Chapter 126: The Salt Ship

On the wide river, a flotilla of more than 30 cargo ships went down the river. After a short drive through Patong, I stopped at a small village called Niukou.

The village is not small, there are hundreds of families, and there is a post station - of course, the post station only entertains the official family, and it is impossible for the men on the boat to rest here. More than 200 people poured in at once, and the village suddenly became lively. Many men and women greeted them and led them to their homes. Although the food is rarely meaty, for this group of men, having a thatched roof on their heads gives them the taste of home. In a moment, the smoke rises, reflecting the setting sun, slowly spreading in the river breeze, forming a beautiful landscape painting.

This scene has only recently begun, and the usual village of Niukou is much more bleak. The men, oh, and the strong women, all make a living by pulling the fiber of the boats that go upstream. The fiber rope is made of bamboo, because no matter how thick the hemp rope is, it is more likely to wear and tear than the bamboo rope, and it will increase the weight several times when soaked in river water. Both men and women, are almost naked, because if you wear clothes and pants and soak them in water for a day, your skin will be rubbed into blood. Rao is like this, rheumatism, arthritis, etc. will never let go of anyone, whether it is a slender man or a slender woman, before middle age will fall ill, few can live past the fifties. There are not many old people in the village, and the few who are slumped on their backs and lame legs, staggering in the morning and evening mist, waiting for the next reincarnation of life. They were lucky after all, too many young people were swallowed up by the river in front of them on which their ancestors had depended for their livelihoods, and many things were more dangerous than stumbling on the edge of the cliff. For example, if the rope is stuck in the rock crevice, it needs the bravest man to stand up and solve it, and if you are not careful, the huge kinetic energy released by the sudden spring of the bamboo rope can break the spine of a strong man into two on the spot - it is absolutely impossible to cut it, because that bamboo rope is far more precious than a few human lives! The craggy rocks on the shore are full of traces left by predecessors, the abrasion marks of the bamboo ropes of the ancestors over thousands of years, and the treading marks of tens of thousands of straw sandals - every time you go to such a place, the slender men will be more and more careful, because the most terrible turbulence under the water here often suddenly creates and drags you to the bottom of the river without warning!

The leader of the boat boss is called Wupi, no one knows if this is his real name, or because of the nickname because of the dark skin blown by the river wind, anyway, except for the uncle and nephew of the Du family, no one dares to call him by his name, they all call him Wu Boss. Wupi was Du Duan's confidant, and seventy percent of the Du family's private salt was transported to Huguang by his fleet via the Yangtze River.

In the past, there was no need for a slender man to sail downstream. Although the beach in the west of Guizhou is dangerous, there are more than three boats, and Upi can trust a few of his capable subordinates brought out by himself. But recently it has been different, the volume of cargo has increased sharply, and there are more than a dozen or twenty ships at every turn, and there is no slack in coming. There are several boulders in that section of the beach, which disappear under the water in summer and autumn. The river crashed against the shore with a deafening loud noise, and when you heard such a sound, you could know the turbulence of the river, and if you didn't avoid a head-on collision, no one in the whole boat would survive - that section, even if it was a piece of wood, would be entangled in the turbulent undercurrent under the river for a long time before it could float again! This time there were thirty-five boats, large and small, and in addition to transporting goods, Upi also had to deliver a very important letter to Du Duan—half a letter to be exact. Therefore, Upi decided to hire a few slender men for each boat, and dragged them to the shore as close as possible.

Early the next morning, when it was still dark, Upi was the first to walk out of the farmhouse and looked up at the leaves on the branches: Great, it's a headwind, you have to hurry. Nodding at the son beside him, the gong sounded, and Niukou Village became lively again. Two quarters of an hour later, the fleet had untied its cables and opened its sails, so that the oncoming river wind could exert the greatest resistance, and under the pull of the slender men, it slowed down as much as possible in the turbulent river water, sailed through the beach without danger, and anchored outside Guizhou City in the afternoon.

Seeing the red-painted boulder on the river beach, Upi instructed everyone to unload the salt packets and put them in baskets in an orderly manner. As soon as all the work was completed, a gong suddenly sounded in the forest dozens of feet away, and then dozens of officers and soldiers with felt hats rushed out of the forest with shouts! The people on the shore hurried back to the boat and sailed towards the center of the river. The officers and soldiers rushed to the shore with shouts and began to shoot arrows at the boats......

Strange to say, the arrows in the air flew all twisted and crooked, and the speed was even even slower, and there were even crooked and twisted halfway into the river. On closer inspection, the officers and soldiers used bows tied to thin bamboo pieces, and many children played with this. The arrows are also made of bamboo strips, and many of them don't even have tail feathers! The people on the boat looked at each other with a grin, and only retracted their heads when they were scolded by their respective leaders.

The officers and soldiers shouted for a while and stopped, and the second gong sounded, and a group of bare-handed people came out of the forest, walked to the loaded salt burden, picked it up, and followed the officers and soldiers who opened the way along the official road to Guizhou.

The Upi father and son did not flee to the boat, ran away a few steps and sat by the river watching, while the officers and soldiers turned a blind eye to them one by one, as if they were a pair of transparent people. After the people had walked dozens of feet, Upi stood up and patted his buttocks, and the father and son entered the city with everyone far behind.

Guizhou used to be called Zigui (now it is also changed back to Zigui), which is said to be Qu Yuan's hometown. Legend has it that after Qu Yuan was deposed, he lived here temporarily, and his sister rushed back from a foreign country to persuade him to enlighten his younger brother. The villagers felt their virtue and changed their name to "Sister Return". Some people also say that this is the ancient Kui country, which is commonly known as the "Kuizi country". The ancient pronunciation of the words "Kui" and "Gui" is similar, and it is called "Guizi" country for a long time. Later, because "Guizi" is very similar to the sound of "turtle", it sounds really indecent, so the two words are reversed.

After entering the city, the salt picker went directly into the official treasury. The Upi father and son walked into a shop with familiarity. The smiling shopkeeper said hello when he saw Wupi, and then the three of them went into the backyard one after another.

Liuchen shop is the largest shop in Guizhou, divided into six rooms, such as the south goods room, the north goods room, the mountain goods room, the pickled meat room, the candied fruit room, the candle room, etc., and all kinds of goods are displayed in different areas, and they are named.

Liuchenpu also doubles as retail, but its main business is still the wholesale of bulk goods. Most of the merchants are to the rooms to see the goods, write down the goods, to the front of the counter payment, will open a list for you - six Chen shop recognition does not recognize people, in the agreed approximate time, whether it is the merchant himself or any person to take the list over, six Chen shop will arrange people to send the goods to the merchant ship, and then go up the river to sell to Bashu.

The big shopkeeper Du Yi smiled all day long, and his temper was very good, as if no one had ever seen him lose his temper, so the more familiar merchants and neighbors jokingly called him "Aunt Du", and some people even teased him in person. ”

The reputation of the six Chen shops is excellent. There was once a merchant who had an accident after paying and died in a foreign country. It was more than half a year after the coffin was transported back to his hometown. In the midst of the chaos, no one remembered this, and the family packed up the relics and found the list of six Chen shops, but unfortunately, it was so damaged that it could not be seen. Thinking that the man was dead, and that the handwriting on the slip was illegible, he ignored it. Six or seven years later, the orphan gradually grew up, watching the widow's daily hard work, with the attitude of trying to say goodbye, all the way over. Aunt Du took the list of several percent of waste paper and glanced at it, "Let the people in the wanton pay it immediately, without a little hesitation"! Moreover, he quietly arranged all the preparations for the orphan to enter the river, from the cargo ship to the slender man...... Even when the ship went to Wushan, buyers from Sichuan were already waiting at the pier*!

Of course, some people think that Aunt Du is honest, and that document is not unusual, and she made one according to the gourd painting, how do you think it is seamless, and a group of people shout at them to pick up the goods in Liuchenpu...... At this time, what they saw was another face of Aunt Du.

Aunt Du first picked up the bill of goods and glanced at it, said "Wait a minute, please wait" and entered the back room, and in the blink of an eye, more than 20 hardcover men surrounded these six or seven people! Aunt Du looked at these people coldly, and only said one sentence: "Help people, friends who don't know the reason, please leave now, don't play with your own life!" When the rabble dispersed, the guy who forged the bill of goods was weak and wanted to slip away, and Aunt Du said the second sentence: "Mo teaches the friend who took the list to get away"!

That night, a small boat rowed silently to the center of the river. Aunt Du took a slip and approached a guy whose skin was tied to a big stone and whispered in her ear: "Teach your baby not to say grievances, and know how to be transparent when you die." Twelve months a year, Lao Tzu has twelve seals here! You look at the word 'shop' in this chapter, it is also twelve strokes, and there is a small break point in the second horizontal, and it took a lot of effort for your baby to make it. But this is the seal used in October, what month did your baby write? Look at Lao Tzu's monogram again," he said, holding up the slip to the hazy moonlight, "Look, there is a small eye here, and there is a needle in Lao Tzu's pen!" Thirty days a month, which day is where this eye pokes it, will your baby know? There are more than a dozen secret notes, and none of your turtle sons can understand it, so they came to Lao Tzu to deceive him? The eyes of the kidnapped guy were full of pity, but his mouth was stuffed with hemp walnuts, and the whining was inaudible. Then, with the sound of the river water "poof", the world disappeared.

This Aunt Du is actually Du Duan's younger brother and Du Daworm's father. And the six Chen shops are the dark piles opened by the Du family in Guizhou! Daning produces salt but not grain - salt cannot be eaten as food, and nearly half of the daily supplies in Daning City are supplied through the Liuchenpu organization.

In the main room in the backyard, Wupi first took out an oiled paper bag from his arms and solemnly handed it to Aunt Du. Although it was no longer ripe, the latter carefully examined the wax seal, opened the bag, and took out an envelope that was also sealed. After inspecting the seal and back cover again, Aunt Du nodded, tore open the envelope, took out half a page from it, glanced at it, and said to Wupi: "Ha'er has been here before, and I have already said this." The rice and flour goods are ready, and it is good to go back and let the brothers move to the ship. Take a quick sip and take a break. ”

Wupi responded: "Thank you, Second Master." ”

As the two were talking, the courtyard became lively, someone opened the corner door, and everyone on the boat rushed in one by one. A stool had already been set up in the courtyard, and on the table were stacks of coarse porcelain bowls and teapots, and everyone sat down laughing and laughing, drinking tea and making vulgar jokes, waiting for a sumptuous dinner later.

* Ancient merchants, mostly so. This incident is based on the real events of Sun Chunyang's South Goods Store in Suzhou: during the Shunzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, someone found a list of goods from Sun Chunyang's store during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty when he was packing up the relics of his elders - although the dynasty has changed, the Sun family still "ordered the people in the house to pay for it without hesitation" - than those who had to "prove that your father is your father"?

[Stop watching for six days to accompany the baby. 】