In the early morning of the next day, a passenger boat left the Bianhe Wharf in Baoyanzhai and turned to the Wuzhang River and slowly sailed towards Yunzhou.

Bianjing is actually not far from Yangsanbo, Kaifeng Province to the northeast, after Heungin Province is Jeju, the distance is about 400 miles, you can reach it by boat for four days.

At this time, although the river ice has thawed, there is still floating ice on the river, so that the channel is not very smooth, and there are not many boats on the river, but this is not because it has just thawed, the fleet on the Bianhe River is endless, but the boats on the Wuzhang River are very sparse.

The fundamental reason is that Yunzhou and Jeju have been occupied by the Liangshan army, and the merchants dare not go, and the business exchanges between the two states and the outside world are almost cut off, but this is not in the interests of the Liangshan army, and the Liangshan army has a lot of money in his hands that needs to be converted into various luxury goods, so some big businessmen with backgrounds will also take the risk of going to Yunzhou to do business.

Li Yanqing stood at the bow of the boat with his hands in his hands, facing the cold and strong river breeze, the wind direction has been changed to the east wind, it is no longer so cold, there is a trace of obvious warmth in the air, the willow branches have also appeared new shoots, and the plum blossoms on both sides of the bank are blooming, red brilliantly, white and elegant, and extraordinarily swaying and colorful.

The reason why Li Yanqing planned to let the Seed Master Dao be responsible for attacking Liangshan was not just to avenge Tangyin's slaughter of the city, of course, Tangyin's hatred was also an important reason, but it was not the main reason.

The fundamental reason is that he has no time, it is now the second year of Xuanhe, and there are still five years before the Song Dynasty will encounter a large-scale invasion of the Jin State, and the Northern Song Dynasty will be destroyed in seven years, if he doesn't want to make Jingkang's difficulty so miserable, and wants to change the direction of history a little, he has to have certain resources as soon as possible.

If the normal officialdom promotion process is followed, he will not have the opportunity to become the director of a state until at least ten years later, but there is also a shortcut in the officialdom of the Song Dynasty, that is, military merit, if there is a background background, coupled with military merit, the promotion will be very rapid, and it can be said that it is an exceptional promotion.

He had already accumulated military merits in attacking Western Xia before, and he needed to accumulate some more military merits to be unusually promoted, and Song Jiang and the Liangshan army were undoubtedly the best stepping stones for his ascension.

At this moment, a middle-aged man walked out of the cabin.

The steward of Baoyanzhai who went to Yunzhou with Li Yanqing was surnamed Zhou, called Zhou Wenyuan, a native of Jeju, about forty years old, who was originally the shopkeeper of a rouge shop in Bianjing, and joined Baoyanzhai the year before last and was hired as a deacon, responsible for developing the business of Jingdong and Lianglu.

Originally, Li Daqi was ready to open a Baoyanzhai branch in Nanjing Yingtianfu and Qingzhou Yidu, Yingtianfu Baoyanzhai had already opened the year before last, Yidu originally planned to open a store last year, but it was postponed because of the influence of Liang Shanjun, and now in order to help Li Yanqing, Li Daqi decided to take the risk of opening a branch in Xucheng, of course, it was not really opened, once the war ended, he still had to move the store to Qingzhou Yidu, which is the capital of Jingdong East Road.

"Little proprietor, I went to Yidu two months ago, and I happened to pass through Yunzhou by boat, and I don't think it's as terrible as I imagined." Zhou Wenyuan slowly walked to Li Yanqing's side and said.

"How scary did you think it was?" Li Yanqing asked with a smile.

"I originally thought that it should be robbers who are rampant, robbing openly and secretly, and stabbing knives if they don't agree with each other, but in fact they also collect taxes, as long as they pay the transit money, they are not embarrassed, I paid the transit money twice, and then it is very safe."

"Is it okay to just pay the money?"

"Of course, there will be a search, provided that there is no weapon, if there is a weapon hidden, it will be a big trouble."

Li Yanqing nodded, and asked Yang Liang, who was standing at the stern of the boat fishing, "You didn't bring your knife!" ”

"Join the army .... That young proprietor, I didn't have any weapons with me. ”

Li Yanqing also understood in his heart that the imperial court decided to send the prince to conquer the Liangshan army yesterday morning, and it would take at least three days before the will was completely spread in the government and the opposition, even if the Liangshan army sent a pigeon letter, it would not get the news until the evening of the fourth day, and he arrived in Sucheng at noon on the fourth day, a little earlier than the news, and the risk of checking along the way was also over, which was also the reason why he set off in a hurry.

"What's our excuse? We can't say that we are people from Bao Yan Zhai. ”

"Nope! No! On the road, we can't say that we are from Bianjing, and we will double the inspection, but after entering Xucheng, we can say that we will go to Xucheng to buy land. ”

"Is that okay?"

"Of course you can, the villain inquired, the price of land in Xucheng began to plummet last year, and the price was only 30% of the year before last, and some bold businessmen will go to Xucheng to buy land, and after the war, the land price will rise again, and it will make a lot of money."

"I see, it's not a loss to go to Sucheng to open a store!"

"A loss is not a loss, the main thing is security, and the proprietor is mainly worried about this."

Li Yanqing nodded, safety is indeed a big issue........

On the evening of the third day, the boat gradually arrived at Hachae Town, Jeju, and Zhou Wenyuan said a little nervously: "There is a toll checkpoint in front, and after passing the checkpoint, you will enter Yangsanbo after walking two miles." ”

Li Yanqing smiled and nodded, "Come on!" Kill a game of chess with me. ”

Li Yanqing opened the chessboard and poured the chess stones onto the chessboard, Zhou Wenyuan was suddenly confused, what kind of chess is he playing at this time?

As soon as they set up the chess game, the boat was beaten heavily, and someone on the shore shouted: "Stop the boat and check!" ”

Immediately after someone climbed onto the boat and threw the cable ashore, the boat was tied to the shore, Li Yanqing walked out of the cabin, only to see that the shore was brightly lit, hundreds of torches were tied to the wooden pillars by the dock, illuminating the dock as if it were day, and two other boats in front of him were also detained for inspection.

At this time, a Liangshan military leader led a dozen soldiers on the boat and asked, "Where did you come from, where are you going?" ”

Zhou Wenyuan hurriedly stepped forward and bowed down and said, "We are from Yingtianfu and go to Sucheng to do business. ”

"Doing business? Let's go buy land! ”

"The general is right, it is indeed going to buy land, please take care of it."

As he spoke, an ingot of ten taels of silver was quietly stuffed into Du Tou's hand, and the head of Liang Shanjun suddenly grinned.

Song Jiang wanted to take Yun and Jeju as his foundation, and he also wanted to restore commerce and promote prosperity, so he specially issued a strict order that within the scope of Yunzhou and Jeju, it was strictly forbidden for the Liangshan army to rob caravans, including merchant ships.

"Let's do things according to the rules, search it, and if we don't have weapons, we can pay the toll money, and we can go."

With a wave of his hand, the soldiers entered the cabin and began to search, there was only a chessboard and a pair of chess in the cabin, as well as a few washed clothes and quilts to sleep in at night, nothing else, silver money and the like were carried with him, of course, Zhou Wenyuan would also put a few loose coins in the cabin to give the searching soldiers a little benefit.

"Report to the capital, no weapons found!"

Du Tou looked at Li Yanqing and Yang Liang, neither of them had weapons, he pointed at Li Yanqing and asked, "Who is this?" ”

"In Xia Li Qing, the students of Tianfu Academy, go to Qufu to pay homage to the relics of the saint, and then go to Xucheng to see the house by the way,"

Li Yanqing wore a scholar's Confucian robe, wore a flat scarf, and held a folding fan, looking polite, while Yang Liang was dressed as a small servant.

"Damn, it turned out to be a sour Confucian, hurry up and pay the toll, the boatman doesn't count, and everyone else has always paid for it."

Zhou Wenyuan hurriedly took out three taels of silver and gave them to Du Tou, Du Tou took them, gave them three tax bills, and waved his hand to the soldiers: "Get off the boat and let go!" ”

The soldiers disembarked one after another, and the ships set off again, heading for Liangshan, which was 800 miles away.......

The reason why Li Yanqing came to Yunzhou by boat was mainly because he wanted to understand the hydrological situation of Liangshanbo in the spring, including the depth of the water, and at the same time check the defense situation along the Wuzhang River, which was related to the transportation of their logistics and baggage.

If you want not to repeat the mistakes of the past, you must know the situation of Liangshanbo well, of course, Li Yanqing walks Liangshan Shuibo at night, and he can't see too many famous halls, so he can understand the depth of the water, as for the hiding place of Liangshan Shuijun, it is not that he can find it now, and he must find another way.

At night, Liangshan Bo was very quiet, and there was no harassment by water bandits, Li Yanqing used a bamboo pole to measure the depth of water in more than a dozen places, he did not dare to write it down on paper, but wrote down the data in his mind.

At this time, two small boats quietly approached, and someone on the boat shouted: "I am the patrol post of the Liangshan Water Army, do you have a tax bill?" ”

"Yes! Yes! Zhou Wenyuan hurriedly handed over the tax bill.

At this time, Li Yanqing suddenly found a familiar figure standing on one of the small boats, and then took a closer look, it turned out to be Ruan Xiaowu, Li Yanqing suddenly became nervous, he had seen Ruan Xiaowu many years ago, although his appearance has changed a lot now, and he has a little makeup, he should not be recognized under normal circumstances, but as long as he speaks, Ruan Xiaowu may still hear his own voice.

Li Yanqing secretly warned himself that he was not allowed to speak no matter what, and the soldier checked the tax bill and asked Li Yanqing again: "Are you together?" ”

Li Yanqing nodded hurriedly, Zhou Wenyuan was very clever, he saw that Li Yanqing was a little nervous, and hurriedly said: "He was scared by your brother just now, and the scholar is too timid to do anything." ”

Ruan Xiaowu also saw Li Yanqing, although there was light in the torch in the night, the light was still relatively dim, he didn't recognize Li Yanqing, Ruan Xiaowu smiled and said; "Don't embarrass them, let them go!"

The two patrol boats left, and Zhou Wenyuan asked in a low voice, "Little proprietor, what happened just now?" ”

"That general knew me just now, but fortunately I put on makeup, and he didn't recognize me."

"Ahh That's a lot of risk. ”

The boat gradually moved away, Ruan Xiaowu stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the passenger ship that had gone away, he always felt that the young scholar just now had a slight sense of déjà vu, as if he had seen it somewhere? But he couldn't remember anything.