Rebirth of the Ming Dynasty: Sixth Generation of Glory, I don't want it

There are five main places selected, namely Huai'an, Xuzhou, Jining, Linqing and Dezhou.

The number of Changying warehouses in various locations shall not be less than thirty and not more than forty.

The grain from western Zhejiang, Suzhou, Changzhou and Songjiang was stored in Huai'an warehouse.

The grain from Zhenjiang, Luzhou, Fengyang and Huaiyang was stored in the Xuzhou warehouse.

The grain from Xuzhou and Yanzhou was stored in Jining warehouse.

Order the inland ships on the Huitong River to use 3,000 ships to go to Huai'an and then to Jining, and to use 2,000 ships to go to Jining and then to Tongzhou.

He opened up guards in Tianjin, Tongzhou and other places, and sent official troops from Tongzhou to Beijing.

Zhejiang, Zhili, Huguang, Jiangxi and other places, in addition to the local reserves and the grain for the capital, allocated 2.5 million shi to be transported to Beijing Tongzhou Hexiwu by civilian ships, with about half of the military and half of the civilians transporting. A total of four times a year, more than 5 million shi of grain can be transported.

Zhu Gaochi mentioned this matter to Zhang Xin the night before they set out for the imperial farm.

He and the cabinet have already thought out the entire framework and are just waiting to fill it in with details after the holidays and then promulgate it.

He mentioned it to Zhang Xin casually.

Zhang Xin shook her head like a rattle.

But because he was going to Huangzhuang today, Zhu Gaochi put the matter aside.

Now that Zhang Xin is someone who can't sit still, Zhu Gaochi really wants to hear the reason why Zhang Xin shook his head.

"The people in the cabinet, because the military power is in the hands of our father, they subconsciously avoid talking about the problems that the army will encounter in this transportation method. Your Highness, have you ever thought about how many people are needed for a complete transportation from south to north?"

Zhang Xin had forgotten about this matter after a good night's sleep, but he immediately remembered it when Zhu Gaochi mentioned it.

The branch-transportation method existed in the previous life only until the sixth year of Xuande.

The drawbacks are really too great.

The branch transportation method consumes a lot of manpower every time.

A total of 120,000 government troops were required for a complete transport from south to north.

Four times a year!!!

How is this different from the Great Migration?

In order to load these personnel and huge amounts of supplies, the armies of each province had to gather empty ships along the river at various places before a transport began, which also consumed a lot of manpower and material resources.

In order to participate in grain transportation without paying taxes, people from various provinces were delayed on the grain transportation journey all year round.

For families with few people, one missing person might delay the planting of crops for the next season.

"Is it so exaggerated?"

Zhu Gaochi looked pale.

He wanted to not believe it, but when he thought about it carefully, it was exactly as Zhang Xin said.

"Not only that, there are also all those tricks about waiting in line to pass the gate. Why not call my eldest brother over? I think my eldest brother may know more."

Zhang Xin made sincere suggestions.

When Zhang Chang went to Shandong to purchase grain, he understood all these things.

What she said was based on the experience she gained after the branch transportation method was abolished in her previous life, so she couldn't say anything specific.

"Qian'er, send someone to invite Captain Zhang!"

Zhu Gaochi didn't waste any time and made arrangements directly.

"Then, let's settle it."

Zhang Xin had her elder brother to help her solve the problem, so she didn't say anything more.

The couple washed up and went to bed.

The next day, Zhang Chang came on horseback early in the morning.

After having breakfast with the family of five, including King Han Zhu Song, Zhu Gaochi invited him to his study to answer his questions.

"Your Highness, you don't know. In order to ensure the water level, the canals in our country have sluice gates. The upstream sluice gate needs to store water, and the sluice gate can only be opened to release the ship when the water level is sufficient. The operation of the sluice gate is very important, and each opening and closing requires an order from the court. As for who passes through first and who passes later after the sluice gate is opened, there are different levels."

Zhang Chang is indeed very familiar with this.

In recent years, Shandong has been hit by either floods or droughts.

The water level has been unstable.

The gate is sometimes open and sometimes closed, there is no fixed number.

As a result, the grain ships transporting grain to Tongzhou could not pass through at any time and often had to wait in line.

Sometimes there are thousands of boats of all sizes crowded on the river waiting.

Some go south, some go north, and one careless mistake can lead to an accident.

Armed fights and the like happen from time to time.

The domestic canals are, in theory, thoroughfares for materials, but to put it bluntly, they are also thoroughfares for demonstrating privilege.

There is also a hierarchy among boats floating on the river. It is also a customary rule as to who passes the lock first, who passes later, and who needs to make arrangements before passing through the lock.

It’s just that no one speaks out loud. . .

The first priority is for tribute ships that serve the emperor and transport tributes from all over the country. This also includes eunuchs and officials sent by the emperor who abuse their power for personal gain and bully others.

Next are official ships, then grain transport ships, and finally ordinary merchant ships.

They wait in this order, with canal transport being third, only slightly better than ordinary merchant ships.

Of course, the detention of such a fleet is sometimes beneficial to the local area.

Those who have money will get off the ship and spend money.

Those who have goods can’t wait and will buy and sell them on the spot.

Business is very developed on both sides of Zhangqiu River.

That’s why there is a saying that there are Suzhou and Hangzhou in the south and Linyi and Zhangjiakou in the north.

"Linqing was planning to build a warehouse."

Zhu Gaochi looked a little unhappy.

If there are ships stranded in the river for a long time and hundreds of thousands of soldiers are also stranded in the river, what will happen to the river!

"Linqing is a good place, better than Zhangqiu River. But there are too many boats."

When Zhang Chang went to collect grain, he traveled all over Shandong, so he knew every place very well.

Linqing had an industry that was exclusively operated by the imperial court - the tribute brick factory.

Bricks are needed all over the country and are basically transported by canals. Linqing itself has many brick-carrying ships coming in and out.

"So, Your Highness should wait until after the Lantern Festival and discuss this with the Cabinet."

Zhang Xin concluded.

When it comes to Linqing, she is also familiar with it.

During the Xuande Dynasty, the branch transportation method was changed to the exchange transportation method, and Zhan Jishi explained the reason to her in detail.

The example given is of temporary clearance warehouse.

During the Yongle reign, when the law on the transportation of grain was first promulgated, the Linqing warehouse received two seasons' grain from Xuzhou and Yanzhou, totaling 600,000 shi.

By the fourth year of Xuande, the Linqing Warehouse had grown to 1.5 million shi, mainly storing grain transported by the people from Yingtian, Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Taiping, Huai'an, Yangzhou, Fengyang and other places.

Later, in the sixth year of Xuande, Linqing built Guangji Granary and expanded it to accommodate three million shi of grain.

Every year, tens of thousands of grain ships arrived in Linqing to deliver grain.

At the same time, tens of thousands of grain ships passed through Linqing to transport grain to the two warehouses in Beijing and Tong.

The grain transport troops, boatmen, and trackers gathered in Linqing. Together with the officials and soldiers guarding the warehouses and the large number of laborers traveling back and forth for transportation, Linqing was under great pressure.

In short, the method of supporting transportation means that hundreds of thousands of people are forced to wander outside all year round just to transport that little bit of food.

This is really not advisable.

Later, Zhan Ji changed the method of exchange and transportation.

This is more reasonable.

The exchange method was that after harvesting, the common people only needed to deliver the grain to the nearest local guard post.

After that, the entire process of transportation from south to north was under the full responsibility of the military.

Ordinary people don't need to waste time on water transport, and it won't delay the sowing and harvesting seasons.

Soldiers no longer had to travel long distances in empty boats to gather at the grain transport transfer points. They could just collect the surrendered grain at the garrisons and then set off directly to the capital.