The famous book tour starting from the Red House

Chapter 70 On the Canal
The river was surging, and there was not a single cloud in the blue sky.There are farmlands everywhere on both sides of the strait. The crops in the fields have sprouted, and the hard-working farmers are wielding hoes to weed the fields.

On the white shimmering river, small fishing boats shuttled back and forth, and the fishermen chanted and cast their nets into the river from time to time.

This is the famous Sui and Tang Dynasty Grand Canal. This river is centered on Luoyang, extending to Zhuojun in the north and Yuhang in the south.From the pre-Qin Dynasty to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the ancient working people in this land dug countless canals.From the first year of Daye to the sixth year of Daye, Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty used millions of people to connect these canals dug by previous dynasties and built this grand canal that will benefit forever.After the continuous widening and construction of the Tang Dynasty and the present Dynasty, this river has become the most important economic lifeline.

In the middle of the river, there were three four-masted sailboats coming from a distance with full wind, the bottom of the boat stirred up waves, and a white line was formed behind the boat.

Passing small boats avoid these big boats far away.Some ships carrying high-ranking officials and nobles did not believe in evil, and they had to obediently get out of the way when they approached, because a flagpole stood high on the prow of the leading big ship, and a black and yellow Tuanlong Tianzi flag was hung on it.Those with a bit of knowledge will naturally recognize that this is the emperor's flag, and those who can hang this flag are either the emperor or imperial envoys.I haven't heard the news of the emperor's tour, so it can only be an imperial envoy.I couldn't help guessing in my heart which imperial envoy was on board.

Mu Xu stood on the bow deck, looking at the scene of the river in the distance.A fan stepped forward to salute, "My lord, Hongze Lake is just past Sizhou ahead. May I ask whether we should take the canal from Shanyang to Yangzhou along the Huaihe River, or take the waterway of Gaoyou Lake?"

Mu Xu thought for a while, and then ordered, "Notify me, take the canal from Shanyang to Yangzhou."

"Yes, Biaoxia takes the order." The fan turned around and went to deliver the order.When passing by the cabin, he happened to meet a maid who came out of it. Fanzi didn't dare to look directly at him, he saluted with fists in his hands, and hurried away.

The maid was wearing a dark green shirt and a white cloak.Combing Yunying's unmarried double bun, with a rouge mark between her brows, she looks beautiful.As the breeze blew, the clothes on her body were clinging to her delicate body, showing the outline of her breasts that had begun to take shape.

With a black-bottomed and red-edged cloak on her hands, she came to Mu Xu, put the cloak on his shoulders, and said softly, "My lord, it's windy on the river, let's go back to the cabin." Mu Xu turned around Looking at Xiangling, "It's okay, my body has always been good. How about it, is the scenery along the way different from the last time you came to Beijing?"

Xiangling thought for a while, and replied, "At that time, I was just bought into Xue's residence by Uncle Xue, and I was terrified in my heart. How could I have time to look at the scenery?"

Thinking about what happened to this girl, Mu Xu patted her weak shoulder lightly, and comforted her, "Bringing you to Jiangnan this time is to reunite you with your mother. Do you still remember your mother's appearance?"

Xiangling pursed her lips and shook her head, "I can't remember, I can only remember that there seemed to be a temple near my home when I was young."

"That's right, there is a gourd temple next to your Zhen's house, but unfortunately it caught fire later, and your house was burned down to nothing." Hearing what she said, Mu Xu confirmed.

After hearing this, Xiangling replied quite disappointed, "I still want to go back and have a look, maybe I can remember more things." After speaking, she raised her head and looked at Mu Xu's slashed side face, Asked, "Shizi, do you think my mother still remembers me?"

Mu Xu looked at her cute look sideways, and couldn't help laughing, "How can there be parents who don't recognize their children? As far as I know, your mother has been looking for you for so many years since you disappeared. I originally I wanted someone to pick up your mother to Beijing, but who would have picked up the emperor's envoy to go south, so I simply sent someone to send your mother to Yangzhou. In a few days, you will be able to see her."

With tears in her eyes, Xiangling choked up and said, "My son, you are so kind to me, I don't even know how to repay you." Mu Xu was about to speak, but when the boat suddenly bumped, Mu Xu hurriedly fell to his feet.Xiangling didn't have such a steady foothold, she screamed and fell backwards.Mu Xu hurriedly stretched out his hand to pull him, who knew that the boat was bumped again, and now he also lost his balance and rushed towards Xiangling.

Mu Xu was afraid of crushing the girl, so he put one hand around her waist, twisted his body in the air, and let himself land on his back.Fanzi, who was patrolling around, saw him fall, and hurriedly gathered around to check the situation.

Mu Xu was pressed down by Xiang Ling and stopped him loudly, "Don't worry about me, go and see what's going on?"

Xiangling fell down just now, so she was taken aback, and then even found herself lying in Shizi's arms, he was still hugging herself with his arms, and suddenly felt ashamed.At this time, when he heard the voices of the fans around him, he didn't care about being shy, and hurriedly got up, reaching out to pull Muxu.

Mu Xu took Xiangling's hand and stood up with a little help.Before he could say anything, Xiangling blushed and ran back to the cabin like a gust of wind.

Mu Xu didn't care about this girl right now, and hurried to the bow of the boat to check the situation, and he was relieved after finding nothing unusual.A fan came to the front and reported, "My lord, the reason has been found out. Just now, because the boat entered the Huaihe River, a post boat passed us."

Mu Xu nodded and looked at the sky. It was not yet noon, so he immediately ordered, "Send the order and move forward at full speed. When the ship arrives at Shanyang, all the crew will rest for one night."

"Yes."

When he backed down, Mu Xu looked around the river, and it turned out that he had reached the Huaihe River, the water surface was much wider, and the current began to rush.

Before he knew it, he had been out of Beijing for almost half a month, and this time he went to Jiangnan, he originally wanted to bring only a few dozen fans.Not wanting Zhang Cheng, Feng Ziying and others strongly opposed it.Zhang Cheng was even more convincing, saying that he is now wearing an embroidered garment and guarding everyone's safety, and he should not be careless in everything.As a last resort, he could only do good deeds and let them arrange the trip.

In the end, they brought a total of [-] fans, led by Han Qi, and escorted him southward.These fans were carefully selected, and all of them were fully armed, not only with simple swords at their waists, but also with strong crossbows, so Zhang Cheng and the others were still worried, and they sent another fifty fast horses to deal with the sudden attack. situation.Originally there was only one ship, but after all this trouble, it became a total of three.

Mu Xu calculated in his heart that he would probably arrive in Yangzhou the day after tomorrow. Thinking about what he had learned before, Mu Xu was scratching his head a little now.

If the Zhen family was involved in the matter of Yandao this time, it would be quite difficult to handle.As long as the Supreme Emperor lives, he can't hit the Zhen family hard. How to grasp this speed has become a problem. Now he is also in a dilemma, so he can only plan to take one step at a time.

Thinking of what happened in Yangzhou, he couldn't help but think of Lin Ruhai again, and he didn't know how his injury was.Touching the sachet at his waist, Mu Xu could only pray that his injury was fine, otherwise he would not know how to explain to Daiyu when he returned to Beijing.

In fact, he went to Jiangnan this time for another purpose, which was to pull Lin Ruhai out of the quagmire of Yanzheng.Because the salt road accounted for [-]% of the taxation of the dynasty, and the Lianghuai salt road monopolized the entire seven floors of the salt road.Because of this, every emperor regards the Lianghuai patrol salt censor as a purse.Now above the court, the two suns are flying across the sky. If you want to be in this position, how can you be alone? Lin Ruhai in the original book, probably let the royal father and son die in the end.

And before he came, he had checked the information of the previous inspectors, and few of them were able to escape unscathed.Either he died in an accident while in office, or he was beheaded by the emperor because of his own corruption and bribery.

Most of the Yanyan censors can't even sit for three years, but Lin Ruhai is relatively capable among the previous Yanyan censors, because he has been in office for five years.

In any case, he can be regarded as a capable official, but because of Daiyu, Mu Xu actually doesn't like him.Because of Daiyu's tragedy in the original book, his father should bear a lot of responsibility.

Can Lin Ruhai be incompetent if he can be the censor of Yanyan for several terms at a time?But how did he send his daughter to the ancestral home outside the capital? He only brought a maid and a nanny with him.What is the state of Jia's mansion, if he wants to inquire, can he still find out?After all, the affairs of their house are not a secret in the capital.He only needs to write letters to his friends in Beijing or the same year, and he will know all these things clearly.

He may be a good officer, but he is not a good husband and father.Although the reason why Jia Min died was not mentioned in the original book, it probably has something to do with Yanzheng.From the standpoint of an ancient scholar-bureaucrat, he is not wrong, he is loyal to the emperor and patriotic.But from the perspective of the family, he is not qualified.

(End of this chapter)