With the din of "ding-dong-dang", the laborers who were resting on Nigupu Pier slowly got up and lined up to go to the pier. Another ship entered the port.
Yes, it's the end of October, and it has slowly entered the peak period for ships entering the port. This is the most important time of the year in Nigupu. Whether the work is done well or not depends on October, November and two months.
Zhao Feng, the commander of Zhigu, also came. He climbed to the top of the lighthouse and stood against the wind, admiring the magnificent view of ships entering the harbor with He Yunlian, the Prime Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The two plank roads have been lengthened and can accommodate eight ships at the same time, greatly increasing the throughput.
This was Zhao Feng's contribution to Zhigu, and he was praised by the saint. Of course, Zhao Feng was even more grateful to the queen. Without her reminder, it might have been a criticism.
"Are these all your ships?" Zhao Feng asked, looking at the merchant ships being towed to the shore one after another. "Not all of them." He Yunlian said; "Some of them are rented."
In fact, most of them were rented but no rent was paid. The Ministry of Internal Affairs allowed the ships to bring some Liaodong cargo into the port, which was counted as charter expenses.
"What kind of goods are there?" Zhao Feng asked.
"It's probably leather, dried meat, salted fish, wild products, medicinal materials, etc." He Yunlian said, "Sail from Muzhou."
Muzhou is a state affiliated to Liaodong Province, which was formed by merging the former Longyuan Prefecture of Tokyo and Nanhai Prefecture of Nanjing in the Bohai Sea State. Originally there were seven prefectures and 34 counties including Mu, He, Qing, Yan, Wo, Qing, and Jiao, which are now merged into
Yongyuan (formerly Tokyo City, Hunchun Eight Liancheng City), Yonghe (now Kraskino City, Russia), Yongji (Fujuri, Qingjin City, North Hamgyong Province, North Korea), Bigu (Dalyngling area, near Chunhua Town, Hunchun City)
), Huinong (today's Huining, North Korea), Honghe (today's Chongjin, North Korea), Woju (today's Hamhung, North Korea), Tianqing (today's northwest of Hamhung, North Korea), Jiaoshan (today's Mengsan, North Korea), Iwayeon
(now northwest of Yongxing, Korea) ten counties.
Muzhou and Gong's Goryeo were roughly bounded by the Nihe River, with the territory of Daxia in the north and Sobang County in Goryeo in the south. The Nihe River is now the Yongheung River in South Hamgyong Province, North Korea.
The port resources in Muzhou are very rich. In addition to the largest Qupu, there are also Longhepu, Sipu and Tuhaopu. The ships that just docked set sail from Longhepu.
"How much can you earn?" Zhao Feng asked.
He Yunlian didn't really want to answer this question, because he himself had objections to the saint's insistence on transporting meat and fish, but Zhao Feng was the prince's consort, so he couldn't answer it, so he said vaguely: "You can't earn much from meat, and fish is okay, but
Not as good as skins and medicinal materials."
"Why?" Zhao Fengqi asked.
"Just go down and have a look and you'll find out." He Yunlian couldn't explain clearly, so he said. "That's fine." Zhao Feng agreed, and the two of them got off the lighthouse together.
At the pier, a pulley and boom carefully hoisted buckets of dried meat to the shore, and then pulled them away on a horse-drawn carriage.
But the horse-drawn carriage only pulled a short distance, and eventually it was transported all the way up the river via inland river boats and transported to Beijing, which was the main terminal consumer market.
Zhao Feng and He Yunlian came to the dock and ordered the barrels to be opened and a piece of meat taken out.
"This is venison." He Yunlian knocked on it with the scabbard, making a dull "bang bang" sound, and then said: "The meat was from last winter. It was stored in the ice cellar and shipped back this year."
Dried meat is inherently very hard.
In the 18th century, the British even joked that this kind of cured meat can stop bullets, which may be a bit exaggerated. But it is true that dried cured meat can be stored for a long time. During the Crimean War, the British Army ate a lot of Napoleon.
The air-dried cured meat produced during the war has a history of several decades and is really a bit excessive.
The air-dried cured meat made last winter, if it is stored properly, is less than a year old, and of course it can be eaten.
To be honest, the cost of the meat itself is very low. For the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the biggest expense may be salt, which is also their main selling point.
But don’t expect it to be expensive. Because salt in the Tang Dynasty was extremely cheap, only a fraction or even a tenth of that in the Northern Song Dynasty. Like the salt fields in the river, private mining was not prohibited and had always been mined by both the government and the people. Because of the Xia Dynasty,
Therefore, the price of salt has never been able to rise. This may be one of the reasons why the Tang Dynasty government did not have as high an income as the Northern Song Dynasty.
"Why is such good venison like this?" Zhao Feng looked at the hard meat in a daze.
"Haha." He Yunlian had seen too much and said with a smile: "Otherwise, how can it be transported over long distances? If the prince-in-law wants to eat venison, he can send his own people to catch it. Zhigu County is rich in water and grass. I think there are still a lot of deer.
.”
Zhao Feng came to his senses and said with a wry smile: "It's not that, it's not that."
"But..." He cleared his throat and said excitedly: "Meat is meat. With the newly established Zhigu, many people are in poverty. If they can sell cheap preserved meat, their lives will be greatly improved.
Already."
"I'm afraid not." He Yunlian sighed: "There are also poor people in Beijing. Cheap dried meat should be shipped to Beijing first for sale." "Why are Beijingers..." Zhao Feng frowned, but quickly stopped.
Already.
After a long time, he sighed heavily and said: "I have been in Zhigu for more than four years. I have watched the people build city walls, dredge rivers, rebuild ponds, and open up wasteland for farming. I can still remember the hard work during this period. Alas, He Fucheng,
Can you save some dried meat to sell in Zhigu County?”
He Yunlian stroked his beard, pretended to think deeply, and said in a low voice: "This matter needs more efforts from the prince-in-law." Zhao Feng understood and thanked him: "Thank you Fu Cheng for your advice."
While the two were talking, another group of people came down from the cabin.
When the dock workers saw that their foreheads were bald, with only hair on the back of their heads, which was tied into braids, they felt strange.
But the local villagers who maintained order near the dock became nervous. Under the leadership of officers, they gathered about 300 people, armed with rifles and rifles, and watched these people from a distance.
The savages who got off the boat were a little land-sick, and the world was spinning in their field of vision. Seeing this, they became nervous and subconsciously leaned together. Unfortunately, they had no equipment at hand, and they were very anxious for a while.
"Don't move!" "Don't panic!"
The two of them, one far away and one close, shouted almost at the same time.
The one shouting nearby was the captain. He got off the boat angrily and shouted: "What are you doing? What are you doing? These are slaves who owe debts to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Put away all the equipment. People have been killed and injured. You can afford to pay for it."
What? Can you afford to compensate the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"
The fellow villagers were unmoved, and some even drew arrows from their quivers.
"Go to hell!" an officer spat: "You first get the people to the open space over there and sit down, otherwise I will shoot the arrow." The captain was so angry that he jumped onto the dock and started to have sex.
Theory. At this moment, several horses came galloping from a distance.
"The deputy commander of the Luoyan Army, Xiao Dilu, is here, so don't act rashly." The general turned over and dismounted and said. When they heard Xiao Dilu's name, the villagers of the Tutuan Army did not react at all and still stood in a tense confrontation.
"Qiu Zengxiang, who is waiting at the capital of the Luoyan Army, has come to pick up people under the holy order. It's a misunderstanding. Please put it away." Qiu Zengxiang dismounted and said.
"Commander Qiu?" the leading officer of Tutuan Xiangfu shouted in surprise, and then said happily: "I am Zhao Da, the commander of the army."
"So you came to Zhigu County?" Qiu Zengxiang took a closer look and saw that he was actually an old subordinate who used to manage the army. He immediately laughed and said: "They are all our own people. Put them away. What did the Privy Council do? They didn't say hello in advance?"
"
"I said hello, but it's better to be careful," said Zhao Dasansan. Qiu Zengxiang laughed angrily and didn't pursue it further.
Zhao Da always liked to show off his power in front of the new recruits. When he saw the savages coming ashore this time, he probably wanted to give them a blow. Xiao Dilu stepped forward with an unlucky look on his face, followed by several followers, one of whom was Wan Yanxiu.
Wan Yanxiu came to these savages and counted them first. There were thirty-seven of them. People continued to disembark from the following boats, and in the end the number increased to more than 280.
"Deputy Envoy Xiao, there is no difference in the number of people." Wanyanxiu first used Mohe dialect to comfort the Mohe people and Jurchens who had just disembarked from the ship, and then trotted up to Xiao Dilu and said.
"Take them all back." Xiao Dilu waved his hand dejectedly and said.
He is the deputy envoy of the First Army, but in the eyes of the Tutuan countrymen, even Yuhou Qiu Zengxiang's words are not effective. Damn it, is a martial arts student amazing? My sister even gave birth to an heir for the saint!
"That's right!" Xiao Dilu suddenly thought of something and asked again: "Do people who return to Liaodong also take these boats to go back?"
"No." Qiu Zengxiang came over and said: "These ships will spend the winter in Nigupu this year and will not sail again. The sergeants who returned to Liaodong received their rewards in two days and went back by land."
"That's good." Xiao Dilu said, "You won't have to feed the fish on the way." Wan Yanxiu sighed secretly.
Of course, there are losses in sailing, and shipwrecks are inevitable, even when sailing offshore.
As for the sergeants who returned to Liaodong, it was actually the saint's idea. They were all Mohe and Jurchen warriors who had performed well in the war, and some of them had been promoted to junior high schools. The saint took pity on him and gave him some easy-to-carry gifts as rewards.
Let him go home and come back next year—you can even bring his family with you.
There is no doubt that this is a walking human flesh propaganda team.
When the returning samurai returns to the White Mountains and Black Waters wearing beautiful clothes and carrying gifts, you can imagine what kind of sensation it will cause. Even the clan leaders don’t have expensive tea leaves, so I can make tea and drink it in front of everyone.
Even the "big pig farmers" may not have beautiful brocades, but I can give them to the most beautiful girl in the village.
Coupled with the well-made equipment, when you wear it all over your body, your temperament changes, and you instantly transform into the most capable warrior in the village.
I used to be a slave, but now I don’t have to kowtow when I see the leaders. Do you dare to deal with me? I am a well-established person. I have a team leader, a deputy general, ten generals, commanders, and soldiers and horses...
···
Do you dare to go against me?
Wanyanxiu himself is the leader of the clan and is fully aware of the current situation, because the slaves he brought out back then were not very obedient.
The organizational structure of tribes and clans was broken up and replaced by military law. Soldiers who were born as slaves would not be punished if they disobeyed their leaders, but if they disobeyed their lieutenants, they would be hung up and beaten. Over time, everything changed...
····
He could imagine how "corrupted" the returning samurai's hearts would be after they returned to the village to live for a few months.
The saint is doing all the fucking nonsense! This is not alarmist, because the clan leaders will feel a sense of crisis and may rebel. He is completely thinking about the court and has no selfish motives.
He would have to find an opportunity to give him some advice in the future. But he soon thought that with his status, he might not be able to meet a saint, and he lamented over and over again.
The savages were quickly led away, and calm returned to the dock.
Zhao Feng and He Yunlian looked at each other, and they both had a guess in their minds: The saint is going to use savages to fight.