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 onto the ship at the pier. 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 right 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 and pondered what you said that day, and I feel that what you said is right. It is indeed, 'Anyone who achieves great things must do nothing for others.'
That day, as soon as the fifty of us arrived at Pavilion Chief Sun, the old man asked us to nominate a leader who would pay for the food.
Ever since Emperor Guangwu deposed this canal soldier, the fate of the world 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.
Therefore, every time when they were transferred to transport, everyone did not regard the food poor as a scourge, for fear of destroying their families and destroying their families.
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 something is possible and retreat when they see difficulty. 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 benefit the people of the world.
Nowadays, everyone is afraid of this leader, 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. I am the youngest among the men on the boat, but everyone likes to listen to you. Second son, I am convinced."
As the river breeze blew, 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 half a century this society of 60 million people will not survive, only 5 million people will survive.
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 cannot gather people as soon as possible, he is not sure how long his family can 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 he also wanted to firmly grasp the team of fifty people.
Even though the practice is over and everyone has to disperse back to their hometowns, this relationship still exists.
That's why he accepted the job of 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 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 for their enjoyment, 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 millions of people for four months, and those who receive salaries and eat rice in the capital only total less than 200,000. The rest is stored in warehouses 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 difficult 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 boats. Half of them belonged to Le'an County, and the rest belonged to Jinan Kingdom.
Le'an County is the county to the east of them and is further away from Aocang, so they set off earlier.
Their twenty ships formed a fleet, which was also a standard sixteen-oared sailing ship. They set out from Linji, carrying beans, sesame, fish, salt and last year's money from the entire Le'an County, all the way up the Jishui River.
Coming with an oar.
The same goes for Jinan's water ships, which transport almost the same amount. It's just that they have iron officials in Licheng and produce iron, so they transport more iron.
Zhang Chong's boat was specially used to transport rice. Two hundred shi of rice was tied with straw into two hundred burdens and stacked neatly in the warehouse.
Those fellows 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.
It's really fun.
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 the next time he is sent to the ship, 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 Sun Tingzhang sit down, he joked:
"Pavilion Chief, this is always a good thing. Zhongchenghou has a decisive victory over the Southern Territory and is ambitious; Pavilion Chief, he has transported supplies thousands of miles, and he is not inferior to Zhongchenghou. Besides, for such an important matter of water transportation, the Pavilion Chief Xie still has to come.
I'm afraid my uncle is a little off."
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 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 few things.
What is human affairs? In addition to state affairs, it is human affairs.
We have traveled thousands of miles, whether we are tired or suffering, but there are people involved.
I don't hold my grandson in my arms, leave my old wife, and work hard. On the one hand, I am a scholar and gentleman, but on the other hand, it is just for this.
Later, just watch and 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 and watched the scenery along the way, with thousands of sailboats racing across the river and hundreds of boats competing against each other.
At this time, the fleet had already left Jinan and entered Pingyuan County.
Zhu'a, their next stop, is the junction of Jinan, Pingyuan County and Taishan County in Yanzhou, and it is also the south 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.
So when Geng Yan, the general of Guangwu faction, attacked 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 once he attacked the city, he failed to capture it. But no matter what, Zhu'a is still a battleground for military strategists.
But just when there was still ten miles of waterway from Zhu'a, Zhang Chong discovered that the fleet began to stop one after another, and the boatmen were shouting slogans one after another.
Even the boatman 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, ponds, and any place you haven't noticed by the river.
They worked in groups of three or two, each found the corresponding target and moved towards it.
Zhang Chong was about to shout: "Water bandits."
He saw Tingchang Sun, who was sitting upright, suddenly stand 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. He just had no hair, so one could tell at a glance that he had committed a convict punishment.
He was holding his pennant, and there were three small canoes following behind him. He glanced at Sun Xun on the boat, didn't say much, 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 of them knew each other. After that, he saw Bangfu, who was supposed to be rocking the oar in the barn, also coming 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 and 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.
As for the leading black man, it is said that he was recruited by the county and served as a county soldier. He also has some tricks in the village, so he is the leader of several of them.
Zhang Chong paid attention to this person because he also had a skill, which was "Huan Shou Dao, Master". He should have practiced it when he 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 should he do? He also felt that only a fool 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.
At the same time, other wooden boats disappeared, 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 because he knew that the old official would definitely not say anything.
But he was sure that this matter of stealing and selling grain from the canal 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 and estimated that the entire riverside was eating this bowl of rice.
Moreover, he also discovered something. That is, the 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 becoming more and more interesting.
As Zhang Chong was thinking about this, the voices of the boatmen shouting "The boat is setting off" were heard one after another.