Daming Yuanfu

Chapter 1655 Cutting Yuan ([-]) Wharf Confrontation
The sound of gongs and drums at Suzhou Water Transport Wharf shook the sky, and flags were fluttering.More than a thousand Cao troops lined up neatly on both sides of the strait.More than [-] boatmen, naked to the waist and tied with ropes, chanted and pulled the huge tank boat into the sluice step by step.

The Suzhou Water Transport Wharf is located at the junction of the canal and the Yangtze River, and is the starting point of the Grand Canal in the Ming Dynasty.The canal is half a foot higher than the water level of the Yangtze River. Stone embankments are built on both sides of the canal, and a sluice is built in the middle to allow only one tank boat to pass at a time.The sluice is nearly two feet deep and seven feet wide, with an upward slope supported by stone slabs at the bottom.

There are huge winches installed on both sides of the canal, and it takes more than a hundred sailors to operate at the same time to raise the tank boat.When the tide of the Yangtze River rises until the water level in the sluice is equal to that of the canal, hundreds of boatmen take advantage of the momentum of the water to pull the tank boats from the Yangtze River into the canal.

Standing on the deck, Wang Shiqi, who was too young to stand up, looked at the cavalry troops commanding and dispatching on the pier through the drizzle, the sailors loading the cargo, the boatmen pulling the fibers, and there was an endless stream of vehicles and horses. Everything was in full swing, but orderly.

Restaurants, restaurants and shops on both sides of the river are closely arranged along the streets paved with bluestone slabs with various signboards.Pedestrians with umbrellas, peddlers carrying burdens, and officials on horseback mixed in the bustling crowd.

On the fields in the distance, farmers are wearing coir raincoats, driving buffaloes to plow the fields, and planting the second season of rice this year in this rainy season.Smoke has risen from the houses in the village beside the field ridge, and the scene is like a dynamic landscape painting.

"It's really a beautiful scenery in the south of the Yangtze River. It is worthy of being a paradise on earth, a rich place in the world..." Wang Shiqi couldn't help sighing.

Wang Shiqi was born in a famous family, and his father was the well-known literary figure Wang Shizhen.He himself was quite successful. He was a Jieyuan in the Jiangnan Township Examination in the tenth year of Wanli, and became a Jinshi in the 17th year.

"There are strong winds and waves on board, Master Wang, be careful not to catch the wind and cold."

Wang Shiqi turned around and saw a man with dark skin and a short stature. His legs were firmly planted on the deck like a heavy weight. A few white hairs were exposed on his temples. He looked about 40 years old.There was a long and deep scar on the left side of this person's face from the corner of the eyebrow to the earlobe, which was obviously caused by a knife wound in his early years.

"It turned out to be Deputy Shu Qianhu, who has been admiring him for a long time." Wang Shiqi politely bowed to Shu Qingping.This Shu Qingping was the commander of the ten yellow boats transported by the water transport, and he alone made decisions on the dispatch and arrangement of more than 1000 water troops, and there were hundreds of household heads, general banners and small banners assigned by him.

"Wang was ordered by the imperial court to supervise the water transportation. He is new here, so he should treat him like an elder brother. I also ask Brother Shu for advice."

Shu Qingping, a civil official who was born as a Jinshi Wang Shiqi, how dare Shu Qingping pay equal salutes to him. Seeing this, he hastily returned the salute, and said respectfully: "Don't dare, the master is a young hero, and the future of being appointed as a marquis and prime minister in the future is not what we wait for old people to do." Comparable, but there is an order, even if the order is."

After finishing speaking, Shu Qingping led Wang Shiqi into the cabin. There was a black tea table in the middle of the cabin. The tea tray carved from high-quality nanmu wood was exquisite and magnificent. A poem was engraved on the blank space of the tea tray: "Crossing far outside the Jingmen, and traveling from the Kingdom of Chu. The mountains follow the plains, and the river flows into the wilderness. Under the moon, the sky mirrors, and the clouds grow to form the sea towers. I still feel sorry for the water of my hometown, and I will see you off for thousands of miles." It turned out to be Li Bai's "Crossing Jingmen to Farewell".

"It is strictly forbidden to drink alcohol on the tank boat, and I drink tea with my brothers when I am free on weekdays." Shu Qingping bent down and took out a paper bag and said, "This is the top-quality scaring incense that Suzhou Mansion paid tribute to this year. Please give me a taste."

"Scare Sharen Fragrance" is the old name of Biluochun, and it has always been a treasure in Suzhou.Through the steaming steam from the purple sand pot, Shu Qingping looked at the young man in front of him. He had inquired about Wang Shiqi's background and heard that he came from a famous family, but he didn't know which famous family it was. It is the head of the province of the Ministry of Household Affairs, but it is undoubtedly a powerful faction.

Half a month ago, Wang Shiqi was suddenly ordered to manage the water transportation for this trip. It can be said that there was no foreshadowing and no explanation, which was very strange. "If something goes wrong, there must be a demon. We must act cautiously in front of this kid." Shu Qingping thought to himself.

"There are flying greens everywhere in the south of the Yangtze River, and the green snails are fragrant and intoxicating." Wang Shiqi took a sip and said, "Good tea, refreshing!" Then he put down the teacup, changed the subject, and asked, "Brother Shu, as far as I see, this tea It took an hour for the boat to pass through the sluice, and there are more than 500 boats in this water transport, how long will it take for all of them to enter the canal?"

"Return to the king, our ship and the nine behind are called yellow ships, which are specially responsible for transporting royal tribute and important goods. It is twice the size of other grain transport ships, so the passage time is longer. The gate can pass [-] ships a day. In about a month, all ships can set sail northward.”

Shu Qingping picked up the teacup and drank it down, and continued: "Sluice gates are especially important for the passage of tank ships. In dry seasons, the water level of the Yangtze River drops, and tank ships are easily stranded and damaged. Sluice gates keep the water level of the river stable. Every time a tank ship rises and falls, the impact The force is very large, and it is easy to damage the sluice.

Therefore, more than 100 craftsmen were specially appointed to repair the sluice. Every time the water transport fleet set sail, they had to soak in the water for more than a month. "

After Shu Qingping finished speaking, he glanced at Wang Shiqi, who seemed to be touched, and sighed softly: "To serve the imperial court, you and I should both devote ourselves to this." Then he turned around, looked at the cargo warehouse behind the ship, and asked, "Brother Shu , What kind of cargo is on this yellow boat?"

Shu Qingping paused, and replied: "They are all tributes from various places, and they are sorted and loaded. The upper layer stores the cloth and silk woven by the four prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River, cotton from South Zhili, Hangzhou Longjing tea, Fujian Tieguanyin tea and Suzhou Sharenxiang tea;

The middle layer stores the medical materials provided by the southern provinces for the Imperial Hospital, as well as palace dyes such as lacquer, alum, and tung oil, and the red paper, green paper, and white paper from Huguang and other special papers for Tianjia;
The lower floor stores Jingdezhen porcelain and rice from Liangjiang.In addition, the golden flowers and silver cast by the imperial court were bundled into bundles of 100 taels each, and placed in the inner cabin for safekeeping by special personnel. Each yellow boat was limited to 1 taels.

In recent years, there have been frequent wars on the nine sides. Bows and arrows, armor, swords, gunpowder raw materials, sulfur, and nitric acid produced in five provinces and twelve prefectures including Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Fujian were also transported to the capital by yellow ships.

All goods were registered and recorded after loading, and each stop along the way was checked and signed by local officials as a customs clearance for tank ships.After the fleet arrived at the Chongwenmen Wharf in the capital, it was checked and passed by the imperial commissioner, the eunuch, the servant of the household department, and the governor of the inspectorate, and the unloading could only be carried out after a joint signature. "

With more than 20 years of water transportation career, Shu Qingping has already known this well. He thinks that Wang Shiqi should be very satisfied with this answer.

However, Wang Shiqi didn't make a sound for a long time, he walked slowly towards the rear warehouse, and then said leisurely: "Brother Shu spoke clearly, it sounds really seamless."

This sentence made Shu Qingping break out in a cold sweat. He didn't know what he said wrong, so he could only quickly follow behind Wang Shiqi, and said in a low voice: "Every sentence of this official is the truth, I dare not hide anything, if there is something wrong At the place, I still hope that the king will show you."

Wang Shiqi ignored him, and continued: "Since the Taizu, the imperial court has made it a national policy to relocate borders and ban the sea. The canal is the only transportation channel from south to north. It is more than [-] miles from Suzhou to the capital, passing through more than [-] provinces. House, across the Yangtze River, Huaihe River, Yellow River.

The imperial court spends millions of taels of silver every year to dredge the river, repair the boats, and maintain the smooth flow of water transportation.The canal is the lifeline of the country, and the grain transportation is to supply the imperial court!
Therefore, every grain of grain on the tank boats is extremely precious, and I can see today that all the ships are only half loaded with grain, and a large number of cabins are empty and nothing is loaded. How can this be explained?Is this the way to set sail northward? "

Shu Qingping didn't expect Wang Shiqi to be so familiar with water transport, he was at a loss for words and didn't know how to answer.Of course, it is true that half of the grain is loaded, but the empty part is for Cao Jun to carry private goods. This has been a "rule" for a long time, but it is inconvenient to say it clearly.At this moment, what is the purpose of this young man directly putting this matter on the table?

Fortunately, at this time, a hundred households hurried in, panting and said: "Masters, Jin... Jin Yiwei is going to board the boat to investigate the case."

Shu Qingping frowned, turned around and asked, "Cao Jun and Jin Yiwei have never violated the river water, why are they here?"

Baihu replied: "The incident happened suddenly, and we have not received any news, but at this moment, more than ten of them have already arrived at the shore quickly..."

Before Baihu could finish speaking, Shu Qingping strode out of the cabin. Standing on the deck, he saw a small group of people dressed in black official uniforms coming to the pier aggressively.The leader is wearing a scarlet yisha, with a golden and blue line from his left shoulder to his chest showing a flying fish-like giant python, with its teeth and claws showing aggressively.There is an official-made embroidered spring knife at the waist. The handle is long and straight, the blade is narrow, the back is thick, the blade is thin, and the tail is slightly upturned.

The red silk silk is flying and the fish are flying around. Just by looking at this outfit, you can tell that he is a high-ranking official of the Jinyiwei, and he is bound to be offended.Shu Qingping immediately ordered the sailors to build a bridge to the shore, and trot off the boat to meet him.

"Jinyiwei North Town Fusi Zhang Ao, is ordered to investigate the case!" Zhang Ao rode a tall horse with majesty.

"The next official is Shu Qingping, Deputy Qianhu of the Cao Army. I don't know if Mr. Zhang came to investigate the case and whether there is a warrant from Shu Zhijun?" Standing in front of the horse, Shu Qingping raised his head and asked Zhang Ao.The "Shu Zhijun" he was referring to was Shu Yinglong, the Governor of Water Transport. Although he had the same surname as him, the two were not relatives, and it was purely a coincidence.

Zhang Ao glanced at Shu Qingping, turned over and jumped off the horse, took out a silver hand card and almost stuck it in Shu Qingping's face, engraved with the words "Zhang Ao, Governor of Beizhen", this is a hand card only for officials with more than a thousand households .

Zhang Ao said disdainfully: "The Fusi of Beizhen has always handled the case according to the secret order, and even the San Judiciary has no right to intervene. Naturally, you Shu Zhijun don't know about it. I hope Shu Qianhu will cooperate." Zhang Ao went straight to the case. The yellow boat went.

Shu Qingping followed and half-kneeled in front of Zhang Ao, clasped his fists, and said almost beggingly: "The Cao army has strict discipline, no outsiders are allowed to board the ship without the order of the Shu Zhi army, please forgive Zhang Qianrong, don't embarrass the officer."

At this time, hundreds of Cao soldiers on the pier surrounded them. Seeing this situation, no one dared to step forward, even though they were only facing ten people.

Zhang Ao's eyes were fixed, showing a bit of impatience, but he paused, then lowered his head, and said in Shu Qingping's ear, "Lu Qianrong should know that Jin Yiwei is on business for the emperor, and if he can't get along with us, he can't get along with the emperor. The army is so bold and reckless, but Lu Qianrong...do you want to resist the order?" After Zhang Ao finished speaking, he pushed Shu Qingping away and was about to board the ship.

"Brother Zhang, you are safe here." Wang Shiqi appeared on the deck at some point and said to Zhang Ao on the pier.

Zhang Ao was taken aback when he heard that, stopped in his tracks, looked at Wang Shiqi on the boat with a face full of astonishment, and then smiled: "So it's Mr. Wang. Hasn't Mr. Wang been working in the household department of the capital? Why do you have time to go back to the south of the Yangtze River to play in the mountains?" water?"

"I, like Brother Zhang, came here on business under the order of the court. Let's not talk about that. Brother Zhang has come a long way and has worked hard all the way. Please board the boat and have a cup of tea to quench your thirst." After Wang Shiqi finished speaking, he turned to Shu Qingping and said: "Please Shu Qianrong take these Jinyi guards to the next station to drink some water, and let's have a rest."

Zhang Ao did not make a sound, but winked at Jin Yiwei behind him, and the group followed Shu Qingping into the post station.Zhang Ao quickly jumped onto the deck and followed Wang Shiqi into the cabin.

"I wonder what business is Brother Zhang doing here?" Wang Shiqi asked while making tea.

"A few days ago, there was news from Dongchang that the Suzhou water tanker had been infiltrated with secret agents, and Jin Yiwei was ordered to come and investigate the matter," Zhang Ao said.

"Brother Zhang, Nanzhen Fusi, who is in charge of guards arresting prisons, should come forward. Your Beizhen Fusi is in charge of edict prisons. When will you take care of these nosy matters? Could it be that there is the emperor's will in this matter?" Wang Shiqi glanced at Zhang Ao while pouring tea.

Zhang Ao smiled wryly and said: "Hey... it's all about the East Factory's speculation, so we can only investigate it secretly. I, Jinyiwei, have no affiliation with Dongchang, but they get along with the emperor day and night, so their words naturally carry weight. Now they say that Jinyiwei is the butcher of the imperial court. , Dongchang lackeys, no matter whether officials or common people see Jin Yiwei, it is like seeing a ghost, and they can't avoid it, if it doesn't matter, I don't want to come all the way to provoke people's suspicion."

Zhang Ao paused for a while, seeing no one around, continued: "But there is no way, we are also under the supervision of the East Factory everywhere, everyone is in danger, and the people of the East Factory can put us to death if they say anything!"

"Yes, yes, Dongchang is really annoying. However, Brother Zhang should know that the Cao army has never been under the jurisdiction of the five armies' governor's mansion and the local administration. It only obeys the governor of the water transportation. The generations are all Cao Jun, and it is difficult for outsiders to enter, as if they are monolithic.

This time Dongchang wanted to intervene in Cao Jun's affairs. I don't know why. If it wasn't for the emperor's clear order, Brother Zhang, your job would not be easy. "Wang Shiqi took a sip of tea after speaking.

Zhang Ao sighed, and said: "Qiu Ba, the lower court, naturally doesn't understand the affairs of the court, but a courtier must do his job well, not seeking merit, but seeking to avoid faults, just to protect himself."

"Brother Zhang said that the Shu Zhijun is a popular person next to Shen Yuanfu. A year ago, the minister of the Ministry of Industry was transferred to the governor of the water transport and the right deputy. The grain and coastal defense in the provinces of Southern Zhili are the most powerful figures in the Ming Dynasty besides the cabinet ministers and officials of the six departments. If Brother Zhang wants to mobilize the Cao army, he must be careful not to be used as a gun and offended If you lose control of the army, you will end up as a scapegoat."

Zhang Ao frowned, thinking that he was caught between Dongchang and Cao Jun, and he was really in a dilemma. Although he had boarded the ship, he was helpless.

Wang Shiqi understood Zhang Ao's thoughts, and said: "Brother Zhang has boarded the ship, and he has found out that the Suzhou tank boat did not find any details. Go back and write more beautifully, and you will have an explanation. I will return to the capital next time. Afterwards, I will report this matter to the Commander of Jinyiwei in person, Brother Zhang can rest assured."

"Then thank you, Mr. Wang, for your help!" Zhang Ao took a sip of tea and said with relief: "Now the country has something to do, and Gao Jinglue is going on an expedition. As soldiers, we were supposed to fight on the battlefield, shrouded in horse leather, Now being ridden on the head by a bunch of eggless eunuchs all day long, what a loser!"

"Brother Zhang has a family, a country and a world in his heart, and my younger brother admires... Well, returning to Beijing will lead to a long journey, brother Zhang, take care all the way!" After speaking, Wang Shiqi sent Zhang Ao overboard.Seeing this, the rest of the Jin Yiwei hurried out of the station to assemble. After a few pleasantries, Zhang Ao got on his horse and led the team away from the pier.

Shu Qingping came over, and said with a long sigh of relief: "Thanks to the presence of Mr. Wang, Jin Yiwei was sent away in such a short period of time, which is really amazing. Speaking of which, if they are allowed to board the ship to search, this matter will be reported to Zhijun. Humble and this group of brothers are inseparable... Thank you, Humble."

Wang Shiqi said indifferently: "Brother Shu doesn't need to say thank you for matters within Mr. Wang's part. Let's stop with today's matter, and there is no need to report it. I also ask Brother Shu to inform the people below, and don't let the wind leak!"

"Yes, yes, the officer obeys!"
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(End of this chapter)