xymnovel Chapter 286 The Situation
Chapter 286 The Situation
Chapter 286 The Situation (Part 2)
The situation along the canal was worse than the officials in the signing hall knew.
The Grand Canal wharf outside the west gate of Changzhou used to be the busiest place.
The masts of ships once stood like a forest, the calls of boatmen rose and fell, and food vendors hopped between boats with their loads on their shoulders. The air was filled with the aromas of rice, fish, and tung oil. But now, this dock resembles a desolate, floating graveyard.
More than forty boats were moored haphazardly on the shore, some facing west and some facing east, clearly having been forced to stop while fleeing for their lives.
The sails weren't even furled; they just hung loosely.
The sailors on the ship squatted in twos and threes at the bow, staring blankly at the water. Occasionally, someone would stand up and glance to the west, then sigh and squat back down.
The largest ship belonged to Shen Dezai, a merchant from Suzhou, and was carrying 400 shi (a unit of dry measure) of white rice, which was originally intended to be transported to Songjiang. It had been docked at Changzhou Wharf for thirteen days, and the rice was sweltering and humid in the hold. Shen Dezai had his crew turn it over and air it out every day, for fear that it would get moldy.
He stood at the bow of the boat, clutching a letter from home. It had been brought from Suzhou the night before, saying his elderly mother was ill and urging him to return immediately. But the boat couldn't leave, and Bi Si was still adrift on the canal. He couldn't just abandon the boat and the cargo and run away.
"Manager Shen, someone else is here," the waiter called out, pointing to the shore.
Shen Dezai looked up and saw a middle-aged man wearing a blue cloth robe riding a horse to the dock with two attendants.
The middle-aged man dismounted and walked straight towards Shen Dezai's ship, cupping his hands in greeting: "May I ask if this is Master Shen's ship?"
"Indeed. And who are you?" Shen Dezai returned the greeting.
"I am Liu Yin, a clerk from Changzhou Road." The middle-aged man looked around and said, "I have been ordered by the General Manager to come to the dock to check on the merchant ships. Mr. Shen, how much grain is left on board?"
Shen Dezai's heart sank, thinking that they were going to requisition grain. He quickly said, "Liu Sili, the grain on the boats all belong to someone else, and we dare not touch it. Besides, the canal is blocked, and I have been stuck here for more than ten days. My mother is seriously ill and I cannot go back—" As he spoke, his voice became choked with emotion.
Liu Yin quickly waved his hand and said, "Master Shen, you misunderstand. It's not about requisitioning grain. The steward sent me to ask if any of the ship owners have any difficulties. The government is trying to suppress the bandits, so please be patient for a few more days."
"Endure for a few more days?" A head suddenly popped out from the boat next to us, a man with a full beard and a gruff voice: "I've heard that seven or eight times! Last month you said endure for three days, this month you said endure for five days, and now you're saying endure for how many days? We're here drinking river water and eating dry biscuits, the cargo in the hold is spoiling day by day, while you officials are sitting in your yamen drinking tea and chatting! Bi Si's gang only had thirty-six men, and you have thousands of soldiers, how come you can't take them down?!"
The businesses that can afford to stop here are basically all influential, so they naturally won't be very polite to a mere clerk.
Liu Yin choked, his face turning red and white in turns, and stammered, "This—the traitor is a good swimmer and can move freely on the canal, the government navy—"
He couldn't continue, because several boat owners on the shore had gathered around and started complaining all at once.
"I still have 320 bolts of silk on my ship. If they aren't transported to Hangzhou soon, the buyer will return them!"
"A relative of mine had a boat that departed from Danyang five days ago, and there's been no news of it since. I'm afraid it's been destroyed by Bi Sijie!"
"If the government can't handle it, we'll pool our money and hire heroes from the martial arts world to fight!"
Liu Yin was driven crazy by the noise and retreated repeatedly, eventually almost fleeing back to his horse and galloping away in a flash.
A chorus of curses followed on the dock.
Shen Dezai didn't join in the cursing. He sat down by the ship's railing, took out a dry biscuit from his pocket, broke off a piece and put it in his mouth. After chewing it a couple of times, he felt like he was chewing sand.
He gazed at the river to the southeast, where it meandered and disappeared into the twilight. It was said that not far to the east, Bi Si's fleet was hidden in some reeds, like a lurking water snake, waiting for its prey to pass by.
He recalled his first journey along this canal a few years ago. Back then, the country was relatively peaceful; although the government collected taxes, at least they didn't allow trade routes to be cut off. But now? Dozens of mountain bandits had been fighting for two or three months over Huashan, while thirty-six river bandits had blocked the canal over Changzhou. Where were the imperial troops now, even a trace of their former selves?
In the distance, the drums of martial law sounded again from the city tower of Changzhou. The dull sound traveled across the water, each beat like a blow to the heart.
Shen Dezai stuffed the dry biscuit into his mouth and swallowed it down with force, secretly calculating: if things continued like this, he might have to consider risking a land route, passing through Xia City, and transporting the grain in batches by oxcart to Jiangyin. Although the transportation cost would be several times higher, it would still be better than letting it rot here.
The sky had completely darkened, and the canal was shrouded in darkness.
Only a few boats still had tiny oil lamps lit, floating on the water like will-o'-the-wisps.
A scream suddenly came from not far away, startling everyone who rushed out of the cabin and looked around. After a short while, someone shouted, "It's nothing. My younger brother was walking in the dark and accidentally fell into the water. We just rescued him."
Several boat owners on the dock spat at the same time and cursed.
The once vast Changzhou Road is now a place of constant anxiety and fear.
Shen Dezai thought about it carefully, wondering if he should really organize everyone to pool their money and hire heroes to fight.
He is from the Shen family in Suzhou, so there shouldn't be any major problems if he takes the lead in organizing it.
Just as a dream come true, on the tenth day of the eighth month, when Shen Dezai's grain ships had been anchored outside Changzhou for more than half a month and his mind was in turmoil, news spread in Changzhou: there was a man surnamed Cao in Jiangyin Prefecture who was a salt worker with men under his command and was good at fighting. The Jiangyin Prefecture government had asked him to intercept Bi Si.
The ship owners obtained the information through inquiries, but they didn't know which government department it originated from.
Shen Dezai didn't take it too seriously at first, but then new information came: the man surnamed Cao had spread the word that he would patrol the (Xicheng) Canal, from Jiangyin all the way to Wuxi, to ensure the safety of this waterway.
The implication was that if Bi Si reached this point, he could stop him.
Shen Dezai knew several businessmen in Wuxi, and he paid them a large sum of money to send a letter to them to inquire about the matter.
With the money as a bonus, a reply came the next day, saying that the man was named Cao Luo, who was indeed quite famous in the Jiangyin area. He had dozens of men under his command, well-equipped, and last year when the Huai bandits passed through Qinwang Mountain, he was the one who led his men to stop them and wiped them all out. Later, the government even asked him to settle the matter.
Thus, Shen Dezai began to have an idea.
He invited several ship owners with whom he had a close relationship to his boat, brewed a pot of tea, and laid the letter out on the table.
A cloth merchant from Shaoxing frowned and said, "He only patrolled as far as Huangbudun Wharf in Wuxi? That's still quite a distance from here."
A timber merchant from Jiangxi, however, had a bright idea. He said, "If the goods can't be shipped out, the money won't come back. Every day the goods are stuck here, we lose money. If he can really open up the waterway, it's worth the money."
Another businessman from Hangzhou said, "What if he asks for an exorbitant price?"
After arguing back and forth for a while, the group finally agreed that Shen Dezai had many connections and should make the decision.
Shen Dezai remained silent for a long time, then put his teacup on the table and said, "Let's raise the money."
It is no coincidence.
When news of Bi Si's gang of 36 men causing trouble on the Grand Canal reached Wuxi, the reaction there was even more urgent than in Changzhou.
Why? Because Bi Si and his men are heading this way. Aren't they worried? Most of the merchants in Wuxi who sell grain, cloth, silk, and bamboo products rely on the canal for their livelihood. Blocking the canal is like having their throats strangled.
Furthermore, Wuxi was a crucial hub for the grain transport in Jiangnan, and the imperial court had established the Yifeng Granary there, storing tax grain from Wuxi, Yixing, and Liyang, with a total storage capacity exceeding 200,000 shi (a unit of dry measure). If something were to happen there, to put it bluntly, it would be far more serious than the death of a few officials in Nanjing.
The people of Wuxi had been anxious for a long time, and two days ago someone took the lead and raised a considerable sum of money.
The person in charge was Qian Dayong, a grain merchant. He had considerable influence among merchants because of the large amount of grain stored in his granary. He sent someone along the Grand Canal to contact all the merchants along the section from Jiangyin to Wuxi and proposed this idea: everyone should pool their money to hire Cao Luo and Mo Tianyou's men to patrol along the (Xicheng) Canal and the Grand Canal to ensure the safety of the waterways. Mo Tianyou had not been ordered to go to Huashan to suppress the bandits and was still staying in Wuxi, clearly not taking the government's orders seriously.
The cost of hiring a cane was split among everyone. Once the boat arrived, a representative was sent to check the situation, and the boat would only depart if it was deemed safe.
To be fair, this is a good method.
If the canal is blocked, trade routes are disrupted, and goods sitting idle mean net losses. Paying some money can solve the problem; it's better than letting them rot at the dock.
Everyone acted immediately, splitting up to take action.
Qian Dayong volunteered to go see Mo Tianyou in person.
Grain merchant Zhou Siwen was rumored to have a past relationship with Cao Luo, so he was recommended by the crowd to go to Jiangyin to find Cao Luo.
Driven by money, the merchants were incredibly efficient, wasting no time and ignoring the government and their thoughts, focusing solely on getting things done.
On August 12, when the news that merchants had pooled their money to hire thugs reached the Wuxi prefectural government, Darughachi Halsha was momentarily speechless.
Unlike other dynasties in history, this dynasty has a strong tradition of commerce. When wealthy merchants decide to bypass the government and raise money themselves to protect their lives and fortunes, what is the point of having the government?
But amidst his worries, he suddenly realized that he was secretly relieved.
They say no, but their actions tell a different story.
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