Recently, I was working on a project that will not be completed until the middle of next month. As I work overtime all the time, the update is not fixed. Please forgive me.

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While the Cao army in the south was still worried about the floods caused by the autumn rains, the first snow had fallen in the seven years of Jian'an in Xuansu City, far in the north. Wrapped in a gray cloak, she hid in the noisy crowd, like a she-leopard crawling in the grass, waiting for her prey to appear. Beside her, traders from Buyeo, Goguryeo, and other unknown small tribes were selling livestock, game, furs, and other local products, hiding among them without knowing that death.

According to the message sent back by Guo Tu, the Marquis of Liaodong, Sun Du, who had gone out hunting the day before yesterday, would enter the city from the east gate of Xuansu and return to camp this evening. And what Jun Yali has to do is to assassinate Gongsun Du in the middle of the road and blame Cai Ji for the matter. In fact, as the banner owner of the Five Elements Escape Banner and the backbone of Taiping Dao, Jun Yali also organized and participated in several assassinations in the early years. But the targets of her assassination at that time were all officials who opposed the Taiping Dao, or notorious local tyrants and gentry, and they could not be compared with the great princes who dominated one side such as Gongsun Du. After all, Gongsun Du is not only strong in martial arts, but also has many guards around him, and ordinary people can't get close to him at all, let alone assassinate him.

However, at this time, Jun Yali was full of confidence in the impending assassination operation. This confidence is not only that she still has some gunpowder in her hands that Yu Ji used to pretend to be a ghost, but also because Guo Tu, the staff member who is now accompanying Gongsun Du, is the initiator and internal response of the entire assassination plan.

It is said that since the day of the battle, after lobbying Gongsun Du and Yuan Tan to form an alliance failed, Guo Tu changed his posture and switched to Gongsun Du as a staff member as a strategist. Due to the lack of decent strategists in Liaodong, Guo Tu, who had served as Yuan Shao's military advisor, soon won the appreciation of Gongsun Du and was entrusted with important tasks. It's a pity that Guo Tu obviously doesn't look down on the little favor given by Gongsun Du. More precisely. Guo Tu felt that compared with the scheming Gongsun Du, it was easier to control the young and frivolous Gongsun Kang. So after instigating Gongsun Du to go south several times failed. Guo Tu finally made a move.

At the end of October, the days in Liaodong seemed to be very short, and the sky was gradually getting dark just after Shen. But Gongsun Du's men and horses did not show up for a long time. Seeing that some of the Hu merchants around her were closing their stalls and leaving one after another, Jun Yali couldn't help but start to feel faintly uneasy. It must be known that the key to the success of this assassination is to take advantage of the chaos, if there are few people at the East Gate, Jun Yali will not be able to fish in troubled waters even if he is a master of art and daring.

Fortunately, Jun Yali's worry did not last long, and a majestic horn sound was heard not far away. I saw Gongsun Du, dressed in military uniform, riding a horse through the towering city gate with his toes under the support of a cadre of personal guards, and the scribe who followed him was Guo Tu. However, Guo Tu didn't seem to care about how Jun Yali was prepared, let alone look around. On the contrary, at this time, he was talking and laughing with Gongsun Kang, who was on a par, as if he was unaware that an assassination was about to happen.

At the same time, the people and Hu people in the East Gate Bazaar stopped their men one after another, and some saluted on the spot. Some simply ran to both sides of the long street and knelt down to welcome Gongsun Du into the city. Jun Yali quietly blended into the ranks of kneeling on the side of the street, but her kneeling was a signal to her accomplices not far away.

The next moment, with a loud bang, a purple smoke suddenly rose from the stables of the bazaar, which startled the horses around them and neighed their hooves. In fact, it was not only the horses who were frightened, but also the people and Hu people who had never heard such a loud noise except for thunder.

The sudden explosion also alarmed Gongsun Du's mount, but before he could calm the horse, he suddenly felt a fierce cold wind rushing towards him—and saw Jun Yali, who had been waiting for a long time, leaping up like an arrow from the string. Raising his hand, a knife flew out, and the white light went straight to Gongsun Dumian's door.

"There are assassins!"

Gongsun Kang and several guards around him reacted extremely quickly, and they all drew their knives and stepped forward to rescue. Even Guo Tu shouted "help, help" there with a panicked face. But the horses under their crotches did not obey the call at all, and still went straight in the same place in vain. At this time, I only heard a miserable cry of "wow". Gongsun Du covered his face with his hands, fell off the horse, and curled up into a ball.

"Father!" In surprise, Gongsun Kang turned over and dismounted, and hurriedly stepped forward with everyone to help Gongsun Du, who was constantly convulsing. I saw that there was an extra hilt of the sword on the door of this hero's face, and what was even more terrifying was that the black blood that flowed down the hilt of the sword at this moment was jet black.

Taking advantage of the rush of Gongsun Du and the others, Jun Yali floated onto the roof of the nearest house with a grappling hook. In her opinion, Gongsun Du, who was hit by a sword in the head, had no chance of surviving at all. Not to mention that this short blade is also quenched with Yu Ji's own hand to blend snake venom. Although Jun Yali originally wanted to pierce this poisonous blade into Cai Ji's heart, as long as she could retaliate against Cai Ji, she didn't mind using this thing in advance. After all, in Jun Yali's opinion, Gongsun Du is the same as Cai Ji, and he is a dog official who oppresses the people. As for blaming Cai Ji, it's even simpler. Let's ask, and today, apart from Cai Ji and Cao Cao's men, who will use gunpowder.

Therefore, when I thought of Gongsun Du's death. In order to avenge his father, Gongsun Kang will definitely raise an army to attack Jinxi City, and Jun Yali feels a burst of joy in her heart. According to her philosophy, Lin Fei and the Taiping Sect members in Jinxi City were all traitors to the Taiping Dao, and deserved the most severe punishment from heaven. As for Cai Ji, Jun Yali wants to take revenge the most. and the one who is most reluctant to retaliate. Because Jun Yali was afraid that her punishment for that woman would not match the evil she had done.

And just when Jun Yali was secretly excited, there was a sudden stinging pain in the vest. In a trance, she only felt that the scene in front of her was spinning, and the whole person collapsed like a kite with a broken string. And at the moment when she lost her center of gravity, Jun Yali seemed to see Guo Tu standing at the bottom and smiling at her, but she didn't even have the strength to open her mouth, so she could only fall into endless darkness all the way.

The pursuers who followed after saw the Assassin's arrow fall, and they all shouted and rushed up to prevent the Assassin from escaping. However. So far, no matter how hard the generals of the Gongsun Department try, they will not be able to save Gongsun Du's life. Before everyone could send Gongsun Du back to the mansion, this heroic man who had dominated Liaodong for many years had already swallowed his last breath in the middle of the road.

And at the same time as Gongsun Du returned to the west. Cai Ji's eyes were still staring at the changes in the south, unaware that a conspiracy against her had slowly kicked off between the white mountains and black waters. In fact, it is no wonder that Cai Ji will take care of one or the other. Cao Cao was originally a famous hero in history, and his every move will inevitably attract attention. What's more, Cao Cao's southward movement is very likely to lead to an alliance between Liu Bei and Sun Ce, and maybe it will also trigger the famous Battle of Chibi.

In fact, the current situation in the south is indeed very similar to that on the eve of the Battle of Chibi. After Liu Biao's death, the civil and military forces of Xiangyang continued to serve the young Liu Cong as the leader of history, and surrendered to Cao Cao soon after. In history, Liu Biao's eldest son, Liu Qi, who joined forces with Liu Bei, died at the hands of the rebel general Zhang Yun in the Fancheng Mutiny. As for Liu Biao's son, Liu Pan also deviated from the original history and did not go south, but went north to occupy the upper level. In general, although Cao Cao's strength in this time and space is not as good as the original history, the entire southern expedition process has been smooth so far.

In contrast, the Gongsun family, which is partial to Yiyu, rarely intervenes in the melee in the Central Plains. Not to mention that since the last battle in Jinxi, Gongsun Du has no idea of going south again. Therefore, under the influence of the changes in the south. Cai Ji naturally had no time to take care of the movements in Liaodong.

Although Cai Ji was very concerned about Cao Cao's appearance in the south, she did not rashly terminate this trip to the north. So, after a long journey of nearly a month, Cai Ji's convoy finally arrived at Jicheng, which is located on the banks of the Luochuan River. Although there are still objections in later generations about whether Jicheng is the city of Beijing, Luochuan is undoubtedly the Yongding River of later generations. However, at present, the most prosperous city in Youzhou is not the Jicheng as the county of Guangyang, but the emerging Yishui City.

Different from Jinxi City, which was built by the Taiping Sect, Yishui Port, located at the mouth of Yishui, was mainly to recruit people from Zhuojun, Guangyang and other surrounding counties. Since the cattle, farming tools and seeds used in the tuntian fields were all provided by the government, the rent of the Qi army was not high, and there was a garrison to protect them. Therefore, in just a few years, Yishui Port has attracted nearly 70,000 displaced people to invest. As for the port itself, it has gradually expanded from a temporary military port to an impregnable city.

It is said that even in the early winter season, there are still more than a dozen sailing boats of all sizes moored in the harbor southeast of Yishui City. Among these sailing ships were Han caravans from Longkou, Le'an, Jinxi and other ports, as well as Hu merchants from Goguryeo, Samhan, Wa and other foreign realms. Hundreds of merchants, speaking different languages, traded ceramics, lacquerware, silk, cloth, furs, pearls, swords, grain, seafood, and even slaves in the harbour's bazaars. The bustling street market stretches from the port to the bottom of Yishui City. Like most cities of this era, the walls of Yishui City were made of loess. There are corner towers at the four corners of the city wall, and there are also towering towers in the middle of the four sides. The whole city is in the shape of an inverted trapezoid, about 180 zhang long from east to west, and about 240 zhang wide from north to south. There are more than 3,000 permanent residents in the city. Together with the defenders, there were more than 30,000 people. In addition, there are more than 2,000 sailors stationed in the water village outside the city.

In fact, in addition to benefiting from Cai Ji's years of operation, Yishui City's achievements today are also related to its unique geographical location. It is important to know that the location of Yishui City is roughly located near Tianjin in later generations. Yishui is the Haihe River, which was later called the mother river of Tianjin. Because Tianjin is located at the confluence of the five major tributaries of the Haihe River in the North China Plain, it is bordered by the Bohai Sea in the east. The north is Yiyan Mountain, so it started to rise by Cao Yun in history. However, the world-famous Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal has not yet been excavated, so in Cai Ji's opinion, the true potential of Yishui City and Jicheng has not yet been fully developed.

It was with this idea in mind that after the convoy arrived at the outskirts of Jicheng, Cai Ji got out of the car and strolled along the Luochuan River with a group of civil and military personnel. However, Jia Xu, who was walking side by side with Cai Ji, saw Cai Ji's thoughtful expression, which didn't seem like he was enjoying the scenery, so he asked him in a low voice, "Lord, are you worried about the situation?" ”

"Definitely. Lone in the contemplation of the canal. Cai Ji shook his head and said.

"Canal?" Jia Xu, who didn't expect Cai Ji to answer like this, couldn't help but ask with some surprise, "The Lord wants to dig a ditch in Youzhou?" ”

Cai Ji bowed slightly, raised his finger and pointed to Luochuan in front of him and said, "If there is a canal that can start from Jicheng in the north, Luochuan, Nayishui, and Yishui Port in the south, then the green and quiet Caoyun can be smooth all the way." ”

In fact, the canal envisioned by Cai Ji was only equivalent to the northernmost section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in later generations, and the main part of the Grand Canal north of the Yellow River was replaced by shipping. However, even so, after hearing this, Jia Xu frowned and said to her, "The Lord thinks twice, in the past, Master Wu almost dug a ditch, wasting national strength in vain, so that the hegemony was defeated by the hands of King Goujian of Yue before it was successful. Now that Heshuo is in ruins, and he urgently needs to recuperate, how can the Lord waste the people's efforts! ”

The example given by Jia Xu is Hancheng, the original prototype of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. It is said that in the Spring and Autumn Period, the lord of Wu was poor, for the Northern Expedition to Qi, competing for the hegemony of the Central Plains, mobilizing the people to dig the canal from Yangzhou to the northeast, through Sheyang Lake to Huai'an into the Huaihe River, because it passed through Hancheng, so it was named "Hangou". Fucha initially won the Qi State by Hangou, but in the process of competing for hegemony with the Jin later, he was attacked by the Yue State and was defeated and died. Therefore, there is no direct causal relationship between the defeat of the husband and the digging of the ditch. However, Cai Ji, who is well versed in history, has to admit that the dynasties that played a decisive role in the construction of the Grand Canal were often short-lived. Wu Guo, Sui, and Yuan are all the same. Perhaps, as Jia Xu said, the construction of the Grand Canal cost these dynasties their national strength, and caused them to decline rapidly.

However, Cai Ji still tends to dig canals in his heart, even if it is a short section, it is always better than nothing. After all, Cao Cao organized the construction of six canals in history. And the canal that Cai Ji is brewing now is much smaller than Cao Cao's ancient thistle canal. Therefore, in the face of Jia Xu's suggestion, Cai Ji finally nodded cautiously and agreed, "Mr. Wenhe is reasonable, then I will talk about it in two years." ”

Although Cai Ji only postponed the construction of the canal for two years, Jia Xu did not continue to do so. In fact, Jia Xu himself knew very well that the excavation of the canal would help Cai Ji consolidate his rule over Youzhou. It's just that Cai Ji's foundation in the two states is not stable at the moment, and Jia Xu will oppose his rash construction of the canal.

And just when Cai Ji and Jia Xu reached a consensus on the excavation of the canal, there was a sudden sound of gongs and drums not far away. Cai Ji looked up and saw Li Minzheng, the driver of Youzhou, leading Tian Chou and other local civil and military bureaucrats to hurriedly walk towards this side surrounded by ordinary people. (To be continued......)