All Heavens and Worlds Modified History System

Chapter 230 Planning
"Money and food are never enough."

Zheng Juzhong agreed with Chen Ran's words, "That's true. No matter how much taxes the country collects, it will never be enough."

Of course it is not enough. People who have opportunities are trying to grab them, and people who don’t have opportunities are trying to get them.

With so many people fishing together, even if the taxes were an endless school of fish in the ocean, they would all be fished out!

"That's why," Chen Ran said lightly, "our responsibility is to use these taxes where they should be used."

"it is good!"

Zheng Juzhong clapped his hands and praised, "Zihou, you are really a man of great talent. Just in terms of your concern for the country and the people, many officials in the court are not as good as you."

"The wealth and food in Huaixi and Jingxiang must be sent to the southeast front as soon as possible." Chen Ran said calmly, "There is enough wealth and food, and the troops on the front line will quell the rebellion as soon as possible."

"That's true." Zheng Juzhong stroked his beard, "But why do we have to transport it to Kaifeng Prefecture first and then transport it to the southeast? Why not transport it directly to the southeast?"

"My husband, you are joking." Chen Ran said with a smile, "My husband knows the reason behind this."

Of course I know. This is the rule in the Song Dynasty. Any good stuff must be brought to Kaifeng Prefecture first.

As for why they had to move it to Kaifeng Prefecture first, on the one hand, it was due to the Song Dynasty's tradition of "strong trunk and weak branches".

There is another aspect that is known to everyone but is not easy to mention.

When the stuff arrives at Kaifeng Prefecture, it will be checked by everyone. Only when everyone is satisfied with it will the rest be sent to where it is needed.

If you transport it directly from the local area, everyone will lose the opportunity to make a profit and will definitely cause trouble and create obstacles for you.

After all, you are hindering others from making money, how can I tolerate you!
What Zheng Juzhong admired was that Chen Ran was just a temporary worker, but he was able to know all these inside details. This was real ability.

"The truth of this matter is already known."

Zheng Juzhong had already made up his mind. He reached out and picked up the tea bowl. "I'm going to talk to Prime Minister Cai about this."

When you reach such a high position as a husband, you naturally cannot say whatever you want.

Although it seems ambiguous, he has actually agreed to this matter, otherwise he would not have said that he would discuss this matter with Cai Jing.

Cai Jing would naturally not refuse to mobilize money and grain to Tokyo City and share it with everyone.

With the consent of Prime Minister Cai Jing and Privy Councilor Zheng Juzhong, this matter was basically destined to succeed.

Chen Ran understood all this and stood up and bowed to say goodbye.

After he went out, he looked up at the sunny sky and said, "Once the money and grain arrive, it's time to take action."

Contrary to what people imagine, large-scale cargo transportation relies on countless horse-drawn carriages and laborers. In the Song Dynasty, shipping was very developed, and large-scale material transportation was actually mainly based on river transportation.

There is a canal outside the city of Bianliang, and the dock is always filled with white sails. Ships from all over the country transport huge quantities of all kinds of materials here.

In the era without cranes and containers, the loading, unloading and transportation of goods depended entirely on manual labor.

The dock outside the city of Bianliang is the busiest dock in the world.

There are thousands of porters here every day, relying on selling their physical labor in exchange for food and clothing.

Most of these contractors were real imperial guards of the Song Dynasty.

That's right, the imperial guards who were supposed to be wearing armor and holding weapons were now wearing linen clothes, gritting their teeth and carrying bags, packages and boxes of goods, becoming porters.

As for the reason, it was naturally because the money and grain distributed by the court was not enough to support the family, so he had to go out to work to support himself and his family.

In a teahouse near the dock, a group of imperial guards who had just finished work gathered here to drink tea and chat.

"Some time ago, a large number of soldiers from Jingdong arrived at the Gezuo Camp outside the city."

Since it was just a casual chat, someone naturally brought up the topic, "I've been to see it. You don't know, those Jingdong soldiers actually practice every day! Hey!"

"Ge Zuo Barracks? Isn't that the camp left behind by the troops who went to the south of the Yangtze River? How come it was occupied by soldiers from Jingdong? Why did the soldiers from Jingdong come to our Bianliang City?"

"They are just sent here by the gentlemen to fill the vacancies."

"What's the use of training every day? In this fascinating Bianliang City, it won't take long before it's useless."

"."

While we were chatting, a few stern-looking, fleshy men came in and said, "Are you done with work? Then hand it in."

The imperial guards looked grim, but they stood up one by one, took out copper coins and handed them to the strong men.

Commerce is well developed in Tokyo City, and every industry has its own overlord.

For example, there are fishing tyrants among fishermen, dung tyrants among manure collectors, and naturally there are bag tyrants among those carrying bags at the dock.

As long as you carry bags at the dock, you have to pay interest.

No one dares not to give it. If they don't, they will be beaten severely at best, or injured, disabled or even killed at worst!
It’s not that the imperial guards haven’t thought about uniting to fight back, but they have backers.

Hearing that his sister was the mistress of a certain high-ranking official in the court, he handed a note to Kaifeng Prefecture, and the court runners arrested the imperial guards who were causing trouble.

After suffering a few losses, no one dared to resist.

After all, we are all ordinary people and have families to support.

"Not enough." When the imperial guards paid their share of the money, several strong men responded with a cold face, "Lu Yanei has recently taken a fancy to a young lady from a brothel. From today on, each of you will pay an extra ten coins a day."

"What?!" The soldiers were shocked when these words were spoken.

They worked hard to carry heavy bags, but only earned a few dozen cents after a day of hard work.

I originally had to pay more than ten cents as a share of the money, and now I have to pay ten cents more. Of course I refused.

Facing the dissatisfaction of the imperial guards, several strong men sneered and ripped open their clothes to reveal the tattoos on their chests. "What are you yelling about? Anyone who dares not to hand it over will either have his hands and feet broken or go to Kaifeng Prefecture to wear a shackle. It's your choice!"

The tyrants in these industries all have their own backers, and they also have a group of killers under their command. They can be said to be good at both black and white.

Don't pay? Your family will be destroyed!
The imperial guards were all very angry, but the reality was so cruel.

As the atmosphere in the teahouse gradually became suffocating, a clear voice came from the door: "A good dog doesn't block the road, get out of here."

Everyone looked over and saw a few men of extraordinary bearing arriving at the entrance of the teahouse at some point.

The strong man leading the team looked at the newcomer and took two steps forward. "What are you doing? This is..."

"Bang!" Chen Ran didn't bother to listen to his nonsense and kicked him several feet away.

His strength was so great that the kick caused the sturdy man to fall to the ground and twitch.

Before the remaining few strong men could react, Wu Song and others who followed them rushed over and knocked these thugs to the ground in no time.

Chen Ran looked around at the imperial guards in the teahouse and said, "I am Chen Ran, the advisor of the Privy Council. You are imperial guards. Why are you bullied by such filthy people?"

Chen Ran offered help, and the imperial guards were naturally grateful.

Someone stepped forward to respond, "Let Chen Jiyi know that these people are connected to the heavens, and we can't afford to offend them."

"Connected to the sky?" Chen Ran laughed at this. "Why, they are all Zhang Bairen's brothers-in-law?"

"It's Lu Yanei!" The imperial guards sighed repeatedly, "He can lock us into Kaifeng Prefecture with just one piece of paper."

"What a bullshit Lu Yanei, he is just a poor family of the city gate official. And the movie about Kaifeng Prefecture, isn't it just a transaction with a magistrate of Kaifeng Prefecture?"

Before Chen Ran came, he had already investigated the details. "Listen carefully, from now on, everything on the dock will be under my control! From now on, the pay will be set at five cents a day!"

"I won't take this money. I'll keep it all in the public treasury. If someone in the family gets sick or injured, I'll use it for weddings or funerals."

He glanced at the crowd and said, "I know you don't believe it now, but it doesn't matter. At the latest tonight, that damn city gate officer Lu Rui will be in trouble. I just need you to inform all the imperial guards who are trying to survive on the dock."

Chen Ran had two goals. One of them was naturally to capture the gate officer of Nanxun Gate.

Another thing is to gather the thousands of imperial guards at the dock!
The huge city of Bianliang, with a population of more than two million, would be difficult to control relying solely on the tens of thousands of troops he brought with him.

Chen Ran's attention had long been on the imperial guards, which had a size of hundreds of thousands but lacked organization.

It's not just the pier.

In other industries throughout the city where there were large numbers of imperial guards employed, personnel were assigned to recruit them.

Because there are the most people at the dock and the matter is the most important, Chen Ran came here in person to handle it.

In history, the combat effectiveness of the imperial guards of Bianliang City was extremely poor, so poor that just a dozen Jin cavalrymen were enough to drive thousands of imperial guards to collapse and flee.

Although it has a scale of hundreds of thousands, it has become a joke.

Chen Ran could understand this.

Given the life that the imperial guards are leading now, which is worse than that of pigs and dogs, if he were in their place, there is no way he would go to the battlefield to fight for the Zhao Song government, and he would not even bother to shoot three arrows in battle!
This situation is so similar to that of the Ming army in the late Ming Dynasty.

Chen Ran, who had experienced the late Ming Dynasty, knew clearly that once these imperial guards were given sufficient food and wages, adequate training and equipment, and due respect, they would immediately burst out with powerful combat effectiveness.

Even if hundreds of thousands of pigs worked together to attack the Jin army, they could kill many of them.

What’s more, there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers who are determined to fight to the death!

"Lead the way." Chen Ran called out to the imperial guards, "First, clear out these running dogs on the dock!"

If you want to convince others, you must demonstrate your strength.

Seeing the embarrassed look on the faces of the imperial guards, Chen Ran smiled faintly, "Don't worry, everyone. I can also pass on my words in front of Zheng Xianggong of the West Palace."

These words completely dispelled the imperial guards' doubts, and someone immediately stepped forward and led Chen Ran and others to find Bao Ba's thugs.

After the beating, his fame and affairs quickly spread among the group of imperial guards carrying bags at the dock.

Lu Rui, the gate officer of Nanxun Gate, was enjoying delicious food at home in his gorgeous silk clothes.

His family was a military family passed down from their ancestors. The taxes collected by Nanxun Gate and the filial piety of the imperial guards at the dock allowed their family to live a wonderful life of luxury.

As for going to stand guard at Nanxun Gate, I'm sorry, unless it is a big event like Tong Guan's previous expedition, he can't go there more than twice a year.

He no longer wore armor, but instead wore silk and satin.

He no longer held a sword or gun in his hand, but instead held the hand of his beautiful concubine.

Such a wonderful day was interrupted by Lu Yanei who ran in in a panic.

"Dad~~~"

"Humph." Looking at his embarrassed son, Lu Rui let go of his concubine's hand and said coldly, "Why are you coming home instead of fooling around outside?"

"Dad~~~" Lu Yanei cried non-stop, "Our family's business at the dock was taken away by someone~~~"

"What?" Lu Rui was shocked and stood up suddenly. "How is it possible?!"

The imperial guards and coolies at the dock contributed large amounts of money and goods to him every day.

Although most of these riches had to be handed over to their patrons, what remained in their hands was enough for their family to live a prosperous and wealthy life.

Now that the business has been taken away, how can this be possible?

After listening to Lu Yanei's crying, Lu Rui immediately prepared to go out to find someone to help him.

But before he could even leave, someone from the Privy Council came to his door.

"Lu Rui! Your incident has been exposed!"

(End of this chapter)