Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 212
Zhen Mi felt that since meeting Yuan Xi for the first time, her life trajectory had changed unexpectedly.

Originally, according to Zhen Mi's expectation, her whole life might be honestly marrying a son of a noble family, and then staying in a deep house to care for her husband and teach her children.

However, ever since Yuan Xi broke into her life, it led her and even the Zhen family to a completely unpredictable direction.

When Zhen Mi heard these thoughts, she was so shocked that she couldn't recover for a long time.

Although I know this is an expedient measure, this style of acting is too unbelievable!

Adoption caused a lot of trouble among the gentry in Yecheng, but most of the comments were positive, and the reputation of Zhen Mi and the Zhen family also increased.

Bian Rang is a contemporary celebrity. His killing and the Huan family's acceptance severely slapped the gentry in the face.

The Zhen family adopted their own Huan family, but openly stood up to fight against the Cao family. This is actually a big risk when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao have not yet broken their faces.

Only Yuan Xi, a side branch of the Yuan family, can guarantee that he will not be angered by Yuan Shao, right?

Zhen Mi found that she didn't know Yuan Xi well, and every time she saw what he did, she could discover a new side.

Zhen Mi felt uneasy about getting married at the beginning, and now she seems to rediscover this world every day. She wants to know more and more what is going on in her husband's mind?
Just like today's siege of the city, Yuan Xi, as the governor of Youzhou, went to battle in person, not to mention taking himself on the battlefield, but after breaking through the city, he wanted to go to sea immediately?
But in Zhen Mi's heart, she was looking forward to it.

She was born in Wuji, Zhongshan when she was a child, and later her family moved to Yecheng, where she lived in a deep house and compound. She had never seen the mountains or the sea. Now that she heard that she was going to take a boat, she was still very happy.

She was sitting in the carriage, surrounded by soldiers, including cavalry and infantry, and more than a thousand people marched in silence.

These are Yuan Xi's most elite soldiers in the past few years. They are all composed of veterans who have experienced many battles, and the difference in combat strength and discipline between recruits and recruits is incomparable.

The march lasted all night, and two hours after dawn, they finally arrived at the seaside pier.

The three daughters of Zhen Mi looked through the car window and were shocked by the sight in front of them.

What caught their eyes was not only the endless sea, but also dozens of large ships docked neatly by the pier.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry laid a good foundation for the long-distance voyage of large ships.

Not only were many people traveling from Qingzhou to Youzhou by sea boat at that time, but even at this time in Japan, the shipbuilding industry also began to develop.

In the second year of Emperor Guangwu's Zhongyuan (AD 57), Japan crossed the sea to send envoys to the Han Dynasty. After that, the two sides established a fixed route. Busan - to Tsushima Island - to Iki Island - to Matsuura, Fukuoka, Kyushu.

However, due to the current and wind direction, it is easy to go from Japan to China, but it is very risky to go from China to Japan, and the world was in chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty. Today, there are very few seagoing ships sailing on this route.

Therefore, at this time, the maritime trade routes of the Han Dynasty were mostly based on trade in the coastal ports of various states.

Moreover, shipbuilding technology in the Han Dynasty also began to develop significantly. The Dongwu pottery ship model was unearthed in Guangzhou in 1955. The ship model has eight beams from the bow to the stern, and eight partitions, which divide the hull into nine tight compartments. It shows that the Han Dynasty has mastered the shipbuilding technology of the compartment structure.

Among them, Soochow's shipbuilding industry is the most developed. When Soochow was destroyed in later generations, the official alone owned more than [-] seagoing ships. The boat is named "Wuhe" because it is made of five large boards.

At that time, Soochow called boats that could carry [-] horses, and the largest warships could carry [-] soldiers, with a length of tens of feet and tens of thousands of grains.

Not only warships, but sea ships are also very powerful. According to Kangtai's "Wu Shiwai Biography", the largest sea ship has seven sails, and sails from the South China Sea to the Daqin (the name of the Roman Empire in the Han Dynasty is actually Romania. nearby areas) in just one month.

When Yuan Xi read this, he thought that the economic foundation was everything. Soochow had a large demand for trade, so it needed to build large ships. Large ships in turn boosted the local economy, business flourished, and more large ships could be built.

With so many big ships, it's no wonder that Cao Wei couldn't cross the Yangtze River for a long time.

What is in front of everyone is the sea-going ship that the Zhen family spent all they had, built and purchased from Yangzhou Xuzhou Shipbuilding Tunnel.

Most of them are about ten feet long and can transport dozens to hundreds of soldiers. Although they are not as large as the Soochow warships of later generations, they are enough for this operation.

Moreover, it cost a lot of money. Yuan Xi reckoned that with the hundred carts of goods he robbed, he could buy seven or eight boats. The other twenty or so boats were purchased and built by the Zhen family caravan as Zhen Mi's dowry.

Thinking of this, he suddenly had a feeling of eating soft rice.

Zhen Mi pointed at one of the big boats and said, "That boat is so big!"

Everyone looked along Zhen Mi's fingers, and saw that the boat was almost twice as long as the other boats, nearly twenty feet long, two or three feet above the water surface, and could accommodate hundreds of soldiers. Looking at it from a distance, it was extremely majestic and majestic. .

Yuan Xi looked at it and said with a smile: "It was specially made by the old lady for you."

Zhen Mi let out an ah, and couldn't help being moved when she thought of her mother.

Yuan Xi sighed: "But it was originally used for traveling the sea trade route, but now it is used for military affairs."

Everyone present had guessed that Yuan Xi might just go to the sea to see the scenery, but he must use these merchant ships to transport troops to attack a certain place!

The soldiers began to board the boat one after another, and the cavalry led the horses to the boat. The horses were afraid of the water, and several soldiers tried their best to put the horses on the boat and drive them into the cabin.

After working for a long time, when night fell, more than 1000 people finally all set out on the road, the sails were pulled up, and the big boats sailed away from the pier in the dark.

On the big ship where Yuan Xi was, almost everyone had arrived.

Huan's mother and daughter did not go with the army to Piaoyuyi, but directly boarded the ship first. When they saw Zhen Mi and Cao Xian, they were all happy and went to talk.

However, Yuan Xi summoned Guo Jiatai Shi Ci Tianyu and three people to enter the cabin to discuss matters.

Guo Jiaxian said: "I haven't told the real destination of the generals of the ships yet, but in order to prevent accidents, I told them to gather at the mouth of the Yangtze River and wait if they get separated."

"Calculating the time, we will go south along the sea road, bypass Qingzhou, and pass through Xuzhou. If everything goes well, we will arrive in no more than ten days."

After hearing this, Yuan Xi said, "It's still a little slow. If someone spies on our movements in Piaoyu Town, someone with a heart can guess the truth within a day or two. If you pass it on quickly, it will reach Guangling in only six or seven days." county."

"So if everything is safe, we must arrive at the mouth of the Yangtze River within five days, then proceed westward along the Yangtze River, and reach the city of Guangling within two days!"

This is Yuan Xi's real purpose, to attack Sun Ce's stronghold Guangling!
Guangling City is located at the junction of the Yangtze River and other water systems, with developed water transportation, and the east and south of the city is the wharf.

The purpose of Yuan Xi's fleet disguised as a caravan was to launch a sudden attack, capture Guangling, and follow Sun Ce's retreat!

This method is extremely risky, but it is currently the best way to solve the siege of Xuzhou.

Of course, there are many links in it that require careful planning. Attacking the city, especially a sneak attack, if it fails, the entire army may be wiped out.

Tai Shici said: "Soldiers and sailors take turns on duty at night, traveling day and night. The ships keep apart at night to prevent collisions. With the wind direction being right, it is possible to arrive in four or five days."

"But considering that it is too close to the coast, it is easy for people to find out and guess the purpose, so it should be farther away from the shore."

Everyone nodded, and Tian Yu said, "I'm still a little worried about the surprise attack on Guangling."

"According to the plan, we put down the cavalry first and ambushed in the woods more than ten miles outside Guangling City."

"At the same time, throw elites into the city disguised as merchants. In the dead of night, kill the guards, open the city gate, and welcome the cavalry from outside to rush in as quickly as possible."

"However, even if the dozens of elites succeed, the enemy will react within half a moment at most, send a large number of troops to dare to come, and close the city gate."

"The key to this is how to send a letter to let people outside the city know immediately."

"The rocket target is too small for a short time, there is no sound and the shot is not high. The city is set on fire. I'm afraid it won't burn within a quarter of an hour. It's hard to last until the cavalry arrives."

Guo Jia and Tai Shici also felt that what Tian Yu said made sense.

This opportunity is too short and fleeting. If Sun Cejun is well-trained, the time left for Yuan Xijun to break in may only be a cup of tea!

Counting the running time of the cavalry, the cavalry must be notified when the elite in the city are required to open the city gate!
How can this be?

Yuan Xi turned to Tian Yu, "Where is the box you brought?"

As soon as Tian Yu heard this, he hurried out, and after a while, he came in carefully carrying a long wooden box.

He unlocked the lock inside the box, and there were more than a dozen two-foot-long strips neatly stacked inside.

Both Guo Jia and Tai Shici leaned over to look at it, and found that the top of the thing was rolled from a one-foot-long paper tube, and the bottom was a one-foot-long thin bamboo strip.

Tian Yu didn't know what Qu Yi asked him to keep carefully before he left, and said: "Brother Dezhou gave it to me before he left, saying that it is what he can make now, and everything is in it gone."

Yuan Xi stepped forward, lifted one lightly, and saw that there was a cotton thread soaked in oil at the bottom of the bamboo tube, he couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

Whether the surprise attack on Guangling can be successful this time depends entirely on this thing.

In later generations, Yuan Xi played with it many times when he was a child. People in the north called it the Monkey King, and people in the south called it the Sky Pao.

Although this thing is commonplace in later generations, it took a lot of effort to appear in advance in this world.

This involved some technical improvements, new paper, and barely usable gunpowder.

Yuan Xi has experimented countless times in the past six months, and finally found that this most primitive black powder can only be heard at most.

Not to mention blasting the city walls, even the bamboo tubes can't be blasted, and they can only be barely blasted by wrapping them in paper.

When the development of black powder in later generations reached its peak, it could be used to launch musket bullets. After the development of the chemical industry, refining and purification, as well as forging and polishing technology, it is impossible to do it with the current technical level.

The so-called muskets in the Song Dynasty were strictly speaking flamethrowers. Even if the muskets appeared in the Ming Dynasty, it would take hundreds of years of technical improvement.

Now the sulfur, saltpeter and other things that Yuan Xi sent people to collect have a lot of impurities and are difficult to mix. Hundreds of alchemists and artisans in Beixin City have experienced countless failures to make these dozens of things.

Although the power is far inferior to the firecrackers of later generations, it can only be regarded as a flower, but for Yuan Xi now, it is enough.

Battlefield signal!

(End of this chapter)