Just as the troops under the city of Hangzhou were in full swing, Zhou Huaian was walking and exploring the changed Gusu ancient city in the fine spring rain with a green oil umbrella.

This is a typical Jiangnan city built on the water. The Daluo (outer) city is in the shape of "ya". The city is twelve 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.

It is also accompanied by waterways and alleys densely covered with spider webs, and is known as "there are waterways everywhere, and when you open the window, you can see the river", "only see the boats but not the car", and "the boats are like running horses".

As an old driver and a big player, Bai Letian wrote a poem "A Nine-Day Banquet and a Drunken Inscription on the County Tower and Presenting the Two Judges of Zhou and Yin" specifically described it as: "The waterways are divided into rows, and the inner chess and chess are scattered in the city." "There are many terraces in the water country, and Wu Fengshang orchestras. Every family has wine, and there is nowhere to be a boat."

Moreover, there are few changes here, but the cities that have been inherited from the Wu Kingdom in the Spring and Autumn Period are still maintained, and the ancient double chessboard pattern is known as "land and land parallel, rivers and streets adjacent".

There are more than 300 bridges of all sizes and sizes in the middle, and almost every bridge has a commercial shop with application. Outside the Wuyue Ancient City Gate, which has three inside and twelve outside, there are various small and morning markets of different types.

Because there is a relatively complete water system in the city and the water transportation is developed. Therefore, there are more than 300 ports (piers) in the city, and people travel by boat. The so-called "smoky water, Wudu, Wudu, Changmen, green water, deep and shallow alleys, and green boats come and go."

And all this seems to have made every brick and stone here feel like it has its own allusions and marks, and every grass and tree has its own soul and mood.

Therefore, although there are not the famous gardens of later generations, they are exquisite and neatly scattered among the rivers and alleys. The black tiles and gray walls with many colors and long tiles, and the eaves and long tiles still make people feel the elegance and leisure that comes to their faces.

The croaker in the nest under the eaves of countless rains, and the brisk sounds of rain gathering along the tiles and concave eaves, making this city that has become quiet because of the new occupier show the comfort and vitality that is soaked in people's hearts.

If it wasn't just in the drizzle, it was like the best portrayal of the poem "Withed vines, old trees, crows, small bridges, flowing waters, and people's houses" as it was said in the poem.

Unfortunately, there is no beautiful figure of a woman walking in the rain. The endless stream of boat tents and paddles in the river are still vague, as well as the laughter and laughter behind the windows under the corridor, and the endless anger of human habitations.

You should know that as early as the 13th year of the Dali period (778), Suzhou had been promoted to the only Xiongzhou in Jiangnan. (Tang Dynasty was divided into seventh grade, and "Xiongzhou" was second grade), because it was rich in tea cakes and silk fabrics that were important national income projects.

The former can provide tea vertebrae tax that is comparable to the salt tax monopoly among the financial income outside the court's two tax laws; while the latter is the first choice for bulk currency throughout the entire Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, among the continuous neighbors inside and outside the ancient city of Gusu, the most unabashed is the loom and tea mills of every household.

The fifteen water and land gates gather properties from all over Jiangdong to become an important distribution center in an area.

Also, because Suzhou is surrounded by the sea in the west, the south, the east, and the north, there are canals, Songjiang, rivers and lakes in the middle, so people's daily lives are closely related to ships, and inland shipbuilding is also particularly developed and known as a thousand families.

The Wu ship represented by Suzhou ships is known for its lightness and sturdyness. It can sail to Tongguan along the canal water. Du Mu once wrote a poem: "I met old officials in Tongguan, and my hair was as thick as silk. But I called Wu ships, and the boatmen tried to find out."

There are also brewing industries represented by Suzhou Wuling, weaving industries represented by Pushao, Puxi, and hardware industries represented by Jinban...

Therefore, Suzhou was known in this dynasty as the prosperous place "the name was ten thousand, the land was six thousand, the land was six thousand, the people were all connected to water roads, more than three hundred alleys of county and trunk, sixty ancient yards in Wu and Chang counties, more than three hundred rainbow bridges, wide land, rich people, and rich people."

In the first year of Tianbao alone, there were households in Suzhou, and the mouth was 632650. In the first year of Baoli (825), Bai Juyi became the governor of Suzhou and left many poems:

Sentences like "100,000 households with 5,000 soldiers with 5,000 soldiers" "100,000 families with taxes, and 5,000 children with bans" and "a family of 50,000 households with 100,000 households in a county".

In the late Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains was in chaos, and Suzhou became the place where northerners flew the most; history is known as "At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Huang Chao rebelled, the emperor went to Shu, and the two men fled to Wu as a sea of ​​people."

To date, the edition of the book is "194 townships, 143,261 households, 698,285 silos and 76 silos for taxes, tea, cigarettes, alcohol and 698,285 silos and 76 silos."

Therefore, even in the Jiangdong turmoil during the end of the dynasty, relying on the foundation of Suzhou, the separatist power of five large and small branches was maintained. The smallest branch was also known as the victory of tens of thousands of soldiers.

Of course, in front of the prepared Taiping Army, these local Suzhou Tubes, town soldiers, and town (garrison) troops showed their resistance and combat effectiveness level than that of the vegetarian chickens.

Therefore, after the coastal military commander General Zhang Quan disappeared, the more than a thousand old subordinates who remained in the local area actually occupied the Changzhou and Jiaxing counties with the most household registrations with the most fierce force, and became the largest force in the local area.

As a result, Taiping captured and captured Suzhou in succession and captured only thousands of people, but in the end, he wiped out the various remnants of the seven counties to resist, and the total number of prisoners who needed to be organized and managed reached more than 30,000.

Now, the entire Suzhou area represented by this city belongs to you; you don’t have to go to another historical line, and after decades of wars and killings in the southeast of the late Tang Dynasty, it finally burned and killed them into ruins and rebuilt the fate of being reunited.

This is a Jiangdong Dayi with a population of millions. Among them, there are as many as tens of thousands of craftsmen from all walks of life and their related apprentices, labor and other practitioners in the city. Not to mention the proportion of people who have been educated and able to read.

Even after the war and dispersion, such a large amount of human resources can be sorted out and mobilized properly, which will be enough to significantly increase the strength of the Taiping Army. These are all adult populations except slaves.

In addition, it was also recorded in the "Collection of Quan Zai's Collection of Essays" of Quan Deyu in the previous dynasty: "Wu Shiju County, there were many crops in large fields, floating labor and labor, officials were banned or rushing, and the households were not evenly distributed." That is to say, a large number of people were hidden in the countryside.

In addition, the natural foundation of the local shipbuilding industry can be used to produce vehicles and ships with a slight transformation and adjustment. It echoes the water transportation and shipbuilding industries in Lingdong and Jingnan through waterways.

Thinking of this, Zhou Huaian couldn't help but smile sincerely.

"I don't know what the Grand Governor is happy about..."

Lu Guangwei, a local scholar in Suzhou who was accompanying him, couldn't help but say.

"It's okay, I just thought of some arrangements for household registration in Suzhou, etc.."

Zhou Huaian waved his hand.

"The Grand Governor is really working hard for the people..."

He is the author of the newly completed local chronicle "Wu Di Ji", and is also regarded as the distant nephew of Lu Guimeng, the Cangcao Zuo of the Grand Governor's Office. He happened to be a very small number of experts who were specially recruited and investigated by the Taiping Army.

Therefore, whether it is for the family or his own plan, Lu Guangwei carefully seized the opportunity of close commentary in the rain and continued to introduce:

"This is Gaoqiao, which was built to commemorate the many great achievements of Cao Wanggao in the southeast during the Qianyuan period of Zhizhenyuan."

Zhou Huaian nodded. This Cao King Li Gao was a model of ancient engineering men. The waterwheeled ship used by the Taiping Army was his first creation.

"This is the Wuque Bridge, which is said to be built at the same time as Helu City, Wudu during the Spring and Autumn Period. Therefore, there is a Wuque Pavilion next to the bridge, and it is the largest of the stone bridge in the city. Later, someone attached it to the Magpie Bridge because of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Therefore, men and women have been visiting this place for many years on the Chinese Valentine's Day."

Zhou Huaian suddenly felt a little sad. Isn’t this just like Christmas in later generations? It has evolved into a corresponding unrecognizable holy place for a date.

"This is riding on the fish bridge. Ding Fahai, a county man, was friendly with Qin Gao, but he did not serve in the world. So he saw a big carp on the bridge, and rode together and flew across the sky. People in the world are called immortals..."

Zhou Huaian sighed that it is indeed the truth of good friends for the rest of their lives. Liu An, the King of Huainan, was a one-man who was able to ascend to heaven, and good friends here rode fish together to ascend to immortality.

"This is Zhide Bridge, which is named after the temple of Taibo, the eldest son of Wu's ancestor and the eldest son of the ancient prince (King Tai of Zhou), and was built by Mi Bao, the prefect of Wu County in the second year of Yongxing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (154 AD).

"This place is Zhili Bridge, which was built in the Spring and Autumn Period. The bridge site is where Zhili, the king of Wu, is located, so it is called "Zhili Bridge".

"The Duting Bridge is here, so it is said that King Shoumeng of Wu once built Duting here to recruit wise men."

"This is Bai Lao Bridge, which started with the construction of Mr. Lotte and the governor Bai during his tenure..."

"This is Zhan Taihu. The disciple of the (Kong) saint Zhan Tai Mi Ming, whose courtesy name is Ziyu, was because his homeland was trapped in a lake, and he also had a tomb standing on the bank."

Zhou Huaian thought to himself, isn’t this the allusion protagonist of the lost son Yu who judges people by their appearance?

However, when Zhou Huaian, who was visiting Suzhou City, suddenly received an urgent report of water and land three hundred miles behind, he couldn't help but spit out a sip of tea that he had just taken.

In Chang'an City, it would be fine if Huang Chao, who was already seriously ill, appeared again in the director's case, but it would be fine if he had a sudden idea to post a lot of official positions for himself, but the title of the county prince in the end made people complain that he could not.

It was actually King Hailing. Although there is a Hailing County on the other side of the north of the Yangtze River, it reminds people of the strange character in historical legends who loves to eat the whole family, gives people a wave of military achievements as an emperor, and is also made into a lustful joke that ruins the country and loses his life.

Is it difficult to show that this indicates that he has a certain future of desolation? Fortunately, he did not lose his composure for a long time and received the latest news from Hangzhou to the south.
Chapter completed!