That night, Duan Mingyue secretly sent Chen Ke out of Dali City.51o.
In order not to attract anyone's attention, Chen Ke only took a few guards with him. Wang Shao, Xuan Yu, Song Duanping and others all stayed in Dali City. As a beggar, he kept Liu Yue'e with him as his personal guard.
..
At this time, he was standing on the speed boat going south to the Er River, looking back at the increasingly blurry city. His face, which always had a bad smile, was full of solemnity. Although in front of everyone, he behaved
He was full of confidence, but he was not very sure whether he could persuade the imperial court to send troops...
Liu Yue'e was dressed in men's clothing and stood beside Chen Ke with a heroic appearance. She stared at him for a long time and finally couldn't help but said: "I don't understand, why are you bothering?"
"Haha," Chen Ke turned to look at her and said with a smile, "This comes from a bet."
"What bet?"
"Keep it secret." Chen Ke smiled mysteriously and said seriously: "Well, although I am not a good person, I always have some shitty sense of responsibility in my heart. The most despicable thing is that God-given opportunities are placed on the lips, but they are missed in vain like a blind man.
, This will make it difficult for me to sleep and eat well." After a pause, he continued: "For example, this time, the Dali people are having internal strife, which is a good opportunity for me, the Song Dynasty, to intervene. If in a few years, when they re-establish order, I will definitely
If Song wanted to conquer them, it would be extremely difficult."
The cold moonlight soaked the vast lake. Chen Ke's eyes were as deep as the night sky. Liu Yue'e only heard him say in a deep voice: "Everyone in this country is full of yearning and admiration for the Song Dynasty. If we can make good use of this
With this kind of charm, and a rose in your left hand and a sword in your right hand, you can definitely conquer them at the minimum cost. Believe me, acquiring Dali will be a turning point in the history of the Song Dynasty!"
"Will we be allowed to defeat Liao and Xixia?" Liu Yue'e asked softly.
"Yes..." Chen Ke nodded.
"Do you really have confidence?" Liu Yue'e didn't believe it: "Even a saint like Fan Wenzhenggong and the Qingli New Deal failed. My grandfather said that there will never be such a gentleman again in the future."
"A gentleman is useless in saving the country." Chen Ke shook his head and said: "Actually, there is no shortage of talents in this era who are determined to revitalize the country, but there is no one to point them in the direction. They don't know where to go, and in the end they take the wrong road. They lead the country to destruction.
It has led the nation to catastrophe. I think I should try my best to let them see a completely different path." He scratched his head and said with a smile: "Why did I say this? You thought I had a seizure, but in fact I am
I still like wine, sex and wealth."
"A good man should make great achievements and leave his name in history," Liu Yue'e said softly, "Why do you have to talk so badly about yourself?"
"Yue'e, do you think I am a good man?" Chen Ke said happily: "I didn't expect you to be so discerning."
"Stop being so narcissistic here..." Liu Yue'e's newly raised admiration suddenly disappeared: "Also, don't call me Yue'e, I'm in men's clothing now."
"I know, Yue'e." Chen Ke nodded.
"..." Liu Yue'e was completely helpless. She changed the subject and said, "With just a few of us, we can't get out of Dali."
"I can do things with confidence," Chen Ke said with a smile, "I'll find out tomorrow."
Liu Yue'e nodded and asked no more questions.
"It's getting late, let's go in and sleep." Chen Ke opened the door curtain. When he looked back, he saw Liu Yue'e's face was filled with black lines.
"If you dare to talk and take advantage of me again," Liu Yue'e was not as easy to bully as Princess Mingyue, so she coldly said, "I will throw you into the Erhai Lake." After saying that, she sat cross-legged outside the cabin door.
Looking at her back, Chen Ke smiled bitterly and said, "Don't forget, I am wearing men's clothing."
"My identity is your bodyguard." Liu Yue'e didn't even look at him, paused and said quietly: "When you can't sleep, you might as well think about it, is what you did worthy of Su Xiaomei?"
"..." Chen Ke was speechless for a moment.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Early the next morning, the ship arrived at Xiaguan, the southern gateway to the capital of Dali. At that time, King Piluoge of Nanzhao unified the six imperial edicts and established the Nanzhao Kingdom, with Dali City as its capital. It was built at both ends of the narrow passage between Cangshan Mountain and Erhai Lake.
The pass is called Shangguan in the north and Xiaguan in the south. The two passes are hundreds of miles apart and serve as horns to each other to protect the capital. The reason why the Duan family can still control the capital in such a bad situation is because Shangguan and Xiaguan are
The Duan family's descendants have been guarding it for generations. If it weren't for the internal strife in Dali, these two gates that no one can open would be daunting enough.
The wind here changes little in four seasons. It blows from the west in winter and spring, and from the southwest in summer and autumn. It howls all year round, day and night. People walking on the street are often blown away by the wind. It is the so-called "Xiaguan wind", but
It is also the least attractive of the four scenic spots in Dali.
Seeing Chen Ke's tall figure on the Xiaguan Pier, Zhang Yu and Hou Yi, who had been waiting here since yesterday, showed relieved smiles. They quickly led Chen Ke and his party into the carriage parked at the pier.
After sitting down, Chen Ke rubbed his face vigorously and said, "This damn place can shave off a person's face."
"This is the wind outlet of Dali City. Fortunately it's summer. When the west wind blows in spring, it's like a knife blowing on your face." Zhang Yu said with a smile: "It's strange to say that there is no wind less than ten miles away from here.
Already."
"Dali is an evil place." Chen Ke said with a smile: "The place we went to is Zhenchan Mansion. It is said that the four seasons are like spring, and there is no winter, summer or autumn."
"It's not an exaggeration at all." Zhang Yu nodded and said: "There are flowers blooming all year round, so beautiful that people want to live there forever." After a pause, he said: "That's the Duan family's last territory outside of Dali City. Moreover,
Over the years, under the encroachment of the Gao family, it has shrunk to half of its original size, which is really sad."
Hou Yi followed Chen Ke all the way south. When he arrived at Dali City, he was kicked to Zhang Yu. He walked some places with him and had a general understanding of Yunnan. At this moment, he was confused and said: "If you want to leave Dali, you must either go north or
Go southeast, what are we going to do in Zhengdong?"
"It is not easy to explain this place," Chen Ke said with a smile: "I like to call it Kunming. This place, the hometown of the Duan family, means everything to us."
Hou Yi smiled bitterly and said: "Your Excellency summoned me to Dali and said that he was investigating the poisonous path of Shu. It turns out that it was all lies."
"I'm not sorry." Chen Ke shook his head and said with a smile: "Shu Shendu Road, a trail that requires horseback riding and trekking through mountains and rivers, should be left to hard-working people to earn hard money. Our Boss Hou wants to do big things!" In fact,
Along the way, he has been secretly observing Hou Yi, because what he needs to do in the future requires perseverance to succeed. Now it seems that Boss Hou is worthy of having made it through the northwest. He is perseverant and patient.
, is by no means comparable to Li Jian and other Shu merchants who came from the Land of Abundance.
"What big thing can it do?" Hou Yi didn't want to be fooled this time and asked steadily.
"Let me tell you three things casually. First, the super copper mine that we have been dreaming about is less than 200 miles away from Shanchan City. Second, there is Dianchi Lake beside Shanchan City, which is the source of the Pudu River, a tributary of the Jinsha River. Through Jinsha
The Yangtze River is connected to the Yangtze River; thirdly, less than sixty miles away from Shanchan City, there is the Nanpan River, which is the main source of the Pearl River and can lead directly to Guangzhou." Chen Ke said calmly.
"Is it true?" Hou Yi said in disbelief: "Could God really arrange this?"
"Nonsense." Chen Ke rolled his eyes at him and said, "That's how God arranged it."
"I finally understand what you mean when you keep saying that if you don't get what you want, you will take the blame." Hou Yi swallowed hard and said, "This is simply a delicious meal prepared for the Song Dynasty!" He said no.
He extricated himself and fell into fantasy: "We, the Song Dynasty, first sent troops to carry out construction work, then recruited civilians to mine, and then transported it from the Jinsha River to the Yangtze River. From now on, we will no longer be short of money..." Because of this, other high-ranking officials will become the Song Dynasty.
The most important businessman.
"Wipe your saliva away," Zhang Yu said with a chuckle: "First, the mining area is no longer in the hands of the Duan family, and now belongs to the Gao family. Second, the Jinsha River is fierce and has countless dangerous shoals. No
After ten years of major repairs, it cannot be used to transport copper. In comparison, the Pearl River waterway is more reliable. After the ship arrives in Guangzhou, it is changed to a sea-going ship to go north. Although the road is a lot of detours, it saves a lot of time and cost.
few."
"That's worth taking the risk." Hou Yi gritted his teeth and said, "Is there still no difficulty? As long as you overcome it!"
"Well said!" Chen Ke held up his hands and said with a smile: "What we need is Boss Hou's enthusiasm. This time when we return to Beijing, we will take the Pearl River Waterway all the way east to conduct an on-site inspection to see if this waterway can be used.
"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The carriage left Xiaguan, and, escorted by more than a hundred bodyguards from the merchant corps, traveled day and night to the city of Xichan, five hundred miles away.
There was no talking all the way, and they arrived in Shanshan three days later. The team did not enter the city, but went straight to the ferry on the Nanpan River. There, a sturdy clipper had been waiting for many days.
After boarding the clipper, Chen Ke and others headed down the river for more than two thousand miles to Guangzhou.
The voyage was smooth and comfortable at first. For Chen Ke and his crew, it was a wonderful journey. However, if it were replaced by a copper ship with a load of 100,000 kilograms, the water depth would still be lacking.
"We can imitate the way Qin Shihuang built the Ling Canal and build many dams on this river to raise the water level so that large ships can pass through the upper reaches of the Pearl River." Chen Ke was not embarrassed about this and said: "And the Qin Emperor just spent money to build the dams.
, we build dams, but we can use water energy to crush ores, smelt and blast, and even spin and weave cloth. Every dam is a factory, and when it produces profits, the court will naturally not need to spend money to maintain it. "
But when the boat arrived at the confluence of Nanpan River and Beipan River, the amount of water doubled, the current suddenly became rapid, and the river turned red.
"The two rivers merged to form this thousand-mile long red water river. This is a golden waterway and our biggest challenge. If we can make the copper boat navigable smoothly, we can go straight to Guangzhou and go north by sea."