One hundred and seventieth chapter three people in the slum
Zhao Yingong sent Wu Zhixiang away, returned to his study, and checked to see if there was any latest news - what he was most concerned about at the moment was the cargo ship of China Merchants Group going north.
In addition to 50,000 shi of grain, the twenty sand ships of the Merchants Bureau also carried a large amount of cargo. Liaodong was short of everything, especially cotton cloth and cotton. To survive in this bitterly cold place, in addition to food, you must have enough winter clothes. Historically,
The Ming Dynasty would transport a large amount of cloth flowers to the various health posts in Liaodong every year. Therefore, this time the sand ship carried a large amount of this kind of warm clothes.
This time we are transporting food and wages to the north, and according to the rules, the freight will be reimbursed by the Ministry of Household Affairs. And as an "official ship", you don't have to pay any taxes when entering any port waterway. If you don't take the opportunity to "smuggle under the official name", it will be a waste of this great opportunity.
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Carrying cargo has always been the main revenue item of tankers, and shipping of grain and wages naturally also generates a fortune.
In addition to cotton clothes and cotton cloth, there are also a large number of "Mongolian goods" such as iron pots and tea bricks. Trading with Mongolian tribes, buying horses is an important business for Guan Ning's army. The purchased Mongolian horses are not only used to supplement the cavalry
, and also resell large quantities into the customs to make money. As long as these goods arrive, they don’t have to worry about selling them.
However, going to sea in summer also involves great risks. The threat of typhoons is great, and the sailors of sand ships are not familiar with the offshore route to Liaodong. Therefore, Zhao Yingong did not send his own navigator and backbone sailors this time like he did for the Japanese trade.
All the original sand ship sailors were used, and only a few close associates were sent to accompany the ship.
However, ancient navigation had no weather and sea conditions forecasts, and lacked accurate charts. Ships often took great risks when going to sea. Shipwrecks were very frequent. When Zhao Yingong inquired about the historical data of Liaodong shipping, he saw that ships were destroyed in storms.
There are countless records of human deaths. As for the word "drifting", it is everywhere. It made him have great doubts about the safety of offshore shipping - even more worried than going to Japan for trade. For this reason
A pigeon trainer was sent on board. A pigeon was released every three days to report on the progress of the voyage and navigation conditions.
The news that came gave him some peace of mind. Although the ship had waited for the wind several times, it had been gradually heading north without any damage or grounding. It seemed that the trip was going smoothly.
The following news was about the "rice riot" in the four prefectures of northern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu. Zhao Yingong was shocked - he had known about the incident in Lin'an County a few days ago and didn't take it seriously at the time. In his opinion, this kind of thing
It’s not surprising. When have things like peasant uprisings and peasant riots been stopped? Robbery of a rice store is, to put it bluntly, the same as eating from a wealthy family in a famine year. It’s nothing at all. I’m afraid the government is too lazy to pursue it seriously.
But this matter unexpectedly quickly expanded to so many states and counties in a few days! Out of the "political sensitivity" of modern people, Zhao Yingong immediately thought that there might be someone behind the scenes - at least someone was working in tandem.
Zhao Yingong knew very well that the recent surge in rice prices was directly related to China Merchants' large-scale purchase of rice. If anyone wanted to trace the source, China Merchants would be the one to blame.
Buying and transporting large quantities of grain during the lean years and calamitous months... Thinking of this, Zhao Yingong's blood almost ran cold - this was a legitimate crime. If someone really used it to incite the people behind the scenes, and one man initiated chaos and thousands of others responded, the consequences would be
It is unimaginable. I am afraid that I will be ruined and run away in embarrassment.
"Quick! Send a message to all places, I want to know the details of the rice commotion!"
There is a Nanxia depression outside Hangzhou, which is a "Xiazhijiao". According to modern parlance, it is a slum.
This is a place where refugees from outside the country gather. Whenever there is a disaster in other places, the victims, old and young, come from all over the country to the provincial capital to make a living. Some die here and become roadkill.
After returning from the famine, I decided to settle down here. The Nanxiawa area is full of puddles, the terrain is low, and the Fuchun River is full of water. It is prone to waterlogging, so it is impossible to farm and build houses. That's it.
A deserted land that no one cares about.
The people who fled the famine settled on this wasteland and built shacks with various scraps they picked up, gradually turning into a shanty town like any city. The place was originally located at the bottom of the terrain, and it was difficult to remove sewage.
When it rains, water immediately accumulates, mixed with all kinds of garbage, and becomes a big smelly quagmire.
Except for the poor people who have no choice but to live here, anyone passing by must cover their noses and pass by.
In this densely packed shack near a cemetery, there is a shack where three men are sitting, drinking wine around a broken table with a missing leg. The missing table legs are padded with broken bricks.
, there is a bowl of snails on the table as a snack - it is the cheapest meat dish in the south of the Yangtze River. You don't even need to buy it by the river or lake. You can get a bowl by yourself by touching it on the shore.
Although it is not dark yet, the room is very dark. An oil lamp has been lit on the table. The shack is made of broken bricks, small stones, rotten boards, straw and soil mixed together. There are no decent windows, only
There is a window hole in the wall, with a broken open tile that has been discarded. The roof is made of bamboo and straw and is very low. If a taller person stands up, his head will almost touch the top.
Although the house is small and simple, the owner has kept it as clean as possible. The bricks support a bamboo bed board that is rare here, and the bed is covered with a broken kang mat. Although it is broken, it has been scrubbed clean. The walls are clean.
There is a broken bamboo hat hanging on it. There is also a wooden board used as a table supported against the wall. There are papers, inks, pens and inkstones on it. Although they are cheap items like those used by Mr. Accountant, it also shows that the owner here is a wealthy person.
Cultural "readers".
On the table, there were several dirty and shriveled tin skewers and three cracked bowls used as wine cups. The air was filled with the smell of lees from inferior rice wine.
The smell of alcohol, the smell of sweat on the three men's bodies, and the snail shells all over the table. If someone broke into the room at this time and took a look, they would definitely think that they were having fun drinking. And these three people were taking advantage of it.
This illusion is holding a meeting.
Hao Yuan, who had stepped forward in the rice commotion a few days ago, was among them. He was wearing a patched coat and playing with the "wine bowl" in his hand.
The other two people present here, one is Cao Guangjiu, a rag-tag man, who is dressed like a shabby scholar, and the other has a face full of scars and looks very ferocious. It is Gou Chengxuan who escaped from Lingao.
After Gou Chengxuan escaped from the defeated army in Hainan Island, he fled back to Guangzhou with great hardships. He did not dare to show his face - such a big defeat would inevitably involve many people, and he escaped from the rebel army again without being identified.
The man would probably be beheaded as a traitor and a spy. Therefore, he did not dare to reveal his identity in Guangzhou. Although he still had twenty or thirty taels of silver, he did not dare to reveal his identity, so he simply made a living by begging.
By chance, he met Lin Ming in Guangzhou who was looking for his aunt. Gou Chengxuan's familiarity with Lingao and Kun Thief made the clueless Jin Yiwei feel like a treasure. After talking with him for several nights, he knew
Lin Ming asked Gou Chengxuan to go back to Lingao to inquire about the news, and gave him some money. Gou Chengxuan was already frightened out of his courage, how could he dare to go? So he took the opportunity of sneaking back to Lingao and escaped quietly.
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Gou Chengxuan had a guilty conscience - offending Jin Yiwei's people would have serious consequences. He no longer dared to stay in Guangzhou. Seeing that Guangdong had become a land of right and wrong, he simply went all the way north and fled to the south of the Yangtze River.
He was very lucky. Soon after arriving in Jiangnan, he relied on his knowledge of thieves and Australian goods to be accepted as a guest of a large family, and he lived a life without worries about food and clothing.
Gou Chengxuan never knew why his boss wanted to take him under his wing. It was not until recently that he found out that his boss had noticed Kun Thief from a long time ago.
A year ago, Gou Chengxuan was ordered to go to Hangzhou to find out the details of Mr. Zhao. When he saw Wanbi Bookstore and Phoenix Villa for the first time, he knew that the black hands of the Kun thief had finally reached the south of the Yangtze River.
Gou Chengxuan's first reaction was to run for his life, but thinking about the chaos in the world, Jiangnan is a place where the king's law is at least a place, and it is thousands of miles away from Hainan. Even if Mr. Zhao has three heads and six arms, he can't be an obedient citizen of the court?
Although my boss has a strong interest in the Kun thief, I can see that he doesn't take Mr. Zhao's actions seriously seriously. Obviously, the boss and the Kun thief are not at odds with each other. Under the protection of his boss, not only can he be safe and sound, but he may also be able to survive.
Having a chance to take revenge - Gou Chengxuan knew that it would be impossible for the Ming Dynasty to destroy the Kun thieves, but it was still possible to find an opportunity to kill a few Kun thieves and make them suffer greatly.
Regrettably, the Kun thief always used the trick of colluding with the official gentry in the Ming Dynasty. This Kun thief named Zhao did not know what kind of Australian ecstasy he used to seduce the local Jin gentry in Hangzhou. It is said that he also collaborated with Fu
The men in the club have built connections. Now he is a well-established and prominent figure in the local area. Not to mention that he can't touch him, even his boss is a little wary. He just asks him to pay attention to Mr. Zhao's movements at all times.
Things such as silk improvement, loan granting, and even silk price manipulation that Zhao Yingong carried out in Hangzhou were all handed over to him by special personnel for him to organize and sort out.
These routines were very familiar to Gou Chengxuan - they were all replicas of the ones he had done in Lingao back then. This Zhao Kun thief was so brave, he actually got under the eyes of the imperial court and "transformed the barbarians into Xia".
However, his boss never expressed any response to the information and comments he collected. Just when Gou Chengxuan began to feel that there was little hope for his revenge plan, his boss finally sent him out.
His mission is to keep in touch with this person named Hao Yuan and convey the boss's will. As for Cao Guangjiu, he is also the person his boss wants him to keep in touch with.