Chapter 217: Sea adventure

At the end of June, the rolling heat waves began to sweep across Jinling City, which was surrounded by mountains on three sides. Only at the entrance of the port near the riverside to the north, there could be a hint of cool breeze with the river water.

At this time, Jinling was no longer the small town on the riverside ten years ago, and the current Bukou had already changed its appearance.

Especially in recent years, as the hostile forces that threaten the foundation of Jiangdong have been removed one by one by Gao Chong, as the rear of the newly established Xia Dynasty, the Jiangdong area is showing different vitality and momentum.

The innovation of agricultural technologies such as irrigation canal excavation, ploughing, and curved plows effectively ensured the steady growth of the yield per mu, and also made the people no longer worry about filling their stomachs. The popularization of county schools and county schools and the continuous improvement of the imperial examination system gave students a clear way to serve the country. Under this circumstance, the population of Jiangdong began to expand rapidly, and the scale of Jinling, as the capital of the New Xia Dynasty, continued to expand.

The area around the Tukou area, which was still a wilderness ten years ago, has now become a prosperous market full of people.

On this day, people from the port were coming and going, and it was extremely lively.

Looking north from the river bank, you can see the river water that is vast and vast. From the upper reaches of the Tuo River, Han River, Gan River and other tributaries, all the way to the vicinity of Jinling, the river surface was more than a few miles wide, making it possible for both sides to vaguely look at each other.

At the entrance of the bay where many merchant ships were moored, huge sails rose on the rippling river surface. Dozens of towering ships lined up with their bows, and the hulls were tightly embedded together, firmly resisting all impacts from outside.

Such a huge hull warship is not crowded in the Yangtze River, but if it is sailing in tributaries, it will immediately block the entire river. Obviously, Gao Chong supervised these tower ships that can be called behemoths are not used to travel in rivers, and their galloping place should be in the boundless vast sea.

Sea——, mysterious and full of temptation.

It represents both a nightmare and a surprise.

When Wei Wen, who succeeded Hai Cheng, led the fleet back from Yizhou a year ago, faced the soldiers who had returned after a triumphant death, Gao Chong, who had just ascended to the new Xia Dynasty, could not help but burst into tears.

Conquering the heartland of the Central Plains in the center of Jiuzhou was to fulfill the wish of unification. He was a hero. He should be able to do what others could not do and act like they did. Qin Emperor unified China and Han Wu drove away the Huns. In the face of such achievements, no matter how brave Gao Chong had, he could only follow and not surpass.

Advancing to the unknown sea is to make this desire hidden deep in your heart.

In order to seek the legendary elixir of immortality, the First Emperor sent the alchemist Xu Fu to lead 500 boys and girls to sail to the sea, but he disappeared without a trace. He ventured to go to sea and had a chance to return successfully like a small boat in the stormy waves, with the hope of getting out of trouble. However, because of this mystery and danger, countless passionate men were attracted to him, and even if they overturned the sea, they would have no regrets.

If you fail and the ship collapses, so what?

At least we tried hard and tried.

Gao Chong thought this way, the same was true for Wei Wen and the 1,200 Jiangdong children behind him.

On the tall deck of the ship, Wei Wen, the captive general who was just in his early twenties, stood at the bow of the ship. His helmet was red and white, and his bright pheasant feathers were hunting in the wind, as if the legendary phoenix was about to spread its wings and fly.

Behind him and around the side of the ship were the same young and childish faces. These 1,200 brave children were carefully selected. They were the pride of Jiangdong and the elite among the elite.

"People coach, generals, Wen said goodbye!" Wei Wen stepped forward and clasped his fists and said loudly. At this moment, his figure was reflected on the river bank by the rising sun, which seemed extremely tall and eye-catching. Conquering Yizhou was the first step in a voyage, and now the destination of the second step is - Liaodong.

Liaodong, Lelang and Xuantu (Daifang) counties are located in the northeast of the territory of the Han Dynasty and belong to the border. If it were a peaceful era, it would not be attractive. However, in a chaotic era, staying away from the Central Plains would be a good thing that could not be obtained. The Yellow Turbans caused chaos in the Central Plains and none of the counties in the Central Plains were spared. Only the four-corner border counties could be safe and sound.

Taking advantage of this, from the first year of Xingping to the sixth year of Jian'an, the total number of households in the three counties actually reached more than 127,200 households, with a total population of more than 380,000. 380,000 is not a small number. There are countless princes in the Han Dynasty, but not many people can have such strength. From this perspective, Gongsun Du, the mute of Pingzhou, Liaodong, is also a figure.

Gongsun Du, whose courtesy name was Shengji, was a native of Xiangping, Liaodong. He was originally a minor official of Xuantu County. Gongsun Zhao guarded the Xiangping Order and summoned Du Zikang as the commander of the army. Du arrived at the official position and conquered Zhao, and beaten and killed in Xiangping City. The famous and powerful surname Tian Shao in the county were unkind. They all died of gratitude and were punished by law. The barbarians destroyed more than a hundred families. The county was trembling. Later, Gongsun Du led his army to attack Goguli in the east and attack Wuhuan in the west. He was powerful overseas. In the first year of Xingping, Dong Zhuo was tyrannical and Xu Rong of the same county was appointed as the General of Dong Zhuo's Central Army, and recommended Gongsun Du as the prefect of Liaodong.

However, Gongsun Du's strong expansion action did not last long. After the Battle of Guandu, Cao Cao obtained the authority to command the world, supervised Hebei and killed two Yuans. Cao Cao's success in military victory drove Gongsun Du's forces out of Youyan. In the ninth year of Jian'an, Gongsun Du, whose expansion ambitions were repeatedly frustrated, died of illness, and his son Gongsun Kangji led three counties in Liaodong.

In the summer of the same year, Prime Minister Cao Cao took advantage of Gongsun Duxin's destruction and ordered the general Yu Jin to attack Yu's Jin. The prefect of Youzhou Xianyu Fu led 30,000 elite troops to conquer the Wuhuan of the three counties. The two armies fought fiercely in Liucheng. After the defeat, Gongsun Kang was panicked and hurried to express his surrender.

At the end of July, the emperor issued an edict to grant Gongsun Kang the title of Marquis of Xiangping.

Cao Cao adopted a strategy of equal importance to kindness and power to calm the hidden dangers in the rear in one fell swoop. With Liaodong, a stable rear supply, laying the foundation for future battle for hegemony. While Gao Chong relied on pacifying Shanyue and forming an alliance with Xiliang to gain the advantage, Cao Cao did not waste his days. Liaodong, which produced a wealth of Wuhuan's good horses, was his ace.

Therefore, Gao Chong sent Wei Wen to sea to the north this time. First, to raid Cao Cao's coastal salt farm. If the salt in daily life cannot be satisfied, the people will panic and the economy will be turbulent. Second, he also wanted to strive to contact the northern Goguryeo, Muzhichen and other tribes in the north, which were not in harmony with the Gongsun family. As long as Liaodong is unstable, Cao Cao would not be able to obtain the urgently needed war horses on the battlefield in the Central Plains as scheduled.

In this era of cavalry scattered, the best way to curb was to disrupt the enemy's supply from the source. If possible, Gao Chong hoped that Wei Wen could bring back the Wuhuan horses that Jiangdong people envied. Of course, given the danger and unknown nature of the sea route, Gao Chong also knew that this was just a luxury.

After months or even years of wandering on the sea, the possibility of survival will be very small. Diseases, food, wind and waves, all these unfavorable factors will be problematic, the horse will die. Even if there are really tenacious war horses that survive, Gao Chong can imagine that these war horses that have been trafficked from a long distance will only be left with skin and bones.

There were more and more people seeing him off. Gao Chong raised his head, and the huge shadow cast by the sea boat made him suddenly feel the strong desire to climb onto the deck. It's so good to be young. You can not consider a lot of troubles in front of you, you can use a pair of hope and desire to impress your relatives who are struggling to keep, and you can do what you want to do without any worries.

From Wei Wen, Gao Chong suddenly saw the self he was when he was young again.

"Red Dragon Flag, set sail!" With Wei Wen's powerful gesture, a "squeak" battle flag with embroidered borders flew quickly to the top of the mast under the pull of the soldiers.

The war drums were bursting and the oars were rustling. The monsoon blowing from the southeast quickly filled the huge sails. As countless pairs of expectant eyes were gaze, Wei Wenhe's ship he was riding gradually left, from big to small, from near to far.

When the last shadow of the boat was gone, Gao Chong realized that his eyes had already been red.

"People handsome, let's go back!" Lu Su, who was by Gao Chong's side, looked excited. He was usually steady and had a true love today.

"Wait, let me send Wei Wen and the others for another trip!" Gao Chong shook his head, quickly walked to the riverside, picked up a handful of river water and poured it into the direction of the fleet's distant journey.

In August, the gate of Pengcheng City was full of soldiers who were checking the passers-by, holding bright swords and guns, searching the passing people carrying bags or boxes.

"What's the noise? The prefect has an order. Everyone must strictly inspect it. Do not let a criminal who sells private salt go!" Faced with the impatient waiting, the commander guarding the city pointed to a notice on the city wall.

Since Cao Cao unified Qingxu, the supply of official salt that had been tense for a while has been guaranteed. However, now, salt fields along the coast have reported being robbed by pirates. The salt fields cannot guarantee the output, which will inevitably cause the shortage of salt supply, which will also aggravate the proliferation of private salt.

If you don’t have any profit, you won’t get up early. What businessmen value is the word profit. Since the profits of trafficking in salt are considerable, someone will do it even if you take the blame for beheading.

Of course, the methods of doing this are high and low, big and small. The big ones are like the Xiahou family and Xun family, and the officials and businessmen of Xudu, just need to break through the relationship between Lejin and settle everything. The small ones are those who are unlucky people who are searched for private salt. The result of waiting for them is to be imprisoned, the heads are landed, and the family wealth is confiscated.

In the conference hall in the city, Sima Yi stood quietly in front of the sea map marked with the locations of Qingxu and the two states, thinking and tracing thoughtfully.

"Zhongda, what have you discovered?" The prefect Le Jin asked when Sima Yi didn't speak for a long time.

"Wen Qian, don't you think the robbery of the salt field this time is suspicious? Although there were pirates who caused trouble from time to time in the past, the scale was far less large than this time, and the persistence was not long. What's more suspicious is that the purpose of robbing salt is generally to exchange money and grain, but this time they adopted the method of destroying the salt field, which is very unreasonable." Sima Yi said.
Chapter completed!