Sure enough, after everyone returned to the table, Xie Yanchang crossed his hands and said: "Young Master Jiang, I admire your character and martial arts, Mr. We can’t give in easily, and today I’m risking my life to get an explanation from the young master.”
Jiang Shuo asked curiously: "Why did Brother Xie say this? I happened to visit He Xun Tower today and was invited by Dou Sanlang to enter this pavilion. But when did I offend Brother Xie?"
Xiao Dayou snorted and said: "Young Master Jiang, I admire you as a young hero, how can you be as bad as Hun Lao Er?"
Jiang Shuo turned around and asked Hun Weiming, "Brother Hun, what's going on? Did you know in advance who was waiting for us upstairs?"
Hun Weiming hurriedly denied: "No, no, I have absolutely no idea how many leaders are here."
Dou Tinghui also said: "Young Master Jiang, he really doesn't know about Leader Hun."
Jiang Shuo was confused after hearing this, and crossed his hands to Dou Tinghui and said, "Dou Sanlang, my new alliance leader, I really don't know where Jianghu Alliance has offended several leaders. Please tell Sanlang the truth."
Dou Tinghui said to Xie, Xiao and Lu: "The three leaders invited me to meet today because of Zhenze's share of water transportation. Naturally, they will not inform the Hun gang leader, so he really doesn't know, and I don't know." I saw Young Master Jiang downstairs reviewing He Xun's poems, so I invited you upstairs for a drink on a whim, but I didn't want to trace back to you as the new master of the world. There is such a trick in the world, so I would like to invite you all Don't be impatient, explain the cause of this matter clearly, and let's see how Young Master Jiang makes his decision."
Xiao Dayou said: "Okay, but first I want to ask Young Master Jiang, if he can be the master of Zhenze, the Southern Gang?"
Nan Jiyun shouted: "Young Master Jiang leads the Jianghu Alliance. Since Zhenze belongs to the Jianghu Alliance, the Young Master can naturally be Zhenze's leader!"
Hun Weiming also said: "Xiao Da, what do you mean? I, Hun Weiming, naturally have to listen to Young Master Jiang's orders."
Xiao Dayou was about to speak, but Lu Yuxuan stopped him and said: "Mr. Xiao, everyone is talking about it. Young Master Jiang doesn't know who to listen to. I'll let you talk about it. I don't know what the two of you think." how?"
Lu Yuxuan is a side branch of the Lu family of Fan Yang. Although he lives in the green forest, he is versatile in both civil and military affairs and is also very resourceful. He is known as "Fanyang Lu Lang, the contemporary zi fang". He is said to be like Zhang Liang, Zhang Zifang, the famous counselor who founded the Western Han Dynasty. Ordinary, that is naturally a bit exaggerated, but it also shows that the people in the green forest recognize his intelligence.
Xiao Dayou and Xie Yanchang were both rough warriors, and they immediately recommended Lu Yuxuan to represent the three gangs to explain the situation to Jiang Shuo.
Lu Yuxuan said: "Does Young Master Jiang know about water transportation?"
Jiang Shuo nodded and said: "Every year, the grain and rice produced in the south of the Yangtze River are transported along the canal to the capital, which is called water transportation. Isn't this the job of the imperial envoys?"
Lu Yuxuan smiled and said: "Young master really only knows one but not the other. Speaking of transportation, it is indeed a matter of the government. However, the grain and rice shipped from Yangzhou every year amount to millions of dan, which requires countless labor. In addition to In summer and autumn, we need to transport grain, salt, iron, silk, etc. How can we just rely on the gentlemen from the envoys and civilian laborers recruited at short notice?"
Jiang Shuo thought of the fat-headed and big-eared Captain Chen Xiandeng on the Han River, and felt good about it.
Lu Yuxuan continued: "Therefore, since the end of the Sui Dynasty, there have been many boatmen who make a living on the canal and specialize in water transportation. After more than a hundred years of development in the Tang Dynasty, water transportation has become increasingly prosperous. There are no less than 100,000 canal boaters. The boatmen are neither agricultural nor commercial. , it was not easy to make a living on the canal, so the boat people gradually gathered to help each other and formed a gang.
The canal is divided into four sections, and the boatmen are also divided into four gangs. The Wuyue boat people on the Shanyangdu and Jiangnan Rivers in the south are called the Jiangnan Gang, the Songzhou and Donglu boat people on both sides of the Tongji Canal are called the Qudong Gang, and the Luo boat people on both sides of the Yellow River in the north are called the Qudong Gang. The boat people in Yang and Weibo are called the Hebei Gang, and the boat people on the Guangtong Canal between the two Beijings in the west are called the Guanxi Gang. These are today's four major gangs in the southeast, northwest and northwest.
This gang is different from the martial arts gangs. The gang has a large number of people. Although there are many people who know kung fu, they are not a martial arts sect passed down from master to apprentice. Most of them are ordinary people who don't know kung fu. The leader of the gang is called the leader. "
Jiang Shuo thought to himself: No wonder Dou Sanlang called the three of them leaders before.
Lu Yuxuan continued: "The Jiangnan Gang is today's Zhenze Gang. It has prospered under the management of the second generation of gang leader Hun and his son. It has even formed a Jianghu alliance with the five lakes in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It is even more like riding on the Jianghuai and Weijia rivers. It’s the sea.”
Hun Weiming snorted and said, "Then you can form alliances as much as you can. Why should you blame others for your own lack of strength?"
Xiao Dayou said angrily: "The Zhenze Gang is located in the south of the Yangtze River. It controls the starting point of water transportation. It only takes advantage of the location and the most profit. But in recent years, Zhenze has bullied the weak and taken more, but they have not given any Others have a chance to survive.”
When Hun Weiming heard this, he stared and was about to get angry. Jiang Shuo quickly stopped him and said to Lu Yuxuan: "Lu Lang, please go on. How did Zhenze offend everyone?"
Lu Yuxuan said: "The water transport departs from Yangzhou. According to the rules set by Pei Yaoqing when he was the Jianghuai and Henan transshipment envoy, the water transport is divided into ten ships in a team, and the officers and soldiers are ordered to load the first and last two ships. The eight ships in the middle are operated by boatmen. This has always been the case. The four major gangs each occupy two. During the Autumn Festival last year, Gang Leader Hun suddenly wanted to change the rules and monopolize five of them. The other three gangs could only occupy one each. Young Master Jiang, are you being unreasonable? ?”
Hun Wei said clearly: "How can you be unreasonable? Jiangnan accounts for half of the world's boatmen. Naturally, it is reasonable to share half of the water transportation."
Xie Yanchang snorted and said: "You have many people, that's because the ships in Jiangnan are big and there are many boatmen."
Hun Weiming said: "There are many people on the boat, and there is plenty to eat. If I don't make two more trips, the boatman won't even earn enough to feed himself."
Xiao Dayou said: "You North and South Gangs are either at the starting point or the end point. You can go home after a round trip by boat. We Lu people, when running by boat, must first bring our own food to Yangzhou, and then return to Donglu after one trip." , the food and rice consumption is much more than the people in the north and the south!"
Lu Yuxuan also said: "Brother Xiao's words are wrong. To say that every family has its own difficulties. The Jianghuai waterway is wide, straight and stable, while the Heluo waterway is dangerous, especially the three gates. The northern boatmen pull the fibers themselves. But the southerners still have to find men to stretch their bodies, and all their money and food are wasted."
Hun Weiming said: "The southern ship is delicate and difficult to operate. The boatmen cannot leave the ship, otherwise there is a risk of capsizing. So they can only find someone to pull the fiber. Do you think I am willing to find someone to pull the fiber and be taken advantage of?"
Xiao Dayou also said: "Lu Lang, you are wrong to say that. The river has many dangerous shoals and foreigners are not familiar with hydrology. Naturally, they can only find local people to stretch their fibers." It turns out that Lu people also go to the river to find local people to stretch their fibers, so Xiao Dayou Dayou then disagreed with what Lu Yuxuan said.
Xie Yanchang said: "Only your losses cannot be counted on us. It is fair for each family to share the water transportation equally!"
Seeing that they were about to quarrel again, Dou Tinghui hurriedly smoothed things over and said: "Everyone, everyone... you are talking to me like this, arguing and arguing, but how can you tell Young Master Jiang to hear clearly? Please shut up first. "
Everyone then fell silent, but stared at each other, not convinced by anyone.
Dou Tinghui said to Jiang Shuo: "Young master, you see, they have been arguing for a long time over the share of water transportation. Not to mention fights, fights on the canal also happen from time to time. Today, the leaders of the three gangs from the east, west and north came to look for me. You also want me to make peace with Gang Leader Hun and give up some shares." He said it politely. In fact, the three families were planning to join forces to fight Zhenze, but they just came to inform him and did not ask him to make peace.
Dou Tinghui actually didn't expect Jiang Shuo, a fifteen-year-old boy, to solve this problem, but the fight between the various gangs over the share became increasingly fierce. Although they were targeting Zhenze today for occupying too many water transport quotas, in fact, the gangs were fighting against each other. There are also conflicts among the gangs, not only Dou Du and Zhenze can't get along, Dou Tinghui is both a local official and the proprietor of the silk and satin shop, which can be said to be both an official and a customer. When the conflicts between the four gangs escalate, he is the one who loses the most. However, the four gangs The gang leaders were all powerful and refused to obey anyone. Dou Tinghui was worried but had no idea what to do. She was so worried that she could only complain to Jiang Shuo now.
Jiang Shuo, however, was not impatient and asked, "My nephew, there is something I still don't know. Is this boat owned by the government or my own?"
Lu Yuxuan said: "Of course it was built by the government. The boatmen are poor and earn a living. How can they have the money to buy a boat?"
Jiang Shuo said: "Yes, today I saw that most of the gang members under the rule of my second brother are poor and mud-legged."
Hun Wei said clearly: "Isn't that right! I only said that Zhenze doesn't earn more than other gangs, but they don't believe it..."
Xiao Dayou stood up and said, "Young Master Jiang, the meaning behind your words is that you are trying to go astray. You are the only one who has many poor people in Zhenze? Are we all well-dressed and well-fed?"
Jiang Shuo said hurriedly: "Brother Xiao, please be patient, that's not what I meant." Turning to Lu Yuxuan, he asked: "Then I don't understand. Since the ships are all owned by the government, why are there big and small?"
Lu Yuxuan said: "This is not surprising. Water ships are not built in one place. There are shipyards in various governor's offices. Shipbuilding in various places is based on local styles. For example, during the water transportation season, there are strong southeast winds in the south of the Yangtze River, so the Yangtze shipyard builds ships. Doli sails can be driven upstream by the wind; while the Tongji Canal on Henan Road is wide but sandy, most of the boats built in Bianzhou have shallow, wide and flat bottoms and will not sit on the sand and run aground; the river has many dangerous shoals and reefs, and Luoyang The ships they built are the strongest and are not afraid of reefs; the waterway in Guanzhong is narrow, but the ships built in Weinan are only small boats."
Jiang Shuo said: "So, ships built in various places can come and go freely in their own waterways, but they are prone to danger when going to other places?"
Hun Wei said clearly: "What the young master said is that every year the southern boat enters the river, and it capsizes. Last year, several boats were damaged in the autumn transportation. The gang members' casualties are not counted, and the government's boat money has to be compensated."
Xie Yanchang also said: "The boats in the river are strong, but in the Yongji Canal, they are often stranded because the draft is too deep. Moreover, the waterway in the south of the Yangtze River is wide, and the boats in the north are narrow and carry too little, so it is not cost-effective."
After Jiang Shuo heard this, he already had a plan in his mind. He stood up, bowed to everyone, and said: "Everyone, since the boats from various places are most suitable for traveling in the local waterways, why don't each gang go their own way and only do what they are familiar with?" Sailing in the waterway?"
