"But this cabin is so narrow and there is no cover. How can this be done?" Yunyi was ashamed and annoyed. She stamped her feet and said bitterly: "The same goes for this boatman. How could he not take this into consideration?"
"I said, Miss, we are out of town, do you really think we are at home? Let's just make do with it. On this big river, you can't just stop the boat and dock for convenience. Is that okay?" Wu Feng? He was both funny and angry, "Let me tell you ladies, we are sneaking in secret. Should we put the overall situation first and overcome it for the time being?"
The women who were hiding aside were blushing and had nothing to say for a moment. In this situation, I'm afraid they can only do what Wu Feng said and get over it for the time being, but other things are easy to handle. Only the two girls, Leng Ruoxing and Gu Mingxia, are still young girls. If they were in the same cabin, there wouldn't even be a curtain to separate them, but to let them do such shameful things in front of Wu Feng, I'd be afraid of suffocating them to death. It is also difficult to make them submit.
The big ship quietly set sail eastward while a few people were joking. The night sailing speed was not very fast. Although the waterway from Huanggang to Jiujiang was wide and smooth, because Huanggang and Jiujiang actually belonged to two different spheres of influence, the peace of Jiujiang Although the navy is not very powerful yet, they rely on the dock base and are able to carry out daily patrols and inspections. The Imperial Navy in Huanggang seems to have no indication of the Jiujiang Taiping Religion Navy that is just around the corner. Zongheng, both sides maintained a strange state of peace. But this does not mean that both sides turn a blind eye. Ships going east from Huanggang are also subject to inspection by the Jiujiang Taiping Navy, and the same is true for ships going west from Jiujiang, although such inspections are often just a formality.
Seeing several women tidying up in the cabin, Wu Feng came to the bow of the ship alone. Two men were standing on the bow of the ship, staring ahead, talking to each other. When Wu Feng came out alone, they both smiled and said hello.
"You two are very relaxed. Is the waterway safe along the way?" Wu Feng also sat casually on the deck nearby.
"Haha, this is a strange question. Have you never walked through this waterway?" A man asked with a smile.
"Oh, I've been here before, but I haven't been here for a while. It's pretty safe, right?" Wu Feng responded with a smile.
"Well, how should I put it? Jiujiang Prefecture is a strategic point. Although it is now under the control of the Taiping Army, General Cheng of the Taiping Army seems to be a little different from the Taiping Army in the north. He has neither captured the landlords nor the nobles. I heard that he got along well with the merchants, and even the military discipline of his troops was much better than that of the Taiping Army in the north. It turned out that the empire had a lot of miscellaneous donations in addition to customs duties, but this man After General Cheng Da took control of Jiujiang, he only retained the normal tariffs and even canceled the fees and miscellaneous taxes. This was extremely good news. The businessmen cheered and even those of us who had been making a living on the water for a long time benefited a lot. ." The man said with some emotion, "I just don't know how long General Cheng's policies can be maintained. He really doesn't look like a general of the Taiping Army."
The man's emotion aroused Wu Feng's great curiosity. This Cheng Dayou has always been one of the focuses of Wu Feng's attention. Ever since the battle of Lu Long, Wu Feng has been full of interest in this person and was able to break through himself at the last moment. Successfully escaping from the siege was a big shock in itself, especially when the Wufeng army had the upper hand. This guy later showed his talents in the Battle of Heshuo, encircling and annihilating the 3rd and 4th Imperial Army Corps, laying the foundation for the Taiping Sect's rule in the Heshuo area. At the last moment of attacking Tianshui, he suddenly turned around and went south, defeating the Imperial Army in the Wuhu area. The Japanese army was caught off guard and took control of Jiujiang, a fertile transportation hub, and became a moving pawn between the five lakes, rivers and the imperial capital. It seems that the rumors that the top brass of the Taiping Army have been unable to control him are not groundless. At least his current policies are completely different from the Taiping Army's current policies of digging up floating wealth, equalizing wealth and poor, and dividing farmland in the Heshuo and Beiyuan areas. This is a clear violation. The persistence of the policy of the Taiping Religion's fundamental purpose must be inseparable from General Cheng.
"It seems that General Cheng is still very popular in Jiujiang." Wu Feng also smiled and looked at the situation calmly.
"It can't be said completely. Although the businessmen and the gentry agree with his approach, I don't think they necessarily support him sincerely. After all, our empire is the proper master of this land. Although these Taiping people are temporarily These measures were taken for some reasons, but it is hard to say what they will do next. The poor families in the north have begun to divide their land and property, but there is no movement in Jiujiang. The poor people are naturally jealous of this general. That's why I hate him so much. It all depends on the person's heart." The man was obviously a seasoned old boatman with a good eloquence, and he talked about these things with great clarity.
Seeing that Wu Feng was very interested in Jiujiang, the boatman glanced at Wu Feng and said, "If you want to do some business in Jiujiang, you don't have to worry about anything else. You just want to avoid the Taiping Army tax inspectors." Inspection is not easy. I heard that although General Cheng has not set many rules, once he sets them, he implements them one by one without any slack. Even those businessmen in Jiujiang who are accustomed to playing tricks are also Don’t dare to offend.”
Seeing that the other party regarded him as a smuggling businessman, Wu Feng did not tell the truth. Instead, he followed the other party's words and said: "Well, in that case, there is no need to take these risks. These Taiping soldiers can't figure out their Rules, if you lose your life for a small profit, it is not worth it. I just don’t know what other special rules there are in Jiujiang Mansion now? Don’t let me go to Jiujiang Mansion and end up there without being able to escape. .”
"You don't have to worry so much. If we talk about other things, the situation in Jiujiang is actually much better than in other prefectures in the Five Lakes. At least the patrol sergeants will not harass the passing ships and merchants, and there are far fewer bandits and pirates robbing homes. , Hehe, where in Huanggang, Yueyang, and Anqing can we not encounter these things?" The boatman curled his lips and sighed: "Our Five Lakes are still a land of plenty, and when the poor encounter a famine, they have to flee and beg. , It’s not easy for anyone these days.”
The captain's emotion surprised Wu Feng. He didn't expect that even the situation in the Five Lakes region would be like this. If the fertile land known as the empire's granary couldn't even feed the people living on it, how could it support the empire? What about survival
"Boss, I don't understand what you are saying. Although I rarely come to these five lakes, this has always been the granary of our empire. Speaking of which, it should be much better than Kansai and the north. How can I listen to you? When you say it, it seems like you can't even afford food?" Wu Feng asked pretending to be surprised.
"Well, I'm a foreigner. He probably hasn't been here for some time. The past few years are not as good as the previous years. Although the taxes were heavy in the past few years, as long as God opens his eyes and the weather is good, the villagers can still live in peace. There are only a few grains left over, but things are good now. The past few years have been bad, with either floods or droughts. Small disasters and major disasters often come. The farmers' savings have long been wiped out. If they can't survive, they have to sell their fields. Selling land and working as a tenant farmer, but in the past two years, there have been wars in the north and the south, and the wealthy families are also panicking, especially in the south Baling and Jiujiang have changed their owners. Who among the wealthy families in Huanggang, Yueyang, Anqing, and Wenning I'm afraid, in addition to moving all the property and family members to the south of the Yangtze River or the west, the land rent has also been skyrocketing, and Shui doesn't know what kind of chaos will happen if the Taiping cultivators and the barbarians from the south invade. If you want to get two more to live comfortably, it will be a hardship for the farmers."
After taking a breath, the boat boss continued: "Although our five lakes are good places to grow crops, there is also a disadvantage, that is, water is indispensable. There were floods in the past few years, and many ditches and rivers were destroyed. The culvert was washed away, and the officials ignored it. It was a good time. If there was a slight trouble, the floods flooded the fields, and the harvest in the fields was reduced a lot. But who cares about this for big families? They will force you to hand over the fields. Rent is the same as the taxes and labor of the official family, half a cent is not a penny, and the villagers can't afford it, so they have no choice but to run away? You think if these days continue like this, if we really encounter a big disaster, how can we survive?"
Wu Feng remained silent. He also knew that the situation in the Wuhu area had gone from bad to worse in the past few years, and it no longer had the grand scene of the imperial granary in the past. But after hearing what the boss of the ship said today, he realized that the situation was actually more serious than he imagined. It's much more severe. I know that many farmers from the Wuhu area have immigrated to the northwest. This was simply unimaginable before. The gentry and businessmen in the Wuhu area also have a large amount of money flowing into the northwest, especially Northern Luzon and Northern Luzon. The surge in the purchase and reclamation of wasteland in southern and eastern Luzon was obviously caused by the capital injection from the big landowners and nobles of the Five Lakes. This was also evidence that these people were not optimistic about the situation in the empire and the Five Lakes. Wu Feng was I was just happy and gratified, and I encouraged and welcomed him at meetings from time to time, but from the perspective of the overall situation of the empire, this was a dangerous signal.
In fact, the entire Wuhu region has shown a kind of hollowing out. The gentry and merchants lacked confidence. On the one hand, they fled and transferred their funds and properties, and on the other hand, they squeezed farmers even harder. The aging and disrepair of water conservancy facilities is the possible consequences of a major disaster. The only unlucky ones that have been planted are the farmers. If that happens, Wuhu will immediately become a powder keg.