Be the emperor from the postman

Chapter 483 Sailing (Part [-])
The imperial court did not care about the water leaks, grounding, capsizing, or being damaged by ice.

Unless there is a signing and cancellation by the imperial court, this kind of thing will not happen once every ten or eight years.

In some sections of the river, the grain had to be unloaded temporarily to relieve the pressure on the boats.

Why unload the ship?

Because tank ships have to load a large number of private goods, the load is too heavy.

These people want to steal and embezzle grain, soak it in water, and add sand to increase its volume, so as to sell the accessories of the grain boat.

They even deliberately scuttled the tank boat to create a fake accident.

Then, part of the money for building the ship had to be paid by the soldiers of the Cao army, because the imperial court was sympathetic to the hard work of the Cao army, and a ship could smuggle sixty shi of private goods.

The cost of each boat was about 100 taels of silver, and the court provided wood, iron nails, tung oil and hemp rope, which added up to a total value of about 40 taels.

In order to build a good ship, Cao Jun had to make up the difference of about 35 taels, or even as high as 70 taels.

The rest of the money is paid for labor and miscellaneous expenses.

Because the service life of a ship is ten years, but generally a ship is the life of Cao Jun.

The Ming Dynasty stipulates that military service is a lifetime thing. As long as you have a son, you must serve as a soldier for generations.

It doesn't matter if Cao Jun has no money, it's fine if he doesn't pay you wages, and the wages can be directly offset.

Therefore, the life of these people became more and more difficult. They had to be used by officials, eunuchs, etc. to carry private goods, and it was simply not the turn of ordinary Cao soldiers.

All the military guards owed less than one million taels for shipbuilding, and thousands of ships were not retired by rotation.

In particular, the dispatch of ships to Liaodong and the imperial court affected water transportation, and the imperial court immediately recruited civilian ships to serve.

Daming sent half of the food transported by water to Liaodong. Although they worked tirelessly, the Houjin army kept pushing the Ming army back to the Great Wall.

A hundred years after the establishment of the Cao army, the army turned to civilians.

They have neither combat capability nor military discipline to speak of, they are all "labor forces", or slaves are more appropriate.

Ma Chongxi let out a mouthful of eye circles in worry: "The boss doesn't know something, it's always been a laborious expense of moving goods for us to share the profits with the soldiers.

I used to run a boat for four years, but I never returned home because the river was frozen. My mother died of freezing and starvation in the winter, and I didn’t even know. "

He Jinzhao nodded. The Little Ice Age was getting more and more serious, and even the vast area could be snowed heavily for several days, not to mention the frozen river in the north.

Ma Chongxi added another cigarette leaf: "The imperial court has strict laws and regulations. Even if the loss is beyond the control of manpower, we and the Cao army must bear the same crime as stealing."

"What guilt?" He Jinzhao supported the boat gang, just chatting.

"Ordinary soldiers will be sent to the Nine Fronts. Officials will either be demoted or their salaries will be suspended, and they will have to make up for the court's losses in a short period of time."

He Jinchao nodded. Daming was just preventing these people from getting involved, and then presupposed these Cao Jun as criminals.

Regardless of whether you really stole or lost it naturally, in short, the court cannot have any loss.

People who rely on the Grand Canal to earn a lot of money, as for the ordinary Cao army, they are all responsible.

Regarding the treatment of these people, some businessmen are particularly willing to solve their worries for the Cao army.

There is a lot of grain everywhere at the end of the Cao River, no matter where it comes from.

They are specially prepared for these Cao troops, and they can be bought at a high price to supplement the losses of the court without punishment.

It doesn't matter if money is tight, they will send you money very thoughtfully, just sign a usury contract.

When the Cao army is unable to repay, these people will violently collect them. As long as it is the grain you escorted, just take it away, even the government can't control it.

Because there are noble people behind the master, and he is becoming more and more unscrupulous!
Needless to say, the ordinary Cao army, even hundreds of households were forced to hang themselves to death, and even the commanders were frightened and fled into the empty door.

Then some merchants can control the tank boat from top to bottom to transport some contraband, such as barrows, cowhide, pig temples, grain, beans, and pig iron.

As He Jinzhao listened, he felt that there was something about Shanxi merchants here?

Water transportation is the lifeblood of the capital of the Ming Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to say that, on average, about 400 million shi of grain are transported to the capital every year.

Of course, these are only the officially recorded grains, and as for the private goods that were entrained, none of them are on paper.

"I think your military discipline is quite lax."

He Jinzhao looked at the lazy Cao Jun below, and Ma Chongxi took a puff of dry cigarette but said:

"My lord doesn't know, as long as the ship is going north, in order to prevent the delay of the water ship, the censor of the water transport capital is not allowed to board the ship for inspection, and all ships are not allowed to dock and wait.

Of course, Mr. Du Yushi and Li Xing are in charge, Bing Beidao has the right to cross-examine on the boat on the way. "

He Jinzhao felt relieved again, he received less interrogation, and had more security in hiding his true identity.

"Huh?" He Jinzhao glanced at him immediately, "Why are there children on board?"

A very thin child, dry.

"So that the master can know, that's my son." Ma Zhongxi knocked on the pipe and pot, telling him to go back to sleep quickly.

"Our whole family lives on the boat."

"Are many people like this?"

"Well, the family land has long since disappeared, and it has become the nobleman's."

He Jinzhao waved his hand and asked Niu Youcai to give his son a piece of donkey meat on fire, so don't eat it all by himself.

"Thank you, sir."

Ma Chongxi never thought that the young soldier in front of him would offer to reward his son with food.

He Jinzhao waved his hand, he couldn't help, so if he could help, he would help:
"You're going down the canal. How's it going?"

Ma Zhongxi looked at the busy people on the bank and said, "People along the river in the south are mostly living a much better life, whether it's the scenery or anecdotes.

The people in the north are barren, and there is also a drought in Shandong.

The water in Linqing is dropping very fast. If it continues like this, in a few years, Linqing will definitely not be able to cross the boat. "

"I remember that Linqing has canals and bank gates. It's very rich!"

Prosperity overwhelms the two capitals, and Jiaqi County, which is rich and prosperous, refers to Linqingguan.

"The master is right. Wealth is wealth, but without river water, boats cannot travel, so we are no longer rich."

He Jinzhao didn't say any more, everyone had already boarded the boat by this time.

Everyone began to greet each other, issued orders, and prepared to row and set sail.

"open!"

With a loud shout, the lead boat slid forward first, went down the current, and headed for the destination of Tianjin Wei.

He Jinzhao supported the side of the boat, feeling the movement of the boat.

Cao Jun's chant sounded on the boat, and there was no need for a group of people on the shore to pull the boat forward at this time.

"Master, stand still."

Ma Chongxi reminded hastily, because he saw the guard of the master, that man as strong as an ox, sitting on the deck at once.

Ma Chongxi's son couldn't help laughing when he saw the strong man who was eating donkey meat for him fall to the ground.

It's strange, why does he fall down when he is so big?
As small as myself, I have been on the boat for so many years, and I am fine.

Seeing Niu Youcai being knocked down, He Jinzhao couldn't help laughing and said, "The greater the mass, the greater the inertia!"

(End of this chapter)