Some people may question whether 500 large ships can carry 880,000 shi of grain. Of course they can! There is absolutely no doubt about this!
During the Qin and Han Dynasties, the development of my country's shipbuilding industry reached its first peak. During the war to unify southern China, Qin Shihuang organized a large fleet capable of transporting 500,000 shi of grain. With the technology at that time, it was possible to build large ships with a carrying capacity of 50 to 60 tons. One stone weighs one hundred kilograms, which means that a ship in the Qin and Han Dynasties could carry more than a thousand stones.
The second peak in the history of Chinese shipbuilding during the Tang and Song Dynasties, the dragon boat ridden by Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty was 4.5 feet high and 20 feet long. The upper floor had the main hall, the inner hall, and the east and west halls. There are 120 rooms on the middle two floors, with a load capacity of more than 300 tons. Of course, it became even more powerful in the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty built the "Shenzhou" for its mission to North Korea, and its carrying capacity reached more than 1,500 tons. Some large ships carry tens of thousands of stones and have rudders three to five feet long.
Tai Chi Hall.
Li Er, who was sitting at the top, although he had been prepared for it, was still shocked by Li Xiaogong's "work report". His eyes were no smaller than others. Fortunately, the courtiers were not paying attention to him now. Otherwise, if his gaffe was noticed by the admonishing officials, he would definitely be "criticized" again.
"Ahem~! This trip south is really fruitful! Xiaogong and the soldiers worked tirelessly, traveled thousands of miles, and made great contributions to the country. They should be rewarded~!"
Li Er came back from the shock and praised with emotion.
"Your Majesty~!"
As soon as Li Er finished speaking, he saw Wei Zheng walking in front. The old troll bowed his hand to Li Er, and then said: "The prince of Hejian County led the fleet south and gained a lot. It is gratifying and congratulatory, but there is still something in my heart. I don’t know what happened, but I dare to ask Hejian County Prince, where did these one hundred thousand taels of silver and fifty thousand catties of brass come from?”
In fact, Wei Zheng was not targeting anyone, he was just discussing the matter, because food, spices, ivory, etc. were all easy to talk about, but such a huge amount of brass and silver was too confusing for him. After all, which country would use these things to Trade~? It doesn’t make any sense!
After listening to Wei Zheng's question, the other ministers cast questioning glances at Li Xiaogong, but Li Zexuan felt a twitch in his heart, secretly complaining that something was wrong, because from the information he knew, the fifty thousand kilograms of brass Li Xiaogong brought back. , the three hundred thousand taels of silver were "war reparations" extorted from the Japanese country. If this was revealed, Li Xiaogong would most likely receive some impeachment.
Li Er's eyes darkened. Obviously he also knew the inside story of the Japanese war, but now that Wei Zheng asked about it in public, he could only watch Li Xiaogong perform on his own.
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As soon as Li Er left with the civil and military officials, the dock immediately became lively. With more than a thousand large ships, they certainly could not all dock at the same time to unload their cargo, so they could only come in batches. At the top of the list are of course the five hundred official ships of the imperial court.
Wu Di, the captain of Li Xiaogong's personal guard, came to Xiao Yu with a man in charge, then respectfully handed over a pamphlet, and said with cupped fists:
"Xiao Shangshu, this is the list of all the cargo on the official ship. He is Yao Jing, the cabin steward. If Xiao Shangshu has any questions, just ask the general or steward Yao, and we will definitely tell you everything~!"
"Well, okay, thank you~!"
Xiao Yu said politely, then took the brochure. When he opened it, he was shocked.
"This... so much food~? I'm afraid the granary in Chang'an City can't hold it~?"
When Yan Lide heard this, he was extremely curious. What he was thinking was that this time the imperial ship brought so much silk and porcelain, which could cost more than 100,000 shi of food. How could Chang'an City not be able to carry it?
"Shi Wen (Xiao Yu's word), let me see how much food there is?"
After saying that, Yan Lide came over eagerly to find out. After seeing the numbers on the booklet clearly, his eyes widened and he exclaimed:
"This, this, this, 880,000 shi~? Taicang will definitely not be able to hold so many shi of grain. It has to be transported to Hanjiacang in Luoyang~!"
The Taicang he was talking about was the largest granary in Chang'an City, and it was also considered a royal granary. Its main function was to provide royal consumption, rewards, official salaries, military supplies, and government accounts. Although Taicang's main function is to serve the ruling center, it also has some positive effects. For example, whenever there is a famine, Taicang will use grain to replenish Changpingcang to curb the skyrocketing grain prices, and will also sell some grain at low prices to provide relief to the victims.
However, Taicang's total reserves are not high and can only store five to six hundred thousand shi at most (one stone in the Tang Dynasty was equivalent to one hundred catties, and two hundred catties in the Song Dynasty) of grain. Moreover, the autumn harvest has just passed, and the remaining space in Taicang is Even less. That's why these two court bosses expressed such emotions.
As for the Hanjiacang that Yan Lide mentioned, it was considered the largest granary in the Tang Dynasty.
In the early days of the Sui Dynasty, the capital of the Sui Dynasty was Chang'an, but the products in the Guanzhong area were no longer able to meet the consumption needs of the royal family, nobles, court officials and the central army, and they could not be self-sufficient in food alone. During the Daye period, Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty built the Grand Canal in order to meet the food needs of the capital Chang'an. Later, Yang Guang directly moved the capital to Luoyang.
After establishing the capital in Luoyang, Yang Guang first built Huiluocang as the "national granary" in Luoyang. The entire city of Huiluocang is 335 meters long from east to west and 335 meters wide from north to south. There are about 700 warehouses with an inner diameter of 10 meters. Each warehouse can store about 4,000 shi of grain. The entire city can store 3,000 grains. Millions of stones of food.
Since Huiluocang was built outside Luoyang City in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, at the end of the Sui Dynasty, when the world was in chaos, Li Mi seized Huiluocang, and Luoyang City fell into a food shortage situation for a while. Later, returning to Luocang became the focus of the war between Li Shimin and Wang Shichong, who was separatist in Luoyang. The grain cellars outside the city were occupied, and Wang Shichong was defeated due to severe food shortage.
Later, Li Shimin saw the disadvantages of having a granary outside the city, and he decided to build a granary inside Luoyang City to avoid repeating the mistakes of the Sui rulers. This granary whose geographical location was carefully "designed" by Li Shimin was Hanjiacang. Hanjiacang not only supplied grain to Luoyang City, but also served as a rice transfer station between Guandong and Guanzhong. Later, it gradually replaced the largest grain warehouse at the time. The granary, Luokou Granary, has become the largest granary in the world, with a total reserve of nearly six million stones!
"Indeed, 150,000 shi of grain will be transported to Taicang first, and the rest can only be transported to Luoyang along the Grand Canal~! Lide, you will take care of it here first, and I will go to the palace to meet the emperor and ask for the order. Some of the official ships will turn around and head directly to Luoyang~!"
Xiao Yu thought for a while and decided to ask Li Er for his opinion. Otherwise, there would be no place to put so much food even if it was moved down, and it would only be a benefit to the rats.
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Second update!
(End of chapter)
