From Nantong Prefecture to Shanghai, you can cross the river to Shazhou (now Zhangjiagang) on the other side of the river, and then hire a boat to go to Shanghai via the inland river that extends in all directions in the south of the Yangtze River, or simply take the land route. However, it is said that the boatmen on the other side of the river will not go that far, so I don't know how many times I will have to change boats on the way. Don't even think about taking the road route, after all, it's hundreds of miles.

Han Xiufeng discussed with Pan Er and Su Jueming, who came back from going out to inquire, and finally decided to hire this sand boat registered in Tongzhou with the name "Yuan Wanli" to go to Shanghai. Going down the river, entering the Huangpu River from Wusongkou, you can go straight to the wharf outside the small east gate of Shanghai County, not only only takes three days at most, but also does not need to change ships on the way. Unexpectedly, Yu Sangu, who was pregnant, had nothing to do, and Ren Yuer was so seasick that she was about to vomit out her bitter gall.

Men and women don't kiss, Han Xiufeng can't intervene and can't help, Yu Sangu, who should have been taken care of by Ren Yu'er, took care of Ren Yu'er, but in the past two days, I don't know how many times I cleaned the cabin that was vomited and messed up.

Xiao Wuzi walked to the stern of the boat with the cable, looked back at the boatmen who were busy through the gap in the canopy, and said in a low voice, "Fourth master, Su Jueming just went to ask, and the boat boss said that he would be able to arrive in Shanghai in the afternoon." ”

Han Xiufeng didn't want the boatmen to hear from the accent that he was not a local, so he rarely spoke in the past two days, and he didn't even talk to the boatmen, so he leaned on the mast and subconsciously asked, "So you have entered the Huangpu River?" ”

"It's already past Wusongkou, this is the Huangpu River!" Xiao Wuzi thought about it and couldn't help laughing, "This boat is so dizzy that I can't even figure out the south, east and west." If it weren't for Su Jueming and Liang Da to say, I would have thought it would still be in the Yangtze River. ”

"It's only been two days since you've been sitting and you're dizzy. If you take the ship carrying grain to Tianjin Wei after finishing your errands, I don't know what kind of dizziness will become. ”

"Fourth master, I'm not afraid of your jokes, I used to think it was simple, I thought it was convenient to take the boat to Beijing to transport grain, but now I don't dare, no matter how convenient it is, I don't dare to sit it."

"Why don't you dare?" Han Xiufeng asked curiously.

Xiao Wuzi pointed to the short boatman standing on the bow of the ship, and said in horror, "Fourth master, you don't know how dangerous this ship is when it goes to sea!" As far as we are sitting on now, the boatmen in front of us were hired by Sun Tongde, a giant businessman from Ganyu County, Shanghai, last year to transport cotton, Western cloth and other goods, and set off from Shanghai to Jinkou, Shandong. ”

"Is there such a thing?"

"What they said to Su Jueming in person shouldn't be false." Seeing that Master Han was suspicious, Xiao Wuzi said eagerly, "Fourth Master, Su Jueming has inquired, there are many such things. Boss Yuan, the owner of our ship, has several ships under his command, one of which was hired by Yu Shengsen, a Shanghai tycoon, in the 22nd year of Daoguang, to go to the sea from Shanghai to Liaodong Niuzhuang to transport bean goods, but he also encountered a storm and drifted all the way to Chungcheong Road in North Korea. ”

Han Xiufeng didn't want to be buried in the belly of the fish, and muttered, "It seems that if you can not take the sea route, you will not take the sea route." ”

"This is natural, your status is noble, and you don't need to take this risk unless you have to."

As he was talking, Pan Er and Su Jueming also came over, and Lu Daming and Liang Liu pulled their heads in front to look at the scenery on the shore, intentionally or unintentionally blocking the boatmen from approaching.

"Fourth brother, I just inquired, the wharf in Shanghai is as mixed as our Baxian wharf, our porters over there belong to the Sichuan Gang and the Tea Gang, and Shanghai is divided into 'barmen' and 'baskets', the 'barmen' are specialized in loading and unloading the goods of ordinary merchants and ordinary people, and the 'baskets' are specialized in loading and unloading the goods of foreigners. There are many boundaries on the wharf, one boundary and one 'foot', and where the boat will dock later, our luggage can only be arranged for the 'barman' to carry the foot. ”

"There are rules in the line, and we can carry it to whoever we should carry when the time comes, and our luggage is not too much anyway."

"The boat boss said that there are many party gangs in Shanghai, and we are from Jiangbei, whether we live in the city or outside the city, it is best not to go to the territory of those party gangs."

"There are parties, and there are many?" Han Xiufeng asked in surprise.

"Really." Without waiting for Pan Er to speak, Su Jueming said like a few treasures, "The boatmen said that there are the Little Knife Society, the Double Knife Society, the Luohan Party, the Green Scarf Society, the Money Editing Association, the Ningbo Gang, the Fujian Gang, the Jiangning Gang, the Jiangbei Gang, the Dizuo Gang and the Blue Line Party. These large and small clans and gangs set up their own doors and often gathered people to fight for territory, especially in areas where Fujianese and Cantonese people lived. ”

"The captain said that there are not as many locals in Shanghai as there are outsiders, and the most foreigners are from Fujian, Guangdong and Zhejiang." Pan Er paused, and then added, "Among the parties and gangs that Jueming just mentioned, the congregation belonging to the Little Knife Society has the largest number of people and the greatest power. ”

Han Xiufeng muttered, "Then we have to be careful, stay away from them, no matter what happens, try not to provoke them." ”

Pan Er said with a bitter face, "But if we don't provoke them, it's hard for them to say whether they will come to provoke us." Fourth brother, you know these gangs, it is pitiful to say pitiful, and it is hateful to say that it is hateful. They are really bullying the weak and afraid of the hard, as soon as we get on the shore, they will come to investigate, if they find that we have money, they can cheat, they can cheat, they can't cheat, and they dare to rob! ”

"There is a yamen in Shanghai, and as far as I know, there are not only county offices but also provincial offices, so I don't believe they dare to rob them in broad daylight." Han Xiufeng thought for a while, and then said, "Explain it later, let the brothers be careful." In short, we're here to do business, not to cause trouble. ”

"Okay, I'll explain."

As he spoke, a large ship with full sails sailed up from behind.

"The ship of the foreign devil! Fourth brother, look, there are foreign devils on board! ”

The big head had long forgotten his previous explanation, and when he saw the foreigner's boat, he screamed. Fortunately, there are too many Jiangbei dialects, so much so that they don't even understand Hai'an dialect across the river, and the boatmen can't even understand Hai'an dialect, so how can they care that the accent of the big head is not like the Jiangbei people.

Lu Damin reacted and quickly pulled his big head aside. Only then did the big head realize that he shouldn't shout, peeked at Han Xiufeng, and couldn't help but come over and say, "Fourth brother, it's really a foreigner!" ”

"See," Han Xiufeng held the mast and stared at the foreigner's ship, only to see that not only was the hull longer and taller than the sand boat, but the sails on the ship were also more than the sand boat, and the ship was full of cables, and a foreigner sailor stood on such a high mast, looking like he was collecting the sails.

Pan Er also saw the foreigner's boat for the first time, and subconsciously said, "Fourth brother, the hull of the ship seems to be covered with iron sheets." ”

Seeing the foreign ship and foreigners for the first time, Han Xiufeng naturally wanted to see it clearly, and said in a low voice, "Big head, go to the cabin and bring my speculum." ”

"Oh." The big head was flustered, and hurriedly ran to get the "clairvoyance".

"Fourth master, there is a cannon in the bow of the ship." Lu Daming couldn't help but say.

"See," Han Xiufeng took the "clairvoyant" from the big head who ran back in a hurry, turned his back to the boatmen who were not surprised, raised the "clairvoyance" and slowly adjusted the focus, while carefully observing, he muttered, "Not only the bow of the ship, but also the hull, that row of windows is full of cannon holes, and sure enough, the ship is strong and sharp!" ”

"There are also blast holes in the hull?" The big head asked in surprise.

"The two cannon doors are open, and the two black ones are the muzzles." Han Xiufeng looked up for a while, and then said in a low voice, "Look at the flag, it should be a French gunboat." ”

"Fourth brother, how do you know?" Pan Er asked curiously while looking at it.

"Wei Yuan's book has a pattern of the flags of all nations," Han Xiufeng suddenly found that a foreigner was holding a speculum and looking this way, and was immediately startled, "There is a turtle son looking at me!" ”

"Are you alright?"

"Isn't it just a matter of looking at what can happen?" Han Xiufeng put away the speculum and turned around, "This foreign devil's hair is actually white, not only white, but also curly. ”

The big head blurted out "White impermanence!" ”

"What is white impermanence, he is the same as a human, but a foreigner." Thinking that there are foreigners' concessions in Shanghai, there should be many foreigners, Han Xiufeng advised, "When we get to Shanghai, there will be more foreigners, and we even have to deal with foreigners, so we can't make such a fuss." Compared with those gangs, foreigners can't be provoked, you know. ”

"Fourth brother, don't worry, I don't dare to provoke foreign devils if I borrow a few guts, just look at it and infiltrate people, let alone provoke it."

"It's good to know."

The big head felt that it was very unfortunate to meet a foreign devil, not to mention that he also met a "white impermanence", he was secretly chanting Amitabha Buddha, there was a faint roar on the river, and he looked in the direction of the sound, only to see a foreigner's boat in front of him, and the oncoming one was more terrifying than the one just now, the bow of the ship had a high mast, but there was a big chimney in the middle of the hull, and black smoke was emitting, like a monster panting on the river.

"What a ship!" Pan Er was so frightened that he couldn't give up.

"I don't know." Han Xiufeng raised the speculum again, and instructed while watching, "Da Ming, go and inquire with the boatman." ”

"Oh."

This foreign ship that made a loud noise while sailing with black smoke did not have a few cannons, and there were not many foreigners and sailors on the ship, looking like a ship transporting goods, Han Xiufeng was fascinated, and Lu Daming, who came back from inquiring about the boatman, said, "Fourth master, the boatman said that this is a foreigner's qi fighting ship, and they can't tell what kind of competition it is, anyway, there is a mechanism on the ship, a charcoal-burning mechanism." ”

"What do you do with charcoal?"

"Burning charcoal and moving forward, the boatmen said that this ship can not only go against the wind, but even without wind, without bracing or rocking, it can travel hundreds of miles a day!"

Han Xiufeng thought for a while, put down the speculum and said, "So it's similar to the wooden cow and flowing horse in the Three Kingdoms, but it's a pity that the wooden cow and flowing horse are lost." ”

"Tricks!" Su Jueming said in a low voice.

"This is not a trick, if this is used to march and fight," Han Xiufeng looked at the foreigners who had reached the left in a blink of an eye and were passing by the sand boats, and sighed, "If there are hundreds of such ships in the imperial court, there is no need to wait for the wind to transport grain to the capital, as long as there is charcoal, when you want to get lucky, you can start when you want to; If I had such a boat, I would be able to go up the river to Wuchang or even Yichang, and I would be able to reach Ba County in a month at most. ”

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