Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

"Whoosh!" The arrow followed a graceful arc and landed lightly in front of him.

Li Zhai was startled and scrambled down the small mound. He walked several dozen steps before turning back to look.

An archer was loitering near the reeds in the distance, holding a bow and arrogantly gesturing this way.

Li Zhai glanced back at the archer following behind him. The archer squinted at him, shook his head, and said, "Too far. That person must be using a powerful bow, which is why he can shoot so far, but even so, this is the end of his strength, and it will be difficult to injure anyone."

Li Zhai gave him a disapproving look and said, "Are you saying I shouldn't have dodged?"

"No, no," the archer quickly lowered his head.

Li Zhai snorted coldly and continued looking ahead.

The wide road was less crowded than usual. Occasionally, some people could be seen hurrying along, busy with their livelihoods, and most of them were heading west from Xiajiaba, towards the salt fields.

But it wasn't that no one went east.

Under Li Zhai's watchful gaze, four or five people jogged along, shouting as they went.

Two swordsmen with shields jumped out from the intersection, stopped the group, questioned them carefully, disarmed them, and led them to the back. They seemed to know the way well, and this wasn't the first time they'd encountered something like this.

This is the main road. Besides the main road, there are smaller paths.

Li Zhai had just seen groups of two or three, or three or four, of villagers secretly carrying cloth bags and heading towards Xiajiaba. After they left, the once heavy bags were now empty; needless to say, they were going to sell smuggled salt.

That's incredibly audacious! What kind of time is this to be thinking of selling smuggled salt? Don't they have a death wish?

Besides the residents of Tingmin, there are also sails dotting the sea.

Some fishermen rowed small boats, either selling salted fish to them or helping them transport goods in exchange for the money they needed to survive. Li Zhai stared wide-eyed for a long time, but most of the fishing boats looked the same, making it impossible to tell who the people were.

Sigh, what a mess this is!

For a fleeting moment, Li Zhai felt that these thieves were somehow righteous.

They seized the salt fields with righteous actions and purchased fish and salt at fair prices, acting with complete confidence and disregarding the government.

After sighing deeply, Li Zhai, accompanied by two attendants, moved to another location and then found a rogue.

"How's the situation over there?" Li Zhai asked, sitting on the grass, eating and drinking.

"My lord, I just returned from selling salt. A pound of salt costs 160 or 170 coins, while salted fish costs over 210 coins."

"Are you going to gather information or to do business?" Li Zhai asked, displeased.

The rogue chuckled sheepishly and said, "They've already moved more than half of it. They move more during the day and less at night, and they'll be done by tomorrow at the latest. If the imperial court doesn't send troops to stop them, they'll be gone."

"How much salt do you estimate they took?" Li Zhai asked.

"How would I know?" the rogue said with a wry smile.

"Didn't you hear them say that?"

"They don't mention that. Judging by the speed at which they were moving it, I'd estimate it must have weighed 100,000 jin (50,000 kg)."

Li Zhai remained silent. This number might be inaccurate, but it wouldn't be too far off.

After recapturing the salt fields yesterday, they found two minor officials who had fled back home after the rout. According to them, there should be about 70,000 catties of salt stored in the Lüsi salt fields, waiting to be sent to the Tongzhou granary once the storage was full.

With 70,000 jin of salt from the salt fields plus the purchased loose salt, it's possible that 100,000 jin could be obtained, which would amount to 250 jin.

It's actually not a large amount.

The 29 salt fields of the Lianghuai Transportation Office produce over 950,000 yin of salt annually, and 250 yin is only the output of the Lüsi salt field in the first few days of summer. This is just the off-season for salt production; if they come again in the summer, it's unimaginable how huge the problem will be. As long as it can be transported and stored, a million jin is not a problem. Li Zhai silently comforted himself.

A moment later, seeing that the ruffian was still there, he waved his hand and said, "It's nothing, you can go now. This afternoon, I'll have your brother-in-law take ten catties of salt to sell and also to gather some information."

"Yes." The rogue bowed and quietly left.

After finishing his food and water, Li Zhai looked around, then, with the help of his attendants, climbed a tree, shading his eyes with his hand as he quietly observed the situation. At that moment, a swift messenger came running from afar, calling out to the tree, "Sir Li, the men from the Yu west Patrol Office have been dispatched!"

"Oh? When did this news come?" Li Zhai turned his head to look under the tree and asked.

"Yesterday morning."

Li Zhai did the math, then spat and said, "Yu west is more than a hundred li away from Lü Si. They don't have horses, and it will take them three or four days to walk. The thieves won't wait that long. It's useless."

The messenger was speechless.

He knew something. Taizhou was already mobilizing archers. Even if they set off immediately, it would be nearly 400 li to Lüsi. Would they make it in time?

As Mr. Li said, without a horse, it would take ten days to walk.

Even with a forced march, reducing the time by half, it would still take five days. What's more, you're asking the patrol archers to lead a bunch of nameless, ruffian archers who've just put down their hoes to escort people on a forced march? Don't be ridiculous.

It's too late, we can't catch up with anything.

"You go back first," Li Zhai waved his hand from the tree and said, "Just tell them that we are scouting the enemy's situation and will soon be attacking the bandits, making sure they don't return."

The messenger responded and turned to leave, his expression quite dismissive.

Inside and outside the thatched hut in Xiajiaba, Shao Shuyi had already personally taken to the task, carrying a large bag of salt and swaying as he walked towards the sea.

The muddy tidal flats were covered with straw, branches, and planks, and stepping on them caused mud and water to splash everywhere, making the area extremely filthy.

Two sailors stood at the bow and stern of the boat, respectively, and after receiving the salt bags, they stacked them in the cabin themselves.

After the boat was full, the two said goodbye and rowed away.

The waves at sea were neither too big nor too small, and the small boat rocked and swayed as it sailed among them.

Looking down from above, from the coastal mudflats to the ocean surface where the Pingjia and Pingyi ships were located, boats of all sizes came and went, unloading bags of salt and barrels of salted fish onto the large ships.

The drafts of the Pingjia and Pingyi ships were noticeably deeper, indicating that they were already fully loaded with cargo.

Shao Shuyi was busy until dusk before he finally sat down to rest for a while.

The entire moving site was in complete chaos.

Apart from the men scattered around on guard, everyone else got involved in the moving work, including the seven or eight newcomers from Lüsi Village who had requested to join. Shao Shuyi wasn't too flustered.

As Jianbu and Lizhai had said before, Taizhou is almost 400 li away, and Tongzhou is 170 or 180 li away. The nearest one, Lüsi Patrol Office, just occupied the salt field that they had voluntarily abandoned yesterday, and then there was no further movement. The two sides maintained a subtle tacit understanding.

The only help the Lüsi Patrol Office could get was from the Yuxi Patrol Office, which was over a hundred miles away. But it would take them several days to walk there. Traveling by boat might be faster, but making a decision, mobilizing manpower, finding a ship, and sailing at sea would take at least three days, not much faster than walking. Liang Tai came over and handed over a food box.

After opening it, Shao Shuyi laughed: "It's actually four dishes and a soup."

"I took some people to Dongbinlou to buy it, and personally supervised the process. We made twenty portions in total, so everyone can share them," Liang Tai said as he sat down. "Did you pay?" Shao Shuyi asked.

"Given it."

Shao Shuyi was relieved and invited Tie Niu to sit down. The three of them shared the four dishes and soup.

"I was just thinking about it," Liang Tai put down his chopsticks and said, "The government's defenses along the coast are very weak. If we can build a fleet that can carry hundreds or even thousands of people and land along the coast, we can probably make the government dizzy and disoriented."

"How so?" Shao Shuyi asked.

"Take Lü Si as an example," Liang Tai said. "If the government has no cavalry and doesn't know in advance that we will land here, it might take ten days for them to gather their army. That's considered fast. In my opinion, within half a month, only the patrol officers will come to harass us. The garrison troops will have no chance of arriving."

At this point, Liang Tai glanced at Shao Shuyi and said, "Half a month is a long time, long enough to conquer a city, load all the wealth and food in the city onto ships, and sail away."

Tie Niu, that blockhead, wolfed down his food while nodding slowly, as if he thought Liang Tai's words made a lot of sense.

Shao Shuyi was at a loss for words.

Didn't he think about that? Of course he did, and he felt that given the local garrison's combat readiness and response speed, plus the fact that they had to travel, they might not be able to arrive within twenty days.

You've been owing so much food and pay all this time, and now that we're about to go to war, aren't you going to give us something as a token of appreciation?

They've stolen and sold so much equipment all this time, now that someone's going to fight bare-handed, shouldn't they replenish it for him?

With relaxed regulations on weekdays, many people have gone out to make a living. Can they be called back in a short time?

A whole host of problems.

With such a state of military disarray, the response speed is extremely slow, and the morale of the soldiers is very low. They will be dissatisfied, passive-aggressive, and procrastinate. Reaching their destination in twenty days would already be a great achievement for the emperor of Dadu.

But that's not how you calculate it.

"I'm glad you can think proactively, Buddha Tooth," Shao Shuyi said. "But do we need to do this? Collecting smuggled salt and breaking into the salt fields are not the same thing, and breaking into the salt fields and occupying the state capital are not the same thing."

Of the twenty-nine salt fields under the Lianghuai Transport Office, we will seize one, but not occupy it for long. We will take it and run. Although some people will suffer, it will only be limited to the salt field and Tongzhou.

However, if we capture Tongzhou, even if we flee, the Yangzhou Circuit Governor-General won't be able to cover it up. The Henan-Jiangbei Province will at least send a Left Chancellor to Yangzhou to oversee the operation, coordinate all forces, and launch a full-scale attack on us. They won't stop until they've turned this place upside down. Even the Jiangzhe Province will have to cooperate with the investigation, because this is a serious matter.

So, is it necessary?

Liang Tai nodded upon hearing this and said, "Brother Wu, you're right, but you've forgotten something."

Shao Shuyi looked over in surprise.

"Nowadays, when the imperial court encounters such matters, it usually doesn't launch an attack, but rather tries to appease the situation by offering amnesty. Only those who refuse to submit will be subject to the mobilization of large armies," Liang Tai said.

Shao Shuyi was first taken aback, then burst into laughter.

Liang Tai picked up the bowl and said, "I'm just reminding you, brother, that you still have this option. As long as you can fight and cause the court a lot of trouble, someone will definitely come to pacify you."

After saying that, he lowered his head and began to eat.

"I don't want to be recruited," Shao Shuyi said.

On the morning of the 26th, the last batch of goods was loaded onto the ship.

Surrounded by a group of people, Shao Shuyi climbed to the top of a two-story building and gazed into the distance.

Before leaving, he wrote "Yidu Wu Dalang was here" on the wooden wall and strode away.