Chapter 41: King Qin Goes North
Leaving Jiangning, after nightfall, the sky suddenly overcast began to fall with snowflakes.
The first snow resort in Jiangning was much earlier than in previous years, Lin Jian was wearing green armor, standing on the bow of the boat, feeling the slight coolness of the snowflakes on his face, this trip to the north will be extremely difficult.
In order to catch up with the trip, eight boatmen were brought on the road, and a group of four took turns to operate the oars to speed up. Five days later, he had to take a thousand people to rush back to Jiangning to rendezvous, and the time was extremely tight. Rushing to Xisha Island, and then returning to Jiangning from Xisha Island, there are more than 900 miles to go back and forth, and Lin Jian is racing against time at this time.
Downriver and downwind, the speed of the boat is like an arrow off the string, very fast, one day is enough to reach Xisha Island. When returning, the northwest wind prevailed, and the wind direction was extremely unfavorable for sailing, so when returning, the only way to take the post road was to force the march.
"It's time for my lord to go and rest," Ao Canghai got out of the cabin and said with a smile, "This time I'm going north, and I'm going to lose all the fat and flesh raised in the whole autumn." ”
Lin Lian smiled, took the big cotton robe handed over by Ao Canghai, got into the cabin, wrapped the big cotton robe around his body, and lay down to rest in the kimono, it was useless to worry about it at this time.
I fell asleep in a daze, and when I woke up, the sky was already bright, and in the dimly lit cabin, Ao Canghai was also snoring in a cotton robe. Lifting the curtain of the hatch door and looking at the low shore where the autumn grass outside was blowing the north wind, Lin Jian asked the guard on duty at the hatch: "Where is this?" ”
"Just past the ...... of Jiyang," the guard replied.
"So fast." Lin Jian sat up, got out of the cabin, stood on the deck, and looked at the side of Jiyang City, shining in the light of the rising sun, the old trees on the shore were sparse, and occasionally river birds flew through the sky, it seemed that it was only one or twenty miles from Jiyang, and it was less than a hundred miles away from Xisha Island.
Landing on the southwest beach of Xisha Island in the afternoon, Lin Mengde received a summons and led people to wait at the southwest beach with more than a dozen horses.
"After receiving the summons, this side immediately sent someone to the sea, which is three hours before you came. The people of Changshan Island will not be able to come over until after nightfall tomorrow at the earliest, and they won't be able to catch up in time......"
"Then wait until tomorrow nightfall before you hit the road." Lin Jian said.
"There are five hundred miles to go back to Jiangning, and if you go upstream, it will definitely be too late for the waterway......," Lin Mengde said, "If you want to take the waterway, you will have to go on the road before nightfall today." ”
"By land, three days of forced marching is enough," Lin Jian said, "The people of Changshan Island can't come to meet in time, so they will meet on the northbound road......"
"Five hundred miles in three days!" Lin Meng asked with a stumbling expression.
"The standard for the forced march of the armed guards is that all the armor is complete, and the negative seven solar eclipses are a hundred miles at night. Ascend the north bank to the Chaotian Station in Gutang County, all along the road are post roads, dozens of miles apart and there are pavilions to rest and eat, three days and nights to travel five hundred miles is not a harsh standard. Lin Jian said.
In other words, Jiyun Wuwei forcibly marched for 500 miles in three days and nights, Lin Mengde was not too worried, but Minyong forcibly broke into Jiangning, and then the non-stop king of Qinwang in the north was lightly armed, the intensity was great, and it was very imaginable, and he had a great question mark in his heart.
It's just that Lin Lian has always been able to do what people can't, he is so confident, Lin Mengde doesn't argue with him about anything, thinking: Lin Lian will be able to smoothly bring Minyong to Yanjing this time without the army's heart falling apart and most people's bodies not being dragged down, it is almost a strong army.
"This trip to the north is difficult and difficult, the difficulty of the march is secondary, and the supply with the army is the first priority," Lin Jian said, "There is no more suitable person except for Uncle Mengde to take on this responsibility." ”
"Hmm......" Lin Mengde also knew that the difficulties encountered in gathering 3,000 people to complete such a high-intensity march were extraordinary, the key Xisha Island could not be abandoned, and the supply of King Qinwang in the north had to be transferred from Xihehui and the Lin family's warehouse, and the coordination of various affairs was not something that ordinary people could bear, and Lin Mengde was also responsible, "Who are you going to take with you this time and who are you going to stay?" ”
"Intelligence scouts going north are especially important, I will take away the secret guards to which Wu Qi belongs, and ask them to spy on the intelligence along the road first. After I go north, the East China Sea Kou will come to Xisha Island to spy on the truth, and maybe there will be a tough battle to be fought. Zhao Hu will then come to Xisha Island, and Jiyun Wuwei and the main force of the Xisha Island township camp will stay. On the other side of the estuary, Cao Ziang and I went north, here, Zhou Pu and you all went north with me, whether Ning Zechen could go or not, I wanted to ask him about his wishes. In addition, Mr. Fu and the big loach master stayed, and Qin Chengzu also stayed on Changshan Island to respond to the side......"
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After eating a few dry and cold steamed buns and dried meat to satisfy their hunger, Lin Lian, Lin Mengde and others rode diagonally through Xisha Island and rushed to the Guanyintan station in the north, where they joined Fu Qinghe, Zhou Pu, Hu Zhiyong, Ning Zechen and others.
Compared with three months ago, a stone dam with a width of more than 100 steps was built along the shore of Guanyin Beach, and the future Guanyin Beach Dock Port will be built around this stone dam as the center. The river is gradually receding, revealing the shoals, and here are organizing people to build two temporary gravel roads to extend to the shoals, for the final preparations for the construction of the embankment after winter, and the shallows have been piled up with a lot of stones transported from the southwest of Taihu Lake.
In addition, on the topography, the two enclosure towers with thick walls and intersecting roads have also been rushed to complete, and the Xisha Island Township Camp Camp stands according to the enclosed buildings, and two beacon mounds have been built on the southeast beach.
After Lin Jian went north, he would keep nearly 600 people from Wuwei, Wushu and the main force of Xisha Island Xiangyong in Guanyintan. In the past three months, Zhou Pu led the military guards to garrison Xisha Island, and strictly trained these villagers, even if the combat experience was insufficient, but the combat effectiveness was definitely stronger than that of ordinary pirates.
Inside, six enclosed houses within a thousand steps of Guanyin Beach have been built with thick facades, so that when pirates attack the island, displaced people can evacuate or take refuge in the deep houses.
Lin Jian looked at the sky, although there was no snow in Chongzhou, but the sky was cloudy, the wind was miserable, this year's winter was very cold, and it would be very difficult to survive this winter on the island.
Lin Jian gathered Fu Qinghe, Zhou Pu, Hu Zhiyong, Ning Zechen and others on the island to discuss the details of recruitment. Without waiting for Lin Tie to ask Ning Zechen's wishes, Ning Zechen took the initiative to go north with the army.
In addition to the 300 Jianyong of the township battalion as the official combat establishment of the production, Lin Jian also asked Fu Qinghe, Zhou Pu, Hu Zhiyong and others to train the people on Xisha Island in the estuary way.
More than 24,000 people survived the two catastrophes on Xisha Island, and the proportion of young and middle-aged men and women is close to 70%. In Chongzhou County, it takes almost 50,000 people to gather such a large number of young and strong laborers.
Compared with the estuary, the expansion of workshops and wharves and the construction of houses require a large number of young and strong laborers, and the construction scale of Guanyin Beach in the early stage is limited, so many young and strong laborers cannot work at full capacity, which means that the training cycle of the people on this side of Guanyin Beach can be longer, and the scale of a rotation training organization can be larger.
Lin Jian organized a rotation training for the people at the mouth of the river, and more than 200 people were dispatched each time for half a month, which was implemented in early June, and up to now, there are less than 1,000 people who have undergone the rotation training.
The logistics supply was sufficient, and Fu Qinghe and Zhou Pu organized the Minyong rotation training on the Guanyin Beach, which organized a scale of 1,000 people at a time, with a period of up to one month, and the training was more sufficient. In addition, most of the people living on Xisha Island moved from the poor places in the northwest, and the people were fierce, and their fighting potential was actually stronger than that of the people in the estuary.
In addition to the Xisha Island Township Camp, there are as many as 2,000 people who can be mobilized on the Guanyin Beach side, and considering that the Donghai Kou is always the most serious and urgent threat to Xisha Island, it is impossible for Lin Jian to exhaust all the defense potential of Xisha Island in the short term.
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Five days later, on October 14, Jiangdong Qinwang's army agreed on the day to go north.
Chaotianyi ferry, the boat is spread horizontally, the mast is dense like the autumn and winter forest, under the cold and dark clouds, there is a share of suppressed tragic emotions to be vented, the commander's mansion, the garrison government sent troops and horses have been boarded, ready to go.
Li Zhuo, Wang Tian, Gu Wuchen, Wang Xueshan and the main officials of the Jiangning Ministry all gathered in Chaotianyi for the Qinwang Master, Zhang Yubo looked forward to the east, there were only a few lonely sails on the river, and there was no flying dust on the post road.
In the past few days, the northwest wind prevailed, which was extremely unfavorable for ships to come to Jiangning against the current, and the day before yesterday news came from the land route that Lin Jian would lead the people to come to Jiangning by land.
The wind direction is unfavorable, and it is against the current, and it will definitely not be able to catch up with Jiangning by boat; More than 1,000 people bravely had to walk nearly 500 miles by land in three days, which was also almost whimsical.
Zhang Yubo looked around, so many officials in Jiangning were gathered here, not so much for the sake of King Qin, but to wait to see Lin Tie or Gu Wuchen's good show.
Extravagant Feihu folded his sleeves and stood on the shore near the water, squinting at the cold and white water surface facing the sky. The luxury family did not turn his face with the court, and according to the etiquette system, he naturally had to work for King Qin. However, on the surface, the officials of Jiangning have to draw a clear line with the luxury family, and there is no one else around the luxury Feihu, except for those who travel with him.
"How long do you think Lin Jian will delay before he arrives?" Extravagant Feihu asked Qin Zitan.
Qin Zitan looked at the sky, it was dark, and the hour was only afternoon, so he only said: "Probably Cheng Yuqian led the main force first, can't he be held accountable for the failure at this time?" ”
Within three days, leading more than 1,000 people to Jiangning bravely, no one could complete the task, if Li Zhuo used this to blame Lin Zhuo for missing the deadline, I was afraid that everyone would feel aggrieved for Lin Zhuo and think that Li Zhuo was too demanding.
Of course, Lin Bin's failure was a blow to Lin Jian himself and Gu Wuchen's prestige.
"Isn't it still early, why don't you have any patience?" Song Jia and Hao Mingyue were inconvenient to show their heads, so they couldn't miss the scene of giving Qin Wang Shi a meal, so they sat in the carriage all the time, lifted the curtain of the car and looked out.
Hao Feihu glanced back, and there were more than 2,000 newly recruited people in the open space next to the post mouth, and there were more than 200 mule and horse carts prepared on the side of the estuary; In addition, forty Upong ships accompanied them with supplies. For Lin Jian to lead 3,000 people to go north by land, Gu really spent a lot of time.
In addition to the more than 600 people recruited directly from the estuary, the other nearly 1,400 people recruited from the Chaotiandang North Wanderers would not even be able to stand in line if they were not pressed by the Dongcheng horse infantry on the periphery. Extravagant Feihu thought that it was impossible for Lin Tie to evacuate all the defensive forces of Xisha Island, so it was not difficult to imagine what the state of the more than 1,000 people recruited from Xisha Island could be.
Three days of forced march of 500 miles, in addition to taking the post road, the first-class strong soldiers are also extremely high requirements, and the luxury Feihu did not believe that Lin Lian could come to Jiangning as scheduled.
When the luxury flying tiger was thoughtful, two horses galloped from afar, and the bell on the horse's neck made a special sound, which was to report the news to the post, and had not yet arrived, and the post handed over the token to the peripheral escort horseman, and the person reported loudly on horseback: "Report to the commander, according to the inspector of the military department, the capital supervisor Lin Tie rate more than 1,000 people bravely spread their feet in the sixteen miles to rest the whole army, about an hour later, the whole army to the post mouth, report to the commander and the lords, please go north to the king of Qin......"
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PS: Ask for a red ticket!