Chapter 516: Opportunity for a Long Voyage
Chapter 516: Opportunity for a Long Voyage
In the height of June, a major event that shocked the whole city took place in Wu County. Ten official ships from Jiangdu were tied with red silk and colorful flags, and gongs and drums were played. The bows were full of soldiers in full dress, and there were 500 cavalrymen following the shore. The fleet slowly sailed into Wu County, and the leading ship was carrying a huge banner that read, "Prince Jin is marrying the eldest granddaughter of the Lu family."
More than 100,000 people from Wu County rushed to the riverside to watch the excitement. The crowd surged and cheered loudly, but more of them were amazed and envious. The King of Jin actually married a woman who had withdrawn from the CCP. A Confucian scholar shook his head and said, "How can a mortal man reach the level of a fairy? The Lu family withdrew from the CCP just to wait for the King of Jin to marry her!"
The grand wedding ceremony of Prince Jin also gave enough face to the Lu family. The Lu family also beat drums and gongs, and the whole clan went out to marry their daughter Lu Xieting. Not only did they use all the gifts given by Prince Jin as dowry, they also gave their daughter another 50,000 strings of cash and 3,000 acres of fine land as dowry.
The ceremonial officer read out loudly the emperor's decree of enthronement, enthroning Lu as the fourth-rank Liangyi and the concubine of the Prince of Jin. Liangyi is a rank and concubine is a status. Of course, there can be more than one concubine, at least Zhang Qiao is also a concubine.
Wearing a phoenix crown, Lu Xieting slowly walked out of the Lu family's gate, accompanied by dozens of maids holding round fans. She bid farewell to her parents and boarded the main ship with the help of two maids. Xiao Ai, as the head of the guard, took ten female guards to escort Lu Xieting north.
With reluctance to part, amidst the cheers of farewell, the ten large ships gradually sailed away. Lu Heming patted Zhu Lie on the shoulder and said with a smile: "I have always blamed your son for changing his ways, but now it seems that there must be a will in the dark, and I blamed him wrongly!"
Zhu Lie smiled bitterly and said, "Everyone has their own destiny. Sicai and his cousin are in love and harmony. This is their destiny. Xie Ting's marriage was also decided long ago. We should have been more open-minded at the beginning."
"That's right. Our two families have been friends for hundreds of years. How can we become enemies over such a small matter? Let's have a good drink tonight and not leave until we are drunk!"
"You won't come home until you're drunk!"
The two held hands and laughed.
Lu Shenyan also glanced at Wu County Lieutenant Lu Jian in the distance. Seeing that he looked lost, Lu Shenyan sneered in his heart. His name was obviously Fan Jian, but he changed his name to Lu Jian in order not to marry his granddaughter. Now, his granddaughter has become the concubine of Prince Jin. If his granddaughter persuades him, his official career will be ruined. He will have to be a county lieutenant for the rest of his life!
At this time, Zhang Huai, the head of the Zhang family, came over and said to Lu Shenyan, "My dear brother, His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin is making such a big fuss, not only to give face to the Lu family, but also to win over our Wu family. My dear brother, take the lead, and let's sit down and discuss how to repay His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin's kindness."
Lu Shenyan had an idea long ago. He invited the other two family heads to come and said to the three of them, "Let me tell you my idea first, and then we can sit down and discuss the details. I think the King of Jin is most concerned about solving the charity granary problem. Why don't we set an example in Wujun and our family fill the gap in the charity granary so that the charity granary problem can be solved smoothly."
The other three families all nodded. Zhu Shaoyou, the head of the Zhu family, smiled and said, "Mr. Qi is right. Secondly, the difference in the charity granary is not that much, and it is even less for each family. The key is attitude. Once the charity granary incident provokes peasants to revolt, it will be our family that will suffer. If we help His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin, we are actually helping ourselves."
The four of them agreed and unanimously decided to gather all the Wu families the next day to discuss how to solve the charity granary problem and set an example for other counties.
Since the beginning of summer, Jiangdu has been busy preparing for the emperor's southern tour. The Jiangdu Palace has been renovated and expanded by another 50 acres, all of which are mainly houses. Although the previous palace has beautiful scenery, it is not practical. There are too few living houses in the palace. The palace wall has also been increased to 25 feet high and equipped with iron barbs, becoming a nightmare for anyone who climbs over the wall. In addition, a special dock and imperial road were specially built to lead directly to the Jiangdu Palace from the canal.
Although the main body of the rebellion in the South has been eliminated, there are still remnants, that is, some overseas rebels. They are a huge hidden danger and will come back sooner or later. They cannot cause big waves, but they will be like the old man in the mountains, specializing in assassinations, making it difficult to guard against them.
That morning, a fleet consisting of ten Wanshi merchant ships arrived at Jiangdu Port. Xiao Xia specially met with the leader of the fleet, He Man.
He Man was a native of Jian'an County and a famous navigator in the Sui Dynasty. Historically, he was the first person to discover the Ryukyu Islands. However, in the Sui Dynasty, the Ryukyu Islands were fairy mountains overseas and the people living there were all immortals.
He Man is about thirty years old, of medium build, with dark skin, a strong physique and a pair of exceptionally bright eyes.
"I pay my respects to His Royal Highness Prince Jin!"
In the official room, He Man knelt down and bowed deeply to Xiao Xia, who quickly asked him to stand up and sit down.
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "I heard that Master He has traveled overseas for many years and has a wide range of knowledge. I wonder if he has ever been to Liuqiu Island?"
He Man bowed and said, "Your Highness, there are two islands in Ryukyu, one big and one small, so we usually call them Ryukyu Big Island and Ryukyu Small Island. We have been to both islands." At this time, the attendants brought in a large sand table. This was the sand table of Jiangnan Road. Xiao Xia specially left an open space outside the coast.
"This is the sand table I built. Master He, come and take a look!"
He Man walked forward to take a closer look. There was no Ryukyu Island, but there was a Ryukyu Island. This was not surprising, because the Eastern Wu generals Zhuge Zhi and Wei Wen had been to the big island and named it Yizhou.
He Man pointed to the top of Yizhou and said, "From here upwards, there is a series of islands. There are people living on the largest island, but unfortunately I don't dare to get off the boat."
Xiao Xia nodded and pointed at Ryukyu Island and asked, "How much do you know about the island?"
"Your Highness, there are natives living on the big island, more than 10,000 of them, living in the jungle and mountains. I have done business with them, and they exchanged mountain products for daily necessities and ironware."
"There were no Shanyue people who escaped from Jian'an County?"
He Man nodded and said, "There were some before, but they had conflicts with the local natives. They were no match for the natives, so they moved to Guilong Island last year."
Guilong Island is Penghu Island. It turns out that the remnants of the Shanyue rebels were not on Daliuqiu Island, but on Guilong Island.
Xiao Xia pondered for a moment and said, "I plan to send troops to wipe out the remaining Shanyue people. I may need to ask Master He to lead the way."
He Man readily agreed, and he asked with a smile: "Your Highness, have you ever considered sending troops to Liuqiu Big Island and Liuqiu Small Island to take a look?"
Xiao Xia smiled and nodded, "If conditions permit, you can go and have a look."
Xiao Xia then brought He Man to the navy camp, which was located in the eastern part of Hailing County, which was the place where the three major salt merchants produced fine salt. It was also a natural river bay with more than 300 large military ships anchored. Among them, there were more than 200 warships that had been repaired and more than 70 warships that were in very good condition and did not require maintenance.
The naval camp is on the shore. Thirty thousand people have been recruited and are being actively trained. Among the 30,000 people, more than half are from Jingxiang, and there are also many from western Jiangnan and northern Jiangnan. There are too few soldiers in Jiangnan, and only a small number of soldiers are from Danyang County.
The current commander-in-chief of the navy is Xiao Xia, and Lai Huer is the deputy commander-in-chief. However, Xiao Xia also appointed Lai Huer as the chief commander of the navy, Zhou Fashang as the chief secretary, Zhang Zhenzhou as the Sima, Chen Leng and Zhu Kuan as the left and right deputy generals, and there are more than 20 naval generals under him, including Fei Qingnu, Shen Guang, Zhou Shaofan, Lai Yuan, Lai Zheng and others.
Thirty thousand navy troops are training their battle formations. The navy is different from the army. The army trains large battle formations, while the navy not only trains large battle formations but also trains battles on ships, which often involve the cooperation of several people, so it is also called a ten-man battle.
Xiao Xia entered the central military tent and ordered all important generals to be gathered.
Xiao Xia smiled slightly and said, "It's meaningless to always train on land. Long-distance sailing training is the navy's specialty. Now the opportunity for long-distance sailing has come!"
Two days later, the navy's first long-distance training began. Because there were not many warships and it was impossible for all of them to set sail, Xiao Xia ordered Chen Leng as the main general and Zhu Kuan as the deputy general to lead 200 warships and 10,000 naval forces south to Jian'an County and go to Guilong Island to wipe out the remnants of the Shanyue rebels.
(End of this chapter)