Zhen Mi felt that her life trajectory had undergone unexpected changes since she met Yuan Xi for the first time.
Originally, according to Zhen Mi's expectations, her whole life would be to marry a member of the noble family, and then stay in a deep house to raise her husband and raise children, and her whole life would go by like this.
However, since Yuan Xi broke into her life, he has led her and the Zhen family in a completely unpredictable direction.
When Zhen Mi heard these thoughts, such as being kicked out of the house, adopting someone else, severing ties with the Zhen family, she was so shocked that she couldn't recover for a long time.
Although I know this is an expedient measure, this style of conduct is too bizarre!
The adoption caused a lot of trouble among the Yecheng nobles, but the reviews were mostly positive, and the reputation of Zhen Mi and the Zhen family also increased.
Bian Rang was a contemporary celebrity, and his murder and Huan clan's acceptance severely slapped the noble family in the face.
The Zhen family adopted their own Huan family, but openly stood up to confront the Cao family. This was actually a big risk at a time when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had not yet broken up.
Only Yuan Xi, a branch of the Yuan family, can act as a guarantee to avoid being angered by Yuan Shao, right?
Zhen Mi found that she was far from understanding Yuan Xi. Every time she saw what he did, she would discover a new side.
From the initial uneasiness of getting married, Zhen Mi seems to be re-recognizing 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 into battle in person. Not only did he take himself to the battlefield, but after breaking the city, he had to go to sea immediately?
But Zhen Mi was looking forward to it.
She was born in Wuji, Zhongshan when she was a child. Later, her family moved to Yecheng, where she has been living in a compound. She has never seen mountains or seas. Now that she heard that she was going to take a boat, she was still very happy.
She was sitting in a carriage, surrounded by soldiers in front and behind, both cavalry and infantry. More than a thousand people were marching in silence.
These are the most elite soldiers under Yuan Xi's command in the past few years. They are all composed of veterans who have experienced battles for a long time. The combat strength and discipline of the new soldiers are far different.
The march lasted all night, and finally arrived at the seaside pier two hours after dawn.
The three girls, 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 at the pier.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry laid a good foundation for large ships to sail long distances.
Not only were many people traveling from Qingzhou to Youzhou by sea ships at that time, but at this time Japan's shipbuilding industry also began to develop.
In the second year of Emperor Guangwu's reign (AD 57), Japan crossed the sea to send envoys to the Han Dynasty. After that, the two sides established a fixed route. Qingzhou crossed the Yellow Sea to Daifang County (near Kaicheng, North Korea today) to
Busan - to Tsushima - 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 very risky to go from China to Japan. In addition, the world was in chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, and few sea ships sail on this route today.
Therefore, the maritime trade routes of the Han Dynasty at this time were mostly based on trade at coastal ports in various states.
Moreover, shipbuilding technology in the Han Dynasty also began to develop significantly. The Soochow pottery ship model unearthed in Guangzhou in 1955 had eight beams from bow to stern and eight pairs of bulkheads, dividing the hull into nine strict subdivisions.
This shows that the Han Dynasty has mastered the shipbuilding technology of compartment structure.
Among them, Soochow's shipbuilding industry was the most developed. When Soochow was destroyed in later generations, the official government alone owned more than 5,000 sea-going ships. The most famous one was the "Wenma Wuhe" ship built by Pan Zhang's Wenma shipyard.
Because the boat is made of five large boards, it is named "Wuhe".
At that time, Soochow called boats that could carry eighty horses. The largest warships could carry three thousand soldiers, were dozens of feet long, and contained tens of thousands of grains.
Not only warships, but sea-going ships are also very powerful. According to Kangtai's "Wu Shi Foreign Biography", the largest sea-going ship had seven sails and sailed from Canadiaozhou in the South China Sea to Daqin (the name of the Roman Empire in the Han Dynasty, which was actually Romania).
nearby areas) only takes one month.
When Yuan Xi read this, he thought that the economic foundation was everything. Soochow had a large demand for trade, so it was necessary to build large ships. Large ships in turn promoted the local economy, prospered commerce, and built more large ships.
With so many large ships, no wonder Cao Wei was unable to cross the natural chasm of the Yangtze River for a long time.
What is in front of everyone is the sea-going ship that the Zhen family spent all their money to build and purchase from Xuzhou Shipbuilding Tunnel in Yangzhou.
Most of them are about ten feet long and can transport dozens to nearly a hundred 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 estimated that the hundreds of carts of goods he snatched could only buy seven or eight boats. The other twenty or so were purchased and built by the Zhen family's caravan as Zhen Mi's dowry.
Thinking of this, he suddenly felt like he was eating too much.
Zhen Mi pointed at one of the big boats and said, "That boat is so big!"
Everyone followed Zhen Mi's hand and saw that the boat was almost twice as long as other boats, nearly twenty feet long and two or three feet above the water. It was estimated that it could accommodate hundreds of soldiers. From a distance, it looked extremely majestic.
.
Yuan Xi looked at it and said with a smile: "The old lady made it specially for you."
Zhen Mi groaned, and couldn't help but feel moved when she thought of her mother.
Yuan Xi sighed: "But it was originally used to run maritime trade routes, but now it is used for military purposes."
Everyone present guessed that Yuan Xi might just go to the sea to enjoy the scenery, but he must be using these merchant ships to transport troops to attack somewhere!
The soldiers began to board the boat one after another, and the cavalry led the horses to the boat. The horses were afraid of water, so several soldiers tried their best to get the horses onto the boat and drove them into the cabin.
After working hard for a long time, when night fell, more than a thousand people finally got on the road, the sails were pulled up, and the big ships sailed away from the pier in the dark.
Almost everyone on the big ship where Yuan Xi was on arrived.
Huan's mother and daughter did not follow the army to Piaoyuyi, but boarded the ship directly. When they saw Zhen Mi and Cao Xian, they were happy and went to talk.
However, Yuan Xi summoned Guo Jiatai, Ci Tianyu and three others to enter the cabin to discuss the matter.
Guo Jiaxian said: "The real destination has not been told to the captains of the ships yet, but in order to prevent accidents, I asked 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 route, bypass Qingzhou, and pass through Xuzhou. If everything goes well, we can arrive in no more than ten days."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi said: "It's still a bit slow. If our movements in Piaoyuyi are eavesdropped, an interested person will be able to guess the truth within a day or two. If we pass it on horseback, it will only take six or seven days to reach Guangling."
county."
"So if everything is guaranteed, we must reach the mouth of the Yangtze River within five days, then go west along the Yangtze River, and reach the foot of Guangling City within two days!"
This is Yuan Xi's real purpose, to sneak attack on Sun Ce's base camp Guangling!
Guangling City is located at the junction of the Yangtze River and other water systems, with developed water transportation. There is a dock to the east of the city and to the south.
The purpose of Yuan Xi's fleet, which was disguised as a caravan, was to attack suddenly, capture Guangling, and steal Sun Ce's retreat!
This method is extremely risky, but it is currently the best way to resolve the siege of Xuzhou.
Of course, there are many aspects that require careful planning to attack the city, especially sneak attacks. If it fails, there is a risk of the entire army being annihilated.
Taishi Ci spoke up: "The sergeants and sailors took turns to watch the night, and we traveled day and night. The ships kept distance at night to prevent collisions. With the right wind direction, it is possible to arrive in four or five days."
"But if you are too close to the coast, it will be easy for someone to spot you and guess your purpose, so you have to go further away from the coast."
Everyone nodded, and Tian Yu said: "I'm still a little worried about the sneak attack on Guangling."
"According to the plan, we put down the cavalry first and ambush in the woods more than ten miles outside Guangling City."
"At the same time, the elite soldiers were thrown into the city disguised as merchants. In the dead of night, they killed the guards, opened the city gate, and welcomed the cavalry outside to rush in at the fastest speed."
"But even if these dozens of elites succeed, I'm afraid the enemy will react within half a moment at most, send a large number of men and horses to dare to come, and close the city gate."
"The key to this is how to send the letter so that people outside the city can know it immediately."
"The target of the rocket is too small and short-lived. It makes no sound and cannot shoot high. If the city is set on fire, it will not burn for a quarter of an hour. It will be difficult to hold on until the cavalry arrives."
After hearing this, Guo Jia and Tai Shici also felt that what Tian Yu said was very reasonable.
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!
Including the time for the cavalry to run, when the elite in the city need to open the city gate, the cavalry must be notified!
How is this possible?
Yuan Xi turned to Tian Yu, "Where is the box you brought here?"
When Tian Yu heard this, he hurried out and after a while, he carefully came in carrying a long wooden box.
He opened the lock inside the box, and there were more than a dozen two-foot-long strips neatly stacked inside.
Guo Jia and Taishi Ci both went over to take a look, and found that the top of the thing was made of a paper tube one foot long, and the bottom was a thin bamboo strip that was one foot long.
Tian Yu didn't know what Qu Yi asked him to keep for safekeeping before leaving, so he said: "Brother Dezhou gave it to me before leaving. He said that this is what can be made at present, and it is all in it."
Already."
Yuan Xi stepped forward and gently lifted one. When he saw that there was a cotton thread soaked in oil at the bottom of the bamboo tube, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
Whether the sneak attack on Guangling can be successful this time depends entirely on this thing.
In later generations, Yuan Xi played with this thing many times when he was a child. People in the north called it the Sky Monkey, and people in the south called it the Sky Cannon.
Although this thing will be ordinary in later generations, it took a lot of effort to appear in advance in this life.
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 gunpowder can only make a sound at most.
Not to mention blowing open the city wall, even the bamboo tube cannot be blown open. It can only be barely blown open by wrapping it in paper.
When the development of black gunpowder reached its peak in later generations, the projectiles that could be used to fire muskets required the development of the chemical industry, refining and purification, and forging and polishing technology, which was simply not possible with the current technical level.
The so-called muskets of the Song Dynasty were strictly speaking flamethrowers. Even if muskets appeared in the Ming Dynasty, they would have to undergo hundreds of years of technological improvements.
Now Yuan Xi sent people to collect sulfur, saltpeter and other materials. There were many impurities and the ratio was difficult. Hundreds of alchemist craftsmen in Beixin City had gone through countless failures to make just these dozen things.
Although the power is far from the firecrackers of later generations and can only be regarded as a waste, it is enough for the current Yuan Xi.