Han Zuo Gaomen

Chapter 806
After a few days of leisurely days, many things came back.

First of all, the boats transporting grain from Huaiyin by sea finally arrived in Shouchun. Although there were only five boats carrying more than [-] dendrobium of grain, it was a drop in the bucket for the overall needs of Huainan.But this successful attempt is of great significance, and it adds a new option for Huaiyin's external supplementation in the future.Moreover, compared with the previous inland waterway, this choice can be compared in terms of efficiency.

This time the ship set sail from Haiyan, Jiaxing, Wuzhong, circumnavigated the coast, turned from Huaiyin to Huaishui, and finally arrived in Shouchun.Due to the lack of experience for the first time, both the previous preparations and the layout along the way were insufficient, and the final arrival time in Shouchun was seven or eight days later than the previous inland waterway.But this does not mean that the efficiency of sea transportation is lower than that of domestic shipping. According to the judgment of the accompanying crew members, if this route can be developed into a mature waterway in the future, it will be more expensive than domestic shipping in terms of time and labor and consumption along the way. Much more efficient.

In fact, in terms of shipping, Jiangdong does not have too many technical restrictions, not to mention Soochow's previous accumulation of technology and experience in shipping, even during the period of Nandu Zhongxing, Jiangdong used the sea route to obtain Murong Xianbei in Liaodi. Contact.Moreover, the Shen family opened up the Zhoushan Islands by themselves earlier. Although they were not too far from the coast, they had accumulated quite mature experience and a certain number of talents in the use of sea routes.

The reason why they did not vigorously develop shipping before was that there was no demand in this area. Before Shen Zhezi crossed Jiangbei, the Shen family basically had no interest demands in Jiangbei. Without the drive of interests, there was no need to waste resources in this area.Another reason is that Jiangdong was weak at that time, and there was not enough development on land, not to mention that on the sea road, it was completely passive defense.

Previously, the Xuzhou Legion of the Jie Kingdom, in addition to frequently launching attacks on Jiangdong between Huai and Si, also frequently plundered by sea pirates on sea routes, and even the coastal counties in southeast Wuzhong were deeply disturbed by it.For example, the opponent of the Shen family in Wuzhong's hometown in the early years, the Yan family of the salt lord, even took the initiative to contact and recruit the rogue bandits from the Jie country to harm the hometown. This is not an isolated case.

Now that the situation in the north and the south has undergone drastic changes, Jie Kingdom itself has fallen into separatism and turmoil, and the original Xuzhou Army has also disintegrated. Even if some of the defeated people fled outside, it is not enough to cause any general oppression.Huaiyin City is firmly in the hands of the Xuzhou Army, and it can develop into a stable and important docking port, which can continuously transfer the source of goods from Jiangdong.

Although the risk of sea transportation is greater than that of domestic shipping, and it is also affected by seasonal weather such as monsoons, compared with today's domestic shipping, which is completely subject to seasons and will stop shipping once the water is dry, the impact is not so great. Big, and totally worth the massive investment.

Moreover, if shipping becomes prosperous, it will completely pull up the import of another large and important commodity, that is, salt.The starting point of sea transportation is directly in the area that produces the most salt in Wuzhong, and due to the promotion of sun-dried salt in the early years, the price of salt there has been as low as a staggering price.

In the early years, the shipping capacity was limited, and there were many kinds of goods that needed to be transported. In the event of a war, commercial and democratic movements would come to a standstill. Therefore, although Wuzhong produced a lot of salt, if you want to transport it to all parts of Jiangdong, the cost is still not high. Low, huge production did not significantly lower the price of salt in the entire Jiangdong, but only improved the livelihood of the people near these salt-producing areas.Even the most ordinary small households from poor families no longer directly eat the inferior salt that is directly sun-dried, and have to refine and sieve it.

If sea transportation flourishes, then the salt in Wuzhong can be transported directly by sea.Compared with Jiangdong, Central Plains is definitely a huge market. The profit of this commodity alone can inspire endless imagination!
Therefore, the successful arrival of more than 8000 dendrobium grains in Shouchun this time is of great significance to Huainan.Shen Zhezi was also quite inspired by this, so he stopped playing around with Princess Xingnan, summoned all the officials in the town, and recruited all the crew members to the Neishi Mansion to ask about the various difficulties encountered during the shipping process, Discuss solutions.

In this meeting, there was another person present, that is Xuzhou Inspector Xi Jian.Xi Jian personally followed the grain ship along Huaibei to Shouchun. Of course, this amount of grain was not worth his personal escort. He actually had other purposes in coming to Shouchun.However, seeing that Shen Zhezi attached so much importance to the matter of this sea transportation of grain, he also gradually realized the great significance contained in it, so he listened intently in the table.

When discussing such a source of income in the town, Shen Zhezi did not shy away from Xi Jian, an outsider.Because if you want to fully develop the shipping route, you can't get around the cooperation of Xuzhou, not to mention that Huaiyin is now under the control of the Xuzhou Army. Without the cooperation and escort of the Xuzhou Army, no matter how beautiful and huge the concept here in Huainan , Boats can't enter the Huai River at all.

Moreover, in the entire sea transportation, once the river enters the sea, the counties and counties under the jurisdiction of Xuzhou are all along the coast.Therefore, the cooperation of the Xuzhou Army is crucial to the establishment and operation of the entire route.

Shen Zhezi listened to the meeting, and he had an understanding of the objective limitations of shipping technology and environment.Although all the government officials in Huainan were present at the moment, most of them didn't know much about shipping and commerce, and it was difficult to discuss a comprehensive and mature plan in a short time.

For this kind of cross-regional resource allocation, Shen Zhezi didn't expect to be able to make any decisions in just one or two meetings.Knowing the general situation of this matter, with this intention, we will have to go through several more trial voyages to get more information, so that we can make more accurate predictions and judgments.Even if Huainan has made all the preparations here, Jiangdong needs to cooperate.

So at the moment, it is necessary to collect as many details as possible in this regard. Shen Zhezi has no time to return to Jiangdong right now.However, after the spring of next year, he plans to go back to Jiankang, contact all parties to finalize this matter, and do his best to make it happen.

When considering these issues, Shen Zhezi never focused on pure profit, but devoted himself to building a huge circle of interests.Wealth is indeed worth chasing, but if the social significance of wealth cannot be brought into full play and influence other people as much as possible, then no matter how much wealth there is, it is just a number.If it weren't for the fact that the interests of the Shen family were equal to the interests of many Wu people, it would have been impossible for Shen Zhezi to gain so much support in the Huainan battle earlier.

Although Shen Zhezi has already determined the idea of ​​developing shipping here, he has not stopped the several major projects of dredging inland waterways currently underway in Huainan.Although both sea freight and domestic aviation are essentially logistics categories, domestic aviation also has its own significance.The passage of boats has far-reaching significance for promoting the construction and development of the areas along the line, which cannot be replaced by sea transportation.

Today, the areas of Jiangbei and Huaizhong are in a state of waste, and many future reconstruction and development plans will be realized only based on waterways.Otherwise, no matter how much lost land is recovered, it can only be abandoned there. It is not enough to form a solid and stable rule, and it is difficult to quickly recover and accumulate vitality.

After talking about this matter, Shen Zhezi invited Xi Jian into an elegant and quiet hall in the mansion, and asked people to prepare a little food. Then he said with a smile: "If Xi Gong has something to teach, just send someone to tell him directly. Why do you need to work hard in the cold winter?" , enter the town in person."

Xi Jian's mind is still immersed in the discussion about the sea road just now, and watching Huainan's discussion on this in person has brought him a big impact.It is not the idea of ​​shipping itself, but the courage to mobilize resources on a large scale across regions, which really touched Xi Jian.

In fact, it is not that he does not have this kind of idea. He has also seen the prosperity and rise of the capital. Long before Huaiyin was recovered, he had the idea of ​​transshipment by sea.But there are too many difficulties in this, and even the most basic kind of goods to be transported, he doesn't have any specific ideas here, and he doesn't know where he will put them.

Being alone with Shen Zhezi at this time, Xi Jian even forgot the original purpose of coming, and said in the banquet: "I just watched Huainan's sages discussing current affairs, which really inspired me. People have rich and poor, land has thickness, and things have surplus. If there is a shortage, if you have to donate evenly, it is not only in line with the way of heaven, but the income can also be used for the king's affairs. In fact, if you only talk about salt goods, Xuzhou also has a lot of production. Now Huaisi has no strong enemies, but the people are still chaotic and lack of production. , if you can donate something, it will benefit both the north and the south.”

When Shen Zhezi heard this, he knew that Xi Jian was planning to go it alone.After all, the channel is now in the hands of Xuzhou, and even if the two sides are limited by the vortex, the Qingxu land that the Xuzhou army can reach now is still a big market.It is not surprising that Xi Jian has such an idea, and it is also a kind of candor to be able to say it in front of him.

"What Xi Gong thinks is indeed appropriate. If there is loss, there is profit. Money is like flowing water. It is natural to move towards profit. But the word profit is the most confusing. The so-called desire is hard to fill. If the trend of true profit, how many people can control the severity ?”

Shen Zhezi is not optimistic about Xuzhou running this matter alone, not because of a simple conflict of interest, but because he doesn't think Xi Jian can control the situation.Once the market trade with Huaibei is opened, there are too many benefits to be gained, and Xijian himself does not have the unambiguous status of Shen Zhezi in Huainan in Xuzhou, and there are many powerful military leaders who are also qualified to step in and share channels.

And once too many are added, there will be competition with each other, and the scale is not easy to grasp.Those military leaders have their own troops and channels. They may not be willing to only trade for people's livelihood, and they may expand the scope of transactions privately. It is too difficult to supervise and restrict.

When Xi Jian heard what Shen Zhezi said, he was actually a bit unconvinced in his heart. Although Shen Zhezi's words were reserved, he still looked down on him a little bit. Why Huainan can think so, but Xuzhou just can not?

(End of this chapter)