The winter in the north is cold and windy, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as dripping into ice, and it is even more so in the twelfth year of Zhenguan, the temperature drops below zero early, even in the sunny weather, it still makes people feel the slightest warmth, so unless necessary, most people are nested at home. Come on,.!

On the cement road from Gunzhou to Luoyang, a large convoy is in full swing in the direction of Luoyang, this section of the road they have walked two-thirds, and now to the boundary of Bianzhou, the so-called Bianzhou, in fact, refers to the Kaifeng of later generations, but Bianzhou City is on the north bank of the Yellow River, and the cement road from Gunzhou to Luoyang is on the south bank of the Yellow River, so this convoy can not enter Bianzhou City at all unless it crosses the Yellow River that has been frozen early.

There are two or three hundred people in this convoy on the road, and the convoy is all men in the prime of life, each wearing the same style of thick cotton jackets, dogskin hats, and uniform cotton gloves on their hands.

This convoy is driving dozens of carts, almost every four-wheeled carriage is a two-horse pull, since the cement road began to be built, the traffic is becoming more and more convenient, especially in terms of cargo transportation, it is much faster, but soon someone found that the same horsepower, with a four-wheeled carriage can transport more goods, so more and more people choose to use a four-wheeled vehicle to pull goods, as for the steering of the four-wheeled vehicle, it is not a technical problem at all, because as early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were four-wheeled carriages on the land of the Central Plains, It's just because of the road. It was not as practical as a two-wheeled carriage, so it was not popularized on a large scale. It wasn't until the advent of the concrete road that the four-wheeled carriage was given a chance to regain its glory.

At the very front of the convoy. It was a number of single-carriages pulling people, and in the middle of them, the window had been opened, and a young man was sticking his head out of it, talking to a big man on a horse next to him.

"Brother Wu, it's almost the New Year. Can we get to Chang'an before the year? The young man in the car asked in a loud voice.

"Brother Zhou, don't worry, we can go to Zhengzhou tonight, which is only a few days away from Luoyang, since Luoyang has arrived. Chang'an is naturally not a problem. "The big man on horseback is surnamed Wu, and he is the treasurer of this convoy, and these two or three hundred people are all his companions. Shopkeeper Wu and his buddies are both from Dengzhou, and this time they also transported goods from Dengzhou to Chang'an, but he was just a transporter, and all the goods on the car belonged to others.

It's just that after the shopkeeper Wu finished saying the above words, his brows furrowed again, and he said to the young man in the car with a little embarrassment on his face: "Brother Zhou, if we get to Zhengzhou, the convoy will be nothing." Just go straight to Chang'an, but the thing on the river has two choices, so it's up to you to make your decision! ”

Although Shopkeeper Wu is a big transporter in Dengzhou City, he not only has a fleet of trucks, but also a large fleet of transport ships, so he is very familiar with both land and water. However, even though his business was very large, he was always in awe of the young man in the carriage, just because the other party was from the Qi Palace. And don't look at the other party's youth, but he is one of the several major stewards who take care of Qi Wang Dengzhou's industry, so the shopkeeper Wu will pay so much attention to it, and even ignore the cold wind, and personally follow the team to run this experience, mainly to take care of the relationship with the other party, and maybe there will be something to ask the other party in the future.

"That thing on the river......" As soon as the young man heard the words of the shopkeeper Wu, he immediately had a headache on his face. This young man's name is Zhou Yu, originally just an ordinary fisherman, but because of his eyes, he was first recruited to work in the Qi Palace, and later because of his cleverness and willingness to work, he was promoted to manage the fishing team manager of the Qi Palace.

When Li Yu left Dengzhou City, he gave them one thing, and as a result, Zhou Yu and several of their chief stewards prepared for more than half a year, and finally prepared a month ago, and then found the big transporter Wu Shopkeeper and asked him to send the prepared things to Chang'an, but these things are more valuable, so there must be an important person in the Qi Palace. But this is hard work, after all, it is winter, and it is close to the New Year, and no one wants to run outside. In the end, because of the shallow qualifications in the Qi Palace, and the people were young, several other stewards unanimously recommended him to escort the car, and Zhou Yu had no choice but to take this drudgery.

"Brother Wu, you have traveled a good way, why do you have to have two choices when you go to Zhengzhou?" Zhou Yu asked puzzled. Although he has a headache, but that thing is asked for by His Royal Highness, as a subordinate, no matter how difficult it is, he has to find a way to send it over, who let him eat this bowl of rice?

The so-called things on the river are actually a piece of goods, and the goods pulled on the carriage are the same, but the volume of this cargo is too large, and it can't be transported by horse-drawn carriage at all, so at first it was a big boat, and then after coming to the mouth of the Yellow River, the goods were dragged to the shore with cattle and horses, and while the Yellow River was frozen, they found a section of the river that could bear the weight of the goods, put them on a special super-large sled, and then sent a small team to pull more than a dozen oxen to pull them on the river.

"Brother Zhou didn't know, when we came from Gunzhou, this road has always been parallel to the Yellow River, but when we got to Zhengzhou, the Yellow River was changed to the north, and it took a circle to reach the boundary of Puzhou near Chang'an, so if the goods are still going through the river, we have to separate from our convoy, and then go to Puzhou to meet, if we go to Zhengzhou to pull the goods ashore and take the land route, then we have to use rolling logs to put under the goods, a little bit forward, slower than a detour, so it may be a few days late to Chang'an." When the shopkeeper Wu mentioned the goods, his face was also a little helpless, he helped people transport goods for half his life, and it was the first time to transport such a large volume of goods.

"Brother Wu, if you take the waterway to detour, how many more roads will you have to walk?" Zhou Yu frowned and asked, the goods on the waterway were very valuable, and if they went separately, he was really a little uneasy.

"This estimate will take a hundred miles more." Shopkeeper Wu is familiar with the terrain, so he opened his mouth and answered.

"Hundreds of miles......" Zhou Yu's brows furrowed even tighter, he wanted to arrive in Chang'an as early as possible to ask His Royal Highness the King of Qi for credit, but he really didn't want to take a long detour, but if he didn't take a long detour, the goods could only move forward slowly with rolling wood, and the speed would probably be even slower.

Shopkeeper Wu is a good person, as soon as he saw Zhou Yu's appearance, he immediately guessed what the other party was thinking, he was relatively old, and he had rich experience in traveling south and north, and his eyes rolled to think of a way to get to Chang'an quickly, so he immediately said: "Brother Zhou, I have a way to speed up the movement of that cargo on land, but I want your help!" ”

"Oh?" Zhou Yu was overjoyed when he heard this, and asked eagerly, "Brother Wu, please tell me quickly, as long as the goods can arrive in Chang'an as soon as possible, let me do anything!" ”

"Hehe, in fact, the solution is very simple, after we go ashore in Zhengzhou, you can order the local government to send people to assist in the name of King Qi, so that they can splash water on our way forward, so that as soon as the water freezes, it is almost the same as the river, and naturally you can take the land route, and the speed is also very fast, it is estimated that you can reach Chang'an five or six days in advance." Shopkeeper Wu chuckled and told the way he had come up with it.

Zhou Yu was also very moved after hearing this, but after he thought about it carefully, he finally shook his head firmly, and said: "Brother Wu, although your method is good, but you may not know the temper of my prince, sending these goods is a private matter of the palace, he definitely doesn't want us to disturb the government, and the road is icy, it will also cause trouble to other people on the road, affecting the local traffic, if you let His Highness know afterwards, I'm afraid you and I will be punished, so this method is definitely not feasible!" ”

When the shopkeeper heard Zhou Yu's words, he was ashamed at the moment, but also admired King Qi's personality even more, and finally the two discussed it and decided to go separately, but Zhou Yu decided not to follow the convoy anymore, but to personally escort the goods, for which the shopkeeper Wu persuaded a few words, after all, it is very difficult to walk on the ice, and there is danger, but Zhou Yu has made up his mind, he can't persuade him at all, so he has to give up.

In the afternoon, Zhou Yu took a few entourages and Wu shopkeeper's convoy to say goodbye, and then quickly rushed to the Yellow River in the direction of the north, in fact, the road is built along the river, and the distance between them is only a few hundred steps, and the team on the convoy and the river often send people to contact to report the situation on the road, if there are any difficulties, the convoy can also send someone to help.

When Zhou Yu hit the horse and rushed to the river, he immediately saw that on the river in front of them, there was a behemoth moving forward slowly, this behemoth was the goods he mentioned with the shopkeeper Wu before, but the whole body of this cargo was wrapped in a huge thick linen, and it was impossible to see what was inside, and in front of the goods, there were more than a dozen cows and horses struggling to pull forward, and the hooves of the cows and horses were wrapped in non-slip coarse cloth, but even so, there were still livestock from time to time who slipped due to excessive force, Most of the work of the dozens of Wu shopkeepers next to him was to pull up the fallen livestock.

Zhou Yu looked at the ice surface of the Yellow River like a silver snake, felt the river breeze like a knife, cursed in a low voice a few words to several palace stewards who enjoyed happiness in Dengzhou, and finally reluctantly tightened the sheepskin on his body, beat his horse and rushed down the river embankment, and rushed to the freight team in front. (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation. )

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