Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 867
Unlike other places, which are either desolate or prosperous, Luojian really shows the traces of manpower everywhere.

The wharf here is also different from the side. In addition to the long embankment, platforms of varying heights are erected. In addition to many boatmen moving on the platform, there are also a large number of roulette winches and cattle, horses and animal power to pull the roulette.A huge wooden box with a width of several feet and a length of several feet weighs more than several thousand catties, and manual handling requires at least the cooperation of hundreds of people, which is extremely troublesome and inefficient.But here, it only needs the simple cooperation of a few nooses to lift it up easily and place it on the boat accurately and stably.

No matter who sees this scene, they will probably have a sense of pride in being a human being. Being able to use the combination of mechanical tools to exert a power far beyond their own is a great advantage that is different from animals.It is an important reliance on human beings as the spirit of all things.

Looking south from the wharf, it is not the beautiful mountains and rivers or fields of mulberry gardens that are commonly seen elsewhere, but the large furnaces with billowing smoke and varying heights. breathless.

On the pier, two medium-sized cargo ships have been loaded.Luojian is also a rather huge trading place, but it is different from Runan, the goods traded here are only military equipment, and there are naturally not many people who are qualified to trade, but the amount of property involved is compared to that of Runan. But only a little more.

On the pier next to the two ships, a middle-aged man was surrounded by a dozen strong men.The middle-aged man was wearing a dark brocade robe, with three strands of goatee beard under his chin, and his hands behind his back, staring at the surrounding scenery of the pier quite engrossed.Although he visits this place several times a year, and of course sometimes he doesn't need to come in person, he still can't help but want to take a look, and every time he has an indistinct emotion.

"Captain, the goods have been checked, and we can leave at any time."

A family member hurried down from the boat and came to the middle-aged man to report.

After hearing the words, the middle-aged man nodded and signaled the cargo ship to go first, and he led a dozen or so people nearby to board another smaller ship, slowly sailed away from the pier, and then turned into the Huai River.

In March, when the Huai River first rose, there were many flowers and plants floating and sinking in the blue waves, making the whole river surface filled with a faint fragrance.If you close your eyes and listen, it seems that you can still hear the faint cheers of singing and dancing upstream.Of course, this is just a psychological illusion. Although Luojian is far from Shouchun by water, it is hundreds of miles away. No matter how large the scale of Shouchun's Shangsi celebration is, it is impossible for the aftertaste to spread all the way to Luojian downstream.

Boats and boats here frequently come and go, and most of them are powerful military leaders from various places. In order to avoid unnecessary disputes such as fighting for roads, the water surface is also cut into waterways by buoys, and the boats and boats sail in an orderly manner.

The boat traveled less than a few miles, another boat approached from the side, and from a distance, it raised the flag of joining the strings and getting closer.After recognizing the identity of the visitor, the middle-aged man signaled the speed of the ship to slow down, and soon the two ships moved closer together. A fat general in military uniform stood on the deck of the other ship, and waved to the middle-aged man with a smile: "It's a coincidence that we met on the left and right. Is Shikang returning to his hometown after something has happened? It coincides with the grand meeting on the Huai River, why not stay for a few days for fun?"

The middle-aged man also stood up to greet the ceremony, and asked someone to set up a bamboo ladder to let the general in uniform walk over, and then said with a smile: "There are so many trivial matters in the army, it is really difficult for Brother Cao to be calm. Why don't I want to pay homage to Duke Liang, but This time I have stayed for a long time, I really dare not slack off."

The man in military uniform is Cao Na, the town general here, and the middle-aged man is the captain of Xuzhou Linhuai County, named Xu Ning.The two sides sat opposite each other on the boat, and Cao Na said to Xu Ning with a little apology: "I also heard that Shikang's transaction has been hindered a little this time, and they want to help each other, but the army is really difficult to get involved in the affairs of the workshop, and they are powerless. This year the town will have a big use, and all armies must use it frequently, so it is difficult for Shi Yi and the like to be as calm as in previous years."

Xu Ning nodded slightly after hearing the words, expressing that he understood.In fact, this matter is not a secret. When he came to Luojian, an official from the Huainan Governor's Mansion came to inform him that the trading volume of ordnance produced by the workshop this year would be reduced by half compared to last year. It can also be guessed that the Huainan Army will make big moves this year.

But understanding is one thing, Xu Ning is also full of melancholy, Huainan's excellent equipment has become the consensus of the entire Huai River.These army leaders came to Luojian to buy armaments not only out of practical needs, but also as a means to maintain the morale of the army. Others are equipped with Huainan armaments. If they don't have them, it will inevitably give people a feeling The feeling of disrespect for the soldiers made the soldiers feel unimportant and distracted.

However, the quality of Huainan Army's ordnance is indeed high, worthy of the same high price.Because Xu Ning was one of the early arrivals this year, after hearing the news, he quickly sent a message back to his hometown to urgently raise a batch of goods, and placed a batch of more orders than in previous years.As for the latecomers, there is no such benefit, and they can only buy shares at a high price from the firstcomers.Based on this alone, Xu Ning's purchase of a batch of ordnance for his own use this year is equivalent to giving it away for nothing.However, there is no need to ship the goods brought back, and by the way, I made a deposit for the mid-autumn transaction.

But whether there will be spot delivery in the middle of autumn, even the workshop can't guarantee it.The specifics will depend on how the battle in Huainan progresses later.

"I'm really envious of Brother Cao, who voted for Duke Liang's mansion first, so that he doesn't have to be in such trivial troubles like me."

Xu Ning sighed, in fact, he also planned to recruit a group of young men to join the army this year, but Huainan's sudden lock on the arms trade blocked his army expansion plan.Of course, he also has other ways to obtain armaments, and he doesn't have to rely on Huainan, but the idea of ​​planning to improve the army was deeply affected.

The structure of Huainan's three-level army has greatly inspired the surrounding army leaders. Although they can't achieve the scale of Huainan, they still have small things to play.In fact, it is not an inspiration. It is the natural instinct of military leaders to give priority to equipping their own direct relatives. It is just that Huainan's institutionalized structure maintains such a large scale of elite soldiers and draws an extremely magnificent blueprint for them. Let them find a balance point for reference between maintaining military power and productivity.

Therefore, these military leaders also learned from Huainan, first large-scale disarmament, and then try their best to arm a small number of direct line elites to maintain combat effectiveness through equipment, and the reduced soldiers are quickly put into production, and gradually expand the direct line through the profits gained. number of troops.

Like Xu Ning himself, as the captain of Linhuai County, theoretically speaking, all the soldiers and soldiers in Linhuai County are under his control.But in today's Xuzhou, no one takes official positions seriously, and what measures each person's strength is the direct descendants in their hands.

Xu Ning is different from other army leaders in Xuzhou because he still has the township party to rely on. He was originally from Lujiang. In his early years, the elders of his family served the Yue Mansion. The Yue Mansion army returned to the east and was defeated by Shi Le. Later, they stayed around Huaiyin.It was originally a huge force with thousands of people, but due to the lack of replacements and the loss of war, it gradually disappeared from the crowd.

However, the combat effectiveness of Xu's soldiers is among the best in Xuzhou. After all, they are the elites of China and North Korea.Therefore, after regaining Huaiyin, Xu Ning's army was the main one to conquer the fortifications first, so after the great achievement, the results were distributed and the three counties of Huaibei were obtained.

Xu Ning also learned from Huainan, cutting down more than half of the thousands of soldiers under his command, and only kept [-] elites, all armed according to the standards of the Huainan Army, and then organized the township soldiers based on the three counties to accumulate vitality at the same time, and now his headquarters has expanded. There are more than [-] people, although the number is not outstanding, but when it comes to strength, they are already among the best in Xu Town.

There are not a few military leaders like Xu Ning who have accumulated vitality and then lost to Huainan and exchanged for armored soldiers in Xuzhou.It is also because of the elite armed forces provided by Huainan that many of the military leaders who were originally weak are also qualified to support a small but powerful army, which makes people dare not insult them lightly. , On the contrary, it suppressed the internal fighting of the Xuzhou army head.

Thinking of his painstaking efforts, he only accumulated a few hundred people's armed forces every year, and whether he could buy them depended on whether Huainan himself was convenient or not.And like Cao Na, you don't have to worry about it at all. You can get excellent weapons, supplies, food and grass, and you can concentrate more on military affairs, and you can obtain meritorious deeds more calmly.Such a situation really made Xu Ning and the others quite envious.

"It's just that everyone has something to gain, and everyone has something to lose."

Hearing what Xu Ning said, Cao Na smiled and said.

After Xu Ning heard the words, he was also silent. Of course, he also understood that when Cao Na obtained these conveniences, he actually gave up his independence.Although it is not easy for military leaders like them to maintain, at least they still have a certain degree of independence. Even if Xi Gong wants to deal with them, he must be cautious.And Cao Na seems to be calm, but in fact whether he can keep his power is only in the mind of Liang Gong.It is really hard to judge whether the gains or losses are good.

Although Cao Na said so, he didn't feel any regrets in his heart, and he didn't regret his choice.Although he gave up his own armament, the army and power he now holds are not comparable to people like Xu Ning.What's more, he didn't think Xuzhou's current state could last for a long time.He seems to have lost his independent and independent status, but how can these semi-independent military leaders have a future?They are just a wave in the chaos. When the general trend returns to order, there will be no bones left.

Is Cao Ni strong?When it was most prosperous, it embraced the land of the three states, but in the end, it was swept away by Shi Jilong Liting, and everyone died!Is Su Jun strong?When he was the most insane, he caused chaos throughout Jiangdong, but in the end, he was besieged and suppressed by the crowd, and his reputation was wiped out?
Troubled times certainly give people more opportunities, but not everyone is qualified to ride them.Many people understand this point, but the reason why they are still in a commotion is because they can't see the future clearly.Cao Na couldn't see clearly, but he believed that the people he followed could see clearly.

After pondering for a while, Cao Nacai looked at Xu Ning again and said with a smile, "I have a thoroughfare. I don't know if Shikang is willing to go with me?"

　I was blocked by heavy rain yesterday afternoon, and I fell asleep when the rain stopped. I didn’t get home until almost five o’clock in the morning. . .Hurry up and write a chapter first, and then continue writing when you come back in the afternoon. . .

　　
　
(End of this chapter)