People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 451 The Road is Long

Wuqing, Youzhou, is located next to the Bohai Sea and is an important salt-producing town in Youzhou of the Han Dynasty. However, it has now been controlled by Xuanxia. Now, it not only still plays the role of an important salt-producing town, but has also slowly developed into the most important port in the Bohai Bay.

With the development of the tributary alliance, Xuanxia's foreign exchanges became more frequent, which also provided opportunities for the development of maritime transportation.

Just now, the official tribute trade from Buyeo, Goguryeo, and the Korean Peninsula every year, as well as the gradually increasing private trade, have made Bohai slowly become lively.

If the large-scale commodities from these places were to be transported from Liaodong to the Central Plains by land, it would be very disadvantageous in terms of speed and cost, so sea transportation became a suitable trading method for them.

As the tribute trade has developed to this day, countless ships can be seen traveling back and forth across the Bohai Sea every year, and the prosperity of the route has begun to show its scale.

Leather, medicinal materials, furs, timber, and grain from small countries such as the Three Han, Goguryeo, and Buyeo were continuously transported to Wuqing, while salt, tea, silk, iron, and various small industrial products produced by Xuanxia were also sold to these places.

However, this is not the end. As Xuanxia expands outward at an increasingly rapid pace, many coastal areas of China, such as Fuso, Ryukyu Islands, and Luzon, will be the areas where Xuanxia will manage its business in the future. Whether Xuanxia's merchants go out or resources from these places come in, sea routes will develop rapidly.

Wuqing, the place closest to the capital Beijing, naturally became the most important seaport at present. In the foreseeable future, Wuqing alone will not even be able to meet the demand. There will be more and more important ports along China's long coastline, and even the economic center of gravity will shift to the south and the coast over time.

Of course, even if these things are realized, it will be a long time ago. At least for now, Wuqing is still the only real big port in Xuanxia.

However, today's Wuqing not only serves as a commercial port, but also a military port. Unlike the busy and dense commercial ships, a place about ten miles away from the coastline, with a large number of naval ships docked there, seems much more dull.

It is a port designated as a restricted area by Xuanxia, ​​and it is also a mysterious place in the eyes of many businessmen. They all know that it is where the Xuanxia navy is stationed, but not many people have actually seen the appearance of this new navy with their own eyes.

Any ship attempting to approach that sea area will be driven away by the navy. If the warning is ignored, it may even be directly attacked by the navy.

Military affairs have always been a serious matter, and the Yellow Turbans are no joke on this point. They try their best to keep their own combat capabilities secret so that they can better confuse the enemy when they enter the battlefield in the future.

But today, when the merchants landed at Wuqing Port, they soon discovered that something was wrong.

Today's Wuqing Port has become exceptionally quiet. In the distance, one can still see groups of Yellow Turban soldiers standing guard in formation. This situation has never happened before, and the atmosphere in the port has become somewhat tense.

After some inquiries, they found out why this was the case. It turned out that the Prime Minister was going to board the ship to inspect the navy in person today and would be leaving from here, so the current military security work was carried out.

When the news spread, countless dock workers, merchants, vendors, and clerks in the huge port became excited.

Although the port work was delayed temporarily, it was worth it to see the Prime Minister in person. This kind of opportunity is hard to come by.

In an instant the entire port became bustling. No matter what their identities were before, at this moment they all huddled together and looked forward to it. From time to time, voices of people cursing because of being squeezed could be heard.

The crowd quieted down only when a group of people approached under the escort of soldiers in the distance.

They saw a handsome man walking over with a smile on his face, chatting and laughing with a general beside him. At this time, anyone who was not a fool could tell the identity of this man. "It's the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister is here, it's really the Prime Minister!"

"I never thought that I would be able to see the Heavenly Master in person in this lifetime. Even if I die now, I will have no regrets."

"So this is what Tianshi looks like. The clay sculpture I have is too far off. No, I have to carve a new one!"

As soon as Xu Chen entered the dock, the crowd that was separated by the soldiers became uncontrollably excited. Those standing in the front rushed forward unconsciously, shouting loudly names like "Heavenly Master, Prime Minister, Saint".

If the Yellow Turbans had not been strong enough, their thin line of defense would have been almost broken through by the crowd.

This commotion made Xu Chen look sideways. When he looked over, he saw the most shirtless dock workers. Many of them even had tears in their eyes. This made Xu Chen stop in his tracks.

Seeing this, Tian Shitou, who was next to Xu Chen, immediately understood that Xu Chen wanted to come over and chat, and then made a gesture.

The personal guards next to him immediately formed a formation on the spot, protecting Xu Chen in the middle but leaving a passage, ensuring Xu Chen's personal safety to the greatest extent without restricting Xu Chen's movements.

The current situation makes Tian Shitou dare not relax at all about Xu Chen's safety. Not to mention that Liu Bei and Sun Quan may send assassins, even within Xuanxia, ​​there are a large number of former aristocratic groups. No one knows how many of them hold grudges against Xuanxia and Xu Chen. Once the security work is relaxed and gives others an opportunity to take advantage, Tian Shitou will not be able to atone for his sins even if he dies ten times.

When Xu Chen walked towards the crowd, Tian Shitou's eyes kept scanning the crowd, searching for possible dangers. Many of his bodyguards also tensed up, ready to deal with any emergencies.

The excited crowd was a little dazed when they saw Xu Chen really coming over. They all stood there with their eyes wide open. Although they were shaking with nervousness, they didn't know how to react.

By the time Xu Chen finally came in front of them, everyone seemed to be under a spell of immobilization.

Xu Chen shook his head and smiled, his eyes fell on a boy in front of him who looked to be about sixteen or seventeen years old. He stretched out his hand and tapped his chest twice: "This body of tendon meat is not bad, it's even better than mine. You should eat a lot of it normally."

In an instant, the young man's face turned red, and the people around him burst into laughter.

The originally slightly tense and serious atmosphere suddenly became relaxed and cheerful, as if the Xu Chen in front of them was no longer the prime minister and heavenly master with divine light in their subconscious, but a close friend.

As Xu Chen was chatting and laughing, he also saw that the young man's sturdy shoulders were covered with calluses and marks, and his skin was tanned and cracked.

This made him sigh inwardly. The work at the dock was not easy. Loading and unloading cargo was physically demanding work. It was a bit difficult for a teenager of sixteen or seventeen to be here.

Touching the boy's messy hair, Xu Chen sighed in his heart.

Xuan Xia still has a long way to go in the future.
(End of this chapter)