Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1428 The Dock
With the sound of "ding ding dong dong", the laborers who were resting on the Nigupu wharf slowly got up and lined up to the trestle bridge.

Another ship is in port.

Yes, it's the end of October, and it's slowly entering the peak period of ships entering the port. This is the most important time of the year in Nigupu. Whether the work is beautiful or not depends on October and November.

Zhigu Ling Zhao Feng also came. He climbed to the top of the lighthouse, stood against the wind, and enjoyed the grand sight of the ships entering the port with He Yunlian, Prime Minister of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

The two plank roads have been lengthened, and eight ships can berthed at the same time, greatly increasing the throughput.

This is the credit of Zhigu Ling Zhao Feng, who has been praised by the sage.Of course, Zhao Feng is even more grateful to the queen, without her reminder, it might be criticism.

"Are these all ships from your family?" Zhao Feng asked as he looked at the merchant ships that were towed one by one.

"Not all of them." He Yunlian said, "Some are rented."

In fact, the vast majority are rented but not paid rent.The Ministry of Internal Affairs allows the ships to bring some Liaodong goods into the port by themselves, which will be counted as charter fees.

"What kind of goods are there?" Zhao Feng asked.

"It's mostly leather, dried meat, salted fish, wild products, medicinal materials and the like." He Yunlian said, "Start from Muzhou."

Muzhou is a prefecture of Liaodong Province, which was formed by merging the old lands of Longyuan Prefecture in Tokyo and Nanhai Prefecture in Nanjing.Originally, there were 34 counties in Mu, He, Qing, Yan, Wo, Qing, and Jiao prefectures, and now they are merged into Longyuan (formerly Tokyo City, Hunchun Balian City), Longhe (now Kraskino City, Russia), and Longji (North Korea) Buju-ri, Cheongjin City, North Hamgyong Province), Bigok (Daeryongling area, near Chunhua Town, Hunchun City), Hoe-nong (now Hoeryong, North Korea), Hongha (now Chongjin, North Korea), Woju (now Hamhung, North Korea ), Tianqing (northwest of Xianxing, North Korea), Jiaoshan (Mongsan, North Korea), and Yanyuan (northwest of Yongxing, North Korea today).

Muzhou and Gong's Koryo are roughly bounded by the Nihe River, with Daxia territory in the north and Shuofang County in Goryeo in the south.

Nihe River, which is the Yongxing River in South Hamgyong Province, North Korea today.

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 arrived at the port 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 sage's insistence on transporting meat and fish, but Zhao Feng was a son-in-law, so he had no choice but to answer, so he said vaguely: "Meat can't make much money, and fish is okay, but Not as good as leather and medicinal materials."

"Why?" Zhao Feng wondered.

"Go down and have a look." He Yunlian couldn't explain clearly, so he said.

"Alright." Zhao Feng agreed, and the two got off the lighthouse together.

By the wharf, buckets of jerky were carefully hoisted on a pulley boom to the shore, and then pulled away in a horse-drawn cart.

But the carriage is only pulled for a short distance, and finally it is transported upstream through inland river boats all the way to Beijing, which is the main end consumer market.

Zhao Feng and He Yunlian came to the pier, ordered to open the barrel, and took out a piece of meat.

"This is venison." He Yunlian knocked on it with the scabbard, making a dull sound of "bang bang", and said: "The meat from last winter is stored in the ice cellar, and it was shipped back this year."

Jerky is inherently tough.

In the 18th century, the British even joked that this kind of bacon jerky could block bullets, which may be a bit exaggerated.But it is true that dried cured meat can be preserved for a long time. During the Crimean War, the British Army ate a lot of dried cured meat during the Napoleonic War. It has a history of decades, which is a bit too much.

The air-dried cured meat made last winter, if kept properly, is less than a year old, so of course it is edible.

Honestly, the cost of the meat itself is pretty 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 the 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 field in the river, private mining is not prohibited, and it has always been jointly mined by the government and the people.Because of the Xia Dynasty, the price of salt never rose. This may be one of the reasons why the government of the Tang Dynasty did not have as much income as the Northern Song Dynasty.

"Good venison, how did it look like this?" Zhao Feng was a little dazed looking at the hard meat.

"Haha." He Yunlian had seen a lot, and said with a smile: "Otherwise, how can we transport it long distances? If the son-in-law wants to eat venison, he can send his own people to catch it. Zhigu County is rich in water and grass, and I think there are still many deer. .”

Zhao Feng came back to his senses, smiled wryly and said: "It's not like this, it's not like this."

"However..." He cleared his throat, and said excitedly: "Meat is meat. Many people in Zhigu are in poverty. If they can sell cheap dried meat, their lives will be greatly improved."

"I'm afraid not." He Yunlian sighed: "There are also poor people in Beijing. Cheap dried meat should be shipped to Beijing for sale first."

"Why are people from Beijing..." Zhao Feng frowned, but quickly stopped.

After a long time, he sighed heavily, and said: "I have been in Zhigu for more than four years, and I can vividly see the hard work of the people building the city wall, dredging the river, rebuilding the pond, and clearing up wasteland. Alas, He Fucheng, Can you save some dried meat to sell in Zhigu County?"

He Yunlian stroked his beard, pretended to ponder for a while, and said in a low voice: "This matter requires a lot of effort from the son-in-law."

Zhao Feng understood, cupped his hands in thanks and said, "Xie Fucheng for your guidance."

While the two were talking, another group of people came down from the cabin.

The dock laborers felt fresh when they saw that their foreheads were bald, and only the hair on the back of their heads was braided.

But the Tutuan villagers who were maintaining order near the pier became nervous.Under the leadership of the officers, they assembled about 300 people, armed with rifles and spears, and watched these people from a distance.

The savages who got off the boat felt a little dizzy, and the sky was spinning in their vision. Seeing this, they also became nervous, and subconsciously leaned together.It's a pity that I don't have any equipment at hand, so I feel anxious for a while.

"do not move!"

"Don't panic!"

The two shouted almost at the same time.

The one calling nearby was the captain. He disembarked angrily and shouted loudly: "What are you doing? What are you doing? These are all servants who owe debts to the internal affairs government. Put away all the equipment. You can afford to pay for the loss of life. Is it? Can you afford the money from the Ministry of Internal Affairs?"

The Tutuan villagers were unmoved, and some even drew arrows from their quiver.

"Fuck you!" An officer spat and said, "Get the man to the open space over there first, and sit down honestly, or I will shoot an arrow."

The captain was so angry that he jumped onto the pier and wanted to make a theory.At this moment, a few riders came galloping from a distance.

"Xiao Dilu, the deputy envoy of the Luoyan Army, is here, so don't act rashly." A general got off his horse and said.

Hearing Xiao Dilu's name, the Tutuan villagers didn't react at all, and they were still tensely confronting each other.

"Qiu Zengxiang, Marquis of the Fallen Wild Goose Army, came to pick him up under the orders of the Holy Spirit. Put them away because of a misunderstanding." Qiu Zengxiang got off his horse and said.

"Commander Qiu?" the leading officer of the Tutuan Villager shouted in surprise, and then said happily, "I am Zhao Da, from the Economic Strategy Army."

"So you came to Zhigu County?" Qiu Zengxiang took a closer look and found that he was actually an old subordinate of the former Economic and Strategic Army. He immediately smiled and said: "They are all from our own, put them away. What happened to the Privy Council, didn't you say hello in advance? "

"I've said hello, but it's better to be careful." Zhao Da said embarrassingly.

Qiu Zengxiang was laughed out of anger and didn't pursue it further.

Zhao Da always likes to show off his strength in front of the recruits. This time he saw the savages coming ashore, and he reckoned that he wanted to show them off.

Xiao Dilu stepped forward with a gloomy face, followed by several followers, one of them was Wanyanxiu.

Wan Yanxiu went to these savages and counted them, there were 37 in total.People continued to come down from the next few ships, and the number increased to more than 280 in the end.

"Deputy Envoy Xiao, there is no difference in the number of people." Wan Yanxiu first comforted the Mohe people and Jurchens who had just disembarked in Mohe dialect, then trotted to Xiao Dilu, and said.

"Take them all back." Xiao Dilu waved his hand depressedly and said.

He was the deputy envoy of the first army, but in the eyes of the Tutuan peasants, he didn't even have the words of Du Yu Hou Qiu Zengxiang to work.Damn it, martial arts students are amazing?My sister also gave birth to a son of the saint!
"That's right!" Xiao Dilu suddenly thought of something, and asked again: "The people who go back to Liaodong also go back by these boats?"

"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, "It saves me from feeding the fish on the way."

Wanyanxiu secretly sighed.

Of course, there are losses in sailing, and shipwrecks are inevitable, even when sailing offshore.

As for the sergeant who returned to Liaodong, it was actually the saint's idea.They are all Mohe and Jurchen warriors who performed well in the war, and some of them have already accumulated meritorious service and been promoted to small schools.The sage took pity on him and sent some easy-to-carry gifts as a reward, so that he could go home and come back next year—even bring his family with him.

There is no doubt that this is a walking human propaganda team.

When the samurai returned home wearing beautiful clothes and carrying gifts back to Baishan Heishui, one can imagine what kind of sensation it would cause.

Clan leaders don't even have expensive tea, so I can make tea and drink it in front of everyone.

Even the "big pig farmers" may not have beautiful brocades. I can give them to the most beautiful girls in the village.

Coupled with the well-made equipment, when you wear it all over your body, your temperament will be different, and you will instantly transform into the most capable warrior in the village.

I used to be a slave, but now people don't have to kowtow when they see the head.Do you dare to do me?Lao Tzu is a man of solid foundation. I have a captain, a lieutenant general, ten generals, a commander, and a military envoy...

Do you dare to be against me?

Wanyanxiu himself is the head of the clan, so he knows the current situation clearly, because the slaves he brought out back then were not very obedient.

The organizational structure of tribes and clans was broken up and changed to military law.Soldiers who were born as slaves would not be punished if they did not listen to the leader, but if they did not listen to the lieutenant general, they would be hanged and beaten.Over time, everything changed...

He could imagine how "corrupted" people's hearts would be after returning to the village for a few months.

The saint is fucking around!This is not alarmist talk, because the clan leaders will feel a sense of crisis and may rebel. He is completely thinking about the court and has no selfishness.

I have to find an opportunity in the future to give some advice.But soon he thought that with his identity, he might not be able to see the saint, and he lamented again and again.

The savages were quickly taken away, and calm was restored on the pier.

Zhao Feng and He Yunlian looked at each other, guessing in their hearts: The saint is going to fight with savages.

(End of this chapter)