Four hundred and seventieth chapters Little Three Gorges
Thorp was secretly happy that Guangdong has never been self-sufficient in food. Originally, he planned to obtain food through Guangxi, but he had no idea how much food could be transported from Guangxi. Now it seems that Guangxi's food can not only be transported externally,
The quantity is also quite large. As for salt, it was originally an important pillar of the Senate's economy. Once Guangdong was occupied, all the salt fields in Guangdong would fall into the hands of the Senate. There would be no shortage of supplies.
He couldn't help but nodded and said "good". His excitement was beyond words.
Chen Hongyi seemed very happy to see him smiling. He didn't know what he meant by that sentence, but he just laughed with him.
Then Thorpe asked many questions about shipping. His words were kind and the atmosphere of the conversation was very relaxed. Chen Hongyi said everything he knew, and the conversation lasted until late at night. He heard three drums beating on the Qiao Tower, and Thorpe realized that it was late at night.
After a while, Lin Ming was asked to send Shopkeeper Chen's money away.
When Chen Hongyi was about to get off the ship, he couldn't help but ask Lin Ming: "Who is this master?"
Lin Ming did not answer, only said: "Old Chen, you have won the jackpot." He smiled and said nothing.
Chen Hongyi trembled, went home and fell asleep for half the night. Even the word "Prince" came to his mind.
Early on the next morning, the boat continued its journey up and entered the boundary of Zhaoqing Prefecture. The river here was still open. Even if you rowed against the current and used both oars and oars, and hung up the sail when the wind was blowing, you could still manage to sail. After a few days, the two sides of the river gradually became more mountainous and the water flow was rapid.
It became more and more difficult to sail the boat, and from time to time I had to carry my back to go up.
On this day, the ship entered Sanrong Gorge, which is where the so-called "Xijiang Little Three Gorges" is located. It is also an important passage between Zhaoqing and Sanshui. From here, travelers leave the vast Pearl River Delta and enter
In the mountainous area of western Guangdong.
As soon as the ship entered the Sanrong Gorge, the river narrowed suddenly, from nearly a thousand meters to 370 meters. The water was turbulent. The river beach on the north bank was rugged with strange rocks. It was like a tall building, known as the Diaoyutai. It is also a scenic spot of the Little Three Gorges.
Thorpe saw the boats moving as slow as a snail. Then he watched the trackers climbing the mountain and stumbling along the towpath. He couldn't help but feel anxious: The Sanrong Gorge is 55 kilometers long. With the track going up, he can walk less than ten kilometers in a day.
Sanrong Gorge will take nearly a week!
Because they are an "official ship", there are more than a dozen civilian ships accompanying them on the water. Due to the heavy load, the speed of entering the water is even slower. Thorpe estimates that it will take them at least ten days to complete the Sanrong Gorge.
.
"I didn't expect that there would be no road construction on such a major transportation corridor. How can the local government and people do anything to eat?" Cummings saw the trackers struggling to walk slowly on the rocky beach with their bodies nearly parallel to the ground.
He couldn't help but say.
"You are wrong to blame them." Thorpe looked at the trackers on the rocky beach who were shouting and struggling forward. "The plank road in the Three Gorges of the Xijiang River began in the Ming Dynasty. This gorge road originally had no road at all.
It was only thanks to the construction of roads and bridges in the Ming Dynasty that we finally had a basically passable plank road. Otherwise, the trackers could only carry their tows on the cliffs halfway up the mountain..."
Cummins clicked his tongue, it's fine to just climb up without falling off on this kind of terrain...
"This was presided over by Chen Yilong, a high-ranking person, and it was only built at the end of Wanli." Lin Ming hurriedly came to join in the fun, "It's called the 'Xiashan Dry Road'. It's not easy to build. Usually only trackers use it."
Cummins looked at the simple roads and bridges that appeared and disappeared between the cliffs, and had a more straightforward understanding of "the low productivity level of ancient society."
"The water depth here is very deep. It is not difficult for a 3,000-ton ship to reach Zhaoqing." Thorpe said, "There is just a shoal downstream. The new shoal needs to be dug out."
"This project is too big." Although Cummins does not engage in engineering, as a combat staff, he still has a considerable ability to identify the project volume. "The troops cannot do it alone, so the executive committee must organize manpower and material resources..."
"Of course. So we need to make more use of local shipping power. They are familiar with the waterways." Thorpe said. "It's just that it's too slow to get on the water..."
"It would be nice to have a diesel engine. Modify the sailboat." Cummins, "The small steam engine is too slow now. You have to bring your own coal..."
Thorpe nodded: Power indeed troubles the construction of their magnificent "shallow water fleet". Even the steam three-engine boats whose manufacturing and use have been fully mastered are actually only used for short distances: the voyage mileage is long, and coal and boiler water are used.
It will become a troublesome thing, especially if you have to navigate for a long time in a long inland river system like Guangdong.
Even though the inland river fleet plan proposed by Gong Gongguo looked beautiful, in fact he doubted whether other plans besides shallow water tugboats and gunboats could be successful - power was a fatal flaw.
The salt boat hobbled all the way up, and finally entered the Dading Gorge. The canyon opened up, the river widened, and the water slowed down. However, there were also many water bandits. Small groups of water bandits operated small boats in the forks of the river bank, and ships were robbed along the way.
I also saw something. Thorpe warned me to be more vigilant.
Although they were "official ships" and hung with awe-inspiring escort flags, water bandits with "no friendship" would still take a look at them from time to time. Fortunately, these water bandits were alone and did not know the details of the official ships, so they did not dare to rashly
Take action.
There are mountainous areas on both sides of the river here, and boats on the water need to be hauled slowly. No wonder it is a hunting ground where water bandits gather. The most rampant place for water bandits in the Yangtze River is the Three Gorges River from Yichang to Chongqing.
It seems that things in Guangdong are very difficult. Thorpe thought to himself, the social sentiments we have to face are more than a hundred times more complicated than those in Hainan Island. Let’s just say that the long mountains on both sides of the Three Gorges can be used as a
A place for "hiking and camping", let alone the less developed 17th century, there might even be South China tigers in the mountains...
After passing Dading Gorge, you will enter the essence of the Little Three Gorges: Antelope Gorge. Among the Three Gorges, Antelope Gorge Mountain is the highest and deepest. It is formed by Antelope Mountain and Lanke Mountain sandwiched between the Xijiang River. The main peak of Lanke Mountain is Lanke Peak.
904 meters, with many peaks and rugged rocks. The main peak of Antelope Mountain is 615 meters high at the top of Longmen. The mountain is high and steep, close to the river bank. The rolling green mountains wind and pour into the canyon, making it dangerous, strange, precipitous and beautiful.
Dominate the Sanrong Gorge, the head of Dading Gorge.
However, the water here is more turbulent and the gorge road is more dangerous. The trackers landed on the shore with their backs bent, climbed the trees step by step, and moved forward slowly along the cliffs. The twenty-mile water journey took three days. They could not do it at night.
On the water, they could only anchor the boat for the night. Apes and tigers roared on both sides of the river, and one night they even heard extremely shrill screams for help, which was frightening.
Finally, the journey was uneventful, and we finally arrived at the gorge. It was close to Zhaoqing City, and the river was much calmer. There were mountain temples on both sides of the gorge, standing across the river, and the monks calling from across the river filled the gorge with their voices.
Interesting.
When night falls, fishing boats moor in the water branches for the night, and there are live sounds of river breeze, fishing fire, and midnight bells. Therefore, this is a must-visit place for literati and poets of all ages when traveling to Zhaoqing.
The terrain here is dangerous and it is the choke point for entering the Pearl River Delta. In the Qing Dynasty, a customs house was set up here, and the Guangxi warlords built forts to control the river here.
If the Ming army in Guangdong or Guangxi wants to prevent Fu Bo's army from entering Guangxi from the west, Zhaoqing's Little Three Gorges must be their choice of defense line. But what means can they use? If artillery is used, Hongyi cannons set up on the north and south banks can block the river, but
It couldn't withstand the Fubo Army's artillery bombardment and the navy's landing assault. If the sunken boats blocked the river, the water here was too deep.
Zhaoqing was the residence of the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangdong in the Ming Dynasty. The governor in the city now is Xiong Wencan, who was famous for his appeasement. However, because the Senate Navy raided Xiamen and killed Zheng Zhilong, the Zheng Group was actually destroyed, and later forced Liu
The Xiang Group retreated to Chaoshan, and finally had to surrender amid internal and external difficulties. Xiong Wencan's achievements in "recruiting Zheng Zhilong and pacifying the sea" are far less prominent than in history. Of course, this does not prevent him from taking the blame for the demise of the Liu Xiang Group to himself.
For this reason, I had a little unpleasantness with Zou Weilian, the governor of Fujian Province. Finally, I reported the matter in 46.
In line with his usual style, the Executive Committee was surprised that he did not send anyone to "appease" him. Originally, everyone thought that this was inevitable. Regarding whether to "appease" and "if so, what conditions should be negotiated" in the Senate
There were quite heated discussions, but the messenger never showed up. This was far beyond the expectations of the executive committee and the elders.
The level of agents placed by the Foreign Intelligence Bureau in the Governor's Yamen is too low, and they have no access to Xiong Wencan's inner circle and cannot understand his decision-making ideas. However, judging from the content of Xiong Wencan's policies in the past three years, he is mainly responsible for the defeat of the Guangdong Army.
"Wipe your ass".
Unlike Liaodong, the gateway to the capital, Guangdong did not have the support of the imperial court in terms of manpower and material resources, so it had to rely on self-financing. Fortunately, Guangdong was still a peaceful and prosperous land in the late Ming Dynasty. It did not require the same kind of plundering as in the Central Plains.
The Battle of Chengmai and the subsequent Battle of the Pearl River Estuary destroyed almost all the field troops of the Ming Army in Guangdong. Except for the decaying Weisuo Army, almost all the main field battalions were wiped out. Only the deputy commander-in-chief of Nanyue and the defense army were left in Guangdong.
General Yao's troops were still intact. Xiong Wencan cared for the exiles, recruited new soldiers, and rebuilt the navy that was completely destroyed at the Pearl River Estuary... In short, all his work was in line with the obligations of a governor.
The Foreign Intelligence Bureau speculated that Xiong Wencan would not discuss recruiting with the Senate before he had sorted out Guangdong's defense. After all, recruiting also requires strength.
"What a pity, Governor Xiong, this achievement is not your turn." Thorpe thought to himself as he sat in the front cabin, looking at the dark river.
Thorpe knew that Zhaoqing did not have many troops. The only ones that could be called an "army" were the Governor's Chinese Military Standard Battalion and a small number of naval forces cruising on the Xijiang River. This was not considered to be a well-equipped navy and river gunboats.
What resistance. (To be continued...)
ps: Note: In fact, the governor of Guangdong and Guangxi was stationed in Guangzhou at this time. Since the Ming Dynasty when there was a governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he was only in Guangzhou in the early and middle years of Chongzhen, and he was in Zhaoqing at other times. Now for the needs of the plot, it is set to still be in Zhaoqing.