Yang Qin bent down and squatted in the reed swamp. Deep in the grass swamp opposite, there were six galleys hidden there with their sails down. It was a rough estimate that there were nearly 300 people in the two groups of river bandits. They couldn't get through no matter what.
During this section of the river, he turned back to ask Han Qian for his opinion.
At this time, Han Qian held the monocular and observed it for a while, then handed the monocular to Yang Qin.
It was only after Yang Qin came into contact with the monocular that he understood why he was so cautious, but the traces of his connection with Ji Kun still fell into Han Qian's eyes without noticing.
How could he have imagined that there would be such a strange thing in the world that could vaguely see clearly to people seven or eight miles away?
The so-called skill is not as good as others, but the other officials are thieves. Yangtan Water Village was attacked and breached for the first time. Yang Qin really had no way to resent anyone. As Han Qian said, could he really expect that the Han family and his son would not be able to capture him without hesitation?
He couldn't even deeply hate Ji Kun for ruthlessly dispatching state soldiers to suppress Yangtan Water Village. He only hated himself for being too greedy and not realizing that he was just a small fish. He actually thought that he was a dragon in the lake and stepped into Han Dynasty.
In the struggle between Qian and Ji Kun.
I only hate that Zhong Yanhu was too cruel. After breaking through Yangtan Water Village, he even slaughtered every woman and child in the village.
Han Qian did not answer Yang Qin's words, nor did he guess what he was thinking at this time. He just calmly filtered the information collected in the past two days in his heart.
Along the section of the Yangtze River between Huangzhou and Ezhou, the main waterway is less than ten miles wide.
Although there are intricate lakes on both sides that can be passed through, the water conditions in these areas are more complicated. If you are not careful, you can easily be blocked by river bandits, and they are surrounded by swamps, grassy beaches, and even rivers.
Even abandoning the ship and escaping would not work.
At this time, two fishing boats were parked in the middle of the river outside. Four thieves were fishing in the river in the gentle breeze and drizzle. They were actually responsible for keeping an eye on the passing ships.
A sailboat equipped with a water board can only reach the fastest speed in a crosswind, and can only cover fifteen miles in half an hour, while a light galley can sail two miles in half an hour with both oars and sails.
The ultimate distance is fifteen or even thirty miles.
In this case, it would be impossible for them to rush across this section of the river directly.
At this time, the news that his father had joined forces with Li Pu, the Marquis of Xinchang, to help the third prince plot the Dragon Bird Army had spread. There were even rumors in private that An Ning Palace did not want his father to go to Xuzhou smoothly and asked Ezhou and Huangzhou to send warships to escort him.
Both places argued that the state soldiers were weak and vulnerable. If they were willing to abandon the ship and go ashore and take the land route, they would be willing to send troops to escort them to the state border.
If they really wanted to abandon the ship and take the land route, Han Qian and the others had already entered Poyang Lake and landed in Hongzhou. They landed in Ezhou, dragging twenty or thirty people with small families who had difficulty walking, and they didn't have enough carriages and horses. They didn't know what to do.
It took him until the year of the donkey and the month of the horse to reach Xuzhou.
And Han Qian only had such a small number of elite men, and there was no place to replace them if they were lost. He had never thought about fighting a tough battle with the water bandits. It was unrealistic to rush through the water bandits' ambush point at night.
Han Qian and Yang Qin quietly walked out of the reed swamp, met Gao Shao, Tian Cheng, and Zhao Wuji on a small hill, then climbed over the mountains and ridges and returned to Huangzhou City on the north bank of the Yangtze River.
"How to cross this section of the river?"
Zhao Kuo, Lin Zongjing and others were guarding two ships at the pier outside the city. Fan Xicheng accompanied Han Daoxun to live in a posthouse in the city, and also accompanied Han Daoxun to visit friends to delay time. At this time, he saw Han Qian going out of the city in person to inspect the terrain and enemy situation.
, ran over with concern and asked,
"If this is not possible, young master, please escort me first. We will stay in Huangzhou for a while."
When there was really no other way, Han Qian took a few elite scouts and escorted his father to Xuzhou by land for his appointment. It was also an option; after all, five or six people traveling by land had a smaller target and could move faster.
However, this may also induce the secret scouts of the Fangfang Division to intercept the passage directly, but the success rate is only higher than that of rushing through directly by water.
But Han Qian was still thinking about another thing.
If they can't connect the waterway from Jinling to Xuzhou this time, how can they expect Xuzhou's timber, cinnabar, medicinal materials, tin, copper, iron and other products to be continuously transported to Jinling by waterway in the future?
Therefore, this road is full of dangers and seas of fire, and Han Qian wants to try it now. He is afraid at this moment. Even if he can find a better opportunity to travel this road in three or four years, will he have such ample time?
?
"Did you buy all the things I asked you to buy?" Han Qian looked at his father reading under the lamp and thought to himself that he was really calm and didn't care that they were about to break their legs while running outside.
"We almost lost our feet after walking around the wine kiln in Huangzhou City for a whole day. Ji Shuichun is the strongest wine in Huangzhou City. We bought a hundred jars and a thousand kilograms of lime. We also prepared them. However, we made such a big move.
, it is inevitable that you will be targeted, and there is no way to get rid of it." Fan Xicheng said.
They bought thousands of kilograms of quicklime and threw it in the face of the thieves when they met the enemy. The damage was quite strong, but Fan Xicheng didn't know what Han Qian ordered them to do by buying hundreds of jars of liquor in Huangzhou City and selling it in Xuzhou?
When the ceramics are shipped, a special wooden frame must be built and stuffed with straw to ensure that the wine jar will not be broken due to shaking along the way.
Now that hundreds of jars of spirits are being shipped, it would be a blessing to be able to ensure that half of them are not broken when they arrive in Xuzhou.
Besides, isn't it more important to consider how to reach Xuzhou safely now? When will you have time to think about selling wine and making money?
Fan Xicheng accompanied Han Daoxun into Huangzhou today. He and others were busy with this all day, and he felt very depressed.
"I'm not afraid that Zhao Mingting's people won't keep an eye on us! Lead me to have a look," Han Qian said.
Walking to the backyard, hundreds of jars of wine have been piled in the corner, covered with a layer of tung oil cloth to prevent it from raining at night.
Han Qian took out a jar of wine, poured some wine and tasted it.
No matter how strong the spirits of today are, they are extremely limited. Even if they are distilled and the alcohol content is doubled, they cannot be ignited.
Han Qian asked Zhao Ting'er to help him get a sea bowl and a bag of lime. He poured more than half a bowl of wine and sprinkled the quicklime little by little until no more quicklime was incorporated into the wine. He let it sit for a while and then took a new one.
Bowl, pour out the less turbid wine in the upper layer, light it with a fire stick, and you will see bright blue flames rising up.
"What is this? It actually burns hotter than lamp oil?" Fan Xicheng didn't expect that the young master poured out half a bowl of slightly turbid wine and it burned so hotly. He asked excitedly.
Han Qian smiled inwardly and thought to himself, at that time, lamp oil was mainly made from soybean oil and other vegetable oils. How could it burn more vigorously than high-purity alcohol, and it was not kerosene or gasoline?
"This is pure wine, you can also call it alcohol," Han Qian said, "Following the method I just used, you may be able to extract twenty jars of pure wine that can ignite fire from hundreds of jars of strong wine, but remember
Sprinkle the lime in slowly so as not to let the wine boil. Stop when you see that the lime can no longer be incorporated into the wine. Let it sit for a while. The clear liquid on top is pure wine."
"I can really extract twenty jars of pure wine." If there are twenty jars of pure wine that is better than lamp oil, and the opponent is not aware of it, Fan Xicheng will know how to easily defeat the enemy in this battle.
"After you extract it, pour half a bowl into each jar and verify it. When filling it into small clay pots, remember to fill it half full, not full..." Han Qian couldn't explain to them that quicklime reacts with water, and it doesn't matter.
Alcohol does not react, so alcohol can be purified in this way. He asked Fan Xicheng again, "How much did these hundreds of jars of wine cost?"
"Young Master said that he wanted to buy the strongest wine in Huangzhou City. Jizhou Spring is really not cheap. These 100 jars of wine cost 160,000 yuan." Fan Xicheng said.
Han Qian frowned with heartache. If he hadn't burned down Yangtan Water Village and robbed fifty or sixty cakes of gold without secretly returning it to Yang Qin, so many people would have eaten, drank, and had sex along with the damaged mules and horses, and he would have subsidized them.
Private money went in, and he was already bankrupt at this time.
Of course Yang Qin didn't know what Han Qian was thinking, so he squatted there excitedly and curiously and continued to let the flames rise in the pottery bowl filled with pure wine.
He knew that the space in a warship was narrow, and he was most afraid of fire. Therefore, whether it was river bandits or government water camps, they were also most cautious about fire attacks. They did not just organize twenty or thirty people and shoot rockets to easily set the enemy ship on fire.
of.
If you want a fire attack to succeed, you need a large amount of fire starters that can be thrown intensively, and the fire starters must be able to burn quickly and trigger a large fire in the shortest time, making it difficult for the opponent to extinguish it.
Only by creating fatal chaos for the opponent within a certain period of time can it be possible to defeat more with less.
Otherwise, even if the opponent's warship ignites a fire, the fire is not big enough and spreads fast enough, which still gives the opponent enough time to engage in a chaotic battle. They have gathered all the manpower here, and there are only sixty or seventy people. Two
How can a ship withstand the siege of nearly 300 men and six fast galleys?
Yang Qin knew that drinking strong alcohol would scratch his throat, but he didn't know that pure alcohol extracted from lime could actually burn such a raging flame. He was sweating in his heart, thinking that even if he wanted to attack Han Daoxun's ship,
If you are unprepared, the end is probably not much better than the destruction of the village and the death of everyone, right?
"The Jiang bandits have six boats. We still have to lure them into a narrow water area before we can destroy them all with fire." There are really twenty jars of pure wine that can ignite flames, and the bandits don't have much defense. This battle will be difficult.
It's so easy to fight. Tian Cheng, who usually keeps a low profile around Han Qian, couldn't help but come up and offer advice.
"How are you going to lure and ambush the Jiang bandits? You guys must come up with a plan. I've been tired from running all day and my legs and feet are sore. I have to ask Ting'er to help me squeeze and relax." Han Qian yawned and handed over the specific battle plan.
Zhao Wuji, Tian Cheng, Gao Shao, and Fan Xicheng discussed with Yang Qin. He took Zhao Ting'er into the house and relaxed by squeezing his shoulders and legs. He thought that this team should be able to get along well through this long trip. Before the death of Emperor Tianyou,
He might be able to live a stable life for a few days and enjoy his former wild and luxurious life.
