Placid Chang'an

Chapter 65

As soon as the city gate opened early the next morning, three people left the city together with the crowd who got up early and left the city.

A group of two men and one woman left the city gate and walked along the official road for a while before changing the path. The horses had already been prepared in the dense forest by the roadside. The three of them drove the horses eastward, first to Luoyang, the eastern capital, and changed the waterway, followed by A merchant ship went south to Yangzhou.

Su Cen had already considered the reason for taking the water route. If he took the land route, he would definitely not be able to avoid the official post. According to Feng Yiming, the official post leading to Yangzhou City should be under the control of Xue Zhi, the governor of Yangzhou. Before arriving in Yangzhou, Xue Zhi had already found out their details.

Salt is afraid of water, so he can only go by land. If someone escorts him, he has to eat, drink and sleep. Naturally, it is inevitable to stay in a post station. It is indeed the best choice to restrain private salt by controlling the post station.

But for those goods that are not afraid of water, it is much more convenient to go by water.

The former Emperor Daye used the power of the whole country to dredge and repair this canal. With Luoyang as the center, it starts from Yuhang in the south and ends in Zhuojun in the north, with a total length of more than [-] miles. A feat for the benefit of the people.

But at that time, the original intention of Emperor Daye to build the canal was not in this.Using all the national resources and financial resources to build the canal, civilian ships are not allowed to enter the water. Only official ships registered with the government are eligible to walk the canal. The purpose is first to make money by the name of the registered official ship, and the second is to restrain Jiangnan and make Jiangnan The rich resources of various places were escorted to Beijing, and the third was for Emperor Daye to take a boat to enjoy himself.During the construction of the canal, Emperor Daye also started to build a batch of building boats.For one trip, thousands of dragon boats were dispatched, enough to carry tens of thousands of people. Coupled with the excessive levies along the way, starvation was everywhere on both sides of the strait, and the people were in dire straits.

It can be said that the demise of the former dynasty was largely caused by this canal.

Until the founding of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Tai|Zu strictly restricted the specifications of official ships. The height of the ship should not exceed three feet, and the number of people it could carry should not exceed a hundred people.When the little emperor came to the throne and Li Shi came to power, he directly resumed water transportation and allowed civilian ships to be launched.

The ship that Su Cen and the others took was to travel between Luoyang and Yangzhou. The ship was two stories high, with people living on the upper deck and goods stored in the lower deck. They transported the pottery and wine from the north to the south, and then replaced them with silk tea and brought them back. For the cooperative commercial firms, the price of goods can be doubled after going through this experience, and many people have made a fortune by running water transport.

The boss of this boat had business dealings with the Su family's tea shop, so the shopkeeper of the Luoyang tea shop told the boss of the boat to let them board the boat.

Su Cen came out of the cabin to take a breath. The river was wide and misty, and it was a waste of money to only use it for the pleasure of the officials.Now that there are merchant ships all over the river, goods are transported from south to north, and the traffic is so fast that it has truly played its due value.

Looking at a young woman on the bow of the boat, her back is graceful, and her green hair is like a waterfall. Su Cen couldn't help laughing and stepped forward and joked: "Pingping is more than thirteen, and the cardamom tip is at the beginning of February. The spring breeze is ten li on Yangzhou Road, and the bead curtain is rolled up." It's not as good as that."

I saw one person turning his head quietly, staring at Su Cen with a helpless expression: "Brother Su, is it fun?"

"It's fun," Su Cen said with a smile, "Didn't you see that the guys on the ship stared straight at you, so that they can divert the enemy's attention, and if they focus on you, no one will notice me."

Originally, it was agreed yesterday that Ah Fu would follow, but Qu Ling'er cried, quarreled, hung up on Su Cen's thigh until midnight, and kept saying, "I cook, I do laundry, Brother Su, you treat me like a rough girl." Let the girl take me with you."

Su Cen turned his head and thought about it, the three big men are indeed easy to attract attention when they go on the road, and it would be good to bring a maid.

So for the sake of his brother Qi, Qu Ling'er could only manage the clouds at the window, and put yellow flowers on the mirror. The young man transformed into a woman, and she was quite charming.

Qu Ling'er had a mournful face, "Brother Su, let me replace you. If there is any danger, how can I protect you if I can't move my legs?"

"Who wants you to protect me?" Su Cen said gimmickly, "Is there really any danger like you, can you take care of yourself?"

With a pale face, Qu Ling'er turned her head and remained silent.

I think he is not afraid of anything, but he is afraid of water, and he is good at light work, and he is more sensitive to balance perception than ordinary people, so our young master Qu is honored to suffer from another disease-seasickness, and he has been lying on the ground since he got on the boat. He began to vomit at the bow of the boat, his fist reached his chest, and his brows were slightly frowned, which seemed to me to be pitiful.

Su Cen smiled and patted Qu Ling'er on the shoulder, "You look good dressed like this."

Qu Ling'er was annoyed: "It looks good, why don't you wear it?"

"Really, if you don't believe me, ask him."

Qu Ling'er turned her head slightly, and saw Qi Lin coming from behind, she turned her head shyly, and timidly called "Brother Qi".

Qi Lin nodded slightly, "It's pretty."

Qu Ling'er immediately had peach blossom eyes and autumn dew on her face, she looked like a young girl Huaichun.

Su Cen coughed lightly, "Be careful, both of you, this morning the boss of the boat quietly reminded me that my maid and attendant might have an affair, so I should be careful not to be murdered for money and drown in the river."

"How did he know that we were going to drown your corpse in the river for money and death?" Qu Ling'er turned to look at Qi Lin: "The boss of the boat knows too much, so he has to silence him."

Qi Lin nodded: "OK."

Su Cen: "..."

After making a joke, Qi Lin said seriously that Bianzhou is further ahead, the canal runs from the Yellow River to the Bianhe River, and the boats will be docked to resupply, for safety's sake, Su Cen can just stay on the boat.

Naturally, Su Cen had no objection. As soon as the boat landed, Qu Ling'er shot out like an arrow from the string.

Su Cen watched the guys on the boat busy moving up and down, and it didn't look like they could finish the work after a while, so she let Qu Ling'er go.

After making tea with the boat boss, before he finished drinking the water, he saw Qu Ling'er hurried back, and said to him, "Brother Su, go and have a look, someone is fighting someone else because of you!"

Su Cen raised his eyebrows: "For me?"

He was not familiar with Bianzhou, who would recognize him, let alone fight for him.

"It's true," Qu Ling'er stepped forward and pulled her away, "Go and have a look, it'll be over when it's too late."

Su Cen: "..."

The place is not far away, in a thatched hut next to the ferry, someone simply built a shed to earn some tea money for passers-by.When Su Cen passed by, there were already many people standing inside and outside, Qu Ling'er pulled Su Cen all the way in, and only then did he get a general idea.

A few people who looked like scholars were arguing. After hearing the reason, Su Cen couldn't help laughing, saying that it was for him, but it had nothing to do with him.This is originally two waves of people, those who went south and went north gathered here by fate. They originally met friends through literature, but in the end they had to compete with each other. In the dispute between the north and the south, the northern faction pushed Liu Yu out as a representative. People from the Southern School thought about it, isn't it a champion? We also have one, so Mr. Su was lifted out as a young talent of the Southern School.

Although Su Cen's official position is not as good as Liu Yu's, he is still young after all, and scholars pay attention to the skills in his articles. Su Cen has traveled to famous mountains and rivers for several years, and has left many popular poems. Dedicated to court battles, but there are few works.

Naturally, a group of scholars would not really fight, and the debate was finally changed to a literary fight, using the most classic method-pairs.

Beipai said: "The rivers and lakes all flow into the sea."

The Nanpai replied: "The spring breeze of willows does not come out of the mountains."

The Southern School mentioned again: "The sun and the moon shine brightly all over the world."

The Northern School thought for a moment, then said: "White water forms a spring to moisten all directions."

Su Cen shook his head with a smile. He already disdained this kind of pairing when he was in the academy. When will he be right from now on? He stood up to leave, but was grabbed by Qu Linger, "Su Brother, are you not afraid that you will lose?"

Su Cen said with a smile: "They are just looking for an excuse to compete. If it wasn't me, it would be someone else. What does it matter to me if they lose? What benefits do I have if they win?"

But Qu Ling'er didn't want to go back to the boat, she pulled Su Cen and refused to let her go, "Brother Su, let's take a look, it's idle anyway."

After watching the kung fu of half a stick of incense, a member of the Northern School suddenly said: "Wangjiang tower, Wangjiang flow, Wangjiang tower, Wangjiang flow, the river tower is eternal, the river flow is eternal."

Su Cen slightly raised his head and glanced at the person. He was a young man in his 20s, with a somewhat rebellious look on his face. He had been silent before, and he probably felt that it was boring to go back and forth like a child playing house. There was no sound at the moment when he spoke.

People from the Southern School frowned and thought hard, seeing that they really had no countermeasures.

Qu Ling'er asked in a low voice: "What is this person's background?"

Su Cen glanced at the man again, the scholarly look on his face became more vigorous, and he actually looked a bit like him back then.Turning his head to Qu Ling'er, he said: "If those few people just now are at the level of scholars, then this one is at least a Juren, they are not opponents."

Seeing that several people from the Southern School lowered their heads, they were about to admit defeat.

"Juren." Qu Ling'er smiled slightly, and suddenly took Su Cen's hand, "There is still someone here, he can be right!"

Su Cen: "..."

He gave Qu Ling'er a hard look, and watched the excitement when he was watching the excitement, what did he get involved with?

Qu Ling'er smiled brightly, how could a Juren compare with his elder brother who was the number one scholar.

The young man looked surprised, looked at Qu Ling'er and Su Cen, and finally said with a smile: "Little girl, go play elsewhere, you don't understand what we are talking about."

It's fine to think of him as a girl, but this person actually looks down on him, Qu Ling'er rolled her eyes, and pushed Su Cen forward, "Master, you are right!"

Su Cen thought to himself, you still know that I am your young master, is there any girl who treats your young master like you?

Facing everyone's eyes, Su Cen pressed the center of his eyebrows, nodded and said, "Then you'll be offended. Yinyuejing, Yinyueying, Yinyueying in Yinyuejing, Moonwell for ten thousand years, Moonying for ten thousand years."

After a moment of surprise, everyone applauded, Yuejing Yueying and Jiangloujiangliu from just now complemented each other in an interesting way, which is absolutely absolute.

The young man also received a bit of contempt, looked at Su Cen seriously, frowned and said, "Where are you from? Do you know that we are fighting between the North and the South?"

Su Cen rubbed his nose and said with a wry smile, "The people from Suzhou are probably also from the Southern School."

Nan Pai immediately raised his eyebrows and puffed up his chest.

The young man asked again: "What is your name? Why don't I recognize you?"

"I'm not talented, I don't have a name, it's normal if you don't recognize her."

As a champion of a new subject, he competed with a group of scholars in a thatched hut, and he came out to rectify his name in person. If he was recognized by others, he would have the intention of throwing himself into the river.

"Okay then," the young man narrowed his eyes slightly, "it's your turn, if you write a question, I will never lose to you."

Isn't it for him to bully the younger generation? Su Cen sighed silently, "Well, it's up to you to write the question, and I'll lose if I don't match."

"You!" The young man stood up abruptly, clearly looking down on him, gritted his teeth, turned his head and smiled after thinking about it: "You said this, listen carefully, my upper line is: Freezing Rain Window, two o'clock east and three o'clock west."

This is a split-word pair. Dong and sprinkle correspond to two points in the east and three points in the west, which is indeed somewhat difficult.

Su Cen thought for a moment, then said with a smile: "Cut up the carves and divide the customers, up to seven times and down to eight times."

"The moon dips into the heart of the river, and the river dips into the moon."

"People return to people in the middle of the night."

"In the past, people used to be monks and presented white jade to the king."

"Climbing the hills and looking at the mountains, the dry mountains are now replaced by green hills."

The young man slapped the table and stood up: "Who the hell are you?"

Su Cen cupped her hands in embarrassment and said, "I've accepted."

Originally, he wanted to keep a low profile, but there were so many troubles for no reason. Su Cen pulled Qu Ling'er out of the crowd, and just as he was about to leave, he heard a sneer from behind, "Although I lost, it doesn't mean Liu Xiang lost. When Liu Xiang was passing through Bianzhou, he saw the magnificent Yellow River flowing into the Bian River, so he wrote a good sentence of "All the voices are in full bloom, and the thoroughfare of Kyushu is coming from the sky". Can’t get it on the table.”

The people from the Southern faction couldn't sit still immediately, and they all stood up to refute.

Su Cen frowned slightly, turned around and asked, "Is this poem written by Liu Xiang?"

It's not that he questioned Liu Zhen's level, but he also read Liu Zhen's early poems. It's really not his style.

What the young people were waiting for was Su Cen's sentence, and he raised his chin and said, "I'm ignorant and ignorant, this is what Liu Xiang wrote when he was passing through Bianzhou when he went to Beijing to take the exam, and there is also a character 'pei' in this poem, which is exactly Liu Xiang's character. "

Su Cen knows that Liu Yu's character is Zhongpei, but it's a bit far-fetched to conclude that the poem was written by Liu Yu just based on this word.

Sure enough, some people in the crowd couldn't understand the young man's unreasonable rhetoric after losing the pair, and jokingly said, "How did I hear that this poem was not written by Liu Xiang, but by a friend who went to Beijing with Liu Xiang?"

"You're talking nonsense, this is clearly the work of Yoo Sang!"

Everyone rose up, and there was a mess in an instant.

Seeing that it was time to sail, Su Cen pulled Qu Ling'er out of the hut, and looked back twice before leaving.

In fact, he also prefers that this poem was not written by Liu Zhen, but if it was really written by Liu Zhen's friend, who is this friend?He has never heard of such a literary talent?

More than ten years have passed since the incident, and unless Liu Xiang or that friend admits it in person, there may be no result.

After boarding the boat, the boss of the boat ordered to untie the cables and set sail. The scenery along the coast was reversed all the way. Su Cen got up and went back to the cabin after seeing the thatched hut disappear at the end of his sight.

Some things are finally submerged in the torrent of time, unable to be recalled, destroying the truth.