Chapter 769 The disadvantages of water transportation
The army's southern expedition seems to be no longer a big deal for the current court.
Compared with the earliest official Southern Expedition, and the later Southern Expedition led by Lu Gongzhu, after the annihilation of Xixia, Zhang Dun's Southern Expedition did not receive much attention from the imperial court.
During the time of the late emperor, if there was a report of annihilating five hundred enemies on the northwest front, the whole country would definitely be celebrated, and no one would even complain about condolences to the ancestral temple. But now, with the expedition to Dali and the intention to destroy the country, the people of Bianliang City , the most I can say is: it is nothing more than a handful of small countries.
This is the contrast, and it is also the character that Zhao Xi has wanted to give Song Dynasty for decades.
There is really no need for the court to worry about the 100,000 new troops marching south. What the court is concerned about, or what has already begun to quarrel, is water transportation.
Because the water transportation was implicated in the attack on the prince, the officials were so angry that they directly handed over the water transportation to the garrison of the state governments to take over the water transportation. In fact, they stopped the entire water transportation business.
Of course, Zhao Xi is not desperate just to vent his anger. The reason why he dares to stop water transportation at this time is because this year's task of transporting grain from the south to the north has been completed and is about to enter the annual shutdown period of water transport.
"Officials, it is urgent to rectify water transportation. Once this incident happened, the court just took this as an opportunity to comprehensively rectify water transportation. How to rectify it requires the officials to formulate regulations."
The water transportation yamen set up in the imperial dynasty was quite complicated. Kaifeng established the Water Transport Department and the Gangyun Department, which divided water transportation into two systems: the Waterway Department was responsible for canal project management and grain acceptance and warehousing, while the Gangyun Department was responsible for escorting the ships.
Cao Yun, Ji Si and other prefectures through which the canal passes, as well as the Guangji Army, all have platooning agencies, with a total of 15 commanders and 7,500 soldiers. Bianjing has four platooning branches.
There are four platoons of bank divisions in Bianjing: The east division is in Guangjifang, in charge of the eastward transportation of the Bianhe River, the transport of ships and grain on Jianghuai and other roads to the capital, and the division of warehouses for delivery and unloading, leading the loading and unloading of Guangji, and the five commanders of the soldiers in preparation. The unloading gang is led by two officials from the Jing Dynasty. The Xisi is in Shunchengfang, leading the canal on the Bianhe River, and one official from the Jing Dynasty is responsible for loading and unloading; the Nan Division is building Ningfengtai, leading the Huimin River, Cai River, and the Jing Dynasty. The official position is filled by one person, and the two commanders in Guangji and Guangzhou have a quota of 1,000 people. The Northern Division is located in Chongningfang, which was established in the third year of Jianlong's reign. It controls the Guangji River and is filled by one official from the Beijing Dynasty.
From a management point of view, the Shipping Department obeys the scheduling of the Shipping Department. Important links such as acceptance, unloading, and warehousing are all presided over by the Shipping Department. There is a relatively strict handover system between the two departments in terms of business.
From the establishment of water transportation to the late emperor's dynasty, before the track penetrated the entire territory of the country, water transportation was responsible for ensuring the rations of millions of people throughout Bianliang.
Such an irreplaceable role, coupled with the years of integrated water transport operations, the intervention of local state governments along the way, etc., caused the water transport yamen to forget about it.
No matter what kind of officials the imperial court dispatches, it will be difficult to change the shortcomings of water transportation that cannibalize the interests of the imperial court. Water transportation has become the biggest problem for the country and the dynasty.
Since the government came to power, many matters have been more important than water transportation, and with the intervention of rail transportation, grain transportation from the south to the north can fully meet the grain consumption of the country towards the north. I don’t care about the shortcomings of water transportation, or I haven’t freed up my hands for a while. Go and take care of it.
This time, since the prince was attacked, it was indeed an opportunity to rectify the water transport. The cabinet ministers also thought so.
"Can you, gentlemen, come to an agreement?"
Zhao Xi has long had the idea of improving water transportation, and has thought of many ways, but all of them seem to have flaws.
How should I put it? To put it bluntly, water transportation is equivalent to a monopolistic large-scale state-owned enterprise in the country. Functionally, it can almost affect the stability of Bianliang and even the country. In terms of business, it is only responsible for transporting grain from the south to the north. At the same time,
With the support of the imperial court, the power of water transport has never stopped seeking other interests, and has continued to dig into the corners of the country.
"The officials and the cabinet have also reached an agreement. The cabinet believes that water transportation can use the rail mode, or it can be directly taken over by the rail..."
Orbital model? What is the orbital model? The orbital model is actually a model in which the imperial court controls the main roads, while the local forces of the country, the gentry class, local gentry, etc., divide the interests of each branch line.
Simply put, it is a public-private partnership, with the court having absolute control.
Moreover, in this part of the authority controlled by the imperial court, the aristocratic families and various forces of the country also participated.
This model is not purely state-owned, but borrows the name of state-owned. In actual operation, the specific executor is not only subject to the supervision of the court, but also needs to be accountable to all owners.
Orbital implements this model because the operating risks of Orbital are low, it can ensure the benefits of all parties and avoid unnecessary troubles.
As for water transportation, to a certain extent, the risk of water transportation is higher than that of rail transportation. This is determined by the nature of water transportation itself. It can be said to be a force majeure, or an unavoidable risk.
As far as the current situation is concerned, shipping is still more risky than land transportation.
The reason why water transport is supported by the imperial court is because of the risks of water transport, so no operator can guarantee profits. This cannot be compared with rail transport.
If the water transport was operated on a track basis, perhaps he could keep it under control while he was in office and avoid any trouble. However, Zhao Xi was not sure whether the entire water transport would collapse in the future due to disputes over interests.
As long as there are various forces involved, pursuing profit is the right thing to do. Once water transportation cannot meet the demands of all parties, water transportation will fall apart.
As for letting the track take over water transportation, there is only one result, and that is that water transportation will eventually bring down the track!
"Fellow ministers, what are the real drawbacks of water transportation? Or what are the reasons why water transportation is now unable to make ends meet and is constantly sucking blood from the imperial court. If we don't understand this, the rectification of water transportation will not be complete."
"Officials, as the officials said, the water transport is currently sucking blood from the imperial court, and the so-called reason, to put it bluntly, is that the local government and the water transport colluded with each other, regardless of the water transport itself, and used various means and methods to arbitrarily gain the interests of the imperial court!"
"Veteran does not deny the risks of water transport itself, but how many of the ship capsizing accidents, ship repairs and updates, ship leaks, and pensions of water transport soldiers reported every year are true, and how many are embezzled?
Even when the inspectors board the ship, they can't keep an eye on it all the time. What the officials and veterans said are not alarmist, the entire water transport is completely rotten from the root!"
"In the official family, the water transportation yamen are now almost impenetrable and water can't be poured in. No matter how the court adjusts the officials' garrison, they can't penetrate deeply. The same is true for the supervision yamen."
Seeing that the official's attitude became clear, Wang Anshi directly took over the official's words and explained the true situation of the water transport without waiting for Fu Bi to explain it in a euphemistic way.
Wang Anshi also said these words during cabinet discussions, but the majority of the cabinet suggested letting things go by the wayside on the grounds of ensuring stability.