Jungar invaded Yarkand, and the flames of war ignited in the Western Regions, but the Central Plains was calm, especially in the south, and there had been no sword soldiers for several years.

Located at the confluence of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake, Yuezhou City is the gateway to Sanxiang and an important water and land transportation artery.

The Wei army occupied Yuezhou, the Ming army occupied Wuchang, and Yuezhou became the front line of the confrontation, which was an important military town and a major commercial town.

Outside the city of Yuezhou is Dongting Lake, the lake is wide, various warehouses have been built next to the wharf, and hundreds of merchant ships are docked on the shore, mainly in the style of wheels and ships.

This kind of ship was very active in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Yang Mi had repeatedly relied on wheels and ships to defeat the encirclement and suppression of the Song army, and the Song army also built a lot of cars and ships in order to defeat Yang Mi. Lu You's "Notes on Lao Xue'an" recorded that the largest car and ship built in the Song Dynasty was "36 zhang long, 4 zhang and 1 foot wide, and 7 zhang 2 feet and 5 inches high.

The area of Yang Mi's activities was concentrated in the area of Dongting Lake, and the inland river warships used in the Song Dynasty to quell thieves were actually 36 zhang long, which was larger than the sea ships at the end of the Ming Dynasty, which showed the development of shipbuilding technology in the Song Dynasty.

At present, Wei and Jiangnan trade frequently, and ships on the Yangtze River come and go, but for the merchant ships of Huguang, it is easy to go downstream, but it is difficult to go upstream.

In addition, Huguang's materials had to be transported to Guanzhong against the Han River, so the merchants chose this kind of wheeled boat.

At this time, on the wharf, many coolies were carrying heavy grain bags to the ship, and a scout of the Xuanyi guard jumped onto a four-wheeled ship with the owner, and the sailor on board drew the plank, and the owner immediately waved his hand, "Lift the anchor and start the ship." ”

The sailors on the ship pushed the winch and slowly lifted the chains upward, and the sergeants in the cabin stepped on the pedals, and the wheels on both sides of the ship began to turn and row, and the ship slowly moved away.

From Yuezhou to Nanjing, all the way down the river, the wheel boat followed the current, quickly raised the speed, and rushed to the mouth of Dongting Lake.

At this time, the owner of the ship saluted the Xuanyi guard standing at the bow of the boat, "My lord, the owner has an explanation, let the villain fully cooperate, if you have anything, just give orders." ”

Xuan Yiwei waved his hand, "Out of Yuezhou, I am your man, you can just call me Li Si." Remember, I'm just a buddy, you don't have to worry about anything else, you just do your own thing. ”

The owner nodded and bowed hurriedly, "Yes, villain~"

Li Si stretched out his hand to stop him, "Forgot my words?" From now on, lest you enter the Ming Realm and show your feet. ”

The owner of the ship was stunned for a moment before he said: "Li Si~"

At this time, the boat had sailed out of the mouth of Dongting Lake and entered the Yangtze River, and the boats on the river were shuttling, which seemed very busy.

A few years ago, Gao Yihuan had an agreement with Nanjing, and Wei merchant ships could sail on the Yangtze River.

After that, the merchant ships of the Wei State often sailed to Jiangnan in groups, exchanging the grain from Huguang for porcelain, tea, and cotton cloth in the south of the Yangtze River.

Because of the economic status of Jiangnan, the world's silver is mainly concentrated in Jiangnan, and his goods are all finished products with added value, and like Huguang and many areas in the north, they have actually become raw material suppliers or economic colonies in disguise.

In business dealings, Huguang provides semi-finished products, while Jiangnan is a deep-processed product, and Jiangnan naturally occupies a dominant position in business.

One acre of land can be sold for two taels of silver, a good silk horse in Songjiang can be sold for more than ten taels, ordinary cotton cloth is also sold for more than one tael, one sells agricultural products, and the other sells industrial products, and the difference in status is very obvious.

After all, growing grain is a skill that almost everyone can do for the Han nation, and the Wei State does not sell grain, and Nanming can also grow grain by himself.

Now it is Huguang who is familiar with the world, and there can be the words of Suhu who is familiar with the world.

In most cases, Wei was actually in a weak position in trade, and silver continued to flow to Jiangnan.

This caused a shortage of silver in Wei, which increased the purchasing power of silver in Huguang, and the price of grain fell under pressure, so Jiangnan could use the products to make Huguang's money, and then use the money to buy Huguang's grain.

Although Gao Yihuan controlled the source of grain in Yuezhou, prevented Jiangnan merchants from lowering grain prices, and issued silver invoices to alleviate the silver panic, unless there was a famine, growing grain would definitely not be as much money as people engaged in handicrafts in Jiangnan.

Fortunately, in recent years, in addition to grain, Wei also had some leather products, woolen textiles, and jade transported to Jiangnan to earn silver in Jiangnan, which narrowed the deficit.

On the river, merchant ships full of goods slipped down, and in less than a day, they arrived in Wuchang.

Li Si stood on the side of the ship, and saw a Ming Dynasty warship in the distance, breaking the waves, with a blue flag hanging on the mast, and the book, "Daming River waterproofer!" ”

Li Si was busy writing down in his heart that the appearance of the Ming army's warship was a three-masted ship, with its bow raised high, looking up like a city, twelve gun windows opened on the side side, and a Hongyi cannon was placed on the bow, and the merchant ship was like a small boat compared to it.

Previously, Wei and Nanjing had an agreement, Wei merchant ships could sail on the Yangtze River, Zuo Liangyu in Wuchang, as long as the tax was paid, basically did not dare to make trouble, but after the Ming army took over Wuchang, the Wei merchant ships began to be strictly investigated.

At this time, under the instructions of the Ming Dynasty warships, the merchant ships docked at the Wuchang wharf to be checked, and the shipowner coped with the inspection of the ship, but Li Si paid attention to the direction of Wuchang City, and saw that the city gate was erected with the banner of recruiting soldiers, and the soldiers on the city wall were all over the city, as well as the people and craftsmen, who were renovating the city wall.

After the inspection and inventory, it was found that the ship was loaded with grain, which was what Nanming needed, and the inspection was not difficult, the owner paid the tax, and the ship set sail again.

As the cargo ship continued eastward, it saw a large battalion set up along the river, and a large number of Ming soldiers were training outside the camp, and the sound of guns was heard from time to time.

Li Si took out a pen and paper, marked the location of the camp, noted the scale, and took out a new piece of paper to draw the ships he saw in Wuchang.

At this time, the ship gradually moved away from Wuchang City, and saw that some rice fields appeared on both sides of the originally deserted city, as well as patches of cotton fields, and many women were wearing hats and carrying burdens, picking cotton in the cotton fields.

After Zuozhen was transferred out of Wuchang, the Nanjing court took over Wuchang, Huangzhou and other places, and the abandoned land here became a wealth of the Southern Ming court.

The Nanjing Hubu relocated a group of people to cultivate, but more land was leased to large households in the south of the Yangtze River in exchange for their support in money and grain to make up for the loss of the failed Northern Expedition.

After the failure of Zhu Cihong's Northern Expedition, he was anxious to restore his troops, but the treasury had been emptied, so he had no choice but to continue to compromise with the gentry and landlords in the south of the Yangtze River in exchange for their support.

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