Mrs. Wu was now disheartened, and since then, she never found another opportunity to escape.
But seriously, she was so confused that she almost gave up.
She felt that even if she ran back, she would not be able to explain herself clearly. If people really knew that she had betrayed Yuan Xi, it would not only affect the reputation of the Sun family, but also Sun Ce's ambitions.
Madam Wu felt tired. She had raised Sun Ce for so many years. Now that he had counselors and brave generals to help him, he was bound to achieve something. Why did he need her, an incompetent mother who lost Guangling?
It's better not to go back!
Mrs. Wu didn't know if she was deceiving herself, but she could only convince herself that this idea was correct, otherwise she couldn't face herself.
Hua Tuo came over again, took Zhen Mi's pulse, and asserted that she was completely recovered. Yuan Xi then announced to everyone that they should pack their luggage and set out on a chosen day.
However, compared to the last time when they entered Guangling from the mouth of the Yangtze River, this time the return route is to go north from the Han Canal, enter the Huai River, and then go out to the sea to the north to Youzhou.
Unlike later generations, the Huai River in the late Han Dynasty had an estuary, and its coastline was completely different from that two thousand years later.
The Record of a Pilgrimage to Tang Dynasty to Seek the Dharma states, "North of Chuzhou is the Great Huai River, which flows from west to east. The so-called Great Huai River flows across the East China Sea."
During the Tang Dynasty, the estuary of the Huaihe River became a port city for Korean and Japanese merchant ships because of its advantages of "rivers and seas connected, merchants and travelers coming and going, Mi Yue going to Shu, and meeting Min Yi and Wu".
Of course, the water system it connects was dug out by people from different dynasties over hundreds and thousands of years.
In 486 BC, the State of Wu dug the Hang Canal, connecting the Huai River and the Yangtze River for shipping.
In 482 BC, Wu went north to compete for hegemony and dug the Heshui River between Yutai and Dingtao, connecting the shipping between the Huaihe River tributaries Sishui and Jishui. The Huaihe River was connected to the Yellow River through the economic water of Sishui, connecting the Huaihe River and the Yellow River for the first time.
In 361 BC, the State of Wei dug the Hong Canal, which connected the Huai River's tributaries, the Dan River (later called the Bian River), Sui River, Sha River, and Ying River, thus forming a water transport network between the Yellow River and the Huai River.
Through these waterways, the Huaihe River maintains transportation links with the Yellow River, the Yangtze River, and then with the Haihe River, the Qiantang River and the Pearl River basins.
In ancient times, the Huai River had not yet been taken over by the Yellow River to flow into the sea, nor had Hongze Lake been formed. Instead, the lower reaches passed through Xuyi, Huaiyin, Huai'an, Lianshui, and flowed into the sea at Yunti Pass.
The Yunti Pass in later generations is located in Haixi, which is the border between Donghai County and Guangling County. Yuan Xi did not take this waterway at that time because Guangling City would be alert to ships heading south. Therefore, Yuan Xi took a long detour, from the mouth of the Yangtze River to the Guangling South Wharf, and thus successfully launched a sneak attack.
The purpose of Yuan Xi's taking this waterway this time was to explore the waterway and prepare for future layout in Guangling.
However, compared with the thousands of troops brought last time, there were much fewer people returning this time. Excluding those who died in battle, two hundred elite soldiers were left to Guangling. Only six or seven hundred people could go back again.
Yuan Xi finally understood the meaning of the saying "the camp remains permanent, but the soldiers come and go". After so many battles, even among the elite soldiers, not many could hold out for more than a few years.
New recruits died in battle and became veterans, veterans died in battle, and new recruits came in to replace them. This cycle repeated again and again, and gradually the faces in front of Yuan Xi became unfamiliar.
The only thing that remains unchanged is the common goal of the people of the world, which is to end the war as soon as possible and live in peace.
Boxes of bamboo slips were carried onto the ship. These were the things Yuan Xi valued the most. Whether the model of Youzhou Charity School could be spread to the whole world in the next ten, dozens, or even hundreds of years, these things would be needed.
Then came the local products of Jiangnan. This time, Yuan Xi, for the first time, bought many flashy luxury goods such as jewelry decorations.
This thing cannot be eaten, nor can it be used as a weapon, but the nobles like it very much. The greatest use of it is to bribe them or take money out of their pockets.
Then came the soldiers and generals, led by Tian Yu in rows, who walked past Yuan Xi. As they passed by, they all bowed to Yuan Xi in return, and Yuan Xi also bowed in return.
He looked at the familiar faces among the soldiers, mixed with some unfamiliar faces. These were the Xuzhou soldiers who had performed well during this period, and were also selected among the elite soldiers returning north.
Yuan Xi thought that although some Jiangdong soldiers were afraid of fighting, there were also many elite and brave men. For example, the Qi Family Army in later generations, whose main force was composed of farmers from Jiangsu and Zhejiang, was also invincible.
Whether southerners or northerners, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. If you want to make the best use of their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, the key still lies in the head coach.
Yuan Xi thought about sorting out all the military books he had collected after returning to Youzhou, so that he could add some personal ideas to them and try out new methods of training troops together with several generals.
For thousands of years, military thought has been constantly improving. The combination of the contemporary military situation and the military training techniques of famous generals in later generations, including the essence of military training from Li Jing to Yue Fei, from Qi Jiguang to Yu Dayou, will definitely produce soldiers that have advantages beyond the cognition of their time.
The soldiers boarded the ship one after another, and the only ones left were Yuan Xi's officials and their families.
Escorted by Sun Li, Chen Gui and Chen's clansmen, Hua Tuo and his dozen disciples, Guo Jia and several concubines, and then Zhen Mi and Huan's mother and daughter, Cai Zhaoji and Madam Cai's mother and daughter were all waiting for the boat in turn.
Yuan Xi, Chen Deng and Taishi Ci said goodbye solemnly, and finally boarded the big ship. The planks were folded up, the sails were raised, and they began to slowly sail away from the dock in the biting cold wind.
Yuan Xi watched the figure on the dock getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared, and thought that he didn't know when he would come back again in a few years.
This trip to Xuzhou was the completion of his original plan, opening up an extremely critical stronghold on the southward route.
This is one of the four routes from the Central Plains to the south. As long as it is occupied, we can advance or retreat with confidence.
In the next few years, he will not be able to get involved in the Central Plains, so deploying offshore has become an important part of his plan.
But when he thought of this, Yuan Xi became extremely depressed. There were still too few people under his command who were familiar with this professional knowledge!
The gentry possess knowledge books but are not interested in technology, while the lower working people want to change their own destiny but lack knowledge. This situation cannot be changed in a short period of time.
Yuan Xi felt deeply how difficult it was to find like-minded people. After all, there was a time and space gap of two thousand years between them, and the worldview of most people in officialdom had already been fixed, making it extremely difficult for him to change it.
If Yuan Xi wanted to impress them, he could only promise them official positions and salaries. After all, talking about such abstract things as ideals with people of this era was far less effective than actual benefits.
It's not that etiquette and loyalty are useless, but what makes Yuan Xi helpless is that Cao Cao can use excuses like restoring the Han Dynasty, but he cannot. Everyone in the world knows what the Yuan family is thinking. How many of the gentry who have come to rely on them are loyal to the Han Dynasty?
What made Yuan Xi feel even more absurd was that unlike Guo Jia and Zhao Yun, who were counselors and generals with their own ideas, the woman with whom he had a close relationship was, on the contrary, closer to him in terms of ideals and goals.
Zhen Mi, Cai Zhaoji, Cao Xian and others have now become his right-hand men. On the one hand, it is because Yuan Xi has rescued them from difficult situations. On the other hand, as Yuan Xi's wives and concubines, their identities make them naturally identify with Yuan Xi's ideas.
A big part of the reason why women from ancient aristocratic families married early was that they married into their husband's family when they were still young. Being in the same environment as their husband, they were more likely to form a similar outlook on life.
Yuan Xi thought that it was like using his own identity to trick these aristocratic women into paying for his ideals. Did he have to conquer women and thus conquer the world?
When he was standing on the bow and thinking about something, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around and saw Zhen Mi coming over.
Yuan Xi said, "Madam has just recovered from a cold at sea. She should rest well first."
Zhen Mi smiled and said, "Okay, I'll stand with my husband for a while and then go back."
The two stood side by side, looking at the golden light shining on the sea in the mist in the distance, and the sun was slowly rising from the sea.
On the river in front of the fleet, the clear Huai River and the azure East China Sea meet, forming a clear boundary. This is the estuary of the Huai River.
To the north of the estuary, Haixi City is located on the seashore, with rice-sized ships constantly entering and leaving the port.
Zhen Mi raised her hand, pointed at the ships and said, "A small half of those ships belong to the Zhen family."
"My mother has now placed all her wealth on my husband. She has further given up the land trade route and used the money she gained to buy more ships."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi nodded and said, "Don't worry, these won't be in vain, but it would be a pity to give up all the land trade routes."
Zhen Mi sighed, "Mother would definitely not want to do that. After all, the risk of the sea route is only higher than that of the land route."
"But after the Zhen family attached themselves to the young master, their business in Jizhou was also suppressed. Mother decided to simply give it up, so as to avoid being used as a handle to threaten the Zhen family."
Yuan Xi quite agreed. He admired Zhang a little. When Zhen Mi was three years old, her biological father Zhen Yi passed away. After that, Zhang was the head of the family for more than ten years. If she hadn't had some means, the Zhen family would have collapsed long ago.
The fleet slowly approached the Haixi Port. Now this extremely important seaport, because it is located in Guangling, has belonged to Yuan Xi.
The two of them looked at the ships coming and going, and found that many of them had the logo of the Mi family caravan. Seeing this, Yuan Xi couldn't help but say, "When I went to Tancheng, I heard that the Mi family had handed over all their wealth to Liu Bei. Now it seems that the Mi family still has a lot of good things."
Zhen Mi covered her mouth and laughed, "Merchant ships are money-making things, how can we drain the pond to catch all the fish?"
"When my husband was after the girl from the Mi family, what he was actually thinking about was the Mi family's wealth and trade routes, right?"
"If the Mi family had given more dowry at that time, would my husband have married the girl from the Mi family on the spot?"
Yuan Xi was sweating profusely, and asked awkwardly, "Am I that kind of person?"
Zhen Mi's eyes curved like crescent moons, "The girl from the Mi family is very pitiful."
"My husband and I knew each other well before we got married, so I didn't think that he was just after the Zhen family's property, which led to misunderstandings."
"But the girl from the Mi family and my husband have probably only met a few times. Now that my husband is so ruthless, she must be very resentful of him, right?"
"Why did my husband have to be so ruthless when doing such a good thing?"
Yuan Xi sighed: "But I do covet these things. I don't want to hide it from you, nor do I want to hide it from her."
Zhen Mi sighed, "Husband, do you think we women don't know?"
"What marriage doesn't depend on whether the two families are well matched?"
"Everyone has known this for a long time, but my husband is so ignorant of romance that he insists on making this matter public. How can the girl from the Mi family save face?"
"Moreover, my husband left Tancheng without waiting for the Mi family's reply. I'm afraid that was too unkind of him."