"Don't scare the children!"
Xue Pan snatched her daughter back from Xiao Han's arms with dissatisfaction, took out a handkerchief, wiped her little face, and kissed her after that, then she raised her head and continued to talk to Xiao Han: "Both the governor of Yangzhou and Bie Jia are here."
When we get to the pier, don't you go down and have a look?"
Xiao Han was slightly startled, but still shook his head: "Forget it, if we go down, we don't know how long we will be delayed. Time is tight, let's set off quickly!"
"Huh? Why are you so anxious all of a sudden?" Xue Pan looked at Xiao Han and asked worriedly: "Did something big happen?"
"No, what could have happened? It's just that Chang'an was urging food more urgently." Xiao Han answered naturally, as if it was really just Chang'an that was urging food.
Men, even if the sky falls, they will choose to carry it silently. What does it mean to let women worry about them?
Next, after greeting Butler Lu and the master one by one, Xiao Han quickly came to the side of the ship and waved to Cui Jingzhi and Yang Wanli who were waiting on the dock.
The two people stood on the pier, waving their hands vigorously, and seemed to be shouting something in this direction.
But because the distance was too far, the sound reached the ship and was so weak that it was undetectable. Only a few sporadic words such as "take care" and "goodbye" could be faintly heard in the wind.
Farewell is always sad.
The longer Xiao Han lived in the Tang Dynasty, the deeper his understanding became.
Just when he was brewing his emotions and was about to squeeze out a few tears to say goodbye, the idiot next to him suddenly let out a soft sigh, put down his binoculars, pointed at another group of people on the pier and said: "Huh? Why is that guy from Li Yifu here?
Yes? It seems that there are still a few students in the academy?"
"Hmm? Where is it?!"
Hearing this, Xiao Han, who was busy squeezing away tears just now, suddenly opened his eyes, grabbed the telescope from the idiot's hand and looked towards the shore!
Sure enough, among the group of people on the shore, he saw Li Yifu, Mr. Song, Xiao Shisan, Wang Chongan, and Yin Can standing behind them, gently waving a folding fan.
Perhaps seeing Xiao Han looking over, several people bowed in unison and gave a salute.
Xiao Han also saw the little Li Yifu wiping tears while saluting. Even Yin Can, who was standing behind them, put away his folding fan and cupped his hands towards him from a distance.
"It's such a cold day and you're still fanning, what a slut!"
Looking at the familiar figures, Xiao Han murmured something in a low voice, threw the binoculars at the idiot, and turned away without looking back.
"Hey? Why are you crying, Master Hou?"
He hurriedly took the telescope, looked at Xiao Han's back strangely and murmured...
——————
The fleet soon left Yangzhou and continued northward.
In the next journey, the grain ships behind gradually followed up, so the entire team had three to four hundred ships! Looking from the middle, it was really impossible to see the head in front and the tail behind!
Such a fleet traveling on the canal naturally attracts great attention. Everywhere it goes, it will be watched by local people.
Seeing this situation, Ma Laoliu, after discussing with Xiao Han, decided that except for the necessary supplementary supplies, the fleet would not dock again, but would sail day and night to Chang'an.
During this process, it was not all smooth sailing for the fleet. Changes in water conditions in some rivers or the emergence of ice floes also brought a lot of trouble to the fleet.
Fortunately, Fu Chuan, who was responsible for opening the road in front, came up with a way: every once in a while, or whenever the water conditions changed somewhere, they would throw a piece of wood with inscriptions on it into the water and let it float down the water.
In this way, after the sand boat filled with grain behind picks up the wooden planks, it can quickly know the water conditions in front and make changes accordingly.
After nearly ten days of non-stop sailing, the fleet has crossed the Huai River and entered the Tongji Canal.
The Huai River is the symbol that divides the north and the south. Once you enter the north, the water conditions become complicated instantly.
Many times, the fleet does not dare to move at all at night. They can only wait until the water conditions are clear during the day before they dare to move forward cautiously.
At first, when Xiao Han was crossing this section of waterway, he had wondered, since it is an artificial river, shouldn't it be built straight to save effort and safety?
This question was only revealed to him after the ship boss explained it later: when digging this section of canal, the Sui Dynasty made use of natural waterways and local canals that had been dug before in order to save money.
At that time, they only dug deep, widened and dredged these original river channels to form the current Grand Canal, so twists and turns are normal.
However, this approach saved money at the time, but for the subsequent fleet, it was a huge waste of money!
Because the rivers in many places are very winding, the water flow speeds up inexplicably, and the loaded ships are too heavy, and it is impossible to pass against the current by wind alone.
So whenever you encounter such a place, you must use trackers!
It would be easy to say that there is only one such place.
The key is that there are countless places like this in the 800-mile waterway of Tongji Canal, so the money given to the trackers alone is a major expense for the fleet!
According to Ma Laoliu, I heard that in the past, 30% of the freight for a shipment was lost in it.
However, Ma Laoliu's troubles were not considered troubles when it came to Xiao Han.
Officials along the way had already received the news in advance and knew that this was the fleet waiting for Sanyuan County, so they led their people early and waited at the places where fiber drawing was needed.
As soon as they see the ship coming, the people below will start working directly without saying a word.
After the first stretch, Steward Lu wanted to get off the ship and pay, but when the officials saw the copper coins, they felt as if their hands had been burned, and even dared not accept it until they died.
According to what they said, Xiao Han is a prince, and the grain transported this time is not private property. As a rule, no money can be collected!
As for the trackers, their work is not in vain, because this time the corvee has been recorded on the corvée list.
After Xiao Han received the reward from Butler Lu, he only thought about it briefly before accepting the money for sex.
He still knew the story of Zigong's redemption. If he broke the rules, it would probably be difficult for him to be an official ship later.
However, I can't give money, and I didn't say I couldn't give rewards.
After Xiao Han affirmed the local officials' attitude of abiding by the rules, he waved his hand and rewarded each tracker with a hundred big sons.
It's not that he has money but no place to spend it, it's just that he can't bear to see the trackers with their bare feet and ragged clothes. A hundred rich men are enough to buy a set of clothes for each of them.
From then on, every time he went to a fiber-drawing place, one hundred coppers became a fixed amount.
Ma Laoliu made a calculation secretly in his mind. After a calculation like this, the reward alone would amount to thousands of dollars! It is estimated that only a wealthy owner like Xiao Han can afford the reward.
This chapter has been completed!