After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, Yongwang Li Lin rebelled and tried to seize Jiangdong. "Silly Baitian" Li Bai was involved and became an "anti-thief". Tang Suzong Li Heng was quite polite to Li Bai, but only demoted Li Bai to Sichuan. Li Bai went down the Yangtze River in despair and went westward to Sichuan by boat. Unexpectedly, the edict to forgive Li Bai arrived when the boat went to Baidi City. Li Bai was overjoyed, turned the bow and headed down the river east, arriving in Jiangling. With excitement, Li Bai wrote the "Early Haired Baidi City", which lasts forever, in March of the second year of Qianyuan (759).
Picture-Location Map of Baidi City, Fengjie, Chongqing.
"The resignation of Baidi to Baidi is in the clouds, thousands of miles of Jiangling return in one day. The apes on both sides of the strait can't cry, and the boat has passed ten thousand heavy mountains." Many people like the magnificence of this poem. Just as the Ming Dynasty great writer Yang Shen (the author of the opening words of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "Linjiang Fairy") commented: "The wind and rain will cry ghosts and gods!" But many people have doubts. Can the city to Gangneung be reached in one day? We need to figure out first, where are Baidi City and Jiangling?
Map-Location of Fengjie County and Baidi City
Baidi City was subordinate to Kuizhou in the Tang Dynasty, and is located on the Baidi Mountain near Fengjie (now Fengjie, Chongqing), on the north bank of the Yangtze River. Liu Bei, the first master of the Shu Han Dynasty, aggressively attacked Soochow and was defeated by Wu general Lu Xun in Yiling. Liu Bei fled back to Baidi City in embarrassment. Liu Bei sent someone to Chengdu and quickly invited military advisor Zhuge Liang to leave the lonely in tears. Zhuge Liang feels the grace of the prophet and knows the encounter, and tries his best to assist the latter. When Li Bai was demoted, he passed by Baidi City and met her forgiveness. He happened to turn around in Baidi City, sending out the worries of the ancients and shed heroic tears for Liu Bei.
Picture-a schematic diagram of the battle between Wu and Yiling in Shu,
Jiangling, also related to Liu Bei. Cao Cao wanted to annex Jingzhou, worried that Liu Bei would occupy Jiangling, which had sufficient food and grass, and attacked him. Liu Bei was overtaken by Cao Cao and almost "saved the Han". Jiangling was subordinate to Jingzhou in the Tang Dynasty, which is now Jingzhou District, Jingzhou City, Hubei Province, on the north bank of the Yangtze River. The geographic coordinates are found, so how far is Baidi City from Jiangling? Let's first take a look at how many meters are there in the Tang Dynasty? There are many different opinions, but they are almost between 400 meters and more than 500 meters. Multiplying "one thousand miles" by "400 meters" or "more than 500 meters" as Li Bai said is 400 kilometers or more than 500 kilometers. In other words, the distance from Baidi City to Jiangling is 400 kilometers or more than 500 kilometers.
Picture-Jiangling (now Jingzhou) location diagram
Of course, Li Bai is a poet who is good at "exaggeration", either "flying down three thousand feet", or "Peach Blossom Lake is a thousand feet deep" and "white hair is three thousand feet". The "thousand miles", "thousand feet" and "three thousand feet" he mentioned are all literary exaggerations. In fact, such a length is impossible, and it is impossible for Li Bai to measure the length of the Lushan Waterfall and the depth of the Taohuatan water on the spot, and then use a ruler to measure whether his hair is as long as three thousand feet. According to current calculations, the Yangtze River waterway from Baidi City to Jiangling is about 330 kilometers.
So, in the Tang Dynasty, was it possible to take a boat from Baidi City to Jiangling, about 330 kilometers, in one day? The sailing speed of ancient sailboats was different, the key depends on whether there was wind at the time. If you go downwind, you can sail 25 kilometers in one hour. If there is no wind, it would be about 15 kilometers an hour. I don't know what wind is Li Bai's itinerary that day, what kind of wind God gave him, there may be no wind, or it may be headwind. There was no wind on Li Bai's trip. The boat Li Bai was riding on, at a speed of 15 kilometers per hour, left Qutang Gorge, passed through Wu Gorge and Xiling Gorge, and sailed eastward amidst the cheers of monkeys on both sides.
Picture-The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River overlooks
for a voyage of about 330 kilometers, which takes almost 22 hours to complete. 22 hours is close to 24 hours a day, but it does not exceed the concept of "one day". Moreover, the Baidi City has a high terrain, and after going down the river eastward, the terrain continues to fall, and the speed of the ship may be faster. Therefore, Li Bai's "return thousands of miles of Jiangling in a day" can be done. In this matter, Li Bai really did not exaggerate.
