At the beginning of the journey, curiosity and beautiful imagination are always poetry.
Hundreds of boats competed, sails fluttered in the wind, water transportation developed, food, warehouses, ships...
As the ship bumps, all you see are water, cargo, and trackers. After a full meal, you have nothing to do. Imagine the great and vital role of water transportation.
Water transportation was an important economic measure for the imperial court. It is a kind of professional transportation that uses waterways (rivers and seaways) to transport grain (mainly public grain).
Adopt an approach that focuses on official operations and supplements business operations, but the more you understand, the more you discover its duality.
But sometimes water transport is like a wild beast that chooses people to eat. It doesn't know when it will be swallowed up and come out again as a piece of excrement.
Peasants were hand-picked to serve in the army. They lost their jobs during the famine, faced extreme hardships, were swept away by wind and waves, and were blackmailed by officials. They were bound to go into debt and even lose their families, forcing them to flee and resist.
The burden on farmers is extremely heavy, usually two to three times, or even four or five times that of normal.
Regardless of whether the carrier is a civilian or military carrier, it is a heavy corvee.
The lower levels of the general transport army also suffered from the same suffering and were embezzled by their superiors, and they continued to flee.
The identities of thieves are complex and come from a wide range of sources, including canal transport soldiers, grain ship sailors, grain ship staples and even ordinary people who have become thieves and robbed canal ships.
Grain ship sailors, grain ships short fiber, ordinary people snatch clothes, silver, cloth and other items in order to make a living. When they are caught, the dirt sinks into the water. Without evidence, there is no crime.
Officials and soldiers are officials during the day and thieves at night; in the name of officials, they commit robbery in essence. Robbery was carried out in the name of catching criminals; robbery was carried out by falsely claiming that the passenger ship was a stolen ship.
A chivalrous person responds to the entire social environment (famine, temptation of materialistic desires.) It is just a drop of water falling into the sea, which does not help, and makes you feel uneasy after seeing it.
The two of them went out to the plywood one night to get some air. There were already many people standing on the plywood. They also saw dogs, eagles, blue sky and white clouds...
On the ship, I only eat and sleep, or I worry about the country and the people, how can I be in a good mood?
They watched the dog follow the escort people as they patrolled the cargo, but the two of them didn't go there. They just saw what they were talking about, and after that, some of them went into the cabin to rest.
Someone checked to confirm the waterline of the ship, the direction of sail expansion, compared with the sailing route, calculated the arrival time, and whether to purchase supplies...
The escort chiefs must be well aware of all this. They have stopped the ship at night, the oars are no longer moving, and the escorts who are on duty and in charge of the cargo are left behind, and the sails are lowered.
The two people's water skills are already excellent. Once an unexpected situation occurs, they must be able to come and go freely in the water. Together with their own methods, the thieves will not be able to take advantage of them.
When you are not sailing, you can give the sailors money and learn to row from the sailors, so you can row a small boat.
…
On a ship, night has always been the best time for thieves to attack. Once there is movement, the dogs on the ship will bark and follow the scent to guide the owner to catch the thief. He is a good helper for the owner.
"Brother, what kind of ship is that?" The escort looked in the direction pointed by Han Yishi.
"What do you mean! The big government ships are full of grain, the land tax collected by the emperor, the expenses of the palace, the officials' salaries, the army's food and wages... Without these ships, they would all have to stop and starve to death. They're stupid."
"Xiongtai refers to the transportation method of these grains to the capital or other designated places via waterways. Where waterways are impassable, land transportation is supplemented, mostly by vehicles, so it is also called "Zhuancao" or "Caochang"."
"This kind of food is called Caoliang. The water thieves only dare to touch this Caoliang. Sometimes I think they are really fucking heroes."
Speaking of excitement, the bodyguard appeared in the hand like a stroke of iron and was making random gestures.
Welcome the curious eyes of the two siblings.
"This is the judge's pen, and that brother's is the Emei thorn, a life-saving item at critical moments. I can't say anything else."
…
Of course, "water transportation" is not only used to transport food, but also a channel for merchant ships to pull goods.
Talking about some miscellaneous things will make it less boring, but after all, you are out and about, so you must be on guard against others.
There are naturally people who stick together to keep warm, and there are so many gangs on the waterways that it’s hard to tell them apart. For example, there is a secret guild association among water transport sailors: the original intention of the association is to protect their own interests and cooperate with the government. struggle.
In the past, all the disciples were engaged in water transportation, so they were called the Grain Ship Gang. From north to south, there are many people joining the gang.
Han Yishi used some special means to learn something inside.
For example, in order to recruit talented people, we have set up three rules of dos and don’ts (no borrowing, no stealing, no beating, no scolding, no borrowing, no false accusation),
Whenever an incense hall is set up, the disciples will be asked to straighten their coats, remember the past, and trace the origins.
This approach will inevitably be taken advantage of by those who are interested. If you slander the court, it will definitely cause great harm to the lifeblood of the gang.
Therefore, Caobang asked its disciples to keep secrets and strictly abide by the three-talk-three-no-talk principle (comrades can be talked about, talks can be done in the incense hall, and the suo gang can be talked about; but not in teahouses, not in wine shops, and not in bathhouses).
Even how to confirm whether it is really one's own family, there is a clear and complicated method of identification, and the method of identification is called Pandao Tiaokou.
Therefore, members of the gang must respect the principle of showing up three times and not showing up (in case of emergency, distress, and interrogation, but not to outsiders, acquaintances, and relatives).
As it has developed to this day, the members of the Caogang have become more complex. In addition to bankrupt farmers, unemployed handicraftsmen and lumpen proletarians, many laid-off soldiers have also joined it. There are also a few landlords and gentry who have extensive connections with the lower classes of society.
It began to involve the "black industry", which includes cigarettes, gambling, prostitution and other illegal activities. After all, the money comes in too fast, and there will always be people who can't help it.
For example, in the skin and meat business, gang members mainly make a living by selling people. They can provide them with "goods" frequently and in large quantities. Human traffickers provide young prostitutes for brothel madams through human traffickers.
Most women who make a living selling their flesh and blood, because they are so ravaged, their beauty is fleeting and their youth is short-lived.
Especially low-class prostitutes were ravaged and their working age was even more limited. Therefore, brothel owners should always be on the lookout for beauties and find ways to replace them.
Human trafficking in gangs provides new blood to brothels, promotes the prosperity of the prostitution industry, and also provides new opportunities for the gangs themselves to make money.
Out of the pier.
High mountains, dense forests, and dense swamps are the world of water thieves. They gather in the mountains and forests to become giant thieves. They make a living by robbing ships. If they kill one group, another group will grow again, like bamboo shoots after the rain, or even more.
Han Yishi would no longer go out of his way to exterminate giant bandits. The experience of Jiangsu and Zhejiang told him that this was the entire environment. It was not just the fault of the plunderers, but he would only care if they appeared in front of him.
The government generally requires private ships to sail during the day and berth at crowded docks at night to prevent thieves.
