Qin Official

Since Heifu came to Jiaodong and took office, two large ports have been built there. The southern one is "Qingdaojin" which is responsible for shipbuilding, and the northern one is "Yulijin" located in Zhifu Bay in Hexian County. However, Heifu County Shou forced it to change its name and built a beacon tower here. Because there were always beacon smoke, he called it "Yantai".

No matter what it is called, Yantai Port is where the Jiaodong Marine Division is stationed. At the end of April in the 33rd year of Qin Shihuang, early in the morning, the county captain Ren Xiao led a group of men to greet them at the harbor walled city. Seeing that the county guard was black When her husband's car arrived, Ren Xiao stepped forward, held his hands in his hands, and said with a smile:

"Ren Xiao should have gone to report, but how dare we let the supervisors come in person?"

Heifu returned the salute with a smile, pointed to the blue sea outside the port and said: "General Ren is wrong. Maritime affairs should be discussed at the seaside."

The two of them walked in humbly to each other. Although Ren Xiao was very happy on the face, he felt like crying in his heart...

It stands to reason that the county lieutenant is in charge of military affairs, and the county guard is in charge of civil affairs and government. The two sides have clear distinctions and check and balance each other. Although the county guard is theoretically in charge, the county captain is not his subordinate.

But the situation in Jiaodong was a bit special. In the beginning, Heifu did not get involved in military affairs. But the good times did not last long. As Zhutian rebelled, Qin Shihuang ordered Heifu to quell the rebellion without saying a word. The county guard unceremoniously held the emperor's military talisman and led Jiaodong soldiers out of the county to quell the rebellion. He then moved to fight in two counties, and quickly Suppressed Zhutian and Qingxia.

As for Ren Xiao, he could only lead the boat commander and circle around the coast, but he didn't get much credit.

Although Heifu immediately handed over the military power after the incident, the rule in the army has always been that whoever leads the soldiers to meritorious service is the real general. The reputation and voice in the county soldiers are already superior to those of the general...

Now, the emperor wants to use troops against North Korea and Canghaijun. This is where the Jiaodong Marine Division comes in. Logically speaking, Heifu doesn't understand water warfare, so he shouldn't be able to intervene, right? But he happened to be appointed by the emperor as the "Supervisor of the Army". He had the responsibility of supervising the grain. Heifu had no control over how the front line was fought, but how and when to transport the grain. Ren Xiao, the supporting general, could only listen to him.

Ren Xiao only felt that in the past few years, he had always been suppressed by Hei Fu, and he did not dare to compete with him for power. He said that today, if Hei Fu did not come to Yantai Port with all his airs, Ren Xiao would have no choice but to bow his head. He took his subordinates to visit Xiangxian County and explained his strategy for transporting grain.

Fortunately, Heifu saved him some face in the end.

A group of people sat down in the hall of the military meeting. Ren Xiao noticed that under the black husband there were Chen Ping, Xiao He, and a commoner with a pale complexion, who looked like he had been in prison for a long time. He had an unfamiliar face, probably. Heifu’s new aide?

Without thinking too much, he asked someone to hang up the newly drawn "sea chart".

The coast of Jiaodong is all drawn on it. To the north is the V-shaped Liaodong Peninsula, and further to the east are Mazishui, Jizi North Korea, and the island where Canghaijun is entrenched. The location can only be estimated, probably several hundred miles south of North Korea. .

This map template was provided by Heifu. It was said that it was presented by the magician Fang who confessed his crime. Ren Xiao felt like he had found a treasure. Combined with the results of sending ships to survey the coast of Liaodong in the past six months, he finally completed the "Jiao-Liao Sea Map", in which the islands, ports, and reefs were listed one by one. Heifu also suggested that the map should be engraved directly on the large engraving , print it out, and be sure to have one for each ship.

With this chart, the distance between Jiao and Liao became more intuitive, and Ren Xiao became more convinced that it was feasible to transport food by sea to provide food for the Eastern Expedition army!

"It's a full two thousand miles from Jicheng to Liekou and Manfanhan. It takes at least three months to walk. Tens of thousands of people are carrying grain, and only one in ten can transport military rations."

"However, it is only a thousand miles from Jiaodong to these two places. It takes more than ten days to reach these two places by sea, with sails and oars as assistance. The large ships built in Qingdao have round bellies and deep drafts. They can carry thousands of stones of grain and tens of thousands of stones at a time. .”

Thanks to the hundreds of years of exploration by Fang Warlock and the people of Yan and Qi, the route around the Bohai Sea from Jieshi in Yandi to Zhifu in Jiaodong and then to Chengshanjiao has become relatively mature.

That is to say, the sea route in southern Liaoning is relatively unpopular. Although there is a record of "the island barbarians wore leather clothes, sandwiched the right Jieshi, and entered the sea", in fact, there was not much communication between the Central Plains and the peninsula. Until ten years ago, in order to escape the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty, the scholars of the Six Nations in Qi took crude ships and sailed from Jiaodongbei, passed through the Miaodao Islands, arrived in Liaonan, and then headed to the Korean Peninsula to seek refuge with Lord Canghai.

"If the enemy can go, I can go too!"

This was last month. After receiving the edict from Qin Shihuang, Heifu Supervisory Army declared that it became Ren Xiao's mission to find a fast and convenient shipping channel from the sea.

"Supervisor, please take a look."

Ren Xiao pointed to the chart and said: "The boat sets sail from Yantai and docks at Salmon Island. Early the next morning, when the wind picks up, it sets sail and sails north. Before nightfall, it can reach Liaodong..."

The Liaodong Peninsula these days is almost completely blank, with no county system. Only at the southern end of the peninsula, there is a small town called "Dashi" (Dalian), which manages nearby fishing villages. Surprisingly, the feudal lordship system from hundreds of years ago is still preserved there, which has been inherited from generation to generation without any interference from the court or even tax collection. After all, the Ta family is not only extremely poor, but also more than a month's walk from Xiangping, the capital of Liaodong County. Which county official would risk being attacked by the barbarians and go over the mountains to collect dried salted fish? ?

To Liaodong, Tashi is a remote fishing village, but to Jiaodong, it is an important transportation thoroughfare. Ren Xiao has sent people there to build a small port to allow grain ships coming from across the sea to dock overnight.

He also asked Heifu a question: "If a county is established here, will it belong to Jiaodong County or Liaodong County?"

Heifu's answer was: "If Liaodong can't manage it, if Jiaodong can manage it, of course it belongs to Jiaodong!"

As a result, the Da family in southern Liaoning was taken over by Jiaodong County. The governor of Heifu County was not polite and really regarded it as his own rule. He changed the name to "Dalian" on the grounds that the Da family was a barbarian.

Next, according to Ren Xiao's plan, after leaving Dalian, the fleet will slowly sail along the Liaodong coast. For some reason, the speed of this section is always extremely slow, rather like sailing against the current. Therefore, it takes seven or eight days to travel to the mouth of the Yalu River, and another two days to reach the most remote harbor in the empire, the "Liekou" at the mouth of the Qingchuan River.

Hei Fu nodded: "So, it will take more than ten days of sailing to reach Liekou?"

"exactly."

Ren Xiao added: "It's faster to return. It only takes seven or eight days, so a round trip takes about twenty days."

"On the 20th..."

Heifu pondered for a moment. According to this calculation, based on the capacity of the Jiaodong grain ship, he could transport at most 70,000 to 80,000 dan per month, which was still far short of the "100,000 dan per month" calculated by Xiao He.

This speed was much slower than he expected. The navigation skills of this era were underdeveloped, and most of them were "geographical navigation". The ship's position and pilotage were determined based on ground landmarks, so it was necessary to sail along the coastline. When there are many beacons serving as lighthouses along the Jiaodong coast, veteran boatmen can try night sailing, but on the uninhabited coast in southern Liaoning, they can only sail during the day and anchor at night.

That's why it's so slow. Even if we drive close to the coast, it takes more than 500 nautical miles from Yantai to Liekou. It actually takes more than ten days. On average, it's 50 nautical miles a day. Even if we rest half of the time, the speed is only one hour and four. Five knots, although far longer than the land march, is really ridiculously slow compared to later generations...

"What do the supervisors think?"

Ren Xiao asked, if Heifu had no objection, the route and strategy of transporting grain would be decided.

He looked like he didn't understand, and looked at his staff. His eyes passed over Chen Ping and Xiao He, and settled on the third person, the middle-aged man in civilian clothes with pale skin, and nodded to him.

The middle-aged scholar had been holding it in for a long time, and now with Hei Fu's permission, he suddenly burst into laughter.

"That's ridiculous, that's ridiculous! General Ren's strategy is a bit cowardly and inefficient."

This statement immediately aroused dissatisfaction among Ren Xiao's subordinates.

They had just seen this man listening. Every time Ren Xiao said something, he shook his head. If they hadn't seen that he was an aide brought by Hei Fu, a hot-blooded Chu Yue Lou Chuan man, they would have beaten him up in the morning. Throw it into the sea to feed the fish again!

"oh?"

Ren Xiao looked at Hei Fu who remained calm and glanced at the staff member: "Does this gentleman have other high ideas?"

The commoner middle-aged man bowed his hand to Ren Xiao and said, "I don't dare to say that this is a noble idea, but...it takes twenty days to go back and forth. If Cang Haijun's boat people find out about this, they will definitely laugh their heads off."

He stopped his smile and bowed to Hei Fu: "Supervisor, if you follow the common people's method, the time can be shortened by half. One round trip takes ten days!"

"Ten days?"

In the hall, the officials of the building and ship looked at each other. In their plan, this was impossible!

"How can it be done!"

"How could it not be possible!"

The middle-aged commoner said: "As long as you are braver, you don't have to walk cautiously along the coast. The fleet sets sail from Chengshanjiao, rides the wind and waves, crosses the sea, and goes directly to the port! The return journey remains the same. In this way, no matter the voyage or time, it will be the same. It can be greatly reduced.”

These words made everyone extremely angry and laughed:

"You crazy man, do you know how big the fog is east of Chengshanjiao? Do you know how strong and unpredictable the wind is on the East China Sea? A huge wave can sink a ship. You commoner doesn't understand maritime affairs at all. , How dare you speak nonsense about the military discussion?"

Ren Xiao stopped everyone's attacks on the commoner and looked at Hei Fu: "May I ask the supervisor, who is this gentleman?"

Heifu waved his hand and pointed at Buyi: "You can speak for yourself."

The commoner agreed and sighed: "I was once a boatman seeking food on the sea. Although Shaohai is big, in my eyes, it is just a bathtub."

"I am also a seeker of immortals who has traveled back and forth to Jiaodong and North Korea no less than ten times. Unfortunately, the so-called Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou are so elusive and hard to find. I finally realized that they are fake."

As he spoke, he walked to the chart, pointed at it and said: "Now, I have changed my mind and become the person who drew this chart!"

"You actually drew this chart?" All the officials on the ship were shocked.

"good."

The commoner middle-aged man bowed his hands to everyone: "I am fortunate enough to be pardoned by His Majesty, and I am the guilty person who works beside the supervisory army, Xu Fu!"