Daming kill

Chapter 280 Li Jiangling

Chapter 280
"Among the colorful clouds of Chaoci Baidi, thousands of miles of Jiangling will be returned in one day."

This is a line in Li Bai's poem "Early Sending to Baidi City", which is familiar to most Chinese in later generations.

During the Tang Dynasty, Baidi City was located in Fengjie County, more than 800 miles east of Chongqing, and Jiangling was Jingzhou, Hubei. It is written in "Shui Jing Zhu" that this distance is 1200 miles, and the modern measurement is about 400 kilometers.

Here I want to explain that the "Shui Jing Zhu" was written during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, and the current distance of one li at that time is about 300 to 400 meters.A range was used because at that time China was divided for a long time and the dynasties changed frequently, which led to great differences and confusion in the measurement of various places, so that there was no relatively unified and identifiable value.

Of course, one mile in the Tang Dynasty equals 454 meters.

However, it cannot be based on modern measurements, because Jiangdao has changed over the past 1000 years.

Since it is a one-day return to Qianli Jiangling, it means that one day can arrive at Jiangling, which is Jingzhou, by taking a boat along the river from Fengjie.

Fengjie is also the starting point on the west side of the treacherous Three Gorges, and the easternmost point happens to be in Yichang, which is Yiling Prefecture where Liu Rushi is currently located.

Going along the river can be reached in one day, but going against the river is another matter.

Not long after setting sail from Yilingzhou, Liu Rushi was deeply shocked by the increasingly majestic and magnificent sights on both sides of the river, and at the same time realized the difficulty of entering Sichuan.

The river is not only full of dangerous beaches, but also often encounters very dangerous torrents with large drops.

Therefore, ships can't advance at all by themselves in many places, but must rely on pulling fibers.

This also made Liu Rushi once again realize the necessity of changing ships.

At present, most of the ships around her are thin and long boats called Takifune.Most of these ships are between 25 and [-] meters to [-] and [-] meters, with a single mast and nine warehouses and a flat bottom.It is said that it is especially suitable for driving on narrow and steep rivers.

And the other boats that are not Takifune are all slender, but smaller, they can only be called small boats, and they can't carry many people or goods.

But even though they were all of this special type of boat and were pulled by people, the Taki boat that Liu Rushi was on was the largest and strongest type. Dong Jiangpeng's grandfather and other boatmen on board were still very nervous and cautious when they entered Xiling Gorge. .

Just when most people were still casually and curiously watching the steep beauty on both sides of the strait, the accident happened suddenly in the afternoon when everyone was most slack and sleepy.

Not far in front of Liu Rushi, a long boat that was being pulled close to the shore was suddenly rushed towards the middle of the river by the torrent, and the tracker pulling the boat on the bank was pulled by the rope and crashed into the rock.One tracker obviously died on the spot, and the other two were howling in pain.

The accident happened very suddenly and caused a lot of commotion.

From the boat, Liu Rushi could clearly see that the people on the plank road along the river stopped and looked around, and all the boats in the river also hurriedly docked and stopped temporarily.

Of course, some people on the shore rushed to rescue the wounded, and the boats around her were also trying to help the ship in distress.

Since many of the longboats on the Yangtze River were taken away by the former Zhang Xianzhong, the number of longboats that Li Ping could collect was seriously insufficient. This also became a good excuse for him not to rush after Zhang Xianzhong and stay longer in Jingzhou one.

Although using this time, Li Ping expanded the search area, and urgently dismantled many other types of ships to obtain materials and rush to build some new Taki boats.

But even so, it is still far from meeting the demand.

Not even trackers can be found enough.

Therefore, when departing from Yilingzhou, most of the tense ships were used to carry goods instead of people, and some of the trackers' jobs were also undertaken by the soldiers.

At the same time, due to the bad and steep plank road along the river, horse-drawn carts cannot pass at all, and things that cannot be transported by boat can only be carried by people on horseback.The old people, women, and children who were still on the boat now have to carry some weight on their backs.

When Liu Rushi, a local boatman on the ship, expressed his heartfelt grief about the many tragic accidents that happened on the Chuanjiang waterway only recently, the listeners were all moved, and finally understood the reason why these old boatmen were nervous.

The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River is a natural danger, by no means empty talk.

In fact, in 1898, when the British traveler Isabella Bode visited the Three Gorges, she counted that in January alone, 41 sailboats were in distress on the Shangshui waterway between Yichang, Hubei and Wanzhou, Chongqing.

A later statistics showed that from the third year of Xuantong in the Qing Dynasty (1911) to the eighth year of the Republic of China, 8 wooden boats were wrecked in the Chuanjiang River, and an average of 1513 boats sank in the Chuanjiang River every year.

But Liu Rushi didn't expect that she actually met Li Ping for the first time at this moment.

While she was standing on the boat near the shore, she continued to listen to the old boatman's babbling and looked around, a tall young man walked through the crowd of people who were standing still and walked away from her. Pass forward on the plank road not far away.

At this time Liu Rushi hadn't realized that this young man in plain clothes was Li Ping.

In a short period of time, there were already several groups of people who were surrounded and cleared the way.There was nothing special about the young man, and he hadn't ridden a horse yet.

But just at this time, Dong Jiangpeng turned around inadvertently, and then subconsciously called out to the general soldier.

Liu Rushi was stunned for a moment.

Then her gaze was fixed on Li Ping, and she watched Li Ping go straight to the tracker who was being rescued not far from her.

After Li Ping arrived at the accident site, the stagnant and even onlookers dissipated quickly, and the flow of people, including boats, continued to move forward in an orderly manner amidst the shouts and whistles of the surrounding crowd.

Liu Rushi was also able to see Li Ping clearly.

Tall, but not very tall, his appearance can only be regarded as medium!Like many male soldiers here, there is inexplicably no beard on the chin, only a neat and small beard on the lips.

The skin looks dark, slightly rough, but also shiny.

At first glance, it was obvious that this was a strong young man who was often exposed to the sun.

Although the smooth face looks really young, and the way he speaks is not aggressive at all, but the confidence and majesty between the brows are beyond doubt.The people standing around him were obviously trying hard and listening carefully to every word he said.

Liu Rushi was greatly surprised that a general soldier actually went to check on the injuries of the most inferior trackers, and those few were obviously not soldiers but real aboriginal trackers.

And even more surprising.

The people passing by, whether soldiers or civilians, seemed not surprised by Li Ping's appearance, nor were they particularly afraid. Most of them passed by naturally and with normal demeanor.

Liu Rushi also remembered that when Li Ping pushed past her on the bank just now, the soldiers clearing the way ahead did not intimidate the crowd, nor did the obstructing crowd panic like many soldiers of the lower class when they saw high-ranking officials and dignitaries. To get out of the way normally is nothing more than being more careful.

At this time, Liu Rushi's boat started to move, and it continued to move forward under the pull of the tracker.

Liu Rushi's eyes also continued to stare at Li Ping, including when passing him.

But Li Ping inadvertently turned his head to look at her at this moment, and then fixedly looked at her in surprise. The two eyes met, and Liu Rushi instinctively turned his head to avoid it.

It was also turning her head that Liu Rushi realized that Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan were also looking at Li Ping stupidly just now, and they were also avoiding Li Ping's gaze in a panic at this moment.

On the other hand, Dong Jiangpeng and several soldiers on the same boat were raising their right hands to Li Ping and performing their strange military salute.

Liu Rushi bit her lower lip, then turned her head to look again.

Then he saw that Li Ping was still staring at them, his eyes flickering.

Liu Rushi was shocked, but her stubbornness made her not dodge this time, but continued to maintain her posture and looked directly at Li Ping.

But at this moment, Li Ping suddenly tilted his mouth into a smile, and then waved at her.

Liu Rushi was taken aback for a moment, not knowing how to react at all, her whole body froze.

And what she didn't expect was that the next day, she saw Li Ping again, and it was still in an even more incredible way.

Li Ping actually ran to be a tracker, and he was pulling the boat that had the accident yesterday, not far in front of her.

And it took a long, long time.

As long as there is a place where fiber needs to be pulled, it has been pulling without stopping.

Yesterday Liu Rushi didn't pay much attention to the fact that many of the trackers were soldiers. After all, enslaving soldiers to work as coolies was a normal practice in the army, especially it was said that many of the soldiers in Li Ping's army were trackers.

But it's different for Li Ping to go into battle in person, and it's not just a simple gesture.

Liu Rushi could clearly hear the cheers and thunderous cheers from the officers, soldiers and common people around him, and saw that their emotions were constantly rising, even exploding.

The marching speed in the entire river and on the shore has also been significantly improved under this situation.

Moreover, led by Li Ping, many soldiers, including Qi Gang, the captain of her ship, the few remaining male soldiers and the young Dong Jiangpeng, also ran to follow suit. Replace the trackers for fiber pulling.

Coolies, soldiers, and common people no longer have such a clear boundary at this time. It seems that all people have become one, like a big family full of friendship and mutual assistance.

Of course, Li Ping's physical strength was also surprising, which made Liu Rushi somewhat suspect that Li Ping might be working and not doing his best.

During the lunch break, Liu Rushi, who had nothing to do after eating a simple light meal early, stood on the bank next to the boat and stared blankly at a group of male and female soldiers who were walking along the plank road and talking and singing to encourage everyone.

Most of these men are handsome, and most of the women are beautiful. The male and female soldiers, especially those female soldiers, are another unexpected and beautiful scenery.

From He Xiuer's mouth, Liu Rushi knew that these male and female soldiers who could always be seen on the road these days to cheer everyone up were from the propaganda team, and they were formed by Li Ping himself.

They usually perform some songs, dances and story books on tour in various camps, bringing joy and enjoyment to the soldiers and the people accompanying the army, making the difficult and monotonous life no longer boring, and at the same time adding a lot of knowledge and understanding.

While marching, the male and female soldiers of these propaganda teams would disperse in groups of three or four, encouraging everyone with some very small programs or even a few simple catchy songs.

For example, the group of male and female soldiers who are being stared at by Liu Rushi are singing: "Whether it is suffering or not, whether you are tired or not, think about the people in Sichuan waiting for me to save them. Go quickly, work harder, catch up with the villain Zhang Xianzhong, and kill the thief to save the people." High, high merit."

The simple words not only express the great significance of everyone's marching into Sichuan, but also explain the urgency of the marching, so that people dare not slack off.

But more importantly, people who can be inspired by such words must also have good intentions and high aspirations.

For a few days, Liu Rushi had not heard a word of vulgarity such as robbing food, robbing money and robbing women to inspire banditry.

All the agitation is positive, and all of them are righteous.

This made Liu Rushi think a lot, and she also felt dazed. She felt that her head was becoming more and more chaotic.

"The chief soldier is here!" A sudden cry woke up Liu Rushi who was immersed in a mess.

She followed everyone's gazes, and then saw Li Ping walking towards her accompanied by several people, and quickly walked in front of her.

"You are Shen Ru! I am Li Ping."

Simple words, gentle tone, and even a friendly smile on the corner of his mouth.At the same time, the unnatural movement of wiping the slight sweat on his forehead with his hands also revealed that the speaker was a little nervous.

But it was also this action of wiping his forehead that made Liu Rushi notice in a daze that there were many places on Li Ping's simple clothes and there was still a large area of ​​sweat that was still slightly damp.

When stretching in the morning, this guy really worked hard!And it sold a lot.

Of course, it is hard to tell whether the slight sweat on the forehead is secondary sweat caused by long-term stretching, or caused by tension.

Not only did Li Ping really do the hard work, but he also felt nervous when he saw him. Liu Rushi, who grew up in a brothel and worked as a maidservant, was sure that he was right.

This took her by surprise.

However, her stubbornness still made her retort immediately after she came to her senses: "My name is not Shen Ru, but my name is Liu Rushi."

Li Ping was obviously stunned for a moment, and the air also dropped to freezing point at this moment.

Everyone was looking at Li Ping nervously, and several angry shouts came from behind Liu Rushi.

But the strange thing is that Li Ping didn't change his expression drastically, nor was he furious, but instead looked a little embarrassed.

But after being silent for a while, he still straightened his face and said, "I know. But I'm sorry, you can only be Shen Ru now."

With a "hum", Liu Rushi glared at Li Ping angrily.

She didn't know why she was so bold all of a sudden.

At this time, Li Xiangjun and Dong Xiaowan stood next to Liu Rushi anxiously, they were called over.

They all looked at Liu Rushi nervously, and Li Xiangjun gently tugged on Liu Rushi's clothes.

Liu Rushi actually regretted it a little. She felt that she shouldn't have provoked Li Ping, who held the power over their life and death, but now she didn't know how to take it back.

But Li Ping unexpectedly said again with a calm face after the three girls got together: "I'm sorry. I can't betray my friends, and I can't put them in danger. I can't be so noble. I'm afraid you will have a long time." Time can only follow me, so I'm really sorry!"

Li Ping was not angry, but actually apologized to them?
The three women didn't respond for a long time.

"Do you know what you are doing? You are making big losses because of small things, you are helping abuse, you are disregarding the righteousness of the world and the court's laws, and you are fighting against the gentlemen of the country. This will never be restored. ..." Liu Rushi suddenly ignited hope and said loudly.

But before she finished speaking, she was interrupted by Li Ping who shook his head helplessly.

"Needless to say, I know what you said. It seems that you have not fully recognized your situation. I treat you well, but I am sorry, and I also want to say sorry. But that's all.

As for right and wrong, right and wrong, our opinions are not consistent, and the difference may be bigger than you imagined. For example, I really don’t like the so-called Donglin gentleman you say, so you must not have any illusions .

If you are safe and sound, I will continue to treat you well.But on the contrary, I will not be polite either.If you still don't accept that you are Shen Ru, you can only be strictly controlled for a period of time until you accept it. "Li Ping said very seriously and firmly.

And after speaking, he left without looking back, as if he lost interest in continuing to contact.

Liu Rushi stared dumbfounded at Qi Gang and He Xiuer rushing out to follow behind Li Ping as if startled, and then could only look stunned...

(End of this chapter)

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