After resting in Wucheng for a night, Shen Zhezi gathered his attachés to set off early the next morning, and as for Shen Mu and Ji You, who were drunk like dead dogs, they were thrown into the cabin together, vomiting all over the sky. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

When we crossed the Taihu Lake and arrived at Wu County, it was no longer convenient to travel by boat.

Although Wu County is also a water town in the south of the Yangtze River, the water network in the territory is staggered, but there is no large water flow trunk road like Wuxing Shuxi Race, and there are many swamps and wetlands, and it is extremely difficult to dredge and develop. In addition, the situation in Wujun is much more complicated than that of Wuxing, and the political contradictions, the entanglement of human feelings, and the conflicts in the countryside are like an old tree with intricate roots, which is extremely difficult to sort out clearly.

Because the waterway became narrow, the Shen family's large fleet was extremely difficult to navigate, so Shen Zhezi sorted out the fleet, leaving only three cargo ships to go north to the Yangtze River, and the vacated ships returned to Wuxing, and he led a group of attachés to continue by land.

As the connection point between Wuhui and Danyang Gyeonggi, the successive dynasties also attached great importance to the water transportation conditions in this area, and after the Qin and Han dynasties, the water of Taihu Lake was diverted to connect Wu County and Danyang, or the river channel was dug to divide the Yangtze River.

One of the more important canal waterways is the Dongwu Emperor Sun 100,000 dug the broken Gangdu, because with this waterway, Jiankang and Wuhui can be directly navigable, no need to go north to the Jingkou line to take the Yangtze River to divert the way, it can be said to be extremely convenient.

However, this waterway is too hilly and sloping, the river channel is slightly narrow, the water flow is not abundant, and it is difficult to navigate for half of the year.

The reason why Shen Zhezi took the land route was to observe the navigation of this important canal on the spot. At best, this river is related to the Shen family's annual business of transporting Wuxing and Huiji taxes, and at worst, it directly affects Shen Zhezi's strategic layout of wanting to use Sanwu money and grain to strangle the north.

Regarding the intricate forces within the small court of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Shen Zhezi's first consideration was not which side to defeat, but to make all parties inseparable from him. Only by obtaining such an irreplaceable prominent position can we talk about controlling the situation and sweeping away dissidents.

There is no doubt that Wuhui is the center of money and grain taxation in Jiangdong. Entrenched in the Huiji and the development of the Huiji, the location of this money and grain center is more and more prominent. Hold on to this Jiangdong granary, no matter if you are a gate lord, a military leader or a celebrity, as long as you still have to dress and eat, you have to look up to me!

Of course, to ensure this deterrent, water traffic must be unimpeded. The so-called sharpening knives to pigs and sheep, pigs and sheep are still on the other side of the mountain, no matter how sharp the knife is, what is the use?

Therefore, the repair of the Wuxing waterway is only the first step, and the key is to continue to develop on the basis of the Jiangnan Canal.

In the past, Shen Zhezi went back and forth to Beijing, and this time he saved this purpose, so he surveyed along the road. Nowadays, in late spring and near summer, there is a wave of spring floods, and the navigation of the canal at the beginning of the historic site canal is still good, although it is not as water-transported as Dachang as Wuxing, but it can also be called unimpeded. If we can continue to plan and expand dredging on this basis, we can get excellent results.

But the further we went, the worse the situation became. The river section was bifurcated and diverted, and the siltation for many years was not allowed to be dredged, and the private households dug ditches for irrigation, or barrage and dammed the river to operate the water mill, which made the navigation of the ancient canal take a sharp turn for the worse. The trace of cargo ships is gradually disappearing, and the scale of passenger ships is getting smaller and smaller, and in some places there is even only a section of water, which can only pass through bamboo raft sampans!

When it comes to the actual destruction of the waterways, this situation continues unabated. Because the terrain is too undulating, the shape of the broken hill is like a ladder, and the reservoir is built in sections that is the earth dam, which is called the dai, in order to save the amount of water and balance the water level, a total of 14 are built in the whole process, and the steepness of the slope can be seen.

Because of the existence of the dai, Pogang is barely navigable, but after a certain distance, it is necessary to open the dai to release water to raise the water level, and the boat is unloaded and dragged over and then carries the cargo forward. Such a large amount of time, manpower loss is huge, and it takes a lot of time, which does not fully reflect the convenience and labor-saving of water transportation.

The most important thing is that Shen Zhezi actually found a few privately built dai along the way, although the scale is not as large as that of the official repair, but it drains part of the already small water flow, making the channel even narrower. These private mounds were either built by the government or by the family in order to collect tolls from passing ships for profit.

This kind of weir is also built by the Shen family in Wuxing, because it requires uninterrupted manpower maintenance and investment, and it also needs to be charged, but the natural waterway conditions in Wuxing are excellent, and it is not as frequent as here.

Moreover, Wu Xing is mainly a guest and a civil movement, but the broken gang in front of him is an official transportation, and he does not hesitate to directly reach out to grab the money and grain of the imperial court, so Shen Zhezi is also quite surprised that the Danyang families are playing so hard.

Along the way, Shen Zhezi asked the accompanying scribes to settle the navigation costs, and found that it was much more expensive than detouring the Yangtze River to Jiankang! If we talk about the significance of the existence of Pogangdu, it can only avoid the risk of natural and man-made disasters such as the Yangtze River's strong wind and waves or the invasion of the north and the south to rob money and grain.

Because in a few months, Huiji will have money and grain to be transported to Jiankang, Shen Zhezi thought about it for a long time, and decided to make a detour to Jingkou from the west of the Yangtze River first, and temporarily give up the closer line of breaking Gangdu.

But this does not mean that he has given up on breaking the Gangdu, it is just that after the previous jump, the Shen family needs a period of digestion and accumulation, and there is no strength to continue to develop for the time being. But it must be repaired, and it must be overhauled!

Once this waterway can come and go unimpeded, then the strength accumulated by the Shen family in Wuxing and Huiji can be cashed in the Jiankang Imperial Court with the least loss, and it can directly support him in the future to cross the river and the Northern Expedition!

At present, this broken hill is the completion of the Eastern Wu Sun's 100,000 troops and 30,000 broken mountains, limited by manpower and technology problems, can only be cultivated like this. In addition to manpower and technical problems, Shen Zhezi also had to face a political dilemma and conflict of interest in order to repair the Gangdu.

In terms of technology, Shen Zhezi had an idea, that is, to develop gunpowder and blow up mountains and open canals. If this method is not feasible, then use money to smash it, use people to pile it up, and we must also open up this waterway. As for the conflict between politics and local interests, it can only be resolved slowly. It's a pity that the local influence of the Ji family is not here, and it is still in the west of Jiankang, otherwise it will be much easier.

After passing through Pogangdu, we have arrived in Jurong County, which is not too far from Jiankang. But because he had to pick up the boats and goods, Shen Zhezi did not go straight to Jiankang, but went north to Lianhu, and waited for another day, and the attachés who came through the Yangtze River arrived here, and the waterway was not even as fast as the land route, which shows that the water transportation situation from Wujun to the Yangtze River is terrible.

After the meeting, Shen Zhezi found that in addition to his three ships, there were seven or eight passenger ships of all sizes in the rear. These passenger ships are carved and painted, extremely luxurious, and one of them is even decorated with gold leaf, jewels and gemstones, which is exaggerated to the extreme. Even if the Shen family is entrenched in Wuxing's local tyrant house, there is no such flashy and extravagant appliances.

When Shen Zhezi was surprised, he saw an acquaintance standing on one of the passenger ships, who was the third elder of the Yu family. Or because of the family style, Yu Tiao did not wear the luxury of gold and silver, but just held a snow-white white jade tail in his hand, which was extraordinary at a glance.

Seeing Shen Zhezi and his party standing at the ferry on the shore, the smile on Yu Tiao's face was even brighter, the boat he was on was still far from the shore, so he was already impatient to stand at the bow of the boat and waved his hand to Shen Zhezi again and again: "Zhezi Xiaolangjun, after a long absence, he is really more and more handsome!" Elegant and heartbreaking! ”

Seeing Yu Tiao's high-spirited appearance, which was completely different from his previous state, Shen Zhezi smiled, and saluted on the shore: "Yu Jun is really not what it used to be, looking forward to the majestic posture, which is intimidating!" ”

Hearing Shen Zhezi's approval, Yu Tiao raised his head and laughed, and when the passenger ship stopped, he jumped onto the shore on the boat, and stepped forward to hold Shen Zhezi's hand in a few steps, with a lot of excitement between his expressions: "If it weren't for the grace of Xiao Langjun in the past, I would still be just trapped in the countryside and the field. ”

"Xiao Langjun is a gifted talent, crowned Jiangdong, a few words, but I have the grace of regeneration! Such a heavy grace, I dare not forget it for a day! Since I learned that Xiao Langjun was going to enter the capital to elect the emperor's son-in-law, I was convenient for Jin Lingbi to raise friends, thinking that Xiao Langjun was strong! Unexpectedly, Xiao Langjun, you came here by land, so you missed it. So I followed here again and went to Jiankang with Lang Jun! ”

Seeing Yu Tiao's sincere expression and heartfelt gratitude, Shen Zhezi was slightly surprised. If he delves deeper, if he can choose the emperor's son-in-law this time, it will be a harm to the overall interests of the Yu family.

He was even ready to counter the Yu clan through the arrangement of the Hidden Lord, but he didn't expect that Yu Tiao was still sincerely grateful to him, which made him feel quite embarrassed. It is probably that this Yu Tiao does not have too strong political intentions after all, so he is not as accustomed to turning his face and ruthlessness as his eldest brother Yu Liang.

Yu Tiao didn't know what Shen Zhezi was thinking, and after a few words of greeting with Shen Zhezi, he turned to the children of the various families who came off the passenger ship one after another, and introduced Shen Zhezi to a group of friends: "Everyone, this Langjun in front of me is my lord's teacher, Wuzhong Yulangjun Shen Zhezi." You don't underestimate Zhezi Langjun because he is young, the former Xiang Lu was seven years old and became a saint teacher, and we are all rich and noble today, all rely on Zhezi Langjun's strategy and guidance the day before yesterday! ”

When those overseas Chinese disciples who crossed to the south heard this, they stepped forward one after another to salute them, and their attitudes were respectful. Shen Zhezi returned the salute one by one, and listened to these people report their respective county and family backgrounds, and had an intuitive understanding of the great momentum of the hidden lord and the hidden man operated by the Yu Tiao.

However, Shen Zhezi also found a clue from this, and it makes sense that Yu Tiao was grateful to him and had a sincere and enthusiastic attitude, but why did he introduce it so solemnly? Moreover, these overseas Chinese disciples in front of him have no friendship with him at all, and they are actually deferential and polite, which is even more eccentric.

At present, the gap between the north and the south is by no means superficial, but pervasive in all aspects, and it would be a bit naïve to simply blame these people for their gratitude and gratitude.

After thinking about it for a while, Shen Zhezi realized that there was a problem with the operation of this hidden lord, maybe it was not too serious, but it was enough for Yu Tiao to realize the existence of the crisis, and then pinned his hopes on himself, the initiator.