Chapter 102 Jiangdu

The "Shanyang Du" dredged by Yang Guang's imperial decree was indeed worthy of its reputation.

The river was forty paces wide and thirty feet deep, so a boat could sail through it as if on a mirror. Furthermore, imperial roads were built along the sides of the canal, and willow trees were planted along the way.

The price was the mobilization of more than 100,000 Huainan civilians.

Sailing on the waterway, Zhou Yi saw many grain ships. These grain ships and supplies from the Yangtze and Huaihe Rivers were transported to Luoyang and Guanzhong, which was an economic and military lifeline.

On the second day, after passing Bozhi Lake, the water surface suddenly became clear and the vast waves of Gaoyou Lake came into view.

"Brother Zhou, it's difficult for our ship to move forward."

A big man with a rough face clasped his fists towards Zhou Yi.

When he said "it's difficult to travel", he didn't mean that the water route was blocked, but that their identities were not suitable.

This Wang Xiongdan was not only Du Fuwei's adopted son, but also his most capable general.

He is very skilled in martial arts and is also known for his loyalty and bravery.

"Thank you, Brother Wang, for seeing you off all the way."

Wang Xiongdan smiled innocently, "This is the first time Dad has asked me to send someone off. Brother Zhou Yi, please be careful when you go to Jiangdu. Someone from the Yuwen clan has already gone there a few days ago."

"They have a close relationship with Yuchi Sheng, the governor of Yangzhou."

"Further ahead, we will reach the Yangzi Ferry. There, the Yangzhou navy is checking us out. They are all Yuchi Sheng's men. Brothers, please don't tell us that you have any dealings with our Jianghuai Army. That would be a huge trouble."

Zhou Yi thanked him again.

Wang Xiongdan waved his hands repeatedly, and the two sides said goodbye. Then he led his men back to the ship.

Zhou Yi went ashore to rest and looked back at the direction where the Jianghuai Army disappeared.

This time of making friends with Du Fuwei was quite unexpected.

At present, this underworld overlord has not been backstabbed by Li Zitong's mutiny. He looks very old-fashioned, but he is actually quite... sunny?

Zhou Yi secretly cursed.

It is obviously inappropriate to evaluate a gangster overlord in this way.

However, judging from the brief interaction we had, he was quite nice to me.

Jianghuai Army. Jianghuai Army.

Thinking over Du Fuwei's words, he headed towards the next ferry. There were wooden sheds and food stalls on the shore. Perhaps because they were close to Jiangdu, these stalls looked neat and clean.

Many people from the rivers and lakes eat here, and there are also various daily necessities on the shore for passengers to buy.

Countless canal ships pass through here every year, so the coastal docks are extremely prosperous.

With the addition of those people traveling back and forth, it becomes even more lively.

Zhou Yi sat down to eat. The locals spoke with a Jiangnan accent. The cook and the waiter talked very quickly, and Zhou Yi could not understand much.

so.

You have to find out about Jiangdu’s affairs from some people in the underworld.

What he cared about most was naturally the stone dragon.

At this time, Shilong should be undisturbed and immersed in the study of "The Secret of Immortality".

It took Yu Wenzhi a lot of effort to find out that the "Eternal Life Secret" was in Shi Long's hands.

At this moment, Du Fuwei also knew about it, which was really beyond his expectation.

What made Zhou Yi feel a little relieved was that at this ferry near Yangzijin, those people from the martial arts world did not talk much about "stone dragon" and "secret of immortality".

What they were more concerned about were the thirty-six rebel kings and seventy-two rebel groups in the Sui Dynasty.

Major events in the world involve all the major forces in the underworld.

The wanderers in the world talked about it with great relish.

Here, you won't hear them discussing Yang Dalongtou, Du Fuwei, Shen Faxing, Li Zitong. Ren Shaoming of the Iron Cavalry Society is the one who mentions these names the most.

What Zhou Yi didn't expect was that someone actually mentioned "Taiping Hongbao".

Glancing at the man drinking.

Maybe he was originally from there.

This did not affect Zhou Yi's sense of pride that "this Heavenly Master is famous throughout the world."

Of course, such a big name is due to the cooperation with the Migong team.

Not hearing any useful news is not necessarily a bad thing.

At the end of the hour of Wei, we took a passenger boat directly to Yangzijin Ferry, which is the last checkpoint where the Han Canal flows into the Yangtze River. The stone pier stretches for miles and is full of black boats coming from the south of the Yangtze River.

The "Jinting" in the center of the pier has flying eaves and brackets, and underneath it sits a general, leisurely drinking tea.

The navy under the Yangzhou governor was patrolling the river.

Armed soldiers jumped onto the passenger ship where Zhou Yi was and took a look around. They did not see any familiar faces of the rebels and did not make things difficult for them.

As for the Taiping rebel, he had not caught the eye of Jiangdu General Yuchi, so the soldiers and generals below naturally would not recognize Zhou Yi.

Several large five-tooth ships sailed across the river, and the general who was resting in the pavilion couldn't help but stand up.

This was built under the personal supervision of Yang Su, a founding minister of the Sui Dynasty. Each ship could accommodate 800 people and was flying the flag of the Yuwen clan.

It is no secret that the governor of Yangzhou is close to the Yuwen clan.

Zhou Yi watched the large ship passing by and became more cautious.

I don’t know which one of the Yuwen family it is.

The palaces on both sides of the river are quite luxurious.

When I saw the outer city wall of Jiangdu, the only way to describe it was looking up.

Chang'an's city wall, 30 meters high, is only the third highest in the world.

Luoyang and Jiangdu, with their outer walls nearly 40 meters high, can be described as majestic and magnificent.

If there were soldiers guarding the city wall, even if Ning Sanren came, he would not dare to face this magnificent wall directly.

The emperor could indeed rest easy living in such a place.

In front of the prosperous Jiangdu, Zhou Yi felt that he was really just "a farmer in Nanyang".

As the crowd flowed into the city, he did not linger in the noisy streets, but first looked for the intelligence department.

The Jukun Gang is located in the south of the city and is not very prosperous.

Zhou Yi took great pains to find it.

However, the door was closed.

I knocked on the door, but there was no response for a long time.

So I asked the old man who sells Hu Bing next door, and he said in a Wu accent:

"The Zhang family umbrella shop closed three days ago. It was drizzling that day, and I saw the owner of the Zhang family go out with an umbrella. He never came back."

Zhou Yi had a bad feeling.

He bought two cakes from the old man. When the lights in the city came on, he first found a Tongfu Inn to stay in.

Because some questions are rather obscure, I didn't dare to ask anyone casually when I arrived in a new place.

The next morning, it was dawn.

Zhou Yi walked along the south side of the city and happened to find the South Gate Restaurant.

Through the rising steam from the steamer, I saw the signature Lao Feng vegetable and meat buns.

In front of the shop, a beautiful woman was busy working.

She was outside soliciting business, and the shop owner, Old Feng, brought a plate of buns from the kitchen and handed them to her to sell.

His buns are indeed famous, and customers outside are rushing to pay.

Zhou Yi's eyes moved and he saw it intently.

On the outskirts of the crowd stood two down-and-out teenagers. One was thin and handsome, only slightly shorter than an adult, and had a pleasing appearance.

On the other hand, he has big ears, is slightly shorter, more masculine, and has a clever look in his eyes.

The two of them scanned the crowd, then moved closer and shouted:

"Sister Zhen, six vegetable and meat buns, please."

The busy woman looked at them helplessly and glanced at Old Feng inside.

She felt sorry for the two poor young men and planned to find a chance to buy them some buns to fill their stomachs.

but

His attention was drawn to another figure in white.

"Give me twenty vegetable and meat buns."

This arrogant voice immediately attracted the attention of the two young men.

Seeing the man in white take out the money directly, I settled the bill first.

The clanging sound of the five-zhu coins was very pleasant to the ear.

The two men looked at the man in white as if they were seeing a fat sheep.

But seeing that he had a sword hanging on his waist, he quickly retracted his neck. Of course, he was not hiding from Zhou Yi, but because Old Feng inside came out of the kitchen again.

They hid behind the crowd so that Lao Feng couldn't see them.

In their opinion, Stinky Old Feng is more terrifying than the swordsmen in the martial arts world.

Twenty buns were really a lot, so they were wrapped in paper and stacked high in my hand.

Zhou Yi walked past the two teenagers, their eyes following Baozi.

Suddenly a voice sounded in my ears:

"Two little devils, come here and eat buns."

The two were stunned for a moment.

"Xiao Ling, Xiao Ling, am I hallucinating?"

"Let's go, it's calling us."

He saw the big brother in white waving at them.

The two men felt a little guilty. They had just treated this big brother as a fat sheep and wanted to steal some money from him, but they didn't expect him to be so kind.

There are not many people in Yangzhou who are as kind-hearted as Zhen Sao.

However, the thought of being able to eat my fill.

Putting aside this little guilt for the moment, he quickly ran after him.

The two of them lived no better than beggars in Yangzhou, but they didn't feel ashamed of it.

They saw the big man in white clothes sit down in another restaurant, order three servings of wontons, and invite the two of them to sit down.

Zhou Yi didn't say anything, put down the buns and asked them to eat.

Being hungry, the two teenagers grabbed the buns and started eating.

He ate five or six in a row before he slowed down.

The big brother in front of them, who had an extraordinary demeanor, did not eat the buns, but just stared at them.

The two looked at each other and put down the buns in their hands.

Zhou Yi stretched out his hand: "Eat first, and then talk after you're full."

Soon, the wontons were served again.

The two of them felt relieved when they saw the big brother in white also eating wontons.

They almost doubted whether this was the last full meal in their lives.

The two of them ate buns and wontons, and looked at the person in front of them, and suddenly felt moved.

From birth to now, he has been displaced in troubled times, living under the oppression of Boss Yan.

This was the most filling meal I've ever had in my life.

…

(End of this chapter)