Not many of Ang Lee's entourage were cultured. Even if they were professionals, they were uncouth people who had been trained by him. They might know a thing or two about road construction, but when it came to poetry, they were no different from the generals of the Dragon Martial Army. As such, they couldn't tell whether Ang Lee's poem was good or not. As long as they thought it sounded good, they would think it was a good poem.
"There are always people in the capital who say that Central Sichuan is a barren land. But after coming here, I realize that the scenery in this barren land is not bad! The mountains and water here are better than the capital. "
Chen Long didn't know how to compose poems, so he started to praise the scenery.
Ang Lee smiled and said, "This place is nothing. When we reach Dongnu Province, that place is really beautiful. Especially the watchtowers there are the most beautiful. "
After saying that, he looked intoxicated.
"The watchtowers are the most beautiful? Dongnu Province is so poor. How beautiful can the watchtowers be? Are they more luxurious than the skyscrapers in the capital? "
Chen Long asked.
"The beauty of the watchtowers doesn't lie in the tower, but in the lady in the tower. As long as you can climb up, the lady will be yours for at least one night. Don't you think it's beautiful?"
Ang Lee said with an intoxicated smile.
Chen Long's eyes lit up when he heard that. He quickly said, "Really? There's such a good thing in the world? This is great!"
The rest of the entourage also became restless when they heard that. They looked quite excited.
Ang Lee said, "Why? Didn't your father tell you? Although he's a little older, he doesn't lose to young people when it comes to climbing watchtowers! "
"Hahaha …"
The entourage all laughed when they heard that. Everyone was quite excited at this moment. They all wanted to climb watchtowers in Dongnu Province. It would be very comfortable. Just thinking about it would make them excited for the rest of their lives.
"Don't worry. At most, we will reach Dongnu Province in half a month. Then, you can take turns to take a vacation. You can climb as many watchtowers as you want. As long as you have the ability, it will be fine."
Li An said, reassuring the soldiers that they would all have the chance to climb the watchtowers. As for whether the ladies would take a liking to them, that would be up to them. Li An really couldn't be of much help.
Just now, he had only told these guards that they could spend the night with the young lady of the East Woman Kingdom after climbing up the watchtower. In fact, how could it be so easy? It was not enough to climb up. They had to make the young lady like them. If they were ugly, they would not have any chance. Only a handsome young man would have more chances.
For example, if a good-looking young man like Ang Lee could climb watchtowers, there would be no problem. No ladies would reject Ang Lee. Most of the soldiers in the Dragon Warrior Army were good-looking young men. There were very few old men. Therefore, as long as they could climb up, there was an eighty to ninety percent chance that they would be liked by the ladies. Most of them wouldn't have a big problem.
However, the local men in Dongnu Province would be unhappy. These resources were supposed to be theirs, but they were suddenly occupied by the men of the Tang dynasty. Their happy days would be greatly reduced.
The fleet had been traveling with the flow of the river. Therefore, the speed of the ships was still very fast. It was much faster than traveling on land, and it was much more comfortable. Before they knew it, they had traveled more than thirty miles.
At this time, the sky wasn't dark yet, but it wasn't far from it. After the sky darkened, the speed of the fleet would be greatly reduced. After all, there wasn't enough light at night. If the ship moved too fast, it would be easy to encounter danger. If the ship capsized, it would be a great disaster.
"Assistant Minister Li, look, there seems to be fireworks in the distant sky."
Chen Long pointed to the sky dozens of miles away and said.
Ang Lee sniffed and said, "It's not just fireworks. Can't you smell a trace of smoke in the air? And the smell of smoke is getting stronger. It was faint just now, but now it's very obvious. "
Just now, when Ang Lee closed his eyes to rest, he smelled the smell of smoke from time to time. At that time, he thought it was the cook on the ship. Now, he suddenly realized that it was the smell of smoke from the burning forest in the distance.
This burning forest was naturally the forest where the miasma was prevalent. The miasma in this forest was so serious that the construction of the road had to be temporarily stopped. In order not to affect the construction of this section of the railway and to facilitate the necessary maintenance of this railway in the future, the imperial court finally ordered that all the hindrances of this primitive forest be burned down. In this way, the problem could be solved once and for all.
Although this was a great waste of forest resources, the imperial court of the Tang dynasty did not care about such a loss at all. The Tang dynasty had plenty of forests and never lacked wood. It was not a big deal to burn down the primitive forest full of miasma.
At this moment, Ang Lee saw black smoke floating in the distant sky. That was the primitive forest that was burning. It was also the forest that was full of miasma and caused the death of dozens of Tang dynasty's road construction team. As long as this forest full of miasma was burned down, the road construction team would not lose a large number of craftsmen in a short time, and the construction of the railway could proceed smoothly.
Therefore, Ang Lee agreed with the imperial court's order to burn down the forest with both hands. However, it was not easy to burn down a primitive forest. It could not be done by just lighting a fire casually. If the fire burned not only the forest in front of him but also the whole Central Sichuan, the loss was not something that the arsonists could bear. The imperial court only ordered the burning of the miasma forest along the railway. The range was at most three to five miles on both sides of the railway. It was not impossible to burn down more than ten miles, but it was certainly not allowed to burn too much of the forest. The impact of burning too much forest was too great. It would affect too many people's livelihood and damage too much of the Tang dynasty's resources. Therefore, it must be strictly controlled. When burning the forest, the fire must be set according to the plan and fireproof belts must be prepared in advance to prevent the fire from getting out of control. If that happened, it would really be a big accident. Therefore, it was quite difficult to set the fire. They had to burn the places that were needed, but at the same time, they could not burn the places that should not be burned. It was not a good or easy task.
"Yes! It seems that there is a smell of smoke. I smelled it just now, but I didn't care. It seems that they have started to burn it. The fire is not small! "
Chen Long said.
"It's not small. It's too big. I can see the smoke from so far away. Judging from the smoke, they are burning more than one place. In order to speed up the progress, they are burning it in sections! It's quite dangerous. They are too bold. "
Ang Lee said worriedly.
"Isn't it just setting a fire? What's so dangerous about it? It's better to burn it all. "
Chen Long said.
Ang Lee shook his head and said, "What do you know? If they don't control it well, the fire will burn the whole of Central Sichuan. What will happen then? All these people's heads added together won't be enough to chop off."
These words were a bit alarmist. No matter how much they burned, it was unlikely that they would burn the whole of Central Sichuan. Central Sichuan was indeed lush with trees, but not all places had forests. If they encountered rivers and places without trees, the fire would be blocked. However, even if they burned down a state or county, it would still be a heavy loss. The people who set the fire would also be in big trouble.
Judging from the terrain of Maozhou, if the area of burning the forest was not controlled well, it might affect several surrounding counties. At least hundreds of villages would suffer. The loss would not only be the virgin forest, but also the houses of the people and a large amount of stored food and other supplies. The crops in the fields would also be finished. Once this loss occurred, the people who set the fire would be in big trouble.
Even if the fire was set in a normal area, there would be more than a dozen villages in the surrounding area that would have to be relocated. At least a few hundred families would lose their livelihood, and it would be relatively easy for them to settle down. However, if the fire went out of control and affected the livelihood of tens of thousands of families, it would be a huge matter. Therefore, the fire had to be carefully set and controlled.
"Burning down the whole of Central Sichuan? Hahaha! It can't be that serious! "
Chen Long said with a smile.
Of course, a fire would not be so powerful. However, Chen Long obviously did not know the power of a fire. He did not understand how terrifying a fire would be once it went out of control.
It was almost dusk. Ang Lee asked the fleet to speed up a little. After all, the speed of the fleet would decrease when it was really dark. Ang Lee's purpose was also very clear. After one night, they must arrive at the location of the fire early the next morning. He wanted to go there personally to see how the fire was burning. He also wanted to see how the road construction workers who were infected by the miasma had recovered. He also wanted to see what materials were lacking at the road construction site, and if there was anything that needed help.
The fleet itself was not slow when it went down the river. After the boatmen rowed hard, the speed became even faster. Standing on the deck, one could feel a sense of coolness.
"Assistant Minister Li, don't worry. The speed at night will not be much slower. Before dawn tomorrow, we will definitely arrive at the place of the fire."
The leader of the boatmen in charge of driving the ship came over and said.
With the guarantee of the boatmen, Ang Lee was much more relieved. As long as they could arrive at the location of the fire on time tomorrow, there would be no problems.
"What is that thing floating over in front of us? It's so big!"
Ang Lee saw a large thing going against the flow of the river in the distance. It looked much shorter than a normal boat, but it was especially wide. It was very likely a super bamboo raft. But the Wenshui was not wide, so how could there be something like a super bamboo raft? This made Ang Lee feel very strange.
"It can't be a bamboo raft, right?"
Chen Long also saw it.
The leader of the boatmen shook his head. "It can't be a bamboo raft. This old man has traveled the Wenshui for several decades, but I've never seen such a large bamboo raft. This is impossible, absolutely impossible. "
Although the light was somewhat dim, Ang Lee had a pair of binoculars. When he picked it up, he immediately understood that it was a super large wooden raft. However, this was not a wooden raft specially used to carry passengers, but a method used to transport wood. A group of people stood on the logs, using their strength to prop up the bamboo poles so that the logs could go against the flow of the river.
This sort of situation was very rare. Normally, when transporting locally cut wood, the logs would go against the flow of the river. This way, they could save a lot of effort. Transporting wood against the flow of the river was very rare. It seemed that the destination was upstream, so this group of people had to work so hard to transport the wood upstream.
"It's a group of people. They're currently transporting several hundred logs upstream? They're all very thick and high-quality wood. They're most likely going to the capital. Otherwise, they wouldn't be moving upstream. "
Ang Lee said.
"Assistant Minister Li, they shouldn't be setting fire to the wood from that place, right? First, cut down the good wood and put it by the river. Then, burn all the useless trees. That's not a bad idea! It won't waste too many resources. "
Chen Long said.
Ang Lee nodded and said, "You're right. This possibility is very high. There's no lack of tall wood in the primeval forest. Tall wood that's hundreds of years old can only be found by chance. It would be a pity if they really burned it. The most reliable way is to cut down these large and precious trees first and then burn the rest. If that's the case, I must ask for credit for these people, hahaha!"
The logs on the opposite side were going against the flow of the river, while Ang Lee's fleet was going against the current. Therefore, the distance between them was getting closer and closer. Soon, they were very close. Ang Lee was bound to ask what was going on. Even if it was delayed for some time, it was worth it.
"The fleet is moving slowly. Ask what's going on."
Ang Lee ordered the fleet to speed up slowly and then stop to ask about the situation on the other side.
When the fleet slowed down and finally came to a stop, the wooden rafts on the other side just happened to arrive in front of the fleet. This was a team of wooden rafts. There were a total of more than ten wooden rafts, each of which was made up of more than ten huge tree trunks. Whether it was in width or length, they were larger than the average ship. On each large wooden raft were 20 soldiers holding bamboo poles. Their task was to transport the wood upstream, then transport it by land to Songzhou, and finally transport it via the railway system to the capital.
These logs were temporary tributes from the part of the railway construction. As Ang Lee expected, these logs were indeed from the forest that was being burned. Before setting the fire, the official in charge of setting the fire felt that if he burned the forest without doing anything, it would bring trouble to himself. Therefore, after the order was given, he cut down the good trees that had been scouted beforehand before setting the fire.
In order to cut down these huge trees, the relevant officials hired a large number of people nearby. However, they were not paid, only provided with food.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
