Chapter 451 Three Years
The seventh year of Yuanxing.
Winter passes and spring comes again, and it’s still a good year.
Feiyun Port is noisy and lively. Several willow trees planted at the ferry last year have sprouted new buds. Officials from the Shipping Department are holding account books and checking the quantity of goods one by one with their soap boots. Occasionally, they check a few boxes, and then record them in the book. Draw a circle.
"The small boats outside the ferry bridge quickly move away, there is a sea ship coming back." Several figures walked out of the ship division office, and a clerk waved in front and shouted to his colleagues on the other side of the bridge.
Among the people, the leading official was of medium build, with a beard hanging neatly on his chest. He was looking at the ferry bridge in the distance with his hands behind his back. Amidst the bustle and noise around him, the outline of a sea ship appeared from the sea level, carrying the wind and waves. The surrounding seabirds are heading this way.
“Look which ship it is!” The figure named Lu Su smiled and gave instructions to the clerk beside him.
The leaving officer ran to the sentry tower in the distance. The man watching from above put down his long tube and turned around and shouted: "It's the Huya Sea Ship!"
"General Gan, you are back. So fast." Lu Su withdrew his hands behind his back, shook his wide sleeves and walked across the bridge with a smile, where he stood a little ten feet tall and seven feet wide, pushing the waves into the harbor slowly.
On the bow of the ship, there was a man with one foot on the guardrail, a knife hanging on his waist, dressed in brocade and jade robes, and his head wrapped in copper coins and red brocade. He grinned at Lu Su below.
After reefing the sails and lowering the anchor, before the ship could stop, the bow guardrail creaked. Gan Ning turned over from mid-air and landed firmly on the ground. He cupped his hands toward Lu Su and stepped on the ground, which meant that he was down to earth.
"Xingba, how do you feel about having your claws removed?" Lu Su returned the greeting with a smile and asked smoothly.
"A bunch of swarthy people, darker than Yuchi Jingde. If you don't open your mouth, you won't be able to see where they are during the day!" Gan Ning took the drink handed by the clerk next to him and poured it into his mouth. One mouthful, "But there are still many good things over there."
"What good things?"
"You will know later."
Gan Ning turned around with a smile and proudly raised his chin towards his Huya warship. One side of the hull was opened from top to bottom. Inside the cabin was a pile of wooden boxes neatly stacked. A rough count showed that there were more than a hundred boxes. , all of which were obtained from trading in a small island country called Jiagui this time.
The goods began to be loaded and unloaded, and when they arrived at the dock here, Lu Su asked someone to pry open a box. Inside were oval plants, with green leaves wrapped upwards, and some long wadding exposed at the front. He tore open the outside The leaves are yellow-orange and plump particles, arranged in an orderly manner.
“What is this?”
“I don’t know what it’s called locally, but it’s edible anyway, so I bought a dozen boxes and handed it over to Da Si Nong for them to cultivate!”
Gan Ning looked nonchalant, but he carefully took the crop from Lu Su's hand, put it back in the box and had it shipped to Yanjing.
At dusk in the afternoon when they arrived, Feiyungang became lively. Two carriages came from outside. Gan Ning and Lu Su came out of the yamen and greeted them at the door. After a while, the carriage stopped, and a young eunuch helped a eunuch wearing Qingsu Feiyu suit to leave. After getting off the chariot, the person who came was none other than Zheng He. He heard that he had found something good and came over to take a look.
"Our family is still a little late and has not seen the treasure that was transported this time."
Zheng He returned the gift to the two people opposite and joked: "General Gan can't be slow. "No, but it doesn't matter. I've seen a lot of good things, so it's not surprising."
The shadows of the three people walked into the shipbuilding department's office together in the yellowish sunshine, looking at the front yard of the official office. Zheng He couldn't help but sigh: "The last time I came here, it was not this big. Now it is almost a towering tree."
"The last time Zheng Dugong came here, it was two years ago. What happened before, this poplar tree grows fast.”
"Two years? It's really fast."
"Yes, it's really fast." Gan Ning agreed with a smile. He remembered that when he came here, Wu and Yue were not yet destroyed. Three years have passed in the blink of an eye.
He, Zhou Yu and Lu Su were all right, the first batch of Chinese generals to come, but they had been here for six or seven years.
Listening to the two people’s emotions, Lu Su, who was gentle on the outside and strong on the inside, smiled and did not participate in the discussion. Anyway, when he came over, the six countries were already unified, so he could only learn from the books of the past. Look at how the Chinese civil and military forces who came earlier achieved unification step by step.
He looked at the civil servants coming and going in the yamen and smiled: "Actually, it's a good life like this, without having to fight or kill."
The three of them walked into several rooms in the side yard that were dedicated to handling maritime affairs. A clerk came over to serve tea, then respectfully left and closed the door.
“Everyone has dreamed of good days, but these good days will not last long.”
Zheng He sat down at the main seat and looked through the shipping account books. After flipping through them for a while, he He put the account book aside and took a sip of tea.
“The coast of Wuzhou has been a bit uneasy recently. Japanese boats appear frequently and their shadows can be seen from the coast.”
Gan Ning did not touch the tea. He took off the wine bag from his waist and took a sip of the strong wine inside. He nodded and agreed with Zheng He's words.
Then he talked about Zhou Yu and Lu Meng.
"Captain Zhou and Lu Ziming originally came back with me, but they heard that there were Japanese ships coming and going over there, so they diverted there. I don't know what to do now."
He patted the table. , added another sentence.
"The Japanese are cunning and will run away if they can't be beaten!" The wind blew through the western clouds, and the old trees in the courtyard made a soft rustling sound.
Three years have passed since Su Chen ended the division of the Six Kingdoms.
In the past three years, the states implemented a strategy of recuperation. Xun Yu, Zhuge Liang, and Di Renjie, who were good at logistics and grand strategy, flexed their muscles to make Qiliang and Wuyue, which had been suffering from war, gradually prosper.
Planning land and adjusting land taxes are all aimed at reducing the burden on the people, as well as Su Chen's suggestions on marriage, teaching, and medicine to vigorously promote population growth.
In three years, Yanzhou in the north alone has added 350,000 people. The Central Plains has fertile land and a prosperous population. It is the place where the population has increased the most among other states, with a total of 460,000.
In the seventh year since the arrival of the Six Prefectures in Yuanxing, the registered population has reached nearly 40 million.
If some foreign criminals from other countries are included, the number may exceed 40 million.
In addition to some of the above-mentioned governance strategies, the promotion of the military system has also reached its peak. Li Jing and Hou Junji, who was later recruited by Su Chen, helped adjust and preside over it, and it has been rolled out in six states. But the most concentrated ones are in the Central Plains, Jiangdong and Yanzhou in the north. Liangzhou and Bingzhou in the northwest, and Yuezhou in the south have more mountains or poor land. Few soldiers are willing to divide their fields into these three states. .
After that, the report was reported to Su Chen. He took Zhuge Liang, Xun Yu, and Di Renjie to discuss for half a day and decided to establish special areas in these three states based on local products.
For example, there are many minerals in Yuezhou. Minerals and forging will be concentrated there, and the mountain people of Yuezhou will also be recruited as a source of troops for mountain warfare. The northwest has many mountains, forests and hills, and the folk customs are fierce. The Qiang tribes are good at archery, so they are recruited as archers in the army. The two areas are also rich in furs and northwest war horses.
As for the military-centered Yanjing, the city has been expanded in the past three years, and large fixed military camps have been built outside the city, which are no longer the wooden fences and tents of the past.
Instead, there were masonry walls, general offices, and collective houses for soldiers. There was even a family area planned. Soldiers who got married could bring their families there. This measure won the support of the soldiers as soon as it was promulgated. After all, the biggest obstacle to the military is the longing for their loved ones at home. With family buildings, many soldiers can train and go on duty with peace of mind.
After all, the conquest has not stopped.
In the past three years, there has been no major battle, but small-scale battles have occurred from time to time. This is to prevent the soldiers from slacking off, so when the strategy of recuperating and recuperating was decided three years ago, Su Chen had already deployed it Deterrence against the Western Region.
In the second year after surrendering the Yue Kingdom, Su Dingfang set out to conquer the seventy-two countries in the Western Regions. Si Huo Qubing, the governor of the Xirong Grassland, also received military orders from Yanjing. In the spring of the second year, he led the Yulin Cavalry, He and the Xirong cavalry each had 5,000 men, and together with Su Dingfang's 15,000 men, they marched westward to intimidate the countries in the Western Regions.
The Western Region has deserts and a huge territory, but the seventy-two countries are uneven. Some small countries are like a small county in Qizhou. There is no need to fight at all. When the soldiers come over, they directly surrender their cities and surrender to the east. Xia Kingdom.
Among the seventy-two countries, there are naturally some countries with considerable strength, such as the small country called Yeche, which has a population as large as a large county, nearly half a million people, and an army of 50,000. With its advantages in geography and people, it is not afraid of Su Dingfang at all. .
However, in this battle, 50,000 people from the Yeche Kingdom were killed, and 30,000 people were beheaded to establish the Jingguan. After this battle to establish their power, nearly 24 of the 72 countries chose to surrender.
However, many countries in the north of the Western Region still chose to resist. Su Dingfang relied on the supplies on the grasslands and chose to continue to attack. Sometimes Huo Qubing and Ma Chao also joined in. In three years, thirty-one countries were wiped out, and all those who resisted were killed. Cut off the head and shock the surrounding countries.
The battles in the west are victorious, but the sea to the east is causing trouble. Naval battles are no better than land battles, and more people cannot play a decisive role.
Since the unification of the Six Kingdoms, Japanese ships have traveled far to the southern seas and robbed merchant ships from other overseas countries coming to Wuzhou. Xia's ships going to sea have also been frequently robbed. What's more, all the people on board have been robbed. He was killed and the cargo and ship were robbed.
In the past three years, Su Chen has been dispatching sea ships to escort and at the same time urging the shipyards in Yanzhou and Wuzhou to rush to build sea ships. These ships have turrets on their hulls to facilitate the new iron cannons being tested.
Although it does not meet the standards of later generations, the rapid iron bullets hit the opponent's hull and create a hole in one hit, which is extremely beneficial for naval battles.
As the sun sets, in the northern suburbs outside Yanjing City, two war horses are walking back slowly. In the dim light, a huge furry figure walks slowly and leisurely with heavy steps, rolling up from time to time. The long nose stretched to the top of the head, and on the broad back, the ferocious giant stretched out his hand and stroked the hairy nose.
Xu Chu on the side looked up at him with an unconvinced expression.
"Tch...what's so great about it."
Xu Chuweng murmured angrily, and when he looked at the horse under him, he suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.
In front of the two of them is the emperor riding a horse, together with Xiang Yu, Zhang Liao, Lu Bu, Guan Yu, and Zhao Yun. "The sea has been unstable recently. I feel that these Japanese may become more and more unruly."
< br>"Your Majesty, what do you mean, they will come to the shore to fight?" Zhao Yun smiled on his face on the back of the white horse, "If this is the case, Zhou Cang and Guan Ping on the other side of Wuzhou will be happy."
"I'm afraid they won't be happy."
Xiang Yu is extremely tall and powerful, and has a keen intuition about military affairs: "From the actions against the Japanese over the years, they will not come in large numbers, they should come A small group of people burned, killed and looted. They fled by boat before our soldiers and horses passed by, and then moved to another place to continue harassing coastal and other places. "
"The beacon tower doesn't work?" Lu Bu turned his head and looked at them.
"...It has some effect." Su Chen walked into the workshop on horseback, was silent for a moment, tilted his head and said: "The coastline is too long, and we can't take care of every inch..."
While he was talking, a fast horse was galloping on the official road in the direction of Yanjing.
(End of this chapter)