Two days later, Fanning took a medium-sized paddle boat of 3,000 stones into Beijing, the ships of 3,000 stones can go directly to the capital, no need to change ships, but along the way are a team of 10,000 stone sea ships, since the Great Song Dynasty opened the port in Nanyang, the new port has become the largest port of the Great Song Dynasty, the original Guangzhou port has been relegated to the second, and the trade with Japan and Goryeo is mainly in Mingzhou, so Quanzhou and Fuzhou have become transit ports, a large number of Nanyang materials and wealth are transported to Quanzhou or Fuzhou, and then from Fuzhou and Quanzhou to Yangzhou by sea.

Along the way, there will always be a group of Wanshi sea ships going south, at this time the sea turns to the north wind, except for the paddle boats, the ships that rely on the trade wind to go to sea have been unable to go north, until the spring of next year, the supplies of Quanzhou and Fuzhou will continue to go north.

The biggest problem of the oarboat is that it consumes a lot of manpower, like Fanning's 3,000 stone sea boat needs twenty-four oars, each oar needs three people to step on at the same time, it needs to be explained here that the oars of the Song Dynasty are not the long oars rowed by hundreds of people in the Middle Ages in Europe, the oars of the Song Dynasty are also called car boats, the boats are equipped with small windmills on both sides of the oars, and the sailors are like stepping on the waterwheel, holding a wooden pole to step on the bottom of the boat, and the ship will move forward by the rotation of the oars.

Twenty-four oars are twelve wheels on the left and right, and when you turn around, the left oarsman does not step on it, and the right oarsman slams on it, and the boat turns around.

Fanning's 3,000-stone oarsman alone needs to be trampled by 72 oarsmen, not only the labor cost is high, but the consumption of fresh water and grain is quite large, such as Fanning's 30,000-stone huge ship to Australia, there are 400 oarsmen to trample underneath, and half of the ship's storage space is used to load grain and fresh water.

The power problem of ocean voyages must be solved, otherwise it is certainly unrealistic to carry hundreds of sailors per ship, Fanning remembered that he saw a spinning wheel part in Mingren's workshop at the beginning of the year, that is, a linked rod, one pole drives another pole to move, which is the basic part that must be used for various mechanical movements, and it turned out that the Song Dynasty appeared.

Two of the largest iron-rich mines in the South Seas are in Luzon, one in the east of Luzon and now in operation, and one in the northernmost part of Mindanao, both of which are easy to mine open-pit iron ores.

If there is enough pig iron, they can build iron-hulled ships.

On his way to find a new land in the South Seas, Fanning has one thing on his mind: steam.

Whether steam can replace manpower as the new power of seagoing ships is crucial for ocean transportation.

At noon that day, the ship arrived in Yangzhou.

On the Zhujia wharf in Yangzhou, a fleet of hundreds of ships and tankers into Beijing is busy loading materials, mainly frosting, cotton and cotton cloth, cotton cloth is imported from Dashi, is a cloth spun from cotton.

Before the imperial court had arranged for the Xiangzhou government to plant the cotton of Gaochangguo, but the effect was not good, mainly because the yield was low, and the seeds had to be peeled and the cotton was loosened, which took too much time and energy, and was not very suitable for small workshops, and the substitution of fine hemp was not obvious, and the imperial court was not on this, and then it was not promoted, and now only Xiangzhou and Kaifeng have a small amount of planting.

But if cotton spinning machines such as elastic cotton vertebral arches and multi-spindle pedal spinning wheels were invented, that kind of cotton would definitely be popularized.

The cotton Ryukyu Mansion and the Luzon Mansion were transported, as many as one million quintals, the frosted sugar was white sugar, and there were millions of catties, and the items such as rice and spices had been continuously transported into the capital, and a large amount of silver and gold were transported, and the Great Song Dynasty became more and more prosperous.

Fan Ning did not go to Zhu Xiaolin, the boat went directly north along the canal, and when he arrived at Yingtianfu by boat a few days later, Fan Ning let the boat dock for a day of rest, and he was going to visit his sister Fan Jing.

Fan Jing married Zhu Qi at the beginning of the year, after Zhu Qi was admitted to the Jinshi, he served as an assistant teacher in Yingtianfu Guozijian, and the two lived in Yingtianfu.

Zhu Long once went to their residence, so he took Fanning into the city, and Yingtianfu was as lively as before, with all kinds of small stalls and vendors.

"Sell sweet corn and pumpkin cakes!"

A little girl's shouting attracted Fanning's attention, he stopped Zhu Long in front, walked up to the little girl and asked with a smile, "How much is a piece of corn?" ”

The little lady carried a bamboo basket on her arm, and said to Fan Ning: "This is the corn grown in Yangzhou, the water quality over there is good, the sunlight is sufficient, the corn is very sweet, and it costs ten cents a piece." ”

"What about local corn?" Fanning asked again.

"Local corn is not worth much, five cents a piece."

Fan Ning thought that the corn was sold for ten yuan a piece when it was first put on the market the year before last, and it fell to a few cents a piece in just two or three years, which shows that the rapid promotion is very fast, in the final analysis, it is a kind of cheap miscellaneous grain with a high yield, ensuring that the people at the bottom of the Great Song Dynasty can afford to have three children.

"Where's the pumpkin cake?"

"The pumpkin is grown by my family, and it is delicious, and it costs three cents a piece."

Fanning smiled at the four men, "One takes one corn and two pumpkin cakes." ”

The little lady was very happy, lifted a layer of cloth, and below was the pumpkin cake, cut it into cubes, she took out ten pieces, put them on small bamboo slices and handed them to Zhu Long, and then took out five corn from the bottom of the basket and handed them to Zhu Hu.

"Official, a total of eighty yuan."

Fanning took out a silver horn and handed it to her, "No need to look for it!" ”

"Thank you, officer!"

The five of them ate the pumpkin and began to nibble on the corn again, the pumpkin and the corn were good, and it could be seen from the little girl's business that the two grains had become popular, so everyone was not interested in selling them cheaply.

Fan Ning's sister's home is next to Yingtianfu Guozijian, it is a five-acre house, which is the asset of the Zhu family, of course, Fan Ning also gave her sister a rich marriage, 10,000 taels of gold and 3,000 acres of land, two boxes of jewelry, dozens of boxes of various silk and satin, and married from Wu County to Wujiang by boat, which once caused a sensation.

But after marriage, the life of the two is very low-key, and both of them are nerdy types, and visiting the bookstore together on their days off has become the greatest pleasure for young couples.

Although Fan Jing's house is not big, it is very warm, there are three maids, two cooks and an old housekeeper, because of pregnancy, Fan Jing's mother-in-law also lives with them, so that it is convenient to take care of her daughter-in-law.

Fan Jing's arrival made Fan Jing extremely happy, she took Fan Ning's hand and asked, "Is my brother passing by Ying Tianfu when he enters Beijing?" ”

Fan Ning saw that his sister's belly was already pregnant, at least six or seven months, so he smiled and nodded, "I do have something to do in Beijing, sit for a while and leave, is there no midwife at home?" ”

"Yes! I specially invited an experienced midwife, whose home is nearby, and will come to accompany me for two hours every day. ”

"Your husband hasn't come back yet?"

"Aqi is coming back later, he's been busy lately."

"Then forget it, see him next time! Ado, my mother will come over in a few days. ”

"That's great, with my mother by my side, I can sleep a little longer, it's really painful to get up every morning, but I have to get up."

The brother and sister chatted for a few words, and at this time, Zhu Long said at the gate of the courtyard: "Envoy, there is an important matter." ”

Fanning got up and walked out of the room, greeted him and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

Zhu Long handed Fan Ning a copy of the "Letter Daily" in his hand, "This is yesterday's "Letter Daily", it has just been sent to Ying Tianfu, so that you can see the first news." ”

Fan Ning hurriedly took the "Hong Kong Economic Journal", and for a moment, he was stunned by the lightning strike, and the headline on the front page of the "Hong Kong Economic Journal" was one line of words: 'Empress Dowager Gao died last night!' ’

.........

It was already late in the night, and the boat was moving slowly through the river, and Fanning lay on the deck and stared blankly at the night sky.

When he heard that Gao Taotao was seriously ill in Quanzhou, he had a bad feeling in his heart, so he hurried back to the capital, but he never dreamed that Gao Taotao would die so soon.

Fan Ning was very sad in his heart, Gao Taotao was his lover after all, if he said that he didn't have any feelings for her, it was not entirely correct, there were feelings, but he knew that there would be no result between him and Gao Taotao.

But no matter what, he hopes that Gao Tao can have a good ending.

It's just that......... Such a famous woman in history died early because of her arrival.

It made Fanning's heart sigh and sad infinitely.