Two days later, Liu Mingqi and his party arrived at Huai'an, the most important center of the Grand Canal.
Huai'an City was not too big originally, but due to the water transportation yamen, after repeated expansions, it was actually divided into an inner city and an outer city.
Liu Mingqi originally saw a lot of people coming and going in Zhenjiang and the business was very developed, but when he came to Huai'an and compared it, he realized that Zhenjiang was the younger brother within the younger brother.
The several ports here are busy with various shipments all the time, with ships constantly coming and leaving.
According to the information Liu Mingqi knew before coming here, there are no less than a thousand ships coming and going at the port outside Huai'an City every day. If it is August or September when the grain is harvested, the congestion will be even worse and the number will increase several times.
Coupled with the merchants and caravans traveling from north to south, there is a busy smell of fireworks everywhere in and outside the city.
The Governor's Office of Water Transport, located in the inner city, is even more magnificent, occupying three blocks.
The person who came to pick up Liu Mingqi was an acquaintance Su Zishan.
This former chief patrol officer in the capital has now become the Li Xing Xiao Lieutenant of the Caoyun Yamen. He has been promoted from the fifth rank to one rank compared to when he was in the capital.
"But compared to the capital city, the jurisdiction of this Li Xing Xiaowei is much larger.
The entire water transport route, which spans thousands of miles on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, is all under the jurisdiction of Li Xing Xiaowei.
Not only in charge of water transportation, but also in charge of various water gates, various checkpoints, various places, etc., they are all managed by Li Xing Xiaowei.
Because of this matter, the other three chief patrol officers brought by Miao Yan are still running around outside.
Only Su Zishan is the most knowledgeable in dealing with people, so he is left by his side to handle various docking matters.
"Old Su, why have you gained weight recently?" When she saw Su Zishan, Liu Mingqi patted his shoulder and said with a smile, "Is the water and soil in the south of the Yangtze River more nourishing?"
"Your Highness, you are joking, I am also very troubled by dealing with favors!" Su Zishan was also very happy to see an acquaintance, "Compared to the capital, there are too many things here, and it is really troublesome to deal with them!"
"No way? Are there any troublesome things under Master Miao's command?" Liu Mingqi said in surprise.
"It's not those who are disobedient, but those who want to please Mr. Miao and get a bigger share of water transportation." Su Zishan said: "To put it bluntly, water transportation is not only the task of transporting grain to the court, but also doing business. .Since doing business is indispensable for human relationships, Master Miao doesn¡¯t like these, so of course he left them all to me, which is really tiring!¡±
Although Su Zishan sighed as he spoke, he actually kept smiling.
This is also nonsense.
Miao Yan gave him such an important task and made him a social butterfly in the entire Huai'an city. He was praised by others all day long. Do you like it or not?
"Stop being pretentious here!" Liu Mingjing patted him impatiently, "Old Su, hurry up, take Mingqi to Mr. Miao's place, and then we will take over the horses and ordnance supplies I can tell you this. , If you dare to bring us cracked goods, I will skin you!"
Su Zishan chuckled and said, "Your Highness, please rest assured. Can I not prepare the things for you? They are all of the highest quality. I personally selected them for you. Don't worry!"
While speaking, he asked his subordinates to take Liu Mingjing, the Royal Football Team, and two hundred guards to collect horses and supplies.
The Sima family specially built ten large ships for transportation. Although the horses were not used to the bumps of the ships, in March and April, the water in the south of the Yangtze River was not turbulent, and the horses used for transporting the Yamen were also of a breed that had adapted to the south, so It's not a big problem.
Otherwise, everyone will be on land, and everyone feels trouble.
When you come to Jiangnan, it is interesting to travel among the water towns of Jiangnan.
Zhang Qin, who was in charge of overall security, agreed to the idea after thinking about it for a while.
Because if the Japanese people come to the hinterland of Jiangnan, they will not be able to own boats - sailing on boats in the Jiangnan water towns, as long as the governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait take action, these people will be caught in a urn and will die.
They can only maintain their mobile operations by traveling on shore and land.
So from a certain perspective, ships are a kind of guarantee.
Xiong Dabao followed Liu Mingjing, but Zhang Qin never left Liu Mingqi's side, following Dazhu and Fan Shan.
Looking at Zhang Qin¡¯s figure, the father and son of the Sima family looked cautious.
They knew Zhang Qin¡¯s identity yesterday. They knew that he was the Qianniu Guards School Lieutenant, and that he was the main force standing guard directly at the entrance of the emperor¡¯s palace.
This is possibleAfter a while, he finally said it: "They are suspected of transporting some prohibited materials, and a lot of them flowed to the grassland. Of course, they are not for military use."
¡°What a courageous dog!¡±
Liu Mingqi immediately thought of the eight imperial merchants in Shanxi, "Mr. Miao, let's just confiscate their homes! It can just do harm to the people, and it can also shock those lawbreakers!"
"No!"
Miao Yan was surprised by Liu Mingqi's sudden radicalism, but he still explained: "When Lin Zhenyuan was the governor of water transportation, something like this happened more or less. They were transporting food and medicinal materials that were in short supply. Wait, it's not a big problem. In peacetime, everyone turns a blind eye.
??The Sima family is considered good. There are several passenger fleets like theirs, and they are also involved in the trafficking of women and children. This is where I should go to raid the house! "
When he spoke, Miao Yan had a faint evil look on his face.
Mr. Miao is professional when it comes to how to deal with people. When he saw that he had his own plans, Liu Mingqi did not interfere.
He came to Jiangnan for fun, so how could he be willing to get involved in such a complicated matter?
In life, eating, drinking and having fun are the most important things. People like Miao Yan are better at those tiring and drudgery tasks! (Remember the website address: www.hlnovel.com