We stopped in Wuling for a day to set up a mourning hall for Wang Yu, and that night Ji Fu led people to repair the awning boat that carried the coffin. The next day, Han Daoxun and two family soldiers escorted Yu Cheng and others.
When Wang Yu returned home in coffin, he specially asked Han Qian to give Yu Cheng ten loaves of gold to use as road supplies.
Of course, we could have built a shed on the river beach to mourn, but we had to find a posthouse in the city to set up a mourning hall, and use horse-drawn carriages to transport Wang Yu's coffin in and out. It took so much effort in just one night, and it was quite worrying.
The people and officials of Wuling County saw this and felt that Han Daoxun was really trying to gain fame.
However, when Han Daoxun passed through the border, the Jiedushi Prince Ma Xundu sent warships to escort him. No matter how dissatisfied the local officials in Wuling County were, they still went out of the city with the county magistrate Du Yu early in the morning to see him off.
Han Daoxun also said goodbye to Wuling County Magistrate Du Yu and others. Fan Xicheng brought a strong man from the river beach, walked to Han Qian and said:
"The water in the Yuan River is extremely strong. Our three boats are going upstream, and we need to hire forty or fifty people to pull fibers to make the speed a little faster. This man's name is Feng Xuan, and he is a leader who is guarding the river beach to pick up the work.
He happens to be a member of the Shanyue tribe in Qianyang, Xuzhou. He has more than thirty people under his command who are very enthusiastic and willing to escort us to Qianyang."
Qianyang is the first stop when entering Xuzhou, and it is also the seat of the state government. It was formerly known as Longbiao County. After the founding of the Chu Kingdom, it was renamed Qianyang County to avoid the name taboo of the ancestors of Emperor Tianyou. It is the gateway to the eastern foot of Wushan Mountain.
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From Wuling County, through the territory of Chenzhou, we still have to walk four hundred miles of waterway to reach Qianyang.
The water along this road is steep and dangerous, and the wind is blocked by peaks and ridges. It is necessary to hire trackers to pull the boat in order to pass smoothly.
Han Qian looked at the Shanyue man whom Fan Xicheng had found in front of him. He had dark skin, was shirtless, and had bulging muscles, as if they were cast from molten iron. He was full of vigorous power that was about to burst out. However, the skin on his back was very severe, and the black
One patch is red and one patch has been exposed to the scorching sun for who knows how long.
As a branch of the ancient Yue people, the Wuxi barbarians are also called Shanyue or Shanyi people because they live in the deep mountains. However, in fact, since the Qin and Han dynasties conquered Baiyue, various ethnic groups have lived together, and the appearance of the Shanyue people is no different.
Everywhere, even the surnames follow the Han surnames, but they still retain the tribal custom of living together as a clan and taking orders from the chief in all matters.
Thousands of people are engaged in boating along the Yuanshui River, including boat trackers and major clients. However, due to the large number of people, it was difficult for the scouts sent by Zuo Si in advance to investigate them all in less than a month. However, Fan Xicheng came from the river beach
Han Qian had already seen the name of the Feng Xuan he found over there.
Feng Xuan is the leader of a Shanyue tribe in Qianyang, but not all tribal leaders can live a luxurious and luxurious life. There are also quite a few small and medium-sized tribes. Under the oppression of chiefs with big surnames, even tribal leaders live a rather poor life.
Not easy.
Feng Xuan's tribal village only has more than forty households. The mountainous area where the village is located is barren and unproductive, and the farmland is not enough to support the village's young and old. In his spare time, Feng Xuan will lead the strong men in the village to stretch fiber along the Yuan River.
For industry.
Han Qian had just taken out ten loaves of gold and gave them to Wang Yu's servants to serve as transportation aid. He was heartbroken that his bag was empty, so he asked Feng Xuan to hire them to pull a boat to Xuzhou. How many days would it take to travel and how much would it cost.
"Reporting to the young master, the water on the river bank is very fast. We are going to Qianyang from now on. If there is no heavy rain, we can arrive there in six days. There are hundreds of families in the small village, waiting for food. The young master can reward 8,000 yuan, and he will be satisfied." Feng Xuancao said indifferently.
He replied in proficient Mandarin.
Seeing that there were nearly forty trackers behind Feng Xuan, I thought that they would take the boat to Xuzhou and then back to Wuling County to pick up the work. It would take almost half a month before and after, and the labor cost per person would be 200 yuan. The price of food between Xiangtan and Xiangtan is low.
, only two to one-third that of Jinling, but even so, when these trackers are divided equally, each person's daily work is equivalent to four or five liters of japonica rice. This wage is indeed not high.
Han Qian was too lazy to worry about these minutiae, so he asked Feng Xuan to lead people to put the ropes on the three ships and prepare to set off south.
Feng Xuan and most of his men seemed to have no problem, but two of them, although their skin was dark, were not as sun-exposed as Feng Xuan and others, and there were no callus scars left by ropes on their shoulders.
Han Qian stood at the bow of the boat and couldn't help complaining to his father: "A small place is a small place. If you put two nails in, you can't leave no trace. Life is really boring."
"You seem to believe that Wang Yu's death is suspicious, but from what you have seen, there are so many big and powerful people in Xuzhou, who is the most suspicious?" Han Daoxun didn't mind at all that there were two spies hidden among the trackers, and he didn't rush to pursue them.
Is Feng Xuan, the leader of the trackers, bribed or has malicious intentions? After all, these trackers all wear shorts and shorts and walk in shallow water. They cannot hide a weapon. Even if there are problems, there is no way to deal with them along the way.
posing a substantial threat, he is now more concerned about how to open up the situation as soon as possible after arriving in Xuzhou.
"There are four families with the surname Shanyue in Xuzhou, including Xichen and Xiangyang. Each of them leads about a thousand households of Shanyue natives. I would say that none of these four families is honest. In the past few years, they have violated the land by selling private salt.
Private punishment and other matters have all been rectified by Wang Yu, but we must say which family is the most suspicious, or whether these four families have joined forces, we have just started to eliminate the poisonous snakes, and the poisonous snakes have not been scared out yet." Han Qian
said.
In the next few days, except for a short stay in Chenyang City, where Chenzhou Prefecture is located, Han Qian and the others spent time on the boat and arrived in Qianyang County, Xuzhou on June 28th.
In other places, when the first chief executive of a prefecture or county takes office, officials of all sizes would have gathered at the border of the prefecture and county to greet him. What's more, they would have helped take care of everything along the way. However, Han Qian and the others arrived in Xupu County.
At the border with Qianyang County, only two veterans were seen accompanying a middle-aged man wearing a blue official uniform, guarding the riverside, looking at the fleet of Han Qian and others, and shouted:
"Ahead is the ship of the governor, Han Daoxun, Lord Han? I am Xue Ruogu, the chief secretary of the prefecture, and I am here to welcome the governor as he takes office."
"Dad, isn't it too bleak for you as a new official to take office?" Han Qian said jokingly.
Although Fan Xicheng, Zhao Kuo and others were mentally prepared, they felt that the welcoming scene in front of them was too bleak, but they did not expect that Han Qian could say it as a joke.
Han Daoxun smiled bitterly and said: "Wang Yu passed away due to illness, and he delayed it for three months before Ms. Zhou helped to transport the coffin back home. How can I still expect Xuzhou officials to hold dozens of banquets at the state border to celebrate?
?”
Han Daoxun brought the ship to the shore and welcomed the chief clerk Xue Ruogu and two old soldiers on board.
After Xue Ruogu got on the boat, he saluted Han Daoxun again. When he saw Zhou Yourui poked his head out of the cabin, he was slightly stunned, and then saluted Zhou Youru with a look of shame, thinking that since Han Daoxun had taken Zhou Yourui to the ship,
It should have been known that the officials of the state government were hostile to the deceased chief, and they became more and more restrained in front of Han Daoxun.
The cabin was too small, so Han Daoxun arranged two chairs and sat on the deck with Xue Ruogu to chat.
Han Daoxun did not ask more about why the state and county officials such as Chief Shi Yang Zaili, Sima Xiang Jianlong, Bing Cao Canjun Xizhen, and Qianyang County Magistrate Feng Changyu did not show up. Instead, he chatted with Xue Ruogu about domestic matters.
Xue Ruogu was born in the economic science department of the previous Ming Dynasty. He once served as county magistrate and other low-level officials in the counties led by Dong Chang, the Yuezhou Jiedu envoy. After Dong Chang was destroyed, eastern Zhejiang was merged into the territory of Dachu. Xue Ruogu and other low-level officials were
His influence was not great, and he was recruited by the new dynasty as usual, but he could not be compared with the direct lineage of the Huainan Army. In the eleventh year of Tianyou, he was transferred to Xuzhou as the chief clerk, and he was the head of the state's scribes.
Just by looking at the few patches on Xue Ruogu's official uniform, we knew that he was in Xuzhou and was really not doing well.
There is still more than thirty miles of waterway from the state boundary to Qianyang City. The three ships arrived at Qianyang City before dusk.
As an important border town in Hunan and Chu, and the gateway to Yunnan and Guizhou, Qianyang City was built at the intersection of Wu River and Yuan River. The terrain is relatively flat, surrounded by water on three sides, and the scenery is extremely beautiful. The poet Wang Changling of the previous dynasty once wrote here "Cold Rain Connects the River"
Entering Wu at night, seeing off guests from Chu Shangu in the morning, relatives and friends in Luoyang asking each other, a heart of ice is in a jade pot."
Going south from Wuling County, there are mountains and ridges all the way, and there are not many homes in most areas along the coast. However, as the seat of the state government and the largest water and land terminal in Xuzhou, Qianyang City is more prosperous than imagined.
The pier is a stone embankment. Although it is not long, the site is quite flat and has dozens of boats moored. It is not dark yet, and there are many fishing boats parked on the miles of wide river.
In the middle of the river, there is a scene of fishing boats singing late.
Qianyang City is not big, and the rammed earth walls are about five or six hundred paces square. However, looking at the higher ground in the city and the houses that can be seen from outside the city, many of them are made of blue bricks and black tiles; while the city
There are also many huts and shacks outside, where many families live.
Of course, excluding Shengfan who lives far away in the mountains and the main customers who are registered in the state, the total number of households in the three counties is only more than 12,000. No matter how prosperous Xuzhou is, it is quite limited.
"Chang Shi Yang Zaili, Sima Xiang Jianlong, Bing Cao Canjun Xizhen, and Qianyang County Magistrate Feng Changyu and others don't know that your Excellency will come today, and they are not in the city..." Xue Ruogu himself felt that it was very strange to make up such an excuse.
He explained reluctantly and calmly.
Yang Zaili, Xiang Jianlong, Xi Zhen, and Feng Changyu are the chiefs and clan heads of the four surnames of Xuzhou: Yang, Xiang, Xi, and Feng. Their strength does not mean that they hold the positions of Chang Shi, Ma Si, Bing Cao Canjun, and Qianyang County Magistrate.
They have been in office for more than ten or even twenty-three years since the previous dynasty. However, as the chiefs of their respective tribes, they each have more than a thousand households of Shanyue people, which together account for more than 7,000 households in Xuzhou.
60% to 70% of the total, and the affairs within the tribe are not governed by the state or county.
Therefore, these four people were rebellious, and the governor, as the head of the state and county, had nothing to do with them; and in order to prevent the situation in Xuzhou from getting worse, as long as these people did not openly rebel, the officials could not
They were easily dismissed from their official positions.
It's just that the four of them are not in the city today. This is no longer the ordinary arrogance and rudeness. Han Daoxun glanced at Han Qian with a solemn expression.
Guo Nuer, who got off the pier first, came over and put a wax pill into Han Qian's hand. Han Qian twisted out a palm-sized note, his expression suddenly turned cold, and handed the note to his father.
And behind you are Fan Xicheng, Zhao Kuo, Yang Qin and others.
Only then did they know that not only Yang Zaili, Xiang Jianlong, Xi Zhen, and Feng Changyu were not in the city, but the family members of these four families who were in the city also quietly left the city last night.
Although this means that their strategy of scaring the snake out of its hole has paid off, the other party's unscrupulous plan to make big moves still caught everyone's surprise.