Zhao Yingong sent Wu Zhixiang away, returned to his study, and checked to see if there was any latest news - what he was most concerned about at the moment was the cargo ship of China Merchants Group going north.
In addition to 50,000 shi of grain, the twenty sand ships of the Merchants Bureau also carried a large amount of cargo. Liaodong was short of everything, especially cotton cloth and cotton. To survive in this bitterly cold place, in addition to food, you must have enough winter clothes. Historically, the Ming Dynasty had to transport a large amount of cloth flowers to various health posts in Liaodong every year. Therefore, a large amount of this type of warm clothing was loaded on the sand ship this time.
According to regulations, all freight costs for transporting food and wages to the north will be reimbursed by the Ministry of Household Affairs. And as an "official ship", you don't have to pay any taxes when entering any port waterway. Not taking the opportunity to "smuggle with officials" would be a waste of this great opportunity.
Carrying cargo has always been the main revenue item of tankers, and shipping of grain and wages naturally also generates a fortune.
In addition to cotton clothes and cotton cloth, there are also a large number of "Mongolian goods" such as iron pots and tea bricks. Trading with Mongolian tribes and buying horses is an important business for Guan Ning's army. The purchased Mongolian horses were not only used to supplement the cavalry, but were also resold in large quantities to the customs to make money. As long as these goods arrive, there is no need to worry about selling them.
However, going to sea in summer also involves great risks. The threat of typhoons is great, and sand ship sailors are not familiar with the offshore route to Liaodong. Therefore, this time Zhao Yingong did not send his own navigator and key sailors as he did for the Japanese trade, but used all the original sand ship sailors. Only a few cronies were sent to accompany the ship.
However, in ancient navigation, there were no weather and sea conditions forecasts, and there was a lack of accurate nautical charts. Sea-going ships often took great risks when going to sea. Shipwrecks were frequent. When Zhao Yingong inquired about the historical data of Liaodong shipping, he saw numerous records of shipwrecks and fatalities in storms. As for the word "drift", it is everywhere. This made him have great doubts about the safety of offshore shipping - even more worrying than going to Japan for trade. To this end, a pigeon trainer was sent on board, and a pigeon was released every three days to report on the progress and navigation status of the voyage.
The news that came gave him some peace of mind. Although the ship waited for the wind several times, it was gradually heading north without any damage or grounding. It seemed that the trip was going smoothly.
The following news involved the "rice riot" in the four prefectures of northern Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu. Zhao Yingong was shocked - he had known about the incident in Lin'an County a few days ago and didn't take it seriously at the time. In his opinion, this kind of thing Not surprising. When did things like peasant uprisings and peasant riots stop? Grab a rice store. To put it bluntly, it is just like eating a wealthy family in a lean year, which is nothing at all. I'm afraid the government is too lazy to pursue it seriously.
But this matter quickly expanded to so many states and counties in a few days! Out of the "political sensitivity" of modern people, Zhao Yiggong immediately thought that there might be someone behind the scenes - at least someone was working in tandem.
Zhao Yingong knew very well that the recent surge in rice prices was directly related to China Merchants' large-scale purchase of rice. If anyone wants to trace the source. China Merchants Group cannot escape the blame.
Buying and transporting large amounts of grain during the lean years and calamitous months... Zhao Yingong's blood almost ran cold when he thought of this - this crime is a legitimate one. If someone really uses it to incite the people behind the scenes, and one man initiates chaos and thousands of others respond, the consequences will be Unthinkable. I'm afraid that I will be ruined and run away in embarrassment when the time comes.
"Quick! Send a message to all places, I want to know the details of the rice commotion!"
There is a southern depression outside Hangzhou, which is called "Xia Zhijiao". In modern parlance, it is a slum.
This is where foreign refugees gather. Whenever there is a disaster in other places, the victims, old and young, come from all over the country to the provincial capital to make a living. Some died here and fell on the road, some survived the famine and went back, and some settled here. Nanxiawa is a place full of puddles. The terrain is low and the Fuchun River is large. It is prone to waterlogging, making it impossible to farm and build houses. It became a wasteland that no one cared about.
The people who fled the famine settled on this wasteland and built shacks with various scraps they picked up, gradually turning into a shanty town like any city. This place is originally located at the bottom of the terrain, and it is difficult to remove sewage. When it rains, water immediately accumulates, mixed with all kinds of garbage, and becomes a big stinking quagmire.
Except for the poor who have no choice but to live here, anyone passing by must cover their noses.
In this densely packed shack near a cemetery, there is a shack where three men are sitting, drinking wine around a broken table with a missing leg. The missing table legs are padded with broken bricks. , there is a bowl of snails on the table as a snack - this is the cheapest meat dish in the south of the Yangtze River. You don't even need to buy it by the river or lake, you can get a bowl by yourself by touching it on the shore.
Although it was not dark yet, the room was very dark. An oil lamp was already lit on the table. The shacks were built with broken bricks, small stones, rotten boards, straw and soil mixed together. There were no decent windows, just a window hole in the wall, framed by a broken piece of exposed tile that had been discarded. The roof made of bamboo chips and straw is very low, and if a taller person stands up, his head will almost touch the top.
Although the house was small and crude, the owner kept it as clean as possible. Bricks support a bamboo bed board, which is rare here. The bed is covered with a broken kang mat. Although it is broken, it has been scrubbed clean. A broken bamboo hat hangs on the wall. There is also a wooden board used as a table supported against the wall, with paper, ink, pens and inkstones placed on it - although they are cheap items like those used by the accountant, it also shows that the owner here is an educated "scholar".
On the table, there were several dirty and shriveled tin skewers and three cracked bowls used as wine cups. The air was filled with the smell of low-quality rice wine.
The unpleasant smell of alcohol, the smell of sweat on the three men's bodies, and the snail shells all over the table. If someone broke into the room at this time and took a look, they would definitely think that they were enjoying themselves drinking. And these three people were using this illusion to hold a meeting.
Hao Yuan, who had stepped forward in the rice commotion a few days ago, was among them. He was wearing a patched coat and playing with the "wine bowl" in his hand.
The other two people present were Cao Guangjiu, a member of the Broken Boots Party. He was dressed like a shabby scholar. The other one had scars on his face and looked very ferocious. He was Gou Chengxuan who had escaped from Lingao.
After Gou Chengxuan escaped from the defeated army on Hainan Island, he fled back to Guangzhou with great hardships. He didn't dare to show up - such a big defeat would inevitably involve many people. An unknown person like himself who had escaped from the rebel army would probably have his head chopped off as a traitor. Therefore, he did not dare to reveal his identity in Guangzhou. Although he still had twenty or thirty taels of silver, he did not dare to reveal his identity. He simply made a living by begging.
By chance, he met Lin Ming in Guangzhou who was looking for his aunt. Gou Chengxuan's familiarity with Lingao and Kun Thief made the clueless Jin Yiwei feel like a treasure. I talked with him for several nights and learned many important things. Lin Ming asked Gou Chengxuan to go back to Lingao to find out the news, and gave him some money. Gou Chengxuan was already frightened, so how could he dare to go? He took the opportunity to sneak back to Lingao and escaped quietly.
Gou Chengxuan had a guilty conscience - offending Jin Yiwei's people would have serious consequences. He no longer dared to stay in Guangzhou. Seeing that Guangdong had become a place of right and wrong, he simply went all the way north and fled to the south of the Yangtze River.
He was lucky. Soon after arriving in Jiangnan, he relied on his experience with thieves and Australian goods. He was taken in as a guest of a wealthy family and lived a life without worries about food and clothing.
Gou Chengxuan never knew why his boss wanted to take him under his wing. It was not until recently that he found out that his boss had noticed Kun Thief from a long time ago.
A year ago, Gou Chengxuan was ordered to go to Hangzhou to find out the details of Master Zhao. When he saw Wanbi Bookstore and Phoenix Villa for the first time, he knew that the thief's black hands had finally reached Jiangnan.
Gou Chengxuan's first reaction was to run for his life, but thinking about the chaos in the world, Jiangnan is a place where the king's law is at least a place, and it is thousands of miles away from Hainan. Even if Mr. Zhao has three heads and six arms, he can't be an obedient citizen of the court?
Although his boss was very interested in Kun Thief, he could see that he was not impressed by Master Zhao's actions. Obviously, the boss and the thief cannot be dealt with. Under the protection of his employer, not only would he be safe and sound, but he might also have a chance to take revenge. Gou Chengxuan knew that it would be impossible for the Ming Dynasty to destroy the Kun thieves, but he would look for an opportunity to kill a few Kun thieves and make them feel great. It is still possible to suffer a loss.
Regrettably, the Kun thief always used the trick of colluding with the official gentry in the Ming Dynasty - this Kun thief named Zhao did not know what Australian tricks he used to seduce the local Jin gentry in Hangzhou. It is said that he also had relations with the scholars who were in Fushe. Nowadays, he is a respectable figure in the local area. Not to mention that he can't touch him, even his boss is a little afraid. He just asked him to pay attention to Mr. Zhao's movements at all times.
The things that Zhao Yingong did in Hangzhou such as silk improvement, loan granting, and even silk price manipulation were all sent to him by a special person and he put them in order.
These routines were very familiar to Gou Chengxuan - they were all replicas of the ones he had done in Lingao back then. This thief Zhao Kun was so courageous that he actually got under the eyes of the imperial court and "converted barbarians into summer".
However, the boss never expressed any response to the news and comments he collected. Just when Gou Chengxuan began to feel that there was little hope for his revenge plan, his boss finally sent him out.
His mission is to keep in touch with this person named Hao Yuan and convey his boss's wishes. As for Cao Guangjiu, he is also the person his boss wants him to keep in touch with. (To be continued...)
