I, the Ming Dynasty, can still save me

Chapter 413 Shanghai County

“We’ve arrived at the mouth of the Huangpu River!”

The fleet from Beijing was finally able to berth here, and the boatmen suddenly became busy. Some were adjusting the sails, while others listened to the owner's slogans and slowly slowed the ship down.

After hearing this, Sun Yuanhua slowly walked out of the cabin. His face was pale, and it seemed that he had not been having a good time.

"Master Sun, the boat has been bumpy along the way, but we are about to arrive at the dock in Shanghai County. According to the plan, we will stay here for about ten days. You can also go ashore to have a rest."

At this time, a boat owner over 40 years old in Tsing Yi came over.

He naturally knew what kind of big shot he was on board, so he did not dare to neglect him at all, lest Sun Yuanhua would be dissatisfied with him.

"That's good, but the shipping is so fast. We set off from Tianjin Prefecture on September [-]th and arrived at Songjiang Prefecture just after October. I was really surprised by the speed."

The captain of the ship saw Master Sun in front of him and was surprised that the ship was so fast. When he heard the words, he spoke nonchalantly.

"Haha, this is quite slow. Although the ship is bumpy all the way and it is a bit boring to stay there, the speed is indeed very fast.

Generally speaking, it takes half a month to go from Beijing to Nanjing. If you want to haul the goods, it will take at least [-] days.But a sea-going ship is different. It is fully loaded with cargo. As long as there is wind to help, it can arrive at the fastest ten days. If it is slower, it can only arrive at most twenty days. "

The more Sun Yuanhua thought about it, the more surprised he became. He had heard about the benefits of shipping before, but now he knows the benefits after experiencing it himself.

Thinking of this, I couldn't help but think, how great it would be if water transportation could be transported by sea instead of by sea. Who knows how much cost would be saved.

"Since it's so fast, wouldn't it be very convenient if the grain could be transported northward by sea and land?"

When the captain heard what Sun Yuanhua said, he understood what he meant.However, he did not dare to express his opinions on this kind of matter, so he thought for a moment and said slowly:
"I can't guarantee this for a small one, but I think the grain delivery is different from other goods. The most important thing may not be the speed, but the loss and safety involved.

What adults don’t know is that although shipping is fast, it can easily capsize if it encounters strong winds and waves. If you are a private ship, you will have to consider yourself unlucky.But when I was young, I thought about what to do if this kind of problem occurs if grain is transported by sea. "

Sun Yuanhua looked at the captain in surprise when he heard this. He never expected that this man had such knowledge.

He is right. The considerations of grain transportation and shipping are different. The mission of one is to deliver grain safely to Beijing, while the other is about speed. They are not the same at all.

If grain is transported by sea, then as far as the ship owner is concerned, issues such as loss, safety and even the livelihood of the ship workers must be considered. Changes cannot be made casually.

Sun Yuanhua thought of this and stopped asking the captain. Instead, he continued chatting with the captain about other topics before boarding the bow.

"Master Sun, what we are entering later is the Huangpu River. You can go up the river to Shanghai County to anchor. You can disembark there then."

Sun Yuanhua nodded when he heard this. He was no stranger to Shanghai County.

Because his mentor, Xu Guangqi, Minister of Industry, was from Shanghai County. He had lived in Shanghai for generations and was considered a prominent local family. His mission in coming to Shanghai this time was to help Xu Guangqi deliver a message.

"Shanghai County was originally a prosperous place, but now it seems to be even more prosperous."

Sun Yuanhua looked into the distance and saw that there were dozens of ships waiting to enter the Huangpu River, including fishing boats, cargo ships, and sand boats. He had never seen this kind of formation before.

"It's all thanks to your Majesty. In the Yuan Dynasty, this Shanghai County originally had a Municipal Shipping Department, and later the Capital Water Transport Wanhu Prefecture was set up here to take charge of shipping grain and taxes.

It's just that our country has implemented a maritime ban since the dynasty, and shipping is not prosperous. This has buried a lot of things in Shanghai County.Since the opening of the sea, the imperial court has set tariffs here to encourage shipping. Merchants gathered here and competed for overseas trade.

Nowadays, these dozens of ships are considered few. I remember that when I was here last time, there were hundreds of sand ships entering and exiting the port, loading and unloading cargo.

I have talked with ship owners in Songjiang Prefecture before, and they said that the local sand ship industry currently has more than a thousand ships, more than [-] sailors, and a capital of several million. "

The ship owner usually trades at sea for many days, so he naturally agrees with the imperial court's policy of opening the sea. If it were not for the opening of the sea, he would still have to do business secretly.

Sun Yuanhua was not very surprised by this. He was originally from Nanzhili, so he naturally knew the prosperity of Songjiang Prefecture and Shanghai County.

Songjiang Prefecture and Suzhou Prefecture are both places of great endowment in the world. Songjiang Prefecture is the only one with an annual endowment of 80. The number in Shanghai is 16.Paying attention to the richness of local products, the difference of sea and sea, kapok and silk damask, clothing and quilts all over the world can be said to be rich.It would not be an exaggeration to call it the link between rivers and seas and the capital of the southeast.Therefore, Sun Yuanhua knew in his heart that the prosperity of the shipping industry since the opening of the sea was based on the prosperity of Songjiang Prefecture's production and economy.

Just as he was thinking about it, the ship quickly entered the Huangpu River. The Huangpu River was very wide, more than three feet long, and could accommodate six or seven ships traveling parallel to each other.They went upstream, and the scenery on both sides of the Huangpu River came into Sun Yuanhua's eyes.

There are many trackers and porters on both sides of the strait. From time to time, ships will dock at the small pier, and the cargo on the ships will be carried ashore through the porters, which also provides some livelihood for the porters on land.

"It's all thanks to Haigangfeng. He certainly didn't expect that the Huangpu River, which was only built to dredge the Suzhou River, would now be so prosperous."

Seeing this scene, Sun Yuanhua couldn't help but sigh.

In the third year of Longqing's reign, Hai Rui was promoted to the censor of Youqiandu and was appointed governor of Yingtian. After he took office, in order to solve the long-term siltation problem of the Suzhou River, he decided to renovate the Wusong River and Baimao River and connect them to the sea.

Ye Zongxing, a Songjiang scholar who was responsible for advising him at that time, proposed an excellent plan out of cost-saving considerations.

That is to say, the dredging of the original main river channel was abandoned, and the scale of "Shanghai Pu" where the tributaries originated was expanded.

If everything goes well, the Suzhou River will be downgraded to an ordinary waterway, and a large amount of water from Taihu Lake will be injected into the New River, completely changing the current situation of Shanghai County and giving Shanghai County the advantage of water conservancy.

This bold idea was quickly accepted by Hai Rui and reported to the court for approval. It was finally implemented into the Huangpu River that relied on a large amount of manpower to dredge.

But in the end, although there was a Longqing switch, the court only switched it on and off in Yuegang, Fujian, leaving Shanghai County with no water conservancy and unable to use it.But now that the sea has been fully opened, Shanghai County can finally use the Huangpu River waterway to develop maritime transportation.

And judging from the current observation results, the development in just over a year is still good.

Of course, Sun Yuanhua knew in his heart that these ships did not suddenly pop up more than a year ago. Many of them existed before, but now the sea ban has been cleared, and there is no need to hide them.

"Shanghai County has arrived!"

Along with the shouting of several chants, Sun Yuanhua also saw a prosperous dock in the distance, with no less than a hundred ships of various sizes moored at the dock.Some were still loading and unloading cargo, while others were setting sail.

However, with so many ships, they didn't have to worry about running out of space. As an imperial envoy of the imperial court, Shanghai County had already received the news that Sun Yuanhua was coming, and had sent people to respond early.

Under the command of the official ship, Sun Yuanhua and others quickly docked at the pier. He did not dare to neglect and quickly asked the envoys to prepare to disembark, because he had already seen officials of all sizes waiting below.

"Sun Chuanting, a low-level doctor in the Customs Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs, comes to see the Imperial Envoy."

As soon as he saw Sun Yuanhua disembarking from the boat, Sun Chuanting immediately led people to greet him.He originally didn't like these receptions, but a few days ago, he received a letter from Nanzhili, saying that Sun Yuanhua would stay in Shanghai County for a period of time. He happened to be in Shanghai County to rectify customs and taxation, so he was asked to be responsible for the reception.

"Please get up quickly. I have heard of Mr. Sun's name in the capital for a long time, and now I can finally see him. It is really a blessing."

Sun Yuanhua was not interested in these things at first, so he planned to just deal with it.But when I heard that the person was Sun Chuanting, I immediately became interested.

"Governor Bi wrote several times before that he was able to collect debts in Nanzhili because he had two capable officers, one named Hong Chengchou and the other Sun Chuanting. After hearing this, His Majesty also praised you two very much. "

Sun Chuanting was stunned when he heard this. He obviously didn't expect that the imperial envoy opposite him would be so enthusiastic about him. When he saw this, he waved his hand and said:
"Your Excellency, this is a ridiculous compliment. It's all because of the patronage of the Governor-General. I don't dare to take credit for my position. A few days ago, I got a letter saying that the imperial envoy will go to the West and stay in Shanghai County for a few days, so I let him be responsible for the reception. The dock is noisy, your accommodation has been prepared at the inn, why don’t you go to the inn first.”

As Sun Chuanting said this, he waved his hand and asked Sun Yuanhua to set off. At the same time, he waved his hand to the people behind him. Sun Yuanhua saw several tax collectors behind Sun Chuanting get on the boat after hearing this.

Sun Yuanhua didn't know what was going on, but he was not in a hurry to ask now. Instead, he looked at the pier with interest. It was busy with people coming and going, and the porters lined up to carry goods under the command.

The merchants and their clerks were counting the goods one by one or opening sacks to inspect the goods. There were also many tax collectors patrolling around, escorting many tax collectors and merchant ships, and they didn't know what they were inspecting.

"The ship was bumpy all the way, and I felt a little uncomfortable when I arrived on land, but I'm not in a hurry to take a rest now. I don't know where Dr. Sun works. Sun has long heard that after Governor Yuan took office, he implemented new tariff reforms.

Before Sun came, His Majesty also specifically asked me to see how the new tariff was being implemented when passing through Nanzhili. Therefore, he wanted to bother Dr. Sun and let me see how the new tariff works. "

When Sun Chuanting heard this, he immediately understood why he was asked to receive him. He did not expect that this imperial envoy would have this task.

(End of this chapter)