Song Li was well aware of the benefits and harms of water transport. Faced with Zhu Yunwen, who came to Jining to inspect in person, he advised: "In the future, if the Grand Canal is unobstructed, water transport will definitely flourish. However, water transport is by no means a simple matter. I hope the emperor will do more." Consider and constrain."
Zhu Yunwen stood by the lake shore, looking at the huge concrete sluice, and said, "I don't know much about water transportation. There are no outsiders here, so you might as well explain it carefully."
The dredging of the Huitong River in the Jining section is basically completed. However, in order to ensure the safety of the river embankment, a group of migrant workers and craftsmen are still doing surveys, reinforcements, heightening, and transplanting trees along the river.
Xia Yuanji, Yang Shiqi and others accompanied Zhu Yunwen and looked at the river quietly. At this time, there is some water in the river. The water is not deep, only waist-high. Every hundred steps, there are craftsmen or migrant workers patrolling back and forth. Some people will jump into the river and use long main poles or shovels to move towards it. Pushing back and forth in the river. This is because there are holes in the river that cannot be seen with the naked eye, which may cause eddies and cause large amounts of river water to seep out, affecting the safety of the river banks.
Song Li looked solemn and said: "Your Majesty, the water transport is about to begin. The first question is how to carry out the water transport and who will carry out the water transport."
Zhu Yunwen stared slightly, put his hands behind his back, and asked: "Canal transportation has been around since ancient times. How does it work?"
Song Li sighed: "The scale of water transport was mostly small in the Spring and Autumn Period. For example, King Wu Fu Chai dug the Han ditch to connect the Yangtze River and the Huaihe River, and the Sui Dynasty opened the Grand Canal. In the Tang, Song, and Yuan Dynasties, everyone focused on water transport and had their own way to transport grain. , According to my opinion, whether it is the Sui, Tang, or Song and Yuan Dynasties, water transportation from north to south, west to east, is just two ways."
"oh?"
Zhu Yunwen was very interested.
Song Li raised his right hand, waved his index finger, and said: "The first is the method of transporting grain. Use the farmers in the grain-producing areas as the main force, and let them transport grain to grain warehouses, such as the Huai'an warehouse, under the organization of the chief. Then. Arrange for the sergeants of the guard station to collect grain from the warehouse and then transfer it to Tongzhou and Peiping."
Zhu Yunwen frowned slightly.
Where is the abundance of grain produced in the Ming Dynasty?
Not just Jiangxi, Zhejiang, South Zhili, Huguang, and Shandong. As for Guangzhou, Sichuan, Sichuan and other places, the roads are too far and the cost of water transportation is too high, so they are not included. If farmers were to be the main force in water transportation, wouldn't it waste too much of farmers' time? For example, in Huguang, even if you take a boat down to Huai'an, considering the time on the road there and back, loading and unloading time, it is unlikely that you will be busy for less than 20 days.
If water transportation is carried out four times a year, that is eighty days, nearly three months. Isn’t it nonsense to let people spend nearly three months a year on water transportation? Do they still need to do farm work? The farming season has been delayed and the harvest has been affected. How to calculate this account?
When Song Li saw that Zhu Yunzhen was silent, he continued to talk: "The second is the cash transfer method. This method requires the court to set up more warehouses, and the people directly transport the grain to nearby warehouses, and then the grain is transferred to the guard station near the warehouse, but this method The method is to convert the miles saved by farmers into corresponding expenses and pay them to the government."
"Wait! The miles saved will be converted into expenses and handed over to the government?"
Zhu Yunwen stopped Song Li with a confused look on his face.
Song Li nodded repeatedly, and seeing some anger in Zhu Yunwen's eyes, he quickly explained: "Your Majesty, this is generally the case in other dynasties. Even with the transportation method, all costs of water transportation are borne by the people."
"What costs will the people bear?"
Zhu Yunwen clenched his fists.
Song Li felt timid in the face of Zhu Yunwen's majestic gaze. He lowered his head and said, "The fees here are the river crossing fee, ship repair fee, and the towing fee to pass the lock..."
"presumptuous!"
Zhu Yunwen shouted angrily.
Song Li's legs softened and he knelt down.
Zhu Yunwen glared angrily: "Let the people bear the cost of water transportation, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. What's the point of asking them to bear the cost? Why should the people pay for the money to repair the ships? Why should the people pay for the money to pull the fibers through the locks? ? Transporting grain by water is the property of the imperial court, so why should we pay the river crossing fee? Even if it needs to be paid, it is paid by the imperial court. Why should the common people pay?"
Song Li trembled a little and reluctantly gave an answer: "Isn't this the case in the previous dynasty?"
Seeing Song Li's behavior, Xia Yuanji came out and helped Song Li and said: "Your Majesty, what Song Shilang said is not wrong. From the Sui and Tang Dynasties, the main force of water transportation is mostly migrant workers. The imperial court is not willing to bear this part of the expenses and costs. It can be forcibly apportioned to the people in the name of corvee, allowing them to provide and transport grain, and at the same time bear the corresponding expenses, in exchange for tax reductions and exemptions in the coming year."
Zhu Yunwen threw up his sleeves and asked: "If the people only need to pay one dan for grain a year, and the imperial court forcibly allocates water transportation and asks them to pay various expenses, the cost will be two or three dan more than the regular grain. It's you, are you willing?"
Xia Yuanji was silent and Song Li lowered his head.
Zhu Yunwen felt very sour in his heart. This kind of thing is not alarmist. It has happened time and time again in history. Some people even went bankrupt due to water transportation, had to sell their sons and daughters, and finally became homeless refugees with nothing!
Water transport sucks blood, especially when the organizers of water transport are li chiefs, security chiefs, gentry and the like. Anyone who doesn't deal with them will go to someone else to transport grain. The food and drink expenses for transporting grain by water, and all kinds of expenses, including If the ship is damaged, this family will be responsible for it. If you dare not go, the government will arrest you!
If you go, it may mean that this house is completely finished!
For example, the county magistrate asked the district chief to deliver 100 tons of grain to Huai'an. The district chief chose Zhang San to be responsible for the water transportation. Zhang San's family originally only had to pay six tons of grain, but because he was responsible for the water transportation, Zhang San had to take care of the food of the people accompanying him. .
Zhang San, you have to remember, you can eat whatever you want, but the one hundred shi of grain that needs to be transported must not be missing a grain of grain. You have to pass through a gate in the middle and hire a tracker. You also have to pay. If you exceed the deadline for too long, you will need to be punished. of……
Originally, the family could still afford food, but after a trip by water transport, Zhang San found out that he was saddled with a lot of debts and had to change his career. He became an outlaw and wandered around the rivers and lakes, but he was unable to uphold justice.
It's okay if there is only one Zhang San among the outlaws, but if there are dozens of Zhang Sans popping up every day, and hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of Zhang Sans popping up every year, will the court still have a good life?
These refugees have lost everything. They have only two ways out. They can either become vassals of the gentry and become countless people like Zhu Wusi, who will not have enough to eat or wear for the rest of their lives. Once there is a disaster, it is normal for several children to die, or they can rise up. , until he was killed during the imperial purge.
Zhu Yunwen looked at Song Li coldly, then shifted his gaze to the river and said, "Tell me, if you only have this ability, you would be very sorry for Zhang Xianzong."
Zhang Xianzong died for the people, and Song Li highly praised him. Although he was busy with the project of connecting the river in the past few years, he would personally go to Henan to pay homage to Zhang Xianzong on the anniversary of his death. Zhu Yunwen knew these things.
A person who cares about the people should not pass all the pressure on to the people.
If this is true, it proves that he is too hypocritical.
Song Li raised his head in surprise, looked at Zhu Yunwen who was serious, and then kowtowed heavily: "I believe that water transportation should not burden the people! The sergeants of the guard station should be the main force and fully bear the responsibility for water transportation!"
Zhu Yunwen's face looked better. Song Li's ability to say such words showed that he was not unprepared, nor had he thought about the shortcomings of water transportation. He was just testing whether he should continue on the road ahead, or put the people first and be willing to do something. Improvement.
"Will the guard station's responsibility for water transportation cause the guard station to lose its combat effectiveness?"
Yang Shiqi asked.
After receiving permission from Zhu Yunwen, Song Li stood up and solemnly said to Yang Shiqi and others: "It is inevitable that the guard post carries grain, and its combat power is weakened, but I think it is not inevitable. There are many guard posts in the interior of the country where water can be transported. Under the jurisdiction of the capital, there is no worry about war on weekdays. It is the main force of our war, so it is okay to allocate one part of it to specialize in water transportation."
Zhu Yunwen said nothing after hearing this.
Although Song Li's words don't sound good, they are an indisputable fact.
The most elite force of the Ming Dynasty is the three major battalions of chief and deputy officers of the capital. In addition, they are the soldiers of the northern border and important towns, such as the sergeants of the guards in Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang and other places. They serve more as a reserve army. Characters can only be used as the main force when the main force is dead.
On weekdays, these sergeants do not have much sense of worry. After all, they also know that it is not their turn to fight in small battles, and it is not their turn to fight in big battles. Apart from training and farming, they have nothing to do...
If Song Li's idea was to dedicate a part of the guards' sergeants to transport grain, the impact on the guards themselves would be limited, and the impact on the military defense and deployment of the Ming Dynasty would also be limited.
Zhu Yunwen considered the feasibility, and said slowly: "You mean, the sergeants of the guard station will be responsible for the water transportation, and the grain transportation will still go through the county government, and the corresponding fees will be paid to the migrant workers by recruiting corvees, and the migrant workers will deliver them to nearby granaries?"
Song Li solemnly said: "That's true. This is the best solution I can think of."
Zhu Yunwen thought for a moment and nodded: "It may be feasible for the guard sergeants to transport grain, but I do not plan to temporarily transfer some of the guards to the guard. Instead, I plan to permanently remove some personnel from the guard to join the navy. In the water There is a water transport division in the division, which is responsible for water transport to prevent water transport from harming and harming the people."
Song Li paused.
Xia Yuanji couldn't help but feel a little depressed. Once the canal transport navy was built, the number of people would not be small. Without 30,000 to 50,000 people, it would not be easy to support the task of transporting grain to the north. If he wanted to support a team of 30,000 to 50,000 people, he could not support it. A lot of money and food are needed, and these people also need ships. Qingjiang Shipyard is afraid that it will have to ask for money again...
When Song Li saw that Zhu Yunwen had made arrangements, he put aside his worries. After all, the water transport navy had its own organization and operation methods. He did not need to worry about it. As long as he did not recruit a large number of migrant workers, it was easy to say. Moreover, he was a guard sergeant. If there was any problem, he would be impeached. Don't be gentle when you get up.
"I have one more thing to do."
Song Li said to Zhu Yunwen who was in deep thought.
Seeing that Song Li was very serious, Zhu Yunwen couldn't help but ask, "What's the matter?"
Song Li did not pause and said frankly: "The Grand Canal will be opened soon, and water transportation will be responsible for transporting grain to the north. Should the court consider banning sea transportation? After all, the sea route is dangerous and dangerous, and it will harm people and money..."
PS:
I've finished my work and will start updating tomorrow. Thank you all for your understanding and support.
We provide you with the fastest update of "Da Ming: I was Reborn as Zhu Yunwen" by the master Han Mei Jingxue. In order that you can check the fastest update of this book next time, please be sure to save the bookmark!
Chapter 737: Disadvantages of Water Transport, Naval Transport Free Reading.
