Soldiers come to the world

Fangling County is located to the west of Xiangyang. It is named after the record of "thousands of miles across, mountains and forests, its solid high tombs, and houses if there are houses."

Although Fangling County has a large terrain, its population is not large. The whole county only governs Fangxian County and Wudang County. Further west of Fangling County is Shangyong County. Shangyong County is also located in the south of the Han River. For the boundary.

On the other side of the water blockage in Shangyong County, there is a military city called Yongnan City.

Cao Ren and Xu Huang crossed the water block from Yongnan City and entered Shangyong County. The day after Cao Jun crossed the river, about 5000 Jiang Xia troops rushed to Yongnan City.

Yongnan City is already an empty city, the red flag of Jiang Xia Army is raised on the top of the city, while the banner of Cao Army is still flying on the top of Shangyong City on the other side.

Standing on top of Yongnan City, Liu Jing stared gloomyly at Shangyong City on the west bank. Shangyong City was built in a dangerous place. one year.

This time Liu Jing made a mistake in his judgment. He originally thought that Cao Jun would cross the Han River northward from Wudang County and return to Fancheng. road.

Unexpectedly, Cao Jun attacked east and west, and sent 3000 people to rush to Wudang as the main force, but the main force quickly withdrew to Shangyong County.

This made Liu Jing's plan to besiege Cao Jun in Fangling County come to naught. When he got the information and came to Yongnan City, he was finally one step too late, allowing Cao Jun to successfully block the water, which made Liu Jing secretly annoyed.

At this time, Jia Xu stepped forward and said with a smile: "Don't be angry with Zhou Mu. This must be Cheng Yu's plan. He suggested that Cao Ren withdraw westward. How can he not know the benefits of Jiangxia's navy, so Cao's army can only retreat to Shangyong, not across the border?" The Han River goes north, and besides, Cao’s army and our army’s strength is equal, if Cao’s army is desperate and fights to the death, even if we defeat the opponent, it will be a miserable victory, and it is a great victory to capture Fangling County without bloodshed.”

Liu Jing nodded silently, and Jia Xu pointed at Shangyong City and smiled again: "Shangyong is the only way to go west to Hanzhong. If you can capture Shangyong City, it can be used as a logistics center for going west to Hanzhong, but it's not yet The timing of marching into Hanzhong is to stabilize Jingzhou before considering going west to Hanzhong, but you can consider capturing Shangyong City first and make war preparations first."

Liu Jing frowned slightly, "Sir, do you mean to attack Shangyong now?"

"Of course not now!"

Jia Xu laughed, "Now there are [-] Cao troops in Shangyong City, how can we attack the city? We must wait for Cao's troops to retreat north, then we can attack Shangyong."

Liu Jing also meant the same thing, now is not the time to attack Shangyong, he nodded, "In this case, we can garrison in Yongnan City, and then withdraw back to Xiangyang!"

"Has Zhou Mu considered the status of Xiangyang?" This is what Jia Xu is most concerned about. He wholeheartedly persuaded Liu Jing to move the state government to Xiangyang.

Liu Jing smiled and said, "Don't think about it for the time being. After Cao Jun is defeated, the state government will be officially moved to Xiangyang."

Jia Xu breathed a sigh of relief, he knew that Liu Jing was trying to stabilize the morale of the army and the people, but this is not bad, the layout is more leisurely, but what about Shangyong?

Liu Jing seemed to know what he was thinking, and immediately added: "Strive to win Shangyong next spring."

The two looked at each other and laughed together. At this moment, a soldier suddenly pointed at the distant river and shouted: "Zhou Mu, a fleet is coming!"

Liu Jing put his hands on the curtain and looked, and saw a group of ships approaching the blocked water in the distance. There were about a dozen ships, all of which were medium-sized ships of about [-] shi. They were obviously not warships, but cargo ships.

But this fleet has no sails, and they can sail against the current, and the speed is not slow, which makes Liu Jing stunned. He has been in Jiangxia for many years and has a deep understanding of the performance of ships. Only then can it be realized.

And like this kind of medium-sized cargo ship, if it doesn't hang sails, it is impossible to go against the current, but this impossible situation has appeared before his eyes.

In fact, this kind of situation is not impossible. For example, there is a kind of multi-oared boat in the West. Countless sailors paddle together in the cabin. The long paddles can even drive a three thousand stone ship in the sea. Clearly not a multi-oared boat.

The fleet was getting closer and closer, and the flag on the bow was clearly visible. It was a double carp flag with black stripes on a yellow background. It turned out to be the fleet of the Tao family. Liu Jing never imagined that he would meet the fleet of the Tao family here.

He couldn't help but have a doubt in his heart, could it be that the Tao family was secretly delivering supplies to Shangyong Cao's army?

But soon, Liu Jing's doubts disappeared. The fleet slowly moored on the side of Yongnan City. A middle-aged man in a white robe got off the leading ship and was explaining something to Jiang Xiajun. Liu Jing He recognized him at a glance, it was Tao Li.

Liu Jing smiled and said to Jia Xu: "This man is my wife's uncle, the second head of the Tao family."

Jia Xu also stroked his beard and said with a smile: "I can actually sail against the current, Zhou Mu has to ask carefully, what is the reason?"

After a while, the soldiers brought Tao Li to the top of the wall, and Liu Jing greeted him with a smile, "Why did you meet Second Uncle here?"

Tao Li bowed and said: "I came from Hanzhong. I heard that there was a battle in Xiangyang, so I waited for more than ten days on the Yongjiang section. I passed by the Dushui River estuary yesterday, and I happened to meet the Jiangxia warship. I learned that Zhou Mu was in Yongnan City. I Come and have a look."

Liu Jing nodded and asked again: "I don't know what kind of goods Second Uncle trafficked this time?"

"It's mainly medicinal materials. Gastrodia elata, Eucommia ulmoides, and angelica in Hanzhong are all high-quality products. They can't be sold at a high price in Hanzhong, but if they are shipped to Jiangdong for sale, they can make ten times the profit."

At this time, Jia Xu asked with a smile: "We are very curious, the Tao family's fleet can sail against the current without sailing, why is that?"

Tao Li couldn't help saying proudly: "The Tao family expanded their business to Guanzhong when they sold horses three years ago, but the biggest problem is the transportation of goods. It is not only time-consuming to travel by land with mules and horses, but the volume of goods is not large. Water transportation, but the current from Shangyong to Hanzhong is quite fast. There is no problem going along the river, but it is difficult to go upstream, even with sails. This problem has been troubled by the Tao family for several years. Until this summer, we encountered Master, finally solved this problem."

"How did you solve it?" Liu Jing asked curiously.

"It's very simple. Wooden paddles are installed on the bottom of the boat, and the boatman pedals in the cabin. Only six people are needed to drive the boat against the Han River. This solves the problem of the boat's propulsion."

Only then did Liu Jing realize that it was an excellent way to use artificial power.

Jia Xu was even more curious, and asked with a smile: "I really want to know, which expert solved this big problem for you?"

. . . . . .

Liu Jing brought Jia Xu and a dozen generals to the pier. In front of them was the cargo ship of the Tao family. Almost everyone's eyes were on the bottom of the ship. The impeller is a bit like a water wheel for irrigation, except that people pedal in the cabin.

Everyone got on the boat again and walked into the cabin to visit. Everyone was extremely curious. They had stayed in Jiangxia for a long time and had a deep understanding of water warfare and ships. impetus.

At the back of the cabin, there is a row of pedals on each side, and there are three pedals in one row. People can pedal while sitting. There is a wooden connecting shaft connecting the supporting shafts of the three pedals. The shaft drives the wooden wheel paddles outside the boat.

At this time, the three boatmen showed everyone a demonstration. The three of them cooperated tacitly, pedaling very lightly and effortlessly, thanks to the long connecting shaft, which saved a lot of effort.

The exquisite workmanship and ingenious design have won everyone's praise. Liu Jing even wants to know, who is the expert who designed this pedal pedal?There is even a little bit of the principle of transmission machinery in later generations.

At this time, Tao Li walked in with a young man about 25 or [-] years old, and introduced to Liu Jing with a smile: "Qizhou Mu, this young man is the maker of this kind of wooden wheel paddle. The man, surnamed Ma, is quite well-known as a maker of utensils in Guanzhong. He happened to follow the boat this time and wanted to further improve the oars."

Liu Jing's heart moved, this young famous craftsman could not be Ma Jun!

The young man seemed a little nervous. He stepped forward to give Liu Jing a deep salute, and stammered, "I'm dismounting...Ma Jun, styled Deheng, Guanzhongfu...Fufengren, see...Zhou Mu."

It was quite difficult for him to speak, but Liu Jing could hear clearly that this person was the famous inventor Ma Jun, Liu Jing was overjoyed, he never expected to meet Ma Jun here.

Ma Jun was also a late bloomer. He grew up in a poor family and suffered from severe stuttering. At the age of 16, he went to Zhongnan Mountain to seek immortality. Unexpectedly, he met an old man who had lived in seclusion for decades.

It was under the careful teaching and influence of the old man that Ma Jun, who was devoted to Taoism, gradually became obsessed with machine manufacturing. After eight years, he returned to his hometown and improved the spinning machine, which increased the efficiency by more than ten times and made him famous in one fell swoop.

Ma Jun focused on various exquisite mechanical designs, and gradually became a famous craftsman in Guanzhong. It was his reputation that gave him the opportunity to embark on the road of officialdom with a strong family background.

At this time, Ma Jun was well-known as a craftsman in Guanzhong. Just as Tao Li was troubled by sailing on the Han River and was willing to ask for a solution at a high price, a big merchant in Guanzhong introduced Ma Jun to Tao Li.

After Ma Jun's careful design and more than a dozen experiments, he finally invented the pedal wooden wheel paddle, which solved the problem of boats sailing against the current when the river was in a hurry.

Ma Jun himself knew that this invention was of great significance. He was worried about new problems, so he continued to observe and improve with the ship. Today he observed with the ship again, but he happened to meet Liu Jing.

Now that Liu Jing has met Ma Jun, of course he will not let him go. With him, many of his military machinery problems can be easily solved, such as the improvement of crossbow arrows, such as the improvement of trebuchets and stone cannons, etc. All of these require a Superb craftsman.

"It turns out that your Excellency is Mr. Deheng. Liu Jing has admired his name for a long time. Liu Jing has a lot of confusion and wants to ask him for advice. I don't know if he can enlighten me?"

Ma Jun was silent for a moment and said: "Next...the journey with the boat is not over yet."

Tao Li next to him was in a hurry. He also knew that Ma Jun was not a follower, but Liu Jing was his niece and son-in-law, and the relationship was extraordinary. How could he disappoint Liu Jing.

Tao Li was about to speak to persuade, but Liu Jing waved his hands and said with a smile: "Then I will test the boat with my husband!"

After a pause, Liu Jing explained with a smile again: "It's just me, no soldiers bothering me."