Since Heifu came to Jiaodong and took office, two large ports have been built in the area. The southern one is "Qingdaojin" which is responsible for shipbuilding, and the northern one is "Yulijin" located in Zhifu Bay in Hexian County. However, Heifu County
Shou forced it to change its name and built a beacon tower here. Because there were always beacon smoke, it was called "Yantai".
No matter what it is called, Yantai Port is where the Jiaodong Marine Division is stationed. At the end of April in the 33rd year of Qin Shihuang, early in the morning, the county lieutenant Ren Xiao led a group of men to greet them at the harbor walled city. Seeing that the county guard was black
When her husband's car arrived, Ren Xiao stepped forward and held his hands, smiling broadly and saying:
"Ren Xiao should have gone to report, but how dare we let the supervisors come in person?"
Heifu returned the salute with a smile, pointed to the blue sea outside the port and said: "General Ren is wrong. Maritime affairs should be discussed at the seaside."
The two of them walked in humbly to each other. Although Ren Xiao was very happy on the face, he felt like crying in his heart...
It stands to reason that the county captain is in charge of military affairs, and the county guard is in charge of civil affairs and government. The two sides have clear distinctions and check and balance each other. Although the county guard is theoretically in charge, the county captain is not his subordinate.
But the situation in Jiaodong was a bit special. At first, Heifu did not get involved in military affairs. But the good times did not last long. With the rebellion in various fields, Qin Shihuang ordered Heifu to put down the rebellion without saying a word.
Holding the emperor's military talisman, he led the Jiaodong soldiers out of the county to quell the rebellion, fought in two counties, and quickly suppressed the various fields, Qing Xia.
As for Ren Xiao, he could only take the boat commander and circle around the coast, but he didn't get much credit.
Although Heifu immediately handed over the military power after the incident, the rule in the army has always been that whoever leads the soldiers to meritorious services is the real general. The reputation and voice in the county soldiers are already superior to those of captains...
Now, the emperor wants to use troops against North Korea and Canghaijun. This is where the Jiaodong Marine Division comes in. Logically speaking, Heifu doesn't know how to fight on the water, so he shouldn't be able to get involved, right? But he was appointed by the emperor as the "Supervisor of the Army"
, has the responsibility of supervising the grain, and Heifu has no control over how the front line is fought, but how and when to transport the grain, Ren Xiao, the subordinate general, really can only listen to him.
Ren Xiao only felt that in the past few years, he had always been suppressed by Hei Fu, and he did not dare to compete with him for power. He said that today, if Hei Fu did not come to Yantai Port with all his airs, Ren Xiao would have no choice but to bow his head.
He took his subordinates to visit Xiuxian County and explained his strategy for transporting grain.
Fortunately, Heifu saved him some face in the end.
A group of people sat down in the hall of the military meeting. Ren Xiao noticed that under the black husband there were Chen Ping, Xiao He, and a commoner with a pale complexion, who looked like he had been in prison for a long time. He had an unfamiliar face, probably.
Heifu’s new aide?
Without thinking too much, he asked someone to hang up the newly drawn "sea chart".
The coast of Jiaodong is all drawn on it. To the north is the V-shaped Liaodong Peninsula, and further to the east are Mazishui, Jizi North Korea, and the island where Canghai Jun is entrenched. The location of the island can only be estimated. It is probably several hundred miles south of North Korea.
.
This map template was provided by Heifu. It was said that it was presented by Fang Warlock who confessed his crime. Ren Xiao felt like he had found a treasure. Combined with the results of sending ships to the Liaodong coast to survey in the past six months, he finally completed this "Jiao-Liao Sea Map"
"The islands, ports, and reefs above were all listed one by one. Heifu also suggested that they should be engraved directly on the large engraving and printed out. Every ship must have one.
With this chart, the distance between Jiao and Liao became more intuitive, and Ren Xiao became more convinced that it was feasible to transport food by sea to provide food for the Eastern Expedition army!
"From Jicheng to Liekou, it is a full two thousand miles away. It takes at least three months to walk. Tens of thousands of people are carrying grain, and even the military rations are transported, only one in ten can be transported."
"However, it is only a thousand miles from Jiaodong to these two places. It takes more than ten days to reach these two places by sea, with the help of sails and oars. The large ships built in Qingdao have round bellies and deep drafts. They can carry thousands of stones of grain and tens of thousands of stones at a time.
."
Thanks to the hundreds of years of exploration by Fang Warlock and Yan, the people of Qi, the route around the Bohai Sea from Yandi Jieshi to Jiaodong Zhifu and then to Chengshanjiao has become relatively mature.
That is to say, the sea route in southern Liaoning is relatively unpopular. Although there is a record of "the island barbarians wore leather clothes, sandwiched the right Jieshi, and entered the sea", in fact, there was not much communication between the Central Plains and the peninsula. Until ten years ago, in order to escape the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty,
The scholars from the Six Nations in Qidi took simple boats and sailed from Jiaodongbei, passed through the Miaodao Islands, arrived in Liaonan, and then headed to the Korean Peninsula to seek refuge with Lord Canghai.
"If the enemy can go, so can I!"
This was last month. After receiving the edict from Qin Shihuang, Heifu Supervisory Army declared that it became Ren Xiao's task to find a quick and convenient shipping channel from the sea.
"Supervisor, please take a look."
Ren Xiao pointed to the chart and said: "The boat sets sail from Yantai and docks at Salmon Island. Early the next morning, when the wind picks up, it sets sail and sails north. Before nightfall, it can reach Liaodong..."
The Liaodong Peninsula these days is almost blank, with no county system. Only at the southern end of the peninsula, there is a small town called "Dashi" (Dalian), which manages nearby fishing villages. Surprisingly, there are still
The feudal lordship system of hundreds of years ago was retained and passed down from generation to generation without any interference from the imperial court, not even collecting taxes. After all, the Da family was not only extremely poor, but it was more than a month's walk from Xiangping, the capital of Liaodong County.
, which county official would have nothing to do, risk being attacked by the barbarians, and go over the mountains to collect dried salted fish?
To Liaodong, Dashi is a remote fishing village, but to Jiaodong, it is an important transportation thoroughfare. Ren Xiao has already sent people there to build a small port to allow grain ships coming from across the sea to dock overnight.
He also asked Heifu a question: "If a county is established here, will it belong to Jiaodong County or Liaodong County?"
Heifu's answer was: "If Liaodong can't manage it, if Jiaodong can manage it, of course it belongs to Jiaodong!"
As a result, the Da family in southern Liaoning was taken over by Jiaodong County. The governor of Heifu County was not polite and really regarded it as his own rule. He changed the name to "Dalian" on the grounds that the Da family was a barbarian.
Next, according to Ren Xiao's plan, after leaving Dalian, the fleet will sail slowly along the Liaodong coast. For some reason, the speed of this section is always extremely slow, rather like sailing against the current, so it will take seven or eight days to reach the destination.
From the mouth of the Yalu River, we can reach the most remote port in the empire, "Liekou" at the mouth of the Qingchuan River, after two days' journey.
Hei Fu nodded: "So, it will take more than ten days of sailing to reach Liekou?"
"exactly."
Ren Xiao added: "It's faster to return. It only takes seven or eight days, so a round trip takes about twenty days."
"On the 20th..."
Heifu pondered for a moment. According to this calculation, based on the capacity of the Jiaodong grain ship, he could transport at most 70,000 to 80,000 dan per month, which was still far short of the "100,000 dan per month" that Xiao He calculated for him.
This speed was much slower than he expected. The navigation skills of this era were underdeveloped, and most of them were "geographical navigation". The ship's position and pilotage were determined based on ground objects, so it was necessary to sail along the coastline. There were many beacons along the Jiaodong coast.
As a lighthouse, veteran boatmen can try to sail at night, but on the uninhabited coast of southern Liaoning, they can only sail during the day and anchor at night.
That's why it's so slow. Even if you drive close to the coast, it's about five hundred nautical miles. It actually takes more than ten days. On average, it's fifty nautical miles a day. Even if you rest half of the time, the speed is only one hour and four.
Although the five knots were far longer than the land march, compared with later generations, it was really ridiculously slow...
"What do the supervisors think?"
Ren Xiao asked, if Heifu had no objection, the route and strategy of transporting grain would be decided.
He looked like he didn't understand, and looked at his staff. His eyes passed over Chen Ping and Xiao He, and settled on the third person, the middle-aged man in civilian clothes with pale skin, and nodded to him.
The middle-aged scholar had been holding it in for a long time. At this moment, with Hei Fu's permission, he suddenly burst into laughter.
"That's ridiculous, that's ridiculous! General Ren's strategy is a bit cowardly and inefficient."
This statement immediately aroused dissatisfaction among Ren Xiao's subordinates.
They had just seen this man listening. Every time Ren Xiao said something, he would shake his head. If they hadn't seen that he was an aide brought by Hei Fu, a hot-blooded Chu Yue Lou Chuan man, they would have beaten him up in the morning.
Throw it into the sea to feed the fish again!
"oh?"
Ren Xiao looked at the calm Hei Fu and glanced at the staff member: "Does this gentleman have other high ideas?"
The middle-aged man in civilian clothes gave Ren Xiao his hand and said, "I don't dare to say that this is a wise idea, but...it takes twenty days to go back and forth. If Canghaijun's boatmen find out about this, they will definitely laugh their heads off."
He stopped his smile and bowed to Hei Fu: "Supervisor, if you follow the common people's method, the time can be shortened by half. One round trip takes ten days!"
"Ten days?"
In the hall, the officials of the building and ship looked at each other. In their plan, this was impossible!
"How can it be done!"
"How can it not be possible!"
The middle-aged commoner said: "As long as you are bolder, you don't need to walk cautiously along the coast. The fleet sets sail from Chengshanjiao, rides the wind and waves, crosses the sea, and goes directly to the port to dock! The return journey remains the same. In this way, regardless of the voyage distance and time, it will be the same.
It can be greatly reduced.”
These words made everyone extremely angry and laughed:
"You crazy man, do you know how big the fog is east of Chengshanjiao? Do you know how strong and unpredictable the wind is on the East China Sea? A huge wave can sink a ship. You commoner doesn't understand maritime affairs at all.
, How dare you make false claims about military matters?"
Ren Xiao stopped everyone's attacks on the commoner and looked at Heifu: "May I ask the supervisor, who is this gentleman?"
Heifu waved his hand and pointed at Commoner: "You can speak for yourself."
The commoner agreed and sighed: "I was once a boatman seeking food on the sea. Although Shaohai is big, in my eyes, it is just a bathtub."
"I am also a seeker who has traveled back and forth to Jiaodong and North Korea no less than ten times. Unfortunately, the so-called Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou are so elusive and hard to find. I finally realized that they are fake."
As he spoke, he walked to the chart, pointed at it and said: "Now, I have changed my mind and become the person who drew this chart!"
"You actually drew this chart?" All the officials on the ship were shocked.
"good."
The commoner middle-aged man bowed his hands to everyone: "I am fortunate enough to be pardoned by His Majesty, and I am the guilty person who works beside the supervisory army, Xu Fu!"
