Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1657
Chen Hongyi became more and more confused about the origin of the person in front of him: on this official ship with the lantern of "Jinyiwei Foshan Baihusuo", Lin Baihu respected him; although the cabin furnishings are very simple, it can be seen that there are ingenuity everywhere. The layout, the large glass skylight on the ceiling is not affordable for ordinary people; and when he got on the boat just now, he saw the food boxes piled up on the front deck... He couldn't help but be more careful.

"You don't have to be nervous." Thorpe couldn't help smiling when he saw the other party's expression of sincerity and fear, and he only dared to sit on half of the chair. "I heard from Master Lin that you are a boatman on the West River."

"Yes, yes, the younger generations are all boat owners who row boats on the river, and they got on the boat at the age of 14."

Thorpe stared at him: "I don't know Guigeng, the treasurer of Chen?"

"It's sixty-five years old with false teeth." Chen Hongyi shook his head and laughed, "I'm old and useless, and my whole body hurts when the weather changes!"

"I think shopkeeper Chen's body is still strong, but his hair is all white. This business must be very troublesome."

"Yes, yes, it's really not easy to eat this bowl of rice on water." Chen Hongyi sighed, this sentence immediately aroused his thoughts, "Finally thanks to the care of all the masters, I can eat peacefully until today!" He saw the other party The words are calm, with a graceful and free-spirited temperament, and the originally tense mood relaxes a lot.

Thorpe then asked about the shipping on the Xijiang River. Chen Hongyi thought that this was not some military secret, since this gentleman wanted to hear it, he just said it.Then I briefly talked about the general situation of the waterway from Sanshui to Nanning.

"If you talk about the convenience of sailing, there is nothing better than the Xijiang River." Chen Hongyi rubbed his knees, "The river is wide and the water is deep. Below Wuzhou, when the water rises in summer, the water depth is fifty or sixty feet deep. You can walk on a big boat with a thousand stones. In some places , like Sanrong Gorge and Lingyang Gorge, are simply bottomless. The ropes of hundreds of feet will not touch the bottom..."

"And when the water is dry?" Thorpe pursued.

"It's also thirty or forty feet deep, but the water depth at Wuzhou Wharf will only drop to ten feet." Chen Hongyi said, "There is a shoal less than a hundred miles downstream from Wuzhou, called Xintan. When the water is dry The depth of the water is only four or five feet. Large boats cannot pass through it. Therefore, although the water in the Xijiang River is deep, it is not convenient to use large boats. Boat owners prefer to use small boats. Unless it is a year of severe drought, they can sail from Wuzhou to various places in Guangzhou throughout the year. .It saves a lot of hands and feet of loading and unloading."

"Although small boats are convenient, your boat owners sometimes only go to Wuzhou to transport goods. Why don't you use big boats?"

Chen Hongyi said with a smile: "My lord, you are from a wealthy family, and you don't know the hardships of people on the water. Although you can use a big boat to reach Wuzhou, you can sail against the current: boats going east can be put on the same road, and boats going west have to rely on bracing. Hao raised the oars and set up the oars to raise the sails. The big ship is heavy and inconvenient, and it is not possible to wait for the wind every day, so it is all up to the boatmen to row the oars--that's all, when you reach the canyon and shallows, you have to go ashore to pull the ropes. Let's talk about this progress There are Lingyang Gorge and Sanrong Gorge on the boundary of Zhaoqing Prefecture, both of which are high mountains and steep slopes, pressing against the river bank. The steep slopes on both sides of the river, boatmen have to climb the mountain and carry their backs. The current in the canyon is turbulent, and the water is whirlpool. If you stumble and fall, you will lose your life. ——I don’t know how many people die every year..."

Thorpe nodded and sighed, "It's really not easy to make a living." Seeing him swallowing hard, knowing that his tongue was burning, he said, "But I forgot, serve the tea!"

There were no servants on this boat, and naturally no one thought of the rules of hospitality for serving tea.Lin Ming saw Thorpe speaking. He was the most clever person. Seeing that there were no servants here, he hurried out to find some tea.

There is tea, but it's just a big pot of rough tea, which is strong and dark--it's what they use for dry food when they eat at noon.Lin Ming thought that this tea really couldn't be taken out, so he had no choice but to see that Xie Peng had already taken out a glass bottle.Lin Ming recognized this thing, it was Lingao's most popular drink, kvass, and it was also sold in the Ziji shop in Guangzhou.

Lin Ming quickly poured Kvass into the teacup and sent it in.

Chen Hongyi had less saliva in his mouth when he was old, and his mouth became parched after talking a lot. Seeing Lin Baihu personally delivering tea, he got up quickly and said, "I dare not, I dare not."

"Where is it? It's so negligent. This is Australian water, the most refreshing and quenching thirst..." Lin Ming politely made shopkeeper Chen very uncomfortable, and he became more and more confused about Thorpe's details.

Chen Hongyi took the teacup, but saw that it was a glass of water that was crystal clear and slightly yellowish. There were many small bubbles attached to the white glaze, exuding a fresh aroma.Take a sip, it is sweet and slightly tingling, and the taste is very refreshing.

"This is Australian water." He suddenly remembered that a few days ago, his eldest son specially obtained this stuff from Guangzhou: it was packed in a glass bottle, and it was very expensive.

"Exactly." Thorpe was secretly surprised. He didn't expect that this kind of drink, which is considered a light luxury in Guangzhou, was also known in Sanshui!
No wonder this little bastard went to buy it on purpose, the taste is really strange, it is the top grade to quench the heat and thirst.Chen Hongyi secretly scolded the Australians for playing tricks and obscene things all day long, and seduced several children in his family to buy "Australian things" all day long, what a prodigal!
He drank half a glass before he continued: "It's fine to cross the beach with the fiber, but there are still many villains on this river. If it is light, the local tyrants will stop the boat and extort 'water money'; if it is too heavy, they will go directly to the boat to rob They can do anything to kill and steal goods.” Especially along the Xijiang River in Zhaoqing area, because most of them are mountainous areas, they are the abyss of water bandits.Water bandits are very active in this area.Among them, water bandits surnamed Xu, Zheng, Shi, and Ma from the Dan family were the most rampant, not only operating in Xijiang, but also going deep into Beijiang to rob.

Speaking of this, he suddenly felt a little slip of the tongue, because there was a Lin Baihu sitting here, saying "bandit and bandit rampant", wouldn't it sweep his face, and he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

"I didn't expect water bandits to be so rampant." Thorpe noticed that he had an uncomfortable expression on his face, and he was peeking at Lin Ming again, and he knew what shopkeeper Chen was thinking with a little guesswork. "The government cannot absolve itself of the blame."

Sweat dripped from Chen Hongyi's forehead. Fortunately, this distinguished guest was a member of the genuine Jinyiwei Baihu ship, otherwise he would have to get up and leave immediately - he didn't want to be offended by his careless words.

Lin Ming also echoed, "That's the extreme, the extreme. The government is indolent and just sits and watches the thieves grow bigger. It's just that the merchants along the river are suffering."

"Since water bandits are rampant, how does shopkeeper Chen manage to make a living on the water?"

Chen Hongyi remained silent, Lin Ming said: "Don't hide it, no one knows about this. This Master Suo is... is... from Beijing, you just say it."

After getting this sentence, Chen Hongyi continued: "Speaking of it, it's the same as walking in an escort agency. You have to make friends first. The big bandit sheds have a market. If you make friends and set a fixed amount of money, the ship will be able to go. Be more stable. But this is not necessarily the case. Some small groups under the big gang may not buy it, and they can only consider themselves unlucky when they encounter it. As for the small groups of water bandits and toubob who are motivated by money, they have to ask the officials The master on board went out: if you can pass the dangerous place, please ask the officers and soldiers to patrol the boat to protect it. Besides, the most important thing is that the fellow villagers are united as one and united with one voice."

The former two are spending money to buy peace, but neither officials nor bandits can be trusted.Only this hometown association has a great effect.All boat households, no matter how big or small, will go together with many boats when they go up and down the water and pass through dangerous areas;

"Talking with you is better than reading ten years of books." Thorpe sighed. The person in front of him is simply a living dictionary of Xijiang Shipping. What he said is all first-hand information, which is very precious.

"Master's reputation is too high." When Chen Hongyi saw him asking about geography and people's sentiments, with the manner of an adjutant official making a private visit, and seeing Lin Ming saying that he "comes from the capital" and being respectful to him, he secretly wondered if he had met "" Imperial envoy"?But the other party's age is too young...

I was thinking wildly, but I heard Master Suo asking again:
"I don't know if Shopkeeper Chen's ship has ever been to Guangxi?"

"I've been, I've been." Chen Hongyi nodded, "After the boat passes through Wuzhou, it is Guangxi. Although it is not as wide and deep as the Xijiang River, it can still be used by a big boat. A big salt boat like the old man, when the water is high in summer You can go directly to Nanning Mansion with a full load." He said eloquently, "If we talk about the West River, it is only as deep as the river in Guangdong, and it is not until it enters Guangxi that it is the thoroughfare given by God: it extends in all directions and reaches everything."

He said that if you go up from Wuzhou, go north to the Guijiang River, you can reach Guilin Mansion; It can go directly to Nanning Prefecture.

"...From Nanning, Guilin, and Liuzhou, there is also a waterway, and you can go directly to Yunguichuan. But Xiaomin never went through it."

So it seems that the water transportation conditions in Guangxi are not worse than those in Guangdong.Thorpe knew that Guangxi had always given people the impression of being a poor province.However, although Guangxi has vast mountainous areas such as [-] mountains and [-] mountains, there are also many rich agricultural basins, and it is not a poor and empty land.Since there are such convenient water transport conditions, it is very suitable for the control policy formulated by the general staff based on water traffic lines.

It is not too much trouble to win Guangxi.Thorpe thought to himself that it has a good geographical foundation, as long as it has a firm foothold in Guangdong, it will be easy to win Guangxi.

"What kind of cargo is shipped more?"

"The food that is transported to Guangdong is mainly grain, and it is transported to Shangshui in Guangxi, with salt as the mainstay." Chen Hongyi said that the market for salt is very large. Through the waterway of the Xijiang River, Guangdong's salt can go all the way to Guizhou, Yunnan and other places during the Lantern Festival.The native products of these places can also be transported to Guangdong along the waters of the Xijiang River.

(End of this chapter)