Chapter 5 Raw Rice

Yan Chongxi learned in advance that Xiao Tianjian was coming to the ancient town, so he led people to the ancient town in advance to wait for Xiao Tianjian's arrival.

As soon as Xiao Tianjian arrived at the ancient town, Yan Chongxi immediately connected Xiao Tianjian to a courtyard used by the previous inspection in the town, but this is now a battalion headquarters of Yan Chongxi.

"Why did the general come to the ancient town in person today? What's the matter? Just send someone to tell the last general. Why bother you to go there in person? Yan Chongxi connected Xiao Tianjian to the house and immediately asked Xiao Tianjian.

Xiao Tianjian sat on a chair and smiled at Yan Chong, "I can't do this! At present, a large number of exiles have poured into our jurisdiction, and the food needed to resettle them is really not enough! If we don't solve this problem, I'm afraid we will be sad next! So I have to come here in person!

Let me ask you, how many available boats do we have now? In addition, how many people do you have here who are familiar with water?

After Yan Chongxi was stunned for a moment, he seemed to realize what Xiao Tianjian wanted to do, so he was slightly happy and immediately said, "Does the general want to rob the grain ship on the Yellow River?"

Xiao Tianjian smiled and said, "Not bad! Feng Gouzi just received a message the day before yesterday that Luoyang Fuwang learned of Shanxi's hunger and sent people to collect 200,000 stone grain from the Jianghuai area, which will be transported to Kaifeng through the canal. In the near future, it will be transported from the Yellow River to Xiezhou, and take the opportunity to make a fortune. Humph!

This fat man, Zhu Changxun, originally owned tens of thousands of hectares of fertile land, and his family's wealth is not only tens of millions, but now he still thinks that he has little money. He has to take advantage of Shanxi's hunger to make a fortune again. It's really not a thing! So since he wants to take the opportunity to get rich, let's not take advantage of him!

We have to find a way to rob this 200,000 stone of grain for him. As long as we have this grain, we have nothing to worry about in the future!"

After hearing this, Yan Chongxi asked in surprise, "Is there such a thing? That's a good thing! However, if these 200,000 stones of grain are transported by ship, it will need at least as many as a hundred pieces on the ship. How can the blessing king put it all from Kaifeng at once? And I guess there will be a lot of escorts. Can we eat it all at once now?

Xiao Tianjian took a sip of water and said, "This matter should not be empty. The news should be quite reliable, so I'm going to come here in person to ask how many people you have now and how many boats we have! Let's see if we have a chance to rob this batch of food!

Of course, it is said to be 200,000 stone grain. No matter how powerful the Fuwang is, he will certainly not transport all the 200,000 stone grain at once. This time, it is only the first batch of 50,000 stones. It is estimated that in a few days, it will be time to pass through the river in this area!

What we want is just the first batch of 50,000 stone grain. As long as this is done, our food problem can basically be solved in a short time! As for the rest, our appetite is not big enough to eat all of them!"

After listening to this, Yan Chongxi immediately raised his spirit, but after thinking about it, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. He said to Xiao Tianjian, "This is a good thing, but I'm afraid it will be a little difficult!" We don't have many ships at the moment. Those boats robbed from the wharf of the ancient town last year were basically destroyed when He Renlong came at the beginning of this year! At present, we can find some small fishing boats on the Yellow River, the Haoqing River and the Yu River.

As for the soldiers, I'm afraid there are few brothers who are proficient in water. More than half of the brothers are people who follow the general from Shaanxi. Basically, they are dry ducks. If you want to find people who are proficient in water, it is estimated that there are not many people in the war camp that can be selected. If you want If you look for it, you can only choose from the local soldiers! After all, this area is the intersection of the three rivers. There are many people who used to make a living by fishing all over the river. At present, the young people in this area are basically integrated into the township soldiers. They should be able to choose hundreds of good people from the village soldiers!"

After Xiao Tianjian stood up and walked back and forth in the room for a few times, he thought nervously and said to Yan Chongxi, "This is really difficult to do this time. We didn't have the preparation for this before. It's really not easy to do it in a hurry!" It seems that our strength is still a little weak! But after all, this is a rare opportunity. If you don't have the conditions to create, you have to do it! Even if we can't do it, it's up to us to practice!

I also thought about it on the way here. This matter may indeed be a little reluctant, but even if it is forced, we have to do it. Even if it is a bowl of raw rice, we have to try our best to eat it! This 50,000 stone grain is really important to us! No matter what you think, you must rob him!

However, we also have our advantages. Although we occupy Yuanqu County, the government in Henan has not paid much attention to us at present! Moreover, the Yellow River in this area is quite calm. We have never done boat robbery on the Yellow River, so the government would not expect that we would suddenly do such a big vote!

At present, the ships on the Yellow River are still traveling between Xiezhou and Luoyang. Fu Wang estimated that we would not expect that we would learn about his transfer of grain and attack his grain ship. In this way, we will speed up the preparation and act carefully, so that if we are unprepared, we may not have a chance to rob his grain!

Let's do this! You go down now. In your camp, there are still people in this area to choose the best water-based soldiers or local soldiers as much as possible. In addition, find more small fishing boats, and all the people selected will be gathered together. Don't let them go home these days and prepare for this matter! But remember, only you and I know about this for the time being. Don't let the wind go! The news was revealed and let King Fu know about this in advance! Otherwise, we will have no chance of winning!"

After hearing this, Yan Chongxi saw that Xiao Tianjian was determined to rob the grain ship of King Fu, so he didn't say anything more. He also knew that Xiao Tianjian was that kind of activist. He did it as soon as he wanted to do it. He immediately began to arrange people to choose from a battalion of sentries and horses and the villages along the river in the area under their control. A good local soldier.

Xiao Tianjian took Feng Gouzi to tour along the bank of the Yellow River. At present, the Yellow River is larger than the Yellow River seen by Xiao Tianjian in later generations. Although there is a drought in Shanxi, there is not a lot of water in the upper reaches. The river is quite wide, and the widest place is several miles. At that time, all kinds of volunteers were surrounded by officers and soldiers in Shanxi. After that, the fraudulent surrender strategy was adopted. After the Yellow River was frozen in winter, he crossed the Yellow River on the ice in one day and rushed all the way to Henan, which was considered to avoid the fate of being surrounded by the officers and soldiers.

And now it is the end of April. The weather is quite warm, and the amount of water in the Yellow River is relatively abundant. In this area, the difference between the Yellow River is not large, and the river is relatively flat. Therefore, even after Xing Tianjun took control of Yuanqu County, it basically did not affect the surface of the Yellow River. Through Xiao Tianjian's monoculars, he could clearly see that from time to time, there would be some large ships full of goods on the river passing in front of him from the side near the south bank, so his heart moved and he had some ideas.

Yan Chongxi's action is quite fast. In less than two days, he selected more than 200 township soldiers who used to rely on water to make a living from the surrounding township soldiers. These people live on the banks of the Yellow River all year round. Some of them are fishermen and some are farmers, but because they have lived since childhood. By the water, everyone has a good quality of water, and 20 or 30 of them are selected from the soldiers of the first battalion, which is also quite rare in the Xingtian Army.

What surprised Xiao Tianjian was that Yan Chongxi also selected a deputy general named Yang Kunshan. He was from Ezhou and was about 20 years old. In the early years, he was still a water thief on the Yangtze River. However, he was later subdued by the government. The following group of water thieves was dispersed by the officers and soldiers, and he narrowly escaped. He wandered into Li Zicheng's Rebel Army. With Li Zicheng coming to Shaanxi and the Battle of Longzhou, he followed Li Zicheng to attack the city and was seriously injured. When he died, he was saved by Xiao Tianjian. After recovering from the injury, he was grateful to Xiao Tianjian for saving his life, so he followed Xing Tianjun to Shanxi from that time.

After more than a year, this Yang Kunshan dared to use his life in front of the army. Unexpectedly, he was quickly promoted from a pawn to the position of general and became an intermediate officer of the Xingtian Army.

When Yan Chongxi asked who was good in the army, Yang Kunshan stood up and was brought here by Yan Chongxi. After Xiao Tianjian asked about this Yang Kunshan, he was surprised to find that he was looking for such a person. This guy said that he was not old enough to rob the ship on the water. The test is also quite rich.

Xiao Tianjian even handed over the selected more than 200 people to Yang Kunshan, so that he tested the nature of these people separately, eliminated dozens of unqualified people, and the rest were left under Yang Kunshan's command, waiting for Xiao Tianjian's dispatch.

At the same time, Yan Chongxi also collected more than 20 small fishing boats and two relatively large fishing boats in the nearby river, and handed them over to Yang Kunshan and his group of people.

In the past few days, Feng Gouzi has focused all his energy on Luoyang. After Fuwang's grain shipping fleet came from Kaifeng this time, he would first stop in the Luoyang area. As a giant merchant in Shanxi, the Fan family naturally often uses ships to transport goods from the south through the canal and the Yellow River to Shanxi. On this side, as soon as Fuwang's grain shipping fleet appears, it will be immediately discovered by Feng Gouzi's men.

Although it was not too early for Xiao Tianjian to get the news, so many ships wanted to go up from the Yellow River to the Pinglu County wharf in the south of Kaizhou from Kaifeng, but they could not walk fast at all, so this also provided Xiao Tianjian with more sufficient preparation time.

Taking advantage of the waiting time of just a few days, Xiao Tianjian followed Yang Kunshan with this newly gathered men and started a high-intensity training in the Yellow River. They did not have more time to prepare. They only practiced some methods of robbing boats at night, and after boarding, such as How to cooperate with each other to seize the ship.

Working on the water is no better than fighting on land. In this regard, Xiao Tianjian can't talk about experience at all. The reason why he came here to do this this time is also forced to be helpless. He has the idea of gambling. Now with a subordinate like Yang Kunshan, he has the whole dispatch of this matter. The platoon was handed over to Yang Kunshan.

After listening to Xiao Tianjian's plan, Yang Kunshan patted his chest and promised that he would rob the grain carrier fleet of King Fu for Xiao Tianjian!