Chapter 464: The Beginning of Civil and Commercial Rise (2)
After leaving Shangshui County, Wen Shaobo originally planned to go straight north, but Jie Ziu suggested that he go east.
"It's more than a thousand miles from Shangshui to Sanchuan. If we take the land route, we may not be able to return to our hometown before the end of the year. We can only take the water route."
Jie Ziyu was from Chu, and in Chu State, waterways were the most important means of transportation. He told Wen Shaobo that the Shangshui Army stationed in Shangshui County was vigorously developing the river port on the east side of Shangshui County.
Wen Shaobo listened to Jie Ziyu's suggestion, and the two drove the carriage to Shangshui Port.
When I arrived at the port, I saw the banners of the Shangshui Army everywhere nearby. Thousands of Shangshui soldiers commanded the citizens of Shangshui County during the labor period, and worked together to build the Shangshui Port. The scale of it made Anling
Uncle Wen, a descendant of the Wen family, could not help but be amazed.
After all, within hundreds of miles, Uncle Wen had never seen such a huge project.
"Why did King Su expand the Shangshui River Port?" Wen Shaobo asked puzzledly.
At this moment, I believe that almost no one knows that Zhao Hongrun is planning to build Shangshui County into a free trade port city connected to Chu State. Few people also know that Shangshui County is about to become the fiefdom of King Su Hongrun, but Jie Ziu can still faintly
I guessed a bit.
After all, during this period of time, although the private transaction between Zhao Hongrun and Chu Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo was hidden from most Wei people in Wei State, it was still difficult to hide it from the people living in Shangshui County.
In fact, many Chu people living in Shangshui know that during this period, ships loaded with cargo temporarily docked in Shangshui County from time to time.
The ships anchored at Shangshui River Port are also quite interesting. There are not only ships from the Wei State, but also ships from the Chu State.
According to what the residents of Shangshui County know, every few to ten days, a team of ships from the Chu State secretly arrive at the Shangshui River Port. Although these ships have put away the flags representing the Chu State, Shangshui
The citizens of Shui County can still see through it at a glance.
Think about it, after all, almost all the people living in Shangshui are Chu people who were born in Chu State. How could they not be familiar with the ships of their homeland?
After the arrival of these Chu ships, some transport ships flying the flag of Wei would arrive one after another. These transport ships were filled with grains and were nominally sent to the granary in Shangshui County, but in fact
, the Shang Shui soldiers who received the secret mission transported the grains from the Wei warships and put them on the Chu ships that deliberately concealed their whereabouts, and from the latter's ships, they took pieces of lacquerware, bronzes,
As well as boxes and boxes of pearls, they were shipped to Wei's ships.
Then, Chu's fleet disappeared one night, and Wei's ships quietly set out to the north one day.
This kind of private transaction has almost become a normal thing in the eyes of the residents of Shangshui County.
But as a Wei man, this was the first time that Wen Shaobo learned about this incident from Jie Ziu, and he exclaimed: "How dare you have illicit liaisons with foreign countries? Transport the grain of Wei Dynasty abroad?"
Jie Ziyu shook his head helplessly and quickly reminded Wen Shaobo that after all, this matter involved the Shang Shui Army and those transport ships flying the flag of the Wei Dynasty's Household Department. This was obviously not smuggling in the usual sense.
Behind the incident, perhaps Su Wang Hongrun and the Wei court were pushing it, and it even got the tacit approval of the Wei king.
"Why did King Su secretly support Chu?... Jiezi, I have no other meaning, I'm just wondering." Upon hearing that King Su also contributed to this matter, Wen Shaobo's hostility was reduced a lot. After all, in the In Yingshuinan County, Su Wang Hongrun once defeated the invading army of Lord Chu Yangcheng, and his prestige here was at its peak.
Jie Ziu naturally understood the difference between Wei's private support for Chu Yangcheng and Wei's support of Chu. He also vaguely guessed Zhao Hongrun's purpose, so he secretly told Wen Shaobo his judgment, which made Wen Shaobo admire him. Endless.
After all, Uncle Wen just doesn't like reading, but he is not stupid. Of course, he can imagine that if Zhao Hongrun secretly supports Xiong Tuo, the king of Chu Yangcheng who is currently weak in Chu State, to fight for the position of King of Chu, there is a high probability that Chu will be defeated. The country fell into civil strife, and once Chu fell into civil strife, Wei would naturally benefit from it.
"As expected of King Su, he is far-sighted and far-sighted. We are not the ones who can keep up with him. Hahaha... But having said that, Jiezi, you are also from Chu. Aren't you worried about the hidden dangers of Chu?"
"I am from Shangshui." Like most Chu people who immigrated to Shangshui, Jie Ziyu corrected Wen Shaobo's words, and then sighed and said: "You who have lived in Wei since childhood will not understand the Chu people. Feeling... Chu State is a very dark place. In fact, in our opinion, Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, is already a kinder king, but his benevolent government is still not as good as that of the magistrates of the Wei Dynasty. ...This is still in Chuxi, if it were Chudong, haha."
At the end of the sentence, Jie Ziyu sneered twice and did not want to continue talking about Chu Dong's situation.
Indeed, Chudong is something that the common people of Chu State do not want to mention, because the situation there will make every Chu person who still loves or misses Chu State feel sad and desperate.
"Forget it, let's not talk about it. Let's rent a boat first and ask the boatman to take us to Daliang." Jie Zizi pointed to the edge of the river port, where many small boats were moored.
That is the boat of the fishermen of Shangshui County. Almost all of these fishermen immigrated here from Chen County and Xiangcheng area of Chu State.
These fishermen used to make a living by fishing. Even after they moved to Shangshui, the government of Shangshui gave them fields, but they did not know how to cultivate them. Therefore, these people sold or rented their fields to others. I still go back to my old business.
Jie Ziyu now planned to hire a boatman to transport him, Wen Shaobo and the entire carriage's cargo along the Yingshui Cai River to Daliang.
But after hearing Jie Ziu's suggestion, Uncle Wen cast his thief eyes on the transport ships flying the flags of the Wei Dynasty's household department.
"This...we can't go up, right?"
After hearing Shaobo Wen's suggestion, Jie Ziu couldn't help but be a little surprised. Although he also understood that the big ship was faster, it was the ship of the Wei Dynasty.
"I have a solution."
Uncle Wen blinked his eyes.
Unexpectedly, when the two drove a carriage close to the Wei State Household Ship, they were immediately stopped by the Shang Shui Army who were responsible for patrolling and guarding.
Think about it, the Shang Navy is responsible for the security here, how could they let two civilians, Wen Shaobo and Jie Zizi, get close to the fleet of the Wei imperial court?
During this period, Shaobo Wen proudly announced his identity as a descendant of the Anling Wen family, but the soldiers of the Shang Shui Army did not buy it at all.
"Anling Wenjia? Who is that? We only obey King Su's orders!"
The Shang Shui sergeant who stopped Wen Shaobo and his two men curled his lips and snorted coldly.
You must know that the Shang Shui Army is the direct army of Su Wang Hongrun. Let alone a descendant of a middle-class nobleman in Anling, even if you are a branch of the royal family like King Yuanyang, the Shang Shui Army will reject any improper request and will not care about you.
many?
However, refusal was a refusal. The soldiers of the Shangshui Army did not treat Wen Shaobo too harshly. After all, Wen Shaobo was from Wei, and there was an article in the military discipline of the Shangshui Army that prohibited the use of force against Wei people in any form.
When the Shang Shui Army was in power, the two generals Guliangwei and Wumajiao used disguised methods to please the Wei people.
Out of anger, Wen Shaobo quarreled with the merchant soldiers. Their quarrel attracted the attention of a civil servant who was counting the goods not far away.
This person came over and asked, "What's going on?"
"Sir." The Shang Shui soldier clasped his fists and said in a deep voice, "These two civilians want to board the ship."
"Boarding?" The civil servant was stunned for a moment, looked at Shao Bo Wen and Jie Ziu and said, "Do you two know that this is the imperial fleet, right?"
"I know, and I also know that you have just made a private deal with Chu's fleet and are preparing to return to Daliang." Wen Shaobo's words made the civil servant and the nearby merchant navy change their expressions.
It also made Jie Ziyu sweat all over his head, and he quickly covered Shao Bo Wen's mouth with his hands.
"Haha, you two know a lot..." The civil servant hummed with a smile, and couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart.
In fact, there are quite a few people who know about this matter, but no idiot dares to tell it in public.
At this moment, a soldier of the Shang Shui Army whispered a few words in the ear of the civil servant, which made the look of surprise on the civil servant's face even stronger.
"Are you from Anling?" The civil servant looked at Mr. Wen in surprise.
"Yes, sir, I am from Anling and my brother is from Shangshui. We heard about what happened in Sanchuan. We jointly made some goods and are about to transport them to Sanchuan for sale. I hope you can make it convenient for me.
Let's take a boat ride." Mr. Wen looked familiar and said to the civil servant with a smile.
The civil servant was obviously dumbfounded. Maybe it was the first time he encountered such a bold guy who actually wanted to take advantage of the imperial court.
But when he thought about the recent order received by his household department, he actually did not object. Instead, he nodded and said: "Okay...but you have to pay the shipping fee."
"No problem, no problem, thank you sir, thank you sir." Wen Shaobo nodded and bowed with a playful smile.
Seeing that the civil servant actually agreed to the matter, the Shang Shui soldiers no longer stopped them, but instead helped them get their carriage filled with goods onto the ship.
Mr. Wen Shaobo was also very good at doing things. Before leaving, he gave a few large sums of money to the Shangshui sergeant who helped.
"sail!"
A moment later, following the order from the flagman guiding the ship at the bow, the ships moored at the river port in Shangshui County set off one after another and returned to Daliang.
Different from Wen Shaobo's excited look, Jie Ziyu looked at the household personnel coming and going on the boat with a look of astonishment on his face.
"We really got on the imperial ship?"
"We paid the shipping fee." Mr. Wen said matter-of-factly.
Listening to his friend's matter-of-fact tone, Jie Ziyu rolled his eyes.
You can board the imperial ship after paying the fare? What a joke! That is the imperial household ship!
That civil servant hesitated at that time... when he heard Uncle Wen mentioned that he responded to King Su's call and went to Sanchuan to do business...
Holding on to the railing of the boat, Jie Zizi thought carefully, his eyes gradually filled with surprise and surprise.
It seems that King Su is indeed sparing no effort to support private merchants, and even notified the Ministry of Household Affairs to provide convenience to private merchants...