stopped in Wuling for a day to set up a mourning hall for Wang Yu to worship, and that night Ji Fu led people to repair the canopy boat that transported the coffin. The next day, Han Daoxun escorted Wang Yu's coffin back to his hometown with two family soldiers, Yu Cheng and others, and specially asked Han Qian to take out ten cakes of gold to Yu Cheng for travel expenses.

Of course, it was possible to build a shed on the river beach to mourn, but it was necessary to get a post house in the city to set up a mourning hall, and also use a carriage to transport Wang Yu's coffin in and out.

However, Han Daoxun crossed the border, and Jiedu sent a military ship to escort the prince Ma Xundu, and the local officials of Wuling County were dissatisfied in their hearts, but in the middle of their official career, they still went out of the city with the county order Du in the morning.

Han Daoxun also said goodbye to Wuling County Ling Du Pre and others, Fan Xicheng brought a sturdy man from the river beach, walked up to Han Qian, and said:

"The water in Yuanshui is extremely powerful, and our three ships are going upstream, and we still need to hire forty or fifty people to pull the fiber, so that the speed can be slightly faster. This person's name is Feng Xuan, and he is a leader who is guarding the river beach to pick up work, and he happens to be a member of the Shanyue tribe in Qianyang, Xuzhou, with more than 30 people under him, who are very enthusiastic and willing to escort us to Qianyang. ”

Qianyang is the first stop to enter Xuzhou, and it is also the place where the state governs, formerly known as Longbiao County, after the founding of the Great Chu, because it was necessary to avoid the name of the ancestors of the Emperor of Tianyou, it was renamed Qianyang County, which is the gateway to the eastern foot of Wushan Mountain.

From Wuling County, through the territory of Chenzhou, it is necessary to walk 400 miles of waterway to reach Qianyang.

This road is dangerous and the wind is blocked by the peaks and mountains, and it is necessary to hire a slender man to pull the boat in order to pass smoothly.

Han Qian looked at the Shanyue man in front of him who Fan Xicheng had found, and saw that he was dark-skinned, shirtless, and the muscles on his body were bulging, like molten iron casting, full of vigorous power that was about to burst out, but the molting on his back was very strong, black and red, and he didn't know how long he had been exposed to the sun under this scorching sun.

Wuxi Man, as a branch of the ancient Yue people, is also known as Shanyue or Shanyi people because they live between the deep mountains, but in fact, since the conquest of Baiyue by the Qin and Han dynasties, all ethnic groups live together, and there is no difference in the appearance of the Shanyue people, and even the surnames follow the Han surname, but they still retain the tribal customs of gathering clans and living together, and obeying the chieftain in everything.

There are thousands of people along the Yuanshui River, and there are thousands of people and main customers, but due to the large number of people, it is difficult for the scouts sent by Zuo Si in advance to investigate clearly in less than a month, but Fan Xicheng found this Feng Xuan from the river beach, and Han Qian had already seen the name.

Feng Xuan is the leader of a Shanyue tribe in Qianyang, but not all tribal leaders can live an arrogant and lascivious life, and there are quite a few small and medium-sized tribes, under the oppression of the chief with the big surname, even if they are the head of the tribe, life is quite difficult.

Feng Xuan's tribal village, but more than 40 households, the village is located in the mountainous area is barren and unproductive, the fields are not enough to feed a village, Feng Xuan is not in his spare time, will lead the strong men in the village, along the water to pull fiber for the industry.

Han Qian had just taken out ten cakes of gold and gave them to Wang Yu's servants as road money, and his heart was heartbroken because his bag was empty, so he asked Feng Xuan how many days it would take to hire them to pull a boat to Xuzhou, how many days would it take, and how much would it cost.

"Back to the young master, the river beach is urgent, this is going to Qianyang, if there is no heavy rain, you can arrive in six days. There were hundreds of people in the small village waiting to be fed, and the young master could reward him with eight thousand dollars, and he was satisfied. Feng Xuan replied in an unfamiliar official language.

Seeing that there were nearly forty slender men behind Feng Xuan, I thought that they would pull the boat to Xuzhou and then go back to Wuling County to pick up the work, there was almost half a month before and after, and each labor money was converted into two hundred yuan, and the grain price between Xiangtan was low, only two to one-third of Jinling, but even so, these slender men were evenly divided, and the daily work line per person was only equivalent to four or five liters of japonica rice, which was indeed not high.

Han Qian didn't bother to worry about these details, so he asked Feng Xuan to take people and put the rope on the three ships, ready to set off for the south.

Feng Xuan and most of his subordinates seemed to have no problem, but although two of them had dark skin, they were not as tanned as Feng Xuan, and there were no cocoon scars left by the rope on their shoulders, Han Qian stood at the bow of the boat, and couldn't help but complain to his father: "A small place is a small place, stuff two nails in, and you can't do it without leaving a trace, life is really boring." ”

"You seem to think that there are doubts about Wang Yu's death, but according to what you see, there are so many strong people with the surname in Xuzhou, who has the most doubts?" Han Daoxun didn't mind that there were two spies hidden in the slender man, and he didn't have to rush to investigate whether Feng Xuan, the leader of the slender man, was bribed or had bad intentions, after all, these slender men were wearing shorts and stepping on shallow water, and they couldn't hide a blade, even if there were problems, there was no way to pose a substantial threat to them along the way, and he was now more concerned about how to open up the situation in the first place after arriving in Xuzhou.

"Xuzhou Shanyue surname, there are four families of Chen Xiangyang, each leading the Shanyue people in about 1,000 households, if you want me to say, none of these four families is honest, in the past few years, because of the sale of illicit salt, encroachment on land, private punishment, etc., have been rectified by Wang Yu, but we must say which one is the most suspicious, or whether these four families joined forces, we have just started to fight grass, and the poisonous snake has not been frightened out." Han Qian said.

In the next few days, except for a short stay in Chenyang City, where Chenzhou Prefecture is located, Han Qian and the others spent time on the boat, and arrived in Qianyang County, Xuzhou on June 28.

In other places, when the first governor of the state and county took office, the big and small officials had already gathered at the border of the state and county to greet them, and even more, they had already helped to take care of everything along the way, but Han Qian and the others arrived at the junction of Xupu County and Qianyang County, and only saw two veterans accompanying a middle-aged man in a cyan official uniform, guarding the riverside, looking at the fleet Han Qian and the others were on, and shouted:

"Ahead is the ship of Lord Han Daoxun? I am Xue Ruogu, the head of the state capital, and I am here to welcome Lord Thorn Shi to take office. ”

"Daddy, your new official is too bleak, right?" Han Qian said jokingly.

Fan Xicheng and Zhao Kuo were mentally prepared, but they also felt that the welcoming scene in front of them was too bleak, but they didn't expect Han Qian to say it as a joke.

Han Daoxun smiled bitterly and said: "Wang Yu died of illness in office, and it took three months to delay Miss Zhou to fund the coffin to return to his hometown. ”

Han Daoxun docked the ship and welcomed Xue Ruogu, the chief bookkeeper, and two old soldiers onto the ship.

After Xue Ruogu got on the boat, he saluted Han Daoxun again, and when he saw Zhou Yourui poking his head out of the cabin, he was slightly stunned, and then gave Zhou Yourui a salute with a shameful face, thinking that since Han Daoxun took Zhou Yourui to the ship, he should have known that the state officials were cold to the prefect who died of illness, and became more and more restrained in front of Han Daoxun.

The cabin was too cramped, so Han Daoxun set out two chairs and sat on the deck with Xue Ruogu chatting.

Han Daoxun didn't ask Changshi Yang Zaili, Sima Xiang Jianlong, Bing Cao to join the army, and Qianyang County Commander Feng Changyu and other state and county officials did not appear, but chatted with Xue Ruogu.

Xue Ruogu was born in the Ming Dynasty of the former dynasty, and served as a low-level official in the county led by Dong Chang in Yuezhou Jiedu, after Dong Chang was destroyed, eastern Zhejiang was incorporated into the territory of Great Chu, Xue Ruogu and other low-level officials were not affected much, and they were hired for the new dynasty as usual, but they could not be compared with the descendants of the Huainan Army.

Just looking at Xue Ruogu's official uniform with a few patches, he knew that he was in Xuzhou, and he didn't mix very well.

There were still more than 30 miles of waterway from the state border to Qianyang City, and the three ships arrived under Qianyang City before dusk.

Qianyang City as the border town of Hunan and Chu, the gateway of Yunnan and Guizhou, the city is built in the place where Wushui meets the Yuanshui, the terrain is relatively gentle, surrounded by water on three sides, the scenery is extremely beautiful, the poet Wang Changling of the previous dynasty once wrote here that "the cold rain and the river enter Wu at night, Pingming sends off the guests to Chushan Lonely, Luoyang relatives and friends ask each other, and a piece of ice heart is in the jade pot".

From Wuling County to the south, all the way is sandwiched by lofty mountains and mountains, and there are not many people in most areas along the coast, but Qianyang City, as the seat of state governance, as the largest land and water wharf in Xuzhou, is more prosperous than imagined.

The wharf is a section of stone embankment, although it is not long, but the site is quite flat, there are dozens of boats and boats moored at this time, the sky has not yet darkened at this time, on the river surface of several miles, there are still many fishing boats parked in the middle of the river, but it is a scene of fishing boats singing at night.

Qianyang City is not big, the rammed earth city wall is about five or six hundred steps square, but looking at the higher ground in the city, standing outside the city can see the houses, there are also many blue bricks and tiles; There are also many huts and shuts outside the city, and many families live there.

Of course, excluding the main customers who live far away in the mountains and are registered in the state, there are only more than 12,000 households in the three counties, and the prosperity of Xuzhou is quite limited.

"Changshi Yang Zaili, Sima Xiang Jianlong, Bing Cao joined the army Xizhen, and Qianyang County Commander Feng Changyu and others, all of them didn't know that the adults would be able to come over today, and they weren't in the city......" Xue Ruogu himself felt that it was very reluctant to make up such an excuse, and explained abruptly.

Yang Zaili, Xiang Jianlong, Xi Zhen, and Feng Changyu are the chiefs of the four surnames of Yang, Xiang, Xi, and Feng in Xuzhou, and their strength does not mean that they have been in office for more than ten years or even twenty or thirty years since the previous dynasty, but that they are the chiefs of their respective tribes, and they all have more than 1,000 Shanyue households, which together account for almost 6 or 70 percent of the more than 7,000 main households in Xuzhou, and the affairs within the tribe are not governed by the state and county.

Therefore, these four people are unruly, and as the governor of the state and county, there is no way to take them; In order to prevent the situation in Xuzhou from getting worse, as long as these people do not openly rebel, it is impossible for the officials to easily remove them from their official positions.

It's just that the four of them are not in the city today, this is not an ordinary arrogance and rudeness, Han Daoxun glanced at Han Qian with a solemn expression.

Guo Nu'er, who got off the dock first, came over at this time and stuffed a wax pill into Han Qian's hand, Han Qian twisted out a palm-sized note, his expression was suddenly cold, and he handed the note to his father and Fan Xicheng, Zhao Kuo, Yang Qin and others behind him.

At this time, they learned that not only Yang Zaili, Xiang Jianlong, Xizhen, and Feng Changyu were not in the city, but the dependents of these four families in the city also quietly left the city last night.

Although this means that their strategy of scaring the snake out of the hole has worked, the other party's unscrupulous move is still beyond everyone's expectations.