One day later, Fengzhou arrived at Liujiagang, Taicang. Since the Yuan Dynasty, this has been the starting point for grain shipping.
The transportation of grain by sea actually existed as early as the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties. By the Song Dynasty, especially the Southern Song Dynasty, which was highly dependent on overseas trade, navigation technology advanced rapidly, creating sufficient objective conditions for the great development of maritime transportation in the Yuan Dynasty.
Subjectively, because most areas in the north were turned into pastures by the Mongols. The food supply in the north, especially in Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty, relied heavily on the Jiangnan region.
However, with the Yuan Dynasty's low governance capabilities and acute ethnic conflicts, it was simply unable to maintain the smooth flow of the Grand Canal, nor was it able to maintain the safety of water transportation.
Therefore, the cheaper and safer grain transportation by sea became the only choice for the Yuan Dynasty.
Of course, the safety here does not refer to the safety of navigation. This sea transportation is definitely not as good as water transportation.
Safety here means that the fleet will not be robbed or burned by the peasant rebels at sea...
Through continuous exploration, the Yuan Dynasty's maritime channels underwent three improvements.
At first, the fleet sailed along the coastline, so it was less likely to get lost. However, it was easy to get stranded on the sand, and the voyage was difficult and tortuous, lasting more than two months.
Later, Li Fu, a native of Changxing, opened up new waterways, some of which were ocean voyages. The route was relatively direct, and the sailing period was reduced to half a month to more than a month.
Finally, Yin Minglue opened a new route for shipping, starting from Liujiagang to Sansha, Chongming, heading eastward into the Blackwater Ocean to Chengshantou, the easternmost tip of the Shandong Peninsula, and then sailed northwest to Zhigu.
This route was mainly used for ocean navigation and could be reached within ten days with a favorable wind. In the following years, this route was used to transport grain to the north until the present dynasty.
~~
Although the capital of this dynasty was Nanjing, the army on the northern front still relied heavily on the supply of grain and grass from the south of the Yangtze River. Therefore, Liujiagang was still busy.
Grain transportation is divided into spring and summer. During the Spring Festival, grain is usually collected in the first month and set sail in February or March. When the boat arrives at Liujiagang, the first wave of shipping fleets this year is also about to set off.
So the two sides formed a team and sailed out of the Yangtze River Estuary toward the vast ocean.
~~
Zhu Zhen checked carefully and saw navigation marks erected along the route, and navigation boats at the port and the Sansha siltation area in Chongming.
The boss of the ship not only has popular navigation tips, but also knows hydrology and meteorology well. He is also proficient in the art of guiding stars across the ocean, and sailing on the sea is like sailing on land.
The sailors are also very skilled, work well together, and can handle any situation with confidence.
'Who said we are a land nation? We have clearly conquered the ocean!' He roared in his heart: 'The sinner who ruined all this should be taken out and shot!'
What, the sinner is the father?
Then let's change the hanging...
But we can’t blame our father entirely. Didn’t the fourth brother later send Zheng He on six voyages to the West and capture giraffes from Africa?
As for future emperors, can they have the final say?
Therefore, in the final analysis, it is the civil servant group and their feudal ethics that can only dominate in a closed farming civilization. Once the country opens up and embraces the ocean, they will be done with it.
It's a pity that the Ming Dynasty opened up too late, and it didn't reach this stage until the Longwan years. What's even more tragic is that the old order collapsed, and the new order was not established, and it caught up with Xiao Glacier, and the result was oh.
By the time of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, when foreigners ruled China, they were more afraid of opening up than the civil servants, so the two sides hit it off, completely closed the country, and continued to dominate the agricultural civilization for more than two hundred years.
At the same time, the West was changing with each passing day, and the King of the World was completely left behind, until the Opium War started...
~~
Therefore, it is said that reading thousands of books is not as good as traveling thousands of miles.
Standing on the high deck, looking at the fleet of ships chopping the waves, Zhu Zhen's heart was surging, and he finally clearly realized the historical mission of himself and his teacher——
It is to do everything possible to promote Ming Dynasty to open up and completely embrace the ocean! Whoever wants to close the country and retreat to small peasant civilization is their enemy!
No wonder I always have trouble dealing with the old thief. It turns out the root is here...
Lao Liu knew that it was difficult for old thieves to be changed, but his brothers were at a critical stage of forming their worldview, and it was relatively easy to subtly influence their thoughts at this time.
So he transformed into a sea blower and boasted to his brothers about the good shipping.
"This sea transportation is ten times faster than water transportation, and it saves ten times, but the transportation capacity is ten times stronger. Therefore, in the end of the Yuan Dynasty, sea transportation will always be used!"
"Sea transportation is better than water transportation." Lao Si nodded and changed the topic: "But it also harmed the Yuan Dynasty."
"Why?" Lao Liu was stunned.
"That's right." The third child, who was dumped on the mast, no longer dared to disagree with the fourth child. "Because they can easily obtain food and supplies from the south of the Yangtze River, the Mongolians have no worries about eating and drinking, and the princes of the Yuan Dynasty are even more extravagant and extravagant.
.”
At the end, he flattered him by saying, "Am I right, Fourth Brother?"
"Yes. They can just rely on sea transportation and naturally neglect the development and management of the north." Zhu Di nodded and said: "With the rebels, they will naturally fall apart."
"That's it." Zhu Zhen said suddenly.
"If you ask me, Kublai Khan should not have made his capital Peiping, but should have made it Luoyang, or directly made his capital Jinling to control the wealth of Jiangsu and Zhejiang." Zhu Di said eloquently:
"A bitter cold place like Peiping cannot be self-sufficient at all, so it must labor and waste money to supply supplies from the south. Moreover, it is so far away from the south of the Yangtze River and is beyond our reach. It cannot control the two Zhejiang provinces, and the country is destined to die!"
"Beiping is the fiefdom of King Yan... is it really that bad?" Zhu Zhen was stunned for a moment after hearing this.
"It's so bad. It's just a place where the King of Seoul guards the border. How can it be the capital of the country?" Zhu Di said matter-of-factly: "Only ignorant barbarians would set their capital in a place like that!"
"Okay, fourth brother, always remember this sentence." Zhu Zhen nodded. But he sighed secretly, remembering it is useless, the butt is always the one who makes the decision, not the head.
If you want to prevent Peking from becoming the capital, the best way is to keep Fourth Brother's butt from sitting on that chair.
But can he really stop the Chosen One?
Zhu Zhen really has no confidence...
~~
"Excuse me, you two." The third child couldn't help but beg the fourth child, his face turned red from holding it in, "The fourth child, Hong Baihu, can you let me down? I really don't feel seasick anymore..."
After the ship went out to sea, it began to bump in the waves, and many people began to get seasick.
The third child was especially dizzy.
The fourth child told him that he had learned a way to overcome seasickness in the army and that he would be fine once he used it.
The third child was also dizzy. He didn't want to think about what a group of landlubbers knew about seasickness, so he asked the fourth child to teach him.
So he was tied up by his ankles and hung up...
Zhu Di also told him in a serious manner that the reason why he was seasick was because the bed was too wobbly. It stopped shaking when he was hanging...
Now the blood flowed to his brain, and the third child immediately understood that he had been tricked.
He was just about to question whether the fourth child was still a human being? Why are you kidding me when my brother is so dizzy?
But Zhu Di whispered in his ear: "You ruined my bridal chamber!"
If a good man doesn't suffer the immediate consequences, the third child will immediately become honest.
He estimated that if he was not honest, he could throw his fourth son into the sea...
