It took Zhang Jianxiu nearly half an hour to explain clearly the story of the Huya Mountain Bandits. It is not possible to elaborate on his general narrative based on historical research, so I can only briefly explain it.
Unlike the broad and gentle Yangtze River in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, the Yangtze River is particularly steep in the Chuanjiang and Jingjiang stages. Therefore, boating in the Three Gorges has had two completely different feelings since ancient times.
One is the pleasure of going straight down the stream. It is like "The white emperor's speech is in the colorful clouds, and the rivers and tombs of thousands of miles are returned in one day. The apes on both sides of the bank can't stop crying, and the boat has passed the Ten Thousand Mountains." meaning.
The other kind is just the opposite. You can imagine how fast the current must be since it goes down so fast. Under such water, paddling is just a dream. It is taking one step forward and three steps back, and you can only rely on your strength. Trackers on both sides of the strait pulled the boat little by little.
However, the terrain on both sides of the Three Gorges is changeable. Trackers can disembark from boats to pull fibers along the tidal flats. However, in many river sections with steep cliffs on both sides, other methods can only be used. For example, there will be many strong long poles prepared on the boat, with iron hooks on one end of the poles. The trackers on the boat will use these hooked poles to hook them in the cracks of the cliff and pull them forward with difficulty.
If the wind is favorable, you can still set up the sail to borrow some wind power. If the wind is not favorable, you will be a complete turtle.
Therefore, the waterway from Sichuan to Sichuan has taken one day since ancient times. If it were changed from Sichuan to Sichuan, it would probably not take ten days.
This has led to the emergence of a large number of trackers around this section of the Yangtze River. These trackers make a living by pulling fibers. It is not only extremely difficult, but also very dangerous. If you are not careful, you may fall into the water. Although they usually have excellent water properties, the water flow of the Three Gorges is not only It's dangerous, and whirlpools and undercurrents are everywhere. No matter how good the water quality is, there's no guarantee that you'll survive falling into the water.
"The Yangtze River is thousands of miles long, but the danger lies in the Jingjiang River." This is what it means.
Difficult living conditions always best train human beings' ability to cooperate. The trackers on both sides of the Three Gorges of the Ming Dynasty gradually formed a certain organization, which was later called the Tracker Gang, also known as the Fiber Gang.
In the 39th year of Jiajing, exactly twenty years ago, there was a huge flood in the Yangtze River Basin. The Chuanjiang River, Hanjiang River, and Jiujiang River rose at the same time. The three rivers flooded abnormally. All the counties and counties along the river were wiped out, and only a handful of embankments remained. The disaster-stricken area covers Jingzhou, Chengtian, Hanyang, Changde, Yuezhou and other prefectures in the Lianghu Plain.
Since then, the water levels in the two lakes and plains in Sichuan and Han Dynasties have risen at the same time in summer and autumn, and there has been no peace at all times. The tens of thousands of taels of silver used to build embankments every year were wasted, and the people in this area began to fall into endless labor of building embankments to fight floods, but they still inevitably suffered from drifting and drowning.
Life for the trackers has become even more difficult. As a result, the Xian Gang, which originally existed just to facilitate everyone to take business together and unify pricing, split.
Some people usually show themselves as trackers, but on days when there is no business, or when they cannot support their families even if they have work, they start robbing houses on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
The group of trackers is originally composed of people who can endure hardships and stand hard work. There are many physically strong people, and they are also very organized and cooperative. Once they start to do evil, their combat effectiveness is not as good as those of the extremely bad guard soldiers. Comparable
Needless to say, the result was that the local government and the garrison sent troops to annihilate them. If the troops were small, they would just deliver food. If the troops were large, the family would have been reduced to pieces, and the rightful owner could not be found at all. However, it is impossible to kill all the trackers, otherwise this main waterway will be useless.
Therefore, for nearly twenty years, the Huyashanshui bandits split from the Xian Gang became more and more powerful, but they were unable to suppress them, and the local government was helpless.
Recently, it is the autumn flood, and the trackers are also in the off-season. Naturally, the Huya Mountain water bandits have begun to go out in large numbers again, looting everywhere. This is where Zhang Jianxiu's warning comes from.
However, Zhang Jianxiu also said that he had no idea how many bandits there were in Huya Mountain. These people were not simple bandits. They were usually the worst offenders living on both sides of the river. Maybe there were only two or three thousand of them in total. But there may be 20,000 to 30,000 people guarding this Yangtze River waterway for food, and there may be more than 100,000 trackers on both sides of the Yangtze River.
After hearing this, Gao pragmatism was at a loss. No matter how much money he had, he couldn't solve this kind of problem, unless he ordered all the mine guards and factory guards in Henan to be mobilized, and gathered two to three thousand people to walk directly along the river. , only by marching like a tortoise into Sichuan can we ensure absolute safety. After all, the Xian Gang is just looking for money. If the two or three thousand armed servants don't bring a lot of money, they will definitely not mess with them.
But how could this possibly be time-consuming and laborious? Not to mention that the price of tofu has risen to the level of meat.
Gao Pragmatic smiled bitterly and said, "So, we really can only take a detour."
Liu Xin frowned and asked, "Since they are just asking for money, I brought two hundred servants along the way, so I shouldn't be regarded as a target by them."
Zhang Jianxiu thought for a while and said, "During the autumn flood period, it is more difficult to sail against the current than usual. Large ships cannot go, and only medium-sized ships can be used at most. And Miss Liu brings two hundred servants, which requires at least three ships. If it is hired, For trackers, it would be more than a hundred people, and to be on the safe side, we could even hire two hundred people."
Gao Pragmatic and Liu Xin looked at each other, somewhat confused about what Zhang Jianxiu meant.
Zhang Jianxiu also saw their doubts and explained, "Two hundred trackers is not a lot for the Fiber Gang, but it is still a big deal. In fact, the Fiber Gang is usually honest, and will only be used when there is really no other way out." Only then will you take the risk. If Miss Liu is willing to hire so many trackers, the Fiber Gang might be willing to hang a string for you. This is the symbol of the Fiber Gang. If you hang a string, you will not be attacked by the Huya Mountain bandits."
Now Gao Pragmatic understood clearly and slapped his thigh, "If Brother Zhang had said so earlier, it would have been over. In the end, isn't it still a matter of money? How can this scorn rope be bought? How big of a deal will they be willing to hang up the scorn rope?"
Zhang Jianxiu shook his head in embarrassment and said, "Well, I don't know too much about this, brother. I have to go to Jingnan Water Station to ask."
"Jingnan Water Station" Gao Pragmatic was slightly startled, "Isn't this an official station of the imperial court?"
Zhang Jianxiu nodded and said, "Yes, it is an official post of the imperial court. From Jingzhou to Sichuan, if we only count the waterway from Jingzhou to Kuizhou, we have to start from Jingnan Water Post and pass through Liudian Water Post in Zhijiang County and Yiling Fenglou Shuiyi and Huangniu Shuiyi in Guizhou, Jianping Shuiyi in Guizhou, Bashan Shuiyi in Badong County, and then arrive at Yongning Shuiyi in Kuizhou."
"The trackers in these fiber gangs all pick up work near these water stations. The trackers don't walk thousands of miles at a time. They only travel a section of the water station. Each section of the road is calculated separately, so if you want to ask for a price, You have to go to Shuiyi.”
Now Gao Pragmatic understood that the trackers' boating against the Three Gorges was also a relay race. Otherwise, the labor intensity would be too high and they would have to die of exhaustion on the way. However, I’m afraid it’s unclear whether Shuiyi is really just a gathering place for trackers.
Gao Pragmatic estimated that these Shuiyi must be related to the Xian Gang, and they were probably allies.
But he didn't plan to take care of this matter, otherwise the Huguang officialdom would regard him as a bandit.
At Gao Jianshi's insistence, Zhang Jianxiu personally took Gao Jianshi, Liu Xin and others to Jingnan Shuiyi to discuss matters. Only then did Gao Jianshi realize that Jingzhou Zhang Mansion still had deep roots in Jingzhou itself.
When Zhang Juzheng first fell, he was "exempted from his job and held various positions, and returned to his hometown to live leisurely without being allowed to stay." That period was definitely the most vulnerable period for the Zhang family in Jingzhou.
However, because Gao Pragmatic sent his servants to escort Zhang Juzheng back to his hometown, this move caused many speculative people to misunderstand, thinking that Zhang Juzheng's downfall had nothing to do with Gao Gong, and that Gao Gong might even be nostalgic for the past. Therefore, the Zhang family did not suffer too much suppression.
Later, the three sons of the Zhang family won Jinshi or the same Jinshi one after another, and the Zhang family's status was established again. To a certain extent, it was better than the original history of "its rise was booming and its demise was sudden." .
The postmasters of Jingnan Shuiyi and others were surprised when they heard that the fourth master of the Zhang family had come in person, and hurriedly came out to greet him. They also heard that a Guangxi patrol commissioner was also coming, and everyone in Shuiyi hurriedly came to greet him. Come out and greet.
When Gao pragmatic came to the water station and took a look, he realized that the water station in the south was really not comparable to the water station in the north.
This Jingnan Water Station is not in the city, but outside the southeast of Jingzhou City, only about five or six miles away from the city. Although we are talking about the water station, in fact, it not only has a large yard like a horse station, which can accommodate four to five hundred people, but also has a quite large pier that can even be regarded as a river port.
Jingnan Shuiyi is located in Jingzhou, which is the main road of the Yangtze River waterway. As a rule, it should be equipped with "twenty ships", but the river port owned by this Shuiyi now has at least 30 medium-sized and above ships parked, and even There are also six large inland river boats. As for the small boats, Gao Pangshi is too lazy to count them, but there are at least dozens of them anyway.
The horse post in the Ming Dynasty was short of horses for many years. It was not until the tribute was paid that the Jinghua Chamber of Commerce purchased a large number of horses from right-wing Mongolia. This allowed the horses in the northern post to gradually reach the original amount, but the south still kept the shortage, but there was no shortage of horses. What comes to mind is that the horse post is short of horses, but the water post is not short of boats at all. The Jingnan water post's boats are even marked
Gao pragmatic was amazed in his heart, why is this?
This question didn't last long before it was answered, because after the Yi Cheng heard Zhang Jianxiu explain the purpose of Gao Pragmatic, Liu Xin and others' visit, he actually patted his chest and said, "As long as the price is agreed upon and the rope is hung, the Three Gorges will be safe." "That's it." Then he introduced his prices with a smile, including boats, trackers, security, food and beverage supplies during the journey, etc. They all have different standards and different price points, and even said that entertainment activities, listening to music and watching movies can also be included. , Sister Yao, they have everything they should have, even if Master Rabbit and them can
Gao Pingshi was stunned when he heard this, while Liu Xin secretly spat and excused herself to go out.
Only Zhang Jianxiu looked like he was not surprised. He waved his hands and said, "Don't talk nonsense. Gao Zhizhi pointed out that it was not the person who wanted to enter Sichuan. The person who wanted to enter Sichuan was Miss Liu just now. Miss Liu's identity is not simple. Maekawa Shuai Liu Weiming Liu Zongrong is her father. Did you see the two hundred servants outside? He is the strongest Japanese descendant under Liu Zongrong. Don’t say I didn’t make it clear to you. If someone from Huya Mountain makes the wrong decision, I’m afraid I don’t even know how he died.”
Although the Yi Cheng was taken aback, his expression remained unchanged and he kept saying, "Mr. Zhang Si, look at what you said, what kind of person is this young man? Don't you know? He is the most honest small businessman. How could he do this?" Don't worry about the matter of scorning the rope. For a person like Miss Liu, it is such a big deal. So, from Jingnan Shuiyi to Kuizhou, I will help you three to negotiate for it, a total of One thousand two hundred taels, what do you think?"
Gao Jianshi had almost no concept of money below ten thousand taels. Hearing this, his expression did not change, but Zhang Jianxiu's face darkened and he cursed: "Open your dog eyes and see clearly, your fourth master is not from Jingzhou. How dare you do this?" "Rip off customers"
