In late June, the fleet, which traveled no more than thirty or forty miles a day, arrived at Fengyang Province. Mu Guodong brought the text and order arrows issued by his father Mou Wenshou as promised, which made Long Qisheng and Yan Dong breathe a sigh of relief.

With this letter and the arrow, the fleet continued to move forward, and through a few passes of Huaiyuan and Mengcheng, it was possible to spend nothing;

With this letter and order, the fleet returned to Huai'an Province without officers and soldiers coming on board for inspection.

More importantly, Mu Wenshou has been Fengsi for a long time, and he is the overlord of the soil on the main stream of the Huai River. With the help of Mou Wenshou's relationship, relying on the Huai River to transport troops and grain will be much cheaper and less troublesome in the future. The four battalions of Wen, Moyang, and Ma occupied Bozhou to recuperate, and opened up a vital logistics channel.

Wang Xingwu talked about the united front of the prince in Yilong County, and once vividly divided the objects of the united front into three levels with three concentric circles.

The innermost layer is the core layer, the middle layer is the compact layer, and the outermost layer is the loose layer.

The Jaden Coalition was a loose layer before the Battle of the Copper Walled City, but it became a tight layer during the battle, and after the comprehensive reorganization, especially after the Battle of Bolt Mountain, it was the core layer. According to this standard, this Mu family may still belong to the loose layer now!

Wang Xingwu also once said that the essence of the united front is to unite all forces that can be united, jointly resist the enemy, and realize the grand cause of "protecting the country and the people and bringing peace to the world."

The second son of the Mu family, Mu Guodong, was exempted from the card fee of the fleet on the face, gave the privilege of exemption from inspection, and sold enough face in the Shu Palace; and took away a hundred taels of silver in the form of private gambling, and as a result, one copper was not missing!

When the army of displaced people entered Sichuan, Shi Zhouwei's Tong family, Mu family, and Rong Meisi's Tian family all sent troops to participate in the security brigade, not only hoping to drive away the trouble as soon as possible, but also to intercept some people's money and food, and leave some benefits.

With all these thoughts, those Han Tusi in western Hubei and Xiangxi are really smart! There are many graces in the imperial court, and the adjacent Shu Wangfu is not offended, and it is exquisite, and it is flattering everywhere!

Regardless of whether his Mu family is playing the ghost trick of marrying one woman and two husbands, as long as we fight our common enemies together-thieves and tartars, then we can unite with friends!

Thinking of this, Long Qisheng patted the railing on the bow of the boat.

In the distance, a mud village built on the high ground by the river has been faintly revealed, and that is the first unloading point of this trip - the Yimen Inspection Department belonging to Bozhou.

……

jokingly said, there are three irons in life: they have carried guns together, squatted through the window together, and prostitutes together.

Its practical cost is not so high.

Two men want to get acquainted, just go on a business trip together.

After going through all the things on the ship, Yan Ingot and Long Qisheng were already good friends who talked about everything, at least that's what Yan Ergongzi himself thought.

At this moment, he and Long Qisheng stood side by side on the bow of the first ship, facing the morning breeze in their faces, expressing their ambitions. If there is a third party standing behind them and watching coldly, one tall and one short in height, and the emotional movement and stillness, it seems that Yan Ingot and Long Qisheng are like children and adults.

"The Huai River, it's a fucking ditch! But compared to the Huai River, the canal is a stinky and narrow mud ditch! ”

Yan ingot, who was full of feelings, slapped on the railing and sighed loudly:

"I've already inquired in the Caodu Yamen. Emperor Taizu Gao paid attention to 'river and sea transportation', that is, the inland provincial capital transported grain by the Cao Road, and the coastal provincial capital transported grain by sea.

For example, Emperor Gao's pacification of Liaodong was mainly based on the sea, and the annual transportation of military rations, cotton clothes and ordnance could reach millions of stones!

Who knew that in the Yongle Dynasty, the canal was dredged, and this shipping was gradually abandoned!

During the Wanli period of Longqing, because of the siltation of the Yellow River, the Cao Road was blocked, and he tried to ship by sea, but he was indiscriminately rejected by the officials of the imperial court!

Why? Their benefits are all in the mud ditch, and their benefits are all gone?

There are also the gentry and common people on both sides of the mud ditch, who do business, run trade, collect taxes, check cards, pipe locks, support boats, pull fibers, repair embankments, dig mud, and grow crops, which one does not make a fortune by relying on the canal to make a living?

If the sea is opened, it will not cut off the financial and livelihood of millions of people!

But the wool comes out of the sheep! Everyone made a fortune on the canal, but didn't it end up on the taxes of the imperial court?

Where did the taxes of the imperial court come from? It's not that the people have been wronged!

Not to mention the present, even in the Wanli Dynasty, one stone of grain will be transported into Beijing, and it will cost the price of four or five stone of grain!

According to the character of the younger brother......"

Long Qisheng, who was meditating alone, was interrupted by Yan Ding's impassioned thoughts, and he felt a little unhappy. It's also that he has been away for a long time and can endure it. So he rewarded the people around him with a little face, and answered.

"Without Cao Yun, there will be no oil and water for officials. Why did the people who planted crops have no oil and water, and they followed the blind coaxing of the officials? ”

"The people are not foolish!

Hehuai is a family, so governing Cao is governing the river!

If the sea is opened, the transportation is scrapped, so who will take care of the Yellow River?

You must know that since the Yellow River seized the Huai, the Yellow River has to flood once every three years on average! The imperial court did not allocate money to repair the river, and once the Yellow River burst, the fields and crops on both sides of the river and the villages and towns ......

Don't think the people are stupid. They're smart! One acre and three points of land in their own house is the golden treasure eggs they hold in the cracks of their gutters! ”

Oh! Long Qisheng nodded heavily in a nasal voice, indicating that he had understood, and there was no need to use foul language to emphasize the point.

"Now Caoyun is full of holes, and no one can save it!

For example, if you cross a gate, you have to wait for 10 days and a half months!

Why? There is less water and more boats, and it is a mess!

Don't think you're safe in the canal. When encountering the Yellow River, the turbid waves are surging, and crossing the river is like breaking through the ghost gate! Every year, more boats capsize in the Yellow River than sink in the sea!

Danger is dangerous, and what makes people crazy is slow!

A shipload of grain will leave for Beijing at the end of the year, and it will arrive in Beijing in May or June. Then I will be able to return home in October. There are twelve months in a year, and ten months are spent on the ship! Damn, what's going on......

Two years ago, several Chongming people wrote to the imperial court to reopen the sea, and later approved. The specific route is to go from Huai'an to the East China Sea through the old Yellow River, and then bypass the Baipengtou east of Chengshan in Shandong to enter the Beihai......

Do you know Chongming County, which is a small island at the mouth of the Yangtze River......

As a result, the two ships ate the wind for five days, and it took half a month to arrive in Tianjin with hundreds of stone grains!

The grain has arrived, and the officials are making trouble again and want to ban shipping!

Today's emperor is also a fool. He didn't want to think about why the officials were making trouble, so he made a stupid will and said: Shipping is an expedient measure, and it will be stopped in the future......

Brother Long, think about it, Chongming people use boats on the canal to transport sea, not sea boats! The boat is small and flat, and it can still be like this, and in the future, the younger brother will borrow tens of thousands of taels of silver to make 2,000 materials...... No, at least five thousand materials of the sea ship. Isn't it possible to transport thousands of stones of grain in one ship, and the freight can be saved seven or eight times out of ten!

From then on, the annual grain business of four million stones, the younger brother can do it all with his family! ”

"Your ambition is not small, I'm afraid it's a dream!" Long Qisheng sneered in his mouth.

However, his head flashed like lightning, and Li Cuilan's unintentional words a few days ago passed: As soon as the Hehuai incident is over, she will leave for Shanghai.

Shanghai County, an ordinary county to which Taicang Prefecture belongs, is at the mouth of the Yangtze River, across the river from Chongming County.

Now it is the hardest hit area of Songjiang Mansion, Li Cuilan said that she went to Shanghai, Long Qisheng originally thought that she was going to the disaster relief on behalf of the Shu Palace, but Yan Ding's words ......

If you can transport grain, you can't transport troops?

A shipload of thousands of stones can also transport a battalion of soldiers by folding it in two......

Could it be that Miss Liu and Yan Deng had a secret discussion behind closed doors, and this is what they discussed?

"Dreaming? Yes, the little brother is dreaming...... Brother Long, do you know why Miss Liu handed over this business to me? Yan ingot, who didn't know Long Qisheng's thoughts, smacked mysteriously.

"Why?" Long Qisheng asked knowingly.

"Can't say it now! Is that...... Military secrets! Wait until the younger brother returns to Huai'an and hand over the errand to Miss Liu. That boy passed the assessment! In the future, you and I will be the masters of the family, and you will naturally understand! ”

Yan Ingot was half-concealed and refused to say it explicitly, but Long Qisheng did not give up. He's going to have to say more.

"You, why didn't you say it earlier if you want to join the national army? Save me from worrying along the way! Long Qisheng pretended to be surprised and said with great concern: "But, Brother Yan, our Protector Army has big rules, and the first is iron military discipline!" As far as your virtue of playing with women and raising dramas is concerned, sooner or later you will be guilty of military discipline! You're still more comfortable being a businessman...... Do whatever you want......"

Hearing Long Qisheng belittle himself like this, Yan Deng immediately retorted:

"Who said that the little brother spends all day drinking and playing with women and raising plays?

That's pay!

That's dedication!

That's what the job needs!

That was approved by Miss Liu herself!

Do you know what the second child of the Mu family likes the most, it is this set of humming haha tunes!

Before the younger brother set off, he specially sent someone to Yangzhou Slender West Lake, and rented a flower boat with a thin horse, and spent a lot of silver before and after! ”

"This ship is not your Yan family?" Long Qisheng clasped his hands on the railing, very surprised.

"Not only the one under your feet, but all the ships behind you are not from the Yan family. The younger brother is an unfilial son who was driven out by the Yan family, how can he use the Yan family's boat?

Therefore, I, Yan ingot, used the signboard of Huitong Money Village to go door to door to find a boat. I heard that it was a big business of Huitong Qianzhuang to transport grain, and everyone else sent boats and people to my son. Business is getting harder and harder these days......"

"You liar!" Long Qisheng gritted his teeth and scolded.

"It's not a lie, it's business! That's what it takes! ”

Yan Ingot laughed insolently, laughing at Long Qisheng's honesty.

"Speaking of ships and people, even the five thousand stone grain on the ship is not from the Yan family!

Do you know where the food comes from?

To tell you the truth, Brother Long, these 5,000 stone grains are all the grains that will enter Beijing this year. The younger brother used a little trick at Cao Jun's place, and then he came to steal the beam and change the pillar......"

"Selling grain privately, that's the crime of stealing the house and killing the head! How could Cao Jun be so bold? ”

"There are so many famous halls on this canal, it's normal that you don't know, Brother Long! Cao Jun sold grain, exchanged silver money, and traveled leisurely all the way to Beijing. Then wave the silver money and buy it back at the Tongzhou Grain Market!

The price of grain in Beijing is high, and it has been a rule for hundreds of years that boats bring private goods into Beijing, as long as you give enough money, you can do anything......

It would be even better if it happened to be a Tartar entering the customs. Just reported a Tartar robbery, all the grain was lost, and the banknotes were put in his pocket, hahaha......"

However, the proud Yan Ingot did not wait for the expected response. Because Long Qisheng's mind is no longer on him.

Long Qisheng raised his chin slightly, and his focused gaze was solemn and anxious, and he ran across the calm river to the earthen village on the high ground in the distance.

There, a few wisps of black smoke swayed in the morning light, reaching into the sky, like an ominous omen, foreshadowing the suffering that the Hehuai region would have to endure in the future.