When Taishi Ci saw Kong Rong, he hurriedly turned over and dismounted from his horse and saluted, saying, "Xiang Kong! Taishi Ci came late to save him, and Prime Minister Kong was frightened!"
Kong Rong kept saying that he didn't dare. In the past, Tai Shici was considered his younger brother, but now he is Lu Bu's favorite general. I heard that he is still the coach this time. How dare Kong Rong neglect him?
He also introduced Ji Ling and other deputy generals to Kong Rong, and everyone greeted him one by one.
"Please invite all the generals to sit down in the government office, and I will have people serve wine for you generals to welcome you!"
Kong Rong said and got on the horse with the help of the guards, and the group walked to the government office.
Taishi Ci was also a clever young man, and he said as he walked: "Marquis Wen received the news and heard that Kong Xiang was surrounded again, and he was really uneasy.
Because I was first asked to bring five thousand soldiers and horses to Duchang as quickly as possible to come to my aid and help Kong Xiang defend the city.
Marquis Wen will arrive with the main force soon. When the time comes, a pincer attack from inside and outside will surely solve Kong Xiang's worries once and for all! "
Kong Rong burst into tears of gratitude and thanked him profusely.
He also said to his subordinates Wu Anguo, Zong Bao and other generals: "From today on, you will obey the orders of General Taishi in all matters in the army!"
——
But Lu Bu's eight thousand troops strolled to Langya, and Xiao Jian hurriedly went out of the city to greet them.
Lu Bu did not enter the city, but invited Xiao Jian to his central army tent to speak.
Langya was originally a county in Xuzhou, but now that Tao Qian is dead, Lu Bu is naturally Xiao Jian's immediate superior.
Because Lu Bu was not polite, he said straightforwardly: "I am here to save the siege of Kong Rong in Beihai. How many men and horses do you have at your disposal?"
Xiao Jian replied: "About five thousand people..."
Langya only has more than 20,000 households and 5,000 troops, which is indeed not much. But this also just shows that Xiao Jian, like Kong Rong, has no ambition.
Lu Bu nodded and said, "In this case, you can take two thousand people and follow Zhang Liao to the north. When you get there, just listen to his orders."
After stopping for a night, Lu Bu split with Zhang Liao's soldiers and headed for the seaside with 3,000 infantry and half of the cart.
It has been almost a year, and Langya's shipyard has begun to take shape, with busy figures everywhere.
From a distance, I saw a somewhat nondescript sailing ship docked at the dock.
When Fan Yi heard that Lu Bu was coming, he hurriedly picked him up: "See Marquis Wen!"
Lu Bu nodded and said, "No need to be polite! Has the ocean-going sailing ship been built?"
Fan Yi said: "When we return to Wenhou, we have already tested it twice overseas. If there is a favorable wind, the speed will indeed be much faster.
However, if you are sailing against the wind, it is not as good as a hard sail.
Moreover, the operation of such a soft sail is quite complicated and requires more skilled sailors.
A hard sail can be operated by five or seven people, while a soft sail requires the cooperation of forty or fifty people to operate..."
Although he said it very tactfully, Fan Yi's meaning was also very clear: the sails of this big ship, which Lu Bu thought of with a slap on his forehead, were not easy to use!
Lu Bu nodded and asked, "What about the others?"
Fan Yi said: "The ship designed by Wen Hou can run smoothly in deep sea waves, has a deep draft, and can carry more cargo..."
With that said, everyone has already boarded the boat.
Lu Bu looked around for a few times and said, "Has the ocean test been completed? Can we go to sea immediately?"
Fan Yi replied: "After fifteen days of sailing on the sea, there is no big problem. Marquis Wen can sail at any time if necessary!"
Lu Bu nodded and ordered his men: "Camp where you are and move all the cannons, gunpowder, shells and other items to the boat!
Fan Yi, please replenish the fresh water and food on the ship and prepare to go to sea within three days! "
"I don't know where to go?" Fan Yi asked.
Lu Bu smiled mysteriously: "Donglai, Huang County!"
Then he patted Fan Yi on the shoulder and said: "This time we go to sea, in addition to sailors, we will bring more experienced shipbuilders with us! Let's see if there is anything that needs to be improved on this sail warship!"
"War... warship?" Fan Yi asked with a question mark on his face: "Didn't Marquis Wen say at the beginning... that this was a merchant ship used for ocean trade?"
Lu Bu laughed ferociously: "That's right! It's about trade, but it may be a business without capital! Fan Yi, you also go with the fleet, you will be lucky enough to see the first naval battle across the ages!"
In this way, Fan Yi was coaxed and deceived, and reluctantly boarded the ship.
Although Fan Yi used to help the Mi family manage maritime trade, and later helped Lu Bu manage the shipyard, this does not mean that he is a person who is accustomed to sailing!
For Fan Yi, traveling overseas by boat was really the first time for a big girl to get into a sedan chair.
Although it was just an offshore voyage around the Jiaodong Peninsula, the turbulence of the waves still made Fan Yi vomit out his bile.
Seasickness is one thing, but another reason that gives Fan Yi a headache is that Lu Bu asked his soldiers to endure the nausea of seasickness and keep practicing artillery shooting!
Like most people, Fan Yi was horrified when he first saw the sound of this big iron pipe firing like thunder, spitting fire like lightning, and acrid smoke rising.
But after understanding the principle of the artillery, which was to use powder blessed with divine power to spray out the big iron ball, Fan Yi got used to the sound over time.
There was nothing Lu Bu could do about it.
His initial motive was to build a gunboat to plunder the populations of Samhan and Japan.
But now it seems that Lu Bu really overestimated Sanhan and Japan.
As Mahan, the most powerful of the three Koreas, there are only a few small fishing villages scattered along the seaside, where people living in rags still live in canoes, fish, and cook fish in broken earthen pots. The hard days of collecting clams and kelp from the beach to satisfy our hunger!
Seeing several large ships parked on the beach, and the fierce-looking Han people jumping out, these Koreans had already swarmed into the woods, and there was no need for artillery and warships!
In addition, Soochow, which is good at water warfare, has not yet risen, so Lu Bu put aside the matter of putting artillery on the ship.
Unexpectedly, I heard this time that there are many Gongsundu's warships in Donglai that can be robbed!
Wouldn't this be an opportunity for a naval battle?
Therefore, Lu Bu directly pulled out a hundred cannons that were cast during this period, leaving 20 cannons for Zhang Liao, and the rest were loaded on large and small ships.
Because it was really hard to get the goods on the shelves, we had to let the temporary sailors endure the nausea of seasickness while firing live ammunition while driving.
Fortunately, after a few days of running-in, some of the soldiers he had "carefully selected" who had relatively low seasickness reactions were finally able to skillfully control the cannon.
On the fifth day at sea, the fleet finally saw the coastline!
After driving for some distance, a pier appeared on the shore, with dozens of ships of various sizes docked at the pier.
Lu Bu couldn't help but feel refreshed and stood on the deck and shouted: "Gather, gather! Get to your positions! Prepare to fight! Load the shells!"
