Of course, Zhao Guan Jia's inspection of the Yellow River was for the public good.

After all, the central government had already sensitively realized the current predicament... The Jin people were poised but not yet descending, but the Henan area had been under strict military control for several months, which led to an imbalance in the hearts of the people above and below... Therefore, the plan for this inspection had actually been placed on Zhao Guan Jia's desk as early as October.

But why at this time, why immediately after establishing the Honorable Consort, were there also reasons that were difficult to conceal?

It must be known that the co-establishment of two Honorable Consorts, while gaining the approval of the chief ministers, also benefited from the reckless behavior of the Zhao emperors, especially the frivolousness of a certain Supreme Taoist Emperor, so precedents were never lacking. In particular, Zhao Guan Jia's serious argument to persuade Lu Haowen and others also had some truth to it – he said that if the Empress were established now, where would the future imperial heirs come from, and how should the principle of "a mother is honored by her son" be discussed? Problems might arise.

But leaving aside future problems, the immediate problem was that, from the perspective of Consort Xian, she was still at a great disadvantage in this matter.

Because there were only two consorts in the palace, and compared to Consort Xian's two near misses with the Empress position, Madam Wu, who had risen very late, had never had any position in front of Consort Xian for a long time.

But the world is unpredictable, and suddenly the other party was on equal footing with her.

How could Consort Xian not be annoyed?

And Zhao Guan Jia, knowing that she would be annoyed, escaped at the first opportunity... Inspecting the Yellow River defense line was convenient for both public and private matters.

In late November, Zhao Guan Jia first left Bianliang to the north, first to Yangwu (modern Yuanyang), then to Suanzao, and later turned to Huazhou... Along the way, he randomly entered Wubao (walled villages) and beacon towers, talking face-to-face with the imperial soldiers and asking about their needs. The accompanying Commander of the Imperial Guard Wang Yuan and Deputy Commander Qu Duan also formed a three-person working group with Attendant Censor Wanqi Xie, taking a group of low-level officials from the Chancellery and the Department of State Affairs to inspect military pay and supplies along the way.

Here, I must add a word: the corruption of the Song army was truly ingrained, and drinking the blood of soldiers was inevitable. Zhao Guan Jia knew this well and did not expect that these things could be avoided... But since he was out on inspection, he could not pretend not to know when he encountered them.

As a result, after only walking through the Yellow River front line of Kaifeng Prefecture, Zhao Guan Jia beheaded seven or eight military officers above the rank of Dutou (captain) and dismissed thirteen or fourteen people along the way.

At the end of November, when the Imperial Guards escorted Zhao Guan Jia into the territory of Huazhou, a military officer's defection occurred in front – a commander from Hebei, stationed in Linghe Town, fearing punishment, led several guards, seized a small boat and went north, defecting to the Jin people.

This matter greatly shocked Zhao Guan Jia's accompanying central ministers. Many people immediately suggested that Zhao Guan Jia return at once, because in the Huazhou territory in front, the river defense area west of Baima (White Horse), the capital of Huazhou, to Linghe Town, all belonged to the command of Li Qiong, the Commander of the Imperial Guard's Central Army to which the defected officer belonged.

And Li Qiong's troops were a rather special force in the Imperial Guard's Central Army... They were all from Hebei.

Only because Li Qiong was from a state-sponsored school and had been stationed in Huazhou for a long time, and because he was indeed capable of leading troops, he was specifically assigned to the Imperial Guard's Central Army when the Imperial Guard's armies were initially divided, and was still stationed in Huazhou, theoretically under the command of Wang De.

Of course, in private, Zhao Guan Jia often directly interfered with the various departments of the Imperial Guard's Central Army. At such a close distance, it could be said that he was directly under Zhao Guan Jia's command.

In other words, this was an atypical force of the Imperial Guard's Central Army, and its independence was extremely strong.

At the same time, Huazhou was not far from Daming Prefecture and Puyang City in Hebei, and the opposite bank of the river was the central stronghold of the Jin army's Yellow River forces.

Therefore, if Li Qiong also became disloyal and suddenly colluded with the Jin people to let the Jin army from Daming Prefecture cross over, wouldn't that be a huge disaster?

The ministers' worries were not without reason, but Zhao Guan Jia did not think so.

First, in terms of personal relationship, Zhao Jiu did not think that Li Qiong, who had served as his central army in the Battle of Yanling and maintained daily communication with him, would rebel because of such a thing;

Second, on the merits of the case, Zhao Jiu asked himself that he had been fair in handling the military corruption matters along the way, and that the pursuit of responsibility only went as far as the Tongling (regimental commander) level, so Li Qiong had no need to worry about military corruption;

Third, judging from the situation, it could be seen from the fact that the Tongling only took his guards with him when he ran away that the act of trying his best to support the troops for half a year had still had an effect, and that the man simply could not mobilize the grassroots troops.

On the contrary, Zhao Guan Jia, through the Tongzhi (commander) Zha Zi (official dispatch) system, communicated frequently with these Tongzhi-level military officers and had a certain understanding of Li Qiong... This man had both the arrogance of a scholar and a bit of the willfulness of a local strongman, which together meant that he had an excessive sense of self-esteem.

If he were to retreat hastily at this time, it would only stimulate him.

But if he could show sincerity, his scholarly mindset would also prompt him to submit.

"Li Qiong will not let me down." Zhao Guan Jia made up his mind in a moment, then spoke these words in public, and still ordered to continue east, while Wang Yuan, Qu Duan, and Wanqi Xie continued to review matters along the way as before.

However, once they continued to set off, Zhao Guan Jia himself and the accompanying Imperial Guard troops no longer entered Wubao to comfort the soldiers, but galloped along the river, taking the central officials to abandon their carriages and ride horses, heading to Tiantai Mountain (Terrace Mountain) next to Baima Ferry in Huazhou.

That place was the main camp where Li Qiong himself and his troops were stationed.

At the same time, Zhao Guan Jia also sent messengers to Tiantai Mountain in advance to inform Li Qiong of his itinerary.

The reason was very simple... With two thousand Imperial Guards accompanying him, and the Imperial Guard troops stationed all around, the only real theoretical danger was that Li Qiong would mobilize the entire army, collude with the Jin people, and let the Jin army cross the river. And doing so would require time to connect the upper and lower levels, so Zhao Guan Jia only needed to go quickly, and the other party would never be able to succeed.

This was called "taking the opposite approach."

Relatively speaking, sending out messengers in advance, in a situation that did not affect the overall situation, was a way to show trust... This was a 'yang mou' (a strategy that is open and straightforward, leaving the opponent with no way to avoid it).

Since they were going ahead, quite a few of the accompanying ministers could not help but feel apprehensive, but what was interesting was that some of them, like Zhao Guan Jia, did not care... Most of these people were those who had long followed the imperial carriage from Huaishang and Nanyang. They had probably seen many battlefields and wars, and had become completely accustomed to this kind of thing, even becoming familiar with it. They also understood Zhao Guan Jia, knowing that this Guan Jia liked to play tricks on small matters and find someone to take the blame, but he was always responsible for military affairs; there were also some who were young officials who had just been granted official positions this time, faintly showing a "newborn calves are not afraid of tigers" kind of eagerness.

For example, Hu Quan, a compiler in the Chancellery, volunteered to go to Tiantai Mountain as a messenger first... Zhao Guan Jia, surprised and delighted, took the initiative to instruct him not to be boastful, not to create trouble for no reason, and just to inform him that he was about to arrive.

Of course, Hu Quan, a small messenger, would not do anything to force a general to rebel according to the rules. On the 28th of November, Zhao Guan Jia arrived at Tiantai Mountain, entered Li Qiong's military camp directly, and Li Qiong, who had been notified in advance, indeed came out of the camp alone and went straight to the imperial presence.

The previous apprehension dissipated like smoke.

In the end, Li Qiong, as a subordinate of Wang De on the surface but directly under Zhao Guan Jia in reality, had no reason to rebel in the current situation... And Zhao Guan Jia's entry into the Tiantai Mountain camp did not deliberately avoid this topic, but instead reprimanded him slightly, lowered his rank by one level, and fined him one month's salary. He also immediately sent another envoy across the river to demand that the Jin army hand over the defecting Tongling.

This time, another newly appointed Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), Yu Yunwen, volunteered.

To this, Zhao Guan Jia naturally readily agreed. With this matter settled, he issued an imperial decree summoning Li Bao, the Tongzhi of the Imperial Guard's Forward Army, who was guarding the eastern part of Huazhou (actually the Henan part of the former Kaide Prefecture, which was assigned to Huazhou after the Song-Jin confrontation across the river), Fu Xuan, the Tongzhi of the Imperial Guard's Forward Army, who was guarding the southern part, and Fu Qing, the Tongzhi of the Imperial Guard's Central Army, who was guarding Baima City, the capital of Huazhou, to Tiantai Mountain to discuss military affairs.

After a whole day, on the last day of November, Yu Yunwen unexpectedly had not returned, his life or death unknown. Zhao Guan Jia had no time to think too much, so he climbed Tiantai Mountain with the three hastily arrived guards plus Li Qiong to look out over the north bank of the Yellow River, preparing to listen to the front-line generals' military opinions.

Moreover, there are definitely dozens of Tiantai Mountains on the Chinese mainland, mainly referring to mountains with many stones on the top, shaped like terraces, hence the name... In the future, Tiantai Mountain in Zhejiang Province will naturally be the most famous, but at this time, this Tiantai Mountain, which is only a few hundred meters high and may have disappeared with the Yellow River changing its course in later generations, is the most famous Tiantai Mountain in the world.

Belonging to the king-level position among Tiantai Mountains.

There was no other way, one reason was that this mountain was very close to Tokyo, the capital of the Great Song, and the surrounding economy was developed; the second reason was that this mountain was located on the side of Baima Ferry, a major channel from Daming Prefecture in Hebei to Tokyo and Nanjing in Henan, with a large number of people coming and going; the third reason was that the Yellow River channel at this time was different from later generations, and the main trunk happened to pass by the side of this mountain. Climbing Tiantai Mountain, you can see both sides of the Yellow River, the fertile land of the Central Plains and Hebei, and the openness of the scenery can be called a scenic spot.

Enough idle talk, let's get back to the present.

On this day, the sky was clear, and even a slight south wind was blowing, making it feel a little warm. Zhao Guan Jia personally led the accompanying ministers and the four guards of Huazhou to climb Tiantai Mountain, only to feel that they could see far and wide under their eyes, and the scenery was open and flat, so naturally they were in a good mood... But after he looked at the Yellow River and turned to the northeast, he remained silent for a long time.

The reason was simple. As stupid as Zhao Guan Jia was, after climbing high and looking far, he could not help but think of a strange thing about the Yellow River... That was that the Yellow River channels on their respective military maps were too strange. Although he could not see the situation dozens of miles downstream from Tiantai Mountain at the moment, the military map he had seen yesterday clearly marked three forking river channels before and after Puyang, an important downstream town.

"I remember that the Yellow River on the map forks into three channels downstream... Why is that?" Zhao Guan Jia looked for half a day and thought for half a day, and finally asked back righteously.

However, today, not only Yang Yizhong, the all-knowing and all-powerful Yang Tongzhi, was accompanying him. At this time, behind Zhao Jiu, besides Wang Yuan, the Commander of the Imperial Guard, Qu Duan, the Deputy Commander, and Wanqi Xie, the Attendant Censor, who were still checking Wubao in the rear, there were countless accompanying civil and military officials, as well as the generals and subordinates of Huazhou... That is, there were no chief ministers and commanders-in-chief accompanying him.

Therefore, when he heard the question, Fan Zongyin, a secretary in the Chancellery, was the first to step forward and answer solemnly: "To teach Guan Jia, the channels below are not forking, but due to the precarious situation of the war since the Jingkang Incident, the Yellow River dikes have been in disrepair for many years, and this summer there has been a lot of rain, so the river has taken the opportunity to flood into various old channels."

"I see..." Zhao Jiu still frowned, but held his belt in one hand and pointed to the lower reaches of the Yellow River with the other, continuing to ask. "But why are there three old channels?"

Fan Zongyin was stunned and did not say anything for a moment.

And Zhao Guan Jia knew that this matter must be known to everyone, but he was too lazy to hide those things at this time, so he directly asked: "Just explain the origin of these three branches clearly!"

Fan Zongyin was wary in his heart, but he dared not not speak: "Guan Jia, this is due to the several changes of the river in this dynasty..."

"What is a 'change of the river'?"

"The Yellow River has overflowed, repeatedly blocked and repeatedly breached... In order to rectify the natural disasters of the Yellow River, many measures have been taken to change the course of the river."

"Changing the course is changing the course, why is it called 'changing the river'?"

"Reporting to Guan Jia, because the Yellow River has been trending north since this dynasty, and several changes of the course have all been efforts to move the river south. From the perspective of Henan, where Kaifeng is located, it is 'returning'..."

"I see, but why must it be moved south?" Zhao Jiu was still ignorant. "The water flows down by itself, and if it goes north, it should be allowed to go with the flow. Why must it be moved south?"

"Because we are worried that if the Yellow River channel continues to go north, it will directly enter the territory of the Khitans." Li Qiong, who had been frowning for a long time behind him, suddenly stepped forward and spoke. "The imperial court is afraid that the Khitans will directly cross the river in their territory, and then the iron cavalry will go south and use the Yellow River waterway as a grain route, going upstream and sweeping across the Central Plains. Therefore, they are determined to change the river, so as not to lose the natural barrier of the Yellow River..."

Zhao Jiu completely woke up, but then immediately laughed... What he woke up to was that this was indeed a unique feature of the Great Song, in order to seek psychological comfort, they did not hesitate to defy nature and change the Yellow River waterway, and it seemed that they had changed it more than once, and he did not know how much effort they had spent on it; and what was ridiculous was that when the Jin army went south, this natural barrier of the Yellow River was not seen to be of any use at all.

At the thought of this, Zhao Guan Jia shook his head and laughed again: "The downstream channel of the Yellow River is more than a thousand miles long. How much money and grain will it take to change the river? With this manpower and material resources, we should just recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun... But three river channels, should that be two changes?"

"I don't know how many times..." Li Qiong pondered for a moment, but then shook his head repeatedly. "I only remember that there were four times in the Shenzong Dynasty, and there was also one major change in the Zhezong Dynasty... I heard that Yue Taiwei's family suffered a disaster that time, losing their property and land, so they became tenants for the plum blossom Han Dang."

"..."

"To be honest, Guan Jia, there seem to have been a few times vaguely in the Renzong Dynasty, but they were not big. Adding them together, there must be seven or eight times, right? Even if there were none in the Renzong Dynasty, then there must be at least five or six times." Fu Xuan, who had not said anything, also took the initiative to speak. "The main thing is that once the Yellow River floods, the people below in Hebei don't know whether it's because there's too much rain or whether the imperial court is changing the course again. And to be honest, Guan Jia, the three channels that Guan Jia sees on the map are still rough. In fact, there should be five channels in the lower reaches, and there are also intersections... I've walked them all."

Zhao Jiu was dumbfounded, and then realized again that these people from Hebei must be holding resentment about this matter, otherwise they wouldn't be rushing to talk about it.

Therefore, after a long while, this Guan Jia put away his smile and asked: "Then, in that case, the Yellow River has been going back and forth in these five channels, and the Yellow River has also flooded a lot. Hasn't all the land in the middle of the three channels been turned into a Huangfan area (Yellow River flooded area)?"

"Reporting to Guan Jia, if you ask me, although Hebei has suffered disasters in the areas where the Yellow River often floods, our Henan has also suffered this disaster. Henan is also a Huangfan area." Li Qiong and Fu Xuan were just about to answer when another person cupped his hands, it was Li Bao, also known as "Li the Third", from Jingdong West Road. "I heard from the old people in my hometown that once when the river was changed, the imperial court messed things up, and the Yellow River rushed all the way to the Huai River... Six states in Jingdong and Huaishang were all flooded with yellow, so isn't that also a Huangfan area?"

Zhao Jiu was completely speechless... Well, according to this statement, the Huangfan area in this era is actually all the way from Bohai Bay to the Huai River.

In fact, this Guan Jia did not know that it was only because he came and was determined to resist the Jin and had not gone south to the Yangtze River, otherwise, in another time and space, Du Chong, in order to defend against the Jin cavalry and save His Majesty the Emperor in Yangzhou, would have used the Great Song's traditional skills against the Yellow River again, opening the Yellow River's southern mouth again, and from then on, it would have been out of control.

Of course, another man-made disaster was the same as the current one, that is, under the war, especially after the Yellow River became the place where the front lines were facing each other, no one had the heart or the ability to repair the river channels, otherwise the strange appearance of three waterways at every turn would not have appeared now.

"What is the current main channel?" At the thought of this, Zhao Guan Jia simply put aside his extra thoughts for the time being, and just seriously asked about the downstream situation according to his memory. "The east channel or the north channel?"

"It's the middle channel." Li Qiong pointed casually in the northeast direction. "The one that separates Daming Prefecture and Puyang to Hebei... But it's mostly meaningless, because as Guan Jia sees on the map, the water is flooding and no one is repairing it. All three channels in the lower reaches have flowing water now, and they are all suspended rivers. It's just that the middle channel is deeper and wider, making it easier to travel by boat... And the Jin people have occupied the entire area north of the eastern flow, and they use the puppet Qi to control the south bank of the lower reaches, so no matter how you calculate it, the land of Hebei is under the control of the Jin people."

"So if the Jin people really want to cross the river from downstream, we can't actually stop them?" Zhao Jiu said casually.

"That's the truth, but the Jin people may not be willing to cross the river from there." Fu Xuan suddenly interjected again. "Especially at this time."

"Why is that?"

"To teach Guan Jia, I am from Yongjing Army, so I know the situation downstream..." Fu Xuan bowed slightly before continuing. "The downstream of the Yellow River has been in disrepair for many years. Although the river channel is out of control and the water is shallow, there is also a lot of siltation of sediment in it, and there is a lack of good crossings. So if the Jin people cross the river from there, it's not only deep and shallow, but sometimes the bottom of the water is full of rotten mud. Once people and horses sink into it, it's a dead end... And this kind of situation requires the Jin cavalry to walk through three or four times to succeed. How can it be as comfortable as crossing the river leisurely from Baima here, where the port is deep and the water is level? That's why the Jin people were so determined to hold on to Daming Prefecture before, and they repeatedly crossed the river properly by boat around Puyang."

Zhao Jiu nodded slightly, and then became interested: "Therefore, the Jin people have not gone south until now. Is it also because of what you said in the Zha Zi, that this winter is warm, and although there is ice, the Yellow River is vast and has not frozen over?"

"I think that's exactly the case." Li Qiong, who must have been one of the 'several people', answered frankly. "The weather is like this. If the Jin army wants to cross with a large army, it must be convenient to cross the river from here and upstream. But along this section of the Yellow River, the 200,000 troops of the Imperial Guard have already been arranged tightly. How can they cross it easily?"

"In that case, isn't this year a blessing from heaven for the Imperial Song?" Someone could not help but say with joy.

"You can also say that." Li Qiong was slightly stunned. Although he felt awkward, he still nodded.

However, Zhao Guan Jia, who continued to look back at the river, did not think so: "If the dishes are ready, but the guests do not come, that is not necessarily a good thing... If they don't come, we can't go over there for the time being, and we can't win. After fighting for four or five years, I don't know when Hebei will be able to recover."

The people around him each had their own thoughts. Liu Ziyu finally couldn't bear it any longer and stepped forward to cup his hands: "Guan Jia, the restoration of Hebei is not a matter of a day or two. We always have to wait until the Imperial Song has hundreds of thousands of elite soldiers who can cross the river and fight the Jin people's hundreds of thousands in the field before it can be done. There is no need to worry about a moment... In the long run, our army will definitely win."

"I also think so." Hu Quan, the newly appointed compiler of the Chancellery, could not help but speak out in support of his superior, or rather, in support of 'his own point of view'.

The other civil and military officials, including several generals from Hebei, also cupped their hands in agreement.

But Zhao Jiu still shook his head, but did not say anything.

The civil and military officials all did not know what he meant, so they did not say much.

In fact, Zhao Guan Jia was very confused in his heart at this time... Because he always felt that after the war had gone through four or five years and reached the current state, the Jin people, who still maintained a considerable military advantage, had no reason to give up this advantage.

Because that was not reasonable!

Zhao Jiu did not believe that the decision-making level of the Jin people, who had only risen for more than 20 years, would have fallen to the point where there were no heroes who could see through the current situation. He also did not believe that the Jin people did not know that the Song army would become stronger and stronger, and he did not believe that the Jin people had not noticed that their army was gradually degenerating... So in this situation, if he were the Jin people's decision-making level, he would not avoid the war, but would definitely take advantage of the fact that he could still maintain a military strength gap at the moment and launch a large-scale invasion as much as possible in order to lay a strategic advantage.

In other words, Zhao Guan Jia firmly believed that the Jin people would definitely come, and this time it would definitely be an unprecedented great war, an unavoidable great war!

Therefore, even if there were many reasons in front of him, such as the fact that this year was a warm winter, the Yellow River had not frozen, and the Jin people had no confidence in crossing the river; such as the fact that they had been defeated badly in Yanling and frustrated in Dongping, and the Jin people and the puppet Qi had lost their will to fight; such as the fact that the river defense line was solid and the Jin people had retreated in the face of difficulty; such as the fact that the Jin Kingdom's high-level officials were fighting for the heir and the struggle was fierce, so they had no time to look south...

Zhao Guan Jia knew that these reasons were all reasonable, knew that these things all existed, and even the fact that the Jin people had been completely silent was right in front of him, but he could not accept it.

Because, leaving aside these trivialities that had blinded his eyes, from the strategic overall situation of the Song and Jin, from the height of the two countries, it was illogical for the Jin people not to come.

The era was calling for a great war, an unprecedented great war, a great war that would determine whether the Great Song could establish itself in the Yellow River basin!

Zhao Jiu had always firmly believed in this point.

In fact, Zhao Jiu's arrival at the front line this time was naturally to avoid the troubles in the harem, and also to appease the anxious hearts of the people, but wasn't he also trying to appease the most anxious heart... that is, his own heart?

His arrival at Tiantai Mountain to summon the generals was largely because this Guan Jia wanted these front-line generals to give him a definite answer... Would the Jin army come after all?

And obviously, there was no need to ask at all. Based on their own observations, the conclusion they had reached was very clear - they all felt that if the Yellow River did not freeze, the Jin people should not come.

But obviously, Zhao Guan Jia was not appeased. He did not say anything on the surface, but he was forcibly suppressing this agitation and unease in his heart.

But no matter what, on that day, climbing the mountain seemed perfect, but in fact it ended without result for Zhao Guan Jia... The several local generals of Huazhou only thought that Guan Jia's visit was just a routine summons, and they were also silent. On the other hand, close associates such as the Little Academician Lin and Yang Yizhong vaguely guessed a little of Guan Jia's thoughts, but they did not say much.

And on the second day, that is, the first day of the twelfth month, just as the sky was dawning, Zhao Guan Jia, who was restless, got up early to go to the target range to shoot arrows... Shooting arrows was one of the few things that could suppress his restless mood. After shooting a quiver of arrows, this Guan Jia had already thought it through. After finishing shooting the arrows and coming back to wipe his face, he would summon the four generals together for breakfast, and then send them away, and then return to the capital... After all, his own judgment was his own judgment. As Guan Jia, he always had to maintain composure on the surface.

After shooting three arrows from the second quiver, Yang Yizhong reported that Yu Yunwen had returned from across the river.

The messenger had worked hard, so Zhao Jiu summoned him directly at the target range without hesitation.

"What did the Jin people say?" As soon as the other party arrived in front of him, Zhao Guan Jia, who had just stopped exercising and was wiping his face with a hot towel, took the initiative to ask.

"The Jin people did not think so. They did not even let me enter Daming Prefecture. They directly sent me away in Puyang. I am ashamed. I have disgraced my mission." Although he said he was ashamed, Yu Yunwen, who was standing with his hands cupped at the target range, had a rosy complexion and looked quite excited.

That was of course. No one had expected that they could really get the rebel general back. The Jin people would only hand over someone if they were crazy. It was just to show off. So Yu Yunwen, who had 'disgraced his mission', could not really 'disgrace his mission'... His return alive was a successful mission.

"It was expected." Zhao Guan Jia did not care, of course.

Just as Zhao Guan Jia put down the hot towel and was preparing to praise him for a while and encourage him, this newly appointed Jinshi could not bear it for a moment and took the opportunity to say: "Guan Jia, the Jin people were careless. I spied a secret military situation!"

Zhao Jiu was stunned, and then stood solemnly with his bow in hand at the target range: "Tell me."

"When I was in Puyang, I did not see any Jin army ships. I was puzzled and had this in mind. Therefore, when I returned, I pretended to be seasick and begged the Jin army Mouke who was accompanying me to send me back to cross the river from the upstream crossing as much as possible... I followed him to Xiaowu Sao (Small Wu Weir) at the mouth of the Yellow River's northern old channel, twenty miles west of Puyang, before boarding the boat. But behind Xiaowu Sao, I saw countless inland river boats!" Yu Yunwen was excited for a moment.

Sao (weir) is a kind of thing made of straw wrapped around stones and wood, with long ropes on the left and right, specially used for controlling the river. Just by hearing the name, you know that this place goes too well with the mouth of the Yellow River's old channel.

And that ships could gather behind Xiaowu Sao was obviously because the Yellow River had flooded and rushed into the old channel, and Xiaowu Sao naturally formed a port sheltered by the old dike.

Of course, Zhao Guan Jia's cultural level was low, and he did not know which character this 'sao' was, but that did not prevent him from roughly guessing the other party's meaning from his words, and knowing that there were a large number of Jin army ships somewhere.

"It is indeed a secret military situation. Are you saying that the Jin army will still launch a large-scale southward attack this time after all?" After thinking for a moment, Zhao Guan Jia's expression remained unchanged, and he continued to ask.

Yu Yunwen was stunned for a moment, but then looked a little dazed and shook his head repeatedly: "I don't mean that... Guan Jia, before, the Jin army controlled both banks of the Yellow River, and all the Yellow River ships were taken over by the Jin army. There should have been so many ferries."

"Then what do you mean?" Zhao Jiu was also puzzled when he heard this... He still could not let go of the question of the Jin people attacking.

"Guan Jia, what I mean is... Why not strike first and burn Xiaowu Sao with a fire?" Yu Yunwen came back to his senses and continued his eager state.

Zhao Guan Jia also came back to his senses with these words, and then his heart pounded... That's right, instead of guessing here whether the Jin people are coming, when they are coming, and why, why not burn the other party's ships with a fire first and take the initiative to seize control of the middle reaches of the Yellow River?

As the saying goes, if the bandits do not come, I can go!

At the thought of this, Zhao Jiu suddenly turned to look at Yang Yizhong: "I remember that Li Bao was originally a Yellow River water hero?"

"That's right."

"Call him here."

Yang Yizhong left without saying a word. Only half a quarter of an hour later, he arrived with Li Bao, who was a little dazed. Zhao Guan Jia also had Yu Yunwen repeat the matter again.

"How is it?" Zhao Jiu looked expectant.

"I won't hide it from Guan Jia. I think this matter is absolutely difficult!" Li Bao hesitated for a moment, but still cupped his hands in response.

"Why?" Zhao Jiu was puzzled for a moment. "The Jin people should not be good at naval warfare, and I have stored many gunpowder packs in Tokyo, and there is no lack of flammable materials..."

Li Bao still shook his head: "Guan Jia... I have been to the river and the sea. If you ask me, naval warfare certainly depends on the sailor's water skills and experience, but in the final analysis, it still depends on the ships. Big ships win against small ships, and many ships win against few ships... Gunpowder packs are good things, but how can you sneak attack on Xiaowu Sao without a ship? And I also know the place Xiaowu Sao. According to what I think at this time, if you want to take it down, you must have big ships, because only big ships can be equipped with the kind of small trebuchets that Guan Jia has been rectifying in Nanyang, launch gunpowder packs, and shoot into the port over the Sao dike. You also need small boats to charge into the port to fight to the death, to prevent enemy ships from dispersing and dodging."

Zhao Jiu calmed down for a moment... He had just remembered that Yu Yunwen had also said that after the Jingkang Incident and at the beginning of the Jianyan era, the Jin people gradually took control of the Yellow River channel, and most of the Yellow River ferries were controlled by the Jin people.

Since the Jin people controlled most of the ferries, then conversely, the Song army did not have many ships.

"Moreover, having ships is not enough. You also have to have good sailors... According to what this tall Jinshi said, there are no less than hundreds of thousands of ferries of all sizes in Xiaowu Sao. But I only have one or two thousand good sailors here. If you don't have ships or people, what are you going to Xiaowu Sao to sneak attack?"

Zhao Jiu became even more calm.

Just as this Guan Jia was preparing to give up, suddenly he caught sight of that 'tall Jinshi' seeming to be eager to try again.

"You want to say something?" Zhao Guan Jia's expression did not change, but he was once again slightly expectant in his heart.

"Guan Jia, I know where there are ships, and I also know where there are sailors..." Yu Yunwen could not wait. "Guan Jia currently has 20,000 Imperial Guard sailors, and there are countless ships available in Liangshanbo (Mount Liang Marsh)!"

Zhao Jiu did not show it on his face, but he was disappointed in his heart. Li Bao simply laughed.

"You Jinshi don't know things well." Li Bao sneered with his arms folded. "I, Li the Third, am from Puzhou. I know the strength of Liangshanbo better than you... But even if the heroes of Liangshan come, they will at most have sailors, but they still don't have ships..."

"Liangshanbo has ships." Yu Yunwen earnestly interrupted the other party. "There are big ships and small ships. Chief Zhang has told me that there are several hundred ships in total."

"I know, but they can't get here. You can't drag hundreds of ships of all sizes from the ground to this side of the Yellow River, right?" Li Bao became even more annoyed. "Could it be that you want to dig a river dozens of miles long now, from the Yellow River to the Tongji Canal, and then to Liangshanbo? If you do that, I'm afraid you will have to change the river course again."