Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 270 Li Er's First Experience in Lingnan

Li Er looked at the dock. As the distance got closer, he felt a little emotional when he saw the busy dock.

"In the Tang Dynasty, even in Dengzhou, there is no such large port and dock."

Li Junxian, who was beside Li Er, was silent for a moment. Any discerning eye could see that the ports and docks in the Tang Dynasty were much worse than here.

"Master, this is the largest port in Guangzhou Prefecture. Plus, most of the business here is done by sea or water, so it's normal for it to be a little bigger."

Li Er didn't say anything, but just looked ahead quietly.

When the boat docked, Li Er got off the boat and saw a shocking scene.

All he could see was a cement paved road, but that was not enough to surprise Li Er. What surprised him was the groups of roller skates next to the large ships loading and unloading cargo.

After the people on the dock put the cargo under the roller skates and secure them with ropes, the people at the back tighten the ropes through another roller skate that is cranked by hand, and the cargo is then pulled up by the ropes.

At this time, the two people on the side pulled the rope and tied the iron stake of the roller skates to it, and it actually began to turn, and then they put the cargo into the boat.

The movements were so smooth and flowing that Li Er was stunned.

He still remembered what he saw at the Tang Dynasty's dock. People were still needed to move the goods that had just been loaded onto the ship. If they were moved by manpower, at least thirty people would be needed, and it would take at least half an hour to complete.

However, what he just saw, how long did it take? It took less than an incense stick of time, and there were only seven people in total, and it was completed directly.

Li Er thought more about that if a war broke out and the same amount of supplies were prepared, the supplies here would probably have been shipped far away, while he was still loading goods at the dock.

Li Er looked at another place in shock, and saw a ship starting to unload cargo. This ship seemed to be carrying timber.

The same roller skating team transferred the wood from the ship to the dock, but the difference this time was that after the wood was moved over, a large wooden board was parked there.

Under the wooden board, there are four small iron wheels. Looking closely, there is a steel line under the four small iron wheels, extending to a transfer point.

And under the wooden board, a rope was connected to something underneath, connecting to another rotating roller skate.

I saw the wood being placed on the wooden board and fixed, and then the rotating roller at another place began to rotate. The iron wheel under the wooden board moved forward along the steel line and soon arrived at the transfer point. Someone started to move a conveyor belt driven by manpower to another place for loading.

Li Er was greatly shocked when he saw these scenes, because in his opinion, these things clearly required a lot of manpower and time to complete, but now they were completed by just a few people in a short time.

In Li Er's eyes, if these were deployed in the army, it would be greatly convenient for the army to go to war, especially for the logistics of the army, the pressure would be less.

Li Er looked at the roller skating groups, his eyes suddenly filled with passion.

Then he was deeply puzzled. We can see all these things now, but why has no one imitated them? Or has someone imitated them, but he didn't see them?

Just when Li Er was confused, a voice came.

"Hello, I am Peng Fei, an inspector of the Guangzhou Panyu Customs Department of the Customs Bureau. You have already disembarked. Because there are too many of you, please pull over to the side to avoid affecting the passage of others.

At the same time, if the cargo on your ship needs to be unloaded, we will conduct an inspection and only unload it after the inspection, so please cooperate."

Li Er turned to look at Peng Fei who was speaking. He was wearing blue and white clothes specially made by the Customs Bureau. The clothes were relatively tight, and he looked very capable due to his young age.

While Li Er was looking at Peng Fei, Li Junxian on the side was staring at Peng Fei intently. However, Peng Fei ignored him and just looked at Li Er indifferently.

Here, Peng Fei was not afraid at all, even though he was alone and Li Er had twenty or thirty people around him, but he didn't care at all.

Li Er immediately smiled and said, "Excuse me, we don't have any goods to unload, we are here to purchase goods.

This is our first time here. We heard that it is easy to make money by doing business here, so we came here. We don’t know the rules, so please forgive us.”

At this moment, Li Er had an apologetic look on his face, without any airs at all. It was hard to tell that he was the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Compared with when he was on the boat, he looked like two completely different people.

Peng Fei smiled as he heard this.

"So that's how it is. If you come here to buy goods and sell them outside, you can go to the city and talk to some merchants in the city about trade. You can also go to the government office and talk to the people in the Ministry of Commerce. They will be responsible for the business dealings."

Li Er was delighted when he heard this and said gratefully, "Thank you, Inspector Peng. May I ask, Inspector Peng, I see that such heavy goods are transported off the ship using ropes, iron slings, and some turntables. I wonder how these are made? Can they be sold?"

Peng flew to the edge of the dock and looked, his smile suddenly widened.

“Those were all made by the Iron Bureau at the order of our king, but I don’t know how they were made.

As to whether it can be sold, I don't know, but since someone has bought it, I think it should be sold, but I need to go to the Ministry of Commerce office in the government office to discuss it.

Now you guys go there and pay the money, and after you pay, you can leave. "

Peng Fei pointed to the left, and Li Er looked in that direction, only to see three teams lined up there. He originally didn't know why, but now he understood, it turned out to be for paying money.

Then Li Er looked at Peng Fei in confusion again.

"May I ask Inspector Peng, why do we have to pay this money?"

Peng Fei was stunned when he heard this, then he smiled to ease the embarrassment.

"It seems that you haven't done any research. The money you pay is the docking fee for your ship and the transit fee.

If you are a local citizen, you can be exempted from the transit fee and only need to pay the docking fee for the large ship.

The docking fee for a ship varies according to the type of ship. Yours is a large ship, and the minimum fee for each ship is ten taels of silver. The docking time is only one month. After the period expires, you will need to pay the fee again.

If you are still there after six months, we will forcibly evict you and you will not be allowed to dock again no matter how much money you pay.

Because this is a commercial port, if you are not a merchant, then go to the port on the west coast. There is no restriction on the docking time, but there is a limit on the berths for large ships.

If there is no berth there, you can only find another port terminal. There are five of them here.

If you don’t find what you like, you can also go to ports in other cities and find a pier to dock.

The transit fee is one penny of silver per person. As long as you do not leave and stay here, you will not be charged again.

Now hurry over there."

Peng Fei finished speaking and turned to leave. There were many things to do at the dock, and he didn't have much time to stay here and chat with Li Er. Li Er fell into deep thought after hearing this, and then looked at the crowded dock and smiled bitterly.

Obviously he needed to pay, but there were still so many people coming and going. Now that he came here and hadn't done anything, he had to start paying, and the expenses were not small at all.

Thinking about the stinginess of these people in the Tang Dynasty, Li Er was a little confused for a moment. Don’t these people have any complaints about these charges?
Li Er couldn't figure it out, so he looked at Li Junxian.

"Let's get people to start lining up to pay."

Li Er had no intention of making trouble. Now that he saw all the extraordinary things on the dock, all kinds of new and strange objects he had never seen before, he wanted to go into the city to see what was different here.

While he was full of expectations, he couldn't help but feel heavy. It was just a pier now, but many of the things he saw and heard were not even found in the Tang Dynasty. This made him unable to be happy.

Thinking that these were all caused by Li Yuanji, Li Er hated him even more. Why did he agree to let Li Yuanji come to Lingnan? Why didn't Li Yuanji show these things?

If Li Yuanji had displayed these at the beginning, even if Li Yuanji did not follow Li Jiancheng, he would probably be qualified to compete with him and Li Jiancheng for that position.

Li Er was really confused. He just felt that Li Yuanji was extremely scheming. He had been suppressing his own reputation for so many years and only showed his abilities after arriving in Lingnan.

How can such a person not be scary?

After waiting for a while, the person sent to pay the money came back with a wooden nameplate.

“Boss, this is the nameplate they gave us. It records our ship, where it is docked, and our number.

This wooden sign needs to be handed over to the people here when we leave. If the wooden sign is lost, an additional five taels of silver will be required."

Li Er took the wooden sign and his mouth twitched. Now he realized that it seemed like money was being collected everywhere. Looking at the people coming and going, he wondered how much money they collected in a day.

Thinking of this, Li Er couldn't help but feel envious. If he were given this money, he was confident that the people's livelihood in the Tang Dynasty could be restored at least two or three years earlier.

Looking at the wooden sign in my hand, I saw that it only had the time and the ship's berthing position written on it. All three ships were marked, and the number of people on board was also written on it.

Li Er looked at these and immediately laughed.

"Have you ever asked clearly why you are doing this?"

The Hundred Riders said immediately, "I asked the boss, and he said that this wooden sign is a symbol of our identity here, and it is valid for one month."

Li Er's face was full of smiles. He didn't care about this little money, but this reason seemed a bit far-fetched to Li Er. It was just to collect more money.

But then I thought about it and felt that something was wrong. The so-called transit fee was not much, and it was totally unnecessary to collect more money by doing so.

When Li Yuanji first formulated this rule, it was merely an admission ticket for outsiders and a disguised way of collecting fees for road construction.

As long as the people in Li Yuanji's fiefdom are exempt from these fees, they don't have to pay them. Only outsiders have to pay these fees.

Moreover, the main fees are concentrated at the dock. After entering the city, there are no more fees.

Li Yuanji set this threshold just to show the advantages and treatments of being his subjects, so that those subjects would be more grateful to Li Yuanji himself.

The most important thing is that this amount of money is not much for people who travel here and there, because the money earned from transporting goods out is completely not on the same level as the fees they pay now.

If you are not doing business, there are other ports and terminals where you can dock. And you need this wooden sign to enter the Ministry of Commerce’s offices in various places to discuss business.

Li Er didn’t know this, but he didn’t want to think about it too much.

"Come on, let's go in."

Li Er strode forward and was about to set out on the road into the city, but he encountered the same situation that Li Yuanji encountered in Xuwen. Someone came to ask Li Er if he needed a carriage or a sedan chair.

Li Er didn't think twice and chose the sedan chair immediately.

On the way, Li Er looked at the people coming and going on the road, and couldn't help but sigh that there was no sign at all that this place was once a place for exile of criminals. It even gave him the illusion that he was still in Chang'an.

If it weren't for the obvious people coming from other countries, the caravans, and the cement road on the ground, he really wouldn't be able to tell them apart.

"Liang Shu, why are these cement roads built into three roads? And each one is so wide."

Li Er was really confused. Among the three cement roads, the middle one was the widest, while the ones on both sides were relatively narrow. However, even the cement roads on both sides could accommodate five or six people walking side by side.

Liang Shu was the name of the porter mentioned earlier. Li Er chose to ride in a sedan chair, not only to get a better look at the changes here, but also to facilitate conversation. He could ask about some of the situations here.

Liang Shu stood in front of us, his face not red and his breath not out of breath, and he said proudly: "My dear, this must be your first time here. These three roads were built by the king to facilitate merchants and passers-by.

The road in the middle is used by the caravans hauling goods. I'm sure you've seen it too, there are basically no other people there.

The side we were on was for people entering the city, and the other side was for people leaving the city.

According to the government, this construction will facilitate the smooth flow of traffic and avoid congestion. "

Upon hearing this, Li Er couldn't help but feel that this place was very wealthy. The roads outside Chang'an were not so clearly divided. People and goods walked on the same road, and there was no distinction between the entrance and exit roads.

Li Er also gained some knowledge this time. It’s just a road, but he can play it like this.

Then Li Er asked Liang Shu.

“This is indeed my first time here, and I don’t understand many things. I hope Brother Liang can help me solve some of my doubts.

I just came out of the dock and paid so much. Isn't anyone dissatisfied with this?"

Liang Shu smiled when he heard this.

"Don't say these things anymore, or else you'll be laughed at by others.

First of all, this money is not much, and secondly, no one has ever complained, because traveling merchants value time and efficiency more, and by doing this, their time in and out can be shortened.

And the wooden sign you got has many uses, you will know when you enter the city."

(End of this chapter)