Around the Dragon Boat Festival, including the southern maritime merchant team led by Zhou Keshan, the commercial system of Qunmu Institute in charge of Li Yun, the ports in Shandong supervised by Wang Shixian, and even a group of merchants Du Shisheng was familiar with in Shandong, all confirmed
According to the news, the Great Song Dynasty will take measures and the grain trade will be unsustainable.
In response to this, Zhongdu quickly responded, asking responsible officials from various departments to send capable subordinates to report specifically to Zhongdu and make statistics on the gaps in supplies.
The order from Zhongdu was inevitably delayed when it was transmitted to the south. When the messenger arrived in Jiaoxi, Mizhou, Zhou Keshan happened to board the ship and left the Qingyuan, and went to Qingyuan Mansion, Mingzhou, Zhang Kai's hometown, intending to use the power of the local clan to inquire.
The movement of the Shipping Department.
The people who stayed behind at the inquiry site at the moment were the senior Ding Navy officer Zhao Bin, and the seven or eight ships and sailors they had assembled one after another as they circled the sea.
The wind and frost at sea hit people. Zhao Bin looked older than he had seen two years ago, but the power in his actions was much stronger. After all, he was no longer the leader of a small team, but the leader of the escort of the merchants at sea. He secretly led the navy and commanded his subordinates.
There are at least 700 to 800 men roaming the sea and killing people without restraint.
Back then, the three of them started their business with a thousand-material ship left by Zhang Kai's father and grandfather. By this time, there were two large ships with five thousand materials and four medium-sized ships with two thousand materials resting in the forecourt alone.
ship.
Zhao Bin took the order from the commander's office and did not dare to neglect. He immediately selected two capable leaders from the fleet and caravan subordinates who were more familiar with the figures of material imports and exports. He also counted the import and export records of previous years overnight, and finally called his own
Two hundred confidants came to the king and asked him to take ten elite soldiers to accompany him to Zhongdu.
As a result, in the evening, two gangs came to visit and carefully consulted Zhao Bin, asking Marshal Guo what his temper was like and whether there were any taboos in his words.
After arguing for a long time, the two said again, after all, Marshal Guo has a different status from ordinary nobles since he entered Zhongdu. We are subordinates recruited from outside. It is our first time to meet. If we use rude words, it will be very bad. As for Wang Erbai,
Sir, his sea skills are very solid, but his verbal skills are very problematic. If he leads the escort, I always feel that something will happen sooner or later.
Zhao Bin felt dumbfounded by this. He was a veteran who had followed Guo Ning in the Xijunhe camp. In his mind, Guo Ning was always the same heroic young man. Even when he became a high-ranking official, there was no change, so
I don't understand what the two of them are worried about.
But they were worried about Wang Erbai... Zhao Bin thought about it carefully and felt that it was not unreasonable.
It was simply the beginning of May, the monsoon had not yet risen, and the season for offshore merchant ships, long-distance ocean voyages, and even killing and selling goods had not yet arrived. Zhao Bin made a decision on the spot and went out in person to accompany the two gang leaders.
.
The next day, he chose a multi-oared boat used on the coast and took his men straight to Zhigu Village.
The journey at sea took six days. They went to Zhigu Village to present official documents and change their credentials. Then the ship entered Lushui from Xin'an Sea and went all the way north. Along the way, they saw a large number of ships, and several recognition flags were familiar to them.
The trackers pulling tow by the water, leading mules and horses to help empty the warehouses, so as to cross the shallow water area of the camel caravan. Among its members, it can be seen that there are many surrendered soldiers under supervision, and there are also many Mongolians mixed in.
The weather in May has begun to get hot. Under the sun, these soldiers were sweating profusely, and everyone's clothes were soaked. While unloading excess supplies and reducing the draft of the large ship in front, the Mongolian soldiers
People's movements are actually particularly agile.
Seeing this scene, everyone couldn't help but sigh.
The ship arrived in Tongzhou three days later, then transferred to the train station and arrived in Zhongdu on the same day. Zhao Bin naturally pointed along the way and told his companions about his family's battle in Zhongdu.
The group entered the city through Fengyi Gate, handed over documents to the Marshal's Mansion, which was like a huge fortress next to Wengcheng, and moved into the building. As soon as they put down their luggage and the chairs were not hot, someone came to deliver the order, and Marshal Du was summoned.
The summoning place was in the backyard of the Capital Marshal's Mansion.
After bypassing two gates, the group realized that the backyard was almost the same as the school grounds where the guards practiced martial arts on a daily basis. Around the school grounds, there were fully armed guards standing guard. Almost all of these core guards were veterans from the Hebei Army.
, all of them were battle-hardened and murderous. Zhao Bin recognized several of them, but he didn't dare to say hello. He just followed the waiter's lead and bowed his head forward.
To the east of the courtyard, there are several houses, stables and a tower. A group of civil servants are busy on that side. It seems that they are building a wall to separate the school grounds from the buildings. There are also people using carts.
I brought some flowers and trees in for some decoration.
The main body of the courtyard is entirely paved with fine sand. Several archery targets are hung along the high walls, as well as several rows of heavy human-shaped wooden targets, which should be targets used for chopping with swords. The wooden targets have been chipped into dents.
It's bumpy and uneven.
The tall Guo Ning was shirtless, standing in front of a wooden target, and casually threw a straight knife on the weapons shelf. You Gangshou had a keen eye and immediately saw the famous Iron Bone Flower on the shelf.
Because he had just undergone high-intensity training, Guo Ning was covered in sweat and stained with a lot of fine sawdust, and the muscles in his waist and back were obviously stretched, like copper poured into iron.
When Zhao Bin was at sea, he often told his subordinates the stories of the fighting in the past in order to gather people's hearts. He was a capable senior officer. When he told the story, he mainly touted the interests of the navy. Occasionally, he casually mentioned how he got to know each other in Changzhou.
Marshal Guo; how they fought and retreated from the Mongolian pursuit and came to Hebei together; and how they fought side by side in Zhongdu in the end, so they got the position of leader of the fleet.
This kind of self-promotion from the side is much more effective than serious bragging, so now the leaders of the fleet almost all regard Zhao Bin as Guo Ning's old friend.
At this time, Zhao Bin did not dare to be rude when formally paying his respects. He solemnly paid his respects and signed up from a distance, and the two leaders also knelt down quickly.
And Guo Ning strode up, grabbed Zhao Bin, and prevented him from kowtowing. He laughed and said: "I was overjoyed when I saw the document! Do you have to come here quickly? Haha, haha, Old Zhao! We have to
We haven’t seen each other for two years!”
Having said this, Guo Ning hugged Zhao Bin hard and slapped him on the back.
Zhao Bin also laughed non-stop. He subconsciously wanted to hug Guo Ning, but he really didn't dare. Because the top of his left arm was not a palm, but an iron hook. He was afraid that the iron hook would touch Guo Ning, so he had to raise it high.
.
The two chiefs at the back couldn't help but be shocked when they saw Guo Ning and Zhao Bin being so affectionate. Firstly, they were shocked that their own commander really had a deep friendship with the marshal. We hugged this thigh on the sea, and we will hold it tighter in the future. Secondly,
, I never thought that the powerful warlord who drove thousands of people to sweep across the vast territory of Dajin and hundreds of military states in a short period of time would be such a young warrior with no pretensions!
"Come, come and sit."
Guo Ning put on his short round-collared robe and waved to his attendants to bring in tables and chairs and set out tea. He sat next to the wooden target and began to ask Zhao Bin and others about the details of the import of supplies from sea.
He was obviously not familiar with the climate and hydrology at sea. Sometimes when he asked, everyone had to explain it carefully, and later he simply sketched it on the gravel ground. However, he clearly did a good job in the establishment, scale and even route setting of the fleet.
After doing the homework, it seems very familiar.
When Zhao Bin introduced the two leaders, he immediately talked about some of the deeds of the two leaders after joining the fleet and praised them. When the leaders reported on the material transactions, he listened with interest.
He kept asking questions from time to time, and the leaders had to quickly check the account books to understand.
Everyone chatted for a while, and seeing the shadow of the sun getting longer, Guo Ning stood up without finishing his thoughts: "I finally understand. In other words, in the past half month, six groups of fleets that had agreed to go to Jiaoxi had missed their schedule.
The corresponding total amount of grain is around 100,000 shi. After the Dragon Boat Festival, the south wind is approaching, which is the time for the fleet to arrive in large numbers. However, there are very few grain ships gathering in Qingyuan Prefecture and Pingjiang Prefecture, so it is estimated that from the Dragon Boat Festival to October
During this period, food imports from the sea will be reduced by 60%."
"exactly."
Guo Ning nodded: "Okay, that's enough."
He smiled and said to Zhao Bin and others: "I have other official duties, so you can go and rest. However, it is very rare for heroes from the sea to come here. I will treat you to dinner tonight!"
Zhao Bin and others were flattered, so they agreed and exited the backyard.
It wasn't until they were nowhere to be seen that Guo Ning sighed heavily and his face darkened.
The next moment, he picked up the iron bone flower with his backhand and smashed it with all his strength. The thick wooden target in front of him was hit with huge force, shook violently several times, and broke into two pieces with a click.
