Zhen Mi felt that since she saw Yuan Xi for the first time, the trajectory of her life had changed unexpectedly.
Originally according to Zhen Mi's expectation, she might have just married a man from a noble family and then stayed in a large mansion to take care of her husband and children, and her life would have been dull.
However, ever since Yuan Xi broke into her life, he led her and even the Zhen family in a completely unpredictable direction.
Things like being expelled from the family, being adopted by someone else, and severing ties with the Zhen family. When Zhen Mi heard these ideas, she was so shocked that she couldn't recover for a long time.
Although I know this is a temporary measure, this style of behavior is too unbelievable!
The adoption caused a great stir among the gentry in Yecheng, but most of the comments were positive, and the reputation of Zhen Mi and the Zhen family also rose.
Bian Rang was a famous scholar of his time. His murder and the assimilation of the Huan family were a severe slap in the face of the gentry.
The Zhen family adopted their own daughter, Huan, but they openly stood up against the Cao family. This was actually a big risk at a time when Cao Cao and Yuan Shao had not yet fallen out.
Only with Yuan Xi, a branch of the Yuan family, as a guarantor can Yuan Shao avoid being mad at him, right?
Zhen Mi found that she was far from understanding Yuan Xi. Every time she saw what he did, she would discover a new side of him.
From the initial uneasiness she felt when getting married to now, Zhen Mi feels as if she is getting to know the world anew every day. She wants to know more and more what is going on in her husband's mind.
Just like today's siege, Yuan Xi, as the governor of Youzhou, personally went into battle. Not only did he take himself to the battlefield, but after conquering the city, he immediately went out to sea?
However, Zhen Mi was very much looking forward to it.
She was born in Wuji, Zhongshan when she was a child. Later, her family moved to Yecheng. She had always lived in a large courtyard and had never seen a mountain or the sea. Now, when she heard that she was going to take a boat, she was very excited.
She sat in the carriage, surrounded by soldiers in front and behind, including cavalry and infantry, more than a thousand of them marching in silence.
These are the most elite soldiers under Yuan Xi's command in the past few years. They are all veterans who have been through many battles. The gap in combat effectiveness and discipline between them and the new recruits and surrendered soldiers is incomparable.
The march lasted a whole night, and two hours after dawn, they finally arrived at the seaside pier.
Zhen Mi and the other two girls looked out the car window and were shocked by the scene before them.
What caught their eyes was not only the endless sea, but also dozens of large ships neatly docked at the pier.
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry laid a good foundation for large ships to sail long distances.
Not only did many people travel between Qingzhou and Youzhou by ship at that time, but the shipbuilding industry in Japan also began to develop.
In the second year of Emperor Guangwu's Zhongyuan reign (57 AD), Japan sent envoys across the sea to pay tribute to the Han Dynasty. After that, the two sides established a fixed shipping route, from Qingzhou across the Yellow Sea to Daifang County (near Kaesong, North Korea today) to Busan, to Tsushima Island, to Iki Island, and to Matsuura, Fukuoka, Kyushu.
However, due to ocean currents and wind direction, it is easy to travel from Japan to China, but it is very risky to travel from China to Japan. In addition, the world was in chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, and few ships sail on this route today.
Therefore, the Han Dynasty's maritime trade routes at this time were mostly based on trade in the coastal ports of various states.
Moreover, shipbuilding technology in the Han Dynasty also began to develop significantly. An Eastern Wu ceramic ship model unearthed in Guangzhou in 1955 had eight crossbeams from bow to stern and eight bulkheads, dividing the hull into nine strict compartments, indicating that the Han Dynasty had mastered the shipbuilding technology of compartment structure.
Among them, the shipbuilding industry of Eastern Wu was the most developed. When Eastern Wu was destroyed in later generations, the government alone owned more than 5,000 sea vessels. The most famous one was the "Wenma Wuhe" sea vessel built by the Wenma Shipyard established by Pan Zhang. Because it was made of five large boards, it was named "Wuhe".
At that time, the Eastern Wu called a ship that could carry 80 horses a small boat. The largest warship could carry 3,000 soldiers, was several dozen feet long, and could carry tens of thousands of hu of grain.
Not only warships, but also sea vessels were very powerful. According to Kang Tai's "Foreign Records of the Wu Dynasty", the largest sea vessel had seven sails, and it only took one month to sail from Kanadiaozhou in the South China Sea to Daqin (the name of the Roman Empire in the Han Dynasty, actually the area near Romania).
When Yuan Xi read this, he thought that economic foundation was everything. Dongwu had a huge demand for trade, so they had to build large ships. Large ships in turn promoted the local economy, and when business flourished, more large ships could be built.
With so many large ships, it's no wonder that Cao Wei was unable to cross the Yangtze River for a long time.
What was in front of everyone was the sea-going ship that the Zhen family had spent all their money to build and purchase from the Xuzhou Shipyard in Yangzhou.
Most of them are about ten feet long and can transport dozens to hundreds of soldiers. Although not as large as the warships of the later Eastern Wu Dynasty, they are sufficient for this operation.
Moreover, the cost was not cheap. Yuan Xi estimated that the hundred carts of wealth and goods he had robbed could only buy seven or eight ships. The other twenty or so ships were purchased and built by the Zhen family caravan as Zhen Mi's dowry.
Thinking of this, he suddenly felt like a gigolo.
Zhen Mi pointed at one of the large ships and said, "That ship is so big!"
Everyone looked in the direction Zhen Mi pointed and saw that the boat was almost twice as long as the other boats, nearly twenty zhang long, and two or three zhang above the water. It was estimated that it could accommodate hundreds of soldiers. From a distance, it looked extremely majestic.
Yuan Xi looked at it and smiled, "This is something the old lady made especially for you."
Zhen Mi exclaimed, and thinking of her mother, she couldn't help but feel moved.
Yuan Xi sighed, "But it was originally intended for sea trade, but now it has to be used for military affairs."
Everyone present guessed that Yuan Xi would not just go to the sea to see the scenery, he must be using these merchant ships to transport troops to attack somewhere!
The soldiers began to board the ship one after another. The cavalry led the horses to the ship. The horses were afraid of water, and several soldiers tried their best to pull the horses onto the ship and into the cabin.
After being busy for half a day, when night fell, more than a thousand people were finally on their way. The sails were raised, and large ships left the dock under the cover of darkness.
Almost everyone on the big ship where Yuan Xi was had arrived.
Huan's mother and daughter did not follow the army to Piao Yuyi, but boarded the ship directly. When they saw Zhen Mi and Cao Xian, they were delighted and went to talk aside.
However, Yuan Xi summoned Guo Jia, Taishi Ci and Tian Yu into the cabin to discuss matters.
Guo Jiaxian said: "I haven't told the captains of each ship the real destination yet, but in order to prevent accidents, I told them to gather at the mouth of the Yangtze River and wait if they get separated."
"Let's calculate the time. We will go south along the sea route, bypass Qingzhou, and pass through Xuzhou. If everything goes well, we will arrive in no more than ten days."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi said, "It's still a little slow. If our movements in Piaoyu County are discovered by others, someone with ulterior motives will be able to guess the truth in a day or two. With a fast horse, it will only take six or seven days for the news to reach Guangling County."
"So if we want to ensure everything goes well, we must reach the mouth of the Yangtze River within five days, then move westward along the Yangtze River and reach the city of Guangling within two days!"
This is Yuan Xi's real purpose, to launch a surprise attack on Sun Ce's base camp Guangling!
Guangling City is located at the junction of the Yangtze River and other water systems. Water transportation is well developed, and there are docks to the east and south of the city.
Yuan Xi's fleet disguised as a merchant caravan aimed to launch a sudden attack, capture Guangling, and cut off Sun Ce's retreat!
This method is extremely risky, but it is currently the best way to break the siege of Xuzhou.
Of course, there are many aspects that require careful planning, such as attacking a city, especially a surprise attack. If it fails, the entire army may be wiped out.
Taishi Ci said, "Soldiers and sailors take turns to guard the night, working day and night. The ships should keep a distance at night to prevent collisions. With the right wind direction, it is possible to arrive in four or five days."
"But if we are too close to the coast, it will be easy for people to discover our purpose, so we need to stay a little further away from the coast."
Everyone nodded, and Tian Yu said, "I'm still a little worried about the sneak attack on Guangling."
"According to the plan, we put the cavalry down first and ambush them in the woods more than ten miles outside Guangling City."
"At the same time, send elite troops into the city disguised as traveling merchants. In the dead of night, kill the gate guards, open the city gate, and welcome the cavalry outside to rush in as quickly as possible."
"But even if these dozens of elite soldiers succeed, I'm afraid the enemy will react within half a minute at most, send a large number of troops to come, and close the city gates."
"The key is how to send a letter so that people outside the city can know immediately."
"The rockets are too small to target, too short a time, and without making any sound, and they can't shoot high enough. If we set the city on fire as a signal, it will probably take at least a quarter of an hour to burn it up, and it will be hard to hold out until the cavalry arrives."
After hearing what Tian Yu said, Guo Jia and Taishi Ci also felt that it made sense.
This opportunity is too short and fleeting. If Sun Ce's army is well-trained, the time left for Yuan Xi's army to break in may only be a cup of tea!
Taking into account the time the cavalry takes to run, the elite troops in the city need to notify the cavalry at the same time as the city gates are opened!
How is this possible?
Yuan Xi turned to Tian Yu and asked, "Where is the box you brought?"
When Tian Yu heard this, he hurried out. After a while, he came back carefully carrying a long wooden box.
He opened the lock of the box, and inside were more than a dozen two-foot-long strips neatly stacked.
Guo Jia and Taishi Ci both leaned over to take a look and discovered that the top of the thing was made of a one-foot-long paper tube, and the bottom was made of a one-foot-long thin bamboo strip.
Tian Yu didn't know what Qu Yi had asked him to keep carefully before he left, so he said, "Brother Dezhou gave it to me before I left, saying that this is what can be made at the moment, and everything is in it."
Yuan Xi walked forward and gently lifted one up. He saw a cotton thread soaked in oil at the bottom of the bamboo tube and couldn't help feeling a little nervous.
Whether the sneak attack on Guangling can be successful this time depends entirely on this thing.
In later generations, Yuan Xi played with this thing many times when he was a child. People in the north called it "Chuantianhou" and people in the south called it "Chongtianpao".
Even though this thing is unremarkable in later generations, it took a lot of effort to make it appear in this world in advance.
This involved some minor technical improvements, new paper, and barely usable gunpowder.
Yuan Xi has conducted countless experiments over the past six months and finally discovered that this most primitive black gunpowder can only make a noise at most.
Not to mention blowing up the city wall, even the bamboo tube couldn't be blown up. It could only be blown up by wrapping it in paper.
When black powder reached its peak in later generations and could be used to fire musket bullets, it required the development of the chemical industry, refining and purification, as well as forging and polishing technology, which was simply impossible with the current level of technology.
The so-called muskets of the Song Dynasty were strictly speaking flamethrowers. Even when muskets appeared in the Ming Dynasty, they still had to go through hundreds of years of technological improvements.
The sulfur, saltpeter and other materials that Yuan Xi sent people to collect now contained a lot of impurities and were difficult to mix. Hundreds of alchemists and craftsmen in Beixin City experienced countless failures and only managed to make these dozen or so things.
Although its power is far less than that of firecrackers in later generations and can only be considered a pop, it is enough for Yuan Xi now.
Battlefield signal!