On the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, he quietly left Jiankang with a few guards and went all the way north to the Huaihe River.
At this time, the Huaihe River was the border between the two countries.
The Huaihe Navy was stationed on the south bank, and the Annan Army of the Northern Qi Dynasty was stationed on the north bank.
Therefore, the entire Huaihe River is basically a military-controlled area.
However, although there are troops on both sides of the river, it is impossible to strictly control the entire river. Especially in the past two decades, the Northern Qi Dynasty has lost its ambition to unify the south. Fishing boats have gradually begun to appear on the Huaihe River, and some communication between the north and the south has begun. of merchant ships.
More importantly, because the two sides are hostile to each other, people from both sides cannot take their own boats when traveling, for fear that there are soldiers hiding on the boats and taking the opportunity to cross the river.
Therefore, when groups like the Northern Qi Mission cross the river, they usually find third-party ships, usually merchant ships or passenger ships.
This is Shen Yi's only chance.
The shortest distance from Jiankang to the Huaihe River is more than two hundred miles. However, according to information obtained by Shen Yi, the Northern Qi delegation crossed the Huaihe River at Xuyi Ferry, which is almost two hundred sixty-seventy miles away from Jiankang.
When Shen Yi arrived near the Huaihe River, Xue Wei and others had been here for nearly ten days.
Shen Yi met Xue Wei in a tavern in Xuyi County.
At this time, Xue Wei was already dressed as a fisherman. After meeting Shen Yi in the tavern, he sat next to Shen Yi and sounded a little anxious.
"Mr. Shen, why are you here?"
Shen Yi poured him a glass of wine and said in a calm tone: "I should come."
This trip, Shen Yi must come.
Although he did not participate in the specific assassination operation, he had to come because Xue Wei and others could not take the blame from the emperor.
Shen Yi needs to come here to clearly tell His Majesty the Emperor that this matter was clearly done by him, Shen Qi.
If it weren't for this reason, Shen Yi wouldn't actually have to rush to the Huai River in person.
Seeing that Xue Wei wanted to speak again, Shen Yi shook his head slightly and said, "I've already come, so there's no need to talk nonsense. Tell me the specific situation."
Xue Wei took a deep breath and said: "Back to Mr. Shen, the brothers have been here for more than ten days and have figured out the general situation. The Xuyi Guards of the Huaihe River are stationed here, but there are not more than 5,000 people, almost. Three to four thousand people.”
"The number of soldiers and horses on the other side is about the same."
"There is a ferry in Xuyi, which is controlled by armies on both sides."
Xue Wei whispered: "Those people probably want to cross the river through this ferry."
"These days, my subordinates have spent money to buy more than a dozen small boats that can be used for fishing on the Huaihe River..."
The so-called ability to fish on the Huaihe River means that the relationship between Xuyiwei and Xuyiwei has been smoothed.
Because of the special nature of the Huaihe River as a boundary river, if you want to fish in the Huaihe River, you need to pay some money to the troops on both sides of the river. For example, for the local fishing boats in Xuyi, you have to give Xuyiwei about four or five taels of silver to be eligible to fish in the river. Year.
This money is very much.
On a normal day, it would be difficult to repay this money, but not many people can afford it, so there are not many fishing boats on the river. Once you are qualified to fish, you will have a stable job. income.
After working for seven or eight months, I can get my capital back.
Therefore, there are still some fishermen on the Huaihe River.
The local Xuyi people would naturally not tell Xue Wei when selling their boats. These boats could only be used for fishing for a year, and the price sold to Xue Wei was often not cheap.
But it doesn't matter.
Xue Wei and others will not always be fishermen here.
After Xue Wei explained the general situation, he continued to Shen Yi: "Mr. Shen, we have about seven or eight fishing boats. When the dog thief crosses the river, the brothers under the river will sink the boats. Those of us who are here will The nearby fishing boats can rush over to rescue people. Once the dog thief is caught on the boat, the brothers can not only kill him..."
Xue Wei smiled at Shen Yi and said: "There is even a chance to tie him up in front of Mr. Shen and hand him over to Mr. Shen for your disposal."
Shen Yi rubbed his chin and thought for a while, then shook his head silently: "This is the place where the Huaihe Navy is under actual control. It's better to be clean and tidy. Remember to prepare the horses in advance. After you succeed, you will find an opportunity to go ashore. Then you will go all the way south and return directly to Yueqing. , go back to the anti-Japanese army camp."
"leftover…"
Shen Yi said calmly: "It's my business."
Xue Wei chuckled, nodded and said, "I understand!"
…………
On the twentieth day of the first lunar month, the Northern Qi envoy arrived at Xuyi Ferry.
There are not many people in this mission, but there are more than 200 Qi soldiers guarding them. There are no particularly large ships on the Huai River, and one ship will definitely not be able to fit in them.
Under the supervision of Xuyiwei, these Northern Qi soldiers took the first boat to the north shore, while Zhou Yuancui and other envoys took the last boat to leave the shore.
After all the members of the mission boarded the ship, the tall Zhou Yuanchui stood in front of the Northern Qi envoy who was more than half a head shorter than him. He lowered his head slightly and said with a smile: "Master Tong did a great job on this trip. , after returning to Yandu, I will probably be promoted."
The envoy, who was called "Lord Tong", looked back at Zhou Yuancui and said with a wry smile: "Master Zhou, don't make fun of me. I'm just here to do the showmanship. The real errand is up to you." The Cleaning Department is in charge."
He looked at Zhou Yuancui and asked with a smile: "The errand of the Cleansing Department went smoothly, right?"
The grandson of General Zhou was from the Qingjing Division, which was well known to everyone in the Northern Qi envoy.
Zhou Yuan lowered his hands behind his back, looked back at Jiankang City in the south, and said slowly: "Every other errand went smoothly, but Your Highness the Princess..."
His tone was faint: "It seems that I can't contact you."
"That's not surprising."
Master Tong said slowly: "After this woman got married, her thoughts gradually began to shift away from her mother's family. The princess was already a noble concubine of the Southern Dynasty..."
At this point, he smiled and did not continue, but the official historian of Northern Qi changed the topic and said with a smile: "But speaking of it, the Queen Mother of the Southern Dynasty was surprisingly young and very beautiful... "
"If Master Wang is able to conquer Jiankang immediately, he will invite the mother of the Southern Dynasty to Yanjing."
Lord Tong had an expression on his face that every man would understand, and said with a smile: "That's really a good story..."
Zhou Yuanchui was born as a general. When he heard this, he smiled and said: "Master Tong is worthy of being a civil servant. He speaks elegantly. He just said that he wanted to be the stepfather of the little emperor of the Southern Dynasty..."
Before he could say "yes", the ship suddenly shook violently.
Zhou Yuanchui took some time to lean over and barely stabilize his body. Lord Tong beside him had fallen to the ground and panicked: "What happened!"
Zhou Yuanchui glanced around, frowned, and shouted: "The wind is calm, how can the boat rock?!"
Soon, someone ran over in a panic.
"Two adults!"
The man's tone was trembling: "This boat is leaking!"
Zhou Yuanchui looked back at the south bank of Xuyi and then at the north bank.
At this time, the ship was in the middle of the Huai River and did not dock on either side.
"The stubborn Southerners!"
Zhou Yuanchui cursed angrily and said fiercely: "What kind of broken ship are you looking for!"
At this time, the boat tilted, and he held the railing with his hands and looked towards the river.
There were only a few fishing boats on the river, casting nets for fishing.
"Say something to those fishing boats!"
Zhou Yuanchui made a quick decision and shouted: "Let them bring the boat over. It's such a cold day. If you fall into the water, you will freeze to death if you don't drown!"
Most people in the north are not good at swimming. Even Zhou Yuanchui himself cannot swim. Naturally, he was a little panicked at this time.
Fortunately, although their ship had taken on water, it was very large and would not sink for a while. A group of people were on the deck, shouting loudly at the seven or eight fishing boats.
"Come here, come here and save people!"
The fishing boats were very obedient and quickly came over. Although these fishing boats were not big, they could carry all the people on board in two or three trips. These fishermen were also very enthusiastic, and it took about half an hour to get all the people on board.
It was transported.
However, most of the people were still covered in water. It was still the first month of the year, so they were shivering in the cold wind.
Master Tong shivered for a while, and waited until the Qi army on the north bank brought them dry clothes to change into, and after warming themselves over the fire, he slowly recovered. Then the Northern Qi envoy stood up and looked around
One glance: "Everyone, please count the number of people. Is everyone here?"
He was an official, so his words were naturally easy to use. Soon someone counted the number of people and reported them.
"Sir, everyone from our etiquette department is here!"
Most of these envoys were from the Ministry of Rites of the Northern Qi Dynasty.
But soon, several people from the Cleaning Department discovered something was wrong. They were trembling with cold and came to Master Tong, their voices trembling.