nanming man

Chapter 860 Spy on Nanming
Zhungeer invaded Yarkand, and the flames of war ignited in the Western Regions, but the land of the Central Plains was peaceful, especially in the southern region, where there had been no swordsmen for several years.

Yuezhou City is located at the confluence of the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake. It is the gateway to Sanxiang and an important water and land transportation artery.

The Wei army occupied Yuezhou, and the Ming army occupied Wuchang. Yuezhou became the front line of the confrontation. It is an important military town and a commercial center.

Outside Yuezhou City is Dongting Lake. The lake is wide, and various warehouses have been built beside the docks. Hundreds of merchant ships are docked on the shore, mainly in the form of wheeled ships.

This kind of ship was very active in the Southern Song Dynasty. Yang Yao had repeatedly defeated the encirclement and suppression of the Song army by means of a wheel ship, and the Song army also built a large number of car ships to defeat Yang Yao.Lu You's "Notes on Laoxue'an" records that the largest car and boat built in the Song Dynasty "has a length of 36 feet, a width of [-] feet and [-] foot, and a height of [-] feet and [-] feet and [-] inches.

Yang Yao's activities were concentrated in the Dongting Lake area, and the inland river warships used in the Song Dynasty to suppress bandits were actually 36 feet long, which was larger than the sea-going ships in the late Ming Dynasty, which shows the development of shipbuilding technology in the Song Dynasty.

Now Wei State and Jiangnan trade frequently, and boats come and go on the Yangtze River. For merchant ships in Huguang, it is easy to go down the river, but difficult to go up the river.

In addition, Huguang's materials had to be transported against the Han River to Guanzhong, so merchants chose this kind of wheeled ship.

At this time on the pier, many coolies were transporting heavy bags of grain to the ship, and a Xuanyi Guard scout jumped onto a four-wheeled cart together with the captain. "Weigh anchor and sail."

The sailors on the ship push the winch and slowly raise the iron chain upwards. The soldiers in the cabin step on the pedals, and the wheels on both sides of the ship start to rotate and paddle, and the ship moves away slowly.

From Yuezhou to Nanjing, all the way down the river, the wheel boat followed the water, quickly picked up the speed, and rushed to the mouth of Dongting Lake.

At this moment, the ship owner bowed to Xuan Yiwei who was standing at the bow, "My lord, I have an account to ask the villain to fully cooperate. If you have anything to do, just ask."

Xuan Yiwei waved his hand, "Out of Yuezhou, I'm your buddy, you can call me Li Si. Remember, I'm just a buddy, you don't need to worry about other things, just do your own thing."

The captain hurriedly nodded and bowed, "Yes, villain~"

Li Si stretched out his hand to stop him, "Did you forget what I said? Start now, so as not to enter the Ming Realm and show your feet."

The captain was stunned for a moment, then said: "Li Si~"

At this time, the boat had sailed out of the mouth of Dongting Lake and entered the Yangtze River. The boats on the river were very busy.

A few years ago, Gao Yihuan had an agreement with Nanjing that Wei's merchant ships could sail on the Yangtze River.

From then on, the merchant ships of the State of Wei often sailed to the south of the Yangtze River in groups, exchanging grain from Huguang for porcelain, tea, and cotton cloth from the south of the Yangtze River.

Because of Jiangnan's economic status, the world's money is mainly concentrated in Jiangnan, and his goods are finished products with added value, and like Huguang, like many areas in the north, they have actually become Jiangnan's raw material suppliers in disguise, or economic colony.

In business dealings, Huguang provides semi-finished products, while Jiangnan is a deep-processed product. Naturally, Jiangnan occupies a dominant position in business.

One mu of land can be sold for one stone of rice, which can be sold for two taels of silver. A bolt of good silk in Songjiang can be sold for more than ten taels, and ordinary cotton cloth can also be sold for more than one tael. One sells agricultural products and the other sells industrial products. The difference in status is very obvious.

After all, growing food is a skill that almost everyone knows for the Han people. Wei Guo suppresses food and does not sell it, and Nanming can also grow food by himself.

Now Huguang is familiar with the world, but Suhu said that the world is full before.

In most cases, the state of Wei is actually in a weak position in trade, and money keeps flowing to the south of the Yangtze River.

This caused a shortage of silver in Wei State, increased the purchasing power of silver in Huguang, and brought down pressure on grain prices. Jiangnan could use the products to earn Huguang's money, and then use the money earned to buy Huguang's grain.

Although Gao Yihuan controlled the source of grain in Yuezhou, which prevented Jiangnan merchants from lowering grain prices and issued bank notes to alleviate the financial panic, but unless there was a famine, growing grain would definitely not make as much money as people in Jiangnan engaged in handicraft industries.

Fortunately, in the past few years, in addition to food, Wei Guo also had some leather products, woolen textiles, and jade shipped to the south of the Yangtze River to earn silver from the south of the Yangtze River, which narrowed the deficit.

On the river, merchant ships loaded with goods slipped down the river and arrived in Wuchang within a day.

Standing on the side of the ship, Li Si saw a warship of the Ming Dynasty sailing through the waves in the distance, with a blue-bottomed flag hanging on the mast, and wrote, "Daming River Waterproofer!"

Li Si hurriedly wrote down in his mind that the appearance of the warship of the Ming army was a three-masted blessing ship, with the bow raised high, looking up like a city, with twelve gun ports on the side, and a red barbarian cannon on the bow. Compared with it, merchant ships are like small boats.

Previously, there was an agreement between Wei State and Nanjing that Wei State merchant ships could sail on the Yangtze River. When Zuo Liangyu was in Wuchang, as long as the taxes were paid enough, he basically did not dare to make things difficult. However, after the Ming army took over Wuchang, they began to strictly investigate Wei State’s merchant ships. stand up.

At this time, under the instructions of the warships of the Ming Dynasty, the merchant ship docked at Wuchang Wharf for interrogation. There are soldiers everywhere, as well as peasants and craftsmen, who are rebuilding the city wall.

After the inspection, it was found that the ship was loaded with grain, which was what Nanming needed. The inspection was not difficult. The owner paid the tax, and the ship set sail again.

The cargo ship continued to go east, and saw a large camp set up along the river. A large number of soldiers of the Ming army were training outside the camp, and the sound of guns could be heard from time to time.

Li Si took out a pen and paper, marked the location of the camp, recorded the scale, took out a new piece of paper, and drew the ships he saw in Wuchang.

At this time, the boat gradually moved away from Wuchang City, and there were some rice fields and cotton fields on both sides of the deserted banks. Many women were picking cotton in the cotton fields wearing bamboo hats and carrying bags.

After Zuozhen was transferred from Wuchang, the Nanjing imperial court took over Wuchang, Huangzhou and other places. The abandoned land here became a treasure of the Nanming imperial court.

The Nanjing Household Department moved a group of people to farm, but more land was leased to big families in the south of the Yangtze River in exchange for their support in money and food to make up for the loss of the failure of the Northern Expedition.

After the failure of the Northern Expedition, Zhu Cihong was eager to restore his troops, but the treasury had been emptied, so he could only continue to compromise with the great gentry and landlords in the south of the Yangtze River in exchange for their support. Nanjing had no choice but to gradually move towards the road of the Southern Song Dynasty.

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(End of this chapter)