Taiheiki

Chapter 316 New Power

Upon hearing this, Duan Jiong looked at his soaked clothes, sighed helplessly, and walked into the house.

------------------

The typhoon came quickly and went quickly. Four days later, Panyu returned to its usual sunny and scorching weather. Along both sides of the road, busy people were clearing away the mud and various kinds of garbage, then rinsing the roads with clean water to restore their original surfaces. As for the fallen trees and broken branches, residents sawed them into small pieces, carried them home, and after drying them, they became excellent fuel.

Due to the rapid population growth in Panyu, despite the convenient water transportation, fuel has become a significant part of the living expenses of urban residents. As for the houses damaged by the typhoon, some people have already begun to repair them.

Of course, the fastest-recovering and most vibrant place in the entire city was the docks. Thanks to accurate forecasts, most fishing boats had reached sheltered docks and remained largely intact. As soon as the typhoon passed, the fishing boats rushed out of the docks to the fishing grounds at the Pearl River Estuary to enjoy nature's bounty. Based on past experience, they knew that after each typhoon disaster, Panyu City would open its doors to buy all kinds of seafood, providing free fish porridge to the citizens, or processing it into fish floss and dried fish for distribution as disaster relief food. Their catch could fetch a good price.

"Brother, look how strange this ship is! Others are transporting fish, but they're transporting meat!" Duan Wei excitedly pointed to a single-masted schooner that had just docked. Compared to most fishing boats that still used square sails, this schooner was longer and narrower, and faster. Moreover, the sailors weren't carrying piles of fish onto the dock, but rather large chunks of meat, barrels full of grease, and huge white skeletons.

"What is being transported on this ship?" Duan Jiong asked Kong Gui, who was standing beside him, with a puzzled look.

"Hehe, Chief Secretary Duan, you don't know this!" Kong Gui laughed, "This ship actually catches fish, but these fish are particularly large, probably much larger than this ship. We can only dismember them at sea and then transport them back in pieces. Do you see that wooden barrel? It's filled with the oil from these big fish. The candles you use are made from this oil, which makes them exceptionally bright!"

"A fish bigger than a boat?" Duan Wei exclaimed in surprise. "Could it be the Kunpeng that the ancients spoke of?"

"This old man doesn't know!" Kong Gui laughed. "General Wei calls it a whale, but he says it's not actually a fish, but a kind of beast that came into the water a very ancient time and grew bigger and bigger until it became what it is today. The reason is that whales can't breathe underwater like fish; they have to float to the surface and then sink down to breathe, just like us humans. It's just that they can hold a breath for a very long time and can dive to a very deep depth!"

At this point, Kong Gui walked to the piles of meat, barrels, and bones beside the dock and said, "This whale is a treasure trove. The meat from catching one whale is equivalent to that from hundreds of cattle and horses. Its fat can be used to make candles, its bones can be used to make utensils, its internal organs can be made into nourishing medicines, and its baleen is a top-quality material for making bows. There are more than four thousand people in Panyu alone who make a living from this!"

"I see!" Duan Jiong nodded. "I had never heard of this before. No wonder Panyu is so prosperous despite suffering from typhoons every year!"

"Yes!" Kong Gui nodded. "Whaling alone brings in no less than 20 million coins in tax revenue for the government each year, and that's just the beginning; it will be even more in the future!"

"Start? What do you mean?" Duan Jiong asked, puzzled.

"Doesn't the Chief Secretary know? The whaling industry was established by General Wei, and it's only been two or three years!"

"What? Did no one hunt this giant whale before Wei Cong arrived?" Duan Jiong was taken aback.

"Of course!" Kong Gui nodded. "These giant whales can be hundreds of paces long and weigh tens of thousands of stones. The locals regard them as gods, and they kneel and worship them when they see them. How could they dare to hunt them? At most, one or two will run ashore and die, and their remains will be taken as offerings to be passed down as heirlooms. Besides, ordinary ships would sink if they touched such a giant beast. Even if they had the intention, they would not have the ability. It was the general who made large ships and equipment, taught them how to hunt them, and then taught them how to cut the meat, bones, fat, and internal organs, each with its own use. They went out to sea in teams and made laws that only allowed the hunting of adult whales, and prohibited the hunting of calves or mother whales with calves, as a long-term plan."

They were then transported back to Panyu, where they were processed and sold in a unified manner, generating substantial profits for both the public and private sectors. Take candle making, for example! These whale fat candles are not only brighter than oil lamps, but they also have no odor, and each one can sell for forty or fifty coins. There's also whale meat; after being salted and smoked, it can remain rotten for over ten years in a cool, well-ventilated place. Government offices can store large quantities for military use! And then there are whale bones, whale baleen—there are simply too many usable materials to list them all at once!

"I never imagined that Master Kong knew so much about whaling. He is truly knowledgeable and has a remarkable memory!" Duan Jiong said with a smile.

"Is that so?" Kong Gui laughed upon hearing this. "Actually, it's not that I'm particularly knowledgeable, but rather that I have a student whose family owns a whaling fleet and a smoked meat workshop. I only learned about these things when he mentioned them during a casual chat at the manor. I just mentioned them casually today, and I hope Chief Secretary Duan will forgive my ignorance!"

"Master Kong, do your students also engage in these lowly professions?" Duan Wei interjected. During the Han Dynasty, agriculture was generally considered the foundation of all industries, while handicrafts and commerce were regarded as inferior and lowly occupations. For example, during the Western Han Dynasty, the selection of officials explicitly excluded those from professions such as medicine, shamanism, commerce, and various crafts. Furthermore, the Han Dynasty had a tradition of issuing "seven categories of exiles" for military service, namely, convicted officials, fugitives, sons-in-law, merchants, and those whose families had been registered as merchants for three generations. A great Confucian scholar of Kong Gui's lineage would surely have disciples from Jiaozhou; how could they possibly engage in such lowly commercial activities?
"This—" Kong Gui's face immediately showed difficulty, and Duan Jiong quickly interjected, "Awei, don't talk nonsense. Confucius also had a great sage like Duanmu Ci. What's wrong with Confucius having one or two students whose families run businesses?"

"Not bad, not bad!" Kong Gui, relieved by Duan Jiong's intervention, chuckled dryly twice, but perhaps because of this, his enthusiasm for speaking diminished considerably. He accompanied Duan Jiong and his group for a short walk around the workshop area near the dock before finding an excuse to leave. As soon as Kong Gui left, Duan Jiong said to his younger brother in a deep voice, "Zhongming, the people of Jiaozhou take matters of commerce very seriously, and their scholarly customs are quite different from those of the Central Plains. You should be more careful with your words in this regard in the future!"

"Yes!" Duan Wei nodded. "Brother, the books all say that agriculture is the foundation of all industries, the source of food and clothing for the people. Sage kings value agriculture and suppress commerce, and those who abandon agriculture for commerce throughout history have invariably ruined their families and destroyed their countries. But why does Wei Cong treat merchants so well, yet his soldiers and horses are well-fed and his people are so supportive? This is completely different from what the sages wrote in their books!"

Duan Jiong was stumped by his younger brother's question. He remained silent for a long time before saying, "To be honest, I don't know the answer to your question either. Perhaps that's why General Wei is General Wei!"

"Chief Secretary!" the official leading the way said with a smile, "We've seen most of the dock area. Next, we'll go to the shipyard, which is still quite a distance from here. Please, both of you, board the ship!"

Duan Jiong was preoccupied with his own thoughts and was trying to find an excuse to decline when Duan Wei, who was standing beside him, replied, "That would be excellent. I've long heard that Jiaozhou's ships are sturdy and swift, the best in the world. Today, I'll have to see for myself!"

"Hehe!" the official laughed, "It depends on whether it's a sea vessel or a river vessel. If it's a sea vessel, Panyu Shipyard is still the best in the world, but if we're talking about river vessels, then Jiangling Shipyard can compare!" "Oh? Why do you say that?" Xia Yu asked.

"Because the shipyards in Jiangling were also renovated by the General, and many craftsmen came from Panyu! Moreover, Jiangling was also governed by the General, so it was practically a second Panyu!"

“But the boatyards in Jiangling are already famous throughout the land, so why wait until General Wei?” Xia Yu frowned.

"You'll see for yourself!" The official revealed a mysterious smile.

----------------------

Led by the official, the group passed through the fish market and arrived at a pier guarded by soldiers. A two-masted schooner was moored at the end of the pier. Even Duan Jiong, who knew nothing about ships, couldn't help but sigh in admiration: the slender hull resembled a razor blade with a ringed hilt, and the triangular sails of the mainmast and foremast were slowly rising, catching the sea breeze blowing from the northeast. The sails were billowed by the wind into beautiful arcs, like the outstretched wings of a giant bird, every inch accumulating enormous energy.

"Wow, that's really extravagant!" Xia Yu said in a low voice. "The sails alone must have cost at least twenty or thirty bolts of cloth, right?"

Duan Wei nodded. Back then, many ships used stiff sails made of materials like reed mats. The advantage was ease of operation, but the disadvantage was the inability to create the curved surface characteristic of soft sails, allowing the ship to move forward in any wind direction by utilizing the air pressure difference between the front and back sides. In most ancient societies, textiles were the general equivalent, so in Duan Wei and Xia Yu's view, these cloth sails were practically like hanging banknotes on the mast to flaunt wealth.

Once everyone was on board, the gangplank was retracted and the anchor was raised. With a command, the bow sliced ​​through the water, creating two white sprays that seemed like an endless whisper. This sound mingled with the wind whistling between the masts and the creaking of the rigging, like an ancient ballad. A school of flying fish, startled by the boat, leaped out of the water, their translucent fins shimmering in the sunlight, skimming over the hull and disappearing into the churning, silvery wake at the stern, eliciting gasps of surprise.

"Is this a fish or a bird?" Xia Yu asked, pointing to the flying fish.

"It is a fish, but it can leap out of the water and fly a short distance, so it is also called a flying fish!" the official said with a smile.

"Flying fish! This is truly an eye-opening experience!" Xia Yu exclaimed.

Suddenly the wind shifted, and the ship began to rock violently. Xia Yu quickly grabbed the gunwale beside him. He heard the captain shouting to the sailors, who began bustling about on deck, adjusting the sail ropes. The shadows of the sails moved slowly across the deck.

"What are they doing?" Duan Wei asked.

"The wind has changed!" the officer said. "The captain has ordered the sails to be adjusted so that we can better catch the wind and reach our destination faster!"

"It can even capture the wind?" Duan Wei asked in surprise.

"Watch out! Hold on tight to the gunwale and stay upright!" a sailor suddenly shouted. Before Duan Wei could understand what was happening, he felt the deck beneath his feet begin to tilt, and he instinctively cried out, "Help! The ship is capsizing!"

"It's alright, don't worry, it's just the boat going against the wind!" The officer grabbed Duan Wei's arm to prevent him from falling. Duan Wei looked at the water outside the boat in surprise, making sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him: the boat was tilting, but moving forward with an elegant yet firm posture. He realized that this tilt wasn't a sign of impending doom, nor was it an out-of-control glide, but a delicate balance—a perfect compromise reached between the wind, the sea, and the boatman. It seemed as if the entire boat was a living being, every plank of wood breathing, every sail sensing the subtle changes in the wind.

--------------------------

"Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable!" Duan Wei exclaimed excitedly to the official as he stepped off the platform again. "This ship is simply amazing! Really, I believe what you said now. Compared to this ship, ships from other places are practically rafts. By the way, are you really sure Jiangling can build ships like this?"

“Jiangling Shipyard should be able to, but I’m afraid it’s unnecessary! After all, the ships they build should only be used for sailing on rivers and lakes!” The official laughed and said, “Please, come this way. This is the largest shipyard in Panyu. The ships of the Jiaozhou Navy and the large ships that go to the South Seas are all built here!”

The sea breeze blowing in my face carried not only the salty smell unique to the ocean, but also a deafening roar. This was no longer a quiet bay, but a huge heart, a heart that constantly pumped a large amount of fresh blood to Jiaozhou.

Passing through the gate guarded by soldiers, the group was immediately overwhelmed by a complex sensory experience. The air was filled with the aroma of various types of wood, which had been transported from all over Jiaozhou to be dried, cut into the necessary ship timber, and then stored for later use. However, as they approached the slipway, the fragrance of the wood was gradually replaced by an unpleasant odor—workers were boiling a black, viscous substance in large pots, a mixture of wood tar and tung oil that emitted a pungent smell.

The workers coated the bottoms of the boats with this viscous substance to prevent rot and shellfish infestation. The clanging of hammers striking wooden wedges and nails, the tearing sound of saws pulling wood, the workers' rough chants, and the deafening roar of the rails sending the new boats into the water all blended together to create a magnificent symphony that the guests had never heard before.

(End of this chapter)