The most valuable thing for all pearls is Hepu Pearl, which is the seawater pearl produced in the Beibu Gulf. At present, Li Guodong has no way to obtain a stronghold on the beach. If he has a way to gain a foothold on the beach, he will consider raising pearls in seawater.

During this period, Wang Quan recruited more than 300 fishermen's children from nearby villagers who were scoundrels and organized them into the city guards. At the same time, Zhang Shiwen, Wu Hao and others brought the green and strong men up the mountain to cut down wood, and the cut wood was soaked in the moat and prepared for shipbuilding.

"I'm going to take people to Jiangnan. You can train troops here and explore the bandits' nests. When I come back, I will personally take the navy to suppress this group of water bandits." After Li Guodong explained the matter, he left Liu Dadezhuang and went to Jiangnan.

Li Guodong and his group walked along the river bank, returned to Huai'an, boarded the boat from Huai'an Wharf, and headed south along the canal. Perhaps the murderous aura on their bodies shocked the nearby water bandits. Whether Li Guodong or Huai'an, no water bandits dared to approach on the road. After all, when they went to the battlefield, there were many people killed, and the bandits would be afraid to see it from afar.

When the ship passed by Yangzhou City, Li Guodong recited a poem on his own: "There is a river in Guazhou, Jingkou, and Mount Zhong is only separated by several mountains. The spring breeze is greener in the south bank of the river. When will the bright moon shine on me?"

"Brother is so literary!" Han Dashan flattered.

"This is not a poem I wrote. I am not at this level yet. This is Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty's "Mooring a Boat in Guazhou". It is only more than twenty miles from Yangzhou to Guazhou. Guazhou is separated from Nanjing by water. When you arrive in Yangzhou, you will almost reach the south of the Yangtze River."

Looking around, you can already see the towering city walls of Yangzhou. Turn west from the Beijing-Hangzhou Canal into a small river, and the boat can reach the bottom of Yangzhou.

The boat turned into the small river leading to Yangzhou. Compared to the north where thousands of miles of land, it was a paradise on earth. Planting flowers for ten miles as farming, Yangzhou was more interesting and luxurious. From time to time, young girls rowed their boats by, and the singings echoed in distant places. The ancients said that fireworks were in Yangzhou in March, and it was March at this time.

On the banks of the Slender West Lake, the spring breeze blows on the face, and everything is revived, full of vitality. The weeping willows on the lake swaying like blue smoke, green mist, rolling and floating, extremely charming. Jade makes up a tree with thousands of hanging green silk ribbons. March is the season when peony is cut open, and the twenty-four bridges are still there. Who is the thousand peony blossoms blooming? The green willow trees and the red and pink peony make up a beautiful picture.

"Brother, I heard that the skinny horses here are very famous. Do you want to buy some back?" Han Dashan asked.

Compared to the name of Slim West Lake, Yangzhou’s name of Slim Horse is even more famous all over the world. I don’t know how many men yearn for it, and I don’t know how many men travel thousands of miles to Yangzhou to buy Slim Horses.

Compared with the Qinhuai River in Nanjing, the Little Qinhuai River is the reappearance of the Qinhuai River. The willows on the banks are like smoke, and peach blossoms reflect the water. The beautiful girl sits on the bow of the boat, gently plucking the strings of the piano with her fingers, allowing the exciting and melodious flute rhyme to chase the clear waves of the Qinhuai River.

"You are married, and you are still thinking about Yangzhou's thin horses! Our silver is precious, not just a waste. When we have more silver in the future, you can squander whatever you want and no one cares about you." Li Guodong was not interested in Yangzhou's thin horses. The north was already hungry for thousands of miles, and wars were everywhere, and the country was about to perish. Moreover, this time it was not only a country but also a world of destruction! Li Guodong had no intention of romance.

The salt merchants and scholars were immersed in the thousands of styles of the Xiao Qinhuai River in Yangzhou, but they could not imagine that such a good life would not last many years. Now it is the fifth year of Chongzhen, and there are thirteen years left. The Qing army heads south and ten days in Yangzhou, the butcher knife of the alien race will come to their heads!

The Qing army took advantage of the Shun army's attack into the capital, and Wu Sangui opened Shanhaiguan and entered the capital. However, after entering the capital, the Qing army was also confused by the shortage of food and insufficient silver. However, the Qing army did not collect taxes from gentry like Emperor Chongzhen. The gentry in the north could not collect any taxes, so they simply went to Jiangnan to grab them!

The robbery was the fastest. The Qing army heading south waved butchers' knives and killed a sea of ​​blood. It was a pity that the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River fooled the Ming emperor and exempted his own taxes. Emperor Chongzhen could not receive taxes from them at all. The wealth accumulated by generations of these gentry eventually made the foreign invaders in vain!

Looking at the luxurious garden-style houses in Yangzhou City, all kinds of flavors spread to Li Guodong's heart. The salt merchants and gentry were cut by the Qing army with a knife. It can only be said that they were blamed for their own fault. They deserved it! Unfortunately, many innocent people in the city also lost their lives for their selfishness.

Li Guodong did not stay in Yangzhou for much. He was appointed by Wang Quan. Wang Quan brought refugees to build a city, and the salt ray was handed over to Zhao Feng for management. Zhao Feng did the purchase of salt from Huai'an and Yangzhou salt merchants. Li Guodong just passed by Yangzhou. His destination was Nanjing and Suzhou and other places. He even planned to travel to Fujian, hoping to obtain a batch of improved sweet potatoes and take them to the north to plant.

Wang Quan and Zhao Feng went to the south, but they didn't find sweet potatoes, because they didn't go to Fujian. Li Guodong searched for the memories left in his mind in his previous life. He vaguely remembered that Guangdong started planting sweet potatoes in 1580, Fujian started planting sweet potatoes in 1590, and southern Zhejiang started planting sweet potatoes in 1608.

However, the sweet potatoes were not improved at the beginning, and the sweet potatoes grown in southern Zhejiang were only the size of fingers. After generations of improvements, they could finally adapt, but the Ming Dynasty did not promote them in the north.

Xu Guangqi once recommended that he hoped to grow sweet potatoes on a large scale, but unfortunately it was not implemented. When the Ming Dynasty perished, sweet potatoes gradually began to grow on a large scale nationwide, which eventually solved the problem of the food crisis. It was useless to save foreign rulers and also broke the curse of the barbarians without a hundred years of luck. More than two hundred years of Qing rule eventually led to China falling far behind the West.

Li Guodong found the cheapest inn outside Yangzhou City, and stayed with his brothers overnight. He took an official boat to Nanjing early the next morning.

The boat sailed out of the canal from Guazhou, entered the Yangtze River, sailed upstream for a short distance and arrived in Nanjing.

The official ship arrived at the Sanshan Gate of Nanjing, which is what the common people called Shuixi Gate. The gatekeepers checked Li Guodong's waist sign, paid some money, and then entered the city through a sluice gate.

The Qinhuai River passes through the city from Nanjing, and ships can sail directly into the city. The prosperity here is even more than Yangzhou and Huaian. It is full of people and is full of gold and pink towers. The Qinhuai River is painted with boats shuttled back and forth. The river houses are green tiles and pink walls, and the royal palaces are far away. The temples are red and yellow tiles are spectacular.

The pedestrians on the street were dressed in neat clothes and looked calm. Even the flower-selling woman and the Lifu carrying the load had a smile on their faces, without any sadness.

——
Chapter completed!