Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 279 0274【Entering Shu】

Golden State, pier.

Zhu Guoxiang, Shen Yourong, Zhang Gen, Huang Shi, Zheng Yuanyi and others, as well as many officials, scholars and common people, all came to the Han River to see Zhu Ming off.

Zheng Yuanyi still has to raise her baby in Jinzhou for a month or two, since her parents-in-law are also here anyway.

"Master, take care!" Zheng Yuanyi bent down and saluted.

Zhu Ming quickly supported him: "Don't move around, so you can rest."

"Yes." Zheng Yuanyi squeezed out a smile.

Zhang Gen and Huang Shi are also saying goodbye to their daughter, and talking about some precautions for husband and wife harmony.

Generally speaking, the bride keeps the dowry, but Zhu Ming is so cheeky that he even asked for an item by name.

He asked the Zhang family to send some lead as dowry...

It was said verbally that it was going to be shipped to Yangzhou to make lead movable type, but in fact, part of it would be retained to make lead bullets.

Mrs. Huang said to her daughter: "I have already asked. Mrs. Zheng met at the end of her life, and she followed her back and forth in the past few years. They must have a very strong relationship. Now she is pregnant again, and she will love her even more. When you get along with her, To master a certain degree, only then can the wives and concubines be harmonious."

"Daughter can save it." Zhang Jinping said.

Huang said again: "Elder women must be broad-minded and have internal control methods. Do you remember what I taught you before?"

Zhang Jinping said: "Daughter remembers."

The mother and daughter told each other that the ship was about to leave.

Zhang Jinping walked up to Zheng Yuanyi, took her hand and said, "Little sister, take care, pay more attention to your body."

Zheng Yuanyi hurriedly saluted: "Sister, take care too."

On the second day of the wedding, after Zhang Jinping went to visit his uncle and aunt, he had already formally met Zheng Yuanyi.The wives and concubines also exchanged greeting gifts, Zhang Jinping gave a golden step, and Zheng Yuanyi gave a golden hairpin.

Zhu Ming bid farewell to relatives and friends one by one, and bowed his hands to everyone: "Take care, gentlemen!"

"Respectfully send off the prefect!" Jinzhou officials and gentry merchants bowed and bowed to see him off.

Even grain merchants came to see him off, although during times of famine, Zhu Ming was not allowed to raise prices at will, and had to hold a meeting to discuss every price increase.But compared to the direct collection of food and disaster relief, Ju Ming has already given a lot of face.

If it were other officials, they would lose even more. After all, there are no big grain merchants in Jinzhou.Even if you hoard, you won't make a lot of money, but you are likely to be blackmailed by officials.

The merchants were reluctant to leave Zhu Ming, because after the departure of the prefect Zhu, the counties and towns must rebuild their private farms, and business will be even more difficult in the future.

Ju Ming boarded the boat and waved towards the shore.

Suddenly some people knelt down, and then knelt together.

Some people sent letters to the public opinion box, and Zhu Ming ordered the Supreme Court to avenge their grievances.Some people came from the suburbs to see the prefect farewell when they received relief from the government during the drought.

There are also many people who simply think that the prefect Zhu is very good, and the famine season lowers the price of food to make them feel better.

Zhang Jinping looked at the kneeling crowd, then turned to look at her husband with a proud smile on her face.

When the boat sailed to Daming Village, Zhu Ming stayed for a day and took Zhang Jinping to visit Mrs. Yan.When they arrived in Yangzhou City, they stayed at Zheng's house for another day and talked about Zheng Yuanyi's pregnancy.

After passing through Xingyuan Mansion, we traveled all the way by boat and vehicle, over mountains and mountains.

Many times he could only walk. Zhang Jinping's legs and feet became weak when he walked, until the soles of his feet were blistered. Finally, he gave up and hired local mountain people to carry sliding poles.

In some plank road areas, the sliders do not sit on the poles, so they can only walk with courage.

Arriving in Lizhou City, Zhu Ming went to visit Li Youwen, the prefect, and all the entourage took a five-day rest.

Li Youwen said: "I see that you have more than a dozen horses with you. The horses are best to walk along the Jialing River. The north slope of Jianmen Pass is too difficult. Horses that are not good at climbing mountains are very likely to be exhausted at the half slope. "

"I also ask Prefect Li to send a guide." Zhu Ming said.

Li Youwen laughed and said, "This matter is easy to hear."

So the team was divided into two, Zhu Ming went to experience the danger of Jianmen for himself, while Bai Sheng and Li Bao took horse supplies and went to reward Jiang.

The people separated at Jubaijin in Zhaohua County, and they could go south by boat or along the Jialing River.Go halfway and then turn west. You can bypass Jianmen Pass by crossing mountains and ridges.

Zhang Jinping followed Zhu Ming. Although the Laisu trail can be detoured, it is actually not easy because of the long distance.

In two lifetimes, Zhu Ming visited Jianmen Pass for the first time.

Standing under the north slope, looking up at the Xiongguan Pass in front of him, Zhu Ming finally knew what it meant to be "one man should be the pass, and ten thousand men should not open it". He also finally understood why Li Youwen said that horses are not easy to walk.

This road up the mountain is close to a 90-degree right angle!
Not to mention organizing an army to attack Guancheng, those with poor physical strength will lose their legs when they climb halfway.

It is impossible to attack head-on.

Since the day Jianmenguan was built, it has not been breached head-on, not even once.

After the fall of the Northern Song Dynasty, Shu had to go around, and the People's Liberation Army had to go around when entering Sichuan.As for the Laisu trail that can be detoured, there are also many fortresses and checkpoints, and it also needs to climb mountains and ridges, and must make a large circle along the mountains and rivers.

Zhang Tong was stunned and said: "Today we will know what a dangerous pass is!"

"Let's pass." Zhu Ming said with a smile.

Zhang Jinping had already taken off the long sleeves of his toga and was wearing bunt clothes.After climbing for a while, she felt out of breath and felt her left hand being held. She turned her head and smiled sweetly at Ju Ming.

After tossing and tossing for a long time, before arriving at Guancheng, most of the followers were exhausted and paralyzed.

After passing Jianmen Pass, we walked for another two days. Although we still had to climb mountains and ridges, the scenery along the way became extremely pleasing to the eye.

This section is called Cuiyun Corridor. Cypress trees are planted on both sides of the ancient road, covering the sky and sun like a green corridor.

Everyone waited for twelve days in Qingqiang's store, and Bai Sheng and Li Bao finally came around to join them.

When Bai Sheng met him, he complained: "The road is not easy to walk, and I also encountered thieves."

"Are there any casualties?" Zhu Ming asked.

Bai Sheng said: "A few people were injured, but there is no serious problem. There are many smugglers who came to Su Xiaojing, and the inspectors blatantly blackmailed them. I was released only after I showed the official documents."

Half a day later, the scenery is even more beautiful.

Zhu Ming smiled and said, "Take a break and replenish your strength."

Zhang Jinping had completely disregarded her manners and sat directly on the stone barrier by the road. She looked at the tunnel-like green corridor and said with a smile, "Although I have worked hard all the way to get here, I am in a happy mood."

"Enjoyment after hard work is always more rare." Zhu Ming took out bean cakes and salt water to replenish the cornucopia of energy.

Two scholars, Wei Yingshi and Zeng Xiaoduan, were taking off their shoes to inspect the soles of their feet, the blisters had already burst and formed a layer of calluses.

"Hey, the danger is high..." Wei Yingshi suddenly began to recite poems, and he was also very happy at this time, as if he had conquered the Shu Road.

A group of servants carrying tea passed here, and there were officials escorting them back and forth.

The entourage from Yangzhou immediately put away their smiles and looked at the servant with pity.Half of these living people can come back next year, even if they are lucky.

After the tea transport team passed by, Zhu Ming introduced: "They are laborers who were forced to transport Sichuan tea to Hehuang to exchange horses. More than [-]% of them died."

Wei Yingshi was startled and said, "Half dead?"

Ju Ming said: "It may be [-]%."

Zhang Tong couldn't believe it: "Don't they know how to escape?"

Zhu Ming said: "These people have family members, and there are sergeants escorting them along the way. How did they escape? Even if they escape, what will the family do? If they carry tea honestly, they may be able to return home alive."

Li Bao asked: "No matter how difficult the journey is, it is impossible for [-]% to die?"

Zhu Ming said: "Those who died of exhaustion, died of illness, fell to death, and were beaten to death. The closer they were to Hehuang, the lower the lives of these people, and they could save some food if they died halfway. Even the Xiang army dared to torture to death the officials who transported the tea and escorted the tea. They recruited a group of Xiang troops to transport tea, and within two years they all died, and finally they had to recruit civilian husbands.”

"The imperial court doesn't care?" Zeng Xiaoduan asked.

Zhang Tong said: "The Son of Heaven must have been deceived by treacherous ministers."

Zhu Ming shook his head: "The emperor knew about it. At least, the former emperor who agreed to let the civilian husband bet on the tea must have known about it."

Li Bao said angrily: "I really don't treat the common people as human beings!"

Zhu Ming said: "If you can exchange your life for war horses, that's fine. But many tea bearers die every year, but the frontier army's war horses don't increase much, and the oil and water are all taken away by the officials of the Du Da Cha Ma Division."

Zhang Tong remained silent, thinking of his hometown in Puzhou, although the methods of harming the people were different, but the imperial courts were all equally fatuous.

Take a short rest and continue on your way.

After passing Jianzhou (Pu'an Town), Wulian, Zitong, Mianzhou (Mianyang)...the road is finally smooth, and you can hire a horse-drawn carriage to move forward.

While resting in Xiaoquan Town, Zhu Ming met a group of merchants and asked casually, "How is the business doing well in recent years?"

The merchant bowed his hands and said, "Business is good, but the tax has increased."

Zhu Ming asked again: "Since Lunan was pacified, is there any trouble on this road in Chengdu?"

Merchants shook their heads again and again: "The guests come from other places, and they don't know where to go. Today's holy emperor likes martial arts, and all the civil and military generals who put down the chaos in Lunanyi have been promoted. Since then, officials in central Sichuan have wanted to follow suit. , They deliberately exploited and stirred up barbarian rebellion, and those merchants who received barbarian goods will suffer."

"Is there a big mess?" Zhu Ming asked.

The merchant said, "It's not a big disturbance, but it's happening everywhere. The leaders of the barbarians even robbed and killed the Han people in revenge. Last year, the imperial court set up a Shiquan army."

The army is an administrative unit at the state level, and Zhijun is similar to Zhizhou.

It seems that Sichuan officials succeeded in deliberately provoking ethnic conflicts, deliberately inciting barbarians to rebel, and then sent troops to suppress the "opening up frontiers and land expansion", adding a military-level government office.

Last year, two counties were drawn from Mianzhou (Mianzhu) and one county from Maozhou (Maowen).The three counties combined to form the Shiquan Army, and the military administration was established in Shiquan County (northwest of Beichuan County), and there were many Qiang people in the territory under its jurisdiction.

Zhu Ming continued to inquire and found out that in Sichuan, most of the local officials were doing this, for fear that the minorities would not cause trouble.

If it is a barbarian, it is naturally worthy of recognition to expand the territory.

But how dare local officials provoke Shengyi?

They bullied all Shuyi, and many Shuyi spoke Chinese every day, except for the difference in customs and clothing, they were no different from Han people.

These familiar barbarians have been successfully educated, but the officials insist on provoking trouble and suppressing it by force.

A group of insects!
"Familiar..." Zhu Ming decided to save these familiars from now on.

(End of this chapter)