"Godmother, there is a rat plague in Nanjun and Poyang Lake is frozen. The Great Zhou court will definitely do its best to provide disaster relief. God help us!"

Li Mingde, who received the news, was so excited that he couldn't express it in words.

Although this may seem a bit like gloating and not very good, in fact, this disaster did buy precious time for the development of the three routes.

Gu Nanxi's face was heavy. He ordered the 4,000 Yunzhou soldiers he brought to suspend their rotation and assigned them to Suining County. He also repeatedly reminded them to strengthen their vigilance.

Li Mingde was puzzled: "Why?"

Gu Nanxi didn't wear a fur coat, but a cotton jacket instead.

This was the first finished jacket made by the textile workshop using southern cotton, and it was woven with a green hunting pattern using a jacquard loom.

The jacket is not as warm as a fur coat, but it is much warmer than a linen jacket. When cotton planting becomes widespread, the price of cotton will drop and ordinary people will be able to afford a cotton jacket.

Unfortunately, this process will probably be delayed for several years.

Gu Nanxi's eyes revealed a look of regret: "Our official has a rebellious temper. If there is no disaster, between fighting and not fighting, he will definitely choose not to fight. But once there is a disaster, he will most likely choose to fight with us."

Just like a child in his rebellious period, ignore him, ignore him, let him make his own choices, he will be able to calmly analyze the situation and make the right decision.

Once someone gives him advice or forces him, even if it is forced by objective conditions, his rebellious spirit will come out.

Even though his reason told him that he should swallow his anger at this moment, he still felt that God was the boss and he was the second, so if he didn't accept it, he would just fight!

Li Mingde said anxiously: "Godmother, what should we do? Didn't you say that we should build high walls and store up food?!"

Gu Nanxi patted Li Mingde on the shoulder and said, "Don't worry, everything is under control."

…

Twenty ships blocked out the sun and blocked the river, leaving only waterways on both sides for small transport ships to pass through.

It’s not that Li Sui didn’t want to stop them all, but the tower ship had too deep a draft, and if it got close to the two banks, it would easily run aground.

One after another, small merchant ships whizzed towards Hezhong Prefecture as if they did not see these huge monsters.

Being ignored to this extent, Li Sui almost laughed out of anger: "You really value money over life! Do we really have no sense of existence?"

Zhao Jun stood on the deck. Not far ahead was the fork of the river, but he could not see any trace of the warships of Hezhong County.

Zhao Jun's heart was in turmoil.

The officials in Kyoto didn't know, but he in Guangde Prefecture knew! Every three days, a warship from Hezhong County was launched!

Although their warships were not as big as the tower ships and looked strange in shape, Zhao Jun always felt that they should not be underestimated!

After all, the opponent is the Duke of Yun! When the Duke of Yun was not killing like crazy on the grassland, no one expected that the Duke of Yun was so good at fighting!

In his heart, Zhao Jun cursed all the officials in the court, but he still had to obey the imperial edict. At the fork, he took ten ships and headed for Suining County.

Li Sui took the remaining ten ships and went to Hezhong Prefecture.

However, when it was still five miles away from Hezhong Prefecture, the tower ship could no longer pass.

"How long has it been?! Why is the waterway still silted up?!" Li Sui stomped his feet in anger.

Is this Yunzhou speed? !

Hezhong County is holding Yunzhou back!

Someone explained: "This little siltation will not affect the passage of merchant ships. There are not many ships in Hezhong County, so they will not go to the trouble of clearing the silt in winter."

Li Sui had no choice but to accept the emperor's request that the troops arrive at Hezhong Prefecture before noon tomorrow.

But now the river is silted up, how can we cross it? Should we walk there?

Stop it, Li Sui doesn’t want to be captured like Song Shoujie, it’s too embarrassing!

Where has Li Sui ever led troops to fight a war?

He had to ask the sailors on the ship: "In the past, when you encountered this kind of situation, how did you solve it?"

The naval officers and soldiers who were asked looked at each other, and finally a thin and dark man bravely asked.

"In the past, we had warships in addition to the tower ships. One tower ship was equipped with five to six warships."

A warship is a light assault ship, covered with cowhide to prevent fire, and usually equipped with a fierce oil tank and archers.

As for why there are no warships this time, it’s because the government didn’t write it and didn’t allow it!

The Minister of War even had the courage to ask the emperor this question.

The official said confidently: "They are going to attack the city! How can a mere warship pose a threat to the towering city walls? Instead of wasting manpower to launch a warship, it is better to launch an extra ship. Besides, the water in that river is deep, and the ship can directly reach the city of Hezhongfu!"

Although Li Sui didn't know the emperor's answer, at this moment, regarding the battle strategy written by the emperor, only four words came to Li Sui's mind: "Talking about war on paper"!

Li Sui had an inexplicable premonition that he and these sailors might become cannon fodder.

At this moment, Gu Nanxi, Li Mingde and others were standing on the city wall of Hezhong Prefecture, looking at the wide river from afar.

Song Shoujie was also invited.

Li Mingde reported: "Several merchants said that their merchant ships encountered ten tower ships 20 miles away from Hezhong Prefecture."

Every ten meters on the city wall, there is an iron lump covered with red cloth.

Next to it, there are two wooden boxes.

Six fully armed soldiers were guarding around with solemn expressions.

Song Shoujie looked at it several times but couldn't figure out what it was.

It was not on the city wall last time I came, but it is here now. I guess it was brought by Duke Yun from Yunzhou.

Gu Nanxi took out the telescope and asked calmly, "Sir Song, tell me what you think."

Song Shoujie had stayed in Hezhong County for so long that he knew that Duke Yun would definitely not let him go back. Even if he went back, he would have no place in the court.

In this case, it would be better to directly surrender to Duke Yun.

Song Shoujie thought for a moment and said, "With the speed of the tower ship, it will be able to reach ten miles away today. They should send a warship to spy on the situation first. We can send out a wave of warships to destroy the warship."

This is a very normal idea for water warfare.

A warship is equivalent to a frigate of a tower ship, so of course it must be destroyed first.

Li Mingde nodded repeatedly, yes, that's right.

Gu Nanxi did not reply, but kept looking into the distance with the telescope.

Song Shoujie didn't wait for Duke Yun's reply. He only saw Duke Yun taking out something like a long tube and putting it in front of him. He didn't know what he was doing.

Did I answer wrong?

That’s impossible! I’ve been having water fights for so many years, there’s no way I could go wrong!

After a long while, Gu Nanxi put down the telescope, her face showing a mixture of confusion, disbelief, and even a hint of self-doubt.

Song Shoujie swallowed and said, "Sir, what's wrong?"

"No ships. They are five miles away."

ha?!

Seeing that Song Shoujie didn't believe it, Gu Nanxi handed him the telescope.

Song Shoujie imitated Duke Yun's posture, picked up the telescope and put it in front of his eyes, and saw the silhouette of the building ship appear in front of him instantly.

Holy shit! This is clairvoyance!

Holy shit! They really didn’t bring any warships!

Could the commander be an undercover agent sent by Duke Yun? (End of this chapter)