Chapter 202 The Legend of Yanhuidui
The weather was getting colder and colder, with the wind howling from the river. Although he was wearing a cotton coat, leather boots, and a bearskin cloak, Chen Gu could still feel the biting cold wind penetrating into his bones once again.

Unlike at the beginning of the year when he was thin, ragged, hungry and cold, and full of cruelty, Chen Gu had now become the leader of a force. Not only was he materially well-off, but even his spiritual pursuits had undergone a drastic change.

A lot of things can happen in a year.

"coming!"

At Chaotianmen Wharf, Wu You reminded Chen Gu.

A red-headed boat sailed down the river and slowly docked at Chaotianmen Wharf.

The ship is five stories high, with a red head and a white body, more than thirty meters long and eight or nine meters wide. It is said that its displacement can reach one thousand tons. This merchant ship was provided by the Guangdong Guild Hall and is a large ship capable of conducting ocean trade.

The ship originally entered Sichuan during the flood season, carrying kelp, salted fish and other seafood, and was preparing to purchase a shipload of Sichuan brocade, tung oil, steel and other items to take back.

Unfortunately, Chen Gu came out of retirement and continued to fight upstream, scaring the ship owner so much that he had to hide in Chengdu until Han Yuanxiao conquered Chongqing. After the ship owner and Han Yuanxiao agreed on the terms, they were preparing to leave Sichuan while the river was still dry and the ship could barely sail, but Fu Cha Mingliang came again.

This made the ship owner despair for a moment, because Woshubu had run away. At this time, driving such a large ship full of cargo away would be a big piece of fat meat.

The key point is that when sailing in a place like the Three Gorges, there is nowhere to run. As soon as someone shouts, you have to obediently move over and wait for inspection.

Moreover, the weather was getting colder and the river was becoming drier. Even if the Woshibu barrier was cleared, such a large ship would not be able to leave the Three Gorges.

After Chen Gu knew about this, he went to talk to the ship owner. After all, in Chen Gu's understanding, large ships were indeed not allowed to sail in Chongqing in winter, but that was only for giant ships of 10,000 tons.

I have never heard of a thousand-ton ship being unable to sail.

After learning more about it, Chen Gu realized that in the Three Gorges of that era, at the mouth of Qutang Gorge, there was a huge rock called Yanhuidui, which was about 20 meters high, 15 meters wide and 40 meters long, located in the middle of the river.

As the local folk song goes: "Yanyu is as big as a horse, and Qutang cannot be descended; Yanyu is as big as an elephant, and Qutang cannot be climbed."

Once the dry season arrives and the Yanhuidui is exposed, you have to be careful not only with large ships but even small boats passing by.

Because the Yanhui pile is in the middle of the river, and the current there is very fast, if one loses control and hits it, the ship will be destroyed and people will die.

Because of the existence of Yanhuidui, even thousand-ton ships cannot pass through during the dry season.

But Chen Gu, who came from later generations, had never heard of Yanhuidui. If Chen Gu was just ignorant, how could a ship weighing thousands of tons be able to sail?

So there is only one possibility, that is, Yanhuidui disappeared in later generations. As for the reason, it was naturally blown up.

Since future generations can be blown up, then Chen the assassin can also be blown up.

When Chen Gu proposed to blow up the Yanhuidui so that everyone could pass freely in the future, the merchants in various guilds were shocked. Some were happy to see it happen, while others tried to dissuade him.

The merchants from various guilds were naturally happy to see this happen, while the locals of Chongqing, such as Han Yuanxiao, dissuaded it, citing a legend. It is said that when Dayu was controlling floods, he dug through the Three Gorges, revealing Sichuan, which was originally an inland sea.

But in ancient times there were many Ba and Shu in Sichuan. Ba was a giant snake that could swallow dragons and elephants alive, while Shu was a giant bird that was the natural enemy of the Ba snake.

Dayu released the entire Sichuan Inland Sea, allowing humans to reproduce, but causing the Bashu tribes to lose their habitats, so a great battle between gods and demons took place.

The Yanhuidui is the seal left behind by Dayu after he suppressed the gods and demons. What would happen if it was blown up by Chen Gu and monsters like Bashu were released?
Chen Gu felt a toothache when he heard this. No wonder Yanhuidui had been able to survive for so many years.

Come to think of it, although Yanhuidui is huge, it blocks the transportation between Sichuan and the outside world. If it weren't for such a legend of gods and demons, it should have been flattened over the years even if it had been broken into pieces with hammers and iron bars. It shouldn't have been left for future generations to blow up.

As for how this story of gods and demons came about, Chen Gu was more inclined to believe that it was made up by the guys who used to rule Sichuan.

After all, although the existence of Yanhuidui hinders traffic, it also makes it more difficult for outsiders to attack Sichuan.

But who is Chen Gu? As a man who grew up under the red flag, how could he believe in demons and monsters? At the same time, Chen Gu wanted to build a new China, so he naturally couldn't let Yanhuidui continue to hinder Sichuan's external transportation.

Moreover, it will be more convenient to send troops in the future. As for the enemy, it will also be more convenient for them to enter Sichuan. Chen Gu is not afraid at all. Let them come if they dare.

Blow up, Yanhuidui must be blown up.

However, Woshibu is now stationed in Fengjie, and Yanhuidui is downstream of Fengjie. Woshibu must be eliminated first before Yanhuidui can be blown up.

But now Chen Gou does not have so many ships to transport troops, but Chen Gou is willing to blow up Yanhuidui. In return, people from various guilds in Chongqing are willing to lend ships to Chen Gou for his troops.

Of course, large ships like the red-headed boat with obvious local symbols could not be borrowed. After all, these provincial guilds were still under the rule of the imperial court, and they were afraid that the imperial court would cause trouble for them later.

Although large ships cannot be borrowed, small boats weighing dozens of tons or one or two hundred tons are available as many as you want.

Small boats are enough. It's just a matter of fighting against the fleeing Woshubu. With three or two thousand soldiers, it should be possible to defeat him. However, Chen Gu still sent Yunhua with the special battalion, and also dispatched one thousand new troops and three thousand boatmen to him.

More than 10,000 trackers participated in the defense of the city. Although no battle was fought, Chen Gu still fulfilled the promise that Chen Qi made to them. He selected 3,000 elite soldiers to join the army, and the rest could become Chongqing citizens and be allocated land. Considering that they had no roots, Chen Gu also gave them five taels of silver each to settle down.

It's just a few tens of thousands of taels of silver, but it can win the hearts of more than 10,000 people and make everyone understand that there are benefits to following the Huaxia tribe. These tens of thousands of taels of silver are worth spending.

The red-headed ship cannot be used to transport troops. The reason why this red-headed ship appeared at Chaotianmen Wharf was that Chen Gu had increased the price by 10% and purchased the goods on the ship from the Guangdong Guild Hall. Chen Gu also needed things like tung oil, Shu brocade, and steel.

Tung oil and steel can be used for military supplies. Steel, needless to say, although many uses of tung oil overlap with those of refined petroleum products, tung oil can be used to maintain wooden furniture, which is irreplaceable by petroleum products.

As for Shu brocade, Chen Jue was about to set up a country, so he naturally needed a batch of good cloth. At least he had to make two sets of good clothes for the officials, right?
At this time, on the red-headed ship were the heads of various departments who came from Jiangjin County.

(End of this chapter)