The ship doesn't look big from a distance, but when it's sailing up close, its size is still scary.
Because of the deep draft, the big ship lowered almost all its sails and, towed by several small boats, approached the trestle little by little.
"Boom!" Under the action of the waves, the ship's side collided with the trestle. Of course, this is normal.
Sailors were busy on the deck, unloading bag after bag of cargo.
The pulley boom easily hoisted the full sacks and placed them into the carriage carriage parked on the trestle.
It has to be a four-wheeled carriage!
From the trestle to the warehouse, there is a high-standard road to the port. The four-wheeled carriage runs fast and light, and disappears at the end of the road in a short while.
Some of the grain was not sent to the warehouse, but went around to the grain store in Chishanpu.
At the entrance of Lianghang Street, the shopkeepers and their clerks were standing ready.
As soon as the four-wheeled carriage arrived, he immediately stepped forward and took away part of what he had bought according to the pre-agreed share.
Of course, these grains still need to be dried in the drying field.
The imperial court didn't fool them too much. They took care of the parts wetted by the waves themselves. What was shipped was dry food that was well protected. However, it still needed to be dealt with to some extent.
In the grain store street, there are already people in twos and threes coming to buy grain.
"Hasn't all the new grain been shipped here? Why is it still twenty-seven dollars per bucket of rice?" someone asked.
"What we are selling now is old grain, from Wendeng County. If you don't buy it, get out of the way." The man said angrily after being tired from moving and unloading the goods for a long time.
“Is there any rice left in Yingkou?”
"It's sold out. If you want to buy rice, wait a few days and Yangzhou rice will be on the market, but it will be more expensive."
"Wu Da'er, have you lost all your money in the game? Don't you know how to speak well?" the grain buyer said angrily.
"Zhang Gouzi..." The clerk glanced at him, finally stood up, and said, "You made so much money making iron hooks for Chishanpu, why do you care about these few pennies?"
Zhang Gouzi is a blacksmith near the dock. He is a one-man shop and specializes in making iron hooks.
An iron hook is a must-have on the ship. It can be hooked onto the trestle when berthing. If it is a large ship that needs to be towed by a small sampan, the latter also needs an iron hook, which is sometimes called an "iron sickle hook".
In fact, the items made by people like Zhang Gouzi are collectively called "ship equipment", and there are hundreds of them, each of which is made by several or even dozens of companies.
"My money didn't come from the strong wind." Zhang Gouzi said.
"It's useless for you to tell me, I'm not the boss." The waiter said: "The rice in Yingkou is indeed gone. And you think Yangzhou rice is expensive, so just wait. Wait a month or two, and there will be a full load of rice in Yingkou.
The ship is coming."
"Is there any meat?" Zhang Gouzi asked.
The waiter smiled happily and said, "This is a grain store."
Zhang Gouzi came to his senses and felt a little embarrassed. He could only change the subject and said: "Thanks to the saint, we can transport grain and meat by sea, which has saved us ordinary people a lot of money."
Liaodong has a vast territory, sparsely populated areas, and rich resources. In addition to grain, some captive-bred deer, sheep, and cattle are sometimes shipped over. The prices are so low that it almost bankrupts the few local farmers in Dengzhou.
Bankrupt farmers can either join the marine industry, but this requires skills, and not everyone can do it. Some can only go to sea, and no one knows what they do. Anyway, every time, some people make a fortune. Run back to your hometown to show off.
When I asked them what they did, they all said they were sailors and engaged in maritime trade, but no one believed them. They knew they had done something outrageous.
"Indeed." The clerk put away the careless look on his face and said, "Our grain store has not bought much local grain this year. In ten or eight years, there will be grain shipped from the south in the summer and autumn. In winter and spring, there will be grains shipped from Liaodong, which are large in quantity and cheap. By then, no one will be growing grains locally. They will all be like you, relying on craftsmanship to make a living, or taking risks and going to the sea to strive for wealth."
"Why do you care about so much?" Zhang Gouzi said, "I just want to buy cheap food."
Having said that, he also sighed slightly. They are all natives of this hometown, so how can they be willing to see the lives of the local farmers being difficult?
****
The industry in Dengzhou has been specialized, something Shao Shude has known for a long time.
The population here was not large to begin with, but after the development of the marine industry, a large number of people were engaged in handicrafts, shipbuilding, fishing and even some very promising robbery occupations.
Naturally, not many people farmed the land.
The arrival of cheap food from other places will only intensify the impact.
In fact, even though Zhang Gouzi is sighing, the local farmers are actively transforming themselves.
Just go to the countryside and you will know that flax fields are everywhere and are used to weave sacks, make canvas, and make ropes.
Orchards and vegetable beds can also be seen everywhere, and even many farmlands are planted with pasture and livestock are raised.
All of this serves the marine industry.
As for the food needed for daily life, it was naturally transported from other places.
The ships Shao Shude saw all came from Huainan, loaded with rice and wheat, and were transported to Dengzhou for sale on the spot.
Originally, it was possible to reach Xuzhou by water from Huainan, and then transport it to Dengzhou by land or water. But to be honest, it would be cheaper to transport grain and grass from Yunzhou, Zizhou, Qizhou and other places.
Of course, transshipment of grain and grass from Qizhou and other places is still not as cheap as shipping by sea.
As long as something is transported by land, the cost will be uncontrollable and it will roll upward. Just like the power plants in coastal areas in later generations, the coal transported by long-distance sea transport from foreign countries is actually more expensive than the coal transported by domestic railways. It's much cheaper as well.
Shao Shude looked past the grain ship that was unloading, and focused on several other ships parked a little further away, and asked: "Why don't those ships enter the port?"
Shao Guancheng, the third-city ship envoy who originally wanted to "hide and seek" with his father and continue to live happily in the local area, took a look at it and said: "Master, that is the ship to Youzhou."
"How did you know?" Shao Shude asked curiously.
Shao Guancheng was a little speechless. Did he really think he had been playing? He just heard him say: "Grandpa, all summer and autumn, the southern grain ships are transporting grain to the north. In winter and spring, when the north wind blows hard,
It's bad luck. These ships are not unloading because their destination is Youzhou, transporting grain to Beidu Daku. They will stop at Chishanpu Port to replenish some water."
Shao Shude looked around and saw more than ten small sampans rushing past.
There is a young man walking on flat ground in the waves, holding a fruit basket in his hand and shouting for sale.
There was a dark old man holding a sheep, and with the help of sailors, he hoisted it onto the ship. The sheep had foreseen its fate and struggled desperately, but to no avail, and soon disappeared on the deck.
There are also fishermen and boat ladies who are pretentious and soliciting business. Their husbands are cooking in the cabin. After the guests have finished playing, they can also eat and leave before leaving.
What a great supply!
"Grandpa, let the southern roads transport food northward, but you made the decision yourself last year..." Shao Guancheng reminded.
"Grandpa is not forgetful to this extent." Shao Shude smiled and said.
In April last year, he did order the shipping of grain from the south to the north, but it was only an experiment and the scale was only two ships. After the success, he ordered the gradual normalization of shipping grain.
Beizhou Daku, which was the "Northern Treasury of the World" in the Tang Dynasty, was also abolished and moved to Beiping Prefecture. Grain from Huainan, Jiangdong, and Jiangxi Provinces all left the Yangtze River to sea, diverted northward, and were transported to Beidu Daku for storage.
.
If nothing goes wrong this year, there should be more than ten ships transporting grain from the south to the north. Calculating the time, these ships in front of us should be the second or third batch.
"Have any ships sunk this year?" Shao Shude asked again.
"Among the first batch of four ships, another one sank off the coast of Haizhou in mid-June."
"what reason?"
"Encountered strong wind and waves and sank."
"Hmm..." Shao Shude pondered for a moment and asked, "Do you think it will be necessary to transport food by sea in the future?"
"I have my own strategy, but I dare not comment on it," Shao Guancheng said.
Shao Shude laughed dumbly and said: "Silang, you should change your lazy temperament. You are obviously very smart, but you are looking at others all day long. Tell the truth!"
"Grandpa, I really think the imperial strategy is right." Shao Guancheng said: "The grain transported by canal can be stored in Hanjiacang City. The grain transported by sea can be stored in the Beidu warehouse. Hanjiacang City is related to the east capital.
For the daily needs of officials, soldiers, and the common people, the grain and grass in the Beidu warehouse can be used to suppress the army at Yanshan. If there is trouble on the grassland, the warehouse can also be opened to carry out relief. In the early Tang Dynasty, there was more than one water transport route, and sea transport and water transport were perfectly acceptable.
simultaneously exist."
"I'm very happy that you think so." Shao Shude said.
He remembered what he said before: "It is only in the Spring and Autumn Period that you know that I have sinned against you."
Institutionalized and long-term shipping of food from the south to the north will definitely have to withstand a high rate of shipwrecks in the beginning. People will die, ships will be lost, and there will be complaints. But as long as you can survive this period, the route will gradually mature over time.
As ship performance further improves, the shipwreck rate will quickly decrease.
But behind the word "carry", I don't know how many innocent souls were buried in the sea, I don't know how many families will be destroyed, and I don't know how many people will talk about it and even accuse it endlessly.
It’s not that easy to go against the will of heaven.
In this matter, it was Shao Shude who went his own way and pushed it forward with his personal prestige, just like many of the decisions he had made before.
During the implementation process, he felt a lot of resistance. Some came from the private sector, and some came from within the imperial court.
Every time a grain ship sank, there would be people on board, asking them to stop shipping.
They believe that shipping southern local taxes (mainly grain) is completely different from Annan and Bohai trading companies. The latter is a knife-edge licking blood. In order to seek wealth, life and death can be determined by destiny. But the former is, to be honest, the imperial court.
"Mistake".
After Shao Shude saw this, he personally went to the "counterpoint" and wrote the word "faint" in the memorial. He demoted several officials in a row, which suppressed the backlash.
There were only two ships transporting grain the year before last, but this year there are more than a dozen, and next year there will be more, certainly more than twenty.
This matter does not allow anyone to object or change. He has made up his mind that no matter whether the shipwreck rate is 20% or higher in the early stages of shipping, he will persist and block all objections.
He was even prepared to be a loner - of course, if that was the case, the possibility was very low.
Now Shao Shude is very pleased to hear that his son supports his strategy of running sea transportation and water transportation in parallel and as backup for each other.
"Where else do you plan to go? My son will lead the way." Shao Guancheng looked at his father's thoughtful face and asked.
"Why, you want grandpa to leave so much, so you can continue to fool around?" Shao Shude asked with a half-smile.
Shao Guancheng laughed dryly and lowered his head.
"Let's go in October, I want to see more." Shao Shude said.
"Did the Dengzhou Shipping Department just confiscate a batch of goods?" he asked again.
"yes."
"Sort it out." Shao Shude said: "I want to meet a few people, and these goods will be used as rewards."
"According to the order." Shao Guancheng did not ask any further questions and directly agreed.
