When going north, although Li Xuan's speed was not too slow, he still stopped and stopped. In addition, the threat of the Ming army in the north was still there, so he couldn't go too fast, causing any accidents. But this time going south,
Although Li Xuan brought more people, his speed was still much faster than when he went north.
There are various fleets heading south, more than 500 ships. Of course, most of these 500 ships are small and medium-sized ships, while the larger ships are only more than a hundred, all of which are official ships of the Tang Dynasty.
.
There are civil war warships and armed transport ships of the Tang Navy, as well as inland water transport ships of the Privy Council Logistics Department, and then there are transport ships of the navigation operation of the Guards. Yes, you read that right, the Guards does have a navigation operation establishment.
There are even a dozen river warships inside, which are exactly the same as those of the Tang Navy.
More than 500 ships carried tens of thousands of people heading south, and in addition, they brought back a large amount of gold and silver from the north.
But strictly speaking, a lot of the gold and silver inside is no longer official of the Tang Dynasty, but directly belongs to the Royal Bank, because the army marched northward and seized more than 20 million taels of cash, and all of this silver was
was directly deposited into the national treasury.
But the silver that was added to the treasury changed hands and was deposited into the Royal Bank. Therefore, what the treasury received was a large number of bank cashier's checks, and these gold and silver belonged to the gold and silver reserves of the Royal Bank.
However, although the Royal Bank is not an official institution in the strict sense, as a royal industry and the most special royal industry, it is currently the only bank with an official background in the Tang Dynasty and shoulders many special missions, including issuance
The issuance of national bonds, banknotes, and large loans support local infrastructure, industrial development and other important tasks.
Therefore, no one has ever regarded Royal Bank as an ordinary bank!
Otherwise, it would be impossible for the military to directly take over this batch of gold and silver worth more than 20 million yuan from the Royal Bank and undertake the transportation task.
More than five hundred ships of various types move southward along the canal, with a length of tens of kilometers. After the fleet at the front reaches the next destination, the ships at the rear of the fleet are often just starting to set off.
!
The ship Li Xuan took was a specially built royal liner.
The Secretariat of the Hanlin Academy put forward the design requirements, the Shipbuilding Department of the Naval Warfare Department of the Tang Dynasty was responsible for the establishment, the Jiangnan Shipyard carried out the specific construction, and the Royal Institute of Technology provided full technical supervision.
The overall displacement is not large, only 80 tons. At the same time, as a typical inland river passenger ship, it also has the characteristics of shallow draft. Considering the ability to escape in emergencies, the tonnage cannot be too large, but its
The construction level is better than that of a warship, and the protection level is the best among its tonnage. It also has two five-pound cannons installed symbolically as defensive firepower.
Its ship type is actually largely based on the Navy's second-class inland river warships.
Of course, as a royal liner, these are not the key points. The key point is that this ship has an almost epoch-making watertight cabin and numerous anti-sinking measures. There are even many lifeboats. Its first priority is to ensure Li Xuan's safety.
On the contrary, the luxurious decoration inside is just an embellishment!
Li Xuan took this royal liner all the way north, and then all the way south. The whole journey was not as uncomfortable as when he used to travel on river boats.
Because there are other rooms on the ship used as offices and several conference rooms, Li Xuan can also work on the ship.
Li Xuan is a very busy person. Even if he goes north to fight in person, there are still many memorials waiting for him to review every day. Although the left-behind team of the imperial study room headed by Liu Bagou has already handled a lot of affairs in Jinling City.
, but there are many decisions that Liu Bagou and the others cannot make, and Li Xuan must make the decision himself.
While busy going south, time passed very quickly. In mid-July, Li Xuan went all the way south to Huai'an Prefecture, and according to the usual practice along the way, he summoned the main local officials.
Among the officials summoned by Li Xuan, Chen Lifu, deputy director of the Inspection Division of the Grain Collection Department of the Ministry of Taxation, was responsible for tax inspections in Jiangbei Province and North Anhui Province.
And this is also the second time Chen Lifu has met the Eternal Saint Lord Li Xuan!
This was the first time I saw the Eternal Saint Lord Li Xuan up close!
When the Holy Master left Huai'an Mansion and returned to Jinling City, Chen Lifu still clearly remembered the scene when the Eternal Holy King summoned him.
At that time, he went there with Taoist priests from Jiangbei Province, the prefect of Huai'an Prefecture, and others. He happened to be located behind the prefect of Huai'an Prefecture.
When he first met the Eternal Saint King, Chen Lifu's first impression was that he was young. The Holy Emperor who led everyone to conquer such a huge country looked very young. In fact, the Eternal Saint Lord Li Xuan was indeed very young. He was only born this year.
Only twenty-two years old.
After Chen Lifu and everyone performed a grand ceremony of kneeling and worshiping together, the Eternal Sage kindly asked them to stand up, and then gave them seats. Chen Lifu did not dare to sit down at first, but seeing that all the Taoist priests in Jiangbei Road sat down, he
It was only then that Xie En came over and sat on the side of the chair, but he didn't have the guts to sit on it carelessly and sit firmly.
His Majesty took pity on his ministers and gave them seats. This is a gift, but it can never be an excuse for the ministers to ignore etiquette. Let alone Chen Lifu, the Taoist priest from Jiangbei Province on the side just sat on the edge of the chair.
Then the kind and benevolent Eternal Saint King asked them kindly how they were doing in Jiangbei and whether they were still used to life. Then he asked them about their families. He said that for the sake of the country, they had been traveling for many years and it was difficult to see their relatives.
, I really feel guilty.
At this time, Chen Lifu and several others immediately left their chairs, and then bowed and said, Your Majesty's words are serious. It is an honor for us to be loyal to Your Majesty and to serve the country.
Then the Eternal Saint King turned his attention to Chen Lifu again, and said: "Lifu, I have heard your name, and I heard that you have done a good job in Jiangbei, and you have done an excellent job in sorting out the taxation. Yes, work hard!
"
The words "work hard" instantly made Chen Lifu extremely excited, and tears were about to burst out of his eyes: Your Majesty is indeed a benevolent king!
Dear Lord, I have to work harder. Only by working harder can I be able to come to His Majesty's side as soon as possible and make suggestions for His Majesty, so that Your Majesty will no longer be confused by those treacherous ministers and traitors!
We have such a benevolent king in the Tang Dynasty. Although there are many treacherous ministers in the court, he believes that there will still be many loyal and righteous people like himself. When the time comes, with loyal and righteous people like himself to help him, are we afraid that we will not be able to create a peaceful and prosperous era?
He immediately said: "I will definitely work harder and never disappoint His Majesty's high expectations!"
Li Xuan, who was at the top, nodded slightly: "That's good!"
Later, Renjun was busy talking to several other people, but Chen Lifu didn't pay attention to what was said. At this time, the only thing in his mind was the sentence "work hard!"
Even later when he said goodbye to the Holy Master, he was a little confused. After he was let out in a daze, when he came back to his senses, the Holy Master's ship had already started sailing and continued southward.
Naturally, Li Xuan didn't care at all about Chen Lifu's reaction. He didn't even remember what this man looked like. Along the way, he had seen too many officials from Jiangbei Province, Shandong Province, and Hebei Province.
He met countless officials.
Even officials from North Anhui Province and Henan Province would come specially to request an audience.
Li Xuan meets with several groups of officials every day!
After passing Huai'an Prefecture, he then went to Yangzhou. However, after passing Yangzhou, he did not return directly to Jinling City. Instead, he transferred to a navy cruiser as his new car, and then went eastward along the river to Suzhou.
Go to Changzhou and Songjiang for inspection.
Especially Songjiang Mansion is the focus of his inspection!
Because the current Shanghai County in Songjiang Prefecture is one of the five trading ports of the Tang Dynasty, and it is the most important trading port in central China. It is also an important city for the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises to deploy industry in the Jiangnan region.
Jiangnan Shipyard, Songjiang Artillery Factory and Ammunition Factory under Jiangnan Weapons Company are all established in Shanghai County.
At the same time, this area is also a key support area for private industry. With the support of policies, a large number of private factories have emerged in Shanghai County in the past year. Although these private factories are still relatively small in scale, they are mainly engaged in light industry.
Traditional industries such as the processing industry, etc., but still play a very good leading role in the development of private industry in the Jiangnan region.
After landing in Shanghai County, Songjiang Prefecture, local officials told Li Xuan that although the Shanghai Business Zone was not established very long ago, it was developing very fast, and many businessmen came here because of their reputation.
And many routes have been opened, the most important of which is the route from Shanghai to Fuso. Many maritime merchants have made money through maritime trade. While they have made money, they have also brought a large amount of tax revenue to Datang Customs.
In addition, they also said that they have established a special industrial zone on the outskirts of Shanghai County. Officials have leveled the land, built roads and even railway tracks. Currently, more than 20 companies have settled there, half of which are owned by the Ministry of State-owned Enterprises or the royal family.
of enterprises, but half of them are private enterprises, and the development momentum of private enterprises is good.
The largest private enterprise in the industrial zone is a textile factory with more than 400 employees!
Hearing these reports, Li Xuan felt very pleased. Shanghai Port developed late, and its industrial scale was naturally unable to be compared with Guangzhou and Lianzhou, the two earlier developed trading ports, and even worse than Zhaoqing.
Quite a few, but now Shanghai has shown amazing potential. In time, it will definitely become the economic and industrial center of Datang!