Han Qian and his party took a boat up the Ruan River and hurried slowly. It was only on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year that they entered Chenshui via Chenyang and arrived at Jimingzhai at dusk.
Although Chenshui is a tributary of the Ruan River, the nearly 100-mile river course from Chenyang to Jimingzhai in the middle and lower reaches has a relatively stable and open coastal terrain. However, the large and small creeks that gather deep in the southern foothills of Wuling Mountain have a large water volume.
Plenty of water and pretty good sailing conditions.
In the Chenshui Basin from Chenyang to Jimingzhai, the average width of the river channel is only 30 feet even in winter. The terrain difference is very small, so there are no dangerous shoals. The water depth of the central river channel is more than 10 feet.
Although a ship with a carrying capacity of two thousand stones was a rare large ship in this world, its actual carrying capacity was only a hundred tons. Even in winter, it could sail on the section of Chenshui between Chenyang and Jiming Village.
It's just that the sailboats built by Xuzhou are all sharp-bottomed boats and cannot be parked on the river beach at will. However, Xuzhou can cast four-claw iron anchors weighing three to four thousand kilograms of iron, which can directly grasp the mud at the bottom of the river. If necessary, they can directly
Parking in the middle of the river without fear of wind and waves will overcome the disadvantage of not being able to anchor at the beach.
This is also a key reason why Han Qian refused to return Jiming Village to Chenzhou no matter how much he and his son, the governor of Chenzhou, ran up and down.
Xuzhou is farther south, and is blocked by the Wuling Mountains to the north, making it difficult for cold currents to travel south. It rarely freezes in the coldest winter, so wearing a jacket is usually enough.
The ship slowly docked at the dock. Han Qian was standing at the bow of the ship in a gray robe, watching Zhao Ting'er holding a baby in her arms, and Zhao Laoguan, Xi Xunqiao, Tian Cheng, Xi Chang, Gao Bao, Ji Fu and everyone left behind.
Yang Zaili, Xiang Jianlong and other representatives of large local families.
Although Han Qian resolutely promoted the integration of native and guest registration in Xuzhou, the traces left by the implementation of the native and guest registration system for thousands of years on ordinary people and this land cannot be erased in three to five years. Yang Zaili and Xiang Jianlong
He still has a strong influence in the local area, but Han Qian is more dazzling and powerful, which makes them lackluster.
Han Qian quickly jumped off the side of the ship, ignoring the people who gathered around him, and took the child from Zhao Ting'er's arms who wanted to cry but didn't dare to cry. He was full of emotion. He would have returned to Jinling in advance, if he hadn't rejected the marriage.
With this excuse, even if Yang Yuanpu had no intention of killing him, he didn't know how long it would take before he could see his newborn son.
Han Qian pinched the fat boy's chubby little face, which was so well-nurtured, and then grabbed the little feet that were kicking around trying to get out of his arms, and asked Zhao Ting'er: "Can this kid not call me daddy?"
"How many months have it been? You won't learn to speak until May or June. My mother said that boys talk later," Zhao Ting'er suppressed her joy and snuggled up to Han Qian in front of everyone.
, holding Xin'er's back carefully, fearing that he would take it off, he turned around to see his younger brother Zhao Wuji's robe was messed up by the river wind, stretched out his hand to help him tidy it up, and complained, "How old are you, what's wrong with your clothes?"
It's all a mess, you should find a girl to help you clean it up..."
"Then this matter needs to be done quickly. I also plan to ask Wuji to guard Nanliao Village after the first lunar month." Han Qian said to Zhao Ting'er.
"I'm not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry. I'll stay at home for a few days and then I can go to Nanliao Village." When Han Qian mentioned his marriage to her sister, Zhao Wuji, who was extremely skilled in archery on horseback, turned red in the face.
He quickly refused, fearing that his parents would be impressed by what he heard later and force a wife to come over and ask him to consummate the marriage in the first month of the year.
"You've been gone for a whole year. How can you say that you'll just stay for a few days and then run away?" Zhao Ting'er said angrily.
"General Wuji is going to guard Nanliao Village. Your Excellency, you want to build an additional county on the upper reaches of the canal?" Xi Xunqiao came over and asked.
Xuzhou currently controls the Xi family of Chenzhou in the middle and lower reaches of the Yuanjiang River to the north, the Tian family of Yezhou in the middle reaches of the Yuanjiang River to the southwest, and the Yang family of Tianzhou in the upper reaches of Chenshui River and the southern foot of Wuling Mountain to the west.
The forces are quite strong, and they have already attached great importance to Chu. Xuzhou wants to expand in these three directions, but there is great resistance, and the army is still unknown.
If Han Qian wants to further improve Xuzhou's strength, he will have to work harder in the short term.
Wuximan is the collective name for the Shanyue people along the Yuanshui River since the Qin and Han Dynasties. Qushui is also called Langxi. As one of the birthplaces of Wuximan, it flows into the Ruan River from the southwest corner of Qianyang City.
Xuzhou established Langxi County in the lower reaches of the Qushui River very early. When promoting the unification of local and foreign registrations, 4,000 households and more than 25,000 people were registered in the lower reaches of the Qushui River. However, in fact, the canal water goes south and penetrates deep into Guizhou.
Among the deep mountains and ridges in the southeast, the entire river section is about 400 miles long. There are at least a hundred villages in the mountains along the coast, all of which are outside the control of Langxi County.
These Fanzhai are theoretically affiliated with Xuzhou, but they have never been effectively controlled, and are also called Shengfan. In addition, the canal water is mountainous and dangerous, and nearly half of the entire stretch of the river is surrounded by deep gorges.
There are also many valleys six to seven hundred paces wide, which can be developed into paddy fields.
In the past, when native people were strong and Hakka people were weak, the central dynasty had very little control over these remote states and counties. It wanted to establish a new county south of Langxi, based on Nanliao Village, which is currently directly controlled by Xuzhou.
Incorporating Shengfan and developing the river valley in the upper reaches of the canal water is extremely difficult and unimaginable.
At present, Xuzhou is promoting land reform in the lower reaches of the canal, and new policies such as the integration of native and guest registration are relatively smooth. When Feng Liao and Gao Shao come back with their large troops, Han Qian has a large number of people who are familiar with military affairs and are strong enough.
With the military strength to suppress the resistance of small and medium-sized fanzhai, the conditions for establishing a new county in the upper reaches of the canal can be said to be completely mature.
In addition to considering the establishment of a new Quyang County in the upper reaches of the Qushui River, Han Qian also wanted to establish a new Chenzhong County based on Jimingzhai, and completely separate the land north of Laolong Gorge and on both sides of the upper reaches of the Chenshui River from Chenzhou.
In this way, the initial three counties of Qianyang, Langxi and Zhijiang in Xuzhou will be further expanded to seven counties of Qianyang, Zhongfang, Longya (Linjiang), Langxi, Zhijiang, Quyang and Chenzhong.
Of course, no matter how fast the large troops led by Feng Liao, Lin Haizheng and others go on horseback, it will be almost until early February before they can cross the Xuefeng Mountain and return to Xuzhou. It is rare for Han Qian to put everything together now.
I rejected it all and didn’t want to push forward the matter in a hurry at this time.
Han Qian hosted a banquet for Tian Cheng, Xi Chang, Xi Xunqiao, Yang Zaili, Xiang Jianlong and others at Jiming Village at noon, but he had no intention of leaving anyone to discuss other matters further.
In addition to Yang Yin leading more ships to replenish new dry food, preserved meat, firewood and other supplies, and turning around non-stop to Xinjiang River (in Raozhou), a tributary of the Poyang Lake water system, to welcome the old, weak, women and children migrating westward, Han
Qian then asked everyone to go back first.
With horses replacing foot power, the road from Langxi to Qianyang can be traveled for hundreds of miles in a day. It is very hard for strong men. Most old, weak, women and children may not be able to reach Qianyang County after walking for three or four months.
within the territory.
Fortunately, after crossing the Qianshan Mountains and entering the territory of Raozhou, the Xinjiang River (Shangrao River) leads to Poyang Lake, and then enters the Yangtze River through Poyang Lake, then goes upstream to Dongting Lake, and then to the Ruanjiang River. Although the waterway is one or two thousand miles longer, the speed is still lower.
It is not slower than riding a horse. For the frail, old, weak, women and children, taking a boat and walking by water will reduce physical exertion to a minimum.
Yang Qin, Feng Yi and others led the fleet to leave. Han Qian did not live in Longya City or Qianyang City. Even though he took Zhao Ting'er with him the next day, he climbed to Longya Mountain to worship his father. Apart from staying one night on the mountain,
I went back to Jimingzhai and stayed there.
Jiming Village is in the hands of the Chenzhou Xi family. It has a history of hundreds of years since it was built. It has flourished under the hands of Xiying, but at its peak, there were more than a thousand people living in the village.
Even when the Xuzhou army came out of Laolong Gorge, they lured the defenders to Laoya Valley and defeated them, and captured Jiming Village relatively intact. However, in addition to the Xi clan members who had moved in earlier, there were another 1,300 to 400 generals at this time.
As Han Qian settled in Jiming Village, the huge village seemed very crowded.
Han Qian lived in Jimingzhai, and his two daughters, Zhao Ting'er and Xi Lin, accompanied him every day to take care of the children. He was very happy, but Xiying, the governor of Chenzhou, felt uncomfortable.
Jiming Village was originally the property of the Xi clan in Chenzhou, and was occupied by Xuzhou soldiers and horses in the early stages of the vassal war.
Even though Xiying later surrendered to the Chu court and led his battalion to participate in the war to quell the Ma family, his meritorious service was very outstanding. Xiying and his sons Xishesheng, Xishepeng and others were awarded the title of governor of Chenzhou, and the military
Important positions such as horse envoys are equivalent to hereditary Chenzhou, but they have not been able to take back Jiming Village.
After the Jinling Incident, Han Qian fled from Shu and returned to Xuzhou to observe his filial piety. Seeing the rejection of Han Qian by the people in Yueyang, Xiying sent people to negotiate and wanted to take Jiming Village back.
However, this matter has not yet been revealed. Han Qian suddenly left Xuzhou and sneaked to Jinling. He seized the military power of the remnants of Taowu Jibinghu from the hands of Xinchang Hou Li Pu. After that, he saw the situation of Dachu in a blink of an eye.
A series of reversals, Xiying was unable to raise the issue of ownership of Jiming Village during this period.
Xi Ying's two sons Xi She Sheng and Xi She Peng's 2,000-man camp were also mobilized this time and were incorporated into the recruiting army along the river. They marched eastward with the main force of Yueyang soldiers and horses and arrived at the gate of Jinling City.
The generals of Fanying fought bravely, and Xishe Peng also knew military affairs. He had outstanding military exploits, and his status among the generals in Yueyang was not low.
Therefore, Han Qian returned to Xuzhou before Jinling fell. What happened behind this? Xiying was in Chenzhou, so he knew the inside story more or less.
What if Xiying knew the inside story?
In the early days of the vassal reduction war, the forces of the Chenzhou surnames fell into the hands of Xuzhou soldiers and horses. It can also be said that Zheng Hui commanded it well at that time, and the Han family and his son were just hiding behind their backs to plot and run the place.
Now the Zuo Guangde Army may be destined to be disbanded. Although the rise of the Chishan Army was extremely short-lived, it was undoubtedly dazzling and brilliant, and it also pushed Han Qian's personal reputation to a higher level.
At least until the third prince, Yang Yuanpu, took the trouble to contain Xuzhou after he ascended the throne, Xiying definitely did not want to face such a person as an enemy.
However, after Han Qian returned to Xuzhou, he lived directly in Jiming Village, and a large number of soldiers and horses followed him to the upper reaches of Chenshui. These things were not wonderful in Xiying's view.
After the first half of the first lunar month, hundreds of craftsmen gathered along the south bank of Chenshui River. There were a large number of houses on both sides of Jiming Village and warehouses on the shore, and construction of wharves began...
All these signs indicate that Han Qian will make the upper reaches of Chenshui a key area for management in the next step.
If only Jimingzhai and the upper reaches of Chenshui to the west were demarcated, Xiying pinched his nose and accepted it. However, Chenyang, the mouth of Chenshui entering the Yuanjiang River, is the key point for Chenzhou to control the east, west, north, and south. It will be directly in the
Under the prying eyes of Xuzhou soldiers and horses.
Han Qian kept saying that he returned to Xuzhou to honor his father. How could Xiying, who knew the inside story, really believe it?
How could he not be on guard against Han Qian's ambition to expand overseas?
Once Chenyang was occupied by Xuzhou soldiers and horses, Yuanling, the governor of Chenzhou, would be cut off from Xupu, the most important base of the Xi family.
At present, Xiying does not even dare to cut off Chenshui and Ruanjiang. This will only give Han Qianshi an excuse. He can only secretly strengthen the defense of Chenyang City in the hope that the third prince can capture Jinling City as soon as possible and succeed to the throne.
In this case, on the one hand, Shesheng and Shepeng can lead the main force of the camp back, but on the other hand, with the tense situation between the third prince and Han Qian, Han Qian will never tolerate Han Qian using force to annex the surrounding areas that are also nominally affiliated with Chu.
Jizhou County...
Of course, Xiying also secretly sent people to contact Yezhou Tian Gong, Sizhou Yang Xingfeng and other powerful forces in the upper reaches of the Ruan River, hoping that they could work together to strengthen their vigilance against Xuzhou!