, forcing the luxury family to transfer troops from western Zhejiang to the east, so the people of Jiangning decided to draw troops from the southern front to strengthen the defense of Poyang Lake Estuary, and prevent Changle bandits and Dongting Lake Kou from entering Jiangxi ......"

Lin Mengde said while Zhang Gou and Chen Enze quickly marked the map and marked the situation in Jiangdong County and the surrounding areas in a pictorial way, and said secretly in their hearts: "Tao Chun led the Changhuai army to return to Luzhou in a hurry, and the girl in the red jacket should be able to breathe a sigh of relief in Huaiyang......"

"How to deal with the Red Jacket Army and the transfer of Chen Zhihu's troops, how did Jiangning decide?" Lin Jian frowned and asked, Jiang Ning's negative response was not unexpected, just the private message sent by Gu Wuchen, which meant that the old man should be the first.

"After all, Chen Zhihu is also the envoy of Henan, and it is difficult to transfer in a hurry," Lin Mengde said, "Red Jacket Army, Jiangning hopes that we will send troops to take over the position of Changhuai Army, and continue to form a ...... of encirclement of Huaiyang."

"Huaidong has no possibility of sending troops on two fronts, there is nothing to negotiate about this, you directly refused for me in Jiangning," Lin Jian said, "Jiangning still has the intention of recruiting peace, Huaidong can do it for you!" ”

Hearing Lin Jian say this, Zhang Gou breathed a sigh of relief.

Hearing Lin Jian say this, Lin Mengde smiled embarrassedly, if he could make up his mind so decisively, it would not be him, and said: "Then write another reply letter and explain the meaning, although it is more troublesome......"

Lin Jian didn't blame Lin Mengde for not being decisive enough in Jiangning, he nodded, glanced sideways at Song Jia, who was sitting on his left, and said, "I'll trouble you when I reply to the letter; If you want me to write it myself, the tone will definitely not be euphemistic......"

For example, Wang Chengfu is already a core official of the Military Division's Office, but there is no suitable official position for him, so he participates in important matters with the title of Dian Shu Ling; In the classics, Song Jia is the one who really writes and handles the documents for Lin Lian.