Just as the troops under Hangzhou were in full swing, Zhou Huaian was strolling around the ancient city of Gusu, which had changed hands, under a green oil umbrella in the fine spring rain.
This is a typical Jiangnan city built on the water. Daluo (Outer Guo) city is in the shape of "Ya". Its city is 12 miles long from north to south and nine miles from east to west. There are big rivers in the city, three horizontal and four straight.
Along with the waterways and lanes densely covered like spider webs, it is a unique water town known as "waterways everywhere, you can see the river when you open the window", "you can only see the boat but not the car", and "the boat is like a horse".
As a generation of veteran driver and a big player, Bai Letian has a poem "Nine Days Banquet Collection Drunken Inscribed County Building and the Second Judge of Zhou and Yin", which has been specifically described as: "There are many terraces in the water country, and Wu Fengshang orchestra. Every house has wine, and there is nowhere but a boat."
Moreover, there are few changes here, and the city still maintains a large-scale pattern that has been inherited from the Spring and Autumn Period. It is known as the ancient double chessboard pattern of "parallel water and land, adjacent rivers and streets".
In the meantime, there are more than 300 large and small bridges, and almost every bridge has a corresponding purpose shop. And outside the ancient city gate of Wuyue, which is three inside and twelve outside, there are small markets and morning markets of different categories.
Because there is a relatively complete water system in the city, water transportation is developed. Therefore, there are more than 300 ports (piers) in the city, and people come and go by boats. The so-called "Yan Shui Wu Du Guo, Changmen frame blue stream. Green Yang deep and shallow lanes, Qinghan commuting boats."
And all this is as if after thousands of years of time have flown, every brick and stone here seems to have its own allusions and imprints, and every tree and tree has its own soul and mood.
Therefore, although there are no famous gardens of later generations, they are delicate and neatly scattered among the rivers, lanes and water waves. The black tiles and gray walls of the various folk houses, and the long and stilted eaves, still make people feel the elegance and leisure. .
And countless rain-drenched sparrows in their nests under the eaves, and the brisk clatter of rainwater converging and flowing along the tiled and concave eaves make this city that has become silent because of the new occupiers, showing infiltration. The comfort and vitality of the human heart come.
If it weren't just in the light rain, it would be the best portrayal and occasion when the poem said "withered vines, old trees and faint crows, small bridges and flowing water people".
It's a pity that the beautiful figure of a girl from the south of the Yangtze River is missing in the rain, the endless canopy and paddles in the river are faint, and the people who are laughing and laughing under the porch and behind the window are angry.
We must know that as early as the 13th year of the calendar year (778), Suzhou had been promoted to the only Xiongzhou in the south of the Yangtze River. (The Tang Dynasty prefecture is divided into seven classes, and "Xiongzhou" is the second class), because it is rich in tea cakes and silk fabrics, which are important income items of the country.
The former can provide the tea tax that is comparable to the salt tax monopoly among the financial income outside the imperial two tax laws; while the latter is the first choice for the bulk currency throughout the entire era of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, in the continuous neighborhoods inside and outside the ancient city of Gusu, the most indispensable are the looms and tea mills of every household.
The fifteen water and land city gates gather the products from all over the Jiangdong region and become an important distribution center in the region.
And because Suzhou is adjacent to Taihu Lake to the west and south, and is surrounded by the sea to the east and north, there are canals and Songjiang rivers in the middle, with rivers crisscrossing and densely covered with lakes, so people's daily life is closely related to ships, and inland river shipbuilding is particularly developed.
Wu Ship, represented by Suzhou Ship, is known for its lightness and strength. Carrying cargo along Cao Shui can sail all the way to Tongguan. Du Mu once said in a poem: "Tongguan knows the old officials, and the hair is as silky as silk. But Wu Chuandu is called, and the boat people fight to learn."
There is also the brewing industry represented by Suzhou Wuyu Liquor, the knitting industry represented by Puxie and Puxi, and the hardware manufacturing industry represented by the Golden Bank. . . .
Therefore, Suzhou was known in this dynasty as "Shi Wang, the prestige name Liuxiong, seven counties and eight gates, all connected to waterways, three hundred lanes in county and Guo, sixty ancient towns in Wu and Chang counties, and more than three hundred in Hongqiao. The prosperous place is where the land is wide and the people are prosperous, and the people are rich.
In the first year of Tianbao alone, there were 76421 households and 632650 mouths in Suzhou. In the first year of the Baoli period (825), Bai Juyi left behind many poems when he took office as the governor of Suzhou:
Sentences such as "Hundred thousand households in the territory, five thousand soldiers registered", "One hundred thousand husbands are taxed, five thousand children guard the border", "50 families in one county, one hundred thousand households in one county".
In the late Tang Dynasty, there was great chaos in the Central Plains, and this Suzhou became the place where the Northerners turned the most. According to history, "At the end of the Tang Dynasty, the Huangchao turned against, the emperor went to Shu, and the toast went to Wu for a sea of people."
The edition so far is "Guanxiang 194, households 143,261, taxes, tea, tobacco, and alcohol, 688,285, and 76 articles. ."
Therefore, even in the Jiangdong turmoil in the last days of the dynasty, relying on Suzhou's own heritage, it was actually possible to maintain a full five-stranded local separatist power. The smallest team is also known as tens of thousands of victors.
Of course, in front of the well-prepared Taiping Army, the resistance and combat effectiveness of these local soil regiments, township soldiers, and town (guard) troops in Suzhou is only slightly better than that of the chickens. degree.
Therefore, after the original coastal soldiers and horses made General Jinwu Zhang Quan disappeared; the thousands of old men he stayed in the area actually occupied Changzhou and Jiaxing, the two counties with the most household registrations, by relying on the most fierce force. The biggest force in the area.
As a result, Taiping captured and captured Suzhou in succession, but only a few thousand people were captured. However, in the end, the various remnants of the seven counties rebelled, and the total number of prisoners who needed to be managed reached more than 30,000.
Now, the whole area of Suzhou represented by this city is already its own; there is no need to walk on another historical line. After decades of fighting and killing in the southeast of the late Tang Dynasty, it was finally burned to ruins and rebuilt. Fate.
This is Jiangdong Dayi with millions of people. Among them, there are hundreds of thousands of craftsmen from all walks of life in the city and their related apprentices, laborers and other employees. According to the proportion of the population who have received education and are able to read when talking about it.
Even after the separation of the war, such a large amount of human resources, as long as they are well organized and mobilized, are enough to increase the strength of the Taiping Army. These are all grown-ups except slaves.
In addition, there is also a record in Quan Deyu's "Anthology of Quan Zai" in the previous dynasty: "Wu Shiju County, Da Tian multi-crop, floating collaborators, bans or chariots, accounting for the number of famous, uneven household version." also. It is hiding a large number of people in the countryside.
Coupled with the natural foundation of the local shipbuilding industry, it can be used to produce vehicles and ships with a little modification and adjustment, and the water transportation and shipbuilding industries of Lingdong and Jingnan form a triangle of echoes through waterways.
Thinking of this, Zhou Huaian couldn't help but smile from the bottom of his heart.
"I don't know what the general governor is happy about..."
Lu Guangwei, a local scholar in Suzhou who was accompanied by him, couldn't help but say.
"It's okay, I just think of some arrangements for registered residents in Suzhou..."
Zhou Huaian waved his hand.
"The chief governor really worked hard for the people..."
He is the author of the newly completed local chronicles "Wu Di Ji", and he is also the nephew of the far house of Lu Guimeng, Cangcao Zuo of the Metropolitan Government. It happens to belong to a very small number of professionals who specialize in the special recruitment and inspection of the Taiping Army.
Therefore, whether it is for the family or for his own sake, Lu Guang's small heart and wing grasped this opportunity to explain in the rain, and continued to introduce:
"This is the Gaoqiao Bridge. It was built to commemorate Cao Wanggao, who made many great achievements in the southeast from Qianyuan to Zhenyuan..."
Zhou Huai'an nodded. This Cao Wang Li Gao is a model of ancient engineering men. The waterwheels and ships used by the Taiping Army were his first creations.
"This is the Wuque Bridge. It is said that it was built at the same time as the city of Wudu Helu in the Spring and Autumn Period. Therefore, the Wuque Pavilion next to the bridge is named after the crown of the stone bridge in the city. Later, some people attached it to the Magpie Bridge, which was born of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl , So men and women have been visiting here for many years on the occasion of Tanabata.."
Zhou Huai'an suddenly felt hesitant in his heart. Isn't this just like the Christmas of later generations, it has evolved into a correspondingly unrecognizable holy land of guns.
"This is taking the fish bridge. Ding Fahai and Qin Gao are friendly, but they are not official in the world. They saw the big carp by the bridge and flew over the air together. The world is attracted to immortals..."
Zhou Huaian sighed and said, it is indeed a lifelong truth for good friends. Liu An, the king of Huainan, was ascended to heaven alone. Here, good friends ride the fish and climb the fairy together.
"Here is the Zhide Bridge. It is named after the temple of the first ancestor Wu and Taibo, the eldest son of the ancient father (the king of Zhou). It was named by the prefect of Wu Jun in the second year of Yongxing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 154). Built by Mi Bao..."
"This is the Zhili Bridge. It was built in the spring and autumn. The bridge site is where the Wuwang Zhili is located, hence the name "Zhili Bridge."
"The Duting Bridge is here, so it is said that Wu Wang Shoumeng tried it as the Duting here in order to recruit talents."
"This is the Bailao Bridge, which was built by the layman of Lotte, built by the history of the Whitethorn when he was in office..."
"This is Zhantai Lake. (Kong) Sage disciple Zhantai Mieming, with the word Ziyu, uses the old homeland as a lake, and there is a burial mound standing on the bank..."
Zhou Huai'an thought, isn't this the protagonist of the allusion who judges people by appearance and loses Ziyu.
It's just that when Zhou Huaian, who was visiting Suzhou City, suddenly received an urgent report of 300 miles from the rear, he couldn't help but spit out a sip of tea he had just drunk.
In the city of Chang'an, Huang Chao, who was already seriously ill, had to show up again as a director. It was enough to have a whim to chase himself a bunch of high-ranking officials, but the last county prince made people really complain about it.
He is actually the King of Hailing, although there is Hailing County on the other side of the Yangtze River. However, it reminds people of the strange character who loves to eat the whole family bucket in the historical legend, who gave people a wave of achievements as an emperor, and was also made up into a lustful character who lost his life in the country.
Is it so difficult that this foreshadows that he has some kind of inexorable future? Fortunately, he did not lose his mind for long and received the latest news from Hangzhou to the south.
"Ahead Chai (Ping) Lang will report. The advance army concentrated its firearms and blasted through the Yuhang Gate in the northwest corner of Hangzhou Zhoucheng. Now they have personally selected the front, jumped, and Xiandeng groups to attack the city and engage in street fighting. Among them..." (End of this chapter)