There was no roar of gongs and drums, no blast of firecrackers, not even the deep and high-pitched chants of the sailors.
This huge fleet of ships on the canal quietly set sail on such an ordinary morning and slowly moved towards the north.
When the sand ship set off, Xiao Han, Jia Xiaodong and others boarded the passenger ship together, preparing to follow the fleet back to Chang'an.
Because the trip was sudden, almost no one knew that he would be leaving, so the dock was quiet. Except for a few dock stewards, there was no one to see him off.
"Have you finished explaining everything?"
Standing on the deck, Xiao Han looked at Ziyi who hurried onto the ship from the dock and asked her with a smile.
"Well!" Zi Yi looked up and saw Xiao Han, a blush rose on her pretty face, and then nodded gently: "According to the order of the Marquis, I entrusted the rest of the food shipment to the Wu County Magistrate, and he also promised , we must complete your instructions.”
"That's good..." Xiao Han sighed softly after hearing this, turned his head and looked into the distance again, not knowing what he was thinking at this time.
He did not go to say goodbye to County Magistrate Wu in person this time, not because he was asserting his identity or putting on airs.
In fact, in Xiao Han's heart, he still had a very good impression of Magistrate Wu who had helped him a lot.
As for why Ziyi should go to see him on his behalf, it was just because Xiao Han didn't want to cause more trouble before leaving, so it was good to leave quietly like this.
In the sky, a gust of wind blew by, and Xiao Han's robes swayed in the moist spring breeze.
Ziyi stood behind Xiao Han, looking at the slightly thin figure in front of him and biting his lower lip, with a hint of loss in his beautiful eyes.
During this trip, the relationship between the two had already shown signs of further development.
But now, everything seems to be back to where it started.
"Hey, maybe I could have been a little more bold at that time..." Zi Yi thought resentfully.
————
The grain transport fleet set off very quickly, especially the first batch of ship bosses, almost all of whom were invited by Ma Laoliu one by one.
Such a group of people can be regarded as masters among masters, whether it is their familiarity with boats or their mastery of river water conditions.
In fact, they didn't even need a unified commanding staff, they just hung up their sails one after another and sailed from the shore to the river.
On the sparkling water, countless canvases were hung on the masts. Blown by the spring breeze, the originally dry sails quickly swelled up, driving the heavy sand ship forward.
"What a magnificent fleet."
Gradually putting away those other thoughts, Ziyi looked at the mighty sails in front of her that seemed to cover the entire water surface, and couldn't help but praise softly.
Xiao Han, who was deep in thought, was awakened by Zi Yi's words. He looked back at Zi Yi, shook his head and said with a smile: "This is nothing spectacular."
"Huh?" Ziyi frowned slightly and asked Xiao Han: "With so many ships and so much food, isn't it spectacular?"
"It doesn't count." Xiao Han sighed, took a few steps forward and grabbed the railing of the ship, but looked into the distance.
"In May of the seventh year of Daye, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty ordered the counties south of the Yellow River, south of the Huaihe River, and south of the Yangtze River to build 50,000 baggage transport vehicles, and then mobilized civilians and ships to transport grain from Liyangcang and Luokoucang. Zhuojun mobilized additional ships to transport weapons, armor, and siege tools! On this river at that time, tens of thousands of ships were connected end to end, stretching for more than a thousand miles, which is called spectacular! "
This period of history is clearly recorded in history books.
It's just that although Zi Yi is smart, he doesn't like these ancient history books. In addition, it has been eighteen years since the seventh year of Daye. Zi Yi was just born at that time and had never experienced it at all, so this was the first time he heard Xiao Han say Considering the power of the Sui Dynasty, one can imagine the shock in his heart.
"For a war, tens of thousands of ships could be dispatched, stretching thousands of miles?" Ziyi covered her mouth in shock. Ziyi couldn't imagine how grand the scene must have been! What kind of scale would that war be?
"Yeah, it's a pity that he was defeated in the end! He was completely defeated! Not only did he lose the country's destiny, but even the canal was in ruins!"
Before Zi Yi could ask any more questions, Xiao Han had already said the rest of his words, but the past events and thoughts he was talking about now had already flown thousands of miles to Chang'an, the capital of the country.
At this time, he could already imagine how much pressure Li Shimin must bear now in the face of the sudden changes in the grassland!
The fall of the Sui Dynasty is just around the corner!
But what the Tang Dynasty had to deal with this time was the Turks who were a hundred times more powerful than Goguryeo!
Those conservative factions and peace-seeking factions in the DPRK were opposed to sending troops when the Turks were weak. Now that the Turks have suddenly made such a turnaround, they may have already overwhelmed Zhongshu Province by asking for the withdrawal of the attack.
"Hey, I shouldn't have hid so far away in the first place! Now I'm free, but I don't have the ability to interfere in these big things." He slapped the railing hard, and for the first time, Xiao Han felt angry at his own evasion. Feeling of regret.
But as he taught Ma Laoliu: In this world, there is no regret medicine.
All he can do now is to rush back to Chang'an as soon as possible to take a dip in this muddy water!
Fortunately, this huge fleet looked bloated, but in fact it was not slow at all. It set off in the morning and arrived in Suzhou in the evening.
But what made the Suzhou governor depressed was that after he got the news, he dropped everything and hurried over, but he didn't expect it again.
The fleet didn't stop at all, sailing directly in front of him and heading north.
On the first day of February, the grain transport fleet entered Wuxi, and on the third day of the lunar month, it arrived in Runzhou!
The fleet that had been traveling for several consecutive years made some corrections and supplements in Runzhou this time, and then directly crossed the Yangtze River and headed for Hangzhou.
When crossing the river, Xiaodong and Lengzi deliberately looked around on the river with binoculars, trying to find Lao Lin's ferry.
Unfortunately, when Lao Lin first saw this huge fleet, he scolded his son and hid on the shore, so the two of them didn't see those old friends until the end.
On the fourth day of February, the fleet officially entered Yangzhou.
As soon as he arrived at Yangzhou Pier, Xiao Han saw his daughter, Xue Pan, his master and Sun Simiao.
They had received the news about Xiao Han in advance, packed up, and were waiting on their ship.
There was no need to get off the boat, but people were directly put on the gangplank. Xiao Han tremblingly returned to his own boat from the passenger ship. As soon as he jumped off, he didn't have time to look at Xue Pan and others. He hugged his daughter first and kissed her little face hard. Kissed a few times.
The little princess is still too young to be afraid of strangers, so she just giggles in Xiao Han's arms. Hearing this innocent laughter, the anxiety that has been pressing in Xiao Han's heart seems to be dispelled a lot, at least On his face, a long-lost smile appeared.
