Qin Official

?"The storm has finally passed."

On the top of the five-foot-high boat pole, there is a bronze bird holding a flower in its mouth. It can turn with the wind, and the bird's head faces the direction of the wind.

At the end of September in the thirty-fifth year of Qin Shihuang, looking at the waiting wind instrument standing on the bow of the ship, the speed of which was neither fast nor slow, Wei Yang, the commander of the Kuaiji boat division in charge of five ships, couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

As early as last winter, they received an order from Qin Shihuang: After picking up the soldiers from Haidong, they were ready to go south to the south of the Yangtze River for training and garrisoning. So the Jiaodong Boat Division, the only naval force of the Qin Dynasty, was transformed into the "Kuiji Boat Division" "Division", the commander-in-chief is still Ren Xiao, and he is nominally under the command of Chang Nanhou, the general of the Southern Expedition.

At the end of summer, on the orders of the Marquis of Nanchang, hundreds of ships of the Kuaiji Marine Division left Zhufang Port at the mouth of the Yangtze River and went south to the sea, hoping to cooperate with the army and launch an attack on Fujian and Vietnam from the waterway.

However, there were unforeseen circumstances. They just rounded the Zhoushan Islands when they encountered strong winds and huge waves. The speed of the wind and waves was so great that even Xu Fu, not to mention Weiyang, who followed the army to observe the latitude and stars of various places, had never seen it.

After several ships were sunk by the storm, the navy had to give up its plan to go south and could only take shelter in Ojin Port in the south of Kuaiji.

What they encountered was the "hurricane" that is so talked about in the south, that is, the typhoon in later generations, which is often the strongest in June and July. It blows from the sea. Before it arrives, the chickens and dogs will be restless three days ago. When it starts, people are afraid. Damaging houses and breaking down trees is not enough to show the intensity of the hurricane. It can even blow the roof tiles like flying butterflies. A big hurricane will last for six or seven days, and a small one will last for one or two days.

It was also a coincidence that today was a windy year. The fleet waited until a hurricane subsided and hurriedly set off on the road before arriving at Dongou. They encountered another strong wind. This time, the losses were heavier, even though they were shivering and hiding in the harbor. , one-third of the fleet was still destroyed...

"No wonder Gou Jian once attacked Wu and wanted to launch his army from the sea, but he was worried about the vast water. Day and night, his movements were frightened, his voice was like thunder, and the waves were rising, and the boatman could not save him. He didn't know where his fate was. The pain is so painful that I can’t stop crying...this is what a hurricane is."

Xu Fu was not idle. After reading several books collected by Chun Shenjun that he found in Kuaiji County, they mostly talked about the past events of Wu and Yue. In the end, he had to admit that although he could find the route in the East China Sea with his eyes closed, he would not be able to find it when he came to a strange place. In the southern sea area, his eyes darkened.

Seeing that the turmoil was difficult to subside, Ren Xiao, the general of Louzhou, was very anxious. However, the one who hoped that the Qin army would leave this place as soon as possible was undoubtedly Dongoujun Zou Yao.

Dongou, located in Wenzhou in southern Zhejiang, has a much longer history than its neighbor Minyue. As early as more than two hundred years ago, King Gou Jian of Yue, who had worked hard and learned ten years of experience, sent Fan Li to create a rear area for revenge against Wu. When he came here, he built Dongou City and recruited native people from Qi Min to join the Vietnamese army.

Later, the State of Yue was destroyed by Chu, and the descendants of King Wujiang of Yue fled south. Dongou was also their first stop. The descendants of the King of Yue rebuilt the State of Yue here. It has been passed down for six generations so far. Two generations ago, due to habitual The enfeoffment was divided into two kings, Minyue and Dongou, both of whom were called kings. Minyue was slightly larger, with seven tribes and a population of 200,000, while Dongou was small and had a population of less than 100,000.

However, with the arrival of the Qin army, Dong Ou wisely chose to surrender and offered the mouth of the Ou River to the sea for the Qin Dynasty boat division to berth.

The fashion was good at first, but as the southern expedition fleet was blocked by the storm and trapped in Dong'ou, the country of Dong'ou was short of people. To support this large number of Qin Zhou divisions and provide them with food and clothing, they exhausted their warehouses.

But Ren Xiao didn't have the slightest sympathy for Lord Dong'ou's complaints. He yelled at the nominal "commander" that the wood and manpower needed to reorganize the fleet must be supplied on time. He also asked Lord Dong'ou to work in Ou. A leather manufacturing workshop was built on the north bank of the Yangtze River to provide armor tools for the Qin army.

"Isn't Dong'ou famous for its fish-skin sword, black turtle sauce, and shark's sword? The armor of the army has been affected by moisture and has deteriorated a lot. Three hundred pairs of armor have been made and sent!"

The so-called fish skin scabbard is a scabbard made of shark skin. It was used to repair ships for the Qin army. If there was a shortage of manpower for hunting and fishing, wouldn't this mean that the horses must run and not eat grass? In desperation, Mr. Dongou had no choice but to use cowhide as sharkskin to make up for the loss. After being found out, Ren Xiao was called to the boat to give him a scolding.

In this way, Dongou almost exhausted its national strength. Finally, by the end of September, the last hurricane subsided. The Qin army also repaired the damaged boat division, set sail, left Wenzhou Bay, and headed for the mouth of the Minjiang River hundreds of miles south. That was where Dongye, the capital of the Fujian and Yue Kingdom, was located. Ren Xiao had agreed to meet Changnan Hou Zhengdan on the first day of the lunar new year there.

Seeing thousands of sails entering the sea, the swarm of toothy sea locusts disappeared away, and Mr. Dong Ou, who was devoured and devoured, couldn't help crying with joy:

"These Qin people have finally left. I just hope they can capture Dongye as soon as possible and don't come back again!"

…

When the boat division entered the sea, Heifu had also led his army from Yuzhang to northern Fujian.

Fujian has always been a closed area, surrounded by mountains in all directions. There were only four ways for later generations to enter Fujian from other places, one from Jiangxi via Chong'an Fenshuiguan to Fujian, one from Zhejiang through Xianxialing and into Pucheng, one from Jiangxi Meiling into Ninghua in western Fujian, and the other from Jiangxi to Fuzhou by sea.

It's almost the same now. Hei Fu personally led 20,000 soldiers from his old army across Wuyi Mountain, while Yin Tong, the captain of Yuzhang County, led 10,000 soldiers from Kuaiji and Zhang County across Xianxia Ridge. The two armies agreed to rendezvous in the territory of Changzou Wuxie, the ruler of northern Fujian. Half a year ago, it was this man who helped Xiao Tao in trouble, allowing Xiao Tao and his subordinates to return to Nanchang via northern Fujian.

After entering the Fujian region, everyone discovered that Yuzhang was already mountainous, and the Fujian region was even more mountainous. They walked through the Minjiang River canyon, and as far as the eye could see were mountainous forests and very few flat dams.

The difficulty of the army's march is similar to that of trekking through the thorny rain forests of South Vietnam. But the problem is that South Vietnam only needs a fire to burn a lush field, but this cannot be done in Fujian. Before the introduction of new crops in the Americas, the land here was , it was extremely difficult to feed a large population. People had to build roads as they moved, using wooden stacks and stone ladders to cross the mountains. This is why they walked a hundred miles and took two months.

"No wonder the prince promised that Zou Wuxie, saying that Qin only wanted a city in Dongye. With these steep mountains and lush forests and bamboos, even if they sent officials, they would not be able to find people's rule. If they wanted to garrison troops, they would have no place to station their fields. "

Li Cang found that riding a horse on the mountain road was not as fast as hiking, so he simply dismounted and followed Heifu's white mule to catch his breath.

Heifu smiled after hearing this:

"Eight mountains, one water, and one farmland, this is the land of Fujian. Eighty percent of the mountains can be abandoned, and only one water and one farmland can be controlled."

The plains of Fujian are concentrated in the coastal areas. Currently, only one city, Dongye City, is a good port, and that is the only area that the Qin army can occupy for a long time.

At the end of September, the group finally cleared the Wuyi Mountain Road and arrived at a Min settlement located on the upper reaches of the Min River. The lord of this place, Zou Wuxie, was notified by the forwards Dongmen Bao and Xiao Tao, and led his people to the mountain road. waiting.

"Zou Wuxie pays homage to the Lord!"

Zuo Wuxie knew some Qin dialect, and under the guidance of Xiao Tao, he bowed to Hei Fu, but the Minyue accent was too strong, and he had to repeat a sentence three times before Hei Fu could understand it.

Seeing the Qin soldiers who were densely packed like snakes on the mountain road, there were actually as many as twenty or thirty thousand. Zou Wuxie was happy and worried at the same time. What he was happy about was that the Qin army was so powerful that it was easy to destroy Zou Wuzhu, the king of Minyue. What's worrying is that he is a small lord from Qifan, and he only has a small number of soldiers and civilians under his control. Now that so many people have come at once, I'm afraid he will be destitute.

"No Shirt Lord."

Heifu got off his mule and helped him up. He was polite for a while and praised him for his profound understanding of righteousness and his ability to help the Qin Dynasty eliminate evil. He would definitely commend him to the court and make him the new King of Fujian and Yue.

Immediately, he looked at the skinny and short Fujian man next to Zou Wuxie, whose green eyes stared at the fine armor of the Qin soldiers and swallowed saliva, and joked: "Is it possible that you tribesmen haven't had enough to eat? Why? They all look like hungry ghosts, staring at us like this, maybe they want to eat people?"

"Don't dare, don't dare!"

Zou Wuxie quickly explained: "Don't worry, sir. Although Minyue is a barbarian, it has no bad habit of cannibalism. Those who cannibalize people are from the tribes of South Vietnam! Those who kill people with beautiful sideburns will have their faces peeled off. Cage them in bamboo and dry them, call them ghosts, encourage them and worship them for welfare, and attack them with grievances. They will kill and eat them! Therefore, Nanyue often attacks and kills my tribe, and they eat the people from Fujian and Yue. Call me cruel!"