The boatman's surname is Qin, and he is the fifth oldest in the family, and the people on the dock all call him the fifth brother.

This boat is his own, naturally he will not use outsiders, his mother-in-law went ashore to buy vegetables and came back, and was squatting on the bow of the boat to pick and wash, preparing for lunch. One of his sons and nephews was in the bow of the boat helping to pick vegetables, and the other was in a daze at the stern.

People often say that the most bitter thing is to sail the boat to sell tofu, and its implementation of the boat is not only more bitter than the iron and sell tofu but also very dangerous, Han Xiufeng is not familiar with him, only knows that his family has been running boats for generations, and his father and several of his brothers all died on the river.

was about to talk to Qin Wu, Pan Er, who had just finished crying, waited a little impatiently, and couldn't help asking, "Fourth brother, why don't you leave?" ”

"Wait for the ships ahead to load."

"We hired this boat, and half of the money was given, so we can leave when we want, why wait for the boats ahead?"

"Our boat is small, it is not cost-effective to hire a slender man, go with the boats in front of us, and we can hire a slender man together when we reach the dangerous beach."

"We're going east, going well, and hiring a slender man to do something." Han Xiufeng looked at him like an idiot, Pan Er was a little uncomfortable, and couldn't help asking, "Did I say something wrong?" ”

Datou has been begging for a living on the dock, knowing some things on the river, and without waiting for Han Xiufeng to speak, he muttered: "You are a melon baby, you don't even know this!" ”

"You know?"

"I'm not a melon baby, I know for sure."

"I know what you say."

"It's good to have a good wind, but it's not good if the water is too smooth and too fast, and if the wind is strong and the water is urgent, the boat will be washed down, on the rapids, on the rocks, and the boat can be overturned and broken."

Pan Er reacted and muttered, "So after passing through the windy and rapid, you have to hire a slender man to take the boat with a rope and slowly put the boat down." ”

"That's it."

Pan Er thought about it and asked, "Fourth brother, this has to wait and that, wait and wait, how many days will it take us to get to Yichang?" ”

Han Xiufeng muttered: "We are taking the Zhengdong waterway, from here to Fuzhou (now Fuling District, Chongqing City) one to two journeys, a total of three hundred and forty miles; Fuzhou to Zhongzhou (now Zhongxian County, Chongqing City) is also one to two journeys, totaling 350 miles; One to two journeys from Zhongzhou to Wanzhou (now Wanzhou District, Chongqing City), totaling 260 miles; Wanzhou to Kuizhou (now Fengjie County, Chongqing City) one to two trips, a total of 300 miles; Kuizhou to Guizhou (now Zigui County, Hubei Province) three journeys, a total of 330 miles; Three journeys from Guizhou to Xiazhou (now Yichang City, Hubei Province), totaling 190 miles. ”

Pan Er secretly calculated, raised his head and said, "More than 1,700 miles, Yichang is so far away." ”

"You just know."

"Haven't I been out of the house," Pan Er thought about it and asked, "Fourth brother, what do you mean by one journey and two journeys?" ”

"It's a one-day trip, the Sichuan River is windy and floody, you can only start at dawn, dock at night, and you can't sail at night. If the weather is good, it will only take two days to get from here to Fuzhou, and it will only take two days to get from Fuzhou to Chungju. In short, if the sky is beautiful and smooth sailing, you can get to Yichang in fourteen or fifteen days. ”

"Isn't it only one hundred and ninety miles from returning to Xiazhou, why do you have to walk for three days?"

"The Three Gorges is dangerous, and it's good to be able to walk sixty or seventy miles a day." Han Xiufeng touched his chin, then turned back and said, "If the water rises and the gorge can't be sailed, we really have to go, we all have to go ashore, and hire two porters to help carry the luggage." ”

Pan Er asked in surprise: "So the boatman only sent us to the Three Gorges, not Yichang!" ”

"I mean, if the water really rises and seals the gorge, even if the boatman is willing to send you off, he won't dare to sit again," Han Xiufeng lifted the curtain and looked outside, and continued: "The fifth brother begs for a living on the river every day, and there is nothing he doesn't recognize about the boat on the top and the boat on the bottom, if he really has to go ashore, he will let his son accompany us for a while until he helps us find the boat and then return." ”

"I thought I could sit all the way to the capital as long as I changed boats once."

"Think beautifully." Han Xiufeng sighed lightly and said helplessly: "I have inquired, the waterway from Yichang to Yangzhou is easy to walk, but it is not easy to walk from Yangzhou to the capital, and there are many sections of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal that are not passable, so you have to go ashore to hire a car, and then change boats when you get to a place where the waterway is easy to walk." ”

Pan Er didn't expect it to be so troublesome to take a boat, and said to himself: "It's so difficult to walk, what to eat and drink on the way we are not familiar with life!" ”

"There are water posts on the waterway, and there are post stations on the dry road," Han Xiufeng paused, and said as a few treasures: "I don't know other places, I know the section from Ba County to Yichang, there are Tangjiatuo, Tongluo Gorge, Mudong, Changshou Longxi, Shimen, Lin City, Fuling, Zhouxi, Bayang, Wufeng, Nantuo, Anping, Yongning, Longtang, Makou and Gaotang and other water posts, the fifth brother begs for life on the river every day, and is more familiar with this section of the waterway, and will help us calculate where to rest." ”

Thinking that if there is a post station, the card will be taken off by those officials, Pan Er asked in a low voice: "Fourth brother, we don't necessarily have to go to the post station to rest at night." His mother-in-law buys so many vegetables, there are so many meters here, where to do it or not, where to eat or not, just find a place to dock, it's a big deal for us to squeeze in the cabin. ”

"Where do you land?"

"Hmm."

"Brother Pan, do you think that all places are so peaceful as the old horse family!"

"It's not an easy road?"

Han Xiufeng nodded, and said very seriously: "I don't know how many natives there are on both sides of the Sichuan River, they are not even afraid of officers and soldiers, let alone killing people and goods. If you die in the city, the yamen will take care of it, but if you die in the poor mountains and remote areas, you will die in vain, and the yamen will not take care of it, and you can't manage it if you want to. ”

"Fourth brother, don't be afraid, isn't this me?" The big head subconsciously picked up his flat pole.

"With you?" It's okay if he doesn't speak, but as soon as he speaks, Han Xiufeng is angry, and he couldn't help poking his forehead and said, "If it weren't for you, I would have been in a hurry to leave!" I'm not afraid of the natives, they are on the river on the boat, they are on the shore, as long as they don't dock casually, they will have nothing to do with us. The brothers of the Wu family are different, they are determined to kill you, since they are determined to kill you, they will not leave a living mouth, if they are targeted, even Brother Pan and I will have to bury your turtle son. ”

Pan Er couldn't help but scold: "Bury a hammer, there are no bones!" ”

"They dare!"

"Why don't they dare," Han Xiufeng glared at him fiercely, and said worriedly: "It's up to people to make things happen, let's see if we can fool them now." As long as they can cheat for two days, they can't catch up if they want to. ”

"I should be able to deceive you," Pan Er lifted the curtain and peeked at the shore, and said, "They must have thought that we went to Jiangbei with my sister-in-law to visit relatives, and they definitely didn't think that we didn't get on the boat just now." ”

Han Xiufeng groaned: "If you can't think of it, it doesn't mean that you can't see it, if Jiangbei also has their eyeliner, it will be troublesome." ”