Four hundred and seventieth chapters thinking of Xianjiao
After eating this long piece of mooncake, lunch was over. I loved surfing the Internet... Lin Ming only felt full in his belly, but also felt empty, as if he hadn't eaten anything. What kind of meal was this?
!
"How is it? Does it taste good?" Cummins looked at Thorpe who kept drinking tea.
"It's okay." Of course Thorpe understood the teasing in Cummins' words. This compressed grass ration has become a topic in the Fubo Army since its inception. Countless jokes and witticisms in the army are based on it. Except before joining the army.
Except for the new recruits who had never had a full meal, no one said it was delicious.
The reason why it tastes bad is not because of the so-called "emergency dry food must taste bad, otherwise soldiers will use it as snacks", but because its main ingredient is sweet potato dry powder. The dry potato starch, which is rich in fiber, is difficult to eat.
Not to mention swallowing, the army will not get more oil supply. Therefore, it cannot give the same aroma as the compressed ration fried noodles.
But the problem for Thorpe is that the calories of the grassland rations are too low, less than half of the traditional compressed dry food in Pla. This means that the same supply standard has to be doubled. So this time, "energy bars" were added to the grassland rations.
, use a large amount of sugar to increase the caloric supply. In order to relieve fatigue, the supply of mustard is also increased.
"You should pay more attention to when you will get hungry. This is the first time the new suit has been tested."
"We are transporting by boat, so we don't consume a lot of calories. I guess I won't be hungry until seven or eight o'clock in the evening." Cummins touched his belly, "Xiao Xie, let's continue working!"
Thorp watched as Cummins continued to guide Xie Peng in his combat operations, and his attention was focused on the geographical scenery along the way. In another time and space, he had been to many cities in the Pearl River Delta, but at this time, where was he?
Familiar scenery, on the horizon. In addition to the intricate river branches, harbors, and puddles, there are rice fields, fish ponds, mulberry gardens, sugarcane gardens, and litchi forests... Small villages sit among them, and the people wear blue cloth clothes.
Wearing coats and bamboo hats, they rowed boats to and from various places... a rural scene in Guangdong that was rarely seen in the old time and space.
The river in this area is very wide, and the boats on the water are criss-crossing, making it very busy. Thorp noticed that more than 90% of the boats here are small boats, and there are very few large boats. Regardless of the size of the boats, the impression given to people is that they are dilapidated and dilapidated.
Almost none of the bamboo strip curtains are intact, either with holes or patched with a small piece of straw mat. The sails are also mostly riddled with holes. The materials used for the hull are not particular, and the processing is very rough.
He noticed that rags and rags were hanging out to dry on many small boats. There were stoves cooking food at the sterns of the boats. From time to time, he could see naked toddlers - all tied to their waists with ropes. He thought that this was probably the case.
The house is closed.
But I saw a small boat fishing in the river bend. I saw the woman on the boat standing at the stern, rocking the oar, and the man trawling the bow of the boat. Both of them were unkempt, and the woman only had a sarong skirt, which was so tattered that the color could no longer be seen.
There was a baby wrapped in cloth behind him. He was crying loudly, probably because he was hungry. But the woman paid no attention to it. She was concentrating on rocking the oar, and from time to time she would tell her husband to pay attention to the fishing net.
Thorp secretly sighed. Suddenly he saw seven or eight small boats coming out of the river branch in front of him. They gathered here as if under a unified order. However, after getting closer, they suddenly dispersed and left. Thorp was a little strange, and was about to
When asked, Lin Ming had already spoken:
"These are Danhu water bandits. They are probably people of the fourth surname. They thought our boat was good, so they originally wanted to commit robbery." Lin Ming said, "But they still know what they are doing."
Hearing that it was a water bandit, Thorpe couldn't help but feel nervous: "So it's your amulet that worked."
"They are not that stupid," Lin Ming said. "There are so many unbacked cargo ships and merchant ships, why bother with us?"
"So that's it." Thorp was secretly surprised. This place is not a wilderness, but the essence of the Pearl River Delta. It is densely populated, and water bandits are actually committing robberies during the day!
"This place is not far from Foshan Town. Water bandits are so rampant?"
"Foshan Town is nothing. This place is only more than ten miles away from Sanshui County." Lin Ming said with a smile, "These people usually fish and weave bamboo. If they have the opportunity to steal and rob, they will not let it go. The scoundrels are erratic.
There is no fixed place to live, and there is nothing the government can do about it."
The Senate is no stranger to Dan households. Lingao itself has quite a number of Dan households. Later, pirates were recruited several times, and there were Dan households among them. They lived on the water all year round, mostly fishing and weaving bamboo, and
Because they are untouchables, they rarely have contact with the people on land, forming a closed social community.
Although the government discriminated against Dan households, because they were good at water and physically strong, they often recruited Dan households to serve as water warriors. During the Hongwu period, there was also a proposal for Dan households from Guangzhou to serve as navy soldiers. In the Battle of the Pearl River Estuary three years ago,
The navy has fought with Shui Yong of the Dan family more than once. According to estimates from the Great Library, there are about 500,000 Dan households in Guangdong. They have low social and economic status and an urgent need to turn over. They are a force that can be used
.So Thorp paid great attention to their situation.
As the sun sets in the west, a city emerges from the rice fields and river network in the distance. This is Hekou Town, where Sanshui County is located. The terrain of Sanshui slopes from northwest to southeast, with high hills in the northwest and alluvial plains in the southeast.
and low hills; Beijiang, Xijiang and Suijiang rivers merge into three rivers, hence the name Sanshui. And Hekou Town, the seat of Sanshui County in the Ming Dynasty, is where these three rivers converge.
This place is the backlash zone of the Pearl River Delta and the gateway to the west of Guangzhou. It has always been a battleground for military strategists. In history, the warlords of Guangdong and Guangxi, as well as the Chinese and Japanese armies, all fought around this place.
"Master Suo, please take a look, this is Sixianjiao." Lin Ming pointed.
Sixianjiao is just opposite Sanshui County. This is a river connecting Xijiang and Beijiang, about 15 kilometers long. It connects Xijiang and Beijiang, plus the Suijiang River flowing into it three kilometers north of Sixianjiao. It becomes
The "Three Parallel Rivers" in Guangdong. The river here is wide, vast and boundless. Standing on the bow of the boat, you can see the turbid water of the Xijiang River and the clear water of the Beijiang River intersect here. Where the two rivers meet, you can clearly see
The intersection of clear and turbid forms a magical landscape.
Thorpe already had a rough idea of the hydrological data of Sixianjiao: the water depth is about 5 meters, the west Jiao mouth is 100 meters wide, the east Jiao mouth is 200 meters wide, and the middle width is 500 meters. This Jiao is like a natural canal, regulating the flow of the west and north rivers,
It plays an important role in communicating shipping, facilitating drainage and irrigation, and developing production.
The width and water depth of this short Sixianjiao can be used as a berthing place for ships. Thorpe probably remembers that in another time and space, 5,000-ton ships could be berthed here.
"Si Xian Jiao, Si Xian Jiao, this name is really elegant." Cummings said.
"This name has a lot of origins." Lin Ming quickly interjected, "This place was originally called Cangjiang. It is said that Mr. Baisha once visited here to visit his disciple Chen Mian, but he didn't meet him. He left the book with the word 'Sixian', and later generations used this name.
Name it. This is one of the Three Rivers and Eight Scenic Spots."
"Oh?" Cummins didn't know who Mr. Baisha was, and he wasn't interested, but he was still very interested in the scenery.
Seeing that he was very interested, Lin Ming introduced that every time the floods in the Xijiang River or the Beijiang River rise during the news period, they flow back to each other through Sixianjiao. This is often due to the large difference in water levels, and the water colors of the two rivers are obviously different. The west water is yellow and the north water is green.
, forming a unique "flood of thinking about talents".
"...At that time, I saw turbulent green waves and surging yellow waves. Howling and roaring, it shook the heaven and the earth, as if a hundred thousand yellow dragons and green dragons were making noise in the river and sea. This spectacle, which resembled the Jingwei mixed current, was called Yuanyang Water by the locals."
"That's it." Cummins nodded. He noticed that there was a hill at the confluence of the three rivers. Although the altitude was not high, the terrain was very favorable. Almost all ships traveling to and from the three rivers passed under its nose. It would be enough to set up a fort here.
I could control the nearby river. I turned around and asked Xie Peng: "What kind of mountain is this?"
Xie Peng was holding a drawing board in his hand and was making marks. When the leader asked a question, he immediately replied: "This is Kundu Mountain. The altitude is 62 meters."
Cummins picked up the telescope and carefully observed the hill. It was said to be a mountain, but in fact it could only be regarded as a hill. It was neither strange nor dangerous. However, it met their needs.
"Although this mountain is inconspicuous, He Weibo, the former Minister of Rites, once studied in a cottage in the mountain. There are still ruins of a reading hall and a reading table." Lin Ming was like a competent tour guide.
Then he turned the telescope to the direction of Sanshui County. In his opinion, these county towns were almost all modeled after the same mold. City walls, towers, barbicans... The county town was roughly shaped like a triangle along the river, with the east and north sides close together.
River, and trenches were dug to the south. If it were an army in the cold weapon era, Sanshui County would indeed be a very difficult target, but for the Fubo Army, it could capture it in less than an hour thanks to both water and land forces.
"What's the name of the tower on the high hill outside the county town?" Cummins asked.
"Oh, that's a cultural pagoda, and the hill is called Kuigang. The local gentry thought that the feng shui here was good, so they built this pagoda specifically to use the water here to accumulate the cultural heritage of the four directions."
"This name is auspicious." Xie Peng said, "It is both literary and noble."
Because it was almost dusk, Lin Ming suggested mooring the boat for the night at the mouth of the river. It was not safe to sail at night, especially on a large river like the Xijiang River that had not undergone any channel regulation. Moreover, the security of this time and space was unreliable.
The boat docked under the river embankment outside the north gate. There was a Taoist temple built here. Thorpe and Cummings were not interested in praying to gods and Buddhas, but only asked the bodyguards to keep a close guard on it.
Not long after the boat stopped, the county officials carried food boxes and brought a banquet to show their gratitude to the landlords. It happened that everyone who had been tortured by the rations at noon made a tooth sacrifice. One of them was to burn grass, flowers and birds.
It attracted a lot of praise: This is the time when the grass sparrows are at their most plump. (To be continued. (.))