After leaving Jingzhou, the army advanced both by land and water, heading east along the Yangtze River. After passing Zhenjiang Prefecture and Changzhou Prefecture, it took only four or five days to enter Suzhou Prefecture, Songjiang Prefecture, Jiaxing Prefecture, and Huzhou Prefecture in the circle around Taihu Lake, which is commonly known as the Susongjiahu Jiangnan heavy tax area.
At the same time, Qin Yuan asked Li Yinhuan to send his confidants to divide the troops into six routes. These six routes, like a surging river, would be divided into smaller tributaries in each county, town, and township as they advanced from east to south.
If viewed from the sky, it really looks like a flowing river made up of people, penetrating into every capillary of the behemoth Susong Jiahu Prefecture.
Even though Qin Yuan had been a human for two lifetimes, he was still extremely unfamiliar with the Jiangnan region at this moment.
He stayed in the north for more than a year, but never went south to have a look.
The same autumn, unlike the yellow sand all over the sky in the northern frontier and the maple forests in Peking, the autumn in the south of the Yangtze River is long and gentle, with the elegant fragrance of osmanthus in the air, as if you are in a landscape painting.
“Everyone praises the beauty of Jiangnan, but visitors should only grow old there.”
On the dirt road of Songjiang Prefecture, you can see buffaloes mooing in the roadside paddy fields, farmers making their last effort barefoot, children jumping around, and women speaking the soft Wu dialect.
Qin Yuan held the horse's reins and sighed, "The warm breeze from the south of the Yangtze River does wear away your spirit if you're exposed to it for too long."
It was exactly the same as his previous life, so hot and stuffy that people didn't want to do anything.
"Are you from Jiangbei?"
Qin Yuan did not lower his voice deliberately, and was heard by several scholars who were coming from the same direction on the left side of the road.
Several scholars were dressed like students in an academy. Although their clothes were a bit simple, their demeanor and expression revealed the arrogance that only scholars have.
Qin Yuan signaled to the guards with his eyes not to be nervous and simply stopped his horse.
The young scholar who was riding a donkey in front also stopped his donkey, bowed, and asked in a questioning tone:
"Since you've been to Jiangnan, you must have experienced its customs and people. Jiangnan's scenery is just like this: 'The warm wind intoxicates the tourists, making them mistake Hangzhou for Bianzhou.' Using this phrase to suggest something is not the behavior of a well-mannered person."
Several other students also started chattering like little magpies.
There weren't any unpleasant words like "country bumpkin" in their speech, and their soft accents didn't convey any anger. They were just quoting from classics in a sarcastic tone.
Perhaps realizing that there was nothing more to say in the discussion, a scholar finally spoke up and asked.
"May I ask your name, sir?"
Another young scholar nearby chimed in, "If you knew the customs and people of Jiangnan, you wouldn't be so emotional! We scholars are supposed to read the sages' books with sincerity and integrity. How can you so casually criticize them?"
Qin Yuan frowned slightly.
Murong Yanran quickly stepped forward and said with a smile, "This is our first time visiting Jiangnan. We are not very familiar with your place. We apologize for any offense."
Murong Yanran was not afraid of these Jiangnan scholars, but she was worried that these young scholars would ruin their plans and expose their identities, so she tried to smooth things over.
As Murong Yanran spoke, she stretched out her right hand to the side and made a "please" gesture, indicating that these young scholars should continue to move forward. If they met on the road, it would be just an accidental encounter, so they could just pass it by.
When the scholars heard Murong Yanran's Jiangxi accent and her beautiful appearance and polite manner, their expressions eased a little.
Jiangxi is also a place of culture and culture, so I think it was scholars who came from Jiangxi to visit Jiangnan.
So he nodded, stopped caring about it, and wanted to move on.
The two groups passed each other.
Wait until the students disappear from sight.
Li Dejian then said bitterly: "What an arrogant scholar!"
"If I hadn't gone on this incognito trip, I probably wouldn't have seen them act so arrogantly and domineeringly."
Qin Yuan rode his horse leisurely. "In every imperial examination in the Great Zhou Dynasty, 70% of the candidates were from Jiangnan. How could they not be proud?"
Li Dejian pursed his lips and said disdainfully, "What's the use of having more people? Of the nine aristocratic families, not a single one is in Jiangnan."
"There are very few officials above the third rank in the imperial court who are from Jiangnan."
“Almost none of them serve in the military.”
"What's the point of just being able to pass exams? Governing a country and defending our homeland ultimately doesn't rely on words or pens."
…
Qin Yuan and his group were not in a hurry. They kept observing the customs and habits of Jiangnan along the way.
“Why don’t these farmers use buffaloes to plow the land?”
Qin Yuan stopped his horse again, pointed at the farmers working on the terraced fields not far away, and asked questions to the people around him.
I saw a green buffalo covered with a layer of mud, looking fat and strong, lying lazily on the edge of the field to bask in the sun.
The farmers, young and old, all joined in the work, bending their waists and hunching their backs, sweating profusely under the scorching sun, working in the knee-deep paddy fields.
The blue ox mooed leisurely, as if it was the boss.
Li Dejian and Li Yinhuan naturally couldn't understand.
Even Murong Yanran was speechless for a moment.
"Master Murong, you didn't know?" Qin Yuan was a little surprised. "Is their cow sick?"
"Sir Qin, Jiangxi is mountainous, so there are many terraced fields. They are quite different from the large flat paddy fields like those in Susong, Jiaxing and Huzhou in Jiangnan."
Murong Yanran thought of an excuse to make amends.
Then, under Qin Yuan's gaze, she put some copper coins in her pocket and walked to the paddy field to ask questions.
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