I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 19 Your fate ends when you meet the river
The next morning, in Dantu County, Zhenjiang Prefecture, at the mouth of the Jiangnan and Hebei rivers.

Hundreds of grain boats lined up here early in the morning, and as soon as the sky got light, they sailed into the Yangtze River and headed towards the north bank.

In an instant, thousands of sails were competing and hundreds of boats were vying for the current.

The Hua Shi Gang fleet led by Yang Zhi and Zhao Zicheng also lined up quietly among the ships, without any airs. In the fleet, only the two ships led by Yang Zhi and Zhao Zicheng had been modified overnight; the other eight grain ships had not been modified.

Firstly, there was not enough time, secondly, it was to keep it secret to prevent potential enemies from noticing. Thirdly, those grain ships were not valuable, so even if thieves came across them, they would not bother to steal the grain.

In previous years, when the Hua Shi Gang fleet crossed the river, they would raise flags and make a big show of getting other grain ships to give way. Merchants, however, would avoid the Yingfeng Bureau's flags as if they were seeing a ghost in broad daylight.

This time, perhaps because Yang Zhi had just encountered an accident, he learned from his mistakes and became more low-key.

As the fleet sailed into the Yangtze River, Zhao Zicheng couldn't help but think in his heart, looking at the suddenly vast scenery:

"Originally, Yang Zhi suffered a loss on the Flower and Stone Gang, but he finally got a chance to redeem himself and redeem himself for meritorious service. When transporting the Birthday Gang, he kept a low profile. He replaced the goods that were transported on lavish floats with soldiers carrying the loads.

Now that I've given him the opportunity, he's disguised the Huashigang ship as a grain transport vessel. Unfortunately, the fake mountain on his ship is too large. Even if he covers it with cloth and disguises it as a grain pile, it's still easy to see through. Anyone with a discerning eye can tell from the draft that this ship is carrying heavy cargo.

Based on this clear understanding, Zhao Zi said he never expected to hide the truth and he had already made plans for the worst.

Crossing the river quietly has its advantages. It allows you to blend in with civilian ships, making it more difficult for potential enemies to find their targets. If you encounter a large fleet, they might be afraid to attack.

But the disadvantages were equally obvious. Because they kept a low profile and did not reveal their identities, Yang Zhi and Zhao Zicheng were unable to seek escort help from the river patrol navy.

However, considering the inherently low quality of the Zhenjiang Prefecture's naval forces, Yang Zhi's authority limited him to mobilizing very few. Even if the local naval officers, fearing Zhu Jie's reputation, were willing to help, they would likely be willing to offer assistance without putting in any effort. If something truly went wrong, they couldn't be relied upon.

After weighing the pros and cons, Yang Zhi finally decided to go along with the large group of civilian ships, and this decision could not be considered wrong.

……

The fleet successfully sailed about one-third of the distance, bypassed the edge of Jinshan Island, and entered the widest section of the river.

The surrounding civilian ships gradually dispersed. Yang Zhi really wanted to maintain the formation throughout the whole process, but it was impossible because their two ships were too heavily loaded and could not keep up with the speed of ordinary merchant ships. They fell behind while sailing.

Only the eight grain ships of Tong Gang had received orders in advance to slow down their speed, so they were as slow as them.

Murong Yan was on the same boat with Zhao Zicheng. She was a little nervous at first, but when she saw that nothing happened and the scenery in front of her became more and more open, she relaxed a little and began to feel hopeful.

"That's Jinshan Temple, right? It faces the Yangtze River and is on a mountain. If you could climb to the top and take a look, it would surely be spectacular."

She looked out at the river view and the beautiful mountains on both sides, and couldn't help but feel excited.

Zhao Zicheng didn't want to pay attention to her, and kept carefully scanning the river. Murong Yan saw that he was serious and tried to comfort him:

"Brother Zhao, don't worry too much. Even if there are thieves, they might not dare to seek death after seeing so many fleets crossing the river today.

There are dozens of boats scattered around us. How dare the thieves strike in such a public place?

Zhao Zicheng did not relax at all: "Although we have other boats protecting us all the time, those boats are no longer the same as when we first came onto the river.

Our speed was slow, and the boats that entered the Yangtze River with us had already moved ahead. The boats that were now following us were all far behind us at the beginning.

Last night, while we were queuing at the canal entrance, I had Brother Deng and Envoy Yang do a little sneak peek. The dozens of boats around us, both in front and behind, were likely just ordinary, well-behaved merchants. But we didn't have the energy to check every boat further away. Perhaps the thieves would have split up in advance and disguised themselves as merchants to queue up in the canal.

So, if you see a ship that starts out fast and catches up quickly from behind, but then slows down after getting close to you, you should be careful.”

Zhao Zicheng was very good at reasoning. As he spoke, he pointed gravely at the Chuzhou boats behind him that appeared to be carrying vegetables. "Those boats looked like they had unloaded their cargo in Jiangnan and were returning lightly loaded with vegetables. They were chasing us very fast at first, but now they've slowly slowed down, as if waiting for their companions to approach. Boats like that need to be closely monitored."

Murong Yan originally thought that those boats carrying vegetables were common and nothing special. But after hearing Zhao Zicheng's reminder, she felt something was amiss.

During the Song Dynasty, land prices in Jiangnan were high, and the good fields were used to grow mulberry trees, silkworms, and other high-value economic crops. Jiangnan was also densely populated, so the number of ships selling vegetables from Jiangbei to Jiangnan was very large, and ordinary people would not even give them a second glance.

This phenomenon emerged as early as the Southern Tang Dynasty during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. Several prefectures and counties on the north bank of the Yangtze River, later part of Anhui Province, cultivated large quantities of vegetables to supply Jinling and Zhenjiang. At the height of the Northern Song Dynasty, "a 600-li stretch north of the Yangtze River, stretching from Chuzhou all the way to Lu'an, saw rare rice and wheat, but abundant fruits and vegetables." Don't underestimate this business model; this phenomenon is truly a phenomenon only possible with a highly developed commodity economy.

Because growing vegetables does yield more than growing staple food, in ancient times, poor people often relied on vegetables for half a year's food in spring, summer and autumn. Growing radishes could definitely feed more people than growing rice.

The main disadvantage of vegetables compared to grains is that they have a short shelf life and are easy to rot, so a certain proportion of grains have to be planted to pay taxes and survive the harsh winter and the early spring famine of the following year.

Before the Southern Tang and Song dynasties, commercial society was underdeveloped, and large vegetable growers did not dare to completely stop growing staple crops, for fear that after saving money from selling vegetables, they would not be able to buy grain, or that grain prices would fluctuate greatly in winter and people would starve to death.

In the Song Dynasty, vegetable farmers in Jiangbei dared to use all their fields to grow vegetables for commodity economy transactions, and they had to buy their own winter food. This shows that the commodity economy had developed and competition was very sufficient, and they were not afraid of unscrupulous merchants hoarding vegetables and strangling vegetable farmers.

Even historian Arnold Toynbee observed: "While we have long prided ourselves on the ancient commercial trust of the Western world, if we go back a thousand years to the 10th century, the shining example of commercial trust that best exemplified this occurred between vegetable merchants in Nanjing and farmers in Anhui."

Wang Anshi served as the "Governor of Jiangning" for many years. Many of his later reform measures and economic measures had a strong commodity economy color. In fact, they were inspired by the cooperation between Nanjing vegetable merchants and Anhui vegetable farmers that he witnessed for many years when he was a local official in Nanjing.

Unfortunately, China is so vast that the customs of one region may not be suitable for others. It's like how, in later times, Anhui's agriculture was suited to contract farming, while Shanxi's agriculture naturally fostered a "Dazhai" approach—two extremes. Wang Anshi's attempt to apply Anhui's experience to the entire country, with the goal of implementing it within several years, was met with resistance from Sima Guang, a native of Shanxi.

……

Following Zhao Zicheng's advice, Murong Yan carefully observed those vegetable transport ships that were so common that they couldn't be more common. She found that there seemed to be something wrong with them. She couldn't help but feel a little admiration and a little nervous.

She also went to ask her steward, Deng Yue, who, after being reminded by her, agreed that it made sense: "I didn't expect that Mr. Zhao, despite his youth, has as much experience as we do. There's something wrong with these ships!"

Zhao Zicheng simply smiled faintly and said, "I can't say I have much experience in the martial arts world. I'm just cautious and think more about things. I have to be on guard against others.

Since something's amiss, prepare to act. Prepare your crossbows, arrows, and caltrop fishing nets, but keep it quiet. Hang a down quilt I brought on the bow of the boat, and notify Envoy Yang to be on the lookout as well.

"Don't worry, I know what to do." Deng Yue immediately took the order and did it, but on the surface he still pretended not to be alert.

They didn't even shout or tell Yang Zhi to be careful, but just hung a quilt on the bow of the boat to dry - this was a secret signal agreed upon by Zhao Zicheng and Yang Zhi last night. If they found any possible enemy situation, they would hang the quilt on the boat so that friendly forces could concentrate their attention on defense without scaring off potential thieves.

After seeing the quilt, Yang Zhi was also cheered up. He began to slow down the speed slightly and adjust the formation of the fleet.

……

"Boss Shi, the boat ahead is slowing down. This is a good opportunity! Let's do it!"

On the dozens of "empty vegetable ships returning home" that were nearby, the pirates saw that this was a rare opportunity and finally couldn't help themselves.

Shi Sheng also felt that this was a rare opportunity. After a moment's hesitation, he officially gave the order: "First, pretend to overtake. Let the diving brothers enter the water from a position upstream and in front of the two large ships. When they collide, we will move over and smack the ships! Then, raise the flag and attack together!"
Be careful not to strike too hard, just let a little water in to create some chaos. The cargo on that boat is valuable, so leave enough time for the brothers to move the cargo!"

Sinking the boat directly wouldn't work; that would mean everything would be lost. Shi Sheng and the others were only trying to make the boat leak, forcing Yang Zhi to dispatch men to repair the leak. Furthermore, once the boat took on water and tilted, becoming unstable, a man like Yang Zhi would be unable to maintain his footing and panic, and his martial arts skills would be at least half depleted.

The pirates quickly followed Shi Sheng's instructions and began their covert operations. Even before the attack officially began, the ships ahead of them had already overtaken them, and dozens of skilled men had quietly launched into the water. Each of them held a long, curved reed snorkel in their mouths, waiting for the Hua Shi Gang ship to ram them, then quietly cling to it and launch a vicious attack.

Shi Sheng gripped the hilt of his knife so tightly that his palms sweated. Lu Xing'er, on the other boat, was also nervous and expectant, waiting for the good news that his boat-sinking brothers had succeeded in their surprise attack.

However, several minutes passed and nothing seemed to happen.

Suddenly, there seemed to be a sudden commotion on both sides of the large ship of Zhao Zicheng and Yang Zhi in front.

A group of sailors armed with spears and harpoons rushed to the side of the ship and stabbed the river water with all their might.

Shi Sheng couldn't believe it for a moment and rubbed his eyes. Then he saw several water ghosts entangled in the caltrop fishing net, being pierced by spears and harpoons and fished out.

"Not good! The soldiers are on guard! We can't wait any longer, let's attack immediately!"

When Shi Sheng saw this scene, he was quite shocked and angry. He did not care about the cost and directly ordered a violent attack.

(End of this chapter)