Late at night on the 16th of the month, I set up a checkpoint in the canal to verify the entrainment area, facing the south four miles of my heart.”

This is the intersection of the Haihe River and the Canal. In the past few years, Shandong Denglai Army Preparation Road reported that it is convenient for shipping grains in seas. Many ships entered the canal here, but the policy was abandoned after less than a year of implementation. Recently, there were only some military ships and official ships traveling between Tianjin Wei and Weihai Wei.

There were a small number of ships going to the Jinzhou Guard in Liao Town in Tianjin. They also took this road to the sea. After the sea ban during the Jiajing period, the sea harbors here gradually became deserted, and the sea opened during the Longqing period, which gradually recovered.

However, the north-south transportation of the Ming Dynasty relies on the Grand Canal of Beijing and Hangzhou, and foreign trade is mainly concentrated in Xijiang and Fujian and Guangdong. Tianjin has more military significance than economics, so it has always been quite deserted.

When Wang Tong was in the capital, he heard people say this about the canal transportation. After coming to Tianjin, he also thought so after seeing the prosperity of the canal transportation outside the city.

If it weren't for seeing it with your own eyes tonight, Wang Tong would never have imagined that the Haihe River would be so prosperous.

Although it was late at night, the lights were transparent. There were more ships docking on the Haihe River than on the Sun Canal, and many large ships of thousands of materials were moored.

At the dock and at the mooring head, a large number of people could be seen moving the goods loaded on the sea boats, which seemed to be moving the goods loaded onto the river boats.

"It's dark under the light. If Gu Zibin hadn't told me, how could I know that there was such a lively scene here?"

Wang Tong looked at all this immediately in surprise and couldn't help but sigh. Tan Jiang and others following him all looked surprised on their faces, and some of them were stunned.

Locals may think this is commonplace. Wang Tong and others came here for the first time, but no one would tell them on their own initiative, and they would not have thought of it.

Combining all factors, these things here have become Wang Tong's blind spots. It's not that he noticed it, but that he didn't think of it at all.

Gu Zibin's Wang family warehouse spent 100 taels of silver to redeem the warehouse. However, once the accounts were checked, even if no one made things difficult for them to deduct them, the profits of those lucky transactions were extremely thin. It was no longer a problem of 1100%, but it would definitely be a loss if the labor and miscellaneous expenses were included.

This shopkeeper is also an old businessman in the capital. He is proficient in business, so he will naturally not notice such trivial matters. But it is no wonder that he is so disheartened that he wants to go out for a shop.

You have to put a nail on the other party's territory, but you can't continue to lose money so strangely. The reason is simple to find out. Similar porcelain, silk and other goods from the south on the market are almost 30% cheaper than those in the Wang Family Warehouse. Naturally, whoever buys who is cheaper in this business, how can customers come to you at such a price?

Everyone is doing the same business, and why the prices of the same goods are so different? I thought the reason was very complicated, but I didn’t expect to find it out just by asking.

"The three large cargo warehouses and merchants related to Chuan Toutiaoxiang are all cargoes from the sea. The smaller ones are all picked up on the river, so the prices are naturally different."

In the vast empire of the Ming Dynasty, the collection of commercial taxes was extremely backward, but the tax and tariff cards on this canal were quite complete. If you set off from Hangzhou to the capital, the large tax cards would have to pass seven, not to mention the deductions from local areas, and 100 taels of goods. When you arrive in the capital, you would have to pay nearly fifty taels of tax alone.

However, it was also escorted and bribed tax collectors and officials along the way. The cost of 100 taels was almost ten taels. The layers of these expenses also resulted in the high prices of goods in the north in the south, and of course the profit was also generous.

How to reduce the costs along the way and how to transport them to the capital at a cheaper cost is what every merchant is thinking about.

Almost since the Xuande period, more and more entrainments have been added. The government has been repeatedly banned. If the inspection is stricter, less entrainment will be reduced. If the inspection is loose, the entrainment will be increased immediately.

But as long as it is transported on the canal, a fixed fee is inevitable. Each ship carries a certain amount of cargo, and some places must use boatmen and horses, and must have regular silver for passing the checkpoints. The canal on the ship must give some money, and the boatman and sailors' food and use are all fixed expenses.

In other words, no matter how much compression is, it cannot be reduced to a certain level. Merchants are always pursuing greater profits.

"Mr. Wang, I'm afraid you'll have to go slowly. Isn't this delaying and losing money again?"

Tan is very experienced in other matters, but in this economic aspect, he has to ask Wang Tong. Wang Tong wants to get closer and see, no matter how he observes, he can't see any whistle guards or something.

,Wang Fabibei

The goods coming from the sea route entered the Haihe River and started loading and unloading. It seemed to be a very open and honest thing, and there was no need to be guarded against.

However, Wang Tong was still careful and careful. It was so dark that he had only a few people coming to watch. If anything went wrong, he couldn't even run away.

Wang Tong knew in his heart that he was not a beloved character on this Tianjin Wei ground. If he appeared like this, he would offend the other party.

Hearing the inquiry from the general Tan beside him, Wang Tong said after a moment of thinking:

"The largest canal ship is only 800 stones, but when I went from the capital to Guangdong, I knew that it was common for a large ship on the sea to ship thousands of stones. But the manipulated sailors and boatmen were similar, which saved labor, not to mention how much money is spent on this canal and how much money is on the sea. After a while, I have to save much money. No wonder it is so cheaper than the Wang family cargo warehouse. People of any era cannot underestimate it!"

Tan Jiang didn't understand Wang Tong's last sentence. But after hearing Wang Tong's words, he shook his head and continued:

"Walking on the sea, there are so many buzzards and pirates on the sea. The extermination of land was similar back then. I don't know how many of them were on the sea. Isn't it very risky to walk on the sea with a full ship of cargo?"

Wang Tong sneered, picked up the horse whip and pointed at the front and said:

"What risks do they fear? Do you think that besides the pirates, who else can send goods here from Jiangnan? How long has it been since the Ming Dynasty not built sea ships? Do you think that they were built by officials? "

Before and after the sea ban, the Ming Dynasty did not allow civilian ships to go to sea, and it was strictly prohibited to manufacture civilian ships, but shipbuilding and selling ships, and even shipping trade, were all profitable and even huge profits. If you have money, what is the king's law? Therefore, the large ships on the sea are built by the people and the government cannot ban them.

However, it is ironic that privately built sea ships are illegal, but the Ming Dynasty court and government officials also borrowed more. Officials often take civilian sea ships from north to south. Several shipping times were used to call civilian ships. Everyone knew that this was illegal, but it was not possible to use them.

Ma Sanbiao looked at it with his head down for a while and said with interest:

"As you said, it is much more convenient to travel through the sea than to travel through the canal. People in the capital and the north can also use cheap things, which is a good thing."

Wang Tongxing turned the horse casually and replied coldly:

"It is indeed a good thing for citizens who can afford these things. It is extremely harmful to the Ming Dynasty and the people who farm and eat food in the world. So many business transactions are limited to tax cards and taxes, and money falls into the pockets of merchants and officials. Can the Ming Dynasty be cheaper by a penny?"

Everyone was stunned, not astonished. Instead, they didn't understand at all. Wang Tong rode a horse and walked a few steps, sighed immediately and said to himself:

"The Ming Dynasty is not my Ming Dynasty. Why are you worried about this?"

Everyone didn't hear this, the moonlight was bright. I could see it clearly on the road. Tan Jian, who followed him, whispered to General Tan:

"Brother, our master is less than sixteen years old, why is this person who speaks and does things the same as the old minister?"

General Tan smiled and whispered:

"Or how to be our master, this is ability."

The annual volume of grain transport on the canal is about 8 million stones, and the amount of silver transport costs more than 30 million yuan. Most of the maintenance costs are land taxes and taxes collected by tax cards.

The goods go by sea, which means escaping taxes. However, the amount of silver that can be maintained for several days is still so much. The larger the amount of sea transportation, the more money you earn in private, the more money you spend on the canal transportation will be paid from the tax on the land, and the more severe the exploitation of farmers will be, which is a vicious cycle.

Wang Tong's glory and wealth are related to the future of his life. In a sense, it is also related to the Ming Empire. It is no wonder that he has so much thoughts.

The horses didn't run too fast. At this time, the city gate was closed. It was too late to return to the city. They could only live in Xingcai Inn outside the city. Everyone ran silently on the way. Wang Tong suddenly said immediately.

"Let Qiao Da come to me tomorrow and ask him for something important."

The people next to him quickly agreed, and the whole group quickly agreed and continued to move forward.

"It's just that I broke two ribs and put them on a splint. It's really bad luck to eat these medicines. How can I get this job?"

Buyi, who was lying on the bed, looked at the roof with a blank expression. The imperial physician who was treating him impatiently gave him a few words, and then slammed the door and left.

The old man from the tribe who was originally flattered by everyone has now become a "tribe that his father and his mother do not love." The place where he lives has also changed from a courtyard close to the emperor's bedroom to the edge of the warehouse for heavy items stored in the north gate of the imperial city, and the room is filled with strange smell.

He was originally going to be put in the washing machine, but for some reason he was stopped. He didn't assign any errands and stayed in this small house to recuperate.

The warm and cold relationships of human nature and the coldness of the world, suddenly felt a lot.

,Ten thousand

"Eunuch Gao, I brought you white porridge and pancakes from the delicacies, as well as a few side dishes."

The wooden door was opened and Zhao Jinliang was struggling to walk in with a food box.

Buyi suddenly felt sore in his nose, and he quickly covered his eyes with his hands.
Chapter completed!