The long and narrow Yishui River Valley is clear in the summer, and there are many lush trees on both sides of the river. When someone passes by, hundreds of birds gather together and sing in harmony.
The road was very narrow and the mule was wobbling. Lu Jia, who had always been known as "the most famous mouthpiece in the Northern Expedition", had doubts about his suitability to be an envoy.
Because the man next to him kept talking to the salt worker for several hours, but he couldn't understand a word...
If the languages of the three Chu lands are different, they can still be understood after being together for a long time. After going deep into Yishui, the words spoken by the locals, whether it is the difficult-to-speak language of the Ba people or the dialect of the Bashu and Qin people, are all the same.
Like a book from heaven...
Even if you are familiar with it, it will be useless. This area is full of mountains and ravines, with different pronunciations and customs.
The only person who could strike up a conversation with their group was the guide sent by Bashi, who could barely speak elegantly.
"Does Mr. Lu know why people in Jingchu call salt 'Yanba'?"
When he arrived in Yanyang (Enshi, Hubei), while eating a piece of rice with salt, the guide asked Lu Jia this question in a very thick accent.
Lu Jia naturally knew this and said with a smile: "The south is not close to the sea, so most of the food we eat is the well salt produced in Badi, or it is called Ba salt, or it is called salt..."
The guide pointed to the path at his feet and said, "Do you know why there is no grass growing on this road? For hundreds of years, the Ba people have transported salt to Jingchu through this road, and there are always leaks. Every time they go back and forth, the road will become barren of grass."
The people in Ba were beaming with joy, but Lu Jia just smiled. This was of course an exaggeration. In his opinion, it was not the missing salt that killed the weeds, but the fact that Ba's salt merchants trampled the weeds several times a year.
The products of Bashu are rich. In addition to well salt, there are also Shu brocade, wolfberry paste, bamboo sticks and other commodities. In addition to taking the waterway of the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, there are also people who can reach Dongting County by land, and then enter Changsha and Nanjun.
When the salt-carrying workers returned, they would transport tung oil, lacquerware and other products from Chu region, and then sell them to various places in Bashu.
Looking at the surrounding terrain, Lu Jia thought:
"In the twenty-seventh year of King Zhao of Qin (280 BC), Sima Cuo led troops from Longxi to seize Chu State and Guizhou Province via Central Shu. Was this the route he took?"
At that time, Qin and Chu were fighting a war. The main force of the Chu army was gathered in Jianghan, Nanyang, and the rear was empty. After being suddenly attacked by Sima Cuo, the Chu army was caught off guard and lost Qianzhong County, which is today's Dongting County. The King of Chu was horrified and could only fight with
Qin made peace and was forced to offer Yong (now Zhushan, Hubei) and the area north of the Han River to Qin as the price of redeeming central Guizhou.
Since Sima Cuo's army could take this road seventy years ago, then conversely, the Northern Expeditionary Army could also enter Pakistan through this road!
As Lu Jia walked, he asked his accompanying soldiers to secretly draw a map. After more than ten days of trekking, on the first day of July, he finally walked out of the mountains and paths and came to a big river.
The guide told Lu Jia that the river was called "Wujiang" (today's Qianjiang River, unrelated to Wujiang Pavilion).
Lu Jia stood by the water and looked upstream. The current was fast, there were many beaches, and the valley was narrow. It is said that if you walk against the current for ten days, you can reach the mysterious Yelang Kingdom. Bashu's wolfberry sauce is transported through this path along the river.
to Yelang Kingdom, and then transported to South Vietnam via the Cangqi River...
But heading south on the mountain road, the place called Yelang is even more mountainous than Bashu Dongting. The sky is never clear for three days, and the ground is never three feet flat.
Heifu once asked Zhao Tuo to send people to explore directly from South Vietnam to Ba via Yelang. The losses along the way were too great. Yelang was also wary of outsiders and would never allow a large army to pass by.
The lower reaches of the Wujiang River are much wider and can be sailed. The point where it merges into the river is the end point of Lu Jia's journey: Zhi County (Fuling, Chongqing).
After walking for a few more days, Lu Jia and his party arrived at the riverside, and everything suddenly became clear.
The dark green river is majestic, it is the rainy season, the water rises and falls, and the seasons change. It is not like the high gorge and flat lake of later generations, which is calm and calm. You can see a prosperous county at the intersection of the two rivers.
Lu Jia saw that there were always porters coming and going in and out of the city. There were sounds of pestles and shouts. In front of the stilted buildings and on the stone road, there was a constant flow of merchants and merchants. They performed the hard work of loading goods and carrying salt and rice every day.
It is the cornerstone of Ba Qing's business empire.
But the person who came to pick up Lu Jia said: "My master is not in the county, but is waiting for his distinguished guests in the castle on the other side of the river."
Lu Jia knew that this was Ba's territory, so he didn't say much and then came to the ferry.
They led Lu Jia and his group of more than ten people to board a wooden sailboat that had been waiting at the ferry. It had a tall white sail, trackers with shiny skin, and rich boatmen's chants. The boatmen swung the oars and rudders across the river, and pulled the boats against the current.
Cross dangerous shoals.
After finally arriving at the north bank of the Yangtze River, Lu Jia looked up and saw the Bashi fortress (refer to the Ba people's stone city in Shenlong Mountain...)
Under the boulders, surrounded by green trees and terraced fields.
On top of the boulders, there are winding city walls and numerous watchtowers. It can be said that it is a majestic pass.
At this altitude of several hundred feet, the mountain road is steep and the stone slabs have a very steep slope. If you walk, you will have to climb for a while.
There is no need for Lu Jia to walk. Ba Shi's servants carry the sliding pole. This thing is made of two strong long bamboo poles tied together to form a stretcher. The middle frame is made of bamboo pieces woven into a lounge chair, and the footrest hangs forward.
Lu Jia was still careless. It was the first time he was sitting on something. Unexpectedly, when he went uphill, his head was down and his feet were in the air. He was so scared that his heart almost jumped out of his chest.
Although the two Pakistanis in front and behind worked very hard, every time he swayed and looked at the cliffs on both sides, he was frightened and broke out in cold sweat, but he had to force himself to stay calm.
"Is this a threat given to me by Ba Zhong?"
Fortunately, the journey was uneventful, and we finally arrived at the gate of the city. A group of Ba warriors stood here. They carried willow leaf swords on their waists, had white tiger patterns embroidered on their bodies, and had unique hairstyles except for their vertebrae.
Outside of the bun, most of the hair on the side is shaved, which makes him look like a barbarian.
This is Ba's private armed force. Although it has been restricted by the Qin Dynasty and its number has been reduced, there is no problem in running rampant in Bazhong. This is why Lu Jia hopes to draw Ba's into the camp of the Northern Expedition.
Lu Jia looked around and saw that there were only about ten people there, but he was not afraid at all. He straightened his clothes and thought to himself: "In the past, Confucius once asked his disciples about their ambitions and said: What do you think of it?"
"Zi Gong said to him: If you get plain clothes and crowns, you can use them between the two countries to equip them with soldiers of different sizes and enough food to fight, so that the two countries can become as close as brothers!"
"Therefore, Zigong was a traveler from the state of Lu. As soon as he came out, he saved Lu, disrupted Qi, defeated Wu, strengthened Jin, and dominated Yue. Zigong sent an envoy to defeat each other. Within ten years, each of the five countries underwent changes!"
Lu Jia studied Confucianism, and although he was good at etiquette, music, poetry and calligraphy, the most useful thing in these troubled times was Zigong's lobbying skills.
"Today the princes and the Qin court are facing each other in the Central Plains, and they can only solve the situation from the corners. I think, like Zigong, I can achieve great success by relying on my sharp tongue!"
He was ready, but the aggressive Ba warriors in front all put away their willow spears and stepped aside. No one came over arrogantly and unreasonably asked him to remove the sword from his waist.
This made Lu Jia think about his righteous words all the way, but it suddenly became useless.
"Is this Mr. Lu who is under the command of Marquis Wu Zhong?"
Instead, a middle-aged man with a kind face and the same clothes as ordinary Qin people came out in a hurry. After Lu Jia revealed his identity, he excitedly held Lu Jia's hand!
"The envoy from Marquis Wuzhong has finally arrived. With this, Mrs. Marquis Wuzhong can return to Nanjun..."
Lu Jia did not expect that Ba Zhong behaved like this. He felt that this person was hypocritical and said solemnly: "Madam is also in this castle?"
Ba Zhong hurriedly explained: "Both the madam and the gentleman are distinguished guests at Ba's table. In another manor, I have arranged dozens of maidservants to wait on you. They are absolutely fine!"
Lu Jia shook off his hand and sneered: "Madam is a guest at Ba Jun's place. She stays there for several months and never returns. Ba Jun, your family is really hospitable!"
Ba Zhong hesitated to speak, and in the end he could only apologize and said: "Lu Jia, I really can't do anything. The two armies are fighting at Jiangguan. The waterway has been cut off. The road to Yishui is remote and dangerous. Madam Wu Zhonghou, gentleman."
, they are all worth a thousand pieces of gold, and I dare not let them take risks."
Having said that, the actual situation was hard for Ba Zhong to express.
In the spring, Ye's mother and son entered Bajun from Hanzhong through Ba's caravan. However, at that time, Hei Fu had faked his death and his whereabouts were unknown. Qin Shihuang personally visited the south, and Hei couldn't stand up no matter what.
Although the Hei family had given Ba family a lot of benefits in the past ten years or so, everyone was against it. Ba Zhong also had to consider the fate of the clan. At that time, he was frightened by his cronies and became so obsessed that he intercepted the Ye family and his party.
Although it was true as he said, Heifu's wife and children were well fed and served, but they were still like hostages...
After Xia entered, the situation changed dramatically. Seeing that Heifu was fighting vigorously in Jianghan, although the final victory or defeat with Qin Ting was unpredictable, he was already a major force that could not be offended. Ba Zhong regretted it and decided to
I want to send Ye Zijin to Jiangling as soon as possible.
But Ba Zhong never expected that he would offend a woman who shouldn't be offended!
Mrs. Wu Zhonghou, it is not simple...
In more than ten years of doing business, Ba Zhong has never seen such a domineering woman who was able to be a hostage and still remain calm.
Ye Zijin was neither noisy nor fussy, and lived in Bashi's Villa with peace of mind, as if it was her home. She was not polite at all when she ordered the people sent by Bazhong to monitor her, and ordered them to work as if they were her own servants.
After hearing the news about my husband, shouldn't I cry and shout to go back? Why are you still hanging on?
What's even more outrageous is that Ye constantly asks Ba Zhong for this and that on the grounds that the little gentleman Polu wants to grow taller.
Only eat good meat: the lips of orangutans, the roasting of badgers, and the promise of elephants. How can you eat these things if you want to?
The dishes are all treasures: Yun from Yanghua and celery from Yunmeng, both of which have to be found from thousands of miles away.
Last month, she even deliberately taught her son to smack his lips and cry that he wanted to eat lychees from Lingnan, um, fresh ones...
Ba Zhong was about to cry.
But what can he do? Ye's mother and son have become big shots who can't afford to offend. They can only notify Hei Fu to pick them up, and at the same time find a way to rely on Ba's extensive commercial logistics to offer him all the things he wants one by one.
Ask yourself, when my mother, Widow Qing, was still alive, she had never been so extravagant.
After a few months, except for the dragon liver and phoenix marrow, everything I could get was given away. Now I am relieved, right? Ba Zhong also went to plead with Ye Zijin several times. Sir, there are a lot of them. Please forgive Ba's offense and go back to Nanjun.
…
But Mrs. Ye was just behind the curtain, holding her son Polu in her arms, teaching him how to read, and only said a word after a while.
"Ba Zhong, have you heard something my beloved family often said?"
"What words?"
At that time, Heifu had occupied Jiangling, and after swearing to the Northern Expedition, his power became more and more powerful. Seeing that the Ye family would not leave, the misunderstanding between the two families became more and more serious, and Ba Zhong was so anxious that he almost knelt down.
But from behind the curtain, there was only a slight sarcasm thrown out:
"It's easy to invite God, but it's hard to send Him away!"
