The fifth watch is at the fourth quarter of the Yin hour, and it has already entered summer. The morning light is spreading, and the sky and the earth are clear.
The city gate of Huangzhou City also opened at this time. Fan Xicheng hired a carriage to transport hundreds of jars of wine, whether genuine or fake, out of the city for shipment. He met Zhao Kuo, Lin Zongjing, and Guo Nuer who were in charge of guarding the ship at the dock outside the city.
Waiting to meet up.
No matter how rampant the river bandits and lake bandits were between Jiang and Hubei, they still could not isolate business travelers. There were many boats moored at the wharf outside Huangzhou City, but they were mainly short-distance ones.
In an inconspicuous awning ship, Ji Kun stared at the two ships more than a hundred steps away through a small hole. He saw Han Daoxun, Han Qian and his son, surrounded by many family soldiers, standing at the bow of the ship, seemingly
I looked at the Huangzhou Earthen City Wall that had not been repaired for a long time with emotion.
"The Han family father and son actually wanted to sell wine from Huangzhou to Xuzhou. This time they will fall into our hands. It's really unfair." A thin-faced man sitting in the corner of the cabin couldn't help but sneer as he watched this scene.
road.
Ji Kun frowned. There was still a letter sent by Zhao Mingting yesterday in his arms.
It took them more than half a month to completely sort out the events before and after the establishment of the Dragon Bird Army. All signs showed that the Third Prince had clearly grasped the method of controlling the spread of the disease at the beginning of the preparations for the establishment of the Dragon Bird Army.
, it was also implemented step by step at the beginning of the establishment of the Tunying Military Mansion.
In the past six months, Han Daoxun's son Han Qian rarely visited Linjianghou Mansion Yingmao, but spent more time in and out of the Qiuhushan Villa located inside the Longque Army Camp. And quicklime is the most important to control the spread of the epidemic.
A large amount of supplies were put into use in the camp military mansion, at least 40,000 dan was invested in half a year, mainly from the craftsmanship workshop of Qiuhushan Villa.
In addition, Han Daoxun was appointed as the governor of Xuzhou this time, and Han Qian was awarded the eighth-grade military attaché when he was less than twenty years old. All this shows that Han Daoxun is the core figure in planning for the third prince.
The so-called admonishment and setting up of the people was only the first step for Han Daoxun to prepare the Longhuai Army for the people who were infected by the epidemic and starvation.
In order to plan this matter, Han Daoxun did not hesitate to offend the emperor in court, and he also had the reputation of admonishing the hungry people. Do these people really think that the road ahead is smooth and safe, and they can sell wine to make profits?
Ji Kun had deep doubts about everything he saw before him. He was far less optimistic than some of his subordinates around him, but he couldn't see where the doubts were, and his chest felt uncomfortable.
"They have hung up the sail!" A subordinate pretending to be a boatman got under the awning with bare feet and rubbed his hands expectantly. "Should we wait for news here, or should we follow behind and watch the excitement?"
"No, prepare three fast horses. Let's go ashore and keep an eye on the boat." After all, Ji Kun didn't think they could really win this time. It was just that the two or three people in the awning boat were paddling too slowly.
Even if they were not noticed, if the three of them paddled and paddled against the current for ten miles, their physical strength would soon be exhausted. They might as well go ashore and follow on horseback.
"Then our target may be a little obvious?" the subordinate said hesitantly.
"If we don't show up, will they think we're not watching?" Ji Kun glanced at his subordinate and urged him to get ashore quickly and prepare his horse.
Along the Huangzhou City section, there are embankments, roads, and more places where large and small creeks and rivers converge from the southern foot of Huaiyang Mountain and intersect with the river to form large and small Caodang lakes.
Ji Kun led two of his subordinates on fast horses. They were blocked by the river and looked for a ferry to cross the river. They bypassed the lake and swamp. They were soon pulled away by Han Daoxun's sailboat. In the afternoon, he saw a distance of ten or twenty miles away.
In the lake, there was a faint light of fire rising.
Hidden by vegetation, Jikun is located in a low-lying area with no high ground to the left or right. It is completely unknown what is happening there. I can only see birds flying in fright, and there is a lot of movement, but it is definitely not a wildfire.
Ji Kun was filled with ominous thoughts and did not care about the danger. He waded directly into the shallow water of Caoze Lake and rushed to the light of the fire, but it was already two hours before he got there.
As the sun set, in a narrow alley with a relatively steep river bank, there were only four burnt-blackened wrecks left, either half-submerged or resting on the river beach.
There were more than twenty corpses lying scattered on the river beach. They were all dressed as river bandits. It seemed that when they got off the boat and tried to wade to the shore, they were shot and killed by someone who ambushed them on the river beach. It is unknown how many corpses were washed up.
Entering the river, there was no trace of Han Daoxun's boat at this time.
Ji Kun stared at everything in front of him in stunned silence, and his two subordinates were even more in disbelief.
In front of the four wrecked boats, they saw a galley leaning sideways in the river alley. Looking at the traces on the river bed and the beach, they could roughly judge that the pirate ship had been lured into the narrow river alley by Han Daoxun.
Han Daoxun first scuttled a boat to block the way for the pirates to advance, and then the ambush soldiers on the shore threw tinder to light the pirate ship from the rear.
The fire spread in a very short period of time, and at least four pirate ships were completely burned, leaving only half of their charred shells. The out-of-control fire forced the pirates to abandon the ship under extremely unfavorable circumstances.
They landed on the beach, but were violently attacked in front of the beach. More than 20 corpses were left on the river beach, and they lost their fighting spirit. Most of the bandits had no choice but to flee along the beach to the river, or flee in panic into the other side.
Shrubs, reeds, and grassy meadows.
It can be seen that after the rebels were completely defeated, Han Daoxun pulled the sunken ship to one side so that the ship could sail out of the river. Everyone on their side should have evacuated safely.
Ji Kun and two of his subordinates abandoned their horses and carefully walked south along the river beach. For seven or eight miles, they saw another six or seven corpses washed up on the river beach. Two of them were sent to contact them.
In the secret room of the soldiers, their clothes and armor were burned to pieces by the fire. They must have been seriously burned and fell into the river and drowned.
Looking at the battle traces on the river beach, they could roughly estimate that Han Daoxun's troops ambushing on the east bank and directly participating in the ambush would not exceed fifty people. However, they took advantage of the favorable terrain and unexpected fire attacks to kill them at close range.
Three hundred river bandits fled, and more than fifty bandits even died here.
Although the thieves were not strong in fighting spirit, and their training and armor were far from elite, there was no way they would be killed like this!
Looking at all this, Ji Kun felt a chill running straight up from his tailbone. What kind of enemy was Han Daoxun that he was going to deal with? Was he too trusting when Zhao Mingting promised that Han Daoxun would never survive in Xuzhou?
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While Ji Kun was frightened and trembling, on the river more than twenty miles westward, Tian Cheng, Gao Shao and others were happily drinking half a jar of pure wine left.
Although the purified pure wine was mixed with a certain amount of lime water and was very bitter in the mouth, they had never drank such a strong wine. After sipping it in small sips, they felt a burning sensation like a line of fire along the throat and into the abdomen.
It was so fun. In other words, today's ambush battle was so fun.
Except for the fact that three of them were shot and wounded, and two of them sprained their feet while running, they killed nearly three hundred thieves and fled in a rout, crying for their fathers and mothers.
Even Tian Cheng and Gao Shao, who had ambushed and killed many bandits who could only be regarded as a ragtag group of bandits in the past, could hardly see such a victory.
Yang Qin led his troops on another galley, but their mood was complicated.
Besides, they had just experienced the tragedy of the death of their relatives in the village. No matter how smoothly the battle went, it was difficult to get excited. However, thinking that a group of them, under Ji Kun's instigation, had even tried to ambush such an enemy, there was a feeling in their chests.
A different kind of uncomfortable emotion that is difficult to explain is growing.
In the eyes of the real elites, aren't they just vulnerable rabble?
They didn't know it, but they had caused such a tragic disaster.
Han Qian was sitting at the stern of the boat, but he was not very excited. He only felt comfortable looking at the two galleys captured from the Jiang bandits behind him.
He thought that in order to block the river bandits in the ambush, they would scuttle Yang Qin's galley, so they would need to return a galley to Yang Qin. Then they could still get another galley, which was almost the same.
If it can offset the consumption of this battle, it can be regarded as neither loss nor gain.
However, thinking about such a small-scale war and the expense along the way, Han Qian hesitated to continue to win over Yang Qin and his group.
He had previously sent Zhao Wuji and others to lead Zuosi's scouts to escort them all the way. There were less than fifty people and they borrowed fifty fast horses from the camp military mansion. However, to convey news along the way, to avoid Zifangsi's eyes, he could only report from
The long route around the outside puts a lot of pressure on the horses. Sometimes they are hidden, and they even abandon the horses at every turn or even reluctantly slaughter them. So far, more than 20 fast horses have been lost.
In the north, the price of horses is cheaper, but in Jianghuai, each strong horse that can go on the battlefield is worth 80,000 to 90,000 yuan, and the loss of more than 20 fast horses is equivalent to 2 million yuan.
Han Qian was still worried about how to smooth out this account or just ignore it after returning to Jinling.
In addition, when personnel are dispatched, they need to maintain their physical strength. They will only need dry food during the journey. But when they go to market towns, they need to find ways to supplement meat, and even drink a lot to eliminate fatigue. At the same time, they buy information, stay overnight, and buy weapons to cover their tracks.
At the beginning of the assignment, each person was given an additional amount of gold, silver and precious metals equivalent to 10,000 yuan and a certain amount of copper coins as expenses, but in the end it is estimated that there will not be much left.
This expenditure amounted to more than 500,000 yuan.
Fortunately, there have been no casualties so far, and there is no need to pay a large amount of pension. But if he really succeeded in escorting his father to Xuzhou, he would still need some symbolic reward, which would cost more than ten or two hundred thousand yuan at least.
.
Calculating this, Han Qian felt that he had already used up all the money His Highness had promised to allocate to him this year.
Yang Qin and his group are very familiar with the water conditions in this area, and they are very familiar with the water conditions in this area. They can win over them and even directly integrate them into Secret Cao Zuosi. They will definitely be of great use, but thirty or fifty of them are kept outside as elites.
It's not enough to feed three kilograms of rice every day to fill your stomach.
Han Qian secretly estimated that he would have to maintain an elite team of thirty or fifty people between Jiang and Hubei, and maintain a latent state to keep an eye on the expansion of water bandits in the Jiang and Hubei area, as well as the expansion of the influence of his relatives Xu family and Anning Palace in this area.
Given the circumstances, salaries and a large amount of additional expenses, it would take at least two to three million dollars to invest every year. How can he raise more of this money?
Or in other words, can wooing Yang Qin's team between Jiang and Hubei at such a high cost bring him so much additional income every year?
At this time, Han Qian could understand why Xinchanghou Mansion and Wanhonglou had such deep foundations and long-term plots, and why they were drained away by the not-so-large Dragon Bird Army in just half a year. In fact,
They had maintained an elite secret force for operations for a long time, which was too expensive.
