Two days later, Shen Tang and others' boat arrived at Chongming Island in the northeast of Pingjiang Prefecture. From then on, they would go all the way west along the Yangtze River for nearly four thousand miles to reach the boundary of Chengdu Prefecture!
This distance is basically the same as the land route. Normally, the speed of an ordinary horseback march is nearly 200 miles per day. If you change horses without changing people and travel all the way, you can even reach hundreds of miles. It is often said that 800 miles is expedited. That's it.
And if the wind is smooth, the speed of sailing is even faster than riding a horse.
However, Shen Tang and others were traveling westward along the Yangtze River. As a result, their daily traveling speed was similar to that of horses.
However, if the current is fast and requires trackers to pull it, the daily traveling speed may only be about a few dozen miles.
Fortunately, Shen Tang and others were not too anxious, so they were quite happy sailing and singing along the way!
Time passed slowly, like the slow river on the Yangtze River. Soon, a month had passed! And Shen Tang and his party also crossed Jiangling Mansion on Hubei Road and entered Kuizhou Road Within the state!
After that, it will enter the Minjiang River system, go southwest, pass through Wanzhou, Zhongzhou, and Fuzhou and enter Chongqing Prefecture.
Pass through Chongqing Prefecture, leave Kuizhou, enter Luzhou on Tongchuan Prefecture Road, and then turn due west. After passing through Xuzhou, you will arrive in Jiading Prefecture, which is familiar to Shen Tang. At the same time, you will also enter the boundary of Chengdu Prefecture Road. ! In other words, Shen Tang and others will enter Shen Tang’s territory if they continue to move forward for about 1,500 miles!
"Wow, it's so beautiful! This place is much more beautiful than Lin'an City! Look, sister, that long waterfall is probably dozens of feet high..."
After passing Badong, we entered the boundary of Wushan! In front of us are the Wu Gorge and Qutang Gorge, which are nearly 200 miles away, which will be the location of the Three Gorges in later generations! Here, the water flow is rapid, especially in some areas where the water flow causes Directly countercurrent.
Therefore, just after entering the boundary of Wushan, Shen Tang docked and asked Qian Hong to lead a few family guards to find some reliable trackers in Wushan County.
Without the help of trackers, it would be difficult for an idle ship to sail westward.
The location where Shen Tang and others stayed was a pier belonging to the boundary of Wushan. Occasionally, passing ships would rest and stop here. On the pier, there were also many shirtless trackers soliciting business. However, these trackers pulled some ordinary The boats are ok.
However, Shen Tang's six ships are all large ships with thousands of materials. Unless they are a large team of trackers, there is really nothing they can do. This is why Shen Tang asked Qian Hong and others to go ashore to search for them in the city.
Relying on the mountains to eat the mountains, and relying on the water to draw the water. The geographical area here is special, and the government even specially organized a large team of trackers, which can be regarded as a local characteristic.
"Uncle Zhang, how long will the food on the ship be enough?"
Shen Tang asked the old housekeeper beside him.
"Master, we are still rich in food now. We will be fine for at least ten days! Just now, I asked Qian Hong to wait for some meat and fresh fruits and vegetables!"
The old housekeeper said respectfully.
Shen Tang nodded!
"In that case, let's wait until Kuizhou Mansion to talk about it!"
When sailing in the water, there is a natural shortage of fresh vegetables, fruits and the like! The most important thing is that these things cannot be purchased in large quantities, otherwise, they will rot and damage within a few days! There is no shortage of food and other supplies, and the Shao family The Shao family's business is very large, and the Shao family's business is basically done in the slightly larger state capitals. Before setting off, Mr. Shao felt sorry for his uncle and daughter, so he asked the big shopkeepers of the state capitals along the way to pay attention to Shen Tang and his party. They kept food and rice ready to replenish Shen Tang and his party at any time! Therefore, although a lot of food was consumed along the way, Shen Tang did not spend a penny at all.
Although it is not that far from Wushan to Kuizhou Prefecture, only about 200 miles, it is difficult to travel through the water and it may take several days! Therefore, it is appropriate to carry out supplies after arriving at Kuizhou Prefecture.
"Brother Shen, do we want to go to Wushan?"
Zhao Ling, who kept chattering, opened his mouth.
During this month's journey, Zhao Ling became everyone's entertainment. With such a cheerful person on the boat, laughter was almost inevitable! Moreover, the title of 'Master Shen' gradually became 'Brother Shen'.
"Princess, the road ahead is difficult, and it is not easy to delay for too long! We will talk about it when we arrive at Kuizhou Mansion and need to go ashore for shopping!"
Shen Tang said with some respect.
Although Zhao Ling was a little reluctant, he didn't force it. He turned around and started laughing again, not knowing what he was talking about with Liu Xiangling and the girls.
The boat stopped for about half an hour, and Qian Hong came back with a young official in green clothes.
"Sir, this is Master Qian from Wushan County! They can recruit enough manpower, but they have to negotiate the money with the master face to face!"
Qian Hong saluted Shen Tang and said.
"Where does this rich man come from and where is he going?"
The money guard was extremely handsome, with a chubby body and smiling eyes. Although he was a small official, he looked more like a businessman.
Originally, if Shen Tang had taken out the documents he had with him, the money could have been saved.
However, Shen Tang didn't want to make a big deal about his trip, and he didn't care about the little money, so he felt like a member of a wealthy family along the way.
Shen Tang did not answer the officer's words, but asked directly, "From here to Qutang Pass, there are six large ships. How many people can you organize?"
How much money is needed?"
"Your Majesty, these ships are all large ships with a material of four to five thousand materials. It will not work if there are too few people! Therefore, I am afraid that it will take at least five to six hundred people.
It's a hundred and sixty miles from here to the west of Qutang Pass, which takes at least six or seven days. If God blocks the way, I'm afraid it will take a few more days.
However, our Wushan County has always been doing long-term business. I will bring 500 people to your master, and I will personally lead the people to hold the battle for you. How about a total of 5,500 taels?"
To be honest, the price is not cheap! Ordinary people doing handicrafts, even in the prosperous Jiangnan, only pay a few dozen cents a day. Those who work as coolies may have a little more, but they only cost seventy or eighty cents at most! This The price of five thousand taels of silver can be said to be sky-high after only ten days.
However, first of all, this is almost a unique business, and furthermore, retrograde slimming does require a lot of effort, so Shen Tang thought about it briefly and nodded in agreement.
"Okay, you go prepare the manpower immediately! When the manpower is ready, I can pay you a thousand taels as a deposit in advance.
After arriving at Qutang Pass, I will give you the remaining four thousand five hundred taels!"