There is a post road from Jinling to Quanzhou, Fujian.
If you want to go here, you need to go from Jinling to Jiangshan County, Quzhou Prefecture, Zhejiang Province, and then enter Xianxia Pass from here.
Xianxia Pass is located on Xianxia Ridge, starting from Jiangshan County in the north to Pucheng, Fujian Province in the south. It stretches for more than 200 miles on a winding and narrow mountain road, with high mountains and deep valleys on both sides, connected to Xiu Lian Peak.
As the key to the southeast, it is notoriously difficult to get around.
After passing here, to get to Pucheng, you have to pass through Jianyang, Ouning, Jian'an, Nanping... Hui'an, etc., until you reach Jinjiang City, the prefecture of Quanzhou Prefecture.
Gu Zhengchen knew how difficult and long this road would be just by looking at the map, so he simply refused, and then left the "Guanxi". In order to save time and facilitate "inspection of the people's sentiments", he borrowed a navy ship to send him a trip. Procedure.
Taking the water route is naturally much faster than taking the land route, climbing ravines, and walking through the woods.
According to the documents issued by the imperial court, Gu Zhengchen's arrival date was September 28th. The officials in Quanzhou Prefecture were preparing to welcome him, and they would only make preparations in late September. They never expected that Gu Zhengchen would arrive nearly a month in advance. Quanzhou Prefecture.
After all, it is impossible for anyone to arrive so early in the two thousand miles journey.
Gu Zhengchen closed his eyes and began to think about Zhang Xiwan, his mother, and his sister, and fell into a drowsy sleep.
The ship crushed the night, and waves began to appear on the water.
Gu Zhengchen walked out of the cabin, glanced at Xiao Cheng, who was guarding the door, and said, "We've been guarding him all night. You should go and rest."
Xiao Cheng shook his head slightly and said with a straight face: "I have already rested. The ship passed Jiangyin last night, and two ships followed. The leader was Jiangyin Guard Qianhu Feng Fu."
"Oh, an acquaintance."
Gu Zhengchen thought of his days in Jiangyin Guard and the time he fought side by side with Feng Fu and others. He walked to the deck and said to Chu Xing: "Commander Chu, can you let Feng Fu come over when you are free? I have something to ask him."
Chu Xing readily agreed: "If you want to find someone, please come whenever you are free. Send a message to Feng Fu and ask him to come over."
The ship slowed.
Feng Fu didn't know why, so he took Wei Shangwen and Liu Ji onto the boat, climbed to the side of the big fortune boat, and climbed up.
"Commander Chu, I don't know..."
Feng Fugang wanted to ask Chu Xing the reason for summoning him, but when he saw Gu Zhengchen next to Chu Xing, his eyes widened with a look of disbelief on his face. As soon as he exclaimed the word "Gu", Zhang Pei stood in front of Feng Fu and said in a deep voice: "The master is acting under orders, and his whereabouts and identity must not be revealed!"
"Yes, yes."
Feng Fu was a little nervous.
Gu Zhengchen waved his hand to signal Zhang Pei to step back, and said to Feng Fu with a smile: "I haven't seen you for a while, but you have become a thousand households. I am very happy and congratulated."
Feng Fu quickly stepped forward and saluted.
Wei Shangwen and Liu Ji were even more excited and saluted accordingly.
Feng Fu's eyes were full of gratitude: "Thanks to this, today is possible."
Chu Xing stood up and said cheerfully, "You guys can catch up on old times, I'll take people on a patrol."
It didn't matter that I was there, but Meng Wanli and others were also there. They had heard a lot and could easily guess Gu Zhengchen's identity. It would be safest to simply take them as far away as possible.
Seeing that there was no one else around, Feng Fu said quickly: "Gu County man is not in charge of Jurong, so why did he appear on the navy ship?"
Gu Zhengchen enjoyed the breeze and said seriously: "I just went out to do some errands. I called you here to ask if the Jiangyin Guards had set up a stone tablet and engraved the names of the fallen soldiers."
Feng Fu straightened his chest: "The stone tablet was erected, and not a single name was left out."
Gu Zhengchen nodded with satisfaction.
What I promised at that time was finally fulfilled, and those soldiers who died should also be comforted.
Feng Fu told Gu Zhengchen about Jiangyin Guards. Since Wang Hu took over, the sergeants of Jiangyin Guards have endured hardships almost every day. Super-intense training has drained everyone's strength. In just two months, their feet The blood bubbles turned into cocoons...
Gu Zhengchen looked at Wei Shangwen and Liu Ji and smiled: "I can see that you have become a lot stronger."
Wei Shangwen and others laughed dryly.
In order to become stronger, it is difficult for outsiders to understand the price and pain one pays.
After chatting for half an hour, Feng Fu and others returned to Jiangyinwei's ship. The fleet began to speed up. At midnight, it left the Yangtze River estuary and sailed into the sea.
The boats stop and go, and from time to time they encounter inquiries from Coast Guard ships.
Since the Nansha Water War at the Yangtze Estuary, the guard station has become more careful in inspecting passing ships, especially entering ships. They board almost every ship for inspection.
This means that there are no merchant ships plying the sea, and they are basically the ships of the imperial court. Otherwise, I don’t know how many merchants would be eliminated because of this.
The ship did not sail into the depths of the sea, but only sailed along the coast. The mainland could still be seen during the day.
Navigation is boring, especially when Jinghai Marquis has just cleared the pirates. The pirates are causing harm and they will not dare to show up for a while. Even if they are making trouble, most of them are only along the coasts of Guangdong and Fujian, and cannot reach the Yangtze River estuary and Jiangsu and Zhejiang. area.
There were no pirates, and the ships went all the way south.
Because in August, the west wind has picked up, and the southward journey is considered smooth. With the ship's full sail, the speed is even faster.
After traveling nearly 2,400 miles by sea, in less than ten days, the ship had arrived at Chongwu, Quanzhou Prefecture.
"Are you sure you want to disembark here?"
Chu Xing looked at Chongwu Town. This is the boundary of Hui'an County. Although the mountains are not high, they are densely forested and the roads are difficult to navigate. It is far better to go directly to Jinjiang, Quanzhou.
Gu Zhengchen smiled and said, "Of course."
Although Chu Xing was a little worried, he still respected Gu Zhengchen's opinion.
Gu Zhengchen took Xiao Cheng off the boat and traveled lightly.
As for Zhang Pei, he needs to enter Jinjiang with Chu Xing, and then find an inn to settle down and wait for the meeting.
The boat left.
Gu Zhengchen climbed to the top of Chongwu, looked at the sea, and said to Xiao Cheng behind him: "Do you know what is across the strait?"
Xiao Cheng looked at the vast sea, and there was still the sea at the end: "This is Fujian Province, and naturally the other side of the sea is Xiaoliuqiu."
Xiaoliuqiu is one of the names of Taiwan Island in the Ming Dynasty.
Gu Zhengchen was silent for a long time and said in a deep voice: "Xiao Cheng, do you believe it or not, in my lifetime, Ming Dynasty will include Xiao Liuqiu in its territory!"
Xiao Cheng raised his eyebrows: "It's unlikely. Let's not talk about the imperial court's policy of banning the sea. Let's just say that there are a group of savages living on Xiaoliuqiu. Rumor has it that they are quite vicious. The imperial court will not waste its troops on a barren island. superior."
Gu Zhengchen turned around, raised his hand and patted Xiao Cheng's shoulder heavily, then strode down the mountain: "Just wait and see."
Xiao Cheng didn't understand Gu Zhengchen's ambition. What value could a savage island have?
If you have that intention, you might as well let people cultivate a few more acres of land.
Gu Zhengchen walked for more than ten miles before he encountered a small village.
In the seventh year of Hongwu, Chongwu did not have a city.
Although Chongwu set up the Xiaodou Inspection Village during the Xining period of the Northern Song Dynasty, during the Yuan Dynasty, I don’t know if it was a typo that was corrected. The Yuan Dynasty changed the Xiaodou Inspection Village to the Xiaodou Inspection Division.
Since the Ming Dynasty took over Fujian, coastal defense was under construction, but it was lagging behind. Zhu Yuanzhang's main focus was on the north. According to historical progress, the construction of Chongwu City would have to wait until the 20th year of Hongwu. The person who did this work was Jiangxia Hou Zhou Dexing.
Not to mention the lack of city defense, there is no guard station here.
To put it bluntly, as long as pirates and Japanese pirates want to come, they can land smoothly and then plunder with shouts, but this requires a certain amount of physical strength, because most people no longer live by the sea, and they have to travel at least more than ten miles.
This is troublesome for the pirates. After all, they are doing a one-time deal. They rob and run away. Who knows that now they need to run away first, then rob, and then run away.
There is an extra step of running away, but it can be fatal. If you run over and grab something, and the guard sergeant chases you, it is difficult to say whether you can make it to the beach alive.
From this perspective, Zhu Yuanzhang's ban on the sea was not without any effect. At least it created a certain buffer zone along the coast, allowing people to move inward, and avoiding the situation where pirates suddenly came ashore to kill and rob.
The village is very small, with only about ten households.
Gu Zhengchen realized that he couldn't understand Hokkien at all. He said a few words and gestures, and thought they understood. Who knew that this group of people actually picked up sticks and stones...
Xiao Cheng looked at Gu Zhengchen who turned around and ran away with a look of contempt on his face. If you don't know how to gesture, don't gesture blindly. You only know how to gesture for food. People think you are going to rob their family of food. If they don't hit you, who will hit you?
Chongwu is less than fifty miles away from the county seat of Hui'an County, and only ninety miles away from Jinjiang City in Quanzhou.
Quanzhou Prefecture governs seven counties: Jinjiang, Nan'an, Tong'an, Hui'an, Anxi, Yongchun, and Dehua. Hui'an County naturally falls under the jurisdiction of the Quanzhou Prefect.
Chongwu couldn't wait any longer, so Gu Zhengchen had no choice but to rush to Hui'an County with Xiao Cheng.
Xiao Cheng admired Gu Zhengchen very much. He walked fifty miles without shouting that he was tired. This was not easy for a civil servant. Seeing that the sun was about to set, the two of them finally entered the city before the city gate closed.
Hui'an County is not big, almost the same as Jurong County, but it is really deserted here.
There were very few pedestrians on the street. Even if there were some, they were in a hurry and did not dare to stop.
"Brother, why is the city not bustling even after we leave the city gate? It's not dark at the moment, so you're not in a hurry to close the stall, are you?"
Gu Zhengchen walked to a cake stall and asked the middle-aged man who was about to close the stall.
The stall owner looked at Gu Zhengchen, and then looked down the street fearfully. He didn't hear any movement, so he quickly took out two cakes and handed them over: "You are from out of town, right? Who among the locals doesn't know how to walk on the street at night? Two Wen Qian, you should quickly find an inn to rest, and don’t walk around on the street.”
"Ye Xiao is walking on the street, what is that?"
Gu Zhengchen frowned, moved his wrist, and handed over a copper coin.
The stall owner obviously didn't want to explain and seemed a little scared. He quickly packed up the stall and left in a hurry.
The street became quiet.
The shops along the street closed their doors one after another, and several children ran into the street. They were beaten again by adults and ran away, leaving only a string of crying.
Gu Zhengchen looked at Xiao Cheng, handed over a cake, and said slowly: "It seems that Hui'an County is not as peaceful as its name suggests. Someone is going to perform tonight."
