"Captain, forget it. It's just a guess anyway. Don't give me a reward or a punishment." The squadron leader next to him tried to smooth things over.

"I didn't guess, I aimed and shot!" But Chu Liuxiang didn't appreciate it.

"Wow, you dare to admit it even if I give you a needle hole, and you dare to poke it even if I give you a hole. You are really brave." Wang Rulong patted his head again.

"I really aimed and fired." Chu Liuxiang seemed to be greatly insulted, and his face turned red as he said, "Isn't the purpose of firing a cannon to hit the target? Why did you punish me for hitting the target and say that I was just lucky?"

“Stop…” Wang Rulong saw that the boy was a little stubborn, so he quickly stopped talking and said, “It’s simple. Try firing again. If you hit the target, not only will I not punish you, I will also reward you handsomely!”

"Okay!" Chu Liuxiang was not nervous and agreed immediately.

At this time, the security guards had already cleaned up the deck. Seeing that there was something exciting to watch, they quickly opened a box of shells and emptied a cannon on the main deck.

Wang Rulong glanced at the sea, stretched out his right arm, squinted his left eye, and pointed his thumb at a reef next to the mouth of the East China Sea. This was the distance-measuring method passed down to them by the Marshal, and he also passed it on to his security guards without reservation.

"Let's attack the reef 1.1 kilometers away." Wang Rulong ordered Chu Liuxiang.

"Okay!" Chu Liuxiang nodded, thought for a moment, reduced the amount of propellant by 10%, stuffed it into the barrel, used a pressure rod to compact it, and then filled it with a shell wrapped in cotton cloth. This thin cotton cloth with grease developed by the research center can prevent air leakage and increase the range, so Chu Liuxiang wanted to reduce the amount of propellant.

The assistant gunner used a long chisel to clean the vent and at the same time broke the paper bag of propellant. Then he inserted a five-inch long fuse into the vent, lit the fuse, and handed it to Chu Liuxiang.

Chu Liuxiang was not in a hurry to fire, but as the ship swayed, he kept slightly changing the pitch angle of the snake gun. In this way, no matter how the ship rolled, the aiming line of the gun barrel would always remain horizontal.

The deck was extremely quiet, and everyone stared at Chu Liuxiang without blinking. However, he had already entered a state of unity between man and gun, and oblivion of himself and the world.

Wang Rulong observed carefully and found that the boy's breathing was synchronized with the shaking of the ship.

In the interval between the slow waves when the front wave just passed and the back wave just started, Chu Liuxiang aimed at the part of the reef below the waterline and quickly ignited the fuse that he had shortened.

With a bang, the shell shot out and hit the distant reef with a whistling sound, and gravel flew up!

There was thunderous cheering on the boat as well. The security guards rushed forward, lifted Chu Liuxiang high into the air and almost threw him into the sea.

"This guy is quite capable!" Wang Rulong rubbed his head with satisfaction. Finally, there was a sharpshooter in the Coast Guard.

"Chu Liu...Xiang, he is usually the best shooter in our squadron." The squadron leader smiled with relief.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Wang Rulong rolled his eyes at him.

"You'll tell me only if you hit the target. If you miss, there's nothing else to tell me." The squadron leader gave a sly smile.

“Cunning.” Wang Rulong scolded with a smile, “Reward him with a merit and reward him with ten taels of silver. Remember to remind me when you go back to apply for a special promotion for him.”

"Okay." The squadron leader responded crisply.

Jiangnan Security did not implement the group's five-level and thirty-six-level job grade system, but a different set of more valuable job title system. Of course, the difficulty of promotion is also higher. I didn't expect that Chu Liuxiang could get a special promotion just because he was good at artillery. It's really enviable.

~~

This little episode did not affect the princess's joyful mood. The Coast Guard had to practice shooting every day, and she had long been accustomed to the rumbling sound of the cannons. If there was no cannon fire one day, she would feel that something was missing.

What she cared more about was whether the fleet could reach Tianjin within ten days.

Three days later, we arrived at Dagukou. It has been exactly ten days since we set sail from Chongming Sansha on March 1st!

When the eldest princess saw the Tianjin garrison lined up at Dagukou to welcome her, she was so happy that she couldn't stop smiling. She kept praising her godson for being sensible and capable, which relieved a big worry for her godmother!

"Why is my mother so happy?" Li Chengen felt sour. His mother was much closer to Zhao Hao than to himself.

"The grain can finally be transported north. Is it strange that Your Highness is happy for your uncle?" Xiwa said with an expression that said "you are an idiot".

"Really?" Li Chengen muttered, thinking to himself why didn't I realize that Her Royal Highness the Princess was so noble.

~~

Dagukou is the first coastal defense fortress of the Ming Dynasty. It is known as the gateway to Beijing and Tianjin and the throat of land and sea. After Emperor Chengzu established Beijing as the capital, he continuously strengthened the defense here. Not only did he build a complete acropolis and a majestic artillery fort, but he also stationed tens of thousands of elite soldiers here to guard this important road into Beijing.

The civil and military officers in charge were Cao Ke, the military governor of Tianjin, and Hu Shouren, the deputy general of Jizhen East Road. They had received a letter from the military governor of Denglai, informing them that Her Royal Highness the Princess was returning to Beijing by sea.

At this time, the 800-li express from the Southern Military Department also arrived at Dagukou. After the two confirmed the truth, the two men no longer suspected anything and hurriedly set up the most solemn ceremony, asking the soldiers to line up on both sides of Dagukou, and they also boarded the warships to go out to sea to welcome them.

The reason for going out to sea to greet them was, firstly, to show respect, and secondly, to clarify the situation in advance. They couldn't let such a large fleet enter Dagukou in a confused state.

When the two men boarded the Pingjiang in court robes, they felt relieved when they saw the Princess, who was wearing a pearl and jade Qingyun crown and a xiapei, and whose noble temperament made people unable to look directly at her, and they felt relieved.

When Hu Shouren saw Zhao Hao standing beside the princess with a smile on his face, he felt relieved and whispered to Cao Ke, "He is a good citizen."

"Uh..." Mr. Zhao rolled his eyes when he heard Lao Hu's evaluation of him. You are a good citizen, and your whole family are good citizens.

Hu Shouren didn't care about Zhao Hao at the moment, and quickly followed Cao Ke to kowtow to the princess.

"My two gentlemen, please stand up. I am deeply sorry for causing trouble to the local people during my return to the capital by sea." As soon as she returned to the north, the eldest princess automatically resumed her dignity and dignity. Where was the trace of the infatuated little woman in her body?

If Gan'er hadn't been counting on Tianjin, she wouldn't have bothered to deal with these small characters.

"Thank you, Your Highness." Cao Ke, the fourth-rank military governor, and Hu Shouren, the third-rank deputy general, who were defined as minor characters by the princess, stood up quickly. The former hurriedly responded, "Your Highness was ordered to return to the capital, so he had to take this extraordinary risk. It is really respectable and lamentable. It is a great honor for us to have the Phoenix Chariot come to such a remote sea area like Dagu!"

After the two sides exchanged pleasantries, Cao Ke wanted to invite the princess to rest in the Acropolis. Naturally, Ning An was not interested in that and refused directly, saying that she was eager to return home and asked how she could get back to Beijing as quickly as possible.

Cao Ke told the princess that the Dagu River was very wide and had abundant water flow, and that large ships of a thousand tons could sail there. It was very convenient to go west from the Dagu River for a hundred miles and then join the Grand Canal to the north of the capital.

However, the water volume of the Grand Canal is far from enough, and the waterway is shallow, only able to accommodate sand ships of 400 tons at most. Therefore, the Princess's Pingjiang could not enter the canal and had to change to other ships.

The princess was very happy to hear that she could enter the Grand Canal directly by boat. Why would she care about changing boats? She directly ordered to go upstream along the Dagu River.

Hu Shouren led the troops and escorted the princess out of the defense zone with Cao Bingxian. On the way, he finally got a chance to talk to Zhao Hao.

"Brother Hu, long time no see." Master Zhao smiled and bowed to Qi Jiguang's right-hand man.

"Yes, Mr. Zhao." Hu Shouren happily clasped his fists and returned the greeting, "What a surprise to see you. Dao Jizhen talked about you with the Marshal the other day, and I didn't expect to see you today."

"Yes, I didn't expect to meet you here!" Young Master Zhao lied with his eyes open. Dagukou and Tianjinwei were the destinations of his sea transportation. The information of all the civil and military officials here had long been placed on his desk. "How is Brother Hu these days? Is everything okay, Marshal?"

"All good, all good." Hu Shouren said with a smile, "Now that I have Zhang Xianggong's protection, life is better. General Guo was transferred a while ago, and the Marshal was appointed as the General of Jizhen as the Right Commander-in-Chief and the Chief of Training. Finally, there is no more restriction, and I can let go and do a great job."

"That's great." Zhao Hao knew that Zhang Juzheng was making up for Qi Jiguang's failure to save Wang Rulong and the other two. In addition, Tan Lun, who had worked closely with Qi Jiguang in the southeast, became the governor of Ji and Liao. With these two big guys protecting him, Marshal Qi's life would be too easy.

"By the way, Brother Wang is here too this time. He is on the first boat in front." He said to Hu Shouren again.

"Really?!" Hu Shouren was very surprised. He and Wang Rulong were as close as brothers, and he missed them very much after not seeing each other for a year. As he spoke, he clasped his fists again and sincerely thanked Zhao Hao: "Young Master, I am deeply grateful for what you have done for the brothers in Jiangnan. If there is anything you can do for me, I will go through fire and water without hesitation!"

"Brother Hu, that's too polite." Zhao Hao was delighted, but he said with a noble face, "I'm honored to be able to do something for the heroes." He paused and smiled, "Besides, they also helped me a lot. If they hadn't helped me keep the place under control, my Jiangnan Group would have been robbed by the Taihu pirates long ago."

"Hahaha!" Hu Shouren laughed, "Brothers, you can't do anything else, but beating up bandits is like playing."

"It's great to meet Brother Hu. I was still worried about how to settle Brother Wang and his 500 men." Zhao Hao smiled bitterly and said, "Although they are the security team escorting the princess, it's a bit ostentatious to come to the capital in such a blatant manner."

In fact, once the security team takes off their black leather uniforms and changes into sailor's blue shorts, they don't have to worry about being conspicuous.

But this is already Beijing and Tianjin, and there are government troops escorting them, so why should Wang Rulong and his men worry about it? Master Zhao just found an excuse to let them take a break, and also to build relationships in Tianjin in advance.

This is very important. Waiting until the grain transportation starts before trying to build relationships will not only be very costly, but also have a very poor effect.

He had heard that Tianjin was famous for its strict rules and regulations. This was a place that could not be bought with money alone. One had to cultivate feelings first, and then business would go much more smoothly.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it." Hu Shouren took on the responsibility and said, "Brother Jiajia is also a deputy general. It will be a piece of cake for me to settle a few hundred people."

ps. Please vote for me for the second update. There is one more update, which will be released later.