The boatman's surname is Qin, and he is the fifth eldest son in the family. Everyone on the dock calls him fifth brother.

This boat is his own, so he will not use outsiders. His mother-in-law has returned from going ashore to buy vegetables and is squatting on the bow to pick and wash vegetables in preparation for taking the afternoon. His son and nephew are helping to pick vegetables at the bow.

One was in a daze at the stern of the boat.

People often say that the hardest thing is sailing to blacksmith and sell tofu. In fact, blacksmithing and buying tofu are not only painful but also very dangerous. Han Xiufeng is not familiar with him. He only knows that his family has been running ships for generations. His father and several of his brothers all died on the river.

.

Just as he was about to strike up a conversation with Qin Wu, Pan Er, who had just finished crying, felt a little impatient and couldn't help but ask: "Fourth brother, why don't you leave?"

"Waiting for the first few ships to load."

"We hired this boat and paid half of the money. We can leave whenever we want. Why are we waiting for the boats in front?"

"Our boat is small and it is not cost-effective to hire trackers. If we go with the boats in front, we can hire trackers together when we reach the dangerous shoals."

"We are going east, and the wind is smooth. Why hire a tracker to do something?" Han Xiufeng looked at him as if he was an idiot. Pan Er felt a little uncomfortable and couldn't help asking: "Did I say something wrong?"

Datou has been making a living on the dock and knows some things about the river. Before Han Xiufeng could speak, he muttered: "You are a melon, you don't even know this!"

"You know?"

"I'm not Gua Wa Zi, I definitely know."

"I know what you said."

"Smooth winds and smooth water are naturally good, but if the water is too smooth and fast, it will be bad. If the wind is strong and the water is strong, the boat will be washed down, washed up on dangerous shoals, washed onto rocks, and even overturned and broken into pieces."

Pan Er came to his senses and murmured: "So when passing through dangerous shoals with strong winds and strong water, we have to hire trackers to carry the boat with ropes and lower the boat slowly."

"That's the truth."

Pan Er thought about it and asked again: "Fourth brother, we have to wait for this and that. Waiting and waiting, how many days will it take for us to get to Yichang?"

Han Xiufeng pondered: "We are taking the Zhengdong Waterway, which is one or two journeys from here to Fuzhou (now Fuling District, Chongqing City), totaling 340 miles; and it is also one journey from Fuzhou to Zhongzhou (now Zhongxian County, Chongqing City).

The second journey, totaling 350 miles; the first and second journeys from Zhongzhou to Wanzhou (now Wanzhou District, Chongqing City), totaling 260 miles; the first and second journeys from Wanzhou to Kuizhou (now Fengjie County, Chongqing City), totaling 300 miles

Li; three journeys from Kuizhou to Guizhou (now Zigui County, Hubei Province), totaling 330 miles; three journeys from Guizhou to Xiazhou (now Yichang City, Hubei Province), totaling 190 miles."

Pan Er calculated secretly, raised his head and said: "More than 1,700 miles, Yichang turns out to be so far away."

"You just know."

"Have I never traveled far before?" Pan Er thought about it and asked, "Fourth brother, what do you mean one trip and two trips?"

"It's just a one-day trip. The Sichuan River is very windy and the water is strong, so we can only set off at dawn and dock at night. We can't sail at night. If the weather is good, it only takes two days from here to Fuzhou, and only three days from Fuzhou to Zhongzhou.

Two days. In short, if God is kind and everything goes smoothly, we can reach Yichang in fourteen or five days."

"Isn't it only one hundred and ninety miles from Guizhou to Xiazhou? Why does it take three days?"

"The Three Gorges is a natural hazard. It's not bad to be able to walk sixty or seventy miles in one day." Han Xiufeng touched his chin, then turned back and said: "If the water rises and the gorge is closed and the boat cannot sail, if we really want to leave, we will have to go ashore. We might as well hire two people."

The porter helped me carry my luggage."

Pan Er was surprised and asked: "So the boatman only sent us to the Three Gorges and not to Yichang!"

"What I mean is that if the water rises and the gorge is closed, the boatman will not dare to ride on you even if he is willing to take you away." Han Xiufeng opened the curtain and looked outside, and then said: "Fifth brother lives on the river every day, and the boat on top

There is no boatman down there that he doesn't recognize. If we really have to go ashore, he will ask his son to accompany us for a while until we find the boat and then return."

"I thought I could ride all the way to the capital just by changing boats once."

"That's a good idea." Han Xiufeng sighed softly and said helplessly: "I have inquired that the waterway from Yichang to Yangzhou is easy to travel, but from Yangzhou to Beijing it is not easy to travel. There are many sections of the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal that are blocked.

, you have to go ashore to hire a car, and wait until you get to a place where the waterway is easy to travel before changing boats."

Pan Er didn't expect that taking a boat would be so troublesome, and said to himself: "It's so difficult to walk. We won't be able to eat or drink anything along the way."

"There are water stations when you take the water route, and there are post battles when you take the dry road." Han Xiufeng paused and said, "I don't know about other places. I know about the section from Ba County to Yichang. On this road, there are Tangjiatuo, Tongjiatuo, etc."

The fifth brother is on the river every day at Luoxia, Mudong, Changshou Longxi, Shimen, Linshi, Fuling, Zhouxi, Bayang, Wufeng, Nantuo, Anping, Yongning, Longtang, Makou and Gaotang water stations.

I am more familiar with this section of the waterway and will help us figure out where to stop along the way."

Thinking that if there is a post station, there are checkpoints, and if there are checkpoints, those government officials will exploit them. Pan Er asked in a low voice: "Fourth brother, we don't have to go to the post station to rest at night. His mother-in-law buys so many vegetables, and there is so much rice here.

It doesn’t matter where we cook, or where we eat, it doesn’t matter. We can just find a place to dock, and the worst we can do is squeeze in the cabin.”

"Dock anywhere?"

"Um."

"Brother Pan, do you think that everywhere is as peaceful as Zouma's hometown!"

"It's not a smooth road?"

Han Xiufeng nodded and said very seriously: "There are countless natives on both sides of the Sichuan River. They are not even afraid of the officers and soldiers, let alone killing people and stealing goods. If you die in the city, the yamen will take care of it, but if you die in a remote mountainous area, that's it."

If you die in vain, the government won’t care about it, even if you want to, you can’t.”

"Fourth brother, don't be afraid, isn't it me?" Datou subconsciously picked up his pole.

"With you?" It was okay that he didn't speak. When he spoke, Han Xiufeng became angry and couldn't help but poke his forehead and said: "If it weren't for you, I could leave in a hurry! I'm not afraid of the natives. They are on the boat on the river.

On the shore, as long as we don't dock casually, they can't do anything to us. The Wu brothers are different. They are determined to take your life. Since they are determined to take your life, they will not leave you alive. If you are targeted by them

, even Brother Pan and I have to be buried with your turtle son."

Pan Er couldn't help but cursed: "If you bury a hammer, there will be no bones left!"

"They dare!"

"Why don't they dare?" Han Xiufeng glared at him and said worriedly: "It's up to people to make things happen. Now let's see if we can deceive them. As long as they can deceive them for two days, they will chase them if they want.

Not on."

"They should be able to deceive us," Pan Er opened the curtain and took a peek at the shore and said, "They must have thought that we were going to Jiangbei with our sister-in-law to visit relatives. They would never have thought that we didn't get on the boat just now."
Chapter completed!