From Nanchang, it was less than 100 miles north along the Ganshui River to enter Peng Lize, which was Poyang Lake in later generations.

Yuzhang County is Jiangxi Province, with many mountains and hills, only there is a plain around Nanchang, which is called the Poyang Lake Basin, which is the most important grain producing area in Jiangxi.

However, the degree of development in the south of the Han Dynasty was far lower than that in the north, because the productivity of the south was low, and both farming technology and agricultural tools were much worse than those in the north, resulting in most of the southern regions being very backward at present.

Therefore, the area south of the Yangtze River, including Liangguang, Jiangxi, Fujian, Hainan and other places in later generations, is still in a wilderness. The slightly more developed places are Hunan and the northeast of Zhejiang.

And the situation in Yuzhang County can only be said to be a little stronger than that of Liangguang, Fujian, and Hainan, but it is not much stronger, Shen Chen stood on the deck, protected by his eldest brother Shen Zhong, looking at the scenery on both sides of the strait.

I saw that the trees on both sides of the bank shaded the sky and the sun, and the Poyang Lake basin in later generations was now covered by dense primeval forests. The mountains in the distance overlapped, and the apes and tigers roared constantly.

You can even occasionally see Asian elephants and crocodiles playing in the swamps along the shore, just like a primitive and reckless era.

In fact, the south of the Yangtze River is now distinguished between Asian elephants and crocodiles, and there are rhinoceros, finless porpoises, peacocks, and so on everywhere around Poyang Lake in Ganshui. There are very few townships on both sides of the strait, and Duchang County in later generations is now a small fishing village.

From the afternoon to the evening, the Poyang Lake, which is as wide as the ocean, rolled up a howling wind, sending the fleet forward at a rapid pace.

Chaisang County is Jiujiang City, about 120 kilometers away from Nanchang, the fleet with the help of the wind, the first day of departure, the next morning to the Chaisang wharf.

There were dozens of huge cargo ships parked on the docks, and these ships were the goods that the great merchant was going to bring back to Sichuan.

After the ship stopped at Chaisang, Deng Hong took Shen Chen ashore to meet the merchant.

When the two came to the annex, unexpectedly, it was not the imaginary appearance of wearing gold and silver with a big belly, but several young people in their twenties and thirties, all of whom were just wearing simple coarse cloth robes, with elegant and graceful appearances.

At this time, they were resting in the annex, and when they learned that Deng Hong was coming, they came out to greet them.

The person surnamed Zhou, called Zhou Lin, about twenty-four or five years old, with a thin face and not bad looks, after meeting Deng Hong, he said with a smile: "Brother Deng is lucky, it just so happened that a ship broke down when we were in Jiangdong, and it was delayed for half a month, otherwise, I am afraid that we are already in Jiangling now." ”

Shen Chen on the side was surprised: "Does it take half a month to take a boat from Jiangdong to Jiangling?" ”

"It's up to luck."

Zhou Lin said: "When the wind is downwind, the boat can travel 400 miles a day, and it will arrive in four or five days, and if the wind is against the wind, the boat can travel 1,200 miles, and it will take eight or nine days." When the luck is particularly bad, it rains heavily, and it takes half a month. It is still very easy to sail between Jiangdong and Jingzhou, and the most difficult thing is to enter Shu, which may take two or three months. ”

"Why is that?"

Shen Chen asked curiously.

Seeing a child digging to the bottom of the matter, Zhou Lin also patiently explained: "Because the terrain on both sides of the upper reaches of the river is narrow, the river is turbulent, and the speed of the boat will be very slow. ”

"I see, thank you, sir."

Shen Chen silently kept this information in his heart, and maybe in the future, he would be like Zhuge Liang in the rest of his life, and he would have to stay in Sichuan.

Zhou Lin said: "Now that everyone has arrived and we are ready to leave tomorrow, what does Brother Deng think?" ”

Deng Hong replied: "It's all up to the virtuous brother to decide." ”

The two exchanged a few more pleasantries, then said goodbye from the annex, and on the way back, Shen Chen asked Deng Hong about the details of this Zhou Lin.

Deng Hong told him that he didn't know the specific situation, but he only knew that this merchant ship was a fleet united by five big families in Yizhou, so there were five people in charge, of which the Zhou family contributed the most, so Zhou Lin was the main foreign minister.

Shen Chen knew that this was the company's partner shareholder, like a business transaction between Jiangdong and Sichuan that spanned 3,000 kilometers, a profit of hundreds of millions of dollars in one trip was not something that could be eaten.

So it's normal for multiple families to join forces.

And there should not be many such examples, after all, these are troubled times.

A trip seems to be a lot of profit, but the risk of exploitation by the princes and natural and man-made disasters may not even be affordable for a rich man like Mi Zhu, and only the top gate valves in Yizhou, Jingzhou, and Yangzhou have this strength.

The next day, the fleet finally departed.

Because it was already early winter, the sky was drizzling, and the northwest wind was blowing in the Jiangdong area in winter instead of the southeast wind, except for the rare example of the Battle of Chibi, most of the time the winter sailing to Jingzhou was against the wind.

However, merchants never care about this, as long as it is profitable, even if there are knives in the sky, they dare to trade and do business.

Otherwise, if the merchants did not travel in winter, it would be impossible for Guan Yu not to notice when Lü Meng pretended to be a merchant Jia Baiyi crossed the river to launch a winter offensive against Jingzhou.

The fleet sailed with difficulty in the wind and waves, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River were wide and flat, which was conducive to the movement of ships, so although they went against the wind, they arrived in Shaxian County in about five days under the urging of human oars.

This speed is not fast, because Shaxian County is the Wuhan City of the later generations, they started from Chaisang, which is equivalent to from Jiujiang City to Wuhan City, the whole journey is more than 200 kilometers, and it takes five days to walk, and the speed of moving forward is forty or fifty kilometers every day, which is relatively slow.

The old man of Huangmenting got off the boat in Shaxian, Zhou Lin and they wanted to go back to Sichuan, they must follow the waterway of the Yangtze River, although they could also follow them to Yiling, from Yiling to Xiangyang is very close, only more than 200 kilometers.

The problem is that if they continue to walk along the waterway of the Yangtze River, they still have to go around to Dongting Lake, and they have to walk for half a month from Shaxian to Yiling, so it is better to get off the boat in Shaxian, and even if they only walk 20 kilometers a day, they will have arrived in Xiangyang in ten days.

Shaxian County is one of the 14 counties of Jiangxia, tracing back to the history of the Warring States Chu Xuan King Xiong Liangfu placed, the city is located on the west bank of the Yangtze River, the south bank of the mouth, guarding the confluence of the Yangtze River and the Han River.

At a glance, Shen Chen saw that the terrain was dangerous, there were high mountain cliffs on the edge of the city, and there were watchtowers and high turret walls and other city defense equipment on the top of the cliffs, which could be described as easy to defend and difficult to attack.

It is precisely because of the terrain and environment here that Sun Quan made Sun Quan's Jiangxia army, which was stronger than Huang Zu's, and was repeatedly rubbed due to the terrain and could not break the city.

The elders of Huangmenting Township disembark at the wharf outside Shaxian County, which serves as the intersection of the Han River and the Yangtze River, and the main transportation artery, so as to undertake the business activities of the north and south when there is no war.

Therefore, it is normal for caravans to come and go, but it is not common for people to move with their families and families.

The soldiers outside the city noticed that a migration force of more than 1,000 people appeared at the Shaxian pier and came to inquire.

Deng Hong told the other party that they were the Xinye Deng clan according to Shen Chen's confession before, and the ancestor was the founding general Deng Yu, hoping to see Jiangxia Taishou Huang Zu.

After Huang Zu learned about this, he hesitated a little, but decided to meet him.

Because the Deng clan has declined very badly so far, there are almost no officials in the DPRK and China, and its influence is much worse.

In the early years of the Empress Dowager Deng, the Deng clan declined for the first time, and a large number of clans migrated, and even the ancestral land could not be kept, and a large number of Deng clansmen fled.

By the time of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, the situation of the Deng family was slightly better, and there was a queen Deng Mengnu.

As a result, Deng Mengnu later angered Liu Zhi and was deposed as the queen, which led to the second great decline of the Deng family and completely lost the status of the family.

Although Huang Zu is not from a family, he is Jiangxia Taishou, and according to the "Three Mutual Laws", he is definitely not a member of the Jiangxia Huang clan.

The problem is that people are too guarded, two thousand stone masters, although you Deng is a famous family, but now you are lonely, and you are no longer qualified to stand in front of others.

So at first, Huang Zu didn't want to deal with it very much.

But after thinking about it, since people came to the door, let's see what they want to do, anyway, there is nothing to do today, and it is not a waste of time to meet in person.

So Deng Hong and Shen Chen, under the leadership of the soldiers, entered the city and went to Huang Zu's mansion.

After entering from the front yard to the atrium, the house structure of the big families in the Han Dynasty is basically like this, there is a front yard, after the front yard is the atrium, at the end of the atrium is a big house called the atrium, which is the place to meet guests, and the life is in the back yard.

Huang Zu was already waiting for them in the middle hall at this time, he was sitting on the main seat, and frowned slightly when he saw Deng Hong coming to visit with a child.

Because formal visits generally do not bring family members, only after getting acquainted, will they bring their families, although it is not rude to bring children when they meet for the first time, but Huang Zu does not feel that he is very familiar with this Deng Hong.

"Deng Hong has seen Fujun, a small courtesy, not a respect."

After Deng Hong entered the hall, he first bowed his hand, and then handed over a small wooden box he was carrying to the soldier next to him.

The soldier sent the wooden box up, opened a corner slightly, and saw that there were a few night pearls and some pearls and gold in it, Huang Zu's original frowning brows suddenly eased, and laughed: "It turns out that it is a famous family, sit down quickly." ”

"Thank you, Mr. Fu."

Deng Hong took Shen Chen to sit on the side.

After they sat down, Huang Zu asked, "I don't know what is the matter with you coming?" ”

Deng Hong said: "Fujun, my ancestor was the Xinye Deng clan, and later had to leave his hometown and go to Xuzhou because his clan was blamed by the imperial court. If there is chaos today, only Jingzhou is peaceful, so our clansmen plan to go back to Xinye to avoid trouble. ”

"I see."

Huang Zu tapped his chin, and probably understood what Deng Hong wanted to do.

Deng Hong continued: "I just rushed back to my hometown, I don't know how my hometown is, so I asked to see Fu Jun, hoping that Fu Jun can say a few good words for me in front of Liu Jingzhou, so as to find a way out." ”

"Well...... this"

Huang Zu glanced at the wooden box, shook his head and said: "Liu Yuanjun is eager to seek talents now, if you are talented and learned, the introduction is just a trivial matter, I am afraid of ......"

Deng Hong laughed: "There is no need to worry about this, although the Xinye Deng clan has declined, we were originally descendants of the main lineage, and we brought a lot of books with us when we left our hometown, but we couldn't go out because of the suppression of the imperial court, so if you want to take the school exam, it should be fine." ”

"Hmm......."

Huang Zu thought for a while and said, "Okay, I'll fix a book and introduce it to you." ”

"Thank you, Mr. Fu."

Deng Hong and Shen Chen glanced at each other, and things were going well.