"Is there no waterway from the capital to the southern states?"

This was the question that Chen Chao asked Murong Chong on the third day of the mission's departure from the capital.

At this time, Chen Chao had already got out of the carriage, mounted a horse, and marched hand in hand with Murong Chong.

Although the newly built concrete road is very flat, there are hardly any bumps in the carriage.

But for the Chen Dynasty, who was accustomed to the convenient and fast transportation of later generations, it was still too painful to travel by carriage.

In ancient times, travel was nothing more than these ways:

On foot, carts drawn by various livestock, ox carts, donkey carts, horse-drawn carts, and boat trips by water.

The waterways are the fastest and most comfortable.

Hearing Chen Chao's question, Murong Chong shook his head.

"No waterways?" Chen Chao expressed his doubts.

Murong Chong responded: "Yes, there is no waterway in the capital to reach the southern states. Most of the rivers I face are east-west, and there are almost no large rivers in the north-south direction. ”

Chen Chao was speechless.

After a while, Chen Chao sighed softly: "In this case, how inconvenient it is. It seems that there will be time to dig a north-south canal in the future. ”

"Canal?" Murong Chong said in surprise.

"Any questions?" Chen Chao looked at the official road in front of him, and felt that there was no time to reach the destination, and if it was changed to a waterway, it should be much faster.

Murong Chong thought for a while, looked at Chen Chao and said, "It is indeed very convenient to dig a north-south canal, but it is too difficult, and it is impossible to complete it in a few decades." ”

Chen Chao wrote lightly: "Don't you do it if it's difficult?" ”

Murong Chong was speechless.

After a while, Chen Chao said: "If you take the waterway, you can save at least half of the time from the capital to the south, and I won't go into more detail about the benefits of opening the canal, I think you should know it in your heart." As soon as the canal is opened, it will inevitably connect several major water systems in our direction, and although this project is extremely labor-intensive and material-intensive, it will benefit thousands of generations. ”

Murong Chong nodded in agreement.

At this time, there was a sudden riot in the rear convoy.

Chen Chao and Murong Chong turned their heads to look.

Finding that there was a problem with the carriage that Chu Yan, the sixth prince, was riding, Chu Yan poked half of his body out of the window and pointed at a soldier and scolded.

Chen Chao glanced at it a few times and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Murong Chong replied: "From the first day of departure, this young master began to make a fuss, either because the carriage was uncomfortable, or because he was walking too slowly, or the food was not delicious, and even asked us to find him a few beautiful girls along the way." ”

"Huh." Chen Chao snorted lightly, his face became unkind, "How can a captured prisoner who has been defeated and captured ask for so many things." ”

Murong Chong said with emotion: "Today, the state of Chu is strong and prosperous, known as the first in the world, no matter where the people of Chu go, they think they are superior, even in the territory of our court, the people of Chu are also walking sideways on the street, because the imperial court has long issued an order that the people of Chu must not be provoked for no reason, otherwise they will be severely punished." Over time, Chu Min became more and more unscrupulous, not to mention this honorable sixth prince. ”

"My subordinates also heard that in the past few months that the sixth prince has been imprisoned in the capital, those officials in charge of guarding the officials have curried favor with him every day, and the six princes have wine and meat all of a sudden, and where they are captives, they are simply here to enjoy happiness."

After speaking, Murong Chong was indignant.

Chen Chao was silent.

The decline of the Great Age is not without reason, and through this simple little thing, you can get a glimpse of the whole picture.

For the people of Chu and the state of Chu, the courtiers of Daji have a kind of fear and flattering qualities in their bones.

In this way, it is not surprising that Daki was trampled on his head and bullied.

Spit out a breath of depression in his chest, Chen Chao coldly ordered: "From now on, treat Chu Yan's kid like a normal prisoner, if he makes trouble, he will be beaten until he closes his mouth, and there is no need to show mercy to his subordinates." ”

"Yes!"

With a hint of excitement in Murong Chong's tone, he immediately turned his horse's head to do it.

He has long been unaccustomed to Chu Yan, a captured prisoner who was defeated and captured, so arrogant? If you don't give him some color, it's just worthy of the name of the ever-victorious army.

After Murong Chong turned the horse's head to teach Chu Yan a lesson, Xu Biao, the big man in the back, followed with his legs lightly clamping the horse's belly.

"Give." Xu Biao grinned, took out a red fruit from his arms, first wiped it on his clothes, wiped it clean before handing it to Chen Chao.

Chen Chao looked at the stupid big man, and his heart relaxed for no reason.

He took his fruit, took a bite, and appreciated, "Hmm...... It's sweet, where did it come from? Yet. ”

Xu Biao touched the back of his head and grinned, nodded violently, and then took out all the fruits hidden in his arms and handed them to Chen Chao, leaving none for himself, and finally said angrily: "Picked from the trees on the road." ”

Chen Chao smiled and treated this big man as his own brother.

"Are the injuries on your body completely healed?" Chen Chao said with concern.

At the beginning, he beat Xu Biao with eighty military sticks, and Chen Chao still can't help it.

"It's been a long time ago, everyone says that I am an iron body, invulnerable." Xu Biao patted his chest and said it was okay.

Chen Chao took a bite of the fruit and joked: "This journey is dangerous, many people want to kill me, you have to protect me." ”

"Don't worry, come and kill one and I, and two and I will kill a pair."

Hearing this, Chen Chao's heart was slightly touched.

What a silly brother.

"Come, bring these fruits to the lady's carriage, and let them taste them too."

Chen Chao handed over all the fruits in his arms to Xu Biao and pointed to a carriage in the center of the convoy.

Xu Biao held the fruit, looked at it, and went to do it.

......

At night, the lonely moon hangs high.

Today, because of Chu Yan's commotion, the speed of the mission slowed down a lot, and the mission convoy did not arrive at the established post station in time, so it could only temporarily rest in a wilderness where birds don't.

A bonfire was lit in the open space to ward off the cold, and the soldiers gathered together, holding their weapons in their arms, and closed their eyes to rest.

This made Chen Chaomeng go back to the days of fighting in Yunzhou, when he was in a hurry, and most of the time he was like this.

However, there are differences.

There was a lot of space in the carriage, and the two women took the sugar treasure to lie on the soft cushion and sleep peacefully.

Chen Chao lifted the curtain and glanced inside, smiling knowingly.

At this moment, Hou Ji ran over quickly from a distance, as if there was something urgent.

Chen Chao lowered the curtain and led Hou Ji into the distance.

Only then did Hou Ji whisper: "Xiangye, Long Wuwei in the capital has sent a message to him, there is a situation." ”

Chen Chao frowned, thinking that he had just left the capital with his front foot, and those rats in the capital couldn't stand it? Started so early? It shouldn't be.

Taking the letter in Hou Ji's hand, Chen Chao opened it and looked at it, and his brows involuntarily raised slightly.

"The eldest princess wants to attack Chu Yan, Yanyu Building has already set off!"

The letter was brief.

Chen Chao stared at it for a long time, Hou Ji leaned over to look at it, and immediately wondered: "Yanyu Building? ”

Chen Chao looked at Hou Ji's big reaction and wondered:

"What is the Smoke and Rain Building?"

Hou Ji replied very seriously: "The killer organization of the Chu State, I heard that they have never missed. ”

Chen Chao closed the letter and asked, "Where did this letter come from?" Is the above message accurate? ”

Hou Ji shook his head: "I don't know where this letter came from, someone sent this letter to the Prime Minister's Mansion yesterday, and Long Wuwei had a bad premonition, this is not the news that Long Wuwei heard, and I don't know whether the news is true or false." ”

Hearing this, Chen Chao pursed his lips lightly, his eyes flashing.

There were only two brief mentions in the letter, but they were all key information, and Chen Chao had to pay attention to them.

After thinking about it, Chen Chao ordered: "Send more people, Chu Yan must not do anything before he arrives in Jinling." ”

Chu Yan is the most important bargaining chip in Daji's hand, if Chu Yan dies in vain on the road, the consequences will be unimaginable.

Hou Ji clenched his fists and retreated, and immediately went to arrange.

Chen Chao looked up at the lonely moon hanging high in the night, blinked his eyes, became more and more profound, and his hand subconsciously clenched the letter.

Who sent this letter......?