The next day, Song Wen took three thousand soldiers with Zhang Ling to recover the three passes of Longdong, Erlang and Fotu, and if everything was as Zhang Ling said, he would also take Chongqing Mansion by the way.

Li Zicheng had nothing to do, so he found a few prisoners of war who were familiar with the terrain and explored the terrain around Chongqing Prefecture.

From the mouths of the prisoners of war and the map of the march, Li Zicheng figured out the current Chongqing Prefecture.

Unlike later generations, Chongqing did not radiate to the south of the Yangtze River, but completely to the north of the Yangtze River.

When the Jialing River goes south and merges with the Yangtze River, it is blocked by the mountain, almost straight to the east, just confluence with the Yangtze River that flows obliquely to the northeast, between the two rivers, there is a narrow east-west peninsula-like land, Chongqing is in the easternmost section of this peninsula, the east, north and south are surrounded by water, and only the west is connected with the land.

From Chongqing Mansion to the west, it is the Fotu Pass, the terrain is dangerous, the two sides are surrounded by water, the cliffs on three sides, it is really the throat of the main place, as long as the Buddha Tu Pass is guarded, you can keep the Chongqing Mansion unharmed.

Fotu Pass to the west, is Erlang Pass and Longdong Pass, the three passes firmly guard the Chongqing Mansion, in addition to the waterway, from the west of the land into Chongqing, must pass through the three passes.

Li Zicheng couldn't help but laugh dumbly, no wonder Chongqing has the title of "mountain city", and it is indeed located in the rugged mountains!

What's worse is that Chongqing is not only located in the mountains, but also surrounded by water on three sides.

Li Zicheng's original plan was to build a "Chengdu-Chongqing" dual core in Sichuan and develop the economy of the entire Chengdu Plain, but now it seems that Chongqing's traffic situation is obviously unsatisfactory, and without traffic security, Chongqing can only be a relatively closed city.

No, we must break the three passes on the periphery of Chongqing and build a road to Chengdu!

From the mouths of the prisoners of war, Li Zicheng learned that between Chengdu and Chongqing, there is the "Chengdu-Chongqing" ancient road, which is located on the west bank of the Fujiang River, a tributary of the Jialing River.

From the march map, Li Zicheng can see that although the Chengdu-Chongqing ancient road is more tortuous, but the site should be good, along the way through a number of counties, starting from the east gate of Chengdu Mansion, over Longquan Mountain, is Jianzhou, and then straight to the east, into Tongchuan Mansion's Lezhi, Suining County, into the west bank of the Fujiang River, the road with the river, leaving the Fujiang River, it is already the boundary of Chongqing Mansion, passing through Anju, Tongliang, Bishan County, and finally passing through the Longdong, Erlang, Fotu three passes, and arriving at Chongqing Mansion.

When crossing Zhongliang Mountain and Jinyun Mountain, there are county seats in the mountain passes, and I don't know whether there is a road or a city first.

This ancient road has been in use, there are a total of eleven post stations along the way, the closest to Chongqing is Longdong Pass and Baishili west of Zhongliang Mountain, 60 miles away from Chongqing, the pace is slightly faster, just one day away.

Li Zicheng's eyes were fixed on the marching map for a long time, and after thinking for a long time, he decided to expand the ancient road into Chongqing, connecting Chengdu with Chongqing, and when it was impossible to carry out large-scale surveys, it was better to follow the ancient road, which was opened up by the nearby people for thousands of years, and the convenience of passage and supplies along the way had been taken into account.

In the afternoon, Li Zicheng rushed to Chongqing Mansion with his own soldiers, Li Guo sent a thousand households of cavalry to accompany him, he was originally going to follow Li Zicheng through, but considering that Song Wen had gone to Chongqing, there was no main general in the big camp, Li Zicheng left Li Guo, and ordered him to temporarily take charge of the cavalry and all the infantry in the big camp.

The shortest way to get from Jiangjin County to Chongqing was to go northeast along the Yangtze River, but Li Zicheng deliberately took a detour, first to the north, after crossing Bishan, and then entering Baishili.

Li Zicheng came from the south and went to Chongqing, originally did not need to cross the Baishili, but this was the last post station on the Chengdu-Chongqing ancient road, he had the heart to investigate, and set up a large camp on the south side that day, and he took a small flag of his own soldiers to Baishili Long Street.

In the white market, there is only one street in the north-south direction, two or three miles long, a bluestone road passes through the field, and on both sides of the street, there are not only post stations, but also private houses and some shops.

Li Zicheng rode a horse, and after a while, he ran from south to north, and at a glance, there were still more private houses, and the shops were scattered among the private houses, and there were no particularly large shops to attract their attention.

The shops are all earthen walls and fine tiles, but the houses are almost all thatched houses, and it is easy to distinguish between rich and poor.

Li Zicheng turned around and returned to the post station, wanting to see what the inside of the post station was like, and how it was maintained at this node.

A man dressed in tatters and looking like he was about thirty years old, and he lowered his head, "Is the military master going to be sharpened or stayed?" ”

"Oh? The caravanserais is not designed for ...... Like us, people who are not from the government, can also live in a post station? Li Zicheng used to be a post guard at the Ningxia Post Station, and he knew that the post station was only responsible for picking up and dropping off people from the government, or delivering messages for the government, and others would give money, and the post station would not receive it.

"As long as there is a road guide," the post man said in a low voice: "Don't hide it from the military master, we haven't paid money for more than half a year, most of the people in the post station have run away, and now there are only two people left, in order to survive, we will be a hotel, as long as we give silver, we will receive!" ”

Li Zicheng nodded, the imperial court's expenditure is seriously insufficient, that is, the most important military salary, which is often lacking, not to mention the post station, he was abolished that day, that is, the imperial court in order to save silver.

However, the Mandate of Heaven Army came to Chongqing, this white market is about to be taken over by the Mandate of Heaven Army, and it is not good to look so half-dead, he wants to strengthen the "Chengdu-Chongqing Ancient Road" to facilitate the contact between Chengdu and Chongqing, and the post station is still essential, if it is abandoned, where do the merchants along the way rest?

It also seems inappropriate for the government to pay for past officials and customers, so that the post station can be preserved without increasing the burden on the government......

Li Zicheng has decided in his heart, in the history of later generations, there is no such thing, between Chengdu and Chongqing, it is not a barren barren land, it can be handed over to merchants to operate, not only do not need to invest, but also collect taxes!

He got off the horse and threw the reins of the horse, and the man hurriedly took it, "Master Jun, the villain can feed the horse on his behalf, but he needs to collect silver......"

"The silver will not be missing you," Li Zicheng asked the soldiers to dismount and enter the hall, the hall was empty, there was not a single customer, not only frowned, "Why is it so depressed today?" ”

"The white market is already depressed," the post guard was leading the horse to the backyard, and when he heard the words, he said: "Recently, there has been a lot of ......trouble again," and after seeing the strange military uniform on Li Zicheng's body, he hurriedly stopped.

Li Zicheng laughed and said, "Soldiers? You are wrong, we are indeed soldiers, but we will never harass the people, not only will we not harass, but we will also help the people, you don't have to be afraid, prepare the meal first, and then let the post man come over, I have something to say. ”

"Yes, yes!" The post man hurriedly led the war horse into the backyard.

After a while, a man who also looked like he was thirty came out of the backyard and arched his hand towards Li Zicheng, "Master Jun, are you looking for a villain?" ”

"You're a postman here?" Li Zicheng looked at him, except for the clear eyes, the whole person was no different from ordinary people, with a blue-gray short coat on his body, a black cloth belt tied around his waist, wide trousers, and two patches at his knees.

"The villain is the Yicheng wooden building here, I don't know ...... military master" The wooden building bowed his waist and looked humble.

"Wooden Building?" Li Zicheng pointed to the wooden chair opposite, sit down!

"In front of the military master, how dare the villain sit?" Mu Lou smiled with a smile, "If the military master has anything to say, just command!" ”

"Let you sit down, what are you talking about?" He Xiaomi stared, and his right hand unconsciously pressed on the handle of the knife.

Mu Lou was taken aback, his legs were weak, and he sat down on the wooden chair, he didn't dare to look at Ke Xiaomi, but just looked at Li Zicheng with a blank look.

Li Zicheng waved his hand and asked He Xiaomi to go down, "Don't be nervous about Mulou, Xiaomi won't hurt you, sit down and talk." ”

"Master Jun?" Although the wooden building was seated, he was still very nervous, but Li Zicheng was surrounded by more than ten soldiers with knives, and he didn't even dare to escape.

Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Mulou, let me ask you, do you need to hand over profits when you run a post station?" ”

"This ......" Mu Lou hesitated for a while, and saw that Li Zicheng's eyes had been looking at him, although soft, it was very attractive, and he said busily: "Don't hide it from the guest officer, in the past few months, no one has come to ask the villain for profit, maybe he knows that the income of the post station is meager......"

"Will you two be able to make ends meet with the station?"

"No," Mu Lou said: "Don't dare to deceive the military master, the villain still has a family to eat, even the clothes on the villain's body ......" He looked down at the patch on his knee and smiled.

"Oh, what if we add another twenty acres of fertile land to you?" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Shu is rich, and twenty acres of fertile land should be able to support the family, right?" ”

"Twenty acres?" Mu Lou's eyes suddenly lit up, his eyes stared at Li Zicheng, from the felt hat on his head, to the camouflage pants on his legs, "Isn't the military master happy with the villain?" ”

"Do you think I'm making fun of you?" Li Zicheng smiled faintly and said, "I am Li Zicheng, the Grand Governor of the Heavenly Mandate Army!" ”

"Destiny Army? The Grand Governor? Mu Lou's eyes lost their brilliance, and he muttered, he didn't seem to know about the Heavenly Mandate Army.

"Mulou may not know," Li Zicheng said: "The latest military disaster is that the Heavenly Mandate Army has entered Sichuan, but the Heavenly Mandate Army will not harm the people, the Heavenly Mandate Army is to save the people, so that all the people can live a life, Chengdu and Chongqing have surrendered to the Heavenly Mandate Army." ”

"Ah......h

"You don't have to be afraid, I just said that the Mandate of Heaven Army will not embarrass the people," Li Zicheng said: "This post station in the white market, I will allocate it to you free of charge, and I will sign the title deed and house deed in a while, and the two of you will jointly run it, and soon after, the government will also distribute land to you, as long as you pay taxes according to the law, life will always be better." ”

"Villain...... The villain thanked the Governor! Mulou hurriedly bowed to the ground.

"Get up, no need to be polite!" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "I still have one condition, if the Heavenly Mandate Army needs to send a message through the post station, you must help unconditionally. ”

"That's nature," Mu Lou arched his hand and said, "As long as the Heavenly Mandate Army gives an order, the villain will go to the soup and the fire, and he will not hesitate to do so!" ”

"Haha," Li Zicheng pointed to Mulou's head, laughing unconsciously, but finally said: "On the 'Chengdu-Chongqing Ancient Road', how many such post stations are there?" ”

"Back to the Metropolitan Governor, as the villain knows, between Chengdu and Chongqing, there are eleven such post stations, Baishili is only a day's journey from Chongqing, and the remaining ten post stations are similar to Baishili, and most of the post guards have fled......"

"Those who flee don't have to come back," Li Zicheng said: "Only those who still stay at the post station can take over the post station."