Start to be a martial arts hero from the famous people of Hengshan

Chapter 513 Prescribe the right medicine
In the face of absolute force, it is not impossible to cooperate on issues of principle.

Especially after seeing six families including the Wang family of Huzhou Prefecture, the Zhou family of Hangzhou Prefecture, and the Huang family of Yanzhou Prefecture being uprooted and exiled to Liaodong, everyone's work enthusiasm increased unprecedentedly.

Ou Zanghua was very pleased and held a banquet in the famous Senso-in in Hangzhou City. In addition to inviting officials such as Zhejiang Provincial Surveillance Commissioner Li Chengxun, Zhejiang Left Governor Fang Liangyong, and Hangzhou Prefect Lu Kui, there were also famous gentry such as the Hangzhou Cheng family, Jiaxing Shen family, and Ningbo Qian family.

Everyone gathered together, and in addition to drinking and listening to music, Ou Zanghua also raised his glass to thank the officials and families for their support in measuring and clearing the land.

Fang Liangyong was from Putian, Fujian, Lu Kui was from Yongfeng, Jiangxi, and Li Chengxun was from Wuchang, Huguang. Among them, only Fang Liangyong's hometown had not suffered the "evil hand". The hometowns of the other two also suffered heavy losses. Various hidden fields were dug out, and they had to pay back taxes for several years. Basically, they would receive a letter from home complaining every few days.

So apart from Li Chengxun, Fang Liangyong and Lu Kui were not welcome to Ou Zanghua.

But who can blame him for holding the posts of imperial commissioner and governor-general of five provinces?

Even if we are not welcome, we have to come and participate.

After three rounds of wine, five flavors of food.

Ou Zanghua put down his wine glass, looked at the people present, and said calmly: "I have been in Hangzhou for more than a month. Now the land survey is going smoothly. I am very pleased. There is something I want to hear your opinions on."

When everyone heard this, they put down their glasses and said politely, "Master Ou, please feel free to speak. We will tell you everything we know."

"Haha, that's good, everyone, just treat it as a casual chat!" Ou Zanghua smiled and asked, "Hangzhou is the starting point of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, and it once had a seaport. I wonder what you think of canal and sea transportation?"

From the perspective of transportation costs, sea transportation is obviously much better than canal transportation. The strange thing is that during the Ming and Qing dynasties, sea transportation was never able to surpass canal transportation. So Ou Zanghua wanted to hear what these professional businessmen thought about this matter.

In fact, the Yuan Dynasty, as the first unified dynasty with its capital in Beijing, was also the first dynasty to implement the strategy of "parallel sea and river transportation, with sea transportation as the main approach".

The Yuan Dynasty began to experiment with sea transportation in the 19th year of the Zhiyuan Period, and successfully transported more than 46,000 shi of grain to the capital by sea for the first time. After several practices and improvements, the four prefectures that were originally in charge of sea transportation were finally merged into the Du Cao Yun Prefecture in the 28th year of the Zhiyuan Period, which also marked the establishment and stability of the sea transportation system.

In the 30th year of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty successfully opened up a new sea route. After sailing out of the Yangtze River estuary, the ships continued to sail eastward, deep into the open sea, until they reached Chengshan Island in Weihai.

Afterwards, the course turned westward, heading directly to Dagukou. This route greatly shortened the transportation time, "from western Zhejiang to the capital, it only takes ten days", that is, the entire journey can be completed in just over ten days.

This shows that maritime transportation in the Yuan Dynasty was already quite mature.

After listening to Ou Zanghua's question, Fang Liangyong stroked his beard and began to explain.

In fact, in the early Ming Dynasty, the water transport method still followed the traditional model of the Yuan Dynasty with both rivers and seas.

Since the capital was located in Yingtian Prefecture at that time, the grain transported to the north was mainly used to meet the supply needs of the northern border defense troops.

With the effective implementation of the military settlement system, the army's food self-sufficiency rate was relatively high, so the demand for military rations was not too great.

However, during the Yongle reign, as the emperor decided to move the capital to Shuntian Prefecture, the demand for grain transport increased dramatically. The sea-going ship capacity left over from the Zhu Yuanzhang era was stretched to its limits and could not meet the growing demand for transport. Therefore, in the ninth year of the Yongle reign, Pan Shuzheng, the co-magistrate of Jining Prefecture in Shandong, wrote to the court, proposing to dredge the long-blocked Huitong River, an old canal route. He emphasized: "If it can be dredged and unblocked, it will not only save the Shandong people from the hardship of transport, but will also bring long-term benefits to the country."

This proposal quickly received positive responses and support from officials across Shandong, because they knew very well that this would boost local economic development, increase GDP by several percentage points, and everyone would gain political achievements.

In an atmosphere of mutual support, Emperor Yongle readily approved the launch of this project.

In the tenth year of Yongle, the Huitong River, which had been carefully renovated, was reopened to navigation with remarkable results. The court was pleasantly surprised to find that this unobstructed canal was sufficient to efficiently solve BJ's food supply problem.

In view of this, in the 13th year of Yongle, the imperial court officially announced the end of sea transportation of grain and turned to full reliance on river transportation.

After listening carefully, Ou Zanghua frowned slightly and said, "But things are different now. In addition to the capital, Liaodong also needs a lot of material support. It is really not enough to rely on the grain transport alone."

Fang Liangyong slowly said, "Why wait until today? The previous emperor once tried to restore sea transportation, but because the trial voyage was not successful and there were too many people in the court who opposed it, it ultimately failed."

"I don't quite understand," Cheng Zhirou couldn't help but say, "It's obviously a good thing that benefits the country and the people, why are there so many people in the court opposing it?"

"Because you think too one-sidedly about the problem!"

Fang Liangyong glanced at Cheng Zhirou calmly, "Have you ever realized that the smooth flow of the canal not only promoted the economy along the coast, but also solved the problem of grain transportation? More importantly, it also solved the employment problem of hundreds of thousands of idle people in the riverside areas. Those people who originally relied on the canal for their livelihood now have stable jobs. It can be said that the grain from Jiangnan has invisibly supported the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of people in the capital and along the canal."

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"These people are strong and brave, and they are not afraid of life and death. If their jobs are destroyed, it will definitely cause a chaos in the country that is no less chaotic than that caused by Liu Liu and Liu Qi."

Upon hearing this, Cheng Zhirou lowered her head in embarrassment. She had indeed oversimplified the problem.

Ou Zanghua couldn't help but knock on the table, and then observed the reactions of the people present. It was obvious that most people were quite disappointed with the closure of sea transportation.

He picked up the wine glass and toasted towards Fang Liangyong, smiling and saying, "Thank you, Lord Fang, for your guidance. It has opened my eyes."

"Master Ou, you are too polite!" Fang Liangyong also picked up the wine glass and returned the toast.

The banquet ended in a pleasant atmosphere. After everyone left, Cheng Zhirou stayed alone.

She saw Ou Zanghua standing alone in the yard, the moonlight gently shining on his shoulders, adding a bit of coolness.

Cheng Zhirou came over and comforted her softly, "Everything is difficult at the beginning. Let's take it slow and don't rush."

Ou Zanghua turned around, looked at Cheng Zhirou, smiled and said, "Miss Cheng, don't worry. As you said, there is no need to rush. Now that we know the symptoms, it is a good thing. At least we know how to prescribe medicine."

Seeing this, Cheng Zhirou finally felt relieved.
(End of this chapter)