On the top of the five-foot-tall boat pole, there is a bronze bird holding a flower in its mouth. It can turn with the wind, and the bird's head faces the direction of the wind.
At the end of September in the thirty-fifth year of Qin Shihuang's 35th year, looking at the waiting wind instrument standing on the bow of the ship, the speed of which was neither fast nor slow, Wei Yang, the captain of the Kuaiji boat division who was in charge of five ships, couldn't help but let out a long sigh.
As early as last winter, they received an order from Qin Shihuang: After picking up the Haidong soldiers, they were ready to go south to the south of the Yangtze River for training and garrisoning. So the Jiaodong Boat Division, the only naval force of the Qin Dynasty, was transformed into the "Kuiji Boat Division"
"Division", the commander-in-chief was still Ren Xiao, and he was nominally under the command of Chang Nanhou, the general of the Southern Expedition.
At the end of summer, under the orders of the Marquis of Changnan, hundreds of ships of the Kuaiji Marine Division left Zhufang Port at the mouth of the Yangtze River and went south to the sea, hoping to cooperate with the army and launch an attack on Fujian and Vietnam from the waterway.
However, there were unforeseen circumstances, so they just rounded the Zhoushan Islands when they encountered strong winds and huge waves. The speed of the wind and waves was so great that even Xu Fu, not to mention Weiyang, who was observing the latitudes and astrology of various places with the army, had never seen it.
After several ships were sunk by the storm, the navy had to give up its plan to go south and could only take shelter in Ojin Port in the south of Kuaiji.
What they encountered was the "hurricane" that is so talked about in the south, that is, the typhoon in later generations. It is usually the strongest in June and July. It blows from the sea. Before it arrives, the chickens and dogs will be restless three days ago.
When it starts, people are afraid. Damaging houses and breaking down trees is not enough to show the intensity of the hurricane. It can even blow the roof tiles like flying butterflies. A big hurricane will last for six or seven days, and a small one will last for one or two days.
It was also a coincidence that today was a windy year. The fleet waited until a hurricane subsided and hurriedly set off on the road before arriving at Dongou. They encountered another strong wind. This time, the losses were heavier, even though they were shivering and hiding in the harbor.
, one-third of the fleet was still destroyed...
"No wonder Gou Jian used to attack Wu and wanted to launch his army from the sea, but he was worried about the vast water. Day and night, his movements were frightened, his voice was like thunder, and the waves rose to help. The boatman could not save him, and he didn't know where his life was. Nian Lou Chuan
The pain is so great that I can’t stop crying...this is what a hurricane is.”
Xu Fu was not idle either. After reading several books collected by Chun Shenjun that he found in Kuaiji County, they mostly talked about the past events of Wu and Yue. In the end, he had to admit that although he could find the route in the East China Sea with his eyes closed, he would not be able to find the route when he came to a strange place.
The southern sea area turned black.
Seeing that the turmoil was difficult to subside, General Ren Xiao of Louzhou was very anxious. However, the one who hoped that the Qin army would leave this place as soon as possible was undoubtedly Dongoujun Zou Yao.
Dongou, located in Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang, has a much longer history than its neighbor Minyue. As early as more than two hundred years ago, Gou Jian, the king of Yue, who had worked hard for ten years and learned ten years of experience, sent Fan Li to create a rear area for revenge against Wu.
When he came here, he built the city of Dongou and recruited the native people of Qi Min to join the Vietnamese army.
Later, the State of Yue was destroyed by Chu, and the descendants of King Wujiang of Yue fled south. Dongou was also their first stop. The descendants of the King of Yue rebuilt the State of Yue here. It has been passed down for six generations. Two generations ago, due to habitual
It was enfeoffed and divided into two kings: Minyue and Dongou, both of whom were called kings. Minyue was slightly larger, with seven tribes and a population of 200,000, while Dongou was small and had a population of less than 100,000.
However, with the arrival of the Qin army, Dong Ou wisely chose to surrender and offered the mouth of the Ou River to the sea as a berth for the Qin Dynasty's navy.
The fashion was good at first, but as the southern expedition fleet was blocked by the storm and trapped in Dong'ou, the country of Dong'ou was short of people. It had to support the large number of Qin Zhou divisions and provide them with food and clothing, and the warehouses were exhausted.
But Ren Xiao did not have the slightest sympathy for Dong Oujun's complaints. He yelled at the nominal "commander" that the wood needed to reorganize the fleet must be supplied on time, and he also asked Dongou Jun to work in Ou. A leather manufacturing workshop was built on the north bank of the Yangtze River to provide armor tools for the Qin army.
"Isn't Dong'ou famous for its fish-skin sword, black turtle sauce, and shark's sword? The armor of the army has been affected by moisture and has deteriorated a lot. Three hundred pairs of armor have been made and sent!"
The so-called fish skin scabbard is a scabbard made of shark skin. It repairs ships for the Qin army, but there is a shortage of manpower for hunting and fishing. Doesn’t this mean that the horses must run and not eat grass? Lord Dongou is helpless. Under the circumstances, they had to use cowhide as sharkskin to make up for the loss. After being discovered, Ren Xiao was called to the boat to give him a scolding.
In this way, Dongou almost exhausted its national strength. Finally, by the end of September, the last hurricane subsided, and the Qin army also repaired the damaged boat division, set sail, left Wenzhou Bay, and headed for the mouth of the Minjiang River hundreds of miles south. That was where Dongye, the capital of the Minyue Kingdom, was located. Ren Xiao had agreed to meet Changnan Hou Zhengdan on the first day of the lunar new year there.
Seeing thousands of sails entering the sea, the swarm of toothy sea locusts disappeared away, and Mr. Dong Ou, who was devoured and devoured, couldn't help crying with joy:
"These Qin people have finally left. I just hope they can capture Dongye as soon as possible and don't come back again!"
…
When the boat division entered the sea, Heifu had also led his army from Yuzhang to northern Fujian.
Fujian has always been a closed area, surrounded by high mountains and ridges in all directions. Later generations entered Fujian from other places, and there were only four roads. One was from Jiangxi via Chong'an Fenshui Pass, one was from Zhejiang and entered Pucheng via Xianxia Ridge, and the other was One route enters Ninghua, Fujian Province from Meiling, Jiangxi Province, and the other route enters Fuzhou by sea.
It's almost the same now. Heifu personally led 20,000 soldiers from his old army to cross Wuyi Mountain, while Yin Tong, the captain of Yuzhang County, led 10,000 soldiers from Kuaiji and Zhang County to cross Xianxia Ridge. The two armies agreed to stop at the foot of Wuxie, the commander of the Northern Fujian Army. The territories merged, and six months ago, it was this person who helped Xiao Tao in trouble, so that Xiao Tao and his subordinates could return to Nanchang via northern Fujian.
After entering the Fujian region, everyone discovered that Yuzhang was already mountainous, and the Fujian region was even more mountainous. They walked through the Minjiang River canyon and saw mountains and forests as far as the eye could see, with very few flat dams.
The difficulty of the army's march is similar to that of trekking through the thorns and thorns in the tropical rainforest of South Vietnam. But the problem is that South Vietnam only needs a fire to burn a lush field, but this cannot be done in Fujian. Before the introduction of new crops in the Americas, the land here was , it was extremely difficult to feed a large population. People had to build roads while traveling, using wooden stacks and stone ladders to cross the mountains. This is why they walked a hundred miles and took two months.
"No wonder the prince promised that Zou Wuxie and said that Qin only wanted a city in Dongye. With these steep mountains and lush forests and bamboos, even if they sent officials, they would not be able to find people's rule. If they wanted to garrison troops, they would have no place to station their fields. "
Li Cang found that riding a horse on the mountain road was not as fast as hiking, so he simply dismounted and followed Heifu's white mule to catch his breath.
Heifu smiled after hearing this:
"Eight mountains, one water, and one farmland, this is the land of Fujian. Eighty percent of the mountains can be abandoned, and only one water and one farmland can be controlled."
The plains of Fujian are concentrated in the coastal areas. Currently, there is only one city, Dongye City, which is a good port. It is also the only area that the Qin army can occupy for a long time.
At the end of September, the group finally cleared the Wuyi Mountain Road and arrived at a Min settlement located on the upper reaches of the Min River. The lord of this place, Zou Wuxie, after being notified by the forwards Dongmen Bao and Xiao Tao, led his tribe to the mountain road. waiting.
"Zou Wuxie pays homage to the Lord!"
Zuo Wuxie knew some Qin dialect, and under the guidance of Xiao Tao, he bowed to Hei Fu, but the Minyue accent was too strong, and he had to repeat a sentence three times before Hei Fu could understand it.
Seeing the Qin soldiers who were densely packed like snakes on the mountain road, there were actually as many as 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers. Zou Wuxie was happy and worried at the same time. What he was happy about was that the Qin army was so powerful that it was easy to destroy Zou Wuzhu, the king of Minyue.
What worries me is that he is a small lord from Qifan, and he only has a small number of soldiers and civilians under his control. Now that so many people have come at once, I am afraid that he will be destitute.
"No shirt for the king."
Hei Fu got off his mule and helped him up. He was polite for a while and praised him for his profound understanding of righteousness and his ability to help the Qin Dynasty eliminate evil. He would definitely commend him to the court and make him the new king of Fujian and Yue.
Immediately, he looked at the skinny and short Fujian man next to Zou Wuxie, whose green eyes stared at the fine armor of the Qin soldiers and swallowed saliva, and joked: "You tribesmen, don't you have enough to eat? Why?
They all look like hungry ghosts. Do you think they want to eat us if they stare at us like this?"
"Don't dare, don't dare!"
Zou Wuxie quickly explained: "Don't worry, sir. Although Minyue is a barbarian, it has absolutely no bad habit of cannibalism. Those who cannibalize people are from the tribes of South Vietnam! Those who are killed, if they have beautiful sideburns, will have their faces peeled off.
Cage them in bamboo and dry them, call them ghosts, encourage them and worship them for welfare, and attack them to complain and kill them! Therefore, Nanyue often attacks and kills my tribe, and they eat the people from Fujian and Yue.