The support fleet traveled through the river day and night. Two squads of sailors took turns to drive the ships, and the water camps along the way sent ships to navigate alternately, and there were also patrolling sentry ships to provide information. The support fleet also unsheathed swords, bows and strings, and was on full alert to prevent enemy ships from sneaking attacks at night. As a result, the daily itinerary can reach more than 200 miles. If the journey goes smoothly, Zhao Bing felt that he could arrive in Ezhou within ten days.

Although there are winds and waves on the Yangtze River, it is still a pediatrician compared to the stormy waves on the sea. The sea boat is much more stable on it. Zhao Bing's Sheji hull has a large draft of water as stable as on land. The only thing that makes him feel uncomfortable is the climate. The wet and cold air on the river makes people feel extremely uncomfortable, but Qiongzhou is the most comfortable time at this time.

"Official family, drink some ginger tea!" Su Lan sent it to the freshly cooked tea.

"Well, the river is cold, don't walk outside the cabin, you need to add more clothes." Zhao Bing picked up the tea bowl and took a sip, and said with concern when Su Lan's face turned pale.

"Fortunately, after staying in Qiongzhou for a long time, I can't stand the cold, so I might be fine after a few days." Su Lan said with a smile.

"Let them light a brazier in the cabin, I can't stretch out my hands either." Zhao Bing said warmly with tea in his hands.

"Okay, I'll go now." Su Lan nodded, took two steps and turned around and said, "Do you want to prepare one for Miss Li?"

"Okay, it's still my sister who thought it carefully. This is the first time she left Qiongzhou. She will be even more uncomfortable with the weather here. Even my cloak is sent to her!" Zhao Bing nodded. Through these days, he found that Li Sanniang was not so annoying. Perhaps he was in charge of the troops in the village, participated in the affairs of the village, and did things in an orderly manner. He also had the courage of the slang bones. Not only did he fight bravely, but he also acted extremely decisively. In addition, he found that Chen Shu was very afraid of her. As long as Li Sanniang was present, he would not dare to be arrogant.

"Haha, how did Miss Li, the official cloak wear, and the color is not worthy. I will sew one more piece and send it to you!" Su Lan smiled after hearing this.

"Then...that's too hard for sister." Zhao Bing thought about it, and said embarrassedly.

"Why is the official family good in color?" Su Lan asked again.

"I don't know whether using red alone is too dazzling, using black is too dull, and using white is better... It's better for me to do it!" Zhao Bing thought about it and couldn't count the reason, so he simply gave it to Su Lan.

"Okay, then leave it to me!" Su Lan smiled at Zhao Bing with a hesitation look.

Then Zhao Bing ordered all ships to supply hot ginger soup, hot meals, fasting cold food, and supply more meat to increase calories. At the same time, the officers of each army were required to urge soldiers to keep warm and prevent frostbite. The soldiers prepared medicines to prevent wind and cold with the military doctors and distributed them to each soldier. Sergeants who were found infected should be sent to the medical ship in time for isolation and treatment to prevent large-scale infection. Otherwise, they would take a group of patients with them, which would not be a war, but a trouble.

The fire brazier was lighted in the middle of the cockpit and soon warmed up. Zhao Bing picked up the documents sent by the Imperial Office again and started to review them. Among them were official documents from Hangzhou, urgent reports from the prefectures in various places, war reports from various troops, and information from the Affairs Bureau. The reason why he was able to obtain information from all places in time was that he could receive documents from all places at any time, and also thanks to the Mongolians.

In ancient times, there was no modern day. There was no telephone or telegram, and the message was sent slowly. It was mainly due to people and horses. The Yuan Dynasty was vast, and to obtain information from various places in a timely manner, there was a complete post-transmission system. During the period of Temujin, Chagatai Khan had built the post-transmission road from Shandanzhou, passed through the Hexi Corridor, Uygur realm, to the Huyasi near his resident Alimari.

However, the large-scale post office establishment began during the Kublai Khan period. He moved the capital to Yanjing and founded the country. At the same time, under the rule of Yelu Chucai, the "Station Chit Skill" was promulgated, and based on this, the post office system of Mongolian stations and Han areas was unified; adapted to the transfer of the ruling center, and planned a post office system centered on the main body of the post office; established a horse delivery network with post office stations as the main body and a step delivery network with post office stations as the main body, with post office stations as the main body, and post office stations as the main body, with post office stations as the scattered, and arrived every day. Thus, the large-scale and dominant Yuan Dynasty post offices were formed, which communicated the connection between the central and local governments.

Before Kublai Khan, the Yuan Dynasty stations not only welcomed and sent envoys, provided food, accommodation and transportation, but also transported small quantities of goods such as tributes and luggage. In wartime, they also undertake the transportation tasks of military supplies. The station system also has a station at the transportation hub, which specializes in transporting precious and urgently needed materials such as gold, silver, treasures, and tributes. The post transportation is based on the Song system. In addition to the post station network with horse delivery as the main body, there is also a set of emergency delivery websites with step delivery as the main body, which specializes in transporting official documents.

The post station is responsible for equiping the envoys with transportation, including horses, donkeys, cows, boats, mountain trips, and sedans. In the remote areas of the northeast, there are even post dogs specially used on ice. According to statistics, there were more than 1,000 post horses in the Yuan Dynasty. In the Haerbin area in the northeast, there were fifteen dog stations, supplying 3,000 post dogs. In some areas with developed water transportation in the south, mainly water post transportation, with more than 400 post posts and nearly 6,000 post ships. These transportation facilities constituted a large post road transportation network in the country of the Yuan Dynasty.

After the Song army recovered Jiangnan, they not only accepted the governments and granaries from various places, but also inherited their entire post-transmission system. Of course, Zhao Bing knew the importance of transportation. Did he say that "If you want to be rich, build roads first" in his previous life? He knew better that the current roads had more important significance, just like the nerves and blood vessels of the human body, which transported information and nutrition to every corner. It also allowed Zhao Bing to receive information sent from various places even on the ship and understand the situation in various regions...

The fleet arrived in Jiangzhou day and night on the evening of the sixth day. This is the place where Song Jiang was distributed in "Water Margin", which is the modern Jiujiang City. When going west, it is Jingzhou. Jiangzhou is known to be connected to the five ridges and is invincible to the three rivers. It has a strategic position as a thoroughfare of seven provinces. Due to the convenience of boats and abundant resources, it has been Tongdu Dayi since ancient times, a city of personnel flow and logistics, an important material distribution center in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and one of the four rice markets in China and one of the three tea markets.

This was the last city conquered by the Eastern Route Army. Due to the continuous loss of land in front, the Yuan soldiers stationed here were panicked. They crossed the river north without resisting. Therefore, the economy here suffered severe damage and arrived in Ezhou at 600 miles. Zhao Bing decided to dock here to replenish tashui and supplies. After that, he stopped stopping the ship until Ezhou. The commander of Jiangzhou, Sun Kai, led civil and military personnel to welcome him. He felt that it was too troublesome to get off the ship and enter the city, and it was delayed, so he ordered Sun Kai to board the ship to meet him.

"Don't be reserved, drink some hot tea!" Sun Kai was also an old man in the founding of the army in Jiazi Town, but at the beginning he was just a head of the capital, and he could be regarded as a young man among the old people. However, with his courage and good at fighting and learning, he stood out from the crowd and became the youngest governor, and soon became the youngest governor. However, the brave general who was fearless on the battlefield was very restrained in front of him. After seeing the ceremony, he stood aside at a loss. Zhao Bing asked him to sit down and said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty..." Sun Kai sat on the pier in a standard military posture, opening his mouth but not knowing what to say.

"Where is General Sun's hometown?" Zhao Bing saw that his nervous forehead was sweating, and knew that he was nervous and could not speak, so he asked first.

"Report to Your Majesty, the ancestral home of Luoyang, and after crossing south, he settled in Pengze County." Sun Kai replied.

"Oh, Pengze belongs to Jiangzhou, not far from here, but there are still relatives?" Zhao Bing said after hearing this.

"Yes, Peng Ze has more than a hundred miles from this, and finally, he still has parents in the family, a sister has not yet married, and two younger brothers in the house." Sun Kai replied.

"Have you ever returned to your hometown to visit?" Zhao Bing asked again.

"At the end of the year and the seventeenth year, the generals responded to the emperor's orders to serve the king. After that, he went to various places, and later joined the army of the generals and went to Qiong with His Majesty. This time, he returned to his hometown, but his military affairs were busy, and he was still back to his hometown, so he didn't know the situation at home." Sun Kai said with a sad face.

"It's so close. When you go back to your hometown to visit your parents and be filial to your parents in front of the hall, you must at least look at the situation at home!" Zhao Bing felt sad and comforted him.

"Yes, Your Majesty. When the war slows down, we will be determined to return home to visit us." Sun Kai replied.

"Wang De, I prepared two pieces of silk and satin and twenty taels of gold to take it home for General Sun. This is my wish." Zhao Bing said.

"I will thank Your Majesty for your kind gift!" After hearing this, Sun Kai hurriedly stood up and politely said.

"Now you are also the leader of the army and the important minister of the country. Now you have returned home in glory. How could you be too shabby!" Zhao Bing raised his hand and asked him to politely.

"Your Majesty loves you, let me be ashamed." Sun Kai saluted again and sat down again and said.

"I took a boat to go up the river, and the river defenses in various places have started construction, but the recovery here is the fastest, the construction is the latest. The Dehua city wall has been repaired and all the water villages have been put into use. It can be seen that you have put your heart into it!" Seeing that Sun Kai is no longer as nervous as before, he turned to the topic.

"Your Majesty, the last general dare not take credit. This is all the power of the army. In addition, when the royal army arrived, the local people responded positively and brought their own food to the service. They continued to stop day and night, so they were able to look a little." Sun Kai replied.

"Well, it seems that the people of Jiangnan still care about our dynasty." Zhao Bing nodded and said, "At present, the two important towns of Ezhou and Jiangling have not yet been recovered, Jiangzhou has become a node that controls the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Therefore, be extremely careful and do not neglect them."

"I understand that now I am waiting for the battle every day, and I dare not relax at all!" Sun Kai replied respectfully.

"This is the best. We must actively prepare for war and hoard food and supplies. Once the battle in Ezhou fails, you must be prepared to block the enemy and also prepare to send troops to reinforce. It can be said that the task is the heaviest. I am very happy to see you so dedicated." Zhao Bing praised.

"Don't worry, your Majesty, I will never let you down." Sun Kai replied, "Now the city is stockpiling 200,000 stones of grain, which can be used for one month; the other stored ammunition can be used for a battle. In addition, the last year, I will ask Your Majesty to transfer some more muskets. The recruits have entered the camp one after another, and they will need to train with weapons after the New Year. However, the army now has less than two thousand guns, which is too different from the needs."

"Now all the troops are expanding, and the craft workshop has just resumed production, and the gap is very large. I will allocate 5,000 units from the reserve. The insufficient number will be adjusted as much as possible after the craft workshop is produced normally." Zhao Bing thought for a brief moment. Now that it is expanding on a large scale, all the troops lack firearms, and even if the craft workshop is fully produced, it will be difficult to meet the needs, so it can only be allocated to the ones that need the most first.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Sun Kai said in surprise when he heard this, as if he was even more excited than he had received the reward just now. Of course, he knew that the ten divisions were expanded into ten armies, with an increase of 300,000 troops, and his weapons were naturally short of them. His Majesty gave him five thousand muskets first, which was a kind of love.

Next, Zhao Bing asked in detail about the deployment situation, the plans and plans for responding to the enemy, and do not underestimate the enemy because of the smooth progress of the march. At the same time, he asked Sun Kai to pay attention to the people's conditions, restrain the troops, and not disturb the people. In addition, he should cooperate with local prefectures to do a good job in clearing out the remaining enemies, suppressing rebellions, eliminating spies, collecting taxes, escorting materials, and appease the people.

Two hours later, the supplies of each ship were replenished, and Sun Kai got off the ship to bid farewell. At this time, Dong Yicheng's fleet had already sent a ship to welcome him. The fleet continued to set out westward, thus entering the area of ​​Jiangnan West Road. Zhao Bing only then had dinner, and the imperial front office delivered the official documents they had just received. They had sorted them out according to the usual rules and arranged them according to priorities.

"Good news!" Zhao Bing took the top document while eating, looked through two pages, and then slapped the chopsticks on the table and said in surprise.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Su Lan, who was serving next to him, was startled and asked in surprise.

"This is really a timely help!" Zhao Bing said in a few words.

All of this document are related to the Yuan court. Because the Song army suddenly sent troops to seize Jiangnan, the autumn tax this year has not been collected, and the grain stationed in various prefectures has not yet been transported on time. The Yuan court received less than 30% of the grain tax in previous years, resulting in a shortage of grain in Jiangbei. Empress Dowager Nanbi issued an order to increase the autumn tax in Jiangbei by 40% as a supervisor to solve financial difficulties. At the same time, the grain distribution to the northwest was reduced to alleviate the risk of food shortage in Jiangbei.

However, you should know that the taxes in Jiangnan now account for 70% of the entire fiscal revenue of the Yuan court, which was definitely a heavy blow to the Yuan court. Over the years, Kublai Khan used military forces frequently and his military expenditures were huge, resulting in the national treasury being empty. Now that the wealth has been cut off, it is immediately stretched, resulting in the collapse of the Jiangbei economy, the Zhongtong Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Democratic Banknote Can only buy two stones of rice.
Chapter completed!