Chapter 10 Chapter Ten Green Gang Grain Ship

Zhao Guan grew up in Suzhou since he was a child, and he is very familiar with the nearby water alleys. At this time, he tricked You Jun into the water alley with nine twists and eighteen turns. up.He ran back to the river behind Yanxiao Lane, saw that Lu Laoliu and others had dispersed, so he quietly jumped into a small boat, came to the side of the big boat of the Qinggang, and climbed onto the big boat along the ropes.He squatted on the deck and called out in a low voice: Han'er, where are you?It's me, Zhao Guan. A black shadow from the corner of the boat rushed forward and said: I am here.are you all right?Zhao Guan smiled and said: Your good brother is fine.That bald bastard has been tricked by me.

Under the moonlight, Han'er saw that his nose was bruised and his eyes were swollen, and he had been beaten badly, so he couldn't help shedding tears.She had just witnessed Zhao Guanshen being beaten and refused to reveal her whereabouts, she was very grateful to him in her heart, she just felt that he was the best person in the world, even calling him a good brother a hundred times was not enough to make up for it, she cried: Why are you Want to be so nice to me? Zhao Guan smiled and said: Because you are my dear and good girl, I naturally want to treat you well.Han'er saw that the corner of his mouth was cracked, and when he spoke, he moved the corner of his mouth, which seemed to be in great pain, and cried: "Stop talking, I will wipe your face for you."He took out a handkerchief, dipped it in some water, and gently wiped the blood off his face.But when he saw his handsome face was beaten black and blue, his heart ached and he wiped away tears.

Zhao Guan was severely beaten by You Jun just now, he didn't feel it at first, but now he felt pain all over his body, and cursed: "Fucking thief, I will get back this beating one day!"Seeing that Han'er was crying non-stop, he smiled and said: "It's me who hurts, not you, why are you crying?"He took out a small handkerchief bag from his bosom and opened it, which contained the snacks from Qingfeng restaurant, and said: You were not in the mood to eat just now, are you hungry now? Han'er was really hungry, so he picked up a piece of mille-feuille cake, took a bite, and said, "Why don't you eat it?"Zhao Guandao: You and I don't distinguish each other.When you see me being beaten, my heart aches and weeps; when I see you eating, your stomach will be full.Han'er couldn't help laughing when he heard his nonsense.

Zhao Guan watched her eating snacks, and suddenly said: More than a year ago, there was a little girl who lived in the Moon Tower who couldn't stand the torture and ran away secretly at night.Later she was captured and beaten to death by Nanny Sun.I have seen this little girl before, she is very fair and beautiful, about your age.Nanny Sun was known for being strict, and she was the most ruthless girl in her hands.Less than a month after the little girl was captured, she hanged herself.He said with a sigh. Ever since Han'er saw Zhao Guan, he had heard him glib and joking, this was the first time he heard him speak in a serious manner.Han'er realized in his heart: So he tried his best to save me because he was afraid that I would end up like that little girl.Moved in my heart, I asked: Then why is Nanny Sun so cruel to the little girl?Zhao Guandao: She wanted the little girl to learn how to receive guests, but the little girl was disobedient and couldn't help her make money, so she beat and scolded her.Han'er asked again: What is receiving guests?Is it to receive guests?

Zhao Guan grew up in a brothel, so he is naturally aware of the brothel's activities, but he is still young, and he doesn't understand the relationship between men and women very well. Seeing that she doesn't understand, and he doesn't know how to explain it, he said: You better not know about this kind of thing .In short, Nanny Sun is only interested in profit, she only has money in her eyes, and she doesn't treat her girls as human beings at all.As long as the benefactor is willing to pay, she will agree to anything she asks. Han'er heard this, and although he didn't quite understand it, he knew it was a terrible thing.She thought for a while, then asked: Is your house called Qingfeng Pavilion?What about your place?Zhao Guandao: Our Qingfeng Museum is naturally different.My mother is Liu Qiniang, the owner of Qingfeng Pavilion, she takes care of and cherishes her girls the most.If the girls don't want to see any guests, she always has a way to protect them and prevent them from being bullied in the slightest.Our courtyard has been popular in Suzhou for many years, and it is not for nothing that it is known as the number one courtyard in the south of the Yangtze River.The words are very proud.

Han'er said leisurely: I wish I could go to your place.Zhao Guan smiled and said: Hey, why, Miss Zhou doesn't want to go home?Han'er was taken aback, and said: Of course I want to go home.But how can I get home?Zhao Guandao: I have an idea.This grain ship will soon go north to Beijing to pay the white grain.We hid on this boat and followed to the capital.Han'er was overjoyed, clapped his hands and said: Great, great! Seeing her happy, Zhao Guan smiled, but knew in his heart that things would not be so easy.This grain transport boat is a vessel of the Green Gang, and the task of transporting grain is extremely strict, how can he allow his two children to take a ride with the wind?But at this moment, he only felt a splitting headache, thinking that it would not be too late to find a solution tomorrow, so he closed his eyes, leaned on the deck and fell asleep drowsily.Han'er sat next to him, thinking that he would be back home soon, filled with joy, and soon fell asleep.

Before dawn the next day, Han'er was woken up by Zhao Guanyao, in a daze, but he heard Zhao Guan say: "The boat is about to sail, we have to hide quickly!"He dragged her to the cabin door and got into the cabin.But I saw that the cabin was full of sacks, and the bags were connected with each other, with almost no gaps.Zhao Guan pulled Han'er and squeezed through the sacks, and after reaching the back of the cabin, he found an empty space on a sack that could barely accommodate him.Zhao Guan pushed a few gunny sacks away, and moved two smaller gunny sacks to block the entrance. The space was like a small room, just big enough for two children to sit side by side.The cabin was extremely stuffy, Zhao Guan said in a low voice: It's still early, you can sleep for a while.I'll go out and steal breakfast for you later.Han'er nodded, but was afraid and couldn't fall asleep anymore.

At the beginning of dawn, I heard someone on the deck shouting loudly, calling for the anchor to be pulled out and set off.The hull moved slowly and sailed along the river.Zhao Guan and Han'er looked out from the gap in the plank wall, but saw two other large ships starting to sail, and there were many other similar large ships in the front, rear, left, and right sides, there were dozens of them, and each ship was full of large sacks .Han'er has never seen such a scene before, so he finds it strange. At this time, spring is warm and March is the time for Bailiang to start shipping.After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the grain was transported to the capital by the army, but only the white grain transported by the five prefectures of Suzhou, Songjiang, Changzhou, Jiaxing, and Huzhou in the south of the Yangtze River was transported by the people.The so-called white rice refers to high-quality varieties such as white-cooked japonica rice and white-cooked glutinous rice produced in 24 counties of one prefecture among the five prefectures. Food.Every year, the five prefectures need to transport about 200,000 shi of white grain. After all the states and counties have collected all the grain and rice, the fleets form their own gangs and set sail together, which is called gang shipment.Because of the voyage of more than 3,000 miles along the Caohe River, the road was extremely difficult and dangerous due to shallow flood gates, stormy river disasters, and local tyrants' looting. In order to support each other, the fleets formed the so-called boat gang, which is a folk group. The secret gang, also known as the Green Gang (author's note).After that, the water transport in the Ming Dynasty became more and more slack, and the Green Gang also began to illegally contract official water transport. The six provinces with water, namely Nanzhili, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Huguang, Henan, and Shandong, were mostly supplied by the ships of the Qing Gang and gang members. Fake officials are responsible for the transportation, and even part of the sea transportation from Shandong to Tianjin (called Zheyang transportation) is also carried by Qingbang sea vessels.Because of this, the Green Gang was widely spread and powerful. During the Jiajing period, there were tens of thousands of gang members, and it was the largest secret gang at that time.

Suzhou Mansion is the most affluent place in the south of the Yangtze River, and the burden of white grain is also heavy. It needs to transfer more than 50,000 shi to the capital every year.At this time, the fleet of 117 ships departing from Suzhou Mansion was mighty and magnificent.When Zhao Guan was young, he often came to the side of the canal to watch the grain ships set off. The leader of the Qing gang stood on the prow of the leading ship, waving a blue flag, and with one order, more than a hundred large ships set sail at the same time. , so prestige.The big ships arrived in Beijing in July, and after paying the white grain, they carried all kinds of goods from the north and went south, returning to Suzhou one after another in mid-October.At that time, there was always a grand market, buying and selling northern goods, and spreading news, which was very lively.

Occasionally, Zhao Guan listened to the boatmen talk about all kinds of new things after the fleet left Suzhou, and felt yearning.This time he happened to be on the grain ship, and he fulfilled his long-cherished wish, he was very happy to be able to leave Suzhou to broaden his horizons. (Author's Note: The so-called Green Gang or Cao Gang was actually a gang established during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the Qing government, in order to strengthen water transportation, put up a list to recruit talents, and delegated the work of water transportation to the people, so there was an organization centered on water transportation among the people. , called the Cao Gang. Because the gang used green cloth to cover their heads, it was also called the Green Gang. This gang should not have existed before Yongzheng. After the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the four million shi grains in the six provinces were all transported by the full-time national army , called Yunjun; only a small amount of 200,000 shi of white grain was always transported by the people. As for whether the fleet of white grain transported in the Ming Dynasty formed a gang, and whether this gang could intervene in the grain transported exclusively by the army, it is unclear. There is no history to test, it should be fabricated by the novelist.)