PS: There is one more chapter in the afternoon

Going down the river, the light boat is fast, so that Hubo wakes up, Taihang, Wangwu can not see the shadow, and then sleep for half a night, Mengjin has passed, and Jianjin is in sight.

Previously, Hu Bo couldn't adapt to the rickety boat, and when he passed by Mengjin, he lay on the side of the mast and vomited in the strong wind, and almost fell into the river, but finally grabbed a cable to death, and the three boatmen rescued him back to the cabin safely. And now, his complexion is much better, although he has lost a little weight compared to when he set off from Anyi, but he has almost regained his original look.

Today's weather is fine, boats float like dragonflies on the water, paddles rise and fall in unison, and boatmen sing songs that have been passed down on the river for centuries.

"Who is Heguang? There was no room for knives. Who is Song Yuan? He did not worship the dynasty. ”

If Zhao Wuxian is on the side, he will definitely say that this poem has the imagination of the apes on both sides of the river in later generations, and the light boat has crossed the imagination of the ten thousand mountains, crossing the river under the hard rowing of the boatmen, and the Song Kingdom is not far away!

This is an exaggeration, of course, but as the river becomes wider and wider, Linghu Bo is told: Thornjin is almost here.

Located in the east of the prefecture and county, south of Muye, Jianjin was the main transportation route of the Jin Kingdom to the princes of Zheng, Wei, Qi, Song and Lu. This place was originally controlled by the Fan family, but now as compensation for not severely punishing the Fan family until the war is completely extinguished, this ferry port was promised to Zhao Ying, who had made great achievements, by the Marquis of Jin.

Under pressure from the Marquis of Jin and Zhao, Fan had to make concessions, but Fan Jichu is said to have regarded the matter as a great shame. Because this is still the place where the Fan family drowned more than two years ago, the Fan family would sacrifice the deceased son here every winter month, but now it was taken away by the enemy Zhao family......

"It's here!"

It's just past noon. A small town appeared in front of me. When he landed on the shore to replenish water and food, Ling Hubo also went up for a spin.

After changing owners. Everything began to be rebuilt, and Zhao Ying seemed to intend to make this place a barrier to the throat of the river. A large number of soldiers, craftsmen, and laborers came here to build the city. But because it was just starting out, it was about the size of Ling Hubo's manor outside Anyi, with a rudimentary rammed-earth wall surrounded by tall beacons, and beyond, it seemed that a stone wall was being built.

On both sides of the river, fishing boats were drying their catches, and ordinary people rowing monohull boats trying to sell salted dried fish to passing merchant ships, and there was a faint smell of salty salt in the air.

Smelling this smell, Ling Hubo began to think about Zhao Wuxian's strategy for buying salt again. In this dispute over goods and colonies, Xilu no longer lacks salt, but it has killed the three lifelines of trade that the Qi people rely on in Wudao, Jishui, and Pushui, and the Qi country is probably going to lose?

But he also heard that a few days ago, the State of Qi opened a direct route from Zheng and Wei to Gaotang, and there was an endless stream of merchants. The outcome is not yet known!

Thinking that he could go to Xilu to witness this great battle with no swords and armor soldiers, only salt porcelain cars and ships, Hu Bo suddenly cheered up.

When I returned to the pier, there were more than a dozen docks anchored with newly arrived ships. There were more than ten ships in total, and Wei's cargo ships carrying salt were ordered to move to the side.

"What kind of person can actually make Wei's merchant ship give way!"

It made Hu Bo a little annoyed. But when I looked at it, I was stunned.

Among the new arrivals of several ships. The first few were just common boats, but the next ones were unusual: the largest one was nine feet long. The ship was slender and painted brown, with a high bow and tail and a deck. In the cabins below deck there are oars for oarsmen to paddle, and on the deck there are people of different colors, armed with bows and arrows, halberds, and rope hooks. (See land and water attack map)

In particular, a black flag hangs on the bow of the ship, with a white skull embroidered in the center, and two skeletons crossed under it, which is quite strange......

Ling Hu Bo was awe-inspiring, and the surrounding businessmen were also quietly discussing: "This is not carrying passengers and goods, but a warship!" ”

According to the specifications, the length of the ship is nine feet and six feet, which belongs to the "middle wing" level and can accommodate 60 people. The middle wing is divided into two levels: the lower level houses the rowers who are battering the boat; The upper deck was the pawn of the battle inside the ship. It is a slender boat, with many oarsmen, and it relies on the power of the oars to move forward, and it is very fast.

This "mid-wing" class warship is the centerpiece of the fleet, and next to it are several single-deck light boats and flat boat escorts that appear to be converted fishing boats, also without cargo, and on them stand men with bows and arrows.

Armed fleets were common in the southern part of Chuwu, where lakes were all over the country, and even in the vicinity of Onozawa. But on the big river, except for the occasional boat coming by, it is rare to see ...... Because for Qin, Jin and other northern powers, water war is a very new thing.

What's more, the eyes of the people on the middle wing looking at the merchant ship are like fierce tigers, and they will pounce on them at any time to bite them.

They are not like merchants, they are not ordinary soldiers, but like robbers who rob houses and houses...... I really don't know why Zhao Bing, who was extremely closely checked, would let them go ashore and occupy the best berthing position.

Ling Hubo swallowed his saliva, and was about to ask the silent businessmen next to him about the identities of these people, but he saw a very high, handsome, and fierce-eyed warrior coming out of the middle wing of the ship. He didn't seem to be very accustomed to the dress of the soldiers, straightened his clothes, looked at the river that shimmered in the light green light in the sun, and then said angrily:

"Who is Heguang? A reed! Onozawa's dragon has reached the top of the river, and it is still the overlord in the water! ”

……

At the end of March, the rain fell sparsely again, and the Qi State was cut off by Zhao Wuxian and Pushui, and the noon road was blocked, and the big river channel that had to be opened had been opened for a whole month.

They managed to break through the blockade!

Because of its proximity to the sea and developed shipping, there were many ships along the coast of the Shaohai Sea (Bohai Sea), and after entering the big river, under the leadership of the old boatmen, they quickly became familiar with the hydrological situation. The river is wide and there are no reefs, so it was navigable smoothly at first.

The ships departing from Zhengguo and Weiguo went down the river, went directly to Yiyi, and then landed in Gaotang, and then they could arrive at Linzi along Tu Road. For a time, there was an endless stream of merchants on this newly opened waterway, and there were many fewer people who took the Jishui Pushui and Noon Roads.

Of course, the Chen clan also earned a lot of taxes from this new shipping route, and at the same time, it also increased the degree of dependence of the Qi Hou on them. Chen Heng, the son of the Chen family who made this suggestion, became famous in China for a while. He was not only rewarded by the Marquis of Qi, but also touted by the ministers and doctors of the State of Qi as the son of Zhao Qing of the Jin State. Lu Guoxiao, Kou Zhao, is a young generation leader on a par with each other.

"The salt road in Luguo has been cut off, and not only the price of salt in Lucheng has risen sharply. Moreover, there is a salt shortage in some places, and the salt in Zhao Wuxian's treasury must be about to run out, and I don't think he can last long. ”

"Qi Shang has already put pressure on Cao Bo in Taoqiu to pay bribes to Dasicheng, presumably soon, Cao will abandon the darkness and turn to the Ming, sever relations with the Zhao family and the Jin State, and return to the Qi State. As long as it is so. The sea salt can then be transported to Taoqiu for cultivation, but of course, the price will have to increase considerably. ”

The ministers and doctors of the Qi State thought about the prospect very well, thinking that they would win. After all, since the era of Guanzi, except for the years when the Jin people were too strong, the salt strategy stick of the Qi people rarely worked when it didn't work.

By the end of March, however, bad news had come one after another.

End of February. Duanmuci, a merchant of Zhao Wuxian, announced that in the future, Zhao's specialty porcelain could only be exchanged for salt, and the rest of the grain, money and silk, and even gold and jade would not be accepted!

As soon as this statement came out. The nobles of the entire Central Plains who yearned for fine porcelain were shaken, and the saltless scholars and doctors were scolded, but the princes and doctors who produced salt in the territory were ecstatic. There is no need for Silu to send caravans. He organized people to transport salt into Cao and Lu, after all, the Duanmu merchant had already said it. Salt ships and salt trucks are all tax-free!

If the salt merchants who went to Silu sporadically brought only a minority. It's only a drop in the bucket. The hundreds of bells of salt from the Wei clan of the Jin State and the Huaihai of the Wu State can be regarded as the solution to Xilu's urgent need! These two parties have a close relationship with the Zhao family, if there are interests to be made, it is understandable to help, although the quality and quantity are much worse than the sea salt of the Qi country, but it is enough to beat the soil salt and stabilize the salt price of Taoqiu and Xilu!

The only thing that comforted the people of Qi was that although Zhao Wuxian also asked Ju Guo for salt, Ju Zi rejected him!

The reason for this is because Ju Junmad was supported by the Qi people to restore the throne.

In the autumn and August of the fourteenth year of Lu Zhaogong (528 BC), Ju Gong was killed, and Ju Zifang actually showed joy on his face and did not show sadness. So the sensitive people of Ju were unhappy, so they were instigated by the ambitionists in the clan to expel Ju Zi, and he fled to Qi and was sheltered by the Marquis of Qi.

In the twenty-third year of Lu Zhaogong (519 BC), the newly ascended Ju Zi Gengyu was tyrannical, he liked to cast swords, and every time he cast a sword, he also took people he liked to test whether the sword was sharp or not, and killed dozens of people in a month. The people of the country now feel that it is still good to be the old monarch who has a loss of virtue but does not kill people, so the State of Qi took the opportunity to support Ju Zimad to return to the country and restore the throne, and after Geng Yu stepped down, he fled to the State of Lu, and the State of Ju has since become the country of Qi.

Therefore, although there is the influence of Wu's northward expansion, the current Ju State is roughly pro-Qi, and at the same time, because Gengyu is in Lu, plus historical reasons, Ju is also a hatred of Lu......

So Ju Zi, who was grateful to Qi Hou, rejected Zhao Wuxian's request and refused to sell sea salt from Langya and other places to Xilu!

Qi Hou was originally angry because Zhao Wuxian easily solved the salt shortage problem, and he couldn't help but feel relieved after hearing Ju Guo's loyalty. He failed to support Lu Zhaogong before, but after supporting Wei Hou and Ju Zimania, both countries are now loyal allies of Qi State, and they have not changed sides because of the defeat in Xueyuan.

After all, there were many internal events in the Jin Kingdom, and they were able to defeat the territory, but they could not capture the fruits of victory in time, but allowed the Qi people to gain a firm foothold in Yiyi and gain a strategic advantage.

The current river transportation is proof of this!

However, Qi Hou was not happy for long, firstly, because the Qi people gradually discovered that Ju Zimad's rejection of Zhao Wuxian's righteous words was of no practical use.

The doctors of Ju Guo are more independent, and there are not a few people who have taken the feudal provinces to Lu in the past, but now they covet Zhao's porcelain and watch other salt merchants exchange salt for porcelain, but they themselves lost this opportunity because of the monarch's words, so they are very angry. Driven by profits, they also quietly sent people to trade with Xilu, and the salt shipped in March was at least one or two hundred bells, and Ju Zimad couldn't stop it! He turned a blind eye, just satisfied with making a posture in front of the people of Qi, but the Zhen porcelain placed in the palace room was increasing day by day......

The bad news is more than one, and as March draws to a close, even the shipping of the Great River has gone wrong!

Qi Shang, who was lucky enough to escape, described it in front of Chen: "His generation took a black boat with a middle wing, hoisted a skull flag, and traversed the river from Jianjin down, and those who were in the boat but had passed, all of them were robbed!" The businessman talks about the change of color, and calls it a river thief! (To be continued.) )