The official ship went south along the river. Ye An sat next to the captain and chatted with him. Who was the captain? Even though he was just a sailor, he came into contact with a lot of people. No matter whether he was a high-ranking official or a small official, as long as he took the seat
He can also speak a few words on the boat, and the things he has learned along the way are beyond the comparison of ordinary people.
As for the water transport of the Song Dynasty, he knew better. However, Ye An, a high-ranking and famous Yunzhong commander, made him feel at home. Others spoke to him in a condescending manner, but chatting with Ye Hou was like
There is no need to be careful when talking to your neighbors, and there is no need to be trembling with fear.
"Old Guan, you said that the water transport is so fertile and there is so much corruption, how come there is still food coming to Beijing?"
Ye An casually called the captain of the boat, and the old steward brought the two closer together. The old steward smiled bitterly and said: "Food must be transported to Beijing by canal. This is the iron law set by Taizu. Who dares to violate it? Everyone dares to violate it."
The governor did not dare to withhold grain. A thousand shi of grain had to be worth 1,000 shi from the time it was shipped to Tokyo. If there was a shortage, not only the people on the ship would be unlucky, but the governors from all over the country would also have to follow suit.
Just check it out!"
Ye An nodded slightly. That's right. The Song Dynasty never took food lightly, but in addition to food, there were many ways to transport water.
Sure enough, the old man looked at the river and whispered: "Master Hou, you are a high official in the capital. You don't know the way of water transportation. If ordinary merchant ships use water, they have to pay taxes. This is what they should do."
Let’s not talk about it for the moment, but there are other kinds of searches, confiscations, payments, and offerings with clever names. Lord Marquis, do you think there are many big businessmen who can do this? Besides, the Caosi Yamen is different from the local state government Yamen.
The Caoyun Municipal Yamen directly under the jurisdiction of the capital is in charge, and the local state government Yamen has more affairs rather than less. Who would care about this?"
"Oh? Is there such a thing? This is the first time I have heard that no one is doing anything with the food. I heard that there is a shortage of food transported to Beijing every year... Oh! That's right.
, I have brought spring grain to Beijing on this ship to pick up the young and old!"
The old manager smiled awkwardly: "I have no choice but to ask Ye Hou to forgive me. In fact...actually...the deduction for transporting grain is actually bigger! I don't dare to say it clearly!"
Ye An smiled slightly: "You have told me so much, why do you need to cover up anymore? I have never been to your place! Besides, if anyone uses my name to transport grain and grass privately, if anyone knows..."
This was a combination of coaxing and frightening. The old man's face changed slightly and then he stamped his feet and said, "Hey! I took advantage of you and told Ye Hou all the secrets."
"Transfers, changes, increased consumption, free warehouses and other taxes on land are all the same, even the warehouse affairs are the same! Big fights and small fights, face-to-face battles, samples, advance loans, heavy reminders, abnormal taxes
If you miss the reminder, you can come up with any tricks. This water transport is different from land transport. Where did it come from? However, the grain transported to Beijing must be fully loaded with warehouses. Can the imperial court punish the canals and the canal ships in the same way? How many merchants and common people who transport grain have to
He tried every means to subsidize the officials, and even used the efforts of several families to share the cost of bribery!"
So that's it, Ye An nodded slightly. The water transportation of the Song Dynasty seemed to meet the needs of food and goods in Tokyo, but in fact it was also exploiting the people. This method of exploitation was more secretive and more rampant.
There are also ways to detour transportation on the road, but it is different on the water. The boat does not go directly from one place to another. Instead, it has to constantly dock at the dock for supplies and pay fees to the Caoshi. The water transportation prescribed by the court has passed. The fee is very small, but it can’t stand up to being exploited!
Although it seems blatant, no one dares to hold high office, and people will not win if they sue the government...
However, Ye An, the official ship, never paid taxes once all the way from Zhending Mansion, and the intercepting ships of Caosi Yamen all pulled over to make way for the waterway, and some even drove boats to accompany him and deliver fresh fruits and melons. After eating, Caosi and his officials would board the ship to pay their respects.
It’s no wonder that every time a high-ranking official from Beijing takes the water route to take up his post, he always has to carry cargo with him. It’s really convenient!
This kind of behavior that only exploits the common people, merchants, and the state does no harm to the officials, and even subsidizes them. It is no wonder that the water transportation yamen of the Song Dynasty is the most fertile place, and no one has ever impeached or examined it.
On the contrary, water transport seems to be in disrepair, and there are problems in many water transport channels. Not to mention the four canals of water transport, the Yellow River outside Tokyo alone is already a road river that is much higher than the land. There is no telling which day there will be a crisis. The incident of the embankment will submerge the entire city of Tokyo in the flood discharge area. It is no wonder that the Bianliang City of Tokyo was discovered by later generations to be under several previous cities...
The reason why Ye An was so concerned about the water transportation of the Song Dynasty was not because he was worried about the country and the people, but because he saw that the cornerstone of the dynasty was starting to become corrupt. In the final analysis, it was the inaction of the people above the court who valued politics, culture and education. , attaches great importance to the appointment of local officials, and even pays attention to natural and man-made disasters, but the construction of infrastructure is unsatisfactory, and the local administration is even more confused. There are no policies that benefit the country and the people, but they can eventually reach the hands of the people. How many are there?
Communications are underdeveloped. When the documents from the imperial court arrive at the local state capital, it all depends on whether the state boss and the officials in the third and sixth divisions are conscientious. I heard that the tax exemption has been reduced from 30% to 20%, and they are all good officials. !
Water transport was the lifeblood of the Song Dynasty. Once the four canals of water transport were cut off, how would Tokyo, a city with a population of nearly one million, survive? How many days could it survive relying solely on road transportation or surrounding supplies?
No matter how high the walls of Tokyo are built, what's the point of having more imperial troops stationed there? Without the Liao people sending troops south, without Li Yuanhao leading troops to attack, even if the Jin Dynasty did not appear in later generations, the Song Dynasty would have killed itself. It’s too much fun!
After going to Zhending Mansion, Ye An realized how powerful the Song Dynasty's land annexation was. The current era was only the early Northern Song Dynasty in history, and he couldn't imagine what the situation would be like in the middle and late periods.
Wealth is too concentrated in the hands of some people. Now the big landowners are not only big landowners, they have begun to monopolize the means of production and also monopolize industrial manufacturing.
The prototype of industrialization that he founded did not bring transformation to the Song Dynasty, but allowed them to start a more in-depth plunder of capital. The big landowners gradually began to become big capitalists. They monopolized the land and the manufacturing industry. By then, goods and grain The production rights are all in their hands, and the people's lives are not in dire straits, but they are really unable to survive.
The uprisings in the Song Dynasty will become more and more frequent. Sitting next to the old manager, Ye An subconsciously looked at his hands. He did not expect that his idea was completely wrong from the beginning. The ruling class was not satisfied with monopoly. Yes, he personally accelerated this dynasty's monopoly.
The Song Dynasty is like a big ship full of holes. No matter how glorious it was, even if the sails are still full of all kinds of glory, and there are sailors singing for it on the mast, the dynasty’s ship has
The holes are like hands stretching out from the abyss, pulling it toward the endless darkness.
Seeing that Ye An didn't speak, the old manager was a little worried and said: "Master Hou, I have told you that this ship of grain..."
Ye An woke up with a start, raised his head and showed a smile that was uglier than crying: "I said that you don't care about me, but I am not a person who breaks my promise and gets fat. I am happy to tell you today, and I will often chat with you in the future..."
However, in the next few days, the old steward did not see Ye An come once. After asking the cook, he found out that the Marquis had been staying in the cabin day and night in the past few days, and he was not too bored.