In the river, a steamship sailed slowly from south to north, which was to sail against the current. This is a passenger ship loaded with people and cargo, carrying a passenger capacity of 200 people. It set off from Fanyu, Guangzhou and headed to the Shaozhou Qujiang, which is upstream of the river.

The passenger ship is called "Guangzhen No. 18". It is one of the regular ships to and from the regular Guangzhou Fanyu and Shaozhou Qujiang. When boarding the water (going north by countercurrent), the average speed is 18 miles, sailing day and night, stopping at the main coastal cities in the middle of the journey, adding coal, dropping passengers, and unloading cargo. It can take nearly 600 miles in two and a half days.

Lin Chengyu, who was "on a business trip" in Qujiang, was chatting with his colleagues while looking at the scenery outside the porthole.

The steamship sails fast and does not require the help of wind, but it is very noisy when sailing, which causes passengers on the boat to sleep well at night. Lin Chengyu and others want to read but can't read it, so they can only chat.

Now, the content of the conversation is about the cabin classification on the passenger ship.

The passenger cabins on the ship are divided into three levels, and the lowest level third-class cabins are simple to board. Although the seats are "sleepers", they are in a public cabin with no compartments. The two meals a day provided by the passenger ship are relatively simple, just to ensure that you don't go hungry.

Passengers want to "convenience", they can only go to public toilets.

The second-class cabin is on the second floor deck, and there are no public large cabins. They are all small cabins. Two meals a day are relatively good. Each cabin has six "buoys". The cabin door can be closed when sleeping and there is an independent toilet.

The first class cabin is on the third floor deck and has a good meal. The small cabin is divided into two rooms inside and outside, with independent toilets. The boat ride is relatively the best.

The first-class fare is not cheap, it is calculated by the cabin, not by the shop. If Nanyang Trading Company and the Steam Merchants Corporation had not signed an agreement to buy "monthly tickets", so that business trip staff could take the first-class cabin on regular ships, Lin Chengyu and his colleagues would not be willing to spend the money.

However, the cheapest third-class ticket is not something that ordinary people can easily consume. Unless there is something urgent and they have to hurry north, otherwise ordinary civilians will not travel on a steamship at all.

Therefore, the main target "customers" of regular ships are basically merchants, as well as employees of various trading companies. As Guangzhou area develops faster and faster, more and more merchants traveling from south to north, and there are considerable demand for passenger transport of steamships.

Although it is more convenient to take a boat from Fanyu to the Central Plains, it depends on the hyacinth, weather, season, and avoid storms. The time is uncertain and the risk is high, so many people choose to travel north and south through inland rivers.

Even if there is market demand, passenger ships may not guarantee sufficient "occupancy rate" every time they sail, that is, the berths are too empty, so that the ticket revenue is too low and the cost of departure is lower, resulting in a loss of passenger ships once they travel.

Generally speaking, in this case, the ship must be delayed to ensure that there are enough passengers to avoid losing money. However, since the regular ship is called "regular", it must set off on time regardless of the "occupation rate". Therefore, the most stable source of profit for regular ships is the cargo transported by "by the way".

Lin Chengyu and his colleagues are very clear about this because Nanyang Trading Company and the fleet under the China Merchants Bank of China Merchants Group have a long-term cooperative relationship.

Since regular ships have the characteristic of "regularity", they are very stable transportation tools for the material circulation industry. Therefore, Nanyang Trading companies, large and small trading companies and even government agencies all require regular flights.

The official postal and postal services for the people, various official documents and ordinary letters must travel between the north and the south. Regular ships that are regularly shipped provide convenience to ensure that mails can be sent and received on time.

Or the inn may carry official documents that are not very urgent and arrive at the destination on time. There will be no additional ship allocation just to send one person.

For trading companies or escort businesses, transporting certain high-value but small quantities and rushing to ship goods, you can't wait until you get enough ships of goods before departure. Therefore, relevant personnel take the goods to their destination on a regular ship, which is also a good choice.

Therefore, regular passenger ships mainly rely on long-term customers' freight orders to make profits. Civilians travel between Dayuling and Guangzhou, basically rely on sailing ships (downstream from the river) and land (from south to north).

To save money.

While everyone was talking, the boat entered the Zhenyang Gorge. Lin Chengyu and his colleagues were enjoying the magnificent scenery on both sides of the canyon, while noticing the famous Zhenyang Gorge plank road.

The Zhenyang Gorge Plank Road was completed more than ten years ago. After completion, it created favorable conditions for the flow of personnel and materials from south to north. Back then, Lin Chengyu walked through this plank road many times and had a deep understanding of the busyness of the plank road.

However, when the steamship appeared, Zhenshui shipping ushered in a breakthrough development. Bulk cargoes traveled from Lingnan to the Central Plains, no longer causing headaches for the cost of boating against the current. A large number of steamships were busy all day long and transported countless cargoes to the north.

In the past, caravans transported cargo from south to north by land (using the plank road to pass through Zhenyang Gorge). It took more than half a month from Fanyu to Qujiang. If they transport cargo by steamship, up to four or five days, a large amount of transportation costs and time costs can be reduced.

So after reliable water shipping, the status of the Zhenyang Gorge Plank Road plummeted and the prospects became dim. The spectacular scene of caravans connecting head and tail, and the entire plank road was brightly clear at night gradually disappeared.

The plank road has become deserted, but the government has invested a lot of manpower and material resources every year to maintain the plank road, so many people believe that the plank road should be abandoned and save money.

Various suggestions made the plank road in the Zhenyang Gorge on the verge of "death", but in the end they survived tenaciously, the reason was simple:

Not everyone can afford tickets for steamships, so the government decided to maintain a reliable line of transportation so that the cash-strapped people and small vendors can travel between the north and the south.

Even if they complete the whole journey with their feet, there must be such a way, so whether the plank road in the Zhenyang Gorge cannot be calculated by just the "economic account".

For example, the postal service that the imperial court is now vigorously promoting is obviously difficult to make profits, but it is still implemented in an orderly manner. The reason is that the emperor believes that "postal access" and "road access" are the unshirkable responsibilities of the court.

The court cannot just collect rents and regulate, but also do practical things for the people.

Whether this statement was said by the emperor or others were fooled by others, of course, Lin Chengyu's humble identity was not known, but he knew that it was a clear fact that he could communicate with relatives and friends far away in Hedong.

His relatives and friends in his hometown know very well about his living conditions in Lingnan, and Lin Chengyu can also understand the current situation in his hometown.

Postal service and transportation have allowed more and more people to understand the outside world. Everyone began to know that although the climate in Lingnan and Guangzhou was hot, it was not a place where people would die if they came.

Therefore, in recent years, more and more people are willing to go to Guangzhou, Lingnan to explore, and there are still pedestrians on the already lonely plank road in the Zhenyang Gorge.

Lin Chengyu felt that the Zhenyang Gorge Plank Road still "living" well showed the court's determination to develop Lingnan. Therefore, in Fanyu, which had a bright future, it was necessary to buy real estate.
Chapter completed!