Li Bai Shiyun: It is difficult to go to Shu Road, and it is difficult to go to the blue sky. The difficulty of the Shu Road lies in the passage in and out of Sichuan.

From the flat Jianghan Plain into Shudi, there are several roads. Among them, there are several roads in the north and south of the Three Gorges and on both sides of the Yangtze River, which are called the north and south roads of the Three Gorges.

The North Road crosses Wushan Mountain, and its course is basically along the Yangtze River to the west. Because it is necessary to cross the Wushan Mountain Range with deep ravines and high cliffs, this road is particularly difficult and dangerous, and has been regarded as a daunting path by travelers for thousands of years, and is recognized as the most difficult of the Shu Road. The fastest road in the north road is the Three Gorges Fiber Road.

In the Xinchou year of Chenghua (1481), Wu Yanhua, a member of the Sichuan government, renovated the Qutang and Wuxia Fiber Roads (Note 1), which not only facilitated the upward movement of ships, but also provided a relatively fast passage for land routes into Sichuan. However, this fiber road has a fatal flaw: it is not tolerant of seasonal changes, afraid of rising water, afraid of landslides.

The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River is narrow, and the water level of the Three Gorges River rises by several zhang or even tens of zhang during the flood season (Note 2), when heavy rain rains in the upper reaches of the river and the flood water flows into the main stream. This change in water level is often sudden, and the heads of several large rivers happen to be stacked on top of each other, creating a sudden and high and fierce peak.

Outsiders who did not know the temperament of the Three Gorges were caught in the flood season and drowned due to the sudden floodwater, or they were trapped on the banks of the river and starved to death or froze to death (Note 3).

Of course, in order to avoid the risk of changes in the water level of the Yangtze River, you can also take a safer post road. This post road starts from Yiling, passes through the Huangniuyi and Jianping stations on the north bank of the Yangtze River to Guizhou and Badong, and then passes through Bazhong Station and Gaotang Station to Kuizhou, and finally goes to Chongqing, Shunqing and Chengdu. It's just that the post road is much farther than the fiber road in terms of distance. What's worse is that there are few highlands in Kuizhou, the stock of land is limited, and the local area is very short of grain, so it is impossible to receive hundreds of thousands of displaced people at once. Therefore, when the displaced people arrived in Kuizhou, they had to continue to divert in the direction of Chongqing and Shunqing.

Nandao, as the name suggests, its road is on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

Its direction is basically as follows: starting from Yiling, crossing the Wuling Mountains to reach Yesanguan. After arriving at Yesanguan, there are two options, one is to go to Fengjie County, the capital of Kuizhou, through Jianshi County, and the other is to continue westward to Shizhouwei. After arriving at Shizhou Wei, there are three options, one is to cross the Yangtze River from Shizhou Weidu Tingli (now Lichuan County) to Wanxian, and go to Shunqing Mansion through Liangshan (now Liangping), Dazhu, and Qu County, and the other is to cross the Yangtze River through Zhongzhou, and go to Guang'an and Shunqing Mansion through Dianjiang and Linshui; The third is to temporarily do not pass the river, continue to move forward, through Shiyan, Fuzhou (now Fuling), Changshou directly to Chongqing Mansion.

Compared with the North Road, Yiling is almost a straight line from Chongqing Province to Chongqing Province via the South Road, the distance is closer, and the road conditions are better. The most dangerous area is the Yesanguan area, because there is a deep valley fault zone here.

It is said that during the Hongwu period, the Ming army took the south road when they entered Sichuan, and paved the stone road, but after that, the pedestrians became less and less, and the south road gradually disappeared in the barren grass and dense forest. The reason for this is that the southern road is out of the territory of Changyang County, and it is intermittently the territory of the Tujia (now Tujia). Therefore, in the three hundred years of the Ming Dynasty, except for the horse gangs engaged in trade, ordinary Han people did not go much.

……

A young scholar named Wen Fengji, who suggested to Chen Youfu and others that the displaced people choose South Road for the road to Sichuan.

Wen Fengji was recommended to Chen Youfu by Zhang Dazhong, the governor of Yiling. The reason on the surface is that Wenfeng Ji is a local noble family in Yiling, and he is familiar with the geography of mountains and rivers between rivers and lakes. The secret reason is that Zhang Dazhong and Wen Fengji's father Wen Anzhi worked under Yang Sichang back then, and the two had similar temperaments and became friends. Wen Fengji does things for the Shu army, one can bring the son of an old friend, and the other can let himself have an eyeliner or retreat in the Shu army.

Facts have proved that Zhang Dazhong's selfish ambush has had an unexpected effect. Wen Fengji and his Laozi Wen Anzhi not only really played a huge role in the major event that the Shu prince was highly concerned about, but Zhang Dazhong took the thief ship of Zhu Pingjian, the son of Shu, and saved his life while serving as the prefect of Jingzhou.

Wen Fengji's suggestion surprised the participants and caused a heated debate. Opposition soon emerged for two main reasons.

First, the route of the displaced people into Sichuan negotiated between Yiling and Kuizhou is the northern road. In order to welcome the passage of millions of displaced people, the Kuizhou government is doing everything possible to raise food, medicine, farm tools and other materials, and also painstakingly transfer some of the materials to Wushan and other counties along the way.

When he passed by Kuizhou, Wei Chen confessed that Kuizhou Wangzhuang set up the first supply station by the bream stream at the junction of Sichuan and Lake. From bream creek to Kuizhou, thousands of stone grain have been stored along the way. In order to reserve these grains, the Kuizhou Guancang Minjiao not only came to the bottom, but also vacated the war-ready granary of the Kuizhou Huzhuang Corps! At present, Wei Chen has ordered that starting from him, the chief captain, the Kuizhou Protector Army will eat one and a half meals a day until the supply grain ship of the prince arrives.

If the route of the displaced people into Sichuan is hastily changed, many of the arrangements made by the Kuizhou government at great cost will be in vain. It's hard to predict how the reaction from the Kuizhou Mansion will be. And because the south province is unprepared, if the food purchase on the road is not successful, it will bring disastrous consequences.

The second objection is equally strong, and it involves the minority policy of the Shu Dynasty.

Zhu Zhihan resolutely opposes taking the South Road. Zhu Zhihan is relatively clear about the situation of Jiuxiwei, and Jiuxiwei is on the edge of Tujia's territory. Although the South Road passes through the three counties of Changyang, Badong and Jianshi, it is actually walking on the territory of Tujia Tusi. The Yesan Pass and Liantian Pass in Changyang County and Badong County were originally Han land under the jurisdiction of the state and county officials. However, in recent years, the Rongmei Xuanwei Division (Note 5) south of Qingjiang (Note 4) has been in the limelight, not only gradually overpowering the two old big toasts in the south: Yongshun Xuanwei Division and Baojing Xuanwei Division, but also reaching into the land of Han soil.

The Xuanwei Division is the highest level of the Ming Dynasty Tusi rank. Its chief declared that the envoy was from the third grade, slightly lower than the commander of the guard;

The second is the Xuanfu Division. Its chief declares that the envoy is from the four products;

Again, the Pacification Division. Its prefect pacified the envoy from the five grades, slightly less than the thousand households, and the same as the Tuzhi Prefecture;

Finally, there is the long-term lawsuit with the lowest grade. The rank of the barbarian chief is the seventh grade, which is only comparable to the magistrate.

In addition to the above-mentioned military toasts, there are also civilian toasts, such as the Tuzhifu and Tuzhizhou.

Rongmei Tusi was originally the Xuanfu Division, which was hereditary for the Tian family, and the current head of the division is Tian Xuan, with four chief officials under its jurisdiction. Since Tian Jiuxiao of the Jiajing Dynasty and his half-brother Tian Jiulong, Rongmei Tusi has continued to rebel in accordance with the will of the imperial court, and accompanied Yu Dayou to fight against the Japanese Kou, and made military exploits together with Yong and Baotu soldiers. Zhang Xianzhong rebelled in Gucheng, and Rongmei Tusi was able to deploy 7,000 troops to help suppress it, which shows that the power has been greatly expanded.

In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, Rongmei Tusi's dream for many years finally came true, and he was promoted from the Xuanfu Division to the Xuanfu Division, and the Yongshun Xuanwei Division and the Baojing Xuanwei Division were on an equal footing.

When the group company is upgraded, the following subsidiaries and branches will naturally be upgraded. The chief lawsuit under the jurisdiction of Rongmei Tusi suddenly ascended to heaven, and they all became the pacification department, and the deputy chief lawsuit was also corrected. As for the institutions and officials that have been set up privately, such as the chief lawsuit, the thousand-household, and the hundred-hundred-household, they have swelled rapidly, and there are already more than 20 of them. On the one hand, Rongmei Tusi curryed favor with the court and the government and reaped benefits, but on the other hand, he constantly bullied the Han government and small Tusi and expanded outward.

Shuijing toast is a typical example. Shuijing Tusi was originally a chief lawsuit under the jurisdiction of Rongmei Tusi, and its chief Tang Zhenbang was Tian Xuan's grandson. Taking advantage of Shuijing Tusi's geographical location adjacent to Changyang County, Tang Zhenbang continued to expand into the Han land of Changyang County, and now has controlled most of the area west and south of Longzhouping in Changyang County. The middle and lower reaches of the Qingjiang River, an important waterway leading to Shizhouwei, have in fact become the inland river of Rongmei Tusi; The source of the LOU water, a tributary of the Li River leading to Dongting Lake, is the traditional territory of Rongmei Tusi.

Zhu Zhihan quoted the words of Li Yuanliang, the commander of Jiuxiwei, and Tan Fengxuan, the servant, to oppose it: If there is a big chaos today, the Tujia Tusi on the border of Sichuan and Lake and the Miaojia Tusi in Guizhou are taking advantage of the opportunity to become bigger, and their continuous expansion and population increase are the proof. If the Shu Wangfu owes the Tujia Tusi a debt due to the exiles entering Sichuan, then the Tujia people may be even more difficult to control in the future. At the same time, because Rongmei Tusi and several other Tujia Tusi occupy the throat at the junction of Sichuan and Lake, once they make a mess based on this, it will inevitably cut off the east and west of the Shufu army, and the end will not be connected, which will bring disastrous consequences to the Protector Army who have just arrived in Huguang and have not yet gained a stable foothold!

……

Wen Yangzheng's objections are of course, and Chen Youfu also has this concern; Zhu Zhihan's opposition is well-founded and logical. The opposition witness Jiuxiwei commanded the Jiuxi Acropolis under the jurisdiction of Li Yuanliang, and the Rongmei Tusi official village are both on the shore of the water, and there is only a Ma Liao guarding the Qianhu in the middle, and the strategic task given to Jiuxiwei by the imperial court is to monitor and control the Rongmei Tusi in the northwest and the Yongshun Tusi in the southwest!

In the face of these objections, the scholar in front of him, who didn't know the details, could hardly shake Chen Youfu's established determination, even if he said it wildly. Just when Chen Youfu was about to make a decision on this and the opponent was about to win the final victory, Wen Fengji challenged all the evidence against him with a broken statement.

"Rongmei Tusi is loyal to the imperial court and has many military exploits. Chen Jiangye, two Zhu Gongzi, the students are willing to take the head of Xiang Shang as a basis, and Baorong Mei Toast will never rebel! Wen Fengji patted his chest and swore to the sky.

Whether Toast is or not is not the other way around, I can't say now. The point is that if it is a hindrance, it will cause a big thing. If something happens, your oath will still be a fart!

Seeing Wen Fengji's playful curse and swearing, Chen Youfu suddenly became angry. Despite his efforts to suppress his emotions, the words he uttered were not so good.

"Gongzi Wen, millions of homeless people, which way they go, but it determines their life and death! The officials of the court regarded the people as mustard, and the gentry and heroes guarded the people like enemies. My lord has the virtue of a good life, and he is willing to do what the officials of the court and the gentry do not do! With such a matter of human life at stake, how can it be decided by your words! ”

Note 1: To clarify an easy misunderstanding: the Three Gorges Fiber Road was neither built in the Ming Dynasty, nor was it only in the Qing Dynasty. There is a lot of information about the fiber road in the historical materials of the Tang Dynasty.

Note 2: The Yangtze River has a long flood season, divided into spring flood and summer flood. The spring flood season usually starts in April every year.

Note 3: This chapter is based on real history. History: Zhang Xianzhong led a large army into Sichuan in the spring of the year. After the striker arrived in Wanzhou in February, he stayed there for three months due to rising water levels. He was trapped by the river, drowning and starving to death, and some historical sources say that there were tens of thousands. Some archaeological evidence is available. The archaeological site is full of white bones, and it is shocking to see.

Note 4: The Qingjiang River, also known as Yishui, flows into the Yangtze River through Enshi City through Changyang County and Yidu County.

Note 5: Rongmei Tusi Guanzhai is located in Rongmei Town, Hefeng County.