Hearing the great achievements of his ancestors, Chen Wangmo couldn't help but puff up his chest and nodded heavily: "Yes, the ancestors dug the Qingjiangpu back then, so that the boats could go directly to the Yellow River, and since then the transportation costs have been greatly saved. In addition, due to the treacherous sea storms, the ships were often damaged, so they requested that the sea transport be stopped. The ancestors have already proved that shipping is not as good as shipping, but now those people are trying to go against the grain, which is really condemnable! ”

"Since the shipping is under our control, then we have to come over now, won't everything be settled?" The officials were quite excited. Regardless of whether it is transported by sea or by sea, as long as it is in their hands, it is good luck.

"It's not proper, we can't move to the beach with us." The local officials along the river were not happy when they heard this. Although everyone comes from the same hatred, their interests are not always completely identical. Regardless of who is in charge of the sea transportation, the damage to them is the same.

"It's just a stopgap measure, and it will be shipped when the canal is repaired." Caoyun officials persuaded.

"It's not proper, Caoyun Yamen has always said that shipping is too risky, and now it suddenly says that it is feasible, isn't it a slap in the face?" Local officials are not as coaxing as three-year-olds, and they still understand the truth that it is difficult to recover when covered by water. If the Caoyun Yamen is allowed to manage the sea transportation, with the current urine of Caoyun, it is really impossible to say who is the son and who is the stepmother in the future.

Seeing that the two gangs were going to quarrel by themselves, Zhenyuanhou slapped the table to shut up these idiots, and then asked Song Xiaoming: "Shopkeeper Song, tell me, can we grab the sea?" ”

"Back to the Hou Ye, in my humble opinion, we can't let people lead the nose." Song Xiaoming replied calmly: "Although we still have thousands of boats and tens of thousands of sailors, operating a boat in the canal is completely different from sailing on the ocean. ”

"Hmm......" Gu Huan shook his head, thinking deeply. There is no wind or waves on the canal, and the boats do not need to navigate, just walk along the only river.

But when you are on the sea with high winds and dangerous waves, it takes skill, experience and courage to sail. And these are not available to the Cao Dings.

"Jiangnan Group can do it, why can't we?" The people of the Caoyun Yamen muttered dissatisfiedly.

"Jiangnan Group can do it because they took in the Sand Boat Gang first. The wind and waves on the Yangtze River are second only to the sea, and the sand boat gang often operates along the coast of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and their ships and sailors themselves have the conditions for shipping. Song Xiaoming's face did not change and said in a deep voice: "In a short period of time, we will not be able to meet the conditions for shipping. ”

After a pause, he changed his words and said in a deep voice: "And there is no need for us to take the evil road of ocean shipping, it is unwise to use our own shortcomings and attack the other's strengths." ”

"What do you mean?" Gu Huan nodded and asked.

"In order to take the initiative into our own hands, we should come up with our own alternatives." I only heard Song Da's shopkeeper say in a deep voice: "We can propose to reopen the Jiaolai River!" ”

"Reopen the Jiaolai River?" Everyone in the hall couldn't help but look at each other, and said in their hearts, what kind of bad idea is this?

Everyone here eats the bowl of rice of Caoyun, so naturally they are no strangers to the topic of Caoyun. For example, the Jiaolai River dispute is much more popular than the 'maritime dispute', and almost every time there is an accident in the canal, someone mentions it. It can also be seen that among the alternatives to the canal, the order of the Jiaolai River is higher than that of the sea.

The Jiaolai River was originally an artificial canal dug by the Yuan Dynasty to run through the Shandong Peninsula and connect Jiaozhou Bay and Laizhou Bay in order to avoid the fleet from bypassing the Shandong Peninsula when shipping grain.

The canal is 200 miles long, which can save 800 miles of sea routes, and can also shelter from the wind and waves at sea, which sounds amazing. So Kublai Khan sent tens of thousands of people and spent two years digging this beautiful canal.

However, after the opening of navigation, it was found that the canal was too defective - the high terrain in the middle of the Shandong Peninsula and the low terrain on both sides made the water flow of the Jiaolai River divert from north to south. As a result, the canal, which was originally planned to flow with abundant seawater, is actually a freshwater river with insufficient water.

Therefore, the Jiaolai River is easily silted up and difficult to pass through large boats. Ships transported by sea must be exchanged for small boats in Jiaozhou Bay in order to pass through the canal. Not to mention, the loss is also amazing.

In addition, at that time, shipping opened up a safer and faster ocean shipping lane, far avoiding the coastal area, so that the Jiaolai River completely became a decoration, so Kublai Khan soon issued an order to 'dismiss the Jiaolai shipping incident'.

But the monarchs and ministers of the Ming Dynasty have always dreamed of this Jiaolai River.

Not to mention, in the fourteenth year of Jiajing, in order to reduce the pressure of Cao Yun, the imperial court requisitioned the people, reopened the Jiaolai Canal, which had long been silted, and diverted river water into the canal to increase the flow of water. Following the example of the Grand Canal, nine locks were built to regulate the water level of the river.

Now, finally, you don't need to change a big boat for a small boat, and you can pass through the Jiaolai Canal. The whole court was overjoyed, and all the officials who proposed and carried out the construction were rewarded.

But the next year, the Jiaolai River was re-silted. This time, the culprit was the tide. At high tide, the sea carries a large amount of sediment from the estuary, and at low tide, the sea leaves the sediment to retreat alone, and the siltation rate is so fast that there is no time to desilt......

Such a sick canal is simply a dou who can't be helped, but it is regarded by Song Xiaoming as a magic weapon against shipping, and everyone is naturally unconvinced.

~~

Facing everyone's questioning eyes, Song Xiaoming said unhurriedly: "I know that the Jiaolai River is overwhelmed, it is barely opened, and it will soon be silted up again." ”

"Not bad." Everyone nodded one after another, and secretly said that you still know?

"But for us, the Jiaolai River couldn't be better." Song Xiaoming picked up the teacup, gently skimmed off the foam, and said leisurely:

"First of all, it's so good that it only lasts for a year or two."

"That's right!" The participants who were a little more active already understood what the shopkeeper Song meant. "Aren't we in need of such a short-term replacement?"

The local officials have no problem now. If the Jiaolai River is used to temporarily replace Caoyun, the canal will be repaired in the future, and the Caochuan will definitely have to go back to them. Otherwise, the surging costs could bankrupt the Caoyun Yamen.

"Second, if the imperial court adopts our Jiaolai shipping plan, then the shipping .asxs. will not be Suzhou Taicang, but our Huai'an. This will cause the least damage to the current pattern, and most importantly, it can keep those Jiangnan water crabs out and prevent them from getting involved in Caoyun. The shopkeeper Song took a sip of tea and continued.

"Wonderful, wonderful!" Everyone gave a thumbs up, and the dominance of Caoyun cannot be sidelined, which is the fundamental principle.

"Third, the Jiaolai shipping route, less than 600 miles from Huai'an, can enter Jiaozhou Bay, and they are all coastal offshore, the difficulty of sailing is much smaller, and our Caoding is also easier to use." Song Xiaoming put down the teacup and said slowly: "To sum up, I suggest that the Governor's Mansion and the General Military Mansion jointly submit a letter to propose the reopening of the Jiaolai River, I don't know what the Hou Ye and you think?" ”

"Yes!"

"No comment!"

"Overwhelmingly agreed!" The people who were still panicking like dogs, now they finally have the backbone, so who will object?

"This is a good idea, it not only solves the urgent needs of the imperial court, but also does not hurt our roots." Marquis Zhenyuan also nodded and praised: "It's better for us to call it 'Jiaolai Shipping', which can be regarded as the implementation of His Majesty's will to 'handle shipping quickly'." Those who support maritime transportation have no reason to oppose us. ”

"Well changed! Wonderful change! Everyone hurriedly echoed and praised: "Hou Ye is an old spicy, every word is gold!" This change, we will take too many initiatives! ”

"Hey, hey." Only Liu Shiyan, who was sincere, deliberately contradicted there: "What you think is quite beautiful, but the court will listen to you?" Even if you play word games again, you can't change the fact that Your Majesty and Hubu Shangshu both support Jiangnan Group! ”

"We are the Caoyun Yamen, why do you have to listen to our ideas about Caoyun?" Everyone retorted as a matter of course.

"You can save Zhao Kongzhao's head first." Liu Shiyan smiled strangely: "Eight hundred boats capsized in Suqian, I just made such a big mistake, and the farts released can only be stuffy and stinky farts, absolutely no sound!" ”

"You!" The mood of everyone who had just turned cloudy and sunny was disturbed by the words of 'Xiao Liu Ji'.

"Okay, you can say a few words." The Marquis of Zhenyuan glanced at Liu Shiyan helplessly, this guy has a high status and is old, and he has also been in charge of the Governor's Mansion of the Right Army, and he is the only one in the field who can suppress this guy.

"But there is some truth in what Cheng Cheng Bo said." Gu Huan sighed, and said with some worry: "If it's just a Jiangnan Group, it's not a matter of worry. After all, their influence in the capital is not as good as ours, but the kid surnamed Zhao has brought Xishan Company in, which is indeed a bit troublesome. ”

"yes." Nan Hebo nodded and said: "I heard that the Duke of Dingguo, the Duke of England, and the Duke of Chengguo all have shares in Xishan Company, and the Duke of Dingguo and the Duke of England are still working in it. Not to mention the eldest princess. ”

"Beijing's high-ranking officials and wealthy businessmen are very obsessed with this Raushzi Xishan Company." The officials also nodded, and said with some fear: "It is indeed tricky for these two families to join forces." ”

"So there has to be something else." The shopkeeper of the Song Dynasty looked at everyone calmly, and said in a deep voice: "But today, let's first finalize the matter of Jiaolai shipping, and arrange the affairs of Shangshu and lobbying as soon as possible." ”

"Yes." Everyone knows that this is going to be an outside move. Naturally, this kind of thing can't be discussed in front of so many people, and most of them don't want to hear about it.

So they hurriedly spent an afternoon finalizing the plan for the transportation of Jiaolai and the plan for promoting it, and everyone went back to their respective residences in Huai'an City to rest.

Only Gu Huan, Chen Wangmo, Song Xiaoming and other core figures stayed behind to discuss some shady things.

This kind of thing, Qiu Gonggong naturally will not be involved. He, the eunuch guarding the town, can pretend to be deaf and dumb, which is the greatest support for the Caoyun Group.

Liu Shiyan wanted to stay and get involved, but Gu Huan gave Dong Ningbo Bo, who went to drink flower wine with Nan Hebo left and right.