Xiao Ruxun asked the old boatman on the ship and learned that it was more than two thousand li from the capital to Zhenjiang from the Grand Canal. Based on the speed of the ship, it could travel more than four hundred li in a day and a night if there was no adverse wind.
In other words, according to the most ideal situation, it would only take about five days and a night to reach Zhenjiang from Tongzhou. Xiao Ruxun clearly remembered that some of the Burmese merchant ships entered directly along the Yangtze River and then stopped at several large cities along the way to do business.
Among them was Zhenjiang Prefecture. Many ships would stop at Zhenjiang Prefecture to buy or sell things. Zhenjiang Prefecture itself was one of the ports of the Grand Canal and was very prosperous.
Xiao Ruxun calculated again. The change of the emperor must be spread out as soon as possible, and when Liu Huangshang released him, it happened to be the day of the coup. Now one day had passed, and the news had only reached Tongzhou.
It could be imagined that even if Shen Yicheng used the 600 li express route to the south to deliver the news, it would take at least ten days to reach Nanjing and deliver the news to the south. If Shen Yicheng also used the transportation method to deliver the news to the south, he would have at least two days left.
As long as he could make full use of this time, Xiao Ruxun could use this time to do many things. At the very least, Shen Yicheng would not be able to catch him, and he could smoothly escape back to Burma.
And when the two of them met again, it should be the end of the war.
Faced with such a situation, Xiao Ruxun had no doubt that Shen Yichuan would make a move against Myanmar Town as soon as possible to uproot his own foundation so that his government would be able to stabilize the world. He had a lot of things to worry about at the moment, and it was unlikely that he would be able to focus all his forces on Myanmar Town.
Moreover, Xiao Ruxun had a great advantage.
The imperial court did not know the true strength of Burma Town.
The scholar-officials habitually called the area south of Lingnan a barren land, and Burma was to the south of Lingnan. In their minds, it was a barren land among the barren lands. Was such a place worth paying attention to?
Not collecting taxes for a few years could show that the scholar-officials despised Myanmar, and this was the biggest reliance of Xiao Ruxun.
The scholars might have known that the Zhennan Army had 30,000 people, but they didn't know that the Zhennan Army that had completed the task of wiping out the Meng tribe had at least 50,000 people.
If Xiao Ruxun was determined to expand the army, with the construction and reserves he had built in Myanmar over the past few years, as well as the composition of the population, it was not difficult to pull out 100,000 soldiers in a month and ensure the military supplies for half a year.
Thanks to the gifts from the scholar-officials, most of the refugees who arrived in Myanmar were young and strong men. There were very few women, children, and old people, because they had already died in the process of fleeing. Most of the survivors who arrived in Myanmar were relatively strong young and strong men.
Although Xiao Ruxun also used various methods to collect young women from all over Myanmar to marry the large number of men left in Myanmar, it would not change the fact that most of the population in Myanmar were young and strong men who were suitable for military service. With Xiao Ruxun's reputation in Myanmar, with an order, could he not gather 100,000 soldiers?
No matter how much Shen Yicheng thought, he could not calculate the true strength of Burma Town. They knew that Xiao Ruxun was good at fighting and that Xiao Ruxun was good at leading and training troops, but they did not know how great the development potential of Myanmar was.
There was no possibility of reconciliation between Xiao Ruxun and Shen Yicheng. Shen Yicheng wanted to kill Xiao Ruxun, and Xiao Ruxun also wanted to kill Shen Yicheng to avenge his brothers who had died tragically.
In the current situation, they could not live without fighting. They could distort the facts and say that Xiao Ruxun was a rebel, and Xiao Ruxun could also use large-scale propaganda to refute and expose their hypocrisy.
Not only that, but he also had to expose and play a war of public opinion. Not only did he expose that Shen Yicheng forced the emperor to abdicate, but he also wanted to blame the death of Emperor Zhengde on them. Whether it was true or not, he wanted to put the blame on them, so that the whole country would be in an uproar, so that they would doubt themselves and be confused.
In this way, Xiao Ruxun could use the name of serving heaven to punish rebels, and the name of rescuing Zhu Yijun to carry out a justifiable northern expedition.
It was impossible to develop peacefully, so he could only use the most primitive and convenient method to teach them a lesson.
Shen Yicheng's base was in the area of Zhejiang, and the area between Zhejiang and Fujian was also the base of the Jiangnan gentry group. Xiao Ruxun could not help but want to see how painful it was for Shen Yicheng to know that his base had been destroyed.
The local army could not be a match for the Zhennan Army, but what if the local gentry fought back with all their might?
Beating the rich and dividing the land was a good slogan.
Equalizing the rich and the poor was also a good gimmick.
If you say that I am a rebel, I will also say that you are a rebel. To do this kind of thing with the reason of crusading against rebels and accomplices was really speechless.
The fire of revenge burned in Xiao Ruxun's chest. He could not care so much, and he did not want to care so much. The only thing he wanted to do now was to make Shen Yicheng live a life worse than death.
Of course, before that, there were still many things to do.
Under Xiao Ruxun's expectations, the ship sailed smoothly for three days in a row. The speed of the ship was extremely fast, and it passed through Shandong and entered northern Jiangsu. During this period, the ship was inspected several times, but Xiao Ruxun saw that the owner of the ship just gave the officials a few silvers and went over.
When they were in Shandong, Xiao Ruxun saw a large number of transport ships transporting grain to the north. The ship owner was so scared that he directly stopped the ship far away, and only dared to continue forward after all the official ships had left.
Xiao Ruxun asked the old boatman again, and learned that this was all forced. Most of the transport channels were smooth, but there was the danger of capsizing or breaking the ship when passing through the sluice. If the ship was damaged and the grain sank to the bottom, they would be held responsible. Thus, some soldiers came up with bad ideas.
They purposely threw some broken ships at some merchant ships that were sailing in good condition. As long as they bumped into each other, they would say that the merchant ships had damaged the transport ships, and they would demand compensation. If they did not pay, they would be captured.
Fortunately, they did not meet any unreasonable soldiers this time. Looking at the ships, it seemed that they were in a hurry to send the goods to the north.
On the fourth night, the fleet encountered a small group of water bandits who attempted to rob them. They were easily dealt with by Xiao Ruxun and the others, who happened to be on night watch duty. The ship owner was very grateful and even treated Xiao Ruxun and the others to a meal of meat.
On the fifth day, although there were some twists and turns, the ship did not stop. Finally, at dawn on the sixth day, the fleet arrived at their destination, Zhenjiang.
Xiao Ruxun and the others deeply felt that they were very lucky. Before they left the ship, they expressed their deep gratitude to the ship owner.
"You are not refugees from Guanzhong, are you?"
The ship owner suddenly revealed a somewhat mysterious smile.
Xiao Ruxun narrowed his eyes, and the expressions of the three people behind him changed.
"I have traveled far and wide for so many years, but this is the first time I have seen refugees as strong and skilled as you. And looking at your abilities, you are probably from the army?"
Xiao Ruxun asked, "What does the ship owner mean?"
"Nothing, just saying. I have traveled far and wide for so many years, and have seen all kinds of people and encountered all kinds of things. We are all fated. I thank the four of you for your help!"
The ship owner cupped his hands toward Xiao Ruxun and the others.
Xiao Ruxun's heart relaxed, and he also cupped his hands toward the ship owner.
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