Looking north towards the rivers and mountains

Excluding the ships currently undertaking transportation tasks and those undergoing maintenance in Jiangyin and Matuosha, Shao Shuyi gathered nearly a hundred ships, carrying over a thousand soldiers on land and sea, and anchored them off the coast of Liujiagang on the night of the 12th.

The direction of the government army's water fortress was pitch black, with only a few lanterns flickering like will-o'-the-wisps, creating an eerie atmosphere.

To accomplish everything in one battle, ho ho.

Now, Liujiagang's naval strength has been completely destroyed. Not to mention Fang Guozhen's large-scale attack, even if Shao himself were to land, the only Shizilu Army Thousand-Household Station he had would not be able to stop him.

However, he is rational and doesn't want to do that for the time being.

At midnight, a small boat was launched from the Pingjia ship, and several people rowed ashore with their oars, quickly disappearing into the vast night.

Before long, perhaps having heard the commotion, two sea crane patrol boats approached from the left and right, loudly inquiring.

In an instant, hundreds of torches lit up the dark river surface, and the dark shadows of the boats lurked in the water like ferocious beasts.

The shouting stopped immediately, and the two boats quickly turned around and returned to the water fortress.

A moment later, a commotion arose in the village, but it was not significant, indicating that there were not many people left behind.

Shao Shuyi stood on the deck, facing the wind.

To establish a foothold in Jiangnan, the lack of a navy is fatal. The imperial court made a huge mistake by allowing Duo'erzhiban to hand over the main force of the Jiangnan navy—and even the Jiangyin Naval Commandery in Tongzhou, north of the Yangtze River.

To put it bluntly, even losing several army garrisons wouldn't be as fatal as losing these three naval garrisons. This is because the training period for a navy is far longer than that for an army, and the costs are also much higher. Without a navy, how will you deal with the dense network of rivers in Jiangnan? How will you defend the coastline that stretches for thousands of miles? And even, how will you cross the river?

For a fleeting moment, Shao Shuyi had a wild thought that he shouldn't have had.

He was wondering how the legendary "million-strong army" of Toqto'a would cross the river if the imperial court ordered a campaign against him.

The figure of one million is highly inflated. Even if we take a slight deviation and estimate it to be ten or twenty thousand, where would you find so many boats to cross the Yangtze River southward?

Even a powerful ruler like Emperor Taizong of Tang could only drink from Guabu and gaze longingly at Jiankang on the south bank, for he could not cross the densely packed Southern Song fleet on the river. Of course, Shao Shuyi knew this was "wishful thinking."

The Southern Song Dynasty was a unified entity that could command local governments to deploy defenses along the river, but he could not.

If the "million-strong army" can't cross the river at Yangzhou, why not go to Hezhou (Caishiji on the opposite bank) upstream?

If Hezhou is not an option, there are other places like Yuxikou (Ruxukou), which you cannot defend against.

So, we still can't get too carried away for now.

However, the policy has already been determined: the development of the navy will be elevated to a considerable level, at least on par with the land forces, and perhaps even with slightly more resources allocated to it.

With a strong navy, even if the land forces suffer setbacks in their northward advance, they can still retreat to the southeast and gain a respite.

What good are powerful figures like Chahan Temur, Zhu Yuanzhang, and Zhang Shicheng in Jiangbei? Unable to cross the river, they have nowhere to procure supplies and can only suffer a slow death. "Brother, what are you thinking about?" Yu Yuan walked over and asked softly.

"I'm thinking that the population of the North is less than one-eleventh of that of Jiangdong, and its wealth is only a fraction of that of Jiangdong. Yet during the Han and Tang dynasties, the North far surpassed Jiangdong in both population and wealth. Now," Shao Shuyi laughed, "whoever controls Jiangdong controls the world."

"Back then, the Sun family held sway over Jiangdong, yet they were quite wary of Jingzhou upstream. Why do you say that, brother?" Yu Yuan asked.

"You're right, the biggest enemy is in Jingzhou." Shao Shuyi laughed and said, "Let's rest for a while and go ashore at dawn." "Brother, are we going ashore?" Yu Yuan asked.

"We'll see how things go. Maybe we'll go back to Liujiagang to take a look," Shao Shuyi said. "Hou Tai and Zhou Dachuan have already landed. Keep an eye on them and don't delay too much. Send each batch of recruits to Matuosha immediately."

"OK."

"Take the people you need to pick up and the things you need to move with you."

"Oh," Yu Yuan replied.

His elder brother, Yu Chu, was still working at the Caofu (Grain Transport Office).

Yu Chu had previously considered buying a patrol inspector position, but then thought better of it. He felt that staying in the Caofu (Grand Canal Administration) would be more useful, since patrol inspectors were everywhere, but interpreters who translated documents for the Mongol and Semu officials of the Caofu were very rare. In short, the positions of translator and interpreter were scarce, as they had access to confidential documents and could deal with high-ranking officials.

But the situation is different now.

More and more people know that Yu Chu has a younger brother who works under Shao Shuyi and is a trusted confidant. As the provincial government's attitude changes, the local officials' perception of him will naturally change as well.

Although Shao Shuyi really wanted Yu Chu to stay in the Cao Mansion to keep him informed, he was, after all, Yu Yuan's elder brother, and he still had to protect him to prevent him from being taken hostage by the government.

If the interpreter quits, he can simply return to Ma Tuo Sha and help him with his work. As for the informant within the Grand Canal Bureau, other methods can be used to establish connections, such as financial influence.

Yu Yuan quickly boarded another small boat and went ashore.

Wu Heizi has gathered about twenty men, who will arrive to join him after dawn.

Kong Tie also has a group of men under his command. Their main task next is to recruit more people in Liujiagang.

As the first rays of sunlight appeared on the morning of the 13th, Yao Shumu, the Darughachi of Liujiagang Registrar, and Xue Gan, the judge of Kunshan Prefecture, had already arrived overnight. It wasn't until late morning that Yu Yingcai, the commander of the Jinan New Army stationed on the outskirts of the city, arrived at the dock with over two hundred men. Judging from their disheveled helmets and armor, and their panting state, they were clearly lacking in training.

"Who is it?" Yu Ying's expression changed drastically as she stepped onto the Tianfei Palace pier. "Fang Guozhen is calling?"

Xue Qian ignored him and quietly watched a small fishing boat that had just returned from the river.

As Shu Mu was ultimately just a minor official of the eighth rank, he couldn't be too arrogant in front of a fifth-rank commander of a thousand men with a gold medal. So he explained in a low voice, "General Yu, you may not know this, but Shao Shuyi has returned from Jiangyin and arrived last night."

Yu Ying suddenly realized, chuckled to himself, and said, "That's true. Fang Guozhen is probably still dealing with the aftermath right now, how could he possibly have time to come to Liujiagang?" His words only served to provoke Yao Shumu's sensitive nerves. The latter's expression slowly darkened, he shook his head, and ultimately said nothing.

The Yuan Dynasty had many ports, with Liujia Port, the port of the Six Kingdoms, being the foremost. Now, however, the main force of the navy was easily defeated by Duoerzhiban at Wuhu Gate and lost in a single day. Liujia Port is like a peeled egg; it's hard to guarantee that Fang Guozhen won't come and take a bite.

If he really comes, the astonishing wealth flowing through Liujiagang will vanish into thin air.

Therefore, Shu Mu was in a great hurry. Not only was he in a hurry, but the entire Kunshan Prefecture and even the entire Pingjiang Road were in a hurry. Last night, when he heard that many ships had come from the outer sea, he was so frightened that he almost fled overnight. Fortunately, he was persuaded not to, and only then did he come to the Tianfei Palace Wharf with trepidation to find out the news.

I've relaxed a little now.

After all, Wu Heizi, one of Shao Shuyi's subordinates, had been drinking, gambling, and whoring with him many times, so they were still somewhat on his side.

To put it bluntly, even if someone were to seize Liujiagang, I would prefer it to be Shao Shuyi rather than Fang Guozhen, because the latter might rob him of everything, while the former might spare him.

While Shu Mu was tense, Yu Ying wasn't actually that relaxed either.

He just returned from Suzhou yesterday.

Wanhu Hao Tianlin is searching everywhere for supplies and has made a bold statement: there are many vacancies in the government now, and whoever can get money and grain, he will recommend to the province and the Privy Council for promotion.

This move was clearly to prepare in advance for Fang Guozhen's large-scale attack on Liujiagang.

But he seemed to have forgotten that there was Fang Guozhen in eastern Zhejiang and Shao Shuyi in western Zhejiang, neither of whom were easy to deal with. Now that Fang Guozhen hadn't come, Shao Shuyi had. What exactly did he want?

Yu Ying roughly counted and estimated that he had seen about fifty or sixty ships.

Besides the boat's hull, there also appeared to be samurai with swords and bows on board; this was clearly not a place for them to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival...

Just as he was lost in thought, the small fishing boat that had captured everyone's attention finally swayed and drifted ashore.

Fang Wei, the registrar of Liujiagang, bowed and said, "You two gentlemen are wise. Shao Shuyi said he had no ill intentions and was just passing through Liujiagang to buy some grain and ship materials. If you don't believe me, you may board the ship."

After saying that, Fang Wei pointed to a boat moored near the water fortress and said, "Shao Shuyi is on that boat."

Xue Gan, Yao Shumu, and Yu Ying all looked over.

"What are you doing?"

Yu Ying, with her sharp eyes, noticed that a group of people split into two groups and boarded two naval ships, the Hai Xian He Shao. There seemed to be a little argument on board, but it quickly subsided.

More than ten naval soldiers nimbly disembarked from the ship. Moments later, over a hundred men wielding sharp blades followed behind, entering the water fortress. Xue Gan's face immediately turned grim.

Shu Mu sighed and said, "Shao She is usually a kind and honest man. Why is he so arrogant now? Is he going to occupy the water village and not leave?" After saying that, he looked at Yu Ying.

Yu Ying chuckled and turned to look at the distant river, as if there was some extraordinary scenery there.

The soldiers have all gone to Zhen and Chu, and now most of those left here are military households. What can he do?

"Someone, prepare the boat, I'm going to meet Shao Shuyi," Xue Gan suddenly said.

This statement surprised everyone.

Both Yao Shumu and Yu Ying looked at him with admiration.

Unexpectedly, Xue Gan sighed and explained in a low voice, "The prefect and the Darughachi are probably already on their way here. They will definitely ask about it when they arrive. If I don't find out the details, I won't be able to explain myself."

He paused for a moment, then added, "After all, I had met Shao Shuyi once back then; he wouldn't go so far as to harm me."