The Han army's logistics transportation system was huge, but it was mainly composed of four waterways, one was the western waterway, that is, it was from Chengdu to Minjiang River, and then arrived at Nanjun via the Yangtze River. Food and grass materials from Shuzhong and Jingnan gathered in Nanjun.

The second channel is the southern line. The grain and grass resources of the Nanjun are then transported to the transfer station Chaisang, including the third channel, which is the northern line. The grain and grass supplies that come from Xiangyang to the Han River also arrive in Chaisang.

Of course, after the Han army opened up the Nanxiang Pass Road, the food and grass military funds transported from Chang'an were also transported to Xiangyang via Danshui, and then from Xiangyang to Chaisang on the northern line.

Chaisang became the logistics center of the entire Han army in the Eastern Expedition. Millions of grain and grass resources gathered here. More than 700 huge warehouses were built, forming a warehouse group covering an area of ​​thousands of acres. The Han army protected the heavy army, and 20,000 troops protected this warehouse group.

The fourth channel was formed from Chaisang to Hefei, which is the Eastern Line. This channel was particularly important. The Han army also invested 300 patrol warships to sail on the river surface, and civilian ships were prohibited from appearing on the river surface, with only warships, official ships and military transport fleets. However, in this way, the defense was tight, and cargo ships had disappeared three times in the past month.

A total of four cargo ships were missing, losing 3,000 stones of grain and 2,000 stones of feed black beans. Although the loss was not large, the nature was extremely bad, which made Liu Jing very angry and ordered the navy commander Gan Ning to investigate the matter personally and find the root cause of the incident.

In the morning, on a team of empty ships heading to Chaisang, Gan Ning stood at the bow and stared at the river. His current location was between Hulin Town and Wankou, which happened to be the junction of Danyang County and Yuzhang County. According to the testimony of several witnesses, a cargo ship left the fleet here.

At this time, several soldiers brought a boatman up, who was also one of the witnesses. He was responsible for driving the boat at night, and the two cargo ships in front of the big ship he was in left the team and disappeared.

Gan Ning turned around and asked him, "Is the ship you saw missing here?"

The boatman nodded and pointed to a big tree on the shore south and said, "It's that big tree, I remember very clearly that when the ship left the team, you could see the big tree."

"But it was two o'clock at that time, could you see the big tree?" Gan Ning asked in confusion.

"You can see that the moonlight was particularly beautiful at that time. The fleet was not far from the south shore, and the big tree was clearly visible."

At this time, Sima Zhou, a navy army next to him, said without any doubt: "Apart from the cargo ships left, did you see any other ships at that time? I mean, are there any other small boats approaching the two cargo ships within an hour?"

The boatman shook his head, "Definitely not, I have thought about it carefully, absolutely not?"

"What about the night before? Is it the same moonlight and stars?" Zhou Buyi asked again.

The boatman focused his mind for a moment and shook his head, "It was raining the night before, and the wind and waves were relatively heavy."

Zhou Buyi asked a few more questions and asked the soldiers to take the boatman down. Gan Ning stood aside without interrupting Zhou Buyi's question. He knew that although Zhou Buyi had a strange temper and a withdrawn personality, he had extremely high wisdom. He could see this kind of thing thoroughly than himself.

Gan Ning only needed to come forward in person because he served as the governor of the navy to show his attitude. But in fact, this investigation was mainly based on Zhou Buyi. Not only was he more intelligent, but he was Sima of the navy. This kind of logistics transportation was exactly his scope of responsibility.

Gan Ning asked lightly: "What did Zhou Sima discover?"

Gan Ning never joked with Zhou Buyi, nor called him a word of mouth, but called him an official title. Although Zhou Buyi was thirty-five or six years old, he still had a strange temper and did not understand the worldly ways.

For example, after he asked the boatman just now, he should ask Gan Ning for instructions according to normal practice. Is there anything else to ask? After all, Gan Ning is the boss, and Gan Ning first asked the boatman. He is so good. After asking by himself, he asked the soldiers to take the boatman away. This is actually disrespect for the boss.

However, Gan Ning also knew his strange temper and did not care about him. Zhou Buyi slowly said: "I think it is necessary to be clear first, who drove the cargo ship and left the team. If it was a boatman, it was the boatman who was bribed, or the boatman had selfish greed. If it was not a boatman, it was someone who secretly got on the boat."

Gan Ning still admired Zhou Buyi's mind, with clear thinking, and often able to grasp the key to the problem. He thought for a while and said, "I don't think it's the boatman. If it's the boatman who is greedy, then the missing one should be the cargo ship that transports money, rather than grain or even black beans and grass. What's the point of stealing a boat of grass back with the threat of beheading?"

"The last sentence of the governor is right, and it talks about the key to the problem!"

Gan Ning was stunned and asked in confusion: "Where is the key?"

Zhou Buyi smiled, "I also think it's not that the boatman is greedy for supplies, but someone must have gotten on the boat. The key is when these people boarded the boat? I thought about it and found that there are probably two possibilities. One is to mix into the boat at the dock, such as pretending to be a porter, and the second is to be halfway. If the boat is on the way, it is probably at the dock or on the way. If it is nine out of ten on the way, it is close to the fleet at night, taking a small boat and avoiding the patrol warship, then is it at the dock or on the way?"

Gan Ning understood Zhou Buyi's meaning a little and smiled: "If they were on the boat at the dock, they would know what kind of cargo they were transporting, and they would not choose the ship to transport feed."

"Not only that, they don't know which seat they will be in the fleet on the dock. What if there is a warship next to it? And as the governor said, what is the point of stealing a boat of fodder back? After opening the warehouse, I found it was fodder, wouldn't I be so angry that I died of anger?"

Gan Ning laughed, "This kind of Jiangwu thief is too clumsy!"

"Yes! These Jiang thieves are indeed far behind when the governor was back then."

Gan Ning's face suddenly darkened, and she felt a little unhappy. Zhou Buyi really couldn't speak and actually mentioned his own affairs back then. Doesn't he understand that this is a taboo in the officialdom?

Zhou Buyi unconsciously offended Gan Ning in his words. He was very excited and continued: "Since it is possible to determine that the thieves of Jiangwu boarded the boat halfway, where did they board the boat? First of all, they boarded the boat at night. There were four nights along the way, and there were two nights before the ship left the team, one of which was rainy and the other was in the sky. Since the boatman did not notice that the boat was approaching on the night of the bright moon, then it was nine out of ten that it would be the rainy night of the previous day."

Gan Ning nodded. Zhou Buyi's analysis was indeed good, which made Gan Ning's unhappiness disappear. As long as Zhou Buyi can help him catch the Jiang thief who destroyed the logistics and shipping, then Gan Ning can ignore his verbal disrespect.

Gan Ning stared at the river and thought to himself, "If you want to find out the Jiang thief, you can only escort the fleet yourself once."

Ten days later, a fleet of Han army transporting military funds was lined up on the river. The fleet consisted of more than 300 cargo ships with more than 2,000 stone, mainly transporting grain, tinder oil and armor, and was escorted by thirty warships.

The fleet stretched 150 miles across the river, with the head but not the tail on it. The momentum was extremely loud. It was October, and the northwest wind blew on the river. The Han army took advantage of the transportation of the Yangtze River to end. After winter, civilian ships would not be able to travel west against the wind and against the flow of the Yangtze River, and the transportation of the Yangtze River would temporarily stop.

It is precisely for this reason that the Han army increased the transportation density after the beginning of autumn, and it was necessary to make Hefei's strategic material reserves reach half a year of consumption before winter came.

Gan Ning's ship was behind the team. They analyzed several missing ships and found that the missing ships were all located at the tail of the fleet, and of course they were not necessarily the last one, because behind the last cargo ship, there were several escort warships.

The missing ships were all the 20th to last, and the warships in front and behind this seat were invisible, so Gan Ning's ship was exactly the 20th to last. In fact, it was a cargo ship played by the military ship Qiao. The military ship was stronger than the cargo ship and could withstand violent impacts, but its appearance looked no different from a cargo ship.

In the cabin, Gan Ning stood in front of the porthole and stared at the dark river outside. There was no moonlight tonight. The wind and waves on the river were very strong and nothing could be seen. The big ship was undulating with the waves, causing the dim candlelight to flicker. In front of a large table, Zhou Buyi and two soldiers were marking the characteristics of the fleet along the way in front of the map. At this time, Zhou Buyi suddenly said: "Governor, walk another fifty miles to Qiupukou."

Gan Ning was excited and understood Zhou Buyi's meaning. The last time the ship was out of the team was between Wankou and Hulin. There were only two estuaries of Wankou and Qiupukou within this distance.

Of course, the missing cargo ship can also go a little further, but it will be dawn at the next estuary, and it is easy to be discovered by the Han army on the patrol. Therefore, it can be concluded that the large ship that left the team either entered the Wan River or the Qiupu River.

There were Han troops stationed at the entrance of Anhui, and the waterway suitable for 2,000-stone cargo ships were not long. Their army had searched the coast of Anhui River and found no missing cargo ships.

The Qiupu water is connected to the Po water, and finally it can enter Pengze Lake. Ganning can preliminarily determine that the missing cargo ship must have entered the Qiupu water.

Another point is that it is impossible for Jianghu to board the boat from Qiupu Eviction. You must board the boat in advance, control the boat, and then find an opportunity to leave the team, so Jianghu must board the boat thirty or fifty miles in advance.

Gan Ning immediately asked, "Has the deployment been made in Qiupukou?"

"It's already done!" a military officer replied immediately.
Chapter completed!