Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 31

From Nanchang along the Ganshui River to the north, less than a hundred miles, it entered Penglize, which is the Poyang Lake of later generations.

Yuzhang County is Jiangxi Province, and there are many mountains and hills. There is only a plain around Nanchang, which is called Poyang Lake Basin, and it is the main grain producing area in Jiangxi.

However, the degree of development in the south of the Han Dynasty was far lower than that in the north. This was because the productivity in the south was low, and both farming techniques and agricultural tools were much worse than those in the north. As a result, most areas in the south are currently very backward.

Therefore, the area south of the Yangtze River, including Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hainan and other places in later generations, is still in a wilderness.The slightly more developed places are Hunan and the northeastern part of Zhejiang.

The situation in Yuzhang County can only be said to be a little better than that of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Hainan, but it is not much better. Shen Chen stood on the deck, protected by his elder brother Shen Zhong, looking at the scenery on both sides of the strait.

I saw the trees on both sides of the bank covering the sky and the sun, and the Poyang Lake Basin in later generations is now covered by dense virgin forests.The mountains in the distance overlap, and the crowing of monkeys and the howling of tigers continue.

Even occasionally, groups of Asian elephants and crocodiles can be seen playing in the swamps on the shore, just like a primitive and wild era.

In fact, the area south of the Yangtze River is now divided into Asian elephants and crocodiles, and rhinos, finless porpoises, and peacocks are everywhere around Poyang Lake in Ganshui.There are very few rural gatherings on both sides of the strait, and Duchang County in later generations is now a small fishing village.

The fleet is mighty and mighty, moving forward slowly in the waves of the river. From noon to evening, the Poyang Lake, which is as wide as the ocean, is blowing up a howling wind, sending the fleet forward at high speed.

The descendant of Chaisang County is Jiujiang City, which is about 120 kilometers away from Nanchang. With the help of the wind, the fleet set off the day before and arrived at Chaisang Wharf the next morning.

Dozens of huge cargo ships were parked at the pier, and these ships were the goods that the big merchant wanted to transport back to Sichuan.

After the boat stopped at Chaisang, Deng Hong took Shen Chen ashore to meet the businessman.

When the two came to the annex, unexpectedly, it was not the paunchy and gold-and-silver appearance they had imagined, but a few young people in their 30s and [-]s, all wearing simple coarse cloth robes, with a refined and elegant appearance .

At this time they were resting in the other hall, and when they heard that Deng Hong was coming, they came out to greet them.

The leader was surnamed Zhou, named Zhou Lin, about 24 or [-] years old, with a thin face and good looks. After meeting Deng Hong, he said with a smile: "Brother Deng is very lucky. It’s broken, it’s been delayed for half a month, otherwise, we’re probably already in Jiangling by now.”

Shen Chen on the side asked in surprise, "Will it take half a month to go to Jiangling by boat from Jiangdong?"

"It depends on luck."

Zhou Lin said: "When the wind is favorable, the boat can travel four hundred miles a day, and it will arrive in four or five days. If the wind is against the wind, the boat can travel one or two hundred miles, and it will take eight or nine days. When the luck is particularly bad, when there is a heavy rain, it will take half a month." It is still easy to sail between Jiangdong and Jingzhou, the most difficult thing is to enter Shu, it may take two or three months."

"Why is this?"

Shen Chen asked curiously.

Seeing a child asking the bottom line, Zhou Lin also patiently explained: "Because the terrain on both sides of the upper reaches of the river is narrow and the river is turbulent, the speed of the boat will be very slow. When I was unlucky, there was a big flood, and many boats were destroyed and people died.”

"So that's the case, thank you sir for clarifying."

Shen Chen silently kept these information in his heart, maybe he will stay in Sichuan for the rest of his life like Zhuge Liang.

Zhou Lin said: "Since everyone is here, we are going to leave tomorrow, what do you think, Brother Deng?"

Deng Hong replied: "It's all up to my virtuous brother to decide."

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, and then left from the other hall. On the way back, Shen Chen asked Deng Hong about this Zhou Lin.

Deng Hong told him that he didn't know the specific situation, but that this merchant ship was a fleet of five big families in Yizhou, so there were five people in charge, of which the Zhou family contributed the most, so Zhou Lin was the main one in foreign affairs.

Shen Chen already knew that this was the company's partner shareholder. For a business transaction spanning [-] kilometers between Jiangdong and Sichuan, the profit in one trip was more than hundreds of millions. Naturally, not one family could eat it.

So it is normal for multiple families to unite together.

And there should not be many such examples, after all, it is a troubled time.

Going out seems to be a lot of money, but the risk of exploiting the princes and natural disasters and man-made disasters, even a rich man like Mi Zhu may not be able to afford it, and only the top families in Yizhou, Jingzhou, and Yangzhou have this strength.

The next day the fleet finally set off.

Because it was already early winter, the sky was drizzling with drizzle, and the Jiangdong area was blown from the northwest instead of the southeast in winter. Except for the rare example of the Battle of Chibi, most of the time when sailing to Jingzhou in winter was against the wind.

But businessmen never care about these, as long as it is profitable, they dare to trade even if there is a knife in the sky.

Otherwise, if the merchants did not travel in winter, Guan Yu would not have noticed when Lu Meng pretended to be a merchant in white clothes and crossed the river to launch a winter offensive against Jingzhou.

The fleet sailed with difficulty in the wind and waves. The middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are wide and flat, which is good for ships to move. Therefore, although they sailed against the wind, they arrived in Shaxian County in about five days under the urging of human oars.

This speed is not fast, because Shaxian County is the future Wuhan City. They set off from Chaisang, which is equivalent to going from Jiujiang City to Wuhan City. The whole journey is more than 200 kilometers. They walked for five days and moved forward every day It is forty to fifty kilometers, which is relatively slow.

Huangmenting's villager disembarked in Shaxian. Zhou Lin and his colleagues must follow the Yangtze River waterway if they want to return to Sichuan. Although they can also follow them to Yiling, it is only 200 kilometers away from Yiling to Xiangyang.

The problem is that if they continue to follow the Yangtze River waterway, they have to go around to Dongting Lake. It takes less than half a month to travel from Shaxian to Yiling. It is better to disembark at Shaxian. Kilometers, ten days have arrived in Xiangyang.

Shaxian County is one of the [-] counties in Jiangxia. Its history is traced back to the Warring States period when it was built by Xiong Liangfu, King Xuan of Chu. The city is located on the west bank of the Yangtze River and the south bank of Miankou, guarding the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Han River.

Shen Chen saw at a glance that the terrain of this place was dangerous. There were high mountains and cliffs beside the city, and on the top of the cliffs were watchtowers, tall tower walls and other defensive equipment. It could be said that it was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

It's no wonder that Sun Quan's attack on Jingzhou many times later failed in Shaxian. It is precisely because of the terrain here that even Sun Quan's Jiangxia navy, which is stronger than Huang Zu's, was repeatedly beaten due to terrain problems and could not break through the city.

Huangmenting Villagers disembarked at the wharf outside Shaxian County. This is the intersection of the Han River and the Yangtze River. It is an important traffic route, and it is easy to undertake business activities from south to north when there is no war.

Therefore, it is very normal for caravans to come and go, but it is not very common for people to move with their families and their families.

The soldiers outside the city found that more than 1000 migratory troops had appeared at Shaxian Wharf, so they came to inquire.

According to Shen Chen's previous explanation, Deng Hong told the other party that they were the Xinye Deng family, and their ancestors were Deng Yu, the founding general, and hoped to meet Huang Zu, the prefect of Jiangxia.

After Huang Zu learned about this, he hesitated a little, but decided to meet him.

Because the Deng family has fallen so badly up to now, there are almost no officials in the court, and the influence is much worse.

In the early years of the Empress Dowager Deng, the Deng family declined for the first time, and the clan migrated in large numbers. Even the ancestral land could not be kept, and a large number of Deng clan members fled.

During the period of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, the situation of the Deng family was a little better, and a queen named Deng Mengnv was born.

As a result, Deng Mengnv offended Liu Zhi and was abolished as queen, which led to the second major decline of the Deng family and completely lost its status as aristocratic family.

Although Huang Zu was not from a noble family, he was the prefect of Jiangxia, so according to the "Three Mutual Laws", he was definitely not a member of Jiangxia's Huang clan.

The problem is that he is a prefect, a member of two thousand stones. Although you Deng family is a descendant of a famous family, you are now lonely and have no qualifications to stand in front of him.

So at first Huang Zu didn't really want to talk to him.

But after thinking about it, since people came to the door, let's see what they want to do. Anyway, there is nothing to do today, so it won't waste much time to meet.

So Deng Hong and Shen Chen, led by the soldiers, went into the city to Huang Zu's mansion.

After entering from the front yard, you arrive at the middle hall. The structure of the houses of the big families in the Han Dynasty is basically like this. There is a front yard, and after the front yard is the atrium. Then in the backyard.

Huang Zu was already waiting for them in the middle hall at this time, he sat on the main seat, and frowned slightly when he saw Deng Hong bringing a child to visit.

Because official visits usually do not bring family members with them, only after they are familiar with each other, they will bring family members. Although it is considered impolite to bring children with them for the first time, Huang Zu does not feel that he is very familiar with this Deng Hong.

"Deng Hong has met the Fujun, and a small gift is not a respect."

After Deng Hong entered the hall, he first bowed his hands to salute, and then handed over a small wooden box that he carried with him to the soldier next to him.

The soldier sent the wooden box up, opened a corner slightly, and saw a few luminous pearls and some pearls and gold objects inside, Huang Zu's frowning brows suddenly eased, and he laughed loudly: "So it's from a famous family. Sit down, sit down."

"Thank you, Mr. Fu."

Deng Hong led Shen Chen to sit on the side table.

After they sat down, Huang Zu asked, "I don't know what's the matter for you to come here?"

Deng Hong said: "Your Majesty, my ancestors belonged to the Deng family in Xinye. Later, because the clan was reprimanded by the court, we had to leave our hometown and go to Xuzhou. Now the world is in chaos, and only Jingzhou is peaceful. Therefore, my clan and I plan to return to Xinye to avoid disaster."

"I see."

Huang Zu nodded his chin lightly, probably also understood what Deng Hong wanted to do.

Deng Hong continued: "I just went back to my hometown rashly, I don't know what my hometown is like, so I asked to see the Fujun, I hope the Fujun can give me some kind words in front of Liu Jingzhou, so that I can find a way out."

"this one"

Huang Zu glanced at the wooden box, shook his head and said, "Mr. Liu is very thirsty for talents. If you have talent and learning, recommendation is only a trivial matter, so I'm afraid."

Deng Hong laughed: "You don't need to worry about this. Although the Deng family in Xinye has declined, we were originally descendants of the main line. When we left our hometown, we brought a lot of books, but we couldn't become officials because of the imperial court's suppression. It should be fine."

"Well"

Huang Zu thought for a while and said, "Well, I'll edit a book and recommend it for you."

"Thank you, Mr. Fu."

Deng Hong and Shen Chen looked at each other, and things were going well.

(End of this chapter)