Chapter 1298 Hometown

Chapter 1298 Hometown

Chapter 1298 Hometown
The tide was rising strongly, with waves surging upwards.

Shen Yan, the chief officer of the Naval Commandery, was sitting on a small boat, slowly approaching the beach.

A gust of fine spray flew towards him, instantly wetting his military uniform.

Shen Yan held the package in his arms tightly.

The air was filled with a salty smell, and all I could hear were rhythmic shouts and the sounds of paddling. The turbid sea water was surging wildly around the outside of the boat, occasionally hitting the side of the boat fiercely, but was quickly smashed by the wooden oars.

He didn't know where he was, let alone how long it would take to get ashore.

He just waited.

The sea was not his forte, and people were too small and helpless in such an environment. So he could only wait, until he could reach the shore safely, until this long journey was completely over.

There was a cry of surprise from afar.

Shen Yan glanced around and found a ship sinking on the sea in the distance.

He didn't know what happened, but judging from the location where the ship sank, it seemed that it had deviated from the Iruura route and accidentally hit a reef.

Seawater poured in from the bottom of the ship, and the ship slowly lost balance and began to capsize and sink.

Some baggage was floating on the sea. The naval officers and soldiers who fell into the water swam over quickly, grabbed the baggage, and floated up and down on the sea.

The sergeant of the Army Division flapped his wings twice, then quickly sank to the bottom of the sea and disappeared.

Shen Yan was stunned: We were almost reaching the shore, but you died in a shipwreck caused by a reef.

Another big wave came, and Shen Yan hurriedly turned around, bent down and tightly protected the package in his arms.

There was a crisp "splash" sound, and my back was already wet by the waves.

Shen Yan bent even lower, and at this moment, the ship shook violently.

The tide on both sides receded rapidly and the ship ran aground on the beach.

"Sir, you can get off the boat now." The naval captain on the ship stood up, held Shen Yan's arm, helped him out, and landed on the muddy beach.

"Hualala" another wave of water came.

Shen Yan felt that his trouser legs, shoes and boots were all wet, and his feet were a little stuck in the mud and sand.

Another naval soldier came over and, together with the deputy captain, supported Shen Yan, and the three of them walked towards the shore, one step deep and one step shallow.

The coast was littered with things.

The crowd was in great chaos, and the officers had to shout at the top of their lungs for a long time before they could barely gather a group of people together.

The naval officers and soldiers who were first to be reorganized were already holding spears, bows, swords and shields, holding up flags, and heading for the mountains on both sides, trying to control the key points from a high position.

Another group of people carried tools and went to the flat intersections to dig trenches, build low walls, and block the passage.

More people stayed on the beach to assist the landing ships in delivering supplies and storing them in different categories.

Shen Yan came under a big tree, put his bag aside, then took off his shoes and boots with the help of others, and poured out all the mud, water and sand inside.

"Huh..." He let out a long sigh.

It was truly an unforgettable experience for him.

Until now, he couldn't even believe that he had set foot on the land of Liaodong.

Take a closer look at the mountains and forests, which are as green as ink, and the grasslands are green, flat and lush, which is similar to the Central Plains. The weather is a little cooler, but to be honest, it is just right, Henan in early June is already a bit hot.

The navy sergeant brought Shen Yan a table. There was still mud and sand on one corner of the table, and it was obviously not easy to carry it ashore.

Shen Yan thanked him and wiped it with his sleeve. Then he took out writing brush, ink, paper and inkstone from his bag and started grinding ink while writing a draft in his mind.

"I have heard of the principles of boat design. A flat bottom and shallow sides are good for landing on the beach quickly, but bad for carrying few soldiers. In the past, warships were designed so that the bottom of the boat could only submerge a few inches in the water. They could cross reefs and iron barriers like seagulls skimming the water. When the tides were unpredictable, they could still move forward and backward freely. This is the wonder of creation. However, the amount of space they can hold is limited..."

As the chief historian of the Naval Commandery, Shen Yan began to write records based on his personal experiences of sailing and landing.

After being submitted, they become the basis for improving ships and even navigation and landing tactics in the next stage.

In his opinion, Murong Ren was the only ally - maybe - otherwise, if he landed in such chaos, he could be driven into the sea with just one charge.

Of course, that was when the enemy was prepared. In fact, the Murong Xianbei basically didn't pay much attention to the sea, and there were no enemies attacking from the sea. For them, who were half herders and half farmers, the enemies were always Goguryeo from the mountains in the east and the Twelve Yuwen tribes from the grasslands in the west. The areas deep into the sea in the southern part of Liaodong were basically undefended.

After recording this passage, Shen Yan ordered the recorders and historians who had just come ashore to report to take care of his "navigation log", while he climbed up the mountainside along the gentle slope and looked into the distance.

This is actually the old site of Da County.

This county was established during the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han Dynasty. It has a longer history than many counties in the Central Plains. It has a large geographical area, extending 200 miles northward from the Maxish Mountain at the foot, all of which belongs to the scope of Da County. It can be said that the area is vast and the population is sparse.

During the Cao Wei period, Sima Yi conquered Liao. The people of Da County sailed southwards to Qingzhou the following year and were resettled in a new Da County. Da County in Liaodong was almost uninhabited and was abolished after the Jin Dynasty. In other words, this county no longer exists.

To the north of Da County, there were two other counties, Beifeng (now Wafangdian) and Pingguo (now Xiongyue), which were in a similar situation to Da County. During the Cao Wei period, Sima Yi either massacred or relocated them, and most of the people left. After the Jin Dynasty, they were abolished.

Murong Ren now used the old city of Pingguo County as his capital and struggled to resist Murong Huang. In other words, his only territory was the Liaodong Peninsula, and people's hearts were in turmoil. Many people wanted to surrender to the other side and abandon Murong Ren.

The situation is indeed quite critical. If Murong Ren does not cross the sea to the north and provide some support at this time, it is hard to say how long he can hold on.

Moreover, the window period for crossing the sea is only a few months.

After September, the sea conditions gradually became worse with the surge of waves. By October, strong winds and high waves were common.

By that time, not only was the wind direction unfavorable, but the sea conditions were also extremely bad, making it extremely dangerous to cross the sea. It was basically impossible to get support from Qingzhou, and we had to wait until the next year.

Will Murong Ren be able to support him until this time in the second year? Not likely.

Therefore, if they missed the precious three or four months of summer and autumn this year, the situation would become unrecognizable. This was the main reason why Xu Lang and Yang Bao made up their minds to cross the sea to the north before Murong Ren responded and agreed to the enthronement.

Anyway, his main forces are in the north fighting against Murong Huang, and the south is almost undefended. I will land if I want to, what can you do?

The situation was just as Shen Yan predicted. After the landing began at dawn on the sixth day, it lasted until the evening of the seventh day, and no one came to interfere.

It’s not that the Xianbei people didn’t know about it. In fact, a nearby tribe reported it on the afternoon of the sixth day, but they had few able-bodied men and most of the people in the tribe were the elderly, the weak, women and children. Therefore, they did not dare to act rashly and only sent a small number of troops to get close and spy.

After seeing the densely packed ships inside and outside the bay, and the navy landing and cutting wood to set up fences, digging trenches, and placing deer horns, they dared not take any action and could only urgently report the direction of Pingguo.

Murong Ren received the news at noon on the seventh day, and there has been no further news since then.

Everyone was waiting for his order, that is, what attitude should be taken to deal with the landing Liang people? Enemy or friendly? Give a definite answer quickly.

On the ninth day, Murong Ren sent the Eastern Yi commander Zhai Kai and Liaodong prime minister Pang Jian as envoys to march south to Mashijin.

******
On the ninth day, Yang Bao and Zhong Li Ke from Ma Shijin's side had already successfully landed.

There were more than 14,000 naval and land soldiers who landed in two groups. The core of them were the Zuo Feilong Guards and their more than 4,000 followers. They were more capable of fighting and had all the necessary equipment. After resting for two days, they gradually recovered. The only thing they lacked was horses for riding, which made their name, Flying Dragon, unworthy of its name.

There were also nearly 5,000 Qingzhou men who had only received superficial military training and had limited combat effectiveness. However, no one expected them to fight in battle, as the main job of Qingzhou men was construction.

The first task was to build a pier deep into the bay to facilitate the docking of ships and the loading and unloading of cargo;
The second task was to build temporary warehouses and barracks to store food, equipment and personnel;
The third task was to build a new city based on the half-collapsed old city of Daxian as a strategic support point for the Daliang Dynasty in Liaodong.

From this, it can be seen that Yang and Zhongli have no intention of going north, at least not in the short term.

So you can see that on the ninth day of June, the ancient places of Ma Shijin and Da County are bustling with activity.

Some were moving goods, some were building camps, some were deploying defenses on the spot, and even the naval generals began to think about how to return home. Should they wait for the wind direction to change, or float back along the ocean current, or go to the sea and then catch the changing wind direction.

In short, it is easy to go north but difficult to return in this season.

But they couldn't not return. Why were so many empty ships gathered in Mashijin? Not only was it difficult to anchor, but it also affected the subsequent transportation of materials and personnel.

"If Murong Ren is willing to provide supplies, it wouldn't be that urgent." Zhong Li Ke said, "But I don't know if he has food or grass."

"Of course there is grass, it's all over the mountains and plains, can you eat it?" Yang Bao laughed and said, "Food is a bit of a problem. According to Murong Han, when Murong Ren was stationed in Pingguo, there were about 150,000 people in Liaodong. Now that several counties have been lost, I think there are at most 100,000 men, women and children left. Among the 100,000 people, there are 50,000 to 60,000 Xianbei people, about 30,000 Zhongxia people, and a small number of Goguryeo, Buyeo, and Duanbu Xianbei people, most of whom are slaves captured over the years."

When Murong Wei was alive, Murong Han and Murong Ren followed their father in the wars and made many military achievements, so they were granted feudal titles.

Among them, Murong Han was stationed in Xiangping and Murong Ren was stationed in Pingguo.

After Murong Wei died, his sons went to Liucheng to mourn. Murong Han suspected that Murong Huang wanted to kill him, so he fled in a hurry.

Murong Zhao and Murong Ren were frightened, so they both fled to Liaodong and raised troops to resist.

At the end of last year, Murong Huang sent troops to attack Liaodong and won a great victory, taking three counties including Xiangping. Murong Zhao was killed in the battle, and Zhai Kai and Pang Jian led the remnants to flee south to Pingguo.

Pingguo is Murong Ren’s old nest.

When Murong Han was stationed in Xiangping, he was good at pacifying the Hu and Han people, and everyone from the soldiers to the local tyrants believed in him.

Murong Ren had always admired his elder brother, so he followed his example and learned from him, and managed to stabilize the situation around Pingguo.

At present, the main farming and pastoral area of ​​Murong Ren's forces is around Pingguo City, which is also the most densely populated area. Soldiers' families, Han nobles, and various tribes all gather here. The total population is about 50,000. The farming area is roughly in the later Bayuquan area and Gaizhou coastal plains. The mountainous area to the east is mainly for tribal grazing.

In fact, he originally had an important population gathering area, namely Xiangping (now Liaoyang), but it has been lost.

The Wen County area south of Xiangping and north of Pingguo was a region with relatively good agricultural and animal husbandry development. However, it is now on the front line and the people cannot produce properly. Whether these people and wealth can be effectively utilized is a big problem. This area is located in the Yingkou and Haicheng areas in later generations.

Therefore, although the population under Murong Ren's command seemed to be 100,000, it was actually greatly reduced. He was lucky enough to be able to feed himself and maintain the military struggle. In fact, he could not provide much food and livestock to support the newly landed Liang army.

In the end, people have to rely on themselves.

On the tenth day of June, Yang Bao received Murong Ren's envoy on Ma Shi Mountain.

(End of this chapter)