At Jingkou Pier, huge warships are laid out almost all the way from Jingkou to Guazhou Ferry on the opposite side.
For Li Xingchen, Jingkou is definitely a familiar place. When he crossed from Guazhou to Jingkou and then to Jiankang Prefecture, he participated in the chaotic internal fighting in Nanchen for the first time. It was precisely because of this internal fighting
He grasped the sharp contradiction between Chen Shubao and Chen Shuling, and thus was able to win the favor of the officials in the East Palace, which provided the necessary prerequisites for him to lead the attack on Jiangling and enter Shu alone.
Now he's back again.
Although this is not the first time I have been to Jingkou after coming to Jiangnan from Huaibei, Li Xingchen even came here before when he went to Jiangnan for inspection.
But this time, his mentality may be the most different.
Because starting from today, I can finally draw my sword and point it at the Central Plains.
My biggest dream after coming to this era is about to become a reality.
"I lead Jiang Yuanxun, the governor of Yangzhou, to see your majesty!"
"Chen Shushen, the Minister of Household Affairs, is here to see Your Majesty!"
The civil and military officials who came to greet him at Jingkou were also old acquaintances of Li Xinchen.
Jiang Yuanxun was an old man in the capital, and Chen Shushen was Li Xingchen's brother-in-law. This time the Han Dynasty led the country to the Northern Expedition, and the newly dredged Jiangnan Canal became the main artery for transporting grain and weapons and equipment on the east side of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, it also drove the transportation of food and weapons and equipment from Jingkou to Guangling on the other side.
It has become the most prosperous existence in the southeastern region of Han Dynasty.
In fact, after the opening of the Jiangnan Canal, these important towns along the canal have shed their previous burdens, mainly the burdens brought by aristocratic families, and ushered in a period of rapid development. The scale of the city has continued to expand, and both inside and outside the city have been transformed into large and small markets.
and warehouses, and the outside of the city is also covered by a large number of workshops.
With the help of the canal, these towns have ushered in great economic and industrial development.
Now that the Han Dynasty was engaged in the Northern Expedition, these towns had become an indispensable link in the transportation of grain. Naturally, various state capitals seized the opportunity to take advantage of the war and expand the scale of the cities again.
Therefore, the Jingkou that appeared in front of Li Xingchen at this time was even different from the Jingkou he saw when he came here last time. A few months is enough time for some earth-shaking changes to occur. Jingkou was still there when he came last time.
There has been a lot of construction work, and now the expansion of the city's periphery has been completed. There is very little waste and dust on the streets, and the vehicles and ships coming and going are in an orderly manner.
When the war came, this important town in the south of the Yangtze River was also operating at full capacity.
It is precisely because the line from Jingkou to Guazhou Ferry plays an important role that even Chen Shushen, who is the Minister of Household Affairs, has personally been stationed at Jingkou.
Li Xingchen even has reason to suspect that if this war lasts longer, Jingkou and Guangling, the two towns that join hands with Jiajiang, are likely to replace Jiankang Prefecture and become the most fertile and prosperous cities in the southeast. After all,
This was a scene that had happened in history. After Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty opened the Grand Canal, Guangling suddenly replaced Jiankang Prefecture, which had been renamed Jiangning, and became the richest place in the south.
Not to mention that as a later generation, Li Xingchen knew very well that none of the Jinling and Wujun along the Grand Canal were fuel-efficient lamps.
In an era of rapid economic development, Li Xingchen himself cannot decide whether Jiankang Prefecture can maintain its identity as the center of Jiangnan, or whether it will be reduced to playing with the state capitals in the west.
After all, under the tide of the great era, even he himself can only play a role in making the best use of the situation, not to mention that China's experience in this era is completely different from that in another time and space.
Li Xingchen did not intend to stay too long in Jingkou. He was not here for a trip, but to go north to fight. However, Li Xingchen still wanted to see the main food for the northward campaign in person.
Li Ping stretched out his hand to stop Li Ping from sticking to him like a dog-skin plaster, and Li Xingchen turned over and jumped onto a boat on the pier. The boat shook slightly, and the boss on the boat trembled and hurried over to help him.
Li Xingchen waved his hand and said with a smile: "I was still on the boat at the beginning, so this shaking is nothing. Forget it about Jiang Qing's family, Zijing, do you dare to come down?"
Chen Shushen jumped onto the boat, and with agility, he raised his hand to Li Xingchen, quite a bit like "Why don't you dare to do this?"
Li Xingchen reached out and poked the rice bag on the boat, then opened it and looked at the stone bullets piled on the other side. These stone bullets are the main "food" for the Han army's thunder carts: "How much food from the south of the Yangtze River can be transported north now?"
"Your Majesty, we can still transport at least 10,000 shi now, but I'm afraid it will be difficult to maintain this quantity in the future," Chen Shushen said in a deep voice, "The troops and horses have not moved, but the food and grass have gone first. Most of the food in the south of the Yangtze River has been transported north, and now the remaining
The main purpose is to transport weapons and equipment produced in the workshop, and food does not account for the majority."
Li Xingchen nodded slightly: "Judging from the current situation, this war will probably last for a long time. Regarding food, it is after spring plowing and I can understand that there is not enough food. However, after the summer and autumn harvests, food must not be cut off.
We still have no way of understanding the situation in the north, we can only get some general information from the White Robe, so we absolutely cannot place any hope that the north can provide enough food."
Chen Shushen solemnly handed over his hands: "I obey your order."
Li Xinchen reached out and patted the rice bag, then raised his head and looked at Jiang Tian in the distance.
The river and sky are vast, and the road is long.
After all, Li Xingchen did not cross the river with much fanfare. Taking advantage of the darkness, huge warships set sail and turned out of Beigu Bay along Beigu Mountain, and then crossed directly to Guazhou.
This time, Li Xingchen will not stop along the way and will directly reach the front line, Zhongli.
Most of the Navy's warships have been dispatched to Huaibei. Most of the remaining ships are actually new ships built last year in response to the upcoming war. Certain improvements have been made to address some of the problems that the Navy has discovered, especially
This is to reduce the weight of the fire protection facilities on the ship, thereby reducing the draft of the ship itself so that it can carry more troops and horses.
When Li Xingchen went north this time, he actually transported these large and small warships to Huaibei.
Li Xinchen stretched out his hand to lean on the railing, watching the ship chop through the waves, and took a deep breath.
The wind on the river was cool, and a bright moon hung upside down in the water.
Zu Ti originally crossed the river from here and struck the middle stream, and now that he has arrived here, he wonders if these heroes and sages who once aspired to the Northern Expedition will watch him and protect him from the vast sky.
"Come on, that drum hammer!" Li Xingchen yelled.
Among the fleet heading north, the sound of drums rose from the ground.
The quiet night was broken by the sound of drums.
On top of thousands of ships, drums echoed simultaneously.
On the river, the waves seem to be surging with the sound of drums.
On the sixth day of April in the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, Li Xingchen beat the drums and marched north to attack the Zhou Dynasty.