The last time the Mongolian army invaded, the main reason why they were able to penetrate deep into the hinterland of Dajin was that the water transport warehouses in the six states of Qing, Cang, En, Jing, Xian, and Shen were controlled by the Mongolian army at the beginning of the war.
In the 21st year of Dading, the imperial court ordered six states along the river to offer millet because the capital's reserves were not extensive. Relying on the Cao River, the six prefectures sent out more than a million stones of grain at one time, transported it to Tongzhou, and drove it into the capital to meet the urgent need.
By the first year of Zhenyou, there were dozens of warehouses in the six prefectures, collecting grain and fodder materials from Hebei East and West Road, Damingfu Road, Nanjing Road 4, Six Prefectures, Twenty-two Military Prefectures and 76 counties. Not to mention the huge amount of materials waiting to be transferred, the amount of materials stored in private warehouses by Caosi officials and subordinate staff over the years and the unspeakable "discoloration" and "loss" amounted to more than a million dan.
With this, the Mongolian army would naturally be able to provide enough supplies for their cavalry to gallop around. Even in the depths of winter, they would not have to worry about lack of food. Many Mongolian horses have eaten a whole winter's grain and are fatter than in the past when they gnawed hay on the grasslands.
After the Mongolian army retreated, what was left to the Jin Kingdom was an unprecedented mess.
Although the warehouses that were the lifeblood of Zhongdu were looted and burned, nine out of ten of the canoe boats, caoding and even the men who pulled the boats on land were also lost. And because many facilities had not been maintained for a long time or were set on fire by the Mongols, the paralysis of the entire water transportation system could not be reversed at all.
The imperial court appointed Pu San Anzhen, the envoy of Hebei Xuanfu, to also be in charge of the Jingzhou Water Transport Department. It originally hoped that he would resume water transport as soon as possible and ensure the supply to the central capital. When Pu San Anzhen was in Zhongdu, he also made a good promise to the emperor.
But when he got to the local level, Pusan Anzhen felt the difficulty of being in charge of the local area.
Hebei Lianglu was the place that was most severely damaged by Mongolia. The remaining household registrations in various places are no longer 20% of what they were back then. Pusan Anzhen tried his best to recruit exiles and restore production slightly, but how could he have any leftover to support Zhongdu?
Even if there is a little margin, Pusan Anzhen can't raise troops by himself?
After all, he was disgraced in Shandong!
In the end, Pusan Anzhen not only failed to resume water transportation as soon as possible, but also diverted part of the grain sent to Zhongdu from Nanjing Road from time to time.
And King Sui, who controlled the Nanjing Road, had the idea of locating a small gold in the territory of Dajin from the beginning, and the food supplies transported to the north were always so small.
As a result, there will always be a large gap in Zhongdu's material sources. To fill this gap, we had to rely on the Shandong Xuanfu envoy Guo Ning and the maritime trade routes controlled by Guo Ning.
Ever since he came to the throne, the emperor's fear of Shandong could not be hidden from anyone. All the officials with higher status in the entire central capital knew that Ambassador Guo acted unscrupulously and killed imperial officials like he was killing chickens. He was a living rebel. Even compared to Cao Cao, Zhu Wen, Gao Huan, Yu Wentai and others, they were only one step short of kidnapping the emperor.
Even thinking about it carefully, this Guo Xuanshi had kidnapped the emperor a long time ago. If he hadn't been so kind to the old Prime Minister Tu Shan, who would be sitting in the Da'an Palace now.
Guo Ning is indeed a big rebel. Everyone understands the truth. The real demand for food cannot be sustained here. The problem of feeding millions of people on Zhongdu Road must be solved.
Over the past year, trade between Shandong and Zhongdu has been booming. Many wealthy households in Zhongdu who had some money tried their best to do business with Shandong caravans. They then took the grain and presented it to the court, and then followed the expedient rules set by the court to seek official positions and promotions. .
It’s not that people in Zhongdu like to be officials that much. It was all because in the past year, in order to win over military men, the emperor had been sending out high-ranking military positions such as Dutong and Meng'an. As a result, there were more than 10,000 dutongs in the city at most, bullying the market and robbing men and women at every turn.
In order to fight against more than 10,000 governors, the people of Zhongdu really couldn't rest assured if they didn't hold an official position in their hands. Fortunately, Xu Ding presided over the formulation of the expedient order. Xu Ding was not evil-minded. He only needed at least one hundred and fifty kilograms of rice to move up to the rank of official and become a full-time envoy.
So in the past few months, the entire chain of operations around the Bohai Sea has become like this: the imperial court sends officials, wealthy households send money, the Southern Dynasties sends grain, Liaodong sends horses, and the Shandong people send out nothing except a few weapons and stomachs. My own fleet is busy going back and forth, so no matter what benefits I get, I will get the first one.
Unfortunately, even the fleet is the property of the Zhongdu Wanyan clan, and was snatched away by the rebel Guo Ning!
At that time, the three royal highnesses, King Yonggong of Yue, King Yongsheng of Kui and King Huo of Congyi, were so wealthy and powerful that they were once able to compete with the current emperor for the throne in Zhongdu. Unfortunately, Zhongdu was in chaos at that time, and all three of their highnesses were killed by thieves overnight. These fleets, and even the foundation of Zhigu Village, were advantaged by Guo Ning, who was the fastest and most ruthless.
After Guo Ning took over this business, it has continued to expand as a center for many maritime merchant fleets to gather and transship.
Where the three branches of the river converge, on the other side of the Xin'an Sea, the original convex-shaped Tufu highland has long been unable to accommodate so many buildings, ports and manpower.
When the river swelled last summer, a group of merchants were fed up with the threat of their property being flooded. They pooled their own money and recruited a large number of strong men to drive piles and fill the soil on the river beach and continue to expand the southern side of the convex shape. The area of the entire highland has thus expanded to four or five times its original size. It is said to be divided into eight grids on its back to resemble a divine turtle.
However, after all, this place was a commercial center, because the Mongols attacked again. A large number of merchants living here fled, some to Zhongdu, some to the Hebei states south of Lushui, and some felt that Shandong was safer, so they followed the fleet to Laizhou. With the rapid separation of people, a large number of manpower and facilities had to be quickly relocated to Shandong for refuge.
After all, the family has a big business, and the speed of the boss cannot be increased at all.
Chen Ran stared at the two hundred people in Yidu Dongyang City who had completed five days of special training. When he led his men to Zhigu Village, many key places had just been demolished, and many places were in a mess.
At this time, if the Mongols penetrate deep into the Zhigu Village, it will be like a tiger entering a pack of wolves, and the losses in human, financial and material resources will be huge.
Therefore, Chen Ran had to kill and destroy this Mongolian cavalry team. This approach can at least ensure immediate stability and give the successors time to set up camp and prepare for war.
The troops and horses he brought with him, under the banner of King Qin, were the top elites in the Ding Navy and were fully equipped. Moreover, they all know that this trip to the north is related to the major affairs of the Dinghai Navy and they have a heavy responsibility. Even on the ship, they are ready to do anything and will not slack off.
Chen Ran gave an order, and all the soldiers disembarked to ambush in advance, and skillfully set up a pocket array. Within a moment, they came back with more than 20 heads of Mongolian cavalry, and their own casualties were very minor.
Seeing this, the generals all laughed and said, "Qianji, this is indeed a good sign."
The fleet stopped for a while south of Xin'an Hairu. Chen Ran asked people to gather a group of refugees and personally asked the Mongols about their recent movements. Then the fleet continued westward and arrived at Zhigu Village half an hour later.
The one who went out early to greet him was Li Yun's capable subordinate, a supervisor specifically responsible for operating here, named Yan Ming.
Of course Guo Ning himself knew that maritime trade routes were the lifeblood of the navy; but due to the inertia from ancient times, his subordinates, both civil and military, did not pay attention to this aspect.
Li Yun, the judge of Qunmu District, was actually an important figure who controlled huge financial power and military force, but many people in Yidu Mansion still regarded him as Li Ting's younger brother. Even many of Li Yun's subordinates did not have a very high status at this time.
This Yan Ming is inevitably like this. He is the son of a businessman from Baodi County and has known Li Yun since childhood, but he rarely has direct contact with the senior officials of Ding Haijun. Nominally, he wanted to meet Du Shisheng from Zhongdu, but in fact, he didn't see Du Shisheng a few times in a year.
A few days ago, he received a notice that Chen Ran, a close confidant of Guo Xuanzhi, was coming to Zhigu Village with a fleet of manpower. He was so shocked that he waited inside and outside every day. After meeting Chen Ran, there seemed to be endless words to say.
"Look at Qianzhi! That area is the wood area in our Zhigu village. We are responsible for making various parts of the ship from wood, such as masts and planks. Those piled up are giant wood shipped from Liaodong, which have just begun to dry. , so they are not yet suitable for use, I will arrange a ship to transport them to Shandong. The next area where the hemp tendons are piled is the production area of the glutinous rice materials... and those warehouses! This newly built place was originally used to store expensive It’s supplies, but it’s been cleared out now. I plan to dismantle these pieces and make the fence of our village taller and thicker..."
"Yan Tikong! Yan Tikong!"
Chen Ran called him several times, and only then did Yan Ming react. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "What are your instructions?"
"I'm not here to inquire about the affairs of Zhigu Village. I'm going to Zhongdu." Chen Ran said: "The Lushui is shallow and narrow at this time. I'm afraid it's difficult for sea ships to pass directly? Please arrange other ships as soon as possible, or if there are It's okay to have enough people holding hands. I have enough troops here to ensure Tsunado's safety."
Yan Ming looked at the size of the fleet and twitched his fingers.
"Is there any difficulty? Don't you have enough manpower?"
"Abundant, very abundant!" Yan Ming said repeatedly: "To be honest, a fleet is coming here this morning, and it is also going to Zhongdu. It is most convenient for the two families to set off together in one place."
