My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 222

Taicang, Suzhou.

There are many theories about the origin of the name of Taicang. Some say that it was built by Chunshen Jun in the Warring States Period and named Dongcang.

But no matter what you say, Taicang is indeed a very important granary. After all, it is backed by Suzhou and Hangzhou, and it is the mouth of the Yangtze River, so the water transportation is very convenient.

The current Taicang also has a huge granary, officially called Haiyuncang, but folks prefer to call it a million granary, because it is said that it can store millions of stones of grain.

Wu Cang held a jug of old wine on his head, and as usual, he inspected the huge granaries one by one.

I saw him take a sip of the old wine, the spicy wine entered his throat, wrinkling his old face, then hiccupped, took out a piece of dried fish from his bosom, put it in his mouth, and used his only The few teeth on his face were slowly grinding.

When he came to a row of huge granaries, Wu Cangtou opened the door, and a gust of dry air rushed in, but the inside was empty.

"empty!"

Wu Cangtou said to himself with a bit of drunkenness.

Then he opened the second granary and muttered again, "It's empty again!"

After inspecting a row of granaries, all the granaries were empty.

Then Wu Cangtou came to the second row of granaries, which were still empty. In fact, not only here, but most of the entire million-grain granaries were empty, and there was no need to patrol every day.

But although Wu Cangtou was drinking, he was still very conscientious. He opened every empty granary and inspected it himself.

Just when Wu Cangtou was inspecting the last row of warehouses, he just opened a warehouse door, and saw a black shadow rushing out from inside, he was so scared that he even took a few steps back, and suddenly woke up from the wine.

"Meow~"

The black shadow landed on the ground, and it turned out to be a skinny black cat. It was not afraid to see Wu Cangtou, and even approached him very affectionately, squatting on the ground and looking up at him, his two gem-like eyes were full of charm.

"It turned out to be you, the black cat. I thought you would have starved to death!"

Seeing the black cat, Wu Cangtou said in surprise, he took out a dried fish from his bosom, knelt down and fed it to the black cat.

The black cat wasn't too polite, and started chewing on the dried fish, apparently starving too.

Wu Cang looked at the black cat as pitiful, and couldn't help reaching out to hug it, only to find that it was thinner than it looked, and it seemed that there was not much flesh in its body.

"The granary is empty, the rats are gone, and there's no use for you old chap!"

Wu Cang hugged the black cat, muttering while feeding it.

This black cat was raised in the granary, specially used to catch mice. After all, as long as there is food, there are mice. There used to be many cats in the granary, but as the granary became empty, the mice disappeared, and many cats also ran away. .

As with cats, so with humans.

Since the imperial court stopped shipping last year, this huge million-dollar granary has suddenly lost its function. It is impossible to use such a large granary just by relying on the grain production around Taicang. After visiting the granary, the granary was emptied again as soon as the sailing fleet left.

Everyone knows that there is no future at all if you keep guarding the million-dollar warehouse, so all the people with connections have left, and even the promotion of food in charge has been transferred, leaving Wu Cangtou with some people who can't leave. The old, weak, sick and disabled still guard the granary.

Thinking of the current situation of the million-dollar granary, Wu Cangtou couldn't help but sighed, then opened the wine gourd, "gudong gudong" took a few more mouthfuls of spicy old wine, and then continued to inspect the granary with the black cat in his arms.

But after walking a few steps, Wu Cangtou suddenly saw a person standing in the open space in front of him, which made him startled for a moment, and then felt that this person looked familiar.

So Wu Cangtou stepped forward quickly, and when he saw the person standing in front of him clearly, he also exclaimed in surprise: "Commander Zhang, why are you here?"

The person in front turned around, only to see that the other person was tall and tall. He looked about 40 years old, with a square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, and good facial features. He looked righteous.

"Old Wu, are you inspecting the granary again?"

Commander Zhang greeted Wu Cangtou with a smile.

"Yes, as you know, I have worked in the granary all my life, and I feel uncomfortable if I don't turn around every day."

Wu Cangtou smiled and stepped forward to salute.

The middle-aged man's name is Zhang Fu. He is currently the commander of Zhenhai Guard. He was also in charge of shipping in the past, and he is an old acquaintance with Wu Cangtou.

"Commander Zhang, why are you here? Is there any movement from the court? Is our shipping going to restart?"

Wu Cangtou's eyes shined at the end. He has guarded the granary all his life. Of course, he doesn't want to see the granary in such a decline. Only by restarting the shipping can the granary return to its former bustle.

"No, I'm just here to take a look."

Zhang Fu smiled wryly and shook his head. He dreamed of restarting sea transportation, but the court had already decided to switch to water transportation. I heard that water transportation went very smoothly last year, and the cost was lower than sea transportation. Zhang Fu estimated that sea transportation had been completely abandoned by the court.

Hearing Zhang Fu's answer, Wu Cangtou also sighed, and then said again: "It's good to have a look, in previous years, this era was the busiest time for food, but now it's deserted, and even a mouse I can't see it, look how thin the cat in my arms has become."

Zhang Fu looked at the black cat in Wu Cangtou's arms, stretched out his hand to stroke it twice, and sighed: "Yes, at this time of the year, it is the time when new grain arrives. I still remember the time when new grain arrived. At the entrance of the granary, you will shout "new grain into the granary", and then the grain shipped from all over the place can enter the granary."

"Yeah, it's really nostalgic!"

Wu Cangtou whispered, and suddenly he asked Zhang Fu on a whim: "I haven't shouted for a long time, how about I shout again?"

"call!"

Zhang Fei waved his hand.

Wu Cangtou put down the cat in his hand, then straightened his waist, took a long breath and shouted towards the empty granary: "New grain is in the granary~"

A loud shout echoed in the empty granary.

Wu Cangtou was born with a broken voice, and his shouting voice was not pleasant.

But Zhang Fu heard it in his ears, but there seemed to be one after another grain trucks in front of his eyes, transporting them to the granary under the banner of various places, and then loading them on Shanghai ships in batches, starting from the port and heading north, transporting them to Beijing and Beijing. Liaodong and other places, to supplement the military supplies there.

"Uncle, nephew, I'm sorry!"

Zhang Fu whispered with tears in his eyes. The sea route to the north was opened up by his uncle Zhang He's adventure. It was also his uncle's greatest achievement. The big ship can only dock in the port and decay day by day.

(End of this chapter)