Behind the turbulent river, Lao Lin led his two sons to stand on the side of the road, watching the team gradually move away.

"Daddy, their wine...... Hiccup~ It's so fragrant! ”

The youngest son was overwhelmed by the wine, standing there staggering and burping, his eyes were confused, as if he was still recalling the taste of the wine just now.

Although the eldest son on the side also drank a little red-faced and red-eared, and his eyes were much clearer than the younger son.

He turned his back on his hand, held up the heavy money wrapped around his waist, suddenly lowered his voice, and said to Lao Lin who was standing in front of him: "Dad, are you talking about this group of people, are they the ......ones who told our family to pay attention to a while ago?"

"Huh? What to look out for?! ”

However, before the eldest son could finish speaking, Lao Lin rudely interrupted him.

Lao Lin turned around, and while walking towards his big ship, he hummed without looking back: "This is just a caravan selling grain!" ”

"Huh? Oh......"

The eldest son was stunned by his father at first, and it wasn't until his father was about to walk to the side of the boat that he reacted, and said with a simple smile: "Yes! No matter who asks, they're just a caravan! ”

————

Xiao Han: They are back on the road.

However, it is not the same as the goal set at the beginning.

Xiao Han decided to go to Runzhou first, plan transportation and other matters in detail there, and then decide whether to go to Suzhou or Huzhou to buy grain.

Runzhou.

Located in the center of the north wing of the Yangtze River Delta, the only intersection hub of the Yangtze River and the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, it is known as the first river and mountain in the world; Because of its majestic status and guarding the Yangtze River, it was named "Zhenjiang" in later generations!

However, Runzhou in the Tang Dynasty was far from the rich Zhenjiang of later generations!

At this time, it was only a small county town, because it was located between the Yangtze River, the Jiangnan River and the Hanjiang River, and it naturally developed into a small city based on shipping.

When it comes to shipping, many people think that during the period of Li Yuan and Li Shimin, they didn't seem to care about shipping, and it wasn't until the reign of Wu Zetian and Li Longji that the shipping of the Tang Dynasty was developed.

But the real situation is that Li Yuan and Li Shimin also wanted to take advantage of Caoyun's powerful carrying capacity! But they really don't have anything to do!

At the beginning of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, because of years of conquest, the foundation of the country has been hollowed out!

The population is withering, commerce is degrading, and the trade in commodities is almost extinct.

I remember that when the Sui Dynasty was in its heyday, on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, there were also white sails and hundreds of boats competing for the stream!

At that time, there were hundreds of thousands of bareboat workers and people who relied on the shipping industry to survive!

This number almost exceeded more than half of the Tongzhou Dayi in the country at that time!

You must know that at that time, Runzhou was just a small county town with a radius of only ten miles!

However, in this world, glory often comes and goes quickly!

When the war came, the eighteenth road was against the king, the seventy-two roads swept the world, and the commercial chain that had just been built was immediately wiped out!

No businessman travels long distances to carry goods in all directions! The imperial court also did not care about mobilizing grain and specialty products from all over the country to feed back to the capital.

In this case, Runzhou quickly fell.

Without a livelihood, some of the people here left the land and found other jobs.

Some people are reluctant to move out, so they have to stay here and barely live, hoping that one day Runzhou will return to its original glory.

Even they knew that the process would be extremely long and long!

Xiao Han and his entourage came to Runzhou in the evening of the same day.

Passing through the humble city gate, the first impression of this county town to Xiao Han was chaos!

The road is uneven and puddle-strewn, and no one has repaired it!

In the middle of the road, the mule-drawn dung was uncollected.

On the side of the road, unkempt children looked at them curiously, and Xiao Han could even see fleas and lice burrowing in their hair.

"Shouldn't I be here?" Xiao Han, who has always had a slight habit of cleanliness, suddenly hesitated when he saw this scene.

However, this question only flashed in his mind, because he quickly remembered the conversation he had with Lao Lin at noon.

"It is not difficult for guests to buy grain, but in fact, what is really difficult is how to transport grain to Chang'an!" Next to the fire, Lao Lin took a glass of wine and squinted his eyes and said to Xiao Han with satisfaction.

Xiao Han smiled disapprovingly, took a bite of the fish in his hand, and said, "How can it be difficult to transport grain?" I heard that when the Sui Dynasty was in the early days, it used to transport grain to Luoyang and Chang'an through the Grand Canal? Could it be that the Grand Canal can still be silted up now? ”

"Silting? Of course not! Lao Lin didn't seem to believe it when he heard Xiao Han's tone, and immediately glared and said: "The Grand Canal is naturally still there, but there are not many boaters now!" If there is only a fairway and there are no boaters, it is not the same as there is a road and there is no horse-drawn carriage! Isn't it equal to nothing? ”

When Xiao Han heard this, he still didn't take what Lao Lin said seriously.

He continued to nibble on the fish and muttered, "No boatmen? Won't I go looking for it? For example, don't you, uncle, know how to operate a boat? It's really not possible, please help me when the time comes, my husband won't shirk, right? ”

Lao Lin looked at Xiao Han, suddenly laughed, shook his head again and again, and said, "Don't joke guests!" It's okay for me to ferry on this river, but if you want to go to the canal, it will not only harm the old man, but also harm you! ”

"Oh? What do you mean by that? Xiao Han saw that Lao Lin didn't seem to be lying to himself, so he finally got serious, put down the half-eaten fish, clapped his hands and looked at Lao Lin: "Isn't ferrying different from sailing?" I think it's all about the same! ”

Lao Lin smiled bitterly when he heard this, shook his head and said, "Hey, don't hide it from the guests, this boat is really not as simple as you think!"

Not to mention anything else, just finding a qualified boat boss is extremely rare!

Ten thousand catties of ships are traveling on the water, and countless goods and dozens of lives are almost all collected in his hands!

Such a person must not only know the water conditions and waterways well, but also know the weather, the docks, and other people who sail the boat.

Where the water is urgent, where the water is slow, where the slender men are needed, where the slender men work well and cheaply, where there are shipwrecks, where there are reefs, where can anchor, where there are whirlpools, where are strongmen robbing, where are the local government extortion...... Hey, these are really not things that the old man can do, and you let the old man go to the boat for you, isn't this harming yourself? ”

Thinking of the various questions that came out of Lao Lin's mouth, Xiao Han felt a little big until this time!

He never imagined that the shipping industry could be so complicated, far from being as simple as a horse-drawn carriage on land!

"If I want to find someone to transport grain to Chang'an for me, where does my husband think I should go?"

This is the last question Xiao Han asked.

And Runzhou is Lao Lin's answer.