This sentence sounded just polite, but from Chen Ran's mouth, Hou Zhongxin heard more than just politeness.
That's not just humility, but an emperor who really doesn't care about Dajin. Hou Zhongxin even saw a contemptuous smile at the corner of Chen Ran's mouth.
Hou Zhongxin couldn't help but be stunned.
Chen Ran then waved his hand and said with a smile: "The emperor is too far away from us! We are soldiers of the Ding Navy. All we need is an order from our envoy... that's enough."
Of course, these words were meant to cover up, but when the two sentences were combined, the unscrupulous contempt could not be concealed. Moreover, this is different from the literati of the Song Dynasty in the Southern Dynasties who often scorned the captives as "thief Liang" and "Chief Ge". This kind of contempt was based on their strong confidence in their own force.
"Yes, yes, that's true." Hou Zhongxin laughed.
The two continued to chat for a while.
Ding Haijun had to arrange camping for the night, and it was inconvenient for Hou Zhongxin to keep disturbing him. He had various thoughts in his mind and was anxious to discuss it with Ding Zhan, so he took his leave.
As soon as he left the fleet, he heard the sound of gongs.
This was to inform the people that the enemy troops trying to approach had been driven away, and the construction of Miaoyin County could be continued as soon as possible.
Hou Zhongxin slowed down, took two more steps toward the county seat, and looked up.
Maoyin County is originally a wild land to the south of Lu County. There are large areas of water and dense reed ponds nearby. In the early years when the Liao Kingdom was powerful, Khitan nobles would hunt here every spring in Yanfangdian, where there was the Shenqian Palace where the Emperor of the Liao Dynasty stayed. The residents then gathered into towns and cities, and settled in Dadingfu, the capital of the Jurchens. In order to ensure the water transportation of Lushui, this place was promoted to Maoyin County.
Spring has just begun, and there are already flocks of migratory birds that recognize the cold and heat early, resting and hunting here. Following the gong's command, geese and swans were alarmed in droves. In the town of Miaoyin County, which had just been burned and destroyed not long ago, thousands of people rushed over carrying iron catalpas or timbers, and they were all sweating.
Miaoyin County is located to the west of Jigou, to the east of Yanfangdian, which is Yongnusu in the Han Dynasty, and to the south of Lushui River. The terrain surrounded by water on three sides is actually very suitable for defense. I don’t know how it was defeated by the Mongolian army before.
Ding Haijun's fleet arrived here at Shenshi. They first sent their men north to fight with the small group of Hu Qi who had been following the nuisance and drove them away. All ministries quickly gathered building materials and built temporary military camps and fortresses.
Planks were erected one after another to form wooden walls, wooden stakes were driven into the ground, and then a watchtower was built. A lot of the wood and iron materials left in Zhigu Village had been requisitioned by Chen Ran before, and they also played a role at this time.
The fortress has complete facilities. The outermost part is based on the ruins of the county town, and there is also a strong and concave and convex fence. The outer extension of the fence is close to the dock. But the scale of the entire camp was not large, with at most one or two hundred people stationed there, so it was built very quickly.
Hundreds of Ding navy officers and nearly a thousand civilians were busy together, and the sky had not yet reached dusk, and it had a general appearance. Tonight and tomorrow morning we will work hard for a while, leaving one general here to lead the troops, and the fleet can continue to move towards Lu County.
According to Chen Ran, Ding Haijun planned to maintain a supply channel to Zhongdu along the Lu River, so in the past five days, every time the fleet camped, a military camp was set up. ….
[To be honest, I have been using @ recently.
Right preparation.
The significance of this kind of preparation is not understood by those who are not from the army. But Hou Zhongxin knew that this represented the superb level of military management and abundant material reserves. It represented that Shandong's Dinghai Navy was able to mobilize large-scale troops and materials across hundreds of miles of sea routes, and had the ability to support this. A kind of stable political power mobilized.
Is this what the Jurchens can do?
Don't talk about it, don't talk about the Jurchens who are in chaos now. Even when the Jurchen Emperor Shizong, who was known as Xiao Yao and Shun, was still alive, they didn't have this ability. Even the current Song Dynasty... The navy of the Song Dynasty is naturally much stronger than that of the Shandong people, but the coastal system... Alas, in short, the Song Dynasty has the same difficulties as the Song Dynasty.
According to what Chen Ran said during the conversation just now, in Shandong alone, there are tens of thousands of soldiers with tax-free acres and under the command of Na Guoning. The navy also has a large territory in Liaodong, and it drives foreigners to die for it. Such power may be enough to affect the overall situation!
The decline of the Jin Kingdom was indeed as expected by the imperial court. If the Song Dynasty wanted to make a difference by taking advantage of the decline of the Jin Kingdom, it could obviously focus on more than just titles and gold and silk to reward the army. As an envoy, the place we need to go to is obviously not just Zhongdu!
Hou Zhongxin thought about it several times, changed to a small boat, and rushed back to his fleet.
The Song envoy's fleet is located in a small port branch on the west bank of Lushui. In terms of size, it is smaller than the Ding Navy, but it still has more than thirty large and small ships. The main items loaded are silk, tea, ginger, lacquerware, paper and pens, books, etc. that Ding Yan prepared in advance.
Over the years, the envoys sent by the Song and Jin countries to each other also enjoyed the trade privilege of carrying materials without going through the market. This kind of privilege is a secret unspoken rule and cannot be brought to light, but most envoys are counting on making a fortune from this.
That's why when the Jin Kingdom was in turmoil earlier, several waves of Song envoys claimed that they were too delayed to reach Zhongdu and turned back halfway.
In fact, no matter how chaotic the situation in the Kingdom of Jin is, a small number of envoys can always arrive if they think of a way; it is just that it is extremely difficult to transport the goods to Zhongdu by overcoming obstacles along the way. The problem is, if the goods cannot arrive and the envoys are deprived of this natural fortune, why should they take such a big risk to visit the enemy's territory? ….
The goods Ding Yan prepared this time were according to the specifications of previous years.
After the land route was blocked and turned into a sea route, he felt that the group of governors, gift officers, guides, and etiquette officers in the mission were not enough to ensure safety, so he used acquaintances to travel to the Song and Jin border areas between Chuzhou and Haizhou. , contacted maritime merchants and recruited a group of strong men.
At this moment, the young men were resting scatteredly on various boats. When they saw Hou Zhongxin approaching, some stood up and saluted, while others remained lying down, not caring at all.
These are people from the mountains and plains, so etiquette cannot be forced. I heard that these strong men had the experience of joining the army in the Kingdom of Jin earlier, but later lived among the people for various reasons. Some of them were also involved with the Red Coat Army. They were ruthless people who had fought in the war for a long time.
However, according to the merchant who arranged the sea route, these people were entrusted by others, were loyal to others, and were very reliable in their work. At the very least, every effort must be made to protect the mission's property.
Hou Zhongxin looked at the calluses on their hands and shoulders and the way they walked, and he knew that all of them were outstanding in skills, and they were not inferior to others in the army of the Song Dynasty. Such a good man is living in the world, which shows that the state affairs of the Jin Kingdom are really bad.
With Ding Yan's status, he certainly wouldn't have much dealings with these strong men.
Hou Zhongxin was a military attache and had some ideas on this matter. Therefore, in the past ten months, he treated several young leaders very favorably. He also approached them several times and asked them if they were interested in following him to serve in the Southern Dynasty, promising food and salary. The superiors will definitely pay generously.
At this moment, seeing the laziness of the strong men, he was not annoyed. He stepped forward with a smile, raised his hand and patted a young leader on the shoulder: "Stop falling asleep and come drink with me."
The little boss was sleeping comfortably. He opened his eyes and looked at Hou Zhongxin blankly, not awake at all.
Hou Zhongxin smiled and was about to say something else when he suddenly saw the little leader suddenly jump up and said sternly: "Be on guard!"
Following his call, nearly two hundred strong men were like boiling water in a pot, drawing their swords and stringing their bows. Immediately, a solemn murderous aura filled the fleet.
This reaction was too sudden. In the mission,
The governor from Xingzai and the sixty soldiers were horrified for a moment. The officials were in a panic. Some people didn't know what they were thinking. They immediately jumped off the boat and ran away in waist-deep water. Some people fell to their knees on the boat.
Hou Zhongxin was also startled by the reaction of these strong men, thinking that they finally showed their true colors as gangsters and planned to kill people and steal wealth here. Then he saw them looking warily towards the east bank of Lushui, so he quickly stood on the bow of the boat and looked there.
It turned out that at this time, a cavalry team with distinctive armor and stomach galloped from the direction of Tongzhou upstream of Lushui River, and unceremoniously crashed into the camp of Ding Haijun. Chen Ran, the commander of the navy, was leading a group of people to confront him. .
crab heart
