Chapter 119 God-given Harbor
"How are the two heroes resting?"
Early in the morning, as soon as Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin got up, they heard that Liu Feng had been waiting for them in the yard for a long time.
The two were shocked and hurried out.
But he saw Liu Feng standing outside the courtyard with a smile, and several attendants behind him were carrying lacquer trays, which contained two sets of brocade robes and riding boots.
Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin hurried forward to salute, but Liu Feng stretched out his hand to stop them, and explained with a smile: "I observed the two strong men last night. They were very tall and tall, but their clothes and shoes were dirty and torn, which showed that they had been traveling for days. Therefore, early this morning, I prepared two sets of brocade robes and riding boots for the two strong men to use."
Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin had never seen such noble people before, and they hurriedly wanted to express their thanks, but they still couldn't. was stopped.
"You two strong men must not be polite, we really have something to ask for."
Liu Feng said to Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin who looked puzzled: "The boy is not talented, but my father I received an errand to go to the seaside to select a site for the port. I heard that Zhou and Jiang were very proficient in water affairs, so I wanted to ask them to help me. What do you think? "
After Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin heard this, they hesitated at the same time.
After a while, Zhou Tai said: "Young Master, we are supposed to serve you, but Ming Gong has already arranged a task yesterday, and we are unable to do anything else."
Although Zhou Tai declined politely, But Liu Feng was not unhappy. On the contrary, he admired Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin's prudent work.
"I see, you two heroes can rest assured. I have obtained permission from my father. This can be regarded as your new mission."
As soon as Liu Feng said these words, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin naturally had no further words and immediately expressed their willingness to follow Liu Feng's lead.
Liu Feng was polite and asked the two of them to change into brocade robes, rest for a few days, and select their men.
Three days later, Liu Feng quietly left Tancheng with Xu Sheng, Pan Zhang, Zhou Tai, Jiang Qin, and two groups of soldiers and headed east.
Zang Ba’s previous purchase of Liaodong war horses reminded Liu Feng.
If there is an excellent port, then Xuzhou can open the trade route directly to Liaodong, or it can bypass Qingzhou, Jizhou and Yangzhou from the sea.
The navigation industry in the Han Dynasty was actually quite developed. It was able to skillfully use the shipbuilding structure of transverse compartments. It made new breakthroughs in terms of labor saving, efficiency and control of speed and direction, which were concentrated in sails, oars and rudders. , the widespread use of anchors.
Except that the keel technology has not yet been born, this technology was not invented until the Song Dynasty in China. As for the West, it was not until the Yuan Dynasty.
As long as Liu Feng brings out the keel technology, he can easily and greatly improve the process of sea-going ships, making ocean transportation and trade a reality.
In addition, while looking for a port, Liu Feng was also investigating another matter, which was salt.
When Liu Bei had just taken control of Xuzhou, he was a weak state pastor and could not withstand the storm. Even Liu Feng and his son cannot afford to bet on the chain reaction caused by a slight disturbance.
Therefore, Liu Feng chose to bring out rock sugar and snow salt to do business with the Mi family, instead of choosing the sun salt method.
However, as the current situation changes, Liu Bei has established a firm foothold in Xuzhou and can now begin to consider the interests of the salt industry.
Since Guangwu's revival, due to the ruin of the people, the decline of the economy, and the operations of the powerful, Liu Xiu finally made a policy of temporarily not discussing salt, iron, and wine. It was originally only temporary and transitioned to after the economy began to recover. Just nationalize it.
But because of the short lives of Emperors Ming and Zhang, especially Emperor Zhang, he missed the final window to recover state-owned assets.
Since Emperor He of the Han Dynasty, the entire Yantie Liquor Group has become so large that it is difficult to replicate, and there is no way to take it back to the country.
It is not that the Eastern Han Dynasty court did not work hard afterwards.
The economy of the Eastern Han Dynasty fell into trouble after the death of Emperor He. Immediately afterwards, natural disasters that lasted for twenty years began. The old foundation was completely hollowed out, and it was impossible to make ends meet, and the finances were indeed unsustainable.
Successive emperors in later generations have made various efforts, but the interests of salt and iron are still controlled by powerful men.
During the period of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty, he set up four major salt officials in the coastal areas of Xuzhou, stationed in the four counties of Langya, Donghai and Guangling respectively. He wanted to seize food from the tiger's mouth and share the salt profits, but they failed With little success.
The entire Yanlili area of Xuzhou is dominated by the East China Sea. Among the salt benefits of the East China Sea, the Mi family in Quxian County is the most powerful in terms of salt and iron benefits.
This benefit of salt and iron also established the Mi family's status as the richest man in Xuzhou.
However, although the Mi family controlled a large amount of salt profits, they could not achieve a monopoly.
Because Xuzhou's coastline is very long, and it is all tidal flats, it is extremely easy to produce salt in Xuzhou, and it can even cause flooding. Almost all powerful families in the coastal area will take advantage of it.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, because the salt administration was not in the hands of the court, private salt sales were not prohibited. Therefore, there was no distinction between public salt and private salt. Sales were quite easy and no one would stop them.
But this also caused the Eastern Han Dynasty court to lose a large amount of income, and this part of the income was what Liu Feng wanted to get.
Yes, Liu Feng wanted to implement the policy of salt.
As a latecomer, no one knows better than Liu Feng how much money can be made from government monopoly operations.
And now is a good time to implement the salt policy. First of all, most of the salt-making wealthy families in Xuzhou have strong military support. In addition to their own family's salt workers and thugs, the biggest backstage is the Taishan Army.
That’s right, it’s Zang Ba’s Taishan Army.
In addition to the local tycoons in Langya, even the salt-making tycoons in the East China Sea are inextricably related to the Taishan Army.
The Taishan Army provides military protection to the salt tycoons, while the salt tycoons provide salt and goods to the Taishan Army.
In the past two years, Zang Ba was able to have enough money to upgrade the Taishan Army's ordnance and equipment, provide food and clothing, and even save millions to buy war horses, all thanks to the help of the salt tycoons.
If the cooperation between the salt tycoons and Zang Ba hadn't just begun, and there wasn't enough mutual trust between them, Zang Ba might not have sold grain to the Mi family.
After all, if we only rely on Kaiyang and several surrounding counties, we simply cannot sustain the consumption of the Taishan Army of ten thousand people.
Now that the Taishan Army has been captured by Liu Bei, the salt tycoons will definitely be quite frightened, and since there are no external threats around Xuzhou, it is a great opportunity to capture the salt tycoons in one fell swoop.
Maybe it can also confuse Guangling County and make Yuan Sui think that Liu Bei is focused on making money and has no intention of Guangling.
Originally Liu Feng planned to take Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin on an inspection trip, but he did not expect that Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang also insisted on following them, and even handed over the military training to his subordinate Qu Junhou to manage it on their behalf.
The two of them still spoke plausibly, saying that the safety of the young master is the first priority. The soldiers have long been proficient in training, and they only need to follow the steps.
Liu Feng finally compromised. He could actually understand the feelings of Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang.
These two guys obviously regard Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin as competitors, and are worried that he will reuse the new people and forget the old ones.
Although Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang followed them this time, their moods were still not much better.
Only because along the way, Liu Feng spent most of the time consulting Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin on many issues regarding hydrology, water regimes, and naval forces.
In the eyes of Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang, it was natural for the newcomer to be favored.
Out of sight of Liu Feng, the two men had already provoked Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin.
Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were also very angry. At the beginning, they made some concessions because they were new here.
But as time went on, seeing Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang pressing closer and closer, Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin were not good-tempered to begin with, so naturally the two sides came to terms with each other.
Liu Feng didn't pay attention at first. When he found out, the two sides were already facing each other.
After thinking about it, Liu Feng simply chose to let it go.
Xu Sheng and Pan Zhang have very bad tempers, and Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin are not good-tempered either.
Forcing them to be harmonious and vindictive behind the scenes is really not as good as letting it show on the surface.
So Liu Feng decisively chose to ignore it, let them tit for tat, and spend his energy on business.
"Master, please look over there."
At this time, Liu Feng took Zhou Tai and others up Yuntai Mountain and looked at the seaside.
Zhou Tai pointed to a bay at the foot of the mountain and said: "The harbor here is backed by Qushan Mountain, and is protected by the big island of Yuzhou Mountain, which prevents wind and waves from entering. At the same time, it is still the same as our journey. , the only rocky land, is really a God-given harbor."
Liu Feng nodded repeatedly while looking at the bay and listening to Zhou Tai and Jiang Qin's analysis. "It's just a pity that there seem to be people in the bay here."
Pan Zhang suddenly interrupted, and then recommended himself: "Young Master, how about I ask which family that is? It looks like it is just a private harbor and cannot be seen in the light.”
Liu Feng nodded, but said: "Don't worry, let's take another look."
Pan Zhang nodded helplessly and said nothing.
Liu Feng looked at this harbor with a variety of emotions.
Through this journey, the proliferation of Xuzhou’s salt industry is shocking.
Especially along the coast, there are salt-making dens everywhere, most of which are owned by Donghai Yanhao.
These salt tycoons dominated the villages one by one and kept a large number of saltmen in captivity to enslave the villagers and boil the sea to make salt for them.
The Mi family is also one of them, but the food is relatively good, because the production is large enough, and the number of laborers required is staggering, so in addition to purchasing a large number of child servants, they also directly recruit villagers during slack periods.
Unlike other salt tycoons, the Mi family pays them very fairly and also takes care of food and drink, so they have a good reputation in Qu County.
Compared with the Mi family, other salt tycoons are far behind. They are quite kind even if they are willing to give money. Most of them are kidnapping and enslaving people and doing evil. The villagers have already complained.
Liu Feng saw the miserable conditions of many villagers along the way. What is even more outrageous is that these salt tycoons not only exploited the labor of the villagers when producing salt, but also when selling salt, They also exploited the villagers at high prices.
In addition, the salt tycoons also joined forces to prohibit the villagers from making their own salt, in order to force the villagers to buy their high-priced salt. Once they found that the villagers made their own salt, they would send out thugs to smash the salt pots and even beat the villagers. civil.
The villagers in Xuzhou have been suffering from salt tyrants for a long time, but these salt tycoons are all local tycoons, at least they are country heroes, powerful or armed, and they are not afraid of the resentment of the villagers at all.
"Let's go down the mountain."
After determining the location and value of the bay, Liu Feng and others prepared to go down the mountain.
Just now Pan Zhang said that he wanted to inquire about the private harbor, but Liu Feng could guess that this private harbor most likely belonged to the Mi family.
After all, this is Qu County, with Qushan Mountain at your feet and the bay below also Qushan Bay. How can you escape from the clutches of Wang Mi's family in Qu County?
This private port is not big, with only a small amount of shipping, most of which are fishing boats. The Mi family has done a good thing by opening this port to ordinary villagers and allowing them to unload cargo here. .
Soon, after descending the mountain, the group returned to the village where they rested temporarily.
It's just different from before leaving. At this time, many people gathered in the village, and there were cries from the crowd.
Liu Feng frowned. When Xu Sheng saw it, he immediately came out and led a few of his henchmen to drive away the onlookers.
It's just that Xu Sheng's driving movements were quite gentle. He used his strength to drag the other person away and then pushed him aside. Although his movements were rude, he was very cautious to avoid hurting the other person.
Some villagers were suddenly pushed away. They turned around and wanted to curse, but when they saw that the ones pushing him were Xu Sheng and several other big men, with long knives on their waists, they immediately became scared.
Soon, Xu Sheng cleared a passage so that Liu Feng could walk into the crowd.
In the center of the crowd, there were seven or eight people surrounding them, three of whom Liu Feng knew, they were villagers in the village, a couple with a baby girl.
The girl in their family looks very sweet. Although she is a little malnourished, she still cannot conceal her beauty.
As for the couple, the man is farming and the woman is planting mulberries, so their life is going well.
When Liu Feng and others came, they also bought bacon from this family, which shows that the other family is quite wealthy.
Unexpectedly, the male head of the family had been knocked to the ground, and the helpless wife wanted to protect her daughter while also trying to wake up her husband.
Three or four strong men were standing idle, one of them was still kicking the male host.
The faces of the surrounding villagers were full of anger, but no one dared to stand up. They just surrounded the few strong men in the middle who were obviously dressed as people from other villages.
From the clothes of these people, Liu Feng recognized the identities of these people at a glance. They were thugs raised by Yan Hao's family, but he did not know why these people caused trouble for the villagers of this family.
Liu Feng nodded at Pan Zhang, who immediately walked aside, grabbed a villager and asked in a low voice.
Soon, Pan Zhang finished inquiring about the information and came back to report to Liu Feng.
“The male owner of this farm family secretly made salt with a few friends, and the local salt tycoon discovered it, beat him up, and even kidnapped the farmer’s daughter. If it weren’t for these villagers If they surrounded the way, they might have taken the man away a long time ago.”
But the villagers could only surround the other party to prevent him from leaving, but they didn’t have the guts to treat the man or snatch him back. girl.
Seeing that his family, who had been harmonious and beautiful in the morning, were now seriously injured, one was tied up, and one was about to be destroyed, Liu Feng's heart suddenly seemed to be pinched by someone.
Liu Feng looked up at the sky. The sky was blue and clean, as if there was no trace of dust.
But under such a clean sky, such dirty things are happening.
God doesn’t care?
Liu Feng lowered his head again and took a deep breath.
Since God has no time to take care of it, let me take care of it.
“Stop!”
Liu Feng took two steps forward, attracting everyone’s attention to himself, and then said: “In broad daylight, you robbed a civilian girl. Are you so lawless?"
Liu Feng has seen this line since he was a child, and he always thought it was funny.
But it wasn’t until today that he understood that beneath this seemingly interesting line, there were bones and blood dripping from it.
A young man walked out from among the strong men in green clothes. At first glance, he looked like a knight-errant.
After all, there is a difference between reality and the TV series. When the young man saw Liu Feng, his eyes shrank slightly. Although he did not recognize Liu Feng’s identity, he could see from his clothes and the heroes behind Liu Feng. , it can be seen that Liu Feng’s identity is extraordinary.
Coupled with the fact that Liu Feng always spoke like a king, the young man firmly felt that Liu Feng should be a child of a wealthy family, and that his family should have high-ranking officials.
“To tell you, young master, we are guests of the Wang family in Qu County. The younger one’s name is Xu Qin. We are here to collect debts.”
Xu Qin turned around and pointed to the man lying on the ground. The man from that family cupped his fists and said, "This guy has lent us two thousand dollars for several months and has never paid it back. My young master is kind-hearted and has always been tolerant, but this guy has gotten worse and even thought of running away. Thanks to a kindhearted person who tipped off the news, Otherwise, I really would have let this guy run away.”
Liu Feng's pupils shrank. In reality, this bad guy is quite cunning.
When they mentioned the king's law, they used the law of heaven to block their mouths.
Looking at the other party’s confident appearance, I’m afraid that the repayment of the borrowed money is genuine.
However, there is a high probability that there is something fishy going on here. Ninety-nine percent of the time, the male owner of the family was tricked by the young master of the Wang family.
Just seeing that the man could make the villagers help him keep his daughter despite the pressure from the Wang family, one knew that this man should be very popular in the village.
Such a person is unlikely to be the kind of person who refuses to pay back money he owes.
“He lied!”
At this time, the beautiful girl who was pulled by Xu Qin’s strong men shouted at Liu Feng: “Noble man, he lied! It was the young master of the Wang family who deliberately They set up a trap to trap my father. They clearly agreed to let him boil salt and sell it to several surrounding villages. However, they regretted it after he borrowed the money. They also beat him up and broke the salt-making prison. Basin, and even threatened the villagers not to buy my father’s cheap salt, but to buy their high-priced salt.”
The girl was very articulate and courageous, and told the story in detail. A clear one.
Xu Qin tried to stop him, but he only saw Liu Feng staring at him with a smile.
Although Liu Feng was smiling, his smile was a little oozing, making him instinctively afraid to move.
After hearing these words, Liu Feng smiled and asked Xu Qin: "You heard it too, do you have anything to say?"
"My lord, this woman is "It's nonsense."
Xu Qin hurriedly explained: "This man asked my young master to be accommodating, but he agreed at that time that he could only cook salt in the village for his own use. But this man didn't know what to do." , harboring evil intentions, he secretly sold the salt to other villages, and even killed a fellow villager because of his unclean eating habits. My young master was kind-hearted, and he even killed a fellow villager. Since I have a relationship with him, I can’t ignore it, so I came to find someone.”
(End of Chapter)