"We don't know very well. After being selected as the Qingshen, you can designate a mountain tour..."
Under the narration of these girls of the same age, the details of Gao Azheng's fall into the cave became clear again: On that day, after Gao Azheng was selected as the Green God, her tour of the mountains and immortals had ended, but she unexpectedly expressed that she wanted to walk along the clear water. Jiang continued his voyage.
In view of the fact that being chosen as the Qingshen is a matter of honoring one's ancestors, the elders of Tudong Town also agreed to her request, allowing many Tudong young people to sit in boats and go south along the Qingshui River, passing countless Gu on the way. People's Village, swim all the way to Laolongkou before it completely stops.
Here, we are close to Laolongkou. Everyone knows that there is a cave god in Laolongkou, and countless seniors have fallen into the cave here. Some Shaoai are naturally afraid of this place, and they all persuaded Gao Azheng to go back. Under their persuasion, Gao Azheng Azheng decided to end the tour, but before leaving, she said that there were flower vines near Laolongkou and she wanted to pick some to make a crown.
The young people had no choice but to wait on the boat and let Gao Azheng go to the shore alone to pick flowers and vines on the mountain wall near Laolongkou. When they saw more and more flower vines in the basket on Gao Azheng's back, the young people couldn't help but worry. , urging Gao Azheng to get on the boat quickly.
Soon after, an unknown wind suddenly blew onto the river, almost lifting everyone's veil. At this time, Gao Azheng wanted to get on the boat, but now he stopped and followed the fallen leaves to the water's edge. Looking carefully at the reflection in the water, this scene frightened the young men.
They had no choice but to get off the boat and plan to take Gao A-Zheng back. When they came to her side, they could clearly feel that Gao A-Zheng had become gentle. She looked at the reflection in the water with self-pity. She had a charm that transcended her age. After only a few days after returning home, It became what it is today.
Song Siyuan carefully considered the details that Axi and the others said:
These young people knew from the beginning that there was a cave god in Laolongkou. In order to avoid being trapped in the cave, they did not even dare to approach Laolongkou. They only dared to wait on the boat for Gao Azheng to come back. As the person involved, didn't Gao Azheng Do you know that Laolongkou is dangerous?
She must know that Lao Longkou is dangerous!
In the past few decades, there have been many legends about cave girls being chosen by the cave gods, which have spread around Tu Cave. This has added a mysterious attribute to Laolongkou and has become a forbidden area for women. As long as a young woman does not want to be If you fall into a hole, you will definitely not reach the entrance easily.
When Axi noticed that the drifting boat had arrived at Laolongkou, their fearful attitude was completely the reaction of normal people!
In other words, Gao Azheng's behavior is definitely not normal. Although she took the initiative to pick flowers and vines near the cave, this was probably to cover up her real purpose. In other words, Gao Azheng's behavior of going to Laolongkou should not have been caused by the cave. She was chosen by God because she deliberately approached the cave entrance in order to fall into it.
"Sister Peacock, please also advise Azheng. If you fall into the trap at a young age, the old man and the old woman will feel very distressed. They can't even talk about getting married. They are afraid that they will break off the engagement."
Ah Xi's words caught Song Siyuan's attention, and she pulled her over: "Cancel the engagement?"
Axi nodded, her tone became mysterious, and she lowered her voice to explain the reason: "Yes, I made an appointment for the son of a squire in Huahuan County half a year ago. I heard that this man is still working as a commissioner in the Huayuan County Yamen, and he is a promising man. , Old Man Gao just thought about letting Azheng marry him, he decided on a matchmaker in advance, and waited for Qingshen to be chosen to marry him, but little did he know that Azheng fell through the cracks after choosing Qingshen."
"No one in Xiangxi dares to steal a bride from the cave god. This family thinks that if it doesn't go well, they will have to break off the engagement. Otherwise, the old man from the Gao family will not be in a hurry to redeem himself with Azheng. If it can be done, Maybe there’s no need to fall into the hole.”
Ren Peacock and Song Siyuan looked at each other, and sure enough they found new clues. They turned back to stare at Gao Azheng. There were not so many secrets hidden in this Shao Ai. Regardless of whether the cave god was real or not, at least Azheng must have fallen into the cave. It's not as simple as it seems.
After the two of them looked at the old Taoist priest, they gradually exited the Gao family's house. When they came out, Yue Guanchao and the others had almost sold all the department stores in the bamboo baskets. When they saw them coming out, they immediately picked up their burdens and went to join them.
"Let's get on the boat first. I'll ask A Liang to take us to Huahuan County to check the Luohua Cave Girl in the county annals."
After saying that, they walked to the Qingshui River and jumped into the boat of the couple. When they were sailing on the Qingshui River, Yue Guanchao looked at the old Taoist priest and said, "Master, the stone you gave me will not really be inhabited by ghosts or gods." Go inside, I think all the smoke has been sucked in."
Yue Guanchao had always been curious about this, but he didn't have time to ask in detail. Now everyone was standing on the boat, just in time to ask about the twists and turns.
"What ghosts and gods? Old Taoist priest, do I look like someone who can catch ghosts? This stone can absorb smoke. It is actually a trick of the Taoist priests."
After finishing speaking, the old Taoist priest paused and his tone became mysterious: "That stone is a hollow stone that I carefully selected. It is solid on the outside but hollow on the inside. As long as I use a chisel to open up the inside of the stone, it will be formed." In the passage from the top of the stone to the foot of the stone, if there is smoke in the future, it will be sucked directly into the stone passage from the top, and then slowly disperse from the bottom."
"Well, it's just a martial art to earn a living."
The old Taoist priest's words aroused everyone's curiosity: "You do this just to make a living? Then you still dare to pretend to be a ghost and do things for others?"
The old Taoist priest's eyes became treacherous, and he shook his head and retorted: "No, no, no, the old Taoist priest is indeed a mess, but he is not a deceitful person. These people believe in ghosts and gods, and Xiangxi is a land of wild gods and witches. Maybe you will meet someone." If they have a headache or a fever, they feel that the monster from the Wild God Mountain has harmed them. My role is to give them a drink of magic water and then perform a method. As long as the doubts in their hearts are gone, the disease will gradually be cured."
"Then do you think the girl from Luohua Cave really fell into a cave?"
Song Siyuan recalled Gao Azheng's performance and asked her inner question,
"Hey, the people in western Hunan are facing illnesses and disasters. Regardless of the common people or the ghosts and gods, the same goes for these cave girls. As long as these symptoms appear, they will most likely be reported as falling into the cave. The people in the countryside are most afraid of offending the gods, so they will do anything. When she comes out, her family will have no choice but to send her to Laolongkou."
"Is the cave god causing trouble? Does it really matter?" After the old Taoist priest finished speaking, he looked at everyone with a sly look and stopped talking.
An hour later, several people walked along the Qingshui River to the outside of Huayuan County. Their second visit to Huayuan County was no longer a temporary stop, but came here with a certain purpose. They wanted to seek help from the ancient city, so they could not help but examine it carefully. Reminiscent of the ancient city.
Huayuan County was called Yongsui County in the previous dynasty. It is located in the wild mountain peaks east of Fengtou Mountain. A Qingshui River passes through the wild mountains and creates fertile tidal flats in the mountains. The ancient county seat was built on the Qingshui River, leaning against the foot of the mountain. The beach is spread out with stilted buildings and white walls with horse heads.
As mentioned before, the previous government wanted to develop southwest shipping and had already regarded Dongting Lake as the shipping hub of the southwest. From Dongting Lake, the Yuanjiang River is the main canal, which is connected to the canals in western Hunan and Guizhou. However, if you want to make southwest freight prosperous, you still need to The canals between Xiangxi and Sichuan must be opened.
At that time, if goods wanted to leave Shu, they had to take the Jialing River and transfer to the Yangtze River. There were many dangerous shoals along the way. If you were not careful, the ship might roll over. In addition, the southwestern water veins could not be connected by taking the river, which made Sichuan-Sichuan and Xiangxi a big problem. Shipping is not possible in some areas, and goods still have to go through rugged official roads if they want to enter the southwest.
In this way, the efficiency of freight transportation will be reduced, and it will be easily robbed by bandits. I heard that during the most chaotic period in the last years of the previous dynasty, many official roads in the southwest were abandoned. The reason was the bandits' rebellion.
If you can't rely on rugged official roads, you can only rely on canals and waterways!
In other words, a smooth waterway must be opened between the Yuanjiang River in Western Hunan and the Jialing River in Sichuan and Sichuan. It was also because of the need to explore the river course that the previous government asked people studying abroad to invite foreigners to plan shipping channels for them.
According to surveys by outsiders, there are Jinsha River, Jialing River, and Yangtze River in the southwest that can connect shipping and directly enter the Dongting Lake shipping hub. However, after the Jialing River, only the Wujiang River is involved between Zizhongcheng and Xiangxi. This river can only be diverted. The road enters Qiandi, from the east of Wujiang River to Yuanjiang River, there is only an intermittent water network, but there are no interconnected rivers. It is completely impossible to navigate the southwest by one boat.
In this case, the most economical and cost-effective way is to open a canal between the Wujiang River and the Yuanjiang River. In this way, goods can go south directly from Dongting Lake and be dispersed to Xiangdi through the Yuanjiang River. They can also use the canal to enter the Wujiang River. It can be navigable to Sichuan, Shu, Yunnan and other places in the west, and can reach Guizhou Province from the Wujiang River in the south.
It can be said that this canal can completely connect the water veins of Yunchuan, Hunan and Guizhou. Once the river is opened, freight transportation in the southwest will no longer be hindered by the rugged official roads.
Among these rivers, the most important one is located between the Yuanjiang River and Wujiang River.
Huayuan County happens to be located between the two rivers. Whether it is the Wujiang River or the Yuan River, the straight-line distances from them to Huayuan County are infinitely close to the same. If you look at the map, you can find that Huayuan County is like a button, set between the two rivers. Between them, it is fully qualified to become a canal for the two rivers.
After the river channel is opened, after sailing from the Yuanjiang River in Dongting Lake, you can follow the Youjiang River, Huayuan River, and Qingshui River to the border of western Hunan, and then use the Huayuan Canal opened by the Qingshui River to cross westward into the Wujiang River. For this reason, Huayuan River The county actually assumes the function of the southwest sub-hub.
If there is a ship from western Hunan to Yungui Sichuan, it will definitely pass through Huayuan County, where it will stop sailing, replenish supplies, or directly transfer goods and distribute them to small boats.
Over the past 20 years, Huahuan County has grown from a small border town to a prosperous county. If you enter the county by boat from the Huayuan River, you can see countless three- and four-story pavilions propped up on both sides of the bank, and most of the stilted buildings protrude into the river. A sign shop was set up on the shore, and thousands of ships and sailing ships came and went.
Across both sides of the river, there are the residences of ordinary people. They are divided into irregular shapes by various canals. They are located among the green willow trees, like shells covering the mountains. With small bridges and flowing water, they are poetic and picturesque. They are like a paradise in the beautiful mountains and rivers of southwest China.
33
Some people died, but not completely...
