Liu Qiao and other people began to go directly north to the side of the mountain, and then along the river, now is the end of June is the rising water season, from Chengdu to the northwest to see more rivers along the way, in addition to the Dujiangyan Minjiang River water system, all the water flowing out of the mountains to gather the river ‰ use to visit this station. There is a row of big mountains neatly arranged for more than 200 miles between Dujiangyan and Jiangyou, and there is rainwater gathering between the mountains, and these rivers are very wide seasonal rivers because of the slope of the mountains and the flat terrain under the mountains. In the dry season, the wide riverbed becomes a world of pebbles, with only the small, small water winding through it, reminding people that this is a river and not a wasteland without water.

But in the rising water season is different, the mighty river is full of muddy yellow water, although the water is not deep but the water is rapid, the river is uneven and no one dares to wade, occasionally the embankment is washed away, the soldiers who began to explore the road found that the road ahead was cut off by the water, it happened that the hillside next to it was not high but very steep, the soldiers who explored the road saw that hundreds of people were not good to climb and only came to ask. Hou Liangzhu thought for a while and said: "Brother Liu, it's getting late now, it's better to find a place to live, and tomorrow call the local government to find someone to repair it, and ask about the specific place by the way." ”

Liu Qiao thought for a while and said, "Okay, it's all up to Brother Hou." ”

The two found a dilapidated temple on the side of the mountain to live in, and then asked someone to contact the local government, saying that there was no need to provide food, and they just found someone familiar with the local environment to be a guide. When it was almost dark, the soldiers returned, and at the same time brought with them two young men in their thirties, one with a long face and a slightly shorter and slightly darker face, and when they asked if they were the county clerks. When they heard that these officers and men were carrying out their mission and were going to walk along the mountains, because the road was cut off by the river and it was difficult to move forward in the dark, the two secretaries said that small matters would be easy to solve, and then they went out and asked the local people to send several large bales of grass for everyone to sleep on and talk about tomorrow.

After dinner, everyone found a place to sit or lie down to rest, because the night was long and hot and couldn't sleep, Hou Liangzhu lit a candle and opened the window with Liu Qiao in a wing room to talk. Hou Liangzhu asked someone to pour two bowls of water and put them on the table, told everyone to go out, and then asked in a low voice: "The soldiers who explored the road during the day said that the road was broken, and the younger brother seemed to be a little nervous when he saw Brother Liu, what is Brother Liu in?" There is a lot of water and roads here, and you can go anywhere you go, and Brother Liu doesn't need it. ”

Liu Qiao smiled bitterly and said: "I can't hide anything, brother, I just came from Guizhou, there are more than 100,000 barbarians rebelling there, I thought that there were also people here to sabotage, I was afraid that the barbarians on the mountain would come to attack." ”

Hou Liangzhu was stunned for a moment and said with a smile: "Brother Liu said that he was joking, where are there any barbarians on the West Sichuan Plain now?" ”

Liu Qiao asked: "According to my brother's words, there were barbarians in the West Sichuan Plain before?" ”

Hou Liangzhu said: "The younger brother lives in Sichuan, and I heard a story from the elders, saying that the western Sichuan Plain used to be inhabited by people of the Qiang, Tibetan and other ethnic groups, and then there were too many foreign populations, and everyone had friction, all because of the difference in food, clothes, and living habits. In order to avoid fearless bloodshed, the heads of both sides gathered together to see if they could think of a good way to coexist peacefully. ”

Liu Qiao nodded and said, "Yes, there are conflicts in the living habits of a family, not to mention thousands of people between different ethnic groups?" Later, it was outsiders like us who won the war and drove them away? Why haven't I heard anyone talk about it? Is it a matter of the Ming Dynasty? ”

Hou Liangzhu said: "I don't know when it happened, but I can be sure that it was definitely not the Ming Dynasty, because they didn't have swords, guns and iron tools at that time, and the weapons they used were just some wooden sticks and stones and other things." They are very smart and very peace-loving, in order not to hurt others, they decided to use martial arts instead of fighting, the content of the comparison is tug-of-war to see who is strong, throw stones to see who throws far, etc. In the end, those Qiang Tibetans lost, they also abided by the agreement to accept the facts, and without saying a word, they took their tribesmen up the Min River and went into the mountains to live, if the barbarians in Brother Liu's mouth meant them, then it was not necessary. ”

Liu Qiao said: "It turned out to be in ancient times, the conditions in the mountains are definitely not as good as those on the plains, and they can be regarded as wronged, but they are far from here?" Will you take the opportunity to kill back? ”

Hou Liangzhu said: "Hard work is hard work, but they should also be satisfied when they think that the people downstream drink their foot washing water, as for whether they will want to come back again, I don't think it should be, one side of the water and soil to raise one side of the people, maybe thousands of years have passed, they have been used to life in the mountains, and now let them go down the mountain to live, they will not be used to it." ”

Liu Qiao said: "According to what my brother said, it seems that they are not fighting but betting, and if they lose, they will lose, and they are willing to gamble and accept the loss, which is also considered to be the work of heroes, and they do not fight but use bets instead, it seems that these Qiang and Tibetans are also people who do not like to fight." ”

Hou Liangzhu said: "Yes, the Han people in the remote areas of Sichuan, Miao, Yi and other ethnic groups are all peace-loving and emotional, when Zhuge Liang was in Pingnan, the leader of the Southern Barbarians Meng won seven captures and seven verticals was very popular, and now many people in Shuzhong love to wrap headscarves, it is said that it is for Zhuge Liang to bring filial piety, it can be seen that those who win the hearts of the people win the world is not in vain. ”

Liu Qiao said: "Back then, Liu Bei got the help of Pang Tong and Zhuge Liang, two powerful people, but later he was still in a corner and could not restore the Han Dynasty. ”

Hou Liangzhu said: "We have to walk along the mountain now, otherwise we can go east to Guanghan to see, where it used to be called Yucheng is the place where Liu Bei's military advisor Pang Tong died, it can be seen that the Sichuan people love peace but are not easy to provoke." Zhuge Liang was a figure, knowing that someone would enter Sichuan from Pingxiao Road in the future, and stationed 3,000 people in the area of Motianling in advance, but unfortunately he still failed to block the sneak attack of Wei General Deng Ai. ”

Liu Qiao said: "Didn't you say that Pang Tong died in Baima Pass because he rode a white horse? Why is it connected to Ruocheng again? It is said that there were not many people when Deng Ai entered Sichuan, how could there be 3,000 people who couldn't stop him at a dangerous place? ”

Hou Liangzhu said: "The statement that Pang Tong died of the White Horse and the White Horse should be false, and the dead city is recorded in historical records. The three thousand defenders of Motianling are even more peculiar, it is said that after Zhuge Liang's death, Liu Chan didn't care, and the people next to him didn't want to do much to follow Zhuge Liang's arrangement before his death, who knew that one day Liu Chan suddenly wanted to care about national affairs, in order to show that he was not stupid, he decided to find one or two forks, and as soon as he looked for it, he found the defenders of Motianling to eat food in such a far place, and as a result, the three thousand people were dismissed, and then there was really a sneak attack by the Wei army and no one resisted. ”

Liu Qiao nodded and said: "It can be seen that as long as anything exists, it has a reason for its existence, and if you only see its harm and do not see its benefits, there will be loopholes if you add them at will, and sometimes this kind of loophole is enough to be fatal." ”

The two chatted for a while, and when they saw that it was cold in the middle of the night, they slept peacefully□ Qiao slept in the room and couldn't sleep, he didn't have much sleepiness that day, plus there was a row of soldiers sleeping outside the corridor and a few of them were snoring loudly, you and I were also playing against each other, Liu Qiao simply thought about this mission carefully. In the past, I thought that the mountains in the northwest of Sichuan were occupied by barbarians, and I sneaked into them to cause misunderstanding, and if I accidentally caused ethnic contradictions, I would be in trouble if I couldn't complete the task, but now it seems that there should be no such accidents.

At the beginning, Hou Liangzhu also said to him, saying that Sichuan people don't like to fight against people with open knives and guns, and if they really want to deal with you, they will make trips and beat sticks, and dozens of bandits can make hundreds of people jump and jump with chickens and dogs, and no one should dare to stir up trouble on the heads of hundreds of officials and soldiers. As long as there is no external interference, things are easy to do, now you should find the Heavenly Master Temple as soon as possible, and find the eye of the earth that can restore the effect of topaz as soon as possible, finish things as soon as possible and return to Beijing as soon as possible, although this western Sichuan Plain is known as the country of abundance, but it is not attractive to Liu Qiao, who is used to seeing prosperity in Beijing.

It is said that it is a Nanjing person who dedicated Topaz to the emperor, and the little Taoist ran to western Sichuan, and the two places are separated by thousands of miles, so there should be no connection. However, it is said that the two are related to the emperor and Tan Gonggong, and both of them are sure that there is no doubt that there is nothing to say, and now the person who offered the jade and the little Taoist priest who escaped should be identified as the same person. But the question is, since it's an escape, why do you want to offer jade? If it is said that the purpose of offering jade is to exonerate sins, but Emperor Sejong has been dead for 60 years, and now the little Taoist priest is at least 80 years old, is it too late to ask for exoneration?

It is also said that the person who offered the jade once wrapped the topaz in a cloth full of words, and the other words were not visible because the cloth was broken, and only the words "Chendong Investigation" were left, which looked like a letter written by a person from Dongchang to the emperor, why did he write this letter? Why is it written on cloth again? Why don't you bring it yourself into Kyori? And who is the person he entrusted? These are all things that people can't understand, and I fell asleep thinking about Liu Qiao.

The next morning, Liu Qiao woke up at dawn, washed his face, ate breakfast, and was about to go out to take a look at the road, when Hou Liangzhu came, he entered the door and said, "Brother Liu is up?" When the little brother began to come, I heard your guards say that you slept late and didn't wake up, I have asked people to find a way to repair the road, who knows that they said that the road at both ends is too narrow to carry stones and fill the pit, so it will be repaired in the afternoon, and I don't know how many collapses there are in front of me, and the younger brother knows that Brother Liu is in a hurry and can't wait for a long time, so let them find a way, they said that they can only take a bamboo raft to cross the river and take the road on the other side of the river, because the road on the other side is strong, I have let them build a bamboo raft bridge, how about we go over? ”

When Liu Qiao heard the great joy, he hurriedly asked someone to pack up his things and cross the river, and asked Hou Liangzhu by the way: "I heard that the governor of Sichuan said that my brother just sent me to inspect along the way, will it affect your business now that you accompany me?" ”

Hou Liangzhu said: "The younger brother's inspection is just for the occasion, it doesn't matter how many days early or late it is, Brother Liu is naturally going to send the Buddha to the west with the emperor's order, who else is bigger than the emperor's affairs today?" ”

Liu Qiao nodded and said, "That's right, so there will be an old brother." I heard the governor of Sichuan say that all the grain that Shaanxi lacks is allocated by Sichuan, and Sichuan produces a lot of grain? ”

Hou Liangzhu said: "Sichuan because of the Dujiangyan water conservancy project can irrigate the area of farmland doubled, not only to produce grain but also to produce silk brocade, this is nothing, the key is that Sichuan is surrounded by mountains, not like the Central Plains circulation, so every year there will be a lot of grain down, giving people the impression that Sichuan has a lot of grain." In fact, the real grain production area is still in the south of the Yangtze River, which is the land of fish and rice, but the grain there is often transferred and cannot be saved. ”