Pawn Crossing the River

After departing from Gangneungfu, the iron ship went south along the Dajiang River, then turned from the Dajiang River into the Grand Canal and went north along the Grand Canal.

Three days later, the iron ship had left Huzhou and entered the Luzhou section of the Grand Canal.

For Qi Xuansu, Luzhou is half a blessed place, and it was from here that he began his "transshipment", but this was his first time taking the Grand Canal.

The sun is shining brightly today. After several years of dredging and treatment, the Grand Canal is much clearer. There are dots of stars on the river, which is really beautiful. Liu Hu stood on the deck and looked at both sides of the bank. Huge workshops can be seen from time to time in the fields, with billowing black smoke rising into the sky like wolf smoke.

These workshops are new things that have emerged in the past hundred years. They mainly focus on smelting steel. Although buildings in various places still use masonry and wood as the main materials, firearms and ironclads require a large amount of steel. When there is demand, these steel workshops come into being. born.

It is a coincidence that both firearms and smelting steel are related to fire. However, Daxuan originated in the north, which is the virtue of water, and it is the "coexistence of hot and cold".

Qi Xuansu stood next to Liuhu Lake, also looking at the steel workshops that spit out billowing black smoke. The northwest states were vast and sparsely populated, slightly barren, and there were many mines in the states. The workshops are mainly concentrated in the east and divided into north and south. The workshops in Jiangnan are mainly "light", while the workshops in Jiangbei are mainly "heavy", which is also a characteristic of Jiangbei.

About half of these workshops belong to the imperial court, some belong to Taoist sects, and only a few belong to individuals. They are all powerful gentry and others, and cannot be run by ordinary people.

This is not the first time Qi Xuansu has come to Jiangbei. The reason why he has not seen so many workshops before is because the cost of transportation, manpower, raw materials, etc. must be considered when selecting the location of a workshop. Therefore, most of these workshops are close to mining areas, densely populated towns, and convenient transportation hubs. . The key is transportation. Whether it is the transportation of raw materials or the transportation of finished products, shipping is the lowest-cost mode of transportation. It is nothing more than water transportation and sea transportation. It makes sense that there are a large number of steel workshops along the Grand Canal. Among them.

The world was changing, and many gentry gave up the fields passed down from generation to generation and began to get involved in commerce. Some entrusted others to participate in maritime trade, and some became workshop owners. Workshops need manpower, so some people who have lost their land and people in towns go to workshops to work.

Qi Xuansu suddenly remembered the "Dragon Slaying Technique" he had learned in the Wanxiang Taoist Palace.

Xuansheng once said that we often create something, a rule, or a method in order to solve a certain problem. After the problem is solved, the new thing we create is either a rule or a rule. , regardless of the method, new problems will arise.

Workshops are the best example. The rise of "commerce" and "industry" has solved some of the problems of "agriculture" and created new problems.

These workshops are not charity workshops. Although they accommodate people who have lost their land and reduce the possibility of large-scale displacement and large-scale famine, the extreme fatigue and harsh environment will greatly destroy the body and mind. Few people can survive to the age of fifty. Poverty and hunger are always around. If you don't work for a day, you won't have enough food for a day. If you don't work for a few days, the whole family will starve to death. In this case, many half-year-old children have to go out to work early, and overwork makes them miserable. It will cause premature death of children and teenagers.

This does not include the threat of disease. Although there is Huashengtang, the high fees are always prohibitive.

This is a grand proposition that cannot be summed up in a few words.

This is also one of the reasons why secret societies are so prosperous. People need to have thoughts. If they can’t get what they want in this world, they can only ask for it in the afterlife or after death. The various ideas promoted by secret societies just satisfy people’s thoughts. Even if this idea is false and can never be realized, there are still people who are crazy about it.

The Taoist sect was not unexpected about this. There was a dispute between the first Earth Master Xu Wugui and Xuansheng.

Master Xu believed that in the early days of the Qingming Dynasty, when officials governed the Qingming Dynasty, there was nothing they did without care and no one who did not work hard. This was because of the hardships and hardships at that time, and they could only find a life out of ten thousand deaths. Now that it has gradually improved and the court has stabilized, it has gradually become lazy, the minority has become the majority, and then laziness has become a common trend. Although there is great effort, it cannot be reversed and it is difficult to remedy. Some are driven by the desire for success, and the party members are united and opposed. When the talents are gradually exhausted and difficult to cope with, the situation becomes complicated.

Just like a piece of cake, you can eat 60% at the beginning, gradually only 50%, and finally only 30% or 20%, which is difficult to maintain.

Greed is human nature. It is basically impossible to solve problems based on human nature and achieve universal unity. Confucianism has been going around in this circle for thousands of years, but it has not seen peace in the world, let alone improvement in people's hearts. On the contrary, People often lament that the world is declining and people's hearts are not as old as they used to be. So why does Taoism surpass Confucianism’s thousands of years of achievements? So we have to find another way.

Master Xu’s method is very simple, which is to make the cake bigger so that this cake can feed everyone, then these contradictions will no longer exist. As long as the cake is big enough, the court will be rich, the people will live in peace, and the powerful will be able to enjoy their glory. This is probably the atmosphere of a prosperous age and peace in the world.

It now appears that Master Xu’s method can only solve part of the problem, but not all of it. No matter how big the pie is, there will still be problems if the method of dividing the pie is not changed.

To change these problems, it may take a very long time and huge changes, and we may fall into the trap of Confucianism again, going around in circles with no way out.

Qi Xuansu did not think deeply. He could see some of the problems, but it did not mean that he could have deep empathy. Thanks to the teachings of Wanxiang Taoist Palace, he had a solid ability to survive in troubled times or prosperous times. He has experienced life and death, but has never experienced real poverty.

Qi Xuansu was poor compared to the gentry, wealthy businessmen, officials, dignitaries, and high-quality Taoist priests. Compared with ordinary people, Qi Xuansu, who has a net worth of several thousand Taiping money, is an out-and-out decent person. When he was at his worst, he could still afford dozens of peace coins, and he never had to worry about food. Although one of the reasons is that he has enough food for one person and the whole family is not hungry, it goes without saying that the world is dangerous. If you are not careful, you will die faster than those people who have been greatly damaged physically and mentally by life. Most people will die. I don’t want to live such a precarious life.

But having said that, although most of Qi Xuansu's peace money came from irregular sources, it was cleaner than some gentry and others.

In fact, Qi Xuansu didn't have any great ambitions. He knew that he couldn't change the world's people's hearts, so he just wanted to marry Zhang Yuelu, be promoted to the second-grade Taiyi Taoist priest, and take the name of a real person to retire as a Taoist elder and enjoy peace and happiness. , if you can have a seat to sit in on the Jinque meeting in the future, your life will be considered complete.

Just as Qi Xuansu was thinking about all this, footsteps suddenly came from behind.

The vigilance honed over many years brought Qi Xuansu back to his senses instantly, turned around and looked around, protecting Liu Hu beside him without leaving any trace.

Seeing the appearance of the visitor, Qi Xuansu couldn't help but be startled.

It turned out to be an acquaintance.

Xu Kou.

Now Xu Kou has been promoted to chief. In fact, he was a fifth-grade Taoist priest a long time ago, but he was demoted to a sixth-grade Taoist priest because he tortured prisoners to death. Over the years, he has been promoted and demoted. His rank is not high, but his qualifications are old, so his promotion to chief did not cause much controversy.

However, Xu Kou was not wearing Taoist formal clothes today, but was wearing casual clothes. He did not look like he was on official business.

Why is he here?

Qi Xuansu remained calm, just looked at it briefly, and then withdrew his gaze.

The reason why Xu Kou appeared on this ship can only be said to be a coincidence. The order given by Zhang Yuelu was that after completing the set tasks, the principals would return to Yujing by flying boat.

After Xu Kou completed the errand at hand, he asked Zhang Yuelu for instructions through the local Taoist government's "Communication Array" and wanted to take this opportunity to return to his hometown in Qizhou to visit relatives. Zhang Yuelu was not an unreasonable person, so he naturally agreed.

So Xu Kou first took a downwind boat from Shibotang to Jiangling, then changed to a passenger boat and took the Grand Canal, and happened to be on the same boat as Qi Xuansu.

When Qi Xuansu looked at Xu Kou, Xu Kou also looked at Qi Xuansu.

Of course he could see that the brother and sister were quite good. Not to mention that there was something about the man that he couldn't understand. The little girl walked and breathed in and out, as if she was an innate person. This was very surprising. Yes, it is not common in Taoist sects. What's more, the man did not hide the "Dragon Gun" on his waist. The bright ivory handle made people dare not underestimate it.

Xu Kou hesitated for a moment, then cupped his fists and said, "Xu Kou."

"Little Yama?" Qi Xuansu said with a faint smile.

Xu Kou didn't hide his surprise: "Have you heard of me?"

Qi Xuansu nodded and said, "I once heard a friend of Qingluan Guard mention Brother Xu."