After Zhao Yu learned that the enemy army had strengthened the defense of the Three Gorges, he put forward the strategy of 'advancing together by water steps' at the military conference of the Western Expedition, with the two sides taking cover alternately, using the artillery carried by the navy to provide fire support, and the infantry army attacking the city and pulling out the fortress to clear the forts along the way to protect the waterway, escorting the passage of the naval fleet, in order to pass through this most dangerous waterway.

After Wen Tianxiang arrived at Gangneung to join the Western Expeditionary Army, he could convene a meeting to convey His Majesty's will and the operational policy set, and listen to the report on the preparations of the Western Expeditionary Army, so that he could choose a day to march into the army. At the meeting, the generals expressed their determination to carry out His Majesty's orders, seize Sichuan and Shu, and relieve the siege of Lingxiao City. And Wen Tianxiang also affirmed the preparations for the Western Expeditionary Army, and everything seemed to be developing according to Zhao Yu's intentions.

However, at the subsequent military meeting, Qi Bin, the commander of the Western Army, raised objections to the emperor's arrangement of 'advancing by land and water'. He believed that in some dangerous sections, the enemy troops had set up passes, and that the naval fleet would be very vulnerable to being flanked by the enemy forces on both sides of the strait when it passed, and that it would be very difficult for the infantry troops to attack again at this time. And the land passage is very difficult, it is difficult to keep up with the navy, in his sense is that the infantry army first, while dredging the road, while attacking the city and pulling out the village, covering the navy fleet through the Three Gorges dangerous section.

Qi Bin's suggestion was tantamount to subverting the emperor's established strategy, how dare Wen Tianxiang make a decision without authorization, but he did not arbitrarily deny Qi Bin's suggestion, but immediately summoned the military and civilians who were familiar with the geography of Sichuan and Shu to inquire, and sent his entourage to the people to visit to obtain first-hand information. After several days of investigation, he really found that there was still a gap between the ground and what His Majesty knew at the beginning.

Zhao Hao sighed secretly after reading the war report, secretly lamenting that he had made an empirical mistake, and scolded in his heart that the records in the local chronicles and travelogues collected were too unreliable, but the spies in the bureau were dedicated, and even the relevant legends were collected, but there was still a problem.

It is impossible to find out when the road from Jiangnan to Sichuan existed, and the earliest ancient inhabitants who lived on both sides of the Xiajiang River for generations traveled to and from the river when there was no other means of transportation, and many intermittent sidewalks were walked along the river. Thousands of years ago, there was a story of Dayu controlling the water in the gorge river. "Huainanzi Repair" Zeng Yun Dayu, "Break Wu Mountain, so that the river has to pass east." "Dayu controls the water, that is, along the river. Wuxia Feifeng Peak under the Dayu to receive the goddess of the book of heaven of the teaching platform, that is, standing by the river.

And "Shu Road is difficult, it is difficult to go to the sky." "It has long been known to the world, people have carved holes in the cliffs and laid timber to connect the paths along the gorge river. However, due to earthquakes, mudslides, landslides, collapses and other reasons, the ancient road along the Three Gorges River is intermittent. At the same time, because of the needs of people's production and life, the ancient road along the Three Gorges River has been repaired and extended in many historical stages.

The Three Gorges Ancient Road along the river is mainly developed from sidewalks, fiber roads and post roads. In order to facilitate the passage on both sides of the gorge river, people have carried out countless renovation and repair of the ancient road. Due to the complexity of the Xiajiang Ancient Road, people divide the ancient road into fiber road, post road, and sidewalk according to the traffic function, and divide it into head road, trough road, and plank road according to the structural characteristics of the road.

The river beach is full of rapids, the ancient wooden boats go against the water, if the large fleet does not have the help of the slender man, it is difficult to pass the natural danger of the Three Gorges, and the small ships also need to cross the beach when they encounter the dangerous beach, and they can cross the boat safely by the boatman and the slender man, and the fiber road comes into being. Therefore, the Three Gorges has its own wooden boats to pass, and there are fiber roads along the gorge river.

Sometimes the trail is on a roadless riverside beach stone beam, and sometimes the trail makes use of the sidewalks along the river. The terrain of the Xiajiang River is dangerous, there are big rocks standing along the coast, the dog's teeth are staggered, the water cannot go straight, and the boat is extremely difficult. The slender man pulls on the rocky cliff with no road, and must climb forward. In order to ensure the safety of life and reduce the danger of fiber pulling, the slender men will dig and chisel the fiber road that is often walked, build stones, lay stones, and drill holes to repair them.

The post road was a transportation road for the ancient feudal dynasty to convey government decrees and maintain rule. In ancient times, the main role of post roads was for pedestrians, freight, postal and military passages. Plank road refers to a kind of road built along the cliff, also known as the pavilion road, compound road. Most of them are built on cliffs, cliffs and turbulences, and they are drilled holes and wood, and steps and paths are carved out of stone and rock.

"砭道" in the dialect refers to the road on the hillside. This kind of road is a road that is convenient for people to walk, as Lu Xun said in "Hometown": "There is no road on the ground, and when there are more people walking, it becomes a road." "A channel is a channel that is dug into the cliff of the canyon area or the cliff near the river, and is shaped like a trough. The channel is generally open to the river surface, and when the opening is closed, it is also called a tunnel.

However, the original form of these roads was only a scattered, intermittent, incomplete path between the cliffs, for the slender man or the traveler to walk in between. However, Zhao Yu learned from the records in ancient books that the rulers of the roads in the gorge or the merchants repaired the fiber roads, plank roads and post roads in order to facilitate the transportation of goods, or marches, or to transmit information. As far as he knows, there have been many times:

According to the "Book of the Later Han Dynasty: The Biography of Gongsun of Kui Huan": Tian Rong and Da Situ were sent to expire, Nanjun Taishou Cheng Pan generals went down to Jiangguan, broke the Weilu general Feng Jun, etc., pulled out witches and Yiling and Yidao, because of Jingmen. In the eleventh year, Cen Peng, the general of the expedition to the south, attacked it, and was defeated, and Shu beheaded Wang Zheng and surrendered to Peng. It can be seen that in this battle, Cen Peng's crusade against Gongsun Shu was tracing the Yangtze River and breaking through Jingmen. Since ancient times, the shipping of the Three Gorges has been difficult and complicated, and if you want to trace the river into the river, you have to help the slender man pull the boat. Therefore, this record can also be used as a reference for the renovation of the Three Gorges Fiber Road.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Guan Yu carelessly lost Jingzhou and was captured and killed by Ma Zhong, a general of Eastern Wu. In the first year of Zhang Wu, Liu Bei personally led an army of 700,000 from Shuzhong to the east along the Three Gorges of the Yangtze River to attack Wu to avenge Guan Yu. At that time, the Shu army went down the river, opened roads in the mountains, and built bridges when encountering water, leaving many passages along the river. It was only later that Liu Bei was burned by the Eastern Wu company, and the army was defeated and razed the tomb, "the pursuers were very anxious, and the armor was burned to cut off the road", so that the Three Gorges Ancient Road was destroyed.

In the Tang Dynasty, the post post developed unprecedentedly, and there was a post road from Yichang to Badong in the Three Gorges for 230 miles, and there was a record of the Qianzhou post road from Shangdu to the middle of the Guizhou Road. The Song Dynasty also recorded the Xiling Gorge plank road. Huang Tingjian, a Song dynasty man, wrote "The Journey of Qiannan Road", which recorded that he traveled to the cave three times in the prison, and the text said: "...... To a path between the three tours, the pavilion goes around the belly of the mountain, looks down at the deep and terrifying people, a path through the belly of the mountain, dark, out of the hole is bright. The cave can accommodate a few hundred people. Huang said that the road environment is the same as today, indicating that the pavilion-style plank road has been repaired in the Song Dynasty, forming the theory of a path through the belly of the Sanyou Cave in his article.

In the war of Sichuan-Shu anti-Mongolia, in order to connect the land passage on the south bank of Kuixia and Yangkou City, the Song Dynasty also organized the military and civilians of Shuzhong to reconstruct it on the basis of the road where the villagers on the mountain took water in the past, and dug square stone holes on the cliff of Qutang Gorge on the south bank of the Yangtze River by artificially, one after another, from top to bottom into a zigzag arrangement from the mountainside to the riverside, extending to the plank road at the top of the cliff.

In addition, the mountains and rivers also record another important ancient plank road of the Three Gorges-Kuixia Fiber Road. According to the book: There is a trail at the foot of the cliff on the north bank, which can lead to the cabbage back on the other side of the Daxikou, and can go up to the mouth of the river outside the canyon. There is also a ancient road along the river in Badong called 'Sichuan-Hubei Avenue', which starts from Huangyan in the east and reaches Wushan in the west, with a total length of more than 60 miles. However, there are two sections of this road that are too steep to be used for transportation, and can only be used as a fiber road.

According to these records, Zhao Yu found that several intermittent roads built in the past dynasties could be connected, so he designed a battle plan for the waterway troops, hoping to use the navy warships to carry the materials, and the infantry army to march on the shore, cooperate with each other to open up the passage into Sichuan, and approach Chongqing. But after receiving Wen Tianxiang's reward, he realized that he did not take into account that the roads here have been abandoned for thousands of years, some of them have been destroyed, and some have collapsed due to earthquakes and other disasters, and have long disappeared in the long river of history.

As a result, Zhao Hao's battle plan for entering Sichuan was difficult to realize at all, but fortunately, Wen Tianxiang made a decision to change it after discovering the problem. Therefore, he secretly called it a fluke, if he changed to a rigid overseer, and resolutely implemented his battle plan regardless of the actual situation, then it was likely to cause the Western Expedition to die halfway. Or someone else found out that the plan was out of touch with the reality, but they didn't take responsibility, and instead returned to the emperor, and missed the opportunity between the back and forth, maybe they were stillborn.

Fortunately, Wen Tianxiang had the courage and responsibility, and changed the plan according to the actual situation, and sent the mountain regiment and the engineering battalion of the baggage brigade to take the lead, while repairing the old road, opening up the new road, and clearing and seizing the enemy fortresses along the way to ensure the safety of the waterway. On the other hand, it also sent a small fleet of warships as a vanguard to reconnoiter the shipping lanes, reconnoiter the enemy, and provide fire support and supplies to the mountain regiments. The main force then followed up as a backup......

knew that he had made a mistake, but Zhao Yu also knew that compared to his own remorse, Wen Tianxiang's pressure was greater. Now everyone knows that he is known as 'undefeated', and his majesty is growing, and most of the generals in the army are cultivated by him, and he has a kind of blind superstition about himself. Although it had the right of expediency, it dared to change the battle plan of the imperial decree without asking for instructions, which was really bold, and it would inevitably arouse doubts and opposition, and even disobedience to orders.

Therefore, after reading the recital sent by Wen Tianxiang, Zhao Yu not only gave instructions in time and agreed with his decision, but also praised his decisiveness and responsibility, and ordered the generals to obey Wen Xiang's dispatch, not to speculate, and violators must be severely punished. After the instructions were completed, there was no delay for a moment, and he immediately ordered to be sent to Yiling with an expedited order of 800 li.

"Poof......

"What is Concubine Chen laughing at?" In order to prevent him from leaving the palace without authorization, the supervision of Zhao Yu was strengthened again, except for the three who were pregnant, the other three, plus the newly promoted Su Lan, the four people took turns to live in Zhiyuan Hall to 'guard'. Concubine Chen Wang Yu was serving beside her today, and suddenly laughed, he frowned and asked.

"The official family, the recitals on these courtiers are all nonsense, even trivial matters such as rain and grain prices have to be played, but the official family has to stay up late every day to review them, and write the last sentence 'I know', 'I am very angry', 'I am very pleased' and send it back, and the concubine thinks it is really ridiculous." Wang Yu said with a smile.

"Then what do you think should be written on the recital?" Zhao Hao put down his pen, twisted his face and asked again.

"Of course, it is a military matter, and at least it should be the local political situation, not these 'children have been enrolled', 'request to join the court' or 'Your Majesty's peace'...... These are common words. Wang Yu said seriously.

"Do you think these officials are a pastime?" Zhao Hao looked at it and thought it was funny.

"The concubines thought that they would entertain the official family naturally and did not dare, but the officials who wrote these nonsense were not mediocre talents, and they also lacked ability. Isn't it annoying that the officials are not annoyed by the nonsense every day? Wang Yu thought for a while and replied.

"Concubine Ai is wrong, this official who wrote 'It's raining' on the fold is a prefect in Guangxi, who has reformed the bad rules of the local people, run schools to educate the people, and build bridges and pave roads, and teach the people to farm and weave, is a very effective official." Zhao said, "The land under his rule is perennially dry, and I expressed concern before I took office, and every time it rains, it shows that he remembers my instructions, and I can also learn whether the local rain is sufficient." ”

"This person who always asks for peace is a scribe in the house when I opened the mansion, and he is always with him, but now he is also the transfer envoy of the ruling party, and he always asks for peace, sends some local souvenirs, and talks to me about some trivial things at home, which is also to express the feelings of the day, and at the same time to show the local social conditions."

"I see, it's the concubine who is stupid, but she doesn't know that this seemingly nonsense speech still has knowledge in it." Wang Yu is not a stupid person, the emperor understood the intention after a little explanation, nodded and said.

She realized that in fact, although these words seemed like nonsense, the song was an important medium between the emperor and the ministers, and the emperor wanted to see clearly not only the things themselves, but also the person who reported them. What kind of relationship between the monarch and the minister is, what kind of interaction is the fold, the words on the fold, and the fold itself are the messages that the minister wants to convey to the emperor.

When the relationship between the monarch and the minister is good, the instructions will be like a spring breeze, and I can't help but express the satisfaction in my heart; And if there is a problem in the relationship between the monarch and the minister, the Zhu criticism on the fold will be stormy, and the words on the fold will also be full of gunpowder. It can be seen that the back and forth of the twists and turns, even if it is a gossip in a few words, there is also a hidden edge in it.

In addition, it can also be used as a means for the emperor to understand the people's feelings, in which there may indeed be some nonsense, in addition to communication, contact with the feelings between the monarch and the minister, but also the expression of the close relationship between the monarch and the minister; On the other hand, it can also help the emperor understand the local situation in every detail, which is helpful for governance. After all, it is not a simple matter for the emperor to go out to Beijing to inspect, and it is still difficult to come to the scene in person, as for those that look interesting, they are just interesting to watch......