My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 198 Restarting Shipping
"Zhan He, are you sure?"

Zhu Gaochi saw that Zhu Zhanhe insisted that shipping by sea was more cost-effective, and wondered for a while whether he had made a mistake in his calculation, or had a fever and was confused?

"Grandfather, Uncle! Please think about it, the cost of water transportation is not only the boat and crew, but the most important thing is the maintenance of the river!"

Zhu Zhanhe explained with a solemn expression.

"Although the canal has been dredged now, it is not done once and for all. Instead, people need to be sent to maintain the canal every year, and even every few years, to clean and dredge the canal. The cost of maintaining and dredging the canal alone is far more than that of ships and The cost of personnel is countless times higher!"

"I know what you said, but after the canal is dredged, it will not only be used to transport grain, but goods from the north and the south can be transported through this canal. In addition, where the canal passes, it can also irrigate the farmland on both sides to prevent drought and flood disasters, etc. , so the cost of dredging the canal cannot be entirely counted on the water transport.”

Zhu Gaochi did not agree with Zhu Zhanhe's opinion, but of course what he said was also reasonable.

"I admit that the canal does have other conveniences, but think about it, uncle, how many states and counties do you pass through and how many checkpoints do you need to pass through when grain from the south is transported to the north via the canal? Freight costs, ship repair costs, grain transportation process The wear and tear, etc., who will pay for these expenses?"

Zhu Zhanhe paused at this point, then continued.

"It may not be obvious now, but water transportation is a fat job. In the future, someone will definitely want to make money from it. There are so many counties and checkpoints, and there are so many expenditure items. If someone really reaches out, think It is too easy to make money, and there is no way to check it, and in the end, it may cost two or three times, or even four or five times, the cost of grain for transporting a stone of grain!"

Zhu Zhanhe’s words are by no means alarmist. Water transportation has always been criticized in history because of too much profit, which led to many problems. Corruption of officials, extortion of people, heavy corvee forced people to ruin their families, and even mobilized people to rebel.

Even the middle- and lower-level officers and soldiers in charge of water transportation were equally miserable, and the phenomenon of sergeants fleeing continued.

"What Zhan He said is too serious. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, I have severely punished officials for corruption. They shouldn't be so blatantly making money, right?"

Zhu Gaochi was taken aback by Zhu Zhanhe's description, and then asked suspiciously.

"Uncle, with the development of the water transport, the situation in the future will only be a hundred times more serious than what I described. Even when the water transport forms a solid chain of interests, it will be impossible for the imperial court to move it!"

Zhu Zhanhe said again with a broken heart.

The emergence of water transport did bring some convenience to the Ming and Qing dynasties in the early days, but as time went by, this chain of interests running through the north and south became a tool for some people to seek personal gain, making water transport like a blood-sucking worm. Constantly devouring the blood of the empire.

Therefore, during the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, the unsustainable Manchu Qing finally restarted sea transportation. The first sea transportation took half of the total amount of grain transported by water, and later sea transportation took on most of the grain transportation.

You must know that after the sea ban in the Ming and Qing dynasties at that time, the shipbuilding technology in the Central Plains had not made much progress, and it might even be inferior to Zheng He's lucky boats. Therefore, there is no reason why the Ming Dynasty could not do what the Qing Dynasty could do!
Compared with Zhu Gaochi's suspicion, Zhu Di frowned at this moment.

He didn't think about this issue carefully before, but now after Zhu Zhanhe reminded him, he suddenly realized that he was indeed too careless, and the benefits of the water transport line were too great, and there would definitely be countless people reaching out in the future. It's too late to fix it.

"Zhan He, the situation you mentioned may indeed happen in water transportation, but if it is changed to sea transportation, can these situations be avoided?"

Zhu Di pondered for a long time, and finally raised his head and asked Zhu Zhanhe.

"The biggest advantage of sea transportation is that from point to point, there is no need to stop at other ports in the middle. For example, if you go to sea from Suzhou, you can directly arrive in Tianjin. Therefore, as long as you manage the starting point and the ending point, you can eliminate most of the corruption. Corruption, let alone disturb the people along the way, let them do labor when the farming is busy!"

Zhu Zhanhe said very affirmatively.

It is precisely these advantages of sea transportation that Manchu Qing finally used sea transportation and replaced water transportation in a very short period of time.

"What about the risk of going to sea, in case of a big storm, it may cause the entire fleet to capsize!"

At this time, Zhu Gaochi raised his objection again.

"Natural disasters at sea are predictable. For example, storms generally only occur in summer and autumn, and storms are rarely encountered in winter and spring!"

Having said this, Zhu Zhanhe saluted Zhu Di again.

"Grandfather, when I presented the globe to you, I just wanted to let you know that the world is so big that the oceans account for the vast majority of the world, so I, Ming, must not ignore the oceans. Instead, I must actively devote myself to the oceans. Xiyang’s fleet has already made a good start, so why not try harder and let sea transport replace water transport?”

Zhu Di pondered for a moment again after hearing the words, and then asked solemnly: "Do you really think that sea transportation can replace water transportation?"

"Definitely!"

Zhu Zhanhe heard that Zhu Di's tone had softened a bit, and immediately continued speaking with more effort.

"The risk of going to sea is indeed great, but it is not insurmountable. For example, the technology of shipbuilding has been improving. If the lucky boat that Zheng He and the others drove were placed a thousand years ago, I am afraid that the ancients would not have imagined that they could build such a strong and huge ship. Grandpa Huang Now we can also encourage craftsmen to improve sea-going ships and build larger, safer, and easier-to-operate ships, and the cost of sea transportation will naturally be lower."

"With a bigger and safer sea ship, your father and Daming's connection will be even closer. Is this your kid's idea?"

Zhu Di chuckled, and explained Zhu Zhanhe's thoughts in one sentence.

"Grandson admits, I do have such thoughts, and I even hope to have a ship that travels thousands of miles a day, so that if my father misses the emperor, he can take the ship back to Daming to visit within a few days!"

Zhu Zhanhe admitted it very honestly, but then continued: "However, compared to these personal matters, I would like to see my Ming Dynasty's sea-going ships cruising in the four oceans, and my Ming Dynasty officials and businessmen can be found in various ports!"

Hearing the scene described by Zhu Zhanhe, Zhu Di couldn't help being excited. He walked back and forth a few times, and finally stopped suddenly and said: "Okay, I will restart the shipping according to what you said, but this matter must be done by you Supervise it yourself!"

"The grandson leads the order!"

After Zhu Zhanhe heard this, he agreed without the slightest hesitation. Restarting the shipping is not only beneficial to the country and the people, but also a good training for himself. Most importantly, controlling the shipping is also extremely important for supporting Zhu Gaoxu in the future!
(End of this chapter)