Hailing is a typical water town in the south of the Yangtze River. It is located at the end of the Huaihe River system, with dense water networks. It borders the sea to the east and Huaisi to the west. It has been a land of fishing and salt since ancient times.
The river that Wang Ze and others traveled through was the Salt River. In the past, most of the ships that came and went were salt ships. This river was opened by Liu Bi, King of Wu of the Han Dynasty, for the purpose of transporting salt for trade.
Therefore, this canal was called Hangou, Yanhe, Wuwanggou, etc. in ancient times.
The most recent dredging was in the fourth year of Renshou's reign in the former Sui Dynasty, when Zhuyu Bay was opened to facilitate traffic and increase the volume of salt transportation.
Although Hailing has a long history, it cannot escape the fate of a small town in the south of the Yangtze River. The people living here are mainly fishermen and salt collectors, and they work in the lowest industries among the people in the Central Plains.
Since ancient times, the thinking of the people in the Central Plains has been very simple. People who live by tapping natural resources are very despised. In the eyes of many people, they have the original sin of sitting back and enjoying their gains.
For example, fishermen, miners, businessmen, prostitutes who work in the flesh industry, and what people often call car and boat shops are all included in this list.
The farmers at the bottom who farm are the serious ones. The nobles talk about farming as the foundation of the country all day long, so it has become a consensus among everyone.
As a result, many handicraftsmen were also unlucky and were classified as merchants...
This is a phenomenon caused by the social environment. It is difficult to clearly explain the pros and cons. However, when the old Zhao family conquered the world, this phenomenon gradually became serious. By the time the scholar-officials in the Ming and Qing Dynasties began to talk about strange skills and tricks,
This is one of the symptoms that social progress has begun to stagnate.
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Hailing County has a seaport, several river terminals, and a canal leading directly to Jiangdu, making water transportation very convenient.
When Du Fuwei was here, two shipyards were set up in Hailing and some small boats were built to supply sea salt to Jiangdu. However, there were many water bandits in Hailing at that time and they were unwilling to join the rebels and often attacked salt ships.
They robbed the salt ship and then went to sell illegal salt. They were so rampant that they refused to accept anything from heaven and earth. Du Fuwei also spent a lot of effort to wipe out them.
At that time, Yu Jiangnv and other former water bandits all made great efforts, which was a typical operation of using bandits to defeat bandits.
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Wang Ze's visit to Hailing to inspect the docks naturally had a purpose. At the beginning of this year, the imperial government's decree came to Guangling, asking the Yangzhou General Administration to prepare for water transportation.
The most important one is to build more cannons. The manufacture of warships will be postponed for now.
Wang Ze understood the meaning at that time. The war in the East China Sea was coming to an end, and the imperial court was adjusting its strategy of using troops at sea, and turned its attention from the sea back to the interior.
Wang Ze was confident that his guess would not be wrong. The imperial court had been studying the method of making a large ship made of thousands of materials, and it was urged very urgently.
Yang Guang built ships for travel. Now the Tang Dynasty wants to build large ships to serve the war in the East China Sea. Unfortunately, due to the war in the late Sui Dynasty, some key shipbuilding skills were lost.
These skills are preserved in the minds of the craftsmen and are not found in writing. The drawings stored in Jiangdu or the Guanwen Hall in Luoyang cannot provide a comprehensive description of the shipbuilding details.
Craftsmen keep many secrets and pass them on to their children as a profession. Even if the court asks for them, they will try their best to hide them.
This phenomenon is very common, and the result is that once the craftsmen discontinue their inheritance, their skills will disappear, and without their participation, ships built according to those drawings will have various problems.
The quality is quite different from before.
You can see that the ships that conquered the East China Sea were all left over from the former Sui Dynasty. After so many years of repairs and repairs, they were still able to ride the wind and waves and travel on the sea. Several new ships were built, but after several trials, they were not satisfactory. This is the reason.
There is no good solution in a hurry, and craftsmen do not appear suddenly, so they can only take their time. The end of the East China Sea War actually made Wang Ze and others breathe a sigh of relief.
This year, the imperial government's policy has changed. It will be much easier to build warships, and it can also accumulate experience for the future manufacturing of warships. In a few years, if the imperial court can continue to support the development of the shipbuilding industry, then it will definitely give birth to more new ships.
for the prosperous shipbuilding industry.
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Hailing's shipyard has always built mainly watercraft. Wang Ze will come over to see it in person first. If it is still successful here, he plans to provide strong support in the future.
This is just like the later provincial governor's inspection of local areas. If he is satisfied after the inspection, he will provide various preferential policies to the local area and vigorously support some industries.
Another reason is that Hailing is an important salt-producing area in Huainan, and the production of sea salt here is the highest in the world.
In the fifth year of Yuanzhen, the imperial court established eight major salt supervisors in the country. Hailing was the first of the eight major salt supervisors. The two major industries of shipbuilding and salt industry supported the prosperity of Hailing County.
For example, in the past two years of river dredging, Guangling will be the first to dredge the river leading to Hailing, in order to transport the sea salt from Hailing to other places.
This year, Wang Ze heard that the imperial court had made innovations in salt production, which could produce salt on a larger scale and prepare more refined edible salt.
He didn't know whether it was true or not, so he sent people everywhere to inquire. If it was true, he thought that according to the court's custom, he should first find a salt farm to try it out.
Then the opportunity will come for Hailing. He will try his best to persuade the court to use Hailing as a trial site. Just like the previous rice planting, it was also the Yangzhou General Manager's Office who took the lead.
Nowadays, rice production is increasing year by year, but it is still reserved for the nobility. There are two rice merchants in Guangling specifically for the imperial use.
If Hailing can achieve great results again, his achievements as the general manager of Yangzhou will be even more dazzling. Wang Ze's three years of service here will be considered to be in vain.
Thinking of this, Wang Ze stroked his beard and sighed secretly, Jiangzuo is indeed a good place, otherwise Yang Er wouldn't come here often, haha.
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"How's it going at the palace?" Wang Ze asked casually.
Liu Shixiu said: "There is nothing wrong with the Jiangdu Palace in the city. According to the instructions of the general manager, we just clear the weeds and remove dust every day. It's hard to say about the other palaces outside.
Xiaguan went there to check several times. The place was too big. If according to the general manager's suggestion, all the palaces were preserved and the forbidden garden was included in the government land... Xianguan felt that it was not feasible. Many things built there were just for viewing.
The scenery is used for hunting and recreation. It is scattered and difficult to move...
For example, there are dozens of pavilions next to Yangzijin, and the highest point is a fishing platform. It is said that Emperor Yang went fishing there before he decided to build Jiangdu Palace.
They are all things with allusions, so we can’t just tear them apart, right?”
Yu Jiangnv sneered and interjected: "Yang Guang has done a lot of harm to us. Why can't the things he built be demolished? It's you people who are the cause. If it were me, why would I still have to waste so much effort? Damn it.