Chapter 9 Jishui
The water in Canglang is clear and vast, and thousands of sails race across it.
This was the second day after Zhang Chong and others boarded the ship.
Yesterday, fifty of them carried two hundred stones of grain on the dock and boarded the boat. Then, under the command of the pavilion chief Sun Xun, everyone lined up in two shifts and took turns paddling, all the way to Zhu'a County.
Their next supply point is there.
Zhang Chong had a shift change today, so he went up to the deck with his little dad.
The boat under their feet was a sixteen-oared sailboat about 20 meters long. It hung a flag with the word "Cao" and a small flag with the words "Jinan Guoli City Transfer" written on it.
At this moment, my little dad was talking to Zhang Chong in a low voice:
"Second son, I thought about it all day yesterday, pondering what you said that day, and I feel that you are right. It is indeed that 'anyone who achieves great things must do nothing for others.' That day, the fifty of us had just arrived at Chief Sun Tingzhang's place. , then I want us to recommend a leader who will pay for the food.”
"Ever since Emperor Guangwu deposed this canal soldier, the world's defeat has been assigned to us. Not only do we have to pay for the canal, but we also have to carry out the service. Even if the boat capsizes on the water, the head of the person who paid for the food will have to pay for it. So, Every time when he was transferred to the army, everyone did not regard the food collector as a scourge, for fear of destroying his family. ”
"That day, Xie was about to take the job, and I wanted to stop him. But Xie said: 'People in the world always advance when they see what is possible and retreat when they see difficulties. Therefore, few people do difficult things in the world. ”
"The reason why a hero is a hero is not because he is a hero, but because he has done heroic things and can be a virtue to the people of the world."
"Nowadays, everyone is afraid of the boss, but I think this is an opportunity. When others are afraid of difficulties, I face them. If I do what others are unwilling or afraid to do, I will be virtuous to them."
"In addition, a snake cannot survive without a head. I don't think Chief Sun Ting is someone we can rely on, so we still have to rely on ourselves along the way.'"
"At that time, after hearing this, I was doubtful. But after one day, I saw it clearly. You are the youngest among all the men on the boat. But everyone likes to listen to you. Second son, I am convinced."
With the river breeze blowing, Zhang Chong just smiled shyly at his little dad's thumbs up.
Ever since he knew that this was the end of the Han Dynasty, he knew that a great uprising sweeping Guandong was about to break out.
We know that in another half century, this society of 60 million people will only have five million people.
He just wants to seize every opportunity and resource. He is not sure where his future direction will be because his current class is too low.
Whether it is to conquer the world or join one force, there is no chance. If he couldn't gather people as soon as possible, he wasn't sure how long his family could survive.
Therefore, for this labor transfer of grain, he not only wanted to see the distribution of powerful people along the coast and understand the social network along the coast, but also wanted to firmly grasp the team of fifty people.
Even if the practice is over and everyone will disperse back to their hometown, this relationship will still exist.
That's why he accepted the job of being the captain of the boat, and he was never lazy along the way, always rowing in the barn with his husbands.
I didn't change my shift until now, so I took the time to come up and take a good look at the Jishui.
In Zhang Chong's previous life, because the Yellow River changed its course, Jishui, one of the four rivers in the world, had disappeared.
But here, this Jishui can be said to be one of the largest rivers in the world.
During the Warring States Period, all the food and goods from all over the world gathered in Linzi, making Linzi of Qi State a countless famous capital.
Later, when the Qin and Han Dynasties were unified, the land, water and sea goods from Guandong were also transported to the capital through the Jishui River, and were supplied to the royal family, officials, students, and their servants and concubines, and the scale was getting larger and larger.
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, there were only a few hundred canoships operating on the Jishui River.
Later, by the time of Emperor Xiaowu, four million shi of millet and beans were transported to Beijing a year.
You must know that this much food can feed a million people for four months, but the total number of people in the capital who receive salary and eat rice is less than 200,000. The rest were stored in barns and eaten by rats.
And I don’t know how many people in the world can’t even get a bite of wheat rice.
Not to mention these, ordinary people have a hard life, hasn't it been like this since ancient times?
In short, since Xiaowu, this amount has been transported to Beijing every year. In addition, there have been more and more ships transporting export money and cloth every year.
As far as Zhang Chong saw now, there were already more than fifty ships. Half of them are from Le'an County, and the rest are from their Jinan country.
Le'an County is the county to the east of them, further away from Aocang, so they set off earlier.
Their twenty ships formed a fleet, which were also standard sixteen-oared sailing ships. They set out from Linji, carrying millets, beans, sesame, fish salt and last year's entire Le'an County's money, and rowed all the way up the Jishui River.
The same goes for Jinan's canals, which carry almost the same amount of goods. It's just that they have iron officials in Licheng and produce iron, so they transport more iron.
Zhang Chong's boat was specially designed to transport rice. Two hundred shi of rice were tied with straw into two hundred loads and stacked neatly in the warehouse.
The husbands had never seen so much food in their lives, and some of them were giggling while sleeping.
Because there is everything in dreams!
At this moment, Sun Xun, who was on the same boat, also got on the deck with the help of his servants.
He had a separate cabin below, and after boarding the ship, he stayed in it with his young servant.
Pickles, wheat rice and water and wine were all sent to him by Zhang Chong.
What a blast.
After he came up, he first said hello to Zhang Bingnan. Then he walked up to Zhang Chong, patted his waist, and sighed:
"Sure enough, he is getting old. He is not as strong as before. He has been weak since he got on the ship. It seems that next time he is sent to the water, he will be led by Lao Zhang."
Lao Zhang is the thief of his pavilion. His Zhang is not the Zhang of Da Sang, but he cannot write two Zhangs in one stroke, so he can be considered Zhang Chong's uncle.
Zhang Chong handed over a mazazi with a wink, and while helping Pavilion Chief Sun sit down, he joked: "Pavilion Chief, this is the old way to get stronger. Marquis Zhongcheng has a strong ambition to win the battle in the south; Pavilion Chief, travel thousands of miles to replenish supplies." , Not inferior to Marquis Zhongcheng. Besides, for such an important matter as water transportation, the pavilion chief is still required to do it. I’m afraid my uncle is a bit behind.”
The one who is loyal to the marquis is Ma Yuan, the general of Fubo.
Zhang Chong's words made Sun Xun's goatee tremble. I really didn't realize that the waiter in Gouzi's family was so smart and well-spoken. He was such a good prospect.
He waved his hand and said to Zhang Chong, half to show off and half to remind:
"Shi Zaizi is smart, I will teach you a little bit about human affairs. What is human affairs? In addition to state affairs, it is human affairs. Whether we are tired or bitter after traveling thousands of miles, there are people."
"I don't hold my grandson in my arms and leave my old wife. I am tired of traveling and traveling. On the one hand, I am a gentleman doing things. On the other hand, it is just for this. Wait for the back, just watch, don't say anything, and see what Uncle Xie is doing. ”
After saying that, he squinted his eyes, said nothing, and let the servant rub his shoulders.
Zhang Chong and his father looked at each other in confusion, and simply stood behind Sun Xun, watching the scenery along the way, with thousands of sails racing across the river, and hundreds of boats competing against each other.
At this time, the fleet had left Jinan and entered Pingyuan County.
Their next stop was Zhu'a, which was the junction of the three counties of Jinan, Pingyuan County, and Taishan County of Yanzhou. It was also the southern gate of Licheng.
Since ancient times, to keep Qi, one must keep the calendar, and to keep the city of Li, one must first keep Zhu'a.
Because this place borders Jishui to the east and Mount Tai to the west, it is located at the throat of mountains and rivers, and its military value is extremely important.
Therefore, when Guangwu sent general Geng Yan to attack Zhang Bu, who was separatist in Qingzhou, Zhang Bu sent his party Fei Yi to garrison Lixia, and then divided his troops to garrison Zhua, because he saw Zhua's military value.
However, General Geng was too fierce and attacked the city from the beginning, but failed to capture it. But no matter what, Zhua is still a battleground for military strategists.
But just when there was still ten miles of waterway from Zhua. Zhang Chong found that the fleet began to stop one after another, and the boatmen were shouting slogans one after another.
Even the captain of Zhang Chong's own ship began to hold the pole, and someone else had already lowered the stone anchor.
Just when Zhang Chong was confused, he saw a scene that shocked him.
At this time, small boats are sailing out from the reeds on the riverside, the pond, or any place you haven't noticed.
They worked in groups of three or two, each found the corresponding target and leaned towards it.
Zhang Chonggang was about to shout: "Water bandits."
When he saw Tingchang Sun, who was sitting upright, he suddenly stood up and shouted to a small canoe approaching:
"I didn't expect that this year, it would still be you, Chiang Kai-shek."
The person being yelled at was a thin man with an unattractive appearance. It's just that he has no hair, which makes people know that he has committed the punishment at a glance.
He was holding a bamboo pole at the moment, followed by three small canoes. He glanced at Sun Xun on the boat and didn't say anything. He just asked someone to throw a hemp rope over and they got close to each other.
Only then did Zhang Chong realize that the two knew each other. After that, he saw Bangfu, who was supposed to be rowing in the barn, also come out.
Carrying twenty shi of grain on their backs, they handed it over one after another under the leadership of a black man.
"Fuck, this is smuggling."
Zhang Chong understood immediately. He didn't dare to say anything, he just watched Heifu and the others working.
This group of people is from Chaoyang Village next door, and they are another member of the fifty servants.
And this leading black man. It is said that he was recruited by the county and worked as a county soldier, and he also had some tricks in the village, so he was the leader of several of them.
Zhang Chong paid attention to this person because he also had skills, such as "ring-shou sword, mastery". I should have practiced it when I was a county soldier.
This black man has always been dissatisfied with Zhang Chong, thinking that he is just a baby who knows nothing but still acts as the leader.
But what about him? He also felt that only fools would do this.
After unloading their burdens, Kun prisoners Lao Jiang and Sun Xun nodded, then led three more small wooden boats and disappeared in a whoosh.
Also disappearing at the same time were other wooden boats, as if the scene just now had never happened.
Zhang Chong was thinking about this matter in his mind. He didn't ask Sun Tingzhang. He knew that the old official would definitely not tell.
But he was sure that this matter of stealing and selling grain was definitely not something that a pavilion chief with hundreds of stones could handle.
You must know that just now, more than 50 watercraft were stopped, which already involved two counties.
Zhang Chong made a bold guess. He estimated that the entire riverside was eating this bowl of rice.
Moreover, he also discovered something. That bald old Chiang Kai-shek obviously didn’t give him any money!
Is there such a thing as credit?
It seems that this water transport trip is getting more and more interesting.
Zhang Chong was thinking about it here, and the voices of the boatmen shouting "the boat is setting off" were heard one after another.
The fleet finally continued to sail towards Zhua.
(End of chapter)