Did Bai's "a thousand miles back to Jiangling in one day" really come true in the Tang Dynasty?

In ancient times, the sailing speed of ships could reach 25km at most in calm, and the average speed was about 15km. In Li Bai's poems, he learned that he was going to Jiangling from Bai Di. The distance between the two places by water was about 430km, and it was spring. There might be snow in some places, which would affect navigation. So Bai Di is upstream and Jiangling is downstream. Relatively speaking, the sailing speed will be faster than the average speed.

Let's calculate the average speed as 18km. Even so, the whole railway industry will take 23 hours. In ancient times, people had a weak concept of 24 hours. In their impression, a day was not that long. So it can be confirmed here that Li Bai wrote this poem in an exaggerated way. Otherwise, unless the boatman who sent the boat to Li Bai was skilled, it happened to be a calm day, and now it happened to be a sunny day. It is still possible to travel thousands of miles to Jiangling in one day.

The background of this poem is in the spring of Gan Yuan, Tang Suzong, where Li Bai was exiled to Sichuan because of his mistakes. Later, when he went to Baidicheng, he suddenly received a message saying that he didn't have to go. The emperor pardoned him, and he was very happy and excited to write this poem. Borrow? A thousand miles a day? The two words contrasted the brevity of distance and time and expressed his happy and carefree mood at that time. So in such a cheerful mood, it is understandable that poetry is not so realistic.

The whole poem combines the poet's happy mood after being forgiven with the grandeur of the countryside and the smooth and light sailing along the river. With exaggeration and whimsy, the writing is beautiful, shocking, freely carved and natural. Li Bai himself belongs to a romantic and bold style, which can make readers feel the author's inner excitement. This is also the reason why Li Bai's poems are so highly regarded.