Chinese New Year

Chapter 1375 Xuzhou Local Area
On the fourth day of the eleventh lunar month, the imperial army drilled in the fields and open spaces, with banners flying and drums and horns sounding.

It was snowing heavily at the time. More than 30,000 men, fully armored and armed, stood motionless in the snow. The various camps were called by name according to the register, and no one was missing. Each man was then given two bolts of silk, to be distributed upon their return to the capital.

So the crowd roared "Long live the Emperor!" and their voices soared to the heavens.

A large crowd of people were watching. They like to watch this when they have nothing else to do in winter.

This also had an "advertising" effect, with many young people volunteering to join the army, and their enthusiasm was very high.

Having no other choice, Shao Xun ordered the selection of 100 strong and brave men from Qu County to be incorporated into the Imperial Guard. Together with the 200 men previously selected from You and Ji prefectures to appease local powerful clans and chieftains, the Imperial Guard reached a strength of 3,800. He then ordered the supervisor of the workshop to manufacture 300 sets of Mingguang armor and a number of weapons.

After the drill, the army was further disbanded, and in the end, only one battalion each of Silver Spear and Black Spear remained with Shao Xun, plus nearly 16,000 personal guards.

Starting from the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, Shao Xun stayed in the old house and received officials from various places in batches.

The official who came that day was Chen Shi, the governor of Donghai.

His main job during the campaign against Li Cheng in Caizhou Garden was to transport rice, fruits, vegetables, and livestock from the garden. He completed this task satisfactorily and earned some credit for his service.

When the campaign against Jin began, Zhuge Hui surrendered with his troops, but small-scale rebellions still broke out in the Jingzhou and Jiangzhou areas. Chen Shi once again transported supplies and gained a second small contribution.

After that, he didn't do much: he didn't cause any trouble, but he also didn't stand out in any way.

Chen Yougen, deeply concerned for his son, came to his door seeking help.

Shao Xun felt that Old Chen had never asked him for favors many times in his life, and in addition, Chen Shi did have two barely passable merits, so he transferred him to the position of Prefect of Donghai.

Chen Shi has been here for nine months, and it seems he hasn't done anything. All he does every day is look at official documents and stamp them.

Without a doubt, he was a very mediocre person. However, he had improved compared to his youth, when he was said to be quite useless and Princess Gyeongbok never had a good word to say about him.

Shao Xun looked at this junior and said, "Guoguang, you've been in Donghai for a year now, don't you have any ideas of your own?"

Chen Shi was a little nervous. He silently thought about the private advice of the guests and the information he had gleaned from the accompanying officials in the past two days, and then replied, "The East Sea is at peace. We should govern by non-interference to restore the people's strength."

"Do you not know that the current dynasty advocates new theories of active participation?" Shao Xun asked deliberately.

"Your Majesty is right, I know I was wrong," Chen Shi quickly replied.

Shao Xun was slightly disappointed; it was still the same as before. He asked again, "Now that the people's strength is gradually recovering, do you have any strategies?"

Chen Shi silently recalled for a moment, then said, "Your subject requests permission to open up the port in the East Sea."

Shao Xun gave him a meaningful look and smiled, "Why?"

“Both Bianliang, the eastern capital, and Luoyang, the western capital, are located in Henan. The wealthy households, officials, soldiers, and imperial guards of the country are mostly gathered in Henan. In this way, exotic goods from Jiaozhou and Guangzhou can be transported from the sea to the East China Sea, and then transported to the capital via the Grand Canal,” Chen Shi said.

"The sea is treacherous; what if the ship sinks?" Shao Xun asked.

“Initially, there will be more shipwrecks and deaths, but after decades of implementation, things will gradually improve,” Chen Shi said.

Shao Xun neither confirmed nor denied it.

Of course, Chen Shi's words were not entirely wrong.

During the Yuan Dynasty, grain was transported by sea from Jiangsu and Zhejiang to Dadu (Beijing). At its peak, the amount of grain transported by sea was more than three million shi (a unit of dry measure) per year, which was only a few hundred thousand to a million shi less than the inland waterway transport during the Ming Dynasty. However, the transportation costs were far lower than those of the inland waterway transport.

As for the loss rate (including losses from shipwrecks, groundings, and moisture damage, calculated based on the amount shipped and the amount arriving at port), it was 8.4% at the beginning (1283), gradually decreasing to 2.6% (1305), and more than ten years later (1321) it became 1%, and five years later (1326) it was 0.8%. The loss rate did not rise again until the end of the Yuan Dynasty, which was also due to piracy...

Frankly speaking, this loss rate was lower than that of the inland waterway transport during the Ming Dynasty, and it was quite stable, with sea transport every year, ranging from more than two million shi to more than three million shi before the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

The only disadvantage is that it is easily harassed by pirates, requiring a strong navy for escort, or simply having good social governance capabilities to eradicate the breeding ground for piracy from the land, since pirates will eventually come ashore.
Modern navigation technology is certainly not comparable to that of that time, but as long as development begins, there will be progress; without development, there will never be progress.

Shao Xun did not plan to transport grain by sea, as the loss rate would be unbearable and there would be no profit. However, transporting high-value items such as pepper, sugar, and sandalwood was feasible because the profit margin was too high, easily ten times the initial investment.

The transportation of these high-value goods honed navigational skills, leading to a series of advancements in shipbuilding, astronomy, tides, monsoons, and ocean currents. By the eve of the fall of his Great Liang Dynasty, these advancements were nearly complete.

Of course, if future generations abolish maritime transport, then his efforts will have been in vain.

"How will the goods be transported to Bianliang after arriving in the East China Sea?" Shao Xun asked again.

"I hereby request that the Yi River be dredged and a new canal be dug to Haipu to connect with Xiapi," Chen Shi said. "If goods can be transported by water to Xiapi, they can then enter Bianliang."

“Xuzhou still needs time to recover,” Shao Xun said, but he didn’t completely dismiss Chen Shi’s suggestion. He added, “Most of the goods unloaded from Haipu are lightweight and valuable. They can be transported by land for a while, and then by water after reaching Xiapi.” After saying that, he looked at Chen Shi with a half-smile and said, “Did you come up with all of this?”

Chen Shi was startled, and forced himself to say, "Yes...no."

Shao Xun was too lazy to beat around the bush with him and said, "Tomorrow, please bring the official who presented this plan to Tiancheng Palace. I have other appointments for him."

"Your subject obeys the decree." Chen Shi breathed a sigh of relief; he should have passed this hurdle, right?
"There is much wasteland in the East Sea. I intend to order the Imperial Household Department to plant fine timber here. Send someone to find out which places are suitable and report back immediately," Shao Xun said.

“Your Majesty, the East Sea is flat and open, with very few mountains…” Chen Shi reminded him.

“You’re not so bad after all,” Shao Xun laughed. “Admittedly, good timber can be obtained from the mountains of Jiangnan, or from Liaodong. But we can’t be completely without the East Sea. I’m thinking of setting up a shipyard in Yuzhou. Let’s do it this way. It doesn’t need to be a large place. You go and choose first.”

"Yes," Chen Shi replied.

After waving for Chen Shi to leave, Shao Xun drafted three edicts, namely, to establish Yuzhou Shipyard, to open Yuzhou Port, and to build Yuzhou Market.

Yes, he abandoned the idea of ​​directly establishing a county because there were almost no people on Yuzhou Island. It was all forests and weeds, with only a few people cultivating the land and even fishing.

Wenma County was upgraded from Wenma Shipyard. It prospered because of shipbuilding, which attracted a large population and gradually met the standards for establishing a county. Yuzhou can follow this old path.

After writing the imperial edict, he began to look through the household registration book that Chen Shi had brought.

The seven counties in Donghai have a total of nearly 8,000 households and more than 39600 people, which is lower than that of Kaiping. Wu Bing always wants to attack my hometown.

The five counties of Lanling, which were separated from Donghai Prefecture many years ago, were different. They had more than 10200 households and more than 49100 people, which was much better than the situation in Donghai.

Both figures are generally accurate, although they are still significantly lower than the actual population.

On the sixth day, Shao Xun met with Du Yin, the governor of Xuzhou.

He has been in office for more than three years, and has been busy with postwar recovery work. Now he can finally catch his breath.

As usual, Shao Xun inquired about future policy guidelines. Du Yin proposed dredging the Si River, improving the Han Canal, and building locks. The Han Canal, in particular, was severely silted up, and its terrain made water flow difficult, resulting in unstable navigation and frequent stranding of cargo ships for ten or even dozens of days. Therefore, he requested its improvement—a situation similar to what happened during Emperor Wen of Wei's southern tour, where a large number of ships were stranded in the waterway, giving Eastern Wu an opportunity.

Shao Xun was surprised that both Chen Shi and Du Yin brought up the matter of river management.

He was still somewhat hesitant. Large-scale repairs were definitely out of the question; with years of war, the nation lacked the resources. Minor repairs would suffice, and it would be enough to make do. After all, the north didn't really need the south's grain right now, and taxes could be stored in Guangling; in case of emergency, they could be drawn upon from nearby.

"If we were to manage the river, it would require a considerable amount of manpower. How many households are there in the various prefectures of Xuzhou? How much money and grain do they require? Do you know?" Shao Xun asked.

Du Yin was prepared and presented a memorial on the spot.

Shao Xun took it and looked at it.

Pengcheng's seven counties had approximately 14,000 households and 70,000 people; Xiapi's seven counties had approximately 3,000 households and less than 12,000 people; Linhuai's ten counties had approximately 4,000 households and over 15,000 people; Guangling's eight counties had approximately 21,000 households and over 100,000 people; and Tangyi's one county (all the former counties and prefectures for immigrants were abolished) had approximately 6,000 households and over 28,000 people...

It can only be said that the population of counties and prefectures along the Huai River has changed significantly since the Jin Dynasty. Some counties have more population, while others have fewer. Upon closer examination, this change is entirely man-made.

The truly densely populated area of ​​Xuzhou is in the northern part.

For example, the eight counties of Dongguan had more than 12600 households and more than 53300 people, while the nine counties of Langya were even more alarming, with more than 34000 households and more than 168500 people—all the prefectures temporarily separated during the Jin Dynasty, such as Dong'an, were abolished.

In summary, the nine prefectures of Xuzhou had a population of less than 600,000. The land was full of water and marshes, and the fields were barren. The development level was seriously insufficient, and there were even cases of cultivated land being abandoned.

At this critical juncture, it is not wise to manage the river; repairs will suffice.

Shao Xun then said, “I have dispatched 50,000 captives from the Murong Xianbei and Goguryeo to repair the canals in Xuzhou. You should prepare provisions and weapons, and send more soldiers. There must be no mishaps. Don’t think about anything else. Just repair the Han Canal. The Great Liang needs to recuperate now and does not have the spare capacity to open up canals on a large scale.”

"I obey the decree," Du Yin said.

In fact, he didn't expect the emperor to completely agree, but he couldn't be without something to say during the audience, and he couldn't be without his own strategy for governing, so he brought it up. In fact, this was also the most important matter for Xuzhou for a long time to come. The only problem was that the country's strength was insufficient, so he could only start from scratch. Therefore, it was not wrong for him to bring it up.

“Xuzhou has suffered greatly from war and is now desolate.” Shao Xun continued, “You may send people to inspect the counties and allocate a portion of the land for military farms. When there is sufficient capacity, I will establish a military garrison here. This matter is of utmost importance and should not be delayed.”

From the sixth to the fifteenth of the month, Shao Xun successively received the prefects of Pengcheng, Xiapi, Dongguan, and Guangling prefectures, as well as the Guangling Revenue Commandant, keeping him very busy.

On the 16th, Zhang Shuo, Tang Jian, and others were ordered to cross the river and head north to Tiancheng Palace for an audience.

(End of this chapter)