The morning light was about to show on the next day, and everyone got up early to pack their bags. After everything was done, they all expressed their concern for each other, and then reluctantly left Xuanhu City.
The final destination of the Ghostfaced Taoist Priest and his entourage this time - Qiang Di, is different from the familiar concept of Di Li. In the previous dynasties, Qiang Di was the name for the activities of a few tribes such as Xirong, but in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it specifically referred to the "Qiang people" "There are many such gathering places, such as Longxi County and Longdong County in the Northern Wei Dynasty; near Xiqing Mountain in Tuyuhun; most of Dangxiang; and Yinping, Brazil, Shenli under the jurisdiction of Liu Song , Yuexun and other counties.
The Qiang land that the three people are going to is located at the junction of Basi County and Dangxiang State. If calculated based on the border line, it is controlled by the Liu Song Dynasty. However, it is adjacent to Dangxiang to the west and Wei State to the north. In addition, there are Qiang, Hu, Han and other ethnic groups. Mixed living is difficult to manage, so it is actually a land where no one cares.
The situation at the destination is complicated, and this is the first thing the three of them should consider.
And speaking of not caring about the boundaries, this place is also adjacent to Yinping County, which is where Luo Laoqi's village started. At its peak, the northern part of Yizhou was infested with bandits. Although the village has been taken away by Dong Ruhai, the dog-headed army master, but according to his vicious and vicious character, the power of the village will not be much worse. So, will this group of old enemies in the middle become a trouble for the three of them? You have to pay careful attention to it.
Meng Qingyao said that it would be better to go south in advance and go directly to the border of Liu and Song Dynasty and then go west. Anyway, the Qin and Yong states have not been at peace recently. The Emperor of the Northern Wei Dynasty is cracking down on the Han people. He has been in their territory for a long time and is prone to accidents.
He Siniang shook her head when she heard this: "The Taoist priest is a prisoner of the imperial court, and it is even more dangerous to wander around the borders of Liu and Song Dynasties."
"How about this." The grim-faced Taoist priest said, "Let's go directly to the waterway and take a merchant ship to go west along the Yellow River. When we get to Dongqin State, we will get off the boat and then go south into the Liu Song territory. This will avoid staying in the Liu Song territory. For a long time, we can avoid the Qin and Yong areas that strictly inspect the Han people."
"This method is feasible. When the time comes, we can go south from Shunyang County. This will just branch off from the route we took north to Nanyang County."
"Sister-in-law is still thoughtful, so let's hurry to the ferry now."
There is a ferry ten miles southeast of Xuanhu City, which is an important hub for transportation from Jizhou to other places. From there, you can take a boat along the Yellow River to East Qinzhou.
The three grim-faced Taoist priests walked for less than half an hour to the ferry, and then waited at the dock for another two hours. It was not until almost noon that they finally saw the merchant ship coming from Le'an County.
This merchant ship is a large three-story building ship that originated from Le'an County in Jizhou, passed through various places along the river, and finally docked in Weizhou. There are warehouses below the deck to carry commercial goods to various states, and the upper three floors are used to carry passengers.
In the Northern Wei Dynasty, three-masted ships like this were the largest ships except warships. It did not matter if they encountered ordinary wind and waves. If the trip went smoothly and the wind direction was right, it only took seven or eight days to travel from Le'an County to Jincheng County in Weizhou. It can be reached on the same day.
However, this merchant ship will stop at various places along the way, so the trip will be delayed for a few days. The arrangement of the three people's trip is to first go to Dongqinzhou and then change to land transportation to Shunyang, so they should be able to arrive in five days. East Qinzhou.
The three ghost-faced Taoist priests bought tickets for the second-floor cabin at the ferry. After boarding the ship, they went into the cabin to rest.
The grimace Taoist lay there for a while and found that he was not sleepy at all. After staying there for a while, he felt very bored, so he went to the deck alone to look at the scenery.
At this time, the merchant ship had finished loading and unloading the cargo after docking for half a stick of incense.
When the boatman saw this, he shouted, "It's full!"
The boss of the ship heard the sound and walked up to the bow, waved his hand and said, "Loosen the cable and set sail!"
So the boatman quickly untied the boat cable and put away the wooden ladder. Several boatmen on the side pushed the boat away from the river bank. At the same time, more than a dozen boatmen shouted in unison: "The awning is raised to the west, and the lucky stars are shining!"
The grim-faced Taoist priest watched with great interest outside the boat building. These boatmen who sailed on the sea were also from a large group of outsiders, and the rules when sailing were more complicated. Like the boatman shouting "It's full" means "It's full" It means "no more", but the words "finish" and "no" are taboo on the ship, so they will replace it with the word "man". For example, when you run out of rice and vegetables, just say "man is out" and people on the ship will understand what it means. .
Similarly, there are words such as "turn" and "buckle", which are unlucky words. If you want to turn something over on a boat, you will say "draw a fork", and the sail cannot be called directly, but It's called a boat canopy. In addition to these words, there are various rules during boating, and there are many taboos even as small as relieving oneself: the so-called "Don't face east in the morning, don't face south in the afternoon, don't face the west in the evening, and never face north." Among them, The Taoist priest with a grimace only knew that Beidou was a star in the eyes of boatmen, just like the pointing star in the sky, so he could not show disrespect by facing north, but he didn't know much about the rest.
After the merchant ship set off, because its next destination was Yuzhou several hundred miles away, the ship's boss ordered the awnings to be fully hung, intending to go straight to the next stop with full strength.
When sailing at that time, in order to measure the speed of the ship, the boatman would throw pieces of wood from the bow, and at the same time, people would walk from the bow to the stern. If the person and the piece of wood arrived at the stern at the same time, it was called "Shang Geng", which means the normal sailing speed of the ship. , if the person arrives before the wood chip, it means there is no watch. If the wood chip arrives first, it is called "over watch".
The Taoist priest with a grimace saw that after the boat speed increased, the boatman who was measuring the speed stepped onto the bow of the boat. Unexpectedly, the boatman had just thrown out the wood chips and before the man left, the wood chips were blown by an evil wind and flew into the sky.
The grim-faced Taoist priest was stunned for a moment, not knowing what was going on. However, he saw the face of the ship boss beside the boatman darken, and he turned to look in the direction of the cabin.
The grim-faced Taoist priest hurriedly retreated into the cabin, thinking to himself: "What the hell is going on? The boss of the ship has a bad look on his face. Is something going to happen?"
The grim-faced Taoist priest waited for a moment, and then quietly poked his head out from the crack of the door.
At this time, the boat boss was seen whispering to the boatman. After the conversation, the boatman took out a darker piece of wood and threw it into the river.
This time the wood chips finally fell into the water safely. The boatman seemed relieved and began to measure the boat's speed normally again.
The boss of the ship stood aside, looking at the boatmen who were measuring the speed in a daze, as if he was thinking about something, but he came back to his senses after only a short time, and then continued to direct the work of the boatmen.
The grimace Taoist saw everything. Although he didn't know what was going on, he was secretly alert. He returned to the cabin and briefly talked to He Siniang and Meng Qingyao, asking them to be more careful.
Fortunately, no accidents occurred after that, and the journey was smooth and smooth until we reached the border of Yanzhou.
