The big boat in the river bend swayed gently with the rise and fall of the river water. Jiang Shuo not only did not feel any discomfort, but slept very well. When he woke up, he felt refreshed and the fatigue of the past few days was completely gone.
He walked out of the cabin and saw that the boatmen had already gone to work and were laying out ropes on the deck. The sun shines on the river, like covering the turbid yellow water with a layer of golden scales. Ye Qingyao had already gotten up. When he saw Jiang Shuo coming out, he brought him face wash and asked him to wash up. Jiang Shuo had never been taken care of like this by anyone. Of course, wealthy people in the world would not take care of his daily life. Dugu Xiang Dalielie is no different from a boy. He can't think of this. Only Ye Qingyao can prepare carefully.
Jiang Shuo washed up in embarrassment and said to Ye Qingyao: "Sister Qingyao, you treat me so well. You ignored me before, and I thought you would ignore me again."
Ye Qingyao snorted softly and said, "You had Sister Xiang'er as your companion before now, so why am I here to join in the fun?"
Jiang Shuo was quite embarrassed, and thought about Xiang'er's life and death at the moment, and couldn't help but feel melancholy again. Ye Qingyao turned to look at his sad face, as if he was about to cry, and couldn't bear it, so he comforted him softly: "Okay, I I'm joking with you, why do you take it seriously? Sister Xiang'er is smart and smart, and nothing will happen to her."
Jiang Shuo said, "Yes, I'll go find Brother Ding and ask if he can send us across the river to the north."
Ding Kun himself came first, crossed his arms to Jiang Shuo and said, "Young Master, our fleet of canal boats was supposed to go upstream to transport autumn harvests to the capital. In winter, the water is too shallow to go back, so we are here to wait for the spring flood. Yesterday we measured We can set off when the water rises, and it’s a coincidence that the young master is coming to cross the river, just in time to give you a ride.”
Jiang Shuo said: "It turns out this is a canal ship, but why are there no soldiers escorting it?"
Ding Kun said with a smile: "Nowadays, there is a serious shortage of soldiers in various places, and the transshipment yamen also has no soldiers to deploy. Except for the canal ships that transport money, silk, salt, and iron, there are still a few navy guards. The rest are our canal ships." Help your brother to transport it at home. The yamen only need to check when getting on and off the boat."
Jiang Shuo thought to himself: Is the shortage of troops in the Central Plains so serious now? When I followed He Zhizhang and Li Bai up the Han River to the north, the boatmen and sailors were still soldiers. If An Lushan really rebels, how can we resist if the Central Plains is so empty? He was thinking about this in his mind, but he said: "That's great, but the river here is very fast. Brother Ding, how can you go upstream?"
Ding Kun pointed to the shore and said, "Look, Qian Fu is here."
I saw hundreds of people walking in the distance. These people were wearing short coats and trousers. The leader came to the front of the boat, crossed his hands to Ding Kun and said, "Hall Master Ding has invited me, are you leaving now?"
Ding Kun gave way to Jiang Shuo and said, "Young Master Jiang, the leader of my Cao Gang, is here. I will obey your orders in everything."
The man was stunned for a moment, looked Jiang Shuo up and down, and finally bowed to Jiang Shuo with his hands crossed, "Old Yanzi, I would like to pay my respects to Young Master Jiang. Please tell me when to leave."
Seeing his doubts, Ye Qingyao whispered softly: "This person's surname is Chen. The boat people tabooed the homophony of Chen and Chen, so they replaced it with Lao Yan."
Jiang Shuo nodded, crossed his hands to Chen and Ding and said, "I'm young and don't know much about shipping, so I'd better ask Brother Ding to give orders."
Ding Kun was no longer modest and said to Chief Chen: "Old Yan, let's set off now!"
The leader of the Qianfu shouted "Hello", turned around and shouted a few times. The Qianfu actually started to take off their clothes and trousers. First they took off their coats, then their shoes and socks, and then they even took off their trousers. After a while, all of them were completely naked. , Ye Qingyao screamed "Yeah" in fright, covered his face and hid back in the cabin.
Jiang Shuo was quite surprised and asked Ding Kun, "Brother Ding, why do they all take off their naked bodies? Are they going to take a bath in the river?"
Ding Kun said: "Young master, I don't know. I am working on the river beach. The ropes rub my shoulders, so I can't put on my clothes. The sand and gravel on the river beach rub my pantyhose, so I can't wear my lower clothes."
Jiang Shuo said, "You should wear some trousers after all. Wouldn't it be better to roll up the trousers?"
Ding Kun said: "The fabric was soaked in sweat and river water, and it didn't take more than a month for the fabric to soak. Thousands of men are poor people, but they can't bear to change their pants once a month, so they took off all their clothes."
While they were talking, the boatmen on the boat, except for the few people who were operating the boat, all jumped off the boat and together with the husband, they picked up the thick hemp rope thrown from the boat.
There were ropes attached to the first big boat Jiang Shuo and the others took, and it seemed that they were going to pull them upstream one by one.
Jiang Shuo said: "So the boatmen also have to get out of the boat to stretch?"
Ding Kun said: "That's natural. We are all miserable people, and we are not the master. Are we just sitting on the boat and watching?"
Jiang Shuo said, "Then I'll go down and help."
Ding Kun hurriedly stopped him and said, "Young Master, although you may have great skills, but you don't know how to stretch, you will only cause trouble if you go on."
I saw that the men on the shore had lined up in several long lines. The rope was not actually a long rope, but sections of rope lassoed together. Each man had a noose hanging on his shoulder. Their pulling movements were completely different from what Jiang Shuo expected. They were lying on the ground, crawling forward on their hands and feet. After a while, the ropes were gradually straightened. The leader of Qian Fu began to shout a slogan, and everyone joined in. Following the call, the rope stretched straight and creaked loudly. People on the boat tapped their pennies on the river bank. The big boat left the berth and slowly moved upstream.
The men pressed their hands, elbows, knees, and feet firmly against the sand and gravel on the river beach. Their muscles were tense, and they swayed regularly from side to side in response to the call. They pulled the rope forward, and they only walked a few dozen steps. Already sweating profusely.
The men moved almost close to the water bank. The river water and sweat were intertwined. Sure enough, everyone was as wet as when they were fished out of the water. Only then did Jiang Shuo realize that he couldn't wear any clothes, otherwise he would be worn out. Not to mention the torn clothes, it must be very uncomfortable to be wrapped in wet clothes.
The most difficult part of fiber drawing is to drag the ship out of the anchorage. Once the big ship starts walking against the current, it is not as strenuous as it was at the beginning. Jiang Shuo discovered that fiber drawing is indeed a craft, and it does not require stupid strength.
Qianfu did not move forward in a straight line. The boatman holding the pole on the boat shouted: "Steady, steady!" But the leader of the stringer kept shouting: "Dodge! Dodge!"
It turned out that layers of turbid waves were coming from the upper reaches of the river. The largest wave front was called "water bar". Qianfu and the boatman worked together to swing the hull and adjust the angle of the ship to cut into the water bar to weaken the impact of the river water and ensure As Ding Kun said, if you just use brute force to pull, the big ship may hit the water rod head-on, and it may be pushed backwards, or it may capsize.
As the ship was going up, Mr. Zhang Guo also came out of the cabin. He yawned and stretched, chirping and saying: "Hey, we are going to the Xiamen. Brother Ding, which door should we take today?" ?」
Jiang Shuo didn't know which door to take. He turned to look at Ding Kun. Ding Kun explained to Jiang Shuo: "Young Master, this place is called Sanmen Gorge. There are three hills in the river. It is said that it was originally a whole mountain inserted into the river. , almost cutting off the river in the middle. When Dayu was controlling the water, Dayu used his magic ax to split the mountains to connect the rivers, and split the hills in the river into three sections. These three islands were named after "humans, gods, and ghosts" respectively, forming four waterways. Among them, the waterway adjacent to the north shore is too narrow to pass ships. The other three waterways that can pass ships are called "Human Gate", "Shenmen" and "Ghost Gate". "
Jiang Shuo looked forward and saw that there were indeed three hills standing in the river. The tops of these three hills were as flat as the mountains and about the same height. It looked like a mountain had been cut into three sections. Look at the mountains in front of the three hills. There is also a small island in the river, and there is a solitary peak to the south of the island. .br>
This solitary peak stands proudly and independently in the turbid waves, splitting the pouring river water into two. Although it is not too high compared with the three gates of humans, gods and ghosts, it seems to be more powerful than the three gates. Ding Kun Seeing that he was in a trance, he said: "This solitary peak in the water is the mainstay."
Jiang Shuo said: "It turns out that the so-called "mainstay" is here. "
The main pillar is located in the river near the south bank. The inner side is clear and shallow, while the outer side is turbid. The strange thing is that Qianfu did not go to the inner side, but swam in the water, and went straight to the foot of the main pillar mountain. The main pillar mountain is very steep, and there are many carvings on the rocks. After leaving the diversion road, everyone climbed up the diversion road and pulled the big ship through the outside of the main pillar mountain.
At this time, several strands of long ropes were thrown from the third door. The heads of the hemp ropes were tied with floating rafts made of sheepskin, so they would not sink into the water. They floated all the way to the bottom of the big ship. The boatmen on the ship hooked them with long hooks. It was firmly fixed on the big iron ring on the bow of the ship. After the fixation was completed, a trumpet sounded from the Sanmen Mountain in front. Only then did Jiang Shuo notice that there was a huge winch on the mountain. Countless river workers pushed the winch and dragged the big ship towards the middle Shenmen. Drive away.
now
The big ship almost rubbed against the main mountain as it went up. Jiangshuo saw that the main mountain had been beaten by torrents for millions of years and eroded by wind and rain, leaving behind a rocky mountain as smooth and strong as a pillar. There were countless stone carvings on the steep cliffs, among which the most The two lines in the middle are the largest, and Jiang Shuo saw that they were: "
Look up at the mainstay and look north at the dragon gate.
The vast traces of Yu and the vastness of Changchun. "
Ding Kun said: "This is the "Inscription on the Mainstay Mountain" written by Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. There is also an "Inscription on the Mainstay Mountain" engraved below, but it was written by Wei Zheng."
Jiang Shuo looked down and saw several rows of densely packed small characters, but he was too far away to see what was written. He turned to look at Sanmen Gorge again. The water flow at Guimen on the north side was the most dangerous. The Shenmen Gate in the middle was open, but the water flow was so large that the ship shook violently. The people on the two mountains turning the winch were also very hard. Although the Manmen Gate in the south was not as good as The Shenmen was wide, but the water flow was not so fast. After bypassing the main pillar, the bow of the boat was facing the Shenmen, and it was too late to turn to the human door. He wondered why he didn't take the calm waterway inside the main pillar instead of going around the outside. ?
While Jiang Shuo was thinking, the ship was still approaching the Shenmen waterway. The closer it got to the water gate, the more turbulent the water became when it was squeezed by the rocky mountains on both sides. The surging river water slapped violently under the hull, splashing out countless muddy yellow water splashes. Like bursts of yellow smoke.
The hull of the ship made no sound while passing through the rough waves. It was obviously quite strong. Jiang Shuo then realized that the ship was narrow in front and wide in back, with its bow raised high, which was perfect for traveling through the waves. He suddenly remembered that Liu Yan told him about various things in Yangzhou. Looking at the different ships used for water transportation, he asked: "Brother Ding, is this the "door-to-door filling ship"? "
