Although the dog days are coming to an end, the weather is still hot and humid.

Only in the place near the river, the wind blowing from the river can blow away the boredom on the shore, and the riverside is full of children who jump into the river to play in the water.

The river is rolling eastward, several sampan fishing boats are floating with the waves on the river, and the mast on the sampan is also put down, and now the fishing boats of the Yangtze River have rarely seen the thin old sampan of the old time, most of them are dhows that have been eliminated from large ships such as sea boats, the price of this kind of boat is low, perhaps because it is old and eliminated by sea boats, but it can still be used normally on the Yangtze River. There are even many schools that buy such dhow or brigs to teach children how to sail.

In recent years, even for people in the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, navigation is not a new thing, and even in Shaanxi there are schools to teach navigation. Who knows what kind of industry they will engage in when they become adults?

For the fishermen on both sides of the Yangtze River, navigation on the water has long become a part of their body, except for the "fishing ban" period from February to May every year, they will cast nets on the river every day to fish, and unlike in the past, "fishermen are not allowed to go out, non-fishermen are not allowed to enter" farming, and the people who are not allowed to cultivate the land are not allowed to add nets to go down to the lake to fish at will, now this kind of inviolable fishing "boundary" formed by ancestors has long been broken.

As long as someone wants to, he can apply for a fishing license and engage in fishing. The increasing population of the cities along the river makes it possible for fishermen to make good profits, of course, to be able to catch fish. This is also the reason for the establishment of a "fishing ban" during the breeding and spawning period of fish, in order to protect the normal growth or reproduction of fish.

As soon as the fishing ban ended, the river was full of fishing boats, on the white fishing boats, the fishermen skillfully cast the fishing nets to the water, and then reel the nets, and drag the catch into the boat, although the mesh of the fishing net according to the government's regulations can not be less than one inch and five squares, can only catch more than one pound of large fish, but even so, occasionally net small fish, at this time, the fishermen will pick up those small fish, throw them back into the river, after landing, if the inspection finds that there are small fish in the catch, will be punished heavily.

For more than ten years, mandatory rules have long become a habit, and when the catch is counted, the fishermen talk there between the adjacent fishing boats.

"Second Uncle Ding! I heard that back then, when His Majesty seized Jiangyin, you always fished on this river? Why didn't you join the army back then? ”

A middle-aged man's sigh came from another fishing boat.

"Hey, this person's fate is destined, if I had joined the army back then, do you think about it, would I still fish here like you?"

"It's hard to say, with the courage of your second brother Ding, even if you go to join the army, it is estimated that a battle in Tongjimen will scare you back, and you will still work here with us at that time."

"Hey, look at what you said, I'm not afraid of death, I'm sorry for life, it's because there is an old lady in the family, I am filial piety, besides, even if I am from the dragon, I have to have that life to enjoy!"

"But no, when His Majesty went out of Changzhou, how many children in Changzhou went out with him and came back alive, only more than half."

"Hey, the third brother of Wangjiazhuang, his son joined the army with His Majesty, but he didn't go home for many years, and there was no news, when he was in the second year of Xingqian, people held a glimmer of hope and ran all the way to the army to find it, hey! Stop it! I violated military law and beheaded me, this military food is really not delicious......"

"That's not the reason, the military rations are not delicious, but the young people of today are looking forward to eating the military rations......"

The fishermen chatted there.

"Hehe, it's not because of eating military rations, you can divide the field after retiring, your second boy, in two years, won't you be eighteen, according to the law, it should be divided, when the time comes, the army will be inspected, and in three years, there must be at least 100 acres."

Someone next to him immediately interjected.

"It also depends on the place, if you put it in Shaanxi, it will be at least 300 acres!"

"The 300 acres are not allowed to plough the fields, only to plant grass and raise sheep, haven't you seen what the newspaper says, what is Shaanxi now...... Imperial Ranch, said that more than half of the tweed clothes we wear are provided by Shaanxi. ”

As soon as the fisherman here finished speaking, someone shouted from the other side.

"Ah Cheng, isn't your hometown from Shaanxi? It's really like the newspapers say, the mountains are full of sheep! ”

The fisherman, who had been fishing, replied loudly as he shouted.

"It depends on the place, almost all of the grasslands in the north of the Weihe River, are the veterans who retired from the Western Expeditionary Army in the seventh year of Xingqian, they only raise sheep and do not farm, sell wool to buy grain to eat, like our local natives, often farming, however, there are many people who have learned from them to raise sheep over the years, after all, raising sheep is cost-effective......"

The fisherman's Shaanxi dialect,

"Moreover, if you raise sheep, you can go to the official field to raise them, sprinkle alfalfa seeds, and then let the sheep go over to eat, and you don't need to pay land rent, but if you rent official land to farm, then you have to pay official rent."

"If you really want to do what you said, then the government can still wish you? Are you raising sheep in the official fields? And how can alfalfa grass and weeds be the same? Can the government not pursue it? ”

"Hehe, the law does not blame the public, in fact, the government also opens one eye, closes one eye, and is even willing for us to change to raising sheep, you don't know, when I was a child, in addition to the crop field, the mountain was also bare, and now the mountain is full of all kinds of trees, and the original mountain land has also become a grassland, in fact, there is no difference between it and your Jiangnan."

"Hey, look at what you said, in this world, there can be compared to Jiangnan, that is, that one acre of mulberry field and a year's harvest of cocoons are enough for you to plant a few acres of sorghum."

Some people were immediately unhappy, and they couldn't see others saying that Jiangnan was not a word.

"Oh, don't say that, didn't you see what the newspaper said, in Pingnan, there is also Nanyang, where silkworms can be harvested ten times a year, which is three or four more than our Jiangnan, and the mulberry field is also better than ours!"

"What's the top, if you want to talk about silk, there is a place in the world that is worthy of the lake silk......"

Just when the fisherman was chatting with me and talking about the big and small things in the north and south, there was a shrill whistle in the distance, whether it was casting a net or ordering fish, the fishermen hurriedly stopped their movements and turned their eyes to the direction from which the whistle came.

I saw a wisp of black smoke faintly visible at the junction of heaven and earth. Not long after, a dark shadow came into their sight and drove towards them.

"It's a steamboat!"

The sharp-eyed fisherman shouted. The fishermen in the river hurriedly put away their nets and rowed their boats to avoid the deep channel in the middle of the river.

That's the shipping lane for steamboats.

Steamboats coming from the upper reaches of the river are required to navigate the deep-water channels in the river according to navigation regulations. In recent years, there have been more and more steamboats in the river day by day, and compared with multi-pulp ships and sailboats, steamships sail in the river, which has its natural advantages. In less than a decade, the largest number of pulp boats in the river has slowly disappeared.

The steamship that came from far and near had no mast, and the tall chimneys of the bare amidships spewed thick black smoke outward, and the bow of the ship cut through the river, stirring up white waves, and the paddle wheels of the amidships turned, stirring up the river unrest.

"Well, as soon as this steamboat passes, the river will be stirred up like this, and it will be half an hour smaller, and you won't even want to fish!"

Looking at the steamboats in the past, the fishermen couldn't help but complain, they have been fishing here for more than three or two years, and they can see many steamships passing by here every day over the years, it can be said that it is because they have seen a lot, and they also know that after these steamboats pass over the river, they will scare the fish in the river away, and it will take at least half an hour for the fish to come back, so they have never had a good impression of the steamboats.

These fishermen have been begging for a living on the Yangtze River, where there were no steamships at all, only sailboats and pulp boats shuttling up and down the river. At that time, fishing and boating were not delayed. Sometimes, they even surround passing boats and sell some of their catch.

However, since the eighth year of Xingqian, after the first steamship emitting black smoke appeared on the river, the steamship on the river has been more than one day a day, and the speed of those steamships is extremely fast, and if one is not careful, it can hit and sink the fishing boat, in the first few years, such things have not happened less, and it is not until later that the government has determined the shipping lane, this thing has become less and less, and it is from that time that they know about the steamship, and they know that this kind of steamship runs faster than other ships in the Yangtze River, even the fastest multi-pulp ship cannot compare with it.

However, these fishermen on the river often don't like it, because it is too noisy when sailing, which will disturb the fish on the river. Of course, what is even more disliked is that the steamships are too big and too fast.

"This ship is so fast!"

Again, as if Grandma Liu in "A Dream of Red Mansions" had entered the Grand View Garden, a few young people on the deck of the steamship who had obviously never seen the world shouted excitedly.

Although it has been 17 years since Xingqian, and the steamship has been invented for ten years, and in the past few years, the number of steamships on the Yangtze River, Huai River and other inland rivers has increased to hundreds, and even the coastal routes have appeared steam ships, but there are still many people who have never seen a steamship, perhaps those who are inland can see steam ships in newspapers and books, but for them, they can often only imagine, just like until now, people in the southwest hinterland of Sichuan, Yunnan, and Guizhou, It is still like imagining a train.

Because of this, it is not uncommon to see people like this who are excited about getting on a steamboat, and everyone has long been surprised.

"Actually, that's only 6 or 7 nautical miles!"

Not far away, a young man who was reading a book muttered in a dissatisfied whisper, apparently, the shouts of those people disturbed his reading.

"Nautical mile" is a unit of distance applied to the sea navigation of the Ming Dynasty for more than ten years, which is equal to the arc length corresponding to 1 minute of latitude on the elliptical meridian of the earth. In fact, at that time, there was still a discussion about whether to use the "metric system" to replace the old unit of length, but because there were too many controversies, the "metric" unit was still unsuccessful, and the "xun" was basically equal to one meter, so it has been shelved until now. It was only at sea that the nautical mile was applied because of the small number of areas involved, and eventually became the standard unit of distance at sea.

"Verses 6 or 7? Is this still slow? ”

The man sitting next to the young man looked at the young man who looked like he was only seventeen or eighteen years old.

"Is there anything faster than that?"

"Now they all have 15-knot clippers!"

Perhaps because it was too noisy on the terrace on deck, the young man put the book in his hand on the table and said.

"In a few years, there will even be a 20-knot clipper!"

"Verse 20! No kidding, how is this possible! ”

The young man didn't explain, just smiled, and then asked rhetorically.

"Why can't it be? Ten years ago, who would have thought that today, there are trains on land and steamships on water? ”

"What this son said is extreme,"

Someone next to him immediately agreed.

"I remember coming to Nanjing from Beizhili ten years ago, the fastest will be twenty days, that is still by water, all the way is smooth, now, if you take the train, from the Jinpu Railway all the way to Pukou, but it is three days of effort, that is a fast!"

The man's tone was full of admiration, as if he were talking about some miracle.

In fact, for these people, even in the past ten years, they have been accustomed to riding a steamer and have been accustomed to its daily travel, but they will still be surprised by all this, after all, in the past ten years, the Ming Dynasty has experienced a great change that has never been seen in the ages, and I don't know how many gentry and virtuous people are amazed by it, not to mention ordinary people.

"According to me, this is nothing, the fastest is the telegram, just last year, I put the newspaper on the newspaper to see that there is a Linqing country or what country, the past scholars, and then a telegram at home, on the three words "mother is critically ill", obediently "whoosh" Kung Fu, people received the telegram, and then that is also a filial son, hurriedly got on the train, out of Guangnan and then all the way through Guangxi through Hunan into Hubei, and then changed cars from Hankou, went straight to Henan, when people arrived home, but it took less than six days! Not only did he see the old lady, but he also accompanied the old lady for three days. If you put it aside, it will be eight hundred miles to rush over, and it is estimated that when the letter arrives, the old lady over there will lose her breath. ”

"Oh, that's not the credit of the telegraph and the steamer!"

There was an immediate exclamation next to him, although it was mixed with a few words such as "a three-word telegram, it will cost three oceans" and "it is estimated that the road cost is enough to buy a house", but more than that, it was an exclamation, after all, clairvoyance, tailwind ears, and scuds were the expectations of mortals throughout the ages, and now this simple wish has been realized so easily.

"Telegraph, Train, Steamboat......"

Amid the admiration of the people, the young man stared into the distance and muttered in a low voice.

"This is the so-called "steam age"......"