"What about... Yingjili?" Ruan Yuan suddenly asked him.

Seeing Su Zhaoxiong's confusion, Ruan Yuan also explained to him: "English warships always have strong ships and powerful guns. We build more forts, but we can only have a 50% or 60% chance of winning. If there are really police on the sea, they will not be so easy to deal with."

Ah? But in the past few years, I have been confronting them and finally got all the British warships to withdraw from the South China Sea. At least now, there have been no foreign warships in the Lingding Yangtze for three years. But is this the end? My generation is getting old.

But what about our next generation, the next generation? Not only do they need to continue to deal with the British, but also... If the future generations of governors are not as good as me, then they will only suffer a loss? The British do not dare to send warships now, I

It seems that it is because I am still in Guangzhou. Then one day, if I am no longer here, or if the subsequent governor is ignorant of foreign sentiments and actually agrees to them sending warships, wouldn't it be back to eight years ago? Of course.

Now that we are well prepared, we can always let the foreigners know that we are not lazy people. I guess... Vice Admiral Su, you and I should be lucky people. At least in ten years, or decades, the British will not dare to do anything.

What a big news, decades later...I am already sixty-two this year, I should be able to rest in peace, right? Haha."

"Yes, the president has worked hard in this term, so he can leave some favors for future generations." Su Zhaoxiong also agreed. In short, Ruan Yuan at this time, for ten or even twenty years, Guangzhou should be at peace.

, which is firmly believed.

"Two adults, two adults!" Unexpectedly, at this moment, a green camp soldier suddenly appeared on the city wall, running straight towards Ruan Yuan and Su Zhaoxiong. Seeing the two men, the soldier immediately bowed:

"My lords, there is an express report from Humen, saying that an English merchant ship that wanted to enter Humen was reported to have brought opium. Now Humen has issued an order not to allow foreign ships to enter the port. But the foreign ships have been saying

I want the adults in Guangzhou to give me an explanation, Mr. Ruan, what should we do about this matter?"

"Really..." Ruan Yuan thought that most of the matters in Humen still had to be decided by himself, so he immediately said to the soldier: "Go and tell the people coming from Humen, and go back to convey the order of my governor. If the foreign ship wants to be imported, you can

, but it must agree to enter Huangpu, and then open the warehouse for inspection! If it does not agree, it will not be let in! Just as I am also preparing to go south again for the military parade, I will go to Humen to have another look. You can make it clear to the green camp over there. I

It will arrive within five days. During these few days, they must strictly abide by the orders and make no mistakes!"

"Yes!" The soldier left immediately after receiving Ruan Yuan's instructions.

Sure enough, five days later, Ruan Yuan appeared at the Humen port on a navy ship in the name of a military parade.

"Is that the foreign ship in front?" The warship Ruan Yuan was on headed south little by little. Soon, the "Valletta", which was blocked outside Humen, appeared in Ruan Yuan's telescope field of view.

"Yes, President, the people on the foreign ship spoke very arrogantly. They said... that the previous Governor's order was fake. There was no official document stamped by the Governor. They didn't believe that we wouldn't allow them to enter the port. They also said that if

If there is no document with the official seal of the Governor, they will force their way into Humen." said a Humen soldier who was accompanying them.

"Then show them this document!" Ruan Yuan came prepared as expected. He immediately asked the two accompanying soldiers in the cabin to take out a printed document and said: "Go and tell them that this is my governor.

Order, if this foreign ship wants to enter the port, we will send a warship to accompany it. Once it arrives at Huangpu, the cabin will be opened on the spot. There will be no room for rest! If they do not agree to open the cabin, the ship will be driven away immediately. If they really

Dare to forcefully break into Humen, follow the example of outsiders trespassing on the border, allow the navy to board foreign ships, and directly seize commercial goods!"

"Yes!" Several soldiers took Ruan Yuan's instructions and immediately got off the boat and prepared to go.

Sure enough, after a day of confrontation with Ruan Yuan, the "Valletta" disappeared in the Humen waters.

Ruan Yuan saw that the foreign ships had temporarily disappeared, and after reviewing the Humen fort, he left Humen and headed north, continuing to review troops in Zhaoqing, Shunde, Xiangshan and other places.

But what Ruan Yuan didn't know was that a month later, after hearing that he was no longer in Humen, the "Valletta" appeared on the Lingding Ocean again. This time they unloaded goods directly on a mountain island and handed over to the "Quick Crab Boat" that was smuggling opium.

After that, it left with a large amount of silver. Even without entering the port for trade, the "Valletta" still returned with a profit.

Ruan Yuan could not stop more and more smuggling ships by himself.

According to the official system, the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi also govern Guangdong. Important civil and military affairs in Guangxi and Guangxi, such as making up for the shortage of money and food, water conservancy construction, new land reclamation, Western diplomacy, and green camp military parades, are all the responsibility of the governors of Guangdong and Guangxi. The governors are not full-time anti-smuggling officials.

At this time, the Qing Dynasty also lacked the administrative ability to set up effective anti-smuggling and anti-drug officers. Of course, Ruan Yuan could not devote all his energy to cracking down on opium. Not to mention other things, the annual military parade alone would consume a lot of Ruan Yuan's energy.

Fortunately, the Guangdong and Guangxi regions in Daoguang's five years are generally stable, and there is no need for Daoguang to worry.

Of course, the focus of discussions in the fifth year of Daoguang was not in Guangdong, but in the Jianghuai Canal. On this day, important ministers in the Qinzheng Palace gathered together, and Wei Yuanyu, the governor of Liangjiang, also went north to participate in the discussion in person. The key to the discussion in the palace was that in the sixth year of Daoguang's reign, the imperial court

Can water transport be implemented?

"Your Majesty, I believe that this year the Gaobao line of the canal has been too silted up. Now the imperial court has only ordered the reconstruction of the Gaoyan, but the sand in the canal has not been cleared. Now I have received a report that most of the Jiangnan canal ships are stranded in Zhenjiang and Yangzhou and cannot go north at all.

!" Co-organizer Yinghe, a scholar from the university, was the first to speak: "Under such circumstances, the imperial court has to seek alternative strategies. I request the emperor to suspend water transportation in the sixth year of Daoguang and make every effort to renovate the river. At the same time, recruit maritime merchants to use sea transportation in Jiang Province on behalf of water transportation to Tianjin.

Transport grain!"

"Your Majesty, I think what Yingzhongtang said is inappropriate." The person who didn't want to speak out against Yinghe at this time was none other than Wei Yuanyu, the governor of Liangjiang: "I think that borrowing money from Huang Ji is a good strategy. As for sea transportation, it is really difficult. Tianjin has never received grain.

, how can it be exchanged in Tianjin? The sea is rough and dangerous, and most boatmen do not know the sand lines. Once there is a danger of capsizing, who can bear the responsibility? What's more, once the sea transport is changed, what will the hundreds of thousands of sailors along the coast do?

Without the livelihood of water transport, will it be even more difficult for them in the future?"

It turns out that since the Gaojiayan embankment burst, the Qing government sent Wenfu and Wang Tingzhen south to supervise the repair of the embankment. After several months of work, Gaojiayan had basically completed the repairs. However, when the Gaojiayan embankment burst, a large number of

The accumulated sand was brought into the canal. For a time, the canal was seriously accumulated with sand. Many rivers that originally fed into the canal were affected by the bursting of Gaoyan embankments, and they could not deliver water to the canal for a while.

Xia was completely impassable. That's why Ying He proposed the idea of ​​sea transportation again, while Wei Yuanyu insisted that water transportation was inconvenient and the best way was to divert the Yellow River water into the canal to ensure sufficient water in the canal and flush it out.

This method of removing silt from the river has been implemented before, but times have changed, and no one can guarantee that "diverting the Yellow River to improve transportation" will definitely succeed.

"Your Majesty, I think I am overthinking what President Wei said." Yinghe continued to say to Daoguang: "I have seen an article called "Marine Transportation Examination" written by President Ruan of Guangdong and Guangxi during his previous dynasty. In short,

, In the past, the Yuan Dynasty used sea transportation, and at least 90% of the grain could reach Tianjin. So what is it about the Yuan Dynasty that is not as good as the Yuan Dynasty, and it does not even have the courage to try sea transportation? As for ships, I heard that Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, is now the link between Jiangsu and Jiangsu.

Shandong is an important place in the provinces of Shengjing. There are at least 3,000 sand ships that can carry out sea transportation in Shanghai, and half of them have a transport capacity of more than 1,500 shi. Therefore, I think that if merchant ships can be recruited in Shanghai, many merchants can

The success of the grain transportation and sea transportation can be just around the corner! As for Tianjin's inability to deliver the grain, I think it is a minor issue. At that time, only one person, the Cangchang Shilang, will be sent to Tianjin, and then Jiangsu will choose a senior official to supervise the transportation. As for the placement of the grain, it will be done.

When it comes to helping, I think it’s important to get people. If the governor of Jiangsu can find a long-term strategy and arrange it properly, I think there is nothing wrong with it.”

"Your Majesty, I and Wang Zhongtang have surveyed the river. The current condition of the river is that it is really difficult to pass ships." At this time, Wenfu on the side also said to Daoguang: "Although I have blocked Gaojiayan, I have also blocked Gaojiayan.

After more investigation, there are many places in Xiahe, Huai'an and other places that need to be re-rectified. If the method of water confinement cannot be re-implemented, the silt will be difficult to remove. But if it is necessary to vigorously renovate the river, the best way is to stop the canal

Open the ship and dredge with all our strength! Your Majesty, I don’t know whether sea transportation is feasible, but if we have to force water transportation now, I’m afraid that Yan Xang and Zhang Jing on the other side of the Nanhe River will not have enough time to dredge the canal?”

"Back to the emperor, I had already discussed this with Lord Wen when we went north, and I agree with Lord Wen's opinion." Wang Tingzhen also added.

"Your Majesty, since this is the case, I also have something to say. The Yingzhongtang shipping proposal is generally feasible. What needs to be further discussed is just some details. But in my opinion, there is no way out." Wang, who has been appointed as the Minister of Household Affairs.

Ding also said to Daoguang: "I think that if all the grain from Jiangsu Province can be transported to Tianjin by sea, the Beijing warehouse will be filled. If there is any shortage, I can now preside over the purchase of corn from Shengjing and Henan.

It will be used to make up for it. As for the grain supplies of other provinces, they can all be changed to zhezi next year. The people can just pay the silver, and then use the zhezi silver to build the canal. If Yan Xang and Zhang Jing are able to supervise the construction, the canal will be open for one year.

It shouldn’t be difficult to get the ship, and then it will be enough to send grain to other provinces other than Jiang Province.”

"Are you...are you ready to abandon the water supply of Jiang Province and ignore it? Your Majesty, if you don't believe that I can complete the task of diverting water from the Yellow River to help transport, please change your appointment to the Governor of Water Transport and personally preside over this year's water transport. If the canal opens in autumn,

It is impassable, so I ask the emperor to dismiss me at that time as a warning to others!" Wei Yuanyu saw that the sea transportation was difficult or not, and it seemed that he did not have the upper hand, so he had to volunteer and prepare to personally handle the matter of dredging the river.

"General Wei, why are you doing this? I have just made it clear that if the governor of Jiangsu handles things properly, these things will not be a problem at all. Why, Zhang Shicheng, Zhang Zhongcheng, and General Wei are not worried?" Yinghe also asked Wei Yuanyu, in fact,

The governor of Jiangsu at this time was Zhang Shicheng, who had previously suppressed Cai Qian in Fujian and promoted Lin Zexu. However, in the last years of Jiaqing, Zhang Shicheng was dismissed for some reason. In addition, he returned home to mourn for many years, so his promotion in the officialdom was not as good as that of many of his juniors. At this time, he was still just Jiangsu

The governor was not as good as Wei Yuanyu, who came later and became the governor-general.

"Alas, you...you don't understand the water transport." Wei Yuanyu also sighed to everyone: "Your Majesty, ladies and gentlemen, there has always been an old saying about water transportation, which is called 'millions of water transport workers depend on their food and clothing'. Yes, there are many

Like Yingzhongtang, people think that this is just an excuse made by the officials in Jiang Province who dare not change the water transportation for fear of losing money. But in my opinion, this makes sense? If the water transportation is gone, the officials will only lose something.

Salary, he could still be an official in another place, but what about these canal sailors? Without water transport, what do they rely on to make a living? Farming? If they have fields to farm, why do they still work as canal transport sailors? Work? Up and down the canal

Once water transportation is lost, where will so many workers be needed? What's more, nowadays, there are not as many workers as there used to be. Why, because there are too many people, workers are no longer valuable! This is not the most important thing.

, the most difficult thing is that most of these 100,000 water transport sailors, and the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on water for a living behind them, believe in Luo Jiao! This Luo Jiao is a sect of the Caobang, and is divided into Lao'an sect, Xin'an sect,

In the Pan'an religion, there are even feuds between various religions. You may also ask, if this is the case, why not ban the Luo religion? There are at least hundreds of thousands of followers of the Luo religion, and they are all for the imperial court.

Can important people in Caoliang be banned at will? Is it possible to ban them? The Luo Jiao was once banned during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, but it didn’t take long for them to revive. Fortunately, the Luo Jiao did not go against the court’s words and remained loyal to them.

Your Majesty. So now we can guide Luo Jiao and make him live in peace. But once he switches to sea transportation, what happens if Caobang loses his job? Do you know that the quota of grain for the country is four million, and Jiangsu has one hundred

Seven hundred thousand? By that time, who can guarantee that no new sect will emerge in Luo Jiao, and that this new sect can continue to be loyal to the court? By then, what will we do? Do we really have to deal with those
Chapter completed!