Chapter 692: Husband, aren’t you asking me a question you already know the answer to?
From Chuzhou to the south, most of the travel is by water.
In recent years, although Sang Zhixia has taken advantage of the convenient water transportation provided by Jiang Yubai, he has also added several cargo fleets openly and secretly, and has already had his own advantages on the water.
After boarding the seemingly ordinary merchant ship at the ferry, Sang Zhixia whispered, "Most of the canal transport gangs are organized by local wealthy families. They have great power and influence in the local area."
"So when our boat is out on the water, we fly the Gui family emblem to prevent many ignorant people from causing trouble."
"Gui family?"
Xu Yu's eyebrows curved slightly. "Is it the Gui family, the leader of the four lower families in the Nanxun Chamber of Commerce?"
"right."
Sang Zhixia was still not used to the feeling of weightlessness on the water, so she sat down and took a pill specially made for her by Old Qi. She bit the sour plum in her mouth and said vaguely, "It's all due to Old Qi's kindness."
"When Mr. Qi was young, he was traveling and by chance encountered a group of women from the Gui family who were out offering incense in a temple and were poisoned. He saved a dozen of them and was treated as a guest of honor by the Gui family. However, they rarely interacted with each other."
"Until I decided to send someone south."
Mr. Qi has lived on the edge of a knife for half his life. Looking back, every day was full of dangers.
But many years have passed, and the good karma that was once left behind is still there. All these things were handed over to Sang Zhixia, saving Sang Zhixia a lot of trouble in his plan to go south.
Xu Yu dipped his fingertips in the refreshing ointment made with mint, motioned Sang Zhixia to lie down and lean on his legs, and gently rubbed the acupoint behind Sang Zhixia's ear with his fingertips.
The refreshing aroma of the wake-up ointment brought a cool feeling after a brief spicy taste, and also made Sang Zhixia look much better.
Sang Zhixia grabbed Xu Yu's hand and sniffed it, then slowly said, "When Lin Yun and his companions went south, they secretly visited the head of the Gui family. He's also a veteran."
"At first, they just said they would take good care of us. They even secretly gave Xue Liu and Lin Yun an astonishing amount of money. They didn't do anything else. In front of others, they treated us no differently than the other families."
"Until Lin Yun and his men had gained a firm foothold despite numerous setbacks and realized that the Nanxun Chamber of Commerce couldn't inflict a fatal blow on us, the Gui family took the initiative to suggest that our ship be registered under the Gui family emblem to avoid unnecessary trouble."
Lin Yun and Xue Liu are both cautious people.
Although the Gui family seemed to show goodwill, they did not forget the rules at all.
Taking advantage of the Gui family's crest, he sent all the dividends that should have been sent to the Gui family every year according to the rules. He also did not interact with the Gui family openly, pretending not to know them.
Xu Yu naturally kneaded Sang Zhixia's shoulders and neck, whispering, "Is the Luogui family crest used to ward off bandits?"
Sang Zhixia smiled bitterly: "That's something to say."
"I used to think there were only a lot of bandits in the mountains, and that walking in the dark would easily lead to encountering bandits. But later I discovered that bandits on the water are even harder to guard against, and are even more troublesome than mountain bandits."
If you encounter bandits in the mountains, no matter whether you abandon your car or your horse, as long as you flee in a panic, your feet will always be on solid ground, and you will have a place to run to.
It’s different on the water.
The water in the canal that can be used for water transportation is unfathomable, and the only tool available is ships.
If you leave the boat, you will be in danger of death.
It just so happens that the pirates make a living by burning, killing and looting on the water. They are experienced in water robbery. The first thing they do when they encounter a merchant ship is to use any means to make the bottom of the ship leak.
Once a merchant ship loses its balance on the water and begins to tilt and sink, the pirates hiding under the water and in the dark will swarm in.
The people on the merchant ship might have survived if they had moved quickly, but most of them were buried innocently in the water. Even their bodies were tied with huge rocks, and they had no chance to surface for a long time.
During the day, there is an endless stream of ships traveling back and forth on the canal, like stars scattered across the Milky Way.
But after nightfall, the canal was plagued by pirates, and dangers lurked beneath the seemingly calm water.
Pirates are the nightmare of almost all merchant ships.
Xu Yu listened quietly for a moment, then said something ambiguous, "Wherever the Grand Canal passes, the imperial court has established a water transport bureau and sent troops to guard it. How can pirates still be so rampant?"
Sang Zhixia raised her eyelids to look at him, half smiling, "Husband, aren't you asking me something you already know the answer to?"
"Are you pretending to be stupid all the way home?"
The duty of the Water Transport Bureau is to protect the safety of merchant ships traveling on the canal.
But in reality...
Sang Zhixia grabbed Xu Yu's wrist and bit it, saying unhappily, "More guards would only be for the safety of the pirates."
It was indeed Sang Zhixia's first time going south, but this did not prevent her from understanding the situation here.
The pirates have a reputation of being extremely vicious and are evil ghosts who kill people without blinking an eye.
Internally...
In fact, they are more like private soldiers raised by the Water Transport Bureau.
Xu Yu lowered his head and pecked the tip of Sang Zhixia's nose, chuckling softly, "I'm just curious because I'm new to this. I wanted to ask a few more questions to get to the bottom of things, so I don't show my fear in front of others and embarrass Madam."
"Don't come on."
Sang Zhixia knew Xu Yu was trying to distract her by talking more, so as to avoid the discomfort of seasickness. She spat at him with a smile and said slowly, "You've been to the south before, so you know the situation here much better than I do."
"Among the people I'm using now, many were given to me by Young Master Xu. Why are you pretending to be stupid now?"
"It's almost a consensus that the Water Transport Bureau and the pirates are in cahoots with each other. It's like picking up a basket of rotten seeds and shaking them, and not being able to pick out a single good one."
"The situation at the Nanxun Chamber of Commerce is similar to that at the Water Transport Bureau. Otherwise, why would hanging the Gui family emblem guarantee safety? Could it be that the Gui family hired someone to perform a special ritual?"
All these ghosts and gods are jokes that fool people.
What is truly hidden beneath the surface is the unspeakable desire for profit.
That's the real place where good and bad people mix together.
Xu Yu looked at the teeth mark on his wrist and smiled silently. As Sang Zhixia glared at him angrily, he put the tooth mark to his lips and kissed it, saying playfully, "Zhizhi, the pirates are so rampant, and now there's war everywhere, but the merchant ships on the canal don't seem to be affected at all?"
When at the ferry, Xu Yu noticed that there were a large number of ships coming and going and docking at the ferry, and they seemed to be unaffected by the war.
The ferry where they boarded the ship was only a few hundred miles away from Chuzhou, which was captured by the Lingnan army.
It was unexpectedly lively.
"With a giant like the Nanxun Chamber of Commerce around, how can it be affected?"
Sang Zhixia scoffed, "When war breaks out, that's where the gold and silver are."
"Those with wealth and connections are busy making fortunes. The daily passage of ships brings in tons of gold and silver. Of course, these people won't miss such a good opportunity."
How ridiculous.
The Central Plains was gradually falling into the hands of the so-called rebels, but the wealthy gentry and businessmen entrenched in places like Jiangnan were scrambling to make money and get rich.
As for the life or death of Emperor Yongshun and the safety of the court, no one cared.
Even the people who were urgently dispatched by Emperor Yongshun to resist the Lingnan army were intercepted outside the city of Nanyun by the Chamber of Commerce. On the other side of the canal, those people could not even take a single step forward.
Xu Yu stroked Sang Zhixia's earlobe with his fingertips, lowered his head and whispered in her ear, "Zhizhi, how much can a merchant ship's cargo hold hold at one time?"
"If we're going to put people in there, how many can we put in there at once while ensuring they don't suffocate to death?"
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