Chapter 447: Inspection of the Dockyard
Chapter 447: Inspection of the Dockyard
We often see articles writing that at the end of the Sui Dynasty, people were living in poverty and eighteen rebel kings rose up and began to compete for the Central Plains.
It was as if these heroes appeared overnight. They were farmers the day before and became generals commanding thousands of troops the next day.
Think about it, how is it possible? Forget about commanding thousands of troops, let's just say you were asked to command ten men and make them work for you. How could you do that?
To command 10,000 people, one first needs a very high level of management. One needs to coordinate various relationships, take care of the interests of all parties, find generals, appease the soldiers, stabilize the military morale, and prepare so many weapons, supplies and food. Can ordinary people do it?
Being a commander requires experience and long-term training. It is impossible for a farmer who has never seen the world today to become the commander of thousands of troops tomorrow.
In fact, these eighteen rebel kings did not appear at the end of the Sui Dynasty. They had started rebelling and separatist activities a long time ago. They already had a team of several thousand people. They then used these several thousand people as the core to snowball, and their army grew bigger and bigger, until they finally had an army of more than 100,000.
Such as Du Fuwei and Fu Gongyou in the Shandong Peninsula, Miao Haichao and Zhao Pozhen in the Jianghuai region, and Cao Shiqi and Lin Shihong around Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake.
Not to mention the four major rebellion centers of the Sui Dynasty, Wagangzhai, Gaojipo, Changbai Mountain and Douzigang. This place is a no-man's land, and thieves have been lurking here since the Northern Zhou Dynasty, gathering people to rebel.
These bandit leaders have already commanded thousands of people and have acquired preliminary command abilities, which allowed them to command larger armies later on. However, these bandits usually keep a low profile and do not provoke the county government, and the government will turn a blind eye to it, and the two sides will not interfere with each other. However, once the world is in chaos, these bandits will rise up in rebellion.
Where did their army come from? How did they gather hundreds of thousands of people in such a short time?
Just give an example.
For example, Cao Shiqi and Lin Shihong of Poyang County gathered thousands of people to rebel in the 12th year of Daye, captured Poyang County, and proclaimed themselves kings. Immediately, heroes from the surrounding counties responded, killed the county governors and county magistrates, and surrendered to Cao Shiqi and Lin Shihong. In just a few months, they gathered an army of more than 100,000.
See? Heroes from all over the country responded and killed the county magistrate. Where did these heroes come from and where did they hide? In just two months, they gathered an army of over 100,000. Even a hundred thousand sheep would be scary, let alone hundreds of thousands of people!
In fact, these heroes are the powerful people in each county. They have huge family support, occupy the most profitable businesses in each county, own a large amount of arable land, and support two or three hundred warriors, just like the Xiao family, Liu family and Chen family in Jiangdu.
In peacetime, local counties are the domain of aristocratic families. Aristocratic families and government jointly control the counties. Local tyrants can only make money in a low-key manner, speak rudely, or conduct gray transactions with county officials. They have no say and are despised by the aristocratic families.
But once the war came, the world became the world of the powerful. However, they did not show up, but waited for nearby bandits to raise the flag of rebellion. They immediately led their warriors to surrender, supported the bandits as king, followed him to rob officials and civilians' property, and ate their meat and drank their soup. If the court sent troops to suppress the rebellion, it would be the bandit leader who would die, and these powerful people would flee back to the county with their warriors and continue to be local tyrants.
This time, Luo Shixin was ordered to lead 20,000 government soldiers to Poyang County and Yuzhang County to suppress bandits. His target was the bandits Cao Shiqi and Lin Shihong, who each led more than a thousand people and were active in Poyang County and Yuzhang County.
There were only 2,000 bandits, but 20,000 men were dispatched to suppress them. It could be said that this was a practical training for the soldiers.
In fact, there is a deeper meaning. Xiao Xia sent troops to intimidate the government offices of the seven western counties of Jiangnan Road, namely Poyang County, Yuzhang County, Yichun County, Luling County, Linchuan County, Jiujiang County, and Xuancheng County.
These counties have not yet handed over the local property inventory to the General Administration Office.
They have been delaying because they don't want to give up even a part of their interests to the General Administration's Office.
Secondly, these seven counties were unwilling to bear the cost share of building the Jiangnan Canal. Since they would not listen to gentle persuasion, we had no choice but to use fists to persuade them.
After inspecting the camp, Xiao Xia came to the Yangtze River again. Unlike the docks on the north bank of the Yangtze River, the south bank of the Yangtze River was almost entirely filled with shipbuilding and repair workshops of all sizes. Some occupied several miles of the river bank, while others could only be hidden in corners.
Of course, Yanling County also has a wharf. Although it looks quite large, it is still dwarfed by the majestic Yangtze River wharf in Jiangdu County.
Xiaoxian was not very interested in the county town. He just went to Beigushan Mountain accompanied by the county magistrate for a tour. There was Ganlu Temple on the mountain, and it was the place where Wu Guotai looked for a son-in-law. Liu Bei married Sun Shangxiang from there.
The mountain was windy and cold, and looked quite desolate, so Xiao Xia lost interest and came to the main destination of his inspection of the south bank of the Yangtze River, the government-run shipyard, which was the shipyard that stretched for several miles along the river bank, the Jingkou Shipyard.
This government-run shipyard is also the largest shipyard in the world, capable of building huge ships of 10,000 tons. It currently has more than 3,000 shipbuilders and builds countless ships of all sizes every year.
Previously, this shipbuilding factory was directly under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Household Department and had nothing to do with the local government. However, ever since the emperor issued an edict to transfer the management rights of the court's various directly affiliated mines, salt fields, smelters, factories and other departments in Jiangnan Road to the Jiangnan Road General Administration Office, this government-run shipbuilding factory has become the property of the General Administration Office.
So the next day after receiving the imperial edict, Xiao Xia came to the South Bank to inspect the shipbuilding factory that he had long coveted.
The person in charge of the shipyard was named Mo, a native of Jiangdu County. He was over fifty years old, dark, thin and very strong. He was just a minor official of the eighth rank. He respectfully welcomed Xiao Xia into the shipyard.
The shipyard was bustling with activity, with hundreds of ships being built at the same time. The smallest was a cargo ship of 300 dan, and the largest was a sea-going ship of 5,000 dan. All were being built on the shore and pushed into the water along the tracks after they were completed.
"Are these all official ships?" Xiao Xia asked.
Manager Mo shook his head. "None of these are official ships. They are all civilian ships. The factory hasn't built an official ship in three years!" "Why?"
Xiao Xia was really puzzled. Why had there been no official orders for three years?
Master Mo still shook his head, "Your Highness, I don't know either, but the orders for civilian ships we have received have been scheduled until the year after next, so we don't care much about official ships. Moreover, building official ships not only does not make any money, but the court will also delay payment for one or two years. It's different for civilian ships. First pay a 30% deposit, we prepare the materials, and then pay 20% for the labor, and we start the work. In the middle, we need to pay several more payments, and finally pay the money and pick up the ship. The profit is about 30%. The shipbuilders not only have a salary, but also a completion reward, so the shipbuilders are more willing to build civilian ships."
"Look at how happy they are, they must have made some money."
"After Your Highness takes over, will there be any ships to be built?"
Xiao Xia asked with a smile: "How long does it take to build a 10,000-stone ship here?"
“In about a year and a half, we can start work on eight ships at the same time.”
“Material, are there enough materials?”
"We have the materials. I will take you to the warehouse to have a look!"
The warehouse at the shipyard is very large, with three large warehouses, as large as half a football field. It is magnificent and filled with various materials.
"Your Highness, please look!"
Manager Mo pointed to the long keel in front and said, "It takes about three years to build a keel of a 10,000-shi ship. It needs to be oiled, dried, oiled again, and dried again. But we have seven keels for a 30,000-shi ship, 13 keels for a 20,000-shi ship, and 35 keels for a 10,000-shi ship. We can build 55 10,000-shi ships."
"But your recent work may be to repair and maintain more than a thousand warships."
"Ah! Are the more than a thousand warships at Jiangling Wharf going to be transferred here?"
Xiao Xia smiled and said, "I can apply, but I'm worried that you won't be able to handle it."
"Your Highness, you are worrying too much. We are not the only government-run factory here. There are two other factories that are slightly smaller than ours. They can all take over. If all else fails, there are still the shipyards in Min County and Nan'an County! We can even ask private shipyards to take over the work. The maintenance is relatively simple. They just need to polish off the original oil layer first, and then re-apply tung oil. A large ship with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes can be maintained by ten shipbuilders in three months."
The Nan'an County that Chief Mo mentioned is today's Quanzhou, which is famous for its navigation and shipbuilding. There are many shipyards, but none as large as the one in Jiangdu.
"How many large ships with a capacity of 10,000 shi are there in the Jiangling fleet?"
"I remember there were about 30 ships, all of them were very sturdy military ships. Some were built by the imperial court, but most were built by the Chen and Liang dynasties."
Xiao Xia visited the place with great interest for most of an hour, and was just about to end his inspection when Director Mo cautiously made a request.
"The boat your highness is riding on is made of ironwood from Quanzhou, right?"
Xiao Xia smiled and nodded, "It's a boat given to me by the governor of Jian'an County. It's very sturdy."
"Your Highness, can we borrow it for a few days for research? We will return it to Your Highness in ten days at most, and we guarantee that there will be no damage."
Xiao Xia also has a dragon boat. He rarely rides on this Fujian boat made of iron wood, and today is his second time.
Xiao Xia laughed and said, "Sure! I'll have the boatman take her to your dock later."
"Thank you so much, Your Highness!"
Xiao Xia said calmly, "There is one more thing I want to remind you. The court has assigned all the government-run shipbuilding factories in Jiangnan to the Jiangnan Road General Administration Office. If you have time, go to the General Administration Office to meet the Director of the Craftsmen's Office."
"Ah! I will go there as soon as possible."
(End of this chapter)