Chapter 1656 - The West River Shipping Route

Chen Hongyi grew ever more uncertain about the background of the man before him. The official boat hung lanterns reading "Jinyiwei Foshan Centurion Garrison," yet Centurion Lin treated this person with the utmost deference. Though the cabin was extremely simple, he could see that every detail had been thoughtfully arranged. The large glass skylight in the canopy was something no ordinary person could afford. And then there were the food containers he'd noticed stacked on the foredeck when he came aboard... He added a few more degrees of caution to his demeanor.

"There's no need to be nervous," Suo Pu said, noticing the man's fearful expression, his bottom perched on only half the chair. He smiled faintly. "I understand from Lord Lin that you're a boat operator on this West River."

"Yes, yes. My family has worked the oars and sailed these waters for generations. I first went aboard at fourteen."

Suo Pu studied him. "And how old is Manager Chen now?"

"I've wasted fifty-six years of my life," Chen Hongyi shook his head with a rueful smile. "Old now, and useless. The moment the weather changes, my whole body aches!"

"You still look quite robust to me, Manager Chen—though your hair has gone entirely white. Running a business must be quite taxing."

"Yes, indeed, making a living on the water is not easy." Chen Hongyi sighed. The remark stirred something within him. "It's only thanks to the gracious patronage of various lords that I've managed to live in peace until now!" Seeing his host's composed speech and refined bearing, the tension in his heart eased somewhat.

Suo Pu then inquired about shipping on the West River. Chen Hongyi thought this was no state secret—if this noble personage wanted to hear about it, he might as well oblige. He gave a general account of the waterway from Sanshui to Nanning.

"If you're speaking of convenience for navigation, nothing surpasses the West River," Chen Hongyi said, stroking his knee. "It's wide and deep. Below Wuzhou, during the summer flood season, the water reaches fifty or sixty chi deep—deep enough for boats carrying over a thousand shi. In some places, like Three Banyan Gorge and Antelope Gorge, it's practically bottomless. You can lower a rope hundreds of chi without touching bottom..."

"And during the dry season?" Suo Pu pressed.

"Even then, there's still thirty or forty chi. Though at the Wuzhou dock, the depth drops to only ten chi," Chen Hongyi said. "About a hundred li downstream from Wuzhou, there's a shoal called New Shoal. During low water, it's only four or five chi deep—big boats can't pass. So although the West River is deep, it's not always convenient for large vessels. Boat operators prefer small boats—unless there's a severe drought, you can navigate from Wuzhou to anywhere in Guangzhou Prefecture year-round, saving all the loading and unloading and transshipment."

"Even though small boats are convenient, you operators sometimes only go as far as Wuzhou. Why not use large boats for that stretch?"

Chen Hongyi smiled. "Sir, you're from a wealthy family and don't know the hardships of us water people. It's true that you can use big boats from here to Wuzhou, but it's upstream against the current. Boats going east can follow the current and simply drift down. But boats going west must rely on pushing with poles, pulling with oars, rowing with paddles, and catching whatever wind there is. Big boats are cumbersome and unwieldy. You can't always catch a favorable wind, so everything depends on the crew's arms—and that's not the worst of it. At gorges and shoals, the boatmen have to go ashore and tow the boats by rope. Take Antelope Gorge and Three Banyan Gorge, which you encounter as soon as you enter Zhaoqing Prefecture—the mountains are high and the slopes precipitous, pressing right up against the riverbank. Both banks are steep and treacherous, and the boatmen must climb the mountains to haul the tow ropes. The gorges have swift currents and swirling whirlpools. One slip and you fall to your death—who knows how many lives are lost each year..."

Suo Pu nodded and sighed. "Truly, making a livelihood is not easy." Seeing Chen Hongyi constantly swallowing, he realized the man's throat must be parched from speaking. "I've quite forgotten myself—bring tea!"

There were no servants on this boat, so naturally no one had thought of the guest-hosting etiquette of offering tea. Lin Ming, ever quick on the uptake, saw that Suo Pu had spoken and hurried out to find tea.

Tea there was—but only the large pot of coarse brew they'd used to wash down the field rations at lunch, thick and black. Lin Ming thought this was really too crude to serve. He was at a loss when Xie Peng produced a glass bottle. Lin Ming recognized it at once: it was kvass, the most common beverage from Lingao. The Zizhen trading house in Guangzhou also sold it.

Lin Ming quickly poured the kvass into a teacup and brought it in.

Chen Hongyi, elderly and naturally low on saliva, had grown quite parched from all his speaking. Seeing Centurion Lin personally bring over the tea, he was so flustered he hurriedly stood. "I don't deserve this! I don't deserve this!"

"Not at all, not at all. My earlier negligence—this is Australian Water, most refreshing and thirst-quenching..." Lin Ming's unusual courtesy made Chen Hongyi uncomfortable and only deepened his puzzlement about Suo Pu's true identity.

Chen Hongyi took the cup and saw within it a clear liquid with a faint yellow tinge. On the white glazed surface clung many tiny bubbles, and it gave off a fresh, pleasant scent. He took a sip—sweet with a faint tingle, the sensation wonderfully cooling.

"This must be Australian Water," he suddenly remembered. A few days ago, his eldest son had specially brought some from Guangzhou. It came in glass bottles and was quite expensive.

"Exactly." Suo Pu was secretly surprised—he hadn't expected that this "light luxury" beverage, rare even in Guangzhou, would be known here in Sanshui!

No wonder the little wretch had made a point of buying it. The flavor was indeed quite unique—a superior drink for beating the heat and quenching thirst. Chen Hongyi silently cursed the Australians for constantly producing these clever novelties that made his sons and daughters pester him daily for "Australian things"—absolutely ruinous!

He finished half the cup before continuing: "Towing through shoals is hard enough, but then there are all manner of villains on the river. At best, local tyrants block the boats and extort 'passage fees.' At worst, they board and rob outright—murder and plunder, nothing is off limits." The Western River banks around Zhaoqing in particular, being mountainous, were a haven for river pirates. Pirate activity in this area was extremely frequent. The most notorious were the Tanka pirates of the Four Surnames—Xu, Zheng, Shi, and Ma—who operated not only on the West River but raided deep into the North River as well.

At this point, he suddenly felt he might have spoken out of turn. After all, Centurion Lin was seated right here. To speak of "bandits running rampant" might offend him. A look of unease crossed his face.

"I had no idea river piracy was so rampant." Suo Pu noted the discomfort on his face and the furtive glances toward Lin Ming. He quickly grasped what was worrying the man. "The authorities bear no small blame."

Sweat beaded on Chen Hongyi's forehead. Fortunately, the guest on this boat was clearly from the authentic Jinyiwei Centurion's retinue. Otherwise, he would have stood up to excuse himself on the spot—he had no wish to get into trouble for careless words.

He heard Lin Ming chime in: "Exactly, exactly. The authorities are negligent and have allowed the bandits to grow powerful. It's the merchants along the river who suffer most."

"If the pirates are so rampant, how does Manager Chen manage to do business on the water?"

Chen Hongyi fell silent. Lin Ming said: "Come now, there's no need to hide it. Everyone knows about this. This Master Suo here is... is... from the capital. Just speak freely."

With this reassurance, Chen Hongyi continued: "It works much like an escort bureau running armed convoys. First, you have to make friends. All the major pirate hideouts have their going rates. Once you've made friends and agreed on regular payments, the boats can travel somewhat more safely. Of course, it's not guaranteed—some of the smaller gangs under the big outfits may not honor the arrangement. When you run into them, you just have to accept your bad luck. As for opportunistic small-time pirates and local tyrants, you need officials to intervene: when passing through dangerous stretches, you pay for government patrol boats to escort you. And most important of all is the guild solidarity among people from the same native place."

The first two methods were essentially paying for peace, but neither officials nor bandits could be relied upon. Only the native-place associations had real power. All boat operators, large and small, would travel together in convoys through dangerous stretches; they pooled funds to hire guards for their vessels; and they used local gentry connections to negotiate with the authorities.

"A conversation with you is worth ten years of study," Suo Pu sighed. The man before him was a living encyclopedia of West River shipping. Everything he said was firsthand information—invaluable.

"The sir is too kind." Chen Hongyi noticed his questions about geography and local conditions—very much in the manner of an official on an incognito inspection. Combined with Lin Ming's mention that he was "from the capital" and Lin Ming's extreme deference, he secretly wondered if he had encountered an "Imperial Commissioner." Yet the man seemed so young...

He was still lost in speculation when Master Suo spoke again:

"Has Manager Chen's business ever taken him to Guangxi?"

"Yes, yes, it has." Chen Hongyi nodded. "Once you pass Wuzhou, you're in Guangxi. Though the waterways there aren't as wide and deep as the West River, they can still handle big boats. A large salt boat like yours, sirs, can sail fully loaded straight to Nanning Prefecture during the summer floods." Warming to the subject, he added, "Speaking of the West River—in Guangdong, it's merely wide and deep. But once you enter Guangxi, it becomes a heaven-sent thoroughfare: extending in all directions, reaching everywhere."

From Wuzhou, he explained, you could go north up the Gui River to Guilin Prefecture. Or you could continue west along the Xun River, pass Guiping, enter the Qian River, then head north up the Liu River to Liuzhou. If you didn't enter the Qian River but kept going west, you'd arrive directly at Nanning Prefecture.

"...And from Nanning, Guilin, and Liuzhou, water routes continue upstream, connecting all the way to Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan. Though I myself have never traveled that far."

So it seemed Guangxi's water transport conditions were no worse than Guangdong's. Suo Pu knew that Guangxi had always had a reputation as a poor province. But while Guangxi had vast mountain ranges like the Hundred Thousand Mountains and Eighty Thousand Mountains, it also had many prosperous agricultural basins—it was far from destitute. With such convenient water transport, it was ideally suited to the General Staff's policy of controlling territory through water route networks.

Taking Guangxi didn't seem too difficult. Suo Pu thought: the geographical foundation was excellent. Once they had a firm foothold in Guangdong, Guangxi would be theirs for the taking.

"What goods do you mainly transport?"

"Coming downstream to Guangdong, it's mainly grain. Going upstream to Guangxi, salt is the major cargo." Chen Hongyi explained that salt had an enormous market. Via the West River waterway network, Guangdong salt could reach all the way to Guizhou and Yunnan. And the local products of those regions could likewise be shipped down to Guangdong via the West River system.

(End of Chapter)