Ma Cheng's fleet encountered the letter from Song Yang on the Wuhu River.
It's very easy to establish a stronghold. There are many abandoned towns in Jiangbei.
Especially some time ago, Jiangbei was generally hit by rogue bandits, and the few remaining counties were destroyed by rogue bandits.
Just find a place to stay.
As for Liu Min, he is in Xuancheng.
To go to Xuancheng, you can take the Wuhu Waterway or turn back and take the Dangtu Waterway.
But no matter how you walk, it's not easy to walk if you don't know the way.
"Brother Junyan, did you know that you went to Xuancheng by water?" Ma Cheng asked Gao Junyan.
Gao Junyan shook his head. He had been to Xuancheng, but at that time there were boatmen sailing the boats. It didn't matter whether a young official like him knew the way.
The fleet slowly stopped in Wuhu, which was deserted. There was a flood some time ago and the entire city was flooded.
Liu Min simply withdrew from Wuhu County, and all the people moved to Xuancheng.
"Why don't you go back to Dangtu and go find Xu Gaoshan and ask him to send a guide." Cui Shan suggested.
When Ma Cheng thought about it, he decided to be Tu Jin. If he went to Tongling to find Guo Qi, he would have to go to Tongling in the middle of the night.
So the fleet turned around and headed towards Dangtu.
At dusk, we arrived at Dangtu.
After explaining the purpose of his visit, Xu Gaoshan looked at Ma Cheng's fleet and said: "Due to the earthquake, the flow direction of the Shuiyang River has been changed in several places. Large ships cannot pass. At most, they can only pass unloaded canoes."
"this……"
Ma Cheng then thought about whether he should go to Xuancheng in person or give the letter to Xu Gaoshan.
In the end, I decided to go on my own, as Liu Min would not do anything to her.
"Let's do this. Cui Baihu, I will take a boat to Xuancheng, and you will bring the others back to Jiangzhou."
The canal boat brought equipment exchanged from Qian Guangzhi, four and a half boatloads of grain exchanged from Jiangning, and many craftsmen.
It is not convenient for these people and things to go to Xuancheng. It is best to send them back to Jiangzhou first.
Cui Shan nodded, these cannot be ignored.
"Manager Ma, wait for me to send them back and then come back to pick you up."
"Okay, you can send them back first, and then come back to think about the base."
Both of them are busy with other things, so they need to put things at the base later.
Early the next morning, Ma Cheng took a cannon boat and thirty sailors, and headed for Xuanzhou under the guidance of the awning boat sent by Xu Gaoshan.
Cui Shan led a large army back to Jiangzhou.
Gao Junyan did not follow Ma Cheng. He wanted to meet Song Yang in Jiangzhou, so he followed Cui Shan.
In the afternoon of the next day, the fleet returned to Jiangzhou.
Fang Zhe received the news of the Clippers and was already waiting at the dock.
"The craftsmen disembarked, leaving two ships with provisions. There is no need to disembark other equipment, provisions, and men."
"Your Majesty has gone to Yuezhou, where can you send the supplies?"
Cui Shang and Fang Zhe met, and before he could even say hello to move things, Fang Zhe said this.
"Your Highness has gone to Yuezhou? Is there a war?"
"Well, I just left the day before yesterday. There were bandits there."
When Cui Shan and others left, they had not yet reached the point of developing into Yuezhou.
Fang Zhe explained, and Cui Shan understood immediately.
"General Manager Ma went to Xuancheng to deliver a message, and the prince also gave instructions about the stronghold."
Cui Shan wanted to go to war, but he did have other things on his hands.
In the end, the two of them combined and separated the team.
One hundred people went to Baling with food, grass and equipment, and the rest followed Cui Shan back to Dangtu.
"Then let me follow you to Baling. There must be someone to escort the boat." Wei Nan volunteered.
Now there are only four or five Old Guards left in the family, and each has his or her own job.
Wei Nan is now helping Fang Zhe manage government affairs. There has been nothing major in recent days, so it would be appropriate for him to go.
"Okay then. Just go to Baling." Fang Zhe thought for a while and nodded.
Wei Nan breathed a sigh of relief. He was tired of sitting in the office every day. He could finally go out for some fun.
"Who is this?" After we finished talking about the business, we saw an unfamiliar face.
"Gao Junyan, the director of the Jiangning Civil Service Department, has met Mr. Changshi." Gao Junyan cupped his fists and said.
"Gao Junyan? Oh, I've admired you for a long time." Fang Zhe also clasped his fists.
He has also heard of Gao Junyan's name.
"Look, Mr. Gao...are you waiting for the prince in Jiangzhou, or are you going to Baling?"
"I'll go to Baling too."
Gao Junyan thought about it and decided that it would be more important to meet Song Yang as soon as possible, so he decided to go to Baling.
After resting for a night in Jiangzhou, the fleet continued its journey to Baling.
…
Baling.
Song Yang waited for a day, and reinforcements from Ezhou and Fengzhou arrived.
There are a total of 4,000 Renaissance troops and 1,500 strong men. Overall, the spirit is very good.
"Go and explore the current situation in Xiangyin."
Song Yang ordered to go down, and Niu Laosan immediately arranged for someone to do it.
Song Yang was not in a hurry to attack.
The people here in Baling have not yet settled properly.
Now that so many elites have been gathered, they can help the people settle down.
By the way, we can also build a camp and repair Baling City.
At least make a simple fortress.
So, under the leadership of Song Yang, the soldiers temporarily took up axes to chop down trees and bamboo everywhere.
The settlement was built in an abandoned city, and some ruins could be used as city walls.
A large wooden fence was erected at the gap, and it looked like a patchwork camp.
As long as there are strong men on patrol, the thieves will not be able to capture Baling.
This place is a buffer station for a transfer station, and a camp of this size is ready for use.
This work was busy for two and a half days, and the detailed information about the horse exploration was sent back.
There are currently three thousand thieves and bandits in Xiangyin, among whom there are only about three hundred elites.
These people established a stronghold based on the ruins, which is somewhat similar to the one in Baling.
It's just that the place in Xiangyin is leaky from all sides, so they don't have Song Yang's strong execution.
For two and a half days, they laid siege to the abandoned city and set up camp.
Tan Ma easily found out the basic information of the thief.
"The thieves are not strong, so this time it is all about training the troops. And the help this time is the explosives of Bangtianlei. It is the first time that this thing has been used in actual combat. I want my soldiers to see the effect."
However, before the war, Song Yang still held a mobilization meeting for the soldiers.
However, everyone's morale is very high. After working as a construction worker for two days, I have already held up a lot of passion that needs to be released.
Balabala said a lot, which basically meant that the lion would fight the rabbit with all his strength, so that everyone was ready to fight the enemy desperately.
By the way, let’s see the power of the new weapon...
"Dabiao, load everything up. This time we are going to try the actual combat effects of explosives and thunder."
Song Yang looked at Wang Dabiao.
"Don't worry, Your Majesty, everything has been prepared. In the past two days, more than a hundred sticks of dynamite have been made."
"Okay! Get ready to go!"
Song Yang waved his hand and the soldiers were about to go out for battle when a fast horse came running from the dock.
"Report! A fleet is coming from Jiangzhou!"
"Fleet? Fang Zhe sent reinforcements again?"
Song Yang was stunned and looked at everyone. Everyone said they didn't know.
No one asked Fang Zhe to come for reinforcements.
"Let's put the expedition aside for now. Let's go see who Lao Fang sent."
Song Yang asked Niu Laosan to organize the team, and he took Wang Ran to the dock.
"Hey? Isn't this the fleet that left before? Ma Cheng is back!"
Song Yang saw a familiar warship from a distance and immediately understood that it was the Ma Cheng fleet that had returned.