At the end of the Sui Dynasty

Xiao Xian was originally the great-grandson of Emperor Xuan of Xiliang, and the nephew of Empress Xiao. After Yang Guang came to the throne, Xiao Xian was named the magistrate of Luochuan County by Yang Guang because of the honor of Empress Xiao.Daye 13 years, Xiao Mian raised the flag to fight against the Sui Dynasty, and claimed to be the Duke of Liang. Since the area around Jingxiang and Baling belonged to the homeland of the Xiliang Kingdom, Xiao Mian, as a descendant of Emperor Xuan of Liang, still has a lot of appeal, so far and near prefectures and counties compete for it. Attached to each other.

At the 14th year of Daye, that is, the year Yang Guang died, Xiao Mian officially ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, with Jiangling as his capital, Liang as his country, and Mingfeng as Yuanming.As far as the current situation is concerned, the territory under the effective jurisdiction of Liang State extends from the Three Gorges of Badong in the west, Yuzhang in the east, Hanshui in the north, and the border between Hunan and Guangxi in the south. It is said to have 300,000 soldiers, and its strength should not be underestimated. Except Gao Qi and Li Tang, it's Xiao Liang's turn.

"His Royal Highness King Qi, Yiling City should be in front of us, from which we can enter Bashu by boat." Gao Dahe pointed to the looming city outline in front of him.

Yang Qingruo who was next to him immediately corrected him and said, "I want to call Da Lang."

Gao Dahe said softly, "Yes, Empress Qing."

Yang Qingruo's face was slightly hot, and she reprimanded: "Call me Erlang!"

"Yes, Erlang." Gao Dahe scratched the back of his head embarrassingly and said, "This subordinate is used to it, and I can't change it for a while."

Gao Bufan and Yang Qingruo are both dressed as scholars at the moment, with long gowns with wide sleeves and lun scarves on their heads. The famous scholar still had picturesque features, so beautiful that even a man couldn't help but feel his heart skip a beat when he saw her.

Gao Bufan and Yang Qingruo dressed up like this, naturally for the convenience of doing things. At this time, Yang Qingruo solemnly told: "Now General Xu is attacking Xiangyang, we Gao Qi and Xiao Liang are enemies, not friends, and here is Xiao Liang's territory, if King Qi reveals his identity, it will be very troublesome, you all have to remember it."

Gao Dahe and the other three soldiers said yes awe-inspiringly.

Gao Bufan and Yang Qingruo went to Sichuan this time to search for the Buddhist treasures on the map. Naturally, the fewer the people, the better the action, so they didn't bring many people. Including the captain of the soldiers, Gao Dahe, there were only four soldiers in total, and They are all agile and skilled players.In addition, in order not to expose his identity, Gao Bufan did not ride a big green horse, but changed to an ordinary black horse
Let's say that everyone rode their horses and walked for a short distance, and they arrived at a ferry called Yiling Ferry. The county seat of Yiling County, Yiling City, is on the south bank of the Yangtze River, across the river.

Everyone got off their horses in front of the Yiling Ferry, but they saw the vast river in front of them, the mighty water, rushing eastward, it was heart-pounding.One thousand more than 400 years ago, the runoff of the Yangtze River was obviously much larger than that of the later generations of the Yangtze River. In addition, it is now in the summer wet season, and the surging river is really dizzying.

Seeing such a scene, Gao Bufan finally understood why the ancients always fought water battles when they competed for the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is really impossible without a boat.There are many rivers and lakes in the Yangtze River Basin, and they are all vast waters with blue waves. In the north, "opening roads when encountering mountains and building bridges when encountering waters" will not work at all. Unless you have strong industrial capabilities in future generations, building bridges on the Yangtze River is simply a wishful thinking! …

Moreover, almost all the large cities in the Yangtze River Basin are distributed along the banks of the Yangtze River. As long as the navy sweeps down the river, they can basically take all the territory in the south of the Yangtze River and the north of the Yangtze River. Therefore, without a strong navy, It is impossible to win the Yangtze River Basin!
Gao Bufan and the others did not take the mount across the river, but asked a soldier to take it to a nearby village and town to take care of the feeding, and then the five of them crossed the Yangtze River on a ferry.

After crossing the river, it is obviously more lively, because there is a large pier here.Yiling is the Yichang of the later generations. This place is rather special. It is at the junction of Hubei and Chongqing. To the west is the famous Padong Three Gorges. , whether it is the ships going out of Shu upstream or the ships entering Shu downstream, they all gather here to spend the night, and Yiling has naturally become a distribution center for goods, which is very prosperous.

At this moment, there are many ships parked on the wharf, most of them are cargo ships. Although they cannot be said to be competing with thousands of sails, there are still hundreds of bow ships, and there are many vehicles and horses on the wharf that are busy loading and unloading cargo.

Yang Qingruo said in surprise: "I didn't expect this place to be so prosperous. Although it is not as good as the canal wharf in Zhuo County, it is still very rare."

As soon as the words were finished, the owner of the nearby tea stall laughed and said, "Is this the first time you two have come to Yiling?"

Gao Bufan and Yang Qingruo were both dressed as scribes, with bright clothes and swords on their backs. The three attendants also carried weapons. They looked like they were descendants of aristocratic families.

Gao Bufan smiled and said: "The shopkeeper really has good eyesight. It's indeed the first time for us two brothers to come here. Seeing how prosperous this place is, it's inevitable that we feel a little bit emotional."

The owner of the tea stall said with a dry smile: "Young master, I am just a small tea vendor. As for the shopkeeper, you just need to call me Old Wangtou. Here, it was even more lively during the Kaihuang period, and we stop here every day. There are eight hundred boats instead of one thousand. People from all over the world come here to beg for work. Now, it’s not as good as before. The number of boats is more than half less than before. The business of my tea stall is also much worse. I can only barely earn a living. Point Yangjia Hukou, you won’t die of hunger.”

Yang Qingruo frowned and asked, "Why?"

The owner of the tea stand curled his lips and said: "Yang Guang didn't make trouble. Since he came to the throne, how many people have died in building the Eastern Capital, digging canals, and conquering Goguryeo three times? This man, just can't make too much trouble, and the emperor is no exception. Yang Guang was very happy, so he liked to toss around. In the end, he tossed all his country and mountains, and we ordinary people were tossed to death by him. Fortunately, Yang Guang finally died. Dazhi, when a strongman dominates the world, we ordinary people will be able to live in peace."

Yang Qingruo lowered his head when he heard the words, a hint of darkness flashed in his bright eyes. Although the words of the tea stall owner were harsh, they were not harsh. His uncle Yang Guang was ambitious, but he was too impatient. More than 200 million laborers built the magnificent Dongdu in only ten months, which can be seen. Then the North-South Grand Canal was dug. The teachers and the people worked hard, and there was almost no rest. How could the common people withstand such endless tossing, and finally caused public dissatisfaction, wars broke out, and even the Great Sui Dynasty was lost! …

Gao Bufan observed the words and expressions, and knew that the tea stand owner's unintentional words had touched Qing Ruo's mind, so he smiled, changed the topic and said: "The weather is hot, Boss Wang, let us each have a bowl of herbal tea! "

"Okay, everyone, please sit down!" Seeing the business coming to the door, Mr. Wang couldn't help but cheer up, he didn't care about pointing out the situation, and immediately poured a bowl of herbal tea for Gao Bufan and the others.

The bowl was a rough pottery bowl, and the tea was made from tea cakes. It was thick and astringent, but Gao Bufan didn't mind. He picked up the tea bowl and drank it to the bottom, then knocked on the table again: "Good tea, one more bowl."

Seeing this, the old Wangtou couldn't help feeling sorry for each other, he continued a bowl of tea for Gao Bufan, and asked enthusiastically, "What's the name of this young master? Where is his family name?"

Gao Bufan smiled: "My surname is Gao... and my name is Shiji, from Runan." After speaking, he pointed to Yang Qingruo and said, "This is Gao Xiaofan, my brother-in-law!"

Yang Qingruo almost spit out a mouthful of tea, and glared at Gao Bufan dumbfounded.The old Wang's heart couldn't help beating thumping when his head was over half a hundred, and he said to himself: "My dear, this man is too good-looking, he seems to be even more attractive than the number one Xiangning girl in Ningxianglou , and this skin... tsk tsk.

The old Wang glanced at Yang Qingruo and didn't dare to look any further. He coughed lightly and said with a smile, "Young Master Gao, I dare to ask you, are the two young masters here to study or do business?"

Gao Bu blurted out: "Study tour, as the saying goes, it is better to travel thousands of miles than to read thousands of books, so we two brothers plan to go to Shu for a study tour. By the way, may I ask Boss Wang, is there a passenger ship entering Shu at the pier here?"